Round of 32

Hell of a thing to watch sixteen of the best players in the world be dismissed from a tournament in the first round. It can't be overstated how incredibly good each of these players are in their own right. I'm talking HIGH LEVEL here. Nature of the beast though, some players just have to be sent packing after their first series.

What a first round it was. Alicia? Bye. Maka? Get outta here. SaSe and Nani got up and out before you could say 'Realisationsvinstbeskattning'. Byun, YoDa, MIN CHUL? Not a chance. Byun and MC had been doing poorly for sure, but had it really been that bad? You'd have called it an epic conspiracy three months ago.

Today all we can do is look at what went wrong and accept that no one is safe.



1-2. You're kidding me. I mean.. I'm not entirely surprised but.. against a mediocre Zerg? Damn.
The most generous thing I can say for MC is that at least he didn't lose 0-2. He took game one, where the highlight was Monster's use of slowverlords to spread creep instead of creep tumors. I didn't count more than 6 tumors all game. He had more spines living off overlord droppings than creep tumors.

Okay MC, time to clean the series up 2-0. Nope! Monster performed run by after run by, and MC ended up allowing 17 zerglings to unpower six warpgates. A dangerous push of colossi, zealots, and high energy sentries was effectively nullified by being forced to return. Monster slammed the door shortly after, taking away MCs army in the blink of a stalker.

The next game Monster finally got his infestors in swing and my jaw dropped. MC fell to a standard infested terran timing. Unlike the embarrassing first game, Monster placed his IT's so they wouldn't wall out his own zerglings. Credit where credit is due: The final engagement had Monster multitasking zerglings, mutalisks and infestors all in sync and it was no small feat to not mess it up.

The story was best written on the competitors faces.

We'll see MC again, and we'll see more of Monster as well.



"I'm in Code S; I'm in Up&Downs; I'm in Code A, AAAND I'M OUT!" If this were an escape plan, Byun would be a mastermind. Nah, just teasin'. He didn't fall from quite as high as MC did and I'm much more sympathetic. He's been in the GSL since the beginning and provided highly entertaining games, even taking the silver medal in the first Code-A. Though he's never tasted the glory of the finals, he's known for getting results. He'll requalify without a doubt, but this has to be a wake up call for him.

Maybe I'm just more sympathetic towards Byun because he dropped his series to Oz. Oz is a great up and comer and if you haven't yet noticed – he's in contention for the Up&Downs after qualifying for Code A through the preliminaries. Living the dream.

The first game just didn't go the way Oz had planned. His high econ, 2 base 4 gate was meticulously executed. Oz had all the tools to demolish Byuns one rax expansion, but with a moments hesitation, Oz missed his timing window and siege mode completed. Oz with a 16 probe lead, started to tech up to High Templars. Then, to everyone's surprise, Byun channeled Brood War's Flash and put down three factories to play mech TvP. Within minutes, both player were forced to micromanage two battle fronts as they attacked into each other's bases. Oz lost the fight, by the margin of a missed storm and a few high templar assassinations at the hands of blue flame hellions.

For the next two games, let's put the end before the beginning: Storms. Oz mounted a thrilling victory march through any resistance Byun had to offer to the tune of storms.

Oz still looked a little nervous as the second match began. He crucially allowed Byun to scout his base for the cost of a scv and gave away his early pressure build. Things started to look grim as Oz's pressure failed to achieve anything, while Byun's counter push looked more threatening by the minute. All hope seemed lost when Byun engaged and landed solid EMPs. His three rax ghost timing was immaculate, and while the push wasn't game ending, victory seemed assured nonetheless. However twelve minutes into the game, clouds begin to gather over Metalopolis, and the forecast no longer showed a 2-0 sweep for Byun. With a still dreadful bio force, Byun stayed just out of engagement range until the two armies met in the Terran natural. And then, everything leading up to that moment was thrown out the window as psionic rage crackled through the bio army.

Storms ripped through Byun with a vengeance in next match. A hundred thousand actions might go into every game, but it was "T, left click" that spectacularly stole the show. Some might point out that Byun was late on ghosts, but they're forgetting that Oz didn't just happen to stumble on a timing to roll through Byun. He scouted him, planned accordingly, and forced a timing. All and all, Byun didn't look terrible but Oz was the storm god of the day.




16 players, 17 Games

In the Round of 16 the matches heated up. By that I mean the Monster was slain, FruitDealer closed shop, and the SjoW was canceled alongside five others who were forced to watch the ceremonies of the winners.

The first match of the round was a TvT, and peculiarly it was all over within thirty minutes. A caught gold expansion and failed proxy banshee later, and SeleCT went out to sC 0-2.

GuMiho advanced over Monster convincingly and let's be honest, we all expected it. In the earlier round GuMiho knocked out Kyrix convincingly and it was hardly any surprise he continued his streak by smashing Monster.

I felt bad watching SjoW struggle against the GSTL tested force in Curious. With more luck SjoW could have been facing FruitDealer and the prospect of a exciting struggle for the Ro16. Unfortunately the bleak reality is that SjoW was horribly outplayed and will be busy training for his next Code-A appearance in November.

Lucky proved again (for the dozenth time) how fitting a name he has. After an average victory in the first match, Lucky opened with a roach warren instead of a more passive spine field to defend the reactor hellion expand. Lucky sent his zerglings ahead and around of the hellions while pushing with his roaches and near miraculously caught most of Dreams scvs in transit between bases for a free win.

And now, to the more interesting matches.



Or: Sage checks in; Check checks out.

Let's start off the detailed RO16 summaries with a little annihilation. Check walked into Xel'Naga Fortress with a speedling expand and tapped out just 13 minutes later. I'm not here to say Check is bad. He's a phenomenally good player and it was bittersweet to see him lose out of the double playoff Up&Down matches last month. But against Sage, he got plowed through. Check tried to sneak in a fast roach warren for a roach ling bust against the FFE of Sage but apparently he didn't get the memo about not letting scout probes in. Moments after the Roach Warren started building, a stealthy probe came in and scouted it, forcing a cancel and delaying the warren for an additional minute and a half.

Checks build has already been stunted. From there, Sage easily defended Check's delayed push while a stargate cames online. With Void Rays out Sage went hunting and turned Check's momentary loss into a deep hole. Sage pulled off some tricky Void Ray control, constantly harassing, forcing additional queens and most importantly NOT losing anything. Easier said then done, but three minutes later Check was crushed by a wicked sentry zealot push and waves of Stalker reinforcements, all being covered by Void Rays from above.

Game two was longer, clocking in at eighteen nail biting minutes. Check followed the tone of almost every Zerg of the day with a early aggressioncheese pool. Sage lucked out and scouted first and secured a cannon over his mineral line. After a tense minute of micro, Check abandoned his attack completely, content with having delayed Sage's forge FE. Check followed up by double expanding to the gold and for once in Sage's career, his scouting failed. He barely missed scouting out a drone transfer and discovering Check's strategy, but this time luck was with Check.

Check decides it was time (To the horror of Day9) to go for a high economy baneling bust. As Sage desperately tried to push out stargate units, he was forced to force field out banelings and micro his probes and stalkers to avoid economic ruin It was one of the tensest moments of the game.

Sage lost pylons and a few workers to the intense aggression but his flawless macro had him recover quickly. Check continued to try and force an early win but too much time has passed and subsequent attempts were much less effective. Still mining from the gold, Check had let advantage his early gambit had won slip away.

As the power of Sage began to match Check, he discovered the gold base, Check's bankroll, was scouted. It led to an incredibly tense battle for control of the game, where Sage finally came out ahead with a confirmed kill. At this point Check countered directly to Sage's base but the control mistakes of other Protoss were not with Sage that game. He easily forced out the zerglings, cleaning up the threat while scouting out a pleasant sight: Hydralisks. Perfect targets for his latest storms. Check tried to bust through Sages third with hydralisks and banelings for one last attempt to swing the game back in his favor but the control of Sage was just too much for him. After losing most of his invested resources to storms, Sage humorously attempted (and failed) to use an warp prism elevator trick to quickly gain entrance to Checks main. After two failed attempts Sage simply blinked up and forced Check to fight the left behind army heading to his natural while Blink Stalkers tore into his undefendable main.

The first game was pretty good if you're a Protoss fan. The second game was amazing for anyone.






Or: Oh no HerO, it's an all in!

Time and time again you'll see an otherwise one-sided roflstomp become anyone's game. All it takes is one moment, a single lapse of judgment and you can lose everything. This series all came down to one mistake that will never happen again. Though it is too late to go back, HerO's assured return next season is a small consolation. If you're a HerO fan like I am you might want to just skip over this next bit. It's the bitter moment of an otherwise stellar performance by Protoss so far.

In Game one, HerO was attacked early with a six roach slow ling timing to punish his forge expand. HerO lost his forge to a well executed attack but had voids out in time, forcing YuGiOh to surrender his timing attack and retreat. The game stretched on with excellent force fields preventing a ling run in and turning Yugioh's attack into a net loss. The roaches accompanying the second attack were destroyed by HerO's void ray as hydralisks and queens were produced back at home for YuGiOh.

A Nydus erupted in HerO's expansion spilling out half of YuGiOhs hydralisks, but HerO reacted fast enough to cut off its head, leaving half of the Zerg swarm stranded and surrounded by zealots. Moments later bits of carapace littered the base and HerO had turned even into an advantage.

With half the hydralisks gone, the air corps were again put into play, picking off overlords and queens with near impunity. YuGiOh could not cover all of his three bases and paid for it. It looked like Yugioh turned a corner as his infestors finally came into play, trapping five phoenix and with fungals and killing them all. But the damage had already been done. Zealots warped in the main while a fearsome deathball breached the natural, finally knocking YuGiOh out.

The next game. Yeesh. A questionable DT opener is put to the test against fast infestors and seven zealots and a sentry are picked off by chain fungals. HerO invested a lot in this early push and not only were the DTs completely ineffective (Thanks to YuGiOhs well planned build) but his army was completely lost with no damage done. We know what happens when you commit to an early push and it utterly fails right? At the 17 minute mark brood lords flapped(?) their malicious wings and within the next four minutes HerO had lost. It was a good game by YuGiOh and although he had a few hiccups there was never a point where he allowed HerO to climb back into competition.

The final game HerO misread a one base roach rush for a hidden expansion. It was a unforced mistake that he only made one cannon to hold his fast expansion and he lost straight up. The good news? He'll be back next season. Bad news: One more member in the sad zealot club.






Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cape.

Heyo don't be such glum probes out there! I'm wrapping this up with a big win by my newest favorite: Oz! I can't really say I was cheering for him. I had wished to see SUPERSTAR for a bit longer. The guy simply makes you smile. But anyway.

Textbook perfection. That's all I can say about the defense Oz (also known as Twilight) pulled off. With a 17 Nexus against a speedling expland into fast roach warren you would say things looked pretty dark for Twilight. But it was simply his day. An excellent scouting probe let him know ahead of time what was in store, and additional cannons, perfect forcefields and sacrificial workers all lead to a successful hold in a situation some Protosses would just roll over and die. At seven minutes SUPERSTAR threw his second wave against the gates of Oz, but to no avail. The only thing left to do was GG.

The second game was.. strange. Strange is good when you can win against it. Strange is bad if your name is Max. A gas first in anticipation of a hatchery block turned into gas expand. Not speedling expand, just an extractor then hatchery. Things normalized quickly enough with a great zealot scout and a two base 4 gate for Oz. SUPERSTAR (Who must always be referred to in all caps) droned madly while Oz warped in on his road to destruction. A post 1.4 warp prism took two sentries for a trip to a trick every Protoss needs to know. Oz brilliantly force fielded the mineral line, trapping drones and turning a happy mineral line into a kill zone. Damage done, the game went on.

A counter by SUPERSTAR managed to eliminate some of the sentries in mid field but a clutch Colossus saved the day and Oz, all of the sudden, ended up with a big army advantage. One colossus turns into three, with which he turned towards SUPERSTAR to initiate the oddest base trade I've ever seen. After mutual destruction on both sides, SUPERSTAR allowed an entire line of probes to escape and establish a new base. On the other hand, Oz was left with just three spine crawlers living off overlord-creep. SUPERSTAR was forced into one last ditch attack to take the nexus down before new units could be built, even bringing along his three spine crawlers as offensive units. However, in something of a farce (or maybe he had already given up) SUPERSTAR forgot that he couldn't actually lose those spine crawlers as they were his last remaining buildings. Oz laughed his way to bank as he focused down the the three crawlers, eliminating SUPERSTAR and cashing in his RO16 victory.



It's been a crazy week. The first two rounds have passed and things will only get better from here.

About the author:
Probe1 offers his high-low level, bronze but should be diamond analysis for entertainment and instructional purposes. You can read more here.

Well, here we are in the GSL and things are the usual around these parts. Terrans are crushing Code A. The protoss race has filed to the government to be put on the endangered species list. Zerg is trying their best to fight the marines, but every time they destroy SCV's, those darn terrans just drop more mules! GOMTVTVTVT is upon us and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Let me just go through these predictable matches, pick the terran in each match, and call it a day. Alright, TeamLiquid? Even someone who loves TvT can't take it any longer.

...

Oh wait, silly me, that's the Code S brackets! In Code A, there are only two terrans left (and have to play each other in the quarterfinals), new protoss stars are bringing excitement back to the race, zerg is holding their own, and we are guaranteed to have one of each race in the semifinals! Can you believe we're only going to have ONE terran in the semifinals? Man, those terrans sure are underpowered. We really need to give the marauders the ability to shoot air units before the entire GSL is without the terran race. Can you imagine a Code S without medivacs, marines, marauders and mules!?

Yeah, it's what protoss users dream about every night before going to bed.




sC, first off, I want to congratulate you on recovering from your illness, getting healthy, and moving to a new team in MvP. You're an excellent player and the GSL is a better tournament when you're at 100% playing ability. I hope you have a wonderful future on your new team, meet loads of new friends, and have opportunities to come to a MLG in future.

Now that I've complimented you, I have this to say: you only have yourself to blame for picking MVP in Code-S months ago, losing to him and starting your free fall to Code A. Yes, picking the strongest players might be a good test of strength, look good to all the chicks, and make you seem tough, but you know what else it also does? It gets you knocked out in the first round. Almost every big shot that takes a risk with their first pick in the Code S selections (I'm looking at you, MC) gets to act like they're a badass for a week, swagger into the studio, and then look silly when their master plan backfires in their face.

You know what Nestea did the last time he had the first pick? Did he pick some tough opponent, act like he's the coolest person in the world for picking a top player and think of a super convoluted plan that somehow ends with his pick eliminated before the round of sixteen? No, he said that Kyrix sucked, shouldn't be in Code S, and kicked him through the trap door to Code B without thinking about it twice.

Did MVP replicate what you did in this season's selection when he had the opening choice? He could have picked Bomber! What a genius plan, right? Bomber has beaten him in the Code A finals and the GSTL. Beating him in the first set of the tournament would put Bomber only one loss away from elimination! No way that could backfire! No. No. No. MVP simply picked Ensnare because he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he would destroy him. This is why MVP and Nestea are chilling in Code S, making big money, and winning championships while sC, MC and other cool guys are in hell.

Onto the match itself, sC is 60% in TvT and beat Select handily in the round of sixteen, but before that match was on a seven loss losing streak against terran. He wasn't at his best during this time and fighting with an illness, but you can't look past seven straight losses in any match-up. sC, before the whole, 'I'm awesome and gonna challenge MVP!' situation, was one of the best TvT'ers in the world and the fastest rising terran in Korea with his incredible series against Nestea in the semifinals of GSL May.

Gumiho, now that he's stuck with terran for good instead of playing random (which made me sad), has gotten the furthest he has ever been in the GSL. He is 9th in Korean ELO, beat Kyrix and Monster, and heading for his first chance to get into Code S. Sadly for him, his TvT is his weakest match-up and it hasn't been getting better in recent months.

sC should take it. He's a big fish in a small pond, and if totally healthy, has the ability to take the Code A championship and get straight into Code S without going to Up-and-Downs. Don't count out the former random player, but sC is a Code S-caliber player that is only here due to his own recklessness in picking opponents and health issues.

Prediction: sC 2 - 0 Gumiho





Let's take a look at YuGiOh's GSL career, shall we?

GSL Open 3: Win first round 2-0 against former finalist Rainbow! Woohoo!

...Proceed to lose in the next round to BitByBit. Dammit.

Code A Season 1: Win first round 2-0 against future quarter-finalist Line! Awesome!

...Proceed to lose in the next round to July. Dammit.

Code A Season 2: Lose in the first round to current Code S player Leenock 2-0.

... Oh wait.

Code A Season 3: Re-qualify for Code A and win first round 2-0 against..August! Sweet!

...Proceed to lose in the next round to Violet. Dammit.

Code A Season 4: Win first round 2-1 against current Code A opponent Curious! Amazing!

...Proceed to lose in the next round to Happy. Dammit.

Code A Season 5: Win first round 2-1 againstthe foreigner fan favorite Thorzain! Incredible!

...Proceed to lose in the next round to MarineKing. Dammit.

Code A Season 6: Win first round 2-0 against against the teamless player ShinyStar! Cool!

...Proceed to...wait, am I reading this right? Proceed to win the second round 2-1 against Hero!? CAN YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES, TEAM LIQUID!?

Yeah, that's right, YuGiOh went five straight Code A seasons without once getting to the quarterfinals. He lost in the second round four times, and in the one season he lost in his first match, he came right back up through the qualifiers. Some say it was a curse. Some say it was bad luck by getting tough round of sixteen opponents. Some even believe that GOM is trying to keep YuGiOh in Code A because they don't know if they can handle Artosis' terrible YuGiOh jokes in Code S.

It doesn't matter what was holding him back before because YuGiOh is finally going to have a shot at the Up-and-Downs. Even if a dark magician pops out from the ground and traps him in an endless black vortex, he will have the chance to qualify for Code S through the Up-and-Down groups. He has been trying his hardest for the past year to get into Code S and this is finally his first chance to get into the big show.

Sadly, for poor YuGiOh, I don't see him advancing to the semifinals. Curious is one of the hottest players in the world right now. Before losing to AnnyungPrime in the GSTL playoffs last week, he was on a ten game winning streak in the GSL and cleaning up everyone put in front of him. Ever since Tastosis started ragging on Startale for constantly putting him in the line-up, Curious has been on a vengeful streak to destroy the entire GSL.

If you also look at that YuGiOh's ZvZ isn't his strongest match-up, that Curious is above .500 in it, and that he is in my opinion, the better overall player, it's going to be a steep hill to climb for the young zerg from Slayers. Still, even if I'm predicting against him, why should he care? He's been working for this moment for the past year and this is his chance to prove everyone wrong. If you think YuGiOh is going to go down without pulling a trap card from his sleeve, you haven't been following him the past six months in Code A.

Prediction: Curious 2 - 1 YuGiOh




First a TvT, then a ZvZ, and now a PvP. Look at all that variety Code A is showing us this season! In a battle that pits two of the three remaining protosses left in the competition, the surprising quarter-finalist from FXO, Oz, will take on the fan favorite from TSL, JYP. Oz, a former Brood War player on the team Hite Sparkyz, transfered from fOu to FXO a few months back, played solidly in the GSTL for his new team, and was then reunited with his old team when the two teams he had been a part of fused into one entity.

One of the biggest upsets of the entire tournament was caused by Oz in the first round. Byun, who was a GSL semifinalst only two months ago, got taken out 2-1 by the FXO protoss and sent down to Code B like the rest of his team at ZeNEX. Oz would then go on to 2-0 the highly entertaining and eccentric SUPERSTAR in the round of sixteen. This is his first time qualifying for Code A, and while many expected a quick exit to against a tough terran opponent, Oz is silencing his doubters and making his teammates proud with his solid play.

Now, for the other side of the protoss coin, you have JYP. Exciting. Thinks outside the box. The Innovator, you might say. No wonder he's close friends and a strategic partner with Liquid`HerO. He's an electrifying player who burst his way onto the scene last season when he knocked out former semifinalist anypro from the GSL and then, in a gigantic upset to many, took out the king of GSTL and odds on favorite to win the tournament, DongRaeGu with outstanding use of storm drops and warp prism play. With DRG out of the way, it looked like protoss had found a player to put their faith in. Sadly, in the quarterfinals, we found out his kryptonite was none other than the race of terran and JYP went out in straight sets to Taeja.

Without question, JYP has Code S class vP and vZ. In his last twenty gaems versus those two races, he is 16-4 and boasts an impressive 77% overall winning percentege against protoss. His achilles heel, like many protosses in the current state of the game, is terran. While he has dominated zerg and toss, JYP has lost nine straight against terran. NINE STRAIGHT. He has an abysmal 26% in the match-up and hasn't won a game against them since the LG 3D Special Tournament where he beat MarineKing. The Silver King would get his revenge, though. When it looked like JYP was on the verge of becoming Code S, he dropped two straight games to MarineKing and was pushed back down into Code A.

Luckily for JYP, he destroys protosses and zergs. What is in his way until the final? Protosses and zergs. Keep on rolling, JYP. I enjoy Oz's play and find his play very smart at times, but he has only played one PvP in the GSTL and lost that to Squirtle. You also can't forget his PvP against WannaBeCool from Anaheim where he dropped that series 2-1.

Oz is a monster against zerg, not dropping a game yet in the GSL or at MLG, but the luck of the draw isn't with him and has to take on JYP. At the end of the day, all I want from this series is that it goes longer than twenty minutes. If that happens, we can call it a win for everyone.

Prediction: JYP 2 - 0 Oz



Artosis' Protoss Man Crush #45 hasn't disappointed him yet by getting to the quarterfinals of his first GSL. Sage, like JYP, is another fan favorite in the community after his marvelous all-kill of FXO in his team's first GSTL game of the season. When many believed HoSeo, the team Sage is captain of, would be mauled and embarrassed by the bigger named clubs, the captain stood up when need be and took down Sirius, asd, sC and Leenock in a row to win the match by himself.

Going 1-1 since that match in the GSTL (beating Happy and losing to Losira), Sage is finally in the GSL after trying to qualify forever. He took on Yoda, also known as Mr. 1-1-1, in the first round, defending massive pressure throughout three games to get the victory and preserve his place in Code A. In the second round he was put up against Check, the zerg from Prime who was a hair away from making it into Code S this season. Sage put him away quickly, winning two straight games and heading towards the quarterfinals.

Lucky, most likely the most unknown and/or under the radar player in the round of eight, got to the quarters by going through the Swedish protoss Naniwa in a sweep and then going on to beat the youngster Dream from MvP. His biggest win so far in his career was against Bomber only a few weeks ago in the GSTL. It can be argued how much Bomber tried or cared about that seeing as his team was already locked into the playoffs, but you can't take away the hard earned win Lucky got. He played very well in the game and put his name to many other unknown zergs to beat Bomber.

In terms of the match-up, it's hard to compare. Lucky has only played protoss twice in his tournament career and that was two weeks ago against Naniwa. Sage is 10-10 against zerg, but many of those results come from Korean Weekly tournaments. If you want to look strictly at GSL tournaments, he's 6-3 and only lost to Losira and to Line all the way back in the second ever GSL Open.

Sage has impressed me more with his play in the tournament so far and I think he's the better player of the two, but I don't think it's going to be a simple walkover. We could very well see the popular protoss going down to the FXO zerg. I'm giving the victory to Sage and think he has the talent to hang in Code S, but we all know what usually happens to Artosis' favorite protosses. They stick around for a few months and then, like the changing of seasons, they fall off into the abyss known as Code B. Ask Alicia, he knows how it is to be Artosis' favorite. It didn't turn out very well.

Prediction: Sage 2 - 1 Lucky


Fionn's Quick Hit Predictions:

1. During the sC/Gumiho match, the casters will comment about how Gumiho looks like Leenock. This is the lock of the week, people. Put all your money on this one. It always happens and will continue till one of them grows a mustache.
   
   
2. There will be many bad YuGiOh jokes in the second match. 95% of them will consist of three things: Blue Eyes White Dragons, trap cards, and John's status as the Yu-Gi-Oh Bonjwa. But would you want it any other way?
   
   
3. Not one of the JYP/Oz games will go over 10 minutes.
   
   
4. One of the Sage/Lucky games will go over 30 minutes.
   
   
5. Polt's joining of TSL will improve JYP's PvT and turn it from terrible to slightly above average.
   
   
6. Code A Season 6 Final will be sC versus JYP.
   
   
7. JYP's improved PvT won't be enough and sC takes it with a score of 4-2.
   
   
8. YuGiOh will win his first Up-and-Down match and proceed to lose the next three. Dammit.