The first match of the night is one between teammates, with Woongjin Stars' one-two Protoss punch vying for advancement into the first HotS Code S tournament. Typically matches in these situations are played in the spirit of friendly competition, as players generally think that it's good to have at least one member of the team confirmed for Code S, while the loser gets another shot in the Up/Downs anyway.
In this case, however, the competition might be a little more heated. As we've mentioned many times before, Flying used to be Woongjin's Protoss ace back in the Hybrid League days, and was one of the more notable players in the early days of the KeSPA switch. However, his stock fell sharply after KeSPA made the full SC2 switch, while sOs ascended rapidly to take his place. So far, sOs has been able to make it into a Code S tournament on his own, racked up a league-best 18 – 8 record in Proleague, and almost perfectly replaced Flying in the Woongjin and KeSPA hierarchy.
It wouldn't be the least bit surprising if Flying felt a bit sore about the way things have played out, and wants to set things right. He's actually started to make a small amount of progress in that direction, cutting a long Proleague losing streak with a four game winning streak while taking down the vaunted Stephano in the previous round of Code A. Winning a single Bo3 against sOs at this point in time isn't going to reverse the events of the past few months, but it would at least let Flying recover some of this thunder.
Unfortunate for Flying, the numbers aren't on his side here. sOs has been a vastly superior PvP player in both players' short SC2 careers, boasting a record of 18 – 8 against Flying's 9 – 10. While the “anything can happen in PvP” rule is certainly as relevant as ever, the right prediction here is to say that sOs will demonstrate his superiority over Flying once again.
With Curious attempting to shed his Code S gatekeeper title with his Ro4 run this season, it's time to take a closer look at his designated successor in FXO's Gumiho. It's true that Gumiho reached the Code S Ro4 in his very first run, but a look at his GSL record since then reveal that he's already been playing the role of a guardian into the realm of Code S for quite some time.
While Curious does his work in Code S, knocking down players he deems undeserving from the Code S Ro32 and Ro16, Gumiho acts as a filter further upstream. The Code A Ro24 and Up/Down matches are the domain of Gumiho, and he's never failed to advance through them into Code S in six seasons thus far. In the process, he's made sure that players who aren't Code S quality don't make it through Code A in the first place, though a few players get through the gaps and squeeze through in the Up/Downs. Recent Code S players like Bomber, BBoongBBoong, and Hack have been sent back by Gumiho in the past, chastised by the gatekeeper to further hone their skills if they wished to gain entry to Code S.
So, is ByuN Code S quality? That's a tough question to answer, largely because the answer changes from game to game. ByuN's issues with handling his nerves aren't just something the TL writers and international fans harp upon - it's something the Korean media make sure to ask him about at every opportunity as well. He's made it to the Code S Ro4 when he's managed to keep his head together, but he's also had to suffer a few stints in Code A when he couldn't bring his full skill to bear.
ByuN is definitely capable of beating Gumiho on his best day, but his inconsistency means the nine-tailed fox from FXO has to be the favorite here. Despite having his own share of consistency problems when reaching Code S, Gumiho has been a rock when playing in Code A and the Up/Downs.
To mirror the KeSPA team-kill match happening earlier in the night, there's an eSF team-kill as well. Lure, the surprise player of this Code A season, goes up against his titan of teammate in DongRaeGu, who will be his third and most difficult PvZ challenge.
No one gave Lure much of a chance when he first came into this season of Code A, as the only lasting image he had left behind in previous seasons was as a training dummy for Heart's sharp cheeses. However, he managed to shock many in the first round, taking down the Tyrant Jaedong in a three game series. While Jaedong's ZvP was known to be his weakness, it was still unexpected to see a player with almost zero prior accomplishments taking down a Proleague regular in Jaedong. Lure then went on to slay another KeSPA Zerg in the second round, scoring a 2 - 0 victory over CJ Entus' Effort.
You have to admit that Lure has acquitted himself quite nicely through those two matches, and is deserving of some respect. However, the difficulty level will ramp up severely in the third and final round, with a Code S spot on the line. DongRaeGu is one of the greatest Zergs of the WoL era, a champion on multiple continents, and a far better ZvP player than Jaedong or Effort. The silver lining for the challenger is that of all of DRG's match-ups, ZvP happens to be his least awesome, whereas PvZ is one where Lure has expressed much confidence. He's boasted about his deep playbook and the deadly strategies he still hasn't shown in his five Code A games, and he seems to think even an opponent on the same team will be vulnerable.
Lure is writing a really attractive underdog story for those who are interested in that kind of thing (elitist hipster fans unite!), and taking out DongRaeGu would make his run to Code S one of the most impressive and unexpected ones ever. DongRaeGu is definitely the favorite here, but one can't help but cheer a bit for the little guy.
Oh, poor aLive! He was blazing along the comeback trail after getting knocked down to Code B, defeating opponents like Miya, Trap, and Nestea on his way to the final round of Code A. But at the final step, he's been confronted with a challenge that's several levels above anything he's had to face so far: Life, the best player in the world. Yup, that title still belongs to the prodigy from Startale, at least until we discover which of the four Code S semi-finalists ends up winning the championship.
Life has played almost entirely ZvP and ZvZ lately, with his series against MKP at Iron Squid II being the only one really worth noting. Life pretty much toyed with MarineKing in his crushing 3 - 1 victory, eliciting some fearful reactions from MKP when they met later in the Code S group selections. Add that to Life's incredible body of ZvT work in the last few months of 2012, Bomber's recent comment that he declines practice with Life because he is too good, and we can safely say that his world-best ZvT hasn't gone anywhere.
You can't throw out Heart of the Swarm as a possible complicating factor, and perhaps Life could find his WoL skills a bit dulled. But even IF Life is slightly diminished, he should have no trouble taking care of just another Terran - that's what they all are to Life - in aLive. If aLive wants to win here, he needs to cheese, and cheese very intelligently, or he'll just find himself losing to Life's own aggression.
Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
He is definitely overrated a bit, but when you're the best player in the world you can get away with being overrated just a bit, imo.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
If you play the numbers game, Life is the 2nd best ZvT player, and 3rd best vT in the world and number 1 overall player.
Life must go on. He must make it back to Code S. It is interesting to hear what sort of jokes they make about the root word of both players' names being the same.
aLive possibly won't stay alive for long against Life, with Life clawing his way back into Code S. Upsets always make watching the GSL more interesting, and I hope that they will happen today.
I root for Flying, Gumiho, Lure and Life to make it through to Code S next Season.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
Over "Gatekeeper of the ro16 for all Eternity" Curious 3-0'ing Parting, World Champion? It wasn't that Curious won, which would've been surprising enough, it's that he completely roflstomped him.
I can't even think of many upsets that would outdo that one.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
Over "Gatekeeper of the ro16 for all Eternity" Curious 3-0'ing Parting, World Champion? It wasn't that Curious won, which would've been surprising enough, it's that he completely roflstomped him.
I can't even think of many upsets that would outdo that one.
Curious doesn't get enough credit for his skill. He's a very good player that's just finally putting it all together this season.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
this. I'm especially interested in how alive tries to play this. Practicing for a bo3 against life of all zergs as a terran must be quite depressing.
Wax, were you making gumiho the code s gatekeeper with gumiho-thorzain a few seasons (?) ago in mind?
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
Over "Gatekeeper of the ro16 for all Eternity" Curious 3-0'ing Parting, World Champion? It wasn't that Curious won, which would've been surprising enough, it's that he completely roflstomped him.
I can't even think of many upsets that would outdo that one.
Curious is a lot better than people give him credit for, and he has always been. Consider this: -He had massive nerve issues that he was suddenly able to overcome -Parting is a former team mate, meaning that Curious (possibly Life too, if he helped out with preparation) had intimate knowledge of Parting's already somewhat predictable PvZ -KeSPA teams - SKT T1 in particular, focus on Proleague first, other tournaments second. With Parting scheduled to play in Round 4, in HoTS, it's not unlikely that management is making him divide his time between HoTS and WoL, whereas Curious is focusing almost solely on WoL (as evidenced by his series against Mvp in the MLG Showdowns).
Considering all that, I think aLive - a player who has been mediocre at best in the match-up lately (did you see aLive - Nestea in Code A?), beating Life, the best player in the world and arguably the most dangerous player against Terran across all races, is a much bigger upset. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Curious >> Parting wasn't that big of an upset.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
Over "Gatekeeper of the ro16 for all Eternity" Curious 3-0'ing Parting, World Champion? It wasn't that Curious won, which would've been surprising enough, it's that he completely roflstomped him.
I can't even think of many upsets that would outdo that one.
In fact, I would go as far as to say that Curious >> Parting wasn't that big of an upset.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
Over "Gatekeeper of the ro16 for all Eternity" Curious 3-0'ing Parting, World Champion? It wasn't that Curious won, which would've been surprising enough, it's that he completely roflstomped him.
I can't even think of many upsets that would outdo that one.
In fact, I would go as far as to say that Curious >> Parting wasn't that big of an upset.
Oh I know, but looking at all the factors coming into the series, Parting wasn't all that favored - at least not in my eyes. A lot of people will vote for Parting on name value alone, but Curious actually did have a lot going for him
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
Over "Gatekeeper of the ro16 for all Eternity" Curious 3-0'ing Parting, World Champion? It wasn't that Curious won, which would've been surprising enough, it's that he completely roflstomped him.
I can't even think of many upsets that would outdo that one.
In fact, I would go as far as to say that Curious >> Parting wasn't that big of an upset.
Oh I know, but looking at all the factors coming into the series, Parting wasn't all that favored - at least not in my eyes. A lot of people will vote for Parting on name value alone, but Curious actually did have a lot going for him
Well, also since the Infestor nerfs, we see a lot of Zerg trying new strategies, so we really couldn't say what will work out for them when we don't know what style they play at all. Life won 2-0 against parting with Hydra rushes, and then switching into Mutas, while Curious destroyed Parting 3-0, opening Muta in every game.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
Over "Gatekeeper of the ro16 for all Eternity" Curious 3-0'ing Parting, World Champion? It wasn't that Curious won, which would've been surprising enough, it's that he completely roflstomped him.
I can't even think of many upsets that would outdo that one.
In fact, I would go as far as to say that Curious >> Parting wasn't that big of an upset.
Actually Parting was only a slight favourite over Curious on pinnacle sports betting. I think the odds were about 1.75 Parting and about 2.15 on Curious -> Parting a ~ 55% favourite with Curious ~ 45%.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
first time on in months, just had to say this is ridiculous
suuuuure micheal jordan was the best player of his time, and possibly ever, but he wasn't that great.
-_-
do people talk him up a lot? yes, can he lose, yes. does that mean he's overated? nope.
he should crush everyone, just because he doesn't sometimes doesn't mean he's not the absolute best.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
Over "Gatekeeper of the ro16 for all Eternity" Curious 3-0'ing Parting, World Champion? It wasn't that Curious won, which would've been surprising enough, it's that he completely roflstomped him.
I can't even think of many upsets that would outdo that one.
Curious doesn't get enough credit for his skill. He's a very good player that's just finally putting it all together this season.
On February 26 2013 16:38 SAFenix wrote: Tbh Life is so overrated by every player/commentator/writer everywhere. Bomber saying "he's too good to even practice with''? So overrated. Yes he's the best player in the world, yes he's really good, yes he plays Zerg, but he's not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I wouldn't be surprised if aLive won.
While he might be a little overrated in ZvP/ZvZ(he'll lose in those match-ups), his ZvT is on another level and every bit as good as people say it is. If aLive wins this series, I will consider it the upset of the year so far.
Over "Gatekeeper of the ro16 for all Eternity" Curious 3-0'ing Parting, World Champion? It wasn't that Curious won, which would've been surprising enough, it's that he completely roflstomped him.
I can't even think of many upsets that would outdo that one.
Curious is a lot better than people give him credit for, and he has always been. Consider this: -He had massive nerve issues that he was suddenly able to overcome -Parting is a former team mate, meaning that Curious (possibly Life too, if he helped out with preparation) had intimate knowledge of Parting's already somewhat predictable PvZ -KeSPA teams - SKT T1 in particular, focus on Proleague first, other tournaments second. With Parting scheduled to play in Round 4, in HoTS, it's not unlikely that management is making him divide his time between HoTS and WoL, whereas Curious is focusing almost solely on WoL (as evidenced by his series against Mvp in the MLG Showdowns).
Considering all that, I think aLive - a player who has been mediocre at best in the match-up lately (did you see aLive - Nestea in Code A?), beating Life, the best player in the world and arguably the most dangerous player against Terran across all races, is a much bigger upset. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Curious >> Parting wasn't that big of an upset.
Not that big an upset? It's easy to justify anything in hindsight. Like I said, the shock wasn't so much that Curious won. As we know, upsets are frequent in pro SC2. The shock was the way that Curious won: stomping Parting in a completely one-sided 3-0. Everything was in favour of Parting before that match:
Parting was world champion, recent GSL blizzard cup finalist, GSL semifinalist, and just won WCG 2012
Curious has been stuck on the ro16 his whole career, for nerve reasons or whatever. It didn't seem likely this would be the time he would overcome his block after he had failed so consistently in the past.
Parting built his name on world-class pvz, beating zergs left and right even in the darkest days of pre-nerf infestor/BL
Curious's zvp was known as his weakest matchup
It looked like the infestor nerfs had finally fixed pvz, to the point that TL's writers naively predicted both protosses would advance and 3 of 4 zergs would be eliminated in the quarterfinals (in retrospect: LOL)
Parting eliminated Life, many (still) consider the best player in the world, in the last round
Curious's zvp continued to look weak this tournament when MC 2-0'd him in the ro32. And when he beat MC in the rematch, it had looked more like MC was just on one of his many off days (eg executing a bad immo-sentry) than him doing anything particularly special
Parting led the head-to-head 3-0 in sets, 6-2 in games
Parting was considered the undisputed best Protoss in the world, and was the favourite to win the tournament going into the quarters.
I could go on. The point is Curious edging out a close 3-2 over Parting, that would have been (barely) believable. It's not about underestimating or doubting Curious, just looking at the facts and the records. But if you had written in the TL predictions that Curious would 3-0 Parting, you would have had people writing in genuinely concerned for your health over the amount of drugs you were smoking.