EPT
The grueling full-set brawls of day one gave way to more one-sided scores on day two of Code A, with sOs, ByuN, and Solar advancing on to Code S. Still, the map-score doesn't tell the full story, as both sOs and ByuN had to fight off stiff challenges from their opponents. Only Solar had a truly dominating outing, crushing the recently discharged GuMiho without much trouble.
sOs takes down RagnaroK, feat. an insufferable late-game stalemate
After sOs went 0-3 in PvZ matches during this season's GSL qualifiers—INCLUDING a 1-2 loss to RagnaroK—this Code A rematch seemed like a potential deathtrap for the three-time world champion. But after a botched cannon rush on the first map, sOs' creativity helped him rally back to win three games in a row—including an excruciatingly slow 45-minute staring contest on Lightshade.
sOs got off to an absolutely disastrous start in game one (Blackburn), losing in comical fashion after Drones sniped his only Probe during a proxy 2-Gate + Cannon all-in. Despite that fiasco, sOs wasn't afraid to go for another unorthodox maneuver in game two (Romanticide), following his 2-Stargate opener with an unusual 8-Gate Glaive-Adepts 'timing.' This actually worked out pretty decently against RagnaroK's greedy Hydralisk play, keeping the Zerg forces at bay while late-game tech was established for Protoss. RagnaroK tried to strike once he assembled a Hydra-Lurker-Viper swarm, but sOs easily held it off with Void Rays and Templars at home while inflicting devastating economic damage with Zealot backdoors. From that advantageous position, sOs was able to finish the game easily with a Carrier transition.
With the score tied 1-1, the two players headed into game three (Lightshade) for the longest bout of the season so far. There was plenty of early and mid-game action, including a cute 1-gate proxy opener from sOs, but the game ultimately bogged down into full-on, 50/50 map-split stalemate. Unfortunately for RagnaroK, his heavy investment in static defenses really didn't pay off as he was unable to inch them forward into an offensive position. He never found a way to take good trades, while sOs was content to slowly chip away with Tempests without taking any serious risks. sOs was more than content to wait and see which player lost patience first, and that ended up being Ragnarok who took some horrible fights into Protoss territory.
Ultimately, nearly all the resources on the map became exhausted, and we got to see how much more efficient sOs had been over the long term: As RagnaroK reached a bank of zero, sOs still had around 16000/12000 left over. When the observer revealed the resources lost tab, RagnaroK had been crushed by a huge 40000/15000 to 23000/7000 margin. RagnaroK had no choice but to launch a last ditch attack and GG out to Protoss reinforcements.
After playing a marathon game, sOs mercifully ended things quickly in game four (Oxide). After showing RagnaroK's scouting Overlord a Robo-first start, sOs transitioned into Twilight council for an off-tempo Glaive Adept strike. Despite clearly seeing some suspicious warp-ins around his base, RagnaroK simply didn't start producing units in time and was slowly torn apart by mass Adepts.
ByuN elated to beat Percival, who "took INnoVation's spot in TvT"
ByuN is known as one of the most expressive players in the competitive StarCraft II scene, but few fans would have expected him to have celebrated like he had won a playoff series after defeating Percival 3-1 in Code A. But that was indeed the case on Thursday night, with ByuN revealing later that he had been unconfident in TvT, and had mounds of respect for the one-time Code S player Percival. Regarding the 19-year-old Terran's TvT skills, ByuN even went so far as to suggest he was worthy of taking INnoVation's place.
As has become the norm for ByuN interviews, there was an update on his wrists as well. After last season's revelation that his wrist numbness could be a more psychological issue than a physical one, ByuN caught us up by saying therapy seemed to be helping him, and that he was on medication as well (he did not specify the type). Though his wrist issues returned in game two of the series, he said he was able to play comfortably for the rest of the series after washing his hands with cold water between games.
Similar to sOs, ByuN's game one (Lightshade) was a disaster. He took a seemingly insurmountable lead in the early game with a clever 2-Reaper backdoor, getting in and killing a ton of SCVs while all of Percival's production structures were building add-ons. However, ByuN threw this lead away carelessly, engaging in a terrible losing skirmish before he could turn his economy advantage into more troops. This let Percival counter-attack and destroy ByuN's CC, which, combined with a follow-up Banshee, completely swung the scales in Percival's favor. ByuN did his best to come back with some audacious attacks, but Percival's defenses held and allowed him to close out the game.
The second game (Romanticide) also went ByuN's way early, with Percival wasting his three early Reapers in a daring but wasteful dive into the enemy's main. ByuN capitalized on this with a counter-attack feint, which created space for his Banshee to kill off several SCVs. This time around there wasn't any throwing from ByuN, as he snowballed his lead into the mid-game. While Percival tried to turn the tide by turtling up and transitioning to air, ByuN's hyper-aggressive Marine-Tank style cracked the enemy's defense before it was fully entrenched.
ByuN seemed to be on a roll at this point, and he took game three (2000 Atmospheres) in rather quick fashion. Percival went for a double-Barracks proxy-Reaper strategy, but ByuN sniffed out his opponent's intent just in time to pull off a perfect defensive hold. A few minutes later, ByuN moved out with a number of Hellions, catching Percival's 'containing' Reapers off guard and wiping them out in an instant. Knowing the game was over, Percival GG'd out.
Percival finally got off to a decent start in game four (Oxide), staving off ByuN's initial 1-Medivac 1-Tank harassment and safely transitioning into triple Viking productions off two Starports. With ByuN taking a fast third base, it looked like Percival might have a window to use his air superiority to initiate a seriously damaging siege. Unfortunately for Percival, he set-up outside enemy territory just a few moments before Viking reinforcements arrived from his Starports, which meant ByuN was actually the one with the air advantage in the ensuing Tank battle. This let ByuN come out significantly ahead in terms of Tank count, and he wasted no time in leveraging that advantage into a victory.
Solar swats a rusty GuMiho
The unorthodox and stylish GuMiho was one of the players fans were most excited to see return from military service, but with barely over two weeks of full-time practice after being discharged, he was hardly a challenge for the reliable Solar. While we saw a few glimpses of GuMiho's flair, he'll need to refine his execution even further if he's to use his creative strategies in GSL games.
It was almost a dream start for GuMiho in game one (Lightshade), opening with triple Orbitals while staving off Solar's Roach + Queen-Drop poke without much trouble. However, as GuMiho built up to his signature mech composition, he was completely caught off guard by Solar's shrewd tech-switch to Mutalisks, and was forced to GG out in anticlimactic fashion.
As for game two (Oxide), there wasn't even any false hope for GuMiho to start as his fast Hellbat build was hard countered by Solar's own fast Roach build. While GuMiho managed to hurt Solar's economy with some backdoor Hellions, he took far more damage himself from Solar's frontal Roach attack. It ended up being an unwinnable situation for GuMiho, with Solar overrunning him with mass Roaches not long after.
The two players went for less drastic openers in game three (2000 Atmospheres), gearing up to play a normal bio vs Ling-Bane game. This didn't change the outcome of the game much as GuMiho lost in one-sided fashion once more. When he made his first move onto creep with stim-upgraded Marines and Medivacs, Solar hit him with a deadly speedling backdoor which inflicted serious damage. From there on out, it was basically clean up work for Solar as he took over the map, teched up to Lurkers and Vipers, and swarmed over GuMiho to take the game.
Recommended Game: sOs vs RagnaroK on Lightshade
It's hard to recommend this game in its entirety, as it's a map-split game between two excruciatingly patient players. You know, one of those games in the "Neeb vs Scarlett" genre. However, there's still some entertainment to be found in fast forwarding through the game and just appreciating how disgusting it is, before shaking your head in disbelief at the resources lost tab shown at the end of the game.
Next up: GSL Code A will continue on Monday, Aug 23 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00) with KeeN vs RyunG and Cure vs Leenock.
