• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
TeamLiquid Liquipedia LiquidDota LiquidHearth LiquidLegends
EST 07:19
CET 13:19
KST 21:19
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • WCS
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • BarCraft
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL7] Ro16 Preview Pt. 2 - Contender's Game6[BSL6] Ro24 Group E and F Previews8WCS Winter 2019: RO16 Gate Crashers9Code S RO32 Preview: Groups E, F & G18The Best Games of January 20195
Community News
Maru, soO, INnoVation and others advance to Code S RO161Qikz Interview15SC2 esports team members included in Blizzard layoffs112Feb 12 Community Update (Blink cost rollback)152Iron Chain becomes Mkers, acquires ShoWTimE12Cheeseadelphia to hold five SC2 events in 201919WCS Winter RO32 concludes, RO16 groups drawn63
StarCraft 2
General
Maru, soO, INnoVation and others advance to Code S RO16 Feb 12 Community Update (Blink cost rollback) A place to learn for the Platinum level player Using SC2 to study collective intelligence SC2 General Discussion & Simple Q/A
Tourneys
Go4SC2 Europe [WCS 2019] Winter Series - Group Stage 2 - Day 4 Afreeca World - Invitational 32! [GSL 2019] Season 1 - Ro32 Group G [TLMC 12] Map Contest Tournament - Finals Day
Fan Clubs
Golden Fan Club The TY Fan Club The FanTaSy Fan Club The Scarlett Fan Club
Strategy
[G] TheCore Lite - Advanced Keyboard Layout The LotV Terran Help Me Thread The LotV Protoss Help Me Thread Simple Questions Simple Answers TL Strategy Spawning Tool Build Thread
Custom Maps
uptodate training maps? micro or macro Simple Questions/Answers Work In Progress Melee Maps [M] (2) Ishual [UMS] Entropy TD
Single Player
Mutation Week 145 Together Forever Ranks/Tiers Mutation #145 Together Forever Mutation Week 144 Ulnar New Year Ranks/Tiers Mutation #144 Ulnar New Year Mutation Week 143 Attrition Warfare Ranks/Tiers
Brood War
General
[ASL7] Ro16 Preview Pt. 2 - Contender's Game Zerg Walling Ideas vs Terran (early factory) [ASL7] Ro16 Preview Pt. 1 - The Group of Death Grant D making decisions based on twitter poll? ASL7 Cheerful Contest Remembering Bisu
Tourneys
[ASL7] Ro16 Group C The Casual Games of the Week Thread EGM Fight Night #2 - Sponsored by AfreecaTV [ASL7] Ro16 Group B [BSL6] RO24 - Group F - Sunday 19:00 CET
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers [G] How to get started on ladder as a new Z player New Hydra Bust from Soulkey Cheese Hydra ZvT [I] Liquipedia Strat Update
Other Games
Other Games
Pokémon Go! Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread [WoW] Battle for Azeroth Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
Artifact
Introducing DrawTwo.gg! Tips for new players Hyped's post-nerf tier list
CS:GO
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive IEM Katowice Major 2019 Challengers Stage DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017 Minor Championships - Katowice 2019 TL Community team (NA)
Smash Bros
Smash Small VOD Thread Smash Bros. Melee General Discussion
Heroes of the Storm
HotS: WP and Funny Moments 2/4/19 Ana/Abathur PTR patch notes QQ/Rage Thread. HOTS Dev Update 2/8/19 [HotS] Why I'll Keep Playing HotS
Overwatch
RUOW CUP Season 2 announcement!
LoL General
LoL Tournaments
LoL Strategy
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread UK Politics Mega-thread The Big Programming Thread The Games Industry And ATVI Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars
Media & Entertainment
Movies you have seen recently... [Manga] One Piece What Are You Reading 2019 [Books] Dune [TV] Suits
Sports
NBA Season 2018-2019 2018 - 2019 Football Thread 2018 NFL and CFB season NHL 18-19: Karlsson my wayward Sen F1 2018
Tech Support
Backup software Simple Questions Simple Answers Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread TL-API list of API and examples needed TwitchTest: Twitch Bandwidth Tester
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Happy Birthday R1CH! Gay StarCraft Players DC/VA/MD Weekly Nerd Dinner! Who's in?
TL Mafia
Active List of Mafia Games 2.0 A Game of Thrones Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread TL voice mafia!
User Streams
[Stream] Indy [Stream] Hiro> Terran [Stream] LiquidTLO [Stream] maniac1122
Blogs
Featured Blogs
Bigfan Becomes a Caster
BigFan
some new art stuff
Glider
Three Volume IIII
Mizenhauer
Comics Part II: Star Wars VIII
Falling
Translation: How Soulkey Became a Pro-Gamer…
Letmelose
Regular Blogs
SC:Remastered FPVOD: RusAiur…
RusAiur
Casting Broodwar games!…
reps)squishy
So I have been to some place…
opisska
the desperation of creating …
fishjie
Some random music I've co…
Jockmcplop
Advice on getting affordable f…
Tak3r
Guitar Covers #2
NeThZOR
Spiritual alienation…
Starlightsun
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1224 users

[KSL2] Semis Preview - Power Overwhelming

Forum Index > BW General
14 CommentsPost a Reply

[KSL2] Semis Preview - Power Overwhelming

Text byBigFan
Graphics byv1
December 6th, 2018 04:48 GMT
logo
The quarterfinals ended the other day, and we were treated to a mixed bag of games. Some games or series were downright entertaining while others were frightfully underwhelming. Most of the quarterfinal results were expected though, with Rain dominating Leta, 3-0 though Leta managed to fire off a nuke, and locked down some carriers in their first game. The series between Soulkey and Larva might've been the most unexpected result for some as Soulkey beat Larva, 3-1 using a similar opening in most of the games.

Mind vs Sharp was another TvT brought to you by our tactical overlord Sharp who seems to have really picked up his game lately, showing a lot of promises in other matchups that he previously was, for lack of a better word, bad in. Finally, Last vs Miso closed off the quarterfinals. Miso's aggressive style showed a lot of promising with him almost taking their first map, HBR had he not overextended. His muta micro was solid, and he's a Zerg to keep an eye on much like Sharp for Terran. Alas, Last was too strong, and took their series, 3-0.

The semifinals promise to be exciting as Rain is set to face off against Sharp in . This was previewed by TaardadAiel while the next matchup, Last vs Soulkey, which is a rematch of the semifinals from the last KSL, will start the next day. This group was previewed by BLinD-RawR. Good games are on the horizon, I can feel it!

Let's get ready for some action!!!!!!

Table of contents

  • Intro
  •  
  • Rain vs Sharp Preview
  • Last vs Soulkey Preview
  •  
  • (Wiki)Liquipedia
Group D Preview

Come Rain or Come Sharp

For the round of 4 in the second season of the KSL, we have three out of the four semifinalists from last season. Soulkey will have a rematch with defending champion Last and Rain, who lost to Jaedong 0-4 a few months ago, will have to face Sharp.

Now, Rain is coming into the semifinals after a comfortable 3-0 sweep of returning Leta, who put up a fight with some great vulture harass in a fairly entertaining first game featuring a nuke and carriers being locked down. However, Rain eventually prevailed and then just cruised through games two and three. His recent offline PvT results are quite favorable. He won 3-1 against Light in his group in the KSL. He destroyed Leta, and he defeated both Mind and Sea in best-of-ones in their group in ASL6. Interestingly enough, he lost to Sharp in this same group in their most recent encounter.

The sponmatch results don’t do justice to Rain’s PvT prowess. He sits at a quite mediocre 46.6% since October, but 33 of his 73 games vs Terran were played against Flash. Make no mistake: Rain is still one of the most formidable Protoss players out there, if not the most formidable. He's a former ASL champion, and a Protoss who is making his second consecutive KSL semifinals appearance.

For his part, Sharp has shown a serious improvement in all of his matchups lately. But once again, he qualified for the semifinals on the back of his formidable TvT skills, defeating Mind with a decisive 3-0. He had to face two Protoss players to qualify from his Ro16 group, where he had to play a total of nine games against Movie and Jaehoon, opponents nowhere as intimidating as Rain. At first glance, his online sponmatch record in PvT is actually quite good. He has a winrate of 58.6% since October, maintaining a positive winrate with Best, Shuttle and Mini, but with a 15.4% against PvT maestro Snow, and 28.6% against Rain.

With all that said, this is Rain’s match to lose. Most of Sharp’s recent offline PvT games have been scrappy, back-and-forth games won mainly because of his tremendous tactical ability with vulture drops, runbys, pincer maneuvers and judicious use of defensive matrix. There has been a trend established in all those games. He tends to shoot himself in the foot early on, and then has to prove said skills in coming from behind to even the game. This is unacceptable against a player of Rain’s caliber. Sharp seems to prefer an aggressive, vulture-heavy style, with plenty of dropship play and backstabs. This just plays into Rain’s cards.

He is sure to have studied his recent matches after having to endure Leta’s early drops in their first game and he quickly adjusted his play to make his defenses nigh impenetrable, denying a mechanically lesser opponent their powerful weapon. Also, Sharp’s unconvincing record with reaver expert Snow shows he just can’t defend against the best of them (then again, taking on Snow as Terran is a tall order in itself) - and Rain is one of the best. Sharp’s style of play favours his opponent, whether he chooses to opt for his trademark safe play into inhumane macro or the multiple-shuttle incisive pushes he introduced himself. Expect Rain to reach his second offline final in a total of three tournaments this year.

Prediction: Rain 4-1 Sharp

(P)Rain to advance to the finals!

Group E Preview

Electric Boogaloo

Here we go again, same as last season when we got Last vs Soulkey in the Ro4. Will Last pull ahead once again or is it finally time for Soulkey to grab a spot in the finals?

If we were to go by his one and only ZvT this season of KSL then Soulkey looks like he's pretty much locked out of the finals this season too. Mind pretty much hoodwinked him at every turn and Soulkey didn’t do himself any favors either. An argument was made that he may not have been practicing, and that seemed to have been true for all of last month where he's played only 8 ZvT sponmatches, winning 5-3. However, what he does have going for him right now is that in this week alone (it's the new month), he has won all 4 of his ZvTs including 2 games against Flash. So this time he's definitely practicing, and will surely put up a better fight.

[image loading]
A Tough Fight Ahead

Last’s run in this KSL thus far has been one of dominance. Actually not just the KSL, but even in the BJ Destruction League Season 2, not only did his team win, but he finished the entire league completely undefeated. Interestingly enough, since September, Last has only played 2 TvZ sponmatches. Still, Miso and Modesty aren’t yet the top tier Zergs on the Afreeca food chain, and Soulkey is not the easiest opponent in TvZ even at his worst, especially now that Soulkey has been working on his counters to the 1-1-1 which Last has had a lot more success with against Zergs lately.

[image loading]
Last Eats Zergs

All maps are going to be played on, and there is a good split for Terran and Zerg maps. Soulkey himself would favor Neo Aztec, HBR and Roadkill while Last would favor Benzene, Eddy and Fighting Spirit. Both players I would say are pretty strong on Circuit Breaker and it will likely also be the opening map for the series.

(T)Last to advance to the finals, 4-3!


Writers: Taardadaiel, BLinD-RawR, BigFan
Graphics: v1
Editors: BigFan
Photo Credits: Afreeca, Blizzard, DailyEsports
Facebook Twitter Reddit
BW Editor-In-Chief"Watch Bakemonogatari or I will kill you." -Toad, April 18th, 2017
BigFan
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
TLADT23463 Posts
December 06 2018 04:55 GMT
#2
There was no bias in effect when the article title was decided on, I swear!
BW Editor-In-Chief"Watch Bakemonogatari or I will kill you." -Toad, April 18th, 2017
DropBear
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Australia2721 Posts
December 06 2018 05:36 GMT
#3
ZvP finals lets go
ana & kpii reppin!
bovienchien
Profile Joined March 2014
Vietnam565 Posts
December 06 2018 05:40 GMT
#4
I think the result will be Sharp 4:2 Rain
https://www.facebook.com/StarcraftRemasteredVN/
BigFan
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
TLADT23463 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-06 05:46:53
December 06 2018 05:46 GMT
#5
Sharp is getting better, but he's not on Rain's level atm. Maybe next year, he'll get a lot better with more practice, but not yet.

On December 06 2018 14:36 DropBear wrote:
ZvP finals lets go

I want TvP for once though I can settle for TvT too!
BW Editor-In-Chief"Watch Bakemonogatari or I will kill you." -Toad, April 18th, 2017
William Blue
Profile Joined December 2014
42 Posts
December 06 2018 07:55 GMT
#6
Hopes either Rain or Soulkey wins this. Let's also hope that Flash will join KSL Season 3 next year.
Yanokabo
Profile Joined October 2018
268 Posts
December 06 2018 08:27 GMT
#7
Rain is a lock but Soulkey last is 30/70.
JieXian
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Malaysia4182 Posts
December 06 2018 09:34 GMT
#8
If Soulkey beats Last he can run over Rain in the Finals

Last's ZvT looks very solid but I play Zerg so go Soulkey!
Please send me a PM of any song you like that I most probably never heard of! I am looking for poeple to chat about writing and producing music | http://www.youtube.com/c/JeiShian |
BisuDagger
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Bisutopia16605 Posts
December 06 2018 12:29 GMT
#9
I am curious to see if Effort's victories was enough to convince Last to play 2rax or 5rax variations over 1/1/1.
ModeratorOfiicial Afreeca Starleague Caster: http://afreeca.tv/ASL2ENG2
Alpha-NP-
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States924 Posts
December 06 2018 17:24 GMT
#10
I am also curious if Soulkey will pull off some wins with Mole Zerg. Hyped!!
Thanks for Letmelose’s quality posts. Best is most creative progamer imo.
Xiphias
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Norway2197 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-07 14:56:54
December 07 2018 06:26 GMT
#11
+ Show Spoiler +
Well, so much for that first semifinals prediction. Let the upsets flow!


You know better Xiphias. Wallow in shame.
aka KanBan85. Working on Starbow.
weiliem
Profile Joined January 2008
1370 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-07 14:57:24
December 07 2018 08:34 GMT
#12
+ Show Spoiler +
Oh no..... The Last vs Rain finals that I was looking forward to


You know better weiliem. Wallow in shame.
Oppa feeding style
ggsimida
Profile Joined August 2015
238 Posts
December 07 2018 09:03 GMT
#13
On December 07 2018 17:34 weiliem wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
Oh no..... The Last vs Rain finals that I was looking forward to


+ Show Spoiler +
if he chokes like that to sharp then hes not gonna do well against last either anyway
BisuDagger
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Bisutopia16605 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-07 14:56:39
December 07 2018 14:56 GMT
#14
No spoilers please guys.
ModeratorOfiicial Afreeca Starleague Caster: http://afreeca.tv/ASL2ENG2
RovCelebrityAEC
Profile Joined December 2018
1 Post
December 08 2018 05:39 GMT
#15
thank you
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Intel Extreme Masters M…
12:30
Season XIII - Katowice 2019: New Challengers Stage
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs ViCi Gaming
G2 Esports vs TyLoo
Cloud9 vs Winstrike Team
LiquipediaDiscussion
Map Test Tournament
11:30
FINALS DAY
Solar vs ZestLIVE!
Rogue vs herO
soO vs TBD
WardiTV3825
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
CrankTV 1640
Beastyqt 623
DeMusliM 559
Stats 397
ForGG 15
SC2ShoWTimE 7
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 10146
Flash 4410
Rain 1419
Zeus 849
ZerO 844
BeSt 234
Pusan 233
Stork 159
Soulkey 130
EffOrt 78
[ Show more ]
Mong 55
Reach 44
Hyuk 42
MisO 24
NaDa 16
Shine 13
Noble 13
Heroes of the Storm
crisheroes702
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
rubinoeu111
Other Games
Liquid`RaSZi4080
minikerr128
ROOTCatZ84
Organizations
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
ESL CS:GO85121
StarCraft: Brood War
Afreeca ASL 5882
StarCraft 2
OGamingTV SC2 280
StarCraft: Brood War
Afreeca ASL EN234
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
dreamhackcs77
StarCraft: Brood War
Classic BW VODs22
[ Show 23 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Belair 86
• HKG_Chickenman15
• Miezekotze 13
• DivinesiaTV 8
• D4rkn0ob1k 5
• Bosshoore 5
• LUISG 4
• NeNeSh 2
StarCraft: Brood War
• g0rynich 21
• sscaitournament12
• Michael_bg 0
Heroes of the Storm
• chu8234
• finalelement0
Other Games
• Honor. 1997
• RPGLimitBreak640
• HappyZerGling275
• Makarimorph1239
• PoisonTV10
• Algost 10
• TenshiSC28
• ezykron2
• AntiFusion12
• SinO[Ob] 1
Upcoming Events
BW Jeez Weekly
41m
Go4SC2
41m
WCS
2h 41m
Serral vs Rail
GunGFuBanDa vs Harstem
Proxy Tempest
4h 41m
BSL: ProLeague
5h 41m
Dewalt vs Bakuryu
DragOn vs Napoleon
WCS
6h 41m
TIME vs Silky
Kelazhur vs Astrea
BaseTradeTV Misc.
12h 41m
OSC
13h 41m
Showmatch
14h 41m
Tim vs Jealous
OSC
21h 41m
[ Show More ]
God Azae League
21h 41m
Proxy Tempest
1d 6h
ESChamp Toronto
1d 12h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 21h
Mini vs Larva
Sacsri vs Rain
OlimoLeague
1d 22h
Alpha Pro Series
2 days
Harstem vs Bly
GSL Code S
2 days
Zest vs Patience
aLive vs Rogue
Intel Extreme Masters M…
2 days
OSC
2 days
The Pylon Show
3 days
Intel Extreme Masters M…
3 days
Go4SC2
4 days
God Azae League
4 days
Intel Extreme Masters M…
4 days
OSC
4 days
Proxy Tempest
5 days
God Azae League
5 days
Intel Extreme Masters M…
5 days
REGENERATE OPEN WEEKLY…
6 days
EGM Fight Night
6 days
ESChamp Toronto
6 days
OSC
6 days
Intel Extreme Masters M…
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Coach Pupil League S3
2019 WCS Winter Americas China Qualifier
Fight Night #2
ELEAGUE Invitational 2019

Ongoing

BWCL Season 47
2018 Shinhan Tank Proleague
Bombastic StarLeague 6
Afreeca Starleague Season 7
BW Jeez weekly 7
2019 WCS Winter Americas
2019 WCS Winter Europe
2019 Global StarCraft II League Season 1
OSC Team Championship 2018
WardiTV Team Liquid Map Contest Tournament #4
H. Lounge Div. S S1 NA Qual.
H. Lounge Div. S S1 EU Qual.
H. Lounge Div. S S1 NA Qual. 3
H. Lounge Div. S S1 EU Qual. 3
ESEA Season 30 - AU Premier
ESEA Season 30 - NA Premier
ESEA Season 30 - EU Premier
IEM XIII - Katowice Major 2019

Upcoming

BW Jeez weekly 8
2019 WCS Summer
2019 Global StarCraft II League Season 3
2019 WCS Spring
2019 Global StarCraft II League Season 2
2019 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 1
World Electronic Sports Games 2018
IEM Season XIII - Katowice
H. Lounge Div. S S1 NA Qual. 4
H. Lounge Div. S S1 EU Qual. 4
Tespa Collegiate Series 2019
Agon League Season 3
StarSeries & i-League Season 7
BLAST Pro Series: São Paulo '19
WESG 2018 Global Finals
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Flash
2. ZerO
3. Last
4. Bisu
5. EffOrt
6. Rain
7. Soulkey
8. Snow
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Jobs | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Logo & Style Guide | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2019 Team Liquid. All Rights Reserved.