Week 5 Highlights

by banjoetheredskin

SK Telecom T1 3-0 Jin Air Green Wings

• soO maintained his undefeated record in ZvZ this season (7-0) with a win over Rogue.
  
• Dream confirmed that his TvP is actually that good by exacting revenge on sOs. He still took a lot of damage from dark templars, as in their last meeting, but this time dealt more than enough damage of his own.
  

KT Rolster 3-0 Samsung Galaxy

• A wild TY appeared, did a very-TY build, and beat the struggling Solar.
  
• Zest made tempests look good in PvP again after Sora almost made us think otherwise last week.
  

CJ Entus 1-3 SBENU-yoe Flash Wolves

• Leenock vs ByuL, despite already having slightly higher expectations, was a surprisingly good and entertaining ZvZ.
  
• Curious really is good, but Hush is also awful at not-PvP.
  

MVP 3-2 Prime

• Creator sustained the only redeeming statistic Prime can claim: he hasn't lost a PvP yet (5-0).
  
• BBoongBBoong won a game.
  
  Who's laughing now?
  [W/N: Everyone, Prime still sucks.]
  
• Creator lost the ace set to Losira, and to match his winless record against Zerg (0-7), Prime are also still winless (0-5).
  

Not all weeks offer compelling storylines that can be set apart from the season's overarching narrative. In this mid-round lull where we cannot reliably predict the end results and cannot praise the surprising streaks of one team or another, we implore you to do what Starcraft fans occasionally do: watch some games! Therefore, without further ado:

Highlight Games That May or May Not Be Good But Should Be Watched

INnoVation vs Cure
In a good old mech TvT on Vaani, INnoVation showcased some adroit tactics to work small advantages against Cure. Cure held strong for a while with outstanding macro and some clever maneuvers of his own, but a brilliant sequence of army movements by INnoVation put the game to an abrupt end.

TY vs Solar
Although quite one-sided, this game on Expedition Lost captures what there is to love about Proleague. TY embodies a great Proleague player with his meticulous map-specific preparation, and he delivered another fun build full of harassment and devastating tank positioning. TY fans may hope that a success in what is now a rare appearance for TY will earn him more playing time in the future, but now that Stats is done with individual leagues for the season it seems unlikely.

Leenock vs ByuL
Perhaps still experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder from his loss to Revival, ByuL refused to make mutas in the Zerg mirror. Leenock himself had chosen to go for mutas, so ByuL's response after an initial roach attack sniped Leenock's third was to follow up with a roach/queen nydus allin. Constricted to two bases, spines, and pure mutas, Leenock held by the skin of his teeth in one of the closest ZvZs of the season.

HerO vs YoDa
Although YoDa's TvP has been unspectacular at best this season, he fought very well against the increasingly formidable HerO. The Liquid Protoss stayed true to his identity with a counter harassment-focused mid and late game after the uncommon 5 phoenix before blink opening, eventually shredding YoDa's economy while barely holding on against the bio attacks.

This Too Shall Pass

by Darkhorse

Allow me to briefly explain to you how insane this week six is. The only match that does not have huge playoff implications is between the first place SKT and the Proleague punching bag Prime, with SKT all but locked in at number one and Prime completely locked in at number eight. The other matches introduce us to this Bizarro-world of Proleague that we have in round 3 in which Sbenu and MVP are 3-2 [E/N: the jury is still out on Sbenu) and currently sit in playoff position and last round's finalists Jin Air and CJ Entus sit at 2-3 and are outside the playoff bubble. Rounding out the middle of the pack are KT at 3-2 and Samsung at 2-3. Let's take a look at the matchups.

#1 SKT (5-0, +9) vs #8 Prime (0-5, -14)

Like I said, this match is basically meaningless as far as the standings go. I mean, if SKT were to somehow lose this match and next week's against SBENU by large margins they could get passed by KT, but they have a playoff spot locked in. This bout is pretty much a chance for Prime to win back a little dignity and for SKT to play Impact for the first time.

Game of the Match: Dream Creator

This is by default considering Creator is Prime's best player, but after seeing Dream 4-0 herO in SSL and come back against sOs last week, I fear for the champion of Prime.

#2 KT (3-2, +5) vs #5 CJ (2-3, -1)

Here is where things start to get interesting. KT sits in a tenuous second place position at 3-2 with CJ and MVP still on the schedule for this split. The team has been looking good recently with a 3-0 blowout of Samsung last week and probably should win this match. A win and losses from Sbenu and MVP would probably lock up at least a playoff spot for KT, if not the number two seed.
Things are getting very uncomfortable in the CJ camp. At 2-3, they are in danger of missing out on the playoffs only a month and a half removed from their championship in round 2. Because this match will be so difficult, it is entirely possible that even with a week seven cushion match against Prime, CJ will be in the audience for the round 3 all kill bracket. After last week's debacle against Sbenu, CJ seems to have come to the conclusion that Bbyong and sKyHigh are better choices than Hush and Sora (well done Coach Park) and they must realize that it's do or die time now.

Game of the Match: Zest ByuL

Science needs to invent a time machine so I can go back to 2014 and tell SC2 fans that ByuL is the favorite against Zest in a Proleague match. Ah well. Anyway, CJ actually got a few lucky draws with the matchups here. First off, they got herO against Flash which is solidly in their favor. They got Bbyong against Life, which is the best possible matchup they could have gotten to take care of Life. And they got this. Zest is an incredibly dangerous player, and he would have had a solid chance to beat either herO or Bbyong. Instead, he gets ByuL, who is absolutely on fire lately. Not only should this be the best matchup, it is probably also the most important. If things go as they should, the match should be 1-1 at this point, with Stats beating sKyHigh and herO beating Flash. With Bbyong vs Life as the final match, a victory for ByuL could easily mean a 3-1 win for CJ, and at the very least it will secure another chance for him to play in the ace match.

Side note, here is the record for Life vs Bbyong. Not only has Bbyong won both Proleague matches between the two this year, he also beat Life 2-0 in Code S this season.

#6 Jin Air (2-3, -2) vs #4 MVP (3-2, 0)

Jin Air is very much in the same boat as CJ, and they basically need to win out to comfortably make the playoffs. They don't have a particularly difficult end to the season, with this match against MVP and next week against Samsung, but they certainly can't take either match lightly given their current standing. It's actually a little mind blowing how a team so stacked with individual talent has struggled so much this round. I mean, they had three players in the Ro8 of Code S! Trap and Cure are their backups when I can think of four teams (including MVP!) that could use them as an ace player. Still, there's time for Jin Air to pull it together and make a run through the playoff bracket.
I've been pleasantly surprised by MVP this round. Those who know me know that I tend to root for ex-ESF teams (and HerO of course) so I was thrilled to see the team pull some big upsets against top teams like CJ this split. That said, I have to call out Choya a bit here. What the hell is he doing with the lineup with the playoffs right around the corner?! HerO wins two straight, better send him to the bench. Better send MarineKing out on Cactus Valley, a map that Jin Air has favored for Maru throughout the round. What about Losira, your best player? The guy who single handedly saved you from an embarrassing loss to Prime last week? Benched. At least he finally decided to play Yonghwa, and maybe Departure can work the same magic he pulled against herO back in week three. I'll gladly eat my words if this lineup works out for MVP, but right now it makes no sense to me.

Game of the Match: Cure GuMiho

While Rogue vs Yonghwa will probably be the higher level match, and the more important one especially from MVP's standpoint, I picked this one because it will probably be the most entertaining. Gumiho just makes fun games, and I could easily see this Deadwing TvT turn into a wild mech vs mech showdown. Unfortunately for both MVP and for the viewers, there is a decent chance this match will never be played, as Jin Air is certainly favored in the first three games on paper. Still, I didn't think Yonghwa or Departure would beat herO and they did, so I guess anything is possible.

#7 Samsung Galaxy (2-3, -3) vs #3 Sbenu (3-2, +3)

This is going to sound mean, so brace yourselves. I feel like Samsung is that team wearing a shirt that says, "We're serious contenders guys!" but no one really believes them. Sorry. I like Samsung, I really do, and I think they have a bright future, but they have some things they need to sort out. First off, they need to find out what terrible-at-playing-proleague demon has possessed Solar and exorcise that pronto, because they're going to need him for long term success. Their Terran lineup is pretty good, but Journey definitely needs some more experience (which they are giving him). It's a lucky thing Dear has been on the rise lately or they'd likely be further back from the pack. Still despite my criticism they are still in position to possibly make the playoffs, so I do have to give them some credit even if they are going to lose to Jin Air in week seven anyway. (Jeez, I am not making friends with any Samsung fans am I?)

Sbenu is currently in third place, but they are probably the most inconsistent 3rd place team ever. They have looked brilliant in wins like their week two win over Jin Air and their win over CJ last week. They've also looked mediocre or worse in losses to MVP and KT, without breaking a sweat before the immediate turnaround to elite team. The Sbenu lineup continues to rotate, but it generally doesn't get much weaker when it does. This week, Bomber and Leenock are headed to the bench and DRG and Jjakji head to the booth. They've done the right thing by keeping the now GSL semifinalist Curious (Who would have thought?) in the lineup and MMA has had pretty strong TvT so far in Proleague. If they win this match, the GSTL squad will most likely be headed to the playoffs, which will certainly put a smile on some nostalgic-SC2-fan faces.

Game of the Match: Dear DongRaeGu

This one should be pretty obvious. Sbenu is favored in the opening two matches, and Dear could be staring in the face of an 0-3 loss and probable elimination from the playoff race. The good news is that if Dear wins, there is every chance that he will get the chance to completely carry the team in an ace match. BrAvO's TvT is by far his best matchup and it accounts for four of his five Proleague wins this year, so I could certainly see him beating Jjakji. With Solar's game MIA, all the pressure is on Dear to send his team to the playoffs. Quick, someone tell him it's actually October 2013!

Writers: banjoetheredskin, Darkhorse
Graphics: shiroiusagi
Photo Credit: Thedailydot
Editor(s): Zealously