[Code A] Ro48 Day Three Recap (S5)

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⇧ MVP

Jaedong Oz, KT Flash, MVPDRG. These are just some of the teams in Starcraft team history that have been carried by a single player to at least a finals appearance in their respective team leagues. While Jaedong's team eventually folded and Flash's team came alive in the playoffs two straight years to win the Proleague title, MVPDRG seemed to keep trucking along for most of 2012 until a few months ago when DongRaeGu hit his first major slump of his career during the semifinals of S3 Code S and the GSTL.

Now, with the end of 2012 approaching, you could say that MVP is repaying the favor for how long DongRaeGu carried them in the past and is helping him through a rough patch. Sniper, who is pretty much the new ace of MVP, is doing amazingly in team league and is in the Ro4 of Code S, and the rest of the team is following suit with strong performances in Code A. Keen barely missed out of the Ro16 of Code S, but his loss to Innovation in the last series of the night doesn't look so bad now that the STX Terran is in the final four with the best record still standing in the tournament. The other core members like finale, Noblesse, and most importantly Dream have all found new life since DRG's drop off in results.

Coming into his match against Rain, no one really thought Dream had a legit shot. Yeah, he's young, talented, and on a very strong team on the upswing, but he was facing Rain. The WCS Asia and OSL champion, a player that was in the debate for best player of 2012 with only having played half the year officially! Even with his forfeit of his Code S spot in the fifth season, the consensus opinion was that it wouldn't come back to bite Rain in the ass, and he would simply roll over poor Dream before cruising back to his comfy Code S mansion.

Well, Dream had different plans. He completely outplayed Rain, dissecting him with multi-prong attacks and opening up holes in his defense. Every time Rain would plug up one hole, Dream would be coming into the natural with six hellions to roast some more probes, or he would be dropping in a new location with a few marines and marauders to take out some more important tech that was needed for Rain's late game. More nightmare than a dream, it was all over before you could really realize what just took place, Rain looking solemn in his booth with the ass kicking he was just handed by the up-and-coming MVP Terran.

Noblesse also impressed for his team on the night, taking out JYPvT in two straight games and advancing to the second stage of Code A. Noblesse was a player that was on the rise in the summer of 2011, but got thrown into a Code S group that consisted of Mvp, Polt, and MC, all three former champions at the peak of their powers. This didn't end well for Noblesse, falling out of Code S not far after his group of death and not making much noise until this current season.

MVP no longer needs DongRaeGu to do all the work for them, and they're better off because of it. It's nice to have a super ace like DRG to use when things get messy, but with the breakout season from Sniper and players like Keen, Dream, finale and Noblesse playing at a level that could see them all get into Code S for the first season of 2013, MVP has finally become a well rounded team that can be considered to be one of the deepest in the world. If DRG finally comes back to his super ace form that got MVP to two straight GSTL finals, then things might get really scary for the rest of the teams in Korea.

⇩ Rain's Decision

Now that we know the entire story and see how it played out, Rain's choice of picking MLG Dallas over GSL has turned out to be a disastrous decision. Be it a mistake by SK Telecom to inform GOM late, Rain's own decision to decide at the last minute, or some KeSPA political ploy to try and screw over GOM's premier league by pulling out their champion other unexplained scenario, there was no doubt about the conclusion: Rain in Code B.

Rain did get sixth at MLG Dallas and third at the world championships, but with all the first time traveling, Rain came back not looking like himself. He played sloppy, didn't defend well, and got pulled apart by a player who has never even been in Code S before. Now not only does he have no chance of going to Vegas for IPL5 and the semifinals of Code S, but he won't even been in Code S next season. Having to make it out of the qualifiers seems easy enough, but with a tough bracket or a few cheeses, it's not a guarantee that he'll even be in Code A next season.

The Golden Boy of KeSPA and their newest rising star, we will now have to wait for the next season of Proleague to start to see him again. A wonderful talent and a player with the potential to become a Code S champion, the decision to go to Dallas might haunt him for a very long time if he can't get straight back into Code S by the second season of 2013. Rain might have been the hottest thing in SC2 for the past few months, but with him not in GSL and no set date for the return of Proleague or OSL, people will simply move onto a new player to ride the bandwagon.

At least Rain, SKT, or KeSPA, whoever made the late decision to go to MLG Dallas, learned a valuable lesson to not procrastinate and get things done sooner rather than later.

⇩ AcerMMA

Not a good start for the newly greened MMA. Going out 0-2 and down to Code B in his first match as a part of the Acer team probably wasn't what he was expecting, but it was no surprise to anyone who has been watching the MMA the past few months. Getting taken out by Sirius in last season's Code A, MMA's once unstoppable TvZ has now become maybe his weakest match-up, not putting up a fight at all against Byul. Going for a super greedy build in the first game, Byul was able to get a scout off in MMA's main with two lings, seeing the building of a third CC, and quickly just decided to go for a bane/roach bust that put an end to it.

The second game was longer, but always in Byul's control. MMA tried his hardest to get an advantage here or there, but he allowed Byul to get up to five bases and get out brood lords along with ultras, infestors, and any type of unit he wanted off an insane economy. Being pushed back into his own base, MMA tapped out of the GSL, and will now have to re-qualify for next season.

It's sad to say to sell on MMA, once the best player in the world at the end of 2011, who has now finally found a new team after going through the mess at Slayers for the second half of 2012. People will say that Ryung left Slayers, joined Axiom, and is now in the semifinals, but MMA and Ryung are in two different situations. Ryung went to an Axiom team that while foreigner owned, has two other Korean players that can help Ryung practice. He has his friends Miya and Crank around him all the time for support, practice, and the added freedom from Axiom gives him more time to practice the way he wants to.

MMA doesn't have that. He has Cella for a coach, but that's about it. He has no Korean teammates to help him practice, and he will need to get help from players from other teams to help him re-qualify. There is also the Ryu Won Factor that will always follow behind MMA until he gets back to where he once was. Ryu Won was MMA's personal coach on Slayers, helping him with builds and everything. During the time MMA and Ryu Won were together, they conquered GSL twice, destroyed MVP with genius builds, and were the best player-coach tandem in the world.

When Ryu left Slayers and joined Woongjin, MMA fell into his huge slump and hasn't recovered. Not to say that MMA doesn't have incredible talent, but losing your personal coach who was with you during your highs is something that is going to change how you play. Now out of the terrible situation at Slayers and with a fresh start in Code B, the upcoming first half of 2013 will finally tell us what we want to know:

Was MMA's failure mostly due to environment at Slayers, or was MMA's success mostly due to Ryu Won? MMA's chapter at Slayers might have ended, but his story is only going to become more interesting to see how he handles this adversary.

⇨ KT_Flash

Yeah, he's God and one of the greatest e-sport icons of all-time, transitioning to a new game in his prime, but that doesn't mean he will always been on the up and up. Flash made it through to the second stage of Code A last night, but it wasn't impressive. It wasn't glorious, magnificent, or anything that would make you think he has a chance of winning a Code S title in 2013. Brave, a player who can only be called an A-teamer on HoSeo because most of the team has already left, didn't play well, but was still close to taking the series. After taking the first game against Flash, Brave fell apart, running into battles that he had no chance of winning and forcing the issue when he should have just sat back at home.

Flash made Brave pay for his mistakes, catching him too far forward on the map, pushing him right back to his main and crushing him with the advantage he was given. Brave was sent down to Code B, HoSeo was eliminated once again from the GSL, and Flash stayed alive in a series that could have gone very wrong if it had been a more experienced Protoss opponent in the other booth.

He is still more than likely going to become one of the best players in the world sooner rather than later, but his win over Brave just wasn't anything to gloat about. His GSL career is two 2-1 victories over Brave and newly turned coach Killer, an 1-2 loss to Mini, and then a 2-2 performance in the Up-Downs. If he wants to make it into Code S, he needs to play a whole lot better.

⇨ Bomber

Bomber made it through the first round by a hair over ClassicPrime. Fool me once, Bomber, shame on me. Fool me the eight thousandth time, and I know it's you. Bomber will now go up against Gumiho, poised to make it to the third stage of Code A, but will more than likely lay an egg against an opponent he has a hard time against. Of course, this very expectation of mine means probably means that Bomber will win unexpectedly and then let us down later down the road in an even more epic fashion.

⇧ Bogus, man

Rain falling down to Code B? Flash not looking so hot in Code A? Bisu still wondering why his 40 sentries army isn't winning him the GSL? This is all good news for the former Bogus and his quest to become the hottest commodity in the world of KeSPA. Going to the semifinals with a chance to become a royal roader and KeSPA's first GSL champion, Innovation's stock has never been higher. He has the best record heading into the final four, and he just destroyed Soulkey in the Ro8 without doing anything too special.