Days of Reckoning - Have the Dragons gone missing?
By Fzero
The Winners League has finally begun. Rosters have been set. Matches have started. The first week is in the books. The fan base here at TeamLiquid have been more than excited about the prospect of an all-kill format being presented night after night. Over 3/4ths of the members of this site have voted in favor of the Winner's League format when compared to the Traditional Proleague. What nobody told you, the fans, was that that games would be nothing like what you expected. Flash and Jaedong? Pssshhhh. How about Anytime and iloveoov! Hell yeah, it's about time. KTF have won seven games with Flash having only one victory.
This Week at a Glance
Let's have a look at how things are shaping up thus far. Most people had high expectations for the proleague powerhouses like Samsung Khan, Lecaf Oz, STX Soul, and SK Telecom T1. Players like Jaedong, Flash, Bisu, and Leta had dominated the Shinhan Bank Proleague 08-09 season up till now. With a hearty ten matches already having been played, the standings have shaken out in a vastly different way. CJ Entus has had a wonderful showing from their irregular performers Movie and Iris thus far. KTF hasn't been a one man show like predicted since Luxury has showed up in a big way. Air Force Ace's Anytime has played magnificently, racking up five wins in two matches which catapulted them to just outside of a playoff spot so far. What surprises does next week entail? I'm sure most of you will continue to tune in and hope for an even more exciting week.
When we think about Progaming, we think about fiery victories where our progaming heroes are showered in confetti from the ceiling while they hoist a shiny new trophy high above their head. We also think about narrow defeats wherein our most beloved idol barely missed glory as it was snatched from his/her eyes by our newest mortal enemy. And yes, a girl will win something in gaming one day. Not in Korea, but somewhere, someday... Maybe. I don't have an answer to the reason that Winners League has started so bizarrely, and frankly.. I don't want one. I could not be more excited for my fantasy team to have been so very wrong. It has made this league much more exciting than I could have ever imagined to not have any idea who will win any given match. Hopefully this trend continues and captain Korea here can lead his team to the playoffs!
Now, you would imagine with all the hustle and bustle produced by such an enigmatic beginning we would arrive at some glaring imbalance with the maps. Perhaps Tau Cross isn't so perfect as KESPA imagined? And Medusa? Deary me, Bisu taught Protoss so well how to destroy that map. Surely something was not thought through with all the crazy victories happening night after night. Well... glancing up at our statistics here, there simply isn't evidence to that at all. I'd hardly be able to make a case for ANY map imbalances looking at the data so far, much less to suggest that Anytime and Yarnc are destroying people like Stork and Sea based on some ridiculous map feature. Perhaps in the coming weeks we'll be able to single out a reason for the insanity, but for now we'll just have to let the Joker rule for a while.
Players of the Week
Damn. Samsung Khan in a race for last, Air Force Ace fighting for top six, and CJ Entus leading the pack. I'd say I saw it all coming, but only Intrigue can see into the future. The excitement and anticipation for the rest of the Winners League is going to be at an all time high, I predict. I hope everyone appreciates just how much better being involved with e-sports has become because of TeamLiquid. Take a little time and give back to the wonderful community we all love. Well, that's all I have for you this week. Hopefully you enjoyed catching up on anything you missed. Please let me know if anything can be improved in the coming weeks. If there is a feature you are dying to have added, I'll do my best to accommodate. Don't be afraid to speak up. Games start again in a few days, and I hope you guys are ready!