It is a dark and stormy night in Korea, the kind that tends to portend ominous dealings. In the dead of night, under a cloudless sky, black-clad men deliver letters all around Korea to the esteemed progaming houses. As these men make their way, neighbors watch and stare, murmuring amongst themselves that the postal office had been behaving strangely as of late…

Morning comes, and the sun rises, victorious, to dispatch the last of the rain clouds. In the progaming houses, eager hands open the delivered letters, ripping off the ornate seals that protect the information inside. Inquisitive eyes scan the content within, widening in wonder and delight upon reading the last words. For the next few days, the houses are abuzz with rumors, whispers.

”Did you hear? He’s going too… though to what I cannot say.”

“I heard there were only 56 people invited to this, lucky them.”

“Man, I wish I could be a part of this… must be something prestigious.”

Hurried preparations are made, bags are packed, and loose ends are tied up. At the end of the week, 56 individuals leave their progaming houses and head for a location provided to them in the mysterious letters. After hours of driving, they all convene—their GPS systems have led them into the country, and at the end of a winding road they find a massive boat dock, with a Titanic cruise ship floating on the waters.


As their drivers deposit them and their bags, the progamers focus their attention on a small man standing at the edge of the dock. The man, though barely five feet tall, radiates an unmistakable aura of control and power. He is dressed in a sharp black suit, with an insignia that matches the letter seal on his front right lapel. As if this is not enough, to either side of the man stands a bodyguard, six feet tall and powerfully built, sunglasses glinting in the fading sunlight.

As the last of the 56 arrives, the small man walks forward to address the crowd.

“Welcome, gentleman. On behalf of my corporation, I would like to extend my warmest welcomes. We’re delighted that each and every one of you is able to be here today, and soon we shall be departing to our destination.”

The throng is silent, spellbound—the man’s voice is mesmerizing, and reminds them of silk. However, one of them realizes something seems amiss.

“Where…exactly is this destination you speak of? And what is there? The letter was very vague.”

The small man smiles, though it is not a normal smile—one could see way too many teeth.

“Ah, my friend, relax, relax. For security reasons, I’m afraid we cannot release to you the destination. I hope you’ll understand. As for what is housed there… well, you’ll see when we arrive. Now, shall we board?”

The progamers move forward reluctantly.

The small man smiles again.

“I said, shall we board.”

The crowd begins moving forward, up the ramp and into the massive ship. There are a few murmurs, but for the most part the multitude is hushed. The young progamer who asked the first question, though, is still skeptical. He whispers to his companion, a tall man with wire rim glasses, “Am I the only one that is slightly unnerved by this?”

His silent companion shakes his head, but does not offer anything in return. Questioning his silence, the first looks behind him, and sees the small man standing there, still smiling. Instinctively, he says the first thing that comes to mind to ameliorate the situation.

“I—I’m Taeyang. And you? We never got your name, sir.”

“Ah… you can just call me M for now. For security’s sake, of course.”

The boat is fully boarded, and it begins to set sail for the disappearing horizon.

The progamers find their rooms and unpack, and shortly after all have unpacked M’s voice comes out over the intercom.


The dining room is large, as big as any of the progaming houses easily, and the progamers sit four to a table… all but eight of them. These eight sit at the front of the room, at a very elaborate table that looks like it is used to seat VIPs, or something of the sort.

Murmurs of dissent once again are heard.

”Why are those eight special? What have they done?”

But quickly, those questions are stifled by the incoming repast.

The meal is delicious, and the room is noiseless save for the sounds of clinking silverware and chewing. Black-clad butlers whisk to and fro, attending to every request, every need.

Had any of the progamers been watching that dark and stormy night, they would have realized that the butlers looked suspiciously like the mailmen that had delivered the letters…

A rumble, the room shakes. The chandeliers tinkle as the boat stabilizes itself. Then, the lights flicker—what is going on? The progamers all look at each other nervously, and the silent room breaks out in subdued whispers.

A few minutes pass. Black-clad figures flit in and out of the room.

After a while more, one figure whispers in the ear of M. M stands up from the head of the table, and holds out his hand, quieting the room.

“Gentleman… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…

Our crew reports that the ship has been tampered with; sabotaged—if you will. The engines have gone offline and currently, we have no way of restarting them. Whoever did this did a good job—we’re dead in the water right now. Curiously though, they’ve left our radio capability functional, so we were still able to radio mainland for help. However, we cannot afford to wait for another ship. The project that we have brought you here to view cannot tolerate even the slightest delay, and time is of the utmost importance. Luckily, we anticipated some form of disruption, and so we have prepared the jet boats.”

The murmurs die out as the progamers realize that they will be okay.

“However,” M continued, “due to a clerical error, we have not brought enough boats. At last count, there will only be enough room for… 32 of you. Oh, and the eight of you at this table, come with me.”

He gets up and begins walking away. The eight at the table with him glance at each other and at M’s retreating figure, and hesitantly get up to follow him.

The murmurs are back, and now the room erupts.

“M! Wait! What about the rest of us? There are 48… and you said there is only room for 24 more!”

M turns back, and that smile has returned to his face.

“Survival of the fittest. The first 24 to make it… will move on. The rest of you, be assured that you are completely safe—the rescue boats will be here to pick you up in no time. However, we must ensure some kind of competition at this point to see who makes it to the next unforeseen stage of this journey. Take a good look at the three others sitting at the table with you—they’re your competition. After the eight and I leave, the room will be sealed for two minutes and the lights turned out, for good measure. After that, you will notice there are twelve different exits, one for the occupants of each table. Walk for a little bit—the rest will then be obvious. Two of every four will move on. The other two will… stay behind to await rescue.

Good luck, gentlemen.”

The doors slam shut, and the room sinks into darkness.

The Survivor Tournament passed by at lightening speed with 4 groups per week, but by no means were the games bland. From BBS to surprisingly large amounts of 12 nexus, there were many exciting games played. The following are the top 10 games of the Survivor Tournament in chronological order, so definitely check them out!

1. Group 2 Set 1: Pure vs Classic
+ Show Spoiler +
2. Group 4 Final Match: Kwanro vs Stats
+ Show Spoiler +
3. Group 5 Winners Match: Sea vs Stork
+ Show Spoiler +
4. Group 5 Losers Match: s2 vs Flying
+ Show Spoiler +
5. Group 6 Winners Match: Snow vs Fantasy
+ Show Spoiler +
6. Group 8 Set 1: JangBi vs Modesty
+ Show Spoiler +
7. Group 9 Losers Match: GuemChi vs Princess
+ Show Spoiler +
8. Group 10 Set 1: Bisu vs 815
+ Show Spoiler +
9. Group 11 Winners Match: Tyson vs hero
+ Show Spoiler +
10. Group 12 Final Match: Shuttle vs Juni
+ Show Spoiler +

M stands in the jet boat dock at the bottom of the boat, tapping his foot. The eight VIPs with him are milling around, too nervous to talk to one another. As M’s bodyguards begin herding each of them onto a separate boat, the other guests start trickling in. They start joining the first eight, sitting four to each vessel in total. Soon, all twenty-four have arrived, and the boats prepare to depart…

With just one little disturbance. Taeyang sprints down the corridor outside the dock. He is running at full speed, for he has to warn his companions. He gets right outside the door, and attempts to get inside, but is blocked by one of M’s bodyguards.

M smiles. “Why… you aren’t supposed to be here, now are you.” He motions to the bodyguard at the door. “Remove him, now.” M then presses a button on the wall, and the door begins closing.

As the bodyguard drags Taeyang back down the corridor, Taeyang begins to yell, hoping that the others that have boarded will be able to hear him.

“Guys, guys, stop! There’s something amiss here! Don’t—“

And then the door is closed, and the rest of Taeyang’s warning goes unheard.

However, the rest of the progamers have already gotten inside the jet boats, thus Taeyang’s appearance and subsequent disappearance pass them by. M looks to the boats, and begins speaking loudly. “I will be staying aboard this boat, in order to make sure that the rest of our guests return to home, ah, safely. Do not worry about me—I will be seeing you on the island soon enough. I’ve given my bodyguards all necessary instructions to see you through safely.” Smiling, he then speaks into a handheld radio, ordering the opening of the dock.

The side of the boat opens up, releasing the small jet boats to the ocean. As the boats start speeding off, the power on the cruise ship goes out, and the boat is totally dark.

Though in the darkness, looking back from the insides of the jet boats, some progamers swore that they could still see M’s Cheshire cat grin.


As the smaller boats pull away from the darkened ship, the bodyguards on each boat simultaneously begin talking.

“Alright, listen up you four. The island is still a while away, but it doesn’t hurt to know what’s going to happen now. On this island, there are eight separate docks—one for each of these jet boats. You may be wondering why this is the case, but we assure you it’s—”

One of the progamers at this point on boat five interjected. “…For security’s sake, of course.”

The bodyguard looked slightly miffed at being interrupted. “Yes, for security’s sake. Now, when we reach our dock there will be another split. Two of you will go one way, and two the other, again, for security’s sake. The way we are determining this is the same as we did on the cruise ship. From here on out, there are no more VIPs, no free passes for anybody.

Enter the next room, and begin.”

And so the 32 progamers left started filing into the soundproofed rooms. And after they were all sealed in, far off in the distance, a bright ball of fire lit up the night sky where the cruise ship had been floating on the waters.


The guards on deck saw the conflagration go up in the distance; they felt the shockwaves rock the jet boats, even though the explosion had occurred so far away. Unfazed by what they had just seen, they continued onward, piloting their boats toward the distant island.

What's it with Group A and revenge? Hana Daetoo's Group A featured Jaedong bringing BaBy into his group, and that didn't turn out so well. EffOrt, I bet, is just glad right now that there's at least one buffer match between him and Flash. True, Flash's TvT has not been too well as of late, and true, Classic is an "emerging player," but Flash still has an overwhelming edge. He just has to 1rax CC or bunker rush and he'll be fine. On the other side, EffOrt is 12-2 vZ since the overly long OSL tiebreakers, and s2 is still an SKT Zerg. In the end, I'll call for Flash and EffOrt to advance, but it wouldn't be too much of a surprise to see Classic or s2 move on instead. Angry Flash is not as scary as Angrydong, but EffOrt better watch his back.

Don't hate, Hot_Bid.


Poor sKyHigh. Had he kept his all-Terran group, he definitely would have owned his way out 2-0 no doubt. Now he's in trouble. RorO, slayer of anti-teams (though not this round, for some reason) can easily mass muta him to death, and his TvP is atrocious if he runs into Han. Let's not even get started on Jaedong. Still, I like sKyHigh so I think he'll be the player advancing 2-1 from this group, with Jaedong raping unfortunate victims on his way out. Tyson's going to proxy/cheese, calling it now.


I went back and read last season's Ro32 predictions, and Hydra's group was titled "Poor Hydra," and stated that Hydra and MVP would not advance. Guess what, those were the two that did! Therefore, I'm naturally slightly hesitant about saying something, but I've never cared about being wrong anyway. So let's start with the obvious: Bisu's back! ...But for how long? And in what condition? His recent five game win streak is, yes, impressive, but it's still not indicative that he's playing well. After all, he simply just outmacroed sKyHigh, and RorO played like crap. Even if Bisu were playing at his old level though, he still does not like this group. The last time he was in an all-Zerg group (ZerO, sAviOr, maGma), he got destroyed, and that was at the height of his PvZ. Do Bisu fans believe he can make it through? Of course! I'm not one of them, but I'm still looking for some brilliance out of the old Revolutionist. Maybe it's time for the Bisu Build 2.0, though whatever Bisu does, he's going to have to overcome some pretty ridiculous ZvP standards right now. This group's hard to call, though I think Bisu and Calm will advance, though ZvZs are too hard for me to predict.


This is a pretty good group... minus HoGiL. fOrGG the MSL Conqueror (as they displayed his name during the group ceremony) is most known for his TvZ, and HoGiL is known for his less-than-average ZvT. Plus, TvZ imba. On the other side, Hyuk vs free should make for some awesomeness. 200/200 3/3/3 Archon balls? Yes please. Massive amounts of Hyuking? Uh, also yes please! Pretty much this group has HoGiL as deadweight--he's terrible at ZvT and ZvZ, and the only way he could even potentially make a match of it is he runs into free, and even then I'd still say free would walk away from this. Other than that though, this group is pretty hard to call. Overall, I'd say free is the strongest statistically, so he is most likely to walk away, since Hyuk is known for self-imploding. free 2-0, fOrGG 2-1, but you can never tell with that darn Hyuk in there. Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk...


To expound upon the last part, Violet was once one of the worst progamers around. Worse than Jaehoon, worse than BackHo, yes, once worse than... PerfectMan. Violet starting out had one of the lowest ELOs ever, and had considered quitting. Now... well, I wouldn't say he's stellar at anything, but he's 55%. Good enough to be above average! Honestly though, Really is going to go to work on this group, what with his TvT (though Midas is also good at that...) and sexy TvP. I'm thinking Really for 2-0ing this group. Shuttle's baller PvP should take out Violet in the first round, and I'm hoping for Baby Bear to win in the Losers' Match, and between Shuttle and Midas I'm torn, though I want Midas to 2-1 out of this group.


Snow's in heaven, and so is Kal. Light, who originally wanted himself in a group of Zergs (he even chose Jaedong since he was "unsure of his other two matchups") is in a heap of trouble. I'd put him and MVP at even odds right now, though he is definitely not getting away with a win against PvT savant Snow or "He-Who-Every-Time-Almost-Wins-Against-Flash" Kal. After seeing his horrendous fail against Brave in the OSL Ro36 and considering that he lost to freaking PerfectMan in Hana Daetoo, I wouldn't be surprised to see Light have one of the quickest 0-2s out of this group. Oh, also MUCHHHHHHHHHH! ...But yeah, onto MVP. He had a fluke last time in taking out BeSt and Stork (and after he won his game against Flash he was way overhyped) but I don't think he's taking out Kal or Snow. So Kal and Snow are going to advance, and given their current levels of play, Snow for 2-0 and Kal for 2-1.


Clearly, the words listed above form a misnomer! (If only because Stats has a massively awesome chin) If anything, I would call this the Group of Death. great, this season's anti-team raper, and TL's golden boy Sea are going to have a rematch after Sea bested great in the OSL Ro36. Funnily enough, Sea was in a similar group last year, and 2-0ed his way out. I remember pangshai saying that "whoever 2-0s this group will go deep in this tournament... unless it's Sea." Either way, this ought to be hella sexy. Stats isn't the best at PvZ and doesn't like it much (I mean, who would these days), and ZerO is great at ZvP. I really see the outcome of this group being influenced primarily by who plays in the Winners' and Losers' matches, and it's so hard to call each individual match. If Sea beats great, I'd hope he can beat ZerO for the 2-0, though he would have trouble against Stats, and if that happened ZerO would lose his ZvZ to great and then...

Too hard to call, I'm going to flip some coins. Haters gonna hate.
My coins say Sea and Stats, so that's what I'm liquibetting!


Hmm in disciple's thread, TL voted this group to be moreso the Group of Death than Group G... but I'm not really seeing it. HiyA should be able to take out Mr. 500-APM hero, since HiyA has some nice TvZ statistics and hero well, does not. On the other side, Fantasy against JangBi is hard to call. JangBi definitely had some of the sickest PvT for a long time, but I have not seen that spark for a long time, and after losing to RuBy, it makes me think fantasy's going to win. fantasy versus HiyA should be good as well, though I think fantasy has a slight edge. Either way, I think fantasy and HiyA will 2-0 and 2-1 out of this group.