EPT
The Weekly Preview
by TheOneAboveU![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/bird_blue_16.png)
- TheOneAboveUAfter an action-packed week in the Korean StarCraft scene comes—naturally—the next action packed week! VSL starts to get into its hot phase with one last group to play out, before we already head right into the playoffs. GSL Code S, of course, has already provided us with great games throughout the playoffs. All that’s missing is a grandiose conclusion—that’ll have its own article though, so you can look forward to that. And finally, SSL returns with its Fast Lane event, which will decide next season's Premier League contenders. If you’re looking for the classic nailbiting pressure of the old ‘Up & Down Matches’, this’ll be the perfect fit for you.
Awwww Seoul, Don’t You Dare Be Sour!
Clap for the return of Up & Down Matches and feel the power! It’s Fast Lane, yes, it is! … Wait what? Oh, this isn’t wrestling? … One might be confused, because SSL named this stage of their league like a WWE event, but in fact SSL Fast Lane is aimed at bringing back the excitement of the old GSL Up & Down Matches. The entire system works a bit differently though.
There are two match days and two groups. On the first day,
Dark (from Premier), 
Dear (from Challenge), 
Maru (from Premier) and Classic (from Challenge) will play out a regular GSL style group. The two best players will advance into Premier League or retain their Premier status for next season. But for the two losers the fight isn’t going to be over yet. They will move on to Day 2 of the event and join ByuN (from Challenge) and Patience (from Premier) for another GSL style group. Here, again, the two winners will play in Premier next season, while the two unfortunate souls left behind must compete down in the Challenge Division.
Overall there are four tickets to Premier up for grabs for these six players. There are worse odds.
The top rivalry to look out for in these matches is definitely Dark vs. Maru. Earlier this month Maru eliminated Dark from GSL, beating him narrowly in two Bo3s. This came after several other matches between the two players, like their duel in SSL Premier, which Dark had won 2-1, securing his rank just above the Terran player (which gave him his opening match against Dear here, who is probably an easier opponent for him than Classic—Dark was clearly in for the long con). With both snacking Protoss players for breakfast left and right in the past few weeks, the probability of a meeting is quite high and we expect a heated showdown for the very first Premier ticket.
Classic certainly should be accounted favourite status as well, but due to his long run in GSL he might be preoccupied with different thoughts and be a bit distracted—after such a beatdown it's hard to get up again without delay. It might be Dear who could profit from that. The Protoss turned up the heat at the end of the season in Challenge, beating top dog herO and the beloved ByuN on the last two match days to secure this spot at Fast Lane, proving once more that he’s still a mighty foe, when given enough time to prepare his moves.
On Day 2 two baby faces—to stay with the wrestling terms—will enter the competition in ByuN and Patience. The Terran has some disappointing weeks and months behind him, with the steam and momentum he had from his success last year fading out completely. The hype phase around him is done for good, and ByuN once more finds himself living the everyday life of a regular progamer. He’s made up for it with some great online runs and a nice VSL performance in the past few weeks, but Fast Lane will be the real challenge. Will ByuN endure in the spotlight, or will obscurity once more knock on his door?
Dancing With Ghosts
Since Armani recently officially announced that he’ll be joining the military on June 27, ending his career for now, a replacement player quickly had to be found for his VSL group—otherwise we'd have seen a three man competition. As sad as it is to not see Armani one last time for his goodbye matches, forSuper it's fortunate scenario indeed. The Protoss had lost to Armani in the qualifiers, but now gets his opportunity to shine after all. That said, his loss to Armani isn't a great omen for his odds here, as he faces fierce competition from elite Code S players and ghosts—just like himself—alike.
Classic is the favourite to be victorious here, but the possible distraction due to his GSL failure opens the chance for Ryung, Creator and Super to pull off the upset—or for Classic to bounce back with a vengeance. Ryung in particular has had a rough time since his impressive Top 4 finish in the last Code S season, heading from loss to loss almost without break. That still makes him a brighter figure than Creator, though. The once shining newcomer, prophesied to become the greatest Protoss player of them all, is only a shadow of his former self. From time to time he shows up and gets a notable series win, but he’s incredibly consistent in his inconsistency. Who shows up on Friday—good Creator, or horrible Creator? There only seem to be those two modes.
Weekly Schedule:
MON – SSL Fast Lane – Day 1:Dark vs. Dear / Maru vs. Classic
THU – SSL Fast Lane – Day 2: TBD vs.ByuN / TBD vs. Patience
FRI – VSL – Group D:Ryung / Classic / Super / Creator
SAT – GSL Code S – Grand Final:GuMiho vs. soO
Awwww Seoul, Don’t You Dare Be Sour!
Clap for the return of Up & Down Matches and feel the power! It’s Fast Lane, yes, it is! … Wait what? Oh, this isn’t wrestling? … One might be confused, because SSL named this stage of their league like a WWE event, but in fact SSL Fast Lane is aimed at bringing back the excitement of the old GSL Up & Down Matches. The entire system works a bit differently though.
There are two match days and two groups. On the first day,
Dark (from Premier), Dear (from Challenge), Maru (from Premier) and Classic (from Challenge) will play out a regular GSL style group. The two best players will advance into Premier League or retain their Premier status for next season. But for the two losers the fight isn’t going to be over yet. They will move on to Day 2 of the event and join ByuN (from Challenge) and Patience (from Premier) for another GSL style group. Here, again, the two winners will play in Premier next season, while the two unfortunate souls left behind must compete down in the Challenge Division.Overall there are four tickets to Premier up for grabs for these six players. There are worse odds.
The top rivalry to look out for in these matches is definitely Dark vs. Maru. Earlier this month Maru eliminated Dark from GSL, beating him narrowly in two Bo3s. This came after several other matches between the two players, like their duel in SSL Premier, which Dark had won 2-1, securing his rank just above the Terran player (which gave him his opening match against Dear here, who is probably an easier opponent for him than Classic—Dark was clearly in for the long con). With both snacking Protoss players for breakfast left and right in the past few weeks, the probability of a meeting is quite high and we expect a heated showdown for the very first Premier ticket.
Classic certainly should be accounted favourite status as well, but due to his long run in GSL he might be preoccupied with different thoughts and be a bit distracted—after such a beatdown it's hard to get up again without delay. It might be Dear who could profit from that. The Protoss turned up the heat at the end of the season in Challenge, beating top dog herO and the beloved ByuN on the last two match days to secure this spot at Fast Lane, proving once more that he’s still a mighty foe, when given enough time to prepare his moves.
On Day 2 two baby faces—to stay with the wrestling terms—will enter the competition in ByuN and Patience. The Terran has some disappointing weeks and months behind him, with the steam and momentum he had from his success last year fading out completely. The hype phase around him is done for good, and ByuN once more finds himself living the everyday life of a regular progamer. He’s made up for it with some great online runs and a nice VSL performance in the past few weeks, but Fast Lane will be the real challenge. Will ByuN endure in the spotlight, or will obscurity once more knock on his door?
Dancing With Ghosts
Since Armani recently officially announced that he’ll be joining the military on June 27, ending his career for now, a replacement player quickly had to be found for his VSL group—otherwise we'd have seen a three man competition. As sad as it is to not see Armani one last time for his goodbye matches, for
Super it's fortunate scenario indeed. The Protoss had lost to Armani in the qualifiers, but now gets his opportunity to shine after all. That said, his loss to Armani isn't a great omen for his odds here, as he faces fierce competition from elite Code S players and ghosts—just like himself—alike.Classic is the favourite to be victorious here, but the possible distraction due to his GSL failure opens the chance for Ryung, Creator and Super to pull off the upset—or for Classic to bounce back with a vengeance. Ryung in particular has had a rough time since his impressive Top 4 finish in the last Code S season, heading from loss to loss almost without break. That still makes him a brighter figure than Creator, though. The once shining newcomer, prophesied to become the greatest Protoss player of them all, is only a shadow of his former self. From time to time he shows up and gets a notable series win, but he’s incredibly consistent in his inconsistency. Who shows up on Friday—good Creator, or horrible Creator? There only seem to be those two modes.Weekly Schedule:
MON – SSL Fast Lane – Day 1:
Dark vs. Dear / Maru vs. ClassicTHU – SSL Fast Lane – Day 2: TBD vs.
ByuN / TBD vs. PatienceFRI – VSL – Group D:
Ryung / Classic / Super / CreatorSAT – GSL Code S – Grand Final:
GuMiho vs. soO
Fast Lane Viewer Guide
by TheOneAboveU - TheOneAboveUWe’d like to break down the stories of our six competitors at SSL Fast Lane for you, because how else are you supposed to know for whom you’re supposed to cheer? For your convenience, there are only two sides to choose from. Actually, it’s not a choice, you must always cheer for the faces, because otherwise it would get way too complicated.
The Faces
ByuN, The One Man Army
Byun Hyun Woo is one of the top baby faces of the company, beloved by almost everyone. Early in his career he had some comical gimmicks, like calling himself Excrement and bringing a cute puppy to his matches, which kick started his popularity status. Back then he came close to taking a championship a couple of times, but could never do it.
After that, he fell into total obscurity and eventually left the company to try his luck in the independent scene. There he found his groove again and managed to work himself back into the collective conscience, before returning to the company as The One Man Army and starting an impressive title run, taking the GSL Championship Belt, the WCS Championship Belt and the WCA Championship Belt. Byun Hyun Woo is still extremely popular in the SC2 Universe, but his success faded away a bit in the last months—maybe to prepare another title run as an underdog. Fast Lane is providing an opportunity for him to start just that.
Patience, The Underdog
Jo Ji Hyun is all about being the Underdog. Trained in the same Dojo as ByuN, he entered the scene a bit later and waded in obscurity for some time, before going abroad to hone his skills and make some new experiences. During his trips to foreign countries and events, he quickly rose the ranks by showing impressive performances against established top players as a virtual unknown. Since then, he’s raked in several top finishes and even the HSC Championship Belt, but in everyone’s heart Patience is always the Underdog, maybe partly due to his innocent looks.
Classic, The Chintoss
Kim Doh Woo started out as a heel early in his SC2 career and was beaten up so embarrassingly by the Spoon Terran ThorZaIN, that he switched up his fighting style after their match. The highlight of his run as a heel was the victory over his own team partner soO in a match for the GSL Championship Belt, which sent soO in a spiral of depression and broke his mentality for future championship matches.
After that, he slowly turned face and is now considered a stable force for good in the SC2 Universe. He also created a record by being the first player to hold both the GSL and SSL Championship Belts. He is an old rival to Dear and would certainly be happy to eliminate him from Fast Lane, especially after suffering a shattering defeat at the hands of soO in GSL only a few days ago.
Dear, The Revenant
Baek Dong Jun is an interesting case, because he’s more like an anti-hero and less of a baby face. A surprisingly fast rise in 2013 gave him a GSL and WCS Championship Belt, but even that shocking and impressive run couldn’t give Dear the popularity he desired, as the SC2 Universe considered him a heel at this point, due to him taking out fan favourites left and right. Accordingly, he tried to go abroad, but was ultimately scammed by the company he hired on to, being forced to return to Korea with empty hands.
Indeed, Dear returned much worse than before. This marked his face turn, as he was now branded as an underdog trying to regain what he once had lost, which indeed did raise his popularity level. He still has some heel antics, like badmouthing the face Classic as a bubble and then mocking him after a win, or taking out fan favourites with dirty tricks, but overall Dear is viewed in a positive light right now. Claiming victory at Fast Lane and attempting another championship run would certainly catapult him even more into the spotlight again.
The Heels
Dark, The Last Son
Park Ryung Woo has a heavy burden to carry. He is the last heir to the legacy of legendary player BoxeR, being personally groomed and trained by the Emperor, which led him to grow quite the arrogant attitude towards his fellow competitors. He did not always have the skill to follow up on his big words when he first entered the scene, making him not very popular with the viewers.
As time went on and his performances began to look more and more impressive, Dark gained traction with the SC2 Universe, but he still retains his attitude towards his opponents and isn’t very active when it comes to bringing the fans on his side. For him, victory is everything, as he has a destiny to fulfil. At Fast Lane, his prime directive will be to be triumphant at all costs.
Maru, The Little Psychopath
Cho Seong Ju is a player you either hate or love, but you are guaranteed to have strong feelings about him. Starting as a young prodigy he garnered much popularity simply by his youth, but soon a big part of the SC2 Universe began to despise him for his dirty playstyle, which was common with all the Terran players in the Prime Dojo, where Maru was trained alongside ByuN. Known for his speed, precision and dirty tricks, he’s often driving his opponents completely mad.
With an OSL and SSL Championship Belt being only two of his many achievements, Maru has been very successful. But for how long he’s been in the company, you’d think there would be more titles under his name. Anyways, where ever he shows up, he’s certain to polarize the viewers and keep them on the edge of their seats. Fast Lane hopefully will be no different, especially if he meets Dark, with him he’s had a rivalry going on for some months now.
Bonus footage for making it to this point: MC dressing up as the Undertaker, entering the group selection ceremony of OSL to his entrance music. We do miss your antics, MC, we do miss them.
The Faces
ByuN, The One Man ArmyByun Hyun Woo is one of the top baby faces of the company, beloved by almost everyone. Early in his career he had some comical gimmicks, like calling himself Excrement and bringing a cute puppy to his matches, which kick started his popularity status. Back then he came close to taking a championship a couple of times, but could never do it.
After that, he fell into total obscurity and eventually left the company to try his luck in the independent scene. There he found his groove again and managed to work himself back into the collective conscience, before returning to the company as The One Man Army and starting an impressive title run, taking the GSL Championship Belt, the WCS Championship Belt and the WCA Championship Belt. Byun Hyun Woo is still extremely popular in the SC2 Universe, but his success faded away a bit in the last months—maybe to prepare another title run as an underdog. Fast Lane is providing an opportunity for him to start just that.
Patience, The UnderdogJo Ji Hyun is all about being the Underdog. Trained in the same Dojo as ByuN, he entered the scene a bit later and waded in obscurity for some time, before going abroad to hone his skills and make some new experiences. During his trips to foreign countries and events, he quickly rose the ranks by showing impressive performances against established top players as a virtual unknown. Since then, he’s raked in several top finishes and even the HSC Championship Belt, but in everyone’s heart Patience is always the Underdog, maybe partly due to his innocent looks.
Classic, The ChintossKim Doh Woo started out as a heel early in his SC2 career and was beaten up so embarrassingly by the Spoon Terran ThorZaIN, that he switched up his fighting style after their match. The highlight of his run as a heel was the victory over his own team partner soO in a match for the GSL Championship Belt, which sent soO in a spiral of depression and broke his mentality for future championship matches.
After that, he slowly turned face and is now considered a stable force for good in the SC2 Universe. He also created a record by being the first player to hold both the GSL and SSL Championship Belts. He is an old rival to Dear and would certainly be happy to eliminate him from Fast Lane, especially after suffering a shattering defeat at the hands of soO in GSL only a few days ago.
Dear, The RevenantBaek Dong Jun is an interesting case, because he’s more like an anti-hero and less of a baby face. A surprisingly fast rise in 2013 gave him a GSL and WCS Championship Belt, but even that shocking and impressive run couldn’t give Dear the popularity he desired, as the SC2 Universe considered him a heel at this point, due to him taking out fan favourites left and right. Accordingly, he tried to go abroad, but was ultimately scammed by the company he hired on to, being forced to return to Korea with empty hands.
Indeed, Dear returned much worse than before. This marked his face turn, as he was now branded as an underdog trying to regain what he once had lost, which indeed did raise his popularity level. He still has some heel antics, like badmouthing the face Classic as a bubble and then mocking him after a win, or taking out fan favourites with dirty tricks, but overall Dear is viewed in a positive light right now. Claiming victory at Fast Lane and attempting another championship run would certainly catapult him even more into the spotlight again.
The Heels
Dark, The Last SonPark Ryung Woo has a heavy burden to carry. He is the last heir to the legacy of legendary player BoxeR, being personally groomed and trained by the Emperor, which led him to grow quite the arrogant attitude towards his fellow competitors. He did not always have the skill to follow up on his big words when he first entered the scene, making him not very popular with the viewers.
As time went on and his performances began to look more and more impressive, Dark gained traction with the SC2 Universe, but he still retains his attitude towards his opponents and isn’t very active when it comes to bringing the fans on his side. For him, victory is everything, as he has a destiny to fulfil. At Fast Lane, his prime directive will be to be triumphant at all costs.
Maru, The Little PsychopathCho Seong Ju is a player you either hate or love, but you are guaranteed to have strong feelings about him. Starting as a young prodigy he garnered much popularity simply by his youth, but soon a big part of the SC2 Universe began to despise him for his dirty playstyle, which was common with all the Terran players in the Prime Dojo, where Maru was trained alongside ByuN. Known for his speed, precision and dirty tricks, he’s often driving his opponents completely mad.
With an OSL and SSL Championship Belt being only two of his many achievements, Maru has been very successful. But for how long he’s been in the company, you’d think there would be more titles under his name. Anyways, where ever he shows up, he’s certain to polarize the viewers and keep them on the edge of their seats. Fast Lane hopefully will be no different, especially if he meets Dark, with him he’s had a rivalry going on for some months now.
Bonus footage for making it to this point: MC dressing up as the Undertaker, entering the group selection ceremony of OSL to his entrance music. We do miss your antics, MC, we do miss them.
