EPTProleague Playoff Panic:
Round 2, Week 5 Preview
Heading into the final week of Proleague Round 2, things are still very much up in the air. Jin Air Green Wings is the only team to have clinched a playoff berth, while Samsung Galaxy and Prime are out of the running. The remaining five teams MVP, KT Rolster, CJ Entus, SKT, IM all have a chance to make the playoff cut. Here are the matches for the fifth and final week.
| Round 2 Standings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Jin Air | 5-2 | 17-10 | +7 |
| 2. | MVP | 4-2 | 14-10 | +4 |
| 3. | KT | 3-2 | 13-10 | +3 |
| 4. | CJ | 3-2 | 10-9 | +1 |
| 5. | SKT | 3-3 | 11-11 | 0 |
| 6. | IM | 2-4 | 10-13 | -3 |
| 7. | 2-4 | 11-15 | -4 | |
| 8. | 2-5 | 9-17 | -8 | |
March 23
Incredible Miracle vs KT Rolster
HerO < Habitation Station LE > 
FlashTrap < Polar Night LE > ZestSquirtle < Yeonsu LE > TY
ByuL < Outboxer > StatsAce: Frost LE
CJ Entus vs SK Telecom T1
EffOrt < Habitation Station LE > RainBbyong < Polar Night LE > ClassicherO < Yeonsu LE > PartinGHydra < Outboxer > SoulkeyAce: Frost LE
March 25
Prime vs KT Rolster
Creator < The King Sejong Station > TYeins < Outboxer > FlashMarineKing < Polar Night LE > StatsState < Yeonsu LE > ZestAce: Habitation Station LE
CJ Entus vs MVP
herO < Yeonsu LE > KeeNBbyong < Frost LE > SuperBunny < The King Sejong Station > DongRaeGuHydra < Habitation Station LE > DreamAce: Outboxer
Notes and Observations
- Just as in Round 1, SKT and IM are in must-win mode going into the final week. It's interesting to see the tweaks they made to their rosters since then.
- IM's Round 1 Week 5 Team: Squirtle, YongHwa, ByuL, Trap, HerO (ace). Won 3-2 against Jin Air.
- IM's Round 2 Week 5 Team: HerO, Trap, Squirtle, ByuL.
Given Yonghwa's poor Proleague and individual league performances since then it's not particularly shocking to see him left out of the line-up. What IS surprising is that partner-team Startale have now been left out of the lineup for three straight weeks. As for SKT:- SKT's Round 1 Week 5 Team: Classic, PartinG, soO, Soulkey. Lost 1-3 to Samsung.
- SKT's Round 2 Week 5 Team: Rain, Classic, PartinG, Soulkey.
Despite reaching the semifinals of GSL, soO hasn't been especially important to SKT in Proleague, with just a 3-4 record. This is pretty much the true SKT "A" Team. - IM's Round 1 Week 5 Team:
- State is playing again! (and eins, too): Prime can't make the playoffs, but they can still improve their position and earn a few more valuable points (used to qualify for the year-end playoffs). While a player from North America and a player who has been in exactly one official game in his career head to the studio, ByuN's dog continues to put up "have you seen my master?" posters around Incheon.
- Other MIAs: WCG 2013 silver medalist CJ_Sora has now been missing from his team's line-up for four consecutive weeks now. Lord of evil Sniper hasn't been played since week 2.
- In a cuddly coincidence, DongRaeGu is playing both Liquid`Bunny and CJ_Bunny in the span of 2 days.
- 11 Terran, 6 Zerg, and 15 Protoss players have been fielded in the final week.
The Playoff Picture
by lichter and WaxangelThe playoff picture is too complicated to break down completely, but we can at least talk about a few scenarios from the perspective from each team. Please correct us if our logic is wrong.
#1: Jin Air
Can lose the #1 seed if: KT Rolster defeats Prime and IM by a combined map difference of 4 or more. CJ Entus and MVP cannot overtake Jin Air because of penalties.
#2: MVP (1 warning)
Can clinch playoff spot regardless of other results if: They don't lose 0-3 to CJ Entus.
Can ONLY be eliminated if: They lose 0-3 to CJ Entus AND SKT beat CJ 3-1 AND KT Rolster go 1-1 or better. It's possible that there are some tie scenarios for MVP-CJ-SKT that we're not aware of.
#3: KT Rolster
Can clinch playoff spot regardless of other results if: They go at LEAST 1-1 with +1 map differential.
Can take #1 seed if: They go 2-0 with a combined map differential of +4 or more.
Can be eliminated regardless of other results if: They go 0-2 with a combined map differential of -3 or more. There are some complicated scenarios where KT Rolster can go 1-1 and be eliminated depending on how CJ and SKT perform.
#4: CJ Entus (1 warning)
Can clinch playoff spot regardless of other results if: They beat SKT by any score.
Can clinch playoff spot with help from other teams if: Too complicated to figure out.
Can be eliminated if regardless of other results if: They go 0-2 with a combined map differential of -4 or more.
#5: SK Telecom T1
Can clinch playoff spot regardless of other results if: They beat CJ Entus by 3-1 or more.
Can be eliminated regardless of other results if: They lose 0-3 to CJ Entus AND PartinG earns a penalty point by smashing a steel chair over Coach Park's head.
#6: Incredible Miracle
All of IM's qualification scenarios require them to beat KT while KT loses to Prime. So..... yeah.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/HawaiianPig/SPL/SPLstaricon.png)
Prime can't make Playoffs but #5 is better than #8 like the last round. Too bad about the penalty points and the Ace matches going the wrong way for Prime, otherwise they would have made playoffs in 4th at the very least. Losing 0-3 to CJ didn't help either. 
![[image loading]](http://www.georgs-barbershop.de/shop_cfg/genealogieshop/R84.jpg)
