Week 5 Preview: The Playoff Picture

#4.Samsung Galaxy Khan (3 - 2) vs #7. Team MVP (1 - 5)

Samsung has fielded an all-Zerg line-up, though given their roster it's not terribly surprising.



Is it just a coincidence that Samsung fielded every player who won in their Code A groups (RorO, Solar), and benched everyone who lost (Stork, Reality)? If not, that would be some next-level incentivizing. After new head coach Oh benched all of the veterans on opening day, I'm ready to believe anything.



Both Shines are playing. Unfortunately, they're not facing each other.



Swagger/Killer/SangHo is back, though there's every chance he will have changed his name by game day.

#8. Prime (1 - 5) vs. #3. Jin Air Green Wings (3 - 2)

First off, kudos to Prime for actually winning a match last week against CJ Entus. It looked like a real possibility that they would end the round 0-7, but some great play from Creator in the ace match helped his team save some much needed face.



Pigbaby, one of last season's promising players, finally makes his Proleague debut after being stuck behind sOs and Terminator on the depth chart.



And so, it has come to be that ByuN was not fielded for the entirety of round one. What more, Prime has gone through round one without fielding a single Terran player. Come on, even Mvp played a game of all people.

#4. Samsung Galaxy Khan (3 - 2) vs. #2. SK Telecom T1 (5 - 1)

SKT have sent out a strong line-up instead of giving their bench players some play time. Even though the chance of them dropping ranks is low, it seems like they don't want to take any chances here.



Still no Stork or Reality!



Classic's recent play makes him look like a more than adequate replacement for Rain. It's mind boggling that SKT isn't in first place with the roster they have.

#5. Incredible Miracle (3 - 3) vs. #3. Jin Air Green Wings (3 - 2)

As many people noticed, Jin Air kindly decided to be the only team in the entire week to field a Terran player.



After some decent performances, HerO is out of the line-up and Squirtle is back in for IM.

There are so many possibilities heading into the final week, with IM, Jin Air, and Samsung all having a chance of making the playoffs. JinAir and Samsung are in full control of their destinies, whereas IM will have to hope the other two teams slip up if they are to make it. Depending on how the matches play out, there's even the prospect of a two-way or evenAs for the other teams that have already determined their playoff fates, there's still something to play for. As outlined in the original announcement , teams earn points based on their final standing in each round. These points will determine who makes it to the big playoffs at the end of the entire season, so every team should have the incentive to scrap it out for a slightly higher placing and more precious points.Samsung have two games this week, and the only way they can 100% clinch a playoff spot is by winning both of their games. Amusingly, they could make it into the playoffs EVEN IF they lost both games, though that would require either IM to fail miserably, or JinAir to fail really, really miserably.If MVP can win by a 3-1 score or better, they can overtake CJ Entus and finish in 6th place. Not a great consolation for a disappointing first round, but it's better than nothing. If MVP lose and Prime win, they will finish in last place. Ew.RorO ruins your fantasy and liquibet.If Prime win and MVP lose, then Prime will finish in not-last-place. We were ready to call that a great success at the beginning of the round, and that remains the same now.Jin Air's situation is basically identical to Samsung. With two games to play, they can 100% confirm a playoff berth by going 2-0. They can also technically go 0-2 and advance if IM and Samsung collapse in dramatic fashion.You'll see Gerrard frown a lot.Same as above. Samsung will have played MVP by this point, and they could be cruising or be in desperation mode by this point.There's no way for SKT to take first place. They can tie KT in map differential if they win 3-0, but they'd be behind on the head-to-head (a 1-3 loss in week 3) as well as in total wins (20 to 19). If SKT lose and Jin Air and/or Samsung win both games, there's the possibility that SKT could fall to third or even fourth.SKT take care of business.A win won't guarantee advancement for IM, but it would go a long way toward helping them as they'd give Jin Air a loss and potentially surpass them in map differential. If Samsung go 0-2 and lose by large enough margins, IM could still qualify for the playoffs with a loss against Jin Air.Depending on how the three previous matches go, this match could be anything from a completely pointless match to a deathmatch with a playoff spot on the line.We end up with a tie-breaker, because the esports gods have decreed that every generation of fans must suffer the trial of watching eight straight hours of games and falling asleep at 11AM.