Old Guard and Vanguard


Group A proved an auspicious beginning to the best tournament in the world, and continued LotV's trend of producing action-packed games. It also produced multiple surprises. Chiefly, Rogue performed at a level which made his presence in Code S questionable, although the recent loss of his father should mean that we should allow him a little leeway. In addition, Journey actually managed to defeat Zest in one game, unlike other more notable Terrans so far this season, like Maru and TaeJa, and though he would lose to TaeJa in the elimination match, he once again displayed flashes of greatness. Perhaps he could arise in Season 2 to finally play to his full potential? We’ll only know in 6 months. In the meantime, let us turn to the conundrum that is Group B.

Unlike Group A, which contained representations of every player archetype, from the newcomer to the middling player to the experienced veterans, the players in Group B can be divided into 2 distinct factions: the old guard, who rose to power in Wings of Liberty and have been with the game since the start, and the current crop of elite KeSPA players, who displaced the former in the KeSPA switch and are concentrated in well-funded team houses which have lineages lasting all the way back to the Brood War days. While this distinction is largely outdated, there is still a rift between the ex-eSF superstars that are still active and the KeSPA players today. Consider how many players who started from early WoL and are either retired, overseas on foreign teams, or serving on the last two bastions of non-KeSPA history, Afreeca Freecs and MVP. Now consider the number of active pros who are currently serving on KeSPA teams and played Brood War competitively. If anything, KeSPA's iron fist has only further tightened. It falls to our three former eSF players to show us whether KeSPA's methods, players, and rule are supreme, or whether the values of the old, wild days still hold merit.

(P)herO is KeSPA’s chosen champion in this group, and there are very few players who can be said to represent KeSPA better. Near perfect mechanics, sharp pre-planned build orders, and the ace of CJ Entus; who better to serve the production machine that is KeSPA? However, like other top KeSPA professionals, herO cannot be called 'intelligent', or 'cunning'; countless are the times where he reacted poorly to unusual circumstances or simply refused to change his build order in the face of information that it was being countered. In the volatile chaos that is modern PvP, he has fallen apart numerous times; losing to theoretically lesser opponents like Hurricane and Patience, while crumbling again against the flawed genius that is sOs. However, this time he is facing a zerg, in the matchup that’s his statistical best, and one where the passive early game means that his plans and build order have a lower chance of being disrupted. If anything, he need only display the crispness of execution and mastery of mechanics that allowed him to obliterate Life 3-0 in the Preseason Finals, albeit a lifetime ago in Legacy terms. But if there is anyone who has the cunning and devilry that can turn the tables, it is Leenock.

The Zerg race has been endowed with the simultaneous gift and curse of having only one dominant and great player at any given point in time. In 2014, it was soO, and at the end of that year and the beginning of the next, it was Life. But long before these, before the rise of the overweening machine, there was (Z)Leenock, first amongst equals in the art of cunning tactics. While he usually hovers on the Code A / Code S border these days, we should never forget the series he played against jjakji—another player in a similar position today—in the Grand Finals of a GSL a long, long time ago. Since that era, he has achieved little success, although it should be noted that he retained an excellent Proleague record in 2015. Still, when he is on form, his tactical play can be said to be of the highest quality ever witnessed in SC2. He will need no less to defeat a man who has a near 70% winrate in PvZ.

Who remembers Sniper? jjakji? RorO? More importantly, who remembers (P)Seed? The list of champions who won a single tournament and then disappeared into the shadows is long (and unread), and Seed's name can be found there, if one looks hard enough. In 2012, he won the Season 3 GSL over MC, and since then he has faded away. However, he rebounded in a big way in Code A this year, in infamy if not in actual quality. Completely destroying Bomber with massed adepts in a series that was described as 'disgusting' by most onlookers, afterwards conducting a Winner's Interview in which he thanked David Kim for his Code S spot, provoking a Community Feedback Update from David Kim the next day which affirmed the stance that certain aspects of PvT were broken, Seed has embedded himself into the public consciousness once more. However, adepts have been nerfed, winrates have stabilized, and he is facing a Terran who was once known for immaculate TvP. Does he have any more tricks hidden up his sleeve?

The man who will answer that question is no slouch at conducting provocative interviews as well. Claiming that PvT was 90% Protoss-favoured while animatedly calling for a private meeting with David Kim in his Code A winner’s interview, (T)Dream displayed a spirit that is notably absent from most Korean professionals. However, this charisma will not help him much against Seed if he delivers the same performance as he has in his last few games. As the best bio TvZer at the end of HotS, dropping a series to Hydra at BlizzCon should have been theoretically impossible (E/N: despite his shockingly poor win rates for the year), and yet he did so; as an SKT player, he has advantages bestowed upon him that other teams can only crave, and yet he has lost to Hurricane, RagnaroK, and aLive in Legacy’s short competitive lifetime so far, while only narrowly scraping series against Ryung, Choya, Armani, and Patience, all who should be inferior opponents. Still, his bio control was beautiful to watch in 2015, and his TvP in the last days of WoL was remarkable as well; can he revive his old powers to defeat the villain that is Seed?

Predictions

In all seriousness, simply being experienced professionals on teams with superior funding should give Dream and herO a massive advantage over their respective opponents. This is in addition to the fact that both Leenock and Seed have not showed the most impressive play in a long time, with Seed especially relying on questionable methods to get into Code S.


herO > Leenock
Dream > Seed
herO > Dream
Leenock > Seed
Dream > Leenock

herO and Dream to advance to the Round of 16.