MLG vs PL Grand Finals: Oz takes 2nd

Follow our players on Twitter:

Oz's Twitter - @FnaticOz
aLive's Twitter - @FnaticaLive

Recap

Despite displaying some exceptional play, unusual builds, and the heart of a lion during his stirring comeback attempt, FnaticRC.Oz fell in the MvP Invitational Grand Finals to his Proleague opponent SoO. The final score was Oz 2:4 SoO. The Zerg player walks away with a check for $10,000 but Oz can take pride in a great performance leading up MLG Fall Championships in Dallas, Texas from November 2-4. His path to the Grand Finals consisted of convincing victories over his teammate aLive (4:1), a sweep of NaNiwa (4:0), and a thorough drubbing of the last foreign player MajOr (4:1) before he finally met a challenge too great. The Grand Finals was an intense series though, and the two players were obviously of the highest caliber. Watch for Oz to continue playing well during MLG Dallas this weekend and encourage him by tweeting @FnaticOz!

Playoffs

MLG vs ProLeague Playoffs - Grand Final
Oz 2:4 SoO
November 1st 19:00 PDT - November 2nd 03:00 CEST 

MLG vs PL Grand Final - Bo7
Oz	0	MLG Daybreak	1	soO
Oz	0	MLG Cloud Kingdom	1	soO
Oz	0	MLG Ohana	1	soO
Oz	1	MLG Metropolis	0	soO
Oz	1	MLG Entombed Valley	0	soO
Oz	0	MLG Antiga Shipyard	1	soO
Oz 2:4 SoO

BaBy
1:4	SoO
SoO
	4:3	SoO
EffOrt
3:4	Flash
Flash
		4:3	SoO
Soulkey
4:1	Soulkey
Jaedong
	4:1	Soulkey
Hyvaa
4:1	Hyvaa
Rain
			4:2	SoO
ViBE
4:3	ViBE
Huk
	2:4	MajOr
Hawk
2:4	MajOr
MajOr
		1:4	Oz
NaNiwa
4:2	NaNiwa
ThorZaiN
	0:4	Oz
aLive
1:4	Oz
Oz

Updates

Game 6, Antiga Shipyard - The players again spawn as far away as possible, Oz in the top left and SoO in the bottom right. Oz chooses to make a Forge before Nexus, and SoO responds with a quick 3 bases with no gas. SoO moves forward with a lot of Speedlings and Roaches while Oz tries to establish a third base and finish +2 attack. Oz is forced to spread his units between his third and his natural while SoO applies pressure and double expands. SoO transitions to Mutalisks while getting up 5 bases but Oz splits his forces well and engages both the Mutalisks and the Roach/Zergling group in the middle of the map. As Oz kills off the Zerg base south of the Xel'Naga Tower, SoO counterattacks with Zerglings and Mutalisks that test Oz's multitasking skills. A final confrontation between the Blink Stalkers and the Zergling/Mutalisk composition finally went SoO's way, and Oz is forced out. Oz 2 - 4 SoO.

Game 5, Entombed Valley - The players spawn in cross positions, Oz in the bottom right and SoO in the top left. SoO made a 6 Pool and Oz's scouting Probe barely spotted the Zerglings hatching. He responds by walling off the ramp to his main. The determined Zergling attacks take out the Forge but the Cannon finishes and Oz doesn't lose any Probes. Having defended, Oz continues mining and SoO puts a Hatchery down in his natural. The Zerglings make it difficult for Oz to expand but he goes for it anyway to prevent SoO from getting too far ahead economically. The defense was superb but continued pressure by SoO did damage to the Probe count. Oz's attempted Zealot counterattack into the main was unable to any damage back though, so Oz is behind. After taking a third base, SoO started Infestor tech at the same time that Oz started Blink and +2 Attack. Due to his third base being delayed by annoying Zergling use, Oz began his Colossi count much earlier than in the previous games and +3 Attack. Oz moves out with his army as his third base finishes, but SoO sees it coming and moves to protect his fourth base with Infestors and Zerglings. Oz prevents a flank by throwing up immaculate Force Fields and gets the fourth base essentially for free. The chokehold that Oz is applying to SoO makes for a very late Hive tech and the two armies meet in the middle of the map. Oz's forces are in a much better concave and all that remains from the epic clash is a massive amount of Blink Stalkers. The reinforcing Zerglings are not enough to prevent Oz from killing the fourth base again. A Great Spire is started about the same time that Oz takes a far away fourth base. Oz catches a flock of Corrupters with his Blink Stalkers and catches some burrowed Infestors to boot. A desperate counterattack by SoO with Zerglings falls just short of killing Oz's fourth base and Oz pushes into the Zerg third base with a huge force. Oz loses the Colossi to Corrupters but his Gateway units and perfect control just prove too much for SoO and the third base falls. SoO finally gets up Broodlords but the number has been kept small because constantly targeted Corrupters whenever the forces engage. When Oz moves forward with Blink Stalkers, Archons, and Colossi, it just proves too much for SoO and Oz wins again! Oz 2 - 3 SoO.

Game 4, Metropolis - Oz starts at the 6 o'clock position and SoO begins at 3 o'clock, so the players spawn close to each other by air. SoO gets a Pool before Hatch and his scouting Overlord is able to see Oz's early two gas. He does not, however, see the Twilight Council that Oz puts behind his mineral line. Oz sends out a Probe to scout for a third base from SoO and make a fast forward Pylon. Back home, he throws down a Dark Shrine which nearly gets spotted but does not. Still, SoO is suspicious and takes down the forward Pylon. Oz is able to warp in two Dark Templar though and takes out the Hatchery at the natural. With the damage from those two Dark Templar, Oz now has a strong two base economy while SoO is getting up his natural again. Both players strength their economies and begin to tech - Infestors and upgrades for his ground units for SoO, Blink and +2 Attack from Oz. The Zerg third base is forfeit and Oz starts Colossus construction and +3 Attack after killing SoO's third. The Protoss army is ambushed on the way back home, but both sides suffer loses in their gas-heavy units. A Warp Prism delivers Zealots to the morphing Zerg third base and forces the cancel, and manages to set up an ambush of his own as SoO moves out to save the dying Hatchery. With a strong force moving in, Oz takes the fourth game and staves off elimination! Oz 1 - 3 SoO.

Game 3, Ohana - Oz opens with an unusual build, with a Pylon behind the mineral lines and an Assimilator before Gateway. SoO did not scout, choosing to go Hatchery first at his natural, followed by an incredibly fast (3 minutes and 10 seconds) third base. SoO's scouting Overlord finally discovers that Oz has done a 1 Gateway/1 gas expansion. The early gas allows Oz to finish a very fast Warp Gate tech, but SoO starts his Metabolic Boost to protect his early three bases. Oz throws down a fast Twilight Council and two more Gateways. The early gas allows for an unusually early Blink research, so a strong Blink Stalker attack could hit before the Zerg player might react. Oz's impeccable Blink micro allows him to save units from the Zergling/Roach composition. Despite the great control, SoO just continued throwing units at Oz and it proved too much. Oz 0 - 3 SoO.

Game 2, Cloud Kingdom -  Oz goes Forge first and blocks the Zerg natural with a Pylon in an effort to delay SoO's economy. The Zerg responds by taking what would normally be his third base as Oz gets a Nexus in his own natural, getting a very fast +1 Attack from his Forge. While he was unable to get a Probe in the main, Oz's scout was able to spot the three base Zerg, giving him information about likely attack timings out of SoO. A Twilight Council allows Oz to get Blink and +2 Attack while taking a third base at 10 minutes. Force Fields prevent SoO from doing any damage with a Zergling assault. Oz begins a super fast +3 Attack and throws up a number of Gateways behind the construction of his third base, anticipating a boosted economy and a large attack force. The Speedlings run around and buy time for SoO to accumulate a large number of Infestors and saturates a fourth base, while back at home Oz begins the first Colossus. A Warp Prism drop  with lots of Zealots was able to snipe SoO's Infestation Pit, thus resetting the tech for the Zerg. Unfortunately, the Blink Stalker/Colossus force got caught in the middle of the map and utterly destroyed by waves of Zerg units. The excellent Protoss economy allows Oz to continue reinforcing and draining the energy of the Infestors, but the huge number of Zerg units from four bases prevents Oz from ever considering a fourth of his own. Oz is able to hold against an aggressive Zergling/Infestor/Corrupter mix but was forced out of the game when his battered army got caught in the open. Oz 0 - 2 SoO.

Game 1, Daybreak - Oz went with a no-scout, Nexus first build that accelerates the economy but is risky. Despite following with a Gateway (rather than the usual Forge), Oz is still able to hold off the initial Zergling prodding by SoO. The Zerg opponent took three quick bases with a lot of Speedlings in an effort to deny Oz's third base. The Fnatic Protoss had excellent Force Fields though, and took no damage from the Zergling onslaught. Both players macro up their armies, and Oz decides to push forward with Blink Stalkers and Colossi to prevent SoO from getting too many bases and Broodlords. The aggression was punished though, and the Broodlords overwhelmed the Protoss units. Oz 0 - 1 SoO.

SemiFinals -
Game 5 - It's over, Oz seals the deal with a two base timing to advance to the finals! Final score is 4:1.
Game 4 - The clean sweep is over, MajOr comesback to win game 4. Game 5 is on the way.
Game 3 - Oz continues to show his dominance and is now looking for his second clean sweep in a row. We're going into game 4, with a 3:0 score.
Game 2 - MajOr's builds are being shut down very quickly by Oz, who is now 2:0 up.
Game 1 - Oz gets off to a great start, going 1:0 up.

QuarterFinals - After 3 strong games by Oz, NaNiwa didn't want to play the fourth game and Oz takes the walkover into the SemiFinals with a 4:0 victory!

Game 5 - Oz holds against aLive's Banshee/Tank/Marine push, winning the series 4:1 and advancing to the next round. He has also earned himself a paid trip to MLG Championships in Dallas!
Game 4 - aLive is able to take the fourth game, extending the series.
Game 3 - Oz wins the third game with superior expanding and really good defense against aLive's aggressive opening.
Game 2 - Oz is once again triumphant, due this time to a better economy and some truly excellent use of High Templar.
Game 1 - Oz was able to defeat aLive's bio army with excellent positioning and a good mix of Storms and Colossi.
19/10  - Both aLive and Oz have advanced to the playoffs. Unfortunately they will already face each other in the first round and thus one of them will be eliminiated very early.

13/10  - aLive has finally won the second game, another 40 minute spectacular showing out of both players but the Fnatic Terran finally proved too much for SoO. It came down to a tense base trade scenario, where aLive's mech composition was significantly stronger than his Zerg opponent's Roaches. When aLive managed to force the final encounter, the fight was over in moments. aLive 2:0's one of the best Proleague players!
13/10  - aLive won an intense 40 minute Game 1 where his Sky Terran units demolished the Infestor/Broodlord/Ultralisk/Queen composition of his Proleague opponent. aLive constantly harassed with Medivac drops, simultaneous pairs of Battlecruisers, and Ravens behind mineral lines, which eventually forced SoO to engage in an area advantageous to aLive.
13/10 - aLive will face SoO tonight, a win will give him a very good shot at advancing further in his division! 

12/10 - aLive sits just outside of the top 2 spots while Oz has dropped the 6th place. 
09/10 - Both aLive and Oz sit mid table, with some important matches coming up soon it's vital they both collect wins to stay in the hunt for top 2.

Tournament information

Major League Gaming is the best tournament circuit in North America and the organization is opening up a 48-player invitational between itself and Proleague players from KeSPA's former Brood War rosters, with matches airing weekly. The top KeSPA players will play against some of the top Starcraft 2 pros for a chance at money and spots in Group Stage at the MLG Fall Championship. FnaticRaidCall was fortunate enough to have two of the six Koreans invited by MLG - Oz and aLive!

Schedule

The first match will take place on September 27th at 7pm (ET), September 28th at 1AM (CET). The stream will be viewable at www.majorleaguegaming.com and will require purchasing a pass. The pass will give access to 5 weeks worth of live games in up to 1080p and cast by the team of Axslav and Axeltoss, as well VODs in case you miss the games live.

Regular season:
Thursday 9/27
Friday 9/28
Monday 10/1
Friday 10/5
Monday 10/8
Friday 10/12
Monday 10/15

Playoffs
Friday 10/19 - Round 1, Europe & Korean
Saturday 10/20 - Round 1, Proleague Day 1
Sunday 10/21 - Round 1, Proleague Day 2
Monday 10/22 - Round 1, North America
Tuesday 10/23 - Quarterfinals, Proleague
Thursday 10/25 - Quarterfinals, NA vs NA and EU vs KR
Friday 10/26 - Semifinals, PL vs PL and NA vs EU/KR
Thursday 11/01 - Finals, MLG Finalist vs Proleague Finalist 

Player List

With 48 players participating, we created a separate page for everyone competing. The full player list can be found here.

The Format

24 top Proleague KeSPA players were invited, as were 24 players from the MLG points list. Those MLG invites were spread among different regions of the globe: 12 from North America, 6 from Europe, and 6 from Korea.

During the regular season, the Proleague players will compete against each other, with 8 of the 24 advancing to the playoffs. Those 8 will form the top half of a Round of 16 playoff bracket, while the bottom half will be split among the MLG invites. The 12 NA players will advance 4, while the smaller groups of 6 from EU and KR will advance only the top 2 from each group.

The way the brackets are set up will guarantee a Finals match up between a Proleague player and one that MLG invited. Each round (Ro16, Ro8, Semfinals, Finals) will be a Best-of-7 format that will provide the viewers with a ton of top tier Starcraft 2 action!

Prizes

There's going to be a $10,000 prize given to the overall champion, with the top 8 players securing slots in the Group Stage at the Fall Championship. That position is significantly easier than marathoning up through the Open Bracket and grants a much higher percentage chance for money and glory.

In addition to the superior placement and fewer total games needed to earn money, finishing in the top 8 will get the player an all-expenses paid trip to Dallas, Texas for MLG Fall Championships from November 2-4.