Here we finally are, the final regular season GSTL match. It all comes down to this for the final playoff spot, StarTale or two time GSTL champion team FXOpen.
LG-IM vs StarTale Here's the storyline for this match: It's pretty simple if StarTale wins they are in the playoffs if they lose FXOpen go to the playoffs. Let's get right into the key players for each team.
3 key players for StarTale: Bomber: Bomber is going to be a key player for one reason: Incredible Miracle has lots of protoss. Now even though his record may not be the best in TvP for HotS if you look at his record 3 of his losses are to MC early on in HotS where lots of oracles were used. Bomber is going to need to snipe IM's protoss's if StarTale wants a chance at winning this match.
Avenge: A rising star on the StarTale lineup, he will need to do what KeeN did yesterday and grab some wins to give his team a good head start as he is the opening player in this match, his best match ups are PvT and PvZ his winrates in both are above 60%.
Life: No one can doubt that Life hasn't been playing his best in HotS no matter the reason, I still think Life will be used in the match and I think he will play well and win for his team or fail horribly and completely let his team down. editors note:+ Show Spoiler +
isn't that a good prediction to make, he will either win or lose who would have guessed???
Incredible Miracle's 3 key players: First; Everyone now knows that First is a great player (past GSTL results and individual league performance), he will no doubt be one of the players who can get multiple kills in this match. All his match ups seem to be really solid, so long as the IM coach sends him in all will be good.
YongHwa / Squirtle: YongHwa and Squirtle are the other two strong protoss players on IM, YongHwa has been on the team for quite the while, while Squirtle has only been on the team for 6 months or so. If the IM coach was going to put only one of them out to play today, I think it would be Squirtle has overall he has done better than Yonghwa, and Yonghwa who looked to be very good near the end of WOL hasn't not done the best in HotS so far.
KangHo: A very old player in terms of how long he has been playing SC2 and how long he's been on IM, he can look brilliant sometimes or bad other times he is Losira. I feel like for this match he will be pulled out and get a kill or two for IM.
Prediction Opening Match: Avenge <Red City> RagnaroK IM 4-3 StarTale
Overall this should be a close match with IM edging it out in the end, it's been a long time since IM has made the GSTL playoffs/finals they are already in no matter what but this match does decide seeding into the playoffs which determines how many matches you have to play to make the final, so I do expect IM to bring out their good players and give it their best shot to win. OP's note:+ Show Spoiler +
On July 04 2013 22:36 opterown wrote: how does the playoff picture look now?
also AZUBU vs. MVP is a bit earlier at tomorrow
ah, shit i thought this was tomorrow, ah well. I want to do this one due to startale. If azubu loses tomorrow, big chance fxo and startale advance. if startale loses 4-2 they drop, anything better and they win afaik.
FXO won 4-2, which gives them a final map score of +1.
If ST win, they will advance to the playoffs.
If Azubu win, they will advance to the playoffs.
If Startale lose, FXO will advance. They will have a maximum map score of 0 in this scenario if they lose 3-4 while FXO have +1.
If Azubu lose 3-4, they will have a map score of +1 and advance to the playoffs. If they lose 2-4, they will have a mapscore of 0 and advance if Startale lose. If they lose 1-4, they will advance as long as Startale lose 2-4 or worse.
Edit: as far as I know this is correct and covers all possible scenarios.
Edit edit: ALSO! Maybe we should add another section to the main OP about the significance of the day's match? Such as playoff picture or group implications of the day's matches. I'm sure a lot of people are interested in such things if they follow the teams and players, and it isn't obvious to most what their situation looks like. I usually try to explain the playoff picture in all my Proleague LRs anyway. I'm sure with the way OSL is structured, people will be asking "Is x player knocked out if he loses today?" a lot in the future rounds. It would be useful to have a section like that so that people will see the info immediately and have no need to ask.
Triple post because all of these posts are about different things and it's much clearer if I separate them like this:
Do you want me to also explain the possible playoff positions? However that is much much more complicated since NONE of the playoff spots are locked yet. I'd need to make a really large table -_-''
On July 04 2013 23:00 lichter wrote: FXO won 4-2, which gives them a final map score of +1.
If ST win, they will advance to the playoffs.
If Azubu win, they will advance to the playoffs.
If Startale lose, FXO will advance. They will have a maximum map score of 0 in this scenario if they lose 3-4 while FXO have +1.
If Azubu lose 3-4, they will have a map score of +1 and advance to the playoffs. If they lose 2-4, they will have a mapscore of 0 and advance if Startale lose. If they lose 1-4, they will advance as long as Startale lose 2-4 or worse.
Edit: as far as I know this is correct and covers all possible scenarios.
Edit edit: ALSO! Maybe we should add another section to the main OP about the significance of the day's match? Such as playoff picture or group implications of the day's matches. I'm sure a lot of people are interested in such things if they follow the teams and players, and it isn't obvious to most what their situation looks like. I usually try to explain the playoff picture in all my Proleague LRs anyway. I'm sure with the way OSL is structured, people will be asking "Is x player knocked out if he loses today?" a lot in the future rounds. It would be useful to have a section like that so that people will see the info immediately and have no need to ask.
Yes please. It's a problem if people hate reading OPs, but I find info in OP to be the best bet. If I could add something, do tell. PM me some good shit if you want to create it.
Well I like Startale a lot more than Azubu, so I want FXO and Startale to win. But anything that will secure FXO advancement I will be happy with >_> So sorry startale, hoping for IM this match.
On July 04 2013 23:10 lichter wrote: Do you want me to also explain the possible playoff positions? However that is much much more complicated since NONE of the playoff spots are locked yet. I'd need to make a really large table -_-''
Does head-to-head count before indicator? I was under the impression it didn't, which means MVP and A-A are locked in 1st and 2nd.
The old rivals meet again. Last time they met, Startale won 5-1, using Squirtle and Parting. Well, Parting is gone, and IM is now in posession of Squirtle. IM is secured for the playoffs, while Startale has to win here to make it. How things have changed! Ho ho ho. It's time for us to bask in the glory of our long overdue revenge.