Auction OSL - Put Your Best Foot Forward

Since its beginnings at the turn of the 21st century, OnGameNet has been the epicentre of competitive gaming in Korea. Its adoption of Starcraft 2 has been awkward at best, with 240p streams, arcane formats and a general lack of awareness, OGN has struggled to capture the imagination of a new generation of Starcraft fans. The idea newness is unusual in the OSL, a competition defined by its seemingly ancient traditions. However there are few in Korean progaming that OGN has not had some influence on and amongst the new group of players competing in the first Starcraft 2 OSL are some familiar faces, returning to where it all began.

The history of GSL players in the Brood War scene and their association with KeSPA teams is something that has been famously examined on TeamLiquid in the past. Although the ultimate validity of the elephant argument is yet to be determined, the empirical reality of losing records and B-teamer status is difficult to refute. For any player whose career had stalled, ended or failed to even begin, Starcraft 2 was an opportunity for validation and redemption.

While the occasional mischievous Brood War fan might like to recall the pyrrhic flair with which IrOn greeted his soon to be victorious opponents or ZergBong’s match-up redefining lurker all-in versus Skyhigh, there’s little doubt about the respect and adulation they have earned through their success in Starcraft 2. After giving years of their lives in pursuit of the progaming dream, MC and Nestea were finally able to see a return on their investment. Their status as the elite players of a game that now has a huge global following exists both because and in spite of their history as KeSPA progamers.

For players like DongRaeGu and Parting, talented amateur Brood War players who never made the jump to professional teams, OGN has a slightly different meaning. For over ten years the OSL has been the biggest stage in Korean progaming; this is the home of the game and the players they grew up watching. They are less a product of the infrastructure of Korean Starcraft and more a product of its culture, talented kids from Brood War developed into calloused veterans in Starcraft 2.

In the Ro16 group selection ceremony, friendly banter about backstage encounters and meals owed was replaced by some gentle and not-so-gentle prodding from both sides about their shared history. While the GSL players were not short of bravado, the most interesting comments related to a Korean joke about the “Global SeolGuji League” (the “Global Diswashing League”). As with all encounters between Korean progamers, the tone never changed from one of light hearted joking, but the adversarial undercurrent between the two groups was still apparent. After the ceremony ended there was a clear sense that Yongsan eSports Stadium represented home turf for the KeSPA players; in the weeks that followed this familiarity with both the location and the format was reinforced by results.

Although the player representation in the quarter-finals is even, featuring four members of both the KeSPA and GSL camps, the Ro16 group matches represented a momentum shift for the home team with KeSPA progamers winning three of the four groups. The continued success of Rain in the GSL Ro16 further proves that, for some members of KeSPA teams, their efforts have changed from bridging one gap to establishing another.

For six months, KeSPA competition has existed in a fugue state of hybrid Proleague, tearful goodbyes and untested potential. This OSL marks a return to legitimacy, a reaffirmation that OGN is indeed home of the best Starcraft players in the world. To the players and the viewers, both new and old: welcome home.

Protoss Uprising
Contrary to what reading any LR thread from the last few months would have you believe, exactly one zerg made it out of the Ro16, in the form of DRG, and only by the skin of his teeth, taking a harrowingly narrow victory against MKP in the last day of the Ro16. Five out of eight slots have been taken by Protoss, so I really hope you guys enjoy PvP because half of the matches we are going to be seeing in the ro8 are going to be Protoss mirror matches. Get ready for plenty of blink stalker all-ins against robo builds, and rounds ending in 45 minutes.

Still, despite consisting of the ever volatile and disliked PvP, there is some potential for amazing games in this round. We'll get to see MC, who boasts some of the best PvP in the world, prove what he is made of against Flying, a player we haven't seen much PvP out of at all. While Rain versus Parting does not at first appear to be the most thrilling match up, it is a battle of the underdogs. I wouldn't have predicted either of these players getting out of their group against MVP, yet they did. Whichever one wins faces a terrifying road ahead, against either Flash or Last. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, just note that the winner of this match will be the underdog for the rest of the tournament.

Elephants in the Ballroom
When I prewrote this before Fantasy vs Last, I had a whole section written about Flash and Fantasy and their epic rematch in the Ro8. Instead we have Last vs Flash, not quite the grudgematch we could have had. Still, this lets us take a look at which elephants made it through and which didn't. Best, Fantasy, Baby and JangBi were all knocked out, with Flash being the most notable elephant to make it through. Perhaps it is fitting that Flash, who lost his last chance to win a BW OSL to Fantasy would have the drive to outlast most of his BW counterparts in the OSL, in a bid to once again prove his dominance and skill.

Last versus Flash will be a match that either showcases the differences between a great and a good player, or it will demonstrate that while Last may be no Flash in BW, he can bring down gods in SC2. Having defeated Fantasy, if Last defeats Flash, he will have taken out two of the greatest BW players in history in one OSL run and will have earned himself the title of Godslayer, at least for now. I, for one, look forward to Flash moving on but having only seen him play TvP so far, I, and hundreds of other fans, may be in for a rude awakening. One way or another, this is the series to watch. Watching Flash 3-0 his way through his protoss dominated group certainly proved that he is capable of crushing any son of Aiur foolish enough to stand in his way, which makes a possible rematch of MC vs Flash all the more enticing a possibility. All this, of course hinges of Flash being able to beat Last.

Zerg Hope
As mentioned, DRG is the last hope of the Zerg race. His narrow victory is certainly not reassuring his detractors, with whispers of "slumping" being heard at every corner, DRG has, more than anyone, something to prove. Whether or not this is enough to spur the last zerg onward to victory remains to be seen, but one thing is clear, if it is a case of nerves because of facing true legends, being out of shape because he is slumping or simply being outplayed, DRG did not show a spectacular run so far in the OSL and those of us with our hopes set on him have a steep path ahead of us. Still, DRG has a lot to fight for, and if we know anything about this man, is that he will fight for victory, no matter how harsh the odds. Win or lose, we know that he will give it his best.

Parting Words
There are some competitors that only got passing mention here, namely Oz, Flying, Parting and Rain. These are the faceless four. They are "just" four run of the mill awesome Protoss players. Names that at one time, maybe invoked fear, but never the level of trepidation we felt when talking about players like MC or DRG. These players clearly played well enough to advance, in some cases even sweeping their group (Rain), but at the end of the day none of the faceless four showed up at the selection ceremony dressed as an undertaker, none of them are living legends, none of these players have yet proven to us that they are terrifying monstrosities, avatars of pure destruction that should strike fear into our hearts. This means that they have all the more convincing to do. If anyone is going to try to win at all costs, it is these four, these unproven men, who have all shown decent results, but none of which have successfully awed us. It is up to them now to make fans for themselves, to transcend from being "another Code S Protoss" and to become an OSL champion. They will either impress us, or become fodder for legends and champions.

From their games in the Ro16, they all have potential, the ability to sweep and hold on through rough games. Whether or not they are of the caliber necessary to become OSL champions is another question entirely. Prominent on their minds, however will be this thought: "There can only be one." Starting now, every set is their last possibility to stay and survive. It is up to them to prove that they are worthy.

Fantasy vs. NesTea on Entombed valley
This is a game that should strike fear in every Zerg player's heart. Watch it and tremble, because Fantasy was an absolute monster, taking marine-medivac-tank play to a new heights of Zerg terror in this game. Sure you could argue that NesTea didn't play that well, but was that because he was having an off day, or because Fantasy successfully played with his head?

NesTea had a rough beginning, not finding the two cleverly positioned proxy rax from Fantasy. In a clear display of how much this threw him off, he managed to lose the drone that was supposed to build his hatchery to the scouting SCV. This caused Fantasy to finish producing marines (with four already made) and lift his rax to the natural, where he walled off with the addition of two more rax and expanded behind it. This seemed like a odd move, as it kept him from really inflicting any damage to the hatchery that was going down, but in retrospect, it made sense: He had already delayed the hatch, and the SCV that could have built a bunker was at a measly 5 HP anyway. It made more sense to expand and poke with the existing forces, which Fantasy did, bringing 4 marines into the natural of the Zerg. In a display of brilliant micro, he brought down a queen and six lings in exchange for one marine. In the meantime, his expansion and marine production kicked into full force. As NesTea got speed and gas, Fantasy built another command center and upgraded marine shields to established a solid foundation.

I will make marines! Many Marines!

Just as NesTea was done breaking down the rocks to his third base, a small army of marines arrived to confront the just-finished third hatchery and its defenders, a quartet of queens and a couple dozen zerglings. After a quick battle, the only survivors were the queens and two fleeing marines. Fantasy grabbed his third and NesTea built two evo chambers as his lair approached completion and his baneling nest began. This is where the game evolved to be truly terrifying. With medivacs out, Fantasy pushed out and whenever the engagement seemed to not favor him, he lifted his marines and fled. Controlling four medivacs laden with marines at once, he made NesTea's life living hell for around 5 minutes, keeping him from even considering building a spire, as he murdered drones, queens, overlords and banelings left and right at a piddling cost to himself.




When his drops lost momentum, Fantasy already had a fourth going up and a push with dozens of marines and five siege tanks rolling in, with the Zerg not even having had a chance to consider grabbing a fourth base. NesTea saw the army, and took what forces he had left, and launched them towards the army - the last spasm of a dying man, a desperation attack which wiped out his army. This game was a demonstration of how much further room there is to develop the TvZ matchup, and was an honestly impressive demonstration of how you can bludgeon a player to death with sheer micro. NesTea seemed utterly helpless to defeat his opponent, who was using a strategy that we've seen plenty of before. It was simply an execution a level above anything we've seen before.

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Flash vs. San on Ohana

This game opened with Flash getting a quick gas and getting a marauder with concussive shells and a fast CC against San's standard one gate, cybercore expo. This is where the game had a slightly unusual turn, with Flash throwing down another command center before the first was even finished, right after a zealot managed to scout the single marauder and pair of marines at Flash's nat. Both players sort of sat back, eyeing each other and getting their infrastructure up, as Flash added rax and San gateways. Flash added a bunker to his nat and cleared the center tower. Stim began and San headed down the robotics path, assuredly aiming to get colossi up.




Small pokes continued to take place cross map, with five marines pushing out only to be pushed back by stalkers. The deadly minuet in middle of the map was second to the preparations taking place in the bases, where Flash was getting reactors on two out of his three barracks and getting a factory on his way to medivacs. San on the other hand was busy getting up a robotics bay. Flash feared a timing from San however, and began fortifying his natural ramp with a bunch of bunkers and depots, even pulling SCVs in preparation. An observer saw all of this, and Flash realized a timing isn't coming, so he salvaged the defenses and relocated his army to the center, taking his third with the prebuilt command center, while San attempted to take his own. Weapons and armor upgrades began for both players, as shields finished for the marines (stim having been long done) and thermal lance was about half way done.

Medivacs came out, as did the first colossus, and Flash diligently brought down pylons with small groups of marines. Observers littered the map (ok, fine, there were only two observers), keeping an eye on Flash's army and base. The protoss army advanced, a smattering of gateway units and two colossi against a mass of bio units, and Flash baited it beautifully, splitting and moving in to snipe the colossi. It was only quick thinking and quick force fields that allowed the protoss to retreat and save both colossi. Flash immediately began mass producing vikings and adding another starport, while San tried to get charge and tech to templar. Flash had impressive production with ten rax, six of them with techlabs feeding him a bio force. Ghost energy research began as 2/2 upgrades finished for Flash, moments after they do for San, and level 1 air weapons began for Flash.




The armies continued their dance in the middle of the map, having advanced from a deadly minuet to a lethal tango. Colossi and Archons with gateway units stood in opposition to a heavy bio force supported by vikings and medivacs. With similar upgrades, it was all about who can position better and snipe the key units. Finally the armies clashed, and in a haze of smoke and bullets they tore into each other, a screaming engagement that might determine the winner of the game. As Flash split and arced his army, San unleashed his colossi and his immortals tore into the marauder heavy composition. The vikings were quickly exterminated, but not before taking all but two of the colossi with them. A small squad of Marauders lunged forward and nabbed a second colossi, and for a second it seemed like Flash may have enough to win. But the three immortals proved to be too much of a shield for the colossus. At the cost of two of their own, they held, and the armies separated. The Terran was left with nothing more than a handful of marauders and most of his medivacs left, and the Protoss a pair of stalkers, an immortal and a damaged colossus.

In the aftermath both sides seized their fourths and begin further upgrades, with San being closer to 3/3 than Flash by virtue of chronoboost, but Flash had just completed a round of five ghosts with more on the way, and was further upgrading air weapons. San was, critically, missing storm, and seemed to be making archons, rather than keeping the high templars. The armies clashed again, and the lack of storms was sorely felt, as the vikings decimated the colossi and the gateway units and archons met their match in the bio forces. Flash pushed into the fourth, where he was met by whatever forces San managed to scrounge, in this case a pair of archons supported by a few stalkers and zealots. With the help of EMP, Flash wiped the Protoss forces off the face of the earth, forcing San to GG.




This was actually a fairly typical TvP, with Flash showing (as expected) superb macro and excellent micro. San played extremely well as well, it was his lack of storm in that key engagement, which he pushed for some reason, that cost him the game. Even a single storm or two would have been critical, as most of the units flash managed to bring to bear had already taken significant damage. Still, the thing to take away from this game is this: Flash is already up to speed in TvP, as shown by his group victory, sweeping all three Protoss. Beware of Flash. An angered elephant is a dangerous beast.

September 25th: ST_PartinG vs. SKT_By.Rain

Kicking off an exciting Ro8 featuring four rising KeSPA players and four veteran GSL competitors, we have a PvP between Rain and PartinG. One thing to note right off the bat is that every match from this point on will be Bo5, which should surely appease those lamenting the Bo1 group stage. With five Protoss in the Ro8, this match will be a good test of each player’s PvP skill, and will be the first series longer than a Bo3 played between a KeSPA player and a GSL player.

The first of our guardians of Aiur, SKT’s By.Rain, has perhaps been the scariest KeSPA player to date. With a 3-0 scoreline in the Ro16, a standout top 6 finish at WCS Korea, and advancement through the two GSL group stages, Rain is poised to be the first KeSPA player to take a major SC2 title. With victories over multiple Code S competitors including championship winners, Rain has shown as much as anyone that he deserves to be considered among the elite of the entire Starcraft 2 scene. His list of recent victories includes MarineKing, DongRaeGu, Byun, TaeJa, Polt, Jaedong, and Curious, and is more than long enough to show that he’s not just getting a couple of lucky breaks.

However, despite his continued success, Rain has yet to prove one big thing: an aptitude for PvP. With a lackluster 8-10 record (much of it against fairly average Proleague players early on), Rain still has much to prove in the always-dangerous mirror matchup. He hasn’t played nearly as many PvP’s in major tournaments as the other two matchups, but he’ll definitely have to bring his best here or risk being left behind as one of those guys that are just “Code S level”, and aren’t on the championship contender list. While we haven’t seen enough of his PvP to say it’s his true Achilles' heel, it clearly isn’t a matchup you’d want to put your money on him for. Still, any Protoss player around this level generally has a good chance to win or lose against any other, and it’s hard to stand out from the pack one way or another.

On the other side, our GSL challenger PartinG exemplifies exactly that: a good Code S player with a 50% PvP record, never dominating the matchup but rarely being embarrassed. PartinG has fallen a bit since his days of GSL Royal Roader hype, but still maintains (usually) Code S status and one of the most feared late game PvT’s in Korea. He had a shakier Ro16 but continued his PvT success, with victories over BaBy and Mvp sandwiching a loss to Flying. Coupled with recent losses to Squirtle and Creator, PartinG’s PvP has not looked fantastic as of late, but PvP is still PvP. Overall, though, PartinG has put up decent results, with a WCS Korea 3rd place finish and advancement to the OSL Ro8 being no small feats. Still, like Rain, PartinG will need to step up his PvP a bit and prepare as much as possible for this dangerous match.

Maps shouldn't be a factor in a PvP series, as PvP strategy is only mildly map-dependent and obviously there are no racial balance issues to consider. Honestly, with neither standing out in the matchup lately and both having a decent amount of momentum, it’s extremely hard to say what to expect. I predict we’ll see some blink stalkers, some colossi, and some one-base all-ins, but hopefully someone brings something interesting to the table. I’ll give PartinG the edge simply because Rain actually has literally no PvP success in the books against top GSL players, which is about the most we have to go on here.

Prediction: PartinG 3 - 2 Rain


September 26th: KT_Flash vs STX_Last

In our first Starleague BoX series featuring two KeSPA competitors, Last and Flash duke it out also as the only two Terran representatives remaining in the Protoss-dominated Ro8. Having split their two previous encounters, one in a Proleague ace match in July and once again in the ODT, both players will be looking to take a decisive victory and advance as the last Terran in the OSL.

Last, despite making it through the OSL preliminaries and Ro16, has not had a lot of notable showings in any other tournament. While he did qualify for GSL Code A, a mediocre Proleague record with no accomplishments in WCS or WCG leave him just “above average” in the KeSPA pack, someone who’s shown they can keep up but not quite convincing us he could be a championship contender. Still, you do have to credit him with a solid performance throughout this OSL, downing Fantasy and NesTea to make it through to the Ro8. Last is one of those guys that you can imagine getting lost in the sea of GomTvT many months ago, but a big win against Flash could certainly be his chance to break into the spotlight.

Now Last might be a KeSPA player, but here, Flash is still the elephant in the room. Boasting the most impressive Brood War resume of all time, not much more needs to be said about Flash’s past. What’s more interesting to note is that despite the hype and expectations, and despite his play being fairly strong, Flash’s overall record isn’t really anything special. With a disappointing 6-8 record in Proleague, Flash hasn’t been the reliable ace that KT has been able to count on as in the past. Still, there’s something to be said about the fact that he is still often sent out as the ace. It could just be that KT is weak on the SC2 side, but that’s not quite what I was getting at – Flash has so far dominated the Starleague without a loss and qualified for Code A, although he did fall out early in WCS and WCG. Flash’s progression remains something of a mystery, but the signs do point towards him continuing to rise rather than falling off into a mediocre SC2 career. His play, especially in TvP, has brimmed with potential with strong control and multitasking backed up by picture-perfect macro.

TvT hasn’t been his strongest matchup, but it hasn’t been bad, and it’s certainly a matchup we’d expect Flash to excel at in the long run. Still a patient war of positioning, making the most of every unit and making every move count, Flash’s amazing TvT play in Brood War shows the all skills of an equally successful SC2 TvT player. While that’s not enough to assume that he’s gonna kick ass here, if Flash’s TvT is up to snuff, he’s definitely got a great shot. Interestingly enough, Flash’s two TvT losses come from what is a bit reminiscent of his Brood War weaknesses – feeling the need to cut corners against an opponent he is likely to outplay later on. While this make seem foolish to a novice viewer, part of Flash’s success does indeed come from the fact that he just always does seem to have the slightly better economy, and knows how to leverage these advantages into victory.

The maps, being fairly standard ladder and WCS maps, could actually play a bit into Last’s favor. With maps like Entombed Valley and Antiga Shipyard being particularly deceitful maps in the sense that you often feel a lot safer than you are, we could see a victory from Last similar to his Proleague ace match (which, interestingly, was on Ohana – the map played twice in this series). It’s still TvT, though, and we can expect Flash to come very prepared and be very careful not to make the same mistakes again. If I had to make a pick, Flash would definitely be it, and honestly, I’d be surprised to see him fall here.

Prediction: Flash 3 - 1 Last