[OSL] Setting the Stage

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Batoo OSL: Setting the Stage

Batoo OSL is shaping up to be a good one as the players set themselves up for the group stage. Among the sixteen remaining competitors there are several past champions, a few newcomers to the OSL looking for a victory on their first time out, as well as a few Starleague regulars vying for their own first appearance in the finals spotlight.

Ever since semioldguy was a child (and hence, not yet semiold) there have always been trading cards to collect for all of the major sports… why shouldn’t the most popular e-sport have trading cards as well? So in addition to some Round of Sixteen previewing, I’ve mocked up some trading cards, or at least their reverse sides, for each player remaining in the Batoo OSL.

Group A: The Veterans

This group is about as star studded as they come. They might not all be on the tops of their games at the moment, but they can’t be denied their past glory. Combined, these four players have 7 Starleague golds and 7 Starleague silvers (thanks Stork!). On top of that, these four players have more combined past OSL appearances than the other three groups combined! All four are used to the stage lights and have been around in these Starleagues for a while. Two of the four will do what they always have done, win and advance, while the other two will likely still see other days to come.

vs.

Bisu 8-6; vs. (Z)

YellOw[ArnC] 3-0; vs. (Z)

July 3-4

Will the OSL curse hit Stork like it has so many past champions? Some might think it already has as his play seems to have been lacking a little as of late. But as one of the most successful Protoss players ever, Stork cannot be counted out. Once proclaimed by the Terran Emperor himself to be the next big thing, Stork has indeed become a dragon of a Protoss player, even though it took him a while to get there. Stork is up against a difficult group for him, facing off against players in their strong matchups, or in his weak ones.

vs.

Stork 6-8; vs. (Z)

YellOw[ArnC] 2-1; vs. (Z)

July 2-3

If Stork is one of the most successful Protoss players, his resume still falls short of Bisu, who has three Starleague titles. Gone are the days of the CJ Superfights where the OSL and MSL champions could face off against one another in a glorious best of five match, not that he and Stork haven’t faced off against each other before. Bisu has hardly cooled off any since his run in taking his third MSL title and is looking to shift this rivalry back to his momentum after Stork’s SKT domination during Incruit. Bisu will also have a chance to show whether or not the matchup which was nearly an auto-win from him in the past is still a matchup he can rule over as he faces Yellow[arnc] and ZvP monster July.

vs.

Stork 0-3; vs. (P)

Bisu 1-2; vs. (Z)

July 3-3

He may be the least accomplished player in this group, but that only means he is still hungry for his first time to be shining in the spotlight. What might have been a difficult group for him may turn out to be one he will find his way out of after all. ZvP had never been his strength, but with Stork seemingly on the decline, and it being his worst matchup anyway, and Bisu looking more and more shaky against Zerg players lately, Yellow[arnc] may have a decent shot after all. Add to his chances that there seem to be whispers among the pros that the newer maps are more favorable to Zerg players in this Starleague, especially against Protoss. There may be some merit to that as we are back to a Starleague that features Zerg as the most represented race.

vs.

Stork 4-3; vs. (P)

Bisu 3-2; vs. (Z)

YellOw[ArnC] 3-3

He knows it himself: he has finished a runner up two seasons after each of his first two gold medals. It’s time again for him to grab that silver if history does indeed repeat itself. I can’t imagine July not being happy with this group. His ZvP has always been ridiculous, and with the two Protoss players in question he should be confident to get at least two wins from this group without so much as breaking a sweat. The God of War is ready to reign once again. Let’s just hope he isn’t superstitious about it being his 13th OSL.

Group B: The Rookies

You could hardly get a less experienced group in the Round of Sixteen, since at least one player has to have played in the previous OSL. The seeded player is in only his second OSL while the other three players are out this far for their first, and potentially only, time. We are assured of seeing some new blood advancing in this OSL and making an impact. Aside from the single silver in Incruit, these players don’t have much individual fame to speak of, unless of course we look over at Proleague we can say Leta is pretty hot, but even then we still have probably one of the least experienced OSL groups ever. At least they will have some time to settle their nerves against each other first as they break their OSL cherries.

vs.

Tester 0-1; vs. (T)

Leta 0-0; vs. (Z)

by.hero 0-0

The two top things that sit upon his list of accomplishments are last season’s finish as runner-up, and the numerous past frustrations of countless Team Liquid members attempting to TLPDize his alias in their posts. Last season he went against destiny, both in that he was a Royal Roader who did not win, and he allowed Stork to finally get a medal other than silver. As iloveoov’s and SKT’s next Terran wonder boy, there are quite a bit of expectations upon him and he looks to be in a group he should be able to handle.

vs.

fantasy 1-0; vs. (T)

Leta 0-0; vs. (Z)

by.hero 0-0

He has been around a while and made it to several ODT’s prior to finally breaking into the Groups here in Batoo. Tester probably benefits the most from such an inexperienced group, though his lack of consistent good results has me second guessing any real chances he has of going far in this Starleague. Maybe it’s time that an eStro player other than UpMagic finally makes an impact upon the individual leagues. Or maybe not.

vs.

fantasy 0-0; vs. (P)

Tester 0-0; vs. (Z)

by.hero 1-0

No one can deny Leta’s beastliness in Proleague. He just needs to transfer that prowess over to the stage when he doesn’t have the entire Sparkyz squad cheering him on from the sidelines. His losses tend to be few and far between, which bodes well for him in any event he is in. I am sure he will be practicing well for his group games and it would be nice to see him tackle a best-of- five match and see if his single game success translates into larger series successes. With both his matchups against Terran and Zerg players being over 70% and the Protoss player in his group being Tester, Leta has to like his chances for advancing.

vs.

fantasy 0-0; vs. (P)

Tester 0-0; vs. (T)

Leta 0-1

He took out a couple fan favorites to get here and was an underdog almost the entire way. Prior to this OSL, there were few who knew who by.hero was, but anonymity can work to his advantage. He will have an element of mystery to him when he sits down against any opponent as there are less of his games to study and learn from. Players all gun for taking down the stars, letting the unknowns sneak in and begin to make names for themselves. There is a lot of buzz around this newcomer Zerg, which likens to buzz Thezerg had around him in the last Starleague. Is he going to fail to accomplish anything in his first time out like Thezerg and have all his hype die, or will he build upon that hype and deliver a deep run into the OSL?

Group C: The Sleepers

Aside from Flash, these players have yet to take any titles for themselves, but each has come so close. And as for Flash, he is a caliber of player that one might expect to have won more titles than he has by now and he is surely looking to add to his resume to get off the list of players who have only won a single Starleague. The other three players seem to hit a wall as soon as they get deep into any individual league and they all wish they could break down that wall, tired of always being stopped short. Will the stars finally alight for one of them on each of their their fourth times out or will they all just be remembered as good players who never attained championships?

vs.

Hwasin 2-2; vs. (T)

UpMagiC 2-0; vs. (T)

Flash 1-0

Best hasn’t had to go through the offline qualifiers since making his first Starleague, which means he has been getting close, but hasn’t quite put everything together yet. Recently it seems that he is losing some steam, he isn’t winning at the same rate he once was and his wins have not been as convincing. He always steps it up for the group stage though and with only a single matchup to practice he should be ready for what these Terran players have to throw his way. None of them are pushovers though, and they all have different styles, so he will have to prepare well.

vs.

BeSt 2-2; vs. (T)

UpMagiC 2-2; vs. (T)

Flash 1-3

Hwasin thought he was going to get into a Starleague where he would be left alone and not face against Bisu, which has become his auto-lose card in Starleagues. Bisu plowed his way through the wildcards though and Hwasin may well be shaking in his boots. But first he has to get through his own group, which may not be such an easy task in its own right. Hwasin never seems to have an easy road in the individual leagues, and this one is no exception. Though it is the mark of a great player to overcome great adversities, so if Hwasin intends to be great, he will have to overcome that eventually.

vs.

BeSt 0-2; vs. (T)

Hwasin 2-2; vs. (T)

Flash 1-1

UpMagic is the Starleague face of eStro. UpMagic always has a chance to walk away as the victor from any match, but the final spotlight has always been elusive. He cannot be approached the same as other Starcraft players as there is always an element of unpredictability in his play. An innovator can become a champion, but he still has to possess traits beyond brilliant strategy and innovation if he plans to do anything other than fall a little short. Surely he has the drive to become a champion in him; he just needs to find it.

vs.

BeSt 0-1; vs. (T)

Hwasin 3-1; vs. (T)

UpMagiC 1-1

Bisu choosing not to pick Flash may have prevented one of the most ridiculous groups of death ever. As it stands, they now all have a shot to potentially meet later in the tournament where more than a single game will be on the line. For this group Flash doesn’t seem to have that unstoppable aura about him that he had nearly a year ago. He is still a very solid player, well above average for certain, but if he can bring back that ferocity of play he once had, he would look to be an unstoppable force once more.

Group D: The Blender

This group has a little of everything mixed in, except a Terran player, which is certainly okay. there are a pair of past OSL champions, a player new to the OSL, a player who has been making OSL appearances for quite a while now, and a WCG winner still looking for a Starleague title. The group is missing a youth though, these four players have been in the proscene a while and are used to playing up on the stage. With two of the best in ZvZ and one of the best PvZ players here, this group is sure to be a hard-fought battle for advancement.

vs.

Kal 0-0; vs. (Z)

Luxury 0-2; vs. (Z)

Jaedong 0-1

When GGPlay is good, he looks great, but other times it seems he goes ages without winning more than a game or two. It seems like he could be the least likely to get out of this group alive; Luxury and Jaedong likely have an advantage over him and Kal is one of the most feared Protoss players for any Zerg to face. But like his victories all throughout Daum, GGPlay seems to pull out wins when we least expect it, so he can’t be counted out just yet as when that happens he usually comes around to surprise us all.

vs.

GGPlay 0-0; vs. (Z)

Luxury 4-1; vs. (Z)

Jaedong 3-4

He is blessed with having only a single matchup to practice, and further blessed by it being far and away his best matchup. Though he speaks of maps not favoring him, he will only practice on them harder. At the very least Kal will have a chance for a one-game revenge for his MSL finals loss a few seasons back when he sits down against Jaedong. If any Protoss had a chance to get out of this group, Kal would be the one to do it. Luckily for him there are quite a few Zerg in Batoo and most of the ones he isn’t busy knocking out in this group look to have decent chances of advancement.

vs.

GGPlay 2-0; vs. (P)

Kal 1-4; vs. (Z)

Jaedong 2-5

Luxury has been stepping out of the shadow of his brother for some time now, and now that they aren’t on the same team any longer, Luxury should have a chance to stand out even more. Luxury managed to escape the last Zerg-heavy group he was in back in Ever 2008 and there is little reason to why he wouldn’t be able to do so again. He won the 2008 WCG Grand Finals, but the Koreans won’t see him as a real champion until he wins one of their own leagues.

vs.

GGPlay 1-0; vs. (P)

Kal 4-3; vs. (Z)

Luxury 5-2

Jaedong was left unpicked, which is exactly what happened in the group stage of his Royal Road victory. Everyone is afraid of Jaedong and no one wants to have to play against him. They all hope that someone else will happen to knock him out before they have to play against him themselves. Long before Jaedong was crushing players in the individual leagues, he was busy crushing them in Proleague. Jaedong has the ability to win any tournament that he enters.

mensrea Batoo OSL Group Awards

This OSL is remarkable in the fact that every single group is stacked with the best players that money can buy. On top of that you have two new comers (Leta and hero) who could possibly make it into the Royal Road history books. On top of that you have near perfect race balance. This OSL is set to be known either as the best OSL in history, or the OSL that failed to deliver. Here are the awards for the 2009 Batoo OSL

The Studliest Choice Award – Stork
With the crowd eagerly anticipating a Stork-Bisu-Flash-Jaedong Group A, Stork lived up to all expectations and chose Bisu. After all, nothing demonstrates your manliness more than picking the hottest player alive, and MSL champion from last season, as your first opponent.

The Group of Death – Group A
This group alone has a combined medal total of 7 Golds, 8 Silvers and a Bronze with one pending. You have last seasons OSL Champ and last seasons MSL champ, one of two Golden mouse winners and a player that has already all-killed a side. Yes, this group is intense and will no doubt showcase games of cataclysmic proportion.

The Guilliver Award to the player surrounded by lilliputian giants – Leta
This award was tough, but Leta just sneaks ahead of Jaedong for a few reasons. Leta will have no problems with his group at all. Tester is hardly a contender and it's a miracle that he's even here. Meanwhile Hero's ZvT is completely untested and will probably struggle like his hyung July does in the matchup. Lastly, Leta's forte is TvT and the only real challenge for him will be fantasy; another Terran player! Thus Leta has an easy road to the Ro8 and thus wins this award.

The My Race Suxor Award – Protoss
This OSL has near perfect race distribution. 5 Protoss, 5 Terran and 6 Zerg. But if we look at how these players got here; only 3 Protoss qualified from the Ro36, 4 Terran and 5 Zerg. On top of the Protoss lineup is arguably the weakest of the three races. Firstly you have Tester who isn't exactly top of the line, then you have a slumping Stork, Bisu in questionable form (although its looking good for him at the moment!), Kal who's performed alright and BeSt whom we have very little idea about. Thus, as bizarre as it seems, Protoss is indeed the weakest race at the moment.

The Return of the King Award – Jaedong
He's finally back into the OSL after he was shafted in the past two seasons (by BackHo and han). There is little question that this man is here to do buisness and is a strong contender for the semifinals. Jaedong, welcome back to the OSL, we missed you.

The “I belong in this Starleague” Award – Savior
Savior has shown great form in the MSL and Proleauge lately and is really the only other way this Starleague could get any better, if for no reason other than its Savior.

The “I don’t belong in this Starleague” Award – Tester
I don't know how you managed to get into the Starleague, but yea... don't expect to hang around too long with Fantasy, Leta and Hero in your group. It was nice knowing you though!

Staff Picks:

Group A: