TheStC advances to Code S Ro16 TaeJa advances to Code S Ro16
Jjakji falls to Code A Ro32 DRG falls to Code A Ro48
TheStC Makes History
Throughout the history of Code S, the champion from the previous season has been given the opportunity to look at the lowly nerds below him, make a few jokes at their expense, and pick one to slaughter as a sacrifice to the Starcraft gods so that he might have another bountiful season. Last season, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Jjakji, the November champion, chose the seeded foreigner Sen to be his prey for his first round opponent. Sen tried to put up a fight, but like past champion picked players, he got crushed and made people go, 'Wow, does this guy even deserve to be in Code S?'
We've seen Nestea crush Kyrix's spirit at group nominations, implying that his first round challenger didn't even deserve to be in the same room with him. Kyrix, to that insult, replied, 'Yeah...maybe so' and set the tone for their match where Nestea beat up on another one of the poor, lowly rated Code S players who had no hope against the bully known as the champion.
Hyperdub TheWind Rain Kyrix Ensnare YuGiOh Sen
All seven were chosen by a champion and all were unable to defeat their tormentor. Going into the group, TheStC hadn't looked very impressive in TvZ. His past results showed that he had the capability to be a player who could do well against DRG, but his recent showings gave the impression that he would end up beaten like the rest. He was just another lowly nerd, picked due to his inexperience or weakness in a certain match-up, going up against the defending champion who was called by many to be the best player in the entire world.
Then, like a cliche from a bad movie, the scrawny kid fought back and knocked the bully off his feet. TheStC was able to destroy the streak of champions winning against the player they chose in the first round. DRG didn't play as well as you would have hoped, obviously not in the right mindset after a silver medal against MarineKing at Columbus, but StC played the best I've seen him play TvZ in his career. He dropped the second map, but he completely overran DRG in the first game and with a little help from DRG's sloppiness, was able to take the series in a gigantic win (in my cinematic adaptation of this story, TheStC yells "THIS IS FOR KYRIX AND ENSNAAAARRRRRREE" before landing the final blow).
In the winners' match, TheStC didn't disappoint, showing his top level TvT play. Jjakji, who was barely able to squeak past Taeja in their first series, looked completely outmatched in his worst match-up against StC's best. With a clear 2-0 victory and win over DRG, TheStC took a gigantic step towards SuperNoVa to make the claim he's actually the best Terran and ace of oGs.
Liquid Monster
Yesterday, when I prematurely talked about how this would be Taeja's most important night in his career with every foreign team wanting to see if he was really that damn good, I said that if he could beat Jjakji and DRG, every foreign team would be throwing bundles of cash at him. Well, after his signing with Liquid was announced and he debuted in his new uniform, you could say that TaeJa was out to make aLive's reign as 'best Korean signing of 2012' very short lived. Not only was he able to advance, but he 2-0'ed DongRaeGu and played two amazing series against Jjakji.
Usually when you lose a series, it's a downer. With Taeja, you could very well it was a good thing. He was defeated by Jjakji narrowly in their first encounter, but Taeja didn't look bad. Jjakji did a powerful two base mech timing in the second set and due to a perfectly placed turret in game three that killed Taeja's doom drop, Taeja had to go down to the loser's round against DongRaeGu. Even after looking stellar in his first series, it was a tall order to take on the defending champion in a do-or-die series where if he lost, a lot of questions would have arisen if he truly was worth all the hype.
Well, Taeja answered that with a straight knock out punch to DRG. Again, DRG didn't play well at all, even building two ultralisk caverns in game two when he felt his Code S spot slipping well, but it doesn't take away from the fact that Taeja absolutely mauled him. There's really nothing to say about that series than DRG played badly and Taeja stomped him. Going into his final series of the night in another series against Jjakji, Taeja wasn't going to let this golden opportunity to defeat another champion fall by the wayside.
Taeja's marine-tank play was world class, taking out Jjakji in another long TvT in the first map of their second series even after forgetting stim early in the game. With his back against the wall, Jjakji went for a timing attack that he's quite known for off one base. Taeja, on two bases, tried to defend with bunkers, vikings, marines and tanks of his own, but the armies traded evenly and the new Liquid player was forced back into his main. At this time, Jjakji was in an amazing position, having his player stuck in his main while he could get his own economy going.
Even when Jjakji was up 20+ supply in the middle of the game and looking in almost perfect situation to win, Taeja wouldn't quit. His macro was insane, being able to keep up production and stick around with Jjakji's supply even when it looked like he was coming out on the losing side in some battles. Eventually, due to his persistence, macro and ability to position himself better than his opponent, TaeJa was able to overtake Jjakji's lead. With an overall score of 3-2 over Jjakji, the November champion, and a 2-0 victory over DRG, the GSL 2012 Season One champion, Taeja cemented his place besides his new teammate Hero in the round of sixteen.
Crushed Champions
In short, the champions got beat badly.
Jjakji, not much of a surprise. He's an absolutely incredible TvZ player and a very good TvP player, but his TvT has always been his weakest match-up. His one and two base timing attacks are deadly, but in the late game, as Taeja and TheStC showed us, he's quite weak. If he had gotten a better draw and didn't have to play all three matches against Terran, he could have advanced, but luck just wasn't on his side this time around.
DongRaeGu falling in 4th, of course, was the bigger surprise of the evening. After losing to MKP at Columbus, he traveled back to Korea and had to play even more ZvT's. MKP said that the way to beat DRG as a Terran was to beat him early before he could get into the late game, but DRG got into the later parts of the game on almost every map and played sloppily. With better control and the good decision making that we're used to seeing from DRG, he would have won the first series against TheStC and been on his way to probably qualifying out of the group. But tonight, when everyone was waiting to see him bounce back after getting second at MLG, he looked more like the player who got knocked out in the round of sixteen in Code A rather than the champion that we've come to know in the past two months.
His road to Code S isn't the toughest, having to play Revival and then either Jookto or Ace, but if he plays like he did last night, all bets are off.
Bañe-ata by shiroiusagi.
Writers: Fionn. Graphics and Art: Meko and shiroiusagi. Editor: Waxangel.
very impressive showing from Liquid'Taeja last night. at first i was confused about the #1 ELO rank and the hype but i refuse to comment before watching gameplay and i must say that even if he didn't deserve all the hype and the ranking before he does now today.... this guy looks Scary and liquid looks alot stronger with him in the line-up. great job getting your hands on this player. looking forward to seeing future games by Taeja in the liquid uniform.
On March 30 2012 02:03 BuffaloSoljah wrote: very impressive showing from Liquid'Taeja last night. at first i was confused about the #1 ELO rank and the hype but i refuse to comment before watching gameplay and i must say that even if he didn't deserve all the hype and the ranking before he does now today.... this guy looks Scary and liquid looks alot stronger with him in the line-up. great job getting your hands on this player. looking forward to seeing future games by Taeja in the liquid uniform.
Taeja has long been an underrated player. By joining Liquid people are finally beginning to give him credit for his play.
I said that everyone could 2-0 or 0-2 in yesterday preview, offcourse the player i would rank the best chances was the one who did it. This was a really wildcard group. Now tomorrow will be a much easier time.
On paper this is all a big upset, but really, every single series was incredibly one sided with the exception of Taeja/Jjakji. (Which was pretty damn close though) StC played fantastic and deserved the #1 spot without a doubt, the other two terrans were fairly evenly matched and both of them deserved to go through really, but unfortunately there was only room for one of them. DRG... well, he did not look like a Code S Champion today, I'll tell you that, he hardly even looked like a Code A player, and his games gradually decreased in quality as the day progressed as well. I hate to say it, but he definately deserved 4th place today. Gonna be interesting to see the future of this Code S from here on; I really want to see if MKP can officially become number one instead of being forever second.
To the guys complaining about balance, couldn't it be that Terran is more flexible while Zerg nowadays almost exclusively drones up to infestation pit, then f-click and a-moves? Or if he scouts mech, roach and a-move.
Just watch DRG's games. That's all he did. For moments, against theStC, it looked like he didn't even care. He tried once with Mutas but it was painfully obvious he 'lost it'. He didn't even micro them either besides some innocent harassment.
They should try other builds before complaining about balance and demanding -yet another- nerf to terran.
Nice play from Taeja. But to me he is not yet really a liquid-player yet. Neither is Zenio. Well, time will tell. Now excuse me, I have to go hype IMLosira.
Well got the first 2 games right on my liquibets, but not the 2 players who would advance (picked TheStC & DRG)
Stoaked my favourite sc2 player since the beta is performing well so far in Code S, looked really strong last night.
On another note, out of last seasons top 4 only Genius has advanced to the next round. DRG, aLive & GuMiho have all fallen to the first round of Code A
EDIT: If NesTea plays well this season, good opportunity for him to take his throne back
It feels like every time Liquid acquires a player, suddenly that player gets a major boost to his game (not just perception) -- HerO went from "Code B hideout" to "Code S standby" almost overnight... Zenio went from the verge of dropping out of Code A to being a Code S monster again, Sheth went from "couldn't hang with FXO in Korea" to "Team League monster and best NA Zerg"... and Taeja was always good but now he's beasting Code S champions?
On March 30 2012 04:31 mDuo13 wrote: It feels like every time Liquid acquires a player, suddenly that player gets a major boost to his game (not just perception) -- HerO went from "Code B hideout" to "Code S standby" almost overnight... Zenio went from the verge of dropping out of Code A to being a Code S monster again, Sheth went from "couldn't hang with FXO in Korea" to "Team League monster and best NA Zerg"... and Taeja was always good but now he's beasting Code S champions?
Now that's the Liquid Difference!
What? It took months for Hero to get Code S. Ever after he joined Liquid.
On March 30 2012 02:03 BuffaloSoljah wrote: very impressive showing from Liquid'Taeja last night. at first i was confused about the #1 ELO rank and the hype but i refuse to comment before watching gameplay and i must say that even if he didn't deserve all the hype and the ranking before he does now today.... this guy looks Scary and liquid looks alot stronger with him in the line-up. great job getting your hands on this player. looking forward to seeing future games by Taeja in the liquid uniform.
Taeja has long been an underrated player. By joining Liquid people are finally beginning to give him credit for his play.
I 100% agree. A lot of people didn't hear of him yet, but he has been on the verge of a GSL break out for a long time now. He already had two all kills in the GSTL and also several on line cups, but mostly people remember recent code S seasons. I hope he can start to get the attention he really deserves ^_^.
On March 30 2012 02:03 BuffaloSoljah wrote: very impressive showing from Liquid'Taeja last night. at first i was confused about the #1 ELO rank and the hype but i refuse to comment before watching gameplay and i must say that even if he didn't deserve all the hype and the ranking before he does now today.... this guy looks Scary and liquid looks alot stronger with him in the line-up. great job getting your hands on this player. looking forward to seeing future games by Taeja in the liquid uniform.
Taeja has long been an underrated player. By joining Liquid people are finally beginning to give him credit for his play.
I 100% agree. A lot of people didn't hear of him yet, but he has been on the verge of a GSL break out for a long time now. He already had two all kills in the GSTL and also several on line cups, but mostly people remember recent code S seasons. I hope he can start to get the attention he really deserves ^_^.
Taeja's been known as a really good player for a long time. He wasn't at all under the radar.
I think the article exaggerates how "badly" DRG played today, sure it wasn't the best and he made mistakes but this could just as easily be a case of people getting used the the unorthodox play style of DRG. Again I am not saying DRG was it his best today but to say that he would have beaten thestc if he had been is in no way a sure thing imo.
On March 30 2012 07:16 horsebanger wrote: Taeja 3 - 3 Jiakji ; Taeja advances
Some extreme math skills right here... jjakji won 2-1 when they met first. Then Taeja won 2-0. 3-2 to Taeja. ofc it could have been 3-3 and Taeja would have advanced but that's their format, some games are more important than others.
with TaeJa joining liquid it seems that he is overshadowing the achievement of the stc, they both played really well to advance from this group but please do not jump on the traditional fanboy wagon. By all means support your favourite player its just that far too often the hype surrounding certain players puts a lot of pressure on them to perform well but that will not always be the case
MKP is clicking on all cylinders and is on a huge momentum streak. Could this be his chance for glory? Really curious about how he, DRG and the others that may be traveling to the US about once a month for MLG Arenas and Championships will handle all that travel.
Drg will still win foreign tournies no doubt and place top 5 in them he will come back into Code S no problem. The actual potential for every player who makes into the ro16 each and every one of them has a chance at Code S. The amount of skill and talent is amazing. The two players i'mma be looking for are HerO and MC are my two favorites too win Code S, if HerO can make ro8 he has an amazing chance at winning Code S.
Terran players should be very scared. With DRG falling, Zerg seems to have little hope of accomplishing anything in the GSL and Terran looks as strong as ever --which of course means that another nerf is incoming! I'm only kidding in part. We'll have to wait and see whether Zerg's can somehow figure out how to consistently beat Terrans in the late game. It seems to me that part of the problem is poor control. DRG's infestor control was simply not that good and his decisions as to when and where to engage were also not top flight, but then again, which zergs are really good at that in the late game? Surely not nestea, maybe Leenock and Stephano.
Taeja and TheSTC are two of my favorite korean terran players so I'm very thrilled to see them moving on. It's still sad to see DongRaeGu and Jjakji drop down to Code A though.
You know, between Genius' all Colossus, no Thermal Lance PvP and Taeja's Stimless Marine/Tank, I think forgetting supposedly crucial upgrades is actually an important step in securing victory.
Incidentally, Genius is the only player from last season's Ro4 to not have been relegated to Code A ro48. Genius cursed them all out of anger for his loss .
I like how they talk as if Taeja was great and it was thanks to TL he's so good. You just bought him, your team has done nothing lately.. Enough of the bias
On March 30 2012 10:00 StelleWind wrote: so bad for DRG..but I believe he is still the best zerg in the world right now. He will come back soon
also, taeja was amazing
Cleary DRG is no longer the best Zerg if he went winless in his own hand picked pool. Until he proves he is good again, we just have to believe he is on the decline. This is the cycle of SC2!
On March 30 2012 10:00 StelleWind wrote: so bad for DRG..but I believe he is still the best zerg in the world right now. He will come back soon
also, taeja was amazing
Cleary DRG is no longer the best Zerg if he went winless in his own hand picked pool. Until he proves he is good again, we just have to believe he is on the decline. This is the cycle of SC2!
If im not mistaken, its a random generated pool with the ranked seeds seperated... RO16 is the hand picked one.. if you can call it that he gets to pick one, and they pick the next, and the next picks the last...
On March 30 2012 10:00 StelleWind wrote: so bad for DRG..but I believe he is still the best zerg in the world right now. He will come back soon
also, taeja was amazing
Cleary DRG is no longer the best Zerg if he went winless in his own hand picked pool. Until he proves he is good again, we just have to believe he is on the decline. This is the cycle of SC2!
If im not mistaken, its a random generated pool with the ranked seeds seperated... RO16 is the hand picked one.. if you can call it that he gets to pick one, and they pick the next, and the next picks the last...
Winner and runner up get to pick the player that they play in match one. Genius chose B4 and DRG chose STC
Wow, what happened to DRG? Can't believe he lost to an opponent he picked... now he's at risk of being dropped completely from the GSL if he loses his next match. And he completely let MVP down vs StarTale last night, too...
EPT
DRG <ESV Ohana RE> 
TheStC![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/shiroiusagi/drg_banelingbust.gif)
