Progress Report: Week Six

by Zealously

A SK Telecom T1

Another week, another easy win for SK Telecom. Sweeping aside Samsung is hardly the highlight of their season, but with no Solar to drag them down and SKT fielding the still relatively unproven Sorry (and still beating Samsung without breaking a sweat) the current leaders still sit comfortably atop the rankings.

Comments

Nothing really negative to say about SKT this week. Innovation looks on track to complete his perfect round, Sorry did as well or better than expected in taking his game, and Dark completed the shutout. Make sure to field Innovation and Dark at appropriate times in the round playoffs, they have been impeccable so far.

A Prime

Prime's case is a curious one. With their win against Jin Air in Week 6, it is almost impossible for them to end the round in last place. Yoda, Myungsik and especially Creator are all becoming reliable contributors to the team effort. Maru (facing the completely unproven Zoun for an essentially free win, granted), Rogue, Cure and sOs is no measly gauntlet, so credit where credit is due. Well done, Prime. At this point, it does seem like the fourth key player that might be hiding on Prime's bench (will it be BboongBboong? TerrOr? TANGTANG? Byun?) could appear eventually.

Comments

Thanks to the winning three Prime are really getting their act together. Keep fielding them, preferably finding TvTs for Yoda, PvZs for Myungsik and PvPs for Creator. It's not easy to predict matches like that, but it looks like it's the recipe of success for Prime.

A- KT Rolster

Considering the situation KT was in after the first few weeks, I must admit that they've managed to turn things around rather well. Even with Flash losing to herO, they still stole the win away from CJ Entus. With last season's ace struggling as much as he is, KT hardly deserve glowing praise, but making do when a key player isn't performing is also impressive. Week 7 will make or break Round 1 for KT, as a win is absolutely mandatory if they want to make the round playoffs. Even coming off a win, I would be worried if i were in Ryu Won's shoes.

Comments

For the love of God, do whatever it takes to get Flash back on track. A sole win against BboongBboong unfortunately isn't impressive, and even though the rest of the team make do Flash needs to change something. TY and Zest seem to be finding their groove, focus on ironing out weakness for the deciding match against ST-yoe in Week 7.

B- Startale-yoe Flash Wolves

Although Life keeps delivering, the rest of Startale-yoe have hardly made a convincing case for their value in Proleague. Pet surprised by helping pull the load through a win against HerO, but Leenock and Curious lost their mirrors to Departure and Losira. Luckily for Startale-yoe, the Bo5 format means that as long as Life keeps performing as he currently, all it takes is one additional win to force the ace match. Since they delivered on that (and won the match) they get a pass, but I'm not exactly convinced that their chances in the round playoffs would be that great.

Comments

Since Life is willing to act as the team's band aid, keep fielding him on maps no one else is comfortable on or where you expect an opposing ace to come out. Also, punish players that keep losing by benching them in favor of players that don't. If Pet can beat HerO, why not give him another chance?

C- MVP

On one hand, MVP deserve credit for taking Startale-yoe to the ace match. Losira and particularly Departure proved that they, too, can be valuable contributors when it counts. On the other hand, though, they still lost the match, and I have to wonder if they couldn't have won before the ace match if HerO had only gotten his act together. Against a player like Pet, who plays so few televised games, it's hard to tell if the end result was a product of Pet playing unusually well, or of HerO playing below his level. Either way, with the way the match played out, one has to wonder how things would have ended if Choya had not fielded Seed in the ace match. Was he fielded to surprise Life (everyone knew Life was coming out), did he have a prepared build in mind, is he playing particularly well in practice? Impossible to say for sure, but with how the match ended I have no choice but to scold the coach.

Comments

Don't field Seed in the ace match next time, thanks.

C- CJ Entus

Skyhigh continues to struggle in match-ups that aren't TvT and herO beat Flash into the ground without looking particularly bothered. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. Byul and Bbyong's respective losses to TY and Stats do sting, however. It isn't that TY and Stats aren't in great shape at the moment - they both are - but rather that CJ's Proleague round hinges on Byul and Bbyong performing. If they don't, CJ is a sinking ship with no fourth player to help salvage the wreckage. Does that sound cruel? It is, but CJ needs to figure out who their fourth player is going to be going forward.

Comments

Find the fourth player and convince Bbyong that every map is Habitation Station. That's bound to create some consistency for the Terran ace.

F Samsung Galaxy

While it is a sad form of consistency, Samsung are really proving themselves the most consistent team in Proleague. The team has no clear ace and no highly reliable contributors. As such, it wasn't exactly unexpected when SKT shredded Samsung, but it was disappointing nonetheless.

Comments

At this point, fielding any B-teamers that have ever won a game in practice might be a decent approach. The worst thing that could happen is that they lose as well. Which, in case that wasn't clear, the A-teamers also do.

F Jin Air

Prime can play well when they get their shit together, that much we already know. However, taking a 1-3 loss (with the one win coming against Zoun, who might for the purpose of this match just as well be a walkover) to Prime still isn't acceptable for Jin Air. When you're in contention for playoffs, a loss to one of the weakest teams is not something you should treat yourself to. Had they won against Prime, Jin Air's playoffs spot would have been secure. Now, they are at risk of barely missing the mark. Not exactly the most convincing performance ever.

Comments

Get sOs whatever match-up lets him pull off the most abusive builds and lean on Maru for ace matches.

Recap of the Week: StarTale-yoeFW vs MVP

by Destructicon

With the first round of proleague considered to be one of experimentation it's inevitable that you'll see some peculiar lineups. This week it was Startale's turn by fielding an all zerg lineup. Not to be outdone MVP decided to give DeParture another go at it while also fielding HerO while preparing a surprise for the ace match. The result was fun back and forth series, albeit a little on the strange side.

Curious <Catallena> Losira

The first game kicked off the insanity with Losira trying to exert early map control and apply pressure via a speedling opening. Curious on the other hand played much more defensive and, spotting his opportunity, geared up for a massive roach timing. Losira tried to no avail to make his speedlings work, so he did the only thing he could, build a wall of spines atop his natural ramp and pray. Up 50 supply Curious over estimated his advantage and, instead of denying the 3rd of Losira, marched his entire army up into a meat grinder. In what can be described as the, the biggest throw of the year, Curious lost his entire army and allowed Losira to take a huge tech and army advantage that he'd ride to the win.

Pet <Overgrowth> HerO

HerO decided he'd channel the spirit of InCa for this match, getting a fast DT shrine and sniping the 3rd of Pet, while taking a 3rd of his own. This prompted Pet to go into swarm hosts and dig in deep. Having reached his comfort zone HerO unleashed his trademark warp prism harass, hoping to pull the young zerg apart. However at some point HerO's harass became a little too cute for his own good, trading very cost inefficiently while not inflicting much damage. Pet spotted that HerO's tech had stagnated and went up to Brood Lords. HerO unable to immediately respond to the threat decided to go for a base trade, however he got his army caught in a terrible position and lost it all.

Leenock <Merry Go Round> DeParture

Unwilling to face Leenock in the mid and late game, DeParture opted for a 8 pool in hopes of doing early damage. Leenock went for the greediest possible opening, a 15 hatch with delayed pool and thus, was caught completely off guard. Despite his initial disadvantage it looked like Leenock would be able to stabilize and safe his nat, but a bane follow up from DeParture quickly sealed its fate. Behind this aggression DeParture had expanded himself and was droning heavily, he used his superior economy to get much quicker roaches and seal the deal.

Life <Foxtrot Labs> MarineKing

Unfortunately for fans or MarineKing, this game was not pretty. Both players opened standard but MarineKing decided to be a bit too cute with his opening reaper and lost it. While Life let out a wide smile, MarineKing looked visibly flustered. From there Life went for 2 base muta and turned on the heat, doing small but consistent economic damage trough out the game. MarineKing did manage to secure his gold, but a clever set of maneuvers saw Life, ransack the nat only to sweep back towards the gold and destroy it. From there Life's win was assure despite MarineKing's desperate attempts to prolong the game and claw his way back into it.

Ace: Life <Deadwing> Seed

While StarTale went for the safe pick in Life, MVP decided to throw a curve-ball in the form of Seed. While Seed opened fairly standard, he did elect to delay his mothership core, a decision that he would soon regret as Life as researching speed. Life managed to sneak 6 lings into the base of Seed, killing a sentry some probes and forcing some lost mining time. Undaunted Seed followed up with his plan of getting a quick 3rd and 3 stargates. Then Seed pushed across the map to force a reaction while massing phoenix at home. Unfortunately for him Life scouted the phoenix and chose infestors as his counter. Despite doing decent economic damage with his phoenix, they were caught in a fungal and nearly all of them got taken out. Shortly thereafter Life counter-attacked as Seed was establishing a 4th, canceling it and killing most of the army. From there Life geared up for one last attack, this time backed up by Ultralisks. Seed put up a valiant fight, unfortunately he was unable to spend his 1.3k gas bank in time and simply lacked the units to hold his forth.
Note: Despite Seed losing, the following interviews hinted that it was a prepared strategy and if Life had gone for any other build he could very well have lost. Thus Seed's loss looks to be less a case of ineptitude and more a case of Life just being too good and reacting too well.

FPL Rundown: Week Six

by lichter

Best Player of the Week: Life

After an inconspicuous start to the round, Life has catapulted up the rankings over the past three weeks. He is now tied for the most points in Round 1 (with INnoVation and Zest), and he has single-handedly carried StarTale-Yoe to the brink of the playoffs. While the rest of his team continues to flit back and forth between respectability and embarrassment, Life just keeps chugging along. Sure, he "only" had to beat MarineKing and Seed this week, but his role in getting his team to the 3rd spot deserves recognition.

Most Surprising Player of the Week: Creator

We chose Creator as our player of the week last week for his double victory over Zest, but it was supposed to be more of an exception than a rule. He beat another elite protoss in Week 6 in the form of sOs to continue his win streak. Normally for someone like Creator that would be empty praise due to his sinking team, but Prime actually won again Jin Air to their incredibly faint playoff hopes.

Most Unsurprising Player of the Week: Zoun

Prime fielded a no-name and he got crushed by Maru.

Worst Player of the Week: sOs

This one kinda snuck up on us, didn't it? We've covered the struggles of aces Solar and Flash over the course of Round 1, but there's actually another ace player suddenly on a 3-game losing streak. The Jin Air protoss tied for the most wins last season and he only has 2 so far in Round 1. He was more or less favored against all the opponents he had to face, and his counterpart this week is the online wonder Armani. Normally we'd call this a good chance for sOs to get back on track, but Armani is a dangerous zerg that has won qualifiers before.


Worst Team of the Week: Jin Air Green Wings

You got 3-1'd by Prime. You were supposed to be a shoe-in for the playoffs with a soft schedule. Instead, you're in danger of being booted out of the playoffs because you lost to Prime. You're still in control of your fate with a match against the cellar dwellers Samsung in Week 7, but something tells me this will be a nervier ending that it has to be for your fans.


Budget Guy of the Week: Sorry

The strategy of swapping bit-part terrans continues to work. Last week I recommended trading Journey for Sorry, even though Sorry was facing the TvT sniper BravO. That gamble paid off again, and there's really nothing to it but luck. Unfortunately for Sorry, he has to face herO this week. Oops, off the team you go.

Why do you only win in ace matches: ST-Yoe

Startale is 3-0 in ace matches with a 3-3 record and a -4 map score. Basically, StarTale Yoe only win when they get to the ace match. Otherwise, they get absolutely demolished. Their opponents and fellow playoff hopefuls KT Rolster decided to play Zest, TY and Stats as their first three players, with Flash in the potentially unnecessary 4th game. It looks like KT have noticed this trend and are taking no chances on Flash flopping a 6th time this round.

Finally on his own slump, maybe: sOs

Sure, a three game doesn't sound so bad to start the season. Solar's on a 5 game losing streak and Seed is at an even worse 0-3. But sOs is supposed to be one of Jin Air's anchors, and he also failed in every individual tournament qualifier. Proleague is his only chance in the next few months to show us he isn't washed up until the next $100k tournament, and he's doing a pretty bad job of it. Or, he's doing a great job of being underestimated until the next time there's a $100k tournament.

Worst Trade of the Week: ByuL for Leenock

It looked like Leenock was bound to have a free win in DeParture while ByuL was set to face the intimidating TY. Instead, Leenock disappointed against his little foe. Like for like trades based on matchups are usually good moves to gain a few points, but this time it didn't work. Sure both players lost, but that's a -1 trade tax for nothing. And now you probably can't swap back.

Best Trade of the Week: A 2pter for Sorry

Another thrifty find, Sorry paid back his trade tax by winning his game against BravO. One of the great things about trades like these is the fact that, for some reason, we're seeing low-cost players being fielded every week. A win by one of these bargain bin pickups makes them incredibly flexible with very little opportunity cost. Next week, this spot could go to SalvatioN.

Might be Good Value: sOs

However, sOs still presents better value than some no-name debutante. sOs faces Armani, a player he should be favored against, and the Jin Air protoss isn't the kind of player to be affected by slumps and negative mindsets. He's at his lowest value in a very long time, and he definitely wants to get that win and seal Jin Air's place in the playoffs.

Most Interesting Trade Bait: YoDa

Somehow, MarineKing keeps getting matched against terrans. YoDa is a decent terran, and that basically means MarineKing is doomed.