Table of Contents

Round 4 Week 3 Preview
Lineups


TaeJa's Comeback
Again?


CJ's Sharp Fall
3rd to 7th


Bisu Check-up
#3


Player Spotlight
Light
Stats

Games of the week
Innovation vs TaeJa
Flash vs Soulkey


SK Planet Proleague table and results at Liquipedia

By: Wunder

As we pass the halfway mark on Proleague, surprises are still showing up, with Taeja making his triumphant return back into Proleague. We also reflect back on past two weeks of Proleague, as CJ takes a nosedive into seventh place. Then we'll give some recognition to a couple of players that may have been overshadowed by much stronger and explosive superstars. There are, of course, matches of the week, this time featuring the Liquid Terran and a rematch from the Thursday's group in WCS Korea.




Thanks to xpaperclip for formatting!

Round 4 Week 3 Matches

TaeJa's Comeback

Just when many were beginning to suspect that EG-TL was slipping back into their old groove, the long lost Terran from Liquid finally showed up in the third week of the round, taking over Liquid`Zenio’s spot in the lineup. Absent for most of Proleague, Taeja has made sporadic appearances throughout the rounds, and although he made a good impression in round 1, defeating players like Innovation and Ty, his recent performances have not only been erratic, they’ve been disappointing. With his recent Code S performance behind him, and his Acer Teamstory Cup appearances, is Taeja back on form? Can we expect the Taeja we knew in 2012? Or will we see yet another poor performance?

Well, in his first match of the week, he takes on Brown, a Protoss player who has gotten yet another chance to prove himself in front of his team. Though it would be a huge upset for Brown to take out Taeja in one of his first few games, it would also be a large indicator of how Taeja is currently doing if he actually does lose to the ex-SlayerS Protoss. A loss to Brown would not bode well for Taeja going into his next game, which is a rematch against Innovation. Though both players advanced into the Ro16, Innovation has not been plagued by wrist injuries recently, and has been destroying both GSL and Proleague alike, having not dropped a single game in this round so far. Taeja might be able to best a rookie Protoss trying to find his way relying on his talent alone, but Innovation will be a whole different beast, Taeja will have to be at his best to take out STX Soul’s anchor.

CJ's Sharp Fall

Last week was a poor week for CJ Entus fans, as their team lost both matches. This brought their solid position at third crumbling down, landing at seventh by the end of the week. CJ Entus is 0-4 this round, with EffOrt and Bbyong being the only two players with a positive win ratio. Hydra, herO, Skyhigh and Bong, are all negative, and while Bong and Skyhigh could have an excuse or two, herO and Hydra are are part of CJ’s core, and they have not been pulling their weight.

Hydra is currently 0-4 this round, losing every single match thrown at him. His matches follow a predictable pattern with him able to keep up with his opponents but just barely falling short by the time. Out of all the KeSPa players, HotS seems to have affected him the most. Has he been significantly hit by the infestor nerfs? Is he finding drops a lot harder to deal with? It’s hard to say, but this week he’s playing against KT’s Cacia, someone we haven’t seen play at all during the entirety of this season. With losses to TRUE and Zenio in previous weeks, Hydra will have to win this game to prove that he isn’t just dead weight for his team.

herO has been faring a little bit better than his Zerg teammate, going 2-4 this round, but he’s lost both ace matches that he got put up for, both of them PvPs. Similarly to Hydra, this week herO is facing another one of KT’s lower-tier players, this time in the form of Barracks. Barracks has only played once this season, against CJ’s Songduri, in a match he lost. With both herO and Hydra getting easy picks this week, it will be a real test to whether these two star players of CJ will continue to be able to anchor their team.

Bisu check-up #3

As per our weekly preview, we check up once again on the Revolutionist, and see how his transition to Heart of the Swarm and slow rise back to stardom is faring. After a 2-0 win in the first week, Bisu was riding high on his comeback. (Though to be fair Bisu was facing two relatively weak players in Action and Turn.) So when he faced Classic, a player fast becoming Innovation’s right hand man in STX Soul, it wasn’t a huge surprise that Bisu took his first loss since his return.

Unfortunately, this week Bisu is playing only once, being subbed out for Paralyze in the first match. Nevertheless, he is facing ALBM, the Team 8 Zerg who has been on the rise lately, qualifying for the Challenger League in WCS Korea and replacing Savage as Team 8’s second Zerg in the line-up. It is definitely a step up from his game against Action, and it will be somewhat of a pivotal moment for Bisu and his fans, as the outcome of this match could decide whether he will continue to be fielded, or be benched in the future.

Writers: Wunder.
Graphics: HawaiianPig
Editors: monk.