Week Two in the Bag

Week Two may have provided us with a multitude of highly entertaining and enjoyable games to sate our endless lust for high-level Starcraft, but the season's second week also put all the weaknesses of KT Rolster and the newly formed Startale-yoe alliance on display. Two teams both possessing talent certainly belonging in the top 4 of the Proleague rankings struggled as their players failed to deliver, and now they find themselves uncomfortably far down the rankings.

Also in Week 2: soO channels Catz for more proxy hatch shenanigans, Rogue cannot get into a macro game for the life of him, TANGTANG debuts and loses horribly, Choya's puzzling decisions work out for the best again. Read about this and more in banjoe's Week Two Recap, while Darkhorse previews next week's Telecom Derby and lichter insults some people in his weekly FPL Recap.

Match Of the Week: SK Telecom T1 vs Jin Air

by banjoetheredskin



The undercard TvZ of the night featured SKT's quickly rising star and Jin Air's once-rising star who has since fallen off a bit. Dark has received much praise for his unique roach baneling corruptor style in the matchup, as it continued to work wonders for him in his rout of MarineKing in Week 1. However, like most good players eventually do, he seemed to become content with sticking to what has worked in the past. Cure studied Dark well, and preempted the roach-heavy play with early economic damage, followed by tanks and marauders. Under heavy pressure, Dark had no choice but to revert to the standard muta ling baneling composition to deal with Cure's parade push constantly threatening his bases and diminishing his creep spread. The ensuing macro battle went back and forth a few times with some exciting engagements, but ultimately Cure's excellent control and macro were too much for SKT's young Zerg talent.



It is becoming increasingly common to see in soO's play some wonky rushes, the victories for which he often credits CatZ. In fact, it is no longer a surprise to see one of the world's best macro Zergs break out the Peruvian Cheese. Yet, it was still exciting when soO planted the proxy hatch by Maru's natural. Maru had little trouble breaking out, although it was time consuming, and pushed across the map. He fought tirelessly with small forces of marines, hellbats, a few tanks, and medivacs, but soO held by the skin of his teeth with queens, lings, and slow banelings. After an eternity of ling surrounds evaporating and queens trading transfuses, and even losing his natural once, soO clung on to his third base and sent Maru home. Deciding that Maru's economy was still in shambles, soO elected to push the advantage instead of droning up. With baneling speed now complete, soO overwhelmed Maru with a swell of lings and banelings.



Yin and Yang must have agreed to play role reversal for this game. INnoVation was the one who broke out the cheese and sOs was the one who played the safe, standard macro game. A proxy factory and starport at sOs' third base did little damage, as the normal robo timing had an observer out to defend the widow mine drop INnoVation opted for. To follow up, The Machine made two tanks to harass sOs' gas mining from the little pocket in the third. sOs was able to break the light contain with relative ease, and threw down a dark shrine behind it to deal some economic damage himself. INnoVation suffered substantial SCV losses, but managed to take a fantastic engagement across the map that completely reset the colossus count, sniping sOs' third moments later. Although INnoVation started the game uncharacteristically, he finished it with his signature. He regrouped one last time, the SCV train chugged into sOs' station before he could rebuild a sufficient army, and the Protoss typed out.



Because Deadwing is a four player map, it made perfect sense for Rogue to take a hatch first. It made equal sense for Classic to try to cannon rush. Therefore it made sense for Rogue to cancel that hatch but take his third. So it still made some sense for Classic to try to cannon rush that too. Then it stopped making sense. Left without an expansion, Rogue marched three drones across the map to Classic's base and threw down two hatcheries in Classic's main while taking both gases in his own. Classic only expected one hatchery, however, and despite canceling one with a probe pull, could not stop the other before it had 3 spines and roaches popping out. A nydus entered the fray and you can guess how the probes did against roaches and queens.

Ace Match

Despite sOs' outstanding performance last season, he was only 1-4 in ace matches. Therefore it was quite predictable to see Maru selected in the do-or-die situation, even with a defeat already on the night. However, SK Telecom T1 were in a slightly different position. Their depth allows them to pick any one of their players in the right circumstances, although INnoVation never seems like a bad choice. Nevertheless, it was somewhat unexpected to see Dark sent out to play another TvZ. Coach iloveoov demonstrated complete confidence in his in-house champion's strength in the matchup, regardless of his disappointing loss earlier to Cure.



Dark's stomp of MarineKing in Week 1 with his quirky style was on King Sejong Station, so it was expected he would employ it once again on the same map. But no, Dark decided to play a more standard game, a true test of toe-to-toe macro with the Marine Prince Maru. After a solid defense of some early hellion banshee pressure, Dark sent a force of 17 banelings over at Maru's unoccupied fourth base to counterattack once speed finished. With perfect timing, he sent the hit squad in as Maru pushed out right when stim finished. A slight drone cut allowed Dark to hold off the attack at his fourth with ease, while banelings made fireworks out of Maru's natural SCV line. Dark then counterattacked toward Maru's third with the rest of his army, managing to slaughter 38 before retreating. He transitioned into corruptors, but was caught in a moment of weakness with a huge army supply deficit resulting from his tech and drone-heavy followup to the baneling aggression. Maru botched his splits though, and the momentum swung back in Dark's favor. The Jin Air Terran fought valiantly until the very end, microing impeccably thereafter, but by the time he was able to establish and protect his fourth base, Dark was fully transitioned into ultras and brood lords. No amount of kiting was enough to stop Dark's six base economy, and Maru was forced to concede the set and the match for Jin Air.

Progress Report: Week Two

by banjoetheredskin

A - SK Telecom T1

SKT's match against Jin Air was incredibly hard-fought and everything we had hoped it would be. Everyone except Classic played very well, and they managed to stop Jin Air's two best players in sOs and Maru (twice). Dark's performance in the ace match was fantastic, and he even looked great in his loss to Cure earlier on. soO's defense against Maru was excellent following his proxy hatch delay, and INnoVation looks like he's fluent in TvP macro games once again. In their biggest test of the entire round, SKT proved they are championship material.

Comments
Send Classic to timeout for that shecannonganry. Keep trying to get Dark ZvTs.

A - CJ Entus

After two wins CJ are now tied for first with SKT. Although they were not particularly great in their 3-2 win over Samsung, they left no doubt about who was the better team against ST-Yoe. ByuL stomped Hack, and Bbyong re-exposed Life's biggest weakness: playing against mech. herO's game against Curious was like a competition where all you have to do is pick up the "W" and run away with it, but they both decide to see who could throw it farther first, then go after it and try to run off with it, only to trip over each other and spend a few minutes tangled on the ground before Curious gets up and walks the opposite direction while herO runs off with the "W." Ultimately though, all that matters is the win. If CJ can keep pulling out the wins, expect to see them in the later stages of the playoffs.

Comments
Don't fix what's not broken. Maybe play someone new earlier on in the lineup next week, since you'll be playing Prime. herO still seems to have issues playing against swarm hosts, so perhaps he would be better with a different matchup.

B+ - Jin Air Green Wings

This is about the highest grade you'll see a losing team get. Not one player on Jin Air had a bad game, and they could have just as easily won in a 3-1 or a 3-2. Cure sniped Dark's stellar ZvT in a grueling battle and Rogue's whimsical yet methodical response to Classic's cannon rush exhibited a flair characteristic of only the best players and teams. If any other Terran besides Maru had played in the games that Maru did, he would not have survived half as long. The ace continues to be in outstanding condition, he just disappointed by falling short twice. sOs, although forced into a more normal macro game, did not look thrown off by the stylistic change; he was simply outplayed. Jin Air won't take this loss as a blow to their confidence, and they can certainly still beat anybody.

Comments
Let Cure continue to be a TvZ sniper, but try to get Maru a different matchup. Reassure Rogue he'll get to play a macro game eventually.

B - MVP

The Choyas pulled off the upset of the week with an ace match win over defending champions KT Rolster. MarineKing punished Stats heavily for a few mistakes and Losira played a bizarre ZvT that worked wonders against Flash's rote bio-mine plus thor style. The less experienced players had a bad day, as DeParture flopped miserably against TY while Panic could not overcome a build order deficit against Zest. Then in Choya's typical evil fashion, he decided to one-up Bomber's surprise ace pick of San last week by fielding YongHwa. Anticipating more stargate play from Zest, YongHwa devised an excellent counter with a one proxy, two in-base three gate stalker build. Beating KT is by no means an easy feat, and toughing out the five sets is definitely an improvement for MVP compared to their dusting last week at SKT's hands.

Comments
Comfort DeParture and Panic. Tell YongHwa to work on his micro. Keep getting Losira ZvT.

B- - Samsung Galaxy

Taking down Prime might not seem like the most impressive accomplishment, but it was a good win for Samsung. They did not struggle, as only Journey fell to YoDa's superior TvT. Hurricane's brilliant execution of a blink and dark templar build wiped the floor with TANGTANG, and Shine contributed to Creator's growing abysmal record in PvZ with suffocating swarm host tactics. MyuNgSiK looked like he might have had Armani "Protossed," but the Designer Zerg was able to capitalize on his indecision and conjure up sufficient roach hydra forces to defeat the two base allin. Despite a narrow 3-2 loss to CJ last week, Samsung have managed to claw their way up to the fringe playoff spot. The talent is definitely there for Samsung to continue the progress
Comments
Tell Hurricane to apologize to TANGTANG, but definitely continue to play him. Play more experienced players next week against the slightly stronger ST-yoe

C- - KT Rolster

KT Rolster are looking less and less impressive. We may get to the point where it's not even worth mentioning that they were last season's champs. Stats made a few critical errors against MarineKing, guaranteeing him a death by SCV pull. Flash made blind turrets and thors against Losira's sans mutalisk composition, and did very little to deny him economy while failing to augment his own. Zest got a bit lucky with a build order advantage against Panic, and TY rolled over DeParture with a hellbat marine SCV push that went unscouted. Zest's loss in the ace match was not egregious, but it was also not un-winnable. Their loss overall is passable this week only because MVP played well and KT did not look as atrociously bad as they did against Jin Air last week. They still have a ways to go before they can regain respect, as any team in last place would.

Comments
Stop giving Flash TvZ. Stats isn't looking so good in PvT, so try to get him another matchup as well.

D - Prime

Although they nearly pulled out a win versus ST-Yoe last week, they reminded everyone why they are the brunt of every joke and why Samsung played mostly B-teamers. YoDa, at least, continued to look strong in TvT, but TANGTANG was horribly outplayed and punished for his greed. MyuNgSiK seems to have been pegged as a Protoss with a preference for the cheddar, which does not bode well for him at all if he plans on deploying more allins in the future. Creator is still bad at PvZ and, although Shine is a respectable swarm host player, does not appear to be in good form currently. There are a lot of questions for Prime about what to do and where to go from here, but there aren't really any answers yet.

Comments
Give TANGTANG a hug. Give MyuNgSiK a different matchup to do an immortal allin. Give Creator something besides PvZ.

F - ST-yoe Flash Wolves

Congratulations to ST-Yoe for being the only team to get 3-0'd this week! The dunce cap goes to the team with the talent to duke it out with CJ but the clutch factor of old LeBron James. Hack's TvZ was clearly a level below ByuL's, and however the delay may have adversely affected him, rolling over and dying was not exactly forgivable. Curious had a few hundred ways to win his game vs herO's extremely cost inefficient method of dealing with swarm hosts, but he chose the one way to lose. Life has shown that he can beat the aggressive mech plays, but Bbyong's follow up to his proxy barracks was just a déjà vu of the DreamHack Winter finals. After barely beating Prime of all teams last week, ST-Yoe can't be happy with getting bageled.

Comments
Massage Curious' shoulder, he threw that one really hard. Send Life to timeout, he should have anticipated mech. Play San earlier on.

Week Three: Four Months Later

by Darkhorse

Focus Match: KT Rolster vs SK Telecom T1

How could we not highlight the rematch of the 2014 finals in this their first meeting of 2015? Of course the clash of the Telecoms isn't exactly the clash of the titans that it was last year. While SKT has recovered from massive offseason losses and currently sits in first place on the back of solid play by soO, Dark, and Innovation, KT has been shockingly lackluster over the first two weeks of the season. Currently they occupy the last place position. That's right. Last season's champs are lagging behind Prime in the standings for this season of Proleague.

Now, the season is only two weeks old and we have months and months before the playoffs, so it is unfair to bury KT just yet. However, it is safe to say that KT's performance thus far has been troubling as all four of their starters have been struggling to various degrees. It isn't "do or die"-time for KT when it comes to the season as a whole, but it may be do or die time for round one. If they go down 0-3 and continue to look like they have over the first two weeks they will most likely be watching the round playoffs rather than participating.



While the rest of his team has been in a slump that seems to only grow worse over the past several weeks, it looked like Stats was the one that was performing fairly well. He qualified for S2SL (while Zest did not) and was able to take down Innovation 3-2 in his first series in the league. However, he managed to lose to Marineking in Proleague right after which makes him 0-1 so far on the year. Over the past month he has played mostly PvT in high profile matches, but he has also beaten Byul in the S2SL qualifier and Rogue in the Leifeng Cup online. Stats has been the KT player who has been pretty stagnant with the capability to beat great players like Innovation and then lose to PenguiN in the first round of the GSL qualifiers. KT desperately needs someone to step up and take a big win, and Stats beating soO is almost required for KT to win this match.

While four straight GSL silvers is certainly a cruel fate, late 2014 was even more cruel to our new King of Kongs. Since falling out of Blizzcon in the Ro16, soO is sitting at a dismal 33% win rate in tournament matches, including a disappointing 0-4 record in the Hot6ix Cup and eliminations from both the S2SL and GSL qualifiers. Admittedly he hasn't lost to anyone shocking (losses to TY, Rain, Bbyong, Rogue, Parting, Gumiho over the past two months) but we still expect more from someone with his GSL credentials. He did manage to beat Maru in their last Proleague match, a critical victory that allowed SKT to force an ace match, but he was notably skipped over as the team's ace in favor of Dark which suggests that soO may not even be on top of the Zerg rankings in house. The King of Kongs has fallen hard over the past few months but we have yet to see it affect his Proleague performance.

Prediction: Cheese, cheese, cheese. Players tend to pull out quick, tailored builds in the Bo1 death machine that is Proleague, and I think it is especially likely here. Stats is certainly not afraid to break out the cannons and he most likely doesn't want to take a PvZ long on Overgrowth. If he doesn't end up opting for cannons, I wouldn't be surprised to see a soul train. Meanwhile, soO has a habit of getting his builds from Catz, so I would be equally unsurprised to see him take Stats' gold and do some kind of roach rush. Either way I don't expect this game to go long, and I'll favor Stats.

Winner: Stats



Moving on to the night's PvP, we have Zest facing off against Billowy as our second match. Billowy (the emperor of China formerly known as MVPLure) is making his 2015 season debut, and you have to wonder if the SKT coaching staff is looking to get under KT's skin with this decision. If you aren't aware, Billowy was sent out first for MVP against KT in the Round 2 playoffs last season, where he basically killed all of KT by accident. With three gate aggression, blink builds, and sheer confidence, Billowy pulled off the all kill in one of the most impressive Proleague performances of the year, and left KT wondering what the hell had just hit them. Billowy beat Zest that day in a quick PvP on King Sejong Station as Billowy's three gate build simply overpowered Zest's more macro-focused play, and Billowy will almost certainly attempt some aggression if he hopes to beat the more accomplished KT Protoss.

The aforementioned Zest is another player whose stock has fallen drastically over the last couple of months. Allow me to paint you a picture of what has happened to Zest recently. First, Zest attends a tournament in Azerbaijan (yes really) back in November. There he falls asleep at the keyboard and still takes the event and $5000 without dropping a map as there was not a single other Korean player in attendance. Presumably he hasn't woken up since because he just hasn't looked like the Zest of old. I don't want to bash on Zest too much, but him losing to Departure and Dream in the GSL qualifier was a shock to pretty much everyone. Even his first victory this season against MVP was tarnished as he was clutched out in the Ace Match by Yonghwa. PvP is PvP but it is still a little weird to see anyone getting clutched out by Yonghwa let alone Zest.

Prediction: Billowy will turn on the aggression and Zest will play safe. If Zest thinks he can play greedy, Billowy will make him pay. If Zest thinks he can do some cute Stargate opening without ground units, Billowy will make him pay. If Zest doesn't learn from his defeat in the Round 2 playoffs last year, Billowy will make him pay.

Winner: Billowy



The third and probably most anticipated match of the night pits the Ultimate Weapon Flash up against the red hot Dark in a TvZ on King Sejong Station. Now I hate to belabor the point everyone but my god KT players are in a slump and Flash has not been spared. He failed to qualify for Code S and although he did make it through the S2SL qualifier (only needing to win two series) he was beaten soundly in the Ro32 by Life 3-0. Flash has lost his last four TvZs, two of them in Proleague, and he hasn't looked much like the player that won IEM Toronto back in August. Did I mention that KT players aren't doing well recently? Yeah, they haven't been doing well recently.

Dark, on the other hand, has been absolutely on fire. His win rate in tournaments over the past two months? An incredible 81%. He qualified for GSL and the S2SL and trounced PartinG 3-0 in the Ro32 of the latter. He did lose a tight match to Cure in last week's showdown with Jin Air but instantly made up for it with an ace match win over Maru to give his team the win. Seriously there probably isn't a player as hot as Dark right now in Korea, and all we can do is wonder how far he can go.

Prediction: In Week 1, Dark beat Marineking in a ZvT on King Sejong Station. In week two he beat Maru in a ZvT on King Sejong Station, while Flash lost to Losira on, you guessed it, King Sejong Station. Flash has only played TvZ in Proleague thus far while Dark has only played ZvT and both players have had their time on this particular map. Flash's record: 0-2. Dark's record: 2-1 with an ace match win. I think this one is pretty self explanatory.

Winner: Dark



I am sick of talking about KT players who are in slumps, so it's a good thing that TY has been the KT player least affected by it. He played well to qualify for the S2SL and beat Scarlett fairly handily 3-1 in the Ro32. He also qualified for GSL making him the only KT player to qualify for both individual leagues (and the only KT player to qualify for GSL). While he did lose a fairly entertaining TvP to sOs in the first week, he pulled his weight last week and took the win over Departure. All in all TY is looking like the most solid member of the KT Elite Four, which feels rather strange to say. While we don't have a lot of info on TY's TvT (he has played two since September, wins over Maru 2-1 and Ryung 2-0 in qualifiers) it is safe to say that TY is in decent form and should put up a good fight here.

On the other side, the super ace. The best team league player in Starcraft II history. The reigning GSL champ. INnoVation is all of these things, and he has a reasonable claim to the title of best Terran in the world. He was brought in for SKT in an effort to fill the gap left by PartinG, Rain, and Soulkey and so far he has not disappointed. He has looked solid in two wins so far in Proleague, but it was a little odd to see him replaced by Dark in the ace role last week in an important match against Jin Air. Perhaps he was avoiding the aggressive TvT of Maru, which is something that has hurt him in the past. Either way, the move paid off and SKT is 2-0, a record that Innovation has played a large part in.

Prediction: This one can really go either way. INnoVation won his first TvT of the season against Center in week one, but it is worth noting that there were times in that game where INnoVation looked well behind, and with better execution Center may well have pulled off the upset. TY would do well to study that replay and figure out how he can do early damage like Center was able to. I expect banshee play and attempted doom drops from both sides, and when the dust clears I expect INnoVation to have won.

Winner: INnoVation

SK Telecom 3 - 1 KT Rolster

FPL Rundown: Week Two

by lichter

Best Player of the Week: Dark

On a team with 2 GSL winners and the game's greatest Kong, being able to hold down a roster spot is already an impressive feat. But being chosen as your team's ace against what could be your main rival for the season? Not bad for a young player like Dark. After losing his initial match against Cure, SKT T1 still entrusted Dark with his very first Proleague ace match, and he did not disappoint as he took down last season's most wins winner, sOs. While many people predicted Dark to be one of the season's breakout stars, not even his biggest fans could have predicted that he'd earn Ace match duties so early.

E/N: Brendan Valdes insisted that Dark would be great this season. Where is he on FPL?

Most Surprising Player of the Week: Someone on Samsung

Call it confidence or call it roster testing, but Coach Stork's gamble to field an entirely new lineup for their match against Prime could have entirely backfired. As two of the (predicted) weaker teams in the league, a win for either side could be the difference between 7th and 8th, or even 6th. With no Dear, Solar or Stork ( ), it looked like Prime had the advantage of Samsung. Instead, Hurricane, Armani and Shine all won their matches to make Coach Stork a winner. He's shuffled his deck again for Week 3, and it'll be interesting to see whether he continues on this pattern of rotation.

Worst Player of the Week: Flash

0-2 Flash, 0-2 KT Rolster. The defending champions are a mess, and it all starts with their main man. While some shrugged at his 2rax failure against Rogue in week 1, Losira manhandled him in a macro game in week 2. He faces yet another zerg, this time the ascending Dark, in week 3, and the outlook seems grim. Will KT Rolster capitulate their throne so early in the season?

Worst Team of the Week: ST-Yoe

As the only team to go 0-3 this week, ST-Yoe defaults as the worst team of the week. Despite the fact that Prime are in a 0-2 hole, ST-Yoe are still worth as much in FPL due to mapscores. Add the fact that Curious lost a ridiculous hour long game and Life lost to a 2rax after going pool before hatch, and you've got a pretty bad week. Maybe you should have fixed that PartinG situation, Legend/Bomber/Whoever your coach is.

Budget Guy of the Week: Armani/Shine

Essentially worth a throway pick at 2 pts, these two players have already paid for themselves by claiming games in a Samsung win. As the only team to really show a willingness to experiment with their lineups this early in the season, expect more budget pickups from Samsung as the season progresses. The only new faces for week 3 are Trap, Billowy, and HerO, but these were players are known quantities.

The Anti-Team Terror: YoDa

When YoDa was picked up by Prime, it looked like a replacement for MarineKing. It wasn't heralded as a great change for the team, and few were really excited about his addition. The transfer of MyuNgSiK from KT was met with greater anticipation, while Prime fans expected Creator to be the team's ace once more. A punt on YoDa for 5 pts on one's anti thus seemed like a good choice, but after 5 pts in 2 weeks, those 320 people are probably kicking themslves.

The Boat is Sinking: Solar

2 weeks, 0 points. After turning a corner during the end of 2014, it seems like Solar has once again started to decline. 70 people have traded for him on their anti teams, hoping that his poor performances continue. With Samsung choosing to rotate their roster in Round 1, now seems as good a time as any to add him to your anti.

Worst Trade of the Week: Anyone for Zest

While Zest was able to win 1 match in week 2, his loss in the ace match was a cruel blow for those wishing his seemingly affordable cost could be paid of quickly. It could have proven to be a shrewd move had he won the ace, but 50 people, myself included, had their hearts broken by YongHwa's 3gate.

Best Trade of the Week: Flash for Dark

While I doubt anyone had the balls to do this, swapping God for the Dark would have been the best trade of the week. A 4 pt swing (due to -1 trade tax) is an excellent return of investment, and Dark is now 8th most expensive player in FPL. His appreciation in value means that, if you ever decide to trade him away, you'll be able to swap him for almost any player. Not bad for a 5 pter.

Might be Good Value: Billowy

SKT sit joint top with CJ Entus with an inferior map score, and it looks like they're now willing to field different players. Classic is the casualty this week, as Billowy gets a shot to show his stuff. He's currently cheaper than players such as Terminator, Symbol, Pigbaby, Sora, and Dream, so if he manages to earn one or two more appearances this season he might be worth a punt.

Most Interesting Trade Bait: Solar

He's got to win eventually right? RIGHT??? This week he's matched up against Curious—who has never won in Proleague—in a matchup where he's looked okay. It's a curious game of chicken waiting for the right time to pick up a slumping player, especially one considered to be the team's ace. While some could argue that Flash has to win soon too, his match against Dark looks trickier than Solar's. One of these two have to get out of their funk for their teams to have a chance. My bet is on Solar, but I'm not putting my eSports money where my mouth is.