EPT
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A double hit for you today as the group stages came to a close in the OSL. After this arduous three weeks, the players at the bottom will attempt to keep their tournament alive through the wildcard format, while the 3-0 players get set to pick their opponents for the round of 16.
Firstly, here are the results from Wednesday. For detailed descriptions of the game check out the live report thread.
Wednesday Matches:
DonGraE(T) vs NaDa(T) @Neo Arkanoid + Show Spoiler +
NADA WINS! This means NaDa and DonGraE will play another game, sudden death, in wildcard week.
Firebathero(T) vs YellOw[ArnC](Z) @Reverse Temple + Show Spoiler +
Yarnc WINS! This victory assured Yarnc of a second place standing, and advancement to the next round. FGH is in the wildcards.
Chojja(Z) vs Midas(T) @Longinus 2 + Show Spoiler +
MIDAS WINS! Mr. Happy goes 3-0 in his group and gets to pick his opponent in the next round. Meanwhile, ChoJJa goes 0-3 in a pitiful OSL showing.
Casy(T) vs JulyZerg(Z) @HitchHiker + Show Spoiler +
CASY WINS! Casy is also a 3-0 winner, and he sends SumoZerg to the wildcards.
fOrGG_V_(T) vs GoRush(Z) @Neo Arkanoid + Show Spoiler +
GORUSH WINS! This SK zerg has shown some fine results lately, and is rewarded by moving on to the next round. fOrGG awaits the loser of Iris and GGPlay to see who he will fight in a sudden death match.
Hwasin(T) vs Sea.Jy(Z) @Reverse Temple + Show Spoiler +
HWASIN WINS! Hwasin emerges unscathed from his relatively easy group. He will pick his opponent while jy is waiting to see if he has to play a tiebreaker with anyone before the wildcards.
Continue for a full recap of friday's games.
From the Wednesday games, ManaBlue and I recommend the 1 hour TvT between NaDa and DonGraE. You can join in the discussion and watch the YouTube version of the game in this great thread. Thanks to rinizim for the VOD and Wasabi for the YouTube upload.
Friday Matches:
During the last day of matches, most of the placements had already been decided. However, some people were battling for the chance at a tie breaker, while others held a playoff spot in the own hands, if only they were brave enough to grasp it. Here is how the final day of the group stages shook out.
Game 1: Iloveoov (T) vs Much (P) on Arkanoid
With Much at 2-0 and already assured a place in the next round, his mission here was two fold. Knock the gorilla down to the wildcard lottery, and get to pick his victim for the ro16. On the other hand, Tarzan could skip a whole lot of problems, and answer a few of the doubters, by simply winning this game and moving on to the next round.
The players started at 11 and 5, with protoss basking in the sunny south. Oov opted for a CC first build, and it looked risky as Old Man Much was gas first and tech all the way with a robo and citadel. His dt drop forming, Much scouted both 7 and 1 before finding his opponent. His slowness cost him, and by the time his drop was ready, there was plentiful detection in the form of turrets and comstats. Much continued the drops, but was already far behind economically, and oov's defence was impenetrable.
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Oov giving no ground to Much’s drops...
With his base free of the invisible assassins, Oov began to rumble, and his army blasted through the buildings and down the map. Much tried to turn him around with a double drop, but one of his shuttles was picked out of the air by advancing goliaths. At this point there was nothing left to do but stall for time as the siege tanks breeched the defences and the goliaths poured in behind them.
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A big smile from the victor...
Iloveoov > Much
Iloveoov looked like the oov of old with a resounding win over Much. His defence was perfect and his macro legendary as he clinched his spot in the next round.
Game 2: UpMagic (T) vs Anytime (P) on Reverse Temple
UpMagic has been showing some style of late, and was now in position to go undefeated through the group stage. It was going to be tough though, as his opponent was 0-2 and looking to stay alive in the tourney. Yes, Anytime had had a rough time of it thus far, and needed to make a statement if he wanted to still have a voice.
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The competitors face off, with Anytime on the right and UpMagic on the left...
Opening at 3, Anytime started aggressively with a gateway at his choke. Likewise, Upmagic opened with a forward barracks, and then added another which was soon scouted by Anytime. Two probes harassed the building scv, as both players looked to end it quickly. While he had scouted to two barracks, Anytime had taken his gas, and built a core after his first two zealots. UpMagic defended against some early harassment, and then pushed in all his chips as a solid line of scv was rallied to the protoss choke. Both players took their economies offline to fight, and it was the beefier scv’s proving more successful as marines were constantly rallied from the terran proxies.
While Anytime still had a meagre income, his dragoons were consistently being surrounded with some great micro by Up. The game came down to the wire, with Anytime’s dt tech up against the rallied marines. In the end however, it was the terran that claimed victory.
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It was all or nothing, and Magic got it all...
UpMagic > Anytime
With that loss, half of the protoss players in this OSL were eliminated. UpMagic moved on a clean 3-0, while only Much carried the torch for Aiur now.
Game 3: Savior (Z) vs Light (T) on Longinus 2
With both players at 1-1, a win here would send one to the next round and the other to the uncertainty of the wildcards. Light has been hot lately, being the new found ace of the MBC team, while Savior is... Savior.
Light opened at 7, and typical of terrans on this map, promptly blocked his choke and fast expanded. Savior, knowing he is a marked man these days, was looking for any edge he could get. He responded by three hatching before his pool, and all of a sudden any advantage the terran build had was now gone.
There was little Light could do about it though, and as Savior whored up the drones he put down an ebay and academy for some quick upgrades. Savior had his spire up in a hurry, and further abused the terran build by taking the gas expo at 12. As light pumped MM from four barracks, he put up turrets to defend against the zerg air. Savior briefly took his mutas out of range, and inexplicably Light decided to head north. As soon as he did, Savior countered with muta ling and the whole army had to walk home again.
From this point on, Savior was in full control. His mobility allowed him to deflect attacks at his expansions and he quickly climbed the tech tree back in his main. His key was keeping his original mutalisks alive, which added major punch to his lurker/ling attacks. Once defilers were added fro swarm, it was gg.
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Light was truly lacking in this game, as you could see nothing under the dark swarm...
Savior > Light
Savior continues upon the Royal Road as well as UpMagic and Hwasin. Light will have to battle it out in the wildcards to make it through now.
Game 4: Child (Z) vs GoodFriend (T) on Hitchhiker
Despite losing to Casy off the beginning, GoodFriend has been quietly going about his business as the most consistent KTF player these days. This game meant a lot to both players, as Child was hoping to force a tiebreaker with July, and GoodFriend wanted to avoid that mess altogether.
With zerg in the lower right of the map and GF in the upper right, this game got under way on the new map Hitchhiker. GF opened with a rax near his CC and then quickly expanded to his relatively safe mineral only at 12. Child also played cautions, pooling first, but opted for a fast lair before a third hatchery; lurkers all the way. Or so it seemed.
In the terran base GF had built up three barracks and was starting to be aggressive with his first MM. He rallied down the valley, but quickly scampered back as Child’s 2 hatch mutalisks pecked away at his exposed parts. With good terran defence, the mutas were ineffective in slowing GF down, and the game began to tilt in his favour.
Secure in initial expansion, GF prepared to take his gas nat as his rines cleared away buildings on the left side towards the zerg mineral only. With a fast hive, child was playing hungry, but defilers had the potential to turn the game around for him. He sent his main army up the right towards the terran mineral only, which GF promptly lifted. Just as Child won that victory, he lost another as GF broke into the zerg mineral only and levelled it. The zerg offensive was broken by the appearance of tanks, and this gave GF enough map control to halt any other hatcheries from spawning at other expos.
End game emerged with GF making good use of bats under swarm and repeatedly halting zerg expos. By keeping Child busy in numerous places, GF was free from danger as his armies grew. Dropships combined with vessel raids and guerrilla attacks made this an entertaining rape by the end.
GF > Child
GF is really impressing lately. Is he poised to make a run at the title?
Game 5: Iris (T) vs GGPlay on Hitchhiker
This game was another case of 1-1 players going at it, holding their own destiny in their hands. Who is going to take the easy route? And who will have to battle through an extra round?
Well, Iris wasn’t going to stick out long to find out. His first building was a barracks half way up the trench, and the block was finished with a depot. GGPlay conveniently expanded to his gas expo, making for an easy bunkering situation. All the drones came offline, and GGPlay battled the threat unsuccessfully, losing 8 drones and seeing the bunker completed anyways. While his hatchery survived, his economy was in shambles.
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Iris showing off some nice micro as he mows down GGPlay’s drones...
Iris had used this time to gas up and start his academy. Firmly in the lead economically, forced GGPlay to drop sunkens and consume more of his precious drones, while taking his own expansion himself.
You would think that the game would be a formality at this point, but GGPlay showed his resiliency by recovering from the early attack and aggressively pumping drones to make up for lost time. Having broken down buildings down the left, his lurkers found their way into Iris’ base relatively easily. It was only his truly sloppy micro that prevented him from completing the comeback, as he had managed to halt the terran advancement which was threatening his mineral only.
Although Iris had been stymied his first time up the map, he was not to be denied the second time. Some cute use of dmatrix allowed him to plough through a field of lurkers, and the rout was on. His army swept through the zerg expansions, and levelled it all just before defilers could become effective.
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Iris’s good use of d-matrix helped him beat up on BGPlay...
Iris > GGPlay
Some nice pressure and timing from Iris, who is looking sharp lately.
Game 6: Yooi (T) vs ZergMan on Longinus 2
Yooi, who has looked so incredibly nervous his first two games, was actually having a chuckle in the game lobby with his friend ZergMan. Already down 0-2, Yooi needed this game just to stay alive.
The players opened with ZergMan at 11 and Yooi at 3. Both players opted for a fast expansion, and the action only really got started once the ZergMan’s three hatch lurker ling took to the field. Pumping off five hatcheries and upgrading the carapace, ZergMan bought time with his first army until his hive was complete. Running around Yooi’s containment, his first lurkers halted mining at his natural, and also spied a terran dropship which made for easy defence.
Yooi cleared it out the best he could, but the moment he stepped outside his base, he was met with 5 hatch cracklings and a handful of defilers. Refusing to make bats for some odd reason, Yooi was forced back by swarm at every turn, and was facing only pure lings when he typed GG.
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Some thought it was impossible for T to lose to Z on Longinus... Yooi proved them wrong.
ZergMan > Yooi
So, Yooi’s first appearance in the OSL comes to a crashing end, 0-3 with little to be happy about in any game. ZergMan is smiling though, because he is on to the next round.
Friday had several good game, so recommending only one is difficult. Oov and Savior both played their own styles to perfection, while UpMagic continued his streak with a ballsy marine rush in TvP. GF was also very impressive in his dismantling of Child, and I think this would be the one to watch if you were to only pick one.
Next week is Wild Card week when the playoff picture will be concluded. Until then, cheers.
Mani.
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