Photos by Silverfire

Auction OSL - Ro32 Day 2 Preview
sOs, Symbol, Curious, Maru, and more!


Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

Flash, Soulkey, INnoVation, and Bbyong were able to advance to the Ro16 on the opening day of OSL action, and now it's time for eight more players to step up and see if they have what it takes.

While not as star-studded as groups A and B, groups C and D contain a number of players who could be called dangerous dark horses, considering their expertise with tunneling, invisible units, and good old fashioned cheese.

Group C: sOs, Effort, soO, Maru

by Zealously

4. MaruPrime

In comparison to the other two eSF prodigies Creator and Life, Prime's Terran youngster Maru has had limited success in the most prestigious leagues. Never having gotten further than the Round of 16 in the GSL despite every now and then showcasing some championship class Terran play, Maru has recently become even more overshadowed with the emergence of the KeSPA Terrans onto the scene. People no longer talk about MKP's stellar marine control or Bomber's macro as much as they do about Innovation's bio-mine control and Flash's never-ending streams of units. As a result, Maru – who has never (except for during a very short period of time) been one of the faces of the Terran race – has been removed from the spotlight.

But that's not all there is to it – Prime has looked very weak as of late, losing all but one of their GSTL matches against teams without stellar line-ups, and although Maru managed to take the fight to Life in a packed ZvT a few weeks ago and 3-killed MVP by taking out DRG, NAKSEO and KeeN, he hasn't looked strong enough to warrant a higher ranking than 4th in this group.

The one thing that speaks in Maru's favor in this group is his undeniable love for 11/11's, 8/8/8/'s and all varieties of cheese. A successful bunker rush will not only win you a game, it'll take you straight to the winners' match. His first opponent is soO, and with DRG (though in fairness, we question the impressiveness of beating DRG in his current shape) and NAKSEO on his recent kill-list, we're willing to accept that one or two well-placed and well thought-out all-ins by Maru and the PRIME team could be all Maru needs to pull the upset and get out of this group.

Oh, and don't forget soO unforgettable comment "They just seem so easy, the Prime team" from last season – you can be sure that if there is any player in the world Maru wants to beat, it'll be soO.

3. CJ_EffOrt

In third place, we have the only player in the group who has won a major championship in StarCraft. Effort's 3 - 2 comeback over Flash in the Korean Air OSL is the stuff of legends, and the Starleague is a place he must be more than happy to return to.

Despite being an important line-up regular for CJ Entus in Proleague so far, Effort hasn't looked as convincing in this sixth and final round. He's already lost to both Oz and his opponent in this group, sOs. That's not so surprising since Effort's ZvP has always been his weak point in Starcraft II, and losing to Oz and just barely edging out Argo – who hasn't been having the best time himself – doesn't inspire confidence. In a format where Effort could potentially end up having to play sOs twice, he looks to be in a fair bit of trouble in this group.

The other two match-ups are more in his advantage, as he has proven himself to be quite good in ZvT and falls somewhere between 'strong' and 'Soulkey' in ZvZ. Should he end up facing Maru some time in this group, staying alert for cheeses could take him far enough to let his usually stellar ling/bling/muta-play to kick into full effect. As for soO, their match can go either way. It's both ZvZ and best of 1, which means a lot of things can happen that wouldn't normally occur in a best of 3 or more, but the format isn't necessarily an advantage or a disadvantage for the CJ Zerg – if he plays ZvZ like he has in the past (in HotS, albeit prior to the spore patch), soO is an opponent he can certainly take on, probably granting him advancement out of the group.

2. SKT_soO

Oh soO, you couldn't have asked for a much better group. You get to play a Prime player! Free wins are always nice, right? Jokes aside, this group seems doable for the SKT Zerg. His first opponent is Maru, whom he indirectly smacktalked last season by claiming his entire team was easy, which seems to imply that he's confident enough against Prime's Terrans. In between Fantasy and all the Protoss players on SKT(oss), soO isn't getting too much playing time in Proleague right, but through advancing from the Round of 32 last season (out-ZvZing Curious twice) and getting back into Premier this season, he earns a few bonus points. Although Effort seems like the favorite in a straight-up ZvZ, the format allows soO and his SKT friends to whip up a build good enough to take out the OSL champion, at least in one game.

At first glance, soO may seem like he's outmatched in this group – Effort is one of the better Proleague players in the Zerg mirror, Maru has a tendency to take games of people with well executed cheeses, and sOs... sOS really couldn't have asked for a better format than this. But one key advantage for soO is the fact that he doesn't play much in Proleague. With so few games to prepare for, soO might be one of the few KeSPA players focusing almost all of attention on the individual league. It's always unclear how much the KeSPA players practice, and they will likely want to make it seem as if they always prepare for Proleague to please sponsors, but with what limited information we have on the subject, that's enough to give soO the edge over Effort and Maru.

1. Woongjin_sOs

If there ever was a player made for Best of 1's, that player is sOs. Infamous for his wacky playstyle, sOs has the 4th best Proleague record, behind the macro game playing, win-grinding trifecta that is Flash/Rain/Innovation. Now he has WCS KR semi-final and a Season Finals 2nd place to his name, which achieved through his use of unusual or just completely off-the-wall builds combined with top-notch control. When people say that Protoss is a gimmicky race, we imagine sOs has been the primary contributor to such a perception.

Whether or not the whole ”Best of 1 promotes cheese and gimmicks” is actually a valid point, sOs couldn't be happier about it. He has had extreme success in the Proleague with prepared builds, clever builds and unexpected builds, and the fact that his opponents are expecting it hasn't done anything to stop sOs. He does it all the time, against all kinds of players, and it's helped him get all the way to contention for the ”Best Protoss in the world”-title. He choked against Innovation, playing below his normal level and cracking under the enormous pressure of playing on a huge stage against one of the world's top players, but even in loss he got to show off a bizarre but effective new PvT strategy in Tempest-Templar. There is no reason to believe he has fallen into some kind of slump because of that loss - he may even be stronger for the experience.

His team is already preparing for the Proleague playoffs and the Woongjin coach stated that the guy started practising an additional 2 hours a day before the Season Finals. He got to the finals there, beating players that are much stronger than the ones in this group. Even if he doesn't play to 100% of his abilities, the kind of playstyle sOs utilizes coupled with the format and two players he has beaten fairly recently should be more than enough to ensure that Woongjin Stars has two players in the Round of 16 yet again this season.

sOs > Effort
soO > Maru
sOs > soO
Effort > Maru
soO > Effort

sOs and soO advance.

Group D: Symbol, Trap, Shine, Curious

by: Pigscanfly

Match 1: Azubu.Symbol vs. STX_Trap

In a group with 3 Zergs, STX_Trap's strong PvZ in HotS should serve him well. He is 8 - 3 in the match-up so far, and has beaten the likes of Sniper, Jaedong, Curious and Effort, the latter two whom he defeated in Challenger League to reach the Premier League. During his Challenger League games, Trap displayed a fondness for stargate openings and proved to be adept at timing attacks (7 gate + 1, phoenix 2 base all-in in game 1 vs. Curious and Immortal gateway all-in off two bases in game 3 against effort). He also showed an impressive late game, playing a back and forth 50 minute game against Effort, although he eventually lost in the end.

His first opponent on the night, AZUBU_Symbol, has been one of the most consistent players in recent seasons. In his last five GSLs, he has made it to the Ro16 once, the Ro8 twice, the Ro4 once and finals once. His losses have usually come against top players, with his defeats only coming against the the likes of Mvp, Seed (in his championship season), Life and Leenock (in the group stages), INnoVation and RorO. In all these seasons bar his Ro16 exit, he has lost to a player who eventually reached the finals. Despite this, he has managed to go under the radar in comparison to the likes of Zergs like Roro, Life and Soulkey, particularly since his rise coincided with the era of Zerg domination and ZvZzz finals. However, Symbol is still probably one of the top 5 Zergs in Korea and remains the favourite to get out of his group. Yet, nothing is for certain as ZvZ is extremely volatile and many of his recent losses have been against Protoss players, who could very well prove to be his kryptonite in HOTS. He is 2-6 against them, including two 2-0 losses to Hero and sOs in the WCS Season 1 Final that consigned him to a group stage exit.

Match 2: Samsung_Shine vs. ST_Curious

The Code S gatekeeper, ST_Curious, had a breakthrough final WoL season as he made it to the semi-finals before losing to Symbol. However, in the first HoTS season, he seems to have returned to his gatekeeping ways as he was defeated in the Ro32 by SoO and sOs. Curious has shown average ZvZ results in HoTS and is lucky that his first opponent for the night, Shine, has an abysmal HoTS ZvZ record of 0-4. Curious has maintained an impressive 60% winrate in HoTS, nearly identical to the one he had in WoL, proving his extreme consistency.

KHAN_Shine has defied expectations before in making out of a strong Ro32 group containing Keen, Symbol and Squirtle. However, he is even less likely to make it out this time. Shine’s play, while not particularly impressive, has allowed him to make it to the Premier League again and as such, he cannot be ruled out entirely, particularly given the Bo1 format. However, playing his worst match up first means that he is likely to have to win 2 games in a row against Trap’s strong PvZ or in another ZvZ. Shine is the only player in the group with a negative win loss ratio in HoTS.

Other matches and overall prediction

Fun fact: Both Curious and Symbol were in the top 5 of the KR WoL ELO rankings when they ended, coming in at second and fourth respectively.

Shine should be dead and buried in his group. Yet, he has exceeded expectations before and is experienced with the Bo1 series from his Brood War OSL days. However despite this, I doubt he can manage higher than a third place finish. Symbol is the favourite to make it out of the group. Even if he loses to Trap, he has the superior ZvZ and has beaten both Shine and Curious in recent months, giving him the psychological edge. Symbol has also proved impressively consistent, and I expect his Ro16 streak to continue. The final spot comes down to either Curious or Trap, and given that Trap has already beaten Curious once to get here, I think he will manage to do so again.

Symbol > Trap
Curious > Shine
Symbol > Curious
Trap > Shine
Trap > Curious

Symbol and Trap advance