[VNSL] Ro8 Preview: Final Eight! Text by BigFan Graphics by v1 So, the time has finally come. Half of the previous contestants eliminated, we are down to our last 8 contestants! The best of the best have remained after some really intense Ro16 games and tiebreakers. These players look to make a name for themselves as they will continue to battle on in order to advance to the Ro4 and beyond!



Read on for a recap of the Ro16 games by c3rberUs followed by Ro8 previews by amazingxkcd and BLinD-RawR. Staff picks have also been added to give our readers an idea of who we think will advance and who shall fall!



With that said, let's sit back, relax and watch some of the finest BW on the planet with the first two series of the Ro16 set to be casted in both Korean and English in . Table of contents Intro

Recap of Group A

Recap of Group B

Recap of Group C

Recap of Group D

RO8 Preview

Staff Picks

Liquipedia Group A Recap Bisu, Mind, Larva, Jaehoon Larva,Jaehoon



In the first game Bisu showed Jaehoon who is the master of PvP, sniping his reaver, killing a ton of probes with reaver harassment before overwhelming him with his 3 base economy. On Fighting Spirit, viewers familiar with Larva were surprised with how he handled Mind's 8 barracks despite opening 12 hatchery. Larva was able to slaughter SCVs putting Mind even more behind after the failed bunker rush. From there, Larva won comfortably just as hive finished.



Larva showed a different side when he faced Bisu's early game pestilence. He played behind the whole game and was taken out with a midgame push by the Ninja Toss. On Arcadia 2, Mind punished Jaehoon's double nexus severely and pulls off a successful pre-critical-mass-carrier push. The awaited continuation of SSL's controversial series saw Bisu trying not one, but two proxy shenanigans that failed against Mind's always solid defenses. Mind failed kill him before carriers became dangerous but he eventually won when a base trade scenario ensued. Despite Jaehoon already out of contention, he made Larva work for a chance at a tiebreaker. He had excellent zealot and sair harass but still ended up trading 2 bases for 1. Defilers and a lack of resources sent Bisu, Mind and Larva to the tiebreakers.



Tiebreakers:

The rematch of between Bisu and Larva proved more of the same, with Bisu simply outclassing the inept play of Larva. Against Mind, Bisu let go of his cheese game and double nex'd. The silence of the midgame exploded into a devastating recall from Bisu; a huge mine daebak and killed an armory. With his upgrades delayed, Mind couldn't prevent his mech from getting turned into shredded metal and allowed Bisu into the Ro8. In the do-or-die third match, Larva turned to the unconventional- getting a quick 3rd of off 2 hatcheries. Mind punished 2 attempts hard with only seconds for margin of error. With his 14 CC opening, he eventually picked Larva apart and advanced into the next round.

Group B Recap Sharp, Last, Bale, HiyA Bale,HiyA



The first matchup wasn't even close from a mindgames perspective. Sharp read his teammate Bale and was easily one-step ahead all game into an easy win. HiyA versus Last on Match Point was an equal affair until Last's vultures massacred all of HiyA's natural SCVs. HiyA tried to equalize with some midgame pressure on Last's natural but Last was already ahead enough to seal the pressure and win 4 bases to 2.



On Arcadia 2, Bale sent HiyA's 2 barracks bunker rush flying and then used his advantage to pump out guardians and devourers. HiyA knowing he's behind, went for a last ditch sunken bust. That too got shutdown while his nat was torn down by guardians. A matchup between arguably the top TvT'ers today saw Sharp expertly slowing down Last's pressure with clever dropship usage. Sharp went ahead in expo count all the while stopping anything Last did in it's tracks prompting him to GG. After impressing in his dissection of HiyA, Bale laid an egg and did a horrendous ling bust. It wasn't a pretty sight afterward, giving Last the Ro8 spot. Sharp's seed into the Ro8 is already assured at this point and he proved his worth again demolishing HiyA the same way Last did.



Group C Recap ZerO, EffOrt, July, Rush July,Rush

From TvTs to ZvZs. EffOrt displayed his savvy versus the recently returned Golden Mouse Winner. He made July pay dearly for skimping on zerglings while getting a fast spire. Up next, we had an epic cross-position TvZ on Arcadia 2. Rush opened with starport expo. ZerO's mutas shutdown the wraiths but was unable to protect his third and fourth bases. Rush went after ZerO's mass expos and transitioned to mech. ZerO's strategy came to fruition when he held his new bases and hit the mech switch with a muta switch. It threw off Rush and soon lings were running all over the map, GG.



It wasn't any better for Rush in his game versus EffOrt. After a failed 8 barracks bunker rush, EffOrt just systematically gained advantages and simply outplayed him. July tried a proxy hatchery FS but was spotted when ZerO saw the overlord scout direction. July tapped as soon as he saw a finished spire. EffOrt versus ZerO was uneventful and was basically decided by ZerO winning a single muta battle, and headed 3-0 into the Ro8. The final game saw Rush doing factory expo on Arcadia 2. July went with hydralisks, lurkers and drop tactics to show the God of War can still put on a clinic against Terran.



Group D Recap GuemChi, Free, Sea, sSak Sea,sSak



The game between Free and Sea saw the unveiling of Arcadia 2 for the first time since it was last used in ~2006. It quickly sparked debate about map balance when Free failed to do decent midgame damage and Sea contained him hard with close-spawn advantage into GG. On Circuit Breaker, GuemChi threw sSak behind with reaver-dragoon in the early game and rampaged through his third and natural later. sSak was able to save himself by retreating but the damage was already done bringing the game to a swift end.



Free and GuemChi started out with mirror builds on FS. Free lost his 2 reavers in an army trade which allowed GuemChi to take a third and use his economy to leverage Free. Sea mixed things up with a TvT bunker rush but was still taken out by sSak in the trend of TvTs in the Match Point; vultures feeding on SCVs. Up next we had the longest game of the Ro16. Free found himself in a close-spawn game versus a Terran on Arcadia 2 but this time he went for arbiters. After encountering pestering drop play, Free recalled on sSak's main and snipes both armories before +2 attack finished. The key to the game was Free's success in holding his expos on the far side. It was a frenzy of pushes and push breaking but in the end 2 mining base toss won against 1 mining base terran. Finally, GuemChi put everyone else in the tiebreaker, using a clutch stasis to smash Sea's entire army. Sea GG'd seconds later because GuemChi lost only ~2 goons.



Tiebreakers:

Free got off to a great start by beating Sea then destroyed sSak in what can only be described as stasis galore. Sea beat sSak on Fighting Spirit, a game which could easily be considered the best game of the Ro16, but ultimately fell to Free in the next match on Match Point resulting in Free advancing in second place.

In the first game Bisu showed Jaehoon who is the master of PvP, sniping his reaver, killing a ton of probes with reaver harassment before overwhelming him with his 3 base economy. On Fighting Spirit, viewers familiar with Larva were surprised with how he handled Mind's 8 barracks despite opening 12 hatchery. Larva was able to slaughter SCVs putting Mind even more behind after the failed bunker rush. From there, Larva won comfortably just as hive finished.Larva showed a different side when he faced Bisu's early game pestilence. He played behind the whole game and was taken out with a midgame push by the Ninja Toss. On Arcadia 2, Mind punished Jaehoon's double nexus severely and pulls off a successful pre-critical-mass-carrier push. The awaited continuation of SSL's controversial series saw Bisu trying not one, but two proxy shenanigans that failed against Mind's always solid defenses. Mind failed kill him before carriers became dangerous but he eventually won when a base trade scenario ensued. Despite Jaehoon already out of contention, he made Larva work for a chance at a tiebreaker. He had excellent zealot and sair harass but still ended up trading 2 bases for 1. Defilers and a lack of resources sent Bisu, Mind and Larva to the tiebreakers.Tiebreakers:The rematch of between Bisu and Larva proved more of the same, with Bisu simply outclassing the inept play of Larva. Against Mind, Bisu let go of his cheese game and double nex'd. The silence of the midgame exploded into a devastating recall from Bisu; a huge mine daebak and killed an armory. With his upgrades delayed, Mind couldn't prevent his mech from getting turned into shredded metal and allowed Bisu into the Ro8. In the do-or-die third match, Larva turned to the unconventional- getting a quick 3rd of off 2 hatcheries. Mind punished 2 attempts hard with only seconds for margin of error. With his 14 CC opening, he eventually picked Larva apart and advanced into the next round.The first matchup wasn't even close from a mindgames perspective. Sharp read his teammate Bale and was easily one-step ahead all game into an easy win. HiyA versus Last on Match Point was an equal affair until Last's vultures massacred all of HiyA's natural SCVs. HiyA tried to equalize with some midgame pressure on Last's natural but Last was already ahead enough to seal the pressure and win 4 bases to 2.On Arcadia 2, Bale sent HiyA's 2 barracks bunker rush flying and then used his advantage to pump out guardians and devourers. HiyA knowing he's behind, went for a last ditch sunken bust. That too got shutdown while his nat was torn down by guardians. A matchup between arguably the top TvT'ers today saw Sharp expertly slowing down Last's pressure with clever dropship usage. Sharp went ahead in expo count all the while stopping anything Last did in it's tracks prompting him to GG. After impressing in his dissection of HiyA, Bale laid an egg and did a horrendous ling bust. It wasn't a pretty sight afterward, giving Last the Ro8 spot. Sharp's seed into the Ro8 is already assured at this point and he proved his worth again demolishing HiyA the same way Last did.From TvTs to ZvZs. EffOrt displayed his savvy versus the recently returned Golden Mouse Winner. He made July pay dearly for skimping on zerglings while getting a fast spire. Up next, we had an epic cross-position TvZ on Arcadia 2. Rush opened with starport expo. ZerO's mutas shutdown the wraiths but was unable to protect his third and fourth bases. Rush went after ZerO's mass expos and transitioned to mech. ZerO's strategy came to fruition when he held his new bases and hit the mech switch with a muta switch. It threw off Rush and soon lings were running all over the map, GG.It wasn't any better for Rush in his game versus EffOrt. After a failed 8 barracks bunker rush, EffOrt just systematically gained advantages and simply outplayed him. July tried a proxy hatchery FS but was spotted when ZerO saw the overlord scout direction. July tapped as soon as he saw a finished spire. EffOrt versus ZerO was uneventful and was basically decided by ZerO winning a single muta battle, and headed 3-0 into the Ro8. The final game saw Rush doing factory expo on Arcadia 2. July went with hydralisks, lurkers and drop tactics to show the God of War can still put on a clinic against Terran.The game between Free and Sea saw the unveiling of Arcadia 2 for the first time since it was last used in ~2006. It quickly sparked debate about map balance when Free failed to do decent midgame damage and Sea contained him hard with close-spawn advantage into GG. On Circuit Breaker, GuemChi threw sSak behind with reaver-dragoon in the early game and rampaged through his third and natural later. sSak was able to save himself by retreating but the damage was already done bringing the game to a swift end.Free and GuemChi started out with mirror builds on FS. Free lost his 2 reavers in an army trade which allowed GuemChi to take a third and use his economy to leverage Free. Sea mixed things up with a TvT bunker rush but was still taken out by sSak in the trend of TvTs in the Match Point; vultures feeding on SCVs. Up next we had the longest game of the Ro16. Free found himself in a close-spawn game versus a Terran on Arcadia 2 but this time he went for arbiters. After encountering pestering drop play, Free recalled on sSak's main and snipes both armories before +2 attack finished. The key to the game was Free's success in holding his expos on the far side. It was a frenzy of pushes and push breaking but in the end 2 mining base toss won against 1 mining base terran. Finally, GuemChi put everyone else in the tiebreaker, using a clutch stasis to smash Sea's entire army. Sea GG'd seconds later because GuemChi lost only ~2 goons.Tiebreakers:Free got off to a great start by beating Sea then destroyed sSak in what can only be described as stasis galore. Sea beat sSak on Fighting Spirit, a game which could easily be considered the best game of the Ro16, but ultimately fell to Free in the next match on Match Point resulting in Free advancing in second place. Ro8 Preview Bisu vs Last

"New Year's Bash"



Bisu seems to have lucked out with the bracket draw this time. His PvT currently sits at 11-5 in 2015 with all of his losses to the same person, Mind. Bisu has shown some great finesse in his PvT play especially against Mind in the tiebreaker match on Circuit Breaker. He is a sure favorite to reach the Semifinals with this matchup.





Bisu looks to bring his fans some belated Christmas presents



Last has a tough battle to face but he has shown a couple of brilliant games in TvP, a matchup that he is not well known for being good at. His game against free in the Ro32 in particular was probably the most surgical terran vs protoss play in the entire tournament especially against arbiter play which is definitely more prevalent with the current map pool. This means that with proper map preparation, Last can challenge Bisu and become the only other terran to beat Bisu in all of 2015. It is his only chance anyway.



Bisu< Last

Bisu< Gladiator > Last

Bisu< Fighting Spirit > Last

Bisu< Match Point > Last

Bisu< Circuit Breaker > Last





to advance 3-1 We enter the bracket stages of the VANT National Starleague with Last vs Bisu both of whom are runners up in the SBENU Starleague Seasons 1 & 2 respectively and are looking to end the year on a positive note by advancing forward in this tournament.Bisu seems to have lucked out with the bracket draw this time. His PvT currently sits at 11-5 in 2015 with all of his losses to the same person, Mind. Bisu has shown some great finesse in his PvT play especially against Mind in the tiebreaker match on Circuit Breaker. He is a sure favorite to reach the Semifinals with this matchup.Last has a tough battle to face but he has shown a couple of brilliant games in TvP, a matchup that he is not well known for being good at. His game against free in the Ro32 in particular was probably the most surgical terran vs protoss play in the entire tournament especially against arbiter play which is definitely more prevalent with the current map pool. This means that with proper map preparation, Last can challenge Bisu and become the only other terran to beat Bisu in all of 2015. It is his only chance anyway.Bisu< Circuit Breaker LastLastLast Bisu to advance 3-1



Sharp vs Mind

Can't Blunt the Sharp



Ho ho ho ho!!! Merry Chri- what a minute!? We made it to the Ro8??? Where’s my cookies and milk Darling!!! I got a TvT matchup to preview!!



Thanks Darling!!! Macadamia nuts too!!! Anyways, let’s talk about this TvT matchup, hoho!! It’s going to be the powerhouse Terran, Mind vs the up and coming under-dog Sharp. Here is the funny thing. Even though both players actually have quite a low win percentage post KESPA (Mind’s 43% against Sharp’s 50%), Sharp hasn’t lost a TvT in the last 2 months. Let’s not forget that so far in this starleague, Sharp has been showing a jolly jolly performance by not losing a game yet to those scurvy elves. But let’s not count Mind out due to his past accolades and his star power. You think those starleague wins he has counts for nothing dear children? Ho ho ho!! He has made a good successful run through this starleague as well, but is it enough really to blunt the Sharp? Looking at his past TvT matches, he fumbled a game to Major, an amateur of all people before beating him in the final match of the Ro32 group stages. And with the way that Sharp has been playing recently, Mind is going to have a tough time coming out ahead. Perhaps we should send Mind some cookies to help him out?` I would recommend double chocolate chip since I got this big box laying behind me.





This is the last time you’ll get to see a smug Mind





But of course children!! We need to lay out the map score. Obviously, as Sharp is simply too good having actual coaching helping him out, Santa predicts a 3-2 win over Mind. Now Santa himself wants a 3-0, but that would require an overdose of warm milk to happen. I do recall that one time I drank from that kid's cup, then crashed into a pine tree, but that was 20 years ago!! But at the very least, Mr. Naughty boy Bigfan will get to feel the excitement of getting some coal as his hopes and dreams of winning the bracket contest flies away to the North Pole!!! Ho ho ho!!!!





to advance with a jolly 3-2 win. Ho ho ho ho!!! Merry Chri- what a minute!? We made it to the Ro8??? Where’s my cookies and milk Darling!!! I got a TvT matchup to preview!!Thanks Darling!!! Macadamia nuts too!!! Anyways, let’s talk about this TvT matchup, hoho!! It’s going to be the powerhouse Terran, Mind vs the up and coming under-dog Sharp. Here is the funny thing. Even though both players actually have quite a low win percentage post KESPA (Mind’s 43% against Sharp’s 50%), Sharp hasn’t lost a TvT in the last 2 months. Let’s not forget that so far in this starleague, Sharp has been showing a jolly jolly performance by not losing a game yet to those scurvy elves. But let’s not count Mind out due to his past accolades and his star power. You think those starleague wins he has counts for nothing dear children? Ho ho ho!! He has made a good successful run through this starleague as well, but is it enough really to blunt the Sharp? Looking at his past TvT matches, he fumbled a game toMajor, an amateur of all people before beating him in the final match of the Ro32 group stages. And with the way that Sharp has been playing recently, Mind is going to have a tough time coming out ahead. Perhaps we should send Mind some cookies to help him out?` I would recommend double chocolate chip since I got this big box laying behind me.But of course children!! We need to lay out the map score. Obviously, as Sharp is simply too good having actual coaching helping him out, Santa predicts a 3-2 win over Mind. Now Santa himself wants a 3-0, but that would require an overdose of warm milk to happen. I do recall that one time I drank from that kid's cup, then crashed into a pine tree, but that was 20 years ago!! But at the very least, Mr. Naughty boy Bigfan will get to feel the excitement of getting some coal as his hopes and dreams of winning the bracket contest flies away to the North Pole!!! Ho ho ho!!!! Sharp to advance with a jolly 3-2 win.





Staff Picks Bisu vs Last Sharp vs Mind 2Pacalypse- (Bisu 3-0)

FlaShFTW (Bisu 3-1)

BigFan (Bisu 3-0)

v1 (Bisu 3-2)

BisuDagger (Bisu 3-1)

Santa XKCD(Bisu 3-1)

BLinD-RawR (Bisu 3-1) 2Pacalypse- (Sharp 3-2)

FlaShFTW (Mind 3-2)

BigFan (Mind 3-1)

v1 (Sharp 3-2)

BisuDagger (Mind 3-1)

Santa XKCD(Sharp 3-2)

BLinD-RawR (Mind 3-2)

Former BW EiC "Watch Bakemonogatari or I will kill you." -Toad, April 18th, 2017