EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Meru/2014/GSL/GSL_CodeS.jpg)
It's become a custom in Code S that the champion of the previous season opens the Ro32 of the next, with the advantage of being able to pick his opponent. In his pre-game interview, Classic seemed calm and composed as he answered questions regarding his plans for this season. He mentioned that he had chosen EffOrt because he had wanted to face zerg, which he thought would be a cakewalk. With two zergs in the group, many believed that he was about to stroll into the Ro16.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/lichter/code_s/2014/season3/codesr32grpa.jpg)
The first match of the last season of Code S for 2014 pitted the defending champion, Classic, against a former Brood War champion and Code S debutante EffOrt. In the first game, EffOrt's 13 pool was ineffective against Classic's nexus first. It looked like Classic was going to get into the mid game with a sizable advantage, but he was unable to make most of his lead. The game stabilized from there, and despite Classic's warp-prism and blink harass, EffOrt's choice to switch from roach ling into mutas was able to keep Classic in his base for what seemed like an eternity. By the time the CJ zerg had 50 mutas, Classic had no choice but to attempt a doomed base trade. As the cloud of mutas blanketed the sky, EffOrt had his first ever Code S victory. EffOrt showed no signs of playing reactively on the next map as he went for an even earlier spawning pool on 9 supply. It managed to destroy Classic's nexus, and the zerg was able to cement his lead with uncontested 4 bases. After bracing against wave after wave of maxed armies, Classic was pummeled into submission and down into the losers' match.
In the 2nd set $O$ was looking to get revenge against Shine for his premature exit from Code S last season. On Nimbus, Shine's mass burrowed roaches almost broke through sOs's defenses after some late force-fields, but sOs was able to defend thanks to a hidden dark shrine. It played a role in his offense as well, when sOs was able to infiltrate all of the zerg's bases for drone and queen kills. This forced Shine into an ultimately ineffective base trade, as he ran out of hatcheries and overseers. Shine was able to take a game back on Overgrowth, when sOs' choice of getting 3 bases off one stargate ended in disaster. Shine attempted a noncommittal roach attack to try and pressure, but sOs' lack of warp gate technology at 9 minutes meant he had paltry defenses available. A poor peek from his natural by his sentries gave Shine the opportunity to surround them, and Shine simply rallied units until sOs had enough. In the decider Shine lived up to his name by going for a 10 pool, and sOs showed his value by taking absolutely no damage. sOs followed up with 4 gates off of 2 bases, and his attack with mass zealots chopped every zergling that Shine could muster.
This trend of zergs blind countering the current metagame of protoss taking early expansions continued in the winners' match. In the first game, EffOrt decided to add in early ling speed. Stopping at 13 drones, EffOrt created a constant flood of speedlings that jumped between sOs' probe line and the natural nexus. Though the protoss was able to hold on to his expansion far longer than expected, it was at the cost of far too many probes. Eventually, the nexus was lost, and sOs was forced to concede the first game. The CJ zerg then switched things up with a hatch first on Deadwing, and both players took relatively fast third bases. EffOrt attempted a 13 minute roach ling max, but it was held off from behind a wall of gateways. Although EffOrt's feigned muta switch was able to force an overreaction from sOs, it ultimately didn't matter as he was pushed down that alleyway eventually. After several inefficient engagements and folding to all the zealot harassment, EffOrt surrendered. With a place in the Ro16 on the line, EffOrt once again opened with hatch first, but this time it was to delay sOs' natural. After normalizing from EffOrt's curveball, sOs built two stargates and started amassing a phoenix and voidray army.
EffOrt was able to counter his plans perfectly with an early hydra timing right as the phoenix were out on the map, and sOs had no choice but to immediately tap out. Despite having to play his worst matchup twice, the old dog learned enough tricks to get out in first.Down in the losers' match, Classic was in a tussle against the unpredictable Shine. A loss here would be an embarrassment for the defending champion, and it could not have been against a more dire opponent. To start things off, Shine chose to go for a 6:30 lair for the sake of extra quick swarmhosts. Shine was able to break Classic's third base and defend all the attempted counterattacks. A switch into mutalisks gave him a tool for harassment, and as he consumed more bases around Catallena, he was able to swarm his way into victory. This meant that Classic was one loss away from his worst nightmare, and he fought back to take Nimbus. He was given the gift of a failed roach ling attack which barely didn't kill the third nexus. While both players worked towards a maxed out army, Classic's superior tech of colossus and storm incinerated Shine's roach hydra army, giving him a lifeline. Both players were not one loss away from being the first person eliminated from Code S, and one could see the desperation on their faces. Shine opened with a 4 hatch before pool (one hatchery to block Classic's attempted nexus first) before sending a roach ling timing just before Classic's gateway explosion was complete. It was able to kill 7 sentries, and the lack of forcefields spelled the defending champion's doom. The last defending champion to fall in the Ro32 was Sniper, and we all know that's a player Classic does not want to replicate. It's still too soon to tell, but his double defeat in his favored matchup dampens any hopes of him becoming a regular fixture on top of Code S.
Like a flashback of last season (and just earlier that night) Shine was once again in a position to knock out sOs in the round of 32. Not wanting to repeat history, sOs chose to go for a blink stalker sentry build which denied Shine's third base. Shine's counter aggression was able to kill 2 nexuses but he bled out too much army in the process and the counter-counter attack put him out of his misery. In a night of games that had already lasted 4 and a half hours sOs opened up with a cannon rush. While Shine handled it relatively well, sOs transitioned into a stargate and oracles, which initially did little damage. He followed up with an 8 gate attack right into Shine's main (using the same pylon he had used for the cannon rush) and the timing hit right before Shine could get a critical mass of roaches. Shine was forced to tap out, and
sOs was able to exact his revenge for last season while making it back to the Ro16.Players in the Ro16 (2/16):
sOsEffOrtNext: Code S Group B
ParalyzE vs 
CureMyuNgSiK vs INnoVation
its unfortunate he was knocked out
