With a win over Ace in the last round of Code A, we got to see a side of Keen that we haven't witnessed in a long time. He was smiling, happy, and performed his first ceremony in almost a year. With the grin back on his face and one win away from getting back to Code S, he'll have lots of celebrating to do if he can get past the three-time GSL champion Nestea. He was able to continue his impressive run against Protoss going into this tournament, beating MacSed and then Ace in impressive fashion, but he'll need to turn it up a few levels to defeat the Incredible Miracle veteran.

Nestea's dream of winning four championships were set aflame once again in disappointing fashion. A round of sixteen exit looks bad from the outside, but if you see that his only losses of the tournament were the two finalists of the entire Code S season, Genius and DongRaeGu, and that he narrowly lost to both in the final set, you can't say that the God of Zerg is in a slump in the GSL. MLG Winter Arena was disappointing, but Nestea has never excelled at international tournaments. At the end of the day, the only thing Nestea craves is a GSL title. Foreign money and fame are great, but the fourth Code S title is what keeps him up at night.

This should be a three game series either way. Nestea isn't the best at ZvT and Keen plays the match-up very well, but you never know now what kind of performance you'll be getting from the former GSL champion. Will he play like he did in the first round of Code S and absolutely smash Keen to smithereens like he did to MVP, or will he look like the player he did against Genius and DongRaeGu in the round of sixteen where his decisions cost him a chance to make another final?

Prediction: Nestea 2 - 1 Keen




When Nada won his first ever major Brood War tournament in 2001, Maru was three years old.

When Nada won his first Starleague in 2003, Maru was five years old.

Now, will the bonjwa from Brood War be able to hold off the young blood from Starcraft 2 and return again to Code S? The Tornado Terran has had a rough couple of months, failing to get very deep in any GSL tournaments and not getting back to the same level he was at when he made his first and only semifinals run in GSL May. Now after leaving oGs and only having a year left before starting his compulsory military service, Nada will try to leave a lasting mark on eSports as he joins the foreign team Complexity for one last shot at not only becoming a GSL champion, but an international winner as well.

Maru has nothing to lose in this series and everything to gain. If he wins, he'll become the youngest Code S participant of all-time. In doing so, he would be able to knock off a player with a gold badge from his MSL victories, a gold mouse from his OSL victories, and millions of other accolades he has won during his time playing Starcraft. If he loses? So what, he's fourteen-years-old, gets to play in the Up-and-Down matches and has at least a decade of Starcraft left in front of him. Going into this series, there should be no pressure on the young progamer.

One player's career is slowly dwindling down while the other player's is just truly beginning. Before leaving for mandatory service in the Korean military, Nada wants to make this the year to remember. Maru, on the other hand, wants to go to school the next morning and tell his friends that he was able to knock out one of the biggest eSport icons in history. Their age and accomplishments may differ, but their current skills and results are equal, maybe even favoring Maru when it comes to recent results. When people talk about young blood versus the old guard, this is what they're talking about and we'll see who is left standing when it's over.

Prediction: Maru 2 - 1 Nada




Despite his young age, Zenio has been an iconic Code S guy alongside your Nesteas, Nadas, and Killers of the world. However, in this round at least, it doesn't look like he'll be making his return.

We really believe sC is a championship caliber player, who has just had the horrible misfortune of suffering from a chronic collapsed lung, preventing him from practicing as hard as he could (a common activity for those suffering collapsed lungs: lie down and wallow in pain all day). Despite his health problems, sC has stuck around and competed with the best of the best, even making a deep semi-final run that was only thwarted by Nestea's brilliance. Last season he was taken out early, but it was his teammates and eventual finalists Genius and DongRaeGu who defeated him.

Zenio's best match-up is ZvT, but it hasn't inspired much confident as of late. Recent defeats to top GSL TvZers MMA and Gumiho are understandable, but losses to top foreigner Kas are things that must be noted. Kas is one of the best TvZers in Europe, but I think it's safe to say that sC is a challenge on another level. It makes victory doubtful for Zenio.

Prediction: sC 2 - 0 Zenio




This is where the difficult level ramps up for Killer, after getting through weak challenges from XiGua and Brown in the earlier rounds. MKP is returning from MLG Winter Arena with the championship, one that was largely built on very strong TvP performances. NaNiwa, HuK, and Parting all suffered one sided defeats at the hands of MKP. Meanwhile, Killer's last three PvTs were in last season's Up-Downs, where he dropped three straight to Ryung, Gumiho, and Bomber.

I think it's safe to say that TvP is actually MKP's best match-up now, having eclipsed his more famous TvZ. Zerg players have adjusted over the course of a year to all that marine splitting and infantry micro, and they now have better creep spread, flanks, and tactics. Furthermore, some of them just use ling-festor, neutralizing all those cute marines tactics before they begin.

On the other hand, being ridiculously aggressive with infantry and microing them perfectly is still something that works pretty damn well in TvP. Just like he emerged victorious over what looked like unbeatable amounts of Zerg splash in banelings, MKP is now engaging colossi and HT deathballs and picking them apart with his positioning and micro. Sorry Killer, you'll have to try your luck in the Up/Downs.

Prediction: MKP 2 - 0 Killer