EPT
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With OSL and MSL quickly wrapping up, it seems awkward that there's still a league going on. The Gom Classic is moving into its second day of the round of 8 today and to sum it up rather briefly;
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Gom_Ro8_2_P/Mirror.jpg)
However the news just gets worse, the matchups are between players who just wont pull in the crowds. That's okay though, because last weeks games were highly entertaining and were some of the best games of the whole tournament. So if you haven't watched those yet, you're in luck as this news post has all the information you need.
Our good friend Tasteless has pulled through for TL and for those competing for the $25 in the Bracket Contest you now are also competing for autographs of the Semifinalist from the Gom Classic! That's right, win the bracket contest and you'll be getting yourself some progamer autographs. Further details are to be negotiated so stay tuned to see how you can win cool stuff just by watching the Gom Classic. Also, expect an update on the bracket contest after the Round of 8 is completed.
Last week the Round of 8 kicked off with a bang as Shuttle took on the macro monster ForGG. The coaches of KTF and Khan both predicted ForGG to romp in easy and take the series 2-0, however Shuttle had different plans and jumped out to a fairly strong lead in the first game. However in a classic rookie mistake, Shuttle played over-aggressive. Shuttle suicided a great number of his forces into ForGG's tankfire and handed him the game on a silver platter. With that, ForGG continued the unbeaten Terran streak on Othello with stats something like 10-0.
The second game on Blue Storm was a nail biting encounter that drove the spectators wild. Shuttle opened with a proxy build which was promptly scouted and made ineffective by ForGG and ForGG jumped out to a huge lead. Thanks to some good building placement, Shuttle was able to hold off Vulture harass and miraculously stayed in the game. To follow up his survival he invested in a Reaver drop - catching ForGG completely off guard. However his harass only scored minimal SCV kills as glitchy AI made the task at hand hell. ForGG was eager to take this to a macro game and took a hidden expansion and sieged up well. Nevertheless, Shuttle was quickly on the move and miraculously broke ForGG's army and went on to win the game with ease, squaring things up 1-1.
With Katrina as the last map, everything was looking up for Shuttle. Knowing that the map is terrible for Terran TvP and that most Protoss opt for 14 Nex, ForGG decides to go all in. Despite poor micro by Shuttle, he managed to hold off the attack and then go on the take the game. It was all over too soon. Shuttle surprised everyone and took the series easily 2-1.
Keen to watch this series? Want to see Shuttle do some sick push breaking? Well you're in luck!
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
But of course, the match that everyone was waiting for was Jaedong vs Lomo. All of the coaches in attendance thought that Jaedong will take the series 2-0, which was not surprising really given Jaedong's recent form. Much like his teammate, Backho, Lomo decided to open 8rax against Jaedong in order to gain an early advantage. The rush managed to do lots of damage and basically forced Jaedong into an all in situation. Jaedong took that opportunity and somehow massed a large number of lings and countered Lomo. And indeed, Jaedong walked away with a miraculous win against the odds.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Gom_Ro8_2_P/1.jpg)
Both parties were eager to play a nice orthodox game on Blue Storm, Lomo opening with a 1rax FE and Jaedong with a 12hatch. However the game progressed somewhat similar to Jaedong/Hwasin with Lomo going for a fast 4rax. Jaedong's mutalisks did some damage, but a number were caught by Lomo and he suffered some losses. Knowing that Jaedong had a weak mutalisk force and was transitioning to Lurker/Hive, Lomo moved out and killed off Jaedong's 3rd gas with some decent micro. The game progresses to a standard TvZ lategame with the classic swarm vs vessel fights.
Lomo manages to control Jaedong's expansions, and despite some careless vessel control, manages to gain an advantage. Lomo switches over to dropship based play and is reasonably successful with them. However his micro comes apart and suffers huge losses to lurkers throughout the end of the game. In a rare scene, Jaedong begins to fall apart as a good drop flusters him. Very soon his mineral only goes down and losses his cool, and the game. Lomo manages to square things up 1-1.
With everything on the line, people were expecting an amazing game closer, and that's what they got. Both opened with the typical Katrina builds, both going for a fast expansion. However Lomo had no interest in entering another macro game and progressed into a smooth sunkbreak. As Lomo is marching across the map, Jaedong is just getting his Lurkers together and it is not long before Marine fire tears down the Zerg sunk line. Somehow Jaedong manages to fend off the attack and stay in the game.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Gom_Ro8_2_P/2.jpg)
Jaedong then enters desperate mode, and goes for a Kwanro-esque 2 base turbo Hive. Lomo transitions into a standard SK Terran army while also getting Dropships ready. Jaedong completely neutralizes the Dropships with scourges while simultaneously pushing hard into Lomo with Swarm/Lurker/Ling. Jaedong keeps up the pressure from this point onwards and continually edges at Lomo.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Gom_Ro8_2_P/3.jpg)
Lomo shows signs of weakness with his poor vessel control and Jaedong's hyper-aggression gets to him, and Jaedong takes full control of the game. Despite some desperate attempts to get back in the game, like almost taking down Jaedong's third expansion and trying to expand to 5, Lomo cannot withstand the might of the Swarm. With Scourges taking out Vessels left right and center, Lomo is helpless against a full hivetech army. Lomo tries to take down Jaedong's expo at 9 but a brilliantly timed nydus completes and rapes Lomo's strike force.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Gom_Ro8_2_P/5.jpg)
With plagues and swarms being cast over his army, and with no vessels to kill off the defilers, once his army is surrounded and slaughtered by Jaedong one last time he concedes the series. Jaedong take an epic win 2-1.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Gom_Ro8_2_P/6.jpg)
If you haven't seen these games yet, you must at least watch game 3 - it's just dripping with epicness.
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Okay so whats in store for us this week in the Gom Classic? Well we have Stork vs Backho and Flash vs Memory ready to duel it out for our pleasure.
Backho has proven that he can tango with the best when it comes to PvP and has notable wins against the likes of Bisu, Much and Jangbi. Recently, Stork has looked weak in his former best matchup. Stork's dropped a number of PvPs to Best and Jangbi in the OSL; and that's shaken my confidence in him. There is nothing fancy in this matchup, it's going to be a cold hard mechanics war and whoever takes the first set will take the whole thing 2-0.
So who will win the first set? Well that's a difficult question. Backho barely scraped past Ganzi last round, and suffered a bitter loss to July in the OSL. There are two options really, either he is demoralized from his failures or he is motivated to win. I'm inclined to say the latter and thus he should put on a good show for us. Stork on the other hand has only this league to focus on, seeing as he never got far in either league. My bet is that he is hungry to prove that he is also a strong contender. So who's going to win? Probably Backho; but i like to think Stork will pull away easily.
This is one of the sorriest matchups of the entire round of 8. Flash, arguably the best TvT right now, against Memory, who has nothing to add to his name really. Memory simply dropped off the face of the planet after his brief run in GomS3 where he lost to Mind in the Quarterfinals. Memory hasn't really done anything outside of this tournament since then and it's amazing that he's managed to make it this far.
Flash, however, is not going to budge an inch. TvT is a very forgiving matchup, and Flash is miles ahead of Memory in his mechanics and sense. Thus this should be an easy, and boring, 2-0 rape for Flash.
Naruto has been busy, and will be back in full force next week
So Look forward to a better quality news post next time around! I know a number of you are still excited/annoyed about the result of the OSL final, but please don't forget about this wonderful tournament. Even if the games suck, rest assured that Tasteless will make this event highly entertaining, and remember, you may be able to win some prizes just by watching the stream who knows!!Plexa
G.s)Naruto
Thanks to Highways for the images
