Mill.fOrGG vs Quantic.TheStC

Well isn't this familiar. Loyal watchers of the GSL will recognize this as a rematch from Code A Season One, back in happier times when TheStC and fOrGG were teammates on the yet-to-disband oGs team. It was a Ro32 match that time as well, and TheStC ended up triumphing 2 – 1 with his solid mech play.

Months later, we find both players in similar positions. Both players had limited success in Code S and soon fell out, yet they also both found homes on different international teams – Quantic for TheStC, and Millenium for fOrGG. I'm going to say the similarities will continue, as TheStC will one again triumph over fOrGG.

TheStC has had a changing reputation throughout his career, known for TvZ at one point and TvP at another. But at the moment, his solid TvT is the most notable thing about him, especially his mech play. Of course, fOrGG is a good TvT player as well, but he just hasn't impressed as much as TheStC. The difference is that while fOrGG merely wins games, TheStC occasionally shows games where he dominates his opponent. It was something very much apparent in the Code A Ro48, where TheStC showed he was several levels above Punisher, while fOrGG had to struggle to beat an average opponent in TheBest.

Prediction: TheStC 2 – 1 fOrGG

Update: fOrGG has forfeited his match due to activities in the international scene

SlayerS_YuGiOh vs coL.Heart

Heart looked like he had been exposed at MLG Spring Championship, where his cheese favoring, base-trade prone, all around chaos inducing style ceased working entirely, and he ended up going 0 – 5 in the group stage. Though Heart did manage to all-in his way through the first round of Code A against an inexperienced MvP's Lure, one still has to wonder about his long term success against Code S class opposition.

In any case, it seems unlikely that he will be able to repeat his success against YuGiOh, a Code A player that shows Code S talent. YuGiOh has the strangest jinx when competing outside of Code A, flopping in both Code S and the GSTL in the past few months. Yet, when he plays in Code A, he is an absolute monster of a player, even capable of beating champions like MarineKingPrime.

Heart is better than his poor MLG performance shows, and in any other environment he would have a fighting chance. But tonight, he's fighting the King in his court.

Prediction: YuGiOh 2 – 0 Heart


ST_Hack vs. LG-IMHappy

What are you doing here, Hack? The script was perfectly written out for you to get beaten by the returning Losira in the first round and give us a team kill between the two understudies of Nestea and Mvp. Not knowing that he was supposed to lose, Hack killed the comeback story short and kicked Losira and his cat ears all the way back into Code B.

Outside of that, Hack is an interesting player. On his old team ZeNex, he was lined up to be one of their bigger stars. While Byun, Coca, Taeja and Puzzle all went on to meet or even exceed their potential after leaving ZeNex, Hack has been a bit of a rut since leaving his old team. Now with the news that his old team, ZeNEx, has been absorbed by his new team, Startale, maybe he can finally reach the potential that he is capable of.

To get to his first Code S, he is going to have to take on a tough opponent in Happy, one of the weirdest players we've encountered in GSL history. Coming out strong in his early seasons and even reaching a Code S semifinals, Happy was on the verge of becoming the next Terran champion. Mentored by Mvp and in one of the strongest teams in Korea with S-level talent in all three races, Happy was destined for greatness.

Then he just stalled. Not doing terrible here. Not doing particularly great over there. You wouldn't be surprised to see him pick up a few wins, but wouldn't lose sleep when he got thrashed by another player. Ever since making the Code S semifinals and maybe even giving him a better fight than his teammate Mvp did in the finals, Happy has become another one of those above average Terran players with no real direction in his career.

In a series between two players trying to reach the next level in their career, Hack has the chance to make a name for himself. Always in the shadow of Bomber and his other impressive teammates, with a win here, he will be one series victory away from Code S and a chance to add another dangerous weapon to the already killer Startale line-up.

Prediction: Hack 2 - 1 Happy


MVPSniper vs. TSL_HyuN

In a battle of players from the two best Zerg-centric teams in the world, Sniper, the right-hand man of DongRaeGu, will go up against Symbol's right hand man from TSL, the former Brood War pro Hyun. While both are considered second to their teammates who have both made it far in Code S, both are appearing to be players who will be mainstays in Code S as well if they continue the way they are progressing.

Sniper seemed to come out of nowhere. One day all the talk was about how good DongRaeGu is and how the rest of his Zerg teammates should be better since they practice with him every day, and then seemingly from thin air, Sniper comes in, starts crushing top level players in GSTL and qualifying for Code A. With an impressive streak in Code A and qualification for Code S, MVP finally found their second in command for their strong Zerg line-up.

With Hyun, it was a bit different. While Sniper appeared out of the sky, everyone was waiting to see how good Hyun would be. As one of the highest ranked Brood War pros to switch over to SC2 almost a year ago, the speculation has been if he would ever become a great player at the new game. At first, things looked dire, as if he didn't know the units and never went above tier one in late game. Even with great micro and macro, it never really mattered because he would always be stuck with 150 banelings at the end of the game and facing fierce armies that could crush his badly put together force.

Recently, however, he has been getting better at mixing in different units and finally understanding how Zerg is played by the top players in the world. Crushing online tournament after online tournament, the talk is that Hyun is a player to be feared now and is ten times better than where he was at only a few months ago. With his rapid improvement, it shouldn't surprise anyone to see him in Code S next season.

Both players have tremendous strengths. Sniper is the more proven player and has the better GS(T)L results, but Hyun has the bigger potential to be one of the best int he world. If this was two, maybe even one month ago, the smart money would be on Sniper, but Hyun continues to evolve every day he plays.

Prediction: Hyun 2 - 1 Sniper


CreatorPrime vs NSH.Jjakji

If you were shown this match at random and asked where in the GSL it was being played, you would more than likely the second round of Code S or maybe in the quarterfinals. Due to both faltering lately, with Jjakji not even making Code S this season, they are facing off in the second round of Code A. With only one spot open in the final stage of Code A, both will be determined to make a statement against a high caliber challenger.

When looking at Creator's recent results, he's been on fire in online tournaments. He beat his teammate MarineKing and Home Story champion Nerchio to win the first GIGABYTE Invitational, and he has come up big for his team in various team competitions. Even when you check his ladder results, he has multiple accounts on the top half of the Grandmaster ladder with crazy winning percentages around 75%. A lot more was expected from him in his royal road season, but an upset loss to Naniwa in the final match of the night after already beating him once in the first series was his undoing back to Code A.

Since winning his Code S championship in November, Jjakji has been on a bumpy road. He has had some ups, some downs, and even a few pot holes along his way to get back into the upper echelon of Code S. At times it seems like he is finally going to come back and confirm that his championship wasn't a fluke, but then he gets absolutely manhandled in his Up-and-Down group and makes you rethink how good he is.

This will be the match of the night and with the added confidence he should have from playing so well in the GSTL, Jjakji should be able to win a hard fought three game series against one of the best young players in the world.

Prediction: Jjakji 2 - 1 Creator


ST_Bomber vs. FXOGuMiho

Bomber, Bomber, Bomber. Every single season we go through this, don't we? Do people still remember when Bomber was the most hyped up player in the world? People weren't only expecting him to win a Code S title, but multiple championships. He was supposed to be right next to Mvp, MarineKing and MMA on the Mount Rushmore of Terran players in Starcraft 2. With his great showings in GSTL and the MLG in Raleigh, we were all jumping on the Bomber bandwagon and waiting for the Code S championships to start rolling in.

What the hell happened? It has been over a year now since Bomber made his singles debut in the GSL Super Tournament, and he still hasn't even made a GSL semifinal! He still holds the honor of the biggest choke in GSL history with his loss against Byun in GSL July in the quarterfinals and throwing away his best chance at winning a GSL to date. He even fell as low as getting knocked out of GSL entirely and having to battle up through the Code A qualifiers to get back in.

In comparison, Gumiho has never been a hyped player. When Gumiho does well, he is applauded and given a thumbs up by all. When he loses, people shrug, say that he did his best and that there wasn't any real expectations of him getting that far in the first place. When he made his magical run to the semifinals in the first Code S season of the year, people couldn't comprehend what was going on. Gumiho, a player who was always seen as a fringe Code S level player, was kicking ass, taking names, and embarrassing players who made fun of him and thought he was weak.

Ultimately, he would end up losing in five games after winning the first two and dropping the last three to DongRaeGu in the semis, but it was alright. He did his best to get there, beat difficult players to get there, and getting to a semifinal was something Gumiho should be proud of.

In the end, that is the difference between these two. We look back at Bomber losing to Byun after being up 2-0 as one of the biggest chokes in history and a chance wasted to win a championship. We look back at Gumiho losing to DRG after being up 2-0 and recall how damn well he played against one of the best players in the world. While Gumiho can play with a calm mind, knowing that a loss wouldn't be the end of the world, Bomber might feel like the weight of the world is on his shoulders as we await his first championship a year later after proclaiming himself the best player in the world.

Prediction: Gumiho 2 - 1 Bomber


MvP.Vampire vs ST_Suhosin

Vampire was one of the few lucky players to qualify from Code B who made it past the first round, and it looks like he might have a shot at making it even further. After getting BBoongBBoongPrime – a Zerg known more for his ZvT than his ZvP – in the first round, Vampire has drawn the unorthodox Suhosin in the second.

Suhosin's strange style sees him avoid the hive phase whenever possible, and he employs a wide variety of one to three base, hatchery to lair phase attacks to achieve this goal. While it's a very predictable approach, Suhosin has been unpredictable enough with his selection of strategies to be successful, even getting into Code S last season. Crank learned the hard way last week that knowing is only half the battle, with his defensive macro play getting beat down by Suhosin's aggressivestyle nonetheless.

This will be a good test of Vampire's abilities. Weirdos, nonconformists, and free spirits might not have the best success at the highest levels of the GSL, but they are a well represented faction overall. Vampire will have to show he can deal with unorthodox players if he wants to make it into Code S and succeed there.

Prediction: Suhosin 2 – 0 Vampire


EG.ThorZaIN vs EG.JYP

It's been a little over a month since ThorZaIN went to Korea for the second time. He was understandably pummeled by Squirtle when he played his Code S group just a few days after arriving in Korea, but now that he's had time to practice with the vaunted SlayerS team, all eyes will be on the Spoon Terran to see how he has improved.

To be honest, one month is an awfully short amount of time to expect a huge amount of improvement. Even NaNiwa only saw his lengthy stay in Korea really pay off after several months. Luckily for ThorZaIN, he probably won't need to have improved too much to get past his next opponent.

JYP might be an excellent PvZ and PvP player, but unfortunately his reputation for being an atrocious PvT player has overshadowed just about everything else. His record of 2 – 20 in the GSL suggests that it's gone beyond a matter of actual skill. A reasonable lower bound for a match-up handicapped progamer's win rate is around 35% at worst (gleaned from a decade of BW stats); an absurd number like 10% basically means JYP has a psychological block.

I have no doubt that JYP is a much, much better PvT player when he's not under the spotlight. If the two have met up randomly on ladder, or played against each other in practice matches, I'm going to assume that JYP probably had the higher win rate. But he's failed time and time again to defeat Terran opponents when it matters the most, in the GSL booth.

With so many factors outside the actual game affecting this match, it's hard to tell who will win. In the end, I have to give the slight edge to ThorZaIN. JYP's PvT is slowly turning into one of the iconic curses of Starcraft II, and those kind of curses never break easily, if ever.

Prediction: ThorZaIN 2 – 0 JYP