Round 1 - 18th July 2009

Game 1 - go.go vs Iris - <Neo Harmony>
We knew we would get a TvT, a ZvT or a ZvZ on Harmony, but I'm a little surprised that CJ decided to send a Terran on this map instead of a Zerg. They could have gone for EffOrt to have him rested if he's needed in an ACE match maybe.

Hite gets a hit in the guessing game though, sending go.go in his strongest match up. Still on the other side stands Iris, strong overall and with a lot of games played versus Terran in the last months.

My guess is Iris will try to play it standard, a quick command Center followed up with mass Vulture to match the map's usual play. That's exactly the scenario in which go.go won versus Hwasin one week ago, but Iris should be stronger competition.

The Berserker takes a bite off magikarp's fin and puts CJ in the lead.

Hite SPARKYZ 0 - 1 CJ Entus

Game 2 - Horang2 vs Movie - <Destination>
No surprise from Hite here, Horang2 loves Destination, and Destination loves Horang2. It fits his style well, allows all sorts of crazy and sneaky cheese builds. If it were up to me, I would call Horang2 the Rat Toss, and you know what? I will.

Like Rat Toss, Movie has a small pool of games to really look into statistics. Movie has usually fallen for cheese and he's not particularly good versus Protoss. On the bright side, he has been playing nothing but big guns lately.

The Rat Toss is currently 12-2 on televised games on Destination, with wins against strong opponents and a versatile Protoss vs Protoss he's the strong favorite, specially if the game doesn't drag for too long.

Hite SPARKYZ 1 - 1 CJ Entus

Game 3 - YellOw[ArnC] vs EffOrt - <Heartbreak Ridge>
Ahhh... EffOrt, I knew he would be fielded either on Heartbreak Ridge or on Neo Medusa. I'm still puzzled by Hite's choice for this map: Yarnc. I would have used him on a map where a Terran has a chance of playing, like Harmony.

EffOrt should win this if we go by logic, he has lots of wins on this map and versus strong opponents, he has been playing at a ridiculous level, he won 2-0 vs Jaedong 3 days ago (with one of the wins on this same map) and he has a 70% win ratio in the match up. YarnC on the other hand has some some good wins on this map, but he's just not at the same level as EffOrt.

Three years ago I would have said "It's a playoff's match and it's ZvZ, anything can happen". Three years ago there was no Jaedong or ridiculous muta micro. The match up simply didn't had the level it does today. EffOrt should be the clear winner.

Hite SPARKYZ 1 - 2 CJ Entus

Game 4 - Justin vs Kwanro - <Andromeda>
People always use go.go as the bottom of the barrel measuring how bad someone is. Maybe it's because he's ugly and easy to make fun of? Not sure. I think using Justin as the worst works better. His main achievements include having more nicknames than the Devil (and some very bad ones I might add), a horrendous haircut and playing in the Minor League one month ago

CJ decided to send Kwanro. Andromeda fits his style pretty well: even though all-ins are not very viable, you can play with drops, big army flanks in the middle and all kind of stuff Kwanro just LOVES to do. Hite's pick would reek of cheese, if it were any other non-standard map.

Seriously Hite? I think even Chalrenge would have been a wiser choice, at least if he won, he would make a funny ceremony.

Hite SPARKYZ 1 - 3 CJ Entus



Game 5 - Leta vs sKyHigh - <Shades of Twilight>
Both teams knew two Terrans would battle it out on this map. Hite makes the smartest thing they could possibly do and sends Leta, whose TvT is barely below 70%. CJ had only two choices, Iris or sKyHigh, and sKyHigh seems to be the one with the best odds of taking a game from Leta, but I don't think it will happen.

Hite SPARKYZ 2 - 3 CJ Entus

Game 6 - type-b vs sAviOr - <Neo Medusa>
I certainly didn't expect this match up, not even with these players and on this map. Much is nowhere to be found? HoGiL not in the lineup to snipe?

Oh well, I'll go and talk with what with have. So umm, we have type-b who has some decent wins versus Terran and Protoss, but unfortunately for him, he has to play his weakest match up.

On the other side we have sAviOr, who could completely destroy type-b, or just lose. I'm not sure what to make of this game. sAviOr has more experience and should win, but the outcome does certainly depend more on sAviOr than on type-b.



Hite SPARKYZ ? - ? CJ Entus

Game 7 - ACE Match - <Colosseum 2>
If we reach this point I know everyone expects a Leta vs EffOrt ACE match, but CJ's ACE choices have a history of being weird, specially in important games. The map favours Leta in every circumstance, except a PvT maybe. Will CJ send Movie to play Leta? Will much take a viagra pill and play? Will coach Cho send Orion? Who knows, we will have to wait until Saturday.

Round 2 - 19th July 2009

Game 1 - type-b vs EffOrt - <Neo Medusa>
Neo Medusa, ZvZ, type-b again. Hite might have just imprisoned type-b in a room with nothing but some food and a computer with Brood War and neo_medusa.scx. I see no other way type-b can be sent so blindly against a team full of zergs on Medusa.

This time is not SaviOr but EffOrt. If type-b wins this, EffOrt will probably join the army. The strongest zerg type-b has ever defeated is YarnC, and he probably bribed him with something at the Sparkyz house.

Hite SPARKYZ 0 - 1 CJ Entus

Game 2 - Horang2 vs Nbs - <Colosseum 2>
Hite makes a smart choice by sending Rat Toss on a map where Zergs don't play that much. Still it's a big pretty standard macro map. Will Rat Toss play a solid late game? I don't remember many games where he survives long enough unless he gets an early game advantage.

Luckily for him, CJ sends Nbs... who has been ...somewhere. The last thing I remember about Nbs was him playing CJ's 2v2, when Proleague still had 2v2s. The I don't even know if he got demoted to the b-team after that or if he even plays Starcraft. Where are you Much? Snow? I would like to think Nbs has something prepared... but on Colosseum?

I bet Horang2 is drooling over the lineups.

Hite SPARKYZ 1 - 1 CJ Entus

Game 3 - go.go vs (T)Iris - <Neo Harmony>
IriS vs go.go re-match on Neo Harmony. Such a splendid occasion to play mind games. The outcome of this game could depend on what happens the previous day, but like I said in the other preview, IriS should be the favorite with the experience he has playing under pressure.

Hite SPARKYZ 1 - 2 CJ Entus

Game 4 - Leta vs sKyHigh - <Shades of Twilight>
Leta, sKyHigh, Shades of Twilight, all over again. I don't want to give sKyHigh up for dead. I know he has give his fair share of upsets in the past, and most of them in Proleague, but Leta has been playing really well lately and all his loses are against very strong opponents.

The OSL schedule isn't pressuring Leta too much either, he should have plenty of time to practice for sKyHigh games and a probable ACE match.

Hite SPARKYZ 2 - 2 CJ Entus

Game 5 - YellOw[ArnC] vs Kwanro - <Destination>
Mirror, mirror, mirror...a map with usually very exciting games, leaves me flaccid as I see another ZvZ. At this rate the playoffs will last two hours top.

Even though numbers say Kwanro's strongest match up is ZvZ, I can't help but feel uneasy about this. My guess is CJ tried to get Kwanro to play Horang2 here. Little does coach Cho know that Hite is confusing Yarnc for his brother Luxury. Somebody tell them that the one in their team is good at ZvT, not at ZvZ.



Hite SPARKYZ 2 - 3 CJ Entus

Game 6 - Justin vs Movie - <Heartbreak Ridge>
Justin, again? I feel Hite's coach is too timid to make a wild pick, and that might cost him. Justin is ""solid"" versus Protoss and Terran, but against any decent opponent he's going to have a hard time winning. Someone like HoGiL might be weaker on some aspects but it's more capable of stealing wins from superior players.

Movie get's a macro based map, like he likes, where Protoss vs Terran is fairly good and an opponent with a TvP record of 31.82%. Against a team like Hite, this is the best he can ask for.

Hite SPARKYZ 2 - 4 CJ Entus

Game 7 - ACE Match - <Andromeda>
CJ's depth could close the deal sooner than they think. Although not all their players are top tier, most of them are capable of pulling upsets like they have proven in the past. Hite falls short in some areas, like coaching. Yarnc's skill might be wasted by the way he was played and Hite has two strong cards to play: Leta and Rat Toss. Hite needs to drag this game to the ace match, where Leta will feel comfortable.

Leta is Hite's strength and weakness, CJ has to pick ace choices smartly and prepared, knowing Leta is the most probably pick.

While STX is having love poems written to them on the TL forums, the boys of January get no love at all. Well, I am here to change this and tell YOU why Samsung Khan is going to lay the beat down on STX this weekend. Read on and be enlightened.

Round 1 - July 18th 2009

Game 1 - hero vs great - <Heartbreak Ridge>
Since his 0-3 face pounding by Jaedong in the Batoo OSL, hero has gone 7-0 in ZvZ, including a recent win over great on Neo Medusa. While this looks bad for our champions in blue, it is merely the opening game of a long and brutal quest for the cup. 1-0 for the bad guys, but I don’t expect that to be too much of a problem.

Here is their most recent encounter.
+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +

Game 2 - Kal vs JangBi - <Neo Medusa>
For STX to go deep into the playoffs, big boy Kal needs to stand head and shoulders above the rest. Statistics never tell the whole story, but Kal is 11-3 in 2009 PvP, while Jangbi has regressed as of late. On the bright side, I am sure that those ruddy cheeks and dimples in Jangbi’s smile are worth at least 4 extra psi. On the down side, he trains with the Birdtoss. Sigh, a lucky 0-2 start for a team sponsored by big boats.

Like Hero vs great, these two have also recently played.
+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +

Game 3 - Last vs Stork <Shades of Twilight>
Have I told you how much I love Stork? Despite recent *ahem* inconsistencies, he will probably make short work of Last, who to date has played three TvT games and has very little TvP on his resume. Despite Last's relative inexperience, it's important not to forget that he is Khan's Shades of Twilight specialist meaning anything could happen. Still, experience should win out so I'm calling this for KHAN. Team Awesome will pick up its first game!

Game 4 - Calm vs Firebathero - <Neo Harmony>
Apparently this Calm kid has some steely nerves, and July lets him sleep with the golden mouse under his pillow. WELL HE IS GONNA NEED IT when he faces the master of disaster…. FIREBATHERO! *pause for the massive amount of applause.* Sorry I’m getting new intel here… “what’s that? Calm is 11-2 in his last 13 ZvT games? He trains with the greatest zerg of all time?”

Their most recent game was in February during Winner’s League -
+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +

3-1 Jerks.



Game 5 - Hwasin vs Juni <Outsider>
As a long standing STX member, Hwasin has seen few ups and many downs. Apparently the gods were feeling pity for the poor guy as they sent him Juni to sacrifice at the alter. SERIOUSLY Samsung? Juni? The kid is 2-11 all time against Terran at the big show, and his ZvT win on Outsider was against go.go. Yeah, and I beat FakeSteve TvP. It doesn’t mean a damn thing. I am starting to get worried about you Samsung. 4-1 for team lucky.

Game 6 - Shuttle vs Miracle <Destination>
Who? Did we reach the back of the pantry already? Flip a coin, but make sure it has two heads for Samsung’s sake.

Game 7 - July vs some sacrificial lamb (probably a Terran) - Andromeda

I think it is readily apparent that the lack of July in the registered lineup means he is preparing for an ace match. Andromeda is a suitable map for his style, as zerg holds an advantage over Protoss that could take Stork and Jangbi out of the ace picture. January could pull out FrOzean here, but I see FBH making an entrance if we get this far. Nevertheless, STX will steamroll either way. Damn it.

Round 2 - July 19th 2009

As I said in the previous section, it is obvious to any informed observer that STX Soul is the team to put your money on in the first round. With my expert analysis you cannot go wrong picking your Fantasy Bets. Read on to learn why I am in the top 2000 of liquibet, year after year.

While Samsung has followed conventional wisdom and picked basically the same players for the maps in the second day, STX has shuffled the deck completely, sending out different players for the map set. Sounds like a stroke of genius to me, unless they lose, and then seriously, what were they thinking?

Game 1 - Calm vs Juni - <Outsider>
Poor Juni, he has the sorry job of not only leading off the second day, but facing the best player on the mighty STX roster. With his ego bruised and battered from the humiliation of the day before, I believe he will not put up more than token resistance against the proud warrior Calm. 1-0 Superfriends.

Game 2 - Hwasin vs firebathero - <Neo Harmony>
This should be a highlight bout, with both players playing a strong matchup. FBH’s advantage of playing on the same map both days is nullified as he has to prepare for another matchup, while Hwasin’s good looks should harmonize well with the performance of the rest of the team. I will throw Samsung a bone here however, just to make it interesting. FBH’s 3-1 record vs Hwasin helps too, but they were probably cheesy. Here's what happened the last time Hwasin met FBH.
+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +

1-1


Game 3 - Kal vs yoOn - <Destination>
Kal gets his second PvP in as many days, this time against a player I have never heard of, and never will again. Goojila will put on his OJ gloves and get wet here. 2-1 as STX monster trucks forward. (Yes that is a verb)

Game 4 - Modesty vs Stork - <Andromeda>
On paper this is a lock for the Dinosaur Toss. However, should he follow my locked-in predictions for day one, it means he will have to win two games in a row. That might be tough. With Miracle training with JulyZerg in his corner and playing on Andromeda, this could be the upset that sinks the fragile Samsung team. By the power of grey skull… 3-1!

Game 5 - hero vs JangBi - <Neo Medusa>
This map is tipping, tipping, tipping, into the future. And that future is an ugly world for Protoss. I think zergs have figured this map out, and hero stands an excellent chance of pinning Jangbi in his base early. I’m a believer, ship it, 4-1 STX.

Game 6 - Shuttle vs great - <Heartbreak Ridge>
Flip a coin. Just make sure it has two tails for STX.

Game 7 - July vs anyone - <Shades of Twilight>
I think you get the picture that by this point, July will be unnecessary. STX will have mopped the floor with an inferior Samsung team long before. Should several members of the team fall into a coma however, July will be here to save them.

STX for victory!