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Up/Downs Become Code A on GSL Opening Night

Forum Index > SC2 General
28 CommentsPost a Reply
1 2 Next All

Up/Downs Become Code A on GSL Opening Night

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
January 14th, 2014 22:14 GMT
2013 GSL Season 2

GSL Season One
Code A



Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

Partial VODs on YouTube

Code A Becomes the Up/Downs

New season of Code A kicks off with format change.

by Waxangel

The GSL is back, and it's returned with some changes. Despite ridding itself of the pesky "WCS" tag in its name, the format of Code A has been modified to fall closely in line with the new WCS Challenger system.

Instead of being run side by side with Code S, Code A is now completed in its entirety before Code S begins. Instead of being a complicated, multi-round tournament, Code A is now a series of twelve double-elimination groups that directly decide who will be in the next Code S. Simply put, Code A is now a huge version of the old Up/Down matches.

While we miss the old Code A format where it was a rather compelling sub-tournament in itself, the do or die, one round nature of the new format does offer its own brand of excitement. On to the games!

Group B: EffOrt, Curious, Sleep, Ruin

Wednesday, Jan 15 4:30am GMT (GMT+00:00)

* Due to some complications from GomEXP (yes, they're called that now) waffling on whether or not to show all the Code A groups, Group B will be played earlier than Group A. Oh well!

It feels like it's been ages since we've seen the non-Proleague players in action. In fact, a couple of months actually is ages in StarCraft reckoning, with it being more than enough time for players to improve dramatically or completely fall off a cliff.

(Z)CJ_EffOrt is the player we've seen the most of lately in this group, as he's been fielded regularly by CJ Entus in the Proleague. Playing only ZvZ's up to this point, EffOrt is 1-2 with a win against ByuL and losses to Soulkey and Shine – a rather pedestrian record. However, ZvZ has traditionally been EffOrt's best match-up, so we'll see if that helps him in this Zerg heavy group.

Then there's (Z)ST_Curious, who was in action a month ago at the Numericable M-House Cup where he placed third place after getting swept by Jaedong in the the semi-finals. A demoralizing loss, but does it really have any relevance now? A consistently solid and inconsistently brilliant player, Curious always seems to find a way into Code S. Last season was his first time out of Code S in nine seasons, and you have to feel that the Gatekeeper of Code S will make his return.

The third Zerg of the group is new KT Rolster recruit (Z)Sleep. After spending much of his early career as a mostly non-descript player, Sleep broke out in the second half of 2013 by making it to the Ro16 of Code S and performing well for AZUBU in GSTL. Now that he has been recruited by KT Rolster, we have to wonder if he has even more potential than we thought.

Finally, we come to our lone Protoss player in (P)IM_Ruin. The least accomplished player of the group, Ruin spent all of his 2013 season stuck in Code A. Not surprisingly, he's been placed behind Squirtle, HerO, Trap and Yonghwa on the IM depth chart for Proleague, only earning one start in four matches (a loss to TY). It will be tough for Ruin to win against these Code S caliber players, but he does have the advantage of only having to prepare for one race match-up.

Predictions: It's hard to really say who's going to win ZvZs between evenly matched players, but going by gut feeling I have to say Curious the gatekeeper will somehow find a way through. After that, I have to go with Sleep. In the absence of recent broadcast games, I'll trust that the KT Rolster scouting department knows what it's doing.

Curious and Sleep to advance.


Group A: sOs, Shine, Classic, Gumiho

Wednesday, Jan 15 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00)

One big question looms over Group A: How good is (P)JinAir_sOs? After becoming the darkhorse champion of WCS 2013, sOs has failed to live up to the title of world champion. He looked so-so as he was knocked out of DreamHack Winter in 12th place, and he has begun the new Proleague season with a dismal 0-4 record.

Some might say that sOs' unorthodox style was bound to get figured out, but a look over his Proleague losses show there's no simple explanation for what's going wrong. Here's a very simple summary of the games:
  • Loss to (Z)Solar: Doesn't plug wall, dies to speedlings.
  • Loss to (Z)Solar again: Overcommits to stargate+gateway pressure for not enough gain, never really recovers after that.
  • Loss to (T)TY: Double expands successfully but gets outplayed in a macro game.
  • Loss to (T)Dream: Dies to an in-base proxy barracks.

All in all, they're results that could be interpreted as just an unlucky streak of games. However, if sOs fails to make it back to Code S, then some serious reassessment may be in order.

sOs gets a relatively easy draw in his first match, facing MVP's (Z)Shine. Once looking like a worthy initiate in the great order of TSL Zergs, things didn't pan out for Shine as he spent all of 2013 in Code B. So far in Proleague, Shine has been benched behind both DRG and Sniper. It's one thing to be passed over in favor or a resurgent sniper, it's another thing to be placed behind a slumping DRG.

On the other side of bracket is (P)SKT_Classic, the single player SKT decided to salvage from the wreckage of STX SouL. Though SKT may have come to regret not picking Dear instead when he went on to win back-to-back WCS titles, you can see why they picked Classic at the time. He had a superior winrate to Trap or Dear (albeit with less games), and just looked like a guy who had a great grasp of all of Protoss' nasty tricks. He's proved as much by going 2-0 in Proleague as SKT's resident Sejong Research Station (unique PL map) specialist, employing a hidden dark shrine and a cannon rush to take his wins.

And finally there's (T)GuMiho, a player us TL writers are openly big fans of. So it follows that it was painful to watch Gumiho play in 2013, as he failed to be that chaos-loving, fantastically entertaining player he was in 2012. If we had to guess what the problem was for Gumiho, it's that HotS gave Terran very specific tools that pushed everyone to try and play Gumiho's aggressive, multi-tasking heavy style. Once his unique style became the norm, his advantage was lost. While we hope he can return to Code S and give us more action-packed games, we can't help but feel that he has been surpassed by mechanically superior Terrans.

Predictions: Despite his poor performances as of late, sOs still deserves to be picked here. After that, we have to go with the clever Classic. SKT and its Proleague-first philosophy might have hampered his preparations, but he should be able to pull this one out.

sOs and Classic to advance.

Writers: Waxangel.
Graphics: GomTV, shiroiusagi.
Editor: Waxangel.
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TL+ Member
Zealously
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
East Gorteau22261 Posts
January 14 2014 22:17 GMT
#2
Curious and Sleep, Classic and Gumiho
AdministratorBreak the chains
The_Templar
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
your Country52797 Posts
January 14 2014 22:25 GMT
#3
I also predict sOs and Classic, as well as curious and sleep
Moderatorshe/her
TL+ Member
stuchiu
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
Fiddler's Green42661 Posts
January 14 2014 22:26 GMT
#4
Yugioh went down with his ship and retired with Code A.
Moderator
Darrkhan
Profile Joined February 2012
Finland1236 Posts
January 14 2014 22:29 GMT
#5
On January 15 2014 07:26 stuchiu wrote:
Yugioh went down with his ship and retired with Code A.


yugioh ;__;

I hope GuMiho will do well!
FrostedMiniWheats
Profile Joined August 2010
United States30730 Posts
January 14 2014 22:35 GMT
#6
Curious, Effort

Gumiho, sOs

hoping for Ruin to make it though
NesTea | Mvp | MC | Leenock | Losira | Gumiho | DRG | Taeja | Jinro | Stephano | Thorzain | Sen | Idra |Polt | Bomber | Symbol | Squirtle | Fantasy | Jaedong | Maru | sOs | Seed | ByuN | ByuL | Neeb| Scarlett | Rogue | IM forever
NovaMB
Profile Joined February 2013
Germany9534 Posts
January 14 2014 22:41 GMT
#7
If Proleague sOs shows up he'll be in Code B in no time
WonnaPlay
Profile Joined September 2010
Netherlands912 Posts
January 14 2014 22:44 GMT
#8
Gumiho and Classic will win (got sOs as my PL Captain )

Also voted effort & ruin
Yakikorosu
Profile Joined March 2013
1203 Posts
January 14 2014 22:50 GMT
#9
Thanks for the preview! My personal bets to advance are Curious/EffOrt and sOs/Classic.

I did want to note that it's not true that
the format of Code A has been modified to fall closely in line with the new WCS Challenger system.
The new WCS Challenger system is a single Bo5, it doesn't even use a group system. If anything the format of Code A has been modified to be the first round of Code S (the same format as the RO32 and RO16 of Code S)--a first round that the best Code S players from last season get a bye for.
IncubusSC
Profile Joined December 2013
Canada57 Posts
January 14 2014 22:54 GMT
#10
omg Gumiho and sOs, my two favourite players and the two most creative players! I would love for them to have a game that goes to Sky Terran vs Sky Toss and all the shenanigans in between
"Growing old is natural, growing up is optional."
oo_Wonderful_oo
Profile Blog Joined December 2013
The land of freedom23126 Posts
January 14 2014 23:08 GMT
#11
sOs <3
Hope he's gonna advance with Classic.

And Curious as well ^___^
+ EffOrt probably, if he's not losing first game especially.
ZvZ can help him. Roaches op.
LiquidLegends StaffFPL 25 #1 | tfw I cast games on-air | back-to-back Liquibet winner
Fjodorov
Profile Joined December 2011
5007 Posts
January 14 2014 23:10 GMT
#12
I think Hots terran doesnt suit gumiho well because in TvP and TvZ you basically have to play the standard way. Although TvZ allows for a bit more aggressiveness and wiggle room you still have to focus heavily on macro and the pretty standard builds. I hope he has found a way to make his style work though, love watching him play.
partydude89
Profile Blog Joined August 2012
1850 Posts
January 14 2014 23:15 GMT
#13
all i really want is in both these groups is for curious to advance. after that, i'm really fine with anyone. although classic advancing as well would just be icing on the cake.
#1 Official Hack Fan|#2 Bomber behind Wintex.|Curious|Life|Flash|TY|Cure|Maru|sOs|Jin Air Green Wings fighting!|SBENU Fighting!|
hidetoaizen
Profile Joined January 2013
Norway460 Posts
January 14 2014 23:23 GMT
#14
Sleep & Effort
Classic & Gumiho
Nal_rA | Stork | MKP | ㅇㅅㅌㅅ | Shine | do your best whatever whenever wherever ! - LiquidHerO | I don't know about any other day, but today I'm the champion of the world - SouL_Dear
Dodgin
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
Canada39254 Posts
January 14 2014 23:24 GMT
#15
Gumibroooo
Jer99
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Canada8157 Posts
January 14 2014 23:24 GMT
#16
effort & sleep
sOs & classic
StrategyTaeJa #1 || @TL_Jer99 || "seeker seeked out his seeking"
KobayshiMaru
Profile Joined February 2012
United States30 Posts
January 14 2014 23:38 GMT
#17
I'm fairly excited to see what GSL is capable of in 2014.
Anybody mind if I roll need!
XtreMe_au
Profile Joined August 2012
Australia412 Posts
January 14 2014 23:42 GMT
#18
On January 15 2014 08:38 cnegrin wrote:
I'm fairly excited to see what GSL is capable of in 2014.

I really feel like SC2 is stabilising after a tumultuous few months. Go sOs!!!
MrCon
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
France29748 Posts
January 14 2014 23:51 GMT
#19
Simply put, Code A is now a huge version of the old Up/Down matches.
Amazing, this format is a lot more stressful and entertaining to the viewers, while also being fair for the players (unless you have a group of 4 code S level players, this has happened before =D)
So glad GSL is back
Cartman_
Profile Joined July 2012
119 Posts
January 15 2014 00:11 GMT
#20
Let's go Classic ! Time to be as good in individual league as in Team Leagues !
| SK Telecom T1 | --- | Bisu & BoxeR Forever, FanTaSy, INnoVation, Dark, soO, Dream <3 |
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