Fighting for Four
– Mvp defeats NaNiwa 3 – 1

The dream of becoming the first four-time champion in GSL history lived on for LG-IM's Mvp as he made it to the GSL semi-finals for the sixth time in his career. Unfortunately, the nature of tournaments is that for one to dream to live, another one must die, and Quantic.NaNiwa's hope to become the second foreigner ever to make it into the GSL semi-finals was sacrificed in the name of Mvp's quest for glory.

NaNiwa had been known one of the hardest preparing, most diligently practicing foreign players, and he was reported to have participated in intensive training sessions with ST_Bomber for this match. However, Mvp showed that while NaNiwa had come a long way by winning his very first GSL games this season, he still had more to learn before he could win his very first series – especially against a player who had won over a dozen such series in his career.

In the first game on Cloud Kingdom, Mvp used an unusually tank heavy two base build, which proved to be just the answer against NaNiwa's plan to go for colossi off two bases. NaNiwa could not dare attack into Mvp's long ranged defenses, and conversely found himself unable to defend against a huge marine-tank-viking push when Mvp decided to move out.

Mvp then picked up an easy victory on Entombed Valley, where he used a one base marine-SCV all-in to dispose of NaNiwa's attempt at the trendy forge fast expansion. Although NaNiwa even went up to three cannons at his ramp after sensing something fishy, he did not pull his probes in time to fight together with the cannons, allowing the marines and SCVs to steamroll through without trouble.

NaNiwa was able to hit back in the third game, where he detected a no-stim marine-tank push from Mvp and prepared a large number of charge-zealots and immortals in time for the attack. It was the feeblest showing from Mvp – and the best from NaNiwa – on the night, with NaNiwa able to completely crush the push and immediately counter attack for a victory.

In the fourth and final game, Mvp decided he would see if NaNiwa had learned anything from the second game and went for another one base all-in with a double proxy-barracks bunker rush. Like the second game, NaNiwa sensed something was up, and managed to scout out the proxy-barracks in time to back track from his original plan of greedily expanding and play more conservatively. However, he was already partially invested into his initial plan, and was still at a disadvantage while defending. NaNiwa picked the incorrect time to pull his probes and zealots for a desperate attempt to remove the bunkers building in his base, but it ended up being a suicide charge. With most of his probes lost and a bunker firing down on his nexus, NaNiwa was forced to GG out.

After the games, Mvp said that he had noticed NaNiwa played with a focus on economy, sometimes excluding the possibility of Terran cheese rushes altogether. His plan was to punish that tendency, a plan that ended up working very well. NaNiwa's StartaleQuantic teammate PartinG chipped in later as well, mentioning that Mvp had hidden his cheesy side in his recent games, and that might have caused NaNiwa to underestimate that possibility during his preparations.

Despite his loss, it was still a successful season for NaNiwa. Coming in with the goal of winning just a single game, NaNiwa exceeded everyone's expectations and secured a seed in the next Code S season with his top eight finish. For Mvp, his top four finish was another day at the office. The only way he can impress is to out-do himself – the curse of being the most successful player in SC II history.



The Danger of Black Magic
– PartinG defeats Oz 3 – 0

After providing the community with a popular quote about how PvP was not all luck, not a coin flip, and truly a matter of skill, FXOz was finally vindicated in his series against ST_PartinG. Unfortunately for Oz, it wasn't his skill trumping over chance. Ironically, it was PartinG holding off Oz's strange and dangerous builds with expert decision making, precise micro, and all around superior play. Against a less decisive, slower-thinking player, Oz's unorthodox play may have netted him easy wins, but PartinG saw right through him.

In the first game on the absurdly long Atlantis Spaceship, Oz came in determined to make a forge fast expansion work in PvP. The result was predictable: PartinG made stalkers off of one base and killed Oz. However, it may not have been so cut and dry. PartinG mentioned after the games that he himself had experimented with FFE builds in the past, and it might have given him knowledge of the build's weaknesses. PartinG's rush to destroy Oz's pylons and de-power the gatewayss were key to his victory, and other players may not have known to exploit it.

The second game on Entombed Valley was a display of sheer brilliance on PartinG's part. Going for a one base colossus build against a very fast blink-stalker rush from Oz, PartinG made crisp decisions such as immediately canceling his robotics support bay to hold off the first blink attack, and then cancelling it one more time to opt for a fast attack on Oz's fast expansion follow-up.

The highlight play of the night came when PartinG moved out to attack Oz's expansion, sending his stalkers in one direction while two immortals zoned away the nine containing stalkers from Oz. While Oz was focusing on blink micro take out what seemed like two gift immortals, the rest of PartinG's army marched straight into Oz's natural before sentries could put up their force-fields.

What was most impressive about the move was that it wasn't luck – PartinG anticipated it perfectly. Unable to adequately describe it in layman's terms, PartinG later explained that he simply felt that Oz was going to take the bait and try and take down the two immortals, simply from the way the stalkers moved. PartinG was looking at his immortals the entire time and studying Oz's stalkers, all to make one critical read.

Oz brought one more strange yet clever build on the final game on Daybreak, going for a gas first DT rush with a hidden twilight council and dark shrine. The brilliance of the build was in the placement of his buildings. He hid them in plain sight, right under his own nose, behind the minerals of his natural. PartinG sensed something was up and searched everywhere, but simply could not think to look in his opponent's natural.

Things appeared to be going rather swimmingly for Oz at first, but his extremely fast DT rush left him with no map presence whatsoever, and PartinG's thorough map searching made sure there were no proxy pylons anywhere on the map. Some three gate pressure meant PartinG did end up discovering the dark shrine before it was too late, as his stalkers stumbled over the building as they crowded around the bottom of Oz's ramp. PartinG was able to get up a robo in time, thwart the DT's, expand, and then safely ride his economic advantage to a victory.

Having built up a reputation for being a cocky up and comer, PartinG credited a rediscovered sense of modesty for helping him defeat Oz. Though he wasn't able to fully shed his sense of self confidence and bluster when pushed (“In my heart, I think I'll beat Mvp 3 – 0, but I'll say 3 – 1 because he's Mvp”), he said that practicing like he did in the days before fame was crucial in his victory.


Game of the Night: PartinG vs Oz – Game Two

Because, PartinG is kinda smart.

In a quarterfinal series between two former teammates who still live under the same roof, we will either be witness to a first time Code S-er's continued journey down the Royal Road, or the long delayed break-out of a player who has been toiling under the radar for over a year. One of Liquid's two players in the quarterfinal, Hero, will try to make the legend of the Royal Road a reality in SC II, becoming the first player to win Code S in his debut season. After having success in foreign events and amassing a gigantic fan base due to his exciting, micro-based play, HerO was finally able figure out the equation of success in Code S.

Getting past his nervousness issues and being able to play his best in the GOM booth, Hero not only got past the first round, but topped his round of sixteen group by beating MVP. The biggest critique of Hero was that you never knew what to expect from him when the pressure was on, but so far this GSL, he brought his A-game each and every time. He fought off elimination in the first round by beating Curious in the final match of the night, and then took down some of the best players in the world in Leenock and MVP in the second round. Say what you will about his nice hair and the Liquid brand being behind a lot of the hype – HerO's play has shown he deserves all of it.

Going up against Hero will be the most underrated player on the planet, the ace of oGs, SuperNoVa. All the way back in the November season, after a dazzling performance in the WCG qualifiers and playing great games against a slightly less maimed MVP, I picked Supernova to win it all. His play was crisp, patient, and mirrored Mvp's style a lot. SuperNoVa had never made a deep run in Code S, but had consistently done well for a few seasons, and it felt like the time was right to make his breakthrough.

Supernova would then go on to be eliminated in the first round after somehow losing a game where he had an advantage against eventual champion Jjakji where both players went for the same marauder proxy rush. And that's the story of his career in a nutshell. Supernova shows amazing, world-beating, Code S champion class play in the first round, and then falls apart in the round of sixteen to repeat the cycle next season.

With this quarterfinal appearance, Supernova has confirmed that next season he'll be in his eighth straight Code S. With Nada falling out of the GSL entirely, he holds the record for second most continuous Code S appearances and is only behind Nestea in that category. MC, MVP, MMA? Nope, Supernova has been more consistent and has been able to keep afloat in the ever changing landscape of the GSL.

So, is this finally Supernova's season? His TvP didn't look that good coming into the tournament, usually resorting to all-ins or cheeses for the past few seasons, but he proved in the first two rounds that not only can he go into a late game with a good Protoss, but he can beat them as well. He isn't the most popular player left in the tournament, and he might not be the flashiest, but there is no question that Supernova is the most consistent player still left in the final eight.


Overall outlook and prediction:

This is a really tough match to predict. Supernova said in his winner interview last round that he didn't feel confident facing Hero, but that's obvious since they live in the same house. Usually when you see teammates or players who live in the same house play against each other in an important series, cheeses and tricky strategies will be used by both sides. Considering that Supernova loved to use timing attacks and early game rushes before this season against Protoss, don't be surprised if you don't see the longest games imaginable.

Hero is a great player and has proved this season that he deserves to be in Code S, but Supernova is just as desperate as he is to make the semi-finals and get validation. Going up against a Terran player with a 66% win rate against Protoss, and one that can play very unpredictably with both macro games and complete all-ins is a dangerous prospect.

Hero has played a similar opponent in PuMa in the past (unpredictable, close to Hero and very familiar with each others' styles). The, Hero preferred to go for greedy builds into macro games in those games, and victory and defeat often hinged on his ability to read his opponent's cheese rushes.

Whatever happens, Hero will need to play better than he did against MVP to get to the semifinals. This will either be the breakthrough for Supernova, or, for the seventh straight season, a tournament where he wasn't able to fully realize his potential.

Prediction: Hero 3 – 2 Supernova




These two faced off in last season's third round of Code A. In a match where the winner would directly go into Code S while the loser had to go up the strenuous Up and Downs, Taeja steamrolled Squirtle with a 2 – 0 score and made his second appearance in Code S.

Squirtle didn't let that bring him down, winning his Up and Down group with a dominating 4-0 score and having an out of this world record of 17-4 in the GSL and GSTL ever since Taeja beat him in Code A. That doesn't even take into account his trip to Las Vegas where he went through the Open Bracket, beating big name after big name, and made it to the finals where he only lost to Alive after having to face the task of winning back-to-back Bo5's against one of the better Terrans in the world.

Not to be outdone by his Pokemon rival, Taeja has also been on a hot streak of late, beating Jjakji and DongRaeGu in the first round of this season before beating TheStC and MarineKing in the round of sixteen. He has been pushed to the edge of elimination in both groups he's been apart of, but by making it out of two straight groups of death, Taeja has shown that his online success in Korea was no fluke. Think about this: Jjakji and MarineKing, two of the best Terrans in the entire world, beat Taeja in the first go around, but in the rematch, both times, Taeja was able to get revenge by beating them both with a score of 2-0.

#1 and #2 in the current Korean ELO rankings, these two players are playing like the best players in the world. Squirtle has taken the best PvP in the world title from Oz, beating him down in the round of sixteen, and showing that his PvT is no weakness either by beating Maru to advance first in the group. Taeja, who seems to be solid in all three match-ups, hasn't played a lot of Protoss in the GSL, but has the all-time record against Squirtle, having six wins to two in his favor.

Overall outlook and prediction:

Watch. This. Series. MVP and Naniwa might have had more hype, but this is the best quarterfinal series of this season. Both players are playing out of their minds currently and the winner should be considered a favorite to win the whole tournament. Taeja plays a very similar style in TvP as MarineKing, Polt and the like, while Squirtle has become known for his two base colossi play that has been able to take down some of the best Terran in the world.

If you look at their series last season in Code A, Taeja played worlds better than Squirtle. Unfortunately for Taeja, Squirtle has evolved into an entirely different player after that loss, going on the run of a lifetime. A lot like the Hero and Supernova series, this will be extremely close and should be at least a four game series. Squirtle, with his current play, should be the favorite, having won both of his Code S groups while Taeja has gotten second in both of his, but if Taeja can figure out how to beat Squirtle's colossi timing pushes, the Liquid player just might take it.

Prediction: Squirtle 3 – 2 Taeja