[ASL16] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Blunt Impact

Some might say this is the weaker side of the bracket compared to the very competitive and history filled rivalries of the other half, but this half does feature the last of protoss hope in Mini going up against the most in-form Sharp we’ve seen in years.

Follow that up with the EffOrt and Action rematch after their exciting Hive Tech ZvZ from the Ro24, there’s a lot to look forward to this week and every combination of the following Semifinal match looks great.

Let us know who you want to win.

You Sometimes Maybe Can Can’t Blunt The Sharp

Sharp lost to Stork in his last daily proleague he played. Stork, that guy who always goes carriers every single PvT.

How does that happen? Well, Sharp had a bad early game; Sharp essentially lost an early dropship with 4 vultures and his first tank for free and his engagements/positioning mid game were just not good. Quite an easy win for Stork, despite suffering probe losses to vulture raids (as well as having his carrier tech revealed early).

I already voted Sharp, so I have no choice to stick to that prediction. I voted Sharp because of a gut feeling, because of hype. Sharp is generally mediocre, but then he is not… He is strong or weak, rarely in between even during the same game, so I’ll echo what I’ve read on TL recently: Sharp is can be a really entertaining player to watch. Basically you never know what to expect.

Scrolling through last Ro16 Group D thread, Mini is by far the predicted favorite in this upcoming match up. However… Mini’s mental or rather emotional instability during live offline games has well resurfaced, already since ASL14 and in ASL15 where he was ironically too overconfident and dropped out against sSak in the Ro24.
This is not ASL 11, or ASL 12, the season Mini became the champ nor ASL 13 either where he still had that champion confidence but dropped to a stellar Light that became that season’s champ. Mini has the skill, but does he have the mental fortitude? In contrast Sharp has the mental fortitude, but does he have the skill when it is needed?

Since then Sharp and Mini haven’t met eachother in any of the daily proleagues and Mini hasn’t played much TvP. Meanwhile Sharp hasn’t really played TvP either. Most of his TvP’s where against Stork in which, btw, all 3 before the one mentioned in the first paragraph Sharp won. I can only imagine Stork went carriers there as well. Speaking of going carriers, they have seem to have become the go-to style nowadays, even Bisu is favor for it (lol). Arbiter has fallen out of meta, imo that’s why it could be a great tool in a high stake bo5. It’s not like it’s difficult to tech to Arbs when you’re playing shuttle storm style, a style Mini still adors.
Mini’s playstyle is about out-multitasking his opponent, continuous action in different locations constantly drawing attention elsewhere and thus having total control over his opponent and himself (his emotions). This can make him more susceptible to vulture raids, which Sharp loves to do. Mini wants Sharp to react to whatever he is doing. Sharp has no choice to accept and face the chaos that pervert toss will force onto him, but he must not forget it will not be controlled chaos if he doesn’t only play reactionary and still does his beloved vulture raids.

Sharp could learn from Light in order to beat Mini as that seems to be Mini’s PvT nemesis (source: ASL13 and major proleagues), but can a Terran other than Light actually execute like Light does? I think not. Sharp has to stick to his roots, sleep well, play focused and be eager.

As far as predictions go: It is pretty much a 50/50 imo. The community wants to see Mini advance because Protoss and obvious reasons. We want to narrow down the chances of another Terran champ repeat. Follow your heart, your gut feeling, it’s all good. Good luck on your LB and let us enjoy a good old, exciting Bo5! Hope to all see you in the LR thread!

You need a prediction you say? Alright, alright, you won’t get it from me, but if you want some head-to-head data, which doesn’t support my gut feeling of 50/50 one bit lol, go here(Highlight with mouse to read). + Show Spoiler +

Editors Note:
Peeano LB’d Sharp so I’m putting it here

Sharp To Advance To the Semifinals!

Believing In Miracles

First thing you need to understand about this series between EffOrt and Action is that I’m very tempted to just leave it at this first paragraph by saying “I wish they go to 5 games and every game is like the game EffOrt and Action had in the Ro24, I don’t even care who wins because Hive ZvZ might be a gimmick but there’s not a single person in this community that has ever denied it’s a great watch.”

Sadly though, reality doesn’t work that way and we were very lucky to have their exciting Ro24 encounter.

EffOrt pretty much shattered all expectations of a player who’s returned after a long time and while he has been keeping active by playing in proleague games daily even when he chose not to participate in the ASL these last few years, I think the general expectation was that he’d show a few good games in the early stages and that would be it for his return outing, but no, he’s been one of the best zerg players this season, absolutely crushed JyJ and threw him into the wind in the Ro16 winner’s game.

While not nearly as consistent as hero, Action has been a regular going into the bracket stages of the ASL now though this season he just barely made it by the skin of his teeth in that final series against BeSt in the Ro16.

Going back to that back to that Ro24 game it really showcased how despite letting the game go that long that Action just had the better unit control overall. His micromanagement of the core units of Zergling Mutalisk and Scourge were just much more refined than EffOrt’s, which is why EffOrt was willing to go the unconventional route.

It is very likely that this Ro8 series will play out much in a similar way with Action being the better player in the traditional standard ZvZ and EffOrt either getting a Build Order win or trying to make the game anything but standard and hopefully winning and taking it there.

Action Advances to the Semifinals 3-1!

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