The Daily Word is a new segment where various members of the community - in particular casters - are interviewed about the latest events and news from around the progaming and foreigner scene. In today's edition, we'll be talking to OSL correspondent NukeTheStars about the epicness of Flash vs Stork and everything else that went down in the second week of the OSL Round of 16.

Note: This interview was done BEFORE last night's games.
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We have some very interesting developments this week in the OSL, in particular with Group C and D. Let's start with Group D and the highlight of the week - Stork vs Flash. Thoughts on the game? Easily the best of the season so far in my opinion.

NukeTheStars: I wouldn't call it the best game of the season, but I think it probably was the best of the Round of 16. Game two or three from the Pure vs. Leta series in the Round of 36 would be the best so far. Stork got a super-duper advantage over Flash by throwing off all of his timings. The gas steal looked small, but was actually huge. It allowed him to be riskier with expansions and rely on dragoon micro to keep Flash busy. The big turning point was Flash deciding to pull back with all of his troops into only one area to defend. If he had surrounded Stork with his force, he might have been able to rid the world of dragoons more quickly and save enough goliaths to push back the carriers. Stork played great, though. His might usually shines through against the strongest opponents.



This leaves Group D in an interesting position. With one loss, Flash - a heavy favorite in this OSL - is one game from elimination depending on how things work out. Flash has had a tendency of faltering at this kinds of moments in the past. Is this an upset waiting to happen, or do you think Flash will kick the habit and pull through here?

NukeTheStars: I think Flash will pull through. It might be a bit scary if Kwanro beats Stork, because then his future will be riding on one game to be able to get into the big tiebreaker, but I think his chances are good. If Stork beats Kwanro, he'll have a safety net, because even if he loses, he'll get the lower tiebreaker with two Zerg, and Flash has been absolutely incredible against Zerg recently. Even in games where he had the disadvantage, he's used micro to even things back up and take the win. For the first time in four seasons of commentating... I want Flash to make it. He deserves it in a major, major way. If Type-B stops it from happening, I think he can say goodbye to any fanbase he had. But, it might be the universe getting back at Flash for pulling EffOrt down with his sinking ship last season.

In Group C, Shine shocked everyone - again - with a big win over fantasy. Huge win. The group gets even more interesting with Calm defeating EffOrt, which means we've got the potential for a huge tiebreaker between Calm, EffOrt, and fantasy. First off, what are your impressions of their games this past week?

NukeTheStars: The Calm vs. Effort game was great as far as ZvZ's go. I could tell that both players were really microing their hearts out. However, the Fantasy vs. Shine game was pretty dumb. Fantasy is starting to get the reputation for being inflexible, for sitting there hoping the game goes exactly his way. His build was greedy and assumed a lot. Shine scouted the early gas, so he knew to keep it at two hatcheries and expect the worst. Looking back at the game, I just don't know what Fantasy was thinking, or if he even prepared for the game. It's very frustrating to me, because I like Fantasy and I know he would have rocked Shine in a straight-up game. He undermines his own ability by trying to play every single game differently. The problem is that sometimes a person's unpredictability can become predictable.

The big game for this group next week will most definitely be fantasy vs EffOrt. The winner of this match will define what happens in the group, so it is definitely a major game. After last week's brilliantly bad performance by both players, who do favor to take this match?

NukeTheStars: I favor Fantasy for a couple of reasons. One reason is that Fantasy hates to lose. He's admitted it in interviews that he really really hates to lose and will spend ungodly amounts of time preparing for a tough game. That's not to say EffOrt won't be preparing, too, but Fantasy just has more experience in this area. That's the other reason I think he'll make it. Fantasy is going to cheese his heart out to get out of this group. He has to realize that the way to take down a player like Shine is to play standard, but the way to take down a player like EffOrt is to interrupt his perfect build. EffOrt is intense, incredibly fast, and has overwhelming macro... if things go exactly his way. It's time for Fantasy to demonstrate that experience goes a long way.

Jaedong and Movie were able to claim Group A easily this past week with both players going 2-0, not much to discuss here. Group B, on the other hand, still looks like a wide open game. Chances are ZerO will continue his dominance over Pure and pick up the win, which means Hwasin will have to defeat Yarnc next week to bring the series to a tiebreaker. What are your impressions on Group B as a whole, and who is your pick to make it out?

NukeTheStars: The Zero/Pure game should be a done deal, but I'm not sure if that's the case. I've always felt that the loser of a game gains more from the game than the winner, and Pure lost to ZerO recently. Pure is in the better position to improve and find a way to take it. ZerO's vs. Protoss is scary, but I don't think it's invincible. That having been said, I fully expect ZerO to end up making it out of this group. He's simply the best player there and he's in the best position. A tiebreaker between the other guys will probably result in a Pure victory. Yellow isn't exactly clutch as far as tiebreakers go, and I think Hwasin will be his usual pesky self and ruin things for players like Yellow by rushing him but losing to Pure. But, if Pure finds himself in an upper tiebreaker with ZerO and Yellow, I think he'll be destroyed. The chance of facing ZerO on Heartbreak Ridge alone is enough to kill his chances.

Any last thoughts?


Wooorrrdd. Thanks Nuke. NukeTheStars is our OSL correspondent and caster. You can find all his VODs at www.youtube.com/NukeTheStars. That's it for this edition of the Daily Word, later days.

i love stork and i love Nukethestars !
keep up the good work.

Go nuke!

Something else speaking against effort's chances against fantasy is that calm vs shine is played first. If calm beat shine yesterday, as he was expected to do, effort is already out wether he beats fantasy or not.