Both of our best games this week feature GSL finalist - and potential winner - Innovation, who is one of the best players on the planet right now. He picked up three kills against Woongjin Stars this week, and we're going to take a look at his matches against two of the players at the forefront of their respective races.

With the all-kill round coming to a close, we preview the final week of this extended round. CJ is set to start their final sprint early with a win over KT, while many teams decide it's time to give some other players some exposure, with a last minute debut from ZerO, as well as reappearances from lesser known players like Brown and Trap.

Round 5 Week 5 Matches

Leap of Faith

While we’ve talked at length about titans like Woongjin Stars or the one-player army like STX Soul, we’ve overlooked a team that started Proleague out well but has recently been overshadowed by bigger teams and players. CJ Entus, since the start of Heart of the Swarm, has been at the bottom four of Proleague. On paper, they have one of the more solid lineups out there: herO[jOin], a great protoss player well versed in PvP and PvT; Hydra, a great ZvZ specialist that has shown good all around play; EffOrt, an OSL champion with a stellar ZvT record and finally Bbyong, an oft overlooked Terran player that excels at TvT and packs a punch in TvZ. With these four players on deck, it’s a mystery to see CJ at 6th place, especially considering teams like STX Soul and Samsung KHAN are the two teams right above them. How did they end up in this position?

Frankly, it’s hard to say definitively what went wrong. The release of Heart of the Swarm seems to have made the biggest impact, with their round 4 debut being their sharpest decline. Previous to that they’ve always been a middle of the road team, going 4-3 or 3-4 in most rounds. But after the month-long break, CJ just seemed... different. Hydra looked sloppy, going 2-5 in the entire round, just after ending the last Wings of Liberty round with a 5-1 record. herO lost his ID match against Liquid’s HerO countless times, which no doubt demoralized CJ’s ace player and could have contributed to his poor performance. Both EffOrt and Bbyong looked like a shell of their former selves, with both players dropping matches to their signature match-ups, as they were completely stunned at the speed of the new medivac.

However, this round they seem to have collected themselves, as Hydra burst forth this round grabbing a total of 6 kills so far for his team while EffOrt and herO have 4 and 3 kills respectively. With the last match on the horizon, they are poised to get a positive record at the end of the round, which would bring them a viper’s strike away from snatching that playoff spot from another team. There’s only one thing standing in their way: KT Rolster. The all kill masters, KT Rolster are in their element when allowed to stretch and utilize their players to their fullest potential. CJ have to rally their forces and it seems like they are doing just that, because the starting matchup is herO vs Flash.

Mirror Mirror

While we have what is basically an ace match on our hands as a starting match for CJ vs KT, the rest of the matches this week are all mirrors. For the first match we have Samsung’s Shine against Woongjin’s ZerO in what is essentially a cameo appearance for both players as this marks ZerO’s debut performance this round while Shine gets a second chance. While ZerO went 3-4 last round, Shine is on his last legs, having gone 0-2 last round and 0-1 this round, he has been on a downward spiral and needs this win to pull himself out of the mire.

On Sunday we have two PvPs to start, with EG-TL desperate for a win but pit against one of the more well-stocked teams, SKT1. While Brown looked sharp against Taeja and herO, Oz will have to be able to withstand this starter Protoss’ PvP because waiting in the wings will be the twin-headed dragon known as the PartinG/Rain duo. With Jaedong having a fear of Protoss, it’ll be up to Oz to set the pace and make way for the Tyrant. Team 8 is in a similar position as EG-TL, going up against powerhouse STX Soul, with Terminator leading the charge against Trap. While Terminator hasn’t been doing fantastic, he did manage to grab two wins for his team at the start of the round, off PartinG and Rain, no less. So while he might not be racking up the wins like his teammate Ty, Terminator has a chance to kick off this match with a bang and force Innovation to work while behind.

Match of the Week

This section is about the best potential match of the week, by discussing the possible match-ups we could have during the match, and does not necessarily reflect simply on the starters.

CJ Entus vs KT Rolster

As an extended preview, I’ve decided to talk a little about the match itself, since most of what was discussed above was CJ’s background going into this crucial match. Let’s analyze our players:-

Starters Ace:
CJ: herO
KT: Flash
While the Ace players are usually saved for the end of the match (and most previews), both teams aren’t messing around and they are coming out guns blazing in their final match of the round. Throwing out Flash for KT is a reasonable bet - Flash has stated he really wants the most wins in Proleague, and KT has enough of a buffer that they could stand to lose Flash after a game or two and have the rest of the team on cleanup duty. However the decision to send out herO raises more questions, due to the fact that he is invaluable as a PvP specialist and would be better saved for the likes of Zest or Stats. Perhaps this says something about their confidence, or perhaps they were hoping KT would start with Zest or Stats, something they have been doing for the past few matches. Regardless, this starting match will set the tone dramatically and could either set KT up for an all-kill, or create an opportunity for CJ to capitalize on.

The Core
CJ: Hydra, EffOrt
KT: Stats, Zest
These are the lieutenants of both teams, with these players being fielded almost every single match they have the chance to play in. With CJ, they have two Zergs that have been, at times, the best players on their team. However, with their streaks of brilliance, there have also been times where both players are made to look like fools, such as when Innovation 4-0’d CJ, dismantling everything that was thrown at them, or when Rain stopped EffOrt dead in his tracks and almost achieved a reverse all-kill. On the other side of the fence, sit the infallible duo, Stats and Zest. While Zest has arguably achieved more success throughout this season of Proleague, both players are good in their own right and are a force to be reckoned with.

The Rest
CJ: Bbyong, Bong
KT: Action, Puzzle
While these players may not even see the light of day, there will be at least four players playing for one side, and I’m sure one of these four players will take up the fourth slot. While the players above are the generals and lieutenants of their team, these players make up the common foot soldier, appearing where needed and trying to perform their duty. Their duty? To try and win a game. This is imperative in the Proleague format, where 6 players are fielded instead of 4, and each player is weighted equally, as a player can play twice, at most. So while we may see one of these players fielded, all things considered, they probably won’t make an impact. If one of them do end up taking a game off one of the core players or even the ace, they will have achieved their goal.