Table of Contents

Final Week Preview
One playoff spot left


SK Planet Proleague table and results at Liquipedia

By: Wunder

This is it. The final week of the regular season is upon us, and we’re down to the wire. With STX Soul securing their spot in the playoffs, only one spot remains. With SKT and Samsung still in the running, only one team will make it. Will SKT easily secure their final spot or will Samsung KHAN pull off a ninth inning miracle?

Before we continue, there is just one key fact to keep in mind for this week's games. SKT will advance to the playoffs UNLESS both of these things happen:

• SKT loses both their matches this week
  
• Samsung KHAN wins both their matches this week

Map scores do not matter. Let's look at their chances.

Thanks to xpaperclip for formatting!

Round 6 Week 5 Matches

Standings

Samsung's Path

Perseverance. Determination. Willpower. These are the qualities that make up Samsung KHAN, and these are the qualities that will drive them forward this week. With an abysmal start in the first round (1-6), Samsung kicked off the first full Starcraft 2 Proleague season extremely poorly. Since then, they’ve had trouble keeping a consistent record, either doing very well (Rounds 2 and 4) or very poorly (Rounds 1 and 5). Regardless of their past, they’re here now, and to advance to the playoffs, they have to win both their matches.

Up first, is a match against the 1st seed in the playoffs, Woongjin Stars. Now, one might think that having to defeat the top ranked team in Proleague to advance to the playoffs is a hard hurdle to jump, but thankfully, because Woongjin is already snug as a bug, they have decided to have the rookies take the stage this week. Although Woongjin is allowing the rookies to have a bit of a field day, that doesn’t mean Samsung can assume it’s a free win and underestimate the B-teamers. Crucial matches to watch for are Stork vs Organ and Reality vs Flying - even if they lose both of these games, they can take the match 4-2, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

We haven’t seen anything out of Organ, making this game his Heart of the Swarm debut, as well as the first time he’s ever been fielded in this season of Proleague. The last we saw of him was in Wings of Liberty, during the hybrid season of Proleague, where he went 1-6, securing a win against Trap. So while it isn’t exactly a scary match for Stork, the Protoss player for Samsung has been playing so poorly in Proleague that it honestly wouldn’t be much of an upset if Organ won with a prepared build against him. Next up is the fifth set of Reality vs Flying, which features the only A-teamer from Woongjin this week in the form of Flying, which is an interesting choice. Does Woongjin think that Flying needs to be there to anchor the team? Or that he’s gotten worse enough to be considered in the b-team lineup? Either way, his game against Reality will be important in the scheme of things because if Samsung doesn’t 4-0, Flying could best Reality and start a comeback.

If Samsung manages to beat Woongjin, they still have to worry about their second opponents, CJ Entus. A team that has already been knocked out of the running, CJ Entus has seen better days. Even with recent rookie start up Bunny, it just hasn’t been enough of a push to end the season on a positive note. Nevertheless, they still possess some deadly players in the form of herO, EffOrt and Hydra so Samsung will still have to work hard if they want to make it into the playoffs. The most notable game, outside of herO vs JangBi and EffOrt vs RorO, is Hydra vs Trend, yet another player that Samsung has hidden from the public.

Like Solar before him, Trend has been on the team since the start of the season, but hasn’t played at all during the entirety of Proleague. While Solar was called out in Season 2 to dismantle a fresh-faced Stephano, he couldn’t stand the heat and almost every subsequent time he has been fielded he has been matched with an extremely tough opponent. Trend is following in Solar’s footsteps, except this time at the most crucial point for Samsung KHAN, he could potentially make or break Samsung’s chances with the results of his first ever Proleague game. While it may look grim, there may be some merit behind why January decided to throw in a completely new rookie into what could potentially be their last game of the season. Did you know? Trend was one bo3 away from appearing in MLG Anaheim. He lost 2-0 to soO, but not before he beat Savage, BeSt, MyuNgSiK and Light on his way to the finals of the qualifier. So while he hasn’t ever been fielded before -- Trend could be just the thing Samsung needs to push themselves over the edge.

SK Telecom's Path

While the Cinderella story of Samsung KHAN’s road to the playoffs continues, the nightmare that is SK Telecom T1’s path to glory is on the brink of descending into utter chaos. It was simple, as long as they beat Samsung KHAN this round, they would have been fine. But they didn’t. Bisu managed to beat Jangbi in the 6th set, but when Rain stepped up to the plate, he didn’t perform. Due to that slight misstep, SKT is now faced with the uncomfortable situation of possibly not qualifying for the playoffs. Let’s have a look at the teams SKT will be facing!

Without looking at the lineups, one could say that Samsung has an infinitely harder road, having to beat both Woongjin Stars and CJ Entus to advance, while SKT has to face the two worst teams in Proleague. However, if you look closer, you’ll know that not only is Woongjin fielding their rookie team and CJ performing the worse than ever, but EG-TL have been on a tear as of late, only most recently hitting the brick wall known as KT Rolster. Nevertheless, things don’t look as peachy as they once did for SKT, and they’ll have to bring their A game if they want to make the playoffs.

The most notable match in SKT vs EG-TL is undoubtedly Rain vs TaeJa, the game that will swing the match into either team’s favor. With Taeja coming off his Homestory Cup win, he is looking as dangerous as ever and with Rain dismantling his two Terran opponents in his Ro32 group, sparks will be flying in this 3rd set. If EG-TL can secure this win against SKT, not only will they have achieved their goal of 6th place, but they would have kept Samsung KHAN alive for another day.

If SKT loses this match, they have one more chance against Team 8, and this is one match they can’t afford to lose. With everything on the line, SKT absolutely cannot afford room for mistakes, which explains their full lineup of Bisu, s2, PartinG, Rain, FanTaSy and soO. All six players have, at one point or another, played a critical role in a match for SKT, and they have been gathered for what could possibly be the most important match of the regular season.

Although every game is crucial, arguably the most important match is the one between PartinG and Argo. The match between the aggressive upstart of a top tier team against the stalwart captain of a sinking ship is one that is noted throughout history. Will PartinG get overconfident and overstep his bounds, allowing the calm and collected Argo, who has nothing to prove, secure a win for his team? Or will PartinG overpower his opponent as he has done time and time again with superior mechanics and reign supreme? These will be the questions in everyone’s mind heading into this game. Even if Argo beats PartinG, the match isn’t over and Team 8 will have to play the best Starcraft of their life if they want to keep SKT from beating them and ruining Samsung KHAN’s dreams in the process.

While it’s a precarious situation for SKT, the fact that they only have to win one game is a huge boon to them and one that greatly underscores this final week. While Samsung still has a solid chance of making the playoffs, it’s undercut with so many ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ and at the end of the day, even if they perform their best - it ultimately isn’t up to them. At this point, their fate lies entirely in the hands of SK Telecom T1 and their opponents.

Other Games to Watch

Rain < Whirlwind LE > TaeJa
For many, Rain first got notoriety after he crushed an on-fire TaeJa in the GSL. Now that Rain is the favorite, can TaeJa pay him back?

FanTaSy < Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct > Snute
Yay, a foreigner.

Flash < Bel'Shir Vestige LE > EffOrt
Flash faces off against Effort's formidable ZvT. Korean Air OSL rematch. No reverse sweeps this time.

soO < New Fighting Spirit > TY
soO is sporting awkward results lately to say the least and TY is one of Flash's top three Terran picks!

Dear < Akilon Wastes > TaeJa
Over the last week, the number of people who knew who Dear was increased tenfold. As the highest finishing KeSPa player at MLG, do people care enough about him now?

INnoVation < New Fighting Spirit > Jaedong
Ok, this one will probably be a stomp. To be fair though, Jaedong does have pretty good ZvT.

All the rookie Woongjin Stars players
How deep does the bench really go?

Writers: Wunder.
Graphics: HawaiianPig
Editors: monk.