[Code S] Ro32 Group C Preview/Group B Recap

Results from Live Report Thread by MrCon.
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Welcome to the Halloween edition of GSL! Due to Hurricane Sandy, we are sorry for this article going up a bit later than usual. With a day and night of ghouls and scares in front of us, let's look back and last night's game, and also preview a clash between four players hoping their Halloween doesn't end like a horror movie.



TStartaLe World Order
- TSL_Symbol and ST_Hack advance 1st and 2nd to keep the Ro16 a two team affair

If you ever needed an example that GSTL success correlates with GSL results, this would be the season to point it out. TSL and Startale, the two teams to go through into the semifinals without a loss for this season's GSTL, have gone 2/2 through the first two days with getting their players in the Ro16. Yesterday, Parting and Polt were able to both advance from one of the groups of death, even after having to start out the night facing each other. They both proved to be the two strongest players in their group, and their teammates Symbol and Hack were able to do the same in Group B.

Symbol was simply superhuman. With all the hype revolving around the undefeated in Code A Roro heading into this group, the two-time quarter-finalist of Code S came in with little fanfare. He was the royal road hopeful in Season 3, people expecting him to at least make a semifinal trip. He got upset by eventual champion Seed in the quarterfinals, and he became just another royal roader who couldn't finish the journey. Having less dominating results last season, he was still able to get revenge on Seed in the Ro16, but wasn't able to breach the round of eight with another disappointing loss, this time to LG-IM's Mvp.

Roro played decently against Symbol, but the TSL Zerg was on his game. Every time Roro wanted to counter attack, Symbol was on his horse and reinforcing with a nydus candal that linked back to his base. While Roro tried to break down his adversary in two straight games, Symbol became the first player to beat Roro in the GSL. With a sweep of the elephant, Symbol put up his ZvZ record to a perfect 6-0, getting him closer and closer to the old days of Nestea's unbeatable ZvZ.

Hack started out his night maybe not as well, but still good enough to advance. Happy was able to use sky Terran to perfect in the first game of their series, breaking down Hack's mech play, but the Startale Terran was able to roar back with two wins on the next two maps. In the final game of the series, Hack went for a double proxy in the middle of map, predicting the usually standard Happy would either try to go CC first or focus on his tech. Hack walked in with three marines and a SCV, took down Happy's lone fodder marine, and started the snowball effect. Before too long, Hack had a bunker in Happy's main, marines streaming in, and Happy looking bewildered. With his last ditch hellions attempt not doing anything to Hack's growing bio army, the LG-IM Terran tapped out and accepted defeat.

Unlike yesterday when the Startale player was able to eek out a 2-1 victory over the TSL player, Symbol won back some cred for his team with a stomping of Hack in the winner's match. Symbol lost to Mvp last season in a 1-3 effort in the quarterfinals, but Hack isn't Mvp, and Symbol played much better than he did on that night. Hack didn't play too terribly, but known mostly for his TvP, he wasn't able to keep up with one of the deadliest ZvT players in the world today.

With Symbol clearing the group with a perfect record, Hack faced Roro in the final match of the night. In a full three game series, Hack and Roro put on the best series of the tournament so far. Holding serve through the first two games with both taking a map, it all came down to a single showdown on Entombed Valley. In a back and forth game that would go over 40 minutes, the two players gave it everything they had to get out of the group in second. With the chance of glory in Las Vegas lingering in the future, neither wanted to go back down to Code A.

Finally, with some great engagements and the best play we've ever seen out of him in Starcraft 2, Hack was able to get his career defining win against one of the most hyped up KeSPA players. Eliminating Roro from Code S gives him some credibility heading into the Ro16, and he didn't even need to use his scary TvP to get into the second stage of the tournament. Roro had some late game mistakes, most notably having six ultras stuck in a nydus at the end of the game, but Hack proved to be the overall better player by the end of the series.

So with Hack's advancement to the next round, the passing of the torch moment in the Startale team seems to be getting closer. Just like how Rainbow, the first star Terran on Startale, got usurped by Bomber in the middle of 2011, it feels like it might be time for Bomber to start considering giving the title of best Terran on Startale to Hack. Bomber's last Code S Ro16 appearance was October last year, losing Mvp 2-0, and Hack, after 700 days of trying to get into Code S, has finally got here and made it to the second round in his first attempt. If Hack can make it to the quarterfinals, it'll be the first time a Startale Terran has done that feat since Bomber did it in GSL July, losing to Byun after starting up 2-0 in a Bo5 series.

Don't Rororry, At Least He Beat Happy

Happy went double proxy rax. Roro went for double hatchery before getting pool.

...Happy lost.

And with that, Yoda officially becomes the back-up in the LG-IM Terran line. It was a hard fought battle, but with the biggest build order win that somehow ended a loss in GSL history, Happy will now be known for two things: being an android and losing to a double hatchery before pool when going for proxy rax. He shouldn't have loss, but he did and that's really, really sad.

The Roro hype train never really left the station, but he still delivered some good games and was able to win a game that no one is going to forget for a very long time. The elephants, that seemed to be on a rampage through GSL players, is now becoming more like Rain is the one rampaging through everyone and KeSPA is along for the ride. All four KeSPA players in the Up/Downs failed to qualify, and only Flash was able to have a .500 record. Roro, one of the KeSPA players to qualify for Code S, failed in his first try.

We still have Bbyong, Bogus, and most importantly sOs left out of the players who qualified by going through Code A, but the KeSPA players mystique is wearing off, and the rest of the world now have replays and information about all of them. Rain has been able to show he is one of the best players in the world and possibly the best, but will any of his KeSPA comrades show that they're on his level?

Liquid`HerO – From Form to Permanence?

HerO comes into this group off his second Code S playoff finish this year. His consistency has been questioned in the past, but his two best performances and consequently his rank in the GSL standings indicate that he is becoming a regular feature in Code S. To make a real claim for being a persistent force and to leave the doubts about his erratic performance behind, this season HerO is expected to produce a run that least takes him to the round of sixteen.

In evaluating HerO’s chances in the group, it is interesting to observe the connection his competition represents to his rise to notoriety in SC2. As he joined Liquid, started his GSL journey by qualifying and staying in Code A and travelled the international circuit, he gained a lot of fans for his unique PvZ and a lot of sympathy for his heart breaking PvT losses. His PvZ late game was ahead of its time on several levels. In a metagame that is nigh unrecognizable today, HerO pioneered the use of warp prisms, of pressuring while expanding and of sheer multitask to take wins. In terms of pure gameplay, it was both a harbinger of things to come and a fascinating display of facets of the game harkening back to Brood War for spectators. At the height of his relative prowess in the matchup, he looked unbeatable once getting into the late game.

Today, by his results, by his game play and by his own admission, the matchup is more of a struggle. Other Protoss are doing the same things HerO did, perhaps not to the same extreme as the most beautiful HerO game, but the elements that once were unique are now a part of the skill set of any good PvZ player. Meanwhile, Zerg have had the time to analyze and produce a resilient defense to a style that, when it was rare to see, tore them apart. His results against Zerg in the GSL still look very strong; but there is a definite feeling that in his current state he has stagnated. Upholding his win record seems very difficult indeed, but such is usually the tale of the innovator. Today, his PvZ seems more predictable and it is still a strong point, but he is no longer in a position where any Zerg up for grabs in a group selection was fair game.

Meanwhile, the other side of the coin is his PvT. His history has been littered with defeats and he especially suffered during the era of 1/1/1. Currently, it is perhaps his best matchup; he has taken an awful GSL record, turned it around and sits at a healthy win streak in the tournament. It does not look as spectacular as his PvZ of old, but it has become his new clutch matchup.

Woongjin_Neo.G_Soulkey – From Permanence to Form?

Soulkey was the first KeSPA player we heard about making his mark on the Korean ladder. While it was very early on in the organization’s foray into the world of StarCraft II, it heralded a future where a KeSPA player would win the first SC2 OSL, win WCS Asia and have the players generally raise the average skill level of the GSL in very tangible ways.

However, Soulkey has failed to deliver on the initial hype. He had moments of looking great in WCS Korea, but was eliminated by his first opponent in this group to fall out before making significant impact. He looked quite good early on in the hybrid ProLeague, but faltered towards the end and he failed to make it into the OSL. The counterpart to these disappointing results is twofold, he was seeded by KeSPA and he has done well enough in MLG MvP to qualify for playoffs in third place. The KeSPA seed was a double edged sword last season, with one player finishing third and the other falling out of the GSL completely and the standard of opposition in the MLG tournament will feel very weak compared to spending a season in Code S.

However what is not to be doubted is Soulkey’s potential. He came through as one of the very top Brood War players at a late point in its history, generally a sign that the transition might be a smooth one. Whether you put much stock into the inherent excellence of KeSPA players or not, what is not to be doubted is their affinity for improving. His televised matches have showcased the traits that make for a fantastic SC2 player, but it has also included the pitfalls so common for the KeSPA player not accustomed to their new playground. Soulkey’s chance to make it to the next round has a direct correlation to his improvement in the time he has spent away from offline competition.

Prediction for HerO vs. Soulkey

They met in LR2 of WCS Korea, where HerO ultimately won 2-1. If the skill disparity between the two was accurately portrayed by the match, the Woongjin Stars player must be feeling good about his first Code S encounter. Soulkey should be a better player now than then. HerO is either unchanged or possibly not as good. On the other hand, at the time we were also seeing momentum completely in favor of the KeSPA players and a HerO looking more vulnerable than at this moment. This was the meeting that stopped the bleeding on part of eSF players, with the Liquid maestro playing the unlikely part of the one keeping his cool to stop an eleven match losing streak for the home team.

Fundamentally, Soulkey is a wild card. Unless you have insight in his training and can monitor his development outside of tournaments, it cannot be known whether he is Code S quality. HerO beat Symbol and looked about as good as one can do in losing to Leenock last season, and should be going into this a favorite, but a favorite with a question mark.

MaruPrime – Proving His Average is Good Enough

The StarCraft II scene has been abuzz with two major stories in the recent past. Of course there is the KeSPA incursion, highlighted in this group by Soulkey. The other is the emergence of new players, once neither on a KeSPA team or an early adopter of StarCraft II who either failed or gave up their Brood War aspirations. With Taeja dominating internationally, Creator winning the Korean Nationals and Life being crowned GSL Code S champion, the young guard has made it clear that new blood to the scene is not something only KeSPA provides. Maru was one of the first signs of this phenomenon, but his first GSL matches showed a player not quite ready and when he came back in season two to break into Code S proper, he fell just short of the playoffs.

Being back, Maru has something to prove. There are few that doubt his potential and there are clear signs that his peak skill should put him soundly into contention for becoming a true force. What has been lacking is not only consistency, but also the ability to come through when not playing at his very best. In ways very similar to Life, he has taken his well deserved reputation as a cheeser and found his own style. Although not as pronounced, he is finding a way to take his aggressive past and re-making it in his own vision of macro.

His tendencies in both TvZ and TvP further reflect his need to find both consistency and a new mean in terms of performance. He looked spectacular in defeating Effort in Code A, but he was in Code A due to strange looking losses to both Shine and Suhosin in the preceding Up and Downs group. He has largely looked good against Protoss as of late, but still takes losses that he would easily turn into wins if he looked more like himself.

Curious – Proving His Peak is High Enough

Oh Curious. Curious could have been the chosen one. He was a rising star on a rising team, playing a rising race and he looked good doing it. Unlike a lot of players that comes to mind the second ‘inconsistent’ is uttered when talking about Code S contenders, Curious is also solid. He plays a fantastic game and he rarely looks off that game. However, the so far tragic part of the story as far as the Zerg player is concerned is that he has never quite looked the part. He has lacked the swagger and he has lacked the star quality. And now, in as long as it takes to walk the royal road, he has been decidedly supplanted by Life.

For any inquisitive StarCraft fan, reading Curious stats is interesting to say the least. He has no real weaknesses, though his ZvP has historically been his worst, but also recently been his most improved. He basically never loses a ZvZ and he is historically very strong versus Terran. However, if you look past these results in the context of statistics alone, two things become clear. First, Curious is too good not to be in Code S. Two, Curious has not been good enough to make a top eight. The combination of these two facts, given Curious’ by now lengthy tenure in GSL, makes a convincing argument that Curious is exactly where he belongs. After a point, the player who always loses in round of sixteen is no longer a choker but someone not quite good enough. While Curious may not ever look outclassed and seldom not look like himself, he consistently struggles to overcome players who are playing at their very best.

Prediction for Maru vs. Curious

The obvious question is what side of Maru we get to see on the night. The micro fiend who pulls out of impossible situations or the average looking Code A player? Meanwhile, Curious can be expected to be Curious. While Terran in general seem to follow the true and tested method of adopting whatever Mvp does at the moment for their standard of play, Maru is more likely than most to still go bio. Curious is most likely to scout diligently and have the proper response. It looks like Maru will have to pull out something special to win, on average Curious should be half way to another group selection stage after the match.

Prediction for the rest of the group

Hero vs. Curious is becoming a bit of a staple in terms of PvZ in the GSL. They continue to meet in Code S, and their matches are largely memorable. Interestingly, while at one point their styles largely favored HerO, now the opposite might very well be true. Meanwhile, the predicted losers of the first two games will let us see another Maru vs. KeSPA Zerg, a welcome sight after being delighted by Maru’s series with Effort last season.

In terms of history and momentum, it makes sense for Curious to advance in first place and have Maru and HerO face off in pursuit of second. While Maru was able to take a series against HerO in season two, HerO got his revenge in last season’s Up and Downs. They both have positive trajectories in the matchup, and both often deviate from the standard metagame. Maru has it in him to beat HerO at any point in time and space, but in the specific situation of a fifth match of a Code S group; it looks like the Liquid player would go into the encounter a favorite.

HerO > Soulkey
Maru < Curious
HerO < Curious
Soulkey < Maru
HerO > Maru

Curious and HerO to advance.