EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/pachi/news/amsl_hype.png)
Credits to pachi for this sweet banner, will replace once I get the proper one.
This group deserves some hype, so I decided to put something up! If you had content prepared, feel free to post and I will blend it in! This preview even has preparatory Vods linked.
Arena MSL 2008 - Round of 32 Group A
Matchups
Jaedong < Othello > 
Bisu
Hwasin < Athena > FrOzeanWinner's Match < Tiamat >
Loser's Match < Tiamat >
Play Offs < Colosseum >
Prelude
A BLOODBATH OF RIVALRY
It was only a week ago that the groups for this MSL, sponsored by Arena, were decided in a nerve-racking draft. Would Savior be playing against Firebathero, would he be playing against Hwasin, would he be playing Nada? The second to last player to switch, Kal, moved FBH against himself. The last to pick and the first to play in this MSL switched him back: Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting the current MSL champion, Jaedong.
However, there was one change a lot earlier in the ceremony. Grandpa Protoss Much had chosen to be matched up against the Legend Killer Jaedong, but the Revolutionist Bisu himself chose to take his place. In this MSL, we therefore have a rematch: Bisu meets Jaedong in one of the pre-groups AGAIN, and AGAIN only one of them is going to leave the arena alive. Whoever watched their first encounter will know what a tense game it was.
But Bisu vs. Jaedong is not the only rivalry we are about to witness here. This whole group is a barrel of gunpowder, and it can go off any second!
Frozean is the Terran that always wins at the wrong time. Take his recent game in the OSL against Anytime. Anytime was a sure winner in most books, being terrific vs. T and showing relatively consistent play lately. Frozean surprised him with a bionic build and forced him to fight for survival in the loser's match against Mind. As we all know, Anytime did not make it out alive. Frozean vs. Lecaf is surely a special history. Dubbed "sacrifical lamb", or "50%", Frozean had the starting match against Jaedong in the recent Proleague Grand Final. While everyone was scratching their heads, saying "he won't go for breaking those four sunkens, nobody does that", that was exactly what Frozean did. He broke the sunkens, he broke the natural expansion, maybe he even broke Jaedong's invincible feeling. Since that game, JD is 7-7 against Terran and on a 0-3 streak, admittedly with strong opponents, but real dominance does not know strong opponents.
Hwasin was the upcoming Terran of 2007. He continually improved his game, but in the end he always stood against a foe he could not defeat: Bisu. His sets against Bisu were legendary, I specifically remember the third set in the GOM3 series, when Hwasin just stomped over Bisu's forces, took down an expansion - only to meet a newly produced army, perfectly balanced to counter his force, taking him out and dropping him out of the competition. Being picked earlier by Bisu for his Daum OSL group, being called "insurance", and losing painfully to Scouts only puts more explosives between these two.
Recently, Hwasin also made life miserable for Jaedong, beating him in a proleague match which was the second step in a 3-0 takedown of the current champions Lecaf by the underdogs STX.
If there is a single group in this MSL, loaded with recent progaming history up to the brim, this is it. I can't wait to watch.
+ Show Spoiler [Games Mentioned] +
+ Show Spoiler [Predictions] +
Jaedong < Bisu
Hwasin > Frozean
Bisu > Hwasin
Jaedong > Frozean
Hwasin > Jaedong
Hwasin > Frozean
Bisu > Hwasin
Jaedong > Frozean
Hwasin > Jaedong
+ Show Spoiler [Results] +
How to watch
- Yaoyuan should work, with some delay to the GOM stream. Works only in IE and requires the TVAnts plugin (dl here)
- If you have a good connection, use the GOM player (Korean version available at: http://app.gomtv.com/gompack/GOMPACKSETUP.EXE); For me it has been working well.
. Will add it to the OP then.
