[SPL] Proleague 2010-11 Grand Finals Recap Text by HawaiianPig Graphics by HawaiianPig

Shinhan Proleague 2010/2011 - Team Liquid Coverage











As the 2010/2011 season comes to a close, an uneasy silence grips the hallways of the SPL news offices. Half torn SKT T1 posters peel off the walls, and unhinged doors creek, clattering in the wind. In the darkness, the soft glow of an oil lamp casts a long shadow of a man at a desk into the hallway.



The anachronistic sound of a quill on parchment can be heard from HawaiianPig's office...



The dust has settled, but tempers have not.



The Lady of a noble Scotsman once said that "things without remedy should be without regard." Those of us who beg the mercy of the fates can only lay to rest our reservations and cope. When the war is over, and the battle is lost and won, we are left with a simple truth: What is done is done.



In spite of this sage advice, we fans are known to hold onto fervent, yet futile, emotions. After a grueling season, a winner is crowned. And though it would appear on the surface that we coexist in peace, an acerbic bitterness beguiles the defeated, and boastful exuberance consumes the victorious.



While dangerous dispositions oft linger betwixt Proleague seasons, this Grand Finals has seen to a particularly potent mixture of tense temperaments.



Here, amidst this palpable trepidation, a quarrel unfolds in the streets of Verona TLHQ:



ACT I



SCENE I. TEAMLIQUID. An open forum of quarreling BW fans.



Enter Kiante and HawaiianPig of the house SKT and Milkis of the house ...anti-SKT



MILKIS

Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?



KIANTE

I do bite my thumb, sir.



MILKIS

Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?



KIANTE [Aside to HawaiianPig]

Is the law of our side, if I say

"Aye?"



HAWAIIANPIG [Aside to Kiante]

No.



KIANTE

No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir,

But I bite my thumb, sir.



HAWAIIANPIG

Do you quarrel, sir?



MILKIS

Quarrel, sir?! No, sir.



KIANTE

If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good

a team as you.



MILKIS

No better?



KIANTE

Well, sir...



Enter WAXANGEL



KIANTE

Yes, better, sir.



MILKIS

You lie!



KIANTE

Flame us, if you be men! HP, remember thy

Kong Line insults.



WAXANGEL

Part, fools!

Put up your bias; you know not what you do.



HAWAIIANPIG

What, art thou objective among these heartless hinds?

Turn thee, WaxAngel, Look upon thy death!



WAXANGEL

I do but keep the peace. Put up thy bias,

Or manage it to calm these fans with me.



HAWAIIANPIG

What? You stand here a BW fan and talk of peace? I hate the word,

As I hate hell, all KT Fans, and thee!

Have at thee coward!



FORUM GOERS

Flames, sarcasm and partisans! Strike! Beat them down!

Down with SKT Fans! Down with KT Fans!



Enter RIPTIDE



RIPTIDE

What noise is this? Give me my banhammer, ho!

My banhammer I say! Old YongHo is come,

And flourishes his trophy in spite of me.



Enter ELLY the ESPORTS ELEPHANT with her ROYAL ESCORT



ELLY

Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,

Profaners of this hatred-stained post button --

Will they not hear? What, ho! You men, you nerds

That quench the fire of your pernicious rage

With sapphire fountains issuing from teary eyes,

On pain of torture, from thy putrid minds

Throw your mistemper'd biases to the ground,

And hear the sentence of your moved ESPORTS Elephant.

If you ever disturb our forums again with bias and rage,

Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.

Once more, on pain of death, all men depart!



Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?I do bite my thumb, sir.Do you bite your thumb, sir?Is the law of our side, if I say"Aye?"No.No, sir, I do not bite my thumbsir,But I bite my thumb, sir.Do you quarrel, sir?Quarrel, sir?! No, sir.If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as gooda team as you.No better?Well, sir...Yes, better, sir.You lie!Flame us, if you be men! HP, remember thyKong Line insults.Part, fools!Put up your bias; you know not what you do.What, art thou objective among these heartless hinds?Turn thee, WaxAngel, Look upon thy death!I do but keep the peace. Put up thy bias,Or manage it to calm these fans with me.What? You stand here a BW fan and talk of peace? I hate the word,As I hate hell, all KT Fans, and thee!Have at thee coward!Flames, sarcasm and partisans! Strike! Beat them down!Down with SKT Fans! Down with KT Fans!What noise is this? Give me my banhammer, ho!My banhammer I say! Old YongHo is come,And flourishes his trophy in spite of me.Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,Profaners of this hatred-stained post button --Will they not hear? What, ho! You men, you nerdsThat quench the fire of your pernicious rageWith sapphire fountains issuing from teary eyes,On pain of torture, from thy putrid mindsThrow your mistemper'd biases to the ground,And hear the sentence of your moved ESPORTS Elephant.If you ever disturb our forums again with bias and rage,Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.Once more, on pain of death, all men depart!



And so the word of our great matriarch, Elizabeth ESPORTS, shall be upheld. On pain of death, we will set aside our bitterness and bring you a recap fit for a Royal Pachyderm.



...If we can stomach it.



Yes, after a long season of boasting and bias, the SKT fans that make up the majority of the SPL news team are here to eat crow. After a year of intense competition, two teams rose to the top, but only one emerged victorious.



So congratulations KT Rolster, on winning the most prestigious title in all of Brood War.





Crow: It tastes a lot like a foot in the mouth

Once again, Kiante is here this week to bring you a fair and balanced viewpoint straight from qq-stained notes? Read on to find out. To round out the recap, Milkis has dropped by to give us



riptide is here to smack you with some sobering perspective.



That is all.



Enjoy! ...If we can stomach it.Yes, after a long season of boasting and bias, the SKT fans that make up the majority of the SPL news team are here to eat crow. After a year of intense competition, two teams rose to the top, but only one emerged victorious.So congratulations KT Rolster, on winning the most prestigious title in all of Brood War.Once again, Kiante is here this week to bring you a recap . Will it be fraught with bias? Or will he set aside his nerd-rage to deliver you aviewpoint straight from qq-stained notes? Read on to find out. To round out the recap, Milkis has dropped by to give us a brief retrospective on the season of our victors. mustaju is back to conclude the Total War epic, and nbaker joins us this week to give us a battle report on Flash vs. Best: The Steamrollening . Oh, and riptide is here...riptide is here to smack you with some soberingThat is all.Enjoy!





SK Telecom T1 3-4 KT Rolster





Set 1: Fantasy < Neo Beltway > Perfective Set 1:

After the usual interviews but sadly without the Kpop the 10-11 Proleague finals got underway with the relatively unexpected matchup of Perfective against Fantasy. Fantasy has complained about Beltway ever since it was introduced, and Perfective is more of a ZvP sniper than anything else, so seeing either of them out on this terran favoured map was strange. The SKT coach obviously won the battle here as it seems like the KT coach expected a protoss to come out to snipe flash and attempted to counter snipe with Perfective, which didn’t end well. The game itself was a fairly silly affair. Perfective attempted an extremely all in 2 hatch mutalisk strategy, morphing a ton of lings before his mutas and attempting to bust Fantasy to limit his marine and turret count. This almost worked, but by making about 6000 turrets and defending well with his bio units Fantasy hung on. Once his Valkyrie popped out the game was swiftly over with Perfective calling the GG and giving SKT an early lead in the series. Fantasy’s hair also deserves a mention for being spectacular and horrible at the same time.

+ Show Spoiler [LOL] +





Set 2: Bisu < Alternative > Crazy-Hydra Set 2:

Once again the KT coach out outpicked by SKT. Bisu managed to get his favourite matchup against Crazy-Hydra, who if you recall attempted to proxy hatch in the last match they played together on this map. One would probably expect Crazy-Hydra to cheese again, fearing Bisu’s insane vsZ stats this season and the easy to take third making this map fairly good for protoss. Not to let us down Crazy-Hydra did just that. He managed to deny Bisu’s probe scout in the early game while he got his lair up and a hydra den, and then began his assault as Bisu’s first corsair got a good look as to what was going on. Bisu, in the meantime, was teching to sair-reaver while cutting a lot of probes to get 4 gateways up in an attempt to survive the rush. Crazy-hydra then attempted to implement a bunch of hydra and lurker drops without attempting to add more drones or expanding. He was relatively unsuccessful for the most part (killing a fair few probes at one point), but Bisu’s infrastructure and multitasking was too strong. Even after he accidentally suicided his shuttle while moving out to finish Crazy-Hydra off, it didn’t matter, and he easily overran the KT zerg with zealots and goons to clinch the second set, putting SKT up 2-0.





Set 3: s2 < New Bloody Ridge > HoeJJa Set 3:

Surprisingly this was the only ZvZ to feature in the final, despite the large number of zerg players on both lineups. Once again it was seen as a win for the SKT coach; with S2 having successfully sniped zergs like Jaedong before, and Hoejja excelling mostly at ZvP (with some flashes of ZvT brilliance over the season), the cards were stacked in SKT's favor. Hoejja came out with a really interesting build, 12 hatching at his third to trick S2 into holding back his early lings and playing defensive. S2 went for overgas-pool into a quick lair before speed while holding lings back at the choke to his main to defend what he assumed was a 9 or 12 pool until it was far too late. With this early economic advantage, Hoejja quickly got up his lair before speed, and attempted a half hearted ling bust while S2 was morphing his mutalisks. Even though this failed, Hoejja managed to get his scourge and mutas out in time, and displayed some really excellent micro to stave off S2’s timing attack. Once his second gas kicked in, he was easily able to overwhelm S2’s remaining mutas and take the game for KT, bringing the score back to 2-1.





Set 4: By.Sun < La Mancha > Action Set 4:

Finally the KT coach got a lineup-picking victory, putting up Action against By.Sun, the rookie of the year. Action attempted an extremely greedy build, going for 4 bases and skipping everything but zerglings on his way up to a hive. Sun, seeing Action's greed, dropped about 7 gateways and pumped out some goons to support his zealots and templar. Using the goons to batter down the outside of Action’s walls he was able to flood his zealots in and completely break Action's natural. In the meantime Action was massing up sunkens at his third and getting ensnare, which he hilariously used on 4 goons before his queen died. Defilers came out far too late to do anything and Action lost his main. After taking a third and a bit of posturing Sun sent his army up to Actions third and finished the game, breaking through the 10 or so sunkens Action had built to try and stay alive. With this upset Sun brought SKT to within spitting distance of victory, putting his team up 3-1.





Set 5: BeSt < Fortress SE > Flash Set 5:

And so, the match everyone was waiting for finally happened. All season long Best had given Flash a hard time, beating him 3 times and only losing once. Unfortunately the one time Best lost was on Fortress, the very same map he had to play here, on at the biggest stage. Best decided to use a 1 goon expand strategy and was quickly contained by Flash’s mines from his FD opening. After dropping his command center, Flash quickly got another factory and a third up soon after and before Best could even clear all the mines outside his base Flash was setting up a siege contain. The brilliant part of Flash’s build wasn’t so much the speed with which the contain came, but the amount of marines he brought to support it. Constantly setting up bunkers meant that even when Best would mange to knock out the tanks with some zealot bombs or goon busts, the bunkers would live and force him back. After barely saving his natural nexus, Best lost it soon after and attempted to come back in the game with some cute DT drops... but Flash was having none of it. In terminator mode, to save his team from a 4-1 defeat, Flash never looked like he considered losing an option. Finally, Best typed out, bringing the scores back to 3-2 in favour of SKT.





Set 6: n.Die_soO < New Empire of the Sun > Stats Set 6:

Stats has seemed to struggle with his PvZ all season, losing some horrendous games. However, at the very end of the season, when it really matters Stats came through, winning not only his game against Soo in style but also toppling Zero and Hydra to bring his team to the final in the first place. The game itself started out eerily similar to Sun vs Action. Soo attempted the 4 base hive with no units build, and unlike Sun, Stats decided to go for the macro game, using his zealots and corsairs to great effect while getting up a really quick third. The corsairs were the real feature of the game, massacring overlords while Soo refused to make more than 1 spore and 3 hydras. After gaining a huge lead through just expanding and containing while flying around with corsairs, Soo finally attempted some aggression, but he was too far behind. Stats was sitting on a cool 5 bases to Soo’s 4, and after he got pushed back to his main a couple of times, his impeccable storms and great economy let him roll over Soo’s third and fourth to secure the win. An impressive display from the ever clutch Stats.





Ace: BeSt < Circuit Breaker > Flash Ace:

Flash was given the chance by his team to show why he was the greatest of all time and he did it easily, crushing his midseason nemesis Best again this time in a long macro game. Flash took 4 bases really early on after effectly a little vulture harassment. After getting his 2/1 upgrades he pushed out, and caught best with his pants down and only one arbiter. Easily able to EMP it, Best had no answer to Flash’s giant mass of tanks, and he slowly pushed across the map while all Best could do was feign at attempting to kill it. Without any real spells apart from a couple of storms Flash easily overran Bests diminishing forces, and after Best had expended all his options to come back, he typed out and Flash earned his team a second Proleague title, in a row. A compelling series that was expertly guided by the clutch KT players to bring them to victory. While I was sad that my team had lost, I think that it’s hard to be genuinely sad, when you see emotion like this on the face of the coach.









GG KT and WP.



GG KT and WP.









KT's season started like a story. It was a story of Former champions, filled with pride, unable to adjust, and plunged into trenches of Airforce ACE, falling into depths charted by no other team before. Their story was set in stone from the very first round: it would be a story of redemption.



They learned through Winner's League what teamwork had meant. With faith, they performed with confidence, reaching the very top once again. Yet they crumbled under circumstances, to illnesses, to retirements, and to Aztec, a map not even the god of StarCraft was able to overcome. They fell to their greatest rivals who lavished in their revenge on the team for beating them in the season prior.



From the highest to the lowest, and then the highest again, their players fell again. Action was a lemon, while Hoejja joined the ranks of the Paewangs. KT's players who performed so well suddenly fell apart, and the problem worsened as Flash's wrist problems could no longer be ignored. The team fell again, going 3-6 in the last round of the season, joining the playoffs against monstrous teams all considered favorites over KT.



But KT had faith. KT believed. KT kept Violet in their roster, believing that he will be supporting them in spirit. KT believed in Hoejja, and continually gave him chances... although he blew many many chances. KT believed in Flash, that he will perform despite the injury. KT believed.



And the faithful were rewarded with a miracle.



Hoejja came out of nowhere and performed, pulling a respective 3-2, only dropping a game to the Zerg nightmare known as Light and to Horang2 after a long arduous battle. Perfective came out of nowhere with a 4-1 performance, bringing KT over the edge and saving Flash from extra matches. A mediocre Action pulled through at the end with decisive wins over CJ Protosses, with Stats performing just in time to push KT to the grand finals so that they may face their rivals once again, who were waiting at the top.



It was up to SKT to stop them, of course. KT had went through a hard journey and SKT understood that the best, after all, it was under the same conditions that KT has demolished SKT last year. They were ready of course, they've been waiting a long time. They predicted that they will win 4-0.



And then e-Sports was threatened. A typhoon that many saw as the nail in the coffin for the sport that everyone thought was dying, a typhoon that ruined the audacious plan that had abandoned the symbolic beaches of Pusan for a move that was supposed to make the scene global. A typhoon that sent everyone back home distressed, a typhoon that forced KT to decide what was the most important -- showing their fans matches or giving it up so that they could finish their story.



They chose to finish the story, on top of the stage of forest in Seoul. Their plan was thwarted and it looked dangerous for them at times, as, at one point, SKT only needed to win one set to put an end to KT's fantasy. SKT did their best, but their best was not enough to stop what was prophesized by KT's logo



KT's Coach Lee had said that they were tested this season, and that the gods have put them through all of this for a reason. They experienced everything possible, from the thrill of dominating every team in their way to the despair of being rock bottom. From injuries, controllable and uncontrollable, to sudden retirements and curses. And at the end, they stood at the very top, raising the trophy high, the manifestation of everything they had poured in this season. They overcame all and completed the most dynamic and dramatic season to date. With stories like this, we can only wish that the story can go on and on, forever and ever.



Here's to another year. Take a look at KT's logo, the logo that prophesized the very future of the team. From the highest to lowest, and climbing back up and and falling back down, the rollercoaster has somehow become the perfect metaphor to describe KT Rolster's journey this season, a season that was the most dynamic and dramatic in Proleague history. It was a fairy tale, all the way from the wedding ceremony both at the finals and the real one that took place the day after. It was something that could only happen in fiction, straight down to the leukemia omnipresent in Korean dramas.KT's season started like a story. It was a story of Former champions, filled with pride, unable to adjust, and plunged into trenches of, falling into depths charted by no other team before. Their story was set in stone from the very first round: it would be a story of redemption.They learned through Winner's League what teamwork had meant. With faith, they performed with confidence, reaching the very top once again. Yet they crumbled under circumstances, to illnesses, to retirements, and to Aztec, a map not even the god of StarCraft was able to overcome. They fell to their greatest rivals who lavished in their revenge on the team for beating them in the season prior.From the highest to the lowest, and then the highest again, their players fell again. Action was a lemon, while Hoejja joined the ranks of the Paewangs. KT's players who performed so well suddenly fell apart, and the problem worsened as Flash's wrist problems could no longer be ignored. The team fell again, going 3-6 in the last round of the season, joining the playoffs against monstrous teams all considered favorites over KT.But KT had faith. KT believed. KT kept Violet in their roster, believing that he will be supporting them in spirit. KT believed in Hoejja, and continually gave him chances... although he blew many many chances. KT believed in Flash, that he will perform despite the injury. KT believed.And the faithful were rewarded with a miracle.Hoejja came out of nowhere and performed, pulling a respective 3-2, only dropping a game to the Zerg nightmare known as Light and to Horang2 after a long arduous battle. Perfective came out of nowhere with a 4-1 performance, bringing KT over the edge and saving Flash from extra matches. A mediocre Action pulled through at the end with decisive wins over CJ Protosses, with Stats performing just in time to push KT to the grand finals so that they may face their rivals once again, who were waiting at the top.It was up to SKT to stop them, of course. KT had went through a hard journey and SKT understood that the best, after all, it was under the same conditions that KT has demolished SKT last year. They were ready of course, they've been waiting a long time. They predicted that they will win 4-0.And then e-Sports was threatened. A typhoon that many saw as the nail in the coffin for the sport that everyone thought was dying, a typhoon that ruined the audacious plan that had abandoned the symbolic beaches of Pusan for a move that was supposed to make the scene global. A typhoon that sent everyone back home distressed, a typhoon that forced KT to decide what was the most important -- showing their fans matches or giving it up so that they could finish their story.They chose to finish the story, on top of the stage of forest in Seoul. Their plan was thwarted and it looked dangerous for them at times, as, at one point, SKT only needed to win one set to put an end to KT's fantasy. SKT did their best, but their best was not enough to stop what was prophesized by KT's logo years ago KT's Coach Lee had said that they were tested this season, and that the gods have put them through all of this for a reason. They experienced everything possible, from the thrill of dominating every team in their way to the despair of being rock bottom. From injuries, controllable and uncontrollable, to sudden retirements and curses. And at the end, they stood at the very top, raising the trophy high, the manifestation of everything they had poured in this season. They overcame all and completed the most dynamic and dramatic season to date. With stories like this, we can only wish that the story can go on and on, forever and ever.Here's to another year.

After the usual interviews but sadly without the Kpop the 10-11 Proleague finals got underway with the relatively unexpected matchup of Perfective against Fantasy. Fantasy has complained about Beltway ever since it was introduced, and Perfective is more of a ZvP sniper than anything else, so seeing either of them out on this terran favoured map was strange. The SKT coach obviously won the battle here as it seems like the KT coach expected a protoss to come out to snipe flash and attempted to counter snipe with Perfective, which didn’t end well. The game itself was a fairly silly affair. Perfective attempted an extremely all in 2 hatch mutalisk strategy, morphing a ton of lings before his mutas and attempting to bust Fantasy to limit his marine and turret count. This almost worked, but by making about 6000 turrets and defending well with his bio units Fantasy hung on. Once his Valkyrie popped out the game was swiftly over with Perfective calling the GG and giving SKT an early lead in the series. Fantasy’s hair also deserves a mention for being spectacular and horrible at the same time.Once again the KT coach out outpicked by SKT. Bisu managed to get his favourite matchup against Crazy-Hydra, who if you recall attempted to proxy hatch in the last match they played together on this map. One would probably expect Crazy-Hydra to cheese again, fearing Bisu’s insane vsZ stats this season and the easy to take third making this map fairly good for protoss. Not to let us down Crazy-Hydra did just that. He managed to deny Bisu’s probe scout in the early game while he got his lair up and a hydra den, and then began his assault as Bisu’s first corsair got a good look as to what was going on. Bisu, in the meantime, was teching to sair-reaver while cutting a lot of probes to get 4 gateways up in an attempt to survive the rush. Crazy-hydra then attempted to implement a bunch of hydra and lurker drops without attempting to add more drones or expanding. He was relatively unsuccessful for the most part (killing a fair few probes at one point), but Bisu’s infrastructure and multitasking was too strong. Even after he accidentally suicided his shuttle while moving out to finish Crazy-Hydra off, it didn’t matter, and he easily overran the KT zerg with zealots and goons to clinch the second set, putting SKT up 2-0.Surprisingly this was the only ZvZ to feature in the final, despite the large number of zerg players on both lineups. Once again it was seen as a win for the SKT coach; with S2 having successfully sniped zergs like Jaedong before, and Hoejja excelling mostly at ZvP (with some flashes of ZvT brilliance over the season), the cards were stacked in SKT's favor. Hoejja came out with a really interesting build, 12 hatching at his third to trick S2 into holding back his early lings and playing defensive. S2 went for overgas-pool into a quick lair before speed while holding lings back at the choke to his main to defend what he assumed was a 9 or 12 pool until it was far too late. With this early economic advantage, Hoejja quickly got up his lair before speed, and attempted a half hearted ling bust while S2 was morphing his mutalisks. Even though this failed, Hoejja managed to get his scourge and mutas out in time, and displayed some really excellent micro to stave off S2’s timing attack. Once his second gas kicked in, he was easily able to overwhelm S2’s remaining mutas and take the game for KT, bringing the score back to 2-1.Finally the KT coach got a lineup-picking victory, putting up Action against By.Sun, the rookie of the year. Action attempted an extremely greedy build, going for 4 bases and skipping everything but zerglings on his way up to a hive. Sun, seeing Action's greed, dropped about 7 gateways and pumped out some goons to support his zealots and templar. Using the goons to batter down the outside of Action’s walls he was able to flood his zealots in and completely break Action's natural. In the meantime Action was massing up sunkens at his third and getting ensnare, which he hilariously used on 4 goons before his queen died. Defilers came out far too late to do anything and Action lost his main. After taking a third and a bit of posturing Sun sent his army up to Actions third and finished the game, breaking through the 10 or so sunkens Action had built to try and stay alive. With this upset Sun brought SKT to within spitting distance of victory, putting his team up 3-1.And so, the match everyone was waiting for finally happened. All season long Best had given Flash a hard time, beating him 3 times and only losing once. Unfortunately the one time Best lost was on Fortress, the very same map he had to play here, on at the biggest stage. Best decided to use a 1 goon expand strategy and was quickly contained by Flash’s mines from his FD opening. After dropping his command center, Flash quickly got another factory and a third up soon after and before Best could even clear all the mines outside his base Flash was setting up a siege contain. The brilliant part of Flash’s build wasn’t so much the speed with which the contain came, but the amount of marines he brought to support it. Constantly setting up bunkers meant that even when Best would mange to knock out the tanks with some zealot bombs or goon busts, the bunkers would live and force him back. After barely saving his natural nexus, Best lost it soon after and attempted to come back in the game with some cute DT drops... but Flash was having none of it. In terminator mode, to save his team from a 4-1 defeat, Flash never looked like he considered losing an option. Finally, Best typed out, bringing the scores back to 3-2 in favour of SKT.Stats has seemed to struggle with his PvZ all season, losing some horrendous games. However, at the very end of the season, when it really matters Stats came through, winning not only his game against Soo in style but also toppling Zero and Hydra to bring his team to the final in the first place. The game itself started out eerily similar to Sun vs Action. Soo attempted the 4 base hive with no units build, and unlike Sun, Stats decided to go for the macro game, using his zealots and corsairs to great effect while getting up a really quick third. The corsairs were the real feature of the game, massacring overlords while Soo refused to make more than 1 spore and 3 hydras. After gaining a huge lead through just expanding and containing while flying around with corsairs, Soo finally attempted some aggression, but he was too far behind. Stats was sitting on a cool 5 bases to Soo’s 4, and after he got pushed back to his main a couple of times, his impeccable storms and great economy let him roll over Soo’s third and fourth to secure the win. An impressive display from the ever clutch Stats.Flash was given the chance by his team to show why he was the greatest of all time and he did it easily, crushing his midseason nemesis Best again this time in a long macro game. Flash took 4 bases really early on after effectly a little vulture harassment. After getting his 2/1 upgrades he pushed out, and caught best with his pants down and only one arbiter. Easily able to EMP it, Best had no answer to Flash’s giant mass of tanks, and he slowly pushed across the map while all Best could do was feign at attempting to kill it. Without any real spells apart from a couple of storms Flash easily overran Bests diminishing forces, and after Best had expended all his options to come back, he typed out and Flash earned his team a second Proleague title, in a row. A compelling series that was expertly guided by the clutch KT players to bring them to victory. While I was sad that my team had lost, I think that it’s hard to be genuinely sad, when you see emotion like this on the face of the coach.









A look outside reminded him that the remnants of the KT Protectorate strike force were no longer only wooden pieces on his battle map. The walls of the city would be no match for their firepower, but that had been accounted for in the plans he himself had devised and revised hundreds of times. To think, it all was about to unfold before his eyes once more... While he rarely showed any emotion, every fiber of his body was filled with excitement looking forward to this day. This battle would prove even to his archnemesis the superiority of the SKT way, and with luck, even the KT protectorate might be assimilated as well. The forces were in place, contingencies were set, and the clock was ticking... Finally, the first shots were fired and the walls collapsed, ending this dreadful silence at last. The Battle to End all Wars had begun.



Months of preparation and weeks of hard fighting had left their mark on the KT Protectorate. The confrontations with STX, Woongjin, and CJ had given them enough supplies to fight the Empire toe to toe, but the losses in manpower could easily mean the surrender of every painful inch they had gained so far. The Protectorate Grand Marshal gazed on the prize of the war, the City from which the world would one day be ruled, if the politicians were to be believed. Whether that was true or not, it surely couldn’t fall into SKT hands, as it’s tactical location would allow them to assault any Protectorate city at will. As for the stronghold itself, the commander was unimpressed. The walls couldn’t withstand a single barrage from his strike cannons, and his soldiers were specially trained for months to take the city blocks. Most of them knew the layout of their sector by heart, without needing to resort to maps, and urban combat had become second nature to them. Nevertheless, the last weeks were spent revising those critical maneuvers, and not marching on the city. High Command foolishly gave the Empire additional time to fortify due to a storm warning which was about as accurate as the SKT propaganda he was accustomed to hearing by now. When they first arrived, the fact that even the usually reliable Etam Uliqid channel had joined the SKT propaganda machine made him worried about the morale of his soldiers, but apparently it motivated them even more. "Prophetic victory" was the main theme for this week, and while the complaints on SKT methods were addressed, the arguments "pretty hair," "haters gonna hate," and "lol" were not enough to sway any committed opposition. The taunts of his enemies still engrained in his memory, he gave the order "Proceed with operation Tyrannicide. Batteries 36 to 45, fire" Moments later, the walls crumbled and the Protectorate forces swarmed in to take the city block by block with utmost discipline. Only his closest aide could hear the Grand Marshal mumble "So it begins... And hopefully ends, too" as the artillery batteries proceeded to smother any other sound.



The advance force of the Protectorate was expecting significant opposition, but the Empire outmaneuvered them handily. Feints, counter feints, lures, and encircling tactics were employed to grind the KT offense to a halt, and moreover, leave half of the KT army at the mercy of the Terrorist and the Revolutionist. The talents of these two SKT prodigies were used to their fullest, any KT fortification was raided at the slightest hint of vulnerability, and those who were foolish enough to leave these temporary shelters were soon encircled and massacred by the Revolutionist himself. As a notable exception, General Hoejja managed to deflect a massive imperial counterattack with his "Hand of God" troops and heroically kept a beachhead open. SKT losses were minimal until KT unleashed the Ultimate Weapon and it’s own elite forces, but even then, the line advanced at a snails pace. The counterattacks were ferocious, but the Protectorate deflected it with superior firepower at key moments. When morale started breaking, the KT forces thought of their Comrades Yellow and Violet and pushed on. Major Stats achieved a critical victory in a massive battle, and the Protectorate was able to concentrate it's forces for a final push.. The mantra "



The last firefight took hours, but the Ultimate Weapon emerged victorious, and the Imperial palace itself was in reach. The SKT Emperor had no chance but to retreat and surrender the city, but it was only a matter of time till the Empire would strike back. In the aftermath of the battle, it became obvious that The Ultimate Weapon was damaged and in need of repair. The rest of the KT forces, though victorious, were battered and unable to press the attack any further. Worst of all, holding the city would nullify all of the diplomatic progress for peace that had been achieved in the meantime, and forces would rally to challenge the Protectorate very soon, but for now, he’d done his duty and his men were the mightiest military presence in the region despite enormous setbacks, and there was glory in that. The Protectorate had triumphed in the "Battle that would End all Wars". Nearing October, however, it became evident that this name would not stand the test of time...

This outcome was expected, but undesirable, the SKT Emperor thought. All these forces landed near his new power base, and all had been determined to destroy the beautiful order he had constructed. Couldn’t they see they’d all be better off under the Iron Fist of the SKT rule? It was the natural order of things – SKT must reign, for it had always been the most deserving, and the SKT Legacy was proud indeed. Sure, people changed, but the Empire of today was very much the same. What did his enemies expect to achieve? While the Empire had always been opposed by its less fortunate counterparts, self-proclaimed heroes, and holy alliances, the Empire had constantly prevailed in the end, time and again. It was a relief to know that this age-old conflict would finally end today. That is, if he managed to just hold on long enough and activate the true power of these sacred grounds that his opponents were completely unaware about. His army was capable of conquering the city many times over, but one more day in the ritual would make the SKT army literally undefeatable. "Patience," he thought to himself. All in due time...A look outside reminded him that the remnants of the KT Protectorate strike force were no longer only wooden pieces on his battle map. The walls of the city would be no match for their firepower, but that had been accounted for in the plans he himself had devised and revised hundreds of times. To think, it all was about to unfold before his eyes once more... While he rarely showed any emotion, every fiber of his body was filled with excitement looking forward to this day. This battle would prove even to his archnemesis the superiority of the SKT way, and with luck, even the KT protectorate might be assimilated as well. The forces were in place, contingencies were set, and the clock was ticking... Finally, the first shots were fired and the walls collapsed, ending this dreadful silence at last. The Battle to End all Wars had begun.Months of preparation and weeks of hard fighting had left their mark on the KT Protectorate. The confrontations with STX, Woongjin, and CJ had given them enough supplies to fight the Empire toe to toe, but the losses in manpower could easily mean the surrender of every painful inch they had gained so far. The Protectorate Grand Marshal gazed on the prize of the war, the City from which the world would one day be ruled, if the politicians were to be believed. Whether that was true or not, it surely couldn’t fall into SKT hands, as it’s tactical location would allow them to assault any Protectorate city at will. As for the stronghold itself, the commander was unimpressed. The walls couldn’t withstand a single barrage from his strike cannons, and his soldiers were specially trained for months to take the city blocks. Most of them knew the layout of their sector by heart, without needing to resort to maps, and urban combat had become second nature to them. Nevertheless, the last weeks were spent revising those critical maneuvers, and not marching on the city. High Command foolishly gave the Empire additional time to fortify due to a storm warning which was about as accurate as the SKT propaganda he was accustomed to hearing by now. When they first arrived, the fact that even the usually reliable Etam Uliqid channel had joined the SKT propaganda machine made him worried about the morale of his soldiers, but apparently it motivated them even more. "Prophetic victory" was the main theme for this week, and while the complaints on SKT methods were addressed, the arguments "pretty hair," "haters gonna hate," and "lol" were not enough to sway any committed opposition. The taunts of his enemies still engrained in his memory, he gave the order "Proceed with operation Tyrannicide. Batteries 36 to 45, fire" Moments later, the walls crumbled and the Protectorate forces swarmed in to take the city block by block with utmost discipline. Only his closest aide could hear the Grand Marshal mumble "So it begins... And hopefully ends, too" as the artillery batteries proceeded to smother any other sound.The advance force of the Protectorate was expecting significant opposition, but the Empire outmaneuvered them handily. Feints, counter feints, lures, and encircling tactics were employed to grind the KT offense to a halt, and moreover, leave half of the KT army at the mercy of the Terrorist and the Revolutionist. The talents of these two SKT prodigies were used to their fullest, any KT fortification was raided at the slightest hint of vulnerability, and those who were foolish enough to leave these temporary shelters were soon encircled and massacred by the Revolutionist himself. As a notable exception, General Hoejja managed to deflect a massive imperial counterattack with his "Hand of God" troops and heroically kept a beachhead open. SKT losses were minimal until KT unleashed the Ultimate Weapon and it’s own elite forces, but even then, the line advanced at a snails pace. The counterattacks were ferocious, but the Protectorate deflected it with superior firepower at key moments. When morale started breaking, the KT forces thought of their Comrades Yellow and Violet and pushed on. Major Stats achieved a critical victory in a massive battle, and the Protectorate was able to concentrate it's forces for a final push.. The mantra " Say not the struggle naught availeth " echoed in the hearts of every Protectorate soldier, but the Empire had one last trump to turn the tide. Equipped with the firepower of Oovmacro cannons and the tactics of the the great military scientist Dr. Kay, an elite commando squad charged the Ultimate Weapon itself.The last firefight took hours, but the Ultimate Weapon emerged victorious, and the Imperial palace itself was in reach. The SKT Emperor had no chance but to retreat and surrender the city, but it was only a matter of time till the Empire would strike back. In the aftermath of the battle, it became obvious that The Ultimate Weapon was damaged and in need of repair. The rest of the KT forces, though victorious, were battered and unable to press the attack any further. Worst of all, holding the city would nullify all of the diplomatic progress for peace that had been achieved in the meantime, and forces would rally to challenge the Protectorate very soon, but for now, he’d done his duty and his men were the mightiest military presence in the region despite enormous setbacks, and there was glory in that. The Protectorate had triumphed in the "Battle that would End all Wars". Nearing October, however, it became evident that this name would not stand the test of time...







Flash and Best played on Fortress SE, with Flash spawning at 6 o’clock and Best spawning at 3 o’clock. Although it is a four player map, the attack distances on Fortress are quite short. Not wanting to get demolished by a forward gateway in the critical set of another final, Flash took his refinery after starting his barracks and made a factory before expanding. Likewise, Best opted against 12 nexing (which is out of vogue anyways) and, once he had scouted Flash’s build, started his nexus after getting dragoon range. Flash made four marines and a tank and researched spider mines on his machine shop, moving out to put on some pressure with his FD build. When Best spotted Flash’s units moving across the map with a probe, Flash continued a ways to ensure Best did not cut dragoons, but then turned back, moving forward only with his vulture to lay mines. While Flash was laying the first mine, Best made a micro error, targeting the vulture instead of the mine and taking damage on two dragoons.





Best’s careless micro, though unfortunate, only did hit point damage to one dragoon and shield damage to a second, so in reality it did not change the course of the game very much.

Flash momentarily moved to commit to an attack while the dragoons had no shields, but pulled back in favor of playing safely, mining Best into his natural while saturating his own natural expo and adding more tanks and marines to his main force. As siege mode finished, Flash pushed out with 8 marines, 3 tanks, a pair of vultures and an SCV, starting a bunker behind the spider mines while sieging up his tanks.





In addition to protecting marines, the bunkers are a good buffer against tank breaks and spiders mines.

Best waited until his observer was out and then moved to break Flash’s contain before the bunker finished, splitting his ten dragoons and having half attack from the above and half from the side. Initially, Best’s forces looked like they were getting demolished as six dragoons went down without doing any damage. However, Best spotted a lane to drive a dragoon through, at the end of which were two spider mines between two siege tanks. The dragoon went down, but took the mines and tanks out with him, leaving Flash with only two siege tanks with which to lock down the natural.





Without this mine drag, the game would have probably ended almost right away, as Flash would have been able to push much more aggressively into the natural and kill it before shuttles and leg speed finished.

Best got a shuttle and leg speed to break the contain, while Flash, knowing that Best could not engage right away, re-entrenched by building a second, more forward bunker and re-mining in front of his tanks as they advanced to shelling range of Best’s natural. Best waited until the last possible moment before his nexus fell for his zealots to finish and, loading them into the shuttle, and made a heroic attempt to break Flash’s contain. He dropped the zealots on the tanks, using his observer to select the spots most likely to cause mine drags and killed off three tanks practically for free.





Best shows why he is one of the best tank busters in Brood War.

Best then advanced his dragoons, target firing the two remaining tanks and quickly taking them out before focusing on the bunker. Best made the critical mistake of idling his shuttle next to Flash’s second bunker, letting it get killed off unnecessarily and was not able to kill off both bunkers before Flash’s reinforcing tank and vultures arrived to chase Best back into his natural.





Flash notices the shuttle and targets it down milliseconds before it escapes to the ridge.

The sniped shuttle allowed Flash to delay his turrets and spend all his money on the contain, while leaving Best’s newly made dark templars unable to do any harassment. Best instead used them to try to soften the contain at the front while re-building his shuttle at home, but Flash, with incredible awareness and reaction timing, manages to scan and kill them twice before they can mine drag onto Flash’s tank.





After his first attempt failed, Best should have known that Flash would have enough scans to defend another DT and saved his second DT for the shuttle harass.

Even though Best’s nexus is hanging on by a thread, Flash played patiently, laying mines, placing bunkers behind them, and then advancing his tanks behind the bunkers and only then attacking the nexus and killing it off. Best countered with a DT drop and, with excellent micro, was able to evade Flash’s detection, dropping his DTs to kill turrets being built and picking them back up when Flash scanned them.





Flash was probably expecting Best’s newly made shuttle to be used at the front to drop on siege tanks, so he delayed his turrets a little too long and Best got in before he had sustained detection.

Unfortunately, all this prevented Best from doing the critical economic damage Best needed to do and eventually the harass was deflected as Flash got mines and turrets in place in spite of Best’s best efforts. Knowing he was dead if he didn’t make something happen immediately, Best decided to take advantage of the fact that Flash had been using his freshly made factory units to defend at home rather than to reinforce his contain and tried for one last break. Funneled through bunkers and turrets into vultures, Best’s zealots were unable to get in on the siege tanks and take them out quickly, causing him to lose a lot of dragoons as he broke through the tank line. Once more, Best was unable to take out the bunkers and forced to fall back as Flash’s new tanks arrived.





Best was able to kill more of Flash’s units than expected, but with only one base to mine from, anything but a clean break of the contain would be insufficient.

Flash took control of Best’s natural, walling him in at his main choke with a bunker and supply depot. Best, meanwhile, elevatored half his dragoons behind Flash’s army and tried one last two pronged attack. Best did not have nearly enough units to attack into such a well-fortified position and when all his forces went down, he left the game.





And KT's playoff dreams stay alive.

Flash and Best played on Fortress SE, with Flash spawning at 6 o’clock and Best spawning at 3 o’clock. Although it is a four player map, the attack distances on Fortress are quite short. Not wanting to get demolished by a forward gateway in the critical set of another final, Flash took his refinery after starting his barracks and made a factory before expanding. Likewise, Best opted against 12 nexing (which is out of vogue anyways) and, once he had scouted Flash’s build, started his nexus after getting dragoon range. Flash made four marines and a tank and researched spider mines on his machine shop, moving out to put on some pressure with his FD build. When Best spotted Flash’s units moving across the map with a probe, Flash continued a ways to ensure Best did not cut dragoons, but then turned back, moving forward only with his vulture to lay mines. While Flash was laying the first mine, Best made a micro error, targeting the vulture instead of the mine and taking damage on two dragoons.Flash momentarily moved to commit to an attack while the dragoons had no shields, but pulled back in favor of playing safely, mining Best into his natural while saturating his own natural expo and adding more tanks and marines to his main force. As siege mode finished, Flash pushed out with 8 marines, 3 tanks, a pair of vultures and an SCV, starting a bunker behind the spider mines while sieging up his tanks.Best waited until his observer was out and then moved to break Flash’s contain before the bunker finished, splitting his ten dragoons and having half attack from the above and half from the side. Initially, Best’s forces looked like they were getting demolished as six dragoons went down without doing any damage. However, Best spotted a lane to drive a dragoon through, at the end of which were two spider mines between two siege tanks. The dragoon went down, but took the mines and tanks out with him, leaving Flash with only two siege tanks with which to lock down the natural.Best got a shuttle and leg speed to break the contain, while Flash, knowing that Best could not engage right away, re-entrenched by building a second, more forward bunker and re-mining in front of his tanks as they advanced to shelling range of Best’s natural. Best waited until the last possible moment before his nexus fell for his zealots to finish and, loading them into the shuttle, and made a heroic attempt to break Flash’s contain. He dropped the zealots on the tanks, using his observer to select the spots most likely to cause mine drags and killed off three tanks practically for free.Best then advanced his dragoons, target firing the two remaining tanks and quickly taking them out before focusing on the bunker. Best made the critical mistake of idling his shuttle next to Flash’s second bunker, letting it get killed off unnecessarily and was not able to kill off both bunkers before Flash’s reinforcing tank and vultures arrived to chase Best back into his natural.The sniped shuttle allowed Flash to delay his turrets and spend all his money on the contain, while leaving Best’s newly made dark templars unable to do any harassment. Best instead used them to try to soften the contain at the front while re-building his shuttle at home, but Flash, with incredible awareness and reaction timing, manages to scan and kill them twice before they can mine drag onto Flash’s tank.Even though Best’s nexus is hanging on by a thread, Flash played patiently, laying mines, placing bunkers behind them, and then advancing his tanks behind the bunkers and only then attacking the nexus and killing it off. Best countered with a DT drop and, with excellent micro, was able to evade Flash’s detection, dropping his DTs to kill turrets being built and picking them back up when Flash scanned them.Unfortunately, all this prevented Best from doing the critical economic damage Best needed to do and eventually the harass was deflected as Flash got mines and turrets in place in spite of Best’s best efforts. Knowing he was dead if he didn’t make something happen immediately, Best decided to take advantage of the fact that Flash had been using his freshly made factory units to defend at home rather than to reinforce his contain and tried for one last break. Funneled through bunkers and turrets into vultures, Best’s zealots were unable to get in on the siege tanks and take them out quickly, causing him to lose a lot of dragoons as he broke through the tank line. Once more, Best was unable to take out the bunkers and forced to fall back as Flash’s new tanks arrived.Flash took control of Best’s natural, walling him in at his main choke with a bunker and supply depot. Best, meanwhile, elevatored half his dragoons behind Flash’s army and tried one last two pronged attack. Best did not have nearly enough units to attack into such a well-fortified position and when all his forces went down, he left the game.





"This story shall the good man teach his son;

And a game of Starcraft shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered-

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen abroad, now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us in Seoul that day."

- Henry V Act IV Scene III



Hello, KT Rolster. Good day, and congratulations! You are Shinhan Proleague Champions again, and while I can't say it's what I wanted, and indeed, it's certainly not what I was expected, I can say that I am happy for you. You deserved it. You Flash played better than us, and you fully deserve your victory.



Rivalries are funny things. They appear to hold us apart, when in fact they bind us together. Lim Yo Hwan, our bonjwa, and Hong Jin-Ho, yours. LOL, OK, OK, I keep forgetting this is a tribute piece. Back to business!



BoxeR and YellOw are not just leaders of SKT and KTF. They are the very deities of ESPORTS. Long before nerds across the world were talking about blink stalker micro, in fact, at a time when most of those players were still either in pampers or otherwise engaged, these two titans were playing Starcraft. Professional Starcraft.



Perspective is even funnier. We're now in the midst of a massive ESPORTS wave in the West, and people talk excitedly about maybe someday watching Starcraft on TV. And yet, friends, we Broodwar fans have the privilege of watching our game on television every week. We don't know how long the scene will last. We don't know about lawsuits and licensing and agreements. What we do know is that in August 2011, nearly a decade after Lim Yo Hwan and Hong Jin-Ho first stepped into a booth to play this beautiful game, it is still being played, and being played by the best at that.



aside, let's be clear about one thing. Last Friday evening in Seoul, it wasn't two teams that met on a stage. It was two dynasties. Together, these two outfits brought forward the likes of BoxeR, iloveoov, YellOw, Nal_rA, NaDa, Sync, TheMarine, Chojja, Reach, Kingdom and Gorush, along with current giants Flash, Stats, Bisu, Fantasy, BeSt and Canata. These aren't teams, my friends. They are houses, they are clans, they are the veritable kingdoms of ESPORTS. When we jump into LR threads or get on IRC, we don't root for the underdog, because let's face it, neither of our teams are underdogs. For years, we have produced the best Broodwar has to offer, and we'll continue doing so for as long as these titans take to the tilesets.



There are talks of Broodwar dying, and the crowd that turned up to watch our two teams battle was a clear indication of that. Broodwar is definitely, definitely dying. Sigh.



Friends, as ESPORTS develops elsewhere in the world, and as a different set of fans rally behind heroes of an altogether different calibre, let us rejoice in the fact that well, we follow the original dynasties of this beautiful game, and that in the never ending destruction of Flash, there is a little Sync, and that in the beautiful macro of BeSt, there is a little Kingdom. Let us realise how fortunate we are that we don't need to make heroes. Our heroes were forged over a decade ago, at a time when men like BoxeR and YellOw first met, forming our fierce rivalry and setting the standard for skill and sportsmanship on the beautiful green fields of Neo Hall of Valhalla.



Today, it is that standard we hold ourselves to, it is that game we love, it is those teams we follow.



Congratulations again, KT. We look forward to another year of sharing the beautiful game with you. Hello, KT Rolster. Good day, and congratulations! You are Shinhan Proleague Champions again, and while I can't say it's what I wanted, and indeed, it's certainly not what I was expected, I can say that I am happy for you. You deserved it.Flash played better than us, and you fully deserve your victory.Rivalries are funny things. They appear to hold us apart, when in fact they bind us together. Lim Yo Hwan, our bonjwa, and Hong Jin-Ho, yours. LOL, OK, OK, I keep forgetting this is a tribute piece. Back to business!BoxeR and YellOw are not just leaders of SKT and KTF. They are the very deities of ESPORTS. Long before nerds across the world were talking about blink stalker micro, in fact, at a time when most of those players were still either in pampers or otherwise engaged, these two titans were playing Starcraft. Professional Starcraft.Perspective is even funnier. We're now in the midst of a massive ESPORTS wave in the West, and people talk excitedly about maybe someday watching Starcraft on TV. And yet, friends, we Broodwar fans have the privilege of watching our game on television every week. We don't know how long the scene will last. We don't know about lawsuits and licensing and agreements. What we do know is that in August 2011, nearly a decade after Lim Yo Hwan and Hong Jin-Ho first stepped into a booth to play this beautiful game, it is still being played, and being played by the best at that. Elephants in the room aside, let's be clear about one thing. Last Friday evening in Seoul, it wasn't two teams that met on a stage. It was two dynasties. Together, these two outfits brought forward the likes of BoxeR, iloveoov, YellOw, Nal_rA, NaDa, Sync, TheMarine, Chojja, Reach, Kingdom and Gorush, along with current giants Flash, Stats, Bisu, Fantasy, BeSt and Canata. These aren't teams, my friends. They are houses, they are clans, they are the veritable kingdoms of ESPORTS. When we jump into LR threads or get on IRC, we don't root for the underdog, because let's face it, neither of our teams are underdogs. For years, we have produced the best Broodwar has to offer, and we'll continue doing so for as long as these titans take to the tilesets.There are talks of Broodwar dying, and the crowd that turned up to watch our two teams battle was a clear indication of that. Broodwar is definitely, definitely dying. Sigh.Friends, as ESPORTS develops elsewhere in the world, and as a different set of fans rally behind heroes of an altogether different calibre, let us rejoice in the fact that well, we follow the original dynasties of this beautiful game, and that in the never ending destruction of Flash, there is a little Sync, and that in the beautiful macro of BeSt, there is a little Kingdom. Let us realise how fortunate we are that we don't need to make heroes. Our heroes were forged over a decade ago, at a time when men like BoxeR and YellOw first met, forming our fierce rivalry and setting the standard for skill and sportsmanship on the beautiful green fields of Neo Hall of Valhalla.Today, it is that standard we hold ourselves to, it is that game we love, it is those teams we follow.Congratulations again, KT. We look forward to another year of sharing the beautiful game with you.







We'll see you again next season!



What's that? You're worried? Yes, rumours of the end swirl fervently and leave the future of professional Brood War looking uncertain. What will the scene look like come next season? None of us can know for sure.



What you can count on, however, is a dedicated and hard-working group of volunteers here at TL who are always willing to offer their services to keep you up to date on the latest results, to preview and thoroughly hype upcoming matches, and to bring you the various happenings from around the league. So fear not friends. Your Power Rank may have moved from its familiar place on the sidebar to the cozy confines of the upper nav-bar, but as long as Brood War is played on the grand stage, we'll be here to cover it. With style.



This update and coverage for the season has been made possible by the following members of the TeamLiquid SPL 2010/2011 News Team and volunteers from the community:



Round 6/Playoffs Team:

riptide, HawaiianPig, Kiante, mustaju, Carnivorous Sheep, Spica, Imperator



Staff contributors:

Antoine, alffla, Craton, disciple, flamewheel, Harem, IntotheWow, Konadora, Lip the Pencilboy, Milkis, Mystlord, nbaker, snowdrift, swanized, tree.hugger, WaxAngel, Xxio



Community contributors:

Ciryandor, mnesthes, SirJolt, and TwoToneTerran



Special thanks to Simplistik for the R&S thread,

to all the LR thread creators, Live Streamers

and you!



Farewell...







Until next season...



And with that, the TeamLiquid Coverage team for the Shinhan Bank Proleague 2010/2011 season bids you farewell... for now.We'll see you again next season!What's that? You're worried? Yes, rumours of the end swirl fervently and leave the future of professional Brood War looking uncertain. What will the scene look like come next season? None of us can know for sure.What youcount on, however, is a dedicated and hard-working group of volunteers here at TL who are always willing to offer their services to keep you up to date on the latest results, to preview and thoroughly hype upcoming matches, and to bring you the various happenings from around the league. So fear not friends. Your Power Rank may have moved from its familiar place on the sidebar to the cozy confines of the upper nav-bar, but as long as Brood War is played on the grand stage, we'll be here to cover it. With style. Administrator Not actually Hawaiian.