Hot 6ix GSL Season 1
Code S

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Twitch

by Waxangel

Hopes of an epic IEM rematch in the GSL were quickly dashed on Wednesday night as the two IEM Katowice finalists sOs and herO were sent crashing out in the GSL quarterfinals. It's difficult to say how big of an affect the long flight back and lack of rest prior to their matches had. The only thing we can be certain of is that herO will have to wait for another day to get his revenge on sOs.

JinAir_sOs, the winner of the $100,000 grand prize at IEM, received a one-sided beating upon returning to Korea. KT's Zest took an easy and fast 3-0 victory, crushing sOs before any of the games could go long. The victory was another highlight in what is turning out to be a fantastic 2014 for Zest, a year where he has all-killed rivals SKT and established himself as one of Proleague's most dangerous players. By reaching the semifinals of the GSL, he has also broken a long lasting KT Rolster jinx where few player other than Flash had been able to surpass the quarterfinals in individual competition.


CJ_herO put up a much better fight against SKT_Rain, but he fell 2-3 in the end. The series tended toward more longer games on the whole compared to Zest vs sOs, and the two players looked quite evenly matched until the end. Rain was able to outplay herO in the deciding fifth game on Frost, crippling his opponent's economy with harassment and then holding off an all-in counter-attack to clinch the series.

While the series was notable for its high level, macro PvP, the most memorable moment of the series may have come in game two where Rain went for a proxy 2-gate rush against herO. Though modified from sOs' version used at IEM – the gates were placed in herO's natural instead of his main, and cranking out stalkers instead of zealots – it proved to be just as effective and forced another GG from herO.

Notes and Observations

• After advancing from the Code S Ro16 last week, PartinG said in an interview that Zest, sOs, and herO were the three players who had the best grasp of PvP. Looks like he was right... kinda?
  
  
• I originally wanted to say that Zest has become the first KT Rolster semifinalist other than Flash in the KTFlash era. Then I remembered that Luxury existed
  
  
• Unfortunately, herO refused to grace us with a humorous expression after getting proxy-gated by Rain. Rather, his face was that of utter indifference. It's entirely possible that losing $100,000 to sOs has made herO completely immune to shock or disappointment for the rest of his life.
  
  
• In typical progamer fashion, Rain spent most of his winner interview after a PvP complaining about Terran being overpowered when there's just one Terran left in the tournament, at the opposite end of the bracket at that.
  
  
• Besides his KT Rolster teammates MyungSiK and Stats, Zest also thanked First for helping him practice. First had played for KT Rolster as a Brood War pro, but played on IM for most of his StarCraft 2 career. It's scant evidence of a return to KT Rolster for First, but it's something to speculate on.
  
  
• Kudos to Inven.co.kr for pointing out KT Rolster's new spring uniform!.

Writers: Waxangel
Graphics: GomTV
Editor: Waxangel