[MSL] Round of 16 - Day 3

The Destroyer of Worlds against The Red Shuttle
Poor Kal. In one of the most exciting matches of this MSL, our protoss hero turned in a stellar performance to grab a decisive advantage, only to have it wrenched back from him by some sublime deception and control. When Jaedong faces a protoss, the question isn't whether he'll win, but whether he'll break a sweat. Watch game one, and just try to figure out what protoss is supposed to do. That's not to say that we can't identify the mistakes Kal made, but it means that barring catastrophe, Jaedong is going to take this series. But let's give credit where credit is due. Kal showed excellent form in his first game, and should be counted on to show it again on Polaris Rhapsody and the enigmatic Odd Eye 3. I think Kal can take this series to three games, and hopefully he can look as good doing it. But Jaedong in three.



The Mighty Mollusk against The Chintoss
This is one of the most even series in this round, and the only result I got wrong among the first games. I figured Calm would do something clever on the protoss-favored Polaris Rhapsody, and he did— breaking out a uniquely STX style that fakes an all-in and then takes a greedy economy. Unfortunately for him, Stats read it like a supermarket tabloid, and finished the game with little trouble. Calm should get better luck on Triathlon, a more balanced map in the MU that still works well with Calm's cerebral style. He has a decent advantage there, and the third map; Fighting Spirit should be a fair tiebreaker. Stats won the map he was supposed to win, and has a good cushion here, but look for Calm to make it uncomfortable at least. Stats in three.



The Pretender against The Great Spamdini
To the great surprise of all in attendance, these two turned in one of the better games of the opening two days; an aggressive back-and-forth on the ubiquitous Polaris Rhapsody. forGG was expected to be the better player in this series, and he showed that label to be well-deserved, with a patient defense against a prolonged mutalisk siege, and some confident army control to take the win. The second map in the series is Fighting Spirit, and that should be agreeable to both sides. But it doesn't really give the edge to hero that he needs to pull the upset here, and the STX-style aggression will serve him worse on this map. forGG in two.



The Protoss Revolutionist against The Prodigal Son
By now, it's clear that Bisu has broken out of his slump and is once more a force to be reckoned with. But even before his slump he showed weakness in his PvT, and it seems little has changed in this regard. It's not really a macro, or a micro problem, but rather an decision-making problem which makes Bisu's PvT somewhat of a dinosaur. Last week, Sea set down a brilliant expansion pattern to record the most emphatic denial of carriers that Polaris Rhapsody has yet seen. This puts Bisu in a huge whole, because he lost the map that the statistics say he should've won. If he wants to stay alive in the MSL, he'll have to win on somewhat more even ground. Can he? Triathalon affords him a chance, but, after his anemic show on the latter map in proleague, I don't think Fighting Spirit does. It'll happen in two or three, but either way, it'll be Sea! *rhyme!*



The Greatest Hyuking Show on Earth against The Terrorist
Hyuk can't beat fantasy. His somewhat ridiculous power-lair play in the match-up is outdated and not enough to beat a finesse player like fantasy. He's not going to get the practice he'd need to correct the problem, at least not now. And goddammit, TL, fantasy's TvZ may not be as good as Flash's but it's still pretty damn hot, and his strategic knowledge of the MU usually is enough to give his workable bio control a boost. Fantasy has pretty much played every strategic innovation in this match-up before anyone else, even if it's usually Flash who refines it. He's not going to lose here, and I think he's a strong favorite to move farther in this tournament. Fantasy in two.

+ Show Spoiler [Series #1: Jaedong—Kal] +
+ Show Spoiler [Series #2: Calm—Stats] +
+ Show Spoiler [Series #3: forGG—hero] +
+ Show Spoiler [Series #4: Bisu—Sea] +
+ Show Spoiler [Series #5: fantasy—Hyuk] +

***
+ Show Spoiler [How Did I Do?] +

— - Not recommended
★ - Recommended
★ ★ - Highly Recommended
★ ★ ★ - Watch Now

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+ Show Spoiler [Series #1, Match #2: Jaedong—Kal] +—
+ Show Spoiler [Series #1, Match #3: Jaedong—Kal] +

+ Show Spoiler [Series #2, Match #2: Calm—Stats] +—
+ Show Spoiler [Series #2, Match #3: Calm—Stats] +

+ Show Spoiler [Series #3, Match #2: forGG—hero] +★
+ Show Spoiler [Series #3, Match #3: forGG—hero] +

+ Show Spoiler [Series #4, Match #2: Bisu—Sea] +★
+ Show Spoiler [Series #4, Match #3: Bisu—Sea] +

+ Show Spoiler [Series #5, Match #2: fantasy—Hyuk] +★
+ Show Spoiler [Series #5, Match #3: fantasy—Hyuk] +

There is exactly one pun in these recommendations. Can you find it?