MMA, Mvp, TaeJa and a foreigner. On the bright side for Mana, he only has to prepare for one match up and luckily for him, its PvT. Also Im really happy about DRG's group, Im really confident he'll advance.
Edit: They also released the map pool, what is Abyssal City?
Jaedong gets the shaft again. His potential lower bracket run through the WCS would have been fucking ridiculous, now he's in a group with not only MC but also MKP? Oh and Curious is pretty good too.
Jaedong if you come out of this group, you are a fucking boss. On the bright side, he's facing a lot of tough opponents which should help him get better quicker than other KESPA guys.
Group A: Seed, Leenock Group B: Ryung, HerO Group C: MC, Jaedong Group D: Byun, Genius Group E: MMA, MVP Group F: Naniwa, Squirtle Group G: Life, Supernova Group H: DRG, Bomber
How is Group C a group of death? MKP's TvP looking bad lately, MC being a boss as per usual, JD still a little unproven, and Curious, who has a tendency to choke in Code S. Groups E, G, and H all look just about as difficult or even more so.
I feel so bad for Mana for him getting Group E, such bad luck!
But his chances of advancing aren't too bad I guess. MMA isn't dominant anymore and MVP's TvP has been losing a lot lately. Getting through Taeja will be a problem though. Good luck though Mana!
Holy shit. Group E group of death hands down. Mana only lost 2-3 to Taeja, beat MMA 2-1 at Iron Squid. GSL really likes the whole MMA vs MVP matchup...
Predictions A: Parting and Seed B: ryung and Hero C: MC and Curious D: Rain and Byun E: TaeJa and Mana F: Sniper and Squirtle G: Life and Supernova H: DRG and Polt
By my predictions - 7 Protoss, 5 Terran, and 4 Zerg in ro16. What I really want to know is will anybody from the swarm, not named Park Soo Ho, actually make it to the ro4 for the first time this year?
Edit: Bold predictions: NesTea and Mvp go 0-2 in ro32 and there is another PvP final (please god i hope im wrong)
My picks: Group A: Seed and Leenock Group B: Ryung and Hero Group C: MC and MarineKing (If MKP plays well, if he plays like he did in OSL, then I will go with JD.) Group D: Byun and Genius Group E: Taeja and MVP (Although I am rooting for Mana!) Group F: Nani and Squirtle. Group G: NesTea and SuperNova Group H: DRG and GuMiHo.
I'm going to have to buy this season of GSL. As many others including myself have mentioned before, this is one of the most stacked Code S groupings to date.
Freaking MC every single time. I knew last night when I saw it that he was goign to pick JD but I figured maybe someone would talk some sense into him.
Group A: Leenock Parting Group B: Symbol Yoda Group C: MC JD (marineking vs 2 zergs >.> he'll find a way to lose like in OSL even if he gets to face MC) Group D: Byun Rain Group E: TaeJa MMA Group F: Squirtle Sniper Group G: Supernova Life Group H: DRG BomberGumiho Polt ... too hard to decide with the group of inconsistent terrans
On September 01 2012 16:12 Dodgin wrote: Also, Atlantis Spaceship finally removed from the map pool thank god.
Im really surprised that Daybreak and Antiga survived honestly. Daybreak because its been so long and Antiga just because its a bad map.
It was a better balanced map than Atlantis Spacebear
Oh Daybreak is terrifically balanced map (outside of some PvT issues) but I mean its just been around for so long that I figured maybe they would finally retire it.
On September 01 2012 16:12 Dodgin wrote: Also, Atlantis Spaceship finally removed from the map pool thank god.
Im really surprised that Daybreak and Antiga survived honestly. Daybreak because its been so long and Antiga just because its a bad map.
It was a better balanced map than Atlantis Spacebear
Oh Daybreak is terrifically balanced map (outside of some PvT issues) but I mean its just been around for so long that I figured maybe they would finally retire it.
Maybe. I'm curious why they haven't added in muspelheim (spelling?) that one map in the GSTL pool. I hope abyssal whatever works out
On September 01 2012 16:12 Dodgin wrote: Also, Atlantis Spaceship finally removed from the map pool thank god.
Im really surprised that Daybreak and Antiga survived honestly. Daybreak because its been so long and Antiga just because its a bad map.
It was a better balanced map than Atlantis Spacebear
Oh Daybreak is terrifically balanced map (outside of some PvT issues) but I mean its just been around for so long that I figured maybe they would finally retire it.
Maybe. I'm curious why they haven't added in muspelheim (spelling?) that one map in the GSTL pool. I hope abyssal whatever works out
Maybe there was some imbalance that the pro's figured out in practice that never really got to manifest itself since itw as only really used as a GSTL map.
On topic of Abyssal Caverns does anyone actually have an image of it yet cause I dont think Im familiar with it?
holy fucking shit. They've actually managed good distribution WITH some kickass matchups this time in the ro 32 :D
win + win
- <3 Jaedong one of the few Kespa players I really really want to see go far. Don't think he can take MC at all though. MKP he might be able to take out. Curious is one of the best ZvZ out there, but could also be beaten.
- poor poor mana ;;
- Naniwa I can see making it. Not an easy group, but it's doable.
- Nestea is currently in his darkest hour but he still has retained some of his ZvP and ZvZ at least, the ZvT though.... He did 4-1 Supernova last time and has raped JYP in the past, Life on the other hand is another one of the best ZvZ in Korea so he could be a problem.
Omg Mana hahahaha. Good luck pal. Welcome to the world of Code S Terran gods. Can't wait for that group as a TvT lover, can't wait to see an Mvp vs MMA rematch, been a while since they dueled... and either of those two taking on TaeJa.
MKP, JD, MC, Curious is also super hype, but hey all the groups look amazing. Can't wait
On September 01 2012 16:02 Jlei wrote: And of course MC picks Jaedong. And Seed picks Line.
Least surprising development ever.
Seed clearly showing that he knows to pick the weakest and MC showing he hasnt learned his lesson since the MVP incident.
I disagree. If MC wanted to play PvZ, then he has limited options. Line was taken. Symbol, Curious, Life, and Sniper look like they're in good shape. NesTea is on a team he is partnered with (and a pretty good friend to boot). So you have DRG and JD left. DRG is slumping, sure, but DRG can surge back to form at any moment, while JD is good but unproven. (Also JD recently lost to JangBi, who isn't impressive at all.)
On September 01 2012 16:02 Jlei wrote: And of course MC picks Jaedong. And Seed picks Line.
Least surprising development ever.
Seed clearly showing that he knows to pick the weakest and MC showing he hasnt learned his lesson since the MVP incident.
MC's strongest MU is PvZ.
He could have either picked Jaedong or Life.
...He made the right choice.
I would have picked Life for sure out of the two. My sole reason for that is simply that Jaedong, being a Kespa zerg, has probably had to practice more vP matchups for Proleague than anything else (he certainly has played in enough) to the point where I would say his ZvP is probably a matchup I would fear.
The only real big advantage I would give to Life is that he knows the GSL maps a lot better than JD so if it comes to a map choice game its the advantage to Life over JD but I dont think thats enough to warrant picking him.
Abyssal city is a pretty unique map. Im pretty excited to finally see a map that is a bit different. (It has a similar expansion style to daybreak, but their is a lot of high ground/low ground stuff going on here)
On September 01 2012 16:02 Jlei wrote: And of course MC picks Jaedong. And Seed picks Line.
Least surprising development ever.
Seed clearly showing that he knows to pick the weakest and MC showing he hasnt learned his lesson since the MVP incident.
I disagree. If MC wanted to play PvZ, then he has limited options. Line was taken. Symbol, Curious, Life, and Sniper look like they're in good shape. NesTea is on a team he is partnered with (and a pretty good friend to boot). So you have DRG and JD left. DRG is slumping, sure, but DRG can surge back to form at any moment, while JD is good but unproven. (Also JD recently lost to JangBi, who isn't impressive at all.)
MC had none of those options, as you're only allowed to pick from Tier 4.
On September 01 2012 16:02 Jlei wrote: And of course MC picks Jaedong. And Seed picks Line.
Least surprising development ever.
Seed clearly showing that he knows to pick the weakest and MC showing he hasnt learned his lesson since the MVP incident.
MC's strongest MU is PvZ.
He could have either picked Jaedong or Life.
...He made the right choice.
I would have picked Life for sure out of the two. My sole reason for that is simply that Jaedong, being a Kespa zerg, has probably had to practice more vP matchups for Proleague than anything else (he certainly has played in enough) to the point where I would say his ZvP is probably a matchup I would fear.
The only real big advantage I would give to Life is that he knows the GSL maps a lot better than JD so if it comes to a map choice game its the advantage to Life over JD but I dont think thats enough to warrant picking him.
On September 01 2012 16:21 mrRoflpwn wrote: MC would pick JD!! FUCK YEAH- SHOW THE WORLD WHO IS THE BOSS TOSS!!!
I feel these games are going to be amazing. MC was already practicing with JD when he was preparing for DRG by this stage they must know eachother pretty well. So keen for this season now so many good groups. With big hitters. Feel it may leave the finals a bit of a low though
Mana gets a group with three terrifying Terran players. Rain has a good chance of advancing out of his group. Can't wait to watch all matches. Definitely want to see how Groups C, E, and H turn out.
On September 01 2012 16:02 Jlei wrote: And of course MC picks Jaedong. And Seed picks Line.
Least surprising development ever.
Seed clearly showing that he knows to pick the weakest and MC showing he hasnt learned his lesson since the MVP incident.
I disagree. If MC wanted to play PvZ, then he has limited options. Line was taken. Symbol, Curious, Life, and Sniper look like they're in good shape. NesTea is on a team he is partnered with (and a pretty good friend to boot). So you have DRG and JD left. DRG is slumping, sure, but DRG can surge back to form at any moment, while JD is good but unproven. (Also JD recently lost to JangBi, who isn't impressive at all.)
MC had none of those options, as you're only allowed to pick from Tier 4.
On September 01 2012 16:31 CygnusAres wrote: Quick Question, I saw the GSL final of season 4 will be in October. Does that mean no more IPL + GSL ro4 up?
the IPL + GSL Ro4 event is for the 5th and final Code S of the year. So the GSL after this one.
Sad there's a ST teamkill, but ... gotta say, I'm glad Line is the one on the chopping block. (Sorry, Line. If you take out Parting, I'll be inconsolable.)
I hate group E >.< I think all the terrans on there could make a serious run for the finals so it sucks that 1 or 2 of them will be knocked out this early. On the other side this is a perfect group for Mana who has really good tvp and only has to practice one matchup while also having tons of vods on the other players. I think this group will provide some of the best matchups for the ro32.
On September 01 2012 16:35 babylon wrote: Sad there's a ST teamkill, but ... gotta say, I'm glad Line is the one on the chopping block. (Sorry, Line. If you take out Parting, I'll be inconsolable.)
2 people advance from groups, so they can both advance.
On another note, Naniwa has a very good chance inhis group. Mana will have a tough time, but he is only preparing for one match up, and his PvT isn't bad. I think he has a shot.
MaNa may just make it out of that group despite being grouped with those three scary players, because he only has to practice PvT, which has always been his best MU since a long time ago, and the three Terran guys will probably consider MaNa a lower threat and likely won't prepare as much against him.
On September 01 2012 16:02 Jlei wrote: And of course MC picks Jaedong. And Seed picks Line.
Least surprising development ever.
Seed clearly showing that he knows to pick the weakest and MC showing he hasnt learned his lesson since the MVP incident.
I disagree. If MC wanted to play PvZ, then he has limited options. Line was taken. Symbol, Curious, Life, and Sniper look like they're in good shape. NesTea is on a team he is partnered with (and a pretty good friend to boot). So you have DRG and JD left. DRG is slumping, sure, but DRG can surge back to form at any moment, while JD is good but unproven. (Also JD recently lost to JangBi, who isn't impressive at all.)
MC had none of those options, as you're only allowed to pick from Tier 4.
Oh god, there are tiers now? I missed something.
Shows the tier list right on the gom article Also some good luck for HerO!!! Maybe this season will be his :D
LOL, mma vs mvp nice, then theres insanity in group c, bomber, drg, polt and gumibear in group H.....
MKP with his deathgroup luck rofl....
predictions : group A: seed, parting group B: symbol, ryung group C: curious, mkp group D: byun, rain group E: taeja, mvp group F: squirtle, sniper group G: JYP, supernova group H: gumiho, bomber
Mana's got it good to be honest, both mma and mvp's worst matchup is tvp, plus he only needs to practice for one matchup which happens to be his best. Mana is also very competitive against taeja, so i say his chances are really good in making it passed ro32.
On September 01 2012 17:13 antifan wrote: When did Rain join a kespa team? I also thought he left GSL for good after forfeiting the code s a few months ago
wrong rain this rain is by.Sun the other rain...well...haven't really won much in the last 12 months.
Mana has a decent shot of making it out of his group but he's certainly not the favourite and it doesn't help him vs Taeja that a lot of TL's players are very familiar with how he plays and can help Taeja prepare to deal with mana style. I honestly don;t think he's going to get rolled though, all three terrans are beatable in TvP.
Naniwa has an ok group but I think this may actually be the hardest ro32 group he's had. Heart is a tricky bugger and while Nani's PvT is normally stellar we have no idea what shape it's in right now. I love his PvP but I'd bet on squirtle over him in that matchup. Sniper is zerg and Nani's PvZ is been hit and miss lately. I certainly hope for himt o advance and I think with the right mindset and the right builds he can but it's not going to be a cakewalk.
I'm really excited for group H, hoping to see some sweet ZvT and some nice TvT games from a bunch of players I like. god all the groups are stacked and filled with players I love watching, this is going to be the best season ever.
Didn't MaNa say that his PvT was more than shaky since he plays in Korea in an interview with Khaldor ? ....................................................
Group A should be Seed's and Parting's with little trouble, though SuSohin might be able to all-in them out of the GSL altogether, you never know with him.
Group B is a little tougher to call for me, but I think Symbol and Hero are favorites, especially if Hero doesn't choke (he absolutely shouldn't, but it could happen) - I'm wary of Ryung's TvZ, however - he has shown that he can kick Zerg ass if he wants to.
Group C... Damn. I would like to see JD advance, but I think this group might be a little too tough for him. MC's best matchup should be able to roll JD and, probably, Curious. We'll have too see how MKP plays that day - if he brings his A-game he'll advance without trouble; otherwise, the second spot is anyone's game.
For Group D, I'm torn between Byun/Sun and Byun/Genius. Sun has played ridiculously well recently, and Byun did make it pretty damn far last season, so I think I'll go with Byun and Sun. Shouldn't underestimate Genius, though - he doesn't like being underestimated, and will win any group to prove you wrong. Maybe.
Group E: I'm sorry, Mana. That's all I can really say. (Predicting Taeja/Mvp)
Group F is a fairly good group for Naniwa, if he can get out of his recent slump (semi-slump?). Squirtle's PvP might prove a little too tough for him, but you never know - they call it a coinflip matchup for a reason. Sniper and Heart can both be beaten if he plays like he did last season, but if he doesn't bring his A-game vs. Sniper, a very formidable Zerg, he'll probably end up in 3rd place.
The toughest group to call for me, personally, is probably Group G. Right now, I think Life, JYP and SuperNoVa should all beat Nestea - but he has been in GSL for a million seasons for a reason, and his experience shouldn't be underestimated. The same goes for SuperNoVa - these two guys have been in for years without ever losing their spot. However, I'm too much of a fan of Life to not predict him advancing. First place if he beats JYP, second place if he doesn't. The second person advancing might be anyone out of the three, though JYPvT still isn't something I'd vouch for.
In Group H, I think Gumiho advances in first place. He's been playing very well recently, what with the all-kill against Slayers-EG and all. If DRG is feeling well again, he will most likely advance second. If he is still down mentally after bombing out of Global-everything last season, Bomber will advance in second place. I'm rooting for DRG, though - he deserves a bit of success.
On September 01 2012 17:07 neckgripper wrote: MC afraid to face life, so chooses JD who has way less experience but more notoriety. I hope JD crushes MC.
Lolwhat? MC isn't afraid to face anybody. He has time and again picked the top players in order to create huge matchups and "groups of death".
MC picking the most famous and high profile player in the tournament was the most obvious thing for him to do.
Can't wait to see Mana go up against the top terrans. If he crushes them and advance, it would be one giant step for foreigner. To win against MVP, MMA and Taeja would be jaw dropping. I am a big fan of Taeja and MMA but I love foreigners so go Mana!
MaNa's period as an unbeatable PvT player passed a long time ago, like a year or so. That said, it's not like he started sucking at it, and having only one race to practice for is a big, big plus. MMA and Mvp are good TvP players, but tend to be a bit gimmicky. Expect siege tank builds
Oh my.... Mana vs King of Terrans, Legend of Terrans and Best Terran in the World in this group... This will be sooo hard.
Naniwa should get out of his group. Heart is a bit cheesy, so I guess it's ok, Sniper is not the best zerg there, Naniwa was doing ok with his PvP in GSL.
Group A: Seed, Parting Group B: Symbol, Hero Group C: MC, MKP (sorry JD fans...not yet!) Group D: Byun, Genius Group E: Taeja, MVP Group F: Squirtle, Nani (SECOND best foreigner in the world) Group G: Nestea, Supernova Group H: DRG, Polt
This also confirms that IPL5 will host the Semi-Finals and Final of GSL5 . But that means that they also have to speed up the CodeS schedule a bit, maybe all Ro16 groups in one week
On September 01 2012 17:56 Waxangel wrote: MaNa's period as an unbeatable PvT player passed a long time ago, like a year or so. That said, it's not like he started sucking at it, and having only one race to practice for is a big, big plus. MMA and Mvp are good TvP players, but tend to be a bit gimmicky. Expect siege tank builds
To be fair, MMA and MVP (and Taeja too I believe) were said to have TvP as their weakest matchup. Statiscally this is still true for MMA and MVP. Still the weakest matchup of these top top players is scary and it will be hard for Mana.
On September 01 2012 17:49 mrtomjones wrote: Not sure how people think C is harder than A.. Seed/Parting/Leenock?
Seed and Parting are strong lately, but MC and MKP have been a force since forever and are also very strong this year (1st and 4th best earning player). Curious is one of the biggest underrated players. It will be his 5th consecutive Code S season. Leenock just crawled out a big slump. Dont overrate his MLG win, he beat zero current Code S players there. Suhosin got lucky a second time qualifying for Code S with his cheesy strats. Strong in the run for worst Code S players. I bet JD can easily compete with him.
If Line gets out I'll swallow a sword. Hopefully it kills me as I don't want to live in a world where this guy is in the ro16. Leenock has gotten better at ZvP but still seems to rely on somewhat gimmicky play in the mu, not entirely convinced in him yet against protoss which is a shame because he's almost always fun to watch.
B: Symbol, herO
Haven't heard from Symbol in a little while and last time his momentum seemed to have stopped dead in its tracks as he got beat in gsl, osl, wcs, and wcg. But, so what? Prior to that he looked like a clear champion-class player and not since Nestea's glorious days have I been captivated by a Zerg so much. His mechanics are good, his understanding of Zerg is brilliant, he uses the full Zerg arsenal unlike any other Zerg these days, and he has an entire team of good Zergs to bounce ideas off of. You'd be a fool to write him off.
Also, herO is just a baller.
C: MC, Jaedong
MC is in great form right now and his PvZ is still likely the best out there. Jaedong is a bit of a reach but totally capable of making it, he'll have his work cut out for him though as MKP is still deadly and Curious has one of the best ZvZ in Korea.
D: Genius, Byun
3 gsl players with their ups and downs of mediocre and amazing + a kespa player that I'm not entirely comfortable with yet. Shot in the dark picks...
E: Taeja, MVP Can this fucking group be any better? MMA vs MVP rematch..AGAIN and Mana from out of nowhere. Taeja has looked the best out of everyone recently, and despite MMA destroying MVP in their last encounters, I feel like this will be one where MMA finally loses.
F: Squirtle, Naniwa Squirtle is just all around good, and seems to be the best pvp out there. Sniper is frankly more likely to come in 2nd...BUT Naniwa is absolutely capable and he's made ro8 twice now so I feel like taking another reach.
G: Nestea, Zergbong
Okay, so...Zergbong plays and totally fucks everything up with terrible play. But just as he's about to lose to JYP the real Nestea appears after months of absence. As it turns out Nestea was away on business in a distant galaxy, but before leaving poured all his weakness into one being. Despite being an existence of pure fail, Zergbong was still of Nestea's essence and thus was deemed worthy enough to hold down the fort while Nestea was away.
Life, despite advancing in 1st place is driven insane upon getting too close to Nestea's aura, thus ending his run and career. Zergbong knowing his place promptly exits the booth to make way for the great one. Mr.Chae moves to object, but quickly realizes you never raise your voice to Nestea and quietly slumps back down. JYP despite being astronomically ahead, is quickly dispatched while Supernova, realizing it's pointless, forfeits. All is right with the world again.
fuck all of ya. Artosis has my back :D
H: DRG, Bomber DRG's slump is exaggerated and he has only 1 matchup to prepare for. None of the terrans strike me as the clear best for tvt.....guess I'll believe in Bomber (risky risky).
This is really one of the most stacked seasons ever. While everyone keeps saying Group C is the group of death, really almost every group is full with people who could easily make it out.
This will be a season where if you are 4th in your group it doesn't really mean you are bad.
On September 01 2012 16:01 forsooth wrote: Groups E and H, what the fuck. It's like an anti-top Terran conspiracy.
I know right!?! There's not a single group that has more than two zergs/protoss, but somehow we have TWO groups with three terrans. How is this possible!?!
Group E not too bad for mana. Mvp and MMA aren't all that great in TvP and it's Taeja's worst matchup. Contrary to how it appears it's a really lucky group for mana.
If Line gets out I'll swallow a sword. Hopefully it kills me as I don't want to live in a world where this guy is in the ro16. Leenock has gotten better at ZvP but still seems to rely on somewhat gimmicky play in the mu, not entirely convinced in him yet against protoss which is a shame because he's almost always fun to watch.
B: Symbol, herO
Haven't heard from Symbol in a little while and last time his momentum seemed to have stopped dead in its tracks as he got beat in gsl, osl, wcs, and wcg. But, so what? Prior to that he looked like a clear champion-class player and not since Nestea's glorious days have I been captivated by a Zerg so much. His mechanics are good, his understanding of Zerg is brilliant, he uses the full Zerg arsenal unlike any other Zerg these days, and he has an entire team of good Zergs to bounce ideas off of. You'd be a fool to write him off.
Also, herO is just a baller.
C: MC, Jaedong
MC is in great form right now and his PvZ is still likely the best out there. Jaedong is a bit of a reach but totally capable of making it, he'll have his work cut out for him though as MKP is still deadly and Curious has one of the best ZvZ in Korea.
D: Genius, Byun
3 gsl players with their ups and downs of mediocre and amazing + a kespa player that I'm not entirely comfortable with yet. Shot in the dark picks...
E: Taeja, MVP Can this fucking group be any better? MMA vs MVP rematch..AGAIN and Mana from out of nowhere. Taeja has looked the best out of everyone recently, and despite MMA destroying MVP in their last encounters, I feel like this will be one where MMA finally loses.
F: Squirtle, Naniwa Squirtle is just all around good, and seems to be the best pvp out there. Sniper is frankly more likely to come in 2nd...BUT Naniwa is absolutely capable and he's made ro8 twice now so I feel like taking another reach.
G: Nestea, Zergbong
Okay, so...Zergbong plays and totally fucks everything up with terrible play. But just as he's about to lose to JYP the real Nestea appears after months of absence. As it turns out Nestea was away on business in a distant galaxy, but before leaving poured all his weakness into one being. Despite being an existence of pure fail, Zergbong was still of Nestea's essence and thus was deemed worthy enough to hold down the fort while Nestea was away.
Life, despite advancing in 1st place is driven insane upon getting too close to Nestea's aura, thus ending his run and career. Zergbong knowing his place promptly exits the booth to make way for the great one. Mr.Chae moves to object, but quickly realizes you never raise your voice to Nestea and quietly slumps back down. JYP despite being astronomically ahead, is quickly dispatched while Supernova, realizing it's pointless, forfeits. All is right with the world again.
fuck all of ya. Artosis has my back :D
H: DRG, Bomber DRG's slump is exaggerated and he has only 1 matchup to prepare for. None of the terrans strike me as the clear best for tvt.....guess I'll believe in Bomber (risky risky).
I think you may be confusing the spelling of "our" Liquid HerO with the CJ Entus herO?
If Line gets out I'll swallow a sword. Hopefully it kills me as I don't want to live in a world where this guy is in the ro16. Leenock has gotten better at ZvP but still seems to rely on somewhat gimmicky play in the mu, not entirely convinced in him yet against protoss which is a shame because he's almost always fun to watch.
B: Symbol, herO
Haven't heard from Symbol in a little while and last time his momentum seemed to have stopped dead in its tracks as he got beat in gsl, osl, wcs, and wcg. But, so what? Prior to that he looked like a clear champion-class player and not since Nestea's glorious days have I been captivated by a Zerg so much. His mechanics are good, his understanding of Zerg is brilliant, he uses the full Zerg arsenal unlike any other Zerg these days, and he has an entire team of good Zergs to bounce ideas off of. You'd be a fool to write him off.
Also, herO is just a baller.
C: MC, Jaedong
MC is in great form right now and his PvZ is still likely the best out there. Jaedong is a bit of a reach but totally capable of making it, he'll have his work cut out for him though as MKP is still deadly and Curious has one of the best ZvZ in Korea.
D: Genius, Byun
3 gsl players with their ups and downs of mediocre and amazing + a kespa player that I'm not entirely comfortable with yet. Shot in the dark picks...
E: Taeja, MVP Can this fucking group be any better? MMA vs MVP rematch..AGAIN and Mana from out of nowhere. Taeja has looked the best out of everyone recently, and despite MMA destroying MVP in their last encounters, I feel like this will be one where MMA finally loses.
F: Squirtle, Naniwa Squirtle is just all around good, and seems to be the best pvp out there. Sniper is frankly more likely to come in 2nd...BUT Naniwa is absolutely capable and he's made ro8 twice now so I feel like taking another reach.
G: Nestea, Zergbong
Okay, so...Zergbong plays and totally fucks everything up with terrible play. But just as he's about to lose to JYP the real Nestea appears after months of absence. As it turns out Nestea was away on business in a distant galaxy, but before leaving poured all his weakness into one being. Despite being an existence of pure fail, Zergbong was still of Nestea's essence and thus was deemed worthy enough to hold down the fort while Nestea was away.
Life, despite advancing in 1st place is driven insane upon getting too close to Nestea's aura, thus ending his run and career. Zergbong knowing his place promptly exits the booth to make way for the great one. Mr.Chae moves to object, but quickly realizes you never raise your voice to Nestea and quietly slumps back down. JYP despite being astronomically ahead, is quickly dispatched while Supernova, realizing it's pointless, forfeits. All is right with the world again.
fuck all of ya. Artosis has my back :D
H: DRG, Bomber DRG's slump is exaggerated and he has only 1 matchup to prepare for. None of the terrans strike me as the clear best for tvt.....guess I'll believe in Bomber (risky risky).
I think you may be confusing the spelling of "our" Liquid HerO with the CJ Entus herO?
No not at all. Just a bad habit of not capitalizing the first letter of his name, yet always remembering the O. It just stands out enough to me to always remember it.
Kind of forgot there's two of them in sc2 now as well, lol...
On September 01 2012 18:29 Belha wrote: Group E of Death????!?
MMA on a slump, Mana will never beat either Taeja or Mvp. Easy group for Taeja, prolly Mvp 2nd.
Group C: HOLY SHIT
MC good, JD average at this point, Curious average, MKP slumping... group C? Look at E or A
Calling MC only 'good' and Curious 'average', says a lot about judgement.
Curious has been so consistent. Look at the right, TLPD #4. MKP is slumping on a very very high level. People just expect him to win everything. MC being 'good' is the Code S finalist and most people decide between him and Taeja for best player in the world right now.
On September 01 2012 18:35 Zane wrote: Holy shit Mvp, how did you manage to get yourself in that group?
Don't know what you're talking about. MMA is in a big slump and MaNa is one of the weakest in Code S. Him and Taeja should quite easily make it out.
MMA is not in a slump, he just didn't feel like he's on form enough to participate in IEM. But he was awesome everytime was saw him recently: crushed his way through Code A and IEM Cologne KR qualifiers.
And when MaNa plays his best with additional korea training, he can take on everyone in this group (just watch TaeJa vs MaNa Assembly Summer 2012; and that was before he was in Korea)
When I saw rain in there, I was like "wait, how did he go from code b to code s that quickly. Did he win a tourney outside korea while I wasn't paying attention?"
Derp. Shoulda looked at the team name.
But, by all accounts, this is the most stacked sc2 tournament yet. I mean, when you have a group and you can make the argument that Curious should place 4th, you know it's a stacked group. But, there's even scarier ones. That's pretty freaking impressive.
new map looks awesome, so many terrans yay i need my tvt dose. Poor Mana will have to take out terrans that have so many fans, and booo no cheating and seeding kespa players with foreigners.
Holy shit are these groups stacked. It's near impossible to make predictions here... Group D and F look the easiest though... Mana might have a fighting chance to come out second after Taeja, he has only one match-up to prepare for after all. I gotta say, I always followed Code S very closely, and this looks like the most stacked season ever, hands down.
On September 01 2012 18:29 Belha wrote: Group E of Death????!?
MMA on a slump, Mana will never beat either Taeja or Mvp. Easy group for Taeja, prolly Mvp 2nd.
Group C: HOLY SHIT
MC good, JD average at this point, Curious average, MKP slumping... group C? Look at E or A
Calling MC only 'good' and Curious 'average', says a lot about judgement.
Curious has been so consistent. Look at the right, TLPD #4. MKP is slumping on a very very high level. People just expect him to win everything. MC being 'good' is the Code S finalist and most people decide between him and Taeja for best player in the world right now.
I meant good as in great or good in comparison to the others in his group. MKP is not really slumping on a high level. He hasn't won much lately at all and has blown some won games. He can turn it around quick though. Curious has just never done anything in Code S.
Don't understand ppl that say MMA is on a big slump really??? He got back into code S easy mode and lost but had on GSTL one of the best TvT i've ever seen if thats a slump humm... and he is MMA by many the best terran in the world... i would never bet against MMA
On September 01 2012 18:58 M4nkind wrote: can some one help me a lil? I didn't follow gsl lately, but wasnt MKP and MMA in code A? did I miss how they got to code S?
On September 01 2012 19:10 Kreb wrote: Do I remember it wrong or does the old winner and runnerup get to choose one player each? If so, any words on who MC/Seed picked?
Out of guess I'd say Seed picking Suhosin because he's one of the weaker Code S players. I think MC picked Jaedong because he has self-declaimed himself as "The KeSPA Killer" and had an undertaker intro to OSL. Also because Jaedong is zerg and MC wins vs zerg.
On September 01 2012 19:10 Kreb wrote: Do I remember it wrong or does the old winner and runnerup get to choose one player each? If so, any words on who MC/Seed picked?
Suoshin and Jaedong most likely. MC is the type to want someone like JD as an opponent and Suoshin is cheesy as heck and Seed has great FF's so it would make sense.
On September 01 2012 18:29 Belha wrote: Group E of Death????!?
MMA on a slump, Mana will never beat either Taeja or Mvp. Easy group for Taeja, prolly Mvp 2nd.
Group C: HOLY SHIT
MC good, JD average at this point, Curious average, MKP slumping... group C? Look at E or A
Calling MC only 'good' and Curious 'average', says a lot about judgement.
Curious has been so consistent. Look at the right, TLPD #4. MKP is slumping on a very very high level. People just expect him to win everything. MC being 'good' is the Code S finalist and most people decide between him and Taeja for best player in the world right now.
I meant good as in great or good in comparison to the others in his group. MKP is not really slumping on a high level. He hasn't won much lately at all and has blown some won games. He can turn it around quick though. Curious has just never done anything in Code S.
Curious has never done anything in Code S? Yeah, but he always requalified immediately. Last season he only lost 2x against the eventual winner Seed to go out of Code S. He beat Hero and later Puzzle and Creator in Code A. Code S is not the only relevant tournament either. Curious qualified for TSL and WCS, did decent in both.
Group A: Seed, Leenock Ok, Line is a free win for anyone in this group and I'll eat a hat if someone even cheesier than Bit-by-Bit makes it into next round (can't believe he made it here in the first place). Seed is rock solid in general, so I'll put him in first place. While I love Parting and he got a lot better vs Z, his strength is still vT and the momentum is currently with Leenock, so I'd say Leenock comes out second though I wouldn't be surprised at all if Parting comes out ahead.
Group B: Hero, Yoda Hardest group to predict. I believe that Hero is overall the best player in this group and he has overcome his nerve issues. The hype train around Symbol has died off a bit, but I still believe him to be one of the best Zergs and that he could take a championship. Ryung is solid but unremarkable, I doubt he will make a deep run. Yoda has something around him, MVP said he is the best player on IM after all and I want to see a Royal Road candidate make it deep, so I'll say he makes it, but it could be Hero + anyone else to make it out of this group, really. Group C: MC, Curious BossToss will find a way to roll this group and Curious is the master of underratedness, so I'll give it to those two. MKP is in a slump recently, especially against Z, so this is a tough group for him and JD is not good enough to snatch more than a victory in this group yet.
Group D: Byun, Rain Hm, this group seems easier than the previous ones. Rain impressed me in WCS and I want a Kespa player to advance. PuppyTerran made a deep run last time and I think he can repeat that performance. Happy and Genius, while both decent, seem to be more of Code A caliber in the long run imo.
Group E: Taeja, MVP I want to believe in Mana, his PvT is good, MVP and MMA might be beaten by him under optimal circumstances, but I think his nerves will get to him, he was shaken in Up&D already according to his interview, and the real Code S stage gotta be even more frightening. So, Taeja being Taeja and MVP just knows how to win even one-handed, they are the two clear favorites here. MMA has too much drama surrounding him and never developed past the brilliant multitasker yet mechanically challenged player he was back when he made his big splash in the scene.
Group F: Squirtle, Sniper Easiest group imo. Squirtle is a level above his competition, would be a surprise if he didn't make it. Heart is still so one-dimensional, I want him to get eliminated as soon as possible to be honest, I just don't enjoy his playstyle. So the question remains if Nani can repeat his performances or if Sniper, who has shown some up and coming qualities lately will make it. I make the save, Korean, choice but will be cheering for Naniwa. Group G: Life, Supernova I want to see Life advance, not only because he is one of the online superstars of Zerg, but also because of his nailbiting match vs Ryung in the U&D, was fun to watch and this guy plays his own style. Love to watch him. Nestea hasn't been impressive for a while, he might make it out if we see a flicker of his old brilliance shine through, but I doubt it. Jyp will EG it up.
Group H: DRG, Gumibear I believe this will be the tournament DRG will recover his old form. Someone that good can't be shaken up by a few losses on his home turf that bad, can he? I'd like Bomber to advance, but alas I learned to never rely on Bomber, so I think the TowelTerran edges out ahead of Polt and Bomber. Ah scratch that, Polt is so dedicated and concentrates on Korea right now, so I think it will be him and DRG.
On September 01 2012 18:29 Belha wrote: Group E of Death????!?
MMA on a slump, Mana will never beat either Taeja or Mvp. Easy group for Taeja, prolly Mvp 2nd.
Group C: HOLY SHIT
MC good, JD average at this point, Curious average, MKP slumping... group C? Look at E or A
Calling MC only 'good' and Curious 'average', says a lot about judgement.
Curious has been so consistent. Look at the right, TLPD #4. MKP is slumping on a very very high level. People just expect him to win everything. MC being 'good' is the Code S finalist and most people decide between him and Taeja for best player in the world right now.
I meant good as in great or good in comparison to the others in his group. MKP is not really slumping on a high level. He hasn't won much lately at all and has blown some won games. He can turn it around quick though. Curious has just never done anything in Code S.
Curious has never done anything in Code S? Yeah, but he always requalified immediately. Last season he only lost 2x against the eventual winner Seed to go out of Code S. He beat Hero and later Puzzle and Creator in Code A. Code S is not the only relevant tournament either. Curious qualified for TSL and WCS, did decent in both.
Yah but Code S is different and until Curious shows he can do something there I wont consider him above average I guess I am more judging MKP based on those games where he had time to train for them but meh. I still don't think he is in good form. Might be too soon to call it slumping as you say but he has had some bad play lately in key games. I havnt seen them all though so I could be wrong as you say
Picked MKP/MMA based on how awesome they are and hope they get back to top form. Naniwa prepares for games really well which could get him out of there... Not much respect for group D so Rain will get out and I predict one of Squirtle, Parting, or Taeja to win this season :D
On September 01 2012 19:10 Kreb wrote: Do I remember it wrong or does the old winner and runnerup get to choose one player each? If so, any words on who MC/Seed picked?
Suoshin and Jaedong most likely. MC is the type to want someone like JD as an opponent and Suoshin is cheesy as heck and Seed has great FF's so it would make sense.
Exactly, the winner and runner up get to pick their Tier 4 opponent. Line is a joke, no wonder he got picked by Seed and MC loves the drama so of course he would pick a Kespa player, and I also believe that JD will be easy for him.
Just FYI about that Mana and his pvt atm. It's his best matchup against european players for sure, but since he started to ladder@korea he says he doesn't rly feel comfortable because koreans got weird (for him) timings and he's got hard time getting used to them. However, he was able to beat Keen and lose to Bomber in up&down bo1 matches, albo he had 0-2 vs Taeja and 2-3 vs BratOK yesterday @ Ritmix Russian StarCraft 2 League Season 2, so it's hard to tell where he stands. Personally i think it's good for him, he's got some time to prepare for the matchup, playing korean ladder + studing games with his brother funkay (also a terran, currently nerding at Korea). I wish him all the best, and honestly he's in great position, because if he screwes up nobody will blame him, but if he wins he's gonna be legen....wait for it...dary!
On September 01 2012 19:45 MrKn4rz wrote: Why is nobody voting for group A?
Because they are delusioned by the big names in Grp E. MVP and Taeja are the clear favourites there. MMA is in a big slump (wasn't even in Code S last season) and MaNa is one of the weakest Code S players. But because of people being used to MMA MVP being insane, Taeja beasting and Mana being a foreign hope together with Naniwa they vote for that group.
Objectively looking at the groups, Grp E is not the toughest.
Wonder why they gave JD and Rain free code S seeds. They're deserving, but I thought GSL was not leaning towards doing that anymore. Rain will probably win his group lol
On September 01 2012 19:51 SkimGuy wrote: Wonder why they gave JD and Rain free code S seeds. They're deserving, but I thought GSL was not leaning towards doing that anymore. Rain will probably win his group lol
A deal with Kespa. To my knowledge they were still giving out seeds anyways, they just gave them to Kespa to give them incentive to come now instead of later.
On September 01 2012 19:51 SkimGuy wrote: Wonder why they gave JD and Rain free code S seeds. They're deserving, but I thought GSL was not leaning towards doing that anymore. Rain will probably win his group lol
The format didn't change, so they still need to fill 2 Code S spots with fresh seeds each season. Since they are having trouble to get deserving foreigners to accept and fly to Korea, I'd expect those seeds to go to Kespay players for at least two more seasons or so.
lol people voting group E as group of death only recognize big names and not current form. Group A & C are the most stacked groups here. Line (aka Suhosin) showed amazing play in the U&D, Leenock smashed through MLG, and Seed and Parting are 2 of the top5 protoss right now (and those 5 protoss players (squirtle, seed, creator, parting, MC) are very close in skill, but at least one level above all other protosses)! Group C and A are definately the best groups. I'm really looking forward to those...
On September 01 2012 19:56 TeeTS wrote: lol people voting group E as group of death only recognize big names and not current form. Group A & C are the most stacked groups here. Line (aka Suhosin) showed amazing play in the U&D, Leenock smashed through MLG, and Seed and Parting are 2 of the top5 protoss right now (and those 5 protoss players (squirtle, seed, creator, parting, MC) are very close in skill, but at least one level above all other protosses)! Group C and A are definately the best groups. I'm really looking forward to those...
Why C? Sure MKP and MC but JD and Curious? I'd hold D over C depending on if Genius wants to win or not.
Mana welcome into group of death E. I think MVP might not get out of the group depending on how good form MMA is in. TaeJa has insanely good TvP and TvT, and MMA always wins MVP,
On September 01 2012 19:56 TeeTS wrote: lol people voting group E as group of death only recognize big names and not current form. Group A & C are the most stacked groups here. Line (aka Suhosin) showed amazing play in the U&D, Leenock smashed through MLG, and Seed and Parting are 2 of the top5 protoss right now (and those 5 protoss players (squirtle, seed, creator, parting, MC) are very close in skill, but at least one level above all other protosses)! Group C and A are definately the best groups. I'm really looking forward to those...
Yeah lol, group E is like one of the 3 easiest groups.
these groups are disgusting, every single one..maybe G and B are A LITTLE bit underpar but my god even those are stacked. Really looking forward to this season. Going to be sick!
On September 01 2012 19:56 TeeTS wrote: lol people voting group E as group of death only recognize big names and not current form. Group A & C are the most stacked groups here. Line (aka Suhosin) showed amazing play in the U&D, Leenock smashed through MLG, and Seed and Parting are 2 of the top5 protoss right now (and those 5 protoss players (squirtle, seed, creator, parting, MC) are very close in skill, but at least one level above all other protosses)! Group C and A are definately the best groups. I'm really looking forward to those...
Why C? Sure MKP and MC but JD and Curious? I'd hold D over C depending on if Genius wants to win or not.
MC one of the best protoss, MKP one of the best terrans if he plays with courage and self esteem again, Curious is definately one of the best zergs right now (There is no zerg out there I would clearly place above him) and JD showed great improvement in each of his games at WCS, expect him to be even better now!
group C is cool, fun to see MC vs JD. Group E doesn't stand out for me, I consider MMA to be one of the weakest players in code S atm. Taeja and MVP are fantastic of course but I give mana a fair shot to make it out actually.
On September 01 2012 20:21 Markwerf wrote: group C is cool, fun to see MC vs JD. Group E doesn't stand out for me, I consider MMA to be one of the weakest players in code S atm.
Weakest player ? are you shitting me? look what he has won this year, there is a reason he got that NASL Invite, because he has achieved alot of results this year.. he beat hero and violet to get back into code S? two players who the community rate highly! I could probably list off 10 names right now of who he is better than but thats pointless.. he's a two time GSL Champion so listing names isn't required.. you shouldn't be suprised if he even wins this group with ease..
The 2 finalists got to choose one player from tier 4 right? If so, LOL at MC choosing Jaedong, what a boss! Group E looks like a tough one, I cant really see Mana getting out of this one, poor guy. Even group F Naniwa seemed to be in a bit of bad luck. Sniper is on fire lately, and Squirtle is Squirtle. But if Nani can scrape a win off Heart, then get build order win against Squirtle seeing as it is PvP, he may make it through. Liquid Hero looks good to advance, but will probably depend if Symbol looks as unstoppable as he was in the last code S. Anyway, predictions...
Group A: Seed: One of few GSL Champions who seemed to remain consistent after their victory of the hardest competition in the world. He was the only person in iM who could take down Liquid Taeja in TAC3 when he seemed unbeatable at the time. Either that or it was fatigue from all killing iM once earlier that day. Regardless, Seed is the clear #1 here for me.
Parting: The second spot is either going to be Parting or Leenok, and despite Leenok performing very well lately, Protoss seem to be dominating Korea atm and Parting is one of the reasons why. I feel bad for Leenok but protoss in Korea just look too strong atm. Suhosin should be last here in the group.
Group B: Hero: With a staggering 4:0 in his Up and Downs yesterday, Hero will be coming into this tournament extremely confident. While somewhat overshadowed by his teammate - Taejas accomplishments, one cannot underestimate Heros skill and cute little warp-prism micro. Now hero is known for his PvZ, however there is only 1 other zerg. However Yoda and Ryung, while they are decent, they are not top tier. Hero will take this group under the condition his nerves dont do it for him.
Symbol: When he made it deep into code S last season, this was the zerg everyone had their eyes on. However since then he seemed to have dropped off the radar, but if he has a sliver of dominance he had last season, I can see Symbol taking second place in this group, simply because Hero is a beast at PvZ. However I would not be surprised to see either Yoda or Ryung in second place, but I got my money on symbol.
Group C: MC: Last seasons GSL runner up and a clear favorite here. While I expect him to make it deep into this season, I dont expect him to win. JD was a smart choice as he is the least experienced in SC2 and will bolster his popularity to another level if he beats him too.
Curious: With Marineking slumping, and JD too new to the scene as well as spending time practicing 2 games, I can see Curious taking second place uncontested. Most over-look Curious and just go for the big names (MKP & JD), however for those who have actually watched Curious, will know that he is actually a pretty decent player.
Group D: Rain: Otherwise known as By.Sun, he is one of the few KeSPA players who is absolutely dominating atm. He did extremely well in WCS Korea defeating many big names, and his play style seemed impeccable. I can definately see him taking #1 here.
Byun: Byun was the Terran hope of last GSL, as the only Terran left in the quarterfinals. This alone says something about Byun. Genius seemed to be in a slump lately and Happy is pretty mediocre, so I can see Byun making #2 here, but I would not be surprised to see Rain and Byun interchanging positions, but both making it through.
Group E: MVP: MVP being the clear favorite here and the worlds most consistent and best player. I dont think many people who bet him not making it through here despite having such a tough group. Sure MMA has his number, but that was awhile ago when MMA wasnt slumping.
Taeja: Taeja is the clear #2 here for me. With MMA slumping and Taeja himself being unstoppable (although not as unstoppable much recently), this should be EZPZ. Sure Mana is known for his PvT, but in an interview with Khaldor, he actually said himself that since coming to Korea, that isnt so much the case anymore. I feel bad for Mana as he seems like a very kind and down to earth person, but at the end of the day, its hard to vote against the likes of MVP and Taeja.
Group F: Squirtle: Squirtle is probably the clear favorite here, as the runner up to WCS korea. He is a very solid all-round player, good at all match ups. This is a trait very important here as this group contains all races. Even though Squirtle is yet win a big tournament, I can still see him advancing here as #1.
Sniper: As much as I respect Naniwa, Sniper just seems too good. Anyone who watched his up and down matches recently will understand. Naniwa should take 3rd place followed by Heart, but Sniper should be the clear 2nd here.
Group G: Supernova: As one of the worlds most constant terran and player, Supernova should never be overlooked. Similar to Squirtle where he is yet to take home a big tournament, while I see him advancing from this group, I dont see him winning GSL. Regardless, his competition in this group isnt so scary, so I see him taking #1 here.
Nestea: This one was a bit tricky. Right now id say that Life is playing better than Nestea, however Nestea having been in Code S for 10 seasons straight, can see him making it out here barely. Although I wouldnt be surprised to see Life take it here either. As for JYP, well he has just dropped off the map completely.
Group H: Gumiho: A very consistent Terran who has showed he has great at all matchups, in particular Terran in his spectacular match against MMA in the GSTL finals. For those who havent watched this match Id strongly advise doing so, and you can watch it for free on GOM as it is the first match. A clear #1 for me.
Polt: While Polt is known for his TvP, there are no Protoss in this group. Luckily DRG is slumping badly and Bomber is so inconsistant, so I can see Polt making #2 here pretty easily. But this really depends if Bomber decides to bring his A game or not. If so, Bomber > Polt, but most likely the other way around.
I wouldnt say MMA's in a slump, maybe in terms of big tournament results, but if you look at his results lately, he's in a surge. He hasn't attended many big tournaments so people have forgotten about him. Oh BTW, his TvP isnt his weakest match up. His TvP has improved by leaps and bounds.
Also, jaedong gets a rude awakening at GSL, he should get smashed , particularly considering how he played yesterday in PL. He played so bad it was infuriating.
On September 01 2012 17:07 neckgripper wrote: MC afraid to face life, so chooses JD who has way less experience but more notoriety. I hope JD crushes MC.
Lolwhat? MC isn't afraid to face anybody. He has time and again picked the top players in order to create huge matchups and "groups of death".
MC picking the most famous and high profile player in the tournament was the most obvious thing for him to do.
MC's best matchup is pvz, if he wanted to create a group of death, he woulda chose someone other than JD. He practices with JD and he said that kespa zergs were waay behind gsl zergs. One can already tell MC beat JD most of the times in their practices. The reason he chose JD is so he can have an easy path through code S.
There were 3 zergs in the tier 4 list. Line, life and JD. Line was taken by seed already, so MC took the easier zerg in JD cause he knows life is pretty damn good. If mc really wanted to make it a group of death, he shoulda chose bomber, rain, yoda or life since those four are the best ones there.
Group E the group of death? Seriously. Group E has Taeja who is white-hot, MVP who is injured, MMA who is not at his best and Mana who is a foreigner (but still seems likely to make it out because MVP and MMA aren't that great right now and Mana is strong in PvT).
Group A and B are by FAR the strongest groups. Both are complete bullshit with six out of the eight players in those groups capable of winning the whole tournament. The ones I'm saying won't win are Ryung, the best SlayerS Terran and SuHoSin, who is in very good form at the moment. Netiher are good enough to win though. Yoda is I guess not well-known, but he is probably IMs best player, except maybe for Seed in terms of current form).
Group E is Taeja and some randoms, although to be fair anybody could make it out of that group because Taeja is not a fantastic TvTer. Runner up in the poll is Group C which has MC and MKP who is not at the top of his game (still formidable). It also has two zergs which probably won't make it out of the group and DEFINITELY won't make it to the Ro8, pretty much no matter what.
On September 01 2012 21:01 althaz wrote: Group E the group of death? Seriously. Group E has Taeja who is white-hot, MVP who is injured, MMA who is not at his best and Mana who is a foreigner (but still seems likely to make it out because MVP and MMA aren't that great right now and Mana is strong in PvT).
Group A and B are by FAR the strongest groups. Both are complete bullshit with six out of the eight players in those groups capable of winning the whole tournament. The ones I'm saying won't win are Ryung, the best SlayerS Terran and SuHoSin, who is in very good form at the moment. Netiher are good enough to win though. Yoda is I guess not well-known, but he is probably IMs best player, except maybe for Seed in terms of current form).
Group E is Taeja and some randoms, although to be fair anybody could make it out of that group because Taeja is not a fantastic TvTer. Runner up in the poll is Group C which has MC and MKP who is not at the top of his game (still formidable). It also has two zergs which probably won't make it out of the group and DEFINITELY won't make it to the Ro8, pretty much no matter what.
sigh, curious REALLY is underrated lol.............................. also MVP just won IEM like 2 weeks ago, MMA stormed his way back into the scene...... mana is like top 5 foreigner AT LEAST........ mkp is only slumping slightly
On September 01 2012 21:01 althaz wrote: Group E the group of death? Seriously. Group E has Taeja who is white-hot, MVP who is injured, MMA who is not at his best and Mana who is a foreigner (but still seems likely to make it out because MVP and MMA aren't that great right now and Mana is strong in PvT).
Group A and B are by FAR the strongest groups. Both are complete bullshit with six out of the eight players in those groups capable of winning the whole tournament. The ones I'm saying won't win are Ryung, the best SlayerS Terran and SuHoSin, who is in very good form at the moment. Netiher are good enough to win though. Yoda is I guess not well-known, but he is probably IMs best player, except maybe for Seed in terms of current form).
Group E is Taeja and some randoms, although to be fair anybody could make it out of that group because Taeja is not a fantastic TvTer. Runner up in the poll is Group C which has MC and MKP who is not at the top of his game (still formidable). It also has two zergs which probably won't make it out of the group and DEFINITELY won't make it to the Ro8, pretty much no matter what.
All of the groups are pretty massively stacked in terms of not being easy to predict at all from a relatively objective standpoint (i.e. without any fanboy bias whatsoever). GSL is seeing tremendous improvement compared to early-mid 2011, you can at best predict one guy who won't advance and even then there will be upsets no doubt. On a different note, who do you even cheer for, given some of these groups ;_;
I hope Jaedong and By.Sun prove they're deserving of the seed at least, that will be interesting to watch.
Group A is going to be the hardest group imo. Line is meh, ye, but he did well in the up and downs and Leenock Seeeeedu and PartinG are easily 3 players you'd expect to be in the semis with ease. PartinG probably the weakest there of late but he'll practice it up, just needs to tune up his PvZ.
Byun got the best group he could hope for, really hope he lets it show. Unfortunately with Happy's TvP I don't see him advancing but at least its not a team kill anymore haha. For group C I actually see MC/Jaedong and Curious advancing. I wanna be proven wrong but Curious is so fucking good, just under the radar, and MKP hasn't really been MKPin it up recently.
DRG probably couldn't be happier, very nice group but it will be hard, difficult to predict that one. Group G will be fun, pretty much comes down to whether SuperNoVa can win his TvZs or not. JYP will most likely advance I really see NesTea in last place, Life's ZvZ is really fucking good and JYP is equally skilled PvZ.
MMA vs MVP lets hope its gonna be great TvT as in the past.
Group H: DRG should be really comfortablewith this group as he is/was a big Terran Killer... on the other hand Bomber, Polt and Gumiho are strong opponents.
On September 01 2012 21:25 Badfatpanda wrote: Ahahahaha, MaNa I heard you like PvT, WELL HERE.
Group A is going to be the hardest group imo. Line is meh, ye, but he did well in the up and downs and Leenock Seeeeedu and PartinG are easily 3 players you'd expect to be in the semis with ease. PartinG probably the weakest there of late but he'll practice it up, just needs to tune up his PvZ.
Byun got the best group he could hope for, really hope he lets it show. Unfortunately with Happy's TvP I don't see him advancing but at least its not a team kill anymore haha. For group C I actually see MC/Jaedong and Curious advancing. I wanna be proven wrong but Curious is so fucking good, just under the radar, and MKP hasn't really been MKPin it up recently.
DRG probably couldn't be happier, very nice group but it will be hard, difficult to predict that one. Group G will be fun, pretty much comes down to whether SuperNoVa can win his TvZs or not. JYP will most likely advance I really see NesTea in last place, Life's ZvZ is really fucking good and JYP is equally skilled PvZ.
i think seed is the weakest atm of those 3 since he bombed out of the wcs korea with a 2-0 loss to parting then to roro. how can drg be happy, his group has 3 fairly strong but inconsistent terrans...... i can see mkp going through, mc is not the bosstoss he used to be and jaedong just isnt up to par
On September 01 2012 21:01 althaz wrote: Group E the group of death? Seriously. Group E has Taeja who is white-hot, MVP who is injured, MMA who is not at his best and Mana who is a foreigner (but still seems likely to make it out because MVP and MMA aren't that great right now and Mana is strong in PvT).
Group A and B are by FAR the strongest groups. Both are complete bullshit with six out of the eight players in those groups capable of winning the whole tournament. The ones I'm saying won't win are Ryung, the best SlayerS Terran and SuHoSin, who is in very good form at the moment. Netiher are good enough to win though. Yoda is I guess not well-known, but he is probably IMs best player, except maybe for Seed in terms of current form).
Group E is Taeja and some randoms, although to be fair anybody could make it out of that group because Taeja is not a fantastic TvTer. Runner up in the poll is Group C which has MC and MKP who is not at the top of his game (still formidable). It also has two zergs which probably won't make it out of the group and DEFINITELY won't make it to the Ro8, pretty much no matter what.
Although I do agree that group E isn't quite the group of death, its just more or less a group of death from the foreigner perspective... You couldn't really piece together a much harder group for Mana to get out of. While I would put mana ahead of MMA right now, I can't put him ahead of taeja no matter what or MVP. MVP has been injured this whole time... He's been resting, and he's still been putting in solid results. Using that excuse would only work if he was slumping. Either way as of late MVP has been having more success TvT than MMA and should take the series.
Group A could be the group of death if the groups were only 3 players. Suhosin doesn't belong in code S. So with that said that makes it much easier to guess who will get out of the group. Group E is much harder to guess than this group. I got Leenock and Parting
Group B EZPZ Hero and Symbol. I think this was probably the most straightforward group. Hero isn't great, but he's better than these guys, and Symbol is better than them as well. Yoda almost belongs, and Ryung does but is just barely outmatched. I guess I could see Ryung taking it if he manages to get by hero, but I just don't see it.
so basically you said group A and B are the hardest, but they both have 1 player that would be an extreme upset if he made it out.
A group of death is a group where all the players should be in the round of 16, not when only 3 of the players should be.
On September 01 2012 21:25 Badfatpanda wrote: Ahahahaha, MaNa I heard you like PvT, WELL HERE.
Group A is going to be the hardest group imo. Line is meh, ye, but he did well in the up and downs and Leenock Seeeeedu and PartinG are easily 3 players you'd expect to be in the semis with ease. PartinG probably the weakest there of late but he'll practice it up, just needs to tune up his PvZ.
Byun got the best group he could hope for, really hope he lets it show. Unfortunately with Happy's TvP I don't see him advancing but at least its not a team kill anymore haha. For group C I actually see MC/Jaedong and Curious advancing. I wanna be proven wrong but Curious is so fucking good, just under the radar, and MKP hasn't really been MKPin it up recently.
DRG probably couldn't be happier, very nice group but it will be hard, difficult to predict that one. Group G will be fun, pretty much comes down to whether SuperNoVa can win his TvZs or not. JYP will most likely advance I really see NesTea in last place, Life's ZvZ is really fucking good and JYP is equally skilled PvZ.
i think seed is the weakest atm of those 3 since he bombed out of the wcs korea with a 2-0 loss to parting then to roro. how can drg be happy, his group has 3 fairly strong but inconsistent terrans...... i can see mkp going through, mc is not the bosstoss he used to be and jaedong just isnt up to par
wait... did you just say MC isn't the bosstoss he used to be? Who has consistently won, or almost won every single thing he's entered?
MC and MKP are the strongest by far in that group. The issue would actually be with MKP and his current half-assery in his games. If he slips up Curious will take his spot.
I can see Protoss doing very well on this new map. The 3rd is relatively easily defended because it is in the direction away from your opponent and there are a lot of tight gaps for forcefields. Also drop play and warp prism harass will be very strong here as there is a large space behind the bases for them to sneak around from the main to 3rd, as well as a lengthy distance between the two. I think zerg drew the short straw here with all these tight spaces, although they should be able to get nice flanks through the 2 platforms in the middle with 3 ramps each, but still, Protoss dominating will continue in Korea.
Group E: Mana/Taeja/MMA/MvP . HI Mana, Bye Mana.... They really squired him up right there. The only thing that's going for him is that's his best matchup.
Who would have thought just a couple months ago that we will see JD and MaNa in Code S? That's so sick... looking forward to it, will be a great season.
I dunno man if I was GSL I might have spread C and E out. Might be good for getting viewers day 1 but long term this Code S all the best fights will be done for.
On September 01 2012 21:26 executorx wrote: Poor Mana in group E :D
MMA vs MVP lets hope its gonna be great TvT as in the past.
Group H: DRG should be really comfortablewith this group as he is/was a big Terran Killer... on the other hand Bomber, Polt and Gumiho are strong opponents.
I mainly remember MMA vs MVP as relatively lackluster TvT games with MMA devising a smart set of build orders that catch MVP offguard. Lots of 2 raxes, factory proxies, early busts. They were good series, but not exactly the best games.
Great code S line-up this season tho, hasn't been this stacked in ages.
Group C or E is probably the most stacked group here but holy hell every group is going to be hard to get out of. In any other tournament every one of these groups could be classed as a group of death. The weakest group is probably F and even then there are some excellent players in it. This should be an excellent GSL season.
Wow. Mana. I think he will get third or second in his group. First would be rather difficult, unless he can do it by avoiding taeja (beats mma, taeja loses to mvp, then beats mma while mana beats mvp and then beats mma)
Naniwa and squirtle SHOULD it out of that group fine.
On September 01 2012 22:36 Fleuria wrote: G is by far the easiest with H
Rest are pretty scary
How is H easy? 2 former GSL champions, a consistant Code S player in Gumiho and a rising Bomber who at one point could lay claim to being best terran in world. I would say F is easier than H.
On September 01 2012 22:31 TBone- wrote: If you don't vote group C only based on Jaedong you guys are doing this wrong.
Some people vote with their brain (performance), more than their heart (favorite player). Hence why foreigners in GSL are heavily voted for even though they usually get stomped.
By the way, to the people who are talking about MC being cocky...
Jaedong was pretty much objectively the weakest and most unproven Zerg that MC could have chosen. Especially as MC's builds and playstyle requires precise counters instead of solid fundamentals, it's a very good idea to pick the least experienced player.
I don't think he was being cocky here, however it's also a brilliant move. It definitely will appear cocky to less informed people, maintaining his image. Beating JD is also "impressive" even though as I said he's quite mediocre in SC2 and IMO not Code S level.
This is judging by his past performances, though. It's possible that Jaedong just becomes a total beast in GSL, who knows.
On September 01 2012 22:42 Alryk wrote: Wow. Mana. I think he will get third or second in his group. First would be rather difficult, unless he can do it by avoiding taeja (beats mma, taeja loses to mvp, then beats mma while mana beats mvp and then beats mma)
Naniwa and squirtle SHOULD it out of that group fine.
On September 01 2012 22:42 Alryk wrote: Naniwa and squirtle SHOULD it out of that group fine.
I disagree, I think Naniwa's in a lot of trouble. Say he beats heart (which he should) and squirtle beats Sniper. Odds are that Sniper makes it to the final match and so if Naniwa can't beat squirtle in pvp then he probably won't make it. Given that Squirtle holds the ELO record for best PvP in the world, that won't be all that easy.
Ok well lets look at who the champion and runner up (Seed & MC) could have chosen:
The champion, Seed gets the first pick. Seed's strongest matchup is also PvZ at 64%, compared to his 56% against Terran and 48% against Protoss. Out of the zergs there is Suhosin, Life and Jaedong. Life is clearly the best Zerg out of these 3, and Jaedong is a bit of a wild card because he is training in two games, yet can potentially become very good if he focuses on SC2. Furthermore, there is not as much research material on JD because of his lack of games available to study. That leaves Suhosin who was clearly the weakest player in this list - barely scraping through Up and Downs yesterday thanks to Shine's win.
This brings us to the runner up, MC. MC's strongest matchup is PvP at 65%, compared to 61% PvZ and 58% PvT. Out of the protoss he could have picked, there was Sun and Mana. Sun has been looking extremely strong lately in the OSL and WCS Korea, so that would be a silly choice. Mana would be a good choice, however PvP has always been a coinflip and would be considered dangerous. That left his second best matchup, PvZ. With Suhosin already picked, that left Jaedong and Life. Again Jaedong is a bit of a wild card, but I bet that MC was banking on the fact that JD isn't as experienced, as well as the glory of beating a broodwar legend.
All in all, the 2 choices were both reasonable. Looking at the Terrans in tier 4 for a sec, Bomber is looking like he is picking up his pace again, so that would be a bad choice. Heart isn't bad and many of the iM players are saying that Yoda is on fire lately. But the most obvious thing is that both Seed and MC prefer other match ups over Terran.
Group E isn't THAT hard tbh. MMA has been doing terrible for awhile now, MVP isn't the God he once was, Mana is pretty good but I don't think he is code S level yet, Taeja is a clear favourite to take this. I still believe he is the best player in the world.
On September 01 2012 23:07 Incomplet wrote: Ok well lets look at who the champion and runner up (Seed & MC) could have chosen:
The champion, Seed gets the first pick. Seed's strongest matchup is also PvZ at 64%, compared to his 56% against Terran and 48% against Protoss. Out of the zergs there is Suhosin, Life and Jaedong. Life is clearly the best Zerg out of these 3, and Jaedong is a bit of a wild card because he is training in two games, yet can potentially become very good if he focuses on SC2. Furthermore, there is not as much research material on JD because of his lack of games available to study. That leaves Suhosin who was clearly the weakest player in this list - barely scraping through Up and Downs yesterday thanks to Shine's win.
This brings us to the runner up, MC. MC's strongest matchup is PvP at 65%, compared to 61% PvZ and 58% PvT. Out of the protoss he could have picked, there was Sun and Mana. Sun has been looking extremely strong lately in the OSL and WCS Korea, so that would be a silly choice. Mana would be a good choice, however PvP has always been a coinflip and would be considered dangerous. That left his second best matchup, PvZ. With Suhosin already picked, that left Jaedong and Life. Again Jaedong is a bit of a wild card, but I bet that MC was banking on the fact that JD isn't as experienced, as well as the glory of beating a broodwar legend.
All in all, the 2 choices were both reasonable. Looking at the Terrans in tier 4 for a sec, Bomber is looking like he is picking up his pace again, so that would be a bad choice. Heart isn't bad and many of the iM players are saying that Yoda is on fire lately. But the most obvious thing is that both Seed and MC prefer other match ups over Terran.
Also, JD had been practicing a bit with MC. MC probably did pretty well against him in practice to pick him here. I haven't seen all of JD's SC2 ZvP, but in the games I can remember, he looked weak at it.
Btw potential Royal Road candidates this season are: HeartYoDaMaNaJaedongLifeBy.Sun I'd say Yoda, Life and maybe Rain have chances to make it deep if they get some momentum building up. What do you guys think?
These are some of the best groups I have ever seen! Group C looks the strongest because I mean, MC and MKP are god tier, Jaedong performed AMAZING vs the GOM players in the WCS Korea, and so did Curious. Good luck Mana, I think he needs it.
On September 01 2012 23:53 ACrow wrote: Btw potential Royal Road candidates this season are: HeartYoDaMaNaJaedongLifeBy.Sun I'd say Yoda, Life and maybe Rain have chances to make it deep if they get some momentum building up. What do you guys think?
On September 01 2012 23:53 ACrow wrote: Btw potential Royal Road candidates this season are: HeartYoDaMaNaJaedongLifeBy.Sun I'd say Yoda, Life and maybe Rain have chances to make it deep if they get some momentum building up. What do you guys think?
Royal Road is only OSL my friend.
They use the same term in GSL... Remember Squirtle?
On September 01 2012 23:53 ACrow wrote: Btw potential Royal Road candidates this season are: HeartYoDaMaNaJaedongLifeBy.Sun I'd say Yoda, Life and maybe Rain have chances to make it deep if they get some momentum building up. What do you guys think?
Royal Road is only OSL my friend.
They use the same term in GSL... Remember Squirtle?
"Walking the Royal Road refers to a rookie winning an OSL on their first qualified appearance." - Liquipedia
On September 01 2012 23:53 ACrow wrote: Btw potential Royal Road candidates this season are: HeartYoDaMaNaJaedongLifeBy.Sun I'd say Yoda, Life and maybe Rain have chances to make it deep if they get some momentum building up. What do you guys think?
Royal Road is only OSL my friend.
Call it "guy who is in the tournament for the first time and has a shot at the title" then if you have the urge to reserve it for OSL. I personally find that way a little too cumbersome a way to say, but w/e.
I actually think, that Mana is really lucky - indeed, he has to play against very, very scary opponents, but he can focus all his practice in vT, while they must split their practice time. I wish him good luck, I really like this guy and mouz too :D
On September 01 2012 18:11 Avicularia wrote: Oh my.... Mana vs King of Terrans, Legend of Terrans and Best Terran in the World in this group... This will be sooo hard.
Naniwa should get out of his group. Heart is a bit cheesy, so I guess it's ok, Sniper is not the best zerg there, Naniwa was doing ok with his PvP in GSL.
Wow, I think the time for there being a "good of death" is now over. Every group is ridiculously stacked and incredibly hard to predict. I am very excited for this season.
On September 01 2012 18:11 Avicularia wrote: Oh my.... Mana vs King of Terrans, Legend of Terrans and Best Terran in the World in this group... This will be sooo hard.
Naniwa should get out of his group. Heart is a bit cheesy, so I guess it's ok, Sniper is not the best zerg there, Naniwa was doing ok with his PvP in GSL.
On September 01 2012 18:11 Avicularia wrote: Oh my.... Mana vs King of Terrans, Legend of Terrans and Best Terran in the World in this group... This will be sooo hard.
Naniwa should get out of his group. Heart is a bit cheesy, so I guess it's ok, Sniper is not the best zerg there, Naniwa was doing ok with his PvP in GSL.
Why did you mention Mvp 3 times?
"Best Terran in the World" Doesnt describe Mvp.
It does, but this is not the place to discuss this.
On September 01 2012 18:11 Avicularia wrote: Oh my.... Mana vs King of Terrans, Legend of Terrans and Best Terran in the World in this group... This will be sooo hard.
Naniwa should get out of his group. Heart is a bit cheesy, so I guess it's ok, Sniper is not the best zerg there, Naniwa was doing ok with his PvP in GSL.
Why did you mention Mvp 3 times?
"Best Terran in the World" Doesnt describe Mvp.
It does, but this is not the place to discuss this.
TaeJa's play is lightyears ahead of Mvp's right now. Did you watch OSL and WCG this past week? and have you watched TaeJa play all summer?
On September 02 2012 00:45 Shikyo wrote: Everyone acting like Mana got the shortest straw?
#1 his PvT is very good and the only matchup he needs to prepare for
#2 MMA and MVP both have looked pretty mediocre as of late
#3 Taeja TvP isn't really impressive either
He has very good chances even if he's not a favorite to go through.
You mean Mvp looked mediocre while winning IEM like 2 weeks ago? Also Taejas TvP is matched by almost no other terran and it's not even his best matchup.
Whoa, a GSL Code S without Naniwa vs. Genius, gonna be interesting. I think he has a good chance in his group.
MaNa is gonna be stocked about only having to practice one matchup, he can feasible defeat any of them, I can't wait to see that group play out.
DRG is in the same boat, only needs to practice one matchup, so hopefully he gets his groove back and starts CRUSHING MOTHERFUCKERS! Bomber just needs to not be in great shape for DRG to really have that chance, same for Gumiho.
MC's group looks awesome for MC, he should be able to annihilate Jaedong like nothing, assuming he doesn't let any weird ling all ins early on end him. :> Same for Curious, I have to favor MC heavily there. MarineKing... shit, I don't even know what to make of him anymore, in his Prime (ha) I would pick him as the favorite, but now... I'm not sure.
JYP and Supernova should get out of their group, NesTea has just seemed mediocre vT and Supernova > JYP > Zergs, so I can see JYP and Supernova having the edge in that group.
Byun, Rain, Happy, Genius... lordy, lordy, what do I even make of this group... Well, Byun and Genius are my picks, Happy is all over the god damn place but I have to follow my heart in Genius and Byun is just really, really good so I feel like hes got an excellent shot. This group seems hard to predict though, so I'll tread lightly.
HerO needs to crush YoDa. Annihilate him, stomp him into the dust and then twist his heel, I want HerO to obliterate YoDa. And, uh, Ryung should be in good shape in this group, Ryung and Symbol would be my picks assuming Symbol is playing well. Could go differently, but yeah.
I must be the only one who thinks group A is one of the hardest groups. Seed is IMO the best in the world right now. Leenock looked fantastic at MLG and Parting has looked great as usual. Suhosin will keep them on their toes and bring some great cheeses to the table. I don't see anyone either then Seed and Lennock advancing seeing as Parting's PvZ is meh and they should be prepared for SuHo's tactics.
Also this is MaNa's chance. MMA is still pretty weak at TvP, MVP has looked terrible in his recent matches and all of Taeja's recent loses have come versus Protoss. If he was in any other group he would get destroyed. He needs to make the most of this.
On September 02 2012 00:58 Telcontar wrote: I love how people still doubt MVP after how he's proven them wrong, time and time again. I guess they just have really bad memories.
He has also proven people who doubt him right time and time again. He is inconsistent at best and has lost enough matches to warrant people betting against him.
oh my bad? please explain, i thought top 2 players make it out of groups and enter knockout rounds?
First match : 2 pairs (don't remember if they are randomly chosen or not) play. Winners in the first match play a match. Losers in the first match play a match. Loser of Losers go to Code A. Winner of Winners go to Ro16 Loser of Winners and winner of Loser play a match. Winner advances, loser to Code A.
oh my bad? please explain, i thought top 2 players make it out of groups and enter knockout rounds?
Mana plays Taeja. Mvp plays MMA. Winner's match design the first to advance. Then there is the loser's match, and the winner plays the loser of the winner's match for the second spot.
I'm really hyped for this GSL. I'm rooting for Mvp as usual, but there are so many players I love in this tournament that I'm going to look forward to every single group in the RO32. With such stacked groups, I'm pretty sure that we're going to have some big upsets.
oh my bad? please explain, i thought top 2 players make it out of groups and enter knockout rounds?
Mvp will play Mana, and MMA will play Taeja. Winner of both those matches will play, and the winner of that match will advance. The loser will play the winner of the losers-match. The loser of the loser-match will be in code A, and the winner of the last match will advance to code S, and the loser of this last match will fall down to code A. Ugh.. someone needs to explain this better :p
oh my bad? please explain, i thought top 2 players make it out of groups and enter knockout rounds?
Mvp will play Mana, and MMA will play Taeja. Winner of both those matches will play, and the winner of that match will advance. The loser will play the winner of the losers-match. The loser of the loser-match will be in code A, and the winner of the last match will advance to code S, and the loser of this last match will fall down to code A. Ugh.. someone needs to explain this better :p
I think you've got the order wrong, because if we refer to the first page, the first matches should be Taeja vs Mana and Mvp vs Mana. Tier 1 players play against Tier 4 players.
GROUPS ARE SO AMAZING. I wish I was in Korea for this. MaNa will hopefully represent for foreigners, and making out of Group E would be quite a feat for him. But man, there isn't a group that's like pssh ____'s got that one in the bag. They're all pretty rough. But Group E.... that's on another level. Honestly I would have expected those players to play in the Ro8/16 or something. Also: Taeja FIGHTING!!!!
On September 02 2012 01:37 Kommatiazo wrote: GROUPS ARE SO AMAZING. I wish I was in Korea for this. MaNa will hopefully represent for foreigners, and making out of Group E would be quite a feat for him. But man, there isn't a group that's like pssh ____'s got that one in the bag. They're all pretty rough. But Group E.... that's on another level. Honestly I would have expected those players to play in the Ro8/16 or something. Also: Taeja FIGHTING!!!!
On September 02 2012 01:37 Kommatiazo wrote: GROUPS ARE SO AMAZING. I wish I was in Korea for this. MaNa will hopefully represent for foreigners, and making out of Group E would be quite a feat for him. But man, there isn't a group that's like pssh ____'s got that one in the bag. They're all pretty rough. But Group E.... that's on another level. Honestly I would have expected those players to play in the Ro8/16 or something. Also: Taeja FIGHTING!!!!
A b c and h are stronger than group e imho
Group E has 6 combined GSL titles, 3 combined MLG titles, Dreamhack, Iron Squid, and every player is the most accomplished on their respective teams, and not to mention TaeJa has some of the sickest momentum we have ever seen atm
oh my bad? please explain, i thought top 2 players make it out of groups and enter knockout rounds?
Mvp will play Mana, and MMA will play Taeja. Winner of both those matches will play, and the winner of that match will advance. The loser will play the winner of the losers-match. The loser of the loser-match will be in code A, and the winner of the last match will advance to code S, and the loser of this last match will fall down to code A. Ugh.. someone needs to explain this better :p
The idea is that each player will end with either 2 looses or 2 wins and they matching is made in a way to finish playins ASAP. Phase one everyone is 0/0 so just people play against each other. Phase two: two players are 1-0 and two are 0-1 so they play within subgroups. After that one player advances (2-0) and one is knocked out (0-2). Phase three is a match between the only remaining players: both are 1-1 at this point. The winner (2-1) advances while loser (1-2) is knocked out. Plain and simple.
On September 02 2012 01:37 Kommatiazo wrote: GROUPS ARE SO AMAZING. I wish I was in Korea for this. MaNa will hopefully represent for foreigners, and making out of Group E would be quite a feat for him. But man, there isn't a group that's like pssh ____'s got that one in the bag. They're all pretty rough. But Group E.... that's on another level. Honestly I would have expected those players to play in the Ro8/16 or something. Also: Taeja FIGHTING!!!!
A b c and h are stronger than group e imho
Group E has 6 combined GSL titles, 3 combined MLG titles, Dreamhack, Iron Squid, and every player is the most accomplished on their respective teams, and not to mention TaeJa has some of the sickest momentum we have ever seen atm
Well if we are naming the group of death on past achievements then every group MVP has been in the past 5 seasons is the group of death every time
On September 02 2012 01:37 Kommatiazo wrote: GROUPS ARE SO AMAZING. I wish I was in Korea for this. MaNa will hopefully represent for foreigners, and making out of Group E would be quite a feat for him. But man, there isn't a group that's like pssh ____'s got that one in the bag. They're all pretty rough. But Group E.... that's on another level. Honestly I would have expected those players to play in the Ro8/16 or something. Also: Taeja FIGHTING!!!!
A b c and h are stronger than group e imho
Group E has 6 combined GSL titles, 3 combined MLG titles, Dreamhack, Iron Squid, and every player is the most accomplished on their respective teams, and not to mention TaeJa has some of the sickest momentum we have ever seen atm
That's the past though. MMA is not as scary as he used to be (which is a shame because he has a very entertaining playstyle T_T). MaNa is one of the weaker of all the 32 players. MVP and Taeja are the clear favourites here so dunno how it could be a grp of death. If we compare it to group A:
Taeja and Seed is both kind of at a equal skill lvl. MVP and Leenock both coming from two big foreign tournament wins.
But
Parting and Suhosin is better than Mana and MMA at this point. If MMA is back at the level he used to be half a year ago then yeah this would be a way harder group. But MMA can barely keep himself in Code S (he wasn't even in Code S last season).
Grp E is filled with big names, but the way they are playing at this very moment, grp A is harder.
On September 02 2012 01:37 Kommatiazo wrote: GROUPS ARE SO AMAZING. I wish I was in Korea for this. MaNa will hopefully represent for foreigners, and making out of Group E would be quite a feat for him. But man, there isn't a group that's like pssh ____'s got that one in the bag. They're all pretty rough. But Group E.... that's on another level. Honestly I would have expected those players to play in the Ro8/16 or something. Also: Taeja FIGHTING!!!!
A b c and h are stronger than group e imho
Group E has 6 combined GSL titles, 3 combined MLG titles, Dreamhack, Iron Squid, and every player is the most accomplished on their respective teams, and not to mention TaeJa has some of the sickest momentum we have ever seen atm
That's the past though. MMA is not as scary as he used to be (which is a shame because he has a very entertaining playstyle T_T). MaNa is one of the weaker of all the 32 players. MVP and Taeja are the clear favourites here so dunno how it could be a grp of death. If we compare it to group A:
Taeja and Seed is both kind of at a equal skill lvl. MVP and Leenock both coming from two big foreign tournament wins.
But
Parting and Suhosin is better than Mana and MMA at this point. If MMA is back at the level he used to be half a year ago then yeah this would be a way harder group. But MMA can barely keep himself in Code S (he wasn't even in Code S last season).
Grp E is filled with big names, but the way they are playing at this very moment, grp A is harder.
Many would disagree but I think, seed is stronger than taeja right now, and that leenock is slightly slightly better than mvp
Group E and C so great! Can't wait to see those games. Also, would it not be simply insane if they put MKP in group E and made it the ultimate terran group of death?!
On September 02 2012 02:26 Burns wrote: Jaedong in the group of death noooo
No he's not - MaNa is stuck with 3 players who have been the best player in the world at some time in the last 10 months, 2 of which in the last 3 months!
LG-IM with 5 players and Startale with 6 - such strong teams!
I feel like Mana got a nice draw here. IIRC PvT is his best MU so he can just solely focus on that while all his opponents have to worry about 2 MUs, not to mention they're all probably going to have to put tons of practice into their TvT given how strong every Terran in that group is.
The thing is, any one of these guys who gets 4th in their group can get knocked out of not only S, but code A by one of the so-called elephants that will be coming through the qualifiers.
On September 02 2012 02:29 HolyArrow wrote: I feel like Mana got a nice draw here. IIRC PvT is his best MU so he can just solely focus on that while all his opponents have to worry about 2 MUs, not to mention they're all probably going to have to put tons of practice into their TvT given how strong every Terran in that group is.
If this was in EU or NA i would agree. Mana himself stated that his PvT in korea is horrible and his PvZ is insane good. Basicaly a 180 of his western stats.
On September 02 2012 01:37 Kommatiazo wrote: GROUPS ARE SO AMAZING. I wish I was in Korea for this. MaNa will hopefully represent for foreigners, and making out of Group E would be quite a feat for him. But man, there isn't a group that's like pssh ____'s got that one in the bag. They're all pretty rough. But Group E.... that's on another level. Honestly I would have expected those players to play in the Ro8/16 or something. Also: Taeja FIGHTING!!!!
A b c and h are stronger than group e imho
Group E has 6 combined GSL titles, 3 combined MLG titles, Dreamhack, Iron Squid, and every player is the most accomplished on their respective teams, and not to mention TaeJa has some of the sickest momentum we have ever seen atm
That's the past though. MMA is not as scary as he used to be (which is a shame because he has a very entertaining playstyle T_T). MaNa is one of the weaker of all the 32 players. MVP and Taeja are the clear favourites here so dunno how it could be a grp of death. If we compare it to group A:
Taeja and Seed is both kind of at a equal skill lvl. MVP and Leenock both coming from two big foreign tournament wins.
But
Parting and Suhosin is better than Mana and MMA at this point. If MMA is back at the level he used to be half a year ago then yeah this would be a way harder group. But MMA can barely keep himself in Code S (he wasn't even in Code S last season).
Grp E is filled with big names, but the way they are playing at this very moment, grp A is harder.
"MMA is not scary as he used to be"? WHEN was MMA scary in a TvP? It was just... not really Code S level. MVP/Taeja might be hard for MaNa, but if MMA han't improved a lot in the last few month - winning against MMA shouldn't be too much of a problem in this matchup, imo.
Jesus Christ on a stick, I remember MaNa speaking about how PvT used to be his best matchup until he came to Korea and was bitchslapped on ladder by the fourth race in Starcraft, the Korean Terran. That is what I call a freaking start in TSL. And OH MY GOD I'm gonna watch the SHIT out of that group, those games are going to be EPIC.
On September 02 2012 01:37 Kommatiazo wrote: GROUPS ARE SO AMAZING. I wish I was in Korea for this. MaNa will hopefully represent for foreigners, and making out of Group E would be quite a feat for him. But man, there isn't a group that's like pssh ____'s got that one in the bag. They're all pretty rough. But Group E.... that's on another level. Honestly I would have expected those players to play in the Ro8/16 or something. Also: Taeja FIGHTING!!!!
A b c and h are stronger than group e imho
Group E has 6 combined GSL titles, 3 combined MLG titles, Dreamhack, Iron Squid, and every player is the most accomplished on their respective teams, and not to mention TaeJa has some of the sickest momentum we have ever seen atm
That's the past though. MMA is not as scary as he used to be (which is a shame because he has a very entertaining playstyle T_T). MaNa is one of the weaker of all the 32 players. MVP and Taeja are the clear favourites here so dunno how it could be a grp of death. If we compare it to group A:
Taeja and Seed is both kind of at a equal skill lvl. MVP and Leenock both coming from two big foreign tournament wins.
But
Parting and Suhosin is better than Mana and MMA at this point. If MMA is back at the level he used to be half a year ago then yeah this would be a way harder group. But MMA can barely keep himself in Code S (he wasn't even in Code S last season).
Grp E is filled with big names, but the way they are playing at this very moment, grp A is harder.
Go watch MMA's Code A matches where he demolished Hero and Violet liek they were nothing, your eyes will be opened to his current "level"
gonna be amazing. I think nani got pretty lucky.. F looks like the easiest group to me. Heart never impresses me and Sniper is pretty good but not great
Group A... two monstrous Tosses and Leenock is basically going to be Suhoshin trolling everyone's Liquid bets and somehow winning his group with nerd baller cheese.
Group B... Symbol/Ryung or Ryung/Yoda
Group C... I don't even know. The obvious bets should be MC/MKP, but MKP can be so hit or miss. JD can surprise him, but Curious has good ZvZ, and I don't think JD is ready for MCvZ. Still rooting for the Dong though.
Group D... Genius and Byun should have this pretty easily.
Group E... mother of god. I have no predictions. I really don't.
Group F... Naniwa and Squirtle should easily win this. Weakest group imo.
Group G... JYPvZ against Nestea(God) and Life... Life vs Nestea ZvZ... and the always underrated Supernova... I'm going with Life and Supernova.
Group H... DongRaeGu vs Terran. Bomber can look like a Code S champion and a Code B reject at any time. Polt has absurd TvZ, and Gumibear cannot be looked down upon. Going with DRG/Polt.
On September 02 2012 03:42 Doubting wrote: Everyone going nuts over group E for some reason
MVP - 4 time GSL champion MMA - GSL Champion Taeja - probably best Terran in the world right now Mana - foreigner hope, and claims PvT is his best match up
I feel like people are putting wayyyy too much stock into Leenock. MLG was a fine win, sure, but it was one of the weakest MLGs ever in a format that was completely awful. Vs two strong and very preparation based Protoss who have seen his hand, I don't think he really stands a chance.
I'll gladly eat my words if he dominates the group because I like him and want him to run deep again, but I don't don't see it happening.
wow.. every group looks sick! Has a foreigner ever gotten a below average group? Even back in Jinro and Idras runs, seems like every time they get MVP + some other gosu in their group or get pitted against other foreigners straight away. Poor Mana Thou I believe he will make it out of the group :D
On September 02 2012 03:42 Doubting wrote: Everyone going nuts over group E for some reason
MVP - 4 time GSL champion MMA - GSL Champion Taeja - probably best Terran in the world right now Mana - foreigner hope, and claims PvT is his best match up
How are we supposed to not be going nuts?
MVP - Recently terrible, especially in TvP. You may bring up IEM but that was practically all TvZs MMA - Hasn't played his best for a long time Taeja - Best player in the group right now by far. Still overrated MaNa - Average foreigner, wouldn't be in code S if not for BO1 U/D format
This is not one of the top groups in current skill level. Taeja will dominate and the other three will fight for second.
On September 02 2012 04:19 vol_ wrote: wow.. every group looks sick! Has a foreigner ever gotten a below average group? Even back in Jinro and Idras runs, seems like every time they get MVP + some other gosu in their group or get pitted against other foreigners straight away. Poor Mana Thou I believe he will make it out of the group :D
TvT is actually Taeja's worst match up where as TvT is MVP's best matchup. MMA lies inbetween however has a better win record against MVP. Mana's best matchup is PvT, however he mentioned in a recent interview that he struggles against Terrans since going to KR.
On September 02 2012 04:29 Incomplet wrote: TvT is actually Taeja's worst match up where as TvT is MVP's best matchup. MMA lies inbetween however has a better win record against MVP. Mana's best matchup is PvT, however he mentioned in a recent interview that he struggles against Terrans since going to KR.
On September 02 2012 04:19 Mauldo wrote: Wait, Naniwa is teamless? Did I miss something?
But still, awesome groups! Looking forward to the games.
Dude, he's been off Quantic for quite some time now. He was sponsored by some company (It's Mionix, had to look it up) to be flown out to IEM as a "one time deal with possibilities". He then proceeded to go down 0-1 in maps on his first round open bracket game on stream, flipped out and demanded that the rest of the game be played off stream. Ended up losing 0-2, blamed JYP on twitter for "touching him" and got bounced out by YongHwa in losers bracket.
After something like that, I don't see any team or company in a hurry to pick him up... Do you?
On September 02 2012 04:29 Incomplet wrote: TvT is actually Taeja's worst match up where as TvT is MVP's best matchup. MMA lies inbetween however has a better win record against MVP. Mana's best matchup is PvT, however he mentioned in a recent interview that he struggles against Terrans since going to KR.
Korean Terrans are a whole different race :p
Taeja is a whole different race of Terran. Taeja's TvP has always been the scariest one on display. MvP is cunning enough shown by his late run through nani and parting.
MMA ... should be great at TvP but has some sort of mental issue in that matchup.
Either way Mana is screwed. It's a real toss up among the terrans to come out. I think Taeja is due a deep deep ro4 GSL run this time, but that's a scary group by all accounts and Mana definitely could nick a vital game of someone there.
On September 02 2012 04:19 Mauldo wrote: Wait, Naniwa is teamless? Did I miss something?
But still, awesome groups! Looking forward to the games.
Dude, he's been off Quantic for quite some time now. He was sponsored by some company (It's Mionix, had to look it up) to be flown out to IEM as a "one time deal with possibilities". He then proceeded to go down 0-1 in maps on his first round open bracket game on stream, flipped out and demanded that the rest of the game be played off stream. Ended up losing 0-2, blamed JYP on twitter for "touching him" and got bounced out by YongHwa in losers bracket.
After something like that, I don't see any team or company in a hurry to pick him up... Do you?
Well Naniwas has always been a sore loser BM kind of player and Quantic kept with him. Maybe they will take him back if he can't find a team. The only other high profile team I see picking him up is EG.
On September 02 2012 04:19 Mauldo wrote: Wait, Naniwa is teamless? Did I miss something?
But still, awesome groups! Looking forward to the games.
Dude, he's been off Quantic for quite some time now. He was sponsored by some company (It's Mionix, had to look it up) to be flown out to IEM as a "one time deal with possibilities". He then proceeded to go down 0-1 in maps on his first round open bracket game on stream, flipped out and demanded that the rest of the game be played off stream. Ended up losing 0-2, blamed JYP on twitter for "touching him" and got bounced out by YongHwa in losers bracket.
After something like that, I don't see any team or company in a hurry to pick him up... Do you?
Well Naniwas has always been a sore loser BM kind of player and Quantic kept with him. Maybe they will take him back if he can't find a team. The only other high profile team I see picking him up is EG.
That won't ever happen. Naniwa doesn't have the personality. He's not engaging, he's not fun, he's not good at giving the sponsors publicity, he doesn't stream... There's no upside for them.
On September 02 2012 05:00 iGoTThiZ wrote: I hate when they stack some of the groups then have groups with so-so players. It's dumb to have the good players drop out so early.
On September 02 2012 05:00 iGoTThiZ wrote: I hate when they stack some of the groups then have groups with so-so players. It's dumb to have the good players drop out so early.
This is like the only gsl (aside from perhaps season 1 of 2012) where there are stacked groups WITH sick distribution as well to ensure quality games in later rounds.
A few groups are especially stacked like E, C, and A (minus Line) but every group has great players that can advance and make things interesting still. You know it's good when you can't decide the group of death. Someone said it before but it's more like the gsl of death this season.
On September 02 2012 03:42 Doubting wrote: Everyone going nuts over group E for some reason
MVP - 4 time GSL champion MMA - GSL Champion Taeja - probably best Terran in the world right now Mana - foreigner hope, and claims PvT is his best match up
How are we supposed to not be going nuts?
MVP - Recently terrible, especially in TvP. You may bring up IEM but that was practically all TvZs MMA - Hasn't played his best for a long time Taeja - Best player in the group right now by far. Still overrated MaNa - Average foreigner, wouldn't be in code S if not for BO1 U/D format
This is not one of the top groups in current skill level. Taeja will dominate and the other three will fight for second.
On September 02 2012 03:42 Doubting wrote: Everyone going nuts over group E for some reason
MVP - 4 time GSL champion MMA - GSL Champion Taeja - probably best Terran in the world right now Mana - foreigner hope, and claims PvT is his best match up
How are we supposed to not be going nuts?
MVP - Recently terrible, especially in TvP. You may bring up IEM but that was practically all TvZs MMA - Hasn't played his best for a long time Taeja - Best player in the group right now by far. Still overrated MaNa - Average foreigner, wouldn't be in code S if not for BO1 U/D format
This is not one of the top groups in current skill level. Taeja will dominate and the other three will fight for second.
On September 02 2012 03:42 Doubting wrote: Everyone going nuts over group E for some reason
MVP - 4 time GSL champion MMA - GSL Champion Taeja - probably best Terran in the world right now Mana - foreigner hope, and claims PvT is his best match up
How are we supposed to not be going nuts?
MVP - Recently terrible, especially in TvP. You may bring up IEM but that was practically all TvZs MMA - Hasn't played his best for a long time Taeja - Best player in the group right now by far. Still overrated MaNa - Average foreigner, wouldn't be in code S if not for BO1 U/D format
This is not one of the top groups in current skill level. Taeja will dominate and the other three will fight for second.
And soon you will be proven wrong!
Calling it! Code S finals, HerO vs Taeja !!
I call MMA vs DRG/MVP rematch
We have waited long enough, it's time for an another TvT finals!
On September 02 2012 05:00 iGoTThiZ wrote: I hate when they stack some of the groups then have groups with so-so players. It's dumb to have the good players drop out so early.
I'm pretty sure they make the groups randomly
They do. They categorize the players into 4 tiers based on points and put one of each tier randomly in each group (except winner and runner-up of last season being able to hand-pick their tier 4 oponent).
imo group a is the hardest, Seed, PartinG and Leenock all are abolutely top notch, and suhoshin can surprise anyone with his crazy all ins, anything can happen in this group really. Dont get all the hype about group E, Taeja and Mvp clearly advance, MMA still is in a slump and mana... well he lost 3-0 to hack who is not really that top notch so i dont see him taking a single series here, maybe a game off MMA but that's it.
* First, the previous season’s champion select s a player from Tier 4 for his group
* After that, the previous season’s runner-up will select a player from Tier 4 for his group
* The remaining players will be randomly distributed among the groups
* After this procedure we will have 8 groups of 4 players, each from a different tier
Remember that except the first two picks, everything else is random. But Mana's group looks pretty scary, and Jaedong has an epic group. Now though, every group at a minor tournament would look like a group of death lol.
Rofl. Zerg massacre on the way (and Z QQ soon after) Everyone will veto Whirlwind v. Z and the rest of map pool is just.. Haha. At least I can hope to see less QQ on TL. (Queen OP, Infestor OP, etc.)
On September 02 2012 08:05 usethis2 wrote: Rofl. Zerg massacre on the way (and Z QQ soon after) Everyone will veto Whirlwind v. Z and the rest of map pool is just.. Haha. At least I can hope to see less QQ on TL. (Queen OP, Infestor OP, etc.)
?
Symbol, Curious, Life, DRG, Nestea, Sniper and even JD stand a decent to good chance of advancing.
What's wrong with the map pool? Metropolis and Atlantis are apparently gone, so the map pool seems a bit more reasonable this time around for everyone.
On September 02 2012 08:05 usethis2 wrote: Rofl. Zerg massacre on the way (and Z QQ soon after) Everyone will veto Whirlwind v. Z and the rest of map pool is just.. Haha. At least I can hope to see less QQ on TL. (Queen OP, Infestor OP, etc.)
?
Symbol, Curious, Life, DRG, Nestea, Sniper and even JD stand a decent to good chance of advancing.
What's wrong with the map pool? Metropolis and Atlantis are apparently gone, so the map pool seems a bit more reasonable this time around for everyone.
Let's wait and see. I am not complaining. (Toss here and looking at the new map and all I can think of is blink.. blink.. blink..)
Oh and symbol = patchzerg. Curious = kind of dumb, Nestea = his game sense hit the ceiling long time ago (or rather, everyone else caught up with him by now)
So that leaves Suhoshin = joke, Sniper/Life = OK-ish but big question marks, and DRG = good but slumpy.
Add the shitty map pool for Z and I see one or two (at most) Z's by Ro8.
Again, I am not talking about balance. Simply predicting what's likely to happen. I, though, think the balance whine @TL is quite ridiculous. (I mean, look at the "Designated Balance Thread" or "Situation Report" thread, etc. I read PlayXP and there is no one complaining about queens/infestors there. TL is like a different planet)
On September 02 2012 08:25 usethis2 wrote: Oh and symbol = patchzerg. Curious = kind of dumb, Nestea = his game sense hit the ceiling long time ago (or rather, everyone else caught up with him by now)
Please do not call Symbol a patchzerg, he was up and coming long before the patch.
On September 02 2012 08:15 FrostedMiniWheats wrote:
On September 02 2012 08:05 usethis2 wrote: Rofl. Zerg massacre on the way (and Z QQ soon after) Everyone will veto Whirlwind v. Z and the rest of map pool is just.. Haha. At least I can hope to see less QQ on TL. (Queen OP, Infestor OP, etc.)
?
Symbol, Curious, Life, DRG, Nestea, Sniper and even JD stand a decent to good chance of advancing.
What's wrong with the map pool? Metropolis and Atlantis are apparently gone, so the map pool seems a bit more reasonable this time around for everyone.
Let's wait and see. I am not complaining. (Toss here and looking at the new map and all I can think of is blink.. blink.. blink..)
Zerg bitch and moan about Terran on maps where they only have a 49% win ratio because they're so used to 55%+.
The idea that any map is significantly against Zerg right now is laughable.
Only maps Z beat P/T: Whirlwind, Daybreak, Atlantis Spaceship
The rest: Ohana, Cloud Kingdom, Antiga, Entomed Valley, etc.
Said that, Gom is doing its best to keep the racial balance through maps. I am just seeing a tough season for Z this time. Next season Gom will likely change the map pool again depending on how the new one (plus existing ones) turns out. And 2 months from now, TL will still be discussing the OPness of queens. >
what do you guys figure jaedong's chances of advancing are? I know MC is a top player and that MKP is no scrub, but I don't know enough about sc2 to speculate whether jaedong has a fighting chance or not
I'm not really concerned with balance either, merely the quality of the certain Zergs against the players we currently know they'll be facing in the ro32 (ro16 has a possibility of thinning the numbers if we're including that too).
- Symbol is a patchzerg? I don't believe this is the first time you've made this statement. So I'm calling you on it. Explain.
- People have said Nestea was finished for a long time and yet just last season he made the ro8. The area I'm pretty sure is ok to write him off on at this point is ZvT as he's had a prolonged period of terrible games in that mu. I'd still trust him enough to beat most Zerg and Protoss currently in code S though.
- Life I can see in ro8, might be a bit of a stretch but not terribly unlikely. He's been a good upcomer for awhile now. The fact that he's so young, has gained Startale to practice with, and has a good mix of fundamentals and unpredictability leads me to expect good things from him this season. ro16 at the very least.
- DRG is fine.
- Curious, Sniper, I'll concede a little on as not being anything beyond ro16 material. While Jaedong remains a wildcard to me. The mechanics from him are great but he still has some work to do in other areas, don't know if he'll get it together in time..
I maintain that the maps overall are fine for Zerg. The only ones of real note are Ohana against both P/T, Entombed against protoss, and Antiga against Terran.
MaNa, you can do it! PvT your way to victory!!! (holy moly.. that group...)
Why do MarineKing, MC and Jaedong have to be in one group? That's just not cool, guys.. I want them all to go far... MKP und MC are easily my two favourite SC2-Players, while Jaedong.. no words needed..!
Well played GSL... You have me thinking about buying a pass here!
Knowing volatility of SC2, I look at most up-and-comers with a dose of skepticism. Symbol won half of his Code S matches last season by doing roach/ling rushes when Terrans did not adjust to the patch and kept doing their 4 hellion builds. So this season he can prove that he's not a patchzerg. Otherwise, he remains a patchzerg just like IM_First is "Toss of the month."
Nestea still can win, sure, so can many other zergs. But at the same time you probably can't deny that Nestea tends to take an easier road (by luck or otherwise) as he advances. Other zergs are quite new in Code S except Leenock/DRG, and they will likely go through the growing pain. Leenock/DRG will likely be sniped.
Overall, I feel the game is pretty well balanced. I don't think anyone can confidently predict the champion this time, but I have a feeling that it's not going to be Z. A few tweaks to the map next season will be all that's going to be needed, however. (Which is all the more puzzling to see the queen/festor whines @TL.net)
wow, really looking forward for this GSL , looks like every group for exception of maybe b and d have the potential to be a group of death, totally going to watch GSL as always
On September 02 2012 12:03 TommyP wrote: For tuesday, im mixed between OSL and GSL =[ any suggestions?
Watch both, when one of your fav players is playing on one stream, watch them, when not, switch to the other. If your favorites are playing on both streams simultaneously, flip a coin.
Also, watch the LRs for both tournaments. Sometimes you can get a good idea when an epic match is ongoing.
On September 02 2012 06:22 SharkStarcraft wrote: imo group a is the hardest, Seed, PartinG and Leenock all are abolutely top notch, and suhoshin can surprise anyone with his crazy all ins, anything can happen in this group really. Dont get all the hype about group E, Taeja and Mvp clearly advance, MMA still is in a slump and mana... well he lost 3-0 to hack who is not really that top notch so i dont see him taking a single series here, maybe a game off MMA but that's it.
MC is going to rape group C and holy shit poor Mana, at least he can play pvt until the cows come home and the other terrans are probably going to overlook him and only play tvt.
Poor Mana. Poor, poor Mana. Just imagine: he just got into Code S for the first time. He won his Up and Downs, and is ready to make a mark. Then all of a sudden,
Taeja. MMA. MVP.
That's gotta feel like a punch in the gut. On the bright side, only one MU to prep for!
Groups C, E, and F look like they're going to be the most entertaining to watch across the board. Color me excited.
Both of these go down to the final game with a lot at stake as this is the grand final & final tier of each competition.
ZvZ, no particular games come to mind atm, but I'd say Violet is a player to look out for to see fun mirror matches.
Violet isnt funny at all in ZvZ ... He can be very agressive in vT and vP (drops, banes, nydus) but in miror he s really "just" a solid player (maybe the best ZvZ right now ?)
Both of these go down to the final game with a lot at stake as this is the grand final & final tier of each competition.
ZvZ, no particular games come to mind atm, but I'd say Violet is a player to look out for to see fun mirror matches.
Violet isnt funny at all in ZvZ ... He can be very agressive in vT and vP (drops, banes, nydus) but in miror he s really "just" a solid player (maybe the best ZvZ right now ?)
Violet is really fun in ZvZ. He is super aggressive and does all sorts of nydus, drop play and infestor harass. Also he is no where near the best in ZvZ right now.
DRG, Symbol, Life, Nestea, hell even Nerchio >>>>>
i'm having nostalgia for the old and gold, manly and tanly marine tank games in gomtvt and hoping the terran STACK this season can claim like 80% of the Ro8 and give us some "real time strategy" games to watch instead of NR20 TvZ, TvP
in group a, parting and seed will win and idra said that zerg isnt supposed to beat protoss at the one mlg when mc asked him if he is angry
in group b, yoda will win because mvp said that yoda is the best player on im and hero will make it out by beating ryung because ryung has bad tvp and he will beat symbol because he beat drg and drg > symbol
in group c, mc will make it out because he has the best pvz in the world and mkp will make it out because he has the best tvz in the world.
in group d, genius and rain will make it out because genius won blizzcon and made a gsl final and rain made a gsl final and also switched to a kespa team. byun might make it because he made gsl ro4 twice while happy only made it their once
in group e, mma will get first because he has a winning record against mvp which means he has clearly good tvt and he can easily take down mana because mhe beat hero and hero > mana. mvp will make it out 2nd because he has a high tvt ratio so he will dominate taeja and he won his 4th gsl by beating squirtle so he will easily beat mana
in group f, squirtle will get out first because he is a gsl and ipl finalist and 2nd will be naniwa because naniwa made 2 ro8 in code s which is farther than heart or sniper therefore hes a better player than those 2
in group g, nestea will make it out because he is a better zvz player than life, declared that he cant be beat in zvp, and made it farther than supernova in code s. 2nd will be life because life made a tsl 4 final either that or supernova because supernova won campus lan
in group h, drg will get first because he is the best player in the world and 2nd will be polt because he is a super tournament winner
Mana actually did impress me in his up and down games, especially against Keen when he intercepted the fleeing doom drop and took down 4 full medivacs. However I don't believe he can make this one without extreme luck on his side.
On September 03 2012 06:06 -IeZaeL- wrote: MaNa is freewin for all koreans,he have 0% chance.
Group E: 66% chance to advance, MaNa cant do anythig,this is like a 3 mans group.
Groups C and H are the strongers.
If it wasn't for the clownface, I was affraid that you were actually serious with that post oO
MaNa biggest threat for TaeJa in group E, pretty confident that TaeJa will win his TvT's in that group, but MaNa is looking beastly man..
I almost don't care who makes it out of this group, who ever does, earned it - bigtime.
If TaeJa wins the group, I actually think he's a favorite to win this GSL - Bias included.
Really? I wouldn't pick any of those other three as favorites to win this thing or even favored over Taeja. Taeja beat Mvp in the same group stages last season and MMA really hasn't been a threat for a while. Mana is... a foreigner new to the GSL.
On September 03 2012 05:28 starception wrote: here are my predictions:
in group a, parting and seed will win and idra said that zerg isnt supposed to beat protoss at the one mlg when mc asked him if he is angry
in group b, yoda will win because mvp said that yoda is the best player on im and hero will make it out by beating ryung because ryung has bad tvp and he will beat symbol because he beat drg and drg > symbol
in group c, mc will make it out because he has the best pvz in the world and mkp will make it out because he has the best tvz in the world.
in group d, genius and rain will make it out because genius won blizzcon and made a gsl final and rain made a gsl final and also switched to a kespa team. byun might make it because he made gsl ro4 twice while happy only made it their once
in group e, mma will get first because he has a winning record against mvp which means he has clearly good tvt and he can easily take down mana because mhe beat hero and hero > mana. mvp will make it out 2nd because he has a high tvt ratio so he will dominate taeja and he won his 4th gsl by beating squirtle so he will easily beat mana
in group f, squirtle will get out first because he is a gsl and ipl finalist and 2nd will be naniwa because naniwa made 2 ro8 in code s which is farther than heart or sniper therefore hes a better player than those 2
in group g, nestea will make it out because he is a better zvz player than life, declared that he cant be beat in zvp, and made it farther than supernova in code s. 2nd will be life because life made a tsl 4 final either that or supernova because supernova won campus lan
in group h, drg will get first because he is the best player in the world and 2nd will be polt because he is a super tournament winner
Is this a troll post?
Anyway, I think that these groups are just insane. Stacked is a good term to use, so is "ridiculous" and "groups of death" and "out of the 32, I can see any player being the champion (except SuHoSin)"...
Out of the 32 players, I don't think a single player has greater than a 5% chance of winning the whole thing. This GSL Season 4 is so unbelievably stacked... In fact, you can randomly pick any two players from the pool of 32 and it'll be some sort of epic match that could create an amazing finals. In fact, to prove my point, I will do just that:
My random matchup... Life vs. DongRaeGu. The master of Zerg (currently slumping) versus the up-and-coming Zerg who just recently reached the TSL 4 finals. That is a ZvZ I would want to see.
On September 03 2012 05:28 starception wrote: here are my predictions:
in group a, parting and seed will win and idra said that zerg isnt supposed to beat protoss at the one mlg when mc asked him if he is angry
in group b, yoda will win because mvp said that yoda is the best player on im and hero will make it out by beating ryung because ryung has bad tvp and he will beat symbol because he beat drg and drg > symbol
in group c, mc will make it out because he has the best pvz in the world and mkp will make it out because he has the best tvz in the world.
in group d, genius and rain will make it out because genius won blizzcon and made a gsl final and rain made a gsl final and also switched to a kespa team. byun might make it because he made gsl ro4 twice while happy only made it their once
in group e, mma will get first because he has a winning record against mvp which means he has clearly good tvt and he can easily take down mana because mhe beat hero and hero > mana. mvp will make it out 2nd because he has a high tvt ratio so he will dominate taeja and he won his 4th gsl by beating squirtle so he will easily beat mana
in group f, squirtle will get out first because he is a gsl and ipl finalist and 2nd will be naniwa because naniwa made 2 ro8 in code s which is farther than heart or sniper therefore hes a better player than those 2
in group g, nestea will make it out because he is a better zvz player than life, declared that he cant be beat in zvp, and made it farther than supernova in code s. 2nd will be life because life made a tsl 4 final either that or supernova because supernova won campus lan
in group h, drg will get first because he is the best player in the world and 2nd will be polt because he is a super tournament winner
Is this a troll post?
Anyway, I think that these groups are just insane. Stacked is a good term to use, so is "ridiculous" and "groups of death" and "out of the 32, I can see any player being the champion (except SuHoSin)"...
Out of the 32 players, I don't think a single player has greater than a 5% chance of winning the whole thing. This GSL Season 4 is so unbelievably stacked... In fact, you can randomly pick any two players from the pool of 32 and it'll be some sort of epic match that could create an amazing finals. In fact, to prove my point, I will do just that:
My random matchup... Life vs. DongRaeGu. The master of Zerg (currently slumping) versus the up-and-coming Zerg who just recently reached the TSL 4 finals. That is a ZvZ I would want to see.
On September 01 2012 16:13 Adreme wrote: Freaking MC every single time. I knew last night when I saw it that he was goign to pick JD but I figured maybe someone would talk some sense into him.
Sorry what's illogical about this pick by MC? One of the best in the game picking a guy who has yet to grasp and understand every part of the game like he himself does? Seems like an easy choice that should've been made by anyone who picked ahead of MC. But oh well I guess everyone is entitled to an opinion even though MC did make the most logical choice.
On September 01 2012 16:13 Adreme wrote: Freaking MC every single time. I knew last night when I saw it that he was goign to pick JD but I figured maybe someone would talk some sense into him.
Sorry what's illogical about this pick by MC? One of the best in the game picking a guy who has yet to grasp and understand every part of the game like he himself does? Seems like an easy choice that should've been made by anyone who picked ahead of MC. But oh well I guess everyone is entitled to an opinion even though MC did make the most logical choice.
While it was a good pick by MC, Seed picking Suhosin was definitely the smartest choice in my opinion. Suhosin even admitted he got lucky getting into Code S, and only won game 2 because he metagamed Seed and played against his reputation. Jaedong's legendary legacy already puts him ahead of Suhosin in my book. Suhosin almost winning his series against Seed was more of a mindgame play by suhosin than him actually beating him. Plus, there's no way for Seed to know that Suhosin would play well and set up a good mindgame for him during group selection.