EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/pachi/front/batoo_starleague.jpg)
Thanks Pachi for another awesome banner!
Hello everyone and welcome back to another season of OSL action! This season is sponsored by the company which created the website Batoo – as you should all know by now. Batoo looks pretty cool, but isn’t online yet as it’s in the final days of development. It’s basically an online Go server which is a really fun game that is popular in Asia. I guess you could call it the Asian equivalent of Chess seeing as it’s so strategically deep despite its simplicity. I might just go play some games on Batoo once it goes up; consider this an invitation for anyone to challenge me at Go!
Anyway, coming back to the Starcraft... This season will use the qualification method that was used last season. While seemingly controversial at first, this format has proven to yield near identical results to the old system while making the games better and reducing the chance of flukes. In case you have forgotten, the qualification process is as follows.
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Batoo_Round_1/process.png)
The two randomly assigned players that qualified from the OSL Preliminaries play each other in a Bo3. The map list for this Bo3 (in order) is Tears of the Moon, Medusa then Return of the King. The winner of this match plays someone from the last Starleague who did not receive a seed in another Bo3. The map list, again, is Tears of the Moon, Medusa then Return of the King. The winner of this Bo3 advances into the OSL. Simple really!
Plasma has been removed from the map pool, and so I think a brief discussion about the map replacing it is warranted!
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Batoo_Round_1/1229302003_1.jpg)
OGN continues its tradition of taking a risk with creative maps to help inspire brilliant game play, and usually that works out for them. However recently the maps haven’t exactly been revolutionary for game play, but at least Demon’s Forest, Troy and Plasma tried! Tears of the Moon replaces the last island map in the OSL, so now there are no island maps in any of the leagues, a rather weird thought really.
With the current deficit of Zergs you’d expect OGN to conjure up something to assist those few Zergs which are still around in this OSL, and in my opinion this map does just that. I would expect Zerg to be very strong against Protoss on this map, mostly because of the numerous routes there are into the natural. While Zergs haven’t been exploiting all their options lately in ZvP, this map encourages them to use both drops and backstabs which should improve their winrate against Protoss. The expansion layout also favours Zerg against Protoss seeing as the mineral count per expo is lower, which favours the race which expands more (in this case Zerg).
But that’s not all, OGN also realise that Zerg are something like 2-17 since the start of December against Terran. Those two wins haven’t come from Jaedong either, those two wins have come from Keke on Neo Requiem. Yes, ZvP is killing a lot of Zergs right now. But 2-17 is an utterly depressing statistic and clearly demonstrates that ZvT is actually holding the Zerg race back a lot more than ZvP is. This map should help Zerg vs Terran. The natural has a cliff surrounding it which makes mutalisk harass that much more difficult to stop. The reduced mineral count in the main and natural also hurt Terran in this matchup. To top this off, the wide open center should make flanking that much easier. I think it’s quite safe to say that Zerg should come out dominant on this map.
And that leaves PvT. I expect this matchup to be relatively balanced, or rather have phases of balance. There are far too many variables to make a definite call about this matchup. Firstly, Tanks should be able to shoot at the natural from the other side of the cliff, which helps Terran. However the reduced mineral count and open center favours Protoss. The alternate pathways to the natural help both races – Protoss when they counter to stall for time and Terran when they harass with Vultures. This map should also be fairly drop friendly, which gives Terrans more options. On top of this the variation between low and high ground should help Terran as well (as well as the buildable center). There’s just so many different things going on that it makes this matchup difficult to call, hence why I think this map will be balanced depending on playstyles.
Okay, now that we’ve dealt with the new map and the format etc it’s time to look at this week’s games!
Group A - 12/17 18:30 KST
Set 1:
Leta vs 
BestGodSet 2:
Sea vs WinnerGroup A starts off with a bang as the stupidly inform Leta takes on BestGod. Realistically, BestGod doesn’t have much of a chance against Leta. Leta is in tip top shape and is earning his keep in Proleague. He also has a tendency to play slightly creative which should favour him on Tears of the Moon – giving him the 1-0 edge early on. While Medusa should fall to BestGod, there is a chance that Leta can play a risky build and come out on top, however all signs point towards the Protoss on a Protoss map. Lastly, Return of the King is a lovely map for Terran against Protoss. I expect Leta to run all the way to the bank and take the series 2-1 and meet Sea in the next round.
Sea is the clear favourite over BestGod, so let’s not go there. Sea vs Leta would be the best outcome really. Sea has been playing pretty sharp lately with some nice Proleauge games, although he has looked shakey at times. While everyone should be cheering for Sea to win, I really think Leta has what it takes to go all the way (even though I Liquibetted otherwise). I think Leta’s dropship play is superior to Sea’s and that should give him the edge on the new map and Medusa. On top of that, despite what Steve thinks in his power rank, Leta is the better player and has posted better results than Sea has over the past month and a half and deserves to be in the OSL.
Group B - 12/19 18:30 KST
Set 1:
Kal vs ProposeSet 2:
Thezerg vs WinnerPropose is a newcomer here, but everyone at TeamLiquid should be familiar with him. He is the player who defeated Infernal in the TL vs YG showmatch – full credit to Infernal for holding his own against a Starleague calibre player! Propose has some sick control and some even more impressive macro. During the S.G vs fOu Babara Clan League, he ended Pusan’s 3 game winning streak, defeated TheZerg and but was finally stopped by Hyvaa if my memory is correct. The bottom line is, this guy is a beast.
Kal is the favourite in this series, there is no doubt there. However, I expect Propose to put up a really good fight. Kal is a very creative Protoss and I think we’ll see that on Tears of the Moon, in my opinion, that should give him the edge there and he should be able to overcome Propose’s macro with his own fearsome macro. Medusa should be a walk in the park really, the map is so ridiculously Protoss favoured it’s sad. Thus I expect a 2-0 in favour of Kal, even though I hope Propose takes the series.
Should Propose take the series, I would expect a really good series between him and TheZerg. Their game in Babara was a very good game, and showed that they were of relatively similar skill. So a series between them would be really entertaining, however, considering the map pool, I got to give the advantage to Thzerg. Should Kal take the series, I would expect rape. Kal is so good against Zerg and shouldn’t have any trouble against Thezerg who has had questionable form for awhile. I expect Kal to clean up the series easily 2-0. My pick is Kal advancing from this group.
And that’s all folks! Both these groups will be recapped after Friday’s games along with a preview for next week. All in all I have high expectations for Tears of the Moon and I think it will be a really successful map overall. I also am really excited about the games this week, and I expect all of Leta’s games to be really interesting and, as always, I look forward to seeing Kal play as his style is always fun to watch. Keep your eye on Propose though! He is set to be one of the bigger Terran newcomers for the futures. So until the next report!
Plexa Got questions about how the OSL works? Ask them here guilt and troll free
