Code S Ro16 Group D - Some Zerg with Your Zerg

Commentators and spectators always talk about how race homogeneity benefits a player when preparing for a group stage. When you have less possible matchups to deal with, you can dedicate more time to one specific matchup and leave the others “up to chance”. In addition you can concentrate on exploiting your enemies’ tendencies (the main advantage of having prep time for a BoX against a single person) instead of merely working out the kinks in your own gameplay.

Thanks to some fortunate choices we will get to see this theory in action on Thursday. Group D is notable enough for being the first all-zerg group in GSL history; in previous GSLs there weren’t enough representatives to even try this out. Only the best of the best were cultivated for this particular harvest. Life and Leenock are the two best zergs in the entire scene right now, Symbol is perpetually on the edge of a championship run every other week, and Soulkey is a poster boy that BW players can indeed play another RTS at a high level. It seems a flagrant defiance of God’s will that two of these players cannot advance to the Round of 8.

This is the group I am most excited to watch. My favorite player is up in the first match, my third favorite player will be in the second match, and there’s a chance that both of them will get out as favorites to win Season 5. It will be a true test of Soulkey’s ZvZ prowess which has been mostly limited to beating up crummy foreigners, transitioned BW pros, and CoCa. Best of all I get to see how the top pros apply the “less races = easier time” philosophy to the most frustrating and fast-paced mirror matchup in the game. Are they going to mess around with opening builds or attack timings? Will Soulkey bring out Cloud Kingdom if he loses on Whirlwind? Will Symbol cheese, once? How will the different styles influence the mindgames and decision-making which will determine who gets out?

Gee, these lights are pretty bright. I guess they make my awesome jacket look more awesome though.

Life is known as an extremely aggressive player who seeks to dictate the pace of the game from start to end. However this was not always the case with his ZvZ. Back in February when he began to establish himself as the premier ZvZ specialist in Korea, Life was one of the most stubborn macro players. In any Bo3 you could predict his opening build orders throughout the whole series. He would open 15 hatch in the first game, 15 hatch in the second game and if he was feeling particular risky, 15 hatch with an immediate gas afterwards in the last one. He would never do a dedicated attack unless he had a third base behind it, and nobody could break his defenses unless they were doing an all-in. During this period Life popularized several new builds notable for their practicality as well as their innovation: a refined version of Nestea’s 2 base mutalisk build that became the norm for ZvZ mutalisk play, a fake muta build that was actually a +1 roach speed timing to counter fast infestors (which has become the standard counter to fast muta today), 10 pool expands to punish hatchery first, etc.

Today Life seems to be a very different player. Since macro ZvZ has become the norm, he has gone to aggressive openers to exploit such tendencies. The 10 pool expand, a build he used to save for Ohana alone, is now his second favorite opening besides hatchery first. He goes to 2 base mutalisk a lot less often than before and prefers fast infestors. On a map as large as Whirlwind we may see nydus worms or one of his newer builds, +1/+1 zergling harassment into roach/infestor. With any overall strategy comes the threat of zergling runbys.

During his Ro32 interview Life said that he didn’t want to play many ZvZs in the next round yet here is Curious, saying that ZvZvZvZ couldn’t be a better outcome. With recent clutch victories over Sniper, Violet, and Leenock, Life might be very confident about his chances in an all-zerg group. But those games were the closest ones he had played in a long time; he really should not have beaten Leenock at MLG Dallas if it wasn’t for some sloppy play on his opponent’s side. If Life told his teammate that this is a great idea, then mischief is afoot.

Coach Ryu said my Penance Stare works from this distance, but nothing’s happening...

Soulkey was always cited as one of the BW pros who transitioned quickly and efficiently to SC2. Before Rain became the best protoss in the world and Flash showed up to MLG Dallas, people were talking about Soulkey as one of the first who would show results. Unfortunately those two others players have shaped the popular perception of what a KeSPA player should be accomplishing. Soulkey has sketchy ZvP, fails to beast through everyone who isn’t a GSL champion, and doesn’t have the star power to draw crowds. In addition he was petrified at the news that he would have to face Life in the Ro16. All of these factors make him the apparent underdog in Group D.

But if there is one matchup Soulkey can ride into the Round of 8, it is his ZvZ. His summer Proleague status weren’t particular impressive but he has really picked up the pace starting from WCS Korea. Since then he is 31-10 in individual sets which includes a 22-7 record during the MvP Invitational and a 7-3 record at MLG Dallas. Now I’m not going to pretend that CoCa, Sheth, Hawk, Idra, and Ret are top-level ZvZ players. But it’s important to realize that he is beating the people he is supposed to beat very handily, and that is a typical pattern for all players who are proficient in any matchup.

Life and Soulkey have similar aggressive styles except Soulkey prefers slightly later aggression after hatchery first. It’s typical to see Soulkey get an early baneling nest to either defend or threaten; one of his favorite habits is to morph 6-8 banelings near his opponent’s natural and immediately attack when zergling speed finishes, immediately following it up with lair. Occasionally he gets overaggressive in this position and needlessly sacrifices banelings in pursuit of drones. Soulkey’s infestor control is notable for his careful usage of energy and positioning. Instead of spamming ITs and headbutting the front line of enemy roaches, he spits a few out of them out at a time and micros his infestors to the back.

Soulkey’s largest weakness is indecision when he is in a position of weakness. He is very technical with engagements and will forgo attacks, even with a huge army advantage, if he cannot get the position he wants. But if he’s caught in a bad spot Soulkey hesitates to take decisive action and give his opponent critical time to push his advantage. We saw this happen twice against Revival at MLG. During the base race on Cloud Kingdom, Soulkey appropriately created a spine wall at his natural but failed to push Revival’s natural at the same time; he hesitated to go for the kill multiple times on Antiga Shipyard despite having more infestors and roaches in each situation. During the latter game Revival caught Soulkey out of position several times and picked off crucial infestors, which lead to an overwhelming push that could not be stopped. Both times the TSL zerg managed to squeeze out a narrow victory to close out the series.

Soulkey cannot hesitate against Life, one of the few players in the game who possesses the uncanny ability to make the right decisions in the worst conditions. If he manages to get a big drone lead or tech advantage he must use it to make a calculated strike instead of waiting back.

Rule 1 of Leenock: even a teddy bear still has claws.

For the first time in a while Leenock is a stable presence in ZvZ. If there has been one steady obstacle in Leenock’s quest to be the best player in the world, it has been his inability to turn a ZvZ winning streak into standard form. Occasionally he goes on these incredible runs where he runs over the likes of DRG, Nestea, and Violet. Then he will lose to a player like Min or July in an incredibly scrubby way that makes you question his competence in the matchup. These winning streaks far outnumber the losing streaks (Leenock’s career ZvZ winrate stands at around 60%) and it looks like Leenock is in the middle of another winning streak at the moment.

Leenock is the type of player who likes to constantly attack but never commit to a push that will endanger his own economy. In the past he was a big proponent of ling/baneling all-ins; today, he uses small baneling skirmishes to keep his opponent scared. Overall he is quite conservative in build orders and will never try those weird gasless builds or pure speedling armies. Leenock is somewhat stubborn when it comes to his lair tech, as he will stick to his infestor/mutalisk build no matter the circumstance or map. If there are identifiable weaknesses, it is that Leenock may be too stylistic in ZvZ. He almost never attempts 1 base builds unless he is in a position where he can afford to take a loss, and all of his desperation pushes involve pulling his queens along for the ride.

He comes into Group D as the second favorite alongside Life, only separated by a close 3-4 loss against Life at MLG Dallas. The games were incredibly close and Leenock should’ve won Game 7 if he did not retreat his mutas to deal with a speedling counterattack. No one would be surprised if he comes out of this group in first place. However, Symbol’s playstyle matches up well against Leenock and the FXO prodigy will have to fight for a spot in the winners’ final.

This country smells and the people talk funny. I hope we’re getting paid for this.

Symbol plays ZvZ much like his ZvP and ZvT, slow and safe. Symbol has top-tier mechanics but his greatest strength has always been lategame macromanagement; he is not the type of player who uses his multitasking and micro to outplay his opponent from an economic disadvantage. Leenock doesn’t need to worry about mutalisk builds or burrowed infestors haunting his mineral lines; such shenanigans don’t fit into Symbol’s repertoire. Instead Symbol will focus on expanding, ground upgrades, and composing the roach/hydra/infestor army he needs to win in the lategame.

I’m interested to see if Symbol will repeat any of the strategies his teammates have been using. The TSL hivemind has never been keen on developing individual playstyles as much as standard templates that all their zergs can use. If you see Ragnarok consistently using drop play to deal with terran mech, you can be sure that Hyun and the rest of his buddies will know how to execute the same strategies with the same or greater precision. Occasionally TSL members have shown very bizarre experimental builds with mixed results. At MLG Dallas, Revival used a strange gasless opening that transitioned into fast roach/infestor with double upgrades. Ragnarok will use constant roach aggression without any infestor follow-up. I can only assume Symbol will know these builds; the question is if they will ever show up in the next two Bo3s.

If Soulkey is the underdog in the series, Symbol is the big name with the most unpredictable results. He can be called strong but not one of the best in ZvZ. His gameplay looks good depending on how well he can predict and hold off aggression; consequently, he benefits the most when his opponent is passive. Life has had Symbol’s number for the entirety of the latter’s career and Nerchio has effortlessly handled him in both the RSL and EU ZOTAC Cups (the influence of cross-server lag is unknown). Symbol also claims recent losses to such big bosses as JookTo, Whale, roof and SaltTheWound. None of this information is comforting but if Symbol doesn’t make it out, no one would accuse him of being a fraud. If he does, he has an excellent shot at winning the whole shebang.

Photo credit: Life (Silverfire), Soulkey (Carlton Beener of ESFIWorld), Leenock (Silverfire), Symbol (R1CH)

Code S Ro16 Group D - Some Zerg with Your Zerg

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