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Aotearoa39261 Posts
Sexy isn't it? Props to Daigomi for the banner
The title for this weeks games in the OSL is perhaps the most appropriate title yet. Of the 8 games played in the past week, only two fell to the favorites. The upsets are coming thick and fast in this OSL and it's becoming increasingly unpredictable. Couple that with a general lack of sense when it comes to predictions on my behalf lately, it means that the predictions here should be taken with a grain of salt.
Predictions for the upcoming games is one thing, but also this news post will update you on the results of the Wednesday games and a brief comment on the games on Friday. Of course at this stage in the tournament, excitement is relatively low - and for good reason. The Razer TSL is entering the Semifinals this week and the lineup is amazing. You would have to be insane or in prison to miss these games so clear some space in your schedule this weekend! Anyway, because the TSL is so interesting right now, I'll forgive you for missing some for the games this upcoming week 
Wednesday's Games
Firstly, let's discuss July's situation in Soul and his transfer from SKT. July on SKT, while at the time seemingly appropriate, never felt quite right as time went on. Perhaps it was the idea that he was stuck on a team with a history of success, a beastly lineup and then Oov retiring which made everything just seem wrong. However, his move to Soul literally has given me new hope. July's place is amongst a team finding their identity and strengths - just like POS. The fact that the entire Soul team turned out to support him was amazing to see - it really seems like he has found a home and a team where he fits in naturally. Those benefits must have spurred him on to beat the 2nd strongest ZvZ player in the world and has given me (slim) hope that July will see the golden mouse.
BackHo destroying Much in some ways justified his presence here. I don't know if he'll pass such a tough group - but if he manages to beat Bisu he'll likely break through to the Ro8. This intriguing thought has lead to me the conclusion that BackHo deserves some credit and a persona change. No more is he the lucky protoss who cheesed his way into the Ro16 - now he is a ruthless Protoss who has met resistance throughout his career; being abandoned by his family at age two and raised by a pack of savage wolves, he is out for revenge against the world which wronged him! ... Ok, too far, but his presence is now justified and my hate for him has subsided.
Best once again showed that he is truly "The Devil's Apprentice" and in a spectacular show came back to defeat NaDa. That being said Best's victory takes nothing away from NaDa - and i would go as far to say as the map is to fault for Nada's loss. Nada looked damn impressive, but just couldn't keep Best nailed in his coffin; on any other map the result would have been different which is a reassuring thought for our beloved Genius.
GGPlay played a stock-standard "i know im worse than you so ill all-in and pray" against Flash. And Flash came back and said "wtf yo, get your hands off me" and defended perfectly, no upsets for Flash! Yay! haha
Friday's Games
Group A
+ Show Spoiler [Game comments] +This game demonstrates, if nothing else, that Rock knows himself very well. What do I mean by this? Simply that Rock knows his strengths, weaknesses and style better than most other progamers and he took those facts into account when he prepared for this game. This game was quintessential Rock, with a twist. He played to the map and opted to skimp on Goon range in favor of more Dragoons - which he then used to kill Sea's assimilator. From there he was able to play a very Rock-esque game with the inevitable Carrier transition. This map also suits Rock very well, so in reality with that kind of preparation, Sea never really stood a chance. Which is actually a sad thought seeing as his time is running out to preform in the major leagues before he is relegated to the offline prelims 
Group B
+ Show Spoiler +Nazgul and Eri came out in the TSL Preview thread and said that PvP is determined by strategy. While this is true I argued that mechanics play a more important role when you have two Protoss of similar level. This game exemplifies my argument. Jangbi pulled ahead early on after coming out on top in a major battle thanks to superior micro. From there Jangbi cemented his advantage and eventually his economy overpowered Stork. With Jangbi defeating Stork, the PvP god of yore, he has differentiated himself from the Jangbi we used to know and hate - he now is arguably the second best Protoss in the world, behind Kal and ahead of Bisu. Jangbi's only blemish is his PvP only group in the MSL, but thats forgivable after watching this game. One thing worthy of note is that Best trained with Jangbi for this match. Now, i can't officially rank Best due to the lack of games and results compared to the other Protoss - but his last series against Stork was very strong. Best-Kal-Jangbi might be the third generation of Protoss kings. I was fairly entertained by this match and if you're not sick of pvp its definitely worth checking out
Group C
+ Show Spoiler +I hate to make this simplification, but this was a build order loss by Yarnc. Andromeda favors the macro hungry Zerg - and a 12hatch nearly always beats a 12 pool. Not much else to say really, except that Yarnc did a good job at nullifying Rumble's advantage but ultimately it wasn't enough and soon Rumbles muta count just ran over Yarnc. Interesting to note is that July's decision to include the twins in the same group has really paid off. Both twins are now 0-1 and essentially their game decides the twin who advances (as the winner will have a chance to advance, while the other is almost certianly out). What a drama-filled match that clash will be
Group D
+ Show Spoiler +And then came the most anticipated match of the night and it did not disappoint. Bisu has said in interviews that he feels that his televised PvT's don't do his PvT any justice (and thats not hard to beleive) and this game demonstrates how very true that claim was. Bisu played this game perfectly - his macro/micro/strategy were spot on in all regards. From the DT drop antics to force turrets and slow mind to the perfect timing of his arbiters. Bisu is in the best form I've ever seen. For the first time in my life I genuinely feel the force of Bisu. Mind's play was perfect - his trademark timing was impeccable as expected, but Bisu was just something else. This is Bisu's time to go for the Gold he deserves.
So in summary, here are the results:
One quick note; Oov and Kingdom's effect on the performance of SKT is so evident from this round and their proleague comeback. Midas, Bisu, Best and i guess Rumble are preforming very very strongly and the results have been coming in for them.
Previews
OSL Playday 3 - Wednesday 21 May 19:30 KST
Group A
This is an interesting encounter seeing as Rock is strongest in this matchup, but Flash is on a separate plane to him in reality. The cold hard facts suggest that Othello favors Terran, given the high proportion of TvT on this map. Flash is also the destroyer of the Starcraft universe and currently resides as the strongest player (according to the Power Rank). However, Rock has shown that he knows how to maximize and indeed amplify his own strengths and dictate the play of the game. As long as Flash is playing on Rock's terms Rock is the huge favorite. But this is Flash we're talking about - he won't let that happen. Rock will try dictate the game to Flash but will be undercut by Flash's superior gamesense and look like a fool. If you want a favorite for this match it has to be Flash - but if you are a superstitious person vote for Rock (the winners curse should kick in any time now).
Group B
Ah a rematch of the game that made Jangbi a household name for good reasons. Namely for this incident. So let's get down to basics. JangBi is insane form on a map with 11-4 stats in favor of Protoss against Terran vs a desperate NaDa. If Nada wants to stay alive in this OSL this game is a must win, but i just don't see it happening. Jangbi is one sick player right now and in my opinion has the most impressive PvT out there right now. NaDa is coming off a loss to Best from a bad TvP map, and now he moves onto another TvP map and unfortunately will probably go 0-2 because of it. Jangbi is the favorite and should win in style, but with ease.
Group C
Ahh, the clash of the twins. Seeing as both players are 0-1, the winner stays alive in the running, while the loser is probably going home. While this is dramatic enough, the fact that its the twins in this situation provides an extra element of excitement and drama. Even though ZvZ is a luckfest, Luxury is the better player at the moment and on Hwarangdo i think he should be able to win. Given that the players know each other so well, we might see a daring move by either to cheese the other - so imo we could see a 4 pool in resentment of playing each other or to exploit the predictability of one of them. Whatever happens it will be interesting, so definitely check it out.
Group D
If this was any other map there is no question Mind would crush BackHo mercilessly. But this is Troy, and Troy is perhaps the worst map for TvP in the map pool. BackHo has shown that he can defend against cheese on this map (thanks Casy) and i think, purely because its Troy, that he stands a very good chance against Mind. I want to say that Mind is going to win outright with a sick timing push like he usually does but there are just so many chances for Protoss that BackHo can't be ruled out. I can't beleive im saying this, but there is a very real possibility that BackHo will topple Mind similar to Rock toppling Sea. The favorite is Mind, but if you appreciate the concept of map imbalance BackHo just looks so strong. A very tough game to call.
OSL Playday 4 - Friday May 23 18:30 KST
Group A
Both players here are fighting for survival having lost in the first round. Both GGPlay and Sea have the potential to go far in the tournament so this should be a particularly interesting encounter. Sea is still a dominant monster and I won't budge on that claim. While GGPlay is still strong, but just not in the same league as Sea. Terran have a slight advantage on Othello, but the number of TvT's make Terran look like the stronger race here. Couple this with Sea's talent and im pretty sure he'll be taking this game. And well he really does need this game - a loss would almost certainly put him out of contention as he has Flash left to play while GGPlay has Nal_"i can't PvZ"_Rock left to play. I think Sea should take this game by overpowering GGplay in the mid game.
Group B
Here's a new rule for the group stages, 'when in doubt, vote SKT' and this is a case where this rule is perfectly applicable. Stork is no push-over PvP but BeSt just looks great right now. Best only narrowly lost out to Stork in the Ro8 last OSL and this time he is in better shape and has the "Oov efrfect" backing him. Currently, Best is the stronger player and has all the superstition backing him as well; should be a clearcut bet. This put Stork in a bad position as he would be almost certianly out of this OSL.
Group C
I love July, and I love Soul. I love their spirit, belief and unity. I'm going to call against my rule and say JulyZerg is going to defeat Rumble. I feel that the atmosphere at Soul is just perfectly for our humble overlord and this should propel him to victory. That being said - i'm still voting Rumble in my liquibet because of the strength of SKT in this OSL. The safe bet really is Rumble, but July is just too cool to overlook.
Group D
When in doubt, vote SKT - Bisu is going to destroy Much. Bisu dismantled Much in the Ro8 last season and is looking in the best shape of his career. Much on the other hand is quickly becoming outdated and is playing very sloppy games. At this point i have very little faith in Much to do anything other than going 0-3 in his Group. Should be a clear victory for Bisu.
And there you have it! These games should be great, but if you can't watch them its understandable make sure to tune into that TSL to compensate! That being said, grab from VODs from the small vod thread asap after the games so you make sure you don't miss out on all the OSL happenings. There is a ton of drama this week so you'll probably hear about it soon after in the Brood War forum anyway. But for now, enjoy the week of OSL & TSL!
 Plexa
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indeed, sexy banner.
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
nice writeup!! sad the twins have to play vs each other
lol rock
XD
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Good article.
One thing, you've got the name Bisu under July's picture.
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
Thanks lenwe
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o, no wonder i cant see the banner; its labelled banner and i have that stuff adblocked
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What did Bisu do other than beat Mind that made it look like he was in the "best shape" of his career? He hasn't really played that much lately (and got Jaedong'd out of the MSL) so it seems like a strong claim regarding a guy who once won two straight MSLs and made three straight MSL finals while putting up consistently good OSL results all the while....
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
On May 19 2008 18:23 darktreb wrote:
What did Bisu do other than beat Mind that made it look like he was in the "best shape" of his career? He hasn't really played that much lately (and got Jaedong'd out of the MSL) so it seems like a strong claim regarding a guy who once won two straight MSLs and made three straight MSL finals while putting up consistently good OSL results all the while.... Nothing in particular really, but i was just so amazed at his play against Mind. It just feels like he has matured or something along those lines and is becoming a sophisticated protoss. I think he's got a really good chance to take this OSL
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9070 Posts
nice write up, but i must disagree with smth- i dont think we should give all the credits to oov for the great performance of skt, i think the fact the revolutionist is there really lifted the spirit in the ranks. its good to have a champ in a good form in your team, the players get motivated
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BTW, where can I watch the live stream of when the OSL takes place this Wednesday? Sorry, but I'm still kinda new at Teamliquid.net and I kinda like to expand my horizons past the Razer TSL and see what's going on in the OSL for once. 
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On May 19 2008 19:32 Attolite wrote:BTW, where can I watch the live stream of when the OSL takes place this Wednesday? Sorry, but I'm still kinda new at Teamliquid.net and I kinda like to expand my horizons past the Razer TSL and see what's going on in the OSL for once.
A lot of us here use Daum Pot Player, which occasionally lags but has very decent quality. You can also watch PL matches on it.
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
Corinthos also posts links for VLC (on most occasions)
So if you have VLC media player you can open up a network stream and watch it via that
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Spenguin
Australia3316 Posts
Nice article Plexa!!! I autovoted Mind because how much I believe his opponent, who I have already forgotten, and because I don;t look at maps, ty.
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On May 19 2008 18:25 Plexa wrote:Show nested quote +On May 19 2008 18:23 darktreb wrote:
What did Bisu do other than beat Mind that made it look like he was in the "best shape" of his career? He hasn't really played that much lately (and got Jaedong'd out of the MSL) so it seems like a strong claim regarding a guy who once won two straight MSLs and made three straight MSL finals while putting up consistently good OSL results all the while.... Nothing in particular really, but i was just so amazed at his play against Mind. It just feels like he has matured or something along those lines and is becoming a sophisticated protoss. I think he's got a really good chance to take this OSL
To add to this, to me it was the fact that Bisu, who has been, for the past two months or so, written of as just another slumping ex-champ, definitively beat Mind who IMO is in his best form (which is saying that he's gotten much better since their encounter last MSL). You couldn't have taken away anything from Mind during that game; his sick timing was there, as was his amazing game sense. IMO Bisu not winning any Starleagues lately isn't an indication that Bisu hasn't improved. His containment breaks were spot-on, he utilized subtle tricks to the maximum, his macro/micro was amazing. Had he been playing this way during his bonjwa reign, I believe he would've won so much more SLs.
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The revolutionist has undergone an evolution. It's making him a stronger player, so I'm all for it.
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fuck you best.
but the whole speed shuttle vs terran on that map happens all the time, and seems like toss always ends up ahead because speed shuttles are just so maneuverable, and the island is essentially an island map when you can kill assimilators like that.
MM vs speed shuttle reaver = . fuck that. even wraiths can't catch up to speed shuttles.
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Well considering his not few mistakes on losing unit on spider mines, where an obs should have been he has still some things to polish.
Bisu is not in best shape yet, but is improving and may get there eventually. And I start to believe again only after seeing a perfect PvZ.
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I'll agree to those saying that Bisu is in his best shape right now is a bit far fetched. His play against Mind was great and smart, but to me, Bisu's best shape was around the time when he beat Hwasin in an amazing bo3 where it just looked like an invisible force simply did not allow Bisu to lose.
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United States42668 Posts
Very well written and BackHo is <3
One thing I will beg of you is to spell paid correctly. That mistake, repeatedly made by people who really should know better, makes me cry.
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predictions vs. results. always fun to compare.
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
Your 100% right kwark thank god there was only one instance of it in my post...
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Thanks for the writeup, it's always fun to see other people's views on the outcome. I was wondering, as a rabid Stork fanboy, did anyone else think he just totally threw that game on purpose?? I agree with Plexa's analysis on where the game turned, but I've seen MUCH sharper play out of Stork. It felt like he wasn't putting his full effort into the game. And the fact that the match was one that he chose for himself by picking Jangbi into his group, it just seemed really suspicious to me. Added on to the fact Stork was literally grinning from ear to ear after his loss, goes back to the break room, and is pointing at monitors, smiling and laughing w/ January seems quite odd considering the context of the game. His long, tragic history of #2... I'd think he was a lot more fired up about the OSL.
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Stork makes me want to die. WTF is wrong with him.
On that note, Jangbi ftw :>
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United States12607 Posts
Insane, in prison, or BOTH
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Jangbi looks like so fat in that picture oO
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Julyzerg is sex, he will golden mouse it and win life.
wait for it.
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On May 19 2008 17:47 Plexa wrote:
Best-Kal-Jangbi might be the third generation of Protoss kings.
x3
I hope KTF's Lucifer makes the 3rd generation a group of four...Ehehe, those matches on Friday were painful for liquibetters. But still, nice write up~
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wtf ur disrespecting ggplay to much! "not in the same league as sea" ??? WTF? Did u watch Daum OSL ? I am sorry but if anything, sea is not in the same league as GGPlay. Those ZvTs he showed were FAR FAR better than any tvz series sea has ever shown in an individual league. In individual leagues GGPlay has shown his potential and his capability, something I unfortunately cannot say about Sea.
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United States20661 Posts
Third generation?
First generation I will assume to be Reach/Nal_rA/Kingdom
Second generation Anytime/Pusan/Stork
Third generation Free/Much/Bisu
I think...
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I havent found anything amazing in the Bisu's game. He just pressured early and Mind lost a lot of mining time (btw why didnt he wall, if he cant defend from such a typical attack? ok, the positions were cross and I havent noticed if he scouted the attack or not, but he definitely didnt look like a progamer, when he lost the tank). Then Bisu did a nice, but not important DT drop (like 3 scv kills +depot). Ok, for some weird reason Mind couldnt even kill the DT with mines... but I dont think such a DT drop would work vs Iloveoov for example.
And then Mind struggled to secure the center! He was flying around with an empty shuttle/shuttle with DTs instead of utilizing it to its full potential with zealots. Had Mind pushed smarter )(with more mines and more spread tanks), he would beat Bisu really badly and secured the center. Mind definitely had impressive macro and nice multitasking, but his micro wasnt impressive at all - with lots of zealots dying on mines. At some point it was clear that he had the game won, but it looked as if he could actually lose the center..
For me Bisu is much overhyped
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Ok how is voting against july the safe bet? He is a veteran with experience as champion, he is 3-0 in osl, he beat one of the strongest if not the strongest zvzs in the world just a few days ago and he has the support of his team, rumble is just some unknown who got lucky on a buildorder and he really has no place in this group even with his new skt practice.
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On May 20 2008 04:13 Last Romantic wrote:Third generation? First generation I will assume to be Reach/Nal_rA/Kingdom Second generation Anytime/Pusan/Stork Third generation Free/Much/Bisu I think...
just outa curiousity where does garimto fall into that
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On May 20 2008 04:54 8882 wrote:
I havent found anything amazing in the Bisu's game. He just pressured early and Mind lost a lot of mining time (btw why didnt he wall, if he cant defend from such a typical attack? ok, the positions were cross and I havent noticed if he scouted the attack or not, but he definitely didnt look like a progamer, when he lost the tank). Then Bisu did a nice, but not important DT drop (like 3 scv kills +depot). Ok, for some weird reason Mind couldnt even kill the DT with mines... but I dont think such a DT drop would work vs Iloveoov for example.
And then Mind struggled to secure the center! He was flying around with an empty shuttle/shuttle with DTs instead of utilizing it to its full potential with zealots. Had Mind pushed smarter )(with more mines and more spread tanks), he would beat Bisu really badly and secured the center. Mind definitely had impressive macro and nice multitasking, but his micro wasnt impressive at all - with lots of zealots dying on mines. At some point it was clear that he had the game won, but it looked as if he could actually lose the center..
For me Bisu is much overhyped
I agree that mind lost a lot of timing on a relatively simple attack, but not killing dts with mines was not really through his own fault. Simply, his mechanics could not deal with mining the dts, and at the same time putting up his macro. He deemed one supply depot insignificant. (For the record, i doubt iloveoov would have dealt with it much better)
I think bisu player well in the midgame, especially by countering, to make mind move around, and utilizing toss mobility.
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On May 19 2008 17:47 Plexa wrote:Of course at this stage in the tournament, excitement is relatively low - and for good reason. The Razer TSL is entering the Semifinals this week and the lineup is amazing. You would have to be insane or in prison to miss these games so clear some space in your schedule this weekend! Anyway, because the TSL is so interesting right now, I'll forgive you for missing some for the games this upcoming week
...what the fuck???????
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Are  free, Much, and Bisu really considered the Protoss kings of the third generation? I've read a few posts that consistently detail Stork, Anytime, and Pusan as the generation following rA, Reach, and Kingdom, but never anything about a third generation... xO?
>.> ...Lots of Protoss icons. x3
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On May 19 2008 22:55 Polyphasic wrote:fuck you best. but the whole speed shuttle vs terran on that map happens all the time, and seems like toss always ends up ahead because speed shuttles are just so maneuverable, and the island is essentially an island map when you can kill assimilators like that. MM vs speed shuttle reaver = . fuck that. even wraiths can't catch up to speed shuttles.
Don't hate on Best. A lesser toss would have been scared to seal himself in like that.
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I stated earlier in the season in response to the final edit that this was STX's year that I didn't think they were quite ready for a breakout. The addition of July certainly changes things a bit... Calm has gotten a lot better a lot faster than I thought he would, and July's presence can only help. It also gives Kal and Hwasin another good practice partner on the team. And if July is comfortable enough, he might actually be (gasp) consistent, and July is pretty freaking scary in top form.
I'm still slightly concerned about their depth... they don't have a solid 2v2 beyond the aforementioned players... then again, no one in contention really seems to (except Khan), and it's not like their 2v2s have been abysmal. I'd be more worried about their depth, but with Bisu being traded to SKT1 no one really stands out as being absolutely stacked like MBC/CJ were last season. Even with the addition of GGPlay, I feel like CJ is substantially weaker than they were as they can't rely on Savior, Much is in a funk, and Iris hasn't been playing that well either.
The additional playoff slots also helps STX a lot. They don't have to worry so much about qualifying, they're practically a shoe in to get at least 6th place. After that anything can happen...
But I still think they're going to fall short somewhere along the line. Still, it'd be awesome if July helped lead STX to a title... :D
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Centric, Plexa, and teamsolid you guys are awesome. Thanks for your replying to me.
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So nobody else thought Stork threw his game vs Jangbi??
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Yeah, Stork is confident enough in his skills to throw a game when he has Best and Nada in his group. I wouldn't be surprised if Best beats him and he's out in the first (second now I guess) round. So to answer the question: no.
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On May 20 2008 09:25 EGoldman wrote:
So nobody else thought Stork threw his game vs Jangbi??
yeah i thought the same that was not storks best pvp
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he wants to face jangbi in the finals, cuz when he lose, he loses to his team mate at least.
p.s. good read, except for mentioning TSL every paragraph.. i feel like its being shoved down my throat
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So I guess BackHo is going to get a picture?
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im looking forward to luxury vs. yarnc
this one will be interesting
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Rumble vs Yellow build order win? Um... Yellow lost three drones early on to zerlings, he even let one zergling kill one drone when he had muta in his base. With such bad play from Yellow, Rumble would have won even if they did reverse build orders.
I think Stork threw that game, cus I think they agreed that's the best option since Stork feels he can win the two remaining games, going 2-1, while Jangbi also has a good chance for 2-1 or preferably 3-0.
I definitely think Best is the strongest Protoss today. Since last season his skill has risen tremendously. Unfortunately that means he has gotten a bit cocky too, as far as I have seen from his Proleague ceremonies. But I really can see SKT T1 go to the top this season, seems their spirit changed to the better with the coach change.
Awesome writeup dude
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
On May 20 2008 04:13 Last Romantic wrote:Third generation? First generation I will assume to be Reach/Nal_rA/Kingdom Second generation Anytime/Pusan/Stork Third generation Free/Much/Bisu I think... Free/Much/Bisu never felt like a trio to me - and many others. They simply lacked results prior to 07 - where it became a two horse race between Bisu/Stork. Kal/Jangbi/Best are all doing well in their respective tournaments; but w/e they are the next gen toss kings imo
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Free and Much were an okay character any significance of being a Protoss King?
I rather keep the old Kings than have Free and Much as their baton.
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Hey Plexa, the OSL match will start in 1 hour and 18 minutes. Will you be able to put up the VLC url address for the live stream?
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Nevermind what I said in my previous post. I found the link in the Tourney category, but I wasn't able to connect. Maybe because I tried to connect at 20:00 KST?
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On May 21 2008 04:07 intotherainx wrote:
SEA IS A TOOL
that is all
Lets be friends.
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*sniffle* How can you rank Stork as not the #1 or #2 toss in the world right now?
Jangbi Fighting!
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Nice writeup and analysises Plexa *thumb up* excited to see how it all unfolds~`
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Daigomi/Banner__Ever_OSL_2008.jpg)
Sea
YellOw[ArnC] < Andromeda > 
