Making the Grade, Part 3: Code S Group Nominations

Written by Mizenhauer and Wax

The old saying goes “third time’s the charm.” Well, we’re putting it to the test with the third edition of Making the Grade. It’s been a wild year for GSL and group nominations have been no exception. We saw INnoVation’s perfectly laid plans blow up in his face in the first Code S of 2018. We watched as Maru have his cake and eat it too after crafting the easiest possible foursome in Season 2. Dark imploded after making his road incredibly difficult in the same season, while Stats suffered a similar fate a few days later.

It’s been a hit and miss couple seasons for us, but we may finally have gotten a grasp on how things are going to go.

Maru: (#1 Seed) - Grade: A

Group A: Maru, Neeb, Impact, Reynor

As the returning, back-to-back Code S champion, Maru entered group nominations playing the role of judge, jury and executioner. Having the first and final word in the proceedings meant that things were practically guaranteed to go Maru’s way.

Maru’s opening pick of Neeb was unsurprising: Neeb’s form is much diminished since his WCS Circuit-dominating 2017 and he was one of the most tantalizing treats on the board. Korean Terrans have traditionally been the bane of foreigners, while Maru has become the bane of everyone in 2018. For a moment, the Neeb pick seemed like it might blow up in Maru’s face as veteran players rushed to involve the Code S rookie in their intricate plots. But ultimately, Neeb went for the simplest strategy of picking the easiest remaining player in Impact, further clearing Maru’s path to the quarterfinals.

Despite never having participated in a GSL group selection, Impact seemed to know the game well. He picked the formidable TY as the last member of the group, certain that Maru would swap out such a tricky opponent for an easier player from another group. The plan worked out perfectly for Impact, as Maru used his champion’s swap to trade TY for Reynor in the final move of the group nomination.

The end result was a near-perfect group for Maru: two foreigners in a TvT-free group. It was reminiscent of the Zest-Solar-Patience group from the previous season that saw Maru easily reach the RO8 and eventual win the championship.

One might say it’s hard not to get an easy group as the defending champion, given the massive drafting power of the #1 seed. But we can hardly penalize Maru for doing his best by the rules, and he’s planted the seeds for another Code S title. Sometimes, merely putting the cherry on top of the sundae is deserving of an A grade.

Dark: (#4 Seed) - Grade: D

Group B: Dark, GuMiho, Rogue, INnoVation

Dark just can’t seem to make things easy on himself. Last season’s group nominations were a complete debacle that saw him ejected from Code S, and this time he’s in the consensus group of death.

Dark couldn’t have been overly enthused at the prospect of selecting GuMiho right out of the gate, but those are the kind of choices you have to make when you’re picking fourth. As the #4 seed, Dark had plenty of time to stew over how he’d have to prepare for GuMiho’s unique playstyle as Reynor and Trap were taken off the board.

GuMiho then turned the group into a disaster for Dark by selecting Rogue. Dark reeled back in dejection as casters and viewers alike tried to make sense of GuMiho’s actions. Clearly it wasn’t about picking Zerg as Impact was still available. If it was a complicated ploy around Jin Air team-kills, then it was one that only meant sense to GuMiho. Why else would he select one of the strongest remaining players with FIVE other options available?

As if often the case when one player gets the ‘group of death’ bug, the plague spread to the remaining players in the group. With two Protoss left, Rogue instead opted to pick INnoVation as the final member of the group. The machine Terran might have been stomped by Serral in GSL vs. The World, but his TvZ has looked mighty good against most other opponents.

Dark was probably exaggerating the severity of his plight during the group ceremony—he’s probably still one of the favorites to advance. However, instead of enjoying a leisurely cruise to the quarterfinals like Maru, he’s going to have to blast and hack his way out of treacherous waters. At the very least he’ll be happy he dodged Trap and that Classic isn’t around to knock him out this season.

Zest: (#3 Seed) - Grade: C+

Group C: Zest, Leenock, Trap, herO

Coming off a terrible showing at GSL vs. the World where he lost 1-3 to ShoWTimE, Zest was surely hoping to sculpt an easy Round of 16 group that would let him recover his pride.

Selecting Leenock with his first pick was a quizzical decision considering Zest’s woes against Zerg and the fact that Leenock is enjoying a surge of form unseen since Wings of Liberty. Like many Zest fans, Zest himself seemed to struggle to accept how everyone else perceived his PvZ to be terrible.

What came next was rather unsurprising. Leenock has been faring well against Protoss as of late so he scooped up perennial Round of 16 attendee Trap. If the group nominations had been held this time last month, we would have been lauding Zest for managing to snare a Protoss. Excellent in both online and offline PvP over the past few months, this move would have been exactly what the doctor ordered. Then, Zest got demolished by ShoWTimE and we started to wonder if Zest’s vaunted PvP was really that exceptional. Trap then picked herO to round out the group, guaranteeing that Zest would have to reassert his PvP chops. herO may have taken his fair share of mockery for his declining skill during the group selections, but even aged predators can bare their fangs in PvP.

It’s been a difficult couple of weeks for Zest and this Code S group will serve as a key test. Some believe Zest to be a worthy GSL finalist, elite in PvP and PvT, and just slightly less formidable/unlucky in PvZ. Others might perceive him as the beneficiary of an easy bracket, who dodged his crippling weakness in the PvZ match-up. Group C won’t provide any definitive answers, but it will go a long way toward telling us who Zest really is.

Stats: (#2 Seed) - Grade: B+

Group D: Stats, Keen, TY, sOs

Stats did an excellent job in group nominations last season, but dropped the ball when it came time to actually play. Stats’ group isn’t quite as appealing this time around, but his surprise finals run at GSL vs. The World suggests that he’ll at least play better when the time comes.

Picking up KeeN with the second overall pick was an obvious choice, given Keen’s perceived weakness in the match-up and Stats’ recent triumph against Maru. Stats was probably happy when Keen picked up Reynor next, given how competitive a series he played against Serral during the GSL vs. the World final. Reynor may have won an impressive upset against Classic, but he’s clearly not on the Finn’s level yet. Still, as pleased as Stats must have been with Reynor joining the group, he should have suspected that the young Zerg was a prime target for Maru’s final swap.

Group D didn’t have any say when it came to the fourth member of the group with sOs falling to them as the final pick. Facing the infamous trickster might have been terrifying proposition for the other members of the group, but Stats is 11-1 against Protoss in offline matches this year (with the lone loss coming all the way back in February).

Stats would have been happy with the result, but Reynor was indeed the target for Maru’s swap. Maru banished TY into Stats’ group while plucking away the weakest member of the original Group D. Stats’ couldn’t have been elated with the development, but his victory over Maru at GSL vs. the World shows the Splyce Protoss need not fear any Terran, including his teammate. Overall Stats survived the swap without taking too much damage and is well positioned to make the next round.

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