WCS Korea Season 3
GSL Code S

Ro32 - Group G Preview
Rain, TRUE, KangHo, SongDuri


Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

aka Ro32 Group G: Rain, TRUE, KangHo, SonGDuri

by lichter

For all the complaints that Zerg is underpowered right now, the racial balance in Code S isn't that bad— 5 4 3 in the Ro16 so far—with at least one more Zerg to make it out of this group. Sleep may only have barely squeaked by his Ro32 group, but DRG and SoulKey both looked dominant as they advanced. "More Zerg plz," you still say? Alright, enjoy this ZvZ group then.

Wait, oh yeah, the WCS Korea runner-up SKT_Rain’s here too.

His PvZ form has been suspect lately, going 0 - 2 against Jaedong at WCS and a combined 3 - 2 against hyvaa in OSL. He has somehow avoided the matchup entirely outside those 7 games since the end of June, so we can’t be quite sure how indicative those losses are of his skill. You can even make some excuses for Rain, like Jaedong looking generally unstoppable in ZvP at WCS, and hyvaa being an unorthodox player who gives anyone trouble. Still, his performances hardly inspired confidence.

Rain's losses to Jaedong in particular were very unlike himself, as his normally impenetrable defense was paper-thin as he got crushed whenever he tried to take a third base. His long series of games against hyvaa (in a triple tiebreaker-group) in the OSL were more varied, as he got wins from both aggressive and passive builds. However, he went 2 - 2 in macro games against hyvaa, including one loss where he had a very embarrassing brain fart in a base trade.

Yet players of Rain’s caliber always manage to steady the ship. Even if individual tournament success has eluded him since WCS Asia 2012, he was still SKT's undisputed ace in PL, a player who has lingered around in the championship picture, and a player who came second in the OSL last season. Like many other players, this may be his last chance for gold in 2013 as he lingers dangerously close to cutoff line for top 16 in WCS points. This season is an important one for Rain, so with only one matchup to prepare for, expect him to turn it on tonight.

Alright, so about those Zergs...

Out of the three remaining players, IM_KangHo is statistically the best player and the most accomplished (which isn’t saying much since he runner-up'd GSL over 2 years ago). He is 8 - 3 in HotS ZvZ, but only 3 of those games (2-1) have come since June. He was fortunate to advance from his Up&Down groups due to tiebreakers, with a win against EffOrt and a loss against Shine. His win could be argued as luck after the CJ Zerg lost about 20 Roaches due to the collapsible rocks on Anaconda crushing them with a splat. Whether it was an intentional move from KangHo to target the rocks as EffOrt moved forward is unknown, but the game was irrecoverable from there. His loss on the other hand displayed a stubborn lack of a transition after roach-infestor even in the face of mutas, hydras, infestors, and swarm hosts. It was a scrappy back and forth game on Newkirk and his inability to protect his bases and his refusal to get better tech should give his opponents clues on how to beat him.

Next in this Zerg conga line is the once-considering-retirement, now-back-with-sponsors Jin Air Green Wings TRUE. It's hard to know how hard he was considering retirement, but going 6-0 in Challenger League to get back into Code S surely must have played a big part in convincing him to stay. He’s probably the best ZvP player in this lot of Zergs, with wins against JYP and Squirtle on his way here, so he should hope to score a win in his first set in order to presumably meet Rain in the Winner’s Match. It’s hard to tell where his ZvZ is at right now, as he hasn’t played one since June, but he did lose to KangHo 1 - 4 in 2 sets back in WCS KR Season 1. TRUE does have a habit of producing entertaining games—who can forget TRUE vs Fantasy on Whirlwind—and everyone will hope that his ZvZs turn out to be fun as well.

Last but not the least, this season’s “Who the Heck is He?” player in Code S. CJ_SonGDuri is a complete mystery: his Code A win against Savage was a lingbane all in, while we have no idea how fared against Leenock due to GomTV deciding we don’t get to watch all the Code A games anymore. Since we know he has used an all-in in at least 50% of his wins, then he’ll probably do that again here too (note: I know that’s a bad inference but that’s all I got since we haven’t seen much of him). His ZvP is an even greater mystery because we’ve only seen him win versus Flying, who decided to mass voidrays and go for a quick third base then die with a whimper. Yeah, I got nothing.

Honestly, this group is pretty hard to predict aside from Rain advancing.

Overall Predictions:

Rain > SonGDuri
TRUE < KangHo
Rain > KangHo
SonGDuri < TRUE
KangHo < TRUE

Rain and TRUE advance!

Progamer Pokedex: By Popular Request

by monk


Rain is Lugia! Known as the Great Wall in competitive circles, Lugia is as defensive as they come. Throughout his depictions in the games and movies, he is known as a watchful protector (of the three legendary birds), a silent guardian (of the seas) and even a dark knight in one game. Lugia is the ultimate patient behemoth, a legendary known for stalling until he can finally show his true power.


SongDuri is Finneon! How did I come to this conclusion? I went through the entire Pokedex in order to find the most forgettable and feature-less pokemon. (Is Finneon a Pokemon or just an artist's depiction of a real life fish?) Every generation has to have a few obligatory fish Pokemon and Finneon just happened to take that role for Generation IV. Unlike Magikarp and Febbas, he doesn't evolve into anything monstrous and powerful. Unlike Relicanth, he isn't integral to any game's plot. Unlike Luvdisc and Alomomola, he doesn't look conspicuously like a heart. And unlike Seaking, he doesn't have a meme based around him. Finneon just exists and there's really nothing more we can say about him.


TRUE is Porygon! Besides being arguably the most difficult Pokemon to obtain in the original games, Porygon is most known for being in an anime episode that caused six hundred Japanese children to have seizures. True story, look it up. Porygon is a an anomaly; created by scientists and completely made out of computer code, Porygon exists outside the boundaries of normal conventions. He does whatever unconventional tactics he wants (include his signature induce seizure attack) and much like the famed honey badger, he don't give a s**t.


KangHo is Electrode! More than anything, Electrode is known for being the fastest Pokemon in Generation I. All electrode actually start off under a different name, an unevolved form known as Voltorb. But one day Voltrob decided that he was tired of being his old boring self and felt an urge to reinvent himself. So he flipped himself around and told everyone to call him by a different name. "That'll work" said absolutely no one.

Writers: lichter and monk.
Graphics: wo1fwood.
Editor: Waxangel.