Curious, Ruin, sOs, and Classic advance to Code S on day one.
by lichter and Waxangel
The 2014 GSL year kicked off with Code A and its new format. The new format ended up being one that we had grown familiar with, often called the "GSL Group Format." As brutal as Code A already was in years past, 2014 just made it a bit harsher: two players go up to Code S, while two go back to the hell that is known as Code B.
Considered by many as an overwhelming favorite in Group B, Curious advanced in first place without much trouble. He made things look easy by going a perfect 4-0, using aggressive tactics to defeat EffOrt and easily fending off Ruin's Protoss trickery. For at least for one more season, it looks like Curious will continue his work as Code S' fearsome gatekeeper.
Curious' Reward: Another season as the Code S Gate Keeper. I guess that's a reward?
When the new ladder maps debuted, Protosses around the world cried foul, "we can't wall off on Daedalus Point!" Well, Ruin showed us how. The last game of the group will be remembered for some time to come, with Ruin using his secret weapon to slay Sleep and make his way to Code S. Aside from the creative offensive wall-in, Ruin's wide variety of builds seemed to be his biggest strength on the night. Ttwo base blink, Sky Toss, Soul Train, DTs – you name it, he tried it. Though he will certainly struggle against more seasoned Code S opponents (Curious swatted aside his all-ins with ease), he'll surely relish the chance to test himself in the toughest tournament in the world.
Ruin's Reward: The chance to use some inexplicable cheese on a Code S player.
Known for his ZvZ in both BW and SC2, EffOrt failed to win in either of his mirror matchups on the night. He looked weak in his loss to Curious, unable to handle the StarTale Zerg's aggression. Though he would win his first game against Sleep in the Loser's Match, two grave over-extensions on offense cost him his chance to reach Code S. He lucked out having to face a group full of Zergs but couldn't capitalize in either series. For shame, EffOrt. For shame.
EffOrt's Penance: Play 100 ZvZs in a row. Ugh.
Ruin'd twice, Sleep's night will be remembered most for losing ZvP on Daedalus Point. The new KT recruit looked sloppy in all of his series, only escaping to the Final Match due to EffOrt's blunders. His runbys and multitasking looked strong, but both his positioning and reading of the game were poor. He repeatedly built and canceled buildings in all three series as it seemed he could never figure out his opponents' true intentions. After a strong showing last season, it's straight back down to Code B for Sleep.
Sleep's Penance: Play in Bronze League until he learns how to handle terrible, terrible, creative cheese.
A four game losing streak had many fans worried about sOs' form in the new year, but a strong 4-0 performance in Code A helped alleviate fears that sOs had fallen into a post BlizzCon-slump. sOs showed that Code B player Shine was simply no match for him, crushing him in two straight up games. sOs then proceeded to school Classic in hilarious cheesfest of a winners match, taking game one with proxy gates and game two with a perfect all-in counter to Classic's cannon rush.
sOs' Reward: Getting people off his back for a few days until his next Proleague match.
Classic took his spot in Code S with two series wins against the much diminished Gumiho. The first series was quite easy for Classic as he deftly fended off Gumiho's reaper openers and subsequent drop harassment en route to a 2-0 win. However, Classic had to survive a close call in the return match as he gifted Gumiho a game with a botched blink-stalker attack. Despite that embarrassing loss, Classic was still able regain his composure and take the 2-1 victory with solid play.
Classic's Reward: A 50% chance of cheesing out a huge fan favorite in Code S and earning the hate of StarCraft fans everywhere.
Gumiho tried his best to work his harassment heavy style against Classic, but the SKT Protoss refused to show any weaknesses. Unable to get Classic to crack, Gumiho spent most of his time bashing his head up against a brick wall before he was forced to GG. On the bright side, Gumiho did manage to play one of the more entertaining games of the night against Shine, going mech and eventually building a deadly sky-Terran composition. Maybe it's not something we want to see on regular basis, but it ended up being an amusing change of pace game.
Gumiho's Penance: Wipe away our fanboy tears with his towel.
Unfortunately for Shine, it was one of those nights where he didn't get to impress much. He earned style points for taking a map off Gumiho with a nydus-roach all-in, but overall he looked out of his depth against the opposition.
Shine's Penance: Training under Sniper.
Coming Up Next: Groups C and D
Code A continues with the next two groups, headlined by players like Flash, Leenock, and Symbol!
Group D: Keen, MyuNgSiK, Trust, Symbol
Thursday, Jan 16 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 D will be played earlier than Group C. Oh well!
Group D features two of Code S's old guard going up against dangerous newcomers from KeSPA teams. MVP.KeeN and Azubu.Symbol have fifteen total combined Code S appearances. CJ_Trust and KT_MyuNgSiKhave zero. In the past this would have meant the veterans were overwhelming favorites, but recent trends suggest things could be a lot closer.
Symbol is the veteran who looks to be a safe bet. Yes, he did happen to fall out of the Ro32 last season and had to work his way into Code A through the qualifiers. However, that came after six seasons of placing in the Ro16 or better. As one of the most consistent players the GSL has seen in the last few years, it's hard to imagine a Code S without Symbol. Like Curious before him, we expect strong showings from Symbol against the less established players.
Conversely, Keen is the veteran we're worried about. While he hasn't exactly dropped off, it's not like he's improved either. For better or for worse, he's continued to look like the steady and solid Code S Terran he's been for a couple of years now, capable of reaching the Ro16 but no further than that. Chances are he'll just grind out the wins and make it back to Code S for another season, but he's in danger if either of the KeSPA Protoss players show a spark.
Myungsik is worth keeping an eye out for in particular. Though he failed to live up to the hype he created when he tore through the IEM Shanghai qualifiers last year, his recent performances suggest he might finally live up to that potential. With a 5-1 record and wins against TRUE, BBoongBBoong, and soO (all underrated players) in the last month, Myungsik is our darkhorse pick to make it out of the group.
Finally there's Trust, a perrenial Code A player in 2013. Though skilled at making it through the qualifiers, his performances in Code A left a lot to be desired. He only made it past the first round of Code A twice (in the old format), and failed to leave an impression in the Up/Down matches. This will be his fifth shot at Code A, and unless he's improved greatly over the winter, it will be his fifth time out as well.
Predictions: Symbol will probably go through, and Trust will probably drop back down to Code B. Myungsik could upset Keen and take a spot in Code S, but in a head to head I'd have to favor Keen playing his best match-up of TvP.
Symbol and Keen to advance.
Group C: Flash, Yonghwa, Leenock, BrAvO
Thursday, Jan 16 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00)
The KT_Flash hype train has finally slowed down after a quiet 2013 where the Ultimate Weapon failed to make it past the Ro16 in WCS Korea. Interestingly enough, Flash might have actually gone from being overrated to being slightly underrated at this point.
He has a decent excuse for failing to make it further in Korean tournaments: for two seasons in a row he was placed into the groups of death, while in the third season he was drawn into another tough group with Losira, PartinG, and Maru. If he had gotten easier groups and made it to the knockout rounds, then there's no telling how far his famed BoX series preparation would have taken him. Look, if we can make that excuse for Mvp, it stands that we can make it for Flash, too.
However, the big strike against Flash was his poor play in international tournaments. He was eliminated in the Ro32 of DreamHack Bucharest by YuGiOh and MMA, and in the Ro16 of IEM New York by DongRaeGu and Curious. With most "top" Koreans expected to at least reach the Ro8 in international competition, it had viewers rightfully questioning his abilities.
Taking Flash's Proleague performances into consideration, he should be able to make it into Code S to take another shot at living up to his BW reputation. Though he dropped games to top match-up players in PartinG and Sora, he was ruthless in taking out players just one level below in HerO, Solar, and Rogue.
Look at the group: Leenock never really found his bearings in HotS, and unfortunately looks to be past his prime. IM_YongHwa is a terror in qualifiers and team leagues (he crushed Flash's teammate TY 4-0 in the Code B qualifiers), but he never seems to be able to play his best in individual competition. SKT_BrAvO was an efficient sniper for WoongJin Stars in the last Proleague season, but he has yet to prove himself in individual competition.
Predictions: Assuming Flash makes it through, that leaves Leenock, Yonghwa and BrAvO to vye for the third place spot. It's a close call, but I'm going with Leenock and his veteran savvy to make it through.
And sOs is a favorite? I thought everyone doesnt like him b.c. hes boring and he won Blizzcon over Jaedong, plus he hasnt done crap since and is most likely a one run winner
On January 16 2014 09:04 ShowTheLights wrote: Shouldnt it be Ruin up, Effort down?
And sOs is a favorite? I thought everyone doesnt like him b.c. hes boring and he won Blizzcon over Jaedong, plus he hasnt done crap since and is most likely a one run winner
If sOs is boring, then people should consider that maybe it's not the player, but the fact they might not enjoy the game. sOs is probably the most creative high level Protoss out there today, and his play is very unique.
You can't really argue that his personality is non-existent either. Winning Blizzcon literally had him leaping for joy, and he's not a one-hit wonder either. He qualified for Blizzcon because he had a successful 2013, notably getting top 4 in WCS Korea Season 1 and 2nd at the Season 1 finals (in comparison, that's a better WCS result than Taeja).
After Zealously hyped Trust's PvZ for me before his loss in Proleague to Rogue, i have to predict him beating Symbol and advancing from first place and Symbol from second :D
Flash will advance if he slains YongHwa, do want Leenock as second but will go with BrAvO pick, it's fun to predict.
On January 16 2014 09:04 ShowTheLights wrote: Shouldnt it be Ruin up, Effort down?
And sOs is a favorite? I thought everyone doesnt like him b.c. hes boring and he won Blizzcon over Jaedong, plus he hasnt done crap since and is most likely a one run winner
I love sOs ): He is probably only guy who can play and make me lose my jaw, smile, clap and cheer loudly. Except Nani ofc, but Nani has personality which is close to me. sOs probably isn't hyped but it's good. He has no pressure from fanboys and other stuff and he's still cute <3 Hope to go to some event to meet him, this humble lad is amazing. And also hope that he's going to do well. It won't be disaster if he fails to some fans who probably expect him to win everything now since he's World Champion, but if he's not gonna do way worse than PartinG, who got 2 Ro8 in GSL, Ro16 OSL, Battlegrounds and 2nd place at WCG + 1st at WCG Korea, it's ok.
Fuck, why do i lie. Even if he falls to Code B (no pls :D) and lose all games in SPL, I will still love him <3.
Let's go Flash! Seize the opportunity and climb back to code S where you belong! :D
On January 16 2014 09:04 ShowTheLights wrote: Shouldnt it be Ruin up, Effort down?
And sOs is a favorite? I thought everyone doesnt like him b.c. hes boring and he won Blizzcon over Jaedong, plus he hasnt done crap since and is most likely a one run winner
While I was greatly disappointed at seeing Jaedong lose to sOs, I became an sOs fan due to playing protoss using mind games. Heck, he walked zealots into Jaedong's expansion in game 4 and won through that, such a baller lol.
Either way, I think he was the favourite due to Blizzcon and being one of the most creative protoss players in the game so far.
I'm normally a big Symbol advocate but I'd have to disagree with that group D call. He just hasn't been looking too hot lately and ZvP is consistently his worst matchup. Keen on the other hand should be comfortable in what's probably still his best matchup and against Symbol who he's beaten in his last two encounters.
Yonghwa and Leenock are rolling group C! Flash to code B
So devastated that GuMiho didn't make it back into Code S and get his NesTea award. I don't see a foreign team picking him up now that he is not going to play a televised match in months. He might end up retiring.
For tonight I hope Leenock makes it out for similar reasons to GuMiho. Fou hwaiting.
Curious is being a boss as always. I actually doubt Flash making it out of his group, but if Yonghwa crumbles under the pressure and Bravo doesn't step up his game, it might be possible. Leenock should be able to advance, let's see.
all i want is for leenock to crush face and make it back in to code s, if he can make it back this time i think he can play his way back in to some form. flash should make it through with him.symbol and MyuNgSiK should make through in the other group
God will descend upon the hapless peasants before him and smite them with his wrath. He has nodes his time in 2013, waiting for his challengers to build their armies, but in 2014 He shall reign supreme once more, and retake his throne above the starcraft kingdom. All hail the Almighty One
On January 16 2014 12:22 caznitch wrote: Hahaha... Did anyone catch this from the Classic vs Ghumio cast:
*After Classic baits some marines into a double storm
Khaldor: That was a master bait!
hahahah
It was actually worse than that, he said "Classic is a master baiter." I am still not really sure if it was an accident or not. I'd think it's planned but Wolf had just said something about "baiting" and he could have been just responding.
On January 16 2014 12:22 caznitch wrote: Hahaha... Did anyone catch this from the Classic vs Ghumio cast:
*After Classic baits some marines into a double storm
Khaldor: That was a master bait!
hahahah
It was actually worse than that, he said "Classic is a master baiter." I am still not really sure if it was an accident or not. I'd think it's planned but Wolf had just said something about "baiting" and he could have been just responding.
I think it was pretty obvious Khaldor did that on purpose.
A well-deserved and appropriate penance for Sleep. He should not have lost that last game. Ruin picked Daedalus against a zerg. Sleep should have expected something weird. I do wonder how many people have tried the Ruin wall-off on ladder now.
Although it is definitely a game everyone should watch.
On January 16 2014 09:04 ShowTheLights wrote: Shouldnt it be Ruin up, Effort down?
And sOs is a favorite? I thought everyone doesnt like him b.c. hes boring and he won Blizzcon over Jaedong, plus he hasnt done crap since and is most likely a one run winner
Every time a player does badly anti-fans swarm related topics and yell retirement, then the same people pretends they are sentimental when people actually retire.
Every time a player does badly anti-fans swarm related topics and yell retirement, then the same people pretends they are sentimental when people actually retire.
smh
Sentimental about sc2 players? I dont care. Actually i hope Flash is going to play SOSPA (which is very unlikely though).
Every time a player does badly anti-fans swarm related topics and yell retirement, then the same people pretends they are sentimental when people actually retire.
smh
as a flash fan, it really worries me that he may be considering retirement. It's no secret that he enjoyed a lot more success in Broodwar, and it must be hard on him mentally to not be able to attain the same type of results. And if anything all of these recent retirements have taught me that no one is really safe anymore, and that with WCS encompassing a large amount of the Korean Tournaments, it can really be detrimental if keep getting dropped back into code B.
Every time a player does badly anti-fans swarm related topics and yell retirement, then the same people pretends they are sentimental when people actually retire.
smh
Sentimental about sc2 players? I dont care. Actually i hope Flash is going to play SOSPA (which is very unlikely though).
smh
Hoping that anybody should just lose their job with out due cause is just a douchebag mentality, period.
Every time a player does badly anti-fans swarm related topics and yell retirement, then the same people pretends they are sentimental when people actually retire.
smh
Sentimental about sc2 players? I dont care. Actually i hope Flash is going to play SOSPA (which is very unlikely though).
smh
Hoping that anybody should just lose their job with out due cause is just a douchebag mentality, period.
retirement != losing the job
If he decides to retire its not a bad thing. On the other hand if someone forces him to retire it is. I doubt my wish forces him to retire though...smh
PS: use your brain before calling others douchebag please
Just to clarify, no one will fire flash any time soon. More like people are hoping he chooses a different path. I would love to see him show his brood war skills again, but I'm afraid that time is passed for flash...
Every time a player does badly anti-fans swarm related topics and yell retirement, then the same people pretends they are sentimental when people actually retire.
smh
Sentimental about sc2 players? I dont care. Actually i hope Flash is going to play SOSPA (which is very unlikely though).
smh
Hoping that anybody should just lose their job with out due cause is just a douchebag mentality, period.
retirement != losing the job
If he decides to retire its not a bad thing. On the other hand if someone forces him to retire it is. I doubt my wish forces him to retire though...smh
PS: use your brain before calling others douchebag please
What, you think KT will pay him to play BW? SC2 is his job, retiring means he has no job.
Every time a player does badly anti-fans swarm related topics and yell retirement, then the same people pretends they are sentimental when people actually retire.
smh
Sentimental about sc2 players? I dont care. Actually i hope Flash is going to play SOSPA (which is very unlikely though).
smh
Hoping that anybody should just lose their job with out due cause is just a douchebag mentality, period.
retirement != losing the job
If he decides to retire its not a bad thing. On the other hand if someone forces him to retire it is. I doubt my wish forces him to retire though...smh
PS: use your brain before calling others douchebag please
What, you think KT will pay him to play BW? SC2 is his job, retiring means he has no job.
Where did i say something about KT paying him to play BW? You must be a clever guy to figure that out... btw losing the job means someone fired you or the company closed, retirement/resignation on the other hand is in most cases your own decision or you reached a certain age and have to retire (still being paid pension though).
Poor Flash. Shit happens, he will recover. It's not bad to lose in Code A, even for God of BW. KT are still ok in SPL, and imo in Korea it's always teamleague > invididual. So all is ok.
Every time a player does badly anti-fans swarm related topics and yell retirement, then the same people pretends they are sentimental when people actually retire.
smh
Sentimental about sc2 players? I dont care. Actually i hope Flash is going to play SOSPA (which is very unlikely though).
smh
Hoping that anybody should just lose their job with out due cause is just a douchebag mentality, period.
retirement != losing the job
If he decides to retire its not a bad thing. On the other hand if someone forces him to retire it is. I doubt my wish forces him to retire though...smh
PS: use your brain before calling others douchebag please
What, you think KT will pay him to play BW? SC2 is his job, retiring means he has no job.
Where did i say something about KT paying him to play BW? You must be a clever guy to figure that out... btw losing the job means someone fired you or the company closed, retirement/resignation on the other hand is in most cases your own decision or you reached a certain age and have to retire (still being paid pension though).
There is no pension in Starcraft. If Flash retires or is made to retire, he has no job to fall back on. That's an insecurity I hope a real fan would wish on anyone, past superstar or not. SC2 is the safe option for Flash, and judging from his interviews recently I doubt he would retire to go back to BW.
I do want to say if Flash went to EU or AM everyone would think he's successful and doing well. Although his team probably doesn't give him the option I doubt he'd ever leave KR... too competitive . Or... not competitive enough lol. MyuNgSiK holding the KT banner in code S!!!!
On January 17 2014 00:58 Caladan wrote: It looks like Flash can not be underrated enough. At the moment he is a below average Korean pro-terran.
Typical SKT fan
After seeing the matches, it's hard to say that Flash deserved to advance. Even Bravo, who I'd rate about average on pro level and still has many weaknesses, was the clearly better player of the two today. Game 2 only was lost because of a stupid Banshee attack. Otherwise we would have seen a 0-4 of Flash in Code A.
On January 16 2014 22:14 Poetic[AoV] wrote: Just to clarify, no one will fire flash any time soon. More like people are hoping he chooses a different path. I would love to see him show his brood war skills again, but I'm afraid that time is passed for flash...
I would never say this since I am a terran supremacist , but I think flash should do what he said in an interview long ago , GO PROTOSS ! it fits his BW style alot better
It is sad but i followed his progression since transition very closely and i got to admit and accept that his play is mediocre. Seems like he does not "feel" and/or understand this game. And there were no real "progression" to be honest, he was actually better when he played parting and life in his very first group of death than he is now. He seemed more passionate. But now even in SPL he struggles. Anywyaz, i'll never stop rooting for him.
There is a intelligence and a calculatedness to flash's play that will eventually take him far. The most successful players right now are all very mechanical, and on the terran side focused ultra aggression and multitasking. It takes time to improve the way flash does but I think in the long run it will lead to a better playstyle and more solid fundamentals. He was so consistent and hard working in BW, and I see no reason why that would change in SC2.
EPT
EffOrt <Habitation Station> 
Ruin
Alterzim Stronghold> 
GuMiho
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/9Eul7JM.png)
