EPTGSL Season Three
Code S
Group C Preview
Maru, PartinG, INnoVation, Stats
Brackets and standings on Liquipedia
Group C:
Four Enter the Thunderdome, Two Leave
by CosmicSpiral
Korean players are a funny lot. They are typically stereotyped as a cross between HAL 9000 and Olivier from The Son, perfectionists obsessed with finding the most efficient builds and counters to suit their preferences. Naturally every player likes their porridge slightly different. Flash likes his TvT sprinkled with mech, Zest only has a phoenix -> colossus opener for PvZ lunch, and TRUE can’t stomach a ZvT without adding lots of banelings. But the Koreans know there are certain priorities that can’t be ignored if one wants to succeed. Not only do they work harder, analyze more thoroughly, and take greater risks than everyone else, they try their best to minimize emotional expression until it’s appropriate. They understand how badly emotions can destabilize the mindset of a player at crucial moments. If one is behind in a series and gives into their frustration, it guarantees they will lose in the long run. Anger leads to doubt. Doubt leads to fear. Fear leads to losing to
Mvp twice in the finals and becoming the King of Kongs. There’s one exception though. As we’ve learned over 4 years of GSL, nothing brings out irrationality and chest-beating like a RO16 group selection. It’s the one time during the season when everyone can take a breath, relax, and act without the stifling pressure of needing to win. Needless to say, everyone loves to watch their favorite players act like regular people. It turns out Koreans like to make jokes and shit talk and call each other out. And like the average Joe, their important decisions aren't based on a strictly logical process. Sometimes a player will choose someone because they've beaten them before and want to rub it in the opponent’s faces. Other times it’s a matter of pride; you beat me last season and knocking you out would be sweet payback. In certain circumstances it’s a complex gamble meant to stifle the other members of the group. Groups of death are the inevitable outcome, and this is one doozy of a killer group.
With that being said, who really doubts JinAir.
Maru’s chances of advancing to the Round of 8? After losing to Classic in the Season 2 semi finals, Maru has looked nothing less than phenomenal. He closed out the Proleague season with a 10-3 record and nearly carried Jin Air to the finals with his herculean effort. He got out of his RO32 group in first place, looking slightly weak against 
Hush and rebounding strongly against Trap. Considering his form at the moment, it was a true shame he forfeited his spot in IEM Toronto. We might’ve seen him duking it out with Flash for the title. Then again, the fact Maru chose to stay home indicates how seriously he is taking this group. Maru’s playstyle is slightly unstable due to his reliance on pressure to make strategies work, but he has largely looked excellent in the last few weeks. He’s run into a couple of mishaps but most of these losses came in BO1s against top players or during online qualifiers, which seem to be Maru’s Kryptonite. His only recent televised losses have come against
soO at the end of PL Round 4, EffOrt in the KeSPA Cup qualifiers (losing to EffOrt has become a dangerous habit), and KT protosses Stats and Zest in the Proleague playoffs. Otherwise, Maru has continued to run roughshod over anyone who is not explicitly a top 5 player of his race. Any opponent in Group C can theoretically beat Maru on a good day, but no one has been playing well enough to put doubt in his mind. Barring an unexpected blunder, Maru ought to make it out in first place. A fellow writer told me that Maru and SKT.
PartinG have a rivalry. It’s hard for me to envision this. One of them is an OSL champion and a consistent presence in the semifinals, the other is PartinG. That might be underestimating PartinG though. Despite any individual opinion on his braggadocio, the SKT protoss has uncanny instincts when it comes to selecting “enemies”. Ever since his breakout at the beginning of 2012, he has been the scrappy underdog nipping at other’s heels. So it was no surprise when Maru selected him to be his initial opponent in Group C, PartinG elected to one up him in that department. Instead of picking someone who would be easy pickings if they encountered each other, PartinG chose a titan in INnoVation. It wouldn't be a credible RO16 if PartinG didn’t try to prove something through his picks.But has he overstepped his boundaries this time? This isn’t the first time PartinG has been in a group of death, and his record in such circumstances is sketchy. Furthermore PartinG isn’t exactly in the best shape to tackle such a daunting obstacle. Right now PartinG’s PvP is all over the place. Since May he is only 7-9 in games and 3-5 in matches. Now this is a very small sample, and most of his losses have come against great opponents like
Zest and herO. It could be a DRG situation where his in-house brilliance is coupled with public failure. But even an unproven threat like Stats might become a problem if they must face each other for advancement. The last time PartinG tackled the mirror matchup in the GSL, he barely survived an utter slopfest against Samsung.Dear. This came after Dear outmaneuvered him in a clean 2-0 victory that made PartinG look like a novice. Otherwise, he ought to give the two terrans a run for their money. PvT remains his best matchup and when he is on top of his game, he is one of the scariest players in the world in face. This might be the first time in history that Acer.
INnoVation is the underdog. This has less to do with INnoVation slacking off, which is not the case at all, and more with the increasing dynamic nature of the Korean scene. When INnoVation first came into prominence back in early 2013, his quick mastery of the new terran options shot him straight into infamy. Whether it was abusing the hell out of firebat drops or grinding zergs into dust with his relentless bio/widow mine pushes, he was incredibly far ahead of his KeSPA brethren. With the exception of Soulkey, Rain and sOs, they were still struggling to adapt to the faster economy and more volatile tactics of SC2. Combined with his incredible mechanics, it’s no wonder INnoVation became something akin to a god during those early months. Back then Wooki was merely a promising talent with a nice Proleague record, soO was the ZvZ sniper who didn’t have an inkling of how to approach ZvP, and Cure was an embryo. Now he is a great player who oscillates between good days and bad days, the same as any great player. Currently INnoVation has looked a bit vulnerable against his peers. At IEM Shenzhen he played fairly well during the group stage, only to get pummeled by
Solar in a 3-0 knockout. His RO32 group in Code S was easy on paper but proved more difficult to overcome in practice: INnoVation actually lost to MyuNgSiK in his first match and nearly lost to ParalyzE in the losers round. He also looked disturbingly bad in the Summer Series group stage, ending up in last place after 0-2 losses to Dear and RagnaroK. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Kafkaesque failure was proof of anything. After all, his games reflected the attitude of a player who wasn’t concerned with winning or losing. Dedicating more than the minimum amount of effort to Summer Series would have been a waste compared to the possibility of reaching the GSL quarterfinals. Despite the occasional blemishes in his recent record, INnoVation remains a hair’s breadth from being called a favorite. His TvP continues to be monstrous, if not utterly unbreakable anymore, and he can rest secure knowing he’s won his last 15 TvT series.KT.
Stats is a different breed altogether. His recent rise has gone unnoticed by most fans, obscured by Flash’s return to brilliance and Cure’s hype train. Most acknowledgment has come with some kind of caveat regarding his race. It’s fine to have new terran stars, it’s great to find unknown zerg prodigies, but novel protoss discoveries strike a chord of irritation and fatigue. Didn’t we have a whole crop of them spring up already? It’s hard enough to remember all the Rain-imitators and one-shot wonders that plagued us a mere six months ago. Now a decent KT player wants attention too? Nevertheless I’ll take some space here to put Stats in the limelight. After Round 4 of Proleague, Stats has gone 25-9 (73.53%) in official games; in terms of series he is 13-3 (81.25%)! His formerly good PvZ is now completely terrifying. He has not lost a PvZ series since April 28th, possessing a 15-1 record with wins against
TRUE, Life, Rogue, and multiple ones over Soulkey. Of course, he’ll have to rely on his less impressive matchups to get out of Group C. During the same time period, Stats has only garnered a 7-6 record in PvT and a 6-6 record in PvP. He can boast some decent conquests in the former though. He took down Maru in the Proleague semifinals (admittedly, he almost lost even with a hidden nexus) and came close to winning again in the IEM Toronto qualifiers. In his Ro32 group he defeated Bbyong, a decent TvP player . Also his PvP results notably turned around after Proleague Round 4, going 6-3. Yet those wins came against lackluster opponents Trust and Samuel. Traditionally unreliable in the mirror matchup, Stats will have to hope for the bizarre luck emblematic of PvP if he has to face the SKT protoss. Prediction:
Between the three remaining players, it’s almost impossible to pick a winner. It’s sorely tempting to place my bet on Stats, who is solely underrated by the community. I’ve often talked the importance of momentum for a player’s mindset and going into tonight’s match, he has the greatest momentum out of the three. However, there’s a crucial difference between Stats’ run and Cure’s run: Stats has only pulled off dominance in one matchup. With no PvZ, it’s unlikely he will be able to string together the necessary wins against the competition. PartinG vs INnoVation is a virtual tie. They are so close in skill level, especially pertaining to the PvT matchup, that I've pretty much flipped a coin to decide. Sorry PartinG, quarters don't seem to be your friend today.
Maru > PartinG
INnoVation > Stats
Maru > INnoVation
Stats < PartinG
INnoVation > PartinG
Maru and INnoVation advance
