[Code A] Ro24 - Day One Recap / Day Two Preview

Results from Live Report Thread by Probe1
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Upsets? We don't need no stinking upsets!
– GSL's biggest stars triumph over darkhorse Code S players

If Code S Season Three was marked by the conspicuous absence of some of the GSL's most familiar faces, then Season Four is shaping up as a return to normalcy. All former GSL finalists in LG-IM_Mvp, ST_Squirtle, NotLiquid`Genius, MarineKingPrime, and FXOLeenock made it through to Code S, giving the GSL some early assurance that there will be plenty of star power to go around in the next season of the Code S. With MMA and Polt in action tomorrow, the GSL could be blessed with a tournament with the most impressive combined resume in their nearly two year history.

The qualifying players faced a formidable group of seasoned opponents who were more than up to the task of testing their Code S credentials, but for the most part, the stars passed through with flying colors. Four time champion Mvp was the first one through, scoring an impressive 2 – 0 victory against Quantic.TheStC by showing off his mastery of mech play in TvT. Mvp's Code S Season two finals opponent, Squirtle, also progressed with a 2 – 0 scoreline, smashing FXOGuMiho in a both a macro game and using a 4-gate rush.

Leenock also won a 2 – 0 victory, destroying possible GSTL finals opponent SlayerS_Ryung in true Leenock fashion. Massive lair-stage armies off of four bases swarmed over Ryung in game one, while a a few dozen banelings busted through Ryung's four-barracks wall to close the series with a bang.

Season One finalist Genius didn't have such an easy time, as he dropped a game against TSL's HyuN. Genius took game one after defending against a reckless doom-drop from HyuN, but a failed all-in tied up the score in game two. Undaunted, Genius went for another all-in in the final game, and this time he got the win he needed to make into his tenth Code S tournament.

– MKP's top-to-bottom performance:

Though his peers showed some fine in-game form, the hit performance of the night definitely belonged to MarineKingPrime. In a 2 – 0 victory over Startale's Suhosin, he showed how TvZ could be highly entertaining at both the extremely early and ultra-late stages of the game.

Most notably, he was able to defeat Suhosin's 6 pool-rush on Ohana, despite the fact that he opened with a command center before barracks build. By using his SCVs to lead Suhosin's zerglings on a merry chase across the map, MKP bought the time to build a barracks, marine, and bunker at a different base. Once that was done, winning was only a matter of floating his command center on over to resume mining at the newly defended base site.

The second game on Metropolis was the polar opposite of game one, with MarineKingPrime entirely content to sit back, take half the map (including the islands), and play the game out as slow and safe as possible. Having built his recent GSL success on top of strong early-mid game attacks, Suhosin was clearly caught out of his element, falling to a hellish combination of battlecruisers, tanks, vikings and ravens.

A tale of two TvPs
– JYP overcomes another Terran in Hack, PartinG storms his way to victory against aLive

One victory might have been all EG.JYP needed this whole time. After suffering from a terrible PvT jinx that left him below a 10% win rate and without a series win in the GSL, JYP finally broke through by defeating his teammate EG.ThorZaIN 2 – 1 in the previous round of Code A. Building on that performance, JYP came through again with another important victory against Startale's Hack, this time earning himself the prize of a Code S spot.

In the meanwhile, ST_PartinG, a player known mostly for his PvT proved his credentials once more by taking out an elite TvP player in FnaticRC aLive. PartinG favored a variation of his famous 'PartinG build' (*not necessarily invented by PartinG), taking three fast bases but teching up instead of going for a 7-8 gate attack. After trading a game a piece, the series came down to a final game on Atlantis Spacebear where a base trade scenario ensued. In the end, patient templar energy hoarding managed to save the game for PartinG, as he was able to storm out aLive's troops while his survived to collect the GG.

Oh, and that game.
– Heart edges out Keen to make it into his first Code S

In a match between two players much maligned for cheesing in high profile games, the coL.Heart vs MVPKeeN series actually didn't feature any cheese at all. Instead, it was a game where Heart was able to show off his ability to judge engagements and seize opportunities where he found them. In both games of his 2 – 0 victory, Heart was able to take a decisive advantage after he took his stimpak upgraded marines and attacked into Keen's stimless army (once on offense, once on defense).

It probably won't be the victory that wins over fans, but it was a mark of vindication nonetheless. After initially derided as being merely lucky in his third place run at MLG Winter Championship, Heart has shown considerable consistency. A good Code S performance in the upcoming season may prove that he has been Complexity's shrewdest Starcraft II acquisition yet.

SlayerS_MMA vs viOLet

The MMA saga took another dramatic twist as MMA was named as the starter in the upcoming GSTL finals against FXO. After being exiled to the SlayerS B-team and being clearly absent from the bench during the semi-finals match against TSL, it seems that MMA has been forgiven for his mystery infraction and allowed to return to first team duty.

That, or SlayerS just really want to win GSTL.

It's still a valid point of speculation that perhaps MMA's waning skill led to his banishment, but his strong performance against HerO in the previous round of Code A says otherwise. Perhaps MMA never really declined, and it was just behind the scenes distractions keeping him from playing up to his potential.

viOLet played extremely well for an American (*wink wink*) in Code S, reaching the round of 16 while defeating some established Code S opponents. However, MMA at his top TvZ form will still be too much for him to handle. Perhaps viOLet is too nice to wish for it, but his ideal situation to get into Code S again is if the MMA drama has merely been covered up, instead of resolved.

Prediction: MMA 2 – 1 viOLet


ST_Curious vs CreatorPrime

Despite their lowly Code S results, Curious and Creator are some of the best players for their respective races. They've carried the load for Startale and Prime in team competitions while defeating plenty of top-tier opposition in every tournament that's NOT Code S. These two won't be stuck on the periphery of Code S forever, and they're going be playing in TSL4 very soon... So get that hype in while you can, elitist-hipster Starcraft II fans: this might be the last time you see 'em before they go mainstream.

Like Curious' previous match against Puzzle, expect a textbook match between two players who don't mind gimmicks, but prefer the straight up macro game in most cases. With the map pool coming up as Cloud Kingdom – Ohana – Entombed Valley, Creator should be a slight favorite.

Prediction: Creator 2 – 1 Curious


LG-IM_YoDa vs SuperNoVa

Mvp continued to do typical Mvp things yesterday, playing the media and talking up YoDa instead of himself after winning his match yesterday. The four time champ pointed out YoDa as "the best player on the team," but I'm not sure if anyone except YoDa's mom really believes that right now.

What we do know for sure is that YoDa played very well against Oz in the previous round, and that he has been entrusted as LG-IM's non-Mvp Terran ace for quite some time now. It's possible that we're on the verge of witnessing one of those moments where a practice-bonjwa gets his GSL break.

However, it's hard to think that he'll be able to cut it against SuperNoVa, a seasoned Code S veteran who has a very special penchant for winning TvT (27 – 9 career). Alongside players like Genius and Nestea, SuperNoVa is essentially part of the Code S woodwork at this point (and not in the infectious, Virus sort of way), with nine Code S appearances. Do you really think a player who's never been in Code S is going to get in his way of winning the Nestea Award (10 consecutive seasons in GSL)?

Prediction: SuperNoVa 2 – 1 YoDa


TSL_Polt vs TSL_Shine

Damn, we almost made it all the way through all twelve Ro24 matches without a team kill. Unfortunately, it's Team Swarm Life getting the short end of the stick in the very last match. With multiple champion Polt going up against first time Code A player Shine, you might think this one is a foregone conclusion, but it's actually quite even.

Shine is a player whose rise resembles that of his teammate Symbol. After watching him fight evenly against top tier players in smaller competitions, people started to wonder if he could replicate that performance in the GSL. And while most battle.net behemoths take some time find their footing in the Mokdong studio, Shine has taken to the live scene with aplomb, making good contributions in the GSTL while crushing Virus and AcE to get this far in Code A.

For all his reputation, Polt has been fairly lukewarm since the queen patch. He missed out on Code S through the Up/Downs, barely contributed to his team in their GSTL campaign, and had some midling performances in foreign tournaments. The bright spot might actually be his Code A run, where he beat Extreme and Maru to make it to the final round. Polt has supposedly cut back on foreign tournaments in order to regain his championship caliber form, so we'll see if that's had any effect tonight.

Prediction: Polt 2 – 1 Shine