Code S Season 1: Group Ceremony Nonsense

Written by Wax

The awkward marriage of reality television and esports returned to AfreecaTV as sixteen Korean gamers participated in the first GSL Group Nomination of 2019. GSL players must think long and hard about their choice of round-of-sixteen opponent as it could make or break their playoff chances—what a perfect thing to exploit for fan entertainment! Here's how things went this time around:








Mizenhauer declined to do his Group Nomination Grades for unknown reasons. Perhaps it's because he didn't want to jinx soO, who seems to be playing well lately. Or perhaps it's because grading the seeded players based on a chain reaction they have barely any control over is dumb. Anyway, here are some of my observations and highlights from the show.

Rogue Incinerates INnoVation

At last, we have undeniable proof that INnoVation isn't a ruthless StarCraft II playing machine created in a lab. Because, only a human could have his soul so brutally ripped out by Rogue.

With the second to last pick, INnoVation faced a decision between sOs or Rogue as his opponent. When INnoVation stated he preferred a Protoss opponent, Rogue took to the mic for an unprovoked verbal assault.

"Even if I taunt him, INnoVation won't pick me because he's afraid of me. He's too shook."

Asked by the announcers who would win in a ten game series, Rogue continued.

"...without Hellion run-bys, I think it would be a beatdown in macro games."

INnoVation tried to play it cool, saying he'd see Rogue at IEM. Rogue responded by saying "Serral and I will make it so INnoVation can't breathe." (The three are in the same RO24 group at IEM)

Ultimately, INnoVation ended up picking sOs to complete a three-Protoss group, giving himself a considerable practice advantage. While it was certainly the correct, winning move in the big picture of Code S, one must wonder if it was worth getting murdered in broad daylight.

Maru's Make-a-Wish Foundation

The #1 seed advantage of picking two opponents is impossible to f*** up, so we got to see Maru virtually ensure himself RO8 advancement for the third straight season. However, while Maru holding court has gotten pretty stale, at least it's given us a humorous wrinkle where players now WANT to get picked into Maru's group.

No, no one actually thinks they can beat Maru—that much hasn't changed in 2019. However, players now realize that getting second place in a Maru group might be easier than finishing top two in a 'normal' group. It makes sense in theory: if Maru always picks the two worst players in the RO16, then wouldn't you want to ride that gravy train to the quarterfinals?

Think about it this way: One of Patience, Bunny, or Impact is making it to the Code S quarterfinals. I repeat, ONE OF PATIENCE, BUNNY, OR IMPACT IS MAKING IT TO THE CODE S QUARTERFINALS. These are players who may not even be expected to reach the RO16. In a way, being put in Group Maru is one of the best things that's happened in their careers. Let's applaud Maru for being a champion both in and outside the game, remembering his humble roots and giving back to less fortunate progamers.

This Adorable Thing

For a moment, Dark was happy that he had finally ended up with a RO16 group that wasn't brutally hard: Bunny, Cure, Dear, and himself. Then, Maru threatened to ruin everything by stealing Bunny away and replacing him with herO.

Cure and Bunny were delighted at the suggestion—Cure wanted to dodge TvT while Bunny seemed to prefer playing vs Patience and Impact. On the other hand, Dark and Dear were incensed at the prospect of anyone messing with the delicious Terran cream in the center of the Group B...

But Here Are Some Grades Anyway

Yeah, grading seeded players is a silly exercise, but you guys seem to enjoy it.

#1 seed: Maru (faces Impact, Bunny, and Patience)

Some might say this is the easiest RO16 group in GSL history, but does Maru really deserve that much credit here? As mentioned before, it's almost nearly impossible to pick a bad group as the #1 seed. Furthermore, Maru forced himself to prep for all three races by swapping for Bunny in order to help out teammate Cure. Maru might be an S-tier friend, but this isn't an S-tier group. Grade: A-

#4 seed: Dark (faces herO, Cure, and Dear)

Dark was unusually perturbed when Maru swapped Bunny for herO, leaving viewers to wonder 'is there really a big difference?' However, GSL casters have previously mentioned that herO had to take a break for unspecified 'personal reasons' for part of 2018, which might explain his drop in form. He certainly did look like the lovable Protoss bulls***er of old against Scarlett. Anyway, Dark finally has a RO16 group he can call kinda easy, which is a big win for him. Grade: A-

#3 seed: Classic (faces Trap, INnoVation, and sOs)

While Classic 2-0'd Trap in the RO32, the games were hardly one-sided enough to call this an obvious pick for Classic. Then again, it's Trap, who hasn't made it out of the Code S RO16 for literally years. Maybe it was the big-brain play that everyone else in the Group Nominations should have been thinking of. INnoVation and sOs are probably pretty good, though. Oh well! Grade: B

#2 seed: TY (faces GuMiho, soO, and Rogue)

TY faces the toughest RO16 group among the seeded players, but I'm gonna cut him some slack. GuMiho seemed like a bonkers pick at #2, but it was a reasonable-ish middle-ground pick if he was worried about herO/Bunny/whoever getting stolen by Maru at the end. Let's not forget that in 2018, TY showed us he had TvT on par with Maru, while GuMiho showed us that he can fail to qualify for Super Tournament with a BlizzCon spot on the line. Also, getting stuck with Rogue was just a byproduct of the snake-draft format, where the #2 seed always receives the final 'pick' of the draft. Blame GSL for that one. Grade: C+

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