GSL Season One
Code S

Ro16 Group A Preview
Life, RorO, Curious, sOs

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by lichter

Of all the amazing players that have hoisted the Code S trophy and awkwardly kissed it, none have won a repeat title since Mvp in 2012. In fact, only three players have ever won two or more Code S championships: the holy trinity of Mvp, Nestea, and MC. That no one else has achieved this feat (not counting the Blizzard/Hot6ix Cups) is a testament to the growing number of worthy players and the narrowing margin of skill that separates them.

When ST_Life won GSL Season 4 2012 over Mvp, it was seen by many as a passing of the torch. His prodigious potential fulfilled, the royal roader was supposed to have a long reign as the greatest player in the world. Yet for all his talents, Life has failed to even advance from the Ro16 since his winning run. That's 5 seasons or 17 months since he last reached the knockout stages of Code S. Whether it's his tendency to fall into groups of death (WCS KR S1 2013 Ro16 Group B), lose ZvZ's when it matters (GSL S5 2012), or fail to adapt to the metagame (less lings, less mutas, HoTS), he's always finding himself blocked at the Ro16. It's difficult to consider Life a genuine championship contender after such a long run of Code S mediocrity.

That isn't to say that Life is washed up – his 1st place finish at IEM NY and 2nd place at DreamHack Winter last year suggest otherwise – but his days as the heir apparent have passed him by. However, when he shows the quick thinking and intelligent unit movement that won him his first title, you have to wonder if he has another deep Code S run in him.

Life now finds himself once again at the Ro16 hurdle that has kept him from the greatness that once seemed his destiny. While time is on his side, Life's recent comments about compulsory military service (which were laughed off and ridiculed by his older colleagues) show that he knows the clock is ticking. It is difficult to draw any conclusion from his Round of 32, as both YongHwa and Dark looked a few blinks behind the StarTale Zerg. YongHwa's reliance on all-ins proved too easy for Life to handle, and Dark's apparent inexperience in his first Code S allowed Life to play it safe and choose advantageous openings. More relevant is Life's slow recovery of his ZvZ mastery, with series wins against Curious, Jaedong, and Solar in recent months, looking more confident since his loss to Scarlett at Northcon. Life finds a way, as they say. Is this the spring that breaks his interminable winter?

Zealously, the #1 life Life fan on the TL writing staff, must be smiling at the thought of Life's resurgence being at the expense of Samsung_RorO. The much maligned Zerg, due to his destruction of FPL teams and his love of swarm hosts, has had a similarly tragic trajectory since his single championship in Season 1 of 2013: A round of 8, a round of 32, and an embarrassing drop down to Code A. His haters rejoiced at the thought that the patchzerg of patchzergs might disappear forever, but RorO would not stay down. With renewed vigor and much improved skills, he has clawed his way up from Code B and back into the Ro16.

RorO has looked the part of Samsung's Ace with a 7-2 record, making a huge contribution to the team's surprising success so far. The last champion of WoL has seemingly found his magic recipe in ZvP in swarm host play, and though he struggled in the Round of 32, he upped his game when it mattered. In other seasons, this may have been a temporary crutch, but the abundance of Protosses to abuse this season looked to be a good sign for RorO's return.

Unfortunately for him, the luck of the draw has landed him in a three-Zerg group. With ZvZ reverting back to the giant roach wars of 2011, RorO might make use of his other signature unit in burrowed roaches. Or I guess he could still go swarm hosts, and make the whiners throw up their lunches as he tries to win yet another GSL title with free units.

Inevitably, one of these champions will have to face the Gatekeeper, back in Code S after a season's hiatus. They will hope that it isn't in the loser's match, where they could, once again, be declared unworthy to continue.

Though he's forever been known as the gatekeeper of Code S, ST_Curious was also once a champion. Sort of. His win against Oz in the finals of Code A when Code A was still an actual tournament is perhaps the highlight of his career so far. That victory marked the beginning of an era where Curious would stay in Code S for nine straight seasons, purging the tournament of those undeserving. Though he'd only advance past the Round of 16 once (Ro4 Code S S1 2013), his ability to survive in Code S while expelling the unworthy became legendary. However, he too, would be found wanting as he fell tragically short of the NesTea award (given for ten consecutive Code S appearances) at the last hurdle like many before him. In those hard times many wondered whether he was done, whether he had fallen behind his peers and became unworthy of his role as Gatekeeper.

Instead, Curious quickly returned to his usual form. He has dutifully swept aside Stats and ParalyzE in the Round of 32, using muta switches in the late game after relying on roaches in the midgame. However, the issue with Curious has been that his Ro16 performances tend to be as lackluster as his Ro32 performances are dominating. We shall soon find out whether Curious has simply returned to his position as Gatekeeper or is applying for a better job.

The lone non-Zerg in this group, The $100,000 man JinAir_sOs will be the first to be judged by the Gatekeeper. After receiving an enormous amount of hype after WCS Season 1 2013 as a great innovator of Protoss, his momentum sputtered as he failed to advance past the Round of 16 in the succeeding seasons. That was enough to get him to the Global Finals at BlizzCon, however, and the rest is history. Few expected him to be the last man standing in Anaheim after drawing Polt and Bomber – both masters of sOs's achilles heel match-up – but there doesn't seem to be a problem that sOs can't find an unconventional answer to.

Once again he finds himself being questioned. His double loss to Solar in his Proleague debut for Jin Air Green Wings seemed like a very poor stroke of luck, but it has proven to be a confidence breaker as he limped to a record of 2-7 in Round 1. His losses against Dream and TY continued to perpetuate his reputation as a poor PvT player, while his his wins against Bbyong (really sloppy) and Reality (Void ray all in after proxy oracle) haven't done much to prove otherwise. In PvZ, he has shown flashes of brilliance and cluelessness in the same series, notably against soO. When the Jin Air Protoss can get his harassment going or use tailored builds, he is a force to be reckoned with. But when he plays standard, he is disappointingly ordinary. With only one matchup to play tonight, expect sOs to bring his best strategies to the table.

Predictions: All four players are out to prove that they are still championship quality. Though none of them should be considered among the best of their races or prime contenders, they've shown in the past that they are capable of a magical run. ZvZ is difficult to predict, as prevailing winrates matter less than specific playstyles and daily dice rolls.

RorO has looked like a rock in Proleague so far this season, so we're going to go with the Samsung ace. sOs has only one match-up to prepare for, and it's his best one at that. He should be able to devise the kinds of strategies he needs to get out of this group.

Life < RorO
Curious < sOs
RorO > sOs
Life < Curious
sOs > Curious

RorO and sOs to advance.

Writers: lichter.
Graphics: GomTV, Kevin Florenzano (ESL)
Editor: Waxangel.