EPTFirst of all, how will the foreigners do? This is for sure the question that drives most of us crazy until we will actually witness their games.
Sad enough, American Zerg powerhouse Idra has forfeited his Code S spot, which will obviously turn all our eyes on Jinro, Swedens finest gorilla terran. Can he again repeat his stunning performance in GSL?
Looking at his group, his former meetup with Zerg player Check, and his TvT matchup, it would be a surprise if Jinro drops in Group Phase, for what follows its hard to tell, but I believe he can do another Ro8 appearence again, which would be a huge success within the ever growing skill level of GSL, and that what I would predict him in the end of GSL March.
Code S Group Stages Predictions
On a general scheme, lets look at the Group Stage together.
Death Group A of course has the potential for the biggest upset, and that is where I would predict one aswell:
Seeing JulyZergs strength in non-mirror matchups yet, I think he would win all ZvT in this group. This would make the outcome of the group depend on his game again MC, which I believe, with the new maps in play, he will be able to pull of. With MVP being the favourite against Hyperdub, July will therefor advance with 2-0 after winning the second match against Hyperdub, and MC and MVP will decide the second spot, with MC winning the first and MVP the second set, its July and MVP advancing out of Group A.
In Group B, after Idras withdraw, I sense Clide and Byun beyond Zenio although I have a hard time predicting Byuns TvZ potential, so its them too advancing.
Group C, Jinro is above the rest for obvious reasons. I judge think Rainbow is better than Check despite his playstyle, so Check drops out first on 0-2 after second loss against Jinro, and Rainbow will beat Polt with 2 chances at his hands.
In Group D, I guess Nada was dancing circles once he knew about the knew mappool for sure.
As oGs players focused on macro oriented play from the beginning, I think they both will make it 2-0, as I'm not anymore concinved with how HongUn plays lately, maybe TheBest can surprise me here.
Group E, the draws almost decide the groups before the first worker is build. Nestea will dominate the rest of the players, and then Boxer profits from getting TvT in the first matchup, as I sense him above Ensnare although the latter surprised me last season. With this first victory, Boxer dodges Nestea in Game 2 and will advance after winning against san, Nestea advancing on the other game.
Group F might be the dark horses group. Choya is a potential firework of surprises, Banbans performed really well lately, TheWind surprisingly again in Code S again certainly the underdog, and Lyn the hope of the Warcraft scene to gain some credit from the broodwar rednecks.
BanBans will beat TheWind, and I would believe in Lyn beating choya on any other map than Scrap Station, but on that I believe choyas playstyle will give him the edge.
So Choya goes through 2-0, and Banbans will beat Lyn in maybe not one but two matches.
Group G, the Protoss Group. Although not being a huge Fruitdealer fan, the fact that only has to prepare one matchup on a fair starting map would make a huge upset if he not advances, although he has crazy good Protosses in his group, but as we all know, PvP has its own rules, and Fruitdealer might be the laughing third in this.
With so much time to prepare, Fruitdealer will beat Genius surprisingly, and although Tester tends to slip in PvPs, he will win against Anypro for the sake of preparation.
Nestea with the luck of not getting Tester on the second map advances 2-0, and Genius versus Tester being a clash of Protoss titans, I feel Genius taking this on the second map.
The last group, Group H, might be the anticlimatic end of the Group Stage. MKP will go 2-0 without doubt, so it comes down to the second starters match, which is sC versus Inca. Inca gives me a hard time on predictions, so I think I'll head for sC this time.
Hence sC versus Kyrix being the match to figure out the second contestant of the playoffs.
This might be a close call if the map was not Terminus Re. Generally looking like a Zerg favoured map, I don't believe in Kyrix being confident in crazy macro style Zerg and going down on this game already, being sC to follow MarineKing in the Round of 16.
Summary
+ Show Spoiler +
A: July, MVP
B: Clide, Byun
C: Jinro, Rainbow
D: NaDa, TOP
E: Boxer, Nestea
F: Choya, BanBans
G: Fruitdealer, Genius
H: MKP, sC
These being my Code S predictions put to paper for upcoming GSL, I hope I can keep up the work and provide some entertaining reads to contribute my portion to hyping what is to become a great season of Korean Starcraft2, with planning to give CodeA predictions tomorrow.
