This map features 4 corner expansions with destructible rocks on the ramp and ones blocking access to each third. The center in this map seems to be the focal point, if someone can gain control of that with tanks or the like it will become fairly difficult to bypass with an ordinary ground army. Once the rocks have been broken down it becomes a bit easier to manage, but everything can be easily cut off from the center. This makes for interesting prospects of TvT map splits, and hopefully will encourage more air based play, even if that is only in the form of drops.

One critical feature to notice is just how easy it is to take 3 bases and then turtle into a maxed up army without any real fears of being broken. This I think is aimed at encouraging longer games but also may just support turtling into death balls. Protoss may have a field day with colossus + voidray on this map.

The mains are not that far by air, but thanks to the destructible rocks and the pathing of the middle the rush distances are a bit farther than they might seem at first glance. The fourth bases are weak on all fronts, being low in geyser and mineral count, they are also exposed to harass from the center and the other side of the rocks.




The rush distances on this map are rather long, but you’ll probably want to bring a compass so you don’t get lost along the way. This map is basically the BW map peaks of Baekdu, and it has more than its share of pathways and bridges. The prospects for backstabs and counters seem endless when there’s always more than one way to go around the opposing army. Speaking of which this map does indeed have two entrances, but unlike Blistering Sands it’s a bit of a walk so players won’t be able to abuse this feature as easily.

Watch tower control, as always, looks like it could play an important factor all throughout the game. Looking at it you can’t go from one end of the map the other by ground and avoid detection if your opponent has control of either tower. No doubt a similar concept applies to a zerg overlord being able to keep multiple tabs from a single location

This is another map that looks like it will be all too easy to split the map with siege tanks, as one cluster can protect four bases quite easily. The pathways are narrow and numerous so it’s no doubt players will make every effort to avoid engaging the death balls here and instead engage in gorilla warfare.



16 bases seems to be a theme for this seasons new maps as ¾ contain exactly that many, but just look at how BIG this one is. This size results in very long rush distances, especially for cross map positions. Thankfully the center here is a bit more open allowing possibilities for proper flanks and more positional play. This map allows players to take a very quick and safe three bases, which seems to be primarily a benefit for protoss, as taking a forge FE is viable here, and the protoss is under less pressure to move out. At the same time, zergs may have an advantage against terran here, as they have added base-taking power, and terran pushes will need to cover much more space.

It’s kind of interesting that they decided to place the watch towers down in those dips right beside the high ground. Placing them this way makes watch tower control very interesting as each watchtower can see half of the well in which the neighboring watchtower sits. Players may need to take extra care to hide at which watchtower they're at. Another interesting feature are the lowered supply depots at the bottom of main ramps to help prevent walling.
For some reason I just can’t stop seeing a deformed battle cruiser when I look at this map.



Bases, bases, bases! Another HUGE 16 base map, not only are these bases plentiful but for the most part they are easy to take and to capture. I think someone’s definitely trying to hint at something here. I’m very excited for long macro clashes on this map, the centre is so wide open that even those players that put all their units on one hotkey shouldn’t have too much of a problem making sure all their units end up attacking something. Hopefully we'll seem some more thoughtful and better positional play instead, especially around the goal of securing the map's four important watch towers in the later stages.

There’s a refreshing concept here of a wide choke to the main, meaning one forcefield just isn’t going to cut it. Thankfully the long rush distances may act to counter-balance that weakness, but this no doubt leaves an opening for some innovative cheese. Though the largeness of this map does give one a false sense of security, in certain positions like bottom vs bottom the rush distances between natural isn’t very far at all.

One thing that’s different from every other map so far is also the number of the day! This is the number 9 (you were thinking J weren’t you). The number 9 represents how many mineral patches are in each main, every other map thus far has only had 8. What implications could this have? Well it can change all the opening builds a bit by allowing a better saturation and faster mineral intake early on. It also means players will last just that little bit extra off this single base. This will no doubt help create longer games and bigger armies, yum yum.

"If you're not practicing, just remember that someone, somewhere else is practicing. And when you two meet, he will beat you."
- Bill Bradley

      There's no reason to mince words; the last season of Code A was an unmitigated disaster. The players were awful, the games were awful, and a handful of the players who got promoted were uninspiring. We had to watch BitByBitPrime try to play a macro game, someone named ZeNEXcOre play starcraft for the first time, and Loner nearly die of the bubonic plague. "Painful" doesn't begin to describe it.
      But this season, the GSL is on its head. The dead weight of Code A has been unceremoniously cast away, replaced with a cast of dynamic new players eager to prove themselves. Meanwhile Code S ponderously lumbers on, cluttered and stagnant. Not only may the average Code A player be better than the average Code S player this season, but the best set of the non-qualified players might be as well. If Code A is the wild west, than Code S is it's poolside retirement community.



      Having said all that, it needs to be clarified that the very best players are still in Code S. The GSL finals are still the finals because of Mvp, MarineKing, MC, NesTea, Fruitdealer, and company. But the talent in Code S drops off steeply. This season and the last, the fundamental flaw of Code S has been exposed. Because Code S is so forgiving, weak players who earned their placement in the first couple GSL seasons are extremely hard to dislodge. Getting rolled in your initial group placement merely demotes you to the Up/Down matches, where you face an extremely favorable chance of being re-admitted back into Code S. Thus, anyproPrime returns for a second season of losing to two marauder/two marine pressure.
      In contrast; Code A is an extremely volatile league. Merely losing the opening round Bo3 earns a swift demotion to the open qualifiers. There is no forgiveness built into the Code A format. It's win or go home from the beginning.
      All of this has added up to Code A's advantage this season. half of the tepid field that we saw last round has been sent packing. Only one proved to be good enough to requalify. (ST_Ace). To take their place, we saw a series of hotly contested qualifiers that even superb non-ranked players like ST_Bomber or ZeNEXPuzzle were unable to overcome. Remaining are the best of the best; twelve qualifiers and four foreigners who are hungry for wins and not lacking in skill. The overall talent of Code A is immense.

Consider that two players will certainly retain their Code S status by advancing out of Group F (choyafOu, FOXLyn, ZeNEXBanbanssu, and oGsTheWinD) but only one of (oGsSuperNova, ST_Squirtle, TSL_aLive, and oGsCezanne) will get a chance at Code S, and two of those players will need to play through qualifiers again. That's absurd.



      This message hit home during the GSTL. As any longtime BW fan can tell you, teamleagues have an uncanny way of bringing out the best in players. We saw again and again, with fantastic games being played by known and unknown players alike. But while we saw Code S monsters like IMMvp, IMNesTea, and oGsMC throw down brilliant performances, and closet gosus like IMSeed and IMYongHwa make huge waves, the show was stolen time and time by a player from Code A. Indeed, while teams played their Code S players nearly a majority of the time...



... these players were routinely manhandled by a delegate from Code A.



      By the time the dust had settled in the GSTL, Code A players had gone 11-3 against Code S opponents. Despite being sent out nearly half as frequently as their Code S teammates, Code A players played just two fewer games, and had a winning percentage that was 39% greater.



      There are a number of convincing explanations for why this occurred, and why these results aren't useful. Undoubtedly, a small sample size, the prevalence of a couple good players, the prevalence of a couple good teams, and genuine luck of the draw all may have contributed to the relative performances of each Code in the teamleague matches. I freely admit that this conclusion is equal parts conjecture as it is the analysis of data. But ultimately, those who ignore how well Code A performed on an equal stage do so at their peril. Code S players not only struggled with new builds and playstyles from Code A players, they were frequently outclassed in every respect. Moreover, Code S wasn't even represented by some of it's weakest members, who should, presumably hold an edge over the next rung down. Yet all the same, Code A participants were better at almost every turn.

      The wild west metaphor I made at the beginning seems particularly apt in describing the strength of Code A. With the format alone, there should be little doubt that staying in Code A is one of the hardest feats in progaming, short only of advancing deep into tournaments. One Bo3, one unfortunate map choice, one bout of nerves, or case of cold hands can doom a player into a career of preliminaries. Sixteen excellent players will face that reality in a short time. The pressure of Code A and the practice, focus, and skill needed to overcome that this season are much greater than the cushy position of those in the Code S groups. Code S is welfare for the players who excelled when the competition was less fierce. It may take several cycles before Code S can truly swallow the best 32 players in Korea. But not so for Code A. The law of the jungle applies here. Kill or be killed. Improve, or be removed. That's why Code A is overall going to be tougher than Code S this season, and for at least a few seasons after that. Because of survival of the fittest. Because this isn't the kind of league where you can squeak by. This country's hard on people.You can't stop what's coming, and it ain't all waiting on you.

Credit to the amazing heyoka for the graphs.

Favorite to Win?
Divinek IMNesTea
Hot_Bid: IMNesTea
Kinky IMmvp
Lovedrop: IMmvp
palookieblue IMmvp
Treehugger: IMNesTea
TrueRedemption: oGsMC
Xxio: IMmvp

Dark Horse?
Divinek TLAF-Liquid'Jinro
Hot_Bid: ST_July
Kinky SlayerS_BoxeR
Lovedrop: oGsMC
palookieblue oGsMC
Treehugger: TSL_FruitDealer
TrueRedemption: FOXLyn
Xxio: TLAF-Liquid’Jinro

Guarenteed to be Demoted to A?
Divinek TSL_Clide
Hot_Bid: ZeNEXSan
Kinky ZeNEXSan
Lovedrop: ZeNEXSan
palookieblue anyproPrime.WE
Treehugger: anyproPrime.WE
TrueRedemption: ZeNEXKyrix
Xxio: ZeNEXKyrix

Guarenteed to be Promoted to S?
Divinek TLAF-Liquid'Ret
Hot_Bid: TLAF-Liquid'HuK
Kinky ST_Squirtle
Lovedrop: ST_Squirtle
palookieblue ST_Squirtle
Treehugger: IMLosira
TrueRedemption: ST_Squirtle
Xxio: TLAF-Liquid'HuK

TL Writers actually didn’t have that poor of a time last season, with everyone getting at least something right. But nobody was perfect either. Xxio, who correctly pegged MVP as the tournament favorite, also guaranteed that TheBest would be demoted. (He advanced.) Hot_Bid accurately forecast the promotion of July to code S, but he also chose future Ro8 finisher choya as a surefire code A demotion. TrueRedemption’s predictions largely failed to materialize, although he did portend the fall of LegalMind from the top bracket. Yet his dark horse selection of LiveForever did not, in fact, live beyond the first groupstage. The worst predictions of the GSL belonged to Treehugger, who picked current Code A player Leenock as his dark horse, and bafflingly selected the teamless GuineaPig as Code S talent. The best predictions then, came from Lovedrop, who picked IMmvp has his dark horse, and was right about Check being disappointing, JookTo sucking, and July advancing.

The battle of wits begins in earnest again, as three new writers enter the mix, and many urgent questions remain unanswered. Everyone has predicted one of two IM players to take the tournament. Is it really that simple? Treehugger has reprised his demotion pick for a second season. If anypro lives on, who will he pick next season? Divnek has predicted a Code A player for his probable disappointment. Is this cheating? Xxio’s pick of GSTAR invitational winner Kyrix to be demoted is a bold prediction. Will it pay off? A handful of writers have predicted Liquid’ players in a number of categories. Can the boys in blue do it? And most importantly, can we take down the GSL’s very own experts for another season?