In less than one day, the first matches for OSL 2007 will commence. After several delays due to sponsorship issues, the league has been picked up by Ever who has agreed to sponsor this league.

Sixteen of some of the best professional gamers in South Korea have been split into four groups where they will fight for the top two spots in each group. While there are several favorites to win, as we all know anything can happen in professional Starcraft. Be prepared to see the experienced veterans playing their hearts out with hopes of possibly adding yet another victory onto their belt. However, they will have to be sure not to take the young ones lightly. Recently, we have been seeing young teenagers taking the professional circuit by storm with some huge wins.

Group A
GGPlay
Bisu[Shield]
Shudder_V
UpMagiC

Group A consists of a split of experienced and unexperienced professional gamers who have all had a very successful year. The first player in Group A, Jun Young "GGPlay" Kim shocked the Starcraft world after defeating Hyung Tae "IriS[gm]" Byun to win Daum OSL Season 1. With this victory, a player who was once considered way out of his prime, is now one of the most fearsome Zerg's competing in OSL.

The next player in Group B needs no introduction. Whether you call him Taek Yong "Bisu[Shield]" Kim, Bruce Lee Toss, or sAviOr's nightmare he is most certainly the favorite to move on from this group. His stats are convincing, with around a sixty percent winning percentage against all of the races are statistics that only a small handful of gamers have matched.

The third competitor, Chung Hoon "Shudder_V" Oh can be considered the most least known, or the least experienced. However, don't let his young age and inexperience fool you. He was added to the elite Terran arsenal of SKT1 for a reason. A team that has been known to be very selective of their players, especially Terran's. As a young player though, he has displayed some very promising stats. While he still hasn't played in a large amount of matches, he maintains an undefeated record against Zerg and a very promising record against Protoss. His Terran versus Terran seems to be the only weak point in his play.

The final player in the group is Hee Seung "UpMagiC" Shin. While his stats aren't amazing, he has proven himself as one of the most successful players in eStro. In the past, he has managed to defeat several famous faces, but certainly has his fair share of loses as well.


Group B
IriS[gm]
JulyZerg
HwaSin[S.sIR]
Light[aLive]

Group B, or what should be called Group Terran. This group consists of three well-known Terran gamers and of course the legendary Zerg, and recent SKT1 recruit Sung Joon "JulyZerg" Park. Unfortunately for the lone Zerg, all of his opponents highly excel in Terran versus Zerg and that has statistically been JulyZerg's weakest matchup this year.

The first member of Group B, Hyung Tae "IriS[gm]" Byun has shown some impressive results this year. Earlier in the year, he managed to advance to the finals of Daum OSL Season 1, but came up short and was defeated by GGPlay. You might also remember him competing at BlizzCon back in August where he was able to place in a respectable third.

Yung Soo "HwaSin[S.sIR]" Jin can safely be called one of the heavy favorites to advance from the group stages. After a recent 1st place finish at the WCG South Korea finals his confidence will be high, and as expected, he will have an OSL victory in his sights.

If you look at his recent numbers, Jae Ho "Light[aLive]" Lee has put up some rather mediocre results. As we have seen in the past though, if he is on then expect him to be one of the biggest threats in the group.


Group C
StOrk[gm]
NaDa
DArKeLf[S.sIR]
n.Die_Jaedong

Group C is without a doubt the strongest. Like Group A, the group consists of two veterans and two rising superstars. The experience of Byung Goo "StOrk[gm]" Song and Yoon Yeol "NaDa" Lee will come in handy in their matches. However, the younger and slightly less experienced Sung Ki "DArKeLf[S.sIR]" Kim and Jae Dong "n.Die_Jaedong" Lee certainly have the talent to advance past the group stages.

The lone Protoss, Byung Goo "StOrk[gm]" Song has been one of the most dangerous players in South Korea today. He maintains an over sixty percent winning percentage against Terran and Zerg, but still holds a rather average record in Protoss versus Protoss. He is also the silver medalist at the WCG South Korea finals and will be competing in Seattle next month.

The second player in the group is one of the most famous and respectable faces in professional gaming today. Even after all of these years, Yoon Yeol "NaDa" Lee has proven himself to be one of the most consistent and successful players of all time. Even though, he is one of the older players competing, the lightning fast speed that he is famous for has remained.

The final competitor in the group is already being considered the next Jae Yoon "sAviOr[gm]" Ma. At only seventeen years old, Jae Dong "n.Die_Jaedong" Lee holds an almost seventy percent winning percentage against all races. Even for a veteran player, this is an achievement that many professional gamers never get close to achieving.


Group D
Nal_Rock
By.Flash
sAviOr[gm]
FrOzean[Name]

Group D, or Group sAviOr can safely be called the weakest if you're comparing all of the competitors. Like several of the other groups, each player brings a different amount of experience to table.

The first player, Gi Hyo "Nal_Rock" Ahn is a longtime member of WeMade Fox and one of their most successful Protoss users. In the past, he was considered one of the more lower tier players in South Korea, but has shown recently that his play has improved. His 1st place finish at OGN StarChallenge boosted his confidence tremendously. If he was in any other group, I would say that he doesn't have a high chance in moving on. However, due to having one of the weaker groups in the tournament will increase his chances in moving on.

At age fifteen, Young Ho "By.Flash" Lee is the youngest competitor in this OSL. He is one of the recent additions to KTF who before him, was a team consisting of mainly veteran players. I would not let his young age fool you though. He holds around an sixty percent winning percentage against most of the races.

The third competitor in Group D needs no introduction. Jae Yoon "sAviOr[gm]" Ma, who was once considered close to unbeatable, continues to prove his strength time and time again. If he is somehow unable to place in the top two of his group, I will be shocked and I am sure a majority of the Starcraft community would share my feelings.

The final member of Group D is certainly the weakest link of Group D. With rather sub-par stats, he only maintains a positive winning record against his Protoss opponents. Unless some upsets occur, I just don't see this gamer moving on from the group stages.


SOURCE: TeamLiquid | FighterForum