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Code S RO16 Preview: Maru, Impact, Patience, Bunny

Forum Index > SC2 General
41 CommentsPost a Reply
1 2 3 Next All

Code S RO16 Preview: Maru, Impact, Patience, Bunny

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
March 7th, 2019 02:58 GMT

Code S RO16 - Group A Preview:
Maru, Impact, Bunny, Patience

by Destructicon

Friday, Mar 08 11:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)

Group A initially looked to be the very definition of clear cut. Maru used his #1 seed advantage at the group selections to pave himself an easy road to the playoffs, pitting himself against three saps who would be happy enough to merely reach the first Code S quarterfinal of their careers. Then, all four players went to IEM Katowice, where some crazy results went down and complicated everyone's predictions for this group.

2019 Global StarCraft II League: Code S Season 1

All signs up until February 28th indicated that Maru would challenge for the championship at IEM Katowice. At the very least, it looked like he'd make it to the RO12 playoff stage again. After all, how could the three-time Code S champion fail to finish top three in a group with Lambo, Leenock, Neeb, Trap, and Dark?

However, things immediately got off to a rocky start as Maru lost 0-2 in his first series with Trap. It just kept getting worse from there, with Maru losing the following series to Leenock, and then even getting KO'd by his former TvP sandbag Neeb. While Maru saved a bit of face by defeating Lambo and Dark to close out the group, it was too little and too late—he was eliminated from the IEM RO24 as fourth place in his group.

In the grand scheme of things, this might just turn out to be an extreme outlier case of Maru under-performing. Travel fatigue? Gross overconfidence? Whatever the cause, one would think his IEM embarrassment will have served as a wake-up call. It's one he'll certainly need—his GSL groupmates aren't terribly weaker than those at IEM, and they should be emboldened by seeing Maru's mortality revealed.

The story of Impact's slow-but-steady progress arrived at an important chapter when he reached his second consecutive Code S RO16 this season. It proved that his RO16 advancement in the previous year was not a momentary blip, and that he had made real strides in bridging his online and offline performances. For his troubles he was rewarded the 'prize' of facing Maru as his first RO16 opponent.

Somehow, that joke gift may have turned into a real gift overnight. The original plan of taking second place in the group is still perfectly valid: Bunny is prone to spontaneously combusting, and Patience was regarded as one of the weakest players in the RO16 group selections.

But now Impact also has a small glimmer of hope that he might be able to also blindside Maru, should the opportunity come. Maru looked panicked and sluggish in his loss to Leenock—a far cry from the 2018 Maru who seemed like he'd never lose to inferior players. The cheesy approach employed by Leenock shouldn't be the hardest to imitate.

Speaking of cheese, Patience also lurks in this group. He's no longer the cheese-only player of old, but we all expect him to bring the unexpected in important matches.

Patience was good enough to earn a coveted online-qualifier seed at IEM Katowice, but his actual performance in the live, group stage in Poland was poor. Though we might brush off his PvP losses to Zest, Stats, and herO as being meaningless in this particular group, it wasn't encouraging to see him lose to Terran player SpeCial (who is definitely no Maru).

Patience doesn't seem like he has much of a shot of making it to the RO8, but who ever thought he'd make it through the IEM Katowice online qualifier in the first place? Whether it's by hitting opponents with the stupid gun or through pure Protoss devilry, he has a knack for beating the odds.

But of the three underdogs in the group, Bunny is the one that's best equipped to surprise everyone and make it to the Code S RO8 for the first time in his career. Not only did Bunny qualify for IEM Katowice in convincing fashion (getting through the FIRST Korean qualifier), he even scored some fantastic wins in the IEM group stage: he beat an extremely strong TvT player in TY, and defeated the eventual tournament champion in soO. As for TvP credentials... well Aligulac says Bunny's TvP win-rate over the past few months is 61%, which means he should be able to beat Patience, right?

Prediction

While it's easy to predict a slump for a player after a bad tournament result, in all likeliness IEM Katowice was just that for Maru: A single bad tournament. It could be the result that pushes him to the next level, like his near-elimination from Code S at the hands of KeeN last year. While all three of the other players have the potential to move on, Bunny impressed me the most so I'll give him the nod to advance.

Maru 2 – 0 Impact
Bunny 2 – 1 Patience
Maru 2 – 0 Bunny
Impact 2 – 1 Patience
Bunny 2 – 1 Impact

Maru and Bunny to advance.



Credits and acknowledgements

Writers: Destructicon
Editor: Wax
Images: AfreecaTV
Statistics: Aligulac.com
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TL+ Member
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33371 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-03-07 03:44:44
March 07 2019 03:18 GMT
#2
I expect and want Maru to get through...

But there's a part of me that's also just intrigued by the utter chaos scenario of him dropping out of Code S this early and what might ensoO afterward
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8989 Posts
March 07 2019 03:26 GMT
#3
I feel like this is a very Patience group to get out of.
Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33371 Posts
March 07 2019 03:28 GMT
#4
On March 07 2019 12:26 Nakajin wrote:
I feel like this is a very Patience group to get out of.


get treated like a delicious win-fruit at group selections, go 1-4 at IEM, advance to GSL quarterfinals—seems about right
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
EzioAs
Profile Joined September 2017
235 Posts
March 07 2019 04:21 GMT
#5
Get out Maru. I wanna see 2 players who have never made it to Code S Ro8 to advance for this group.
花は桜木人は武士
Azzur
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Australia6259 Posts
March 07 2019 04:29 GMT
#6
On March 07 2019 12:18 Waxangel wrote:
I expect and want Maru to get through...

But there's a part of me that's also just intrigued by the utter chaos scenario of him dropping out of Code S this early and what might ensoO afterward

What kind of storylines do you see ensoOing from the chaos?
Duceman
Profile Joined June 2018
United States87 Posts
March 07 2019 04:37 GMT
#7
well soO has only beaten other kongs in finals. Stats? He’s only beaten soO and Dark in finals. soO has beaten Stats and Dark. Dark beat Stats to win his SSL.

so soO is still the ultimate Kong in SC2 and the final boss of GSL. Stats is kind of becoming the final boss of global events tho.

he’s got nothing on YellOw though.
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8989 Posts
March 07 2019 04:46 GMT
#8
Honestly even tho SoO litteraly just won a tournament I have a hard time seeing him out of his group, he got the shitiest of match up for him. But maybe we are in for another surprise.
Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
starkiller123
Profile Joined January 2016
United States4030 Posts
March 07 2019 05:31 GMT
#9
feeling Maru and Bunny for this group
ZertoN
Profile Joined February 2014
Germany214 Posts
March 07 2019 05:31 GMT
#10
predicting terrans to win in 2k19 lul



in all seriousness though it is the best terran in the world with the 3 weakest players in the ro16, so he'll get out for sure but it's gonna be tough for bunny considering he has to play a protoss first. expecting maru+patience here
"I don't like games that i need to think a lot, i am not interested in those games." - TaeJa, 2016
Akio
Profile Blog Joined January 2019
Finland1838 Posts
March 07 2019 05:57 GMT
#11
Definitely Maru and Bunny for group A.

I have a feeling that the non-Asian international tourneys have shown Maru's oopsies more than in the domestic ones. This isn't really an excuse for him but I feel like the levek of domination is on a totally different level to that of his comfort level: Code S.
Mine gas, build tanks.
FrostedMiniWheats
Profile Joined August 2010
United States30730 Posts
March 07 2019 05:59 GMT
#12
If Maru doesn't 4-0 stomp that group it's time to worry
NesTea | Mvp | MC | Leenock | Losira | Gumiho | DRG | Taeja | Jinro | Stephano | Thorzain | Sen | Idra |Polt | Bomber | Symbol | Squirtle | Fantasy | Jaedong | Maru | sOs | Seed | ByuN | ByuL | Neeb| Scarlett | Rogue | IM forever
Sweetfrost
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden211 Posts
March 07 2019 06:46 GMT
#13
I don't know how much confidence Maru lost in Poland, but this group is perfect for regaining it. I agree with the author, Maru and Bunny advance.
Before practice, we ate Kimchi soup made my MMA. His cooking has made me so depressed that I think we may lose GSTL." -Miya
MrMischelito
Profile Joined February 2014
347 Posts
March 07 2019 08:04 GMT
#14
Maru's got this. I wouldn't read too much into his iem showing. anybody could have a bad day.
MockHamill
Profile Joined March 2010
Sweden1798 Posts
March 07 2019 08:50 GMT
#15
Every Terran had a bad day at IEM.

Maybe every Terran will have a bad day at GSL as well?

sneakyfox
Profile Joined January 2017
8216 Posts
March 07 2019 08:51 GMT
#16
On March 07 2019 13:46 Nakajin wrote:
Honestly even tho SoO litteraly just won a tournament I have a hard time seeing him out of his group, he got the shitiest of match up for him. But maybe we are in for another surprise.


Would it be a surprise if soO beats Rogue in his favourite matchup, then loses to TY/Gumi in the winner's, then Rogue takes out TY/Gumi in the loser's, and then soO advances over Rogue in the final match - in his favourite matchup?
"I saw what sneakyfox wrote on TL.net and it made me furious" - PartinG
gingerfluffmuff
Profile Joined January 2011
Austria4570 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-03-07 08:57:31
March 07 2019 08:56 GMT
#17
On March 07 2019 14:59 FrostedMiniWheats wrote:
If Maru doesn't 4-0 stomp that group it's time to worry

^ this.


Predicting Maru and Impact to advance
・゚✧:・゚+..。✧・゚:・..。 ✧・゚ :・゚ ゜・:・ ✧・゚:・゚:.。 ✧・゚ SPARKULING *・゜・:・゚✧:・゚✧。゚+..。 ✧・゚: ✧・゚:・゜・:・゚✧::・・:・゚・゚
Argonauta
Profile Joined July 2016
Spain4915 Posts
March 07 2019 09:12 GMT
#18
Maru at IEM is a puzzle, In one hand he looked terrible vs Neeb Trap and Leenock, in the other hand, he demolished Dark 2-0...

I am expecting a sweet 4-0 from him tho
Rogue | Maru | Scarlett | Trap
TL+ Member
StarcraftSquall
Profile Joined December 2018
United States196 Posts
March 07 2019 09:23 GMT
#19
It depends. In case you haven’t realized by now, Maru is two different players. If Good Maru shows up he’ll steamroll his way to RO8. If Bad Maru shows up he might end up proxy/cheesing his way right out of the tourney. He has a tendency to overcommit to the “cheese” strat in important moments. (See BlizzCon vs sOs for another reference). The other three players are not on his level BUT they are good enough to take advantage if he has an off day.
SHODAN
Profile Joined November 2011
United Kingdom1099 Posts
March 07 2019 09:30 GMT
#20
would be fun if Maru never dropped a map for the rest of this GSL
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