soO, RagnaroK, TRUE, Trap

by Waxangel

Now that Zest has passed his first test of the season, it's SKT_soO's turn to step up to the plate. soO comes into this season with both nothing and everything to prove. On one hand, he's the only player other than Mvp to reach two GSL finals in a row. That kind of immense achievement affords him a ton of respect. However, he's also the only player to ever lose two GSL finals in a row. The gap between first and second is even wider than the gap between second and last, and soO's shortcomings in the finals will surely stay with him as a sore point for the rest of his career unless he can redeem himself.

soO once admitted he fell into a cycle of complacency as mid-tier, Ro16 Code S player. That was before he found the motivation to push himself even harder and become a two-time finalist. If he wants to become a champion, then he will need to push himself even further yet.

Like Zest, soO faces a potentially dangerous mirror-match to start the season. The teamless RagnaroK was one of the surprise entrants in this season of Code S, defeating Apocalypse, Terminator and Dream in the Code A qualifiers and then moving on to go 4-0 against Rogue and Curious in Code A. If Ragnarok can 4-0 two established Code S players, then he has a fighting chance against soO as well.

Overall, Ragnarok's shrouded nature makes him a darkhorse candidate to make it to the Ro16. He has played in a very limited number of streamed games, making his style hidden to his opponents. The few online tournament results he does have speak positively for his skill, with wins over Sen, TaeJa, and HerO in Zowie's King of The Iron (a king of the hill style showmatch).

Ragnarok's biggest rival for the second place spot is likely to be IM_Trap, a player who has quietly put up a solid 8-5 record in Proleague while reaching the Ro16 of Code S last season. Though Trap has trouble beating the true title contenders in Korea, he's a good player who could reach the Ro16 over and over and over. In fact, advancing here would earn him his fourth OSL/GSL Ro16 appearance in a row.

The main issue for Trap in this group is that he struggles against soO, having a 1-4 record against him this year. However, he has been excellent against all other Zergs, and he has 18-7 PvZ record against non-soO Zergs. With only the PvZ match-up to practice for in the Ro32, the odds look good for Trap.

The fourth and final player in Group B is JinAir_TRUE, a stylish baneling fetishist who's often won our hearts over, even if he's not quite as good at winning games. Unfortunately for us viewers, there are no Terrans in this group for TRUE to face, which means we'll be unable to see his signature style of countering every single Terran unit with banelings.

TRUE is a mystery player in this group, despite the fact that we've had a decent number of opportunities to see him play. The reason is that he's barely played any streamed ZvZ in the last few months, with his last relevant match being way back in January against Hydra in Code A (a 2-0 win). If TRUE turns out to be as skilled in ZvZ as he is entertaining in TvZ, then he has a chance to go through to the Ro16.

Predictions:

soO > Ragnarok
Trap > TRUE
soO > Trap
Ragnarok > TRUE
Trap > Ragnarok

soO and Trap advance.