Two down, one to go for OGN

After a long and grueling match, OGN Sparkyz defeats SK Telecom T1 in a truly nail biting fashion. In the end it was Luxury who defeated Bisu in the Ace game and sealed the deal for OGN.

After decimating STX SouL last week, OGN had to take on the non-trivial task of defeating the monstrous SKT team this week. Just like the previous game, OGN entered the arena as underdogs, having to face the likes of BeSt, Bisu and Canata. It was rough, it was gritty and it sure wasn't easy, but OGN once again beat the odds and is all set for the finals against Samsung KHAN.


PlayervsPlayerMap
go.go < Canata @ Wuthering Heights
Leta > BeSt @ Othello
Flower
Spear> s2
MuJuK @ Hunters
Shine < HyuK @ Blue Storm
Chalrenge > Bisu @ Katrina SE
Yellow[ArnC]
Zeus< Rumble
Bul_T @ Hannibal
Luxury > Bisu @ Colosseum



The grand finals will be in two weeks, on Saturday the 9th to be precise.

(Lengthy) Brief Battle Report

Game 1 - Canata vs go.go @ Wuthering Heights

The first match of the series was a somewhat lengthy TvT, although the level of action was rather high throughout the entire game. Canata spawned at the 5 o clock position and go.go at 11 o clock. Early game was business as usual, the only variation being that Canata built his barracks outside his natural expansion, which didn't lead up to anything. One little gem in the early game was the marine that Canata planted in the choke between the 8 o clock main and it's expansion, fooling go.go into thinking that Canata spawned there. go.go went for a dual stargate opening with wraiths but was countered by the goliaths that spawned shortly after they found their way into Canata's base.

The following 20 minutes of the game consisted mainly of go.go making daring raids into Canata's territories only to be deflected time and time again. Canata managed to venture out himself a couple of times, setting up perimeters of tanks as well as being more successful than go.go in attacking expansions. This jousting carried on until Canata, who had given more than he had gotten at that point, added a covert ops to his science facility. The first nuke was somewhat badly placed, targeting a cluster of tanks that happily moved away before they got hit. Following that ghost's rather expensive suicide, a second nuke was more successfully dropped on another cluster of go.go's tanks, tipping the scales enough for Canata to seal the game. SKT 1, OGN 0.

Game 2 - BeSt vs Leta @ Othello

Next up on stage for SKT was none other than BeSt, spawning at 10 o clock. Opposing him was Leta, who started out at 1 o clock. BeSt's strategy this game turned out to be a fast tech to reavers, which left him with only a single dragoon and zealot guarding his ramp. Leta on the other hand threw up a factory and started producing tanks as per usual. This was not all though, as he also hid a starport up in the top right corner. An early push consisting of a tank, a couple of marines and the odd vulture accompanied by a few SCVs had no difficulty dispensing of the lone guardians BeSt had placed on his ramp. The newly constructed reaver had to be put to use immediately, driving Leta's forces back. Any hopes of using that reaver offensively was doused however, as Leta began dropping units inside BeSt's main consistently for some time, pinning BeSt down in his base and killing a number of probes.

This aggressive play allowed Leta to expand at will and his unit count grew rapidly. BeSt's reavers proved ineffective and were mainly used as a safeguard against a potential push. His response to the aggression he suffered at the hands of Leta was a quick tech to arbiters, as well as some heavy expanding. As Leta pushed towards the second expansion of BeSt, BeSt managed to recall a group of units into Leta's natural expo just before his arbiter was shot down by goliaths. This didn't prove that devastating, as Leta's reinforcements and part of his main force trapped BeSt's troops in the expansion, grinding them to dust. Leta razed BeSt's second expansion shortly thereafter with his main force. Further attempts at recalls and attacks were swatted aside by Leta, who began a slow push towards BeSt's main as well as sending a smaller force towards the bottom expansions BeSt had taken earlier. Unable to stop this, BeSt taps out as he recalls a handful of probes as a sacrifice. The scores are now even, 1-1.

Game 3 - s2 / MuJuK vs Flower / Spear @ Hunters

Hunters is a map that has had a grudge against SKT the entire season. They just can't seem to get the hang of the map, and the map itself tends to place the SKT teammates quite far apart. This time it seemed more amiable, as MuJuK and s2 started at 5 and 6 o clock respectively. OGN were not as lucky, as Spear spawned at 3 while Flower spawned all the way over at 11 o clock. Early on it became apparent that a heavy land battle would take place, on account of the large amount of zerglings produced and the number of gateways placed. Due to Spear's close proximity to the SKT players, they decided to place a pylon and two cannons just outside Spear's choke.

However, Spear had no less than three gateways pumping zealots for all they were worth. Just before the cannons finished warping in, Spear pushes out with a large force of zealots with some probes thrown in as well. At the same time Flower adds a group of helpful zerglings to the fray and together they manage to take down pylon, cannons and enemy units. Having broken out, the OGN players turned offensive and battered down the gateways blocking MuJuK's choke and then proceeding to annihilate him. s2 tried turtling up but was swiftly overwhelmed. The Hunters curse still hangs over SKT, who are now down one game.

Game 4 - HyuK vs Shine @ Blue Storm

SKT was down one game at this point, but definitely not out. Hyuk spawned in the top right corner of Blue Storm while Shine spawned in the bottom left. The game started out in a very typical TvZ fashion with HyuK opening with a 12 hatchery build and Shine fast expanding after his first barracks. Shine built up a force of marines with a few medics and headed out into the field. Meeting them in the middle were HyuK's zerglings and mutalisks, who wiped out Shine's forces after sustaining some casualties. After some probing HyuK's mutas found a hole in Shine's anti air defenses, and proceeded to systematically pick Shine apart while expanding himself.

Shine eventually managed to push out with a group of marines, medics and science vessels, but as soon as he approached one of HyuK's expansions, the on at 6 o clock to be precies, HyuK ran all his forces around and into Shine's main, dealing the death blow then and there. The score is now tied at 2-2.

Game 5 - Bisu vs Chalrenge @ Katrina SE

OGN had opted to leave Justin out of the loop in favor of Chalrenge. Chalrenge spawned in the 6 o clock position while Bisu spawned in the cross map position at 12 o clock. Katrina SE is a large map no matter how you slice it and cross positions only enhance this fact. Surely this game was going to be one of those long macro games, right? Wrong.

Chalrenge predicted that Bisu would be going for a fast expansion, as the map clearly encourages such play, and threw up no less than four gateways to pump units for a massive rush. Bisu was happily expanding and teching when suddenly a huge force of dragoons and zealots stood outside his doorstep. Bisu had two cannons, four zealots and four dragoons to combat this huge force, but despite pulling his probes off to aid in the defense, he couldn't drive Chalrenge off. Losing most of his probes, Bisu had no choice but to surrender, Chalrenge's build order working like a charm against Bisu's fast expansion. OGN is on top again with 3-2 and has the chance to take the match home in the next game.

Game 6 - Rumble / Bul_T vs Yellow[ArnC] / Zeus @ Hannibal

The second 2v2 game was a short and brutal affair indeed. Rumble and Bul_T started out at 5 and 8 o clock, Yarnc and Zeus started out at 3 and 11 o clock. The OGN pair decided early on to be the aggressors, building up a force of zerglings and zealots to try to breach Rumble's base. This attack proved devastatingly ineffective, as a sunken colony, a bunch of zerglings and a ramp proved too impervious to attack. A small force of zerglings were sent to Bul_T's base as well, but didn't really accomplish much.

The counter from the SKT pair was devastating. First a wave of zerglings was barely defeated in Yarnc's main while Zeus's dragoons got taken out by mutalisks and other dragoons. Then the mutalisks, with a few zealots for moral support, drove Yarnc's drones out of the base and wrecked havoc before finally getting taken out. A weak counter attack was launched against Rumble, but proved as ineffective as the first attack. SKT repeatedly came out on top during the skirmishes and after marauding mutalisks wiped out all of Yarnc's drones and began working on Zeus's probes, OGN surrenders. Now everything boils down to the ace game, and the pressure couldn't be greater if it tried.

Game 7 - Bisu vs Luxury @ Colosseum

Luxury makes his first appearance in the playoffs and spawns at the 1 o clock position. SKT expected this and decided that Bisu would be the best counter to the zerg menace. Bisu spawns in at 5 o clock. As Luxury opens up with a standard 12 hatchery, Bisu notices this and goes for a nexus before throwing up a gateway and a forge at his choke. He also blocks Luxury's protected expansion with a pylon for a short time. After both player's economies are settled, it becomes apparent that Bisu is going for a sair/reaver build. His first corsair takes a good peek at Luxury's base and spots the hydra den and evolution chamber. Luxury needs some information as well, so he rushes a group of zerglings past the cannons in Bisu's choke and gets a good whiff of what's to come. A ton of hydralisks are quickly produced and set to patrol the perimeters of the expansions to ward off both sairs and shuttle's with reavers.

This turns out to be quite successful, although Bisu managed to get off a drop and kill off a couple of drones before being forced to retreat. As he retreats however he is caught of guard by another group of hydralisks who nearly manage to take out the shuttle. Bisu is not discouraged and loads up another reaver in the damaged shuttle. Luxury had just taken his mineral only expansion when Bisu descends upon it with a swarm of zealots, corsairs and the damage shuttle. The hatchery disappears in a cloud of blood, but a swarm of hydralisks falls upon the hapless zealots, wiping them out. The shuttle tried to do a second attack at Luxury's main, but was taken out with both reavers still inside. This prompts Luxury to counterattack with the huge force of hydralisks. Bisu's second expo goes down, but some nice reaver shots decimate the hydralisks to the point where they have to retreat.

Lurkers and lings attempt an attack on the rebuilding expansion but were driven off. Both players settled back a bit to expand and tech when Bisu sneaks a shuttle in over Luxury's mineral only. The high templar within storms, but only a few drones are killed. Bisu ventures out, but a wall of lurkers drive him back long enough for Luxury to amass a large force of zerglings, ultralisks and a few defilers. Plagues fly left and right and protoss units melt. Bisu cannot stand against this onslaught and is defeated by Luxury. OGN has done it, they've beaten SKT and are heading straight for the finals!