[Code S] Ro8: The People's Choice

We asked and you answered, TeamLiquid. We put out a survey asking your opinions on the Round of Eight matches in the GSL, and the results are finally in. Now we're in the strangely paradoxical position of using text to break up pictures and statistics. In any case, we hope you enjoy our findings!



Like the great philosophers of old, the cultured and sophisticated writers at TeamLiquid oft ponder the separation of mind and heart. In a decidedly modern take on solving this mystery, we decided to ask two-thousand StarCraft 2 fans a couple of questions.

First we asked, who they THOUGHT would be the Code S champion come October 20th. Then, we asked who they WANTED to be the Code S champion. The results were interesting, to say the least.

Here are the results, in ascending order of who you thought would actually win the championship.


#8. Liquid`HerO (2%, 36 votes)
Pick with your heart/who do you WANT: #2: 19%, 383 votes

In the biggest statement that you guys didn't let your hearts get the best of you, Hero, Liquid's ace Protoss player, only got 2% of the vote for the 'rational' poll on who would win the GSL championship. Of course, 19% of respondents wanted to see win the title, but dreaming isn't always believing. With a tough first round against Rain where HerO has to play his worst match-up, it's not hard to see why people are skeptical about his chances.

#7. MarineKingPrime (3%, 66 votes)
Pick with your heart/who do you WANT: #4: 16%, 331 votes

Following the same storyline as HerO, MarineKing has a lot of fans, but those fans have also seen MarineKing falter in three GSL finals. They've also seen him go over a year without getting past the Ro16. He was finally able to break the barrier this season, but his advancement didn't come without him getting trounced by his old nemesis Mvp for what seemed like the 100th time in his career. MarineKing usually comes into tournaments as a favorite and then fails to deliver, but this time is different. Not a lot expect him to become champion, so maybe that will be the secret for him to actually break the Kong curse.

6. FXOLeenock (4%, 73 votes)
Pick with your heart/who do you WANT: Tie-6th: 4%, 89 votes

Few fans showed up to vote for the young FXO star, whether it was their hearts or with their minds. They seem to be a mostly overlapping group, with those wanting Leenock to win also thinking he had a fairly realistic shot at it all. After taking out HerO and Squirtle in the last group of the Ro16, Leenock is seeking his first Code S final since last November when he lost to jjakji in one of the best finals we've ever seen in Starcraft 2. Coming off a dominating Ro16 performance, you might think he would get more votes, but then you see he's up against Taeja in the first round, and the picture starts to look very different indeed.

#5. TSL_Symbol (4%, 79 votes)
Pick with your heart/who do you WANT: Tie-6th: 4%, 89 votes

No difference really between Leenock and Symbol. Symbol has about the same amount of fans hoping he will take the crown as those who think he will actually do it. The LG-IM Assassin, Symbol has really made a career out of making life hard for Korea's top team. Remember the first time you heard of Symbol? That was during Iron Squid where he made his first major finals by beating Nestea in the finals. Then he made his first big splash in Korea by putting on maybe the most memorable night in GSTL history, doing a reverse all-kill against LG-IM. This season? He's only beaten LG-IM players. He beat Yoda twice, Happy once, and even got revenge on Seed by eliminating from the GSL. Next up? LG-IMMvp. What a coincidence.

#4. ST_Life (5%, 108 votes)
Pick with your heart/who do you WANT: #8: 4%, 88 votes

All three Zergs got the lowest fan support in the polls, and Life got the lowest out of all of them. Even so, he is in the upper half of players believed to be in the championship picture. Only dropping a single map this entire season, Life is a kid on a war path. After crushing in the previous season of the GSTL, Life has lived up to the hype and will try to become the first royal roader in GSL history. He has the talent and confidence, but does this 15-year-old have the experience to win the big one? If he could, he would be able to match Flash's record of winning the OSL also at the same age of only 15 years.

#3. LG-IMMvp (22%, 441 votes)
Pick with your heart/who do you WANT: #3: 16%, 333 votes

The four-time GSL champion comes in 3rd. With a first round match against Symbol, Mvp will need to TvZ, and then TvP his way to his sixth GSL final. Even with his neck problems, he was able to get past the first two rounds with only a single TvT series loss to a Taeja, a player who doesn't seem to be losing TvT series to anyone at the moment. Mvp got through the Ro16 with a 4-1 record over JYP and MKP, giving his fans hope that he could be in line for his fifth golden pin. While he isn't the favorite of the final eight, it is a stark contrast from when he won his fourth title two seasons ago, when no one thought he would be able to get past Parting and then Squirtle to win with a broken down body.

#2. Rain (23%, 474 votes)
Pick with your heart/who do you WANT: #5: 13%, 271 votes

Jaedong didn't live up to the hype, going 1-2 in both of his Code S matches and then straight out of the GSL with a loss to finale in the first round of Code A. While Jaedong, one of the best Brood War players of all-time couldn't walk the SC2 road, Rain is showing that he wants to do what people thought could be impossible, and walk the royal road of OSL and GSL at the same time. Already being in the semifinals of the OSL against Last, he will need to go through seven non-elephants to capture the gold for KeSPA. With impressive victories over Byun, Taeja and Polt, Rain has made people believe that he is a legend in the making.

#1. Liquid`TaeJa (37%, 754 votes)
Pick with your heart/who do you WANT: #1: 22%, 447 votes

Not only is Taeja the favorite to win the entire tournament with almost 40% of the vote, but he is also the player that people want to see win it the most. At the start of the season, everyone knew this was Taeja's tournament. After two Ro8 exits in a row, he has seen great international success in Europe and has returned to his third straight quarterfinals with the title firmly on his mind. It's harsh to say, but if Taeja doesn't win the title, he's going to be call overrated. To become the best in the world and make himself a part of history, he needs a GSL championship. He's only dropped one series this season, that being to Rain, and with both on separate sides of the bracket, a clash between KeSPA's best and the united world's best may come to a head on October 20th.



There's really not much to say here. The results pretty much fall exactly into place with the "who do you think will win poll," with TaeJa, Mvp, and Rain dominating the predictions. Before we move on to the more interesting poll, we'd like to officially confirm HerO vs. Life as the hipster pick of the tournament. And yes, I called it before you.




No surprise here at first place, as the Liquid Advantage makes HerO vs. TaeJa the hands down most desired final with 26% of the entire vote. However, it's interesting to see that every single final match-up involving TaeJa is in the top six, while in contrast, no one really seems interested in seeing HerO in the finals unless he's going up against TaeJa. Considering that HerO got 2nd place in the 'heart' poll, it seems that while there are a lot fans who want HerO to win in the finals, far fewer actually want to see him play.

In a distant second place is TaeJa vs. Rain at 14% where the Liquid Ace would take on the Elephant Extraordinaire in a revenge match. Considering the fact that they played a marvelous Ro16 series, it's not surprising this came in second place. And as we mentioned above, who doesn't want to see KeSPA's top man go up against the best the non-KeSPA world has to offer?

TeamLiquid's ever-hopefuls and cruel sadists combined for 13% of the vote to place Mvp vs. MarineKing in third place. Some are relishing yet another brutal chapter in SC2's longest tale of misery and woe, while others carry the hope that there might finally be a happy ending at the end of this tale.

Protoss vs. Zerg suffered a massive hit to its reputation since last week's games where Leenock's combined Zerg-Terran forces defeated both Squirtle and Leenock. The most desired PvZ final is Life vs. Rain, and even that falls below the halfway mark at 9th place.

Zerg vs Zerg proves to be as unpopular as ever, even though Symbol vs. Life might be the most skilled ZvZ we'll ever see. No Protoss vs. Protoss finals is possible; Mr.Chae is reported to have injured himself in a wild GomTV office party.

Life takes home the prize for least desired finalist, but in true Life style, he probably doesn't give a damn.

As long as we're presuming you're interested in reading what we write, why don't we throw in some finals predictions from some of the wonderful writers at TeamLiquid?

Fionn: Heading into the quarterfinals, this is possibly the hardest final eight to call in GSL history. You have no players getting here through cheesing or wonky play. All eight have a chance to make the final and capture the championship. Looking at the bracket, at least for the bottom half, I think it's going to come down to Taeja vs. Life. Both started out as online monsters, and now that they've realized their potential in the booth, I think they'll be too much for their opponents in the Ro8. Life has a lot of time to become the best Zerg in the world, but I said it at the start of the season: this is Taeja's tournament to win and his time to shine. On the upper part of the quarter-finals, it really is a coin-flip (PvP) and a GSL legend going up against someone building his own GSTL legacy. Rain and Hero is a toss up, but I'll stick with Symbol to learn from his devastating choke to Seed last season and get through to the finals.

According to my predictions, it would be Taeja vs. Symbol in the finals, one of the best we could hope for. I would say Symbol takes it in a hard fought series that gives us a fitting end to the greatest season in GSL history.

Prediction: Symbol 4 - 3 Taeja


NrGmonk.: This season will be one of those forsaken by the GSL gods. Last season, Symbol was one of the strongest royal roader candidates we've ever seen. In the span of about three months, he garnered positive head-to-head scores against all the best players in the world, earned consistent top finishes at every major tournament he entered, and almost single-handedly took his team far into the GSTL. Yet against Seed in the last GSL ro8, Symbol seemed to falter and then fall apart even when starting up 2-0. Although Symbol has admitted he went into a mini-slump directly after, he will come back with a vengeance, taking down the inconsistent MVP as well as either Protoss Hero/Rain, both who currently claim to struggle with PvZ.

Meanwhile, this will be Taeja's third GSL ro8 in a row. In the previous two GSLs, Taeja was taken down by Squirtle and MC, both players of the Protoss variation, Taeja's traditionally weakest match-up. This season, no Protoss lie on his side of the bracket and it seems all clear skies to the finals for our Terran hero from Team Liquid. As the player that the majority of Starcraft viewers would rate as the best player in the world, Taeja seems destined to round off all his tournament wins with a GSL championship. Hell, it's about time.

Prediction: Taeja 4 - 2 Symbol


Porcelina: Upon seeing the players in Code S this season, we had every reason to believe that this would be special. It has not disappointed; we have seen favorites knocked out, new stars rise and plenty of quality play in what has become the most stacked tournament ever in StarCraft II. With eight players who have shown that they beat anyone at their peaks, a lot comes down to the bracket. For the top half, I think stability and match up prowess will prevail, with Rain beating HerO and Mvp defeating Symbol. In the bottom half, I think experience and preparation against opponents unproven in Bo5 series on this stage means Leenock and MKP advance over Taeja and Life. In the semifinals, the only thing that could save Mvp is his nigh on unnatural ability to win. Likewise, MKP will have to conjure up his brand of magic consisting of micro, cheese and greed. However, for me it is difficult to see Rain and Leenock not advancing given what we have seen from the four so far, though predicting Mvp to go out can always make one look foolish.

Leenock and Rain should make for an interesting spectacle. A lot will revolve around whether Rain can stay both safe and economically on par with the Zerg. It feels like we have seen Rain level up several times in his short SC2 career and it would be needed once again if he reaches the finals. In the end I see Leenock clinching the Code S victory he perhaps deserved four seasons ago.

Prediction: Leenock 4 - 2 By.Rain


Stuchiu: Each GSL season is a ritual. We gather the best 32 players through qualifications and seeding and have them battle each other until only one man remains, the Champion. The Champion is exulted as the best player in Starcraft 2 and for a time becomes like a God among us (or in Nestea's case a literal God). A lot of people argue exactly what makes a Champion. Is it build orders, strategy, macro, micro, luck, confidence, willpower or practice, a combination of these traits? All of these qualities can be simplified into one word. Winning. The Champion wins. He does not lose. The Champion is 2 rax bunker rushed on proxy positions on Metalopolis; he wins. The Champion plays a TvT against MMA (the best TvT at the time) and uses proxy marauders; he wins. The Champion plays against the world's best ZvT in long macro games; he wins. The Champion, in the deciding game, does a double proxy rax that is held off; he wins. As the 4 time Champion once said, "Winners keep on winning."

All 8 players have shown themselves to be complete monsters, but there are two players slightly ahead of the pack this season. The old school 4 time GSL winner, MVP. And the world's strongest Terran, Taeja. It will be a battle between the old guard and the new. This should be a very even match as Taeja's raw strength in mechanics, decision making and position will be offset by the amount of time MVP will have to prepare for him. In the end, I'm going with Taeja as eventually the new generation must overtake the old.

Prediction: Taeja 4 - 3 MVP


Waxangel: Ever since GSL Season Two, where Mvp went all the way to win the championship while I downplayed his chances at every turn, I've made a solemn vow to never predict against him in the GSL (well, for 2012 anyway). Thus, choosing this season's winner is pretty easy for me: Mvp to take his fifth title. Now, all that remains is to decide who will emerge from the opposite side of the bracket and have the honor of stifling his tears as he gives a losers interview while Mvp smirks beside him.

Leenock, TaeJa, Life, and MKP are all strong competitors, and I wouldn't be surprised to see any of them reach the final, or even win it all in any non Mvp-inhabited GSL season. It was tough to reach a decision, but in the end I followed my cold, black heart and said it's going to be MKP making it through, just so he can suffer the heartbreak of losing to Mvp in his third GSL final. Hey, the best stories are tragedies, and who doesn't like a good story?

Prediction: MKP loses 1 - 4 to Mvp