Hi! I got into TL because of FPL, partly thanks to The_Templar's recaps in round 1. Those have been a little rarer recently (Templar is a busy man), so I figured that since I was thinking about FPL a lot, I might as well try to write about it. I ripped off the format from Templar, as you can see, with his quasi-permission. This is obviously not official TL material, just a fan's perspective.
Player of the week: GuMiho
Gumiho replicated Solar’s success this week by killing him in the ace match (and then presumably eating him to gather his essence, or whatever a Terran does). He earned 10 points off the back of a match win vs. Journey, the ace match win, a 3-game winning streak, and the destruction of Solar’s winning streak.
Runner-up: Leenock
This one is between Leenock and Rogue (both earned 5 points), but I give it to Leenock for two reasons: he is currently the 3rd-most popular FPL team choice; and he beat Classic in a very tense and prolonged base trade, kicking off the astounding 3-0 sweep of SKT by Sbenu.
Anti-player of the week: DongRaeGu
Wow, DRG is on fire! Losira, Maru, Flash, and now soO have all been victims of the Final Boss this round, who himself remains undefeated. This week is painful for the many (over 400!) FPL teams with soO, who hasn’t gotten to play the last two weeks and had previously been near unbeatable in ZvZ.
Runner-up: BrAvO
BrAvO is still the 6th most popular anti pick. Unfortunately for those people, he has really turned it on this round, scoring crucial wins against Maru and sKyHigh, thereby allowing Samsung to upset JAGW and CJ. After his mech failed him vs. Dark two weeks ago, BravO tried out bio-mine—emphasis on mine. Losira lost a LOT of mutas to those mines.
Trade bait for week 3: Life
Life has taken one game this round. I’m sure he could have beaten BBoongBBoong, but Prime was 3-0’d before that could happen. He can beat Trap, right?
Runner-up: Maru
Maru has taken zero games this round. I’m sure he could have beaten BBoongBBoong, but Prime was 3-0’d before that could happen. He can beat Flash, right?
Team of the week: Dghelneshi
Like many, Dghelneshi traded Trap for GuMiho. Unlike many, Dghelneshi kept GuMiho around instead of picking up Rogue. That sleeper trade paid off in spades this week, as did more recent acquisitions Bunny and Stats. Combine that with an airtight anti team, and this week was a good one. Well done!
Worst team of the week: xxPYROxx
This Jin Air all-in (plus Journey) team is feeling the pain this round. The killer this week, though, is the MVP anti, specifically GuMiho. There’s not much more to say than RIP. That, and do not question Choya.
Best possible no-trade team:
$5 GuMiho 18
$5 DongRaeGu 17
$5 Curious 16
$3 Solar 17
$3 Blaze 16
$3 Sorry 10
$6 SKT 14
$9 Maru -3
$4 Creator 0
$0 XY 0
For a total of 105 points. Incidentally, this is very similar to last week’s best no-trade team, which makes sense: as we approach week 7, the best possible no-trade team converges to its Final Form.
Best possible team:
Or a close approximation:
$8 Zest 18
$5 Curious –(week 1)-> Classic –(week 4)->Leenock 26
$5 DongRaeGu 17
$3 Sorry –(week 1)-> GuMiho 22
$3 DeParture –(week 2)-> Rogue 20
$3 Blaze–(week 3)-> Solar 23
$3 SAM–(week 2)-> JAGW –(week 4)-> KT 18
$9 Maru -3
$4 Creator 0
$0 XY 0
For a total of 134 points. There’s a lot of team trading in this, which strikes me as unusual—in the past it has been better to hold on to one reasonably consistent team. This round the teams have been kind of inconsistent, at least now that SKT was swept.