 Last Romantic United States. February 17 2009 10:01. Posts 20146 | Profile Blog # |
Batoo OSL Week 2
This week in OSL produced a set of mostly lackluster games. The only game I would truly recommend is Flash-HwaSIn, it being a demonstration of artful Terran versus Terran play. I have chosen to present the games in chronological order as follows:
 YellOw[ArnC] < Return of the King >  Stork
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“These days you can't 1-gate or you won't beat a zerg.”
-Taekyong “Revolutionist” Kim
So says the leader of the anti-Zerg crusade, believing that double nexus builds are the only way to go. Stork, in his group stage game against SparkyZ_MS, begs to differ.
Stork dispatched a scout drone with his probe, setting the game’s tone from the get-go: an S-class Protoss with vastly superior micro pushing around an inconsistent poseur. Executing the one gateway into stargate zealot/ dragoon/corsair rush so commonly practiced by progamers against foreigners, Stork very nearly killed Yarnc in five minutes. After a failed hydralisk rush moments later, Yarnc conceded. A straightforward control victory by Stork, as everyone’s easy-to-hate Myungsoo looked utterly helpless before basic Protoss gateway units.
After his triumph over Bisu, many expected great things of the God of War’s protégé. However, he dropped out of the MSL and lost every WL game immediately afterwards. Following a crushing defeat at the hands of Leta, reducing him to a below-50% winrate, one can imagine July chastising his wayward apprentice.
Nevertheless, against the mediocre-at-best-how-did-he-get-into-OSL Tester, by.hero rose to the occasion. Both opened along standard routes, Protoss fast-expanding while Zerg grabbed three quick multis. From there, Tester prepared a two-base 130-supply hanbang while harassing with dark templar and corsairs to destroy by.hero and his royal-roading aspirations. Hero was completely prepared, and deflected all assaults with ease. With a massive hydraling/lurker flank, he smashed the Protoss forces in a Koprolu-sector Cannae. Eat your heart out, attack move.
Q: You are playing against one of the top-3 PvTs in the world, BeSt, on a 70% Protoss winrate map in the most prestigious StarCraft tournament in the world. What do you do?
UpMagic: Use a one-barrack bunker rush that has absolutely zero chance of success. My opponent doesn’t even need to pull all his probes to eliminate my redneck conscripts and send me back to my third-tier prohouse.
“Honestly, I couldn't practice at all and I am very worried.”
-Jaedong “Tyrant” Lee
What a difference of character between Bisu and Jaedong! This, too, after he crushed four opponents in succession to singlehandedly cement a victory for his team in Winners’ League. He then illustrated the massive gap between a top-tier zerg and a zerg of decidedly lesser caliber. Kal selected a slightly slower version of Stork’s one-base rush, with an extra zealot and dragoon ostensibly to deal more damage. Unlike Yarnc, who allowed his troops to be cut to shreds by sending them in piecemeal, Jaedong executed an expert flank, annihilating Kal’s special operatives and countering for the easy win.
In the much hyped showdown between the MBC-grown mercenaries, the Protoss-slaying July opted for a five-hatchery hydra pump against Zerg-slaying Bisu’s harass-into-mass-gates build. Though he defended the corsair and reaver harass seamlessly for the better part of the early/mid-game, a single misplaced overlord cost him his 2-o’clock hatchery. After this, July thought himself more disadvantaged than he truly was, committing to several attacks where his slightly superior army melted to storm. Though his troops might have been able to reverse the game, atypical control put the situation out of reach for the God of War.
The Proleague stalwart Leta played the reigning heir of SKT’s Terran line in this forty-minute wraith/tank into battlecruiser slugfest. After fantasy gained the advantage in early wraith play, he set a tank contain that Leta was only able to break with battlecruisers. However, fantasy had access to more gas and simply controlled his airships better to seal the game. More of a drawn out loss than a back-and-forth TvT. Not particularly recommended; I dozed off at several points in the match.
The subsequent mirror, however, was amazing. Flash and Hwasin met in the other two leagues previously this week, splitting the games evenly. As the early game progressed into the midgame, Flash looked to be in dire straits. His failed dropship attack allowed Hwasin to build a stranglehold in the center – a commanding position in Medusa. Flash’s ill-conceived initial break attempt put him even farther behind: at one point in the game he was down 100 supply to 150. At this point, every KTFlash fan observing the match began cursing the KTF coaching staff for making the poor boy run the StarCraft gauntlet and wearing down his endurance.
Fortunately for the boy wonder, Hwasin’s decision to mass expand instead of attack cost him the game. Flash’s dropship play went from abysmal to Boxeresque, as he was able to shut down every expansion attempt while simultaneously destroying Hwasin’s main. From then on, the Ultimate Weapon crafted ultimate weapons in the form of wraiths to eradicate Hwasin’s tank-only army and extract the GG.
The final game of the week was a letdown. Luxury, already the heavy favorite against past champion GGPlay, wasn’t even allowed to showcase his 2nd-in-the-world ZvZ chops. A straight build order win ensued as Luxury’s fast pool slaughtered GGPlay’s 12-expo. Nothing to see whatsoever as the Man of Virtue became the first player eliminated from group stages.
A promising week. We have the mouse-holder July fighting for survival against Stork, Flash dueling Best for a spot in the quarterfinals, and Kal facing Luxury for the same right. Looking forward to some fun games.
Love and luck,
LRLast edit: 2009-02-17 13:55:31 |
| | ㅋㄲㅈㅁ It's not four straight wins, it's 2^2 wins in a row for ACE - DCinside |  |
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| ChaoSbringer Australia. February 17 2009 10:27. Posts 886 | Profile Blog # |
Thanks for the writeup LR
These games were so good, and I'm looking forward to this weeks as well. |
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| StarN United States. February 17 2009 10:39. Posts 2582 | Profile Blog # |
ahhh nice write up  |
| | SC2 ID - GoodKnighT |  |
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3 Lions  China. February 17 2009 10:44. Posts 3248 | Profile Blog # |
| It's really disappointing that Best and Flash won't both make the Ro8. Hoping at least for an epic game. |
| | TL CJ Entusman #8 |  |
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| Kuja900 United States. February 17 2009 10:44. Posts 2789 | Profile Blog # |
| Leta v Tester is going to be one of the most vicious rapes in recent memory. |
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| Tyxiquale Australia. February 17 2009 11:02. Posts 424 | Profile # |
| I'm not too sure about that.. we'll have to see what medusa has to say about it. |
| | Dumb people don't know that they're dumb. | |
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| ambit!ous1 United States. February 17 2009 11:02. Posts 3660 | Profile # |
| great write up! thanks romantic! |
| | Bisu[Shield] / ♔ SoYeon |  |
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| Avidkeystamper United States. February 17 2009 11:14. Posts 8551 | Profile Blog # |
On February 17 2009 10:44 Kuja900 wrote:
Leta v Tester is going to be one of the most vicious rapes in recent memory.
BestGod>Leta on Medusa, and I daresay Tester's PvT is on the same level. |
| | Jaedong |  |
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 Carnivorous Sheep February 17 2009 11:25. Posts 8729 | Profile Blog # |
Great write up, thanks!
July fighting, 4 OSLs, Golden Keyboard gogogogogo! |
| | Baa? |  |
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 fanatacist February 17 2009 11:53. Posts 10000 | Profile Blog # |
Nice write-up!
Bisu fighting~ |
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| QuickStriker United States. February 17 2009 12:07. Posts 2999 | Profile Blog # |
| Really nice writeup!!! I look forward to week 3 but am afraid of losing my place and spot in LB for week 3 with my bad predictions.... |
| | A crazy rabid SK Telecom T1 fan! // #1 Hyuk fan!! | |
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| wiesel Germany. February 17 2009 12:13. Posts 727 | Profile # |
| Very nice writeup, thank you. Last edit: 2009-02-17 12:14:04 |
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| erin[go]bragh United States. February 17 2009 12:24. Posts 738 | Profile # |
Really looking forward to Best vs. Flash, should be a great game.
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| | -=JulyZerg!=- by.hero, effOrt, KTY. for love of the game. | |
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| neshima February 17 2009 12:38. Posts 37 | Profile # |
hmm... dunno why u didnt choose to study english/writing at berkeley. as an english major, i'd have to say you could really get somewhere =) i always enjoy reading your witty and imagery-filled writeups. i'm also jealous because u're younger than me -__-
propz |
| | oov.bisu.haran.leta | |
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| Jaksiel United States. February 17 2009 13:02. Posts 3266 | Profile # |
| I don't think Stork won so much as Yarnc lost. Yarnc just decided he needed no fighting units and no sunkens. "Somehow", his Drones failed to effectively fight off Zealots, and his...nothing for air defense let Ovies get slaughtered at the same time. |
| | Zero fighting. |  |
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| koreasilver Canada. February 17 2009 13:54. Posts 7487 | Profile Blog # |
| Yarnc so failed that game. |
| | "I don't think that the polls accurately reflect how far this race has swung in Romney's favor. I'm still expecting a landslide victory for Romney." - TL's very own Nostradamous, xDaunt | |
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| Jayme United States. February 17 2009 15:06. Posts 4922 | Profile Blog # |
On February 17 2009 12:24 erin[go]bragh wrote:
Really looking forward to Best vs. Flash, should be a great game.
Flash is going to steamroll Best so hard it's going to leave him a quivering mess on the floor.
I really would like to see stork advance though and perhaps play .. better. I like Stork but he's been playing absolutely awful lately. I just don't understand. |
| | Python is garbage, number 1 advocate of getting rid of it. | |
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| omninmo February 17 2009 15:34. Posts 2349 | Profile Blog # |
| I like your style dude. Precise and with brevity. Shucks about Park Sungjoon losing to Kim Taeyong though |
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| Shuffleus Australia. February 17 2009 15:38. Posts 763 | Profile Blog # |
On February 17 2009 10:44 Kuja900 wrote:
Leta v Tester is going to be one of the most vicious rapes in recent memory.
i agree, poor poor leta. |
| | | QuanticGaming.com | There is no greater feeling then to find order in the chaos, as you slip the puzzle pieces in place. |
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| KOFgokuon United States. February 17 2009 15:57. Posts 11263 | Profile Blog # | |
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