SBENU GSL
Season 2 Code S

and the Sands of Time
MMA, Sacsri, Curious, sOs

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

by Destructicon
Group H, compared to the uneven distribution of the last few, is much more balanced racially. Group H also contains a mix of veterans and new players of varying degrees of strength. These are players that have all had their highs and lows, with long streaks of consistency broken by both high peaks and deep slumps. However, in terms of predictability this group is a nightmare, with the players finding themselves in a difficult period in their careers. Coupled with the ever present element of randomness that is sOs, this group is a powder keg ready to blow up at any point [E/N: remember the barrel of nitroglycerin in Lost?]

MMA is the first and most seasoned played in this group. He's been through countless form swings, dramatic turns and taken a tour on the career rollercoaster, yet has always found ways of coming out on top in the end. While many doubted his success upon returning to Korea, MMA has actually done quite well for himself. He qualified for the first season of 2015's GSL, and he made a deeper run than most expected of him, defeating among others an on-form Dark, INnoVation and TY. His 4-1 loss at the hands of PartinG doesn't even look so bad in hindsight when you consider the form PartinG has shown lately (or the fact that even Maru stands almost helpless against the Conductor). While MMA did suffer from what looked like small dip in form which culminated in him being knocked out before the bracket stage at Dreamhack Tours, he quickly rebounded by winning his first ever game of Proleague for Sbenu. While a single win in such an unpredictable format may not seem like something to write home about, the significance of Proleague is not to be underestimated, and all of team Sbenu seems to have gained some shred of confidence that they previously lacked. Like last season it's difficult to know what to expect of the renounced Son of Boxer, but I still favor MMA to make it through, particularly given the peaks he has displayed in TvZ in the past. He has struggled in TvP, granted, both historically and presently, but MMA tends to rise to the occasion when situation calls for it, and there are no hundred thousand dollars on the line in this group.

Unlike MMA, Sacsri has had a hard time adjusting ever since his return to Korea. His failed attempts at making a dent in both GSL and SSL, his failure to qualify for the KeSPA Cup, and his team's lack of a Proleague partnership. Things haven't looked much better abroad, either. While Sacsri did manage to win Dreamhack Valencia 2014 soon after joining mYi, the long months that passed haven't been kind to him. He has been floating around the bracket stages of foreign tournaments, indicating that his first success might have been a rare streak to top off bouts of consistent mediocrity. His qualifier run to the second season of GSL wasn't very impressive, going through Guilty, TANGTANG, Hush and a slumping San. At a glance, you'd be tempted to give him a shot against MMA due to his 63% ZvT, but a close look will reveal it is heavily inflated from his times in Europe. Then there is sOs, who poses a considerable danger with his vast repertoire of builds. If he wants to make it, Sacsri has to prepare exceptionally well. Others have managed the same, so perhaps not all is lost.

The sands of time whirl around him, ancient dynasties turning to dust in his wake, unbeatable titans crumbling and falling apart under his watch, and Curious remains the eternal Gatekeeper. While his team twists and turns around him, old players replaced with new, new faces growing old, Curious remains the immovable constant on a team in constant flux. His is the role of Gatekeeper to Code A, the abyss from which many players fail to ever emerge. His is the eternal watch of mediocrity, the hurdle all players must pass on their roads to greatness. Balance patches and meta shifts rain down around him in destructive fragments of volatility, and Curious remains constant. His form falls and climbs again, and no matter the actions of his competitors there seems to be no ending his watch. No matter what his foes do, they repeatedly and unendingly fail to expunge his presence from Code S. His struggles stretch across expansions and radically different competitive climates, and nothing has really changed. Curious is still the one who separates the wheat from the chaff, still one to crush any player seemingly his better on his way to Code S. For a player so lacking glorious success, Curious possesses a drive no one else can boast, a consistency no one else can match. He has beaten the smartest player in the world, the best mechanical players, prodigies claiming many times his talent. Time doesn't dull his edge any more than sand wears thin the desert, and no amount of competitive pressure seems to ever topple Curious. In a group such as this, he is the one you should watch with the most care. Curious is the one that will, without a shred of mercy or compassion, send your favorite players screaming back into Code A. That is Curious's role, and that is the role Curious will continue to fill until Korean Starcraft comes crumbling down around him.
The above reflects reality in an objective fashion

Last but not least, the Mad Scientist of Proleague, sOs himself. For a while it looked like sOs was ready to leave his strange mercurial state and finally stabilize. He had started racking up wins in PL and qualified for the GSL and SSL and passed his challenger opponent, Heart, in simple fashion. However, he then faltered to Dear, a much weaker opponent, and then he fell back into his usual pattern of winning and losing with no sense of rhyme or reason. Right now he seems on a downward turn, with recent losses to both Zest and Bomber in Proleague. However, such trifles haven't stopped sOs from turning things right around in the past. When he is on, sOs is a danger to everyone in his group. He can go on an absolute rampage, destroying everyone in his wake through a peculiar mix of abusive Protoss play and outsmarting on a level that is unrivaled in Starcraft. History has shown us that it is often difficult to predict which sOs shows up, but players would be wise to pay the $100.000 Man the respect he deserves.

Overall thoughts and predictions

If everything goes his way, MMA should find himself in another RO16. Judging by his character he can be hard on himself when he loses, and he no doubt put in a lot of effort to prepare after his Dreamhack debacle. The next one is much more volatile and trying to predict anything sOs related is like playing with fire. Thus, in the absence of a red-headed priestess I'm going to flip a couple of coins.

MMA > Sacsri
Curious < sOs
MMA > sOs
Curious > Sacsri
Curious > sOs

MMA and Curious advance

Writers: Destructicon.
Editors: Zealously.
Graphics: shiroiusagi.
Photo: GOMeXP.
Stats: Aligulac