EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/pachi/banner/rtp.png)
Shinhan Proleague 2008/2009 Playoff Coverage by Riptide and HeyokaSons of the Swarm
The wind howls. In a corner of Seo-Cho-Gu, Seoul, a solitary window lies lit against the night sky. Inside, a 19 year old sits, eyes glued to the glow of a computer monitor in front of him. The soft click of keys coupled with the dull hum of an exhaust fan provide the only ambient noise, and to the untrained eye, this is just another teenager, wasting the night away.
A plump, bespectacled figure appears in the doorway.
"Still practising?" The boy does not answer.
"Son, get to bed, it's past three."
"The timing is almost perfect on this build. Sometimes I'm off by a second or two but... "
"You've practiced enough for today, get some sleep."
The silence that follows is only broken by the rapid click of keys.
"Enough, let's go..."
"Just a few more times, I got this."
The man sighs, and puts a hand on the kid's shoulder. "I just don't want you to burn out."
"I won't."
"You are overworking, and it's been showing, Jaedong. Just look at GOM..."
The words spill out before he can stop them and the man bites his tongue and watches the hairs on the back of the boy's neck stand up. The kid spins around, his left hand still tapping at the keys, and the man looks at the screen dancing behind him. The kid isn't even looking, he thinks. The kid isn't even looking and yet the symphony goes on.
"GOM?" he hisses, almost like a cat. A wildcat. "GOM?"
The man swallows hard, and backs away towards the door. He could swear he saw the kid's fingernails grow as he turned around again.
"Jaedong, I'm sorry, I didn't..."
The boy is standing now, facing away from him, looking towards the far wall with its solitary window. The man watches as he crushes his mouse, the sound of dying plastic filling the tiny space.
"GOM."
The little electronic device falls from the boy's hand, and sparks softly as it hits the floor.
"Kim Jung Woo." The man shivers.
"KIM JUNG WOO." A keyboard hits the wall, twisting itself out of shape, keys scattering everywhere.
"You think Kim Jung Woo is an opponent?" He spits the word out, as if it were filth, and the man sees him shake.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/riptide/proleague200809/pl_sf_illustration_jaedong.jpg)
"You think he is worthy of facing me?"
"I will be the greatest Zerg that has ever lived," he growls. "I will crush him. Destroy him."
"Yes, yes you will, I have always said..."
In an instant he is across the room and they are face to face, the boy's eyes glowing crimson in the dim light. He opens his mouth, and for a moment the man thinks he sees fangs.
"Kim Jung Woo," he snarls, smiling.
"I will end him. They will not remember his name."
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/Zicon_small.png)
A few minutes away in Bang-Bae Block 4, another Zerg is up. Only, in this room, there is no sound of clicking keys, or the hum of a fan. The boy sits in the middle, wide eyed, and at first glance it looks like he is alone. Yet, in the far corner, a shadow breaths, and old, wise words slowly spill forth. The voice is neither hurried or sluggish, erratic, or monotonous. One could only describe the tone as regal, refined and confident. The voice of a king.
"You must not get caught up in the details, my son. You are technically proficient, but your opponent is as well. You are fast, but so is he. You are capable, but he is as capable."
"Yes, master, but tell me, who are you?" The boy looks around, and tries to get up.
The king smiles, and the boy can hear it in his voice. "Sit down, Kim Jung Woo, sit down. You will look for me in this room and you will not find me, and yet, you know me well.."
"I do? How do I know you?"
"Sit." The boy obeys.
"You must not focus on winning."
"But master, I.."
"Winning is for the common. Anyone can win a game. You watched last weekend while players won and lost, did you not?"
"I did, master."
"Then tell me, Kim Jung Woo, will they, will those who took wins be remembered?"
"I... I don't know."
The voice is closer to the boy now, but even in the glow of an overhead lamp the figure that is behind him is at best a wisp of smoke.
"Their names mean nothing, my son. It is better that they never battled."
The boy's breathing punctuates the silence.
"Your opponent is good, Kim Jung Woo, but you have something he does not."
"Master?"
"Look."
The palm of the master's hand is outstretched, and in it shine four tiny pieces of metal. He picks them up, and it feels as if he is taking them out of air.
"You have a legacy, my son. This is your time."
He holds them, and they glitter with the glory of an era he will always remember. The era of The Maestro, when none could match him.
"The day of the Zerg has come again," the voice says, and the boy thinks he hears a hint of happiness, even joy. "The season of the swarm."
The morning sun breaks over the rooftops and the room lights up as if on fire. The boy looks toward the voice, and yet sees nothing.
He has so much to ask him.
When? How? Who? He must know, he must know more.
The room itself speaks.
"You are of royal blood, and it is not winning that is your destiny, but destruction. The men you will face this weekend will know this better than any other."
There is silence once more and the kid runs to a window, throwing it open.
He looks across the street, and for a second, at the corner, sees a glint of metal. Then, the very wind itself speaks in the voice of a king.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/riptide/proleague200809/pl_sf_illustration_effort.jpg)
"You are the heir of Ma Jae Yoon. You are the son of the swarm. None shall stand in your way."
This weekend promises us some great Starcraft, and it's not just because two of the scene's biggest teams are going head to head in up to fifteen games of relentless competition. Indeed, a big part of why this Proleague Semi Final is so huge is the fact that the two best Zerg players in contemporary Starcraft are going to fight each other, and in the process do their best to lead their teams to victory. In short, this is as much about Lee Jaedong and Kim Jung Woo as it is about Hwaseung Oz and CJ Entus.
Jaedong was always Oz's workhorse. From the time he walked the Royal Road, Lee Jaedong has been an integral part of his team's lineup. If he was simply heavily relied on as an up and coming Zerg in his early days however, now his team pretty much leans on him and hopes they'll win, a strategy that obviously doesn't work great in bo7s. In fact, as the lineups were released it wasn't surprising to see that Hwaseung had brought in a few B teamers to help pad their sparse lineup.
CJ Entus, on the other hand has always been a strong team with lots depth, something you'd have been hard pressed to find as they took on KHAN last weekend. Yes, as their flagship EffOrt won three out of the five required wins for them on Day 2, the word that came to mind when looking at his team's performance was more along the likes of shallow. As they prepare for this encounter, and try to support their top Zerg better, there is no doubt that they all know that failing everything else the least they need to do is to get the game to an ace match.
Thus, though two very different teams at heart, both OZ and CJ have come to a point where they rely, at least to a large extent, on one solid player. Though OZ has been like this for a while, and CJ began to become like this only recently, the truth is that both the Zerg players in question no doubt feel the pressure mounting. Without further ado then, let's look at what this playoff has in store for us. Our stats machine Heyoka has kindly calculated the chances of winning for each player and you will find them (inside brackets) next to each player.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/alffla/OZvCJ_SPLv2.jpg)
Thanks alffla for this amazing graphic. Wallpaper imo.
From The Trenches
Thanks to konadora, we have a cross section of thoughts from the Korean community.
▲+ Show Spoiler [Korean text] +
진짜 이번에 포스트 시즌 경기들 보면서 삼성이나 CJ 하이트 STX의 쟁쟁한 선수들 포스가 장난 아니었는데.. 그 선수들 위에 이제동이 있다고 순간 생각해보니(그냥 평균적인 경기 기록상) 소름이 쫙.. 과연 이번에 김정우가 이제동 까지 꺽을수 있을까.. 기대된다. ㅋ
▲ + Show Spoiler [Korean text] +
이번 시즌 이제동 선수의 역할이 컸던 것이 사실이지만 혼자 팀을 상위권으로 이끌었다고 보지는 말아줬으면 좋겠다. 솔직히 이제동이 무조건 1승해주고 어쩌다 뽀록으로 누가 1승 더해주면 에결가서 이제동이 잡고 이긴걸로 시즌순위 올린거 아닌가? 이제동이 지는날엔 그냥 패배하고
▲ + Show Spoiler [Korean text] +
화승은 잘모르겠고, CJ가 올라가면 확실 SK가 우승인데 .. ㅋ CJ는 전통적으로 SK의 밥이었기 때문에... 그리고 조규남 ㅋㅋㅋ 역시 가장 중요한 시점에서는 마레기 안쓰는구나 ㄲㄲㄲㄲㄲ
▲ + Show Spoiler [Korean text] +
꿈깨라 준플부터 올라온팀은 절때우승못한다는 공식모르나?? 이번에는 준플도아니고 6강부터해서 매번 2게임씩치러서 올라오는데 그러면 결승까지 너네는 총 6번을하는건데 올라와서 퍽이나잘도이기겠다ㅉㅉ
▲ + Show Spoiler [Korean text] +
화승같은 원맨 찌질이팀이 광안리 가면 안되지 선수층 두껍고 한선수가 개성있는 팀이 올라가야지 솔직히 팬같은거 다 떠나서 경기만봐서는 stx대 cj 가 제일재밌을꺼같았는데 삼성이 고추가루 뿌리는바람에 ㅈㅈ 네
If there is anything Samsung KHAN showed us last week, however, it's that upsets are not only possible in these playoffs, but that they are to be expected. From Odin taking the opener on Day 1 to Miracle doing the impossible and 2-0ing Kwanro, the last Proleague encounter we watched was full of surprises. Above all, it showed us that when you need to win just one game, a lot of practice and a well timed build can really make a difference, something that Coach Cho Jeong Woong no doubt understands very well. Let's not forget that just two seasons ago, this is the man who beat January in the Grand Final, a feat he managed even with Jaedong being sniped. But but but the format was different, you say. Now teams need depth! They do, they do, they do - at least on paper they do. Let's not kid ourselves though - last week's match wasn't about depth or anything fancy like that. It was a race to ace, and is exactly what this game is going to be as well.
While upsets by newbies will be welcome and indeed encouraged, the name of the game this week is going to be getting to ace at all costs. As OZ readies Lee Jaedong and CJ readies Kim Jung Woo, the other players form a pseudo-support team of sorts, and are no doubt looking to win their set so they can move closer to that tiebreaker. You can blame it on the format, the teams, or even the weather in Seoul, but the truth is that come this weekend, we're not expecting to see any 4-0s. In fact, I'm pretty sure most of us are hoping for a pretty even game that culminates in a blistering decider that leaves us all gob smacked. Could we ask for more from a weekend of Broodwar? We don't think so.
All this analysis means nothing, however, without some intense bandwagonning to go along with it. We've heard a lot from CJ fans over the past few weeks, and rightly so. This week's update though features some spectacular OZ trashtalk by TL's very own Atrioc.
Ziziyo
by Atrioc
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/alffla/backho_oval2.png)
by Atrioc
Playoffs sure are a tough time to be a fan of the boys in red. I mean lets face it TL: Hwaseung just doesn’t have the elusive depth that you need to compete in a Bo7, much less two. They are a one-man team – an organization based on a single infallible all-star who, as rumor would have it, is starting to look a little less than invincible lately. It’s only a formality that we haven’t already started talking about the inevitable CJ vs. SKT1 finals.
Right?
Absolutely wrong: but anyone listening to half of the nonsense being thrown about lately might actually have believed that. Never has there been a stronger proleague team so underestimated in the eyes of the general public. There’s a smidgen of truth to some of it: Oz definitely showed weakness late in the 5th round (though how quickly their domination of the first 4 was forgotten), but mainly this rise in criticism stems from the popularity of using a team’s “depth” as a means of judging proleague success; a secret formula that involves taking the two teams playing each other, ignoring the maps, the matchups, and the history and picking the one that has more big names and fan favorites.
That is not Hwaseung, and any fan will admit it. This is not a team of all-stars, with a proud legacy and some trophy room stretching back to early Team Leagues. In fact, prior to 2007 where they rocketed up from last place to winning the entire thing, Oz (formerly known as Plus) was by far the worst team in the league, with any player of talent getting bought out by other organizations. Now Coach Cho and his team have escaped those days and acquired a taste for the gold, and the old legacy organizations like CJ (and soon, the mother of them all, SKT1) are going to be in for a hell of a fight trying to make them give it back up.
As such, you can take all you know about “favorites” and throw it out the window, because in Hwaseung’s case it simple doesn’t apply. Oz’s Spartan practice schedule is known throughout Korea and it will be kicked into overdrive for the playoffs. Their rookies are hungry (watch Killer demolish Movie in Oz’s most recent match against CJ) and anyone caught underestimating their A-class lineup of BackHo, Lomo and Hiya will pay the price: they are more than capable of taking a game off anyone in CJ save EffOrt – which is, coincidentally, where the most obvious reason that Hwaseung will win this proleague season comes in: Lee Jae Dong.
He is perhaps the one strength of Oz that needs no explaining, so I will sum it up simply by saying there are other aces and then there is JD. EffOrt’s recent hot streak doesn’t change the fact that he is still a kid with no titles to his name who has to stand up, toe to toe, to the closest thing to an unstoppable force in the Starcraft scene today. I’m not just talking about the one match they are scheduled to play: that’s only a fraction of their battle. Every ace match, including the enormous pressure of the super ace, will theoretically be between these two. That is brutal combat; and when the dust settles, I don’t see him or the emotionless CJ faces of his team still standing.
The only way Oz is typing out is if BackHo does it offensively. zizi yO, motherfuckers.
Now, how about we wash that down with this great interview with Hwaseung's own Coach Cho, translated by the machine formerly known as Konadora. If it appears that we're pulling for OZ in this update, it's because we are. CJ got a lot of press these last few weeks, and it's Hwaseung's turn now. Please feel free to yell at us in the thread though. After all, nerd rage is what the playoffs are all about right?
Hwaseung's Coach Cho: "Our hunger for victory is greater."
"We have caught up a lot with CJ since our inauguration."
![[image loading]](http://www.fomos-broken.kr/board/interview/1248930268_1.jpg)
"We have caught up a lot with CJ since our inauguration."
- Your team will be facing CJ in the playoffs.
▲ Before the end of the season, I said in an interview that I hoped CJ will advance, and that just goes to show how much they've gotten better and that their chances of advancing was very high. But our hunger for victory is greater. We've experienced the pain of losing in the 2007 Proleague Round 1 finals. We endured so much pain to get all the way here, so we believe that we'll be able to perform well this time round. Our players understand that this is an important match, and if we, the players and the coaching staff work together, we will be able to get into the Grand Finals.
- You lost to CJ in the Winners' League early this year.
▲ I believe that the overall Proleague is more important than the Winners' League itself. It is disappointing that we've lost in the previous WInners' League, but the overall Proleague holds much more importance to us, so we are not thinking too much about that loss.
- There are many people who've pointed out the difference in terms of strength between your team and CJ.
▲ It is true that Jaedong was the main key to our success this season, but I hope people stop saying that Jaedong pulled the team on his own. The only reason we were able to maintain the #1 spot in Proleague until mid-way through Round 5 was not just because of Jaedong, but because other players worked really hard as well. They don't have anything special to show, but each and every one of the players put in their best effort, which is why we were able to have such a good record in the entire season. I will accept people's remarks that our team is weaker in terms of player pool and strength, but I hope they do realise that everyone else in my team is working equally as hard.
- Aside from Jaedong, it seems everyone else in your team is slumping.
▲ I'm giving them a lot of advice on how to keep their mind in control. Especially HiyA, who's just been slumping a bit after doing great. We believe that this will be his chance to recover from his slump, as well as to regain his confidence he had in the Winners' League. The player's mindset and hard work shows in his games. He is preparing hard so I believe that we will be able to witness the old, strong HiyA.
- How did your team prepare for the playoffs?
▲ For important matches, just practicing for long periods of time isn't all a good thing. How we spend the time and plan the best, efficient schedule is more important. In our team's case, we get them a day off on the 23rd and started practicing from the 24th. Just like when we won (the last Proleague in 2007), our optimum practice period is around 7 to 9 days.
- The entries don't look too bad for Hwaseung.
▲ We planned two different entries, one in case Samsung advanced and one in case CJ advanced. I think it is better to plan the entries in advance rather than see who advances before planning the entries. It is true that day 1 is more important than day 2, but we decided to send out new players. Our new players have performed well within the team, and their daily attitude and many other aspects have shown to be good, which is why I believe that they will perform well. Of course, there are some weaknesses such as the lack of playing live games, but as long as they overcome that difficulty, they will be able to make use of the fact that their playing styles aren't known and put on a great performance.
- Your ace player, Jaedong's schedule is inhuman lately.
▲ Jaedong himself knows the importance of Proleague. That is why he himself raised priority for practicing for Proleague. Of course, he is practicing from time-to-time for his individual leagues, but he's practicing mainly for the Proleague.
- If you win in the Playoffs, there is not much time til the Grand Finals.
▲ Our players have gotten used to working in a tight schedule. And because they are fully capable of performing in such situations, I believe that it will conversely become their strength and they won't let down their guard.
- Which CJ player are you being most wary of?
▲ All of the CJ players. I told the players to think of all of them as CJ's ace players, so that they will not let their guard down.
- Any final words?
▲ Before we became Hwaseung, we were very behind CJ but after our inauguration, I believe we have caught up a long way. We have defeated them once in 2007 Proleague so we are confident. CJ is a team that is comprising of many strong players, and because they have lost to us before, their determination will be very high. This will be the final match for both our teams before the post-season ends, so I hope that both of us will put in our best effort and put on games of the highest caliber.
Source: Fomos.kr
When all is said and done, however, more is done than is said, and that's why we've gotta wait for the weekend. As fans who follow Proleague, we couldn't have asked for a better penultimate game, or indeed, worthier teams. Both of these outfits have a lot going for them in terms of players, records and coaches. At the end of the day however, they will both likely pull their trump out in the form of a Zerg, and it is the result of this duel that we all await. These games, and indeed this entire encounter, is probably going to turn into a quick race to ace, a decider that is only going to get more tense with the superace variable thrown in.
It's scary to think that a match of this magnitude could come down to a ZvZ. Then again, this best of two day, superace decider based format is designed for just that - high pressure games played by the best of the best. There have been rumblings of imba, and people have said that this format doesn't focus on the team enough, which to be fair is a valid criticism. What we can't deny, however, is that this format has over the last few weeks, and in particular last week, produced some of the most exciting games of recent months. Like it or loathe it, the superace is here to stay for this season at least, and if you're like us you're going to want to just sit back and enjoy it this weekend as Starcraft's best race to ace.
Thanks to Atrioc for the terrific trashtalk, ZeroCartin for the awesome illustrations, alffla for the spectacular lineup graphic and other odds and ends, konadora and ghostwriter for help with translations and pics, and pachi for the coverage banner!
As well as having all the facts. You guys make StarCraft more enjoyable and that's huge.
