Table of Contents

Round 4 Week 4 Preview
Lineups


Now you see me
Now you don't


Soul,
STX Soul


Out of the Woodwork
And into the fire


Games of the week
sOs vs Rain
ZerO vs Fantasy
Innovation vs Soulkey
HerO vs RorO


SK Planet Proleague table and results at Liquipedia

By: Wunder

It's the final week of round 4, and it's been a hell of a ride. This week is all about questions, as we try to find out where in the world Taeja went to, as well as how STX Soul went from 7th to 3rd in the span of 4 weeks, and why do teams like to field b-teamers near the end of each round? All this and more in this week's Proleague Preview!

Note that this week, Sunday will be the day with only one match, instead of the usual Tuesday.

Thanks to xpaperclip for formatting!

Round 4 Week 3 Matches

Now you see me

Through the weeks, we’ve had multiple features about the return of certain players. Bisu and TaeJa specifically made reappearances in round 4 where they've shown strength and performed well for their respective teams. However, for some reason or another, the coaches have decided not to field them for the last week of the round. Taeja went 2-0 this round, beating out INnoVation and Brown in exciting games. Meanwhile Bisu went 2-2, starting out strong with wins against Action and TurN, but then losing to Classic and ALBM in the later weeks. So as we see, both players did reasonably well and certainly met people’s expectations. So why were they benched?

Well, we can take a look at their upcoming schedules for clues. Taeja recently attended the Premier Division group nominations where he was matched up against a gauntlet of players in the form of Shine, sOs and Bomber. Maybe he decided it would be best to take a week or two off from preparing for Proleague matches and instead spend that time prepping some secret builds to get ahead in his group. Or perhaps he wanted to rest his wrists; Taeja had said during the group nominations that his wrists were still hurting him, so the less strain he puts on it before his individual matches, the better he’ll perform for the group later on. Even though EG-TL is in dire need of the Taeja booster shot, it’s reasonable that Liquid and Taeja would prefer to put more weight on individual leagues rather than on a team league where they are already performing poorly.

In the case of Bisu, since he failed to qualify for the Challenger Division this time around, he really doesn’t have much to look forward to other than Proleague. So why did Boxer bench him? Well, as was discussed earlier in the round, SKT T1 added both PartinG and Brown to its roster this round, and combined with Rain, ParalyzE and BeSt, that adds to a total of six Protoss to their potential line-up. So when a Protoss underperforms on that team, he is always under the threat of being replaced. Perhaps Bisu has hit a dry patch. Or perhaps Brown showed some real potential last week; after all, he has effectively replaced Bisu's spot in the lineup this week. Whether or not we will see Bisu return in round 5 remains to be seen, but since it will be under the all-kill format, I speculate that it’s doubtful that Bisu will ever show up unless SKT T1 has specifically prepared him for a snipe.

The Soul of STX

With so much Proleague every week, it’s hard to break away from the successes of SKT1 and domination of Woongjin Stars. But this week, we’re attempting to break the monotony by covering one of the less popular teams, STX Soul. At the start of this round, they were at 7th place, tied with Samsung KHAN with a score of 9-12. Now, at the start of week 4, they’re in 3rd place with a score of 4-1 this round so far. So how did they do it? How did a team with only one star player as their anchor pull it off?

If you take a look at their results this round, you’ll notice a strange trend: almost every win was a 4-2. That doesn’t mean a whole lot, but it does mean that INnoVation has never played an ace match this round. That means that they aren’t solely relying on Innovation as an anchor, that they aren’t just barely scraping by, and that this isn’t a mere fluke. Let’s take a step back for a second, and take a quick look at another team, KT Rolster. They too, feature a sole Terran as their ace player, but they exploded into the lead at the start of Proleague, finishing first at the start of the season and getting multiple all-kills in the second round. How did they do it?

The answer, and it’s the same one that STX Soul has, is Protoss players. Zest and Stats helped push KT up while Flash did his thing, and they shouldered the burden even when their ace was faltering. Similarly, STX has no shortage of Protoss players, but it was only after the expansion did these Protoss players truly come into their own. Trap, Dear and the newly converted Classic, all have remarkably good records this round and are pulling their weight, right next to their champion, Innovation. Finishing off the round, STX Soul has the potential to upset Woongjin Stars and finish first in the round's standings, an achievement Stars has held for two rounds in a row. Though he was absent for week 3, Classic is making a reappearance to help bring Soul through the final stretch where they have the chance to make that final leap into stardom.

Coming out of the Woodwork

Something bizarre occurs during the last week of every round of Proleague and we can’t seem to pinpoint the reason. During the final week of Proleague, teams like to give their B-teamers, players who just haven’t had the chance to play, their one-shot at success. It’s bizarre because they usually pick the final week to test drive their players rather than a match-up they feel they could win. There is no advantage in playing a player less likely to win in the final week; you don’t get more or fewer points, so why would teams play weaker players in potentially lose-able matches? In any case, this round is no exception, with up to five teams fielding someone who hasn't appeared in Proleague this round.

SKT1 kicks things off with the Zerg s2, who prior to this round, played exceptionally well for his team, going 6-1 in round 3. Maybe he transitioned poorly into Heart of the Swarm and SKT1 decided it was best to wait a few weeks until he regained his composure or maybe they just had too many players to choose from and he had to be benched. Either way, we’ll finally get to see his expansion debut as he is put up against Woongjin’s Soulkey, and CJ’s Bbyong. Speaking of Woongjin, we have the return of BrAvO, who went 3-1 last round, and is making his Heart of the Swarm debut against STX Soul’s hyvaa. With Light performing as well as he has, and Woongjin as stacked as they are, it’s not that surprising that Bravo got benched for this round, as they just simply don’t have room for any more players. They barely fit him in this week as well, with him only playing once in their line-up. Next up we have Revival, who made a small appearance at the start of this round when he lost against sKyHigh. We haven’t seen him since then, but since his qualification to WCS NA, he has been given the opportunity to prove himself, this time against another Terran in the form of Reality.

Finally rounding things off, we have Kop from Samsung and HS from T8 making their debut this round, with HS’ debut being his Proleague debut as well. Not much is known about these players, and with HS playing Zest and Kop playing Savage and Oz, it will be a proving ground for these players as their welcome to Proleague is essentially a baptism by fire. Whether or not these players will come out unscathed remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure, if they perform well, you might be able to see more of them in the following rounds.

Writers: monk, Wunder.
Graphics: HawaiianPig
Editors: monk.