What last Sunday lacked in Zerg action, it made up for with a succession of one-sided Protoss stompings, which is pretty entertaining in and of itself-- assuming you're a bit of a sadist when it comes to the performance of Protoss players. Fortunately for me, I am: I laughed out loud at Index's play versus sKyHigh.
Still, it's an alarming change from last season-- where Protoss seemed to dominate every round of play-- that halfway through GOM's round of 32, Goojila is the only Protoss to have qualified for the round of 16, and there are only 6 Protoss left in the GOM Classic S3. In contrast, 7 Terran remain (6 of which have already qualified for the round of 16), and 11 Zerg remain (though only 1 has qualified for the next round).
What does this mean for GOM's future race-balance? Well, there's the potential for a Quarterfinals that lacks any Protoss presence whatsoever. It's just potential, though, and not set in stone. Shuttle, for example, has a solid opportunity to reach the quarterfinals, as he's the favorite over ZergBong and should have a fair chance against Hwasin (his Ro16 opponent). Goojila also has some chance to make it to the quarterfinals... though his Ro16 opponent, July, is significantly stronger vs Protoss than is Hwasin. The remaining Protoss' chances for a quarterfinals birth, however, are bleak.
jjonga, for instance, has to get past Jaedong, which (let's face it) would be difficult even if Jaedong broke an index finger before the match. If Much gets past Falcon in the Ro32, he'll likely face Jaedong in the Ro16, and that's bad news for the "old man". Violet shouldn't be able to beat Luxury in the Ro32, let alone Mind/EffOrt in the Ro16. And although Tempest has a decent chance vs Hul, he should be stopped in the Ro16 by either forhitech or MenSol[ZerO].
Yup, the lack of BeSt and Bisu as well as the map changes has certainly altered GOM's looks! Considering how last season panned out, though, I can't say I'm not looking forward to a lot more Terran and Zerg matches.
I'd expect Calm to take his match against HoeJJa, but unless Jaedong's playing, you never can tell with ZvZ. Aside from his victory over sAviOr in his last GOM match, HoeJJa has shown absolutely no success in ZvZ, which automatically makes him the underdog here... but I wouldn't be surprised if HoeJJa upset Calm.
I do not expect ZergBong to make it into the next round, but that's really up to Shuttle. Shuttle doesn't play PvZ in proleague and has a 5-9 record in the match up according to TLPD, but the majority of his losses came in the form of games against the likes of Jaedong, Luxury, and forhitech, which puts a big questionmark on his PvZ. I don't think he's as bad at PvZ as his record suggests and ZergBong is such a bad player that Shuttle gets to be the favorite in this series. 'Course... the last player I called bad (MVP) beat Shine 2-1, and ZergBong did take a game off of Stork in GOM S1, so we'll see.
Jaedong should eliminate jjonga. Period. End of story.
Jaedong's teammate, Falcon, showed some incredible mutalisk control as well as nerves of steel when he eliminated the legendary NaDa 2-1 in the Ro64. I'm very interested in seeing what he can do in ZvP. Is Falcon a prodigy overshadowed by Jaedong's overwhelming dominance, or just some flash in the pan that caught Nada on an off-day? In my mind, Much is the favorite by default, simply because I know next to nothing about Falcon, but this is a great opportunity for Falcon to make a name for himself. One thing's certain, if Nada didn't intimidate this rookie, I doubt Much will.
Odds n' Ends GOMtv Needs Hosts! ....For Warcraft 3 If you're a good WC3 host and wanna help GOM out, be sure to check the link.
Poll: What do you think about Protoss' chances? (Vote): It's in Protoss' nature to fail. (Vote): I blame the brackets! (Vote): I blame the maps! (Vote): I blame SK Telecom T1! (Vote): You're not just wrong, but a Protoss is winning GOM S3!
Index v Skyhigh game 2 as the recommended game? Seriously? Not everyone likes seeing Protoss fail miserably, dude. I have to agree with Tasteless that that was about the worst professional game I've seen, probably ever.
Maybe when the maps aren't so Zerg favored and the better Toss actually participate, the races will be more balanced out toward the end
Not to mention Stork/Jangbi being in huge slumps when they played. (Jangbi was outplayed by Baby though. God that kid is good.) And Backho having to play July relatively early compared to the other big-namers still getting to pick on the weaker prey.
On May 21 2009 04:47 Macavenger wrote: Index v Skyhigh game 2 as the recommended game? Seriously? Not everyone likes seeing Protoss fail miserably, dude. I have to agree with Tasteless that that was about the worst professional game I've seen, probably ever.
It's a concise summary of what happened that night... Protoss was steamrolled by Terran. Since people complained about my suggested game last week, too, allow me to provide a disclaimer: All the "suggested games" are subjectively chosen to be a fun feature of these articles and to encourage people that don't have the time to watch all of GOM's games to watch at least a few of them. They are not serious business and they are not democratically decided upon. Sometimes the games will be perfection, other times they'll be sloppy but entertaining, and occasionally they'll be hilariously bad. My choices aren't "the last word," nor are they all encompassing. Far from it. I only link to one game per week, though there are frequently multiple games/series worth watching, and what I enjoy may not be something you enjoy. I encourage TL members to use whatever medium they've access to in order to suggest their favorite games to their friends just as I'm doing.
T1's withdrawal from S3 took bisu and best away from us, that alone is the biggest dissapointment of this season 3, but then again, because of a few team not participating we get the chance to see Idra play lol...
and samsung's protoss elimination just crushed any hope of protoss advancing further down the tourneys, its a sad day for protoss... before the season began i was so looking forwards towards a possible Bisu vs Jaedong rematch, the special match for gom wasn't decisive enough imo, round 5 is just..... lol
Since protoss is the strongest if it gets time to macro, and the maps now are all macro style, it appeals to people, which means more people playing it, so the other races have to get better at playing protoss, since more of their opponents are protoss. Therefore everyone can now beat protoss.
It's obvious Protoss do not have any presence. Bisu does not participate and except for kal all good Protoss players were caught in a super slump (look at stork and free who threw their games away very badly. Jangbi was really outplayed but he still is in a slump).
On May 21 2009 06:42 tree.hugger wrote: What's with these match-ups, does GOM do themed days now?
They also seem to put a lot of players from the same team on the same day. I can remember an STX day and a Samsung day, maybe there's been more. (WeMade day?)
Now it's possible that Skyhigh/Flash/Jaedong will lose before this, but just looking at what he actually has to play against even in theory makes my head hurt.
I am also confused why TL seems to hate protoss with a passion. Over the history of SC the race we have seen dominate the least is protoss. oh well I love all races equally. Sucks that there was no Bisu!
what do you mean least dominent is protoss, there are plenty of protoss starleague wins... just look up bisu/anytime/reach and you'll easily find periods where toss owned.
Not that I care about STX or anything, but why did Gom's bracket's have basically all of the STX players on one side (and corner), so if they win, they'll end up facing teammate after teammate?
On May 21 2009 11:32 Zeridian wrote: what do you mean least dominent is protoss, there are plenty of protoss starleague wins... just look up bisu/anytime/reach and you'll easily find periods where toss owned.
Anytime and Reach only have 1 OSL title each. Though they are great players, I wouldn't say they were dominant. What he said is correct, Protoss are historically the least dominant race.
Now it's possible that Skyhigh/Flash/Jaedong will lose before this, but just looking at what he actually has to play against even in theory makes my head hurt.
On May 21 2009 11:32 Zeridian wrote: what do you mean least dominent is protoss, there are plenty of protoss starleague wins... just look up bisu/anytime/reach and you'll easily find periods where toss owned.
very good, good writing im protoss fan, but yeah - toss performances in last 3 month were weak. and basiclly, i can't see even one toss player in semifinals. that's not good for fans, but even more - very bad for young toss players. i really enjoy style and tactics that young and uknown but talented zergs do in korea nowadays. i think Zerg is race that will evolve once more soon, and there will be no more 'goons era'.
so, whenever i see young toss player in korea, i really cheer for him - just like i saw pure play in 2007 and im waiting for his "boom" till today, but you know - it's all happening too slow. zerg will dominate kespa top30 soon, i think
i can't wait to see violet vs luxury. and dude, im not so sure, if lux can take it. first of all, his proligue performance is just horrible - 5 losses streak (worst in his career), when violet is on 5 winning streak (best in his career). but it doesn't even mean so much if you remember thath both of them are teammates. and we saw it so many times - one young lion eating his friend 3:0, cause they know each other better than coach.
On May 21 2009 11:32 Zeridian wrote: what do you mean least dominent is protoss, there are plenty of protoss starleague wins... just look up bisu/anytime/reach and you'll easily find periods where toss owned.
Anytime and Reach only have 1 OSL title each. Though they are great players, I wouldn't say they were dominant. What he said is correct, Protoss are historically the least dominant race.
Part of the problem with Protoss is that during their most dominant era, which is 2007 to Now, they have made TONS of finals but failed to clinch a huge number of them- mostly due to two people- the Samsung twin towers Jangbi and Stork. Between them they have six Starleague silver medals out of 7 finals appearances. On top of that you have Kal & Best with silver medals in the last 2 years, and Bisu has one of his own, and he's the only one to have any sort of good success in the finals of Starleagues. Add that up and you get 9 Protoss 2nd place finishes over just 2 years.
I blame the matchups in the game. Unfortunately all of the Protoss players who could advance are getting raeped by much better players before they even have a chance to advance and gain some momentum.
I dont think the protoss powerhouses are serious enough in GOM. Stork and Jangbi wouldn't lose to the 2 rookies if it was MSL/OSL and its PvT as well. SKT don't even give a damn. It would probably be the compy as least prestigious and only serve for foreign fans that they don't care.
On May 21 2009 11:32 Zeridian wrote: what do you mean least dominent is protoss, there are plenty of protoss starleague wins... just look up bisu/anytime/reach and you'll easily find periods where toss owned.
On May 22 2009 01:49 Baddieko wrote: I dont think the protoss powerhouses are serious enough in GOM. Stork and Jangbi wouldn't lose to the 2 rookies if it was MSL/OSL and its PvT as well. SKT don't even give a damn. It would probably be the compy as least prestigious and only serve for foreign fans that they don't care.
Highly coinincidental this only happened to protosses
I don't see why the maps get so little attention, the maps are the main reason for the Protoss downfall in both the other leagues (see OSL prelims) and SPL. It seems that the maps swing between favouring Zerg and Protoss while Terran always does alright on them. I'm not even sure what would make a map anti-Terran, maybe some weird island map that was all air?
Well... last season got slightly dull with all the protoss domination. And TvZ is my favorite match up to watch; I can't say I'm not looking forward to the next few rounds regardless of whether Protoss players are in them. Just hopefully the finals won't be tvt T-T
EPT![[image loading]](/staff/Tadzio/GOMS3/aiclassic3w.png)
Index's play versus 
sKyHigh.
ZergBong and should have a fair chance against ![[image loading]](/staff/Tadzio/GOMS3/GOMbracket32.png)
![[image loading]](http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/875336/mvpequalreach.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/875336/mvpexplosionsmall2.jpg)
