SK Telecom T1 Point of View

At 4-3, T1 is now in sixth place in the Proleague standings - two spots out of the last playoff slot. Though it's still quite early in the season, their strong position after seven matches is just proof that T1 is much improved over last year and has the potential to surprise and impress. To maintain their current momentum, T1 will need to come away from its match against 9th-place OnGameNet SPARKYZ with a solid win. How does T1 stack up against OGN for their Monday night match?


BeSt (P) vs go.go (T) @ Colosseum



BeSt is looking hotter than ever after his trouncing of UpMagic earlier this week in T1's win over eSTRO (not quite hot enough to earn a spot in SC2GG's first ever monthly top ten, though). You might think he's the clear favorite over OGN's little-known Terran go.go...and he is. However, this match could be closer than you'd expect. go.go 0-2d out of his OSL group, but both of his games were competitive and he is coming off of wins over Firebathero and UpMagic this Proleague season.



BeSt and go.go have played once before, in T1's Proleague match against OGN last November. To my surprise, it was go.go that snagged the win in this game on Blue Storm, and it wasn't by way of cheese. However, to say BeSt has improved since last November would be a massive understatement. The T1 Protoss will take advantage of Colosseum's cliffs to avenge last year's loss and put his team ahead after the first set.



Midas (T) vs Leta (T) @ Hurricane Hills



Midas's loss to Terran Sea.Really in T1's match against eSTRO shook my faith and proved that Midas can, in fact, lose Proleague games this year. However, it's important to note that Midas is still 5-2 and he dropped his game to Really on one mistake in troop placement (he had a significant economic advantage). OGN's Leta is a young Terran who lacks the skills of Sea.Really but has established himself as a fairly successful TvT sniper this season. He's 3-0 in mirrors, though his opponents (BoxeR, Goodfriend, and HiyA) have hardly been of Midas's caliber.



This game is especially difficult to call because of Midas's unsettling performance against Sea.Really, but I'm going to stick to my golden guns and say it's time for the young Leta to get a wakeup call - Midas knows he should have won against Really, but he can redeem his TvT with a win on Sunday night.



Rumble (Z) / Bul_T (P) vs type-b[s.g] (Z) / Chalrenge (P) @ Hannibal



T1's search for a decent 2v2 team continues against OGN, as yet another combination of players will fill the T1 box in the third set. Bul_T is an underachieving Protoss akin to MuJuk, although he has quite a bit more 2v2 experience as a fairly regular member of T1's team over the 2007 Proleague season. The good news for T1 is that, rather than their usual (and quite successful) combination of Flower and Shine, OGN is fielding a brand new 2v2 team in type-b[s.g] and Chalrenge.



Because Rumble and Bul_T have some experience under their belt, I'm inclined to pick them and therefore T1 to sweep OGN. However, the immensely entertaining Chalrenge is easily one of my favorite characters in progaming right now and his innate sexiness is worth predicting OGN to take the third set. If you need more convincing, refer to the video below.






Bisu (P) vs Spear (P) @ Katrina SE



Despite dropping out of the MSL with two losses to Jaedong, I feel Bisu finally has a bit of his old swagger back after utterly destroying SangHo in the deciding fifth set of T1's last match. In his last two appearances, Bisu has faced two mediocre Protosses (YoonJoong, SangHo) and come away with two dominant wins. His match against Spear on Sunday night should be more of the same: Bisu returns to his old stomping ground Katrina to put down yet another aspiring young Protoss.



Spear came out of nowhere to compete for a spot in this year's OSL by qualifying out of a tough group featuring NaDa, BeSt, and sAviOr. He cheesed his way past the recently-inept Maestro on Hwarangdo but then lost his two final games to BeSt and NaDa in pretty pathetic fashion. Spear is winless in both of his televised PvP matches to date, and I don't think he has what it takes to compete with Bisu on Katrina. T1 can count on another one-sided PvP, courtesy of Bisu's appearance in the fourth set.



Ace vs Ace @ Othello



Lately T1 has been winning matches purely by virtue of their cadre of excellent individual players - while T1's various 2v2 teams explore various ways to get obliterated in the third set, players like Bisu, Midas, and BeSt have been cruising to important wins. Even young guns fantasy and Hyuk are in on the action with one win apiece. This is why I will almost always favor T1 in an ace game: their stock of clutch 1v1 players is quite impressive.



However, unlike eSTRO, OGN does have two S-class players in Luxury and Yellow[arnc]. I believe these Zergs can match up to T1's Big Three of BeSt, Bisu, and Midas. Knowing that they are likely to face a Zerg, T1 would usually turn to Bisu's mad PvZ - but The Revolutionist would have just played in the fourth set, and it's unlikely he's feeling very confident in his PvZ after two brutal losses to Jaedong in the MSL. BeSt looked great against OversKy last week, but Midas is also no slouch at TvZ. Either of these players would give either of OGN's Zerg brothers a great match, but given that Othello seems to favor Terrans I think Midas is most likely to get the call.



Even considering how well Midas has been playing lately, I don't see him beating Luxury, who has quietly established himself as Starcraft's second-best Zerg (behind only Jaedong). If this match goes to an ace, T1 should be worried.