[OSL] Bacchus 2008 Ro8 Day 1

Jaedong: Lee Jae Dong
In case you haven't looked at the power rank the last two months, Jaedong is the new face of the #1 spot. With good reason, too. Since losing to Sea at the beginning of December, Jaedong is an insane 24-3, including an OSL title as well as a proleague title. Tonight, his opponent is Flash, whom he dismantled in an epic series last night (if you haven't already, it is definitely worth watching). One thing I noticed about Jaedong's play last night, however, is that he seems a little too eager to tech to hive. This is slightly alarming, because he has always been known to abuse lair tech. Will this reliance be his downfall tonight, or will he continue his insane streak?


Flash: Lee Young Ho
When he first arrived at the scene, Flash was hated by all for his cheese tactics and his inability to play mid-late game. It was admitted that he was good, but was never praised too highly for his accomplishments. Now however, he has accumulated a decent sized fan base for his consistent, solid play. Flash, despite losing to Jaedong last night, looked better than perhaps any terran has ever looked when faced against the zerg master. After all, he did take the first set! Flash has been unlucky (matchupwise) in every starleague he has ever played in; this OSL is no exception. Can he turn the tide on luck and take down the favorite?


Much: Park Yeong Min
Much has been on fire lately, winning 7 of his last 8 games. What's more, is that he has been doing so with flair. His storming in PvZ and PvP has been perfect, allowing him to come back from huge deficits (watch the game vs. Hyun if you don't believe me). As far as I can tell, he has no weakness in his matchups, showing great improvement in his PvZ lately. Unfortunately, after celebrating his 68th birthday last weekend, he is suffering from a plethora of age-related diseases, such as (but not limited to) Alzheimer's, arthritis, EDS, and even heart failure. He's never come close to winning a starleague before, and he wishes to do so before he finally keels over and dies. Can he overcome his age and advance in this OSL?


Bisu: Kim Taek Yong
Bisu, the one build PvZ wonder, has won 2 MSLs but never an OSL. Recently, he has been showing signs of decline, losing in his strongest matchup 4 times in a row. Fortunately, he is not playing a PvZ in this stage of the tournament, so he has time to regroup. That being said, he is playing a formidable opponent in Much tonight, in the matchup that ended his bid for a championship last season (0-3, to add insult to injury). Can he overcome Old Man Toss and fight his way to the finals?


Luxury: Park Chan Soo
Luxury, after being overshadowed by his twin brother Yellow[ArnC] for months, has finally made a name for himself at the highest level of competition. He 3-0'd his group, with convincing wins against XellOs and Bisu as well as an impressive comeback against July. In the MSL, he had an unlucky draw, running into Jaedong in the Ro16. Not tonight. Though FrOzean took down his twin, Luxury has had a habit of beating those that had preyed on his brother. In the past few months, YarnC has lost to July, Stork, and Much, while Luxury had triumphed against those players. His recent success has gained him many fans, winning in Proleague, the MSL, and the OSL. Furthermore, his only meaningful losses came at the hand of Jaedong, which is nothing to be ashamed of. Can he continue to avenge his brother against the one who calls himself CuteAngel?


FrOzean: Kim Dong Kun
FrOzean, aka CuteAngeL, aka SacrificialLamb, has had decent success recently. This is his second OSL in a row, as he knocked out the popular HoyA/Jy in the ODT. He surprised everybody by taking out Yellow[ArnC] and advancing in this OSL, but for some reason the TL.net community has not been behind him in his endeavors. Maybe it's because he calls himself CuteAngeL. Maybe it's because he has cheerful that look like this:+ Show Spoiler +I will never know. Personally, I expect him to get raped both tonight and tomorrow night to the current top two zerg players. Still, his coach, January, has faith in him, saying he has a 50/50 chance against Jaedong tomorrow + Show Spoiler + Can he overcome expectation and advance?

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+ Show Spoiler +


Stork: Song Byung Goo
Stork, in his extreme focus on this OSL, managed to get himself eliminated in the MSL offline qualifiers. This is just a testament to how insanely prepared he will be for this OSL. Tonight, he faces off against a total noob, BeSt, who absolutely sucks at all matchups, especially PvP. Stork, the best player ever to grace the face of the earth, unstoppable in all matchups, especially PvP, will have no trouble rolling over BeSt. In fact, Stork will be playing with ONLY his mouse tonight, completely ignoring his keyboard, because of how badly he would win otherwise. Clearly, Stork will come out on top tonight, just as he did against Bisu in the GOMTV MSL S2 finals and against Jaedong in last season's OSL finals.


BeSt: Doh Jae Wook
I think a lot of people have underestimated BeSt. He turned a lot of heads in proleague, winning against much more accomplished protoss players such as Anytime, Much, and Pusan. That being said, I haven't seen many of this guy's games. Is Stork the next Protoss on his list to fall?

Jaedong 0:1 Flash
Much 0:1 Bisu
Luxury 1:0 FrOzean
Stork 1:0 BeSt