eOSL Pool A - Adel, Hysteria, Didzz & hG

As a foreword, I'd like to mention that these games are casted from replays and that for each pool, there will be three sections: Preview, which gives an overview of the players and games to come; View, consisting of the VoDs casted by Vincent "KroK" Ngo Van et Laurent "aspeak" Mizrahi in French; and finally Review, a post-game analysis.

I'll be translating all pools (omg (Wiki)

Elky is in Pool D!) and I'll be working in collabo with egg)aspeak to bring you exclusive content so please look forward to it ^^

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Adel, hG, Didzz, Hysteria. Four players with the burdening task of playing the first matches in one of the most important french competitions for SC2. Or at least the one with the biggest cash prizes. You have to watch out though, because pool A happens to be more up in the air than you'd think. The competition begins but who will be able to predict the players who'll make it out of this pool?

Today, serious business begins. The SC2 artists have sharpened their mice, prepared their strategies. It's zero hour for the players in pool A. The stakes are important: getting to the final stages allows you to benefit from the 100€ (~$140 USD) promised to all quarter-finalists and being one step closer to the 2000€ (~$2.8k USD) given to the grand champion, as well as being part of the scene coverage, ceremonies and videos that the eOSL will include in it's final phase. So who will it be?

Maps:
Scrap Station
+ Show Spoiler [overview] +

Metalopolis
+ Show Spoiler [overview] +

Xel'Naga Caverns
+ Show Spoiler [overview] +

19 years old but standing tall, [image loading]

Didzz is showcasing Olympian calm. He doesn't say much, but he's sure of his strength. He's young, starting at the highest French level and has a lot of time ahead of him.
+ Show Spoiler [interview] +

http://dai.ly/9Zea89
Didier "Didzz" Inthisone:
It's possible, I think it's possible.
You think you gonna qualify in the top 2?
Yep.
That works. Know who you're playing first?
hG. It's gonna be hard. In a Bo1 anything can happen.

Hysteria is a discreet player but has really solid results on the Battle.net ladder. He's a bag of surprises and has nothing to lose. Laid back, enthusiast, he could punish in this format that leaves very little margin for errors.
+ Show Spoiler [interview] +

Mathieu "Hysteria" Giacometti:
My pool has 2 Protosses, 1 Terran, and myself (Zerg). It won't be easy but I'll do my best and try to annoy my opponents until the end. The Bo1 format in the pool matches will be very hard to manage because they can be hit or miss. I'll have to keep an eye out because any error might be fatal, especially for Zergs.

Adel is already a big name. He eyeballs his opponents with amazing confidence, answering the call whenever he needs to. His two consecutive wins in the last two french events prove it. He was the favorite and delivered. However he failed to qualify for the EPS (ESL Pro Series) Finals. Is it possible that this kind of upset put a doubt in his mind? Will he be calm enough when a new challenger appears? In any case, he is confident in his PvZ and PvP, not so much about his PvT. He seems to be worried about hG, who has showcased amazingly precise timing attacks.
+ Show Spoiler [interview] +

http://dai.ly/do7OUT
Benoît "Adel" Stripsteen:
If I rely on my previous matches against these three players, it was against hG where I was most worried, because he has a style that leaves no place for mistakes, he tends to punish you easily if your macro slips up. Against Hysteria, I think I'm favorite, because I'm pretty good with PvP and PvZ, anything can happen since it's Bo1 but I'll have to play my best games if I want to win.

The only terran in this group is in a very particular situation. [image loading]

hG finished 2nd at the CyberNation LAN, a good result despite irregular play from him during the entire tournament. He is, amongst all ex-WC3 French pros, the one who managed to adapt the best to SC2. His past has put a lot of pressure on him as the community expects a lot from him despite having no major win to his name.
+ Show Spoiler [interview] +

http://dai.ly/b5g5o2
Mateusz "hG" Pietrzak:
I think it's a good pool, it's obvious that Adel is on top and if he plays at his best it's going to be complicated to win, but today I managed to beat him 2-0, the second one was a close call but the first one was quite easy, so I have some strategies that can work against a great player like Adel but if he's well prepared and plays safe it mgiht be complicated. As for Didzz and Hysteria. I've never played an official match against them so I'll have to be wary but I think I'll have the advantage against those two.

Who will be able to dodge the many traps this pool has and the very hard Bo1 format?

Prognostic from the Team Managers:

Quickly glancing at the pool, Adel should win which would be logic after his recent wins at LANs, PxL & CyberNation. However, I think the 1st place is a toss up between hG, who placed 2nd at CyberNation and Adel.
The two CN attendees are the outsiders, so you could see an upset in Didzz or Hysteria getting in the top 2. The way I see it though would be 1st place Adel, 2nd hG.

Frédéric "Kaoru" Gau
Selector for the French SC2 Team - Team France
aAa SC2 Manager

I think my player hG definitly has a chance to qualify, everything depends on the quality of games he plays as well as his concentration. For hG, there's a really good player in the pool (Adel) so he'll have to play at his highest level. There's also a decent player who might be a problem because Bo1 is rather random, it'll all depend on the map and match-up and concentration. I wish best of luck to all players.

Kévin "illu" Vandini
LDLC.com SC2 Manager

I think Adelscott is the favorite to win this group.

"Lewellys"
Millenium SC2 Manager

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You can find the VoDs here

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WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS, DO NOT READ BEFORE YOU WATCH THE GAMES!

The dice were cast and the two favorites, Adel & hG, managed to avoid the traps ahead of them to qualify for the final phase of eOSL Winter '10. It is a sad day for Didzz and Hysteria as they showed many good plays but fell to the superiority of our finalists.

The first pool of the eOSL Winter '10 is over! It's a great pleasure to see these players give it their all to try and qualify, never backed out and belived it until the end. But judgement fell in a merciless fashion. We needed two players and we have to first congratulate Adel who managed to come out the grand winner of pool A.

What solid play from the Millenim player, amazing micromanagement which allowed him to use Sentries and High Templars with surgical precision. When I see Adel play, I have the impression that he really does have Protoss blood. During his games he had an aura of calm, mastery even. That's what Protosses are to me, ancient wisdom and restrained strength but ready to brew up a storm. However it was really a close call when hG's banshee hit the Protoss base. A really good feedback managed to turn the game around though!

Didzz, the other Protoss player in this group, sadly finished 4th in this pool. The young player never managed to show all his potential. In game 2 vs hG, Didzz was expect a strong rush. That was how hG played a few days ago (in a match between the two players for another competition). But the Terran player played reverse psychology perfectly in attacking much later, leaving his opponent in the dark. Against Hysteria, Didzz didn't expect a quick 3rd base who ended up outmacroing him. To end things, in two particular moments where he lacked game sense, he was eliminated without giving us the chance to see his micro and macro. It was amazing to see him try to turn things around in game 4.

Hysteria decided to play with Lady Luck. He's very adventurous and you can easily see it. His all-in against Adel was well thought out, not so much well executed. In his game against Didzz, his constant harassing, all the units he'd send even though they would die just to create diversions while he was destroying his opponent's expansions proved he had great multitasking abilities. In game 5, he fell face first to a brilliant hG.

It was a pleasure to see the LDLC.com player (TL note: [image loading]

hG). His choice to take a gold expo in game 3 while dropping in his opponent's base to distract him was a risky play but gave him an opportunity to catch up That's exactly the kind of mindstate a player should have while competing. What else is there to say in the last game versus Hysteria where he used a Reaper+Bunker opening. Xel'Naga Caverns is a great map for Hellion rushes because of the open natural expansion. It's important to mention that Reapers aren't used as much since they keep getting nerfed patch after patch. Yet again, hG used perfect reverse psychology. Hysteria even thought his opponent was going for a bioball army and decided to go with the zergling/baneling/mutalisk army. Not too effective against hG's Thor + Hellions. Curtain call, congratulations to [image loading]

Adel &

hG.

Key Moments!

Game 1 Adel vs Hysteria
08:05 - Hysteria's Roaches manage to enter the Protoss base! Very calmly, Adel micros his units and gets out of trouble easily. He takes the lead and keeps it until the end.

Game 2 hG vs Didzz
10:02 - A PDD (Point Defense Drone) is right outside the Protoss base! Didzz is stuck in a corner and forced to tap out.

Game 3 hG vs Adel
07:31 - Feedback! The High Templar spell drains all of the unit's energy. It was brilliantly cast on hG's Banshee, unabling him from cloaking from danger. Adel still didn't have an Observer! Without this, the game would've been much different.

Game 4 Didzz vs Hysteria
14:34 - Amazing play from Hysteria! He sends a group of Roaches attack Didzz's 2nd base while another group of Roaches keeps Didzz's army busy as he attempts to defend the first attack. A third group, Zerglings this time, use this timing to attack Didzz's third base. An attack in three places manage to destroy his opponent's economy. Nice job Hysteria!

Game 5 hG vs Hysteria
15:34 - hG's impressive mech army faces off against Hysteria's many Roaches. The fight is long and confusing but the Terran comes out on top. A decisive point in this match.

Winner Interviews:

Benoît " [image loading]

Adel" Stripsteen:
I'm very happy I managed to qualify in 2 games, it spared me from playing another random Bo1. I was most worried of a match against Hysteria, since Scrap Station is a good Zerg map, but I played a safe game, taking my second base very late. In the game versus hG I thought I'd finish it a bit sooner but I got destroyed by his Marauders, nevertheless I didn't have a doubt in that game that time was in my favor.

For the rest of the competition, I fear all those who manage to qualify because lately the Protoss match-ups aren't simple with the new patches!

Mateusz " [image loading]

hG" Pietrzak:
Coming soon

Source:
Rules
Pool A Preview
Pool A Review

eOSL Pool A - Adel, Hysteria, Didzz & hG

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