WCS Korea Season 1 - GSL

Code S Ro16: Group B
Recap: Innovation and PartinG advance


Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

by Fionn.

Results from Live Report Thread by opterown.
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Innovating the Masses


Out of the four players in the Group of Death, STX_INnoVation was the least popular. He had been known for years in Brood War as Bogus, a very good, but not great Terran player who had the ability to take games off top players but never truly contend for a championship. With his move to Starcraft 2 and an abrupt name change in order to start anew, Innovation has now joined the ranks of elite players, with lesser players wishing they could get a win over him as a career highlight. While Innovation might not have had the level of fan support of the other three in the group, everyone watching respected his skill and knew why he was a crucial component in completing the greatest group of all-time. When Innovation came out in first place, few could say they were truly surprised. After all, he is a monster.

Starting off against KT_Flash, Innovation dropped his first game of the night, paying the price for not getting sufficient anti-air defense by having his economy reduced to shambles by hellbat drops. The loss didn't shake the stoic Terran, as he came back in the second game with a quick multi-reaper build, catching the predictable and greedy Flash off guard. The game ended in about five minutes, leaving the fans shocked at the perfect reaper control Innovation used to abruptly end a game that could have potentially gone on all night.

The final game was a tour de force by Innovation, as he won with superior micro and army composition. Going bio, Innovation was able to defeat a stronger macro player in Flash, using drops onto tanks and doom drops into the main to be able to draw Flash's mech army back and give him openings to win skirmishes. Flash was able to hold on impressively, even looking like he had the lead at times, but Innovation continued the pressure, dropping every square inch of Flash's territory and exploiting the weakness of the slow moving mech army. Flash's army was pulled apart by Innovation's impeccable decision making and execution, and Innovation went on to the winners match.


With ST_Life beating SKT_PartinG in the first games of the evening, this left us with the dream match that everyone had been waiting for. All the other player match-ups that the group could offer had already occurred, except for Innovation vs. Life. In a battle between the best TvZ and ZvT in the world, you might have expected a close affair with either side taking it 2-1, but it went the same way the series against Flash ended for up Innovation: in true and total domination.

Innovation himself even commented after the games that Life was not playing his best and was 'off' from his usual, scary self. Innovation's widow mine along with bio play was overwhelming, and he was to use superior positioning and game sense to out-maneuver his aggressive foe and get the upper hand in every fight that commenced. Life's zerglings—the scourge of every other Terran player on earth—were tamed by Innovation, allowing him to comfortably play the way he wanted. Unable to deal with Innovation's flawless play, Life fell in two games that made him look a level below the STX ace.

With his advancement to the quarterfinals confirmed, Innovation will now be searching for one thing he hasn't accomplished yet in his SC2 career: reaching the grand finals. He is now three-for-three in getting out of the group stages, a hugely impressive feat considering how difficult Code S is, but his troubles have all come when getting into the knockout rounds. He has been the engine behind bringing STX back into playoff contention in Proleague, but the format there is a best-of-one. He is quickly becoming the greatest group stage player in GSL history, but that's best-of-three. For Innovation to take his throne as the king of Starcraft 2, he's going to have to learn how to win in five or more. Mvp has never been a great team league player, or even a group stage player in the GSL. But during his time in Code S, he was the master at preparing and winning Bo5/Bo7 series, and has four champions to show for it.

If Innovation can take this final step, is there anyone in the world who can stop him?

Parting's Life in a Flash

Out of all the players in this group, SKT_PartinG was the one who needed to advance the most. Everyone else had a way out. INnoVation was already respected by everyone, and while he might not have had huge fan support, he also didn't have the super-high expectations or hype to make a loss in a group-of-death damaging. KT_Flash is the greatest RTS player in the history of e-sports, so even with a loss, he would still be called God and have everyone rush to make excuses for him as they joked about him bestowing his divine mercy upon the others. ST_Life, in the same vain as Flash, is widely recognized as a true prodigy and has already won major championship after major championship, and did not need another GSL to solidify himself as one of the best and most popular players in the world.

PartinG? He talked smack, and he talked a lot of it. He received heat in the Korean and international communities. Throwing stones at the house of Life—a very popular player worldwide—is something that was ill-advised, with many fans turning on him and saying he was immature, too cocky, and foolish to taunt a better player. Also, his move from Startale created a rift between him and his old team that was once his family, giving us a feud where fans couldn't tell if there was real bad blood, or if it was just a ploy to create more interest. In any case, PartinG was in trouble. The mob had gathered at his doorstep, and were just waiting for an excuse to set everything ablaze.

He got off to a rocky start on the night, losing two straight games to the player he had trash talked for the past few months, getting embarrassed in back to back blowout games. Life's ling counter-attacks were too much for Parting to handle, and he was continually called back to his base when he wanted to push. With his opponent lacking upgrades and having no power behind his two base all-in attacks, Life held easily and proceeded to the winner's match without having to break a sweat.

Parting was between a rock and a hard place. With a loss to Flash, he would be out of Code S and be made the laughing stock of the StarCraft II world. He created the group of death, had been talking trash to Life, and was going to get bounced out from the group first, looking like a complete idiot. The haters' claims would be proved right: that he was more style than substance, his words spoke louder than his actions, and he could only run around and talk smack for so long before being put into place by his betters.


Parting fought back. He would not go down that easily, taking on God himself in the loser's match and taking the series 2-0, crushing him with a complete performance that saw him win in a super late game and with a powerful two-base attack. Knocking out of the most popular player in the group probably didn't win him any more fans, but it did give him one final chance at redemption against Life. He had fallen to Life in last season's Ro16, but came back in the deciding match of the night to take the series and move onto the Ro8, leaving his rival back in Code A.

Playing unlike himself, Life went for two weird ling all-ins in a row, wanting to stop Parting in his tracks and get him off his toes. This did not work, as Parting held strong and got the upgrade advantage unlike the first series. Following up into two-base all-ins, SKT T1 Protoss wa able to redeem himself for an embarrassing performance earlier in the group. Beating Life 2-0, Parting advanced from the group, looking like he had a gigantic weight lifted off his shoulders.

He didn't do a ceremony afterward, just sitting in the booth with his hands on his face and looking more relieved than bursting with happiness. Life, likewise, looked as dejected as we had ever seen him, staring blankly at his monitor and wondering what had gone wrong as he fell out of another Ro16 group. Parting sheepishly left his booth, handed a few memorabilia gift cards to the fans, and went into his booth to pack up his stuff, showing a more conservative Parting than we usually witness after monumental victories. To the question of true drama or publicity play, the answer appeared to be the latter: Parting apologized after the gamed ended and said that there is no actual tension between him and his former team.

He's polarizing in the community, but there is no question about how good Parting truly is. Behind all the bravado and pro wrestling-like trash talk, Parting is an eighteen-year-old kid who is still maturing and trying to get his words across in the right way. He knows how to build himself and bring attention to the matches he plays, but he's learned a lesson in how that can come to bite him in the ass if he's not careful. However, just because Life is gone for a second straight season doesn't mean that PartinG has a free pass for the rest of the GSL. There is still one player left that won't let PartinG off so easy. Bomber still awaits on the other side of the bracket, and the Startale captain will want to make sure his insolent ex-teammate learns his lesson.

Yeah, but it's not like Bomber could actually make it to the finals and deliver the final blow of justice to Parting for Startale, right? It's Bomber. He isn't allowed to have heroic endings. Only sad, anti-climactic finishes where we are sitting wondering why we believed in him in the first place. While Parting might finally feel like this chapter is over in his career, hoping to move on from the feud with Startale, there is still a slight chance that the true climax is still a few weeks from occurring.

Now What?: Prodigy Edition

KT_Flash - First out of the group, this isn't going to sit well for one of the most competitive players in the scene. He wants to win every tournament he enters, and he won't be happy being the first player out in the group of death. Still holding one of the best records in Proleague, he will be shifting his focus on getting his team into a playoff position. With Parting and Innovation holding two of the final spots for the playoffs, Flash can still get some revenge in the upcoming rounds if he can knock one of those two down into the bottom half of the Proleague ladder.

It's hard to say anything bad about Flash, losing in the hardest group imaginable this far into a tournament, but it might be time to start peeling back the 'perfect' and 'unstoppable' talk every time he plays a game. He is one of the better players in the world, but he still doesn't have a championship and couldn't get it done in the group of death. No one should take what I'm saying that Flash is a bad player, but before we talk about how godly he is, maybe we should wait for him to win a championship in the game first. An excellent player, Flash still has room to improve before he can challenge for a Code S championship.

ST_Life - Is he slowly becoming Clide Jr.? This is his third straight Ro16 where he was the favorite to advance, but he fell in the final match of the night, getting knocked into Code A. He has gone 1-2 in his past three Ro16 group stages, and he seemingly cannot find a way back into the knockout rounds, a place where he has been unstoppable. Unlike Innovation, longer series are the forte of Life, and is the reason why he has won so many championships. With the ability to throw in cheese, play a long, macro game and do crazy builds, a Bo5 or Bo7 is where Life excels the most. Sadly, we will not be able to see that ability at work this season.

Life will now try to help Startale capture their first GSTL title and get back into Code S for another shot at the title. Also, with teammate Bomber still in the quarterfinals, you would expect Life to be helping heavily with a possible Zerg match-up in the quarterfinals and more than likely Innovation semifinal if he can get there. Life's Premier League season might be over, but Bomber's is just beginning.

Writers: Fionn.
Graphics: Shiroiusagi
Editor: Waxangel.