 SpiralArchitect United States. November 08 2008 07:51. Posts 2116 | Profile Blog |
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Five weeks of Shinhan Proleague are now behind us. In the past weeks we have mostly seen what is to be expected from the current teams involved. With the exception of SKTelecom 1 trying their hardest to be last and the Woongjin Stars shooting for the… well stars, the rankings have been somewhat predictable. Week five turned that notion on its head and gave us quite a few interesting changes.
The Big Picture
Right now Lecaf OZ has put themselves in a very precarious position. They came off the blocks strong and their lineup can certainly maintain it. But they have also revealed their most potent strategies early in the season and made themselves a target for every other team. It was evident that they would lose their six-game winning streak at some point and it happened this week.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SpiralArchitect/proleague2008_samsungkhan1.jpg)
KTF and KHAN are both looking at the big picture by preparing for the playoffs. KHAN was especially slowed in the first weeks as many of their dominant players duked it out in the individual leagues. But now, FireBatHero is done with the MSL, Stork has WCG until next week and Jangbi is in the semi-finals of the MSL. Samsung should pick up the pace when Stork and Jangbi are back and ready to focus on Proleague.
The middle of the rankings are the real battlefield this season. The five teams that reside there are barely one match apart, and each week is a fight for position. STX and MBC came out doing well at four and five, OGN dropped quite a bit to number six, and WeMade continued their mediocre streak. However, the big winner here is the Woongjin Stars, who have seriously stepped it up this season behind free. Now that they have GGPlay back, can they continue their Cinderella run?
Team Standings
Lecaf OZ finally lost a game this week making them 6-1. Their downfall came at the hands of MBC Hero. While Lecaf is still at +6/19-13, KHAN is now right behind them. MBC moved up a few positions following their win over Lecaf. They are now 4-3 with an individual record of 18-15. Their win loss ratio is very close to Lecafs, I think they will definitely be a top spot contender before playoff time.
Samsung KHAN is one of the most fearsome Proleague teams out there. They are only one loss behind Lecaf in matches and games at +5 (5-2/19-14). They started the season with a two game losing streak but have since gone on to win five games in a row. They seemed shaken by the loss of 2v2 at first but now, they seem to have adjusted well.
Team Standings
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/4Proleague/teamp_081105.png)
Detailed Match Statistics
+ Show Spoiler +
In third place is the KTF Magicns, a team which has yet to receive a bye week. They are now 6-3/23-16 which actually gives them more points than any other team at +7. KTF has a fearsome lineup which always ends with Flash or Luxury, allowing them strong and flexible ace options.
July and company are doing well for themselves this season. Their first loss was to MBC Hero back in week two. Then they gave away a win to the Woongjin Stars. Though the Stars are a good team this year STX should have beaten them. Soul is now 5-3, going 20-18 which is a scary stat. All of their games have been close, win or lose. STX is going to have to be more consistent if they want to be champions this season.
OGN Sparkyz went from second place last week to a dismal sixth. After defeating CJ Entus 3-2, they lost their next match to Woongjin 1-3. I blame it on go.go, I hate that guy. OGN is now 5-4/22-19 with those stats they should be able to put up better results in the next week or two. They cannot afford to drop games to teams like Woongjin though, especially as they struggle with the top tier teams and need to rack up wins on teams like ACE, eSTRO and the Stars.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SpiralArchitect/LecafOZ.jpg)
The Woongjin Stars are doing something which I could not have foreseen: winning. They have discovered a powerhouse player in little Free and have used him twice in a match many times. They are practically tied with OGN at 5-4/19-18 and could easily bump them out of the top six next week. The Stars haven’t been dominant in a long time but it seems they have restructured and come back to win this season.
Two of my favorite teams occupy the bottom half of the rankings. SKTelecom T1 and CJ Entus are performing sub-par this season, especially considering the lineups they have. SKT is the most disappointing, at 3-6/18-24 and barely maintaining a lead on eSTRO. CJ is in the same boat though they have much less water coming in. They are 3-4, going 14-14 individually, but they have faced a string of dominant teams after their easy opening this season. Their lineup is great and they should move out of the bottom half soon. I wish I could say the same for WeMade FOX, but in my opinion they are a terrible team.
Once again eSTRO and ACE are the last two teams in the rankings. They faced off this week giving ACE their one and only win, 3-0 to be exact. This was a mini-upset considering eSTRO had been able to take all of their opponents to a final ace match, even KHAN and Lecaf. Both teams are now 1-7 which may lead you to believe they are somewhat even in skill, but the individual stats beg to differ. eSTRO is 15-23 which puts them at -8 while ACE is trying to set records by going 8-21 for a score of -13. Both of these teams are where they belong right now and they will probably still be there at the end of the season too.
Individual Statistics
Flash tops the individual rankings this week. He is 9-3 right now, taking losses from FBH, Jaedong and Tester. Flash is the anchor of KTF, whether he likes it or not. He is the only Terran in the top ten which may speak to the lack of Terrans this season or the imbalance of the maps. Either way Flash is here to stay and will probably continue to dominate the ranks this season.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SpiralArchitect/Flash_KTF.jpg)
Flash has many faces
Following close behind is Best at 8-3. The Protoss prodigy has played much better than the rest of his team, besides Bisu at number eight. Fantasy is third highest SKT player, just inside the top 25. SKT needs to fill out the bench if they want to move up in the standings.
Full Individual Ranking (Click)
(Courtesy of Pop and TLPD)
Pusan proves worthy of his nickname, bringing five wins to MBCs record and only one loss. He is in the seventh position, just ahead of Bisu. Saint is also in the top ten this month for MBC. Now 5-1 he has helped Pusan to carry his shaky team to a top six spot this week.
Free and Calm are both relatively new compared to the rest of the top ten, but both of them have proven invaluable to their teams. Free has won both of his ace matches and is now 7-2. Calm is 2-1 in ace matches and also 7-2 in regular matches.
The most shocking of statistics is perhaps the serious lack of Terrans in the top 25. The rankings are dominated by Zerg this week with ten players, followed by Terran with eight and Protoss with seven. Five of those eight Terrans are 20-25 and only one (Flash) is in the top ten. Zerg has four players in the top ten and Protoss has five.
Savior makes his return to the top 25 as he attempts to make good on his Blizzcon promise. He is now 4-1 in Proleague this season, dropping one game to Yellow[Arnc]. While Savior was ahead by a large margin in that ZvZ, it's not a surprise when you consider that fake Yellow's ZvZ and the fact that he's been carrying OGN on his back. The two of them are dead even in points in the 14th and 15th positions. Savior is the only player in the top 25 for CJ.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SpiralArchitect/savior3.jpg)
Lecaf only has two players in the top 25. Their bench roster is amazingly strong though, leaving Jaedong and forGG to worry about the tough matches and their roles as ace players. However, neither of them are performing very well though as Jaedong (6-3) lands just outside the top ten at 11th while forGG(4-1) is in 16th.Between the two of them they have three ace wins.
KTF and KHAN have two players in the top ten. Luxury and Flash are a terrifying combo and they are putting up results to back that statement. Stork is in the second half of the top ten, but if you take his recent individual league practice into account he will probably be much higher in a few weeks. By.great is also in the top ten at number nine. He has stepped up to give KHAN something they haven't had in a while: a reliable Zerg player. Hopefully he can keep it up.
Free is the only player in the top 25 for the Stars. He carrying them on his own right now. Likewise, Oversky can take credit for half of ACEs overall wins. He is 4-2 and the only player in the Top 25 for ACE. When you give two more of those eight wins to Boxer you can really see how terrible ACE is. eSTRO also only has one player in the top 25, Sangho, who is 4-2 right now.
Ace Match Statistics
Best, Free and Jaedong are all 2-0 in ace matches so far. For free and Best this is a omen that their teams need to pick up the pace. Especially SKT as they should not allow the entire weight of the match rest on Best every time. They need to start picking up 3-1 or 3-0 wins or things are really going to get nasty. Jaedong is merely the best pick for and ace match for Lecaf. Their team is strong right now, allowing only four ace matches this season and winning every one.
Individual Ace Match Standings
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/4Proleague/ace_081105.png)
Flash is obviously one of the strongest ace players in the league right now. KTF has thrown him out there three out of four times they have gone to an ace match. Calm and Leta are 2-1, like Flash, they are both key players for their respective teams. Along with fake Yellow, Leta was responsible for OGNs fast start. Pusan is in the middle of them all. The Special Fireman has really earned his nickname as he continues to be the player than can come through in a clutch (2-1 again Lecaf? Send out Pusan and its 3-1).
eSTRO has the most ace matches out of any team. Every match except one was taken to an ace, likewise they have more players in the ace rankings than any other team. They really lack a strong Pusan or Flash to come out at the end with confidence and win. With four players in the top 35 and only one win among them it is easy to see why their record is so bad. Without a dominant player on the eSTRO roster they are going to fail miserably this season (gogo Nony?).
Map Statistics Weeks 1-5
The maps have finally had a decent amount of games played on them. Now we can really delve into the results and see what is happening. Maps make up a huge aspect of the Proleague, or any league for that matter. Picking the wrong matchup on any one map can cost you the entire match.
Map Statistics
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/4Proleague/Map_081105.png)
Some maps are highly favored to a particular matchup this season, namely Raid Assualt II (17 ZvZ) and Harmony (18 TvT). RA II is a terrible map for any race to play against Zerg and choosing a Protoss on that map is practically suicide. Terran isn’t much better, even though TvZ snipers have gone 4-1. ZvZ seems to be the matchup for this map. Likewise, Harmony's favorable 4-1 PvT and 3-2 ZvT records do not reflect the T imbalance. The map is clearly suited for TvT and has been treated by the teams this way.
Other than RA II and Harmony, the map balance has been fair this season. Chupung-Ryeong has given in to a slight P>T (9-5) imbalance but I don’t think it warrants a change in maps during the upcoming break. Likewise Destination has given into a slightly larger P>Z (7-3) advantage, this map may actually be subject to some balancing soon.Medusa is leaning towards being a Zerg map, but the stats could really go either way.
Other than that the maps this season appear to be fairly well balanced. Most of them maintain a fairly even percentage, but I think there are a few which may show their true colors after a few more weeks of play. The break where KeSPA is allowed to change the maps is coming up and we will have to see what they think then.
Until We Meet Again
That’s it for this weeks stats report folks. Week five was filled with upsets and exciting games. You can look forward to more of that in next weeks report as some of the most competitive teams vie for a top spot before the mid season hits. Thank you for reading this stats report, I truly hope you found it informative and pleasant to read. Cheers!Last edit: 2008-11-09 10:02:23 |
| | TeamLiquids #1 illiterate writer, writin dem wordz is de hardz. |  |
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 toshi Poland. November 09 2008 10:05. Posts 456 | Profile | |
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 funkie Venezuela. November 09 2008 10:07. Posts 7035 | Profile Blog |
Note to self: Show this pic to nevergg.  . |
| | CJ Entusman #6! |  |
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| funkie Venezuela. November 09 2008 10:08. Posts 7035 | Profile Blog |
Thanks for the big report also, really nice to see how things are going, when you're way too busy to see PL matches live ;p. :D
thanks! |
| | CJ Entusman #6! | |
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 Centric United States. November 09 2008 10:28. Posts 1907 | Profile |
| Nice job SA. T1 needs to step it up. |
| | Domination. | |
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 Vasoline73 United States. November 09 2008 10:32. Posts 2884 | Profile Blog |
| Thanks for the article. Love the PL updates |
| | KTF fan first, Flash fan second. KTF hwaiting! |  |
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 disciple Bulgaria. November 09 2008 10:45. Posts 4549 | Profile Blog |
| I've wanted to read sucha long and exiting trademark TL article for some days. Thanks for the awesome PL update |
| | Jyvblamo: "It's easier to do laundry after watching Boxer play, since normally I have to change my pants after anyways." // Member of the "Fuck Yeah, Canata!" committee// Member of the "Stork for 2nd OSL title!" initiative |  |
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 CDRdude United States. November 09 2008 11:26. Posts 4347 | Profile Blog |
| I love the PL stats report :-) |
| | Bisu is the true bonwja |  |
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 cgrinker United States. November 09 2008 11:41. Posts 2841 | Profile Blog |
| Yeah SKT dropped a game to Estro? That is pretty depressing. Unless you count the fact that Nony plays for them, that makes it pretty cool. |
| | Ma Jae Yoon then said "He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The secret to being the Kingdom of Zerg has been given to you" |Liquipedia: Need Help? Send me a pm and I'll do what I can | |
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 sixghost United States. November 09 2008 11:57. Posts 1347 | Profile Blog |
There's a tiny mistake in the map balance part, the table lists TvP on Harmony as 4-1 for T, but you mention P winning 4-1 so far in the article.
It's really nice to see Zerg at .500 this year, i can't remember the last time Z wasn't below that in PL.Last edit: 2008-11-09 11:58:15 |
| | mG.sixghost @ iCCup || One ling, two ling, three ling, four... Camp four gas, then ultra-whore . -Saracen | |
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| baubo China. November 09 2008 11:59. Posts 1843 | Profile |
You need to have a "bottom feeder" individual rankings. You'll see some T1 domination there, and the reason why they've been sucking this season.
I'm very impressed with Khan right now, mainly because they've been able to squeak out wins even with a lot of individual commitments to starleagues. |
| | Meh | |
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 parkin November 09 2008 12:21. Posts 688 | Profile Blog |
Flash has played alot of weaker opponents and plenty of TvTs recently wich is his best mu.
I do not think he would be the favourite against the best Tosses atm (stork, best, free, bisu) or Jaedong in a bo5 with the current map pool. He'd probably be the favourite against any Terran though. |
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 NonConGuy United States. November 09 2008 13:02. Posts 196 | Profile |
Just wondering who are those 3 people in the middle of the Samsung team (the 2 front most and the middle guy in the back row)? And wow thats an old picture of Lecaf with Anytime. Good times
Nice writeup |
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 GHOSTCLAW United States. November 09 2008 13:12. Posts 10240 | Profile Blog |
| awesome writeup. T1...><;; |
| | Liquipedia. Drop me a pm if you've got questions/need help. |  |
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 JWD United States. November 09 2008 14:52. Posts 6525 | Profile Blog |
Calm is actually 7-4 - TLPD is not updated with the STX - FOX game, in which he lost twice.
Great article, though! I enjoy TL's PL coverage.Last edit: 2008-11-09 14:53:32 |
| | twitter.com/teamliquidnet ✌ Do Jaewook. | |
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 Malongo Chile. November 09 2008 15:46. Posts 2484 | Profile Blog |
| i love proleague, thanks for your summary. Theres a mistake: harmony is 4-1 tvp. On a side note skt really needs a zerg that can play zvz on RA at least. That has costed them at least 2 matches. Last edit: 2008-11-09 15:50:07 |
| | Im improving my English. Any comments about my redaction and word use will be appreciated. Secret TL Mafia forum: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/index.php?show_part=31 |
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 eazo United States. November 09 2008 16:16. Posts 244 | Profile |
| Awesome coverage. Really well written and sums everything up very well... as usual! |
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 R3condite Korea (South). November 09 2008 16:16. Posts 1536 | Profile |
long read... but def a good one
w00t ace finally made a win~ |
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| Geo.Rion Romania. November 09 2008 21:31. Posts 2081 | Profile Blog |
| 494/500/506 it wasnt so balanced for a loong time |
| | "Honestly speaking, other than Jaedong, I think everyone's mutalisk micro is the same" hyvaa | |
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| Soju[src] Armenia. November 10 2008 00:31. Posts 17 | Profile | |
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| Lenwe Netherlands. November 10 2008 00:36. Posts 620 | Profile |
PL stat reports are so nice to catch up on all the results of the week.
SKT1 for playoffs! |
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| SpiralArchitect United States. November 10 2008 07:39. Posts 2116 | Profile Blog |
On November 09 2008 13:02 NonConGuy wrote:
Just wondering who are those 3 people in the middle of the Samsung team (the 2 front most and the middle guy in the back row)? And wow thats an old picture of Lecaf with Anytime. Good times
Nice writeup
I prefer to think that he never left...
About Zero. I dont think he was in the top 25 when I wrote the report, probably not added to the TLPD yet or something. |
| | TeamLiquids #1 illiterate writer, writin dem wordz is de hardz. | |
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 NiGoL Sweden. November 10 2008 17:28. Posts 726 | Profile | |
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 KOFgokuon United States. November 11 2008 05:22. Posts 8011 | Profile Blog |
| come on skt any day now... |
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| LordWeird United States. November 11 2008 05:28. Posts 2077 | Profile Blog |
| Sp1ralArch1tect gives meaning to Proleague |
| | The real LW (Hihihi Salv!) | |
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| tozi United States. November 11 2008 07:45. Posts 138 | Profile |
| next week's matchups come out when? |
| | nothing | |
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 RaiSad United States. November 11 2008 13:54. Posts 300 | Profile Blog |
| why all CJ members play so bad at this time? SKT1 looks even worse. |
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 Sanzenin Korea (South). November 11 2008 23:23. Posts 5 | Profile Blog | |
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NeverGG 
Korea (South). November 09 2008 12:07. Posts 3798
Realpenguin United States. November 09 2008 14:13. Posts 7687
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