Its that time of year when the flowers are in bloom, the beaches are packed, and korean teenagers are crammed into little booths playing Starcraft in front of thousands of people world wide. Yes, its the Avalon MSL and Day 1 of the Round of 16 has just been played. I offer my thoughts on each game played so far and my predictions on how each series will pan out.
Calm vs ForGG
Calm is innovative. Why it took him some 3 and a half years to show it will always be a mystery. Instead of facing ForGG's heavy metal push head on, he simply went around it and charged straight into ForGG's completely unprotected natural. ForGG was so shocked that his Goliaths all wet themselves simultaneously and ran crying back to base. Calm's attack force was mopped up, but this gave him all of the time to he needed to rebuild his troop count. Now it was a brilliant move and great harassment, but it should have only worked once. Apparently ForGG's troops get lonely too, because they couldn't bear to split up the second time it happened either. By the time they were emotionally mature enough to break the sunken wall, ForGG's economy was already crippled. Unless ForGG stops employing 7 year-olds to drive his Goliaths, Calm is going to steamroll him in the next match as well.
Hwasin vs Iris
I wouldn't say that this game is boring, but its not exciting. Standard TvT complete with mech, mech, and more mech. It came down to who had the longest attention span, which i can promise you was not me. If you like TvT's, by all means watch it, but its very stop and go, kind of like rush hour traffic. Suspenseful, maybe. Riveting? Not a chance. Since these players are so closely matched, we are likely to see 2 more painfully long games with Iris moving on.
Piano vs Canata
This match is short, sweet, and to the point unlike another TvT i can think of. Piano's 14 cc lost him the match in the first 2 minutes when Canata went for a forward Barracks, but he still showed great defensive micro and almost worked his way back into the game. Canata however is a good player and didn't let it happen. Judging by his continuing victories in both the MSL and the OSL, we can expect him to be proceeding without conceding (a single game).
Effort vs. Upmagic
Upmagic is what i like to call a complete idiot. At this level of play he should not be making such rudimentary mistakes. It was so much less acceptable than Piano's failed 14cc because HE FORCED EARLY LINGS. He didn't even wall in after that. I was speechless. I expected Effort to win, given how dominating he has been recently, but not without any apparent effort. I am not going to bash Upmagic -he is not a terrible player- but after a fail of that magnitude he is sure to go home early.
GOOD GAMES
Zero vs. Pure (Spoiler Alert: Watch First)
The goal of the Starleague IMO is to weed out the old, lackluster players and usher in the new and exciting ones. That's exactly why Zero and Pure are here. Two rising players with great potential playing Starcraft at a high level is the best validation of this entire tournament. They are by no means the best, but Zero is definitely a good contender for the semifinals at least. All i have to say about the match itself is where the hell was the harassment from Pure? He let Zero get way too big but Pure still held on until the big finale. As much as i like Pure, i predict Zero taking the next game with as much ease as he took each expansion in this game.
Jaedong vs Kal (Spoiler Alert: Watch First)
Protoss really got the short end of the stick in this MSL. All but 3 have been eliminated and 2 of those 3 have just started to enoy the limelight. If the lack of moral support wasn't enough, those same 2 are matched up against Jaedong and Zero, both players known for destroying Protoss. Kal put up a good fight and I hope he will take a game off Jaedong though it is highly unlikely.
Kwanro vs Flash (Spoiler Alert: Watch First)
This game is short and very intense. It seemed to be flaw against flaw. Kwanro is a great player, but he can be very over aggressive. Flash is known for over expanding and stretching himself too thin. Though he gained a lot of fame for using this build, every player who did a 14cc in this round of 16 lost. That gave Kwanro the natural advantage, but Flash still played the best he could and didn't fall easily. Unlike every other match from day 1, I think the guy who lost the first game will take the series. Kwanro may have won the battle, but he has not won the war. Flash may be slumping these days but I think he will be great when it really counts.
Bisu vs. Fantasy (Spoiler Alert: Watch First)
There is not much to say about this match except that the seeding for the Round of 16 needs to be revised and Bisu played perfectly. He may have been slumping a little bit recently but when hes on his game i agree with Rise that he is the best player in the world. Fantasy's macro may have been lacking but there was really nothing he could have done. If Bisu maintains that level of play, he is hands down going to win this tournament.
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This post was last edited by Brotoss On Jul 14 2009, 11:57 PM
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