EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/pachi/banner/OSL_080730.png)
If Pachi has designed and decorated the Sistine Chapel it would look better
This was the do-or-die week for the group stages and almost everyone had their fates within their own hands. Win and increase your chance of staying alive, lose and that's it, the dream is over. With everything on the line all the players across the board upped their game and showcased arguably the best set of games from the group stage. While most people were sweating it out, Stork, Best and Flash could sit comfortably knowing that the chance that they were through the to next Round was very very high.
We'll go through the games of the last week and give each some brief attention and have a look at how the Round of 8 is shaping up. Unfortunately I can't tell you what that looks like just yet, but we do have a better picture than we did this time last week! On top of that we'll have all the vods from the past week from the Teamliquid's youtube account, Nevake. Also over the past few weeks some things have caught my eye and it's about time that they be brought into the spotlight for discussion. This week we'll be discussing Plasma and the effect it has had on this tournament thus far. Lastly, to celebrate the OSL's brilliance the poll has been updated and is now inquiring about the best OSL game thus far! So head over and vote and leave a much valued comment.
1. Day 5 (Wed) Recap
2. Day 6 (Fri) Recap
3. Week 3 Results
4. Tie-Breaker Preview
5. Talking Point - Plasma
Day 1 Recap
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
Much really needed to put the "Pro" back into Protoss this week - and he stepped up to the plate and delivered just that. Whether it was Much's brilliance or July's ineptitude can be debated, but ultimately Much's rush was a flaming success. Much sent his probe up July's ramp and built a pylon behind the minline and faked that he was scouting for July's expansion. July really should have had an overlord check what Much's probe was doing, but nevertheless the cheese put Much far ahead in the game. July fought hair tooth and nail to claw the game back, but sadly it wasn't enough.
Much 1-0 July
Much 1-0 July
Group B
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTTPZdGo4Ho
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] + |  |  |
 GGPlay | Return of the King |  Rock |
| 25 - 25 | 4-0 | 26 - 39 |
Rock has been a continuing source of disappointment for me this season, despite the fact he always performs so well in the qualifying stages. This game was no exception... GGPlay however was out for revenge, having lost to Rock last season - and that's exactly what he attained. Rock was never really in control of the game as he, as always, opted for a reaver build. GGplay perfectly exploited a timing window in Rock's build and get Mutalisks to wreck havoc. Rock was forced to counter GGPlay with Zealots, but the damage had already been done. Rock attempted to build up a large army of Dragoon to complement his Reavers but against a tide of Muta/Ling Rock never really stood a chance.
GGPlay 1-0 Rock
GGPlay 1-0 Rock
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
Luxury never really looked like he was going to win this game at all. Even though he played an aggressive Mutalisk/Scourge opening Mind's own aerial force of Wraith, and later Valkyrie made short work of Luxury. There were some cute Wraith moves to avoid Scourge and a pretty decent battle, but really, Luxury couldn't get at Mind's growing economy and eventually was overrun by units.
Mind 1-0 Luxury
Mind 1-0 Luxury
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
For a Sea fan this was just one big long disappointment. From missing Stork's proxy to the rape that followed. Sea's had a tough break this OSL, and sadly, his future looks very bleak in this tournament.
Stork 1-0 Sea
Stork 1-0 Sea
Day 6 Recap
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
This really was a quite impressive cheese by Flash. What he did was send out his 5th/6th SCVs to jump the temple by using the minerals nearby and then proxy barracks/bunker behind Bisu's minline. This did, however, lave him with 4 scvs mining and very little army. The question remains as to what would have happened if Bisu had countered and perhaps the game might have gone the other way. Nevertheless, Flash wins in cheesy fashion and advances 3-0.
Flash 1-0 Bisu
Flash 1-0 Bisu
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
Best showed why he is the best in this game by showing off his cool and clean mechanics. Even though his DT drop did exactly 0 damage (in fact the DT's never left the shuttle) he just continued to macro and teched for semi-early Arbiters. By the time Light moved out, Best simply double recalled Light's main and razed Terran structures, civilians and militia. Light attempted to counter, but Best's reinforcements reduced his army to an insignificant amount. And with that Light called gg
Best 1-0 Light
Best 1-0 Light
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
This is probably the perfect TvZ on this map. Thezerg played his heart out and I don't think he could have played this game any better than what he did. Unfortunately, Midas really really wanted to win this game and he played the perfect TvZ on this map. Using a combination of Metal and Valkyries Thezerg was rendered helpless. Midas was able to dominate the center of the map and every choke point with his Metal army and thus stop Thezerg from expanding anywhere outside of his island. His Valkyrie also destroyed anything aerial - rendering any mass mutalisk attempt useless. Brilliantly played by both sides, and very disappointing that this map had to decide each players fate.
Midas 1-0 Thezerg
Midas 1-0 Thezerg
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
This was a rather peculiar game as it is probably the first time that the majority of Teamliquid has wanted Backho to win, as a victory would force a tie-break and give Sea a second chance. Backho, however, had other plans and tried to work a scouted cheese. He tried to recover, but fantasy's relentless Vulture control and monstrous macro proved too much in the end. Backho looked promising at points, and managed to stall fantasy's first major push successfully - but subsequent reinforcements overran him.
fantasy 1-0 Backho
fantasy 1-0 Backho
Week 3 Results
Day 5
July < 
Much
GGPlay > Rock
Luxury < 
Mind
Stork > Sea
Day 6
Flash > Bisu
BeSt > Light
Thezerg < Midas
BackHo < fantasy
July < MuchGGPlay > RockLuxury < MindStork > SeaDay 6
Flash > BisuBeSt > LightThezerg < MidasBackHo < fantasyGroup A
A1: Flash
A2: Tie-Breaker
Group B
B1: BeSt
B2: GGPlay
Group C
C1: Mind
C2: Midas
Group D
D1: Stork
D2: fantasy
Tie-Break Predictions (12pm KST Today!)
The OSL is not messing around this season, and is getting the sole tie-breaker out of the way as fast as it possibly can. Thus the tie-breakers are happening in a matter of hours. July, Much and Bisu are back to produce some amazing games, like they did throughout the group stage. It should come as no surprise that these three produced the best set of games from the group stages, as you can probably tell by the nominations on the poll. Let's have a look at what the good folks over at OGN have in store for us today...
The first game of the night is July vs Bisu, which is a very nice way to start the festivities. Last time they met July pretty much dominated Bisu by pressuring Bisu in places where it made him feel uncomfortable. July demonstrated that he knows what he's doing, and having already been cheesed once - I'm sure it won't happen again. July should be the strong favorite here. Daigomi predicted that Zerg's would find this map nice, and I have a feeling (based off July's strong resistance in the Much game) that July will be able to exploit this to his advantage and take the win over Bisu.
Should July win, this will be the second game of the evening. This map is rather disgusting for Zerg vs Protoss, so July will have to play his heart out if he wants to beat Much. Much saved himself via cheese to get here, and hopefully he starts playing straight up - because he's really strong like that. However with that said, I like July's chances. July is a master at defeating Sair/Reaver (anything involving a myriad of Zerg units always works in July's favor) which is the preferred playstyle here. Much has his work cut out for him, and given his PvZ track record, I dont think he will step up.
 |  |  |
| Much | Chupung-Ryeong | Bisu |
| 26 - 23 | 0 games | 25 - 20 |
Should we end up with a 1-1 situation across the board, a second round of playoffs will be played in this order:
Game 1:
July < Plasma > BisuGame 2/3:
Bisu < Medusa > MuchGame 2/3:
Much < Chupung-Ryeong > JulyIn which case the chances for July are increases even further given the better maps.
Talking Point - Plasma
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/maps/183_Plasma.jpg)
Plasma is the innovative island map this season, and it hasn't exaclly produced the most balanced games. Plasma has been nothing short of a terrible ZvT map - with only a single win coming from Thezerg over Hwasin in the qualifiers. The effect this is having on the OSL is actually quite profound and rather terrible. It is single handedly eliminating Zergs from the OSL. Does it really come as any surprise as there is only one zerg out of 4 guarenteed of advancing into the Round of 8 (with the possibility of July as well)? Does it surprise you that out of all the Zergs that qualified for the OSL Round 1 that only two made it through to the Starleague itself? While this map hasn't shown imbalance in PvZ yet, I am confident this will also manifest itself and we will have an absolute Zerg graveyard - worse than Monty Hall.
The thing about this map is that a Terran can literally dominate the map and expand freely and shut down Zerg expos with ease. Tanks are perhaps the most effective unit to break through the egg barriers, and when the barriers are broken they often leave a very small choke behind - perfect for Terran to camp. Effectively, there is no way of attacking a seiged Terran when he is camping behind the egg wall as a Zerg. What Zerg's can do (and what Thezerg did vs Hwasin) is go Mutalisks, and use Mutalisks to overwhelm the Terran before the game drags on. Unofortunantly, Valkyries have seen rather regular use since, and they eat Mutalisks like no tomorrow. With the easy 2nd gas, Terrans can play a safe metal/valk build which dominates every facet of the map and makes it near impossible for Zerg. Note that Tanks can also fire from the center expos down into the Zerg main with horrifying effectiveness.
Group C was worst hit by this - as the two deciding games of the group were both held on plasma and they were both TvZ. As a result both Terrans advanced with ease, despite the fact that the Zergs in the group were ferocious. Just look at Thezerg in his other games and you can see that he was a real contender in this OSL - but was stopped by the imbalance on this map (and Midas's beautiful exploitation of said imbalance). The fact that Plasma was the group decider also meant Mr. "I Can't TvZ" was able to easily defeat one of the best ZvT players in the world. This is simply not right, and Plasma is ruining what could have been one of the best OSLs ever.
Atleast Plasma has shown some form of balance in PvT, but thats really just forcing upon the world another Legend of the Fall frenzy. The maps are really good for PvT, so I guess that's just OGN trying to generate some hype and not have a Zerg ruin the Legend of the Fall like last year (thanks Jaedong). So what is Plasma? OGN ploy to revive and encourage the Legend of the Fall? The combination of Soju and Insomnia? Or simply the mistake that should have never happened? I want to hear your opinions on the matter.
That's all for this edition of the OSL news, there will be a news post sometime early next week with the result of the tie-breakers and we'll have a good hard look at the Round of 8 and get some details on the players for you. This was a good week for the OSL and some great games were produced, and we still have a few more to come today - so don't forget to tune into the tie-breakers at 12pm today before the GOM Classic.
Plexa![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/I_OSL_2/incruit2.jpg)
