[Code S] Ro32 - Group C Preview/B Recap (S4)

Results from Live report thread by Pandemona.
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HerO of the Day
- HerO advances first in Group C, defeating Ryung and Symbol.

Liquid`HerO quickly went about making up for his disappointing Ro32 exit last season, taking out two of Code S Season 3's quarter-finalists to advance from his group in first place.

HerO pummeled SlayerS_Ryung in his first game, incinerating Ryung's armies with a colossus heavy deathball. That improved HerO's record to 8 - 3 against Ryung, and it looked liked the SlayerS Terran was fated to suffer yet another loss. However, Ryung fought back in game two, leveraging a hidden expansion to overwhelm HerO in the late game.

The series came down to a tense battle on Cloud Kingdom, where HerO's DT drop opening led into a standard macro game. The momentum swung back and forth a couple of times, as both players struggled to hold onto new expansions beyond their third. In the end, it turned out that Ryung had been playing the game on a timer, as HerO was gradually adding all the components to a perfect late game army. Once ready, HerO engaged Ryung's forces and dismembered them in the deciding battle of the game, taking a 2 - 1 victory in the first set.

HerO faced TSL's Symbol in the winners match, who had also come through with a narrow 2 - 1 victory against YoDa in his first match. Coming into Code S seeking redemption for his reverse-sweep at the hands of Seed last season, Symbol was almost immediately forced to relive those painful memories. Just as Seed had exploited Symbol's predictable overlord scouting patterns, HerO also snuck a probe into Symbol's third base and cannon rushed it unseen. Symbol made the snap decision to give up the base and cut his losses, but was rocked nonetheless by HerO's warp-prism harass follow-up.

Symbol was left fighting from behind from there on out, but managed to play well enough to survive into the late game and push out some ultralisks. However, HerO kept himself informed with hallucination scouting, and when it was time for the final showdown, he had the archons and immortals he needed to fight Symbol's composition. Combined with HerO's trademark warp-prism harassment, it was all too much for Symbol to handle and he was forced to GG.

On the second game on Antiga Shipyard, HerO opted to go for an immortal all-in. However, good defense from Symbol meant that HerO had to stop pushing forward after destroying the Zerg's third base, and the game settled into a regular macro game despite HerO's aggressive opening. The game played out similarly to many ZvT games on the very same map, with HerO aggressively denying his opponent from taking a fourth base while he prepared to fight the hive composition. HerO did very well at denying expansions, but Symbol hung on and patiently amassed a dangerous brood lord - infestor deathball off of three bases.

With almost twenty brood lords and over a dozen infestors, Symbol looked like he had a shot at victory despite being constrained to just three bases. But in the end, resources ended up mattering after all. HerO had taken bases elsewhere on the map, and despite being forced to fight inefficiently against Symbol's powerful army, he was able to triumph through sheer force of spending.

Symbol of our Times
- Symbol defeats YoDa twice to advance to the Ro16

Having his royal road dreams shut down last season, Symbol made sure to pass the disappointment along. LG-IM's YoDa came in with much hype and much skill, but Symbol blocked his way twice as he made an early exit from his first Code S ever.

In their first game of the night, Symbol looked to be the exact same powerhouse Zerg that had destroyed two groups of death in the previous Code S season. He shut down YoDa's hellion-banshee build with some conservative two base play, and then went on to erase YoDa from the map with ultra-ling-bane-infestor at hive. YoDa wasn't going to take that standing, however, and he shot back with a great performance of his own in game two. Symbol made the poor decision of going for a muta-ling style, which YoDa crushed with ease as he macroed off three bases. The final map choice went to Symbol, where he decided to pick the Zerg favored Whirlwind. There, he went for the true "patchzerg" style, taking late gas and relying on queens to defend and spread an obscene amount of creep. Despite some sloppy play, Symbol executed well enough to make it to hive and overwhelm YoDa with ultralisks once more.

The two faced again in the final match of the night, with YoDa coming up after defeating Ryung 2 - 1 in the losers match (another very close series), while Symbol came in on the back of a defeat to HerO. The second time turned out to be easier for Symbol, as he took a 2 - 0 victory. Symbol changed it up in the first game, using a standard roach-bane all-in to take a fast victory. While YoDa threatened to make another game two comeback, Symbol powered his way back despite losing his greater spire twice to YoDa's pushes. Great use of infestor-ling on defense and several crucial backdoor attacks allowed Symbol to hold on by a thread with lair units until he finally finished an ultralisk cavern, giving him the tech he needed to take the game for good.

Games of the Night: SlayerS_Ryung vs LG-IM_YoDa

While HerO and Symbol were the players to make to the Ro16, Ryung and YoDa provided us with the best series of the night. The first game on Ohana was a classic bio vs mech showdown, where Ryung's great positional play and expertise at pushing put YoDa in serious danger. However, YoDa managed to find a way to transition into sky Terran without opening up any major gaps in his defense, turning the tide with battlecruisers. Game two on Entombed was a typical Ryung TvT clinic, where he fought back from an early disadvantage by choosing better fights, moving his army better, taking positions, and generally outplaying his opponent. The final game on Cloud Kingdom was another mech vs bio duel, but this time YoDa was able to shine, executing a perfect bio vs entrenched mech flank attack.

Group C: SK_MC, 8thTeam_Jaedong, MarineKingPrime, ST_Curious

Jaedong vs. Gom

The vanguard of the KeSPA invasion is here. There’s only one real story for this group and that is Jaedong vs. Gom. All eyes will be on the tyrant as he will be the first Kespa player to appear in Code S since the move over by KeSPA into sc2. He’s already shown good games against Gom players in the WCS Korea, beating both sC and Genius. But the competition is stiffer here, as instead of sC, it’s MKP, instead of Genius, it’s MC - and he may have to an elite ZvZ player in Curious as well.

SK_MC vs. 8thTeam_Jaedong

The first player to defend the honor of Gom will be the boss toss himself. Despite losing to Seed in the GSL Finals 1 - 4, MC has kept his soul intact and has been doing well on his world tour, placing well at Helsinki and Cologne, while winning his first two games in the OSL as well. In typical MC fashion, he is ready to create a spectacle, both in and out of game. In the last month, MC has done Gangnam celebrations, dressed and acted as the undertaker for his OSL group picks, and has chosen the player with the most hype coming into this GSL season, Jaedong.

Last season, MC didn't seem as single-mindedly focused on another GSL championship like his fellow multi-GSL winners MVP and Nestea, but he calmly took the matches step by step all the way to the finals. There he was dethroned by the rebel Seed, who finally ended MC’s autocratic presidency and ushered in a democratic age for Protoss. Ever since those finals, all of the Protosses in Korea have come out to make their claim for the presidency. Now instead of just MC at the top both in Korea and internationally, his regime is being challenged everywhere. Seed leads the pack in Korea, followed closely by Squirtle, Parting, Creator, Hero and Kespa’s Rain. Internationally, both Alicia and First have been giving him a run in foreigner tournaments as the best performing Korean Protosses. There is no better chance than this GSL season for MC to make a stand and retake his presidency. There has never been a more competitive and stacked lineup, and if MC wins this season he will have effectively started his 2nd term. And it all starts with fighting Jaedong.

In terms of the matchup, MC will be Jaedong’s hardest opponent in the group. Jaedong has shown a bit of a weakness against Protoss, especially against timing attacks - MC’s specialty. MC has also been on a hell of a run in Korea in this matchup, having a 7 game win streak against Seal, CoCa, DRG x3, and Sniper x2. Only international stars Nerchio and Stephano have been able to stop the MCvZ juggernaut, and neither of them will be in Code S any time soon. Jaedong is in for a tough first match.

MarineKingPrime vs. ST_Curious

While MKP is the definitive Kong of the GSL, this year he’s started to look a lot more like Clide in terms of results, reaching three straight Ro16 appearances. Still, you can hardly blame him. In season 1 of GSL, he lost to Genius and DRG, the two finalists of that season. In Season 2, he ran into Parting and Taeja. Parting was one of the favorites that season, and Taeja is now the strongest looking Terran in the world. In Season 3, he lost out to Symbol and MC, two players touted by many fans as the most likely to win the entire tournament.

However, that's no excuse this season. This is the most stacked Code S roster yet, and MKP is guaranteed another tough group, no matter what. If MKP wants to finally lay his hands on a GSL pin, he will have to fight past the bad draws, and in particular, prove that his TvZ has evolved. Ever since the patch hit, MKP has looked completely lost, losing to Zergs such as Moon, Byul, Revival, Symbol. The only Zergs he’s beaten have been Yugioh and Suhosin. He will be tested immediately, as his first opponent in Code S is Startale's Curious. While Curious has barely played any ZvT games recently, he did manage to 4-0 an all-Terran Up/Down group a few days after the patch. With that in mind, it's not a stretch to say he should be on the same level as other Zergs who have forced MKP to taste defeat.

Curious, is a player with his own roadblock in Code S having difficulty getting out of the Ro32, and only once hitting the Ro16. But there’s been one crucial difference between this season’s of Code S and his other appearances. This time ST has recruited both Life and Suhosin. Ever since ST recruited the Zenex Zerg lineup, Curious has been afflicted by the same crazy that has long been the signature style of Life and Suhosin. This craziness can be no more evident than all of his ZvP games in his WCS Korea games where instead of his signature standard style, he relied much more on finishing Protoss with much more unorthodox builds. This could very well be exactly what he needs in this group as Symbol knocked out MKP last time with a 1 base roach rush last time, and he'll certainly need some tricks to defeat the invincible MC. While on the outside it may look like Curious is locked in with a group of three killers, it may just be the case that the three of them are locked inside with Curious. If Curious can get over his GSL code S slump and channel some of the crazy from his new ST Zerg teammates, he still has a chance of making his way out.

The Tyrant

About one year ago, Nada specifically picked out Jaedong as the one player from KeSPA he believed would lead the Zerg to new heights and become one of the top 3 players in the world. Jaedong in response said he would repay Nada’s belief by becoming the top player of all time. After months of boot camping in the 8thTeam house training, getting his feet wet in the Proleague, playing in the Kespa invitational, and playing in WCS Korea, it is time for the Jaedong to be unleashed onto Gom, ready or not. While he’s shown some of his builds, for the most part he still remains a bit of a mystery to the Gom players.

Is he really a Code S player, is he ready to take a GSL championship, or does he still need more time? By the end of tonight, we will know for sure as he has the potential to play all three of his matchups, he will be playing two finalists of GSL and the best Zerg from WCS Korea. The fans will be out in force tonight as this could be one of the most explosive GSL groups this season. History can be made, and if it is there will only be one name on everyone’s lips. Jaedong.


Prediction:

MC > Jaedong
MKP > Curious
MC > MKP
Jaedong > Curious
Jaedong > MKP

MC and Jaedong advance.