EPTSBENU GSL
Season 2 Code S
D is for Drops
PartinG, GuMiho, FanTaSy, Rogue
Brackets and standings on Liquipedia
...and D is for Drops
by munch
At the end of 2012, PartinG stood on top of the world. He’d had near misses before—bronze in WCS Korea; silver at the WCS Asia Finals—but at the World Championships he finally grabbed his long awaited debut trophy. Unfortunately for the StarTale Protoss, he had no time to rest on his laurels: a mere three weeks later, Life struck back with a vengeance, beating down his teammate at Blizzard Cup to restore his place atop the Korean pyramid. Fast forward two years, and little seems to have changed. Just as before, PartinG swaggered up to bat against the Zerg champion; just as before, he was swatted down. While it’s undoubtedly been a successful start to the year for his bank account, as his slew of foreign titles can attest to, they’re hardly why PartinG felt compelled to leave his mega-contract at SKT behind. Foreign cheques may keep the party fund topped up, but make no mistake; glory in Korea is the ultimate goal. For all his success abroad, a victory on home soil remains elusive, and there’s no better representation of that than his history in the GSL. 10 consecutive seasons of top 16 finishes in a Korean league shows his unparalleled consistency, but only a single appearance in that stretch beyond the round of 8 tells the tale of a player who’s been denied time and again by people who are just that bit better. He will have been buoyed by news of his rival’s demise in Wednesday’s group, and will start tonight full of confidence. For years now, the GSL’s big hitters have combined to eject him from the competition. This time around, though, he is the danger.
It’s been clear that in 2015, PvT has been by far PartinG’s best matchup. He’s running at a godly 85% win rate, and is 27-1 in matches played, only dropping a single series to Maru in last season’s GSL Round of 16 (a defeat which he rendered moot by beating him in the rematch later the same night anyway). But of all the Terrans in the world, GuMiho might be one of the most dangerous to PartinG. Sure, he may have faded late on in the 1-3 defeat to the Protoss at Dreamhack: Tours, but the first two sets on the night was the first time in ages that PartinG’s looked threatened at all. GuMiho has always insisted on playing Starcraft in his own particular way, and his mech and bio-tank builds in TvP are utterly unique to him. I’m not saying that he should be favoured in the opening match of the night by any means, but if PartinG gets cocky there’s a decent chance of him getting caught out by something insane. The rest of the group lines up encouragingly for the MVP terran. Rogue may be one of the best TvZers we have currently, but GuMiho’s not too shabby at the matchup himself, and in the absence of Swarm Hosts, his late game mech deathballs will be very difficult to stop. Equally, GuMiho’s TvT has been great recently, and he’s unbeaten offline in 2015. At the start of the year, GuMiho went into both Starleagues with the hype train fully behind him following a dominant online campaign in the off-season, before faring disappointingly in both. Here, tonight, he’ll be looking to justify those plaudits, and claim only his second playoff spot in Code S in his career.
Last season seemed to confirm our branding of Rogue as a ‘nearly’ man. While he was somewhat unfortunate in his 2-3 defeat to herO in GSL, Stats’ 3-0 stomping in the S2SL was yet another reminder that the Jin Air Zerg tends to crumble under the pressure. By all means, Rogue should be one of the biggest threats in the scene. He’s versatile across all three matchups. He’s showed at times that his series preparation ranks with the best (rewatch that series with herO—Rogue’s planning on each map is meticulous), while his adaptability on the fly is one of the most useful tools at his disposal. Rogue comes into the GSL in good form tonight. His results in Proleague have been great for Jin Air, culminating in his 3 kill in the playoff finals. But yet again, I think back to last season, and the dichotomy that surrounds Rogue’s play. The potential that’s bubbling underneath, and the brutal failures that keep knocking him back. Tonight will be an acid test for him. He was eliminated from the S2SL early, while qualifying for the GSL Ro.16 by beating Trust twice is hardly the most challenging task for a championship hopeful. But arguably more important than the result tonight is how he plays. This is a challenging group for him, and going out swinging as per last season’s loss to herO will give him encouragement going forwards. Another washout like last season’s defeat to Stats, though, will be tough to take.
In the off-season last December, when examining the list of Koreans going abroad to foreign teams, FanTaSy was hardly the standout acquisition. But save for PartinG, it’s the former SKT man who’s benefitted the most from his new surroundings. In Brood War, FanTaSy was the jewel in SKT’s crown; the latest in a line of Terran Kings stretching back to their founder. The switch to Starcraft 2 did not go as planned though, and season after season of promising play gave way to disappointment. 2014 was the worst year of the lot—it says it all that for the 10 months of the year that he spent on SKT, he played a mere 95 games. Trapped in Code A, and not trusted in Proleague, it seemed like FanTaSy’s career was coming to a sad, but inevitable end. The switch to Dead Pixels though has given him a second wind. Consecutive Code S appearances for the first time since 2013. Promising results at IEM Katowice and KeSPA Cup, following his Copenhagen Games runners up medal with wins over Jaedong and Rain. More than anything, FanTaSy seems to be relishing the opportunity to simply play again. His progression to the Round of 16 was impressive, breaking soO’s heart in one of the tensest matches we’ve ever seen In Starcraft, before recording his second 2-0 over Rogue so far this year in GSL. Time will tell if this is a renaissance or the dying embers of a glittering career, but for now, let’s just enjoy the fact that he’s back in the spotlight.
Predictions
After predicting the wrong titan to drop out of Group A on Wednesday, hopefully PartinG won’t disappoint here. He’s beaten both Terrans in the group in BO7 finals this year already (4-1 against GuMiho at Dreamhack: Tours, and 4-0 against FanTaSy at Copenhagen Games), and although there’s a little more volatility in BO3s, it’s difficult to look past such consistent dominance in the matchup. While he has lost both offline matches he’s played against Rogue, I think he’s currently on too much of a hot streak to be beaten here. The second player to make it out is far trickier. Both FanTaSy and GuMiho are enjoying good results in TvZ at the moment, and I think it will come down to a TvT between the two.
PartinG > GuMiho
Rogue < FanTaSy
PartinG > FanTaSy
GuMiho > Rogue
FanTaSy < GuMiho
PartinG and GuMiho to advance.
not sure, tbh. 
