[Code A] RO32 - Day One Preview

coL.Heart vs BBoongBBoongPrime

I enjoyed watching Spring Arena 1 for a couple of reasons. First, DongRaeGu beat MKP in the finals, which put some parity back into a rivalry that was becoming dangerously one-sided. Second, Heart held his ground impressively against a field of Code S class players, proving that his third place run at MLG Winter Championship was no fluke.

Yes, Heart continued be unorthodox, employed all-ins, initiated base trades, and was an all-around, unpredictable annoyance. But he went 4 – 5 in matches, and 14 – 15 in games against a player pool that could be considered an accurate cross section of Code S, so everyone is going to have to deal with the fact that what he does works, and that it's probably going to take him into Code S.

BBoongBBoong had a near miracle run into Code S last season, getting through an Up/Down group where the many variables of his 6-man group fell precisely in place for him. While you have to give him credit for seizing the opportunity given to him and defeating Avenge in a final, do or die game, he hasn't really been able to live up to that Code S status since then. B4's results haven't been particularly impressive outside of that one Up/Down day, and Genius picked up on this fact when used his finalist' right to pick B4 as his first opponent.

ZvT is the match-up where we've seen B4 play his best games, so he could have a fighting chance. But in all likelyhood, Heart will take down another Prime Zerg (after defeating Bumblebee in round one) to advance to face Genius in the final round.

Prediction: Heart 2 – 1 BBoongBBoong


TSL.Symbol vs. LG-IMSeed

Uh oh, here we go again with the talks of the dreaded jet lag and being tired from returning home from a foreign tournament. Symbol was able to capture a whole new fan base in Paris, beating the once unstoppable ZvZ master Nestea in a Bo5 series, and then give MMA, the best TvZ player in the world, a hard fought championship series before losing in six games. Symbol is now flying high above the radar, and will be expected by many to be able to make his first Code S appearance this season.

But Seed will have other plans for Symbol, trying to reclaim his lost Code S spot and get a chance for redemption after falling out so early in this season's tournament. Seed has excellent PvZ, having handily beaten B4 in this season's Code S and vanquishing former Code S finalist Leenock in the final round of last season's Code A to get into Code S. While the two players are pretty close in skill, and still at the stage of their careers where they're trying to make names for themselves, Symbol has beaten Seed before in the GSTL and must be coming into tonight's matches with newfound confidence after taking 2nd at Iron Squid.

With the Zerg numbers in Code S falling by the season, all eyes are on Symbol to live up to his new expectations and make it through this round.

Prediction: Symbol 2 - 1 Seed


FnaticRCaLive vs. ST_Hack

Alive wasn't able to carry his momentum from IPL4 to the Iron Squid Grand Finals, losing in one of the longest Bo5 series of all-time against MMA, and then lost to Nestea in the 3rd/4th place match where he once again fell in the final set of a Bo5 series. To add insult to injury, his Parisian trip prevented him from playing his weekly NASL match against Idra, forcing him to forfeit against a player he had 4 - 0'd at an NASL show match a few months ago.

Now, returning to Korea after a more than disappointing tournament, Alive has to put all that behind him, focus on beating Hack, and return back to Code S where he was a semifinalist only a season ago. From a casual viewer's respective, Alive is a player who showed some of the best TvT in the world just last season, and should be able to crush Hack like he is nothing and move onto the next round. But you have to remember that Alive is a player who has suffered from chronic inconsistency, even though it's not nearly as bad now as it was in the past. Alive's TvT is better than Hack's, but don't be too shocked if Hack is able to take a game off Fnatic's ace and push it to a third game.

Prediction: Alive 2 - 1 Hack


MvPSniper vs ST_Curious

In the battle between players with horribly few recent matches in the relevant match-up, we're basically going to go with Curious just because none of you are going to disagree with us picking the guy who's 15 – 6 in Korean ZvZ over the guy who is 2 – 7.

Prediction: Curious 2 – 1 Sniper


MvPDongRaeGgu vs ST_AcE

After watching DongRaeGu's RO48 round victory against Revival, where he defeated the TSL Zerg by a 2 – 0 score in what could only be described as a “I don't have time for this s***” performance, things looked very grim for his next opponent, fringe Code A player Ace. Now that we've seen DongRaeGu finally win his first MLG event at Spring Arena 1, where he took out recent rival and consensus best-player-in-the-world MKP in the process, it's hard to give Ace a chance at all.

To be fair,* we have to talk about some of the things he has going for him: He looked pretty good against another Zerg in Jookto during the previous round, DongRaeGu struggled in the group stage of Spring Arena despite winning the RO6 tournament, and P > Z imbalance seems to be a theory a lot of people are starting to buy into.

But seriously, there's only one way this can go.

Prediction: DongRaeGu 2 – 0 Ace

*Preferentially applied to players who perform entertaining ceremonies.


NSH_Jjakji vs EG.JYP

I've been a believer in JYP's PvT skill for a while now. That doesn't mean I believe that it's very good – I just don't believe that it's very bad. His record and reputation are freakishly exaggerated, while his play in recent games suggests that at the very worst, he's still a decent PvT player. At best, he's looked really good.

Whenever a tournament comes around, I eagerly await an opportunity to say “You know, I think JYP will take this opportunity to repair his reputation.” However, that just never seems to happen, because every time JYP faces a Terran player, it ends up being one of the best TvP players in the world.

This time, it's the mysteriously still-in-a-Korean-team Jjakji. You would think that in the second round of Code A, JYP might draw a player like Keen, Tree or Happy, and get a close to even chance at winning, but this time he has a GSL champion and one of the top three TvP players in the world.

Poor JYP. He has the skills to make it into Code S, but he's going to have to wait until the Up/Downs.

Prediction: Jjakji 2 – 1 JYP


oGsVines vs. FXOGuMiho

Gumiho wants to prove that his Code S semifinal run wasn't a fluke and get his seed back in the tournament. Vines wants to prove that his impressive GSTL performance last season is something he can carry over to a singles tournament. In terms of statistics, Gumiho would have the advantage, playing his best match-up in his over 60
% win rate TvP, and having proven himself in dominating series against Puzzle in last season's quarter-finals. While it's a different match-up, Gumiho's close series against DRG in the semi-finals showed he has what it takes to make it high pressure, GSL style tournaments.

Vines does have a bit of recent success on his side, though. He was able to win his last two GSTL matches against MMA and Ryung, but you also have to remember that MMA and Ryung have historically had pretty bad TvP compared to other Code S level Terrans. I don't want to count Vines out, especially considering he has somehow become oGs' best Protoss after MC went to SK, Hero went to Liquid, and Inca went invisible, but Gumiho has the GSL experience on his side. Even if his semi-final run was a tad bit fluky, he still has the skill to make it back into Code S.

Prediction: Gumiho 2 - 0 Vines


ST_Bomber vs. Liquid`Zenio

Hey, Bomber. Nice to see you here again. I was worried when Heart cheesed you out of the GSL and you made an announcement that you were retiring. But that turned out to be a (bad) April Fool's joke, and were able to get through the Code A qualifiers and chuck Alicia back into the deep waters of Code B in the first round. So, what are we to make of you? Once hyped as the next MVP, a top player in the world, and someone that many expected to have at least one Code S title by now, you still hasn't even made it past the quarterfinals.

Even now, when you have Squirtle and Parting in the semifinals of Code S, who is Startale's player representative in the GSL opening? No, not the two players in the semifinals, but Bomber. We expect so much of Bomber because we all know he has the talent. We've seen him beat the best in the world at times, but he's never been able to live up to his potential and put everything together to make a run at a title.

In his way back to Code S, Bomber will have to go up against the third of Liquid's GSL stars, Zenio, another player who is trying to make it back to the top of his game. Zenio was once one of the most consistent players in the world, a staple in Code S and a player that always seemed to make the top sixteen in every tournament he competed in. Zenio shouldn't be counted against Bomber, someone who you can never be 100% sure with against anyone, but Zenio isn't the strongest against Terran and Bomber is one of the best Terrans in the world...right?

Prediction: Bomber 2 - 1 Zenio