It was the BeSt of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of Broodwar, it was the age of MBS, it was the epoch of queens in ZvT, it was the epoch of banshee TvZ, it was the season of Bisu, it was the season of Jaehoon, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Shanghai, we were all going direct the other way... - With apologies to Charles Dickens
This week's Proleague update arrives just in time for the start of play, so if you're not here to watch them already, be sure to join us for OZ vs MBC and KT vs STX. In fact, while you're at it, why not have a look at the week's schedule, where mustaju highlights the BeSt games of the week ahead. If you on the other hand missed any Week 2 games, you can jump below to see the BeSt of the week gone by, as summarised by Kiante. If you'd like to just skip to the BeSt of the BeSt though, read Konadora's battle report of Bogus vs Neo.G_Soulkey.
In terms of features, we have CSheep's tribute to YellOw, one of the BeSt Zergs to ever walk a tileset. As announced earlier this week, Hong Jin-Ho is retiring, and the PL team pauses for a moment here to say thank you, YellOw. Thank you for being a part of the greatest E-Sports rivalry of all time.
As usual though, we've saved the BeSt for Last, with Spica taking you into the mind of SKT T1 Protoss Doh Jae Wook, who took out KT's BeSt player Flash in a neat game on Circuit Breaker. Read on for the post game interview!
CJ have been off to a flier so far this round, and it looks like nothing has changed this week, as they crushed MBC into dust. Once again the CJ coach is showing his strength with most of his players, apart from sKyHigh and to an extent Movie getting their ideal matchup. The result was quick and painless for MBC, with their star players getting taken down in rapid succession, after which, apart from Jaehoon, the rest of MBC crumbled.
Ah, and so the SKT-KT rivalry continues with their meeting this round occurring early on as it did in round 5. The result in favor of SKT was also no surprise. Its been a long time since KT have managed to beat SKT (that Stats all-kill in round 4) and it seems like SKT are taking their dominance over KT to a new level. Lets take a quick rundown of what went wrong for KT. Now I know there were other games played in this set, but the only one that needs speaking about is the obvious. BeSt vs Flash. Interesting statistic, BeSt is 3-1 vs Flash this season. What a record. It seems like BeSt got the better of Flash, utilizing a greedy build to exploit Flash's own greed, taking almost 8 bases before flash pushed out, and expertly whittling down the push with well placed storms and stasis' while re-macroing giant armies. However not only does Best have the better of flash, but the Coach Lee(the KT coach) is being dominated by Coach Park(SKT coach). There's a reason that BeSt keeps beating flash. It's because Coach Park knows exactly how his opposite number thinks and expertly sniped his trump card. SKT FIGHTING!
It's nice to see STX get a win here and there. Round 5 was particularly horrible for STX as my FPL would support (I was dead last after picking an STX based lineup). What's more interesting about this set was Kal's victory against ZerO. Their game wasn't even close, with Kal being on top from the beginning with a clever Bisu build opening, which let him sneak a DT into ZerO's fourth that denied it for almost the whole game while racking up almost 20 kills. Kal followed up brilliantly with DT and zealot drop harass and finished ZerO by plonking two reavers outside his natural and waiting for the GG to be called. The other good match in this set was SoulKey vs Bogus. We all know SoulKey's late game zvt is a thing of wonder and it was on show in full force. SoulKey managed to be incredibly behind after Bogus showed a really cool tempo based marine/medic aggression play that transitioned into drops. Entering the late game with about 30 drones and a base behind, SoulKey decided he would win. And win he did. It was unfortunate that such a wonderful performance was marred by the loss of his team.
Oz winning without Jaedong. What is this madness! once again Jaedong managed to drop another zvz, this time to the AceDong himself, ggaemo, but luckily this time his team was there to back him up. They fought and clawed their way to a victory, with the highlight being sHy vs Iris, where sHy used a crazy mass dropship strategy for mass reaver drops and mini recalls. It was a really excellent display of innovative strategy and good multitasking from young protoss and hopefully we get to see more of it in the future!
Despite CJ hitting a couple of relatively "easy" teams (fox has been low on the ladder all season and MBC were gutted after they lost light), they have really impressed, by utterly dominating their competion. Where a side like SKT will have thrilling close matches with teams that have much weaker lineups than their own, this current CJ side is simply destroying those weaker sides, and as such are starting to look a cut above most teams in the running for the playoffs this season. As for the games themselves, there were some highlights, and some laughs. Mind had a brain aneurism and decided that mass goliath was the correct counter to mass hydralisks and lost fairly convincingly while Horang2 played his usual entertaining PvP with the promosing rookie Wooki and won convincingly.
SKT are the other team apart from CJ really looking hot right now. Not only did they take two pre-ace match wins against strong teams this week, but they slayed two of TBLS (flash and Stork). This time it was SoO to take out the weary dragon, who decided to go nexus first against a 9 pool speed. I think that in Stork's old age, he's started getting amnesia, because I remember clearly the last time these two played in round 5, soo 5 pooled stork, and he lost because he didn't 9 scout. I dont really understand the thought process that goes into "well I got 5 pooled so i should 12 nex next game" but it was altogether really dumb. As for the rest of the matches, we got to see Bisu win with carriers again, which is a somewhat rare and welcomed site, and BeSt took another win in the round closing out the game with an impressive display of post-expansion 3 gate goon defence and excellent map control throughout the midgame to deter reaver harass.
So why is it, the ONE time I miss a proleague game it's Jaedong vs Flash . Unfortunately I was suck in a boring database exam while everyone else got to witness the clash of the titans. It's interesting that Oz have managed to step up their game this week and KT have fallen. Maybe this is the start of a turnaround. While I'm pretty sure that without some insane luck oz wont make the playoffs this year it's nice to dream. Anyways lets jump in and have a look at the games. FvJ was relatively dissapointing. Flash decided to be super cool and bunker rush a third that never came. Jaedong wasn't planning on expanding anytime soon and he rolled into flashes base with a bunch of mutaling and Flash was left feeling a little chargined. The other match of this set to have a look at was the ZvZ between Action and KiLLeR. Hivetech zvz's are always cool to watch because all of the multicoloured goo flying everywhere and the insane amount of options each player has. ie: The polar opposite of a regular zvz. Action threw the game away with poor scouting, but it gave us another Hive tech zvz to put in the books so I'll forgive him.
When two lower ranked teams like MBC and STX go at it, you usually get a much harder fight than you see in the more hyped matches. These teams are fighting to try and secure their playoff spot for the post-season and with all that drive comes spectacular broodwar. It's unfortunate then, that this match coincided with KT vs Oz because i think there are alot of live viewers who were probably dissatisfied with the games in the KT vs Oz set and could've easily been satisfied over on the Runt of the wednesday proleague streams. While it had it's share of not as fun games, there were a couple of crackers. The first was the epic duel of Jaehoon and Calm. When you bring two players, capable of so much brilliance and so much failure all in one package together in the one game, it's almost impossible to predict what will happen. Spawning in the dusty valleys of Bloody ridge, Jaehoon opened up with a gateway first build while Calm went for a 4 hatch before gas opening which was quickly scouted by Jaehoon's wiley probe. Somehow, from these openings the game managed to transition what is accepted as standard pvz fare but instead of abject failure we've come to expect, the game was refreshingly entertaining. Jaehoon triumped in the end with a well timed 2 base timing attack destroying Clam before he could get enough tech to defend it. The other game to watch in this set was Kal vs HyuN. Kal, full of confidence following his destruction of ZerO earlier in the week tried to play a dynamic sair/reaver style, with speed shuttle harass attempting to cull HyuN's 4 base economy. Then HyuN decided mutas were pretty good and 1a2a3a'd a bunch of them into Kal's base fastest map style to close out the set for MBC.
Today is not a tragedy. Today may be tinged with grief, regret, and disappointment, but today is not a tragedy.
Today, we bid farewell to a legend, with tears in our eyes. But it is not a tragedy.
The Storm has gone, but after every storm comes the calm.
Yellow’s retirement letter is poised and collected – but also charged with the emotion that accompanies a decade of progaming. It is simple and straightforward, but nonetheless succeeds in making a huge impact. After all, what is Yellow now? He is more than just an old veteran – he is a living relic of the birth of professional Broodwar. He lives an almost mystical existence, one that draws and compels you to watch him, to cheer for him, to support him.
Yellow’s letter has all the calm and intellect of one who has lived through it all, and has risen above it. What hasn’t he experienced? From the greatest trumphs – King of Kings, Snickers, and even the 2010 Shinhan Proleague – to the deepest regrets – Coca-Cola, Olympus, Ever 2004 – Yellow has seen it all. And it is only after all of this that one can truly transcend the game.
All progamers enter this world because of a deep, burning love of Broodwar. They enter this world where they will succeed and fail in equal measure, because that’s what progamers do. But only a select few can live through a decade of this world and then return, full circle, back to where they began - to that young boy whose greatest joy was to pour his heart and soul into the keyboard, without a second care in the world.
For the last four years, Yellow was not a star. He still commanded legions of loyal fans, but he was not the starleague contender that he once was. The pain that this caused his fans was real and biting.
What lay behind that idiotic smile? Regret? Disappointment? Apathy? No one can answer that but Yellow himself. But what is evident to all who cheered for Hong Jin Ho is that, at some point, that smile turned into genuine contentment, the kind that can only come from devoting your whole self to what you love. Maybe it wasn’t evident in Yellow vs. Child on Andromeda, the first game (and loss) Yellow experienced in two years. Maybe it wasn’t evident in the countless offline prelims he was eliminated in. But it was certainly evident against Bisu on Heartbreak Ridge, against Jaedong on Match Point, and dancing with Violet on the beach of KwangAnRi in the Proleague grand finals.
These games held little significance in the grand scheme of things (indeed, Yellow wasn’t even a direct participant in the SPL finals), but for Yellow, they were played in absolute enjoyment, for nothing other than the sake of a great game.
Of tournaments, prizes, and trophies – Yellow certainly knew of them, and better than most. But as Yellow’s career comes to an end, he can proudly proclaim
The game starts on Circuit Breaker, with STX's ace player Bogus spawning at top left, and Soulkey spawning at the top right. Bogus plays safe with a 1 rax cc, while Soulkey opts for a 12 hatch. Although Bogus is the more late-game orientated player, being down 1-3 must have made Soulkey play safe, as he went for a drone scout and thus, spotting the close spawn positions.
Rather than pulling back the drone, Soulkey decides to make the most out of it, annoying busy SCVs and forcing a SCV to stop working and roleplay as a marine until the real one appeared, by then which Soulkey was forced to pull back the drone.
Drone range imba
Soulkey puts down his third hatchery, going for the standard 3 hatch into muta build, while Bogus puts down a Command Center of his own at the natural.
He gets a quick gas, and instead of an academy, opts for a fast upgrade, getting the ebay off just one barracks - a very common build on this map. Meanwhile, the scouting SCV that made a huge trip around the map is now making a small one in Soulkey's territory, scouting everything from unit production to build order.
No, SCV hp imba.
Back in the Terran's main, Bogus has gone 2nd rax into academy, getting that stim and range done at an appropriate timing to counter mutalisks by sacrificing barracks and marine count. In order not to hand the advantage over to Soulkey, he persistently scouts his main, even doing a baton pass to a fellow SCV with full hp, giving Bogus a better idea of what Soulkey is doing, seeing the lair finishing timing in the process.
Bogus saw that Soulkey had no sunkens, and Soulkey himself knew that. He expected Bogus to push out to punish Soulkey for his lack of defense and thus prepared one and a half control group of Speedlings to flank the army, except there was no army to flank. Because Bogus sacrificed marine count for upgrades, he was playing safe, and it sure did pay off, because the game could have ended right there.
Safe is good.
Bogus now laid down 3 more rax, deciding to overpower Soulkey with marine medic count and fast upgrades. Soulkey, on the other hand, had been playing standard, going 3 hatch muta into expansion at the 5 o'clock main. Mutas arrive, only to face an adequately erected number of turrets. Unable to do much damage, Soulkey decides to save the mutas for flanking later on.
Bogus waits for another round of unit production before pushing out with a larger-than-usual number of marines and medics, an amount that Soulkey could not engage. All he could do was delay the army until his lurkers were done morphing, but with the marines' +1 weapon upgrade done and bogus continuing to push into the center of the map and towards his natural, it seemed like a rather daunting task. Probably being too preoccupied trying to deal with the initial army, Soulkey failed to cut the reinforcing army, and there was now a huge deathball blob moving across the map, threatening to devour anything in its path. So what does Soulkey do to buy himself nearly half a minute of time?
He provokes, but never engages. He cuts off small reinforcement groups and picks off units here and there, but never enough such that it forces him to go deep and risk losing his entire mutaling army. Incredibly smart play, considering the enormous risk he was taking here.
Just enough. Borderline delaying tactic at its extreme.
Bogus realizes that any more delay would result in his huge early investment in units going bad, so he finally decided to ignore the mutaling army and headed straight across the bridge towards the natural, resulting in a split army thanks to the terrain and bad 10-year old AI pathing. Soulkey grasps this opportunity to cut off the forward half of the army, buying even more time for sunkens and lurkers to morph. Bogus, instead of retreating, presses on and eventually loses them as well to the now-completed sunkens, lurkers and mutaling army.
Defense tastes sweetest when it's clutch.
Soulkey now has his 3rd gas safely running, while Bogus is on the Starport tech tier. He continues to pump out infantry from the 5 rax, and quickly recovers back the lost army. He pushes out with this enormous army, while Soulkey only has a couple of mutalisks and slightly over a dozen zerglings. With the army size obviously incomparable, Soulkey is unable to distract the main army this time, and heads to cut off reinforcements. Bogus realises that the mutaling army is far away, and stims straight for the natural, where he was greeted with arms wide open by two unburrowed lurkers, one which had the misfortune of dying before dealing a single blow. With only two morphed lurkers, Bogus rushes in and quickly picks off the lurker in the front. With the reinforcement just a screen away, it seemed that Soulkey would fall here and lead to his team's loss.
However, two of his lurkers morphed just in time, right as a couple of lings spawned to absorb fire (with additional meat shield buffer by the lone sunken colony) from the marines, giving just enough time for the lurkers to safely burrow and deal damage against the 1/1 upgrade marines. The cleanup crew of mutaling arrived, and Soulkey's natural was safe once again. Bogus' failure to make use of the control of the bridges, as well as a slightly late scan was to blame on his part.
This kid is the definition of "living on the edge".
Soulkey was not in the clear yet. Bogus sent his third wave of units, now better and stronger, with the addition of three tanks and a vessel, a delayed standard 10-minute push. Facing such a huge army while (likely due to his own mistake) having a slightly late defiler mound, Soulkey looked to be in some deep trouble. However, his excellence as a tactician shined once more, delaying the seemingly unstoppable force for over one and a half minute in the middle of the map through excellent army positioning and making use of the bridges.
Unable to get anywhere by land and deal damage, Bogus decides to drop. It seemed like a doomed drop, as a Zergling spots the dropship flying by at 12 o'clock. The Zergling saw it, but the player did not. It seemed inexcusable, until you notice that Bogus is now putting pressure on Soulkey's 5 o'clock natural.
Awful lot of damage for a small leftover of the initial army.
The drop deals some drone and ling damage, but the real damage was done by distracting Soulkey enough at 5 o'clock and costing him a few free lurkers, mutas and zerglings. Usually, the Terran gets less aggressive after the 10 minute timing push fails, but not Bogus. His attention moved to 5 o'clock, something that Soulkey wasn't exactly prepared for. Defiler quickly swarms near the tanks and lurkers proceed to take the tanks, but being a quickly cast swarm, it wasn't very well positioned, for it covered only half the natural's wide entrance. Bogus took the opportunity to punish soulkey for it, using his marines to kill a couple of lurkers, zerglings and the nydus canal at the natural. Thankfully, Soulkey still had a nydus canal at the main to reinforce and save the natural.
"How NOT to place your swarms" - By Neo.G_Soulkey
Tanks, with the vessels providing vision and detection, continues to chip away at Soulkey's units. despite defiler out, Bogus continues to mount pressure on Soulkey's 5 o'clock, with his initial army's tanks still alive. a dropship arrives to elevate the units straight into the 5 o'clock main, dealing a ton of unnecessary damage to soulkey's defense and economy, losing a handful of drones, lurkers and sunkens in the process, no thanks to a badly-positioned swarm. Despite this, Soulkey had his 5 o'clock natural as a backup economy, so the damage was not very huge. Bogus continued to knock on both of Soulkey's bases, but time and time again, Soulkey was ready with just a small number of lurkers and defilers in order to save gas for ultralisks, very much reminiscent of a certain bonjwa zerg.
"How NOT to place your swarms, Vol 2" - By Neo.G_Soulkey
Bogus starts the mech switch, while taking the mineral-only and 9 o'clock gas expansion at the same time. He starts cutting off ground routes with spider mines, providing safe cover for the expansions by preemptively cutting off guerilla zergling forces.
The STX Terran continues to be aggressive even with his slower-than-bio mech army, even forcing a cancel on Soulkey's 5 o'clock mineral-only expansion with some well placed mines, a vulture and 2 tanks, massacring more than a dozen of lings as a bonus.
With mines cutting off soulkey to the middle of the map, Bogus takes the 7 o'clock main as well, and it seems that soulkey was heading for some deep trouble if he didn't act fast enough. Soulkey thus decides to cut off bogus' mineral-only, a key to Bogus' never-ending vulture supply. but mass tanks and spider mines immediately negates this, dealing practically no damage at all.
"Dem minez and tankz" was a common phrase used by many non-Terrans.
Soulkey's second attack does much more this time, with a very smart drop with lings, lurkers and a defiler on Bogus' 9 o'clock gas expansion, forcing a lift and SCV pull.
Bogus isn't someone to just sit and not retaliate, however. He immediately takes control of the high ground at 5 o'clock, quickly shutting down Soulkey's mineral-only expansion, while slowly cleaning up 9 o'clock.
Like two boys fighting it out over the stupidest things and never willing to give up over who's the manlier guy, Soulkey decides to go for an attack that will do even greater damage. Another small guerilla drop force at Bogus' mineral-only forces a worker pull, effectively shutting down a base temporarily.
Soulkey showing that smart swarms are deadly.
Meanwhile, we see Soulkey starting to accumulate ultralisks. Normally, Terrans would be around, sniping defilers and irradiating the cows with their vessels, but the skies were filled with scourges, allowing Soulkey to slowly and safely grow his army strength.
A few subsequent and relentless drops on Bogus' scattered tank-heavy army everywhere, from the forward army at 5 o'clock to the tanks at 11 o'clock guarding the mineral-only, was starting to hurt Bogus, as his tank counted dwindled quickly. Soulkey was trading cheap and dispensible zerglings for Tanks.
Zergling drops, zergling drops everywhere.
Oh, did i mention Soulkey had almost a dozen fresh ultralisks waiting?
Similar to how Hulk Hogan gets all fired up after getting a hell of a beating, Soulkey starts unleashing his fury upon Bogus, his tormentor for the past twenty minutes. Drops at Bogus' supply and factory area, while simultaneously destroying his 9 o'clock expansion AND defending against his army at 5 o'clock which consisted of a dozen tanks, followed immediately by harass at the mineral-only and expanding at the 12 o'clock gas expansion, Soulkey was in complete control. His excellent technical usage of defilers and his late game capabilities and understanding shone brightly, such as when he used a defiler and a single lurker at a ramp to hold off half a dozen tanks. Pimpest moment right there, folks. All Bogus could do was wait for the swarm to clear, as all his depots were... well, cleared.
Flash of genius.
Bogus frantically pulls together whatever remaining forces he has and pushes towards Soulkey's main. He tries to gain the high ground advantage but swarm repels him back to the low ground. Having failed to command the high ground, Bogus decides to take the bridge. Smart choice, except it is not very effective if all the units fly to you. A two-pronged attack cleans up the army clean, and while all this was happening, Soulkey had sent a small guerrila army to harass the mineral-only at 11 o'clock, while expanding to his 6th gas expansion at 3 o'clock.
Soulkey's units eat metal.
Not a pretty sight for a main base.
Bogus is now potentially supply blocked, down to just 2 running bases against soulkey's 5 base pumping hive-tech economy. With no way to stop the waves of ultraling or shutting down any of the zerg's expansions, the Terran typed out. GG.
And it was a good game indeed.
The chase continues... The road to Gwanganri just got more tense again, as the 3 last playoff spots were pressed even closer together. This is both good and bad. Good for the casual fan, as teams will be giving it their all to still make it. This should mean good and very tense StarCraft for all of us. How could this possibly be bad, you may ask? My nerves will barely be able to handle the pressure, for one, and fanboy tears will likely make TL insufferable at some points in time. But for great glory, sacrifices need to be made. If you are ready to take this journey with the brave fans who venture on to the bitter end, let me show you what may or may not await you in the future...
Hwaseung and MBC were both huge surprises last round. Many had written them off, while some fans still cheered on and maintained hope. MBC-s game against STX seemed entirely different from MBC vs. CJ, as every player seemed a lot more motivated to win than before. „Jaedong-OZ“ showed some mettle by winning a game without JD, and then letting the slumping star pwn Flash’s butt with nonstop aggression like only JD can. Furthermore, since the positions of the trailing teams are separated by 2 victories only, this game will be incredibly tense. What is more, HiyA, Jaehoon and Tyson seem to be on fire, Hyun recently played a great game to end his loss-streak, and Killer seems to be in great form. And OZ has rookies like Shy playing immensly good games recently, so don’t let this battle of „loser teams“ stereotype fool you. This will be entertaining and close. It’s even hard to predict the winner, but my gutfeeling tells me it will be OZ 4-3.
KT Rolster seems to have hit hard times, and I don’t know when they’ll be able to pull themselves together again, they just can’t seem to get a break – be it cancer, retirements, injuries or obscure instability in their games. It’s hard to look at KT and see the team that won the Proleague last year. Still, if they want to, they can deliver, and if they want to contest the #2 spot, they need to win all the games that remain in this round. However, STX is almost certainly as eager to secure a playoff spot, and should prove a formidable adversary. What are the matchups you should be hyped for? If Kal is in form again, Flash vs. Kal/Calm/Bogus should be entertaining. Stats plays a mean game, if he’s not facing Zerg, but unfortunately for him, STX has recently favored Zerg heavy lineups. In summary, I think STX should have this 4-2, because frankly, they have a lot more momentum and depth right now.
As always, WeMade entered the round with promising results. However, clinging to tradition, the moment they started meeting serious opposition, they folded like a house of cards. It wasn’t just the score that made me think that way, but much rather the manner. They appeared helpless, aimless, whereas the opposition looked slightly bored at times. Fortunately, for them, ACE hasn’t been looking as good recently either, so this might be WeMade’s chance to seriously try getting into playoffs again. I wonder if playing Roro and Shine instead of Lucifer would help? Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say... 4-2 WeMade?
This should, by all rights, be the match of the week, but I’m reluctant to call it that. Why, you may ask? Let me explain - when the round started, I naively thought both Woongjin and KHAN were pretty much certain to advance into the playoffs, and I was not exactly alone. I guess I forgot about the tendency of KHAN and Woongjin to collectively give up when it matters most, as the teams with the deep lineups and the promising rookies have gone from being gold contenders to losing every game in round 6. By necessity, at least one of them will have a win to their name at a way overdue time. Will it be enough to regain momentum? KHAN has it more coming than Woongjin, I suppose, since Jangbi has been looking stronger every game, Reality can still take a game off everyone, and the rookies are still relatively promising, whereas Woongjin’s free, Light, and Really chose a horrible time to munch on suck-sauce, but at the end of the day, the ace match will likely favor Woongjin, ironic as it may be with the Woongjin Ace match curse. What has caused KHAN to lose their previous games was their inability to win Ace matches, and I don’t see that trend stopping unless they start sending out Reality instead of Great. Woongjin should drag this to Ace match and thus a 4-3 victory, and trust me, it feels weird saying this. The irony of Woongjin putting their hopes on Ace matches has not escaped me.
The most often repeated phrase in my previews has been „CJ imba“. I could just state this and KT’s deteriorating momentum and be done with it, but that just feels lazy, so I’ll try and write something that doesn’t seem as fanboyish. (And at the time of writing, I’m not a CJ fan, mind you.) KT has been heavily relying on Zergs to drag the games to Ace matches. Those Zergs have been having trouble recently, especially when it comes to ending the game, even if they are in a favorable position. In addition to that, KT’s secondary ace player Stats has a very weak matchup in PvZ, and CJ has been excellent in sniping all season. furthermore, Skyhigh and Snow are large threats to Flash, which means that even the usual safe win is put into jeopardy. Second-Third place matches should be a lot more even, but with a troubled heart, I’ll predict a 4-1 CJ. In all honesty, Yellow deserves a better fair-well present.
On the topic of imba, here’s SK Telecom T1. MBC is fully capable of creating upsets against teams like Woongjin, STX, or KHAN, but SKT1 is currently playing at an entirely different level. My favorite target of riddicule will always be the T1 Zerg line, but to be fair, even THAT has managed to get an aura of near competence. If we’re lucky, we can see a few great games including Sea, BeSt, Jaehoon (yes, Jaehoon, shut up, haters!) Bisu, Tyson and Fantasy. If not, it will be a mirror fest. Either way, I think SKT should have this in a bag as easy as 4-1.
I haven’t had the chance to watch the recent games of the Boys in Blue, but it seems that they have lost a fair bit of momentum since round 5. Hence the not so radical prediction that STX might very well have the advantage going into this set. Then again, last round, STX lost 4-3 to ACE, but I think they’ll take their revenge this time. FBH and Iris continue to be threats, while Piano should prove a hurdle if STX tries to go Zerg heavy again. Another thing to remember – if you underestimate Grandpa-toss, you’re gonna get a beating. Still, if the lineups are equal and no major snipes occur, the advantage is strongly on the side of STX. I wouldn’t exactly bet on it, given my past mispredictions, but STX should win 4-2 before the Ace match.
„This will be brutal“, my friend said as we were looking at our monitors. He meant the recent Estonian bank crisis, but it applies to this match even better. I’m just very hyped to see HiyA prove his mettle against ZerO or Neo.G_Soulkey, though I’m certain the OZ coach will attempt to prevent such a scenario just yet. This game could also give an indication of the form of Jaedong, who beat God himself recently. Why am I even doubting? Because when JD struggled, he struggled in long econ driven matches rather than short and bloody skirmishes, and the game vs. Flash was only a macrogame by SC2 standards. A long game with an in-form Light, on the other hand, would prove to be an epic challenge and hopefully a ray of hope for his fans. But enough about OZ. what is Woongjin hoping for? The best scenario for Stars would be a non-ZvZ for Neo.G_Soulkey and sniping someone high profile from the OZ lineup with ZerO. Light will likely be the deciding factor between win and loss, since OZ is Zerg heavy, which should play right into his hands, but on the other hand, if he meets a Protoss... This is hard to predict, but I’m saying 4-2 for OZ, with a sense of certainty only rivaled by my understanding of the plot of „Primer“. Which is to say, I’m very, very uncertain.
I’ll cut the hype part and just say it – if KHAN doesn’t beat Stars, they’ll have no chance in hell against CJ. In addition to being plain solid in Proleague, CJ players seem to be very well equipped against the Protoss legions that KHAN consists of – the worst vP form of the main 5 of CJ belongs to Snow, and he’s still 50% with 5-5 in his recent 10 games. I really don’t think KHAN can take 4 matches off CJ, so it’s only a matter of how many KHAN can take off CJ. My guess would be 1 or 2, Reality or Jangbi. I’ll go with 4-1 for CJ and look forward to seeing if my amazing jinx record takes ridiculous proportions.
For 5 rounds, WeMade has failed to defeat SK Telecom T1 in proleague, getting allklled twice and humiliated 4-0 last time. I think I see a pattern here, and WeMade FOX better hope they’ll get some wins from the other matches if they intend to qualify for the playoffs, because defeat is the only thing they’ll be getting from here. I’ll even be bold enough to predict a 4-0 in favour of SK Telecom T1.
BeSt: “How much of my skill has been restored? Around 30%”
SK Telecom’s BeSt defeated Flash again and brought his team another win. BeSt, who meets Flash and beats him often, seems like he has finally escaped from his slump, but he is still not satisfied where is at now. BeSt explained that although he has been racking up wins in his strongest matchup PvT, he must improve his PvZ and PvP in order to say that he has truly made a full recovery.
Q: You ended the match with a victory for your team. A: Our team is in a situation where it’s not settled yet if we’re going to keep our 1st place position or go to the finals, but I’m happy that we won against KT, one of the higher ranking teams. We’ll also defeat the teams following from behind and lock in our 1st place ranking.
Q: Did you find a solution to dealing with Flash? A: I have confidence in PvT lately. I’ve liked PvT originally from the start, so I’m also practicing it a lot. But it seems that my matches have been also going well because of that. [T/N: I like how you dodge a specific answer to the question, BeSt! “I’ll never share my secret on how to beat Flash!”]
Q: When were you sure that you had won during your game? A: It seemed that I had suffered a lot of damage during the first engagement, but I thought that I was still okay. However when I lost during the second engagement, I thought that I would probably lose the game, but I gathered an army all at once from my Gateways and fought well from there, so I think that’s why I won. [T/N: Dat macro]
Q: It seems that you play more carefully and your play has improved compared to the past. [T/N: In the Fomos version, it says that BeSt seems to use more caster units nowadays such as Arbiters and High Templars, and BeSt doesn’t really seem to like using them all the time] A: I’ve also played like that sometimes in the past, but I’ve also thought, “Is there a need to always use them?” But even though there’s work to do, I’ve been trying to use them as much as possible in my games.
Q: How much of your condition do you think has been restored? A: I’ve still only been really able to show my PvT skill. I’d say around 30% of my skill has been restored. I want to show the fans good performances in other matchups too and hear comments that BeSt has resurrected.
Q: Horang2 said that he wants to be friends with you. A: I sent Horang2 a message on Battlenet a while back, but I didn’t receive a reply. [T/N: Ooh, owned] He’s been doing well lately and showing stylish games, and it would be great if he keeps up his skill. The next time I see him, I hope that we can get closer to each other and become friends. [T/N: In the Fomos version, it said that Horang2 actually sent BeSt a fan letter… Better sneak out to a SKT game in secret and stalk Bisu and BeSt!]
Q: Do you think that your team will be able to go to the finals? A: I’ve been hoping that CJ loses their games recently, but they show no signs of slowing down and are climbing their way towards the top. We have the most advantageous position to go to the finals, but CJ is making sure that they won’t be unprepared for us. Our final match is against CJ, but we’ll do our best to stay in 1st place and play our matches comfortably until then.
Q: What do you think of the Proleague finals being held in Shanghai? A: I know that many fans are really disappointed at the finals being held at Shanghai. I also have plenty of sympathy about that. It’s regrettable, but since the Proleague finals are being held overseas for the first time ever as a trial, I ask everyone to try to see it with an open mind and understand the decision. I also think that some form of compensation will be given to the domestic fans in the future. I hope that everyone believes in us and gives us a lot of support. [T/N: BeSt also mentions in the Fomos version that he takes no responsibility if compensation doesn’t come, lmfao.]
Q: Any last words you want to say? A: My older sister will be leaving for overseas next week and stay there around 3 months. We have a match scheduled on that day, so I don’t think that I’ll be able to meet her. I hope that she stays healthy and enjoys herself there.
(Vote): I'd subscribe for one year. (Vote): I'd buy an iPad just to read it. (Vote): I'd run a paper route. (Vote): I wouldn't care because I have no taste.
This Proleague update was brought to you by Team Liquid's PL 2010-11 coverage team - Konadora, Carnivorous Sheep, mustaju, Spica and HawaiianPig. Thank you Kiante, for guest writing and thank you Ares[Effort] for formatting support!