EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2GroupDrawPics/shinhanbanner.jpg)
Well, the progamer break is over and it is time to get back in the action. To start things off, here it is: All you need to know for this upcoming OnGameNet StarLeague Season. With MBC Game fronting a solid lineup of groups and games, the OSL will have to do a good job this season to remain the premiere league for the world's best StarCraft players. There have been a lot of changes this year in regards to format and sponsorship, so let's get down to the details. If you know all this and only want the group drawing report, scroll down.A quick note...
After a period of sporatic coverage and lackluster news, TeamLiquid is making a concerted effort to improve it's coverage. It is no secret that the opening of LiquidPoker drained most of the interest and resources from the TL.net staff. However, we hope this season that it will improve. If you have any suggestions to improve the coverage of the korean BW scene, please let us know in the feedback section. As for staff, Carnac will be handling the MSL major league. ManaBlue is a new newsposter who will be helping me with the OSL coverage on Wednesdays, while I will cover the Fridays. The proleague is an insane amount of work, but results will be posted as frequently as possible.
Lastly, I would also like to extend a huge thank you to PoP. Not only does he do a lot of live reports, but he is the sole man behind liquibet, who does it on time, accuratly, and keeps the season ticking. Make sure you check out his famous progamizer thread here. It translates the korean player names on korean BW sites into their player id's which we know here. It is invaluable.
The Money
With the success of the last OSL, ShinHan Bank has really stepped up to the plate for the 2006 calender year. They will be the sponsor for not one, not two, but all three StarLeagues this year. Besides wrecking havoc with our OSL numbering system (I will refer to them as ShinHan OSL1, ShinHan OSL2, etc.) it gives OGN the money and sure footing to continue it's success. In addition to the OSL's, ShinHan will host a Master's Tournement at the end of the year. Details on this are sketchy, but I imagine it will be an invitational/winners tourny for more money. More details on that when they are released.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2GroupDrawPics/ShinHanboss.jpg)
The CEO of ShinHan bank makes an opening address at the OSL group drawings.
In addition to the OSL sponsorship, several teams have recieved new sponsorship, with big money being thrown around.
With Anytime's OSL victory and boyish good looks, the Plus team caught the eye of LeCaf (a sportswear company with the same parent as Korean K-Swiss), and they have a new sponsorship deal. Anytime will feel the pressure to get back in the major leagues soon with sposorship expectations of success and exposure. It should be interesting to see how he does. For now, only his teammate ShinHwa[Name] is in the OSL. Check out the news here.
Pirates of Space, easily the coolest proteam name and most ambiguous acronym, has picked up a very interesting sponsor. MBC will foot the food bill for July, Pusan, Sea[Shield] and company. What makes this so interesting is that with those three players being seeds in the OSL, MBC essentially bought themself great advertising time on their main rival's biggest show. I can only wonder how long it will take OGN to follow suit. Check out the news here.
Lastly, and most deservedly in my opinion, the G.O. team has finally hit the big time. And I mean big. Just recently it was announced the CJ, a vast Korean empire which includes insurance, entertainment, retail outlets and more, will take this traditionally successful team and write it a blank cheaque. Until now, the players had given 30% of their winnings to the team to maintain it, and because of their lack of sponsors many excellent gamers homegrown in G.O. have left to secure a large contract. Nal_rA and Midas are but two examples. Now, however, Xellos and co. are being rewarded with their perseverance. The G.O. team has always been good to TeamLiquid, and I wish them all the success in the future. Check out the news here.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2GroupDrawPics/newCJteam.jpg)
The new CJ team stylin’ on the cover of esForce
The Format
Just as the MSL changed it's format, OGN changed it's as well. You have probably heard about it so I will make the explination brief.
First Stage: Round of 24.
There are six groups of four players. As in the old system, each player in a group plays the others once, with the top two advancing for a total of twelve gamers.
Second Stage: Third Place Wildcards.
For the 6 third place finishers, they will match up with three winners advancing. Finally, the three losers of that matchup will face off against each other to determine one more qualifier. After this stage there are the original 12 winners plus 4 third place qualifiers.
Third Stage: Tournament stage.
From this point on, it is a single elimination tournament with 16 players. A bo3 series determines the quarter-finalists and the semi-finalists. A bo5 will be played in the semi-finals, 3rd place match, and finals.
There will be six seeds generated for the next OSL, with the 4 semifinals and two from the four other quarter-finalists being decided in a playoff. The other eighteen players go to the Dual tournament, which is now a single stage, 9 group 36 man tournament (18 from the OSL and 18 from the off-line qualifyers).
Here is my take. I love the fact that there is only one step between the off-line qualifiers and the OSL. It forces you to be consistant to stay, and it eliminates those gamers that consistantly took up a Challenge League/Dual 1 spot but could never make it to the OSL. It is also a lot easier to follow as the tournament will happen between OSL's rather than during it, and one stage makes it exciting and simple. As for the OSL, I think it is very forgiving for protoss gamers who are stuck in a group with two zergs. Unless you come in dead last in your group, you still have a 66% chance of getting into the playoff tournament. I'm looking forward to the change.
The Players
Now that you know how it works, here are the players taking part in the games:
Terran, 9 players.
SKT iloveoov, #1 Seed
MBC-POS Sea[Shield], #4 Seed
KOR iOi[Alive] (Casy), #5 Seed
SKT Midas, #6 Seed
SKT BoxeR
KTF Sync
GO Iris
KOR Cloud
KTF GoodFriend
Zerg, 10 players.
MBC-POS July, #2 seed
SKT GoRush
KTF Chojja
KTF YeLLoW
P&C Stay[HyO]
Khan Zergman
Khan Jju
Lecaf ShinHwA[Name]
SouL Sasin)Child
KOR Yellow[Name]
Protoss, 5 players
MBC-POS PuSan, #3 seed
SKT Rainbow
KTF Nal_rA
Samsung Stork
P&C Rock
For an amazing introduction and background look at each player, I strongly suggest you read 4 great posts by HonestTea. Article worthy material from a guy who contributes a ton to our forums.
The Groups
The group drawing was help on April 13th, and the ceremony was long and boring for anyone who does not understand Korean. I'll give you a few highlights.
Round 1:
- Oov picks Cloud. Oov said he hoped the two of them would advance together, and Cloud said he wanted to learn from Oov. Blah Blah Blah. Oov picked a TvT punching bag.
- July picks GoRush: July said he would take a strong gamer and tempted the crowd by flirting with Boxer's card before taking GoRush. He will take his revenge on SK one gamer at a time it seems.
- Pusan picks Boxer: None too subtle, Pusan said he wants revenge for last season, and the two top POS players had their sites on SK early on.
- Sea[Shield] picks GoodFriend: Sea is the KTF killer, having beat Yellow, ChoJJa and rA in quick succession earlier in the year. GoodFriend was a dope as always, and actually thought Sea had picked rA. After talking about how he wasn't scared of Sea and rA would handle him, he was informed that the 16 year old prodigy had in fact chosen him and he quickly shut up.
- Casy picks rA: Having the 5th seed by benifit of his record last year, Casy picked rA, which was a bizzaro choice seeing as his TvP is the weakest matchup. rA looked kindly at Casy and said he would use lube.
- Midas picks Yellow: Also a benifit of his record, Midas got the 6th seed and chose Yellow. His reasoning was that he "knew that Yellow would not pick another SK member." Yellow laughed and said he would think about it.
From this point on, the picking went pretty normally, and this is the final breakdown:
Final groups:
Group A: Oov (1) => Cloud (12) => Chojja (13) => Yellow[Name]
Group B: July (2) => Gorush (11) => Rock (14) => Sync
Group C: Pusan (3) => Boxer (10) => Shinhwa[Name] (15) => Jju
Group D: Sea[shield] (4) => GoodFriend (9) => Rainbow (16) => Child
Group E: Casy (5) => Nal_rA (8) => Zergman (17) => Stay
Group F: Midas (6) => Yellow (7) => Stork (18) => Iris
Here are some pictures of the event:
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2GroupDrawPics/23vs1Boxer.jpg)
Last Season's motto was 15vs1. Not anymore. 23vs1!
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2GroupDrawPics/julyintimidating.jpg)
Pusan and Sea putting some fear into Zergman before the picks. Sea looks gangster doesn't he?
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2GroupDrawPics/oovthinking.jpg)
Oov making his picks on the big board
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2GroupDrawPics/YellowStrat.jpg)
Apparently Yellow's strategy for oov this season is to hit him in the back with a stun gun.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2GroupDrawPics/Groupdrawpic1.jpg)
The whole group together
The Maps
Three maps stay with some changes made, while one map was replaced.
Rush Hour III
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2Maps/3RushHour303.jpg)
815 III
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2Maps/4815_31_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Cultivation Period
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2Maps/cultivationperiodjpg.JPG)
The new map: Peaks of Baekdu
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2Maps/shinhanosl2kormap.JPG)
The new map is named after a mountain range in North Korea which separates Korea and Manchuria. Here is a picture of the actual mountain range.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/ShinHanOSL2Maps/kormap_mounain.jpg)
I am pretty choked that they replaced Ride of the Valkyries. I thought it made for some interesting games last year, much more so than Cultivation Period. A few pretty big changes have been made on 815 (two geysers per island @ 2500 each) and Cultivation Period, and you can discuss them in this thread here.
There you have it, the OSL in a nutshell. Did I forget anything? You tell me. A big thanks goes to HonestTea, jkillashark, and all the others that post information in the forums and make my job easier when I write these things.
The OSL will be shown every Wednesday and Friday at 7pm korean time. You can click the Time link at the upper right corner for time conversion if you like. If you have afreeca, you can try and watch the games live, or you can tune into my Friday Night BW radio show which will run every friday from 7 - 9:30pm Korean time. Details will be posted soon.
Cheers,
Manifesto7
but at least reach and kingdom are in the MSL.. !
