EPTCode S Season 2: Opening Day
Zest, TAiLS, 
Dark, 
Bbyongby Waxangel
In accordance with GSL tradition, it falls upon defending champion
KT_Zest to kick off the new season of Code S. There's no doubt that Zest is on top of the world right now, having won Code S and the GSL Global Tournament consecutively. The Ro32 draw for this season of Code S resulted in very even groups across the board, but Zest has lucked out with a relatively easy draw. None of TAiLS, Dark, or Bbyong have any individual league results really worth talking about, and they should be easy pickings for the champ.At least, that's what we should be thinking. In reality, we're still dealing with the spectre of
Dear that still lingers over the GSL. The former mousesports Protoss looked utterly invincible when he took back to back WCS championships in October of 2013, but his month of glory has now become almost completely overshadowed by his abrupt fall from grace. Within six months, Dear fell out of Code S and down to Code B, looking like a shell of the player he once was. Dear isn't the only victim of the Code S champion's curse – we've seen the suffering of Seed, Sniper, and RorO as well. So with all apologies to the reigning Code S champion and the best player in the world, we're a little worried about about his chances of getting out of this group.In fact, there's upset potential from the very first match. Zest's hand-picked* first opponent
MVP.TAiLS has garnered much notoriety for his well-crafted all-ins and cheese builds, and it's precisely those kind of builds that got him into Code S in the first place. Despite saying he lacked practiced and didn't expect to get past his Code A group, TAiLS still managed to go 4-0 against Classic and RorO to take first place. If Zest thinks his PvP is the best in the world, we aren't going to argue with him. He has a 70% win rate on the year, and that's with barely any win-padding against easy opponents. However, we CAN argue with the wisdom of taking a Bo3 PvP by choice. Perhaps the better player will win more often than not in a Bo7, but a Bo3 can be very volatile – especially against a player like TAiLS. The MVP Protoss may be inconsistent, but he's more than capable of throwing the outcome of this group into chaos.
The least worrisome of the potential opponents for Zest is probably
Dark, the SK Telecom T1 benchwarmer who has recently started to earn Code S starts. Zest has mangled both soO and Soulkey on multiple occasions this year, so it's hard to think that he'd lose to their understudy. In fact, Zest is probably hoping that he gets the match against Dark so that he can improve his series record against SKT to 8-0 on the year. One thing Zest will have to be on guard for is Dark's aggressive, roach-hydra focused style that differs from Soulkey and soO.CJ_Bbyong could be the biggest threat to Zest in this group. If you had told us in January that Bbyong would be CJ Entus' best player in Proleague and one of the only four Terrans in Code S, we'd have called you insane. Yet, somehow, the player who has mockingly been called "the 32nd best player in Code S" has improved to become a very good player, doing it all with pretty much standard play. If his old player equivalent used to be Virus, then he's upgraded himself to Ryung at least (and we mean 2012 Ryung). A semifinal run is not out of the question if he gets the right draws.The not-so-dirty secret behind Zest's championship runs is that he barely had to play any PvTs. And when he did have to play, he did not look especially convincing. Maru handed Zest his only defeat of his Code S run, while MMA – a player not known for his TvP – gave Zest fits in the GSL Global Tournament (Zest won 2-1).
On the other hand, Bbyong has been quietly racking up some impressive wins in TvP in Proleague, defeating players like sOs, Super, Classic, Creator, and even Zest himself. The win against Zest was pretty much a one-sided romp in Bbyong's favor, with the CJ Terran needing only a rudimentary two-prong attack to crack Zest's defenses and take the GG. Is it strange that we think a match between the two would be a 50/50 affair?
*The two finalists are allowed to pick their first opponent from the bottom eight players in GSL points.
Overall Thoughts and Prediction:
The safe money is on Zest and Bbyong advancing, but TAiLS could very easily throw a wrench into the proceedings. He already 4-0'd supposed superior players in Code A, and there's no reason he can't do it again. Bbyong, Dark, and Zest better know the proxy spots on the new maps like the backs of their hands if they don't want to be the latest upset victims. Also, props to Dark for making it to his second straight Code S. If he can beat Bbyong, he might be able to squeak by to the Ro16.
Zest > TAiLS
Bbyong > Dark
Bbyong > Zest
Dark > TAiLS
Zest > Dark
Bbyong and Zest advance.
