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Code S RO24 Preview: Dear, DRG, Dream, sOs

Forum Index > SC2 General
13 CommentsPost a Reply

Code S RO24 Preview: Dear, DRG, Dream, sOs

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
June 30th, 2020 23:53 GMT

2020 GSL Code S Season 2 - Round of 24

by Wax

Cosmic law dictates that for every group of death, there must be a group of life.

Thus, when Maru, Zest, INnoVation, and RagnaroK engaged in mortal combat in last season's RO16, it was inevitable that the universe would balance things out sooner or later. Now, we see that natural order come into play. We present to you the group of life, where everyone has a chance of surviving.

More info: GSL Code S Season 2 on Liquipedia


Group D Preview: Dear, DongRaeGu, Dream, sOs

Start time: Wednesday, Jul 01 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00)

The nominal favorite in this group is Dear , who comes in as the "Tier 1" seed after collecting points from Code S Season 1 (top 8) and the Super Tournament (top 16). But, with all due respect, I think Dear has to be the least intimidating of all the Tier 1 players. The reason is, that while Dear grinds out enough wins to advance through every qualifier and group stage, he's been getting annihilated in just about every big match he's played in 2020. He got mangled by Zest at IEM Katowice, lost to Cure in the Super Tournament, and got beat down even harder by Cure in their Code S rematch. Even in the abrupt Dreamhack Summer Finals play-in match, Dear got swept by Trap. Not only that, but he recently lost an important playoff match against Dream in the Gold Series Team Championship, which contributed to powerhouse KaiZi Gaming suffering an embarrassing upset to BSG in the semifinals. Long story short, Dear has a case to be called the absolute least clutch player of 2020.

The question is, how much does that matter in the easiest round of Code S? For all the jokes we make about his inconsistency and highly variable skill-level, Dear has advanced to the RO16 or higher in three consecutive Code S seasons before now. Some of the BO5 matches Dear has played this year make it feel like a stretch to call him a 'solid macro player' (the bonjwa of clichés)—a solid player wouldn't be so bad at defense and straight-up die to early attacks so much. Really, I'm at a loss to say what makes Dear good or bad—he just wins games, except when he doesn't. A prediction in favor of Dear here is effectively saying this irregular regular is still a better bet than two military-returnees and the wildest card in the GSL deck.

I hadn't really been noticing DongRaeGu so much for the games he plays—rather, he's been on my mind because of the regular stream of shout-outs he gets from other Zerg players in Korea, who thank him for helping them out with their Zerg theorycraft. Maybe, in an alternate timeline, KeSPA Proleague would still be around and DongRaeGu would have continued his post-military career as a coach. Alas, he's stuck in our present reality, where players who return from military service have to claw and scrap to even sniff the Code S round of sixteen.

DRG looked a bit out of his depth last Code S, as he lost 0-2 to Zest and lost 1-2 to Impact in the RO24. Recently, he looked better in the AfreecaTV BJ Destruction match (a mini team league), where was far from being a weak link on team "3ERG" alongside RagnaroK and Rogue. DRG went 1-1 against Cure playing straight-up macro games, went 1-1 against Zest's glaive-adepts, and generally looked like a player who would look okay in the RO16. DongRaeGu has also been excellent in recent Olimoleague weeklies, reaching the finals in three consecutive weeks (presumably skipping last Monday's tournament due to his upcoming GSL match). All this makes me nervously excited for a strong showing from DongRaeGu in this rather easy group—even first place seems to be in play. My big worry, as always, is that online matches are a rather sketchy predictor of how a player will do in the AfreecaTV studio.

The other military-returnee of Group D is Dream, who continually teases us with the hope of a huge breakout performance before letting us down. In the Autumn of 2019, he strung together a few weeks of solid team league and online cup performances as he headed into the Super Tournament. He got destroyed. This spring, Dream 3-0'd Dark in straight-up macro games in the Kung Fu Cup right before his Code S group. He got destroyed. Last weekend, Dream went on a twelve game winning streak in the Gold Series Team Championship playoffs, including an all-kill over KaiZi gaming where he defeated INnoVation, Dear, Time, and INnoVation a second time. If there was ever a time StarCraft II needed the 'm-m-m-monster kill! sound from Quake/Dota2, this was it. Man, I really hope he doesn't get destroyed.

TaeJa might be a bigger fan favorite, but for me, Dream is the player that I'm hoping will prove there is life after military service. In his best games, he shows great mechanics that are are close to that of the top Terrans in the scene. That's a crucial part of his potential. Slowdown of in terms of mechanics, where the hands can't follow the brain, is something several players who return from the military (or have simply grown older) cite as a serious problem in staying competitive. If Dream still has 70-80% of the blazing hands he had back in 2015, then it's very realistic that he could become a Code S playoff player in the present.

Finally, we have sOs, who defies any kind of conventional assessment. Let me dig up what I said about sOs before IEM Katowice:

For ruthlessly cheesing his way to that victory, as well as paydays at BlizzCon 2013 and 2015, sOs has earned infinite "you can never count him out" credit. I don't care that all those achievements were in Heart of the Swarm or the fact that sOs never got out of the Code S group stages in 2019. For all I care, he could be retired for 15 years and be stuck in Bronze League, and I'd still consider him one of the most dangerous competitors on the planet.


Nope, I don't think anything has happened to make me change my mind. Not even his RO24 elimination last season, his suspicious lack of games played since then, or his meager 6-5 match record in those games. I have to give you the requisite reminder that sOs is especially dangerous in new patches and new map pools. Yes, this map pool and balance patch aren't really that 'new' anymore. No, I don't think there's a way to use offensive battery overcharge that isn't horribly, horribly bad. But, I must remind you all again: this is sOs. He'll figure something out.

Predictions: (Not that this has anything to do with my predictions, but I decided to check out TY's YouTube previews to see if I could get any insider hints on this group of closely matched players. Alas, he decided to his preview entirely through One Piece analogies that I did not get.)

DRG > Dear
Dream > sOs
Dream > DRG
sOs > Dear
sOs > DRG

Dream and sOs advance.



Credits and acknowledgements

Writer: Wax
Images: AfreecaTV
Statistics: Aligulac.com and Liquipedia

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TL+ Member
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland25270 Posts
July 01 2020 00:00 GMT
#2
Minor quibble but isn’t ‘monster kill’ out of Unreal Tournament?

Just feel refreshed on the game after introducing my 7 year old last weekend, who was rather happy to achieve one.

'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
TentativePanda
Profile Joined August 2014
United States800 Posts
July 01 2020 00:08 GMT
#3
This group is so hard to predict. All of them can get out of the group and in any order.

Not only is it extremely close by the naked eye, but they are ranked 22, 24-26 in the world on Aligulac. Crazy
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland25270 Posts
July 01 2020 00:14 GMT
#4
I do agree with your predictions though, like actually 100%

DRG will bop Dear in Dear’s obligatory ‘sucking at defence for one set’ game and manage to take one of the remaining two games.

Dream looks scary but may underperform, still see him taking out sOs on current shape/meta. See him taking out DRG I’m reasonably standard games in the winner’s

sOs will do one utterly ridiculous build in the loser’s match against Dear. Dear will also throw a standard/even game in that series, probably in the decider.

I feel then DRG and sOs will trade in standard games the first two games of the final match, only for sOs and DRG to both do whacky cheeses in the decider. As sOS is the master of utter wackiness and DRG has merely momentarily set foot in that domain I expect him to win by experience of madness.

Not specific predictions at all of course, I expect to be roundly mocked if they fail to come to pass and hero worshipped if they pan out exactly as I said.

'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
RatzBarcode
Profile Joined December 2013
United States98 Posts
July 01 2020 00:29 GMT
#5
Is autumn of 2012 correct, or should that year be more recent?
rickzou
Profile Joined May 2019
46 Posts
July 01 2020 01:13 GMT
#6
would love to see dream coming back to his best form, back in the good old SSL days
wchigo
Profile Joined September 2010
China71 Posts
July 01 2020 02:27 GMT
#7
Can anyone link me to TY’s channel? I gotta see those One Piece analogies...!
pvsnp
Profile Joined January 2017
7676 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-07-01 02:48:09
July 01 2020 02:47 GMT
#8
On July 01 2020 11:27 wchigo wrote:
Can anyone link me to TY’s channel? I gotta see those One Piece analogies...!


Channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8jw8nkrFeBCZKbD38PCkMA



Group D predictions.
Denominator of the Universe
TL+ Member
Cricketer12
Profile Blog Joined May 2012
United States13974 Posts
July 01 2020 04:50 GMT
#9
Dream sOs and DRG are all favorites so this group is going to hurt...especially when Dear wins and only one of the three makes it to the ro16
Kaina + Drones Linkcro Summon Cupsie Yummy Way
wchigo
Profile Joined September 2010
China71 Posts
July 01 2020 05:13 GMT
#10
On July 01 2020 11:47 pvsnp wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 01 2020 11:27 wchigo wrote:
Can anyone link me to TY’s channel? I gotta see those One Piece analogies...!


Channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8jw8nkrFeBCZKbD38PCkMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7taBCJTqGs

Group D predictions.

Thanks!
dbRic1203
Profile Joined July 2019
Germany2655 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-07-01 05:45:52
July 01 2020 05:41 GMT
#11
I hope Dream makes it this time, he s an amazing Player and I always feel like he underrated compared to the other returnees.
I hope SOS comes up with an Offensive use of the childbattery.
I ve seen MaxPax doing it a couple of Times now (he even beat Clem with it once). Would be amazing to see such a baboon strategy in Code S
MaxPax
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany6927 Posts
July 01 2020 06:01 GMT
#12
On July 01 2020 09:00 Wombat_NI wrote:
Minor quibble but isn’t ‘monster kill’ out of Unreal Tournament?

Just feel refreshed on the game after introducing my 7 year old last weekend, who was rather happy to achieve one.



Oh the memories

Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland25270 Posts
July 02 2020 22:24 GMT
#13
On July 01 2020 15:01 Harris1st wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 01 2020 09:00 Wombat_NI wrote:
Minor quibble but isn’t ‘monster kill’ out of Unreal Tournament?

Just feel refreshed on the game after introducing my 7 year old last weekend, who was rather happy to achieve one.



Oh the memories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI24uiKlGjA

Still so salty Epic canned the latest
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland25270 Posts
July 02 2020 22:27 GMT
#14
On July 01 2020 09:14 Wombat_NI wrote:
I do agree with your predictions though, like actually 100%

DRG will bop Dear in Dear’s obligatory ‘sucking at defence for one set’ game and manage to take one of the remaining two games.

Dream looks scary but may underperform, still see him taking out sOs on current shape/meta. See him taking out DRG I’m reasonably standard games in the winner’s

sOs will do one utterly ridiculous build in the loser’s match against Dear. Dear will also throw a standard/even game in that series, probably in the decider.

I feel then DRG and sOs will trade in standard games the first two games of the final match, only for sOs and DRG to both do whacky cheeses in the decider. As sOS is the master of utter wackiness and DRG has merely momentarily set foot in that domain I expect him to win by experience of madness.

Not specific predictions at all of course, I expect to be roundly mocked if they fail to come to pass and hero worshipped if they pan out exactly as I said.


Hate to toot my own horn, these rather specific predictions weren’t TOO terrible :p
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
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