[GSL] Code S - Jinxed

Group A: IMMvp, FXOGuMiho, FnaticRCaLive, ST_Curious

Match One: Mvp vs Gumiho

Game One – 1.5/5

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Game Two – 3/5

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Game Three – 2/5

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Match Two: Alive vs Curious

Game One – 2.5/5

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Game Two – 2.5/5

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Game Three – 3/5

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Winner's Match:

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Game One – 2/5

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Game Two – 1.5/5

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Game Three – 1/5

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Loser's Match:

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Game One – 1.5/5

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Game Two – 1.5/5

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Game Three – 2.5/5

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Final Match:

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Game One – 1.5/5

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Game Two – 3.5/5

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Game Three – 2.5/5

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Notes and Comments


New #1

To say Mvp had a bad day is an understatement. Not only did Mvp play poorly, but he was beat at his own game of mech TvT by a 47% TvT win-rate Terran player. It's rare enough to see Mvp lose, rarer still to see him get humiliated.

Obviously, anyone can have a bad day, and one bad day does not undo months of success. Nestea had a bad few months last year, but he seems to be coming back strong. It's a good bet that Mvp will be able to bounce back from this setback, just like he did last year when he was bumped back to Code A. Then, he took second place in the Code a tournament, strolled through his up/down matches, and went immediately back into championship contention. But for now, that leaves us with a burning question: Who is the best player in the world?

I strongly believe that the best player in the world title should be based around fairly recent performances. If we're talking best player of the last four-months-or-longer-period, there's no question that it's Mvp, but he's out of the picture for who's the hottest player right now. The clear answer for me, and probably for a lot of fans, is SlayerS_MMA. Since dropping out of Code S November to FXO_z, he's been 34 - 8 in all competitions. Along the way, he picked up championships at the Blizzard Cup and IEM Kiev. No one has been even close to being that dominant in the same period.

Had Mvp crushed his group today, I wouldn't award the #1 spot to MMA so easily. I would favor MMA, but it would still be a contest. Mvp would have had the benefit of the doubt. I would have said "Well, MMA just had more chances to play and show how good he was, Mvp could have done the same if he had played in those exact same situations." However, Mvp played poorly, and it would be unfair not to pass MMA the crown, at least for the time being. Hey, it's clear to me, although someone in this same article will say it's too soon...

Now, all I have to do is hope I didn't jinx MMA for his upcoming games.


Mass producing, but not mass produced

If you get past the shock of Mvp getting beaten in mech TvT, then you realize that the two Terrans who advanced ahead of him played very well to do so. Alive got lost in the crowd of gold base abusing, blue flame spamming Terrans of '11, but he's setting himself apart as of late. Though most people can't stay awake long enough to tell the difference between boringly efficient players, Alive is doing it better than almost everyone else. Alive 'standarded' (this should be a word) himself to four straight wins, playing turtle mech in the way Mvp does – in Artosis' dreams. That's no insult: being entertaining is a luxury, winning is the only true necessity.

Though if we do want to talk about entertainment, Gumiho provides an interesting contrast. With impeccable macro and an uncontrollable desire to always be doing something, Gumiho can bring life to nearly any game. That frenetic energy had Mvp spinning in circles and losing SCVs, something we've rarely ever seen happen. When the Gumiho met Alive in the winner's match, it was a fascinating clash of styles. Alive's identity was stronger in the end, and he looked like a black hole that sucked the joy straight out of Gumiho's play (and also sucked marines within range of dozens of tanks).

Whichever style you prefer, it's great to have both players in Code S. Though Terran domination might not be completely over, it's good to see that the more generic ones have dropped out, and the ones with their own identities are the ones that remain.

Well, yesterday's matches didn't go as planned, did they? MVP, who looked like he had constructed the perfect group to get out of, having every single person he wanted to face in a single pool, lost four games out of five to the player who he thought was weakest in the entire round of sixteen, the new ViKing of the GSL, FXOGumiho. Amazingly, only 1.7% of the viewers who voted on GOM's website didn't believe the #1 ranked player in the world would advance and were pleased to see that their outrageous prediction came true.

Now, what does this mean for MVP's rival and closest competitor to his Terran throne, the ace of Slayers, MMA? Well, it's pretty straight forward: MVP didn't play well last night. Gumiho, in those five games, severely outplayed MVP at what MVP does best and that is going mech. Now, it's surely possible that MVP was sick or wasn't feeling his absolute best during the games, but facts are facts.

MVP hasn't won a GSL title since August. Since Mvp beat TOP in the GSL August finals, MMA has won two GSL's (counting the Blizzard Cup) and on his way to the title, he beat MVP twice to get his trophy. Once, in the finals of the October season, and again in a complete mauling in the semifinals of the Blizzard Cup. Ever since losing to Polt in the round of sixteen in GSL August, MMA has only been eliminated once, and that was in the quarterfinals of last season to FXO_z.

If MMA can get through this group (which, mind you, on paper is much tougher than MVP's seemed beforehand), then the discussion on who truly is the best Terran, and maybe player in the world, can start to pick up. MVP has been the undisputed best player in the world with Nestea as second for a long time now, but while the Incredible Miracle duo isn't winning championships, MMA continues to get to the finals and win.

This is a very tough group. It will test MMA's weakest match-up in TvP, and put him against one of the hottest Terrans in the world and new ace of oGs, SuperNova. The last time MMA faced Oz, it was in team league, and due to a quick bunker at Oz's usual fast natural expansion, the game was over quick. Oz lost a quick stalker to the bunker and was unable to recover against the double expanding SlayerS ace.

Getting to a final would put MMA in exclusive company alongside MVP, being only the second player to get to four GSL finals. And considering his superior head to head record, MMA will have the upper hand if he ties Mvp. The road to the throne of best player and best Terran are ripe for the taking. For the past year, it has been under the complete control of the Big 3, MC, MVP and Nestea, but it might be the time for the Emperor's Son to claim what is rightfully his.




The most important lesson that Oz must know before going into this group:

BE READY FOR MMA'S BUNKER

MMA absolutely loves to open up against players who prefer to go expansion first with a quick bunker to put on early pressure. He especially likes to do it against FXO players, almost always throwing up a pillbox against Leenock early when the two face off in the GSL. The last time MMA went for quick pressure against Oz, a player who loves taking his natural fast, it worked better than he could ever expect. Oz's economy was crippled, killing a few of his units and even allowing MMA to double expand behind it.

The Wizard of Aiur came out on top of their quarter-final bout in Code S November, taking a very close five game series. As most of you all know, MMA, and Slayers Terrans in general, have a hard time against Protoss. Here's a fun fact for everyone at home: in MMA's three finals in the GSL (Super Tournament, October and Blizzard Cup), guess how many Protosses he had to beat on the way?

Three? Nope.
Two? Nope.

In his three trips to the finals, he has only had to play a Protoss once. Who was that Protoss? That would be Naniwa from the Blizzard Cup, and in that single game, he did a straight up Thor rush and almost bungled it in an impossible manner. So MMA might be, right now, the best player in the world, but he hasn't been tested much when it comes to fighting against the warriors of Aiur.

Whether or not he beats MMA, Oz's next opponent is bound to be tough. He will have to face either a strong PvP player in Puzzle, or a 70% vsP player in SuperNova. With a Code A finals and Code S semifinals in his past two tournaments, a quarterfinal appearance would be a big statement for Oz, showing people that he is a consistent, top-tier players. If he can get past MMA, getting out of the group first isn't out of the question.




Puzzle has all the tools to be the best Protoss in the world. His APM is insane. His micro is insane. He has possibly the best practice partners in the world at his disposal. He has a legend, Boxer, as his head coach. After his Code A championship, he was a player that you looked at and were just sure that he would be in a GSL finals some day.

But, for Puzzle, his time as a promising newcomer is coming to an end, and there are new stars on the rise to take his place if he can't get farther than the RO16 this time around. Like Bomber, another player who failed to even to make a semifinal after being touted as a future GSL champion, Puzzle has a lot of pressure on him going into this group. He has the talent to make it out in first, even over his teammate MMA, but his decision making will have to be better than it was in the November tournament and in his RO32 group. Though he was able to make it out in second place, I didn't feel that the two opponents he beat, Nada or Keen, were playing at a very high level that night.

Puzzle's first series of the pool will be against SuperNova, a player coming in with huge confidence due to his outstanding Ro32 and heroics in the GSTL. Puzzle will need to play much better against this Terran than he did against Keen and Nada to make it through. A lot like Alive, when Puzzle is on, he's really unstoppable, but when he's off, he's no different than any other Protoss who has been crushed in the past GSL's.




How can you do this to me, Supernova? I picked you at the start of GSL November to destroy absolutely everyone and become the best Terran in the world. You then proceeded to lose both your games and fell into Code A. Now, after I predicted you to be eliminated, you take on the Group of Death in Leenock, MC, and Fin, destroy everyone and make it out in first place? Alright, SuperNova, I see how it is.

Coming into this group, Supernova's confidence has to be at an all-time high. He not only beat the best Protoss in the world, MC, but he also was able to crush Leenock, one of the best TvZers in the world who was coming off a dominating win of his own against Fin. Couple that with his clutch rescue of oGs in their match against ZeNEX, where he won two games in a row as the last player left on his team, you have a player who believes that no one can beat him if he's at his best.

People should start fearing the newly crowned ace of oGs. He's a former Brood War pro, has some of the absolute sickest mech play in the universe, and he is finally starting to turn his talent into wins. If he can be confident and play like he did against Leenock and MC, there is no question that he can be your January champion.

In only a few short months, he went from a middling Terran, a gate keeper of sorts in Code S, probably ranked behind two or three other Terrans on his team, to becoming the unquestionable top player on his team and the #1 dark horse candidate in Code S. Who wants to play this guy right now? I'm surprised he wasn't the last one picked in group selections with how strong his performances have been in the past few months.

So with that said, the only logical conclusion is that we should get the $50,000 check ready, give SuperNova a crown and start celebrating GSL SuperNovanury for when he wi -



Okay, maybe not.

Predictions:

MMA > Oz
SuperNova > Puzzle
MMA > SuperNova
Oz > Puzzle
Oz > SuperNova

MMA and Oz advance


Warning: Out of the five groups I have predicted this GSL season, all five players I picked to win their groups have been eliminated. Four out of the five finished last in their group, with only MVP finishing a place higher in third. Please fill out your Liquibets with extreme caution.