GSL Season One
Code S

Upgraded Models, Same Old Story
Ro32 Group F:
herO, TaeJa, Curious, Terminator

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

by CosmicSpiral

For the first time in what feels like eons, Liquid’TaeJa looks mortal. While he had never regained the blistering form that warranted the moniker “Team TaeJa”, TaeJa’s woes were usually limited to a short set of hiccups in-between tournament seasons. Back in spring of this year, his quizzical shortcomings against Zerg paved the way for first place trophies at HomeStory Cup, Dreamhack Summer, and IEM Shenzhen; his major struggles against Terran back in summer 2013 preceded wins at Dreamhack Bucharest and Winter. Right now he’s not in a deep funk as much as sliding down a gradual slope. His recent results have been enviable. He garnered second place at Red Bull Detroit; he finished in the semifinals at BlizzCon, HomeStory Cup, Dreamhack Winter, IEM Toronto. A streak of laudable results should concern fans accustomed to his normal rhythms. When TaeJa flailed about like a lost seal, it signaled that he would come back with a vengeance. When TaeJa annihilated everything in his path for a few months, it was the cue for another hibernation cycle. Merely being great is not part of the script. This interruption in the natural order may be related to TaeJa’s conviction to retire for realsies, or it could be the accumulation of several bad encounters that feigns at being a real problem. Nevertheless, it should not present a major issue within this group. TaeJa has expectations to live up to, and his current level of play should be more than enough to mop up the stragglers.

I say that because the honor of first place ought to fall to CJ.herO. The recent winner of IEM San Jose may not appear to be the clear favorite, but he has shown exceptional form in both PvT and PvZ. Since Dreamhack Stockholm he is 42-15 (73.68%) in PvZ, mostly playing against the best of the best. Ditto for his PvT, which is even more impressive at 24-7 (77.42%). His recent failings have been incessant and entirely predictable. Out of his last 12 losses, 7 of them have come at the hands of other Protosses. He succumbed to Dear and YongHwa in Proleague, San and Classic in the IEM Taipei qualifier, Classic again at Blizzcon, Rain during the IEM San Jose Asia Finals, and Stats at WECG. The jokes about his helplessness against proxy 2 gate are true, up to a point: herO seems uniquely incapable at foreseeing its usage as well as wielding it as a weapon. But it would be rash to attribute his failings to a specific flaw. Whether it’s strategic incompetence or plain bad luck, he can’t hold it together against the top challengers of his race. That concern shouldn’t be a problem here. Besides one minor roadblock, herO can only get his best matchups in this group.

The last month of competitive play has proven one thing about ST.Curious: he is sOs’ kryptonite. Over that time span he’s defeated sOs 3 times with a 2-1 score, eliminating the Jin Air Protoss from both SSL and GSL qualifiers. Otherwise, we are left in the dark regarding gradual improvement or any benefits conferred by the ST-yoeFW alliance. Almost all his victories and failures over that time period could be attributed to another Zerg without inciting a racket. All-killing a foreign team in an online league, alternating between stable and sketchy performances in ZvP, beating Solar in Proleague…which contemporary couldn’t pull any of this off? This trend of pedestrian results threatens what little identity Curious has within the system. Neither a perennial candidate for the Code S title nor an infrequent threat on his best days, the StarTale veteran used to make his bones off stomping snide little upstarts that rose too quickly in the ranks; without the gatekeeper meme, Curious would be indistinguishable from the likes of Armani and Losira. Like the popular substitution of “God” for Flash, that placeholder has little current import besides a throwaway joke. Group F will be a tentative step towards a new identity. What will the effusive Curious become in a few months? Will be something that matters?

Has JinAir.Terminator fully evolved into his T-1000 form? Formerly the definition of insignificant, this ignored castoff of the Korean scene now fancies himself as a menace to society, ready to swoop onto foes blind to his newfound powers. Only known for his inexplicable rise to Code S last season, Terminator caught opponents and detractors off guard with his sharper all-ins and vastly improved macro game. In the span of one week he surpassed his output from the last two years. Sweeping through both GSL and SSL qualifiers with little effort, he further defied naysayers by defenestrating TaeJa in one of the sloppiest PvT series of recent times. Terminator’s momentum has been slightly attenuated after his failed SSL group stage, yet he should still rightly be considered a contender in this group. Currently his polymorphic form seems to be set to maximum disruption, which should bring no end of worrying to his three opponents. None of his foes are playing rock-solid at the moment so it could only take a slight disturbance to foil their hopes.

Predictions:

herO > TaeJa
Curious > Terminator
herO > Curious
TaeJa > Terminator
TaeJa > Curious

herO[jOin] and TaeJa advance.

Writers: CosmicSpiral.
Editors: CosmicSpiral.
Graphics: lichter.
Photo: GOMeXP.