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by Waxangel
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I expect a statement denouncing our copyright infringement from OnGameNet's COO at OGNCon 2013, coinciding with the release of OSL II
We're back! You weren't actually worried, were you? Actually, we're in a bit of trouble here, or OnGameNet and the Starleague are at least. Getting sued by Blizzard and all that unpleasant business. You can read more about that stuff below, if that's your thing. Still, the show must go on! ... for now.
This season, the OSL has descended from its lofty heights with Korean Air and gotten back together with a familiar face in Bacchus. Being the hedonistic, sexy, outlaw league that it is, I couldn't think of a better sponsor for the OSL than an energy drink named after the god of wine. So if you were down about not being able to support the OSL due to hefty price tag on Korean Air flights, worry no longer! Go to your closest Asian supermarket and pick up a box of Bacchus: The only energy drink that contains actual nicotine.
Round of 36, Week One
Quick Results
Quick Results
+ Show Spoiler [Results and VODs] +
Group A: 11/03/10 - 19:30 KST and 11/05/10 - 19:30 KST
Violet
Killer
Sea ►Advances to Round of16
+ Show Spoiler [Results and VODs] +
Group B: 11/03/10 - 19:30 KST and 11/05/10 - 19:30 KST
hero
Mind ►Advances to Round of16
Action
+ Show Spoiler [Results and VODs] +
Group C: 11/03/10 - 19:30 KST and 11/05/10 - 19:30 KST
fOrGG
Tyson
Calm ►Advances to Round of16
+ Show Spoiler [Results and VODs] +
VioletKillerSea ►Advances to Round of16+ Show Spoiler [Results and VODs] +
Group B: 11/03/10 - 19:30 KST and 11/05/10 - 19:30 KST
heroMind ►Advances to Round of16Action+ Show Spoiler [Results and VODs] +
Group C: 11/03/10 - 19:30 KST and 11/05/10 - 19:30 KST
fOrGGTysonCalm ►Advances to Round of16+ Show Spoiler [Results and VODs] +
Day One
Group A:
Violet vs Killer+ Show Spoiler [Game One] +
Violet went FE into 2 stargate, while Killer did a very standard three base into mass hatch. Violet didn’t kill many overlords, nor did he get templar tech very quickly. This made him very vulnerable against Killer’s well timed mass hydralisk attack, with only cannons and zealots to defend. The attack was particularly effective due to Pathfinder’s natural expansion shape, where the anti zergling wall effectively prevented zealots from getting out to fight.
Match Rating: 1/10
A game where one player made air to air units against an entirely ground army.
Match Rating: 1/10
A game where one player made air to air units against an entirely ground army.
+ Show Spoiler [Game Two] +
The game started oddly as both players scouted each other’s builds early, but for some reason Violet went nexus before forge even after seeing a pool first build from Killer. Even stranger, Killer didn’t punish the risky nexus, choosing to make drones instead of lings. Basically Killer decided to screw himself over in terms of BOs, even though he was seeing everything.
The game flowed to a standard mid-game, with Violet making a few more zealots than normal to put some pressure on Zerg. He tried to be aggressive towards one of Killer’s bases with poor sim city, but it was still stopped with a quick drone pull.
Killer then made an inexplicably poor counter move, allowing a bunch of hydralisks to die in a pointless poke at Violet’s front. That reduced his map presence significantly, creating some space for Violet to do a nice DT drop to kill Killer’s spire and slice a few drones.
Violet made the correct decision to continue his aggression, as Killer was reeling and a step late on his macro and tech. He didn’t have enough lurkers, nor the positioning to stop a relatively small hanbang army that moved out and cleaned up the game.
Match Rating: 5/10
Killer played poorly, but Violet’s aggressive style of play made the game decent to watch.
The game flowed to a standard mid-game, with Violet making a few more zealots than normal to put some pressure on Zerg. He tried to be aggressive towards one of Killer’s bases with poor sim city, but it was still stopped with a quick drone pull.
Killer then made an inexplicably poor counter move, allowing a bunch of hydralisks to die in a pointless poke at Violet’s front. That reduced his map presence significantly, creating some space for Violet to do a nice DT drop to kill Killer’s spire and slice a few drones.
Violet made the correct decision to continue his aggression, as Killer was reeling and a step late on his macro and tech. He didn’t have enough lurkers, nor the positioning to stop a relatively small hanbang army that moved out and cleaned up the game.
Match Rating: 5/10
Killer played poorly, but Violet’s aggressive style of play made the game decent to watch.
+ Show Spoiler [Game Three] +
Violet got away with pylon-nexus against pool first yet again, so the game went standard with protoss having pleasantly fast tech and good econ. Violet brought his third FE variation of the night, going for fast +1 speedlots.
Violet tried to take advantage of Zerg’s reliance on simcity with a daring attack that tore down a hatchery wall at Killer’s natural. He was very close to doing some good damage, but Killer’s lurkers were out just as the zealots broke through and were ready to wreak havoc. Ultimately, it was a failed attack that gave away the lead to Killer. Killer had taken a fourth base (mineral only) while Violet was distracted, and he was also able to exploit Violet’s lack of troops to delay his third expansion (which was also just a mineral expansion in any case).
Killer had the opportunity to take a commanding lead, but he was very late to take a fourth gas base, and his hive tech was late as well. He ended up letting Violet take a third gas base uncontested, which put the two players at even base counts of 3 gas and 1 mineral, which is decidedly good for Protoss.
Killer did not display the most precise execution in this phase of the game, with some wasteful crackling drops, storm-magnet unit clumping, and casually undefended expansions. Even so, he made the correct decision to throw everything he had at Violet’s attempt to take a fourth gas base, winning a very bloody battle against Violet’s main force. While the losses were heavy for Killer, it was still a success considering Violet couldn’t settle for anything less than a crushing victory. The protoss main and natural had run out, and Violet desperately needed new bases to keep his army at the size where it could not be chipped away at by waves of zerg units. All said and done, Violet was left with just two mining bases, while Killer’s zerg advantage had him still mining from all of his original bases.
Violet eventually did manage to take another gas base, but he was already trapped in the perpetual grind against a multi-base hive zerg. Killer went on cruise control, attack moving countless cracklings and hydralisks in Violet’s general direction. Although Violet was able to rack up the kills, he was still inevitably battered down.
Match Rating: 6/10
The execution was not that crisp, but overall a very “standard” ZvP.
Violet tried to take advantage of Zerg’s reliance on simcity with a daring attack that tore down a hatchery wall at Killer’s natural. He was very close to doing some good damage, but Killer’s lurkers were out just as the zealots broke through and were ready to wreak havoc. Ultimately, it was a failed attack that gave away the lead to Killer. Killer had taken a fourth base (mineral only) while Violet was distracted, and he was also able to exploit Violet’s lack of troops to delay his third expansion (which was also just a mineral expansion in any case).
Killer had the opportunity to take a commanding lead, but he was very late to take a fourth gas base, and his hive tech was late as well. He ended up letting Violet take a third gas base uncontested, which put the two players at even base counts of 3 gas and 1 mineral, which is decidedly good for Protoss.
Killer did not display the most precise execution in this phase of the game, with some wasteful crackling drops, storm-magnet unit clumping, and casually undefended expansions. Even so, he made the correct decision to throw everything he had at Violet’s attempt to take a fourth gas base, winning a very bloody battle against Violet’s main force. While the losses were heavy for Killer, it was still a success considering Violet couldn’t settle for anything less than a crushing victory. The protoss main and natural had run out, and Violet desperately needed new bases to keep his army at the size where it could not be chipped away at by waves of zerg units. All said and done, Violet was left with just two mining bases, while Killer’s zerg advantage had him still mining from all of his original bases.
Violet eventually did manage to take another gas base, but he was already trapped in the perpetual grind against a multi-base hive zerg. Killer went on cruise control, attack moving countless cracklings and hydralisks in Violet’s general direction. Although Violet was able to rack up the kills, he was still inevitably battered down.
Match Rating: 6/10
The execution was not that crisp, but overall a very “standard” ZvP.
Group B:
hero vs Mind+ Show Spoiler [Game One] +
Mind began with a wall-in and a fast gas build, while Hero went for two-hatch lair. The strange placement of the gas on Pathfinder’s 12:00 spot allowed Hero’s scouting drone to see past Mind’s wall-in and discover the refinery, which allowed him to build a quick hydralisk den to prepare for any fast tech play.
Mind’s tech of choice was a 2 port wraith, which Hero skillfully scouted out with a single zergling that had been lying in wait for the walling barracks to lift off.
It looked like Hero was going to be in control of the game, but he made the silly mistake of trying to be aggressive with just two hydralisks. He had forgotten that Mind could make units BEFORE wraiths, and his hydras were quickly eaten up by two marines and two vultures. These very same units went on to kill another two hydralisks and a zergling, which could have defended rather easily if they had fought together with the previously deceased pair of hydralisks. But as it was, Mind microed all the way to Hero’s natural and still had a marine and a vulture left.
This threw off Hero severely, and he was woefully unprepared by the time wraiths were out. Mind’s wraith micro would have made even Leta jealous, as he flew around Hero’s base pecking away at his leisure. Down to less than 12 drones and facing a terran army that doubled him in food count, Hero GG’d out.
Match Rating: 5/10
Two port wraith in TvZ automatically make a game decent in my opinion, but this game is an auto-skip if you don’t like those paper planes as much as I do.
Mind’s tech of choice was a 2 port wraith, which Hero skillfully scouted out with a single zergling that had been lying in wait for the walling barracks to lift off.
It looked like Hero was going to be in control of the game, but he made the silly mistake of trying to be aggressive with just two hydralisks. He had forgotten that Mind could make units BEFORE wraiths, and his hydras were quickly eaten up by two marines and two vultures. These very same units went on to kill another two hydralisks and a zergling, which could have defended rather easily if they had fought together with the previously deceased pair of hydralisks. But as it was, Mind microed all the way to Hero’s natural and still had a marine and a vulture left.
This threw off Hero severely, and he was woefully unprepared by the time wraiths were out. Mind’s wraith micro would have made even Leta jealous, as he flew around Hero’s base pecking away at his leisure. Down to less than 12 drones and facing a terran army that doubled him in food count, Hero GG’d out.
Match Rating: 5/10
Two port wraith in TvZ automatically make a game decent in my opinion, but this game is an auto-skip if you don’t like those paper planes as much as I do.
+ Show Spoiler [Game Two] +
This was a fairly long game with action happening all across the map, but much of it was as part of a long grind that did not conclusively contribute to the result of the match. So instead of boring you with three pages of minor details, I’ll offer my general impressions (which may bore you anyway).
The game began with very standard openings, except that perhaps Hero got his 3rd base without too much pressure. Mind skipped the usual Terran push at the first science vessel timing and instead took a fast third base while going for a late mech transition. Without much aggression from either side, the game started to turn into a 50:50 map split game.
While some maps are conducive to the mech turtle style of play in TvZ, this game made me wonder about the wisdom of such a plan on Gladiator. Grand Line SE, the most popular map for such a strategy last season, features clusters of expansions that can be from a single spot and relatively narrow positions that can be defended to maintain map control. Gladiator’s openness makes mech more difficult, although it definitely should be viable at least.
Mind found himself in a lot of trouble once he had to start defending positions on opposite ends of the map. He couldn’t manage to have his defenses concentrated in the correct places, while Hero was finding all the holes where he could drop, or where zerglings could exploit the lack of mines. It did not help that mind was also trying to commit another portion of his army to attacking, which is not done easily against stalling lurkers and defilers.
Given the resources and troops available to him I think it would have been possible for Mind to have defended his key positions the more effectively, but perhaps he found that being stretched so thin was difficult to deal with in the heat of the game.
Hero used good tactics to cut Mind down to just two mining bases, but paradoxically, being in a difficult position with less resources actually helped Mind play better. This allowed Mind to consolidate his defenses into a much smaller area so he could take advantage of the power of siege tanks. Also, since Hero is not very good at attacking entrenched mech positions, he forced a lot of waste on Zerg’s part by just slowly crawling to take new expansions instead of actively attacking.
By reducing his operating theater from the entire map to a few heavily defended bases, Mind was able to bring out the advantages of Mech terran. By combining this place with several small scale attacks on the spread out zerg bases, Mind was able to turn the tables and eventually wear out Hero to win the game.
Match Rating: 6/10
This was one of those frustrating Zerg vs mech games, as very few players can execute well enough during attacks on well defended mech positions.
The game began with very standard openings, except that perhaps Hero got his 3rd base without too much pressure. Mind skipped the usual Terran push at the first science vessel timing and instead took a fast third base while going for a late mech transition. Without much aggression from either side, the game started to turn into a 50:50 map split game.
While some maps are conducive to the mech turtle style of play in TvZ, this game made me wonder about the wisdom of such a plan on Gladiator. Grand Line SE, the most popular map for such a strategy last season, features clusters of expansions that can be from a single spot and relatively narrow positions that can be defended to maintain map control. Gladiator’s openness makes mech more difficult, although it definitely should be viable at least.
Mind found himself in a lot of trouble once he had to start defending positions on opposite ends of the map. He couldn’t manage to have his defenses concentrated in the correct places, while Hero was finding all the holes where he could drop, or where zerglings could exploit the lack of mines. It did not help that mind was also trying to commit another portion of his army to attacking, which is not done easily against stalling lurkers and defilers.
Given the resources and troops available to him I think it would have been possible for Mind to have defended his key positions the more effectively, but perhaps he found that being stretched so thin was difficult to deal with in the heat of the game.
Hero used good tactics to cut Mind down to just two mining bases, but paradoxically, being in a difficult position with less resources actually helped Mind play better. This allowed Mind to consolidate his defenses into a much smaller area so he could take advantage of the power of siege tanks. Also, since Hero is not very good at attacking entrenched mech positions, he forced a lot of waste on Zerg’s part by just slowly crawling to take new expansions instead of actively attacking.
By reducing his operating theater from the entire map to a few heavily defended bases, Mind was able to bring out the advantages of Mech terran. By combining this place with several small scale attacks on the spread out zerg bases, Mind was able to turn the tables and eventually wear out Hero to win the game.
Match Rating: 6/10
This was one of those frustrating Zerg vs mech games, as very few players can execute well enough during attacks on well defended mech positions.
+ Show Spoiler [Game Three] +
Mind won 2-0.
Group C:
fOrGG vs Tyson+ Show Spoiler [Game One] +
ForGG managed to FD push himself into a slightly faster expansion than Protoss, while Tyson went for 1 gate range – robotics – nexus.
Both players tried and failed at some early game shenanigans. For Tyson it was a reaver drop, while for ForGG there was a quick 6 tank push. No advantage was gained for either player, so they allowed each other to take their mineral only naturals and progressed to the mid-late game without much fuss.
ForGG lived up to his reputation as the master of well timed attacks by going for a very early nine factories while sacrificing upgrades and SCV production. He moved out with perfect timing, while he had a higher population than his opponent and while Protoss had but a single arbiter.
Tyson fought well to stop ForGG’s first attack, but this was a rare game where ForGG could out-macro his opponent. After the dust cleared and the two players rebuilt, ForGG had yet another dangerous force pushing into Tyson’s natural. This time, Tyson couldn’t muster up enough resistance and was forced to concede the game.
Match Rating: 6/10
How often do you see a 9 factory tornado push “rush?” Although the game was over before you knew it, it was fun to see the time-attacker press his style of play even into the late game.
Both players tried and failed at some early game shenanigans. For Tyson it was a reaver drop, while for ForGG there was a quick 6 tank push. No advantage was gained for either player, so they allowed each other to take their mineral only naturals and progressed to the mid-late game without much fuss.
ForGG lived up to his reputation as the master of well timed attacks by going for a very early nine factories while sacrificing upgrades and SCV production. He moved out with perfect timing, while he had a higher population than his opponent and while Protoss had but a single arbiter.
Tyson fought well to stop ForGG’s first attack, but this was a rare game where ForGG could out-macro his opponent. After the dust cleared and the two players rebuilt, ForGG had yet another dangerous force pushing into Tyson’s natural. This time, Tyson couldn’t muster up enough resistance and was forced to concede the game.
Match Rating: 6/10
How often do you see a 9 factory tornado push “rush?” Although the game was over before you knew it, it was fun to see the time-attacker press his style of play even into the late game.
+ Show Spoiler [Game Two] +
In an interesting build order clash, Tyson went for FE into arbiter rush with a very late robotics while ForGG went for a fast 2 fact push. It looked like Tyson was going to cut it very close as he squeezed out just 9 ranged dragoons and a zealot by the time 3 tanks (with siegemode 15 seconds away from completion), 7 vultures, and 5 marines arrived at his base.
The battle was well fought on both sides, with ForGG sacrificing all of his vultures and marines to kill four dragoons and advance his tanks into an excellent siege position. This forced him to expend nearly all of his mines, however, and left his tanks with very poor cover against the imminent dark templars.
In the race between ForGG’s reinforcing vultures and Tyson’s defending DTs, ForGG literally lost by a second. He managed to get mines down, but just not early enough to prevent a DT mine-drag from killing all of his tanks and effectively ending the push.
Coming back from a failed 2 fact push against a 14 nexus protoss is extraordinarily difficult, to the degree that going 2 fact vs FE is considered all-in by many players. ForGG didn’t even show a glimmer of a chance when Tyson ran him over with his arbiter supported army a few minutes later.
Match Rating: 5/10
There was a moment of excitement with ForGG’s rush, but the ending was a foregone conclusion after the last tanks died.
The battle was well fought on both sides, with ForGG sacrificing all of his vultures and marines to kill four dragoons and advance his tanks into an excellent siege position. This forced him to expend nearly all of his mines, however, and left his tanks with very poor cover against the imminent dark templars.
In the race between ForGG’s reinforcing vultures and Tyson’s defending DTs, ForGG literally lost by a second. He managed to get mines down, but just not early enough to prevent a DT mine-drag from killing all of his tanks and effectively ending the push.
Coming back from a failed 2 fact push against a 14 nexus protoss is extraordinarily difficult, to the degree that going 2 fact vs FE is considered all-in by many players. ForGG didn’t even show a glimmer of a chance when Tyson ran him over with his arbiter supported army a few minutes later.
Match Rating: 5/10
There was a moment of excitement with ForGG’s rush, but the ending was a foregone conclusion after the last tanks died.
+ Show Spoiler [Game Three] +
Both players started with greedy early builds, with Tyson going for nexus first, while ForGG went for barracks – CC. The two players followed up with standard play; Tyson going for fast arbiters while ForGG went for quick double upgrades.
One terrible mistake from ForGG would set the tone for the game. His first group of vultures went directly for Tyson’s base, without setting down any mines to defend. Unfortunately, Tyson had made the unusual decision to make a pair of dark templars, well past the point where Terran would have scans and mines. They should have been no problem for ForGG to deal with at all, but he invested so much attention in trying to get his vultures into Tyson’s base that he did not notice the dark templars slaughtering the units in his own natural.
Two scanners meant ForGG was able to survive despite responding to the DT threat extremely late, but Tyson had already done significant damage and taken a third base in the meanwhile.
ForGG tried to get back into the game with a simultaneous push and drop which had moderate success, but Tyson retained the advantage. ForGG was forced to take a third base and turtle up against a free-expanding Protoss, one of the positions he frequently loses from (nor was Aztec’s wide open mineral-only natural suited to this kind of play). This game was no different, as he was unable to resist against the protoss army that soon came flooding in.
Match Rating: 3/10
Bad, but funny mistakes seem to be the theme of the week. The unintended humor does make the game more watchable.
One terrible mistake from ForGG would set the tone for the game. His first group of vultures went directly for Tyson’s base, without setting down any mines to defend. Unfortunately, Tyson had made the unusual decision to make a pair of dark templars, well past the point where Terran would have scans and mines. They should have been no problem for ForGG to deal with at all, but he invested so much attention in trying to get his vultures into Tyson’s base that he did not notice the dark templars slaughtering the units in his own natural.
Two scanners meant ForGG was able to survive despite responding to the DT threat extremely late, but Tyson had already done significant damage and taken a third base in the meanwhile.
ForGG tried to get back into the game with a simultaneous push and drop which had moderate success, but Tyson retained the advantage. ForGG was forced to take a third base and turtle up against a free-expanding Protoss, one of the positions he frequently loses from (nor was Aztec’s wide open mineral-only natural suited to this kind of play). This game was no different, as he was unable to resist against the protoss army that soon came flooding in.
Match Rating: 3/10
Bad, but funny mistakes seem to be the theme of the week. The unintended humor does make the game more watchable.
Day Two
Group A:
Killer vs Sea+ Show Spoiler [Game One] +
In an attempt to get an easy early win, Sea built a hidden second barracks outside his base while faking a regular rax FE. It looked like Killer was going to be in terrible trouble with his 12 hatch expand build, but he caught wind of Sea’s plan just in time. A scouting zergling saw the handful of marines and huge amount of SCVs marching towards Killer’s main, which prompted him to immediately start building two creep colonies.
Killer responded very well to the threat, sacrificing some zerglings and three drones in order to delay Sea’s army just long enough so that the sunken colonies could be completed. With only un-upgraded marines and SCVs, Sea was forced to retreat.
While Killer had been forced to expend some resources on early game defense, Sea was still far behind from having pulled a large amount of SCVs to go on a failed rush. Even worse, he was stuck playing 1 base Terran against a 2 gas mutalisk zerg, a situation that has been almost unwinnable since 2006. Killer was happy to abuse mutalisk stacking against a vessel-less terran, eventually winning the game with only mutalisks.
Match Rating: 1/10
Killer responded very well to the threat, sacrificing some zerglings and three drones in order to delay Sea’s army just long enough so that the sunken colonies could be completed. With only un-upgraded marines and SCVs, Sea was forced to retreat.
While Killer had been forced to expend some resources on early game defense, Sea was still far behind from having pulled a large amount of SCVs to go on a failed rush. Even worse, he was stuck playing 1 base Terran against a 2 gas mutalisk zerg, a situation that has been almost unwinnable since 2006. Killer was happy to abuse mutalisk stacking against a vessel-less terran, eventually winning the game with only mutalisks.
Match Rating: 1/10
+ Show Spoiler [Game Two] +
The two players swapped roles in game two, with Killer trying an all-in strategy while Sea attempted to play normal. Sea opened with a greedy CC before rax, while Killer opened with two hatch speed-lair.
Even though Sea had built a barracks and two supply wall to protect his natural, Killer decided to make a significant amount of speedlings anyway to risk a wall break. A late SCV pull from Sea let Killer break both supply depots, but with not enough zerglings left to cause serious problems for a supply blocked Sea.
Sea immediately rewalled his natural, and wisely had an SCV scout out Killer’s follow-up of lurkers. Three bunkers went up quickly behind the supply-barracks wall, which would have to be sacrificed again once lurkers came.
Oddly enough, Killer came with only three lurkers, which is far less than usual for such a rush. The reason soon became apparently, when Killer loaded his lings and lurkers into overlords for a drop into Sea’s main.
Sea was caught slightly off-guard, having most of his defenses concentrated on protecting his front. However, Killer’s decision to wait for both OL speed and drops had given Sea enough time to get siege tanks out. Better execution may have gotten Killer a better result, but in the end Sea’s well spread tanks were able to defend the drop.
Sea had sent a solo dropship over to Killer’s base in the meanwhile, which was very low on defenses and drones. Having failed his all-in drop and facing a counter-drop as well, Killer GG’d out.
Match Rating: 6/10
Good creativity, bad execution from Killer
Even though Sea had built a barracks and two supply wall to protect his natural, Killer decided to make a significant amount of speedlings anyway to risk a wall break. A late SCV pull from Sea let Killer break both supply depots, but with not enough zerglings left to cause serious problems for a supply blocked Sea.
Sea immediately rewalled his natural, and wisely had an SCV scout out Killer’s follow-up of lurkers. Three bunkers went up quickly behind the supply-barracks wall, which would have to be sacrificed again once lurkers came.
Oddly enough, Killer came with only three lurkers, which is far less than usual for such a rush. The reason soon became apparently, when Killer loaded his lings and lurkers into overlords for a drop into Sea’s main.
Sea was caught slightly off-guard, having most of his defenses concentrated on protecting his front. However, Killer’s decision to wait for both OL speed and drops had given Sea enough time to get siege tanks out. Better execution may have gotten Killer a better result, but in the end Sea’s well spread tanks were able to defend the drop.
Sea had sent a solo dropship over to Killer’s base in the meanwhile, which was very low on defenses and drones. Having failed his all-in drop and facing a counter-drop as well, Killer GG’d out.
Match Rating: 6/10
Good creativity, bad execution from Killer
+ Show Spoiler [Game Three] +
Sea played a safe rax-FE in the final game, but Killer decided to take a risk and go for a greedy 3 hatch before pool build. Having scouted Killer on his first try, Sea was pretty much obliged to pressure Killer with the marines from 1 barracks and an SCV before the pool completed. Killer fended off this minor harass somewhat poorly, losing a couple of drones he could have saved with more diligence.
Killer followed up with a clever bit of mind games, going for a 3 hatch speedling bust after starting with what would appear to be an economy heavy build. Killer very nearly succeeded in busting Sea’s front which was protected by un-upgraded marines and a bunker, but unlike last game, SCV repair ultimately prevailed. While Killer made the decision to kill the marines outside the bunker first and then focus fire the bunker, in retrospect he would have done better to have quickly killed the bunker before SCVs could repair and cleaned up the marines afterwards.
Killer was not completely all-in at this point, and he had the option of going back to playing a standard game with a slight disadvantage. Killer ended up deciding there was no turning back, cancelled his lair, and went for a follow-up ling attack. It showed an unusually poor sense of timing from Killer, as Sea easily had firebats out by the time Killer was ready to strike again. The result was rather humorous.
Sea attacked moved with some MMF, and Killer GG’d.
Match Rating: 4/10
Killer’s initial 3 hatch into speedling bust was a pretty cool fake. While his decision to continue to go lings was horrendous, it was pretty funny just how awfully it failed against Sea’s firebats.
Killer followed up with a clever bit of mind games, going for a 3 hatch speedling bust after starting with what would appear to be an economy heavy build. Killer very nearly succeeded in busting Sea’s front which was protected by un-upgraded marines and a bunker, but unlike last game, SCV repair ultimately prevailed. While Killer made the decision to kill the marines outside the bunker first and then focus fire the bunker, in retrospect he would have done better to have quickly killed the bunker before SCVs could repair and cleaned up the marines afterwards.
Killer was not completely all-in at this point, and he had the option of going back to playing a standard game with a slight disadvantage. Killer ended up deciding there was no turning back, cancelled his lair, and went for a follow-up ling attack. It showed an unusually poor sense of timing from Killer, as Sea easily had firebats out by the time Killer was ready to strike again. The result was rather humorous.
Sea attacked moved with some MMF, and Killer GG’d.
Match Rating: 4/10
Killer’s initial 3 hatch into speedling bust was a pretty cool fake. While his decision to continue to go lings was horrendous, it was pretty funny just how awfully it failed against Sea’s firebats.
Group B:
Mind vs Action+ Show Spoiler [Game One] +
Mind proceeded to use the same 2 port wraith build he had used to great success against Hero, while Action showed he had studied that game well by going for a safe 2 hatch build with a hydralisk den for defense.
Action tried to exploit Mind’s early game weakness a quick speed hydralisk attack, but Mind showed that he was one step ahead in the mind games with a bunker and a very fast tank out to prepare for such possibilities. The hydralisks would have been much better off staying in Action’s main to defend against two wraiths which were slowly but surely making a dent in his economy.
Instead of committing to wraiths, Mind stopped building them completely to go for a fast expansion with tanks instead. This proved to be another victory for Mind in the mental rock, scissor, paper battle as Action was making a lot of troops, possible even thinking about a drop. By the time Action realized he should have been powering drones and expanding, he was already behind economically.
Mind pushed out with a dangerous army built on his strong economy, pushing quickly across the map. But as always seems to be the case, Action had defilers with consume ready just in time to prevent his imminent demise. At the same time, Action also sent some lurkers and defilers through a backdoor route into Mind’s natural, where they forced a command center lift.
Things looked good for Action for but a second, as his thinly spread forces had made him susceptible to a drop in the heart of his territory. Mind used a single dropship to elevator M&M into Action’s main, where they caused irreversible economic and structural damage before defenders could arrive. With Mind clearing his natural and at a significant overall advantage, Action GG’d.
Match Rating: 6/10
Though the game was one-sided, there was enough combat here and there to make it interesting.
Action tried to exploit Mind’s early game weakness a quick speed hydralisk attack, but Mind showed that he was one step ahead in the mind games with a bunker and a very fast tank out to prepare for such possibilities. The hydralisks would have been much better off staying in Action’s main to defend against two wraiths which were slowly but surely making a dent in his economy.
Instead of committing to wraiths, Mind stopped building them completely to go for a fast expansion with tanks instead. This proved to be another victory for Mind in the mental rock, scissor, paper battle as Action was making a lot of troops, possible even thinking about a drop. By the time Action realized he should have been powering drones and expanding, he was already behind economically.
Mind pushed out with a dangerous army built on his strong economy, pushing quickly across the map. But as always seems to be the case, Action had defilers with consume ready just in time to prevent his imminent demise. At the same time, Action also sent some lurkers and defilers through a backdoor route into Mind’s natural, where they forced a command center lift.
Things looked good for Action for but a second, as his thinly spread forces had made him susceptible to a drop in the heart of his territory. Mind used a single dropship to elevator M&M into Action’s main, where they caused irreversible economic and structural damage before defenders could arrive. With Mind clearing his natural and at a significant overall advantage, Action GG’d.
Match Rating: 6/10
Though the game was one-sided, there was enough combat here and there to make it interesting.
+ Show Spoiler [Game Two] +
There were a few minor wrinkles such as a 9 pool opening and fast MMF pressure, but overall Mind and Action went through the motions of a very standard TvZ. Mind turtled up against mutalisk harass and prepared an army to push with his first science vessel, while Action tried to do his best with mutalisks while taking a third base and teching to lurkers and hive.
A scintillating hive zerg exhibition from Action was just about in sight, but Mind had no intention of allowing the game to reach that stage. With his first vessel he performed an excellent push, crossing the map with gusto. Action was caught scrambling to defend, building sunkens while trying to prepare both defilers and guardians.
In the end, tech units came far too late for Action, even with many sunken colonies to soak up tank damage and buy time. Mind attacked the sunkens aggressively, knowing he had a golden opportunity to end the game. Action never even got to see a guardian hatch, as marines broke through the defenses and shot down the morphing cocoons.
Match Rating: 3/10
Straight up loss to Terran’s first push; standard play from Action.
A scintillating hive zerg exhibition from Action was just about in sight, but Mind had no intention of allowing the game to reach that stage. With his first vessel he performed an excellent push, crossing the map with gusto. Action was caught scrambling to defend, building sunkens while trying to prepare both defilers and guardians.
In the end, tech units came far too late for Action, even with many sunken colonies to soak up tank damage and buy time. Mind attacked the sunkens aggressively, knowing he had a golden opportunity to end the game. Action never even got to see a guardian hatch, as marines broke through the defenses and shot down the morphing cocoons.
Match Rating: 3/10
Straight up loss to Terran’s first push; standard play from Action.
+ Show Spoiler [Game Three] +
Mind won 2-0
Group C:
Tyson vs Calm+ Show Spoiler [Game One] +
The close air distance figured into both players plans, as Tyson went for FE into corsair-reaver, while Calm went for a standard 3 hatch open into mutalisk rush. Timing wise, a mutalisk rush will strike before a reaver drop, and it turned out that Tyson wasn’t prepared for Calm’s strategy at all.
A single cannon and four corsairs were no match for mutalisks and scourge which threatened to end the game immediately. Tyson did the only thing he could do and sent everything he had to counter-attack. A very damaging reaver drop in addition to zealots by ground forced Calm to move back momentarily and defend himself, buying Tyson just a little bit of time.
However, Calm immediately went back on the offensive after he was done putting his base in order, and Tyson had barely been able to build new defenses during his brief breather. With mutalisks sacking his main, Tyson GG’d.
Match Rating: 2/10
Over in one rush.
A single cannon and four corsairs were no match for mutalisks and scourge which threatened to end the game immediately. Tyson did the only thing he could do and sent everything he had to counter-attack. A very damaging reaver drop in addition to zealots by ground forced Calm to move back momentarily and defend himself, buying Tyson just a little bit of time.
However, Calm immediately went back on the offensive after he was done putting his base in order, and Tyson had barely been able to build new defenses during his brief breather. With mutalisks sacking his main, Tyson GG’d.
Match Rating: 2/10
Over in one rush.
+ Show Spoiler [Game Two] +
Although this game went long, there was not very much to it. After standard PvZ openings from both players, neither player felt like being particularly aggressive. And so they allowed each other to take as many expansions as they wanted, taking their respective halves of the map. Now this is usually a recipe for fierce late-game fighting and a long, grueling game, but Tyson’s failures made the game end in just one real battle.
We tend to call the PvZ army a “death ball” because it is a large collection of units concentrated in one location for maximum damage dealing capacity. This concept eluded Tyson, who despite having a large army and near unlimited resources could not consolidate his army in one location. Tyson’s positioning was so bad that the game ended to a zerg attack that went straight into his natural.
Calm must have been wondering why there were no templars there, and why the Protoss troops kept fighting his big army in small separated groups. It is quite possible that Zerg actually fought more cost efficiently than Protoss, which is a rare occurrence.
Tyson was still left with three other bases after his natural and main were razed, but he was left with no gateways or tech. Calm decided to play the cleanup phase of the game in a leisurely fashion, making mass guardians to force Tyson’s GG.
Match Rating: 4/10
Disappointing finish after a good build up.
We tend to call the PvZ army a “death ball” because it is a large collection of units concentrated in one location for maximum damage dealing capacity. This concept eluded Tyson, who despite having a large army and near unlimited resources could not consolidate his army in one location. Tyson’s positioning was so bad that the game ended to a zerg attack that went straight into his natural.
Calm must have been wondering why there were no templars there, and why the Protoss troops kept fighting his big army in small separated groups. It is quite possible that Zerg actually fought more cost efficiently than Protoss, which is a rare occurrence.
Tyson was still left with three other bases after his natural and main were razed, but he was left with no gateways or tech. Calm decided to play the cleanup phase of the game in a leisurely fashion, making mass guardians to force Tyson’s GG.
Match Rating: 4/10
Disappointing finish after a good build up.
+ Show Spoiler [Game Three] +
Calm won 2-0.
To be honest, I'm going to miss those corny airport arrival/departure board style displays.
Week in Review
There weren’t many surprises if any to be had in week one. All of the favored players went through to the RO16, and even in the content of games, everyone played within the boundaries of expectations they set last season. Although there has been a fairly long break, so far the new season seems to be a continuation of the last.
Here’s what we’ve reconfirmed for the progamers who played last week:
Violet: Bad at PvZ.Killer: A decent player who is prone to making very bad, game losing decisions. Sea: Can still qualify for the round of 16 in his sleep. hero: Good late game macro player, but executes poorly at times.Action: Has trouble getting to hive without getting killed.Mind: Jack of all trades, to the viewer’s detriment.fOrGG: Really loves those timing attacks.Tyson: Can’t micro.Calm: Plays like a genius against worse players.It’s disappointing that there was very little to learn this week. For fans of pro-gaming and not just Brood War, the players themselves are often more interesting than the actual games. An hour long epic that consumes all the minerals on a map is awesome, but the reward for following a player’s progress as he slowly learns new lessons week by week can be far greater.
Overall, the games were lacking in entertainment value this week, even taking into consideration that this is only the RO36. The announcers, too, seemed to acknowledge the occasional oddness and shortcomings in skill that occurred at times. Their attitude was one of amusement rather than concern, which is rather sensible. Even the vaunted OSL cannot take itself 100% seriously at all times, so there's room for levity in the early rounds.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel//oslannouncerdino.jpg)
Having a guy in a dinosaur costume stand by every week as the announcers scream their lungs out sounds good at first, but you must realize it's all about pacing.
Still, it's a relief that at least Proleague is serving up some epic games, because we didn't wait two months to see merely okay games. With top class players like Fantasy and Kal, and Proleague breakout players Pure and Horang2 playing in the next groups, I hope the OSL can bring itself up to par.
This text feels so lonely outside those big, pretty boxes.
So Sue Us*
While we prefer not to get into the intellectual property rights controversy here at the TeamLiquid OSL team, it can hardly be avoided now that the OnGameNet Starleague itself is being directly threatened. Instead of offering an opinion piece championing one side of the argument, I would like to use this space to make the situation easier to understand for OSL fans who have not kept up with the various legal happenings.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel//ognlogo.jpg)
Enjoy this image until we get sued
The Basics
OnGameNet is being sued by Blizzard and Gretech for copyright infringement. Earlier this year, Blizzard signed a contract with Gretech which gave them exclusive rights to broadcast Blizzard game tournaments in South Korea. Gretech offered to sub-license the rights to other companies, which was done for the previous OSL, Korean Air Season II.
For reasons not revealed, OnGameNet did not acquire a sub-licence for the new Bacchus 2010 OSL. Thus, they are now being sued for copyright infringement, and will be unable to broadcast the OSL should they lose the case. Similarly, MBCGame did not acquire a license for the MSL and were also sued in the weeks prior.
What about KeSPA?
Blizzard began to show active interest in their intellectual property rights situation in Korea when KeSPA sold the broadcasting rights for the Proleague to the e-sports company IEG in 2007. Blizzard took issue with KeSPAs doings, and sought to reach some agreement regarding a licensing agreement for their games and e-Sports in Korea.
Three years later, with Starcraft II's release imminent, Blizzard suddenly announced that negotiations had broken down and they would seek out a different e-Sports partner in Korea. KeSPA and Blizzard have made contradictory statements as to the pro-activeness of both sides in negotiating an agreement between 2007 and 2010. Blizzard quickly signed the aforementioned exclusive contract with Gretech/GomTV, who had held a series of officially licensed Blizzard tournaments in the past.
Paul Sams stated at Blizzcon 2010 that they would consider legal action against KeSPA after discussing the matter with their legal counsel, but there has been no news on that front.
What will happen?
KeSPA, MBCGame, and OnGameNet seem to be determined to continue to hold their leagues, despite Blizzard's legal recourse. Blizzard has said the will file injunctions for the cessation of broadcasts, but it is unknown whether or not they will have any real effect.
We don't know much
Very little information of significance is known to the general public. With all negotiations protected by NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), information regarding the situation has been gleaned from carefully controlled press releases and public statements. With contradictory accounts being released by the two opposing sides, it is difficult to ascertain facts that are as simple and crucial as what each side actually wants. All that can be said for sure is that there is a disagreement over the licensing fee to be paid, and the amount of control and ownership to be had over content created in tournaments. Also, as few to none of us are experts in Korean copyright law, we cannot predict with any certainty who will win the case.
*The title refers to the perceived attitude of the Korean broadcasters upon being sued by Blizzard and Gretech. This is in no way or form an invitation from TeamLiquid to various outside parties to sue us. For the love of god, please don't sue us.
Forget OGN, when's Nintendo coming after me for all those Pokemon images I lifted?
