Live2Win Korea (South). October 06 2007 05:33. Posts 3679
There are 2 reasons why I believe it's still a drop game, and why he said it wasn't even if it was.
#1) Obviously to avoid playing Hwasin. But many have suggested, why so early? Why not wait and see what happens first? Because there was a time when the progamers tried this in another event, and failed. I believe it was one of the Korea/China events, where Reach and YellOw (I think) were in danger of facing each other in the Ro8. One of them still had a game left, but due to some unfortunate results it didn't matter if that person dropped the game or not, they'd still advance to play each other.
So, by recieving a loss early on, Stork increases his chances to #2, and then if somehow he ends up #1 anyway, he can still drop another game. He probably chose White-ra to drop the game against, because White-ra is expected to come out of the group next to him. Thus if they both end up with same results, White-ra would be #1 and Stork #2, meaning stork wouldn't have to drop another game.
2) But why say he didn't drop? This is fairly obvious. It would be unsports-man like to say he dropped a game. It would probably disappoint many fans as it does every year. But there's a deeper reason probably. Right now the Korean community is pummeling Stork, calling him "Song Excuse" (송핑계). This is because when he lost to Bisu in the GomTV2 finals, he said in his interview that he lost because he forgot dragoon range. This created a lot of fuss in the community, Bisu fans complaining that Stork is just putting out excuses and should be a man and just admit his loss, while Stork fans were defending him.
Then came the Stork vs Savior game on.... I can't remember. I think it was the Proleague Allstar match. Stork was doing very well against savior when Savior came back with a massive hydra drop, where Stork realized he forgot both dragoon range (again), AND storm. This was revealed by stork and once again the Korean community was all over his ass, and calling him "Song Excuse" (his last name is Song).
So, he probably dropped a game, but did not want people his fans to continue saying "he just makes excuses when he loses" so he's telling everyone he lost straight up. This way, the Koreans who know Stork's true power will make their own deduction without Stork actually saying so, saving his face and his reputation. Of course it's a daring move since everyone who's lost to a foreigner at WCG has gotten ridiculed (Silent_Control was verbally assaulted mercilessly when he lost in 2005)... but he's probably banking on his MSL/OSL/PL performances for his fans to not doubt his true strength. Besides, as long as he wins the entire thing from now on no one will even mention his loss.