The Round of 32 Groups
Note: Look out for a map preview of Ultimatium and Odd-Eye in the next few days.

Group A
Game 1: Calm vs BeSt on Match Point
Game 2: Light vs fOrGG on Fighting Spirit

Group B
Game 1: Kwanro vs HoGiL on Fighting Spirit
Game 2: Shine[Kal] vs Hwasin on Ultimatium

Group C
Game 1: Iris vs Saint on Ultimatium
Game 2: Flash vs hyvaa on Odd-Eye

Group D
Game 1: Crazy-Hydra vs Jaedong on Odd-Eye
Game 2: Stats vs July on Match-Point

Group E
Game 1: Canata vs by.hero on Match Point
Game 2: Movie vs Stork on Fighting Spirit

Group F
Game 1: Bisu vs GuemChi on Fighting Spirit
Game 2: Bogus vs sAviOr on Ultimatium

Group G
Game 1: ZerO vs Hyuk on Ultimatium
Game 2: type-b vs Kal on Odd-Eye

Group H
Game 1: RuBy vs EffOrt on Odd-Eye
Game 2: FireFist vs JangBi on Matchpoint

First Impressions

"Underwhelming" was the thought that came to my mind when I saw the groups for the first time. Unlike last season, we've got no real 'Group of Death'. The only possible exception is Group A, but I don't consider BeSt, fOrGG, and Light to be heavy contenders in this season's MSL. The good news is that we're in for a spectacular Round of 16 if everything goes according to plan. All the top contenders should be able to move on without too much trouble in the current state of things. Of my top eight contenders (Jaedong, EffOrt, ZerO, Calm, Bisu, Flash, Stork, and Kal - yes, Kal), Kal, ZerO, and EffOrt looks like they'll have the hardest time breaking out of their groups. ZerO and Kal will have to contend with the latest bonjwa contender...

-insert sarcasm-

Hyuk's demonstrated some excellent ZvZ and ZvP lately, so we know he definitely has what it takes to work his way out of this group. It's going to be tough to judge how well Hyuk does here though. I'm a big fan of trends and patterns, and last season everyone's favorite Terran FrOzean also mustered up an eight-to-ten game winstreak and hyped everyone up, only to go 1-13 or so in the Proleague and ultimately crumble in the MSL as well. SKT1 believes Hyuk has the potential to be great - and they could be right - but I personally believe Hyuk is going to come back down to Earth in the next few weeks. He'll still be decent in Proleague, but I just can't put any faith in him for the MSL.

We somehow managed to avoid all-Zerg groupings, but we do have two 3-1 groups, including Group B which features MSL finalists Kwanro and the Mr. Insurance himself, Hwasin. Hwasin had a hugely disappointing MSL last time around, dropping out of the Round of 32 thanks to Luxury, but he has a much easier group this time around. Hogil has a tendency to defeat good players at the wrong time and is a threat along with Shine, but I still think Hwasin and Kwanro will pull out of this with their raw experience.

Finally, we have yet another Bisu vs sAviOr confrontation brewing in Group F. sAviOr has won their last two meetings in what easily was two of the most hype games of early '09. sAviOr has looked a bit out of shape recently, but Bisu always seems to bring out the best in him, so I expect a good showing. Look out for Guemchi to turn heads in this group also; he's quietly one of the better Tosses in the league despite his lack of play time on Woongjin.

Hot Potato! MSL Group Selection Fun

The most interesting story from the Group Selection ceremony was the passing around of BeSt from player-to-player. By the end of the night, BeSt found himself in almost every group at least once! As BeSt sat dazed-and-confused while his name was passed around like the plague, the top Zergs in the league took over and played tug-o-war with BeSt on the big board until finally the MSL champion stepped up and claimed BeSt for himself.

Poor guy lol.

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