Another week of round of 32 passed by with some slight upsets and shuffles. Mini showed that there is promise in him, next tournament he will probably be someone to look out for. Jaehoon also showed that he can play at a decent level, unfortunately for him, he didn't advance either, getting knocked out by Hint. In group H Shuttle beat Killer unexpectedly, and Killer almost got knocked out in the losers' match against beast, but managed to pull through.

I managed to get some material this week from kerpal and N.geNuity. Much thanks for the recaps.

The article starts with kerpal's extensive recap of group E, followed by N.geNuity's great recaps of group F & G, the last recap is a short summary of what happened in group H, written by me. Read the recap here. Next out is the return of the recommended VOD section, with the best games of the round of 32. Last out is the preview of the round of 16. Watch the round of 16 start in !

Larva opened twelve pool with gas for a very aggressive two-hatch mutalisk, which prompted Han to tech to valkyries on one barracks after taking his back mineral-only expansion. Larva did a surprisingly good job of countering valkyries with only clumped air units, but some good scourge dodging combined with Larva's inability to transition to lurkers meant that the win went to Han.

Han opened the second game with a command center first, which he followed with a fast +1 attack upgrade and four barracks. Larva chose a three hatchery mutalisk build, and showed good control and poise to save his third base even after the marine medic force had climbed the ramp. Larva delayed the first Terran push with a well executed lurker/zergling/mutalisk backstab and comfortably held with dark swarm. Han crucially only pressured Larva's natural, never moving to his third and fourth bases, leaving Larva able to counter attack and deny expansions. On top of this, Han had some bad luck with mines.



Larva pressured with zerglings and was able to pin Han back until ultras were ready. Larva was able to walk them straight to Han's natural and lay down some dark swarms. gg was called.

Han chose to mech in the final game, beginning with vultures that were unable to reach Larva before mutalisks hatched and so were easily warded away. Larva continued to mass mutalisks from four bases and Han (perhaps because of this) waited and added science vessels before moving tentatively out to take a third. Larva maxed on mutalisks, and was adding guardians as Han pushed out. Luckily for Larva he pushed towards the newly morphed guardians and the push was beaten back. Larva remaxed on mutalisk guardian zergling, but lost 65 supply in a failed attempt to break the Terran defence. This triggered Han to push out, easily cutting through the mutalisks and zerglings Larva tried to throw at him. So Larva changed tactics, and surrendered two bases to the push while sending wave after wave of cracklings into Han's bases, killing all his SCVs and destroying his infrastructure. Han was forced to gg.

Mini opened two gate goon but sSak held it comfortably with his FD. Mini pinned his hopes on a reaver followup, but was driven back to his natural by sSak's midgame aggression. Mini showed some great control and some great carelessness with his shuttle, and soon after sSak's slow push into Mini's natural won him the game.

Both players repeated their openings, except that Mini followed his two gate with a fast templar archives (before expansion). This proved useless as sSak had turrets already in place and plentiful scans. Again Mini was hopelessly adrift of the economic game and sSak was patient and methodical in his execution. After easily defending a dragoon/DT backstab, he was in Mini's natural before the first arbiter could do anything to save Mini.

Larva looked shaky vs Han, against a Terran of sSak's calibre he certainly went into the game as the underdog. Larva made use of the backdoor expo in a three hatch opening, while sSak opened factory and starport into an expansion at his natural. Larva reacted well to a vulture drop and was able to minimise damage from sSak's wraith and vulture harassment, but failed to prepare for the marine tank switch which leveled his fourth and set a contain at his natural. He left the game soon after.

Once again Mini opened with two gateways pumping dragoons, but Han was still able to comfortably take his natural with an economically strong one barracks expand. Mini double expanded behind his dragoon pressure, but unfortunately the game was played on Neo Electric Circuit so Han was also able to take a third to remain ahead on economy. Mini (again) went for a shuttle and a reaver, and (again) showed signs of genius and idiocy, and subsequently lost several shuttles and reavers in truly exciting ways. Heading into lategame, Han played very conservatively and Mini showed some good templar control, picking at the Terran ball. Han finally pushed and caught Mini in the middle of his scout transition. However due to Han's passivity, Mini had expanded aggressively, so was able to hang in, and crucially saved his carrier tech. Mini used his five bases and carriers to barely hold back Han's single base. Han showed his inexperience and was unable to secure a second, and after a scrappy mess of a game Mini was able to win.

Larva played the role of waste disposal here; Mini has been damned by his performances even in games he won, and Larva in his current form represents in many ways the absolute minimum needed to be a SOSPA regular. Mini looked initially stronger than in his previous games, going blow for blow with speedlots and corsairs against Larva's standard Zerg five hatchery play. However as the game progressed Larva took control with a mutalisk switch and never allowed Mini back into it. Larva's only hiccup came when he misclicked cracklings into attacking his own spire rather than the DTs in his main!



Mini tried to keep the pressure up, showing real potential, but was unable to do the damage needed to recover the initiative. Larva stayed ahead on economy and steadily maneuvered Mini into a corner using a highly upgraded force of hydralisks, lurkers and cracklings.

This time instead of playing standard Larva made his third hatch in his natural, and proceeded with a little hydralisk aggression, which Mini was able to scout. Mini read the situation well and refused to overreact, making only a few cannons and not delaying his tech at all. Larva did not commit to the bust but instead was making three more hatcheries and droning hard. Larva seemed to get the better of the opening plays, and had a huge hydralisk army in the midgame, which he used effectively to defend Mini's harassment.
Mini soon became contained by Larva's pure hydralisk army, and eventually the difference in economy allowed Larva to force his way through the storms and into Mini's natural. Again Mini looked hopeful, and over the course of the group looked better losing against Zerg than he did winning against Terrans.






Group F was a battleground of ex-MBC game teammates in Tyson, kkong, and Lazy, with high expectations placed on Lazy and Tyson to perform well against the amateur KaZe_Hyun and the less active kkong.

Tyson vs. kkong began with a center two factory from the Terran, and kkong struck with a three tank two fact attack that came down literally to the second as kkong barely missed being able to lay mines in front of the gateways as dragoons popped out to finally clean up the attack. The game didn't end there, and a macro game filled with (failed) recalls commenced; Tyson eventually found the engagement he was looking for, with three stasis and a wide engagement angle to clean up kkong’s main army. Tyson eventually overran kkong. Game two similarly saw a tight game with a very late deep six after a reaver broke the natural from the Terran’s gasless expand. kkong almost caught Tyson off guard switching into arbiter and held a strong position at the high ground on New Wind and Cloud, but nice reaver micro and storm eventually pulled through for Tyson.

The second series of Lazy and KaZe_Hyun was much less noteworthy, as reavers held off hydra’s posturing at the Protoss front and a doom drop into the backdoor expo was easily defended with reavers and cannons. Game two saw a two gate speedlot build that followed up with 2twostargate sairs, and KaZe_Hyun got wrecked by the +1 sairs, losing his overlords as soon as they gathered.

The winners' set, the battle of MBC tosses, ended as soon as it began. Lazy went center two gate against a dragoon first from Tyson, and trapped the dragoon in with pylons and zealots. Instant gg as Lazy advanced first in the group.

The losers' set saw the Zerg establish a strong position off of three-hat muta and a large midgame army of lurkers, but an ill fated attack into the Terran nat had the lurkers die to mines and irradiate - the zerg came close to winning the game right there, but not quite enough. From there, hydra lurker ling compositions were unable to break the Terran mech as kkong slowly expanded, and eventually ultras not supported by swarm got destroyed by tank forces.

Tyson apparently discovered for the first time Protoss could cheese, as the final set saw him go for quick games. Game one was a center gate win against an attempted gasless expand without proper supply depot/barracks placement, game two kkong successfully scouted proxy DT tech after seeing no second pylon in Tyson’s base, and game three Tyson had an aggressive (not all-in) two gate build that sniped the first tank as it tried to weave back and forth taking shots at goons before siege mode finished.

Lazy and Tyson advanced, with little to no surprise. But both showed less than stellar play that in the stiff competition of SOSPA will get challenged if not improved in the round of 16.






Group G was one of the most mixed groups in terms of SOSPA experience and results, with SRT14, 15, 16 champion Sea defending his title against the new to SOSPA Jaehoon, SOSPA veteran ZergMaN, and the young Hint, the 1994 born Protoss player that made a splash in SRT15.

ZergMaN tried to give Jaehoon a warm SOSPA welcome by going power hydras off the three-hatch into five-hatch hydra opening, but was unable to bust Jaehoon’s reaver opening. The second set saw ZergMaN again pumping hydras, but finding a timing before storm and reavers to bust Jaehoon. Game three turned out to be the craziest game of the group, where ZergMaN turned a twelve hatch into continual ling all-ins after Jaehoon’s zealot pressure failed. A lone hero zealot sneaking six drone kills while ZergMaN and Jaehoon constantly danced the frantic micro battle of lings taking down cannons at the Protoss expo let Jaehoon stabilize and hold an even later zergling all-in.

Sea’s “Terran” senses tingled as Hint tried to sneak out a probe after an unpunished twelve nex to do a hidden carrier play. Sea’s vulture caught sight of the probes, letting Sea eventually find three hidden stargates from Hint. Sea pushed into the Protoss who, with little units and few carriers, was quickly defeated. In game two Sea scouted out proxy gates for dark templar play, and defended easily from there, including the last resort DT drop follow-up.

The winner set saw ex-MBC teammates Jaehoon and Sea face each in economic openings with a twelve nex vs. fourteen CC. Sea moved out to put a contain on Jaehoon that Jaehoon actually defended, but lost the shuttle and reaver to a leftover turret. Sea lands a barracks to produce firebats in Jaehoon’s backdoor expo, which takes out all the probes there and many in the main; with Sea’s contain established and Jaehoon having neither the time nor economy to do make an intended carrier switch, Jaehoon had to gg.

The loser set saw ZergMaN go for power hydras again off of a standard opening, that got shut down cold by Hint. Hint killed everything ZergMaN had with reavers while defending a second hydra wave at home.

The final set again saw the strategic side of Hint, who in game one opened with a twelve nex. Jaehoon tried to punish this with a three gate goon that was defended. Jaehoon followed up with delayed DT tech, and moved in to strike when Hint moved out to kill Jaehoon; however, Hint barely stabilized against a four man DT squad in the end, while Jaehoon’s economy had been totally eliminated. The second set saw a one gate DT from Hint, which let Hint expand earlier. Hint stayed economically ahead with the help of a nice storm drop, a faster third, sniping Jaehoon’s third, such that Hint eventually won out with a larger army.

Sea showed his complete dominance in SRT’s in this group, while Hint’s well prepared game plans let him advance in second place.






It was expected that Killer would win the opening match against Shuttle with his gosu ZvP. Shuttle has come close to beating Killer before, and this time he succeeded. The last game was so close it ran for 45 minutes and eventually getting mined out. 1023 surprised by taking out beast 2-1, showing off his amateur skills.



Shuttle easily destroyed 1023 in the winners' match. In the losers' match Killer was almost knocked out as he lost a bunch of drones to lings early but he eventually managed to claw himself back into the game, and closed it. In the final match Killer destroyed 1023. Shuttle and Killer expectedly advanced, but in reverse order. Killer looked mortal in his two best match-ups, he has to step it up if he wants to challenge Sea for yet another title.

In this new section we list all the good games from the previous stage of the tournament for your viewing pleasure! The games are handpicked by me & KristofferAG, the games are in no particular order. Enjoy!

Both Terror and Scan have been doing a lot better than what has been expected from them. Just by looking at the group you would think that sSak will advance in first and probably followed by Lazy. But either Terror or Scan could upset Lazy, and even sSak. Scan managed to win 2-0 against Cola in the round of 32, allegedly with cheese, and Terror lost to Ample twice and won against Han in last season. I think Scan is the better player in TvZ, and should win. Lazy shouldn't stand a chance against sSak with his 30% PvT win rate and being 0-3 lifetime against him. sSak should crush in the second match.



sSak should also have the mechanic intense TvT match-up with his superior progamer training. Scan did show that he can upset with cheese, as he showed against Mong, Scan could advance 2-0 once again. Lazy has amazing PvZ, although he has a 57% win rate he has only lost to two opponents, Killer and hero. Lazy should demolish Terror with ease. In the final match I'm taking my bets on Lazy, even though his stats show otherwise Lazy is better than Scan, if Lazy can hold the cheese it should be all good. Don't be surprised if Scan advances, his chances are quite big.

sSak and Lazy to advance.




By far the hardest group in the round of 16. Killer and hero are the two best Zerg right now, Mong is doing great again and Pusan has been consistent for a while now. I see this group going three ways. Preferably hero needs to win against Mong in the opening match, so Pusan can knock out Mong in the losers' match, and hero can beat Pusan in the final match. If hero loses, he will beat Pusan in the losers' match and he will have a second chance at beating Mong. If hero doesn't bring it in his TvZ(s) he will be knocked out of the tournament by Mong.

Mong has been Hyuking himself a lot lately and that's hero's chance to win. hero is so good but just doesn't get ZvT for some reason. I think scenario one is the most likely one. hero will win against Mong in the opening match. Killer will destroy Pusan, end of discussion.



Killer showed shaky and yet incredible play at the same time in the ZvZ against beast. If hero can get to the position beast was in hero is too good to let it slip from his grasp. Pusan has such good PvT but shows his stroke of brilliance very seldom. In a best of one I think Pusan will win against Mong. Whatever Zerg it is and whoever wins the losers' match, the result will be the same.

Killer and hero to advance.




Two better Terrans, two cheesy and abusive Protoss. Anyone looking at this group would think that Sea and HiyA would advance easily. Hi and Tyson are party-poopers for Terran fans, they keep knocking out our loved Terrans. In the opening matches I still have faith that the world is well, HiyA and Sea should both go to the winners' match. Sea should repeat last season and win against HiyA, although it's a best of one and realistically it can go either way.



Hi has played Tyson once before, where he lost 1-2. Both of them have sub 50% win rate in PvP and saying who is more bad than the other is tough. Tyson was a progamer, I guess that's something eh? Either Protoss should get killed by either Terran (no, really).

Sea and HiyA to advance.




At first glance it's quite a weak group, but Ample, Larva, and Hint are all very close to each other in skill. Larva has been so bad in ZvT lately and I don't think he can do much against Ample. Hint knocked out Jaehoon 2-0 in the round of 32, and with that he showed that his PvP is quite something. Shuttle on the other hand just won against Killer. I don't care that it's a completely different match-up. If you can win against Killer, you can win against anything (as evidenced by Sea's TvP). Shuttle will crush this group.



Ample loses in the winners' match and Larva should destroy Hint in the losers' match as his ZvP is still good as ever. The final match will be a repeat of the opening match. Ample should win easy against Larva, and advance alongside Shuttle.

Shuttle and Ample to advance.