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The ticket to Gwangahli will not be given away! Shinhan Bank Proleague 08-09 PO Analysis (CJ vs Hwaseung)
'The match lies on the first day game between
Jaedong and EffOrt on Neo Medusa'Placing second on the table this season, Hwaseung OZ has watched both the Ro6 and Ro4 playoffs for the past two weeks in anticipation for this semi-final match. They will now meet CJ on the 1st and 2nd of August at Mullaedong HERO Center, and the winner will be receiving a ticket to the Proleague grand finals against SK Telecom T1 at Gwangahli Beach in Busan on the 7th and 8th of August.
▶ It's time for Hwaseung's young players to step up
During the regular season, it was a best of 5, thus entries were limited to only four players. Hwaseung's main strategy was to utilize Jaedong as much as possible, while either
HiyA, Lomo or 
BackHo would help chip in with a win to get the game into the ace match. Because of this, Jaedong has a record of 54 Wins, 21 Losses and has played in more than 70 games in this season alone!Because of the increase of sets from 5 to 7, it was apparent that this strategy could not be used in the playoffs. Using the two weeks break, Coach Jo recognized the potential problems the new extended format produced for the team.
The reaction was to send out relatively new players,
PerfectMan and Killer to fill in the gaps. During the regular season though, Perfectman did not record a win at all, while Killer has a record of 2 wins and 1 loss, a win coming from CJ's own Movie on Heartbreak Ridge.▶ CJ sends out a specific player on a specific map
Just like last week against Samsung KHAN, CJ has decided to send out one player on one map only, with the exception of Heartbreak Ridge. This is most likely so that one player can only concentrate on one specific map rather than two.
As seen in the entries for Day 1 and 2, CJ has sent out
sKyHigh for Destination, Movie for Colosseum 2, Iris for Shades of Twilight and EffOrt for Neo Medusa.The effectiveness of this entry strategy is still too early to say if it is good or not. It appears the benefits of this strategy is that in the post-season, players are able to concentrate both physically and psychologically much more comfortably.
▶ Winners League Final Rematch
The CJ-Hwaseung match at the Winners League finals was full of drama. It started with Hwaseung qualifying for the finals after all-killing KT 4-0.
On the 28th of March, CJ was ready to face Hwaseung. With Jaedong taking down Effort, Iris and Savior, it appeared that Hwaseung would yet again all-kill. Out of no where, Skyhigh defends a 5 pool build by Jaedong and uses the momentum gathered from the win to reverse all-kill Hwaseung, beating
Young, Spear then HiyA. For CJ, they felt on top of the world.The playoffs are a completely different situation though. This match between CJ and Hwaseung has a high amount of anticipation from both hardcore and casual viewers.
▶ Jaedong-Effort Confrontation
With a record of 6-1 in the post season, Effort has come out for CJ as their brand new star. Regarded as the 'post-
sAviOr', he has won every ace match CJ have played during these playoffs.Hwaseung though, have MVP of the 08-09 Season Jaedong to use. It appears though that the Jaedong-Effort match will be one of the most important of this season.
Whoever wins the match on Neo Medusa will most likely set the pace for their respective teams for subsequent matches.
Previously losing to Jaedong in Round 2 and the Winners League, he found revenge in Round 5. He also took out Jaedong 2-0 in the GOMTV Classic. However though, Effort was eliminated from the current Bacchus Starleague, so he is currently focusing fully on Proleague play.
