Table of Contents
Round 4 Week 2 Review
Spoiler Alert!
Ultimate Weapon disengaged
Flash loses a lot
One step forward, two steps back
Poor EG-TL
Tough week for mech
Mech goes 1-3
Games of the week
Jangbi vs Flash
Zenio vs Crazy
Alive vs TY
Fails of the Week
Jaedong vs Stats
Argo vs ZerO
SK Planet Proleague table and results at Liquipedia
Round 4 W2 Results
By: Likeapen
For the average fan of StarCraft, this week was not a good one. All the foreigner fan favorites, after being hyped to no end, performed abysmally in Proleague. Flash's amazing MLG run did not transfer over to Proleague results as he continues a four game losing streak. Jaedong, after successfully performing as the ace player for EG-TL showed extreme weakness in ZvP yet again. And the Coach Park magic we saw last week certainly did not last to this round as EG-TL might be slipping back to their previous form once again. Even the fan favorite strategy of mech performed poorly as it was systematically crushed convincingly this week. Meanwhile, RorO continues to do well. What does it all mean?
Thanks to xpaperclip for formatting!
Round 4 Week 2 Matches
April 13
Samsung KHAN vs KT Rolster
hOpe < Neo Planet S > Zest (P7GAB,Wooki)
Solar (Sola) < Whirlwind LE > Crazy
RorO < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > hitmaN
Reality < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Flash
Stork < Fighting Spirit > Stats (Carno)
JangBi < Naro Station > MyuNgSiK
Ace: JangBi < Akilon Wastes > Flash
Samsung KHAN wins 4-3!
CJ Entus vs Woongjin Stars
Hydra < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Light
Bong < Akilon Wastes > sOs (sHy)
EffOrt < Korhal Floating Island > Flying
SonGDuri < Naro Station > ZerO
herO < Neo Planet S > Aria (NaGi)
sKyHigh < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > Soulkey
Ace: Whirlwind LE
Woongjin Stars wins 4-2!
hOpe < Neo Planet S > Zest (P7GAB,Wooki)
Solar (Sola) < Whirlwind LE > Crazy
RorO < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > hitmaN
Reality < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Flash
Stork < Fighting Spirit > Stats (Carno)
JangBi < Naro Station > MyuNgSiK
Ace: JangBi < Akilon Wastes > Flash
Samsung KHAN wins 4-3!
CJ Entus vs Woongjin Stars
Hydra < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Light
Bong < Akilon Wastes > sOs (sHy)
EffOrt < Korhal Floating Island > Flying
SonGDuri < Naro Station > ZerO
herO < Neo Planet S > Aria (NaGi)
sKyHigh < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > Soulkey
Woongjin Stars wins 4-2!
April 14
EG-TL vs KeSPa 8th Team
HerO < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > TRUE (Alone)
Jaedong < Fighting Spirit > Argo (Jaehoon)
aLive < Akilon Wastes > TY (BaBy)
JYP < Whirlwind LE > ALBM (check)
Oz < Naro Station > Terminator (Sang)
Zenio < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Cure
Ace: Korhal Floating Island
KeSPa Team 8 wins 4-0!
STX Soul vs SK Telecom T1
hyvaa < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > FanTaSy
Classic < Fighting Spirit > Bisu
Last < Akilon Wastes > Rain
INnoVation (Bogus) < Whirlwind LE > PartinG
Dear < Naro Station > Sacsri
Trap < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Dark
Ace: Korhal Floating Island
STX Soul wins 4-2!
HerO < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > TRUE (Alone)
Jaedong < Fighting Spirit > Argo (Jaehoon)
aLive < Akilon Wastes > TY (BaBy)
JYP < Whirlwind LE > ALBM (check)
Zenio < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Cure
Ace: Korhal Floating Island
KeSPa Team 8 wins 4-0!
STX Soul vs SK Telecom T1
hyvaa < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > FanTaSy
Classic < Fighting Spirit > Bisu
Last < Akilon Wastes > Rain
INnoVation (Bogus) < Whirlwind LE > PartinG
Dear < Naro Station > Sacsri
Trap < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Dark
STX Soul wins 4-2!
April 15
CJ Entus vs Samsung KHAN
Bong < Naro Station > Stork
EffOrt < Korhal Floating Island > Solar (Sola)
Hydra < Whirlwind LE > Reality
herO < Neo Planet S > TurN
Bbyong < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > JangBi
sKyHigh < Akilon Wastes > RorO
Ace: Fighting Spirit
Samsung KHAN wins 4-2!
EG-TL vs KT Rolster
HerO < Naro Station > MyuNgSiK
Jaedong < Korhal Floating Island > Flash
JYP < Whirlwind LE > hitmaN
Oz < Neo Planet S > Zest (P7GAB,Wooki)
Zenio < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Crazy
aLive < Akilon Wastes > Stats (Carno)
Ace: Jaedong < Fighting Spirit > Stats (Carno)
KT Rolster wins 4-3!
Bong < Naro Station > Stork
EffOrt < Korhal Floating Island > Solar (Sola)
Hydra < Whirlwind LE > Reality
herO < Neo Planet S > TurN
Bbyong < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > JangBi
sKyHigh < Akilon Wastes > RorO
Samsung KHAN wins 4-2!
EG-TL vs KT Rolster
HerO < Naro Station > MyuNgSiK
Jaedong < Korhal Floating Island > Flash
JYP < Whirlwind LE > hitmaN
Oz < Neo Planet S > Zest (P7GAB,Wooki)
Zenio < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Crazy
aLive < Akilon Wastes > Stats (Carno)
Ace: Jaedong < Fighting Spirit > Stats (Carno)
KT Rolster wins 4-3!
April 16
KeSPa Team 8 vs Woongjin Stars
Cure (Speed) < Whirlwind LE > Soulkey
Argo (Jaehoon) < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > ZerO
Savage (Ryul2) < Neo Planet S > Light
Terminator (Sang) < Akilon Wastes > sOs (sHy)
ALBM (check) < Korhal Floating Island > Flying
TY (BaBy) < Fighting Spirit > free
Ace: Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct
Woongjin Stars wins 4-1
Cure (Speed) < Whirlwind LE > Soulkey
Argo (Jaehoon) < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > ZerO
Savage (Ryul2) < Neo Planet S > Light
Terminator (Sang) < Akilon Wastes > sOs (sHy)
ALBM (check) < Korhal Floating Island > Flying
Ace: Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct
Woongjin Stars wins 4-1
Round 4 Week 2 Standings
Ultimate Weapon Disengaged
While Jangbi, Roro and INnoVation continued to flourish in the Proleague this week, Flash had an uncharacteristically bad run. He suffered three straight losses in week two, one in a hard fought TvT, and two others to strong timing attacks. You couldn’t say that Flash was way off his game or is losing it, but it suggests that even the very best can have a bad week from time to time.He started out his week against Samsung Khan, with a TvT against Reality on Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct. Flash opted for a mech response to Reality’s reaper into triple CC build. After a big battle at Flash’s third, the KT Terran looked in control and ready to kill his opponent with a counter. But Reality turned the tables with a clever marine marauder backstab, causing 21 SCV casualties. With Reality having already secured a fourth base, Flash now needed to do crippling damage with his counter. However, Flash continued to make key mistakes: He left his his hellbats behind his sieged tanks and his reinforcing troops were slowly picked off by a small bio squad. With his coutner crushed and his army diminished, he was forced to concede.
Flash was then installed as the KT ace in the very same match, this time facing Jangbi on Akilon Wastes. Jangbi employed Parting’s favored PvZ build on this map, the apparently unbeatable immortal push. It was clinically executed and cleaned up all of Flash’s SCVs from his natural and a good portion of those at his main. While Flash did his best to posture outside Jangbi’s base as if there was a comeback on the cards, the economy deficit was simply too great. Some zealot run-bys, followed up by a big attack with high templar left Flash and KT the losers of this match.
Then on Monday came the game we were all waiting for. The Tyrant versus the Ultimate Weapon, EG-TL versus KT, Jaedong versus Flash; a renewal of one of the greatest rivalries in the history of Starcraft. A build order loss would surely be a disappointing result, and so it was. Flash’s forces were caught out in the middle of the map as Jaedong executed his speedling baneling push. With a group of marines pinned against his own wall and not enough behind the wall to hold the Tyrant off, the banelings ravaged Flash’s economy. Once again, Flash had to walk away from the booth disappointed and defeated.
This match also went to the ace game, and JD was called up for EG-TL. But where was Flash? He wasn’t played as the ace, with KT instead opting for Stats as their man. To be fair to the Terran player, this choice in aces is more of an indication of Jaedong’s ZvP weakness rather than a lack of confidence in Flash. Still, it was disappointing to not see Flash get a chance at redemption.
It truly was a horror week for KT’s main man, and no doubt he will look to turn it around as the Proleague train keeps rolling. His results in Proleague and Heart of the Swarm so far speak to him being a vastly better player than his 0-3 performance this week.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
After last week’s glowing write up on how EG-TL were tracking in Proleague, it’s only fit to follow up just what happened this week. Quite frankly, it wasn’t nearly as good as we might have hoped.Just when we all thought they might have turned a corner, EG-TL suffered two losses, possibly in the worst ways possible. Their first match for the week was against Team 8, a team they trailed in the standings by only one win. They were within striking distance, and it wasn’t beyond them to chalk one up over Team 8. Well, that turned out to be as far from the truth as you could imagine.
Four losses in a row later, and EG-TL were back in that place that they were in before Heart of the Swarm kicked in. TRUE, Argo, TY and ALBM all put in impressive showings, but with EG-TL putting up HerO, Jaedong, aLive and JYP to match these players, you would have to say that they underperformed to lose like that.
There was a very strange highlight amongst all of this. TRUE’s rubbing of Major’s belly after his victory against HerO takes the cake as the strangest victory celebration this week. Is Major Team 8’s Buddha? You can make up your own mind on that one…
But the question again had to be asked, could EG-TL bounce back, this time against the formidable KT Rolster lineup? Surely, after their performance against Team 8, this was impossible? Well, HerO, Jaedong and JYP all had different ideas, taking out MyuNgSiK, Flash and hitmaN respectively. With Oz, Zenio and aLive still in the hutch for EG-TL, surely this one was a foregone conclusion?
Well, as with a lot of things that have happened to this team, there was a nasty twist in store for them. Oz lost a crazy PvP to Zest. Zenio looked to have an early advantage against Crazy but his tardiness in teching to lair cost him very dearly. ALive came up against KT’s most successful player this week in Stats and again couldn’t get the job done. So Jaedong was inserted, and KT elected to play Stats as their ace, which proved to be an intelligent choice. Jaedong stumbled to a loss and the reversal was complete.
You have to feel for EG-TL, but at the same time they have no one but themselves to blame. The match against Team 8 was a shocker, and they had four opportunities to blow KT away but failed on every occasion.
Tough Week for Mech
We saw mech play broken out only four times over the course of week two, and these attempts usually resulted in disaster one way or the other for the player who chose to go factory heavy.Flash’s attempt to mech in TvT, as highlighted previously, went awry. Notwithstanding the resume from replay that happened after Flash lagged out, which no doubt impacted the psyche of both competitors, it looked ill-fated even before that.
Two of the top Zergs in the league, Soulkey and Roro, also showed how adept they were at stopping a mech army. Roro’s chance came in set 6 of Samsung Khan’s match up with CJ Entus against sKyHigh. Roro had an advantage from the outset, after spotting the mass blue-flame hellion play from sKyHigh with his well placed overlord. This wasn’t helped by some questionable decision-making regarding the positioning of his hellions from sKyHigh. Time and time again his hellions were not only warded away but surrounded and killed, leaving Roro to freely take expansions and eventually become too economically ahead to lose.
A slightly more successful attempt came in the form of Cure’s effort against Soulkey. While his hellion banshee pressure didn’t achieve too much, he was at least able to keep his units alive and progress to the mid game on an even footing. But with Soulkey using the mobility of roaches, hydras and vipers to keep Cure occupied while he built up an insane economy, again the meching player saw himself at a huge disadvantage. At one point, after Cure had knocked out a number of Soulkey’s expos, things might have looked ok, but reinforcements had arrived in the form of hungry ultralisks who cleaned up Cure’s tanks bit by bit, along any hope he had of taking the game.
And then there was one. The fourth and final attempt at mech came from Team 8's TY against Alive, a match you can read about in this week's "Best Games of the Week." In a week of constant disappointments, this game would be our shining glimmer of hope.
Games of the Week
by Wunder
Proleague had a few stellar match-ups this week, but unfortunately, none of them lived up to our expectations. But don't fret, because there were still some decent matches this week, just not from the matches we really wanted. This week, we were taught why you should build bunkers, why +1 carapace on mutalisks are good, and some cool micro against seeker missile.
JangBi < Akilon Wastes > Flash
VODS: Free Korean on Youtube - HQ English on Twitch
The first match for the second week of Proleague ended with an ace set between Jangbi and Flash, with the last BW OSL champion looking strong in his match, while Flash just came off a heartbreaking loss against Reality. The match opened up relatively standard, as Flash opted for a reaper expand while Jangbi opened with a two stalker MSC expand. However, as Jangbi placed his robo down after his gateway, Flash’s reaper managed to sneak into the Protoss’ base and scout the additional gateways and see the robo as well. But it was apparent Flash didn’t think much of it as he elected not to place down any additional bunkers at his natural. So when Jangbi’s heavy immortal pressure knocked of his front door, Flash had no choice but to lift and run back into his natural. Though he managed to eventually deflect the attack, the damage had been done, and Jangbi prepared his second wave which consisted of chargelots and templar, and stormed his way to victory.
Zenio < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Crazy
VODS: Free Korean on Youtube - HQ English on Twitch
This game between EG-TL’s Zenio and KT Rolster’s Crazy is yet another classic example of why, in this new world of muta vs muta, it is imperative to research +1 carapace instead of +1 attack. Zenio opened this game with a 9 pool against a hatchery first from Crazy, and while he did force a cancel on Crazy’s hatchery, he was eventually pushed back. It eventually turned into a macro game where Zenio neglected to even get any gas until Crazy had started his lair, which meant that his tech was hugely behind. To make matters worse, Zenio opted for +1 attack on his spire while Crazy went for the more traditional +1 carapace. This meant that Zenio’s mutalisks would be that much weaker against Crazy, and in a match-up where every mutalisk counts, especially when you’re behind, Zenio effectively signed his death warrant. Though the game stabilized due to Crazy’s apathetic mutas, it culminated as it always does in a large scale mutalisk battle. Even though Zenio caught up in mutalisk count, it didn’t matter, as Crazy had the superior upgrades and tore through Zenio’s mutalisks like a hot knife through butter.
aLive < Akilon Wastes > TY
VODS: Free Korean on Youtube - HQ English on Twitch
aLive vs Ty was probably the game of the week, and it was a thrilling match that demonstrated the strength of mech in Heart of the Swarm. Both players opted for the same build, but quickly branched off as they teched up. aLive was the first to make a move as he managed to deny Ty’s fourth with a quick drop, delaying the Team 8 Terran’s expansion long enough for aLive to start his. However, Ty decided to utilize the new Turbovacs™ to his advantage, and dropped hellbats relentless across aLive’s numerous bases, killing off 30+ SCVs. Maxed out, Ty pushed his advantage further by sieging aLive’s fourth and taking another expansion. Pushed against a corner, aLive attempted to distract Ty with a 4-medivac drop at his third, and while aLive did destroy that expansion, it allowed Ty to set up a defensive position at his natural and aLive had to retreat. The final blow came as Ty brought down the hammer that was his tank/thor force, supported by ravens, and busted through aLive’s front.
Straight out of an action movie.
VODS: Free Korean on Youtube - HQ English on Twitch
The first match for the second week of Proleague ended with an ace set between Jangbi and Flash, with the last BW OSL champion looking strong in his match, while Flash just came off a heartbreaking loss against Reality. The match opened up relatively standard, as Flash opted for a reaper expand while Jangbi opened with a two stalker MSC expand. However, as Jangbi placed his robo down after his gateway, Flash’s reaper managed to sneak into the Protoss’ base and scout the additional gateways and see the robo as well. But it was apparent Flash didn’t think much of it as he elected not to place down any additional bunkers at his natural. So when Jangbi’s heavy immortal pressure knocked of his front door, Flash had no choice but to lift and run back into his natural. Though he managed to eventually deflect the attack, the damage had been done, and Jangbi prepared his second wave which consisted of chargelots and templar, and stormed his way to victory.
Zenio < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Crazy
VODS: Free Korean on Youtube - HQ English on Twitch
This game between EG-TL’s Zenio and KT Rolster’s Crazy is yet another classic example of why, in this new world of muta vs muta, it is imperative to research +1 carapace instead of +1 attack. Zenio opened this game with a 9 pool against a hatchery first from Crazy, and while he did force a cancel on Crazy’s hatchery, he was eventually pushed back. It eventually turned into a macro game where Zenio neglected to even get any gas until Crazy had started his lair, which meant that his tech was hugely behind. To make matters worse, Zenio opted for +1 attack on his spire while Crazy went for the more traditional +1 carapace. This meant that Zenio’s mutalisks would be that much weaker against Crazy, and in a match-up where every mutalisk counts, especially when you’re behind, Zenio effectively signed his death warrant. Though the game stabilized due to Crazy’s apathetic mutas, it culminated as it always does in a large scale mutalisk battle. Even though Zenio caught up in mutalisk count, it didn’t matter, as Crazy had the superior upgrades and tore through Zenio’s mutalisks like a hot knife through butter.
aLive < Akilon Wastes > TY
VODS: Free Korean on Youtube - HQ English on Twitch
aLive vs Ty was probably the game of the week, and it was a thrilling match that demonstrated the strength of mech in Heart of the Swarm. Both players opted for the same build, but quickly branched off as they teched up. aLive was the first to make a move as he managed to deny Ty’s fourth with a quick drop, delaying the Team 8 Terran’s expansion long enough for aLive to start his. However, Ty decided to utilize the new Turbovacs™ to his advantage, and dropped hellbats relentless across aLive’s numerous bases, killing off 30+ SCVs. Maxed out, Ty pushed his advantage further by sieging aLive’s fourth and taking another expansion. Pushed against a corner, aLive attempted to distract Ty with a 4-medivac drop at his third, and while aLive did destroy that expansion, it allowed Ty to set up a defensive position at his natural and aLive had to retreat. The final blow came as Ty brought down the hammer that was his tank/thor force, supported by ravens, and busted through aLive’s front.
Straight out of an action movie.
Fails of the Week
by Wunder
Though the week did not produce many particularly epic games, there were plenty of fails to go around. Proleague is a high pressure environment where both sweet and stress are bound to show. This week features failures from some of the supposed aces of their respective teams, Argo and Jaedong.
Jaedong < Fighting Spirit >Stats
VODS: Free Korean on Youtube - HQ English on Twitch
In what was almost a throwback to the PvZ of old, Jaedong vs Stats was the perfect example of getting too caught up in your aggression. Starting off with a cheeky third base at the gold expansion, Jaedong had a solid lead as he pressured Stats with a roach hydra composition. He pushed his advantage further by denying Stats’ third base, but, just like in old Wings of Liberty games, allowed Stats to slowly build up a sizable force of void rays and colossi. Though he continually harassed and killed off Stats’ third, he never advanced past roach hydra corruptor and each engagement he took was worse than the last. This snowballed into the classic PvZ ending where the Protoss simply steamrolled through the entire Zerg army and Jaedong had to gg.
Argo < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > ZerO
VODS: Free Korean on Youtube - HQ English on Twitch
This next game was truly a sight to behold, as Team 8’s Argo, essentially their ace player, fumbled horrendously against Woongjin Stars’ ZerO, as he forgot to research warpgate tech as well as build a mothership core entirely. The game opened normally, with the Protoss opting for the forge fast expand, but it quickly devolved into a tragic state of affairs as Argo neglected to research warp gate for two and a half minutes after his cybernetics core finished. This meant that he would have a pitiful amount of gateway units and when ZerO pressured the Protoss’ third, there was simply not enough to defend it. Couple that with the fact that he completely forgot to make a mothership core, and there was no safety net for Argo and what was supposed to be just a denial of the third or some innocent pressure, turned out to be the game winning move.
That nexus is supposed to shoot!
VODS: Free Korean on Youtube - HQ English on Twitch
In what was almost a throwback to the PvZ of old, Jaedong vs Stats was the perfect example of getting too caught up in your aggression. Starting off with a cheeky third base at the gold expansion, Jaedong had a solid lead as he pressured Stats with a roach hydra composition. He pushed his advantage further by denying Stats’ third base, but, just like in old Wings of Liberty games, allowed Stats to slowly build up a sizable force of void rays and colossi. Though he continually harassed and killed off Stats’ third, he never advanced past roach hydra corruptor and each engagement he took was worse than the last. This snowballed into the classic PvZ ending where the Protoss simply steamrolled through the entire Zerg army and Jaedong had to gg.
Argo < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > ZerO
VODS: Free Korean on Youtube - HQ English on Twitch
This next game was truly a sight to behold, as Team 8’s Argo, essentially their ace player, fumbled horrendously against Woongjin Stars’ ZerO, as he forgot to research warpgate tech as well as build a mothership core entirely. The game opened normally, with the Protoss opting for the forge fast expand, but it quickly devolved into a tragic state of affairs as Argo neglected to research warp gate for two and a half minutes after his cybernetics core finished. This meant that he would have a pitiful amount of gateway units and when ZerO pressured the Protoss’ third, there was simply not enough to defend it. Couple that with the fact that he completely forgot to make a mothership core, and there was no safety net for Argo and what was supposed to be just a denial of the third or some innocent pressure, turned out to be the game winning move.
That nexus is supposed to shoot!