EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/pachi/banner/OSL_080730.png)
I don't know why HotBid hasn't done a graph of Pachi and his awesomeness yet...
Welcome back everyone! After a few weeks off things are finally starting to pick up again and as per the trend this year, the OSL is here to provide you with the first action of the season. Of course by this is mean that the group selections were held last week and the first games of the season are just a few days away - and by the looks of things this could be the best OSL in years. But that's the thing about the Fall Season, people are settled into the new progaming year and are poised to make their mark on the scene and become the legend. Indeed that's the theme of the OSL this season; become the legend.
The theme is very appropriate for a number of reasons, we've got a few royal road candidates as usual, coupled with the drama-bomb that is JulyZerg as well as the ever present "Legend of the Fall". There's a lot things that can happen this season which can define a new legend or simply revive the ancient one. There's also a deviation from the norm in terms of how the map pools are decided this season. We've got the complete abolition of the old OSL map pool in favor of two unique OGN maps and two new Proleauge maps. With this much going on you simply cannot help but be excited.
Before we have a look at what's going down on Wednesday, let's recap the group selection ceremony and see who ended up where! This is going to be quite a lengthy post, so for your convenience, here's a bunch of internal hyperlinks to make reading easier.
1. Highlights of the Pre-Drawing Interviews
2. Incruit OSL Groups
3. The mensrea Group Selection Awards
4. Group A Overview
5. Group B Overview
6. Group C Overview
7. Group D Overview
8. Wednesday Night Predictions
9. Outro
Highlights of the Pre-Drawing Interviews
- Thanks to SuperJongMan
First, they talked to Rock. They asked him about his history with July, and Rock said he doesn't want July to pick him. He said he didn't want any of that round of 16 nonsense, that he wanted to settle things in a series like a man.
They said to July, "all the terrans want you!". In particular, they talked about Sea, and July said "yeah, I'd play him, but the group stage isn't the proper setting for a match against Yum BoSung". Something to that effect, anyway.
Sea said he loses in the round of 16 a lot. He said, "I know people want grand words, but I don't really want to build up hype. I've lost so many times, if I fail again I'll have a mountain to climb (meant like he'd have to train his balls off)". Then they asked him about his mom and he said he'd love to have his mom be able to watch him on an outdoor stage (round of 8 and on, apparently).
Best's interview was pretty bland, he said he wants Flash and Sea in his group because he wants to advance to smash July later on. Afterwards, July said that Best is a good player, and it's possible that he'd lose to Best, "I mean I think he can stop 5pool.. well, he did. But he couldn't stop anything afterwards." July basically said that Best played like ass in the final, but also said he wouldn't mind if Best went 0-3 in the group stage so he wouldn't have to face him again. Joking manner, of course.
Flash spent a lot of time talking about the environment in KTF, how happy he is there and the great expectations he has for the team in the future. Very bland interview, but he said he wants July to pick him. July wasn't pleased because now if he dodges he looks like he's scared of terran
GGplay's interview was very run of the mill as well, he just said that he's played really shitty since he won his OSL, and that he is making a serious effort to return to form etc etc.
Much's interview was largely more of the same, I want to show my best and so on. However, he talked about his pylon heart against FireBatHero. "You know, if I did that against any other player, I'd probably get a lot of criticism. But that didn't happen when I did it to him." Then he says that if he loses to FireBatHero he can probably expect a ceremony in return, "but I don't see that happening."
Midas said that he will find a way to win every game, be it a fast victory or a slow victory. He wants to win back-to-back OSLs, starting with this one.
The commentators asked Fantasy what he thought about the timing of his entry into OSL in relation to his career, and he only really said "I guess it'd be bad if it was earlier.. and I guess it'd be bad if it was later."
TheZerg gave props to July, and said that every MBC Hero zerg models their play after his aggressive style. He said that 2v2 is way harder than 1v1 because of the variance in chemistry with different partners. He said he's very focused on the Royal Road, he wants to walk that path so bad
With the pre-drawing interviews fading into memory all that was left for the seeds to pick their victims, starting with last seasons champion and working down. Once all the seeds had picked, then they started from Group D and worked back up to Group A with the player picked by the seed choosing their next opponent. This repeated twice more to yield the follow groups for the Incruit OSL!
Group A:
July -> 
Flash -> 
Bisu -> MuchGroup B:
BeSt -> GGPlay -> Rock -> LightGroup C:
Luxury -> Thezerg -> Midas -> MindGroup D:
BackHo -> Stork -> Sea -> fantasyBefore we go any further, it's time for the traditional mensrea group selection awards!!
The Studliest Choice Award – GGPlay
GGplay's choice of Rock is by far the studliest choice this season, not only did he make Rock squirm and make him dread their upcoming confrontation - but he did it with class and style. To quote SuperJongMan;
AHAHHAHAHAHA.
ROCK IS STUCK WITH GGPLAY!!!!
He is so pissed.
GGplay wanted a P, and cuz last season he lost so stupidly to Rock, he wants blood again. Rock is talking about how he got raped lately (vZ), but his victory game vs GGplay was complete, and he wants another one
ROCK IS STUCK WITH GGPLAY!!!!
He is so pissed.
GGplay wanted a P, and cuz last season he lost so stupidly to Rock, he wants blood again. Rock is talking about how he got raped lately (vZ), but his victory game vs GGplay was complete, and he wants another one
The Group of Death – Group A
Without question Group A is one of the fiercest groups in an OSL for a long time. It contains three former champions of the Major Leauges as well as red hot Much to round off what is a insanely difficult group. The magnitude of difficulty for this group is reflected in the overwhelming 93% vote from teamliquid users as the group of death for this OSL. There isn't a soul alive that wouldn't be excited by the quality of this group.
The Guilliver Award to the player surrounded by lilliputian giants – BeSt
BeSt has, and continues to be, a monster in all three matchups. Despite losing to the mind games of July last season, he's still one of the strongest candidates for taking the title this season. His group this season sports 3 of the most mediocre players ever to make an OSL, it should be easy pickings for this Protoss titan.
The My Race Suxor Award – Zerg
The Zerg's are still struggling to get back into the OSL, with two of the four Zergs qualifying by seeds from last season. Despite only 1/4 of the players being Zerg, the quality within those 4 players is quite phenomenal and it's fairly likely we'll see a good representation in the Round of 8, so there's no need to go ringing the alarms just yet!
The Return of the King Award – Midas
Midas is finally back! After his dominating performance in the height of the Savior era he has finally returned to take an OSL title. The question is, will his nerves hold up or will he continue to be the perennial game 4 Choke Artist. Memories of his losses to both Savior and Anytime in the semifinals of the MSL and OSL respectively still linger in many of the fans minds as he takes to the stage once again to fight for his rightful title.
The “I belong in this Starleague” Award – ForGG
It's not that Much didn't earn his win, it's just unfortunate that ForGG got lumped with 9 games in a single day with his final games of the day being against one of the strongest PvT'ers of today. If ForGG were in any other group there is no doubt in my mind that he would be in this OSL. Given his recent form he would have been a huge asset to this OSL.
The “I don’t belong in this Starleague” Award – BackHo
Backho is the single let down in this star studded field of brilliance. Sadly, he is here by virtue of seeding and his very presence makes me wish we still had a 3rd/4th playoff to eliminate this pimple from the beautiful face of Starcraft. *Sigh* Here's hoping he doesn't knock out any awesome players this season.
With the awards dished out, let's take a closer look at each one of these groups;
Group A
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/I_OSL_Group_1/groupa.jpg)
Group A features a grand total of 4 OSL titles, 2 OSL Runner-ups, 1 OSL Third Place, 2 MSL titles and 1 MSL Runner-up. It's no doubt the most impressive group in the entire OSL, as the poll has indicated. Despite the impressive trophy cabinet held by this group, the members have questionable form. July hasn't played a convincing ZvT in a long time and with the OSL curse hanging over his head, one has to wonder whether he will pass out of the group. Flash hasn't looked in tip-top shape lately with losses to ForGG, Luxury and Jaedong in recent times. While this group is relatively tame for his skill, the question is whether or not he will qualify as number two or number one
Bisu has also been under preforming of late, going a miserable 1-2 in the last OSL. With that being said he manged to defeat a very inform Iris on decent TvP maps which is always a good sign. I don't know if Bisu has what it takes to go all the way this season either, which is a real shame as always. Lastly we have Much - the only member of the group who doesn't contribute to the trophy cabinet, but possibly one of the strongest candidates of the group. Much is here after an impressive win over ForGG in Round 1, which is an impressive scalp to claim coming into the OSL. Much has also bested Bisu's PvP, with a victory over him in the last OSL. With a mean PvT and above average PvP there is a very real possibility that Much could end up qualifying first from the group. Let's just say that the gunpowder is set for an explosive and exciting group.
Group B
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/I_OSL_Group_1/groupb.jpg)
While not as impressive as Group A, there's certainly going to be an intense fight for the second spot from the group. I say this because BeSt is simply a cut above the other gamers in this group, he's playing such good Protoss right now and coupled with a little help from the Fall Season there's no reason for him not to 3-0 this group. That leaves one spot for the rest to fight over. GGPlay has had dwindling form since his epic win over Iris in Daum OSL, and still he shows only small signs of coming back to form. Every now and then he shows utter brilliance in his play, but more often that not his play turns to crap and he drops out. The goal for GGPlay this season is consistency, should he play consistently at his best then we've got a real contender on our hands, else there's not much to see here.
Rock is once again roped in with GGplay, much to his disgust. Rock's got a pretty easy group for him to be perfectly honest; he's already defeated GGplay once before and boasts an impressive PvT. This gives him, yet again, another shot at making the Round of 8 and possibly beyond. That spot really is only challenged by Light, the Super Terran or Dark Sorcerer. Light at one stage was branded as the player with the best multitasking in all of Starcraft, but faltered numerous times against Jy early on in his career. Nevertheless he has persisted and regained a lot of his old form. At best, however, Light is only a mediocre Terran - but then so are most players before they become legends. If Light brings his A game to the table, the clash between himself and Rock shouldn't be one to miss.
Group C
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/I_OSL_Group_1/groupc.jpg)
For those of you die-hard TvZ fans that have been missing the action in recent times thanks to the mass of Protoss and Terran players, rejoice at the glory of this group! Luxury may not be the best Zerg in the world, but he's damn close to it. After taking down Flash last OSL there's only one lingering question over his head; that is is his ZvP up to scratch? Thankfully for him, this group is only full of win for him as his two strongest matchups will be tested to their full. TheZerg is the other half of the 910/Thezerg MBC 2v2 combo, and with the eradication of 2v2 it's good to see that he's powering hard in his 1v1. Despite be one of the new faces this OSL, he boasts a fierce ZvT and a entertaining ZvZ, which will serve him well against the member of the group. With balance clouds still lingering over the map pool, Thezerg's traditional MBC style of aggression will undoubtedly serve him well.
On the other half of the group we have two great Terrans. Midas is one of the most influential Terran players of the middle generation and was the pioneer of FD. While his trademark matchup is indeed TvP, his infamous "8rax if close, 14CC if far away" TvZ style served him well during the height of the Savior era, being the only Terran to really push Savior in his prime. Memories of Midas's epic choke against Savior in game 4 of the Pringles semifinal must still haunt him in his dreams. Well all that looks set to change this OSL as all of his matchups are looking great, and his Proleauge record last season proves it. Mind, the last member of the group, is becoming somewhat of a modern day Gorush. He looked like one of the most dominant Terrans of the new era, but then rapidly faded into obscurity while sporting strong play. Mind hasn't made an impressive on the OSL yet, but with the Zerg intensive group it doesn't look likely. The question about Mind is whether he will take a game off Midas or not.
Group D
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/I_OSL_Group_1/groupd.jpg)
This has the potential to be one of the more entertaining groups, or it has the potential to be one of the saddest groups in OSL history. Backho was wise this season and picked a Protoss as his first opponent, and for good reason, he's got a sick PvP. However... Backho's other matchups are terrible thanks to his inability to find the right unit combination, to micro correctly or to make the correct in game decisions. The two terrans in the group will make Backho's life difficult, especially if he loses to Stork. Stork on the other hand is also not likely to make it out of the group, which may come as a surprise. Stork's play has slowly been on the decline despite his perennial appearances in Starleauges. Since Daum OSL, Stork has not missed a single OSL meaning this is his fifth straight appearance. However, given his numerous there is a grey cloud of doubt hovering over his head about his consistent 2nd placings, especially seeing as he wracked up yet another 2nd place in WCG.
The Terran's are the group favorites by miles, with both performing at a level simply beyond their Protoss compatriots. Sea is everybody's favorite Terran, and with his recent TL affection, perhaps now he can go on to become a Starleague champion. With the group laid out before him, this is a very real possibility as he gets to face of against his arch rival Stork. Sea's biggest rival, however, will probably come in the form of fantasy. This young SKT Terran is playing some fine Starcraft. He eliminated Nada to get here, but given his spectacular play not too many people were crying over it. He looks like a genuine contender for the semifinals this season, and this group shouldn't be too hard for him. The question is will his rookie nerves hold up under the pressure? Or will he crumble like so many have before him...
So what's coming up this week in the OSL? Well we have the first round of group play where we'll see 1v2 and 3v4 from all four groups across two nights. The first round is always fun given the trash talk of the group selections, but it's also a very important week as losing now could be a set back which can send you on a sharp downwards spiral out of the competition. My OSL partner in crime, Semioldguy, will give a nice previewo f the Friday competition on Thursday night, so for now let's see what Wednesday's games have in store for us...
Group A
 |  |  |
 July | Return of the King |  Flash |
| 86 - 78 | 2-2 | 30 - 14 |
This is a match which is unlikely to appease the hype that this confrontation offers. JulyZerg hasn't really been able to ZvT at the top level in a long time now, despite his incredible mutalisk control. Thus, much like his days in the Oov era, we'll likely see some kind of all in rush or highly aggressive strategy to try and overcome the Terran rock that is Flash. Flash is unquestionably the favorite here, and so long as he does not succumb to any all ins or suffer a major disadvantage early on, he should win this him in unglamorous ease.
Certainly, if July plays his usual all in self the July fans will be appeased, but the Flash fans will be left with a sour taste in their mouths. Should July enter a macro war the resulting conflict will probably be fairly unentertaining with Flash walking all over July from start to finish. This won't appease anyone as everyone will be hoping for an excellent game from the reigning OSL champion. If you beleive in curses and myths then obviously your money will be on Flash to take the win thanks to the OSL curse. If you beleive in recent trends you'll put your money on July, with July making it to the Round of 8 before departing. Personally, I'm a curse man, and this coupled with the performance of both in recent times makes me think that Flash is going to win.
Group B
Things couldn't have turned out better for Rock. This is likely to be the deciding game of the group for the second spot, and all signs are coming up Rock. Plasma is a map which favors the use of Carriers - the one thing Rock knows how to control out of the entire Protoss arsenal. Combine this with a map which has a balance struggle going on, and an opponent who's slightly below a 50% TvP winrate and you've got yourself a win. That being said it won't be a walk over victory, Light should be able to post a very decent game against the Caveman and if his trademark multitasking shines through we could have a very interesting game on our hands.
I hope you like Golaith vs Carrier battles because that's what it's going to come down to. Obviously, given the map and the players you've just got to side with Rock. Rock should win this game, and with the victory he should secure himself the spot in the Round of 8 should everything else go according to plan.
Group C
Alas this will be a boring prediction because despite TL's best efforts to steal the proleague maps off progamers, we have failed miserably. Thus we are left with a completely unknown map where there two will face off. However, much can be said about Luxury and Thezerg in this matchup. Luxury is arguably the second best ZvZ around, behind Jaedong obviously. This makes him the firm favorite over the newcomer. But with that said, Thezerg has proven that he is a dynamo in ZvZ, taking Rumble to school in style with brilliant micro and some cute plague action. He certainly won't let the game go with ease.
Ultimately this should be the game which differentiates which Zerg gamer is going to go through. But in a group full of Zergs and Terrans things usually don't go according to plan, unless that plan involves Boxer. The money has to be on Luxury, unless this map is some kind of double gas island monstrosity, in which case I'm going to give the edge to Thezerg, don't ask why, just accept it. However, the safe bet is Luxury.
Group D
Once again we have zero knowledge about this new proleauge map. There's quite a high probability of this being a very interesting concept map which could be very bad for certain matchups. Although it probably would make for an entertaining TvT, as do most non-standard maps. Sea and fantasy are here to fight it out, and the winner is almost sure to go through to the next round, what with Backho lying about ready to be slaughtered. Sea has the experience, but fantasy has the rookie vigor - it's the classic case of the new school vs the old school, and generally its the old school who wins, at least when they still have decent form.
Sea should rightly take this game, but fantasy has upset Nada to get here. In my opinion, this is the hardest game to call of the night - but my expectation is that Sea should clean up. But as always, rookies are so hard to predict until you see them play at this level. This game should be indicative of whether or not fantasy will live up to his hype, or whether Sea has a solid chance this OSL. Want to bet on someone? Bet on Sea; because no matter what happens, you can't lose.
So that's it, it's a lot of text, but hopefully the hyperlinks made things easier and more manageable for everyone to read and enjoy. Hell, they may even become a regular feature! Anyway, this OSL is shaping up to be one of the best in history, with the talent in these groups overflowing into the audience. It's going to be one hell of a show, but there's one thing for certain. One of these 16 players will be the next OSL champion and become the legend. The question, as always, is who is that going to be? Over the coming weeks we will see great names falter, and new stars rise. We will see drama, action, romance (?) and tears - both of joy and of sorrow. As always, Teamliquid will take you to hell and back to get the best coverage of the tournament than any site on the internet! So stay tuned for what will be a memorable and historic OSL.
Plexa
