It's safe to say Proleague '11-'12 has introduced a lot of changes - one of which being the maps. This season sports a brand new mappool of 6 brand new maps! Needless to say everyone is (or should be!) looking forward to seeing some games on these new playgrounds. Just glancing over the maps shows an impressive amount of doodads, backdoor entrances, main-overlooking cliffs, destructible rockstemples and uncanny similarities to Outsider. It's safe to say that we may have the wackiest overmappool on our hands here - a recipe for exciting games! How will these maps pan out though? Will we see any metagame shifts? Glaring imbalances? What race will QQ 24/7 and what map will suffer from mirrirmatch syndrome?

Last week I had the chance to sit down with Pro7ect, Ace and KidCanada Extraordinaire to discuss the maps. I asked them how they think their match-ups will play out on each map, any glaring imbalances and what map they look forward to most.

Project is one of Russian's best Terrans and one of the premier BroodWar streamers on TL.
Ace was the runner-up in the recent ISL2 and is currently beasting it up for Hungary in the Altitude NationWar
KidCanada, aka Astro, is a well know Protoss from, who'd have guessed, Canada. Streams on TL as draw.

NOTE: At the time of writing/interviewing, only the images of the maps were available. Any remarks are therefore highly speculative. Still, it should be enough to spark some discussion

Pro7ect: Quite a balanced map. In TvZ, Terran has some advantages in the defense of his main and natural bases, because it’s very hard for Zerg to harass with Mutalisks. But all bases here have ramps, so Terran can face some troubles with preventing Zerg’s expos. In TvP, Protoss has various ways in openings like proxy series. So Terran players should explore the whole map properly. This map looks like very good for vulture harassing.

Ace: If there would be long match ZvP, I think it's difficult to defend 3-4 expos with zerg. I think on this map Zergs hava a little disadvantage, because it's hard to defend expands. In ZvT and ZvP too. You can't defend 2 expands on one place like on FS. I'd cry if I were to play on this map :D I think short distance isn't that big help for Mutas. Terrans are so good so I don't think it really matters. Maybe on main you can harass with Mutas because of the cliff, but I stilll think in long games T,P >Z, so i don't think we'll see zergs on this map:D

KidCanada: Well in all m.u. it depends how many mineral patches are in the back and how much hp in the destructable rocks. Like PvZ zerg can do standard BO and if they make 12~ lings after Lair they can tear down the backrock, which seems standard timing for zerg to make lings normally, but now P will have to delay their tech to put a pylon + cannon there or something like that. It seems easy to get expos after that for P though, since both of the next expos are on a ramp, but in late game its going to be hard since the expos are spreading away from eachother across the map. I think this map is bad lol, both players are gonna just try to camp the 3 mid bridges. It's going to be hard to attack into Zerg across bridges so if they have good apm they can burrow/unburrow and move along the bridge to deny protoss aggression. Like I don't know how to determine the outcome too many buildings to destroy to change the map layout. PvT is gonna be a lot of cheese openings, because the main is surrounded by highground and you can transfer goons via shuttle over the narrow ridge, but depends how big those bases are, but its like impossible to push or flank Terran on this map. Prolly lots of Carriers. I don't know how T will expo if they take both back yard expos cause that will spread them out quite a bit, I guess they will rely on the nexus neutrals. I think most of them wont attack those buildings until mid or late game cause it takes too long to kill. Also the problem with them is they dont open many opportunities since they are all along the ridge of the map, so to counter attack or build another attack point from those killed spots still require a lot of out of position manueovering. I think this map is bad because protoss requires position a lot and the pathing and structure of this map make it seem if you get out of position once you will die. And Terran can push 2 paths which both lead to behind your main. It's like a combination of Tau Cross and Pathfinder.

Pro7ect: Obviously, this one is totally Terran map. If Terran can take control over the center (especially in TvP) opponents won’t have any chances to go out from the base. Zerg can use the third base behind his main and develop like in Triathlon. So Terran should beware of mass Mutalisks and/or fast Guardians from Zerg.

Ace: Really interesting map. Reminds a little bit of Outsider. The problem is if you kill 2 times those 2 buildings you can attack your opponet's main and I can't figure it out for which race will it help :D It's good map for mutas in ZvT. You can harass natural, there are mountains. And if you are Zerg on blue and Toss on red you can take 3rd base on right side of the map at 3 (the main's natural). Then you can take teal main, and 6 o'clock. That's 5 base. I think it's a little zerg favored map. I see the fantasy in this map for zergs:D Z>T,P I think

KidCanada: In PvZ it seems like Z is gonna take another natural but that base and original natural are equidistant from P natural so rush distance is very short. Also the paths are quite narrow, the mid could be large but still quite small so looks like 2 base pushes are quite easy. I think its very strong PvZ, especially if they do a strong 2 base BO, because they can just go around the map and kill those building to get to the z's main and they gonna have to put a lot of defence. If Z tries the same tactic they are still running down narrow paths which is easier for P to handle. PvT is not as bad as the other map but still would be hard to stop a push. If P is on blue and T is on red, third is gonna be the mid inner 6 or they will play it like reaver opening and take lower 6 and kill the temples later or sth like that. This map also not very symmetric, gonna have position imbalance.

Pro7ect: This map is a copy of Medusa, but just for 4 players. So I think we will see a lot of macro games by Korean progamers.

Ace: My eyes are already hurt :D I see the Medusa thingy. It looks so big map, I'd be frustrated if I should play on this one. Good for mutas in ZvT cuz that big mountain thingy on the natural expo. And 3base, big distances. In ZvT it's Z>T again I think. In ZvP i think it's balanced. We'll see good ZvP macrogames on it I'm sure If u see this map on minimap it really stresses eye, don't know how could it be in game. But it's the third map which has buildings and minerals on the map :D Destrucible rocks and some minerals next to it. I don't know why they should put this shit into every map XD

KidCanada: This looks like medusa. This map looks huge. This looks like its gonna be pretty standard but since there are many paths you gonna have to be careful if you commit to engage cause you can get countered really easily. But it looks good all m.u., seems easy to get 4 base. I think it will be more balanced than Medusa cause there are a few easier T push paths, but i think P > T on this map cause they will have easy 3 base. Even tho T gets same easy 3 base, P will get them really quick. PvZ also seems quite easy cause the bases are all surrounding the main so you can turtle to those 4 adjacent bases and secure a quadrant.

Pro7ect: This map is very similar to Grand Line, but you cannot build any buildings in the center. So all buildings should be built on the main base. If you lose your main base by mass drops or recalls, you will lose that game. So Terran should concentrate on defending his main base in the late game.

Ace: 4 main bases, 4natural expos, 2 side bases, and 4 easy bases. I like this map, cuz it's primitive. I think it's totally balanced map, like python or FS. One thing I see is, on the expands like top and bottom, 1, 5,7,11 o'clock that's really easy to defend. You build like one supply, or one pylon +2 cannons, and you got that. I think it could be good for toss in PvZ. Interesting map, but I like this one better than the last 3.

KidCanada: This one I think is retarded. Its like Neo Grandline with less expos. PvZ is gonna be hard, since the 3rd gas is far as hell. Oh wait... The middle bases have a ramp, I didn't see that. I think like PvT is not bad cause T only gets 2 gas, hard to get their third, but there aren't many expos so if they secure 4 bases they can go for map split without too much difficulty. Also natural has a raised platform behind it. I think its gonna be like 2 base arb BOs cause the map is spread out quite a bit with those few expos. I think if they spawn horizontally T will > P, but if they spawn vertically or across then P >T, cause the horizontal path is really easy to slow push and there are 2 bases on the way.

Pro7ect: This map reminds be a little bit of Colosseum, but with reversed ramp at the main. Another macro-orientated map for 4 players, nothing special.

Ace: Nothing to say about this map I think, it looks balanced, but there are not many bases on it. If Toss can have 3bases up then maybe another base is really hard for Zerg. And easy to defend every expo cause they are on highground. Prolly its not that good a map for Zerg, cause easy 3 base for Toss and u cant really attack Toss cause every expo is good defendable. I think Z=T, but P>Z.

KidCanada: All these new bases got high ridge surrounding them, kind of a lame theme, lol. This map looks really annoying, but for P its not bad. Hard to defend for Z on their third, if they take the quadrant anyway. T is gonna camp for 3 base and they have that huge ramp which is gonna be impossible to break but I think P can get more bases easily and stop early pushes or delay with all the reverse ramps. Very few bases for a 4 P map tho. It will play almost identically to [Shades of Twilight]

Pro7ect: This one is also macro-orientated map, but for me it looks like another imbalanced map for Terran. If you take control over the ridges, you will have a great chance to win the game. The third base seems to be a little bit further from the natural base, but ridges can be effectively used for defense (turrets, supply depots, mines).

Ace: This map reminds me to HBR :D These ridges on the map and the middle expo is almost like on HBR. In ZvT it's not that hard to get 3rd base with Mutas. I think ZvT is balanced. ZvP could be really bad for toss, if he gets Lurker walled on the highground he'll never break it. So this map Z>P I think. But I think every map is almost balanced.

KidCanada: Looks good PvT. Even though there are lots of ridges, the map is pretty open and manoeuvrable. Also the third is a little harder for T to take. PvZ seems not that bad, all bases have narrow chokes. In a longer game of PvT tho, T just gonna expo out like a grid and it will be hard for P. This map seems hardest to determine how it will play out. The expos go along the sides of the map, maybe P will do sair reaver or sair dt

Pro7ect: I dont like complicated maps (with neutral buildings, minerals, etc), so I will pick Jade

Ace Prolly Outlier, but I dont really have favorite map from these :D

KidCanada: Maybe Outlier. I always do better on skewed balanced maps. And Electric Circuit looks good but its a macro map and I get bored to play on those.

Pro7ect: I don't think so, because as you know, PL faced a lot of troubles after last season, so it was very important to save the existed fans and viewers, not to attract new ones. So I don't think that PL mapmakers tried to innovate something new with these maps. As you can see, all these maps have a lot of similarities with the previous maps of PL. There are not any new concepts here.

Ace: I'm sure there will be interesting games. They are really high skilled players, games would be interesting even they'd play every game on estrella :D Can't wait to watch Team 8 btw! About new tactics: prolly some crazy cheese

KidCanada: We're going to see a lot of cheese for sure, all the builds are going to be more map specific than being able to apply modified builds done on these to other maps. So I could see innovation, but it wont be applicable mostly to other maps. i.e the maps with narrow pathways you can get away with some double fast expos or something like that.

SK Telecom T1: Bisu

Bisu is the obvious choice as SKT’s top player. He had an amazing season in the 10/11 SPL, with the only real blemishes on his name being his OSL and MSL performances. Bisu has shown strength in all matchups, with a particular resurgence in his PvT last season to complement his mastery PvZ. His PvP has looked a little shaky at points during the season, but this was probably most likely caused by not playing much of the matchup a lot over the season as opposed to a skill deficit.

Over the coming season expect Bisu to once again carry his team towards the playoffs. Having finished his slump in the middle of last season I see no reason why another would occur. Moreover, with the removal of the ace match, there is a good chance of Bisu seeing more games against experienced foes, where in past seasons these had been avoided because the SKT coach chose to use race snipers like Best instead of relying on his ace. This means we’ll get to see even more of Bisu’s potential unlocked by more challenging opponents.

Team 8: Jaedong

Picking a top player for Team 8 was a somewhat tough job with the aces of Fox, Oz and MBC being compiled into one team, but in the end Jaedong was the one that stood out. Jaedong had an excellent season in the 10/11 SPL, with over 50 wins tallied up against his name. The main drawback for him last season was his team. Even with Jaedong’s fantastic performance Oz failed to make the playoffs as a direct result of lack of support from most of his team and this added stress was shown on Jaedong’s face during his games.

With Jaedong in a new team, we can expect his performance this season to be even better now he can play without stress, and with less matches per week, Jaedong can finally shine as the true ace player that he is instead of the pack mule carrying along dead weight. The most obvious improvement that should come with the new season is Jaedong finding his form in the ZvZ matchup, which he started to struggle with last season. This will give him even greater confidence and should make him a real monster this season in Proleague.

Samsung Khan: Stork

Picking the ace player for Samsung was a tough one as well. Both Stork and Jangbi could potentially claim this position within the team, so why Stork? Stork’s season in the 10/11 SPL was fairly mediocre, with a sub 60% win rate over the entire season and Jangbi finding exceptional form in Round 6 and winning an OSL why would Stork be the key player for Khan. The answer is reliability. Jangbi’s slump last season was immense. He was doing so badly that when he finally found form in round 6 he killed probably around a third of TL’s FPL teams without mercy. However come post season, Jangbi choked. He lost important matches when his team needed him and as a result Khan didn’t make it far into the playoffs.

Stork on the other hand, while having small loss streaks throughout the season managed to remain consistent and beat top players when he needed to, especially during the playoffs. In the upcoming season expect to see the Dinotoss put his WoW and Aion accounts on hold and come out guns blazing. Less games will mean that he will be able to prepare exceptional builds that we had come to expect and the opponents of Samsung Khan should be scared of what he may be able to accomplish.

Woonjin Stars: Zero

This was another hard pick, but at the end of my deliberations Zero was the only ace here that really shone. While Soulkey and Light have shown excellent performances for their team, Zero has the X factor. It’s hard to describe, but when Zero comes out to play you know that something special can happen. It could be an epic long macro game, it could be a cute cheese or simply the use of some interesting tactics to bring the game in his favour, but you know the X factor is there. This makes him a player to be feared and by default the ace player for his team.

Zero’s season in the 10/11 PL season was reasonable but not as good as it could have been by his standards. His record during Winners league was almost 50%, something that he would not have wanted to happen. However, he performed well over the season in all his matchups, specifically fixing most of the issues he’s had with ZvZ bringing it up in line with the rest of his matchups around the 60% mark. Zero should be scary in the coming season assuming he can keep his ZvZ up to scratch and should provide some incredible games when he gets matched against one of the strong players from the other teams.

STX Soul: Bogus

Bogus was the surprise of last season. Where Kal and Calm failed to deliver, Bogus stepped up and took the reins at STX to claim his spot as the undisputed ace of STX Soul. Bogus has come a long way since he lost to Hyuk in the STX masters in 2009. His improvement is even more amazing considering the hard time STX has had over the last season. By somewhat of a miracle they barely scraped into the playoffs, only to be dismissed by KT Rolster 2-1, with Bogus being the only stable contributor over the whole series for his team.

Despite the obvious disappointment for STX, they should be able to approach the upcoming season with some hope. All of Bogus’ matchups are looking in top form, especially his TvP which he demonstrated in the playoffs with two consecutive wins over Stats, who was on fire at the time. STX’s ability to keep up with the pack and make the playoffs next season will depend a lot on how Bogus manages to go against the Ace’s of other teams, and if last season is anything to go by, it’s only going to be up from here for Bogus and STX.

KT Rolster: Flash

KT provided me with another easy selection of Ace player in the form of God Young Ho, or Flash for short. Having been playing with an injury last season he still managed to maintain an incredible win rate and bring his team SPL gold. Flash seemed to display almost no weaknesses last season. When people doubted his ability to beat Best and his practice hours were being cut in half he still managed to come out and 2-0 him in style. When people said his style was boring and standard Flash showed incredibly complex strategic builds even though he was often preparing for more than 4 matches a week.

Over the coming season, with the new format Flash is going to be even stronger, with more practice hours being afforded by his repaired arm and less matches to prepare for, the viewers are most likely going to be in for a treat as Flash shows us once again why he earned his title of God. Expect teams to send out waves upon waves of snipers and ace players to try and bring him down and watch Flash shrug them off and bring his team to another set of playoffs.

CJ Entus: Hydra

Writing this article I found it interesting how often the top player of a team was so hard to identify, and CJ entus was no exception. Candidates for the honor included Movie, Leta, Hydra and Horang2, however Hydra was the candidate who stood out the most. After Effort retired Hydra really stepped up his game and after he won his MSL title over Great he cemented his place as the ace of his team. Boasting a record well over 60% last season, Hydra showed the remarkable ability to win consecutive games, with multiple 8+ streaks of wins just in Proleague matches.

Hydra would be one of the players that I would think is a risk of slumping next season. After such a great season but falling short, while also dropping out of the MSL and OSL to Flash and Fantasy respectively, it is possible that Hydra may lose his confidence against top players, who will most likely make up his opponents in the coming season. However the return of Effort and the continued support of his team should allow him to overcome this quickly in time to give CJ the best possible chances of making the playoffs.

Airforce Ace: FireBatHero

Before FireBatHero moved to Ace it was no secret that he was struggling. His performances were lacklustre and it seemed like the fire that drove him to strip off at the Proleague finals in Busan and run into the ocean was gone. It’d anyone’s guess as to why, but Ace was the cure to this apathy. After his switch FireBatHero showed a real resurgence in form, beating exceptional players left and right and along with Ggaemo he made Ace relevant again.

In the coming season, with Kal joining the team as well, FireBatHero may just be able to give Ace its best season in years. All of his matchups have been looking solid since his inception into the Ace lineup and this should continue. FBH thrives when there is a lot of pressure, and his ability to rise up and overcome challenges coupled with his new found dedication and skill can only mean good things for ace.