EPTCheers and Jeers
by Waxangel
While the successes and failures of fan favorites were at the center of attention in the earlier Code A groups, groups E and F were all about the games and their demonstration of recent trends.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2014/gslscorething.png)
Mech's Day In the Sun
A wise man once said that if the words "mech" and "viable" appear together in a forum post, it's time to abandon the thread. As one of the most iconic and over-romanticized strategies of Brood War, mech has never ceased to be a topic of fierce debate in StarCraft 2. Does it live up to the spirit of Brood War mech? Is turtling gameplay something we really want? Is it really viable at the pro level? While we can't answer the first two questions, recent Code A and Proleague matches suggest the answer to the last question is a yes.After BrAvO used mech to beat Leenock into submission in one of Wednesday's games, both
CJ_Bbyong and JinAir_Cure pulled out the strategy in their TvZ games on Thursday night. The results were mixed, with Bbyong being able to stomp all over Solar, while Cure was picked apart by RorO's excellent guerrilla tactics. Regardless of the results, it was telling that a once niche TvZ strategy made it into the arsenals of three different players.The truly interesting development was Cure's decision to bring mech out in TvP. Though some brave souls like Bomber had tried to use mech as a surprise strategy in TvP, such attempts had typically been met with utter failure. What's more, Cure decided to deploy mech on Frost, an absolutely massive map with plenty of room for a slow composition to get outmaneuvered. Yet, Cure found a way to win. Thanks to poor judgment from
Hurricane (who lost much ground attempting some poor 2-base pressure) and devastating late-game EMPs from Cure, the mech army was able to easily reduce the Protoss army to rubble when the time came for a final engagement. With just one match, it's hard to tell if TvP mech will continue to pop up in GSL games, or if it was just a clever one-off strategy by Cure. In his remaining TvPs, Cure declined to play any more mech, opting for bio instead (which he gave his own twist as well, adding in plenty of widow mines). More reasons to keep our eyes on the GSL going forward!
Daedalus Point Woes
There was another trend in the Code A matches, this one rather glaring: Daedalus Point was distorting PvZ. With a ridiculously wide ramp and no way to execute any of the standard wall-offs, Protoss players were forced to go for unorthodox strategies to try and win. This approach seemed to work in the first few games, with Zergs getting caught off guard by wild strategies like 1-base DTs or offensive walling beneath their own ramps. However, The later matches saw Zerg players come prepared for such scenarios, with
Azubu.Symbol punishing a naive attempt to perform the offensive wall with a fast nydus, and Samsung_Solar happily shutting down MVP.Super's proxy gate with the smallest bit of drone scouting.One has to think there's a problem with a map when ST_Life, a virtuoso of balance complaining, begins to criticize it on behalf of Protoss players. Fortunately for the Code S players, the new format of Code A allows it to effectively act as a test run before the Code S season starts in earnest. With another week of Code A remaining and the complaints of progamers mounting, one has to think that a solution will be found in time for Code S. Unfortunately, it will be too late for the players who have already been eliminated.
Terran Finally in Code S!
Speaking of imbalance, let's look at the qualified races for Code S so far: 11 Protoss, 8 Zerg, 2 Terran. WHAT?Terran has been the powerhouse of the GSL forever, but it seems like those days are long gone. Last season's quarterfinalist
jjakji joined players like TaeJa, MMA, Bomber, and Mvp in looking for easier money abroad, leaving only JinAir_Maru to hold the fort as a seeded Terran player. Fortunately for Terran fans, CJ's Bbyong fought his way through Code A to become the second Terran player in this season's Code S, but only after five other Terrans fell before him.The prospects for Terran in the upcoming six groups are better. Top Terran
INnoVation headlines a group of players that include sKyHigh, Reality, Hack, SuperNova, TheBest, Dream, and Ryung. Hack and Ryung in particular are players who have returned from the WCS America region, staunching some of the talent bleeding. But unless all those aforementioned Terran players play out of their minds, we could be facing one of the worst Terran seasons in GSL history.
