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Plexa
Profile Blog Joined October 2005
Aotearoa39261 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-10-02 19:17:28
October 02 2008 13:24 GMT
#1
[image loading]

There are good things and great things, then there are things made by Pachi...

So if you don't know what happened in the tiebreakers over the weekend then well, obviously you don't liquibet or have an interest in the OSL. In either case, it's pretty unlikely you'll be reading this report anyway. So yes, the tie-breakers happened; July tried to do some all in hydra build and failed while Much got schooled and Bisu emerged rather effortlessly from the tie-breaker. This caps off the Round of 8; which 99% of you will already know, but lets look at the bracket and have a look at who's got the best shot at the OSL title this season. Also there will be a brief preview of tomorrow's games for everyone to enjoy.

The Round of 8

(A) (T)Flash vs (Z)GGPlay
(B) (T)fantasy vs (T)Mind
(C) (T)Midas vs (P)BeSt
(D) (P)Stork vs (P)Bisu

With the winner of A and B playing in Semifinal 1 and the winner of C and D playing in Semifinal 2.

Flash
Flash has got it pretty easy I must say. Realistically GGPlay is largely here because he got stuck with two player who simply cannot play vs zerg. Both Rock and Light failed terribly against GGPlay and well, sometimes these things happen. Flash on the other hand just destroyed the group of death 3-0, which included July. He is the strong favorite heading into the game against GGPlay obviously. Afterwards he plays the winner of fantasy vs mind. If you've seen fantasy's TvT you know that fantasy is right up there among the best of the S class in this matchup. The odds are that he will defeat the very mortal Mind and face Flash in the semi. It should be a close battle, and it should come down as to whether Flash is the Flash we used to know and love, or some slumping fool.

GGplay
GGplay is in tough luck really. Although the last time Flash was in this position (as A1 seed) and was up against Luxury - the Zerg everyone discounted, Flash was destroyed in impressive fashion. But coming at this game from a realistic angle can only yield the result that Flash will win. Given, by some miracle, that GGPlay wins he's got a fairly good shot at making the final ironically. I'm not sure of fantasy's TvZ, as I can't recall any games of his off the top of my head. Whereas GGPlay was probably the second best Zerg through the latter half of the Savior era with his brilliant late game play. I would be fairly comfortable betting on GGplay should this eventuate.

fantasy
Fantasy has the dream run for him. Every so often one player gets a string of good matchups, and fantasy is getting a nice long string of TvTs. Mind isn't the former god he used to be, and even then he never really got to assert his dominance like Nada did. Fantasy on the other hand already has a fearsome reputation as one of the best TvT around - there is little doubt to me that he will take the series. Should Flash advance, fantasy has a real shot at making the final and getting very close to the end of the Royal Road. Obviously, if Flash plays in God mode there isn't anything fantasy can do, but that looks increasingly unlikely if recent Flash games are saying anything. Fantasy is a real contender for the title this OSL.

Mind
Mind has the unfortunate burden of having to play one of the best TvT around in the Ro8. The one advantage Mind has over fantasy is experience - he's gone to the top and back and knows what it's like to perform under pressure. Mind's best chances will come if fantasy gets rattled by his nervous, in which case Mind should dominate. However, fantasy has shown no sign of being weakened by nerves yet - and I don't think there is much of a chance that it will happen any time soon. If Mind should win, he comes up yet again against Flash - a fairly epic sounding TvT which will more than likely result in a boring drawn out Bo5.

Midas
Midas has the unfortunate duty of playing a teammate in the first round - a coaches nightmare. While Midas has been performing really well lately, I can't say I'm completely convinced that he's back to his former self. But, maybe that's a good thing as perhaps he will no longer choke when its important. His chances against BeSt are not good to be brutally honest. But as always in intra-team conflicts, anything can happen. Should he advance he will probably go 2-1 heading into Set 4 against either Stork or Bisu, then gain an advantage in Set 4 then choke terribly and lose it, and the last set.

BeSt
BeSt has a really good shot at making the final this time around. In fact, if I were to put money on finalists I would say fantasy vs Best final (Kingdom vs iloveoov at SPRIS anyone?). BeSt hasn't looked bad at all - only dropping games to Zergs in recent memory. Well thanks to OGN and it's "brilliant" set of maps, he only has one Zerg to contend with - and he's on the other side of the draw! Best should clean up Midas with little difficulty, defeat whomever wins from Stork/Bisu because it is his best matchup. And then take fantasy to school in the final. BeSt's first title could be a very real reality soon enough.

Stork
Stork has a number of problems to overcome to get to the finals this season. Problem 1: long time rival Bisu is his opponent in the Round of 8. Problem 2: Should he win, he will most likely face BeSt - the best PvP in the world. Both players will be a very difficult task for him to overcome. Bisu always brings his A game to the table, regardless of the circumstances and could very well knock him out. While BeSt one of a select member of Protoss players that can say they have a series win over Stork. With that being said, Stork is the only protoss to have a series win over Best - right back in Bacchus OSL. Stork has a tall order to make the final, but should he get there - he will be the favorite to win (and will go on to lose as always).

Bisu
Just like Stork, Bisu has problems to overcome. Bisu hasn't been known for his PvP - but that doesn't mean it's bad, just that his PvZ was just that much better. In his prime (and Storks) he managed to edge out Stork in probably the closest final of 2007. Their next encounter well... wasn't close at all and us PvP enthusiasts have been longing for a proper rematch for a long time now. This just might be that chance. Moving on from Stork we have a teammate battle regardless of the outcome of the other group. BeSt will likely defeat Bisu while Bisu should defeat Midas, but again its a teammate struggle and weird things happen in those situations (like Iris learning how to TvZ overnight right before his semifinal with Savior).


Friday's Games
Match A
(T) FlashMedusa(Z) GGPlay
(T) 31 - 16 (Z)(T) 1-2 (Z)(Z) 46 - 41 (T)

Medusa is probably a Zerg map, although we can't say for certain at this point just yet. Zerg seem to be the favored race to play here in proleague - which surely must be indicative of something. With that being said, this map is such a versatile map which can be played in a number of different styles. Things like 2rax are semi-valid, as well as a fast triple command due to the safety of the expos. It's a flexible environment and really, Flash will be able to make the most of it while GGPlay probably won't. The odds are firmly stacked against GGplay here, he's got a real monster to overcome and quite frankly, I don't think he's up to the task.

Match B
(T) fantasyPlasma(T) Mind
(T) 9 - 4 (T)(T) 2 games (T)(T) 24 - 19 (T)

While fantasy's stats are not impressive, his reputation certainly is. I know I've repeated this a lot already, so I'll try to refrain Plasma should favor the player with the better strategy and execution should be the difference between a win and a loss. Mind is renown for his impeccable execution in his timing pushes in TvP, and I suppose the question is can he transfer some of that across into this map? I think that fantasy stands a very good chance and will most likely win seeing as he should be able to hold off any advances from Mind (then again that's what we thought about Bisu). My money is on fantasy.

Match C
(T) MidasChupung-Ryeong(P) BeSt
(T) 53 - 32 (P)(T) 2-1 (P)(P) 16 - 12 (T)

Chupung-Ryeong has seen a remarkable amount of cheese in PvT thus far. Now over the years I've noticed that the best maps always have a myriad of cheesy games to open with before they settle into the macro style. Such maps include Peaks of Baekdu and more recently Blue Storm. Chupung looks set to continue this tradition - and Midas should know that cheese is coming. If Best is smart (which he is) he'll either place his cheese in a unique place or he won't cheese at all. I'm hoping and praying for the latter as this has the potential to be a really good game. Ultimately though, I do beleive Best will win although Midas will make Best work for every inch of ground.

Match D
(P) StorkReturn of the King(P) Bisu
(P) 59 - 32 (P)(P) 4 games (P)(P) 26 - 20 (P)

This map should yield a macro intensive fight with Stork trying to steal a macro advantage over Bisu and Bisu trying to exploit Stork for being greedy. That's just how Stork rolls these days. At least from the games I've seen, Stork is more than eager to try and establish his dominance through his macro and will always try and "cheat" himself ahead with a faster expo. This almost backfired against Backho, so here's hoping he plays a lot safer against Bisu for Bisu will not make the same mistakes as Backho. In all honesty, I think Bisu has a real edge on this map; Stork simply has not looked impressive on it. Thus I'm picking Bisu to take this set.


Proleague Pre-Match

While not OSL news it's definitely worth the mention for nostalgia's sake. There's a pre-match hype event for the Proleague also coming up tomorrow. I think that it is on MBC, but I'm not certain. I'm not even certain that there will be a stream for it (here's hoping there is though). The players are all retired players working in the industry, so it should bring back some pretty cool memories

Team Legend vs Mythical Team

Game 1: (T)Yooi < Destination > (P)EJi

Game 2: (Z)Junwi < Medusa > (T)[Oops]Lee

Game 3: (T)JoyO < Sword in the Moon > (T)ChRh

Game 4: (T)iloveoov < Chupung-Ryeong > (Z)H.O.T-Forever

Closer: Destination

Note that we get to see the recently retired Junwi back in action, as well as JoyO and ChRh back for one last stab at things. Should be really fun to watch so if you're around a couple hours before the OSL,.namely at 14:00, you may just be lucky enough to catch this.


That's all from me this week, semioldguy will be back next week to bring back the battle report for everyone to enjoy. After that both myself and semioldguy will be attending Blizzcon (yes it's already here!) so someone will fill in for us. The next few weeks look set to be very cool games with some classic matchups to be played over the coming rounds. Missing these games would be like betting on gosugamers.net in liquibet - not a smart move. Don't forget to tune into the show match either, which is being held on Saturday/Sunday. Keep an eye out for the clash of the "Head" writers between myself and vilda

Cheers,
Plexa

[image loading]
Administrator~ Spirit will set you free ~
MrHoon *
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
10183 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-10-02 13:30:18
October 02 2008 13:29 GMT
#2
(T)Flash > (Z)GGPlay
(T)Mind < (T)fantasy

(T)Flash ?????????????????????????? (T)fantasy

honestly I have no idea what will happen between those 2
dats racist
Fwmeh
Profile Joined April 2008
1286 Posts
October 02 2008 13:41 GMT
#3
yeah, Bisu sure has been impressive on ROTK.....
A parser for things is a function from strings to lists of pairs of things and strings
DoctorHelvetica
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States15034 Posts
October 02 2008 13:41 GMT
#4
Great write-up.

I'm really hoping Stork will take this Starleague. He's pretty hot right now, as he always is before the semi-finals, and I just want to see him get some closure. He deserves a gold medal.

Flash on the other hand has been playing either beastly or decently this season. Let's hope we can see the Ultimate Weapon in all his glory.

Epic TvP finals. BeSt v Flash, or Stork v Flash. Maybe Stork v.s Fantasy?

RIP Aaliyah
mrhilton
Profile Joined August 2008
34 Posts
October 02 2008 13:53 GMT
#5
tl just likes to minimize storks chances at all!

I'm pretty sure stork can win this time, no problem against maybe a fantasy
HaXxorIzed
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
Australia8434 Posts
October 02 2008 13:56 GMT
#6
That old-school showdown looks great. Setting up to be a damn good OSL, this. : ).
http://steamcommunity.com/id/HaXxorIzed
thunk
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States6233 Posts
October 02 2008 14:03 GMT
#7
GGplay versus Midas would be an Epic. It's probably the least likely combination to happen at this point.

Nice writeup Plexa.
Every time Jung Myung Hoon builds a vulture, two probes die. || My post count was a palindrome and I was never posting again.
HotZhot
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
Colombia677 Posts
October 02 2008 14:10 GMT
#8
Plexa you beat me to it, I had a preview just like this one... oh well

By the way is nice to see H.O.T again that guy is ooollldschool
I only smile in the darK [] sAviOr//JaeDong Fan 4 Ever ~ CJ Entusman # 7
Narrator
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
United States868 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-10-02 14:22:00
October 02 2008 14:21 GMT
#9
(T)Flash > (Z)GGPlay
(T)fantasy > (T)Mind
(T)Midas > (P)BeSt
(P)Stork < (P)Bisu

(T)Flash < (T)fantasy
(T)Midas > (P)Bisu

(T)fantasy > (T)Midas CRAPPY TvT Final!
darkemperor
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Turkey725 Posts
October 02 2008 15:01 GMT
#10
(T)Flash < (Z)GGPlay
(T)fantasy > (T)Mind
(T)Midas > (P)BeSt
(P)Stork < (P)Bisu

(T)fantasy < (Z)GGPlay
(T)Midas < (P)Bisu

(P)Bisu > (Z)GGPlay

No.1 PvZ will win teh OSL ftw
#1 Kim Taek Yong Fan <3 || Legend of the Fall // Fall of the Legend
Bifur
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
Russian Federation1208 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-10-02 15:07:47
October 02 2008 15:05 GMT
#11
I don't understand why do you underestimate (T)Mind's TvT. In the last november MSL, which he won, he advanced from the group of terrans, then beat (T)iloveoov and beat (T)Memory. Recently, I remember, he totally overplayed (T)Sea[Shield], some time ago he won (T)NaDa and (T)Hwasin. His TvT is quite good, he has good chances against (T)fantasy.
ii.blitzkrieg
Profile Joined November 2006
Canada1122 Posts
October 02 2008 15:16 GMT
#12
God I want Fantasy to win this so bad but I'd be happy with any other SKT member winning.
iloveoov / Flash / Fantasy / Midas / Boxer -BW forever
brjdrb
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States577 Posts
October 02 2008 15:25 GMT
#13
i don't think it's that he's underestimating (T)Mind's tvt. (T)fantasy's tvt is just that good.

(T)Flash > (Z)GGPlay
(T)fantasy > (T)Mind
(T)Midas > Best
(P)Stork > (P)Bisu

(T)Flash < (T)fantasy
(P)Stork > (T)Midas

(P)Stork > (T)fantasy

Imo, (T)fantasy's TvP is weaker than (P)Stork's need to get second place
Stork's biggest fan
Raithed
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
China7078 Posts
October 02 2008 15:27 GMT
#14
okay you want predictions?

flash > ggplay, come on, everyone fucking knows how horrid ggplay plays nowadays. >_>
fantasy < mind, im sorry but id rather want boring terran to play because experience means a lot.
midas < best, cakewalk lol.
stork > bisu, if stork is in good form, he can beat bisu. as much as i want bisu to go top 4...
Soju[src]
Profile Joined September 2008
Armenia17 Posts
October 02 2008 15:41 GMT
#15
Bisu vs Stork : a kind of King match up, it will be hard for Stork I think, but gl to him !
meegrean
Profile Joined May 2008
Thailand7699 Posts
October 02 2008 15:47 GMT
#16
I think Flash also has a chance to win the OSL.
Brood War loyalist
Scaramanga
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Australia8090 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-10-02 15:50:10
October 02 2008 15:47 GMT
#17
I still think this is how its gonna roll

(T)Flash > (Z)GGPlay
(T)fantasy > (T)Mind
(P)BeSt > (T)Midas
(P)Stork < (P)BeSt

(T)Flash > (T)fantasy
(P)BeSt > (T)Flash

(T)Flash 3-2 (P)BeSt - which would be a sick final

We arnt underestimating minds TvT, he was never great at the MU, I havent seen Fantasy's TvT but hopfully flash is playing well and we get a good series
I wouldnt mind if either Midas or Best went through just that they demolish stork so we dont have to see another final with him getting silver

GOGO Flash hwaiting
Loda talked about the fun counter, it's AdmiralBulldog on his natures prophet
disciple
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
9070 Posts
October 02 2008 15:51 GMT
#18
Midas will do a 2fac timing push in every game and that will be it. The closest for me at least should be Flash and GGplay, fantasy should beat mind pretty bad and bisu will destroy stork
Administrator"I'm a big deal." - ixmike88
iCCup.Trent
Profile Joined May 2005
Argentina450 Posts
October 02 2008 16:04 GMT
#19
I hope Flash doesn't win this!
MrHoon *
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
10183 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-10-02 16:36:54
October 02 2008 16:36 GMT
#20
What people said in previous thread

We dont need random ass people winning OSL and MSLs. I really wish someone with a title actually wins this Starleague

edit: We need fucking Bonjwas
dats racist
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