GSL Ro32 Group F Recap

Group F delivered a pleasant surprise with Terminator advancing first, besting Curious before working over herO in a moderately surprising 2-0 win. herO played largely as expected, showcasing marvelous PvZ and PvT while looking subpar in PvP. Despite taking a hit in the winners match against Terminator, he got out in second place.


The opening match between herO and TaeJa promised to be a ringer, but the games ended in abruptly disappointing ways. TaeJa looked to be in a great spot on KSS after rebuffing herO’s 2 base blink pressure, but a slight miscalculation with the counterattack cost him a potential nexus and most of his army. Forced into pulling SCVs, his final desperate push was stopped cold by 2/2 upgrades and charge. Unfortunately TaeJa didn't receive the luxury of a back-and-forth dance in Game 2. TaeJa was fooled by herO’s early feint and was subsequently caught off-guard with a strong colossus timing.

Terminator vs Curious proved a more complicated affair. Terminator started the series in dominant fashion, controlling all avenues on Overgrowth with warp prism harass until he crushed Curious with +3 attack colossi and storm. Curious struck back on Catallena, neatly sidestepping a cannon rush by taking his third base and the gold. Terminator struggled to catch up throughout the game, and a tragic micro error with his blink stalkers sealed his fate.



herO’s games versus Terminator ended even more tersely than his first series, except all the advantages fell on his opponent’s side. They butted heads on Overgrowth by opting for blink builds, herO’s timing slightly delayed by a detour into oracle. After some posturing outside Terminator’s natural, herO gets blindsided by an opportunistic blink and loses most of his forces while retreating. Both players went fast blink again on Merry Go Round. Once again Terminator got the better of herO in positioning, pouncing on the latter’s move out and immediately killing his immortal; he quickly ended the game with his superior stalker count.

In contrast to his substandard games against herO, TaeJa looked more reminiscent of his old skill level against Curious. He took Game 1 in standard style, swallowing up Curious’ fourth and third bases with the classic 4M composition. With renewed confidence, TaeJa tried replicating his luck on KSS with a quick 3CC -> maxed-out army with 2/2 upgrades. This time Curious struck before TaeJa ever reached the other side of the map, counterattacking the enemy’s third multiple times when the Liquid Terran was in the middle of the map. TaeJa’s decisions to defend after damage was done were costly – without taking an equivalent chunk out of Curious’ economy, he found himself unable to protect his remaining bases from renewed assaults. The StarTale zerg continued his sneaky ways in Game 3, getting an auspicious runby into TaeJa’s natural early on. It crucially took out TaeJa's +1 attack upgrade, which allowed Curious to hold a powerful hellbat/marine timing. Afterwards, Curious slowly smothered his foe with swift multipronged strikes. Once he added infestors and ultralisks to the mix, TaeJa had no more options.

Curious did not find similar fortune in the deciding match. herO was all over him from the start, seamlessly transitioning from his Oracle opener into blink harass while stopping all counterattacks cold. After killing Curious’ main with a zealot runby, he absorbed the Zerg’s last desperate effort with great forcefields and blink control.