WTL 2022 Winter – Week 6 Recap/Week 7 Preview

by: Wax

With a narrow 4-3 victory over Liquid in Week 6, ONSYDE Gaming moved into first place for the very first time this season. However, it’s very tenuous lead at the top, as Dragon Phoenix Gaming are in second place by the difference of just a single map. The rankings are tightly packed all across the board, so there will be plenty of room for upward and downward mobility in the weeks to come.

The Week 7 line-up projects to be mostly mismatches, but there is one major clash at the end of the schedule in KaiZi Gaming vs Shopify Rebellion. Reynor’s struggles have mired KaiZi Gaming to an unbecoming spot in the bottom half of the table, but a convincing win against Shopify might put them back on the right track. On the other hand, Shopify could realistically push for a top three seed with a victory here.

Week 6 Results

Top 7 teams qualify for the playoffs, bottom 2 teams must requalify.
Points are awarded as follows:

• 3 points for a victory in a series that does not require an ace match
• 2 points for a victory in a series that requires an ace-match
• 1 point for a loss in a series that requires an ace-match
• 0 points for a loss in a series that does not require an ace match

GP.Prince got the ball rolling for his team with a 2-0 over iG.Coffee. Game one on Tropical Sacrifice saw Prince inflict huge early damage with Blink Stalkers, and then hold out against Coffee’s all-or-nothing Tank push to force the GG. Coffee tried to even the score on Waterfall with a 1-base Tank push, but Prince defended well to get his second win.

iG.MacSed managed to get his team’s only map win of the night on Moondance, weathering an early Ling-Bane attack from GP.Cham and then counter-attacking with Chargelots and Archons. However, Cham was able to maintain his team’s lead on Waterfall, battering his Protoss opponent into submission with waves of Roaches and Zerglings in the mid-game.

Team GP then proceeded to clinch the full three points on the next map of Cosmic Sapphire. The massive map allowed both iG.XY and GP.NightMare to build up maxed out armies, and XY actually put his opponent up against the ropes after winning the first major battle. However, a desperate round of DT warp-ins caught XY without a single scan, allowing the invisible warriors to deal game-swinging SCV and army damage to XY. NightMare then took another map point for his team on Stargazers, using a proxy-Gate all-in to beat XY in around four minutes.

The series began with KZ.TIME taking a 2-0 win over CranKy.Dolan in fairly straight-forward fashion. TIME showed superior unit control and positioning in game one on Tropical Sacrifice, winning the game with his first Tank push. Game two on Inside and Out saw Dolan go totally all-in with 3-Barracks Reapers, proxying two of his Barracks out on the map. Unfortunately for Dolan, he couldn’t get the initial Marine kills needed to get the Reaper snowball rolling, and he GG’d out after TIME convincingly stopped the all-in.

Next up for KaiZi was KZ.Reynor, who got his first 2-0 of the season against CranKy.PattyMac. Game one on Moondance saw PattyMac open Glaive Adepts, only to transition quickly into both 2-Stargate Phoenixes and DT’s. However, Reynor saw everything with his scouting Overlord, and he tried to take advantage by massing Roach-Hydra for a big attack. PattyMac’s defense proved to be sturdier than Reynor expected, and the Protoss underdog was left in a shockingly good position after holding off the assault. Reynor escaped this dicey situation with his signature Zergling run-bys, which gave him just enough breathing room to get out Lurkers and Vipers. With his superior late-game army control, and with the help of continued Zergling run-bys, Reynor was able to pull off the comeback win.

Game two on Waterfall unfolded in a very similar way in the early game, with PattyMac opening Glaive Adepts into 2-Stargate Phoenixes. However, this game ended rather abruptly, as PattyMac typed a prompt GG after shading his Adepts directly into the path of Reynor’s Banelings (both players had a laugh about it on camera).

With the series already won for his team, KZ.Spirit got in on the fun with a win against CranKy.Vindicta on Cosmic Sapphire. Vindicta tried to play mech, but Spirit countered expertly by taking control of the skies and winning with Viking-Liberator. Still, the Ducklings managed to keep their no-sweep streak alive, as Vindicta won the final game of the series with a massive Marine-Tank doom drop into Spirit’s main.

DPG toppled Alpha X in an important match near the top of the table, allowing them to jump over the Golden Dragons in the standings.

DPG.herO drew first blood in the match, using a force of mass Gateway units and Phoenixes to handily dispatch αX.Zoun’s Disruptor-based army on Tropical Sacrifice. herO seemed to be well on his way to a 2-0 on Cosmic Sapphire, as his early Stalker strike destroyed Zoun’s natural expansion. However, herO flubbed his defense against Zoun’s DT counter-attack, letting a DT past his Stalker/Sentry barricade and into his main mineral line. This error proved to be fatal, and herO GG’d out after losing most of his economy.

Fortunately for DPG, DPG.Dark came through with what ended up being the series-deciding 2-0 against αX.RagnaroK. Game one on Moondance was a bit unusual for a Korean ZvZ, with the game going all the way to the Lurker-Viper stage. Dark’s fantastic use of burrow Roach harass was the difference-maker in the end, as RagnaroK was forced to GG out after having his Drone count crippled.

The two players engaged in another late-game ZvZ brawl on Tropical Sacrifice, and this one ended up being the clear-cut best game of the week. To briefly summarize this 34-minute epic: it started with a 12-pool, moved on to Mutas vs Corruptors, and ended in an intense, low-econ Lurker-Viper duel. Ultimately, Dark’s constant backdoor attacks were too much for RagnaroK to handle in the scrappy low-econ situation, and he GG’d out after losing the resource war.

Amusingly enough, αX.Astrea and DPG.Cure then proceeded to play the second most entertaining game of the week on Cosmic Sapphire. Cure seemed to have the game wrapped up by the 9 minute mark, dealing huge economic damage with multi-prong bio attacks. It wouldn’t have been surprising at all if Astrea GG’d out, but instead he stuck around until he could try a crazy Hail Mary play: a backdoor warp-in of 13 Blink-DT’s. This huge risk paid off with a commensurate reward for Astrea, and the game situation did a 180 degree turn in his favor. Unfortunately for Cure, he didn’t have any of his own ridiculous ace cards up his sleeve, and he was eventually forced to surrender.

Despite giving up an almost unthinkable upset, Cure managed to keep his calm and close things out in the final game. After getting 9 Probe kills with an early mine drop, Cure ruthlessly pushed his advantage and won the game with continued bio attacks.

GGG got off to an encouraging start in the series, with GGG.Nice using his every-splash-unit army to overpower PSISTORM.GuMiho on Tropical Sacrifice. However, it was all downhill for GGG from there, as PSISTORM went on to win the next five maps. It started with GuMiho tying the series 1-1 on Waterfall, where he just barely microed his way to a win with a 1-base 1/1/1-style all-in.

Middle-runner PSISTORM.Gerald then continued PSISTORM’s romp with a 2-0 against GGG.Rattata. Game one on Moondance saw Gerald take a huge early lead with combined Adept-DT harass, and then end the game with a big Stalker-Disruptor army. Gerald then finished Rattata off on Waterfall, using herO-style PvZ to overwhelm his opponent with Stalker-Disruptor.

Finally, PSISTORM.MaxPax closed the series out with a 2-0 win against GGG.Dream. Game one on Cosmic Sapphire saw MaxPax defend against Dream’s mid-game aggression with aplomb, and then safely force a GG with a combination of good engagement and backdoor attacks. The second game on Waterfall followed a similar pattern, with MaxPax holding off a Tank push and then counter-attacking for the victory.

SSLT got off to a promising start as SSLT.Firefly took first blood off of SR.Scarlett. After opening Oracles on Tropical Sacrifice, Firefly hit with a surprise Glaive Adept strike which crippled the Zerg economy, leading to a win at around the 8:15 mark. However, Scarlett tied things up on Cosmic Sapphire, parrying a bevy of Protoss attacks and finishing the game with Lurkers and Vipers.

Similarly to the GGG vs PSISTORM series from the previous day, Shopify then proceeded to win all of the remaining games in the match. SSLT.Silky tried to get cheesy against SR.Lambo on Moondance, but had to GG out after his 12-pool and follow-up all-ins were thwarted. Moving onto Waterfall, Silky tried a different all-in in the form of 2-base speed-Roaches, but he was once again forced to surrender after running into Lambo’s strong defense.

SR.ByuN preempted any potential cheese in the following set, using a proxy 2-Barracks Bunker rush to quickly defeat SSLT.Toodming on Cosmic Sapphire. Toodming did indeed go for an early Roach-Ravage strike on the next map of Inside and Out, but ByuN defended it handily and locked in the 5-1 victory for Shopify.

The series began with Liquid looking to take advantage of OG.Rex subbing in for OG.Neeb, with the American Protoss presumably busy due to university. Things went according to plan for Liquid`Elazer in the first game, as he used Mutas to control the map before overwhelming Rex with a Roach-Lurker force. However, Elazer’s second attempt to use Mutas backfired, as he fell to Rex’s early Roach-Ravager-Zergling bust.

If Rex had given ONSYDE an advantage by taking an unexpected 1-1, Liquid`Kelazhur one-upped him by stealing an even more shocking 1-1 tie against OG.Maru. Kelazhur started by trying to cheese Maru out with proxy 2-Barracks reapers on Moondance, but failed to achieve much of anything against Maru’s solid defense. Kelazhur’s follow-up all-in fell apart as well, and he surrendered a quick GG. As if to say “I’ll show you how it’s done,” Maru went for his own proxy 2-Barracks Reapers on Data-C. Yet, the result was similar for the cheesing player, with Maru ceding an advantage to his opponent after failing to deal much damage. Unlike Kelazhur in the previous game, Maru was playing a more macro-ish follow-up, but any chance of playing for a patient comeback went out the window when he got backdoored by a devastating drop. Kelazhur closed things out quickly, assembling a powerful army to end things at around the 8:30 mark.

The next game saw Liquid`Clem put his team on match point, beating OG.Solar in an action-packed game on Cosmic Sapphire. Solar showed great mid-game resilience to withstand Clem’s trademark bio aggression, eventually forcing a half-map split scenario. However, Clem looked perfectly comfortable in the late-game as well, as he seized and held the crucial corner expansion to win the game. With a chance to clinch the 4-2 victory on Tropical Sacrifice, Clem went for a different approach by attempting a fast Hellbat-Marauder attack. However, Solar’s defense was on point, and he held off the attack and emerged with a decent economic advantage. Solar didn’t let this lead slip, and he ended up eventually overwhelming Clem with large numbers of Hydra-Bane-Viper.

With Liquid`Clem being the obvious ace choice for Liquid, it was no surprise to see ONSYDE bring out the TvT maestro OG.Maru as their own ace card (both he and Solar had previously played in one ace match a piece).

Playing on Waterfall, Maru opted for a fairly mundane Factory-CC opener. Meanwhile, Clem decided he was all-in, staying on one base and placing a proxy Starport close to Maru’s base. However, this quickly became a disaster, as Maru’s scouting Reaper discovered the proxy and killed the constructing SCV before the Starport could finish. The disastrous start quickly spiraled into a loss for Clem, as he took huge SCV damage from a Hellion-Reaper drop from Maru. After a futile attempt at a counter-attack, Clem conceded defeat.

Weekly MVP Award: DPG.Dark

Dark was the clear MVP of the week, as his impressive 2-0 victory over RagnaroK was what decided the series between DPG and Alpha X. None of the other 2-0 wins on the week were nearly as impressive—MaxPax was a distant second place with a 2-0 over Dream, where the second set was played after PSISTORM’s victory was already confirmed.

To make up for the WTL article hiatus over the past few weeks, here are my retroactive weekly MVP picks for Weeks 2-5:

Weekly MVP’s:

• Week 1: OG.Solar
• Week 2: GP.Cham
• Week 3: OG.Neeb
• Week 4: OG.Maru
• Week 5: SR.ByuN
• Week 6: DPG.Dark

Week 6 Preview

Friday, Nov 11 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Matches

SSLT have been able to beat up on some of the weaker teams in the league, but they haven’t been much of a threat to the playoff contenders. The aggressive/cheesy nature of the SSLT players makes me think they’re unlikely to suffer a sweep since someone will probably hit on one of their gambles, but a 2-4 is probably the best they can hope for here.

Prediction: Alpha X 5 – 1 SSLT

Alas, the pain train for iG is likely going to continue for several more weeks, as they’re stuck playing playoff contenders until Week 11 when they’ll face off against SSLT in a potential loser-gets-relegated match. With PSISTORM actually looking like one of the more consistent mid-tier teams for the last season and a half, I don’t think there’s much of a chance of an upset.

Prediction: PSISTORM Gaming 5 – 1 Invictus Gaming

Saturday, Nov 12 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Matches

It’s been a fun first six weeks for Team GP who have claimed the improbable perch of 6th place in the standings. While their run hasn’t been quite as unbelievable as it was in the Winter 2021 season, you have to admire the moxie they’ve shown to be this successful.

The first two match-ups are absolutely brutal for Team GP, with a lucky or brilliant cheese looking like the only way Prince or Cham could take a map against Maru or Solar. While NightMare vs Neeb is a lot closer, it’s still the kind of match where even getting a 1-1 would be a good result for Team GP.

While I’m intrigued to see if Team GP can keep this semi-miraculous run going, I certainly wouldn’t bet on it.

Prediction: ONSYDE Gaming 5 – 1 Team GP

PattyMac’s week six game against Reynor on Moondance was the Ducklings WTL experience in a nutshell. When he took a surprising mid-game lead against Reynor, he made you think ‘oh, that’s interesting!’ But when he gave up that lead because Reynor out-multitasked him into oblivion, it made you think ‘oh, that was inevitable.’

Against Liquid, I expect the Ducklings to once again show some flashes of good play, but still suffer another inevitable loss in the end.

Prediction: Team Liquid 5 – 1 CranKy Ducklings

Saturday, Nov 12 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Matches

As seen from DPG’s week 4 loss to Shopify, there’s always some risk in playing Jieshi over one of their GSL champions. However, that risk seems to be heavily mitigated this week due to the specific match-ups.

If Dark had been playing Rattata and Nice was playing herO, you could maybe envision a scenario where the randomness of mirror matches kicked in and DPG was forced to an ace-match. However, considering how the match-ups have actually panned out, with herO and Dark able to play their incredibly strong and consistent PvZ/ZvP, I think DPG will get all three points even if Jieshi starts 0-2.

Prediction: Dragon Phoenix Gaming 4 – 2 Good Game Gaming

KaiZi Gaming’s hopes of pulling off a second-half comeback might have already hit a snag, as they’ve drawn some very tricky match-ups against the Shopify Rebellion.

The most concerning draw is Reynor vs Scarlett: Reynor has already gone 1-1 in three ZvZ’s so far this season, and Scarlett has a more than decent chance of handing him his fourth tie. On the other hand, the same-faction mirror is not nearly as big an equalizing factor in matches between Terrans, which means ByuN should be favored to take the 2-0 against Spirit. TIME vs Harstem feels like the X factor in this match—TIME might be the moderate favorite on paper, but Harstem has a history of stepping up his game in the WTL. It could easily end up being a 2-0 score for either player.

Ultimately, I’m going to trust in Reynor playing up to the weight of the moment, and giving his team a clutch victory in its time of need.

Prediction: KaiZi Gaming 4 – 3 Shopify Rebellion

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