EPT
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Insert sentence outlining the brilliance of Pachi
The Incruit OSL is truly underway with the first round of competition now over in which questions were answered, maps were revealed, frauds revealed and statements were made. For some of the players, there is a long road ahead to revive their chance at becoming the legend, for others, their path is one game shorter. But what is for certain, is that the new maps are simply phenomenal. Now I don't usually praise map pools, but this map pool is brilliant. Plasma is providing original yet entertaining game play, Return of the King is serving its purpose as the steady macro map, The Autumn Wind aka Chepung-Ryeong is perhaps the most beautifully crafted maps in two years and is extremely fun to play on, wild Medusa adds a taste of security yet peculiarity with its odd bifrost-like setup.
Round 2 is the most important round of the competition. For players who won in the first week, winning again virtually assures them of a spot in the Round of 8, whereas for those who lost this game is almost do-or-die. Indeed, losing twice puts your fate in the hands of others which is never an ideal situation. As per usual we’ll have an in-depth preview of the upcoming events next week in addition to recapping the first week of action. Like last time, here’s a bunch of internal links in case you feel like breaking up your reading into parts.
1. Day 1 (Wed) Recap
2. Day 2 (Fri) Recap
3. Week 1 Results
4. Day 3 (Wed) Preview
5. Day 4 (Fri) Preview
Day 1 Recap
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
July's lack of confidence showed here. After attaining an advantage over Flash after he decimated Flash's first force he did not drone up and tech sensibly to defiler/lurker which he very well could have done. Instead he continued to produce Mutalisks hoping to end it, however he just forced himself to go completely all in, and once Flash's two ports got up there was nothing July could do with a fearsome cloud of Mutalisks against multiple irradiates. Flash didn't do anything spectacular, but he did play solid and smart - well at least after his firm army was massacred.
Flash 1-0 July
Flash 1-0 July
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
With this probably being the most important game in Group B Light took to heart the lessons he had learned from being excluded from the major leagues for months and prepared a brilliant strategy for the map. It really brought out the best in him, while showing off that trademark MBC flair. Rock was left quite helpless when his base was assaulted by tanks seeing as he had fast expanded. Despite Rock's best efforts, there was nothing he could do to stop Light. That being said, Rock definitely underperformed in this game and the crushing blow in the game was when he lagged in using his Shuttle to the best he possibly could. His poor usage hurt him badly, and just sealed the game off from recovery.
Light 1-0 Rock
Light 1-0 Rock
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
This was a game where both players impressed me. Luxury played standardly, but he played it well. His micro? Impeccable. His larvae management? Perfect. His gamesense? Psychic. It was the shear brilliance of his play which won him the game over TheZerg. TheZerg played things a little differently; opening with the trendy overpool, gaining a marginal advantage with his ling count, using his 2nd hatch to cleverly mine gas Hwasangbul style, and really bringing the game to Luxury. There was an aura about Thezerg which everyone could see - he had been practicing his heart out and was putting everything out there right in his first game. Unfortunately, Luxury's cold hard skill was better than Thezergs so despite his best efforts he lost the game. If he keeps playing like this though - there's no telling just how good Thezerg could get.
Luxury 1-0 Thezerg
Luxury 1-0 Thezerg
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
Fantasy is probably the better TvT player between the two, but now we'll never know. This was a straight up and down build order loss. What is it with Sea and losing important matches using a fast expand build? I will never know...
fantasy 1-0 Sea
fantasy 1-0 Sea
Day 2 Recap
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
This game was Much making a statement - I am here to entertain and kick ass. And in making that statement showed to the world that he has huge balls. It takes huge balls to go 1 Base Carrier PvP against one of the best Protoss in the world. Nevertheless, that's exactly what Much did. Bisu reacted very well to the unusual tactics of Much and refused to give him any ground. Much went all in off one base and he paid the price once he had turned the game into an elimination race. With only a single pylon remaining it was Much's carrier fleet vs Bisu's Dragoon/Scout army. Having gone one base there was only one thing stopping Much from winning this game - money. With no money he could not afford to replace interceptors and was forced to tap out. Nice try though Much! However, in playing this beautiful game you may have just lost your chance to make it through to the next round.
Bisu 1-0 Much
Bisu 1-0 Much
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
This wasn't even close. Best was playing in a completely separate world to GGPlay and as a result the game was a boring rape. GGPlay seemed more concerned with building hatcheries than making units or tech, which in the end forced him to mass Zergling against a nearly fully upgraded Protoss army with full tech in swing. GGPlay did not play to the map at all, and instead sat on 3 base and did nothing! Zerg have lots of possibilities on this map to pressure - something GGPlay didn't use at all. Couple that with a really late 4th expo which was shut down by ~4 Zealots and it was very clear that GGPlay was not in any state of mind to win this game.
Best 1-0 GGplay
Best 1-0 GGplay
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
Yet another TvT on this very creative and interesting map and yet another lame win. Mind simply double proxy raxed and walked over Midas who played standard. All over in less than 5 minutes.
Mind 1-0 Midas
Mind 1-0 Midas
+ Show Spoiler [Game Comments] +
People will simply look at this result and say "Hey lol! Backho lost as expected" but there is so much more to the story than that. Backho was in control of this game for the vast majority of it. He played a brilliant game, outclassing Stork in Reaver harass and game plan. Coming into the closing minutes of the game Backho was winning by a large margin. He was an expo up with a roughly equal army, and had just raided Storks probe line - killing atleast 50% of his probes. Stork was forced into a do or die situation. Backho's trademark idiocity then ruined all his good hard work. As Stork's army pushed out across the map, Backho was caught with his pants down - 8~ Dragoon were at his 4th, his Shuttle + Reaver were killing off more probes and his main army was standard around on the highground. Stork simply engaged and with better micro and troop position and coordination killed Backho. Stork got lucky, and this game shows that Backho is indeed S Class PvP (if nothing else)
Stork 1-0 Backho
Stork 1-0 Backho
Week 1 Results
Day 1
July < 
Flash
Rock < Light
Luxury > Thezerg
Sea < Fantasy
Day 2
Bisu > Much
BeSt > GGPlay
Midas < Mind
BackHo < Stork
July < FlashRock < LightLuxury > ThezergSea < FantasyDay 2
Bisu > MuchBeSt > GGPlayMidas < MindBackHo < StorkDay 3 Predictions (Wednesday 17th 18:30 KST)
Group A
 |  |  |
 July | Chupung-Ryeong |  Bisu |
| 73 - 36 | 0-1 | 39 - 25 |
Why is it that July and Bisu always seem to meet in Starleauges? Anyway, the ex-teamates are at it once again and as always theres going to be drama. Last time they met there was the drop screen incident where July was narrowly awarded the win after verification that Bisu did not have any Dark Templar remaining. Obviously these two have history, and that invariably works in July's favor. July is 0-1 down, and needs this win bad. There's a very real chance that July can win here as this is a map which favors agressive early games, passive midgames and crazy end games - just the kind of map which works for July's ZvP.
July should come up with some build suited to the map, unlike GGPlay, and should perform really well here. Bisu on the other hand, will probably play a lot like Best - relying on his superior skill to steal the win away. This game will likely be over very quickly, and by that I dont mean it's going to be a short game. There's going to be one decisive move which ends the game for either side and those explosive games are always fun to watch. Given the map, this is going to be really exciting. I'm going to side with July thanks to my fanboyism, however the sane money is on Bisu because at the end of the day, you can't trust someone to all-in when you need them to.
Finally we see a non-mirror on this map. Daigomi believes that this map is going to favor Zerg - thanks to the open center. However, I beleive that this map will yield a balanced ZvT due to multiple benefits for both sides on the map. Balance, however, is unlikely to change the result of this matchup. Based off of last weeks games I don't trust GGplay to perform at all, and Light looks determine to win no matter the cost. For that reason this is a very open and shut case, Light to win in glamorous style!
Group C
 |  |  |
| Luxury | Return of the King |  Midas |
| 32 - 24 | 2-3 | 64 - 35 |
Now this is an interesting matchup! Luxury is on fire lately, and is showing brilliant form as usual. Whereas Midas is 0-1 down, in form, and looking lethal. This is a must win game for dear old Midas and this should be a good map for him to do it on. I tend to think that July's bizarre persistence with his Mutalisks is some sign that the map favors T>Z. Thus, Luxury will have his work cut out for him. But Luxury is probably the most creative ZvX player there is - and im sure he'll come up with a solution.
This game could easily go either way, and it will all come down to who wants the win more. After last weeks loss to a chese build, Midas is out to save his bacon and fight to keep his chances alive. Luxury on the other hand should be rather comfortable with his 1-0 status. But there's also the Midas-choke factor to account for. This is a really complicated matchup. I'm going to say Midas because he really has been a powerhouse and theres two things working in his favor to one thing working against him. Either bet really is a sane bet.
While the stats on Plasma show a T>P balance, such an imbalance is nonsense; this matchup is still very much up in the air on this map. Both players are 1-0, thus this game determines who is giong to advance (essentially) and thus both players will be giving it their all. You may laugh if I say Stork and creativity in the same sentence, but there was a time where Stork provided some of the most inspired PvT builds (namely on 815). The brilliance of these builds influenced both Pusan and Anytime during their So1 oddysay and indeed Anytime copied one of Stork's builds identically to defeat Xellos/Oov. Stork has the potential to carve out a brilliant new build here to turn back the balance. Fantasy on the other hand also has a number of options, and no doubt his team mates Best/Bisu/Midas will be working around the clock to help him devise a build to take down T-Rex.
So who's going to take it? Stork looks like he's going to take this all the way. He's not as sharp as he used to be, but he's still a potent threat. This map suits his old style very much, and thus we may see some sexy recall/mindcontrol action (it happened !). Fantasy will be hard pressed to answer anything Stork throws at him outside of the norm, thus needs to come equipped with a build of his own - I don't think he can best the Birdtoss in this game though. Stork for the win!
Day 4 Predictions (Friday 19th 18:30 KST)
Group A
 | |  |
| Flash | Chupung-Ryeong | Much |
| 39 - 23 | 0-0 | 48 - 30 |
For many this looks like a straight up and down bet, Flash for the win. However, Much is playing arguably the best PvT in existence right now, and that means Flash is in trouble. Much defeated ForGG to get here - so he's definitely here to play. Chupung is a map which will probably see Carrier use, thanks to its rather cramped design and should also see some Classic 2base pushes into expo from Terran. It's not going to be easy for either of them, but all I know is that this game is giong to be brilliant.
Much needs this win to stay alive, as another loss should send him packing. Flash on the other hand needs this win as he can't rely on defeating Bisu to qualify. So the stakes are really high. I'll be honest, I'm a sucker for Much's recent PvT (and his PvP too) and thus I'd really like to see him take Flash to school on this map. And thus, I am voting Much > Flash. Nevertheless both players are very inform and thats going to make for some great fireworks!
This is probably the easiest bet all week. Best is the best at PvP. Rock is no one in PvP. Best is also leaps ahead of the rest of his group. There is no question in my mind that Best will utterly destroy Rock.
Group C
 | |  |
| Thezerg | Return of the King | Mind |
| 5 - 7 | 2-3 | 18 - 16 |
Neither player has stellar stats in the matchup, so you have to look at their games to get any real idea of how they're playing. Mind recently lost to Zero in the MSL in a rather pathetic fashion. It wasn't that Zero played brilliant, well he did, but thats besides the point. Mind played well below his level and Zero demolished him. Thezerg on the other hand got here by destroying Hwasin in two very convincing games. After last weeks performance against Luxury, i know the determination is there within him to take it to Mind this week.
There is no reason why Thezerg can't defeat Mind here and I beleive he will do so. Mind just hasn't grasped TvZ as well as the other matchups and Thezerg is a rising star - thus my vote and heart belongs to the little rookie who could.
Bachko is good at PvP, and unfortunately, Sea plays Terran. After losing last week in lame fashion, this is a redeeming game for him and he should be able to cruise through Backho without issue. The map also supports Sea's innate creativity and aggression and leaves the brain dead Backho floundering in the plasma. There is no question here, Sea should, and will, win.
Can you beleive it? That's all she wrote for this chapter! There's certainly a lot of scenarios that could play out and next week Semioldguy will have a break down of the potential outcomes of week 3 as well as a full recap of week 2's games! Incruit OSL is shaping up to be a brilliant OSL and most of the players are rising to the occasion with only a few notable exceptions. With all the tension next week you'd be crazy to miss out! Day 3 airs at 18:30 KST on Wednesday and Day 4 airs at 18:30 KST on Friday. Here's to another week of OSL entertainment!
Plexa
