Photo by: Alex Gao
Ever since the OSL Ro16 started, tournament's hype was slowly building into one particular match: the all-powerful terran bonjwa against arguably the best protoss the StarCraft 2 scene has known.
September 11th was a quick playday for OSL as Rain, NesTea and Baby dealt some ugly blows to their opponents, who either let some lethal flaws slip into their play or suffered build order losses. Jangbi did not block his ramp on time and allowed Rain to climb into his main, Oz messed up his forcefields during his early push and got swarmed by roaches and Baby bunker rushed Flying's nexus first to deliver him despite Flying's desperate attempts at a comeback. A meaningless match that one, however, as Baby is still out and Flying had already secured a top spot in Group C.
With those blitz scuffles done, MC and Flash spawned on Entombed Valley in the battle for the first place in the groups as the highlight of today's show. With both players already through, this was more a fight for pride and honor than anything else, a showdown between two of the brightest stars of the old and new generation.
Flash was the first to make a move, pressuring MC's natural with a marine/medivac force only to get baited up the ramp and lasered down by colossus fire. Flash picked up whatever force he had left and sprinted all the way back to his base, his trail followed by MC's counter attack.
The tables were turned and Flash took a defensive position behind a wall of bunkers and a flock of vikings. MC continued to relentlessly warp in reinforcements in hopes of breaking down the terran defenses but in reality his time was ticking away: Flash had already set and MULEd down his third while MC was still running on a two-base fuel. The army balance gradually swayed into Flash's favor and the Ultimate Weapon was soon on the chase once again, persecuting MC across the map, destroying his third and winning the game.
With the meaningful matches in Group D now done, OSL went back to Group B and Oz vs Last - a postponed match from week one and with Oz at 1-1 and Last at 1-0, victory would guarantee winner's advancement to the playoffs. Last opted to sneak a third but left cracks in his main base defenses, allowing Oz to execute a mortifying DT harass followed by heavy contain and a decisive win for the protoss.
OSL Ro16, September 11th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
  Rain | > | Jangbi | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 NesTea | > | Oz | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oz | > |  Last | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Baby | > | Flying | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Flash | > | MC | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Three more matches are to be played tomorrow before the full Ro8 line-up is known. The winners will join Rain, Oz, Flying, Flash and MC in the final bracket.
OSL Ro16, Winners to playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DongRaeGu | Vs | MarineKing | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last | VS | Fantasy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parting | VS | Mvp | ||||||||||||||||||||||
A lot of stories are lurking in those final group stage matches, from the DRG/MKP rivalry, through Parting's GSL history with MVP and to Fantasy, who still has the chance to be the only player to make it to four consecutive OSL grand finals if he survives the next few matches.
