Auction OSL Semi-finals - Intensity

Stories

Stories; this osl is full of them, if you know where to look. The battle between kespa players and GSL players. The swift rise of a godslayer. The struggle of Zerg just to stay in the running. The infighting between the sons of Aiur. The Undertaker's challenge. This is one of the most gripping SC2 tournaments in recent memory. This isn't just some small cup or large tournament, full of unknown or unremarkable koreans. This is a battle, of wits, of skills, and of personalities. Four champions, tested in the fiercest of battles are meeting to do battle. At the end of it all, there can only be one.

Godslayer

If I had told anyone a year or two ago that Last would beat Flash in an OSL, I would have been laughed at. If I had then said that Last would beat both Flash and Fantasy in an OSL and then would progress to the semi-finals while neither of the aforementioned players would, I would have been committed to a mental institution. But there you have it. Albeit a different game, Last has still defeated two living legends. Not just living legends, but previous OSL champions. The fact that the matches were close takes nothing away from the impressive achievement. Last is the definition of a mystery player. He has almost no games to his name in SC2, no impressive tournament runs, no reputation. That is, until he decided to beat both Flash and Fantasy.

While, realistically, beating these two legends in SC2 might not be the best indicator of skill (after all, they haven't yet demonstrated any monstrous performances in SC2 yet), it gives Last something important in this tournament: initiative. Sure his opponents have defeated other great SC2 players, perhaps players better than Flash. It doesn't matter though, beating players with such sound histories and reputations, players whom Last has seen dominante and crush, again and again. Players who have, in the past Vanquished him. It doesn't matter how he won, or how in shape the players were, all that matters right now is this victory. It would be so much sweeter than for Last, if he were not only to beat Flash and Fantasy, but to go on and win that same OSL. To prove he isn't just stomping on struggling legends, but that he too, deserves the fear and reverence that accompanies such names. That he is truly deserving of a title, perhaps even that of Godslayer.

Rising Star

Rain is the other side of the coin to Last. While Last may have slaughtered legends yet unproven in SC2, Rain is beating player in GSL and OSL who *are* proven. I don't think anyone can consider Rain's victory over Parting anything other than an upset. Its not only in OSL though. Lets list some of the players who Rain has defeated recently: Taeja, Polt, Byun, Parting, HerO, Curious and MarineKingPrime. A single won series might be a fluke, a couple games won in a league might be initiative or luck, this is something more. Rain is on an absolute tear. While none of the players he's beaten are quite "legends", they are more than formidable opponents. Rain at the moment stands poised not just to win this OSL, but to also win GSL. This alone should be spurring Rain to maximize his efforts, he could legitimately become the first OSL and GSL champion in history.

While Rain lacks the initiative from the name value that Last has, he has something different, something both more and less, tangible results. This means that while he may not feel as confident as Rain, he has the actual knowledge that he is better, that he has bested better opponents. Whether or not logic will trump emotion remains to be seen. One thing is clear however, initiative like this makes or breaks a player's career. If Rain were to win both OSL and GSL, we might see a true legend begin, if he fails, the loss might be enough to knock the will to play out of him entirely. Will Rain be Boxer, or will he be Yellow?

Fallen From Grace

There is one very nasty side effect from being hailed as one of the best players in the world. That is, when you don't do incredibly well, people immediately assume you are slumping. Now, I don't think an argument that DRG is slumping would actually hold water in any numerical sense, but the whispers are always there. The nagging ,persistent thought that "oh, he only got to Ro16 in GSL, this isn't the DRG of old". Having seen his macro against Rain, there is, perhaps, something to that thought. It is irrelevant if the whispering are true or not, all that matters is that the thought is festering there. The same thought must haunt DRG. If nothing else an OSL victory would prove to everyone that DRG is still a name to be feared. While we are on the topic of GSL, it is interesting to note that Rain beat out DRG in group A of this GSL. One must wonder, what would happen if these two were to meet in the finals? Would we see DRG once again defeated, shaken by facing a spirit from legends? Or would he take revenge upon the man who had a hand in denying him his continued rise in GSL? If we are lucky, we'll find out.

One way or another, DRG has a lot to fight for. To restore his tarnished honor, to prove he is still "the best zerg in the world" and for a shot at revenge against a player who has already trumped him once.

The Master of Ceremonies

If there is currently a favorite to win OSL, I think MC is it. Of all the players left, he is the only one who is both a long established player in SC2 and who isn't currently thought of as "slumping". Not only that, but his OSL run so far has been quite impressive, with his play looking solid thought. Not only that, but MC has something riding on this. Two things rather.

First, the obvious one, winning an OSL carries great prestige and a nice prize on top of it. But that can almost be discounted. MC is playing for something more. MC is battling the ghosts of his past. You see, MC wasn't always known as MC. Once MC was known as IrOn, a mediocre B-teamer in BW. With all that that implies. The preferential treatment for his "superiors" on the A team. The scorn. Having to do the dishes. All of it. Now, now he is the A teamer, and those others are upstarts, struggling to earn a reputation. A reputation they once had. How motivated, then, must MC be to crush these upstart's hopes? MC is, indubitably, awaiting the chance to defeat this ghost from his past. To prove to everyone, and himself, that he is not just a simple sponge boy, a dishwasher, as someone reminded him during the OSL selection ceremony. After all the ceremonies he has performed, after lusting after a chance like this, he cannot afford to let it slip away. Whatever happens we will have a Kespa vs GOM player finals, but DRG lacks the same investment in the rivalry that MC does. If MC were to defeat DRG, we could expect some extravagant ceremonies, and a finals laden with significance. Rather than the old vs new we would watch with DRG vs either Rain or Last, we would be seeing an ancient rivalry, that of the downtrodden against those who would tread on them.

Whatever happens in these semfinals, we are lining up for an incredible finals. OSL is turning out to be full of emotions and intensity, on top of an outstanding selection of games, an absolutely stunning competition. Be ready.

Rain vs Parting et al.

While Parting is a maestro in the PvT match-up with a staggering 61% win rate, his other two match-ups leave a lot to be desired, both at a mediocre 47% according to TLPD. To make maters worse, Parting recently attempted the PvP gauntlet that was WCS Korea, and came out bruised and the worse for wear, losing to both Squirtle and Creator when a championship was all but in his grasp. So when you put him up against both the best Kespa player and the best Protoss player in terms of recent results, Parting was understandably not very confident going into the series. As such, Parting deemed himself inadequate to play and attempted to channel various Protoss champions throughout this series.

Rain 1:0 Parting

Game 1: Rain vs PartinG channeling HuK
In the first game, Parting decided to borrow a build that Huk once used to catapult himself to an MLG championship. Last year, MC went as far as to call Huk the best PvP player in the world, and Huk's dreaded dt play was one of the main reasons for this reputation. At a time when dark templar were considered only a nuisance, able to be easily swatted away with an observer, Huk showed that they were actually a double threat. If your opponent prepares with an observer, Huk would go for a delayed four-gate, with an archon leading the charge to step on any forcefields. Most robotics builds that would focus on immortals and unnecessary tech that had not kicked in yet stood no chance. Parting was once on the receiving end of this build, and although he came out unscathed, he took note of the build's potential and saved it in his back pocket for a rainy day.

So in the first game, Parting opened this dt build against Rain's phoenix build. With the dark shrine finishing and Rain's robotics facility nowhere to be found, even the casters called the game in the bag for Parting. Rain diligently scouted across the map with his initial two phoenix but missed the proxy dark shrine. When he finally arrived at Parting's base and saw only three gateways without tech or an expansion, he made the brilliant read that a dark templar build had to be coming. So Rain quickly threw up a robotics facility along with 3 pylons at the top of his ramp. Not only does this help delay long enough for an observer to come out against the dark templar, it stops Parting's archon push cold. By the time Parting retreats, he's down both in tech and in army. All Rain has to do is push with a single colossi for the win.

            


Game 2: Rain vs PartinG channeling Creator
In his exit out of WCS Korea, Parting was knocked out by Creator with a 2-1 score. In both the games that he won, Creator unleashed a novel 3-0 maxed timing attack that instantaneously took Parting out each time. Parting noted how strong this timing was and that if it could surprise a player of his caliber, why not Rain as well? So Parting put this timing in his toolbox, keeping it in the back of his head for the next macro PvP he would play.

So enter the most standard macro PvP you'll probably ever see. Both players opened up with a blink observer build, as is common on this map, and both transitioned into expansions with immortals. Then, both added robotics facilities, robotics bays, and a forge each. Before they knew it, both players were maxed with nearly identical perfect armies. The only differences were that Parting choose to be more aggressive and he had ever so slightly faster upgrades, a product of his slightly faster forge and more diligent chronoboosting. Once Parting's +3 finished, the stage was set for his timing and away he charged.



How did Rain hold?
According to history(Parting vs Creator x2), Rain should have fallen right then and there. So how did Rain hold? What defensive advantages did Rain have in this battle?

• Closer reinforcement pylon: But so what? This is the case with all PvP battles. Moving on...
  
• Unit composition: If we look at the unit counts previously outlined, you'll see that Parting's stalker count is abnormally high while Rain has two more colossi. As we mentioned before, stalkers are rather useless in these maxed fights while colossi are quite the opposite.
  
• Concave: In both of Parting's previously mentioned games against Creator, Creator attacked when Parting was attempting to take his fourth base. Thus, Parting was forced into an awkward position, trying to defend all four bases in less than ideal concaves. In contrast,in this game, Rain knew he was behind in upgrades, so he held position in an extremely defensible position that covered all three of his bases. He did not try to take a fourth and was patiently waiting for his 3-0-0 upgrade to finish before he would move out.

            


            

With the four extra immortals over his opponent, Rain is able to push his army advantage. In the next fight, the immortals would indeed make the difference as they flanked Parting's colossi, killing them, and thus giving Rain game two.

            


Rain 2:0 Parting

Game 3: Rain vs PartinG channeling Squirtle
By game 3, Parting is down in the dumps, just one game from oblivion after relying on rather unfamiliar strategies from unfamiliar Protosses. So he decides to turn to a build from someone a bit more reliable, his trusty teammate, Squirtle. With Parting opening a blink stalker timing against Rain's phoenixes, we seemed to be looking for a repeat of the final game of the recent WCS Korea grand finals. In this game, it was Creator's phenoix robo build against Squirtle's similar blink stalker all-in. Creator eventually won by permanently forcefielding his ramp for about two minutes while he built up his immortal force and crippled Squritle's economy with his phoenix. This move would win Creator the coveted WCS Korea championship.

So we've seen these two builds match up against one another before. What would happen when they clash again? I'll skip the battle report portion this time and give you the tl;dr version. Rain does not get the first forcefield off, so Parting blinks up his ramp and kills him.

So what were the differences in this game? Why did Parting succeed where Squirtle failed? Or rather should we ask, where did Rain go wrong? The answer is that Parting didn't do anything special this game and rather, it was Rain who made the calculated risks that didn't go his way and lost him the game. Two key differences exist between the two games:

• Difference #1: While both players (Creator and Rain) opened phoenix builds, Creator opened a 1 gate (zealot/sentry/sentry) build while Rain chose a 2 gate 3 stalker rush into 1 zealot/1 sentry build. Both builds have their advantages against a blink stalker all-in. Creator's build ends up with more sentries and more sentry energy, which allows him to force field his for a longer time. Rain's 3 stalker build, on the other hand, allows him to take map control over his side of the map for a short duration and stop any proxy pylons.
  
  Why is this so important? Well, the most all-in version of a blink stalker all-in (which isn't exactly what Parting did) has exactly 10 stalkers with blink at 7:00, with both 3 stalkers warping in at 7:00 and blink finishing at 7:00. Using this knowledge, Rain is free to wander on his side of the map until the very last second when blink can punish excessively aggressive scouting. Not only this, Rain should know that for every second he can delay a proxy pylon after 6:40, the all-in will be delayed for one second. (Note: To see this, just do some simple math. Pylons takes 20 seconds to build, so if a pylon starts at 6:40, units can begin warping in at 7:00.) So if the pylon is delayed or even denied, Parting would have had to either wait for reinforcement stalkers or execute the all-in with three fewer stalkers than he would have wanted. Unfortunately, Rain fails to capitalize on the particular advantages of his three stalker opening and just barely misses the proxy pylon.

            

• Difference #2: Rain chooses to reveal his phoenix when he has three while Creator choose to reveal them when he only had two. The advantages of each are fairly obvious. Revealing at three phoenix gives more of a surprise factor, and allows a Protoss player to potentially kill more probes or even some naked sentries. Revealing at two phoenix has less potential for damage, but is able to scout an opponent faster. And against an all-in like this, faster scouting would definitely have been the better choice in retrospect. In Creator's game, Creator scouted his opponent's base, figured out it was a blink stalker all-in, and immediately forcefielded his ramp, leading to his eventual win. But Rain never got the chance; he had no idea this all-in is coming and does not lay down the key first forcefield, losing the game

So there you have it. Two games that are exactly the same except for two small, but key decisions and the final outcome. A perfect example of how small decisions and calculated risks affect the outcome of a PvP.

Rain 2:1 Parting

Game 4: Rain vs PartinG channeling Seed
Still on the ropes, Parting chose to bring in the big guns in game 4 in the form of the most recent GSL champion, Seed. In the last GSL finals, Seed faced off against MC in what many saw was a mismatch in favor of the Protoss President. But after Seed took the first two games with the same proxy-robotics-warp-prism-four-gate, people began to see him as a real contender for the title. So as Parting thought "If it's good enough to win a GSL Championship, it's good enough for me." But what he didn't count on was Rain's ability to adapt to his opponent in this series.

From the post game interview:
Were you affected at all after your loss in game three?

I really had no idea he would do a build order like that. Personally, I was impressed by his ballsiness. And after seeing today's games, I noticed that PartinG doesn't really scout well. So I decided to go for a four gate for game four.

As it turns out, Rain's assumption that Parting would not scout was correct. Parting neglected to scout once again, so he failed to see the very obvious four gate coming at him. He was not prepared.

Rain 3:1 Parting

Rain vs Last

The OSL Ro4 features two matchups pitting players from each faction of the Korean SC2 world against one of their brethren, beginning with a KeSPA showdown between Rain and Last. Both have made their mark on the SC2 world in their first major SC2 tournament, and only time will tell how far they rise.

Rain has been the big story for the KeSPA transition to SC2, making headlines with big wins in WCS, GSL, and OSL – including being the only player in both the OSL and GSL Ro4. While we haven’t seen enough of Rain to say he’s a competitor for best in the world, to be honest, we haven’t seen anything to rule it out either. Though he did lose in WCS Korea, he really hasn’t lost a whole lot of games so far in major tournaments, and there’s no reason to say he couldn’t advance to the finals of both leagues. Rain’s play hasn’t been anything revolutionary, but has certainly been excellent and has brought a fresh face to the elite tier of Koreans. In the OSL, he’s been chugging along like everywhere else, taking out both MKP and DRG on the way to a first place group finish, although admittedly, the two did play uncharacteristically poorly. A 3-1 win over PartinG in the Ro8 (along with a win over HerO in the GSL Ro8) put down questions about his unproven PvP, and he is now pretty much a top tier full package Protoss player. Every game, we look at what he’s done and say “well, we know he’s good, but has he proven that he can beat ___?” and so far, the answer has generally been yes. Last could be just another stepping stone on his road to glory, and considering what he has done so far, it wouldn’t be too surprising.

Last, on the other hand, has been slipping by under the radar thus far, at least until the Ro8. Not really a standout player in Proleague or any of the other individual leagues, Last has been a bit of a question mark throughout the OSL, but has managed to jump over every hurdle on the way to the semifinals. Last was supposed to be that decent Terran that snuck through groups but got smashed as soon as he faced a superior opponent in a long series, the kind that would have fit in in the GomTvT era, but he would have nothing of that. After going down 0-2 against the dangerous Flash, it would have been easy to write Last off as an average Terran. But then, somehow, some way, Last found it in him to pull through and take a shocking 3-2 victory over the player that has possibly had more hype than anyone else in SC2. And let’s be honest, a lot of people wanted to see Flash take on Rain, so we hope Last can make another mark here, in the semifinals.

It will be tough. Rain is the clear favorite here, being far more proven in SC2, especially in regards to the matchup at hand. Having taken down TaeJa, Polt, MarineKing, and Byun in recent times, Rain has plenty of experience against top tier opponents, and he’ll only have gotten better in preparation for this match along with his GSL match versus Mvp. Taking a look at Last’s TvP stats doesn’t leave us feeling much more hopeful, with only a couple wins against fairly average KeSPA Protosses on record. Last will have to pull some serious magic to make it out alive here, but with a victory against Flash already in the books, it’s not an impossibility.

Looking at the maps, it’s interesting to note that even though the OSL has moved to Bo7 for the semis and finals, they haven’t added to their traditional pool of four maps. This means that two games each on Daybreak, Antiga Shipyard, and Entombed Valley will be played, with a game on Ohana sandwiched in between. The maps overall seem quite neutral for TvP, with Daybreak perhaps leaning slightly Protoss, Antiga slightly Terran, and Entombed depending on the positions and just how the games work out. In an era of quite a few larger than average maps, Last has a decent draw, and definitely has room to mix in some interesting plays with his macro games.

Last has a mountain to climb. Rain is the titan of KeSPA players, and surely won’t fall easily in a Bo7 with plenty of time to prepare his already excellent PvT. Last isn’t anywhere close to bad by any means, but he’s got a lot to prove, and with one huge step already taken by downing Flash, he’ll certainly be hungry for more.

Prediction: Rain 4 > 2 Last

MC vs DongRaeGu

A marquee matchup between two veterans of the SC2 world, MC vs DongRaeGu brings added interest after their last meeting, a 3-0 shock from MC that threw DRG into a tough stretch, one which he hasn’t fully bounced back from.

What would surprise us from MC anymore? MC plays such a ridiculous amount of high-profile tournaments that he never really goes into an extended slump, always following up a disappointing exit with another high finish. Perhaps that makes it even more impressive that he’s maintained a skill level worthy of the later rounds of any major tournament despite a travel schedule that has downed many a progamer before him. Falling out in GSL after a finals appearance last season, making it through in OSL, Ro4 in his last foreign tournament… this is life for MC, and life goes on. Interestingly enough, MC still boasts what is perhaps one of the most extensive playbooks in all of StarCraft, and still somehow manages to catch everyone by surprise with deadly new attacks after years of playing pretty much the same way. MC still plays a good enough Code S level macro game that he will beat you if he gets a lead in some way, and his collection of the best all-ins in the business keeps every opponent on their toes. His OSL has been what it’s had to be to advance, coming through on the strength of his PvP with group stage victories over San and Best and a 3-1 victory over Flying in the Ro8. Is there anything MC needs to prove? Is there any result that would be a surprise, something that we could point to and say “oh, well MC ___”? I don’t really think so, and MC will probably just continue entertaining and being himself in this series.

DongRaeGu, on the other hand, has been a bit of a mixed bag as of late. After falling into something of a “slump” (I hate this word, but I don’t have a better one) after the aforementioned loss to MC, DRG hasn’t exactly climbed out, but he hasn’t been absolutely awful, either. It’s more of a testament to what we’ve come to expect from DRG that we can say he’s in a slump while he continues on to the semifinals of a major tournament, but a finals appearance would certainly go a long way towards making his presence felt. He added a victory over Oz to his record last week, but fell to PartinG in a disappointing GSTL game. The GSTL failures are perhaps even more painful than the individual leagues, as it was in the GSTL that DRG made his mark upon the scene. His OSL has been fairly solid, taking a disappointing loss to Rain in the group stage, but otherwise being up to par for DRG. Still, it hasn’t really been enough – if DRG fell out here, he wouldn’t be noted with the achievement of a semifinal, it would just be another loss in a series of disappointments for the player once considered the best in the world. It’s a hard place to be for DRG, sadly, but a win over MC would go a long way towards restoring his crown.

It’s hard to say who the favorite is. Both players have plenty of experience on the big stage, and both have wins and losses against the best in the world. Yes, DRG isn’t exactly what he was before the last time they faced off, but he hasn’t been so bad that it would be a big surprise if he came with his best. Predicting MC against high level players is nearly impossible – he just wins and loses with such frequency that it’s pretty hard to find a real upswing or downswing. He’s always on the list of the top ten players in the world, but he’s never quite #1. This series will likely just come down to who plays better on game day, as neither as shining beacons of consistency.

The maps are fairly neutral, again, perhaps favoring MC simply because of the presence of Entombed Valley twice in a seven game series. This is based on no statistics, but MC doesn’t quite seem to be the type who is severely affected by map balance – he’s one to craft his own game, to strategize and bulldoze his way to victory in any situation. Playing three maps twice could be quite interesting in this series, with MC’s unpredictability meaning anything is possible – we could see a two base all-in the first time around and something completely defensive the second.

If you held a gun to my head and asked me who I’d pick to win, I’d say MC. But who knows? In any case, it should be an exciting match, and the victor will certainly have proven they are worthy of a spot in the first SC2 OSL finals.

Prediction: MC 4 > 2 DongRaeGu