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Season 3 Code A

Last Chance
Creator vs Pigbaby
Solar vs TRUE
TY vs Losira

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

by lichter and Soularion

Creator vs Pigbaby

For all the Prime fans on the Creator comeback train, a Ro32 exit last season was actually somewhat decent. Sure, he was slaughtered 0-4 by INnoVation and Panic, but he at least made it back to Code S after more than a year in Code B. A slow and steady improvement is as much as we can ask from Creator, since he has never quite lived up to his blistering end to 2012. Once considered one of the best protoss in the world, Creator is now the most scrutinized ace in Proleague. His double victory of Zest in Round 1 remains the highlight of his entire season, but he's somehow become an anchor in PvP. He's currently 3-0 against Zest in Proleague, which is strange considering the latter is often considered (mostly by Olli) as the best PvPer on the planet. Creator on the other hand is close to a coinflip with losses against players like MyuNgSiK and Panic. While a very able macro PvPer with no glaring holes, he doesn't have a true strength in the matchup either.

His opponent on the other hand is 2-10 against Zest, yet consistently beats pretty much every other protoss he meets. Pigbaby has always been solid in the matchup with a 64% winrate, but he isn't the type to have moments of brilliance in PvP. Instead he relies on a strange type of killer instinct: he just kills you and it kinda works? There is no magic, no tricks. He doesn't rely on the Stupid Gun like MyuNgSiK, and he doesn't rely on cute tricks like sOs. He just stumbles in, all ins you, and waits for you to die or kill him. Though he hasn't played many high profile series lately, we did see him execute some really clunky all ins against ByuL in KeSPA Cup. He came agonizingly close to breaking the GSL semi finalist, but he came a few stalkers short of an upset.

Against Creator, however, there is a disparity between their respective names and skill levels. Even though Pigbaby is a WCS AM champion, he isn't a Proleague starter and isn't a fan favorite. Many will consider Creator the better player because of his past, but his fans will likely find more disappointment in this match. Pigbaby has been plugging away at qualifiers and this season just might be his breakthrough. KeSPA Cup may not have worked out, but a second Code S appearance might just be possible.

Predictions:

Pigbaby all ins three games in a row

Creator 2 - 3 Pigbaby

Solar vs TRUE

Both of these players have had fairly bad 2015s so far, with TRUE failing to do too much in the foreign scene and Solar going on his well-documented Proleague collapse. So, in the interest of not talking about their not-so-good pasts, we'll be examining what has changed for them since Season 2's end - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Surprisingly? Solar's been getting by. Alright. He still sucks in Proleague, but his Gfinity run and recent SSL run (which included a strong win over long-time nemesis GuMiho) do help confirm that he's on the right track— or, at least, not on the worst possible track. On the other hand, his SSL run did come to a crumble against sOs, and he failed to continue his online success at Leifeng (albeit he showed more improvement against mech terrans, which is a big deal), so perhaps not all that much has changed after all. If Solar fails to TRUE here, we can officially declare his hype train stopped, as he'll be relying on Proleague entirely, and judging from his past failures, that probably wouldn't go well.

With TRUE, it seems to be a battle of back-and-forths. Fail out of Korea - have good runs at Gfinity and Dreamhack. Beat PartinG? Lose to HerO and DeParture. Qualify for GSL and KeSPA Cup? Fail out of SSL and MSI. Over all of these results, his ZvP and ZvZ both seem a little less good compared to his stunning 70%-winrate ZvT. Still, it's hard to forget that his run at Gfinity /was/ good, and he -did- beat Hydra at Dreamhack. TRUE definitely has potential to do well here, but much like Solar, if he fails- he's out. No Proleague, no SSL, he'll be relegated to relying only on the foreign circuit.

While it often seems cliche, this match does seem to be fairly do-or-die for both players, and it'll be interesting to see what this pressure brings out of them. Ultimately, since it's ZvZ and neither seem bad at the matchup, you might as well flip a coin.

Predictions:

This ends up being the worst series of Code A.

Solar 0 - 3 TRUE

TY vs Losira

If Starcraft were a game of hand speed, we'd probably be seeing a lot of TY vs Losira in the finals. TY has been one of the fastest players ever since his debut, and Losira is fondly known as Mr Spider Hands because of his bizarre hand movements.





Slowly but surely, both players are beginning to figure out how to direct their abilities to success. TY reached the Ro8 of Code S last season before a disappointing thumping against MMA in what should have been his best match up. Meanwhile, Losira has begun qualifying for Korean tournaments after a year's absence in 2014. His resurrection under Choya is one of the more interesting subplots of this year's Proleague, and it'll be interesting to see whether he can take it up another notch and get back to his days as Nestea's protege.

Both players hover near the 60% win mark in TvZ and play very close to standard. However, these new maps could present something interesting. Losira has used 2-base muta and roach rush builds on close positions in the past, while TY has made a name for himself with prepared builds in other matchups. If the two players end up spawning near each other, it could result in a build order tug-of-war. Don't be surprised if we see an anachronistic tank push that ends in a mined out macro game, because that's just the sort of thing these two players are into.

Predictions:

This ends up being the best series of Code A

TY 2 - 3 Losira

Writers: lichter, Soularion.
Editors: CosmicSpiral
Graphics: shiroiusagi.
Photo: GOMeXP.
Stats: Aligulac