Filling the Void

The inevitable effect of novelty upon the unprepared is either rage, shock, or simply pleasant surprise. The release of LotV was actually marked by grim predictions about the radical changes the game released, ranging in topic from the significantly-accelerated speed of development and overhauls of several units, notably the Siege Tank.

And what a pleasant surprise these changes have been. It has been a mere 3 months since LotV has turned out, and already it has produced an ample supply of masterful games exceeding our expectations. But beyond this, it appears that not only has the metagame undergone seismic shifts, the Korean scene itself has received a significant reshuffle. We are witnessing not only the return of formerly-great players, veterans who were dismissed beforehand, such as TaeJa, but the frequency with which new names appear has increased as well. Journey, Blaze, Forte (formerly known as SalvatioN) are examples of players moving into the limelight. Meanwhile far more popular and anticipated titans like INnoVation and Maru don't seem to be quite there yet.

While there are no players in this group who have made it into any all-time greatest list in SC2 history, this group holds a great deal of potential as the one containing the most well balanced group of players; in the vacuum left by the collapse of the old power structure in HotS, can one of them arise to become the next big thing?

Curious is certainly a contender for it. Achieving little compared to the biggest names in the game for the 4 years he had spent playing the game prior to 2015, he finally broke out in the final year of HotS, winning a Premier Tournament in Dreamhack and achieving a semifinals finish in Season 2 of Code S that year. Before that, however, he spent his time mostly hovering at the border between Code S regular and Code A contender. But don't let this fool you as to his level; in the time he spent there, he effectively became Code A's gatekeeper, defeating one favorite after another to keep his place. This season, he continued this tradition, meeting none other than the esoteric and elusive ByuN, known to be effectively either the best or 2nd best Terran of LotV thus far, and found him wanting, defeating him 3-2 and leaving his broken body to rot in Code A. This can surely bode well for his ambitions in this group; eliminating ByuN is a strong first step and arguably a more difficult one than any player in this group.

Forte will no doubt answer that with the most defiance he can muster, but unfortunately it may not suffice, given his recent form. Losing to Hurricane, Journey, and KeeN in the GSL qualifiers, Kung Fu Cup qualifiers, and in the Olimoleague, while only in Code S due to a stuttering victory over a sloppy BrAvO, Forte cannot be said to be as big a Terran hurdle for Curious as ByuN was. While, of course, he does stand a chance at providing us an upset, this is a player who has yet to make an impression deserving of rivaling Curious'. This is his first appearance in the main event of a Korean starleague, and he will certainly need to show us something remarkable to even be considered a third-place finisher in this group.

Stork: probably the longest-serving StarCraft veteran still playing, the man who was once venerated as a master in Brood War has descended far in the sequel. But even then, despite his lack of any achievements in SC2 whatsoever, this man probably deserves the greatest respect out of the TaekBangLeeSsang Brood War quartet. Playing BW ever since 2004, and only beginning to attain the spotlight in 2007, Stork has continued his long march all the way to 2016, in the final expansion of SC2. Of the four, he is probably the least loved; he lacks Jaedong's global following, the perpetual motion machine that is FlaSh's hype train, and he is too invested in his team, Samsung, to begin a new life as a streamer on Afreeca, as Bisu has. In short: nothing was supposed to go Stork's way in LotV. And yet, here he is, defeating the last GSL champion INnoVation in Code A to leap into the Code S arena, and revitalizing his career in grand fashion. Still, an upset is an upset, and Stork in SC2 is not Stork in Brood War; now he must prove that his victory in Code A was not simply a flashback to his glorious past, but perhaps the beginning of a full blown revival.

Cure, unlike INnoVation, actually has a very high chance of losing to Stork if he does not improve his skills and step out from the long shadow cast by INnoVation in 2013, when mechanics were heavily predominant over strategy. Cure is a master of macromanagement, but so is Innovation and that did him no good. A narrow 4-3 defeat in the Season 3 semifinals of Code S in 2014 at the hands of Innovation denied Cure a place in the finals, and that run showed qualities in his play that will not have gone completely.
However, he needs something more; he needs the spark he once had and he needs to improve even further. Moreover, Stork utilized brilliant tactics to defeat INnoVation, another danger to someone whose playstyle was always very oriented towards mechanically strong play.

Predictions

It is extremely difficult to predict the result of this group given that there is no absolute top-tier player in it. However, Stork displayed that he had a good mind of tactics in his games against INnoVation, where he actually deployed Colossi on the field to zone out INnoVation's infantry such that his Blink Stalkers can eliminate Liberators without fear of being crushed by an assault. Meanwhile, even though Curious' defeat of ByuN is no doubt a great achievement, ByuN cannot be said to have played particularly well in that series, especially after a soul-crushing loss to sOs in IEM Taipei. However, I think that this is enough to subdue a lesser Terran like Forte.

Curious > Forte
Cure < Stork
Curious > Stork
Cure > Forte
Stork > Cure

Curious and Stork to advance to the Round of 16.