EPTState Makes Proleague Debut in Week 2,
Does About as Well as Expected
Sorry if we're giving
StatePrime a disproportionate attention. But surely you can understand how we feel. An American player joined a Korean team and is getting chances to play in Proleague, the oldest and most prestigious team competition in StarCraft! That kind of thing is exceedingly rare.Unfortunately, State's debut went the way everyone expected. Long time veteran and present Code S player
SKT_Classic gave State a very blunt "welcome to Proleague" in the form of a proxy-gate rush. State's Proleague debut ended in a seven-minute loss.Still, for a few days after the match was announced, we had something to look forward to and get excited about. In a marathon competition that can feel repetitive at times, it was a special event that breathed some fresh air into the proceedings.
Let's take a look at all the other results from week two:
| Round 2 Standings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Jin Air | 2-1 | 8-4 | +4 |
| 2. | SKT | 2-1 | 8-5 | +3 |
| 3. | IM | 2-1 | 6-4 | +2 |
| 4. | KT Rolster | 2-1 | 8-7 | +1 |
| 5. | Samsung | 1-2 | 5-6 | -1 |
| 6. | Prime | 1-2 | 6-8 | -2 |
| 7. | MVP | 1-2 | 5-8 | -3 |
| 8. | CJ | 1-2 | 4-8 | -4 |
March 2
Prime (1 - 3) Incredible Miracle
DeParture <Frost> ByuL
MarineKing <Yeonsu> LifeCreator <Outboxer> SquirtleKassiA <Polar Night> TrapSK Telecom T1 (2 - 3) MVP
Sacsri <Habitation Station> SwaggerPartinG <Polar Night> DongRaeGuSoulkey <Yeonsu> SuperFanTaSy <Outboxer> SniperAce:
Soulkey <Frost> DongRaeGuMarch 3
CJ Entus (3 - 2) KT Rolster
Bbyong <Outboxer> ZestherO <The King Sejong Station> TYEffOrt <Habitation Station> StatsGuMiho <Frost> FlashAce:
herO <Polar Night> ZestJin Air Green Wings (3 - 0) Samsung Galaxy
Rogue <Outboxer> HurricaneTRUE <The King Sejong Station> StorksOs <Habitation Station> RealityMaruRorOMarch 4
Incredible Miracle (3 - 0) MVP
HerO <Frost> SniperTrap <Yeonsu> DongRaeGuYongHwa <Outboxer> KeeNByuL <Polar Night> SuperPrime (2 - 3) SK Telecom T1
Choya <Yeonsu> SoulkeyCreator <Frost> FanTaSyState <The King Sejong Station> ClassicMarineKing <Habitation Station> soOAce:
MarineKing <Outboxer> RainOther neat things that happened in week 2
- MarineKing lost, won, and recovered his position as Prime's ace: It's as if he never even left us in the first place! Within a week of his return to active duty, MarineKing lost with a bunker rush, won with a bunker rush, and was entrusted with the task of playing as Prime's ace (he lost). If MKP can start winning ace matches too, it's going to start feeling eerily like 2012.
- CJ Entus are still in last place, but they won a symbolic victory against KT Rolster: Are things finally looking up for CJ Entus? Facing round 1 champions KT Rolster, CJ Entus put together the kind of performance that reminded us why nearly everyone picked them as a top three team in the pre-season. herO and Bbyong took two early maps, EffOrt and GuMiho looked good even in defeat, and herO fulfilled his duties as a super-ace and closed out the series.
Although CJ Entus got drubbed too hard to in week one to escape from last place in week two, they'll have no trouble climbing up the standings IF they can keep playing this way. - SK Telecom were immediately punished for daring to let a bench player have a chance: In the funniest and saddest event of the week, SK Telecom lost to bottom-dwellers MVP in a match where they allowed Sacsri a rare Proleague appearance. Sacsri lost his game to Swagger, and SKT went on to lose the series 2-3.
You can hardly pin the loss solely on Sascri asSoulkey managed to lose two games including the ace match. However, you have to think that SKT would have won 3-1 if they had played anyone but Sascri against Swagger. If SKT is thinking that way as well, we might never see their bench players get a chance to play again. - For at least a week, Proleague became ParityLeague: Scroll up and look at that standings table. It's beautiful.
Every team has a shot of making the playoffs, and every team looks completely capable of beating the others. We really hope that week two wasn't just a fluke, and that this even level of play will continue throughout round two.
Round 2, Week 3:
Jin Air, SKT, and IM Shoot for the Top
Now that we've jinxed the relative parity in Proleague by showering it with praise, we're sure to have a week three that sees teams flock toward opposite ends of the table.
In particular, Jin Air, SK Telecom, and Incredible Miracle have chances to take a firm grip on the #1 spot. All three teams enter week three with 2-1 records and have two matches to play. Improving to 4-1 wouldn't 100% guarantee a playoff spot, but it would certainly be an advantageous position to play from with two weeks remaining in the round.
March 9
SK Telecom T1 vs Jin Air Green Wings
PartinG < Polar Night LE > sOsClassic < Habitation Station LE > CureRain < Frost LE > RoguesoO < The King Sejong Station > MaruAce: Yeonsu LE
Samsung Galaxy vs Incredible Miracle
Armani (BurNing) < Yeonsu LE > SquirtleShine < Frost LE > HerORorO < The King Sejong Station > YongHwaSolar < Habitation Station LE > ByuLAce: Outboxer
March 10
Prime vs CJ Entus
MarineKing < Polar Night LE > BunnyChoya < Habitation Station LE > herOCreator < Frost LE > BbyongState < The King Sejong Station > HydraAce: Yeonsu LE
KT Rolster vs MVP
Zest < Polar Night LE > SwaggerTY < Habitation Station LE > SuperFlash < Frost LE > DongRaeGuStats < The King Sejong Station > BillowyAce: Yeonsu LE
March 11
SK Telecom T1 vs Samsung Galaxy
Classic < The King Sejong Station > ShineFanTaSy < Outboxer > RorORain < Polar Night LE > SolarPartinG < Yeonsu LE > RealityAce: Habitation Station LE
Jin Air Green Wings vs Incredible Miracle
TRUE < Polar Night LE > TrapsOs < Habitation Station LE > ByuLMaru < Frost LE > YongHwaRogue < The King Sejong Station > HerOAce: Yeonsu LE
Must Watch Match #1
SK Telecom T1 vs Jin Air Green wings
PartinG < Polar Night LE > sOsClassic < Habitation Station LE > CureRain < Frost LE > RoguesoO < The King Sejong Station > MaruAce: Yeonsu LE
SKT vs Jin Air is by far the most stacked match of the week, featuring six Code S players and three Code S quarterfinalists in Maru, sOs and soO. All four of the initial matches look pretty tasty, even if none of them are worth getting especially worked up about.
What we really, really want to see is what will happen if this goes to an ace match.
Maru's TvP play against Dear and Zest in Code S was one of those rare things you could describe as "godlike" without it being complete hyperbole. Just thinking about the Maru vs PartinG or Maru vs Rain leaves us melting in little puddles of joy.Must Watch Match #2
Prime vs CJ Entus
MarineKing < Polar Night LE > BunnyChoya < Habitation Station LE > herOCreator < Frost LE > BbyongState < The King Sejong Station > HydraAce: Yeonsu LE
As long as
MKP and State are playing, every Prime match is automatically must-watch Proleague for us. Despite playing four games in two weeks, MarineKing is still a player that we have a hard time assessing. His bunker rush games barely taught us anything except the fact that he still likes to bunker rush (shocking!), and we demand to see more.Similarly, a loss to a cheese from Classic doesn't tell us much about State and how good he is. Just the fact that Prime has decided to give him another chance suggests that he's a pretty good player in practice, and we want to see him bring that skill to Proleague as well.
Hydra might seem like an ideal opponent due to his 1-5 record in Proleague up to now, but when you look at his play in the GSL, it really seems like it's just a statistic fluke that's bound to correct itself. Hipster Match of the Week
Samsung Galaxy vs Incredible Miracle
Armani (BurNing) < Yeonsu LE > SquirtleShine < Frost LE > HerORorO < The King Sejong Station > YongHwaSolar < Habitation Station LE > ByuLAce: Outboxer
They're doing it again! For the second time this season, Samsung have decided to bring out an all Zerg line-up. The unusual move paid off for Samsung back on January 26th as they scored a 3-1 victory over Team MVP in round one. However, that was against MVP, a team that had trouble winning any games at all. This time Samsung are facing IM, a team that features a considerably stronger roster.
This series has the potential to become truly disgusting with three guarateed PvZ's, especially with RorO lined up to play on the swarm-host friendly King Sejong Station. It's a disaster waiting to happen, which is exactly why we can't keep our eyes away.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/HawaiianPig/SPL/SPLstaricon.png)
