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The Soul Train Chugs Along
– ST_PartinG advances in first place.

As one of pro-gaming's brashest players, PartinG has always enjoyed talking a great deal, but has sometimes had trouble putting his money where his mouth is. Monday night's Code S group was another important step for PartinG as he seeks to reestablish himself as a true championship contender, coming on the back of a second place finish at WCS Asia and an all-kill of LG-IM in the GSTL.

Compared to those two feats, the Code S Ro32 was not quite as impressive. He did look very strong against a skillful TvP player in TSL_Polt – using a variation on his old "PartinG build" (fast double expansion PvT) and a marvelous cheese defense to take a 2 – 1 victory – but his win over Code S rookie MVP.finale came as a surprise to no one. Even so, it was an important step for PartinG, as it ensures his survival in Code S, the league where he must prove himself the most.

After the matches, PartinG was full of his usual bluster, and spoke of his desire to be in a Ro16 group of death containing DongRaeGu, MarineKing, and Rain: three opponents who had prevented him from reaching a championship in the past. Rain in particular was the subject of PartinG's attention and envy, with the Startale Protoss wondering if he could have won the OSL had he triumphed in their quarter-final meeting.

– TSL_Polt comes in second, Liquid`TaeJa and MVP.finale eliminated.

Going into the group, many thought the overall picture was clear cut: TaeJa would advance, finale would bomb, while Polt and PartinG would fight for the scraps. However, such predictions were tossed into disarray with the very first match of the night and the tournament.

In what is sure to be one of the most surprising upsets of the Code S season, the newcomer finale took down a lackluster TaeJa in two consecutive sets. While a hidden pylon 4-gate was the cause of defeat in one game, there was no question that TaeJa had been outplayed in the other, getting overpowered by finale in a straight macro game.

This led to a losers match between Polt and TaeJa which was a revenge match from the previous season, where the two had met in a different elimination match. That time, TaeJa had dismantled Polt, looking far superior in TvT. However, the rematch turned out to be a shocking reversal, with TaeJa looking strangely off while Polt bulldozed through. Even after taking a lead in game one, TaeJa slowly fell apart against Polt's superior engagement selection. When they started off on even footing in game two, TaeJa did not look like he stood a chance.

After PartinG ran a PvP clinic in the winners match, that left the unlikely darkhorse finale to go up against Polt for the final Code S seed of the group. Finale did not disappoint after his earlier victory over TaeJa, safely taking the first map with solid macro play on the Protoss favored Whirlwind.

Unfortunately for finale, there would be no second upset. Polt quickly evened the score on Antiga Shipyard, successfully defending against finale's blink-stalker all-in while back-dooring the empty main with hellions. Polt then completed the comeback on Cloud Kingdom, holding off a 6-gate all-in from finale with a combination of good scouting and impeccable game sense.


Impressions

PartinG and Polt: Par for the course. These are players that are supposed to be in the Ro16, and their real challenges lie ahead.

finale: It was a great Code S debut for the MVP Protoss, and he surpassed everyone's expectations by finishing third in a very hard group. PartinG may have mangled him in PvP, but he looked solid in macro PvT games. Code S is only getting harder though, and at his current level, he's no lock to stay in. He'll have to keep improving if he wants to become a regular.

TaeJa: The worst single day performance from TaeJa in a very long time. Whether it was due to his worsening wrist pain or some other reason, TaeJa just looked totally off on the night. If he continues to play like this, then even the Code A Ro48 is a tough proposition for him.

TSL_Symbol has sealed the hole in his heart. After Seed took Symbol’s soul two seasons ago, Symbol nearly broke. He was barely a presence in the team league after his loss, failed to qualify for OSL, WCS or WCG, and by his own admission, couldn't really play the game for a month. His confidence and mindset were shattered.

But Symbol allowed that wound to heal. He kept his ZvZ solid. He stopped going for patch-zerg openings every single game and opted for earlier speed, faster lairs, and a variety of more aggressive builds to get him to the midgame instead. He abandoned his own style of ultralisk, infestor, with ling/bane in ZvP and adopted the much more abusive broodlord-infestor-spine crawler combination, all in hopes of a chance to get revenge. That chance appeared last season as Symbol was chosen by Seed in his ro16 group. With his soul on the line, Symbol pulled through and and became the first player to win his soul back from Seed (Byun is still waiting for his chance). Eliminating Seed's LG-IM teammate Happy on the way was just the cherry on top.

Once Symbol reached the Ro8, it was clear that his status in the world had changed. Two seasons ago, he reached the ro8 and everyone was hailing him as the next Zerg messiah, a future champion in the making. Last season, no one expected Symbol to get past MVP. He was just overshadowed by the two other zergs in the GSL. Life walked the first royal road ever in GSL. While Leenock didn’t fare any better than Symbol results wise, his rage-inducing infestor/broodlord/queen ZvP/ZvT 3 base build made him seem much more of a threat than Symbol. On top of that was DRG’s silver in the OSL and the rise of Hyun and Roro. Symbol has fallen from a potential champion candidate to 'just' a top Code S player, one who gets far, but is ultimately beaten by actual contenders. Symbol’s goal this season will be to try to crack past the ro8 and show the world that he should still be counted as a real threat for the championship, but first he’ll have to deal with the elephant in the group, Roro.

There were no banners, trumpets or omens announcing RorO’s arrival. When the KeSPA players first transferred over to SC2, many speculated who would be the best Zerg. Many predicted it would be either Jaedong, Effort or Soulkey. When the isolation policy now ended and KeSPA players were allowed to roam in the GSL, the talk of the town became Rain and Flash. But no one expected RorO of all people to become the second best elephant in the pack

In Brood War, Roro was a player famous for being good but never great - except when your precious liquibet and fantasy Proleague points were on the line. Then, he would break out in a fury, momentarily looking like a championship class player. For whatever reason, Roro has taken to StarCraft II in ways he never did in Brood War, and has been on the warpath, getting strong results in every tournament he has entered so far including WCS Korea, WCS Asia and GSL Code A.

Roro plays smart in all three of his matchups. He has a very strong macro style ZvP focused on getting up to the infestor broodlord army, but also being very opportunistic about backstabbing opponents with roaches and lings. Roro’s ZvT is very hive focused, denying drops maxing out and attacking while expanding and using clever tech switches to win the late game. Roro’s ZvZ is a bit weak in the early and mid games, but incredible in the late stages. In his series against DRG, he was at a disadvantage in the early phases, but in the later parts of the game Roro showed great engagements and intelligent decision making. The scariest aspect of Roro’s play is that he has constantly improved since his sc2 debut. His builds have gotten more stream-lined, his game sense continually increases, and his army engagements are amazing. Overall, Roro has shown us no discernable weaknesses beyond the PartinG's "wonwonwon" Immortal all-in, and this groups will be perfect for him.

The last two players have a lot of things in common. Obviously, both are Terran players. Besides a few hipster fans, most would admit they are huge underdogs in this group as well. Both are second string Terrans overshadowed by a more prominent Terran player: MVP over Happy, Bomber over Hack. And both wish there were no Zergs in their group.

Happy was trounced by both Life and Symbol his last go around in Code S. Hack got a convincing win over the KeSPA newbie Rare in Code A, but has had a very hard time going head to head with Code S Zergs. Both of them have strong TvP ( Happy is one of the few players who has defeated Rain, and both are in Code S on the back of their TvPs), which will do them zero good in this Ro32 group.

However, there's an important difference in the fact that Happy is old Code S nobility trying to break his way past the group stages, while Hack has come up from the Code A peasantry to make his first try in Code S. With both of them going head to head we could see an upheaval in the social strata of the Code S nobility.

Overall Outlook

The two Zergs in this group outclass the two Terrans in this group. Symbol got to ro8 Code S last time by beating Happy. Roro beat Ryung, arguably a better TvZ player than both Hack and Happy. Having said that, the groups panned out in such a way that Symbol and Roro play each other first. So the first match between Hack and Happy will be pivotal for both as whoever wins will get two shots at getting past the Zerg wall.

I’m siding with Hack on his TvT against Happy as Hack’s recent wins have been a bit more impressive having beaten both Alive and MMA. Happy on the other hand beat Sparta, a player that has the faith of the ST coaching staff, but has done nothing to impress the fans. Either way it should be a fairly close TvT. For Roro against Symbol, Roro is the favorite. Roro has already shown exciting and smart ZvZ against Dongraegu. Symbol on the other hand is much more well known for his ZvT and ZvP. His ZvZ hasn’t been tested as much recently, though his ZvZ has always been solid. And it will take more than just solid ZvZ to beat Roro.

So the conflict of the group comes down to this. The two Zergs are the favorites to exit out of the group. In order for Happy to make it out, he will need to pull an incredible miracle and be possessed by MVP past if he wants to get through. In order for Hack to make it out, he will have to find some way to infuse his TvZ with the soul of Parting.

Roro > Symbol
Hack > Happy
Roro > Hack
Symbol > Happy
Symbol > Hack

Roro and Symbol advance.