by kollin and Waxangel

Early Games: 04:10 GMT (+00:00)

SKT_FanTaSy vs. Samsung_Solar

Fantasy has had a roller of a StarCraft II career thus far, looking like he can barely win a game some months and then going on a blazing win streaks the next. He was hot when he broke through the Up/Down matches and into Code S, but cooled off significantly as he hurtled out of his Ro32 group in last place. Since then, he has started heating up once again, going on a strong 5 game winning streak in the Proleague leading into this Challenger League match.

Solar will be praying that Fantasy is going to plummet again, instead of gather steam for another run at The Premier League/Starleague. Solar was never all that impressive in Proleague to begin with, and with the release of HotS, Shine has begun to replace him as the RorO's back-up on Samsung KHAN. He hasn't even looked that good in his limited appearances, going 1 - 3 in round 4. To top it off, Solar wasn't that good at ZvT back in WoL, and it seems like a safe bet that he won't have somehow become significantly better in HotS. It's hard to see Fantasy losing this match unless Solar brings powerful all-ins and catches Fantasy totally off guard.

Fantasy 2 - 0 Solar


MVP.Sniper vs. STX_Trap

The redemption tour for the least recognized GSL champion of all time began last week in the GSTL, as Sniper defeated LG-IM's First and YoDa en route to a 4 - 1 victory for his team. Sniper's immediate elimination from Code S the season after he won a championship and his subsequent failure to requalify through Code A had many fans trying to toss him in a shallow grave with Seed and Jjakji. The GSTL wins against two of LG-IM's best textbook players showed that the MVP Zerg wasn't dead just yet, and has a hope of finding salvation.

The road to redemption won't be easy, as Sniper has drawn a deceptively tough first round opponent in STX's Trap. Trap was one of the first KeSPA progamers to reach the GSL after the switch to StarCraft II, but could never get over the Code A wall amd was eventually eliminated into Code B. However, Trap has found his second wind in HotS, having gone 4 - 2 in Round 4 of the Proleague, as well as storming through the Code B qualifiers and into the Challenger League/Code A.

This match is a bit tough to call, as it features two players who were on the decline at the end of WoL looking to make their comeback in the GSL. We favor Sniper a little bit more here since he peaked higher, but Trap's recent hot-streak can't be ignored either.

Sniper 2 - 1 Trap


MVP.Noblesse vs. ST_Golden

Once a Code S player in 2011, Noblesse disappeared from the world's most difficult tournament for more than a year before finally clawing his way back in this year. While he was unceremoniously dumped out of the Ro32 immediately, he reminded us that there's another scary Terran on Team MVP besides Keen and Dream, and that he's good enough to reach Code S on his best days.

He's gotten a relatively easy draw on his road back to Code S, having to face journeyman Zerg Golden. Golden has hopped around from team to team, having been on fOu (the former incarnation of FXOpen Korea), SlayerS, LighT, Quantic, before reaching his current team Startale. While Golden has got a fairly large amount of international tournament experience over his travels, he's never been able to make a real splash in the GSL, only reaching the Code A Ro48 once in the past. Joining Startale seems to have done him some good as he managed to break through the qualifiers and reach the Challenger League once more, but he's still the underdog against the more accomplished Noblesse.

Noblesse 2 - 0 Golden


LG-IM_Squirtle vs. 8th_ALBM

How the mighty have fallen. Squirtle was being called the best Protoss player in the world around this time last year, as he reached the finals at both IPL4 and the Code S Season II. Unfortunately a long period of mediocrity (by Squirtle's standards anyway) followed afterward, and fans are still waiting for the Wartortle to show his face again. He gave fans false hope when he all-killed team FXOpen in the GSTL soon after HotS release, but fell flat in Code S as he was eliminated by Keen and Shine.

Still, no matter how far Squirtle falls in Code S, he's never failed to somehow return in the next season. However, he faces a surprisingly tough roadblock in the form of ALBM. Largely overshadowed by teammate TRUE in the Proleague, ALBM's recent ZvP stats have been surprisingly impressive. He defeated both hero[join] and Brown in the Challenger League qualifiers, and he's defeated JYP and Bisu in the Proleague as well. Even though this is his GSL debut, he's already in position to cause an upset.

Squirtle 2 - 1 ALBM


Evening Games: 09:10 GMT (+00:00)

ST_Hack vs. CJ_EffOrt

For the first match of the evening portion of Code A, Startale's rotation Terran Hack goes up against CJ Entus regular Effort. Both of these players are relatively unproven in the TvZ matchup so far in HotS, and it's difficult to say who is favoured.

Effort is capable of taking Terran opponents to the brink in exhilirating games, but the games typically end with him tripping and stumbling over himself. A good example of this would be his Proleague match against the TvZ maestro Innovation. He played fantastically for most of the match, going blow for blow with the STX ace and even beginning to pull ahead before took a few bad engagements to throw the game away.

Hack is nowhere near the skill level of Innovation though, and with his only recent result being a sloppy, flustered loss to Symbol it is hard to judge whether or not he can overcome Effort. In WoL he did manage to beat GSL champion RorO on one occasion, but that was largely due to RorO's error, and TvZ is a different beast in HotS. While Effort could end up being cursed in the ZvT matchup and bomb out despite playing extremely well, it seems unlikely against a player like Hack. The Startale Terran might be able to take a map off Effort, he will eventually be overrun by a swarm of well controlled muta ling bane.

Effort 2 - 1 Hack


MarineKingPrime vs. Azubu.San

The next match of the evening features two eSF players, as the award winning in-booth actor Marineking faces off against San the Man. Marineking's TvP still looks as beastly as ever, as he 3-0'd CJ ace herO recently in the MLG Exhibition matches. However, he did look weak against NSH's Madbull a few days ago in the GSTL, where he only survived due to a massive blunder from his opponent. The Prime Terran still has a tendency of being extremely predictable, often choosing either extreme early game aggression or extreme greed builds. If San has studied his play and picked up on this, it could be Marineking's undoing.

However for those who thought MKP had a tendency to choke up on the big stage, then they clearly haven't run into San. A seasoned expert at getting through online qualifiers, as soon as he moves into the live, offline section of tournaments he falls to pieces. Combined with a loss against Byun in the GSTL, in which San the man looked mediocre at best does not fare well for the AZUBU Protoss. Marineking does look like the clear favourite, but San could pull some tricks out of his big and become a lot more dangerous than he seems.

Marineking 2 - 1 San


ST_Avenge vs. CJ_Hydra

Both Avenge and Hydra have fairly sparse records in HotS, especially in the PvZ department. With Avenge having only played two games in the GSTL, both PvT's, and Hydra's only notable PvZ win being against a struggling Stork the outcome of this match is by no means clear.

Avenge has been a Code A fringe player, occasionally making it to the Round of 32 but never beyond and never managing to break into Code S. Apart from that he literally has no other notable achievements, and while this may give him the advantage of anonymity, it will most likely not be enough to advance past his Kespa trained foe.

Avenge's opponent will be another Starleague winning CJ Entus Zerg. Hydra, once an MSL champion in Brood War, has only really shown his face in Proleague in StarCraft II. This match will be his first excursion into Code A, and likely not his last as he is already a regular for CJ in Proleague, and looks more than skilled enough to consistently reach the later rounds of Code A if not Code S. Avenge should just be cannon fodder to Hydra, as he is more skilled and has more experience.

Hydra 2 - 0 Avenge


Samsung_JangBi vs. LG-IM_ByuL

The final match of the night will be between an OSL winner, Jangbi and the former Fnatic Zerg who now resides on LG-IM, Byul. Both of these players have yet to really achieve anything in Starcraft 2, both having switched long after a lot of the esf players did.

Jangbi has few peers in Brood War, having won not one, but two OSL, but Brood War skill does not translate directly over and Jangbi has been slow in bringing his thunderous abilities to bear. Still, he's come a long way since the switch, and his PvZ record is relatively good, boasting wins over Soulkey, Sniper and ZerO. It's not the basis to say he's going to trounce ByuL, but he should put up a fierce fight. He is looking stronger in HotS PvZ than he did in WoL PvZ however, and that could be what decides this match.

His opponent tonight will be Byul, who managed to reach Code S - through Code A the previous season - in the last season of GSL, before being promptly eliminated in a fairly difficult group consisting of Life, Symbol and Creator. From there Effort took him out 2-0, but the LG-IM Zerg has emerged from the convoluted chaos that is Code B to reclaim a spot in the hallowed Code A. To get there he only had to beat a few, teamless Protoss players. Those wins, and the victory over Tassadar in the GSTL pre-season is all we really have to go off in terms of Byul's skill level, and a renewed Jangbi might be too much for him to handle.

Jangbi 2 - 1 Byul