banner by: KizZBG
MSL Ro16 Week 2.2
January 31st, 2008
Match A - Sea vs Light - Blue Storm
*and Katrina if needed
Match B - Kwanro vs Kal - Katrina
*and Loki II if needed
Match C - JangBi vs Orion - Zodiac
*and Loki II if needed
Match D - UpMagiC vs July - Katrina
*and Loki II if needed
Results:
+ Show Spoiler +
Sea (white) < Light (red) on Blue Storm
Sea (yellow) < Light (purple) on Katrina
Light Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Kwanro < Kal on Katrina
Kal Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Jangbi < Orion on Zodiac
Jangbi > Orion on Loki II
Jangbi Advances to the Quarterfinals!
UpMagic > July on Katrina
UpMagic Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Sea (yellow) < Light (purple) on Katrina
Light Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Kwanro < Kal on Katrina
Kal Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Jangbi < Orion on Zodiac
Jangbi > Orion on Loki II
Jangbi Advances to the Quarterfinals!
UpMagic > July on Katrina
UpMagic Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Summary:
I apologize that there is no highlight video for Week 2.2, I only had time to do one (they take a while to do) and the more recent matches took precedent.
Match A:
Sea went into the night's games with a one game advantage over his teammate Light. That doesn't stop Light from taking games two and three in order to advance to the quarterfinals and secure a seed for next season. One thing I noticed in both of these games, is that Light's multitasking is superior to Sea's. Additionally, Light always had better intel; he knew more of what was going on around the map compared to his opponent, and the extra knowledge and information proved to be useful in deciding when to take which actions. This extra bit of knowledge helps Light to gain slight advantages throughout each game allowing him earlier expansions and better drops.
Sea often had too little information to work with in preparing his defenses and attacks against Light. Had the game on Blue Storm continued longer, Sea had no knowledge of Light's starports and would have been blindly taking an assault from Light's Battlecruisers before long. In the second game, Light is able to get expansions which Sea doesn't discover. Sea's drops and counterattacks are just not as good as Light's, which keeps him on his back foot long enough for Light to eventually push him over.
Match B:
Kal is finally getting the breakout he has been looking for over the past few seasons as he plows his way into the next round. Archons keep Kwanro's Mutalisks frightened and on the run, not able to do nearly as much damage as Kwanro might have liked. Without being able to accomplish any significant harassment with the Mutalisks, Kal's strength begins to grow. I think the play that best sums up Kal's domination is when Kwanro decides that he is going to do a mass Lurker/Ling drop, and gets two thirds of the way there before having to turn back due to his expansion getting ravaged. When the drop returns it does little to save the expansion and Kwanro soon accepts his imminent doom.
Match C:
JangBi is said to have better in team records that his Samsung teammates, including Stork. As fans though, we don't buy it. Television success is what separates the iloveoov's from the Canata's of the Starcraft progaming world. Jangbi will have to accomplish something, at some point, in order to get recognition (and, no, 2nd in the Star256 doesn't really count). Starting a game ahead, Jangbi misreads Orion's build on Zodiac. As a result he finds his defense ill-equipped to deal with the barrage of hydralisks at his natural expansion. Orion's build works once, but Jangbi won't let it happen to himself again. In game three Jangbi makes a wall of cannons at his main as soon as he suspects the hydra build again. With the cannons in place the hydralisks have little hope of getting in as easily as last time. Orion tries to go in anyway. Orion fails.
Match D:
July has two leagues to worry about and needs to win in back to back nights to ensure survival in both. UpMagiC has less to worry about, only needing one win from the next two games to advance. He starts by walling off to keep too many early lings from getting much damage in. Then, realizing he has no defense against Mutas, which are sure to arrive shortly, he discovers his unknown love of turrets. While the Mutalisks are busy trying to find small soon-to-be-filled holes, a vulture raid damages and keeps July's economy down. A Science Vessels pops out of a burning Starport before Mutalisks take the building down. July deside to be desperate and commits to going all in with Muta/Ling, which UpMagic defends with ease. With superior resource flow and development, UpMagic takes it in two.
MSL Ro16 Week 2.3
February 2nd, 2008
Match E - Jaedong vs Luxury - Blue Storm
*and Katrina if needed
Match F - Flash vs Hwasin - Loki II
*and Katrina if needed
Match G - Anytime vs NaDa - Zodiac
*and Loki II if needed
Match H - Shine vs Mind - Loki II
*and Zodiac if needed
Results:
+ Show Spoiler +
Jaedong (purple) > Luxury (green) on Blue Storm
Jaedong Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Flash (red) > Hwasin (white) on Loki II
Flash Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Anytime < Nada on Zodiac
Anytime < Nada on Loki II
Nada Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Shine (yellow) > Mind (purple) on Loki II
Shine (blue) < Mind (white) on Zodiac
Mind Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Jaedong Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Flash (red) > Hwasin (white) on Loki II
Flash Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Anytime < Nada on Zodiac
Anytime < Nada on Loki II
Nada Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Shine (yellow) > Mind (purple) on Loki II
Shine (blue) < Mind (white) on Zodiac
Mind Advances to the Quarterfinals!
Highlight Video
Summary:
Match E:
Jaedong is by no means a one trick pony. His build orders vary, leaving his opponents surprised as to what they should expect. He is also a master of the ZvZ matchup and already ahead one game in the series. Jaedong's one-hatch Muta build is exciting, but also amazing in that every thing Jaeong does this game helps him ensure his winning it. From the two sneaky zerglings, to perfect drone control Jaedong looks amazing. He has his first Mutalisks ready to go before Luxury even begins his Spire. The only thing I have to say about Luxury, is that he was unfortunate enough to have to face Jaedong so early.
Match F:
Flash pretty much was able to have his way with Hwasin this game. Neither player truly engaged the other until more than ten minutes into the game. By that time Flash is ahead both in position and units. He constantly has more dropships getting up to eight at one point as well as a two expansion lead on Hwasin once every expansion has been claimed. Hwasin comes out behind in most of the battles and eventually runs out of resources while Flash is still pulling them in from several locations.
Match G:
There were a lot of people that hoped NaDa could pull out the win, though much less who thought he would actually be able to pull it off, especially after his first game against Anytime. Anytime is careless with his units this time around, almost to the point Nada was careless in their last game. He basically gives his Reaver away in the drop for literally nothing. Nada harasses Anytime several times with successful Vulture raids on his expansions. Anytime's push attempts fail miserably leaving Nada to move out with enough tanks to level Seoul.
The final game was a pretty good game, once it got around to the good parts. Like the previous game on Loki II, there is no action until well after ten minutes into the game. To give you an idea: the first attack of the game is an Arbiter recall into Nada's backyard expansion. Nada saw the Arbiter build coming plenty in advance and prepares for them accordingly. In a back and forth battle Nada sustains less losses and eventually inches forward far enough to slowly wipe out Anytime's chances.
Match H:
Apparently Loki II means "leave your opponent alone forever" as there is yet another game with no early pressure from either player. Aside from a little bit of cloaked Wraith action from Mind, which he abandons after the first pass, the action once again starts very late. Both players begin building Battlecruiser armies, Shine with a clear advantage in number of Starports. Before he gets rolling Mind attacks the Starports, taking a couple out, but the first batch of Battlecruisers finishes and Mind's tanks flee and explode. Shine still has more Starports, even after he loses a couple, and whenever the two engage the superior numbers win. Mind shows us why he is the champion and pulls out the win in game three, apparently he is really bad at game two of any series. Mind defends Shine's early attacks and drops. Shine does damage, but usually ends up losing at least at much as he gains. Mind's good defense find him ahead when he decides to make his own advance and he crushes Shine's final hopes.
Bracket by pachi:
+ Show Spoiler +
Upcoming Match:
MSL Quarterfinals Match A
February 5th, 2008
Light vs Kal
1st Set - Katrina
2nd Set - Zodiac
3rd Set - Blue Storm
4th Set - Loki II
5th Set - Katrina