Ever since the GSL Super Tournament was brought back it's been in an awkward spot. It doesn't have the scale or prestige of GSL's flagship Code S so it's easy for fans to look at it as filler between Code S's grand story arcs. But for Solar, soO, sOs, and Trap, 2018's Super Tournament 2 will be just as important as any Code S.
Seven out of eight Global Finalists from Korea have been mathematically confirmed. The final ticket will go whoever holds the most WCS points at the end of the Super Tournament. Who will claim the final spot at BlizzCon and a chance to win StarCraft's ultimate prize?
Around this time in 2016, Solar had just won SSL Season 2 in a tight 4-3 grand finals against Dark. The victory secured him a spot at BlizzCon as the #2 seed from Korea, a worthy reward for one of early LotV's best Zergs. Unfortunately for Solar, his form has declined significantly from those glory days, and he now faces the very likely prospect of watching BlizzCon from home for a second straight year.
Regardless of form, Solar is the underdog in this race based on his point total alone. If things break right for Trap, sOs, or soO, they may only need to win a round or two in order to confirm their place at BlizzCon. In Solar's case, he trails GuMiho by 600 points in the WCS Korea standings, meaning that he needs to reach the finals to realistically stand a chance. He doesn't have the luxury to hope that everyone else fails—he has to earn this the hard way.
Solar was the second best Zerg in the world back in 2016, but his form has steadily tapered off since then. He made it to the finals of SSL Season 1 in 2017, but his best finishes this year are a pair of quarterfinal exits in the IEM World Championships and the first Super Tournament back in March and April respectively. Add to those modest finishes a pair of Round of 32 exits in GSL and a lone Round of 16 showing where he got rematch cursed by Zest and you have the sort of resume most would probably consider undeserving of a BlizzCon spot.
In a way, Solar's long slump isn't surprising—he's never been what you would call a consistent player. He's blown hot and cold since his breakout year in 2014 when he was a titan in foreign weekenders but abysmal in Proleague. He made the Round of 4 in the first three LotV seasons of SSL, but has yet to make the semifinals in GSL despite having far more tries. Alas, Solar's 2018 has been consistently bleak, with few bright spots to remind you of the championship player of yore.
And yet, for all his stumbling and bumbling, Solar has still managed to drag himself to the final stretch of the race. The second Super Tournament is an opportunity for redemption and the finish line is just barely in sight. We watched Rogue climb this mountain last year, and look what happened when he reached BlizzCon. Whether or not Solar can duplicate such a feat remains to be seen, but we’ll know if it’s even a possibility in just a few short days.
soO: Survivor
by Ziggy
After the high drama of 2017, soO's 2018 has been rather uneventful. soO—who recently signed with Asterion eSports—seemed to have grown tired of being everyone's tragic hero and didn't reach the finals of a single premiere event in 2018. Yet, even as a unassuming farmer tilling the soil of the GSL group stage, soO managed to harvest enough WCS Korea points to end up in BlizzCon contention.
soO's 2018 results have been nothing like what we’d expect from a player of his reputation. A semi-final finish in the first GSL of the year seemed rather promising, but things went straight downhill from there. He was knocked out in the opening round of the first Super Tournament, suffered Ro16 elimination in Code S Season 2, and capped it off by getting eliminated in the Ro32 of the final Code S of the year. Throw in an unlucky draw against Maru in the first round of GSL vs. the World tourney, and you can safely say that soO's last few months in the GSL have been quite miserable.
The runner-up of BlizzCon 2017 might not get a chance to travel to Anaheim this year at all. Is this the world we want to live in? Hope is not lost, however, as soO still has a fighting chance. 275 points behind sOs and needing 300 to catch up with Trap, soO could very well overtake the Jin Air crew to snatch that coveted spot in the Global Finals. Assuming both sOs and Trap fall in the opening round, soO could even take that Global Finals spot with a top four finish. However, the more likely scenario is that soO will have to face his finals demons against if he wants to punch his ticket to Blizzcon.
Luckily, though, at least the opening match shouldn’t push soO to his limits. soO might have a complicated relationship with ZvT, but Bunny is one of the easiest draws soO could have hoped for. Things will get harder, however, with Dark, TY, and Classic all on soO’s side of the bracket.
sOs: One More Miracle
by Orlok
BlizzCon is the tournament that made sOs' career. It doesn't seem particularly important that he's never won Code S when he's won the tournament that pros seem to care the most about. When we rave about how Serral and Maru made history in WCS and GSL, we should keep in mind that sOs' two BlizzCon championships might be an even more unbreakable record. However, if people have forgotten about the legendary mad scientist, it's not without reason—he failed to qualify for BlizzCon at all in the last two years.
2018 has been a mixed year for sOs. He started out strong, with a quarterfinals showing in the first season of the GSL as well as strong performances in IEM Katowice and a finals appearance at IEM PyeongChang. However, he seems to have lost his spark after those winter tournaments. He was eliminated in the Ro16 of Code S Seasons 2 and 3, and he failed to qualify for the first Super Tournament (he even missed GSL vs. The World because he lost out on a fan-vote to Zest). He's never been terrible this year, but he seems to have fallen into being a firmly middle-class player.
sOs is now in a similar position as he was in 2017: in the Super Tournament and perilously close to being eliminated from BlizzCon contention. Last year, he paid the price for being unable to control his own destiny when he lost to herO in the quarterfinals. Unable to earn more points, he saw his #8 spot get snatched away by Rogue who went on a miracle run to win the entire tournament.
This time around, sOs has been graced with a relatively weak first round opponent in Keen, but the difficulty ramps up drastically after that. Should he advance, he'll face the winner of Maru vs Rogue in the Ro8. Given sOs’s lackluster performances this year, how could he hope to take on Korea's #1 Zerg or Terran? Thankfully for sOs fans, an Ro8 finish might actually be enough for sOs to barely take the #8 spot. He has a solid point lead on both soO and Solar, while Trap has the trickiest Ro16 match among the BlizzCon contenders in Stats. Yes, this basically amounts to 'hope wonky s*** will happen,' but if you're an sOs fan, you're probably no stranger to that.
Trap: Ninth no more?
by Orlok
“Consistency is a virtue, virtue is a grace, grace is Trap who never gets past 9th place.”
We value consistency highly in StarCraft. It's actually weird that we criticize players for being inconsistent when being inconsistent is the norm—it's the players who can always show the same skill level who are extraordinary. However, sometimes this can be more of a curse than a blessing, especially when one is stuck in the realm of good-but-not-great. Welcome to Trap's life.
Trap's 2018 has been the tale of consistency become tragedy. In every single Code S this year he's been eliminated in the Ro16. To be more specific, he's been eliminated in the group decider match each time, which is equivalent to a 9th-12th place finish. When he actually broke through to the Ro8 at IEM Katowice, he was eliminated in rage-inducing fashion after blowing a 2-0 lead against Serral. For all his troubles, he's earned the current 9th place spot in the WCS rankings, just barely outside the cutoff for BlizzCon.
Of course, the universe conspires to deny Trap anything higher than a ninth place finish and has pitted him against Stats in a perverse mirror match. No, I don't mean Protoss vs Protoss—like Trap, Stats is another player who has established himself as a paragon of consistency, only in Stat's case its' for being consistently great. However, if he can just squeeze past Stats, he'll be rewarded with a surprisingly soft Ro8 match in the form of Impact/Solar.
A word on GuMiho: Until somebody actually wins a match and earns some WCS points, the eighth and final BlizzCon ticket from Korea still belongs to GuMiho. The Towel Terran put in a very un-clutch performance in the Super Tournament qualifiers, missing out on his chance to lock-up a BlizzCon spot after losing to Creator and Hurricane.
Now, GuMiho can still qualify if everyone else suffers a catastrophic breakdown. Unfortunately, the chance of everyone collectively failing to earn enough points to surpass him seems to be next to zero. Still, any non-zero chance is still a chance, and GuMiho fans are certain to have an unusual rooting experience during the Super Tournament.
Well Trap and Stats have faced each other 6 times this year, they are 3-3 in series. Stats should be the favourite, but it is not a given victory. Both of them should feel comfortable versus Impact/Solar, so Trap at Blizzcon could happen.
On September 26 2018 21:48 yht9657 wrote: Whoever gets the last spot will be seeded in a group with Serral and someone among Classic, Zest, Stats, TY and Rogue. Good luck with that.
On September 26 2018 21:48 yht9657 wrote: Whoever gets the last spot will be seeded in a group with Serral and someone among Classic, Zest, Stats, TY and Rogue. Good luck with that.
SoO is 2-0 this year against Serral just saying, zvz bonjwa forever.
What if we get a Jin Air team kill in every round? Maru vs Rogue in ro16, winner of those faces sOs in ro8. In ro4 you have Trap waiting and, to no ones surprise, we have Creator in the finals. Gogo team killers!
Maru > Rogue - could go either way sHy > Keen Solar > Impact Stats > Trap (the not top-10 player) Bunny < soO Leenock < Dark FanTaSy < Classic Creator < TY
On September 27 2018 00:22 Drfilip wrote: What if we get a Jin Air team kill in every round? Maru vs Rogue in ro16, winner of those faces sOs in ro8. In ro4 you have Trap waiting and, to no ones surprise, we have Creator in the finals. Gogo team killers!
Hoping that sOs takes the last spot.This year would have looked very different for him if he had not had to face Maru early on at both GSL season 1 and in Katowice or if he had won any of those two ridiculously close series.
BTW, sOs qualified for the first super tournament but lost to Classic in the round of 16.
I’d probably prefer soO to qualify if I had to choose one of those players and Gumiho if he is playing well but clearly he isn’t right now if he can’t even qualify for super tournament. Trap is just a filler player ( no offence GGemini) but there is no universe in which trap wins Blizzcon.
sOs is just a crazy guy and personally don’t enjoy his matches very much so hoping soO reaches the finals and loses ofc but qualifies for Blizzcon
I don't think that Gumiho's chances are that bad. Trap defeating Stats is not very likely. SoO does not look convincing at all lately - not even in ZvZ. Solar has to reach the finals which will be very hard with Maru, Rogue, sOs and Stats in his half of the bracket. The only big concern for Gumi is sOs who just needs to advance to Ro8. But then again... Keen looked quite strong lately. sOs is definitely favored against him but I think Keen has a realistic chance.
I think I predicted sOs to win it earlier but now I think that the first thing I'll root for is gumiHo to make it out and then if that dream gets killed I'll root for sOs. Of course I wouldn't complain with soO making it. I think Solar and Trap wouldn't be as good representatives.
On September 26 2018 21:48 yht9657 wrote: Whoever gets the last spot will be seeded in a group with Serral and someone among Classic, Zest, Stats, TY and Rogue. Good luck with that.
SoO is 2-0 this year against Serral just saying, zvz bonjwa forever.
Last spot does not mean he is position nr 16!. What are you talking about.. the only order which is sure is that MAru will go from first place. EoS
Go sOs! If sOs beats Maru in the next round (which he is 100% capable of) then he will be close to Blizzcon and if he gets there, then there is no potential group in which he isn't favored to get out.
On September 27 2018 00:26 Dave4 wrote: Maru > Rogue - could go either way sHy > Keen Solar > Impact Stats > Trap (the not top-10 player) Bunny < soO Leenock < Dark FanTaSy < Classic Creator < TY
On September 28 2018 01:57 CaptainBurnTurn wrote: At this point, unless soO or Solar makes the finals and sOs doesn't make it past the Ro8, sOs will be going to Blizzcon right?
Yeah soO or Solar have to make the final at the minimum.
That being said soO has a good chance at getting there. He can beat anyone on his side of the bracket minus TY.
Why does most people assume soO automatically will beat Dark? He lost to him in like 3 consecutive korean tournament last year. This year he lost to him in GSL S1 2-0. He played Impact twice once at IEM Qualy once in GSL and it was 1-2 and 2-1. Hes not the ZvZ god he used to be. Plus his TvZ aint that scary Bunny has a decent chance against him.
On September 28 2018 03:14 kajtarp wrote: Why does most people assume soO automatically will beat Dark? He lost to him in like 3 consecutive korean tournament last year. This year he lost to him in GSL S1 2-0. He played Impact twice once at IEM Qualy once in GSL and it was 1-2 and 2-1. Hes not the ZvZ god he used to be. Plus his TvZ aint that scary Bunny has a decent chance against him.
On September 28 2018 03:14 kajtarp wrote: Why does most people assume soO automatically will beat Dark? He lost to him in like 3 consecutive korean tournament last year. This year he lost to him in GSL S1 2-0. He played Impact twice once at IEM Qualy once in GSL and it was 1-2 and 2-1. Hes not the ZvZ god he used to be. Plus his TvZ aint that scary Bunny has a decent chance against him.
People still think soO is good for some reason.
He netted $140K at Blizzcon alone last year. How much have you made off Starcraft in your entire life?
Edit: The original comment asks why people assume soO will beat Dark. The answer is simple: soO's roach vs. roach is the best in the world - or at least has been for quite some time.
On September 28 2018 03:14 kajtarp wrote: Why does most people assume soO automatically will beat Dark? He lost to him in like 3 consecutive korean tournament last year. This year he lost to him in GSL S1 2-0. He played Impact twice once at IEM Qualy once in GSL and it was 1-2 and 2-1. Hes not the ZvZ god he used to be. Plus his TvZ aint that scary Bunny has a decent chance against him.
People still think soO is good for some reason.
He netted $140K at Blizzcon alone last year. How much have you made off Starcraft in your entire life?
Edit: The original comment asks why people assume soO will beat Dark. The answer is simple: soO's roach vs. roach is the best in the world - or at least has been for quite some time.
On September 28 2018 03:14 kajtarp wrote: Why does most people assume soO automatically will beat Dark? He lost to him in like 3 consecutive korean tournament last year. This year he lost to him in GSL S1 2-0. He played Impact twice once at IEM Qualy once in GSL and it was 1-2 and 2-1. Hes not the ZvZ god he used to be. Plus his TvZ aint that scary Bunny has a decent chance against him.
People still think soO is good for some reason.
He netted $140K at Blizzcon alone last year. How much have you made off Starcraft in your entire life?
Edit: The original comment asks why people assume soO will beat Dark. The answer is simple: soO's roach vs. roach is the best in the world - or at least has been for quite some time.
Good one. People don't expect me to beat Dark.
Wait you were serious? Dark, Serral, soO, and Rogue are the top zergs right now. They are fairly even in skill. The fact that soO has lose to Dark doesn't change that - they are in the same skill bracket.
On September 28 2018 03:14 kajtarp wrote: Why does most people assume soO automatically will beat Dark? He lost to him in like 3 consecutive korean tournament last year. This year he lost to him in GSL S1 2-0. He played Impact twice once at IEM Qualy once in GSL and it was 1-2 and 2-1. Hes not the ZvZ god he used to be. Plus his TvZ aint that scary Bunny has a decent chance against him.
People still think soO is good for some reason.
He netted $140K at Blizzcon alone last year. How much have you made off Starcraft in your entire life?
Edit: The original comment asks why people assume soO will beat Dark. The answer is simple: soO's roach vs. roach is the best in the world - or at least has been for quite some time.
Good one. People don't expect me to beat Dark.
Wait you were serious? Dark, Serral, soO, and Rogue are the top zergs right now. They are fairly even in skill. The fact that soO has lose to Dark doesn't change that - they are in the same skill bracket.
On September 28 2018 22:54 kallagen wrote: TY, why??? How can it's possible? =\
TY either doesn't qualify for Super Tournaments, or when he does, he plays below his level. At other tournaments (IEM, Code S, prolly Blizzcon) he plays better. That's just how it is.
From elsewhere, the current standings for Blizzcon going into tomorrow:
On September 29 2018 22:21 Yonnua wrote: Group A at Blizzcon is Maru, Neeb, Lambo and either Zest or TY.
Group B at Blizzcon is Serral, Heromarine, either Zest or Dark, and either sOs or Solar.
Group C at Blizzcon is Stats, Has, Showtime and either Dark or Rogue.
Group D at Blizzcon is Classic, Nerchio, Special, and either TY or Rogue.
1-3 are now locked in, Dark is the only one who can climb higher from within the top 8. If he wins the SF, he doesn't gain anything, if he wins overall, he moves up to 4th. Therefore, there are only 2 scenarios for 1-7, and only two options for 8th.
On September 29 2018 22:21 Yonnua wrote: Group A at Blizzcon is Maru, Neeb, Lambo and either Zest or TY.
Group B at Blizzcon is Serral, Heromarine, either Zest or Dark, and either sOs or Solar.
Group C at Blizzcon is Stats, Has, Showtime and either Dark or Rogue.
Group D at Blizzcon is Classic, Nerchio, Special, and either TY or Rogue.
1-3 are now locked in, Dark is the only one who can climb higher from within the top 8. If he wins the SF, he doesn't gain anything, if he wins overall, he moves up to 4th. Therefore, there are only 2 scenarios for 1-7, and only two options for 8th.
Actually TY is locked 4th, he just for some reason does not have the 225 points for ST2 in the standings on liquipedia. So Dark can only get 5th at best
On September 29 2018 22:25 Yonnua wrote: From elsewhere, the current standings for Blizzcon going into tomorrow:
On September 29 2018 22:21 Yonnua wrote: Group A at Blizzcon is Maru, Neeb, Lambo and either Zest or TY.
Group B at Blizzcon is Serral, Heromarine, either Zest or Dark, and either sOs or Solar.
Group C at Blizzcon is Stats, Has, Showtime and either Dark or Rogue.
Group D at Blizzcon is Classic, Nerchio, Special, and either TY or Rogue.
1-3 are now locked in, Dark is the only one who can climb higher from within the top 8. If he wins the SF, he doesn't gain anything, if he wins overall, he moves up to 4th. Therefore, there are only 2 scenarios for 1-7, and only two options for 8th.
Actually TY is locked 4th, he just for some reason does not have the 225 points for ST2 in the standings on liquipedia. So Dark can only get 5th at best
He doesn't get the points- he didn't win any matches in Super Tournament or in qualifying for the ST (because he automatically qualified through GSL). He and Maru only got the points if they won their first match. Because TY didn't, he doesn't get any points from ST.
On September 29 2018 22:25 Yonnua wrote: From elsewhere, the current standings for Blizzcon going into tomorrow:
On September 29 2018 22:21 Yonnua wrote: Group A at Blizzcon is Maru, Neeb, Lambo and either Zest or TY.
Group B at Blizzcon is Serral, Heromarine, either Zest or Dark, and either sOs or Solar.
Group C at Blizzcon is Stats, Has, Showtime and either Dark or Rogue.
Group D at Blizzcon is Classic, Nerchio, Special, and either TY or Rogue.
1-3 are now locked in, Dark is the only one who can climb higher from within the top 8. If he wins the SF, he doesn't gain anything, if he wins overall, he moves up to 4th. Therefore, there are only 2 scenarios for 1-7, and only two options for 8th.
Actually TY is locked 4th, he just for some reason does not have the 225 points for ST2 in the standings on liquipedia. So Dark can only get 5th at best
He doesn't get the points- he didn't win any matches in Super Tournament or in qualifying for the ST (because he automatically qualified through GSL). He and Maru only got the points if they won their first match. Because TY didn't, he doesn't get any points from ST.
On September 29 2018 22:25 Yonnua wrote: From elsewhere, the current standings for Blizzcon going into tomorrow:
On September 29 2018 22:21 Yonnua wrote: Group A at Blizzcon is Maru, Neeb, Lambo and either Zest or TY.
Group B at Blizzcon is Serral, Heromarine, either Zest or Dark, and either sOs or Solar.
Group C at Blizzcon is Stats, Has, Showtime and either Dark or Rogue.
Group D at Blizzcon is Classic, Nerchio, Special, and either TY or Rogue.
1-3 are now locked in, Dark is the only one who can climb higher from within the top 8. If he wins the SF, he doesn't gain anything, if he wins overall, he moves up to 4th. Therefore, there are only 2 scenarios for 1-7, and only two options for 8th.
Actually TY is locked 4th, he just for some reason does not have the 225 points for ST2 in the standings on liquipedia. So Dark can only get 5th at best
He doesn't get the points- he didn't win any matches in Super Tournament or in qualifying for the ST (because he automatically qualified through GSL). He and Maru only got the points if they won their first match. Because TY didn't, he doesn't get any points from ST.
Oh, my mistake then
The principle is that you need to earn all the points you get- TY's method of qualification already gave him points, so he doesn't also earn the points that the other earned through the qualifying bracket. If he won a match in ST, he would have earned his place there and therefore would get the full point score (like Maru did).
It's a very niche rule because usually GSL finalists are able to win in the first round anyway.
If Dark wins this tournament then GL to Serral lol.
I guess foreigner fans can find solace in the fact that if Dark wins Neeb gets Zest instead of TY in his group. But Zest sometimes plays up to his skill ceiling so while it's more comforting to get him it doesn't really promise anything. You could still get bopped.
On September 30 2018 00:57 Rodya wrote: If Dark wins this tournament then GL to Serral lol.
I guess foreigner fans can find solace in the fact that if Dark wins Neeb gets Zest instead of TY in his group. But Zest sometimes plays up to his skill ceiling so while it's more comforting to get him it doesn't really promise anything. You could still get bopped.
Neeb gets TY- at least it's someone he's had lots of experience practising for and who he's played against on the biggest stage. Hopefully he'll iron out the issues that lost him the GSL semifinals. If he does, Lambo shouldn't be a challenge for him and he should be able to make the Ro8.
On September 30 2018 19:48 FrkFrJss wrote: Well the problem is that TY and Neeb prepared really, really hard against against each other, so they both know how the other players plays.
But will the players play the plays that they were playing when the players prepared to play those players' plays?
I imagine they will prepare all-new stuff. TY and Neeb practiced a lot with each other for the GSL Ro16 so their Ro4 match was super mind-gamey and full of blind calls and reads that seem strange from the outside perspective. By the time Blizzcon rolls around I don't think they'll be that familiar with how each other plays.
So, Blizzcon group are done, great draw for Serral, hard one for Maru and TY, I could see TY get knock out in the decider match against Neeb. Other then that I have a hard time seeing another foreigner get out of group, but there's a full month of practice ahead so it's hard to say how well everyone will play.
Maru and TY are so good, I don't see neeb getting out. Serral has hope with sOs and Zest, but no one is a favorite to get out of that group. sOs and Zest will prepare hard for Serral though so this will be his first major leagues test. Now people know he can win, so they will prepare. When this happened to neeb he got curbstomped by Dark.
On October 01 2018 00:13 Rodya wrote: Maru and TY are so good, I don't see neeb getting out. Serral has hope with sOs and Zest, but no one is a favorite to get out of that group. sOs and Zest will prepare hard for Serral though so this will be his first major leagues test. Now people know he can win, so they will prepare. When this happened to neeb he got curbstomped by Dark.
Neeb lost 4-2 with a draw vs TY in GSL semi with a full week of preparation, he could probably win a bo3 vs him (hell he would have won the GSL series if it was a bo3. Maybe TY could snipe Maru in tvt too and go out in first, there's also a good chance Lambo knock Neeb out of course, his zvp is pretty good. Serral probably got the best group he could have hope for, he isn't guarantee to go out of the group but Zest pvz isn't that great and Heromarine is a good opponent for him, sOs could be problematic for him if he is in form, but I would still put him as the favourite here especially since he as only one match up to practice.
EPT
Solar, ![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2018/st2table.png)
