The Code S round-of-sixteen concluded concluded with the Terran duo of INnoVation and Maru advancing from the Group D, finalizing the eight-player playoff bracket. The first set of quarterfinal matches of Dark vs TY and PartinG vs Maru will be played on Wednesday, May 20 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00), while the second pairing of Dear vs Cure and Trap vs INnoVation will be played on Saturday, May 23 4:00am GMT (GMT+00:00).
INnoVation backed up his previous boasts that he was the inevitable champion in waiting, advancing from the "group of death" with a clean 2-0 wins over Zest and Maru.
The specific way in which INnoVation defeated such illustrious opponents only made his victories more impressive. Facing Zest in his initial match, INnoVation opened up with a fake two-base timing while hiding a third base in a corner of the map. Zest was completely duped by the strategy, and his conservative play saw him get completely overrun once INnoVation's superior economy kicked in. INnoVation got even more creative in game two, going for an all-in off just one base. While it was perhaps not the best strategy in theory, it was unorthodox enough to knock Zest off balance and nab the 2-0 win for INnoVation.
Against Maru in the winners match, INnoVation won a more typical 'INnoVation-style' victory in game one. Despite taking heavy early SCV damage against Maru's early harassment, INnoVation was still able to come back and overpower Maru in the late-game Marine-Tank wars. INnoVation finished Maru off in game two with another oddball strategy: a two-Starport Battlecruiser rush. Even Maru had to laugh after BC's and Hellions hit an unusual but deadly 'timing-attack,' sending INnoVation to the playoffs.
Fortunately for Maru, his decision to pick RagnaroK during the group selections turned out to be quite shrewd. Just as in his match vs Maru in the previous season of Code S, RagnaroK impressed viewers by keeping up in straight-up macro games... ...until Maru's multitasking overwhelmed him and the games spiraled out of control. With two victories over hand-picked opponent RagnaroK, Maru advanced to the RO8 in 2nd place.
Recommended games: INnoVation's games were one-sided, but it was still fascinating to see him use his reputation as a textbook player against his opponents. Maru vs RagnaroK wasn't truly close, but it's probably the kind of content Terran players would enjoy injecting directly into their veins while repeating the "just play like Maru" mantra.
Innovation's games looked like GM vs masters or something. You know, those games where they just do some wonky shit because they know they'll win regardless??
Great games by Innovation. Haven't seen him playing like this for a long time. (I mean using 'sneaky' builds or 'dirty' tricks). Hope he can win another GSL tournament, and kick DPG players' asses(Cure, Dark, and Parting). Now I am a fan of Kaizi Gaming cause they have two of my favorite terrain players the Lee Brothers! Inno(Big Lee), and Time(Small Lee).
To watch the mind games form INno in game 2 vs Maru was just great, by watching the game alone you could feel how confused Maru was, just because he expected either standard play or the hidden base in the bottom right corner, plus INno masterfully declined his scouting. That was really cool. In both series you could see INnos confidence in his play, i like him but im not his biggest fan out there, but damn is it entertaining to have him in that state at the moment.
excuse my lack of sc2 knowledge, but ppl thinking trap will win against innovation in a bo5 is because trap is the favorite to will the whole thing or because of his pvt perhaps ?
On May 19 2020 15:07 TornadoSteve wrote: Hi, from bw.
excuse my lack of sc2 knowledge, but ppl thinking trap will win against innovation in a bo5 is because trap is the favorite to will the whole thing or because of his pvt perhaps ?
PvT is Trap's best matchup by far, which is why some people think he will win despite Inno being the favorite for the whole season. He is in great form and has not dropped a map so far despite playing some of the strongest players. Other favorites like Maru and Dark have shown some weaknesses and lost games or series.
Personally I think Trap will get smashed, because his PvT looked pretty shaky against a much weaker Terran (Bunny) in the previous round. His defense was on point but he committed to multiple bad engagements, which cost him the first series and almost cost him the decider. He's also a very orthodox macro player, which Inno can probably exploit with the same kind of tricky builds he used to defeat another Protoss (Zest) in the previous round.
I m a bit suprised that no one mentioned the practise situations for the players: DPG with Dark, Cure and Parting: Both Dark and Parting face a Terran, so will need practise with Cure, but Cure needs Parcatise against Toss, so will most likely train more with Parting than with Dark. Somewhere in the CTC thread someone mentioned, that DPG is enforcing quite a strict practise regime on their players, so wouldn t be suprised, if they schedule the practise games from the 3 of them. Jin Air with Trap and Maru: That is more straightforward: Maru needs a P, Trap a T to practise, so they will probably lock themselve in for 10h a day and try to analyse each others opponent and figure out some builds. Kaizi with Inno and Dear: same as Jin Air Ty doesn t have a Team, but there is only one Zerg left in the Code S, so he most likely to be able to train with a lot of the drop outs. He also has Special to assist him in startegy choices as well.
In my eyes the different environment the players are in is as cruical as their individual skill. This is as much about the Teams, as it is about the players, as there are only 3 Teams represented.
I really feel like not enough credits are given to Ragnarok. Against most other terrans, or a not-in-godlike-shape Maru, he would have likely hold his ground. The way he played was really good. Not fancy looking nor aggressive sure, but still impressively solid.
On May 19 2020 22:01 AbouSV wrote: I really feel like not enough credits are given to Ragnarok. Against most other terrans, or a not-in-godlike-shape Maru, he would have likely hold his ground. The way he played was really good. Not fancy looking nor aggressive sure, but still impressively solid.
Yeah, had he played INnoVation instead of Maru he might have had a decent chance at advancing
On May 19 2020 22:01 AbouSV wrote: I really feel like not enough credits are given to Ragnarok. Against most other terrans, or a not-in-godlike-shape Maru, he would have likely hold his ground. The way he played was really good. Not fancy looking nor aggressive sure, but still impressively solid.
Yes Ragnarok has improved a lot and with what he showed against Maru, it would probably have been enough against any other Terran, or at least it would have been closer. He played 3 series against Innovation in online cups recently with 7:6 mapscore in favor of Inno (2:1, 3:4, 1:2). He also beat TY and has been mopping the floor with protosses quite regularly.
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2020_21/codes1/ro8bracketcapture.jpg)
