MSL: Ready for the semifinals?

The MSL is nearing its end. Today the last two players qualified for the semifinals. Some were expected to qualify, but some of the results were rather unexpected. Read on for battle reports and what has happened in the MSL so far.

I will go into how the MSL works later in this news. For now it's sufficient to know that whoever won the best of three today would advance to the semifinal.

Light vs Hwasin

I missed part of the first game on Longinus II. It did seem to me that Light was very agressive and won a quick game with a one base build. Game two was on Blitz X. Hwasin started 11 and went with a normal TvT build. Light, at 1, had other plans. He went with what looked like a proxy barrack on eight. He placed it between Hwasin's natural and the southwestern expansions. Hwasin defended with pulling a lot of scvs off his mineral line. His vultures were of course quicker as both players went fact into port. After some minor damage from Hwasin's vultures Light added a proxy stargate as well as the one he already had in his main and then exped. Hwasin on his part took his natural first and then added... two? three? four! more starports for a total of five in his main. He also took the southwest corner expansion.

The he started harassing Light with his now superior wraith force. Both players took the expansions on their side on the middle and Light went for valkyries to counter all the wraiths. Hwasin saw wraiths wouldn't be viable for long so he took the southeast expo and started building factories like hell. Light tried to follow suit, but Hwasin didn't hesitate to push. It was too late for Light, a great timed swap of units and push from Hwasin. GG

Game 3 at Reverse Temple

Light landed at 12 and went with the same strategy as the last game. Hwasin at 3 went a factory before going on to a starport. This time Light had the advantage of the high ground on was able to block Hwasin in with a bunker at his ramp. Hwasin answered with floating his factory out inbetween the two players and harass Light's economy with vultures. Light tried to build his way into Hwasin's base with another bunker but Hwasin simply build his own to defend. As the wraiths starts popping out to further harass the economy of Light he realizes he's dead. GG. Hwasin looks like he's thanking God or something after the games and is now in the SemiFinal of the MSL. His opponent is non other than Savior.

Nal_rA vs Justin

The first game was on Desert Fox. rA warped in at 7 and went with one gate before teching to reavers. Justin landed at 11 and lifted his barrack over the neutral buildings while making a command center. Then he went for a factory and an ebay. rA tries a four zealot drop, but it doesn't do much. Then we get a little look at why he's so popular. He's lifted two probes into the middle and squeezed one of them through the minerals in Justin's mineral only. He then proceeds to build 4 proxy gates there. With reinforcements enroute it looks good for rA.

Justin has gotten a wraith out and manages to snipe rA's shuttle before it can reinforce the proxy gateways with a reaver and a goon. Justin also spots the proxy buildings and beefs up his defences at his natural. rA goes for an all in move with goons and two reavers dropped in the mineral line. He kills a lot of scvs and even manages to keep the command center at the natural lifted for a long time with continuous goon harass. Then he includes some dark templars, but they don't do too much. In the mean time Justin has had two wraiths killing all of rA's probes. rA tries a last desperate attack, but has no chance. He went with an all in build and just didn't do enough damage. GG

Game 2 at Longinus II

Justin landed at 11 and went with the usual wall, factory, cc build on this map. rA warped in at 7 and opened with a one gate goon build. He did some harass on the wall of terran, but eventuall siege mode scared him off. Instead he took his natural and the exp at 4. Justin tried to get some vulture harass going and even managed to get three of them into the Protoss main for some probe kills, but nothing too successful. rA had teched to reavers again, but did no damage at all due to turrents and tanks. Terran turtled out to his mineral only and rA answered with taking his own mineral only and adding two starports and a fleet beacon.

Justin realized the Protoss economy was becoming a threat and pushed across the middle. He took some heavy losses going up the bottom ramp into the middle, but carried on. As he was about to reach rA's mineral only the first two carriers came to defend as well and Justin had to retreat with what little forces he had left. rA had pushed the macro button and now he just overwhelmed Terran after taking the first push. GG and 1-1. There was one person who supported Justin in the entire crowd, the rest were dead silent after this game.

Game 3 at Blitz X

rA warped in at 1 and it looked like he was going to proxy again with a probe that was sent out quickly. Instead he took the Terran gas and then expanded. Justin, at 11, was not tempted to try a do or die move with marines or anything and waited until he killed the gas and then went with a two factory build. There was a lot of back and forth in the middle with goons vs marine, vulture and tank, but every time rA seemed to get the best of it. Again his macro was kicking in and he put so much pressure on the newly build natural of Justin that it had to be lifted. As Justin tried a single tank drop in rA's main, he reaver dropped the Terran main and ran up the ramp. GG. Right after the games Justin got up and shook rA's hand in a display of sportsmanship. rA's opponent in the semifinals in none other than Bisu.

MSL, Quarterfinal, tiebreakers
Light vs Hwasin
Light	>	Hwasin	Longinus II
Light	<	Hwasin	Blitz X
Light	<	Hwasin	Reverse Temple
Nal_rA vs Justin
Nal_rA	<	Justin	Desert Fox
Nal_rA	>	Justin	Longinus II
Nal_rA	>	Justin	Blitz X

Top 4 MSL: Hwasin

How the MSL works

To qualify for the MSL you either have a seed (top 4 placement) from last season or you qualify through the MBC Survivor League. The 16 players that qualify are placed in four groups through a slightly complicated process. The four players in each group gets paired and play. Then there's a losers match, a winners match and the final between the winner in the losers match and the loser in the winners match. This is the exact same style as ODT and produces two qualifiers. The two players who do not qualify gets sent back to the Survivor League.

In the quarterfinals the players get put into a group again. Four players in each. These four get paired and play a best of one. Then it's the same format as in round of 16 except the losers, winners and final matches are best of three. Four players advance to the semifinal which is best of five. The final is also best of five.

MSL Semifinals, best of five
Hwasin	vs	Savior
Nal_rA	vs	Bisu

This means, as you can see, that there's guaranteed to be one Protoss in the final of the MSL. Whether he'll play PvZ or PvT remains to be seen. rA has an insane PvP, but Bisu has been on fire lately. Both in the MSL and the ProLeague. Hwasin beat Savior in the round of 16, but it's a big difference between best of one and five. New blood on the throne, rA reclaiming old glory or Savior becoming the second player to win three MSL titles in a row and only player to win it four times. It's going to be interesting to see.

Links
FighterForum - Picture source
Teamliquid.net - jkillashark on MSL format