[PL] Bottom of the Barrel

GOTW - Action vs Firebathero on Tornado
By Harem
This week's game begins with a standard 1rax double CC vs 2hat muta. Seeing this, FBH tried to be aggressive early on but Action managed to surround and snipe a firebat. With this snipe, Action barely holds off the early mnm that broke in on his natural.

Soon after, mutalisks spawn and kill the 3 firebats that headed for Action's third. Action then shows decent mutalisk micro in delaying FBH from leaving base as lurker aspect is still researching. When FBH does push out before vessel and loses his marines to mutalisks as lurker aspect finishes and hive starts morphing.



Vessel finally pops and FBH heads toward Action's natural with a standard army of 1 vessel, 3 tanks and medic/marine. In order to defend against this as consume has not yet finished yet, Action places another sunk to force FBH to have to siege and unsiege as well as cleverly utilizing the terrain and placing a few lurkers on high ground by his natural Once consume finished, Action starts to push back FBH with dark swarm.

An interesting note about this game is that Action actually researches Overlord Speed and then proceeds to place overlords in key places in order to spot for dropships.



FBH decides that it is time to take a third as he achieved map control in the center. Soon after in what would be one of the two big themes of the game (with the other being dropship defense), Action abuses defilers, much to FBH's dismay, with some really sick plague and dark swarm usage. Action manages to snipe 2 vessels while starting to secure a 4th base at 2oclock.

As Hive tech is now fully present on the map, FBH appropriately decides that it is time to start laying some spider mines. Action gets off yet another amazing plague while FBH unloads a dropship at the 2oclock expo. This was the start of much dropship aggression by FBH throughout the game as he needed to keep Action from getting too much gas or he would just get run over. FBH then sends another dropship 2oclock but only manages to drop 3marines before scourge kill it off. However, he was able to reinforce those marines with yet another dropship which manage to kill a lurker and massive amount of zerglings before dying.



Despite losing a few dropship's worth of mnm, FBH has still managed to macro up enough mnm to push out yet again while easily destroying some lurks along the way. However, Action's defiler usage laughs at FBH as FBH is yet again pushed back by swarm and plague.

Since Action has held four gas for this long, ultralisks have finally spawned. However, FBH finally manages to kill hatchery at 2oclock as he unloads another dropship of mnm. Action then manages to get a huge minedrag off which kills a big portion of FBH's remaining army. Even when playing against Zerg, FBH still receives nightmares of playing against Protoss.



Despite all this, FBH has three gas and has now started to pump tanks out of three factories. Unfortunately for FBH, Action decides to remake expansion at 2 oclock while also expanding to 6oclock. Scourge manage to kill a few more plagued vessels as FBH never bothered to repair them. Scourge also manage to stop another dropship in its attempt to take out 2oclock.

In a last ditch effort as he knows time is running out for him, FBH pushes to 6oclock with at least 4 tanks but it gets crushed by a big ultraling flank. To make matters even worse, scourge manage to kill 3 more vessels. Plus, a dropship that was headed to 7oclock gets spotted and scourge. Now, FBH has no way of stopping Action from dark swarming his way into FBH's third and natural and so FBH ggs.



Action showed some really impressive play in this game employing some really sick defiler usage while remaining calm and easily stopping FBH's dropship aggression. His defense and patience was really remarkable as he showed some really nice management based play. It was almost like there was a giant ticking timebomb as the game went on that FBH was painfully aware of. FBH was just outclassed by this newcomer who I hope gets sent out more by Estro.

Statisfaction
By Heyoka
One of the hot topics so far this season has been the mirrors (and if it isn't, we here at proleague coverage will make it one - by force if necessary). This past week had 23 mirrors (10 ZvZ, 7 TvT, 5 PvP) out of a total of 34 games played. This far more than usual, but still, about half the games played so far this season have had the same race on both sides. With mirrors on the mind, it raises a few questions: who is playing all of these mirrors? Do the top players have a larger advantage in a mirror?

First, who has played the most mirrors this season? To get this, data was collected straight out of TLPD. An arbitrary cut off has been set for Zerg and Terran at 4 games played, and one at 3 for Protoss. The reason for this is that Zerg and Terran had around 20 players having played at least one, while P had just over half that. The chart is more to give a general idea than hard evidence for anything.



This is nothing terrible surprising. Most of the teams are represented here, and the ones who aren't are because their top players are 3-0 in their respective mirrors (Flash and Mind belong to this category). Its basically a list of who has been playing the most for each team, and what we can see is those players have been in a lot of mirrors at this point in the season. The terran distribution is somewhat unique in having a lot of people with 1-2 records (Really, Leta, HiyA, sKyHigh, MVP).

Perhaps it begins to shed some light as to why Oz has been underperforming, they have 3 players in this list (Jaedong, Killer, PerfectMan) and none of them are above 50%.

Anyway, taking the long way around that, We can see that in this environment (one with a high rate of mirror matches) the top players of each team can expect to play against their own race frequently. Knowing that, it brings up a topic of possible interest: is there any additional advantage the top players gain by playing against their own race? It stands to reason that a mirror match is the kind most likely to favor the player with more skill, with things such as "racial balance" are completely removed from the equation. Both sides have the same timings, as well as weapons at their disposal, so we should think that even a minor advantage in knowledge or execution of build orders, is much more likely to lead to victory than in a dynamic game.

To find this out, we headed over to TLPD again. This time to look at the top performers for each race. Data was used from the 08-09 season, solely because of the larger sample.

Here is how the top 10 players performed against each race. This is just sorting TLPD to spit out the top 10 players with the most wins against each race, their race and record is noted in the chart.



Notice that for each one, around half of the top ten players are of that race (exactly 5 for Zerg and Protoss, 6 for Terran). This isn't the most scientific, rigorous way of looking at this, but in a "glance and see" kind of way we can definitely see that the majority of top performers of each race are players of that race.

One small problem with this specifically is that the sample includes Battle Royal. That is likely to skew the numbers for the ZvZ rates, as this is sorting purely by number of wins and the zergs who played most matches are likely to accumulate victories (great stands out a little on that list). A larger problem is that we don't have any truly good metrics of player skill, if we had ways of measuring performance better than Elo or win percentage than we could figure out true distributions for matchups and see how different they are. We're also making the assumption that "number of total wins" is related to win percentage, and while it is in most cases (most of the players here have very high winrates) its certainly not uniform.

However, this is just a preliminary look. For a brief once-over, its pretty neat, and shows us it is a topic perhaps worth going into in better detail sometime.

Fantasy PL 09-10 Round 1 - Week 4
by pachi

Even though many big teams sat out this week in favor of international tournaments, the majority of the teams adapted and the top 10 was only slightly shuffled. However Hot_Bid, the PUNisher and Intothewow all made huge gains to muscle their way into the top 10 on the back of their ZerO, now hero.

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STANDINGS

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SUMMARY

• ZerO surprise
  In a week with many of the bigger earners keeping Calm and earning ZerO points, it was Woongjin's star who led. Finally receiving some backup from teammates, the zerg ace was free to earn enough points to catch up with KT's Flash in points placing him at an equal first place at the end week.
  
  
• WeMade Upsets
  WeMade continues to keep pushing out, out-foxing some stronger competition this week to put away CJ and Hwaseung. While early front-man RorO was unable to win a game, his teammates were able to Shine in order to give the few WeMade owners some piece of Mind.
  
  
• RuBy in the rough
  This hidden gemstone is the proven workhorse for many teams. RuBy has repeatedly shown his value by abandoning the usual ACE rails and winning his regular matches consistently. However, it took a DarkElf to step into the sunlight to score an ACE win for their first upset win against OZ.
  
  
• It's a trap
  KHAN is pretty much dead for the round. They are now officially below ACE in the standings and barely worth anything in the trading Bazaar. Also shedding worth besides Samsung players, is Hwaseung's main players Lomo and BackHo. BackHo reaches new lows with a new trade value at lower than half his original cost after a sketchy performance in what could be HWA premier protoss's final Seung.

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INTERVIEWS
This week's interviews focuses on the new arrivals, high risers who are now the cream of the crop and have serious chances for the trophy at the end of the round.

• Hot_Bid - Currently sixth placed.
  First Abydos1, then semioldguy, now Hot_Bid. The fantasy proleague trinity is complete. While the other two are still hanging on quite well, it is the troll king who is now rising to take his throne. Does running the fantasy competition give a special insight?
  
  + Show Spoiler [Interview] +
  
  1. Suprisingly you started with and have since kept ESTRO star, hyvaa. Do you think he is earning his weight?
  Artosis told me that this is this year is Estro's year. But he says this every round -- isn't it cute? Last season Hyvaa went 3-8, and he started out well this round, but has started sucking badly and is headed toward the same record. I want to trade him, but then I look at the schedule and he's playing two ZvTs against Casy and PianO, and I have no better options. I already regret saying this when he's losing his third gas to a Casy dropship and he puts on the typical "Hyvaa face."
  
  2. You have been fairly trade heavy, even doing the bisu/calm shuffle. Are the people who still havn't traded yet missing out?
  While it's theoretically possible to win without trades, all the real men trade. Trading based on schedule almost guarantees you positive trade gain, but there are some extremely tough calls this season that happened to turn out right for me -- trading for Woongjin, NOT trading Zero for Hyuk, etc. There are so many teams that you have to push every edge you can get, including this Bisu/Calm shuffle that netted me a few extra points here and there. If I stay near the Top 10 (and thats a big IF) then the final week of trading will be insane.
  
  3. Seven of the former top 10 and Five TL Staff members are in the top 50, is this season rewarding skill or is it still all luck?
  TL Staff are finally where they should be! We think about PL far more than others I think, just because we have to write about it. Semioldguy is one of the most experienced owners, while Naz and I make our team together most rounds. Intrigue -- well he's just a gigantic luckbox. I can't explain it. You look at his team, it shouldn't really be special, yet somehow he's suddenly in the Top 50. I think you can only control about 50% of FPL. I think its very hard to luck your way into the Top 100 -- just about everyone on the front page of previous rounds had enormous trade gains.
  
  4. STX, KT, Hite, and SKT all took a break last week. This week they only play one game. How important will this be to the results of this season?
  I think anyone that traded KTR or SKT last week made a huge error. It was a schedule that invited panic trades, but ultimately the players and teams will end up with the same number of games. So who cares if your fantasy team drops rank this week? When KTR comes back, it's likely they will out perform Hwaseung or CJ -- KT hasn't even played ACE yet.
  
  5. Whats the biggest suprise so far in this season? KHAN? WeMade? Ace matches?
  WeMade without a doubt. If you made a WeMade all-in team, you'd be #1:
  10 Flash - 25
  6 Pointer - X (assume this guy is canceled out by your AT)
  4 Mind - 21
  1 Shine - 15
  5 Roro - 17
  2 Pure - 15
  2 WEM - 25
  Total: 118, good for Top 10
  
  As for Jaedong, why is everyone surprised? The Oz coaches said they wouldn't send him for ace so I don't know why so many people picked him T.T
  
  
  
• the PUNisher - Currently eighth placed.
  Lo money? All-in on this guy. SkyRorOcketing up the charts is superhero, the PUNisher. Bi sure to keep an eye out on this guy forhitech fantasy proleague secrets.
  
  + Show Spoiler [Interview] +
  
  1. Your team has high and low scorers, but in your mind who was your star?
  
  I don't have a Ruby who Shines over the other players, but I have no weak links in my team. If I had to pick an MVP, it'd be my own Mind.
  
  2. You're pretty trade happy trading away your big name players, why? Where they zeros or just lacking the effort in their play?
  
  I don't have the Luxury of trading my cheaper players for better ones
  
  3. Speaking of trades, you made a pretty big switchup on your anti-team last week. No trouble at sea so far but is it just the calm before the storm?
  
  I am a man of Action but you can only ride the Rolster Coaster so long before it falls again.
  
  4. Whats your opinion on your performance so far? Are you just in luck or is it pure skill?
  
  I am doing Really Great but Anytime things Khan go Roro.
  
  5. Anything else?
  
  Crank dat ChoJJa Boy, Perfectman dat BackHo. Hite me Baby AnyTime. Reach Foru Stars.
  
  
  
• KP_CollectoR - Currently ninth placed.
  Firstly could you give a brief introduction about yourself? (When did you join TeamLiquid? Why do you visit TeamLiquid? etc)
  Hi folks, I'm KP_CollectoR (better known as DimeCollectoR). I briefly did commentaries on youtube, and you may have seen me at the first few UC Berkeley class meetings.
  I joined TeamLiquid around last Thanksgiving. I love StarCraft to death so naturally I browse the site a lot. I'm also an aspiring foreigner Terran so if you're a top foreigner, I will pay you for lessons!
  
  + Show Spoiler [Interview] +
  
  1. You are currently the top ranking player in the 'first time player' group. Is this why you havn't traded? (You just click the trade tab and its all there) Otherwise, why no trades?
  There are a lot of reasons why I haven't traded, and honestly I still might if it feels right to me. With someone like Iris, for example, his trade value is so low that there is no real worthy replacement. Mostly it's just wanting to see how things play out, though it would be cool to be the best player without a trade!
  
  2. Are you looking to royal road? Or are you pessimistic about your chances?
  It's tough to say at this point. Right now a lot of the players ahead of me have ZerO but not Flash, so I can definitely move up depending on my team's results. I'm not sure how drastically things will change in the following weeks, but I feel like 'Rookie of the Year' (if there is such a thing) is definitely within my reach.
  
  3. Whats your biggest regret about your team? Iris?
  My biggest regret is having one more Protoss player than is necessary lol. It's unfortunate that Iris isn't playing all that much, but at least he's Terran!
  
  4. STX, KT, Hite, and SKT all took a break last week. This week they only play one game. How important will this be to the results of this season?
  It could be huge. I don't have enough experience to really say, but KT and SKT1 are at the top of the game right now. Their face-off should be great to watch.
  
  5. Whats the biggest suprise so far in this season? KHAN? WeMade? Ace matches?
  This season has been out of control. For me it's surprising to see a few of the MSL one-hit wonders (Luxury and Mind) revitalized and boosting their teams. I love seeing Midas back as well, and the best player in the world right now is a Terran. Life is good!

Fresh from Korea
by Konadora


○SKT1 vs KT Rivalry Match - awesome lineups!
The rivalry match between SK Telecom T1 and KT Rolster, which will be held on the 9th has no mirror match at all. "Do-Taek-Myung" trio + Hyuk is the linup for SKT1, while KT has decided to send out the Flash-Luxury one-two punch, together with HoeJJa and Violet. Every set is expected to be closely watched by many fans, especially Bisu's PvZ versus Luxury, as well as BeSt vs Flash, who recently returned from Vietnam, where he attended the Asian Indoor Games.



○Jaedong, another ZvZ!?
Hwaseung Oz's Jaedong will be playing yet 2 more ZvZs for both his entries this week. Fans are left wondering when will they ever see Jaedong play against the other two races - especially against Terran. While fans are demanding to see Jaedong play against Terrans, Jaedong will probably neither gain or lose anything as he plays Khan's great and MBC's Saint this week, regardless of score.



○Hwaseung's Killer, "Oh god."
In Hwaseung's attempt to bring out the next Jaedong, Killer, who has been sent out frequently since the start of 09-10 season has been upsetting many fans as he walked down a path full of nothing but obstacles. He is now on a 4 game losing streak after being nuked by 'The Emperor' BoxeR, leading to his current score of 2-6. And unfortunately, his opponent this time is the 'Dinosaur Toss' Stork. Even if he had the skills and the luck, Stork will be one tough opponent to face. Oh god.



○Kwanro: "We finally meet again, Shine!"
Woongjin's Kwanro stated in his recent interview that in his next game against WeMade, he wanted to play against Shine. Kwanro, who said he wanted to play against Shine after seeing his aggressive play that reminded of himself back in the days had his wish come true. With Kwanro now finally picking up the momentum and Shine brewing up a storm, this will be a true battle of the aggressors.



○ACE's RuBy - Ready for take off!
ACE's young player Ruby recently defeated CJ's sKyHigh in style - building an incredible number of Starports as though to represent the Air Force - and impressing many fans. And that same RuBy is facing eSTRO's Really and WeMade's Midas. With ACE's rising star performing so well, it will be a matter of time before there will be many fans supporting him, saying, "all my Kongs depend on you!" (reference to YellOw)

Source: Fomos