WCS
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Three weeks ago, 16 hopefuls stood in four groups and prepared to battle it out to determine which 8 of them would proceed. With the final week of group play concluded last week those 8 have come forth. Well, not exactly. One group needs a round of tie breakers, to be held on Friday, to determine which player will become the lucky last to enter the Ro8. This week, almost all of the gamers hold their destiny in their hands and are playing do or die games.
But let us not forget the recently concluded Razer TSL, there are still a number of places you should visit before cementing it into your memory as a monumental event in Starcraft history.
- 9500+ Replays from the TSL ladder stage
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- Spoilerless VODs in case you missed any games and have been too lazy to catch up
- TSL Wallpapers for those who can't get enough of the brilliant art
- Every piece of TSL art for diehard TSL enthusiast
With the TSL concluded the OSL coverage will move into biweekly installments to keep you up to date in addition to bringing back the Battle Report. Many things for you to look forward to in the future
. Also keep an eye out for news regarding TSL S2 - it could be you who stands atop the podium this time around. For now let's get up to speed with the OSL.Wednesday's Games
We all knew it was coming, most of us were holding out hope that Sea could pull through, but as the game of Starcraft shows us - there are no fairytale endings. Just as Lim Yo Hwan was denied the Golden Mouse, Sea was denied another OSL run. We really have to think about how much longer Sea will be able to stick around in the major leagues before he descends into mediocrity to join his fellow MBC comrades. At the moment he is doing a feat similar to Goodfriend or Mumyung - however both of those players had finals placings to add to their name; Sea has nothing. Flash, as expected, advances to the Ro8 and is looking stupidly dominant.
A huge hurrah! from me as my favorite up and comer dominates a fearsome group. Best, with his Pusan-esque style, is looking amazing on all fronts. Sure he dropped a game to Mind - but he is one of a handful of people able to hold his own against Flash and Mind in TvP and looks to go far this tournament. Jangbi on the other hand is placed in a rather awkward position as he is forced to pray that NaDa doesn't beat Stork, and that he can pull through from what will be a tough qualifier.
What is it with SKT Zergs and qualifying when they clearly shouldn't. Rumble has taken liege from Mumyung as the "how did i get here, and why do i keep qualifying" player of OSL and SKT. Luxury advances from the all Zerg group as C2 which is rather surprising given his prior form. After weeks of practicing ZvZ he can be happy that there won't be any more ZvZ until the finals - if he and July make it. Time to brush up on your ZvP eh?
And just like that, a giant is slain. In what is without doubt an upset, Much defeats the timing god Mind in a fairly good game. Given the skewed nature of group D, Mind's loss means that there is no way he can qualify for the Ro8 which means that there is no more Mind in this tournament. Much, ole gramps, advances on to the Ro8 and hopefully this time he won't drop out in a disappointing set. Full props to him for being the only CJ player to have respectable form.
Friday's games
Wow Rock, finally you learn to play good PvZ builds on the right maps. GGPlay was left without a gasp of wind in his depleted lungs as Rock stomped all over him in surprisingly dominant fashion. While giving hope to the myriad of Rock fans that this may be the cavemans time to shine, it depresses FakeSteve by removing all hope of Sea advancing. Rock should be very happy advancing from this tough tough group.
Stork was literally playing for his life in this game. A win by Nada here would have eliminated both Stork and Jangbi from the OSL leading to an unhappy Stork, Jangi and January. Stork rose to the occasion and churned out a semi-decent PvT to topple the most successful player of all time. As a Stork fan it was refreshing to see some first class defense from him, which has given me hope for next week. All this has done is force a round of tiebreakers, so Stork-Nada-Jangbi will all be vying for that last spot - they can't relax just yet.
It was a game that didn't matter and a game that no one cared about. It was a messy and rather chaotic encounter where Yarnc emerged victorious - but it simply didn't matter. July cruises to C1 and it looks as if he has already started practicing for the Ro8 (which will most certainly be a protoss) so a simple giant meh for this game
In another, depressing, upset in Group D BackHo adds Bisu to the list of scalps he's claimed. BackHo thus wins the party pooper award seeing as he has single handedly prevented Jaedong, Casy and Bisu from showing us their stuff in the OSL. It couldn't possibly be worse from a sponsors point of view or a spectators point of view. Seriously, i could count the number of BackHo fans on one hand. Ugh BackHo will go up against July in the Ro8 and if he eliminates him i will simply be dumbfounded.
So what left this week? Well we have one tiebreaker to clear up (Stork-Jangbi-Nada) and after that we can reveal the full Ro8 Bracket. Anyway let's have a look at this weeks games;
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Oh the hilarity, Stork and Jangbi meet face to face yet again. I'm sure Stork is having nightmares about this decision to include Jangbi in his group. Nevertheless, here they are yet again battling it out for our enjoyment. It's difficult to call this rematch as Stork could pull out some miracle and score a win - that being said Jangbi has looked damn good lately and his form might topple his team mate.
While this is a big concern to the bird man, I'm starting to think that Jangbi has ridden his wave for the time being and won't make it out of the tiebreaker. I'm picking Jangbi to win but...
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... he simply won't defeat Nada here. Nada has already defeated Jangbi on this map and is poised to do it again. Sure he lost to Stork last week - but that map sucks for Terran against Protoss (as proved by Nada). Nada is strong here and he has proved it time and time again. Jangbi's eroding form coupled with Nada's genius spell victory for out beloved otter. However Nada does not get out of the woods so easily.
Despite misleading statistics, this map plain sucks for Terran. Given a Protoss is skilled with carriers (check) Protoss invariably defeats Terran. Here's hoping that not the case this time around ... I'm hoping Nada wins but it seems likely that Stork will win here. Stork should be able to defeat Nada, which is rather annoying because then we go back to the beginning...
And this time i expect things to play out similarly but Jangbi to defeat Nada on Troy - and hence qualifying. Nada really has gotten a rotten map draw this time around
If things don't go as i have predicted, just note that Nada will play the winner of the first game first. Don't forget to tune in at 18:30 KST on Friday to watch the last few strands get tied up (and to see some sexy nada action). Also get hyped up for an epic season of Teamliquid Attack starting this Saturday with eSTRO Progamer MinGu - which will be an amazing event for sure. Next weeks recap will have all the dirt on the Round of 8 coupled with schedules, pretty art and predictions - but until then...
Plexa
