EPT
Writers: Destructicon, DarkLordOlli
Graphics: Meru
Editor: DarkLordOlli
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2014_Global_StarCraft_II_League_Season_3/Code_S
Group B of the GSL Code S played out in a way that, despite having two of each race, denied us any mirror matchups, much to the dismay of TvT fans. Instead we were rewarded with some of the best TvP games we've seen in months, featuring new styles, long drawn out macro games and excruciatingly close back and forth engagements.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/DarkLordOlli/Code_S_Group_B.png)
Both
ParalyzE and 
Cure opened up in standard macro fashion on Overgrowth. Cure opted to do an early stimmed bio attack with several marines and marauders. ParalyzE's panic reaction made him accidentally timewarp his nexus instead of overcharging it, followed by no forcefields and a rather questionable recall to a nexus that was in the same screen as the MSC. If you're looking through VODs, just skip this one and watch the highlight video of ParalyzE's mess-up. You can see his brain melting!The second game between the two however completely made up for the horror that was game one. Both opted for macro openings but this time ParalyzE chose to do so with a stargate. Good marine positioning by Cure denied a lot of damage from being done. ParalyzE didn't stop there however, as he followed up the oracle with phoenix production, hiding his initial five. The unscouted phoenixes allowed him to defend a strong four medivac timing by Cure and the game went long from there. Cure took good-but-not-good-enough engagements and looked to be on the brink of winning more than once, but didn't manage to close it out. For a moment it looked like ParalyzE could win when his tech switch to templar allowed him to win several big engagements with storm and archons. Cure's better economic management, constant attacks and continued production of six vikings at a time eventually wore down ParalyzE, who was finally forced out of the game upon losing the core of his army and his fresh mining bases.
The second series kicked off with a long macro game on Deadwing, as both
INnoVation and MyuNgSiK chose to skip any pressure builds. MyuNgSiK's choice of composition was, just like Paralyze's, phoenix/colossus. INnoVation did some initial damage canceling a Nexus and thinning out the ground army of MyuNgSiK. As the game went late though Innovation seemed to run out of patience, repeatedly running his army into lasers and even losing 4 medivacs worth of units to phoenixes when he attempted a desperate doom drop. In the end INnoVation took one too many bad fights and MyuNgSiK rode his advantage to a win.INnoVation played out the next game on Nimbus a lot more patiently, as both played the same macro styles but INnoVation was always one step ahead of MyuNgSiK this time, denying him a fourth base all game long while establishing his own and pulling away in upgrades. His superior economy allowed INnoVation to trade in big engagements until he finally had enough for one big sweep.
The final game took place on Overgrowth and proved to be the most standard. MyuNgSiK chose to head straight into colossi and double upgrades. Innovation geared up for a big bio attack to cancel MyuNgSiK's third, but good control from MyuNgSiK allowed him to annihilate almost all of Innovation's army for the price of only one colossus. Both players then chose to sit back and macro, Innovation getting 3/2 and ghosts while MyuNgSiK got his upgrades and storm as well as a gold base. Finally MyuNgSiK slowly pushed across the map with four colossi and ten high templar. Even though INnoVation did well to minimize storm damage and destroy colossi, MyuNgSiK had enough energy to storm his army to oblivion regardless, forcing INnoVation to surrender the series.
In the Winners' Match,
MyuNgSiK came right out the gate with a blast from the past, a forge expand against terran. The sim city at the entrance coupled with a cannon denied the reaper scout of Cure. From there MyuNgSiK went into his standard stargate while Cure opted for an economic 1/1/1 after his CC. Cure tried widow mine drops, but MyuNgSiK perfectly denied them with phoenixes and cannons in all mineral lines. MyuNgSiK once again asserts his dominance over his opponent in the lategame, crushing Cure in one engagement after another, eventually steamrolling his way close enough to the terran base to take the game.MyuNgSiK , being up 1 game, decided to roll the dice with a proxied blink all-in on Catallena. Even though Cure failed to scout it, a lucky 6 marine moveout convinced MyuNgSiK to recall all his stalkers back to his natural. That move alone bought Cure enough time to set up enough bunkers and crank out enough units to hold easily. MyuNgSiK pokes, gives up on the attack, tries to reload on Immortals and Archons for a final bust but loses his army and is forced to tap out.
On Deadwing, both players open standard again. MyuNgSiK opened with his go to stargate opening again. Cure this time chose the 3rax stim/combat shield pressure he started the night with, sniping almost all of MyuNgSiK's ground army. The game normalized however, with MyuNgSiK having to make up for the deficit by cutting his upgrades almost entirely. That turned out to be his downfall however, as Cure simply ran over his phoenix/colossus army when he was five (!!) upgrades ahead. With nothing left to hold on to, MyuNgSiK awarded Cure the GG and his spot in the Ro16.
Both players opted for standard openings on the first map of the Losers' Match.
ParalyzE however built a warp prism as his first robotics unit and attempted to pull INnoVation apart with harass while mounting a frontal attack with his colossus based ground army. Things were looking great for ParalyzE after he cancelled INnoVation's building third, meanwhile establishing his own. However, one horrible engagement later, in which his stalkers were firing at a factory and all four colossi died to INnoVation's marauders, ParalyzE suddenly had nothing to fall back on and died to INnoVation's endless stream of units.As has been the norm on the map, both players started off passively on Deadwing. ParalyzE secured 3 bases relatively easily and teched up to storm after colossus tech. INnoVation tried to engage outside the third of ParalyzE but was pushed back by good storms. ParalyzE then took the fight to his opponent, sniping the fourth base while at the same time ravaging INnoVation's main base with a huge warpin of zealots. Battered on both fronts, INnoVation had to surrender and was one game away from dropping out of Code S.
ParalyzE chose to change his strategy yet again on Merry Go Round, going for a double forge after SG and straight into colossus. INnoVation identified it and chose the safe option to macro as well, grabbing a quick third base and double upgrades of his own. The lategame looked grim for terran fans as ParalyzE easily secured a third base himself while getting 3/3 and storm. But one final time, ParalyzE's army control and positioning let him down. After wasting precious storms and having almost all his colossi sniped by vikings, he desperately turned around to fight INnoVation's massive ghost/viking/marauder force. ParalyzE's supply instantly dropping by about a hundred while INnoVation's barely moved and the Acer terran was never going to let him back into the game. ParalyzE was forced to accept defeat not long thereafter.
The final series began on Catallena, where both players headed straight for another macro game.
INnoVation tried a small marine poke that didn't get much economic damage done but forced an overcharge to be used. This opened the door for INnoVation to play a drop heavy style that abused the architecture of the map. MyuNgSiK was constantly pulled apart by his relentless drops until INnoVation finally had enough to destroy the third base and overwhelm his opponent.The last game of the day turned out to be the best of the bunch. Innovation got the ball rolling early with another marine poke, trading all his marines for six probes. Despite the early damage done, he was unable to follow up and both players went into a standard game, unlocking all tech paths and getting up to 3/3 upgrades. At first MyuNgSiK seemed to get a lead by taking the gold base and building a huge bank, but a brilliant attack from INnoVation nearly ended the game right there. MyuNgSiK barely held on due to the size of his bank, but INnoVation took advantage of the situation to double expand, securing his own gold base and building a bank of his own. The two constantly squared off on the map, going blow for blow, gaining and losing ground. At one point INnoVation took a bad fight outside Myungsik's gold base and it almost cost him the game. INnoVation did however manage to destroy all of the colossi and most of the high templar of MyuNgSiK. The two skirmished furiously outside Innovation's gold base shortly afterwards. INnoVation managed to sneak a drop into MyuNgSiK's fifth base, forcing the protoss to pull back. Capitalizing on his opponent's army movement, INnoVation countered and denied the 6th base of MyuNgSiK. Finally maxed again, Innovation pushed. And this time his advantage was overwhelming, utterly decimating MyuNgSiK's army and securing his own spot in the Ro16.
Cure and INnoVation advance, reigniting hope that, after months of struggles for the race, both globally and in the GSL, the terrans could finally have found their silver lining.Players in the Ro16 (4/16):
sOs
EffOrtCure, INnoVationNext: Code S Group C
Maru vs HushReality vs Trap
