EPT
Writers: Destructicon
Graphics: Meru
Editor: Zealously
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2014_Global_StarCraft_II_League_Season_3/Code_S
GSL's final Ro16 of the year kicked off with Group A, featuring an ensemble of two GSL champions in Zest and Soulkey along with two rising Terrans in Reality and Cure.
![[image loading]](/staff/Zealously/GSL_2013_s3_ro16_group_A.jpg)
The group ended up being a hard fought one with many twists, turns and unexpected results. In the end, JinAir's
Cure and KT's 
Zest stood triumphant as 
Soulkey and Reality fell to Code A. Cure, the apprentice of Maru, did well for himself by advancing first from his group and keeping his dream of a Royal Road alive. While he encountered some bumps along the way, GSL champion Zest defeated Soulkey twice to secure his third Ro8 in a row and continue his tradition of utterly trashing SKT players.The first series of the night kicked off between
Reality and Cure. In this series Reality chose to be the aggressor in both games, dumping early gas into banshees in the hope of a quick win to start things off. Cure kept his cool in both games and, despite taking early losses, always managed to rally back by inflicting more damage with aptly controlled drops and flawless macro. Thus Cure would take small incremental advantages until he finally had enough to close out the series.The second series of the day was a battle of GSL champions. The match between
Soulkey, the first HotS GSL champion and Zest, Royal Roader and SKT nemesis extraordinaire, started on Catallena. The first game included a lot of insanity as both players opted for non-standard plays. Soulkey hatch blocked Zest's natural, prompting Zest to pylon block two of the potential expansions for Soulkey. Many bumps in the road later Soulkey was the one to come out with a lead, but Zest struck back with the old and reliable sentry drop into the main, forcefielding the ramp via warp prism. Zest even added his own twist to this tactic by bringing along a probe and building a cannon to aid in the assault. Soulkey desperately fought but in the end, having lost his main, was forced to tap out.The second game opened up standard but it wouldn't stay that way for long as Zest pulled out more trickery in the form of a hidden dark shrine. Zest managed to snipe the third of Soulkey and then transitioned into a formidable archon/gateway attack. With his economy in tatters Soulkey couldn't muster enough units to hold and had to relinquish the first series to Zest.
The winner's match series between
Cure and Zest can be summed up with two words: unrelenting aggression. In both games he won, Cure made it comfortably to the midgame before launching a devastating flurry of drops to systematically pull Zest apart, tearing apart his opponent's economy before bringing the hammer down upon the Protoss army. Though Zest would rally back and tie the series with a quick blink stalker attack on Deadwing, the third game would become an uncomfortable repeat of game 1. Being unable to withstand the never ending aggression of Cure, the GSL champion crumbled under the pressure and allowed Cure passage into his first ever individual league quarterfinals.In the loser's match
Soulkey proved his dominance over Reality in both long and short games. He first survived Reality's hellion/banshee pressure to take the first game with a flurry of counterattacks that allowed him to eventually decimate the main army. In the second game Soulkey added a sprinkle of mozzarella by baneling busting Reality to close out the series quickly, setting up a rematch between him and Zest for the second spot in the Ro8.The final series of the day, just like the first series, started out a little crazy. On Foxtrot Labs, Zest went for an early gateway attack and decided to contain Soulkey on two bases. Soulkey responded with a nydus worm that caught Zest completely off guard and devastated his bases. Unable to hold on the KT Protoss was forced to tap out, surrendering game 1 to his SKT opponent.
The second game of the series was both the longest and the best of the day. Both players managed to safely set up their economies before starting a series of tech switch wars with both players trying to outsmart the other or reacting to the other's machinations. Soulkey was the first to strike, leading the charge with a massive upgraded ultralisk force backed by some brood lords. Despite destroying the 4th of Zest, Soulkey suffered heavy casualties, losing all his broods and thus weakening his defense. Zest repaid the favor tenfold by devastating two bases of Soulkey and forcing his army back, then took advantage of the ensuing chaos and sniped a third base in the span of mere minutes. However, Soulkey's army was still strong enough to help him stabilize and establish more bases while he continued to deny Zest his. It looked grim for the KT Protoss as Soulkey had teched to swarm hosts and was preparing for a massive attack on the last mining base. Zest rallied back in time, taking the best possible fight he could, taking out the forces in the skies and pushing forwardbefore the swarm hosts could reach critical mass. Zest devastated the entire army of Soulkey and, once his observers finally joined the fray, it was lights out for the SKT Zerg.
The last game of the day would take place on Merry Go Round. Soulkey gambled and chose to go for a early pool in the hopes of catching Zest off guard. Zest sniffed it out in time to prepare the perfect counter, taking a economic lead after suffering nearly no losses. From there Zest went phoenix into the standard colossus/stalker army while Soulkey responded by getting swarm hosts and digging in for the long run. But Zest was not interested in a war of attrition and would not allow Soulkey to get his critical mass, instead charging forward and forcing Soulkey into a wall, then breaking him. Devastating both the army and the economy of the SKT Zerg, a final victory seemed inevitable for the KT Protoss. Despite losing his own natural to Soulkey's last-ditch efforts, his advantage was insurmountable and left him laying on the wayside as Zest took the final map of the day and advanced to the Ro8.
Overall, we can see
Cure as a reflection of Maru. In all his match ups he seems to have a certain fondness of aggression and multi-tasking, utilizing drops and multi-pronged attacks of all sorts to gain incremental advantages before taking decisive fights to simply devastate and rip apart his opponents. However, when the need arises he can also play slow and methodical, as evidenced by his gamess against ParalyzE and MyuNgSiK. But now, Cure is entering uncharted waters, the territory of long series planning and methodical preparation. We've seen that even the most mechanically able players can falter at this stage, so who will Cure look to now for guidance? Will he continue to draw on the brute strength of Maru, or will he learn from the cunning of players like Mvp? Zest continues to display admirable consistency by returning to the round of 8 for a 3rd time in a row. Despite showing signs of weakness in PvT, his PvP and PvZ are as strong as ever. It's interesting to note that in the season he won, Zest also made it out of his group in second place after losing to a Terran and finally reaching the Ro8 by defeating the previous paragon of consistency, Soulkey. It remains to be seen if whatever dark magic Zest has conjured from the blood of fallen SKT players will be enough for him to make a repeat run, but the rumours of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.Reality continues to struggle in the later rounds of the GSL. He has displayed some solid TvP to be able to get through the qualifier, into Code S and the round of 16, but he seems to have a lasting weakness in TvT and TvZ. With Terrans on the rise and Zergs still holding strong, those are weaknesses he has to patch up if he wants to make it deeper into the tournament in the future.But of all the gathered players,
Soulkey must be the one feeling the pressure most. He joined SKT, a team of champions, when he himself was still considered a champion contender in every tournament he entered. Now he struggles to reach the round of 8 consistently. While constant presence in the Ro16 is no mean feat, it's something entirely different from the days where he simply would not lose prior to the quarterfinals. This could also be seen as a streak of bad luck, as in each of the GSL seasons this year Soulkey has had to go up against Zest. Do you know what Zest is particularly strong against? SKT.So if Soulkey wants to make another deep run - which he no doubt does - he will have to face his own personal demon in the KT Protoss and, sooner rather than later, defeat his tormentor.
Players in the Ro8 (2/8):
CureZest
well at least we will have 1 zerg in the next round thanks to group Z 
