Code S RO16 - Group C Preview: Classic, Trap, INnoVation, sOs
by Wax
Wednesday, Mar 20 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00)
Both IEM Katowice and WESG 2018 have concluded, finally returning GSL Code S back to a normal schedule. Some fans would contend that the GSL schedule isn't the only thing that's been returned to normal, with Serral's defeats at IEM and WESG meaning that Code S is once again the home arena to the #1 player in the world. But that's a topic for another day or month (wink), so let's just get on with this round of sixteen preview.
WESG 2018 champion INnoVation headlines this group, as he returns to Korea with his tenth premiere championship, $150,000 in prize money, a strong case to be called the greatest of all time, and the utter adoration of Korean SC2 fans who desperately wanted to see Serral taken down a notch. Yet, you get the feeling that March 20th may not be a glorious homecoming for Korea's avenging hero.
Having three Protoss opponents initially looked advantageous for INnoVation back when the RO16 groups were drawn in mid-February. He had already trounced Hurricane (2-0) and Creator (2-0) to advance from the RO32, and having only one race to prepare for would streamline his practice. However, things seem a lot different a month later. The idea of a preparation advantage has gone out the window after INnoVation spent two weeks at international tournaments, where he somehow managed to play just a single TvP series. That match happened to be a 3-1 victory vs Russia's Rail, but even in victory, INnoVation looked less than convincing when he let Rail expand and mine his fill. He also lost 1-3 to herO in a recent Olimoleague tournament. That was a more 'conventional' loss, one that suggested his Code S group-mates might PROTOSS™ the living daylights out of him.
Look, I'm not predicting that INnoVation WILL follow in soO's path and suffer a post-championship crash in Code S. The guy just beat Maru and Serral for $150,000, for god's sake. But all the Terran pessimists out there will note that between getting 'macro-cheesed' by Rail and then getting regular cheesed by herO, INnoVation has shown us that there are a whole lot of ways to lose.
The first Protoss to try and knock INnoVation off his pedestal will be sOs. I mentioned 'Protossing' above—historically, there has been no greater master of that dark art than sOs. We must admit that the cold-blooded killer aura surrounding sOs has faded in recent years. If you like narratives and callbacks, you might even point to the 2017 Code S final between sOs and INnoVation as the pivotal moment where the myth of sOs was dispelled. Going in as a heavy underdog, sOs somehow turned the series into an ugly, seven game slog. Instead of conjuring magic, sOs fell flat in the final two games, failing a DT-Shadow Stride all-in in game six before losing to a simple tank push in game seven.
However, it's not like things have exactly gone downhill for sOs since then—in 2018 he took 2nd at IEM PyeongChang, 2nd at a GSL Super Tournament, and he also finished top four at BlizzCon. At that last tournament, he ruthlessly crushed all of our predictions and dreams by eliminating Maru. So, while sOs may not be the favorite to to walk away from tournaments with the big check anymore, he's certainly capable of spoiling INnoVation's—or anyone else's—parade.
On the other side of the bracket we have Trap, a player for whom I think most of our readers could write this preview segment (Why don't you give it a shot in the comment section?). It only takes four easy steps. #1: Mention that Trap hasn't been to the Code S quarterfinals since 2013. #2: Mention that Trap was eliminated in third place from his Code S RO16 group in all but one instance. #3: Note that the 'never top-eight' curse stayed alive at IEM Katowice with Trap getting eliminated in the RO12. #4: Make a random GG-emini joke.
It's easy and lame to predict that a trend will continue until you actually see it be broken. Alas, I am easy and lame. Thus, while I don't see Trap beating INnoVation with a quarterfinal spot on the line, it would not be that shocking to see him eliminate INnoVation in the losers match before getting eliminated himself in the group decider match.
Finally, we have the most overlooked player in the entire RO16. While virtually every mid-top-tier Korean progamer was busy competing at IEM Katowice, poor Classic was left to practice at home due to being denied travel permission by the strict Korean government (Classic's age [27] technically makes him a draft-dodge risk).
It's a shame that we had to take a break from Classic Quest, because it was looking to be one of the more intriguing—if subtle—individual stories of 2019. If we rewind back to 2018, the Chin-toss looked to be making an incredible late-career surge with high placements at IEM and WESG. However, he crumbled midway through the year, and blew his last chance at BlizzCon by getting eliminated in the RO16 by SpeCial. A strong Code S RO32 performance (wins vs TRUE and Trap) suggested that 2019 was being set up to be Classic's final story arc: A heroic, last campaign for a battle-weary soldier. However, such a story could only be overshadowed by the blockbuster events of the last month, such as soO's ultimate redemption as well as Serral vs Korea (read in an inner-voice that's several octaves deeper and with the Inception horn at the end).
With a 4-3 match record but only a 9-11 map score in PvT matches since the start of the WCS 2019 cycle, the stats say Classic will be hard-pressed to trouble INnoVation. Yet, as the only player who had a full month to prepare for his group, we may soon discover that he was the favorite all-along.
Predictions
Let me preface these predictions with the totally useless disclaimer that I really 'wanted' to predict against INnoVation advancing, but just couldn't 'bring myself' to do it. Instead, I ended up going chalk and predicting alongside the majority of Liquibet participants.
Classic > Trap INnoVation > sOs Classic < INnoVation Trap > sOs Classic > Trap
Okay Wax, Trap over sOs!? How much did Gemini pay you?
On another note, this should be a group that's fun for Protoss players such as myselft who actually enjoys PvP. Been wanting to see some more high level PvP other than the relentless assault style that herO showed at Katowice.
On March 19 2019 14:27 EzioAs wrote: Okay Wax, Trap over sOs!? How much did Gemini pay you?
On another note, this should be a group that's fun for Protoss players such as myselft who actually enjoys PvP. Been wanting to see some more high level PvP other than the relentless assault style that herO showed at Katowice.
I'm hoping it's just zealot-archon balls mashing each other, just to spite you
On March 19 2019 14:27 EzioAs wrote: Okay Wax, Trap over sOs!? How much did Gemini pay you?
On another note, this should be a group that's fun for Protoss players such as myselft who actually enjoys PvP. Been wanting to see some more high level PvP other than the relentless assault style that herO showed at Katowice.
I'm hoping it's just zealot-archon balls mashing each other, just to spite you
I'll see your zealot-archon ball and raise you blink stalkers/disruptor ball instead.
On March 19 2019 14:27 EzioAs wrote: Okay Wax, Trap over sOs!? How much did Gemini pay you?
On another note, this should be a group that's fun for Protoss players such as myselft who actually enjoys PvP. Been wanting to see some more high level PvP other than the relentless assault style that herO showed at Katowice.
I'm hoping it's just zealot-archon balls mashing each other, just to spite you
I'll see your zealot-archon ball and raise you blink stalkers/disruptor ball instead.
On March 19 2019 14:27 EzioAs wrote: Okay Wax, Trap over sOs!? How much did Gemini pay you?
On another note, this should be a group that's fun for Protoss players such as myselft who actually enjoys PvP. Been wanting to see some more high level PvP other than the relentless assault style that herO showed at Katowice.
I'm hoping it's just zealot-archon balls mashing each other, just to spite you
I'll see your zealot-archon ball and raise you blink stalkers/disruptor ball instead.
I'll take either over a resurgence of Phoenix vs Phoenix (PvP).
I’m not a Korean SC2 fan - but probably the worst thing to see in StarCraft is not your favorite player losing in a big tourney and then being constantly mocked for it (I cop to being a fan of both Serral and Neeb mostly so that’s happened a lot recently); no, the worst thing is not seeing a player be able to even try their hand. Lost in all this is the sad case of Classic, one of the best Protoss hopes out there. What’s even worse, if he somehow wins Code S he will more than likely forfeit his BlizzCon spot. If he wins, he loses. If he loses, he loses. It’s really the StarCraft fan base who lost this month, when we couldn’t see him try his luck at either IEM or WESG. Because regardless of which side you’re on we want to see the best everyone has.
Lol TL writers are already positioning for Serral to not be rank 1 in powerranks.
"He lost! Innovation won! Clearly Innovation is the best player!"
Apparently one map (3-4 finals) is enough to completely disregard Serral's outrageous 2018 and continued strong play in 2019, and overlook Innovations abysmal 2018.
Crazy kids. This is what happened with soO, who promptly fell directly out of his GSL group.
Wax poised to continue his poor trend of failed power ranking leadership.
Is it just me or is this preview really well-written? As in, way better than I expected for a fairly standard GSL Ro16 group (not a group of death or big rivalry or some such). History of the players, recent events, a couple digs at one player or another, almost even a dark horse prediction. And the Inception horn.
Maybe I just haven't paid attention to the other previews. But they didn't have an Inception horn.
On March 19 2019 16:54 Dave4 wrote: Lol TL writers are already positioning for Serral to not be rank 1 in powerranks.
"He lost! Innovation won! Clearly Innovation is the best player!"
Apparently one map (3-4 finals) is enough to completely disregard Serral's outrageous 2018 and continued strong play in 2019, and overlook Innovations abysmal 2018.
Crazy kids. This is what happened with soO, who promptly fell directly out of his GSL group.
Wax poised to continue his poor trend of failed power ranking leadership.
On topic, Classic/sHy to advance.
ROFL, made my morning better. I've been entertained very well.
On March 19 2019 16:54 Dave4 wrote: Lol TL writers are already positioning for Serral to not be rank 1 in powerranks.
"He lost! Innovation won! Clearly Innovation is the best player!"
Apparently one map (3-4 finals) is enough to completely disregard Serral's outrageous 2018 and continued strong play in 2019, and overlook Innovations abysmal 2018.
Crazy kids. This is what happened with soO, who promptly fell directly out of his GSL group.
Wax poised to continue his poor trend of failed power ranking leadership.
On topic, Classic/sHy to advance.
LOL ( I definitely exhaled air from the nose at reading this!). What a weird rant coming out of the blue. GG
I was confident in Trap advancing but after seeing him lose to DTs vs herO in the most obvious fashion.. I dunno kev. ITs between the 3 protoss. I can see INno getting protossed out perfectly.
On March 19 2019 21:43 renaissanceMAN wrote: Robogus gonna run over these dudes #thebotisback
He has to practice just 1 MU, so I expect him to be 2nd. Because I love Classic. No, screw that, 3rd, because I love Classic and sOs. If only there was a way how to push through Classic, sOs and Trap
On March 19 2019 16:54 Dave4 wrote: Lol TL writers are already positioning for Serral to not be rank 1 in powerranks.
"He lost! Innovation won! Clearly Innovation is the best player!"
Apparently one map (3-4 finals) is enough to completely disregard Serral's outrageous 2018 and continued strong play in 2019, and overlook Innovations abysmal 2018.
Crazy kids. This is what happened with soO, who promptly fell directly out of his GSL group.
Wax poised to continue his poor trend of failed power ranking leadership.
On topic, Classic/sHy to advance.
User was banned for this post.
Roflmao >_<
Really hope Inno can keep up his winstreak and show these protosses whats what, also really cheering for both Classic and Trap though =P As long as sOs doesn't get out I'll be happy xD
Picked Classic and Inno, but there's a chance sOs making it and Inno dropping. Classic should do his best to win this tournament because the military might warp him anytime soon.
On March 19 2019 16:54 Dave4 wrote: Lol TL writers are already positioning for Serral to not be rank 1 in powerranks.
"He lost! Innovation won! Clearly Innovation is the best player!"
Apparently one map (3-4 finals) is enough to completely disregard Serral's outrageous 2018 and continued strong play in 2019, and overlook Innovations abysmal 2018.
Crazy kids. This is what happened with soO, who promptly fell directly out of his GSL group.
Wax poised to continue his poor trend of failed power ranking leadership.
On topic, Classic/sHy to advance.
User was banned for this post.
Lmao is this really grounds for a perma ban? Should've been a temp ban. This was very entertaining.
I think sOs gets out in first, and Inno squeaks out in 2nd. This should be a really fun group, all of the Protosses are pretty evenly matched and innovation vs Protoss is always a macro treat.
On March 19 2019 16:54 Dave4 wrote: Lol TL writers are already positioning for Serral to not be rank 1 in powerranks.
"He lost! Innovation won! Clearly Innovation is the best player!"
Apparently one map (3-4 finals) is enough to completely disregard Serral's outrageous 2018 and continued strong play in 2019, and overlook Innovations abysmal 2018.
Crazy kids. This is what happened with soO, who promptly fell directly out of his GSL group.
Wax poised to continue his poor trend of failed power ranking leadership.
On topic, Classic/sHy to advance.
User was banned for this post.
Lmao is this really grounds for a perma ban? Should've been a temp ban. This was very entertaining.
Its not the first time the dude has been... disruptive.
EDIT: Also, Classic wins GSL S1, im from the future and im not sorry for the lack of spoiler tag.
On March 19 2019 16:54 Dave4 wrote: Lol TL writers are already positioning for Serral to not be rank 1 in powerranks.
"He lost! Innovation won! Clearly Innovation is the best player!"
Apparently one map (3-4 finals) is enough to completely disregard Serral's outrageous 2018 and continued strong play in 2019, and overlook Innovations abysmal 2018.
Crazy kids. This is what happened with soO, who promptly fell directly out of his GSL group.
Wax poised to continue his poor trend of failed power ranking leadership.
On topic, Classic/sHy to advance.
User was banned for this post.
Lmao is this really grounds for a perma ban? Should've been a temp ban. This was very entertaining.
Its not the first time the dude has been... disruptive.
Clearly it’s the 4th.
Does anyone know if they’re playing with the new patch with increased Protoss upgrade times?
On March 19 2019 16:54 Dave4 wrote: Lol TL writers are already positioning for Serral to not be rank 1 in powerranks.
"He lost! Innovation won! Clearly Innovation is the best player!"
Apparently one map (3-4 finals) is enough to completely disregard Serral's outrageous 2018 and continued strong play in 2019, and overlook Innovations abysmal 2018.
Crazy kids. This is what happened with soO, who promptly fell directly out of his GSL group.
Wax poised to continue his poor trend of failed power ranking leadership.
On topic, Classic/sHy to advance.
User was banned for this post.
Lmao is this really grounds for a perma ban? Should've been a temp ban. This was very entertaining.
Its not the first time the dude has been... disruptive.
Clearly it’s the 4th.
Does anyone know if they’re playing with the new patch with increased Protoss upgrade times?
On March 19 2019 16:54 Dave4 wrote: Lol TL writers are already positioning for Serral to not be rank 1 in powerranks.
"He lost! Innovation won! Clearly Innovation is the best player!"
Apparently one map (3-4 finals) is enough to completely disregard Serral's outrageous 2018 and continued strong play in 2019, and overlook Innovations abysmal 2018.
Crazy kids. This is what happened with soO, who promptly fell directly out of his GSL group.
Wax poised to continue his poor trend of failed power ranking leadership.
On topic, Classic/sHy to advance.
User was banned for this post.
You know, ESPN takes personalities like this and features them on their shows (e.g., Skip Bayless, Stephen A Smith, Max Kellerman). It sure is something when an eSports forum has higher content standards for its users than a multi-billion global sports media platforms has for its "star" employees.
On March 19 2019 16:54 pvsnp wrote: Is it just me or is this preview really well-written? As in, way better than I expected for a fairly standard GSL Ro16 group (not a group of death or big rivalry or some such). History of the players, recent events, a couple digs at one player or another, almost even a dark horse prediction. And the Inception horn.
Maybe I just haven't paid attention to the other previews. But they didn't have an Inception horn.
On March 19 2019 16:54 Dave4 wrote: Lol TL writers are already positioning for Serral to not be rank 1 in powerranks.
"He lost! Innovation won! Clearly Innovation is the best player!"
Apparently one map (3-4 finals) is enough to completely disregard Serral's outrageous 2018 and continued strong play in 2019, and overlook Innovations abysmal 2018.
Crazy kids. This is what happened with soO, who promptly fell directly out of his GSL group.
Wax poised to continue his poor trend of failed power ranking leadership.
On topic, Classic/sHy to advance.
User was banned for this post.
Lmao is this really grounds for a perma ban? Should've been a temp ban. This was very entertaining.
Its not the first time the dude has been... disruptive.
EDIT: Also, Classic wins GSL S1, im from the future and im not sorry for the lack of spoiler tag.
Hm, a perma ban seems drastic to me as well, considering that Dave's evil twin(it's a playful expression, don't worry) will soon be allowed back on the forum; however, I think it might be the right decision as Dave never showed to be willing to improve. I can't deny I am, as well, personally still disappointed by the "drunken rank" before HSC but flaming the writers 24/7 surely isn't the right way of express said disappointment.
This group is one of the hardest for me to try to predict, I still don't have a clear idea who to Liquibet on; I would exclude Trap but after that I have no clue. I actually skipped some of the first Liquibets this season because I believed I'd have lost the points instead of not gaining them in case of a failed prediction...
With innovation going from IEM back to Korea and then to WESG and back to Korea I really can't see him getting out of this group. I also question how consistent his TvP is.
I pretty much have considered sOs to be pretty bad for the entirety of lotv but he will probably advance just to spite me, I just hope INno makes it out
Classic - is looking very solid right now. His matchups are good and his form is good. I expect him to take out Trap in a PvP and then take the winner of the next match to 2-0. No zergs in this group is good for Classic IMO.
Trap - Trap always seems to get knocked out of tournaments by PvPs, as he is very medium in that matchup and I expect it to not really be different here. Everytime I watch him PvT and PvZ I always wonder how he hasn't placed super high in a lot of tournaments and then I watch him play a pvp and that thought disappears. He does....fine, but without the asymmetry he doesn't do as well. I expect him to go 0-2 in this group unless he gets double innovation. He deserves higher placements then he's been getting but he keeps getting screwed by brackets.
Innovation - Inno's TvP is like Inno himself, it either looks insanely strong and unbeatable or a horribly mediocre. If strong Inno shows up I expect him to 2-0 otherwise I expect him to 0-2. His victories against Maru and Serral were impressive but he's also historically matched up quite well against both of them and he was simply stronger then the rest of the competition (yet still showed some serious weakness). I think he is closer to the quick exit then the quick victory.
SoS - SoS is also streaky but he is positioned very well for this group. He is fantastic in PvP and PvT is in a good place right now and his style meshes well against Inno's. I expect him to advance with a 2-1 with a 2-0 looking like a very real possibility.
Classic > Trap SoS > Innovation Classic > SoS (This could go either way, I'm just biased towards classic. Totally even matchup in reality) Trap > Innovation (Will just be the difference between 3rd/4th for both of them) SoS > Trap (and also over Inno if that occurs)
It only takes four easy steps. #1: Mention that Trap hasn't been to the Code S quarterfinals since 2013. #2: Mention that Trap was eliminated in third place from his Code S RO16 group in all but one instance. #3: Note that the 'never top-eight' curse stayed alive at IEM Katowice with Trap getting eliminated in the RO12.
Let me preface these predictions with the totally useless disclaimer that I really 'wanted' to predict against INnoVation advancing, but just couldn't 'bring myself' to do it. Instead, I ended up going chalk and predicting alongside the majority of Liquibet participants.
I always love to re-read the predictions after the games :D
These Trap Facts makes his Ro8 qualification even better !
Well my predictions were very close. Trap played very well last night, and SoS went for some....unconventional pvp choices and nearly mindgamed himself straight out of the game. Very happy to see Trap get through. I bet he makes it to top 4 this tournament. He's criminally underrated as a player and people always sleep on him. That nexus recall for the flank vs Innovation was a thing of beauty. Trap vs TY should be a good series and hopefully much better than the PvTs vs TY we've seen in the GSL the last year.