• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 11:27
CEST 17:27
KST 00:27
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Turning of the Tide: When Neeb Won KeSPA Cup 201612[ASL15] Ro16 Preview Pt2: Awestruck19[ASL15] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Whirlwind12WTL 2023 Summer - Qualifiers Preview + Power Rank18[Interview] Dewalt22
Community News
Gamers8 to have $500,000 prize pool for SC2 & BW59Gamers8 to have $500,000 prize pool for SC2 & BW59Ascension: World Tour312023 GSL Season 1 (Qualifiers)4ESL Open #167: Dark, Clem, MaxPax win1
StarCraft 2
General
Gamers8 to have $500,000 prize pool for SC2 & BW Turning of the Tide: When Neeb Won KeSPA Cup 2016 The Greatest Comeback In Starcraft History How much are you willing to pay a year for StarCraft esports content? 2023 GSL Season 1 (Qualifiers)
Tourneys
[WTL 2023] Summer Qualifier and Code A $5,000 WardiTV Winter Championship 2023 Grand Platypus Open (EPT Asia Region) RandomHyperTWOs: a modded 2v2 tournament The next National/Regional Cup hosted by SSL
Strategy
[H] (PvP) WTF Nexus rush into recall probe/zealot
Custom Maps
[A] Proxy Rush [A] SC Real Scale
External Content
Mutation # 362 Catch the Train Mutation #219 Hardware Malfunction Mutation # 361 And Drops and Rifts Mutation # 360 Double Trouble
Brood War
General
Gamers8 to have $500,000 prize pool for SC2 & BW Mr. ZZZero. O, please consider my proposal for BSL Sharp's Wedding [24H] mmr bot on USWest BW General Discussion
Tourneys
Ascension: World Tour [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL15] Ro16 Group D New Worlds Map Contest III: Top 12 (VOTE HERE)
Strategy
Starcraft Remastered Build Orders February 2023 Carriers or arbiters
Other Games
General Games
Diablo IV Frost Giant announce Stormgate The PlayStation 5 Fire Emblem Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official Dota and Chess General Discussion Lima Major 2023
League of Legends
[Patch Notes] Release General Discussion Elo Boosting: discussion, problems, and Solutions LiquidLegends to reintegrate into TL.net
Heroes of the Storm
HotS: WP and Funny Moments
Hearthstone
TL Mafia
Active List of Mafia Games 2.0 TL Mafia Community Thread Liquid Arcanon News [0]Paper Team Liquid Maria L TL Mafia Idea Factory
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread NASA and the Private Sector Bitcoin discussion thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread US Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The Scarlett Fan Club The Phredxor Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Korean Music Discussion [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2022 - 2023 Football Thread 2021 NFL/CFB Season Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2022 UFC/MMA Discussion Thread
World Cup 2022
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Thread
Tech Support
Installing hard drives Wireless router malfunctioning? how to play music while streaming with xsplit
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts Happy Birthday R1CH! Ask TL Staff Anything
Blogs
Ed Sheeran's latest song Ey…
Jubinell
Long time coming for a bri…
Alakaslam
Hi rather desperate p…
WeddingEpisode
Return of CranKy Du…
CranKy Ducklings
TL Currency Converter Mafia…
Minely
An ex-schizoid's u…
ApatheticSchizoid
20 years plus!
FuDDx
ASL 15 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1281 users

Code S RO20 Preview: Creator, KeeN, Maru, Solar

Forum Index > SC2 General
5 CommentsPost a Reply

Code S RO20 Preview: Creator, KeeN, Maru, Solar

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
June 19th, 2022 20:04 GMT

2022 GSL Code S Season 2
RO20 Group E Preview: Creator, KeeN, Maru, Solar

by Poopi

This group would have been relatively easy to predict in 2021. Maru would be the obvious favorite, with Solar being the popular pick for second place. You might expect Solar to play well enough to actually threaten Maru in the initial match, but his level of play would decline as the group went on. But would he really struggle enough to cede second place to Creator? Probably not.

Midway through 2022, however, things are not as clear. Maru still seems to be the strongest player, but given his results in the first half of the year, it's not by as big a margin. But most importantly, the second strongest player in the group now seems to be Creator. In fact, after a runner-up finish in Code S Season 1, some fans might even be picking him to take first place.

More info: GSL Code S Season 2 on Liquipedia


Code S Season 1 was a breakthrough moment for Creator as he returned to the grand finals of a major tournament for the first time in 10 years. The last time he was considered a top tier player was back in 2012, when he was still a member of Prime alongside MarineKing and Maru. A lot has changed since then, except the fact that he's once again fighting Maru for the spotlight.

In Season 1, Creator got off to a good start in the RO20 by topping his group with 2-1 victories against both Solar and GuMiho. Creator shined even more in the newly created round-robin style RO10 group stage, excelling in a tough group that included Maru, Dark, herO and DRG. The first three of those players were the huge favorites to advance, and it seemed Creator would be lucky to barely advance in 3rd place. Instead, he finished in 2nd place with an excellent 3-1 record, beating everyone except Dark.

Creator got a bit of a reprieve in the new RO6 phase of the playoffs, losing his initial match to Rogue but winning his second-chance match against fellow darkhorse RagnaroK to reach the RO4. There, it seemed like Creator's luck had once again run out as he drew Trap as an opponent, but he managed to defy the odds with a dominating 3-1 victory. However, the miracle run couldn't last forever, and Creator did end up losing to Rogue 2-4 in the grand finals. Still, it felt like Creator might be starting a new chapter in his career—one where he was a consistent championship contender.

Unfortunately, Creator's recent performances across various competitions have not been very impressive, and force us to consider the possibility that Season 1 was just a flash in the pan. Since the Code S finals, he has a pedestrian 25W–17L–2D record in matches with a 66W–46L map score (58.93% win rate). Those would be good, maybe even fantastic results for 2021 Creator, but it's disappointing for a Code S finalist. Maybe some of that dip is due to a well-earned rest after a hard GSL journey, but it doesn't seem like his form has been improving in the lead-up to his Code S match.

It is hard to know exactly how prepared Creator will be, but at least he will start with a relatively easy opponent first: KeeN. The former king of ceremonies started his military service on a positive note, having reached the top eight of Code S Season 3 in 2019. However, he's struggled to regain that form since his return from service in 2021. His best result so far has been a single RO16 in 2021, but he failed to qualify for the first season of 2022 after losing twice against NightMare in the preliminaries. KeeN did manage to fight his way through the qualifiers this season, but he didn't exactly beat a murders row of opponents. The key players he beat were Classic, NightMare, and Percival, followed by a fortunate walkover against Dream (who supposedly had to quit his last match due to wrist pain).

Even though this season has been filled with upsets so far, I can't be so generous as to say I think KeeN has a shot of adding to the list. There was some rhyme and reason to the other upsets—Rogue had his championship hangover, soO showed his old championship class, and RagnaroK kept his momentum from Season 1 going with some more well-planned openers. On the other hand, KeeN has historically been a fairly mid-level Code S player whose best ever Code S result was top eight, and he hasn't been playing particularly well in recent tournaments either. Even with Creator's lackluster showings and Solar's occasional group stage slip-ups, it's hard to see where he's going to get his wins (do we even have to mention the invincible TvT player Maru?). Even match-up wise he is unlucky as he has to prepare for all three factions.

Solar, on the other hand, is very much in the mix for a RO10 spot. As usual, his biggest enemy will be himself as he is possibly the anti-Trap (Inverse Trap? Reverse Trap?): a very good player who can't make it to the RO8 of the GSL Code S. Incredibly, it's been 13 seasons since Solar has placed top eight or higher. However, now that Trap has finally failed to reach the top eight for the first time in years, perhaps the laws of cosmic balance will deem that it's Solar's time to rise.

He has to start with the strongest opponent first: Maru. This will be a real challenge, as the legendary Terran has been the bane of Solar's competitive existence. Maru has frequently picked Solar in tournaments with player-led group selections, making it very clear how he rates his ZvT play. The most well known clash between the two was the infamous nuke game that allowed Maru to win a comeback victory at IEM Katowice 2021, but similar things have happened in Korea. Indeed, Solar actually beat Maru's vaunted late-game turtling during a Code S group stage match in 2021, only to lose to Maru's early and mid-game play in one-sided fashion (Solar went on to get eliminated by sOs in the later group matches).

The setup of the group looks uncannily similar, with a first match versus Maru and a potential fight against a former Jin Air and Team NV Protoss for second place. But could things play out exactly the same? Solar’s best match-up currently is ZvT at around a 3200 rating (#5) on Aligulac, compared to his worst match-up of ZvP at around 2900 (#7), so this is a bit worrying. However, Creator's own PvZ rating is in the same range, and Aligulac only gives Solar a slight edge of 54:46. Once again, the real question is what kind of mental state will Solar be in if he ends up losing against Maru. I have no doubt that Solar can beat whoever comes up if he beats Maru in the initial match, but that would be a tough ask. The most likely scenario is that both Maru and Creator win their first match, Solar beats KeeN and has to defeat the loser of Maru and Creator, which could be difficult for him given his track record.

Last but not least, Maru is the final player who overshadows the rest of the group. On paper, he should still be considered one of the best Terrans in the world, if not THE best outright. But he also had a very disappointing RO10 exit in Season 1, losing against Creator, Dark, and DRG and only winning versus herO when the group was already decided. Since Maru does not play in the small online cups and currently isn't playing in the WTL, we've barely seen him play afterward. In fact, we only saw him once in a major tournament since his GSL exit, where he lost 1-3 to Serral in the RO4 of King of Battles (it played out similarly to their IEM series, with Serral dominating the mid-length games but dropping one map to Maru's hyper-turtling). Other than that, he beat Prince 2-1 and RagnaroK 2-0 in the qualifiers, with the latter series being another demonstration of Maru's TvZ turtling ability.

Basically, we don't have any new information about Maru. His RO10 exit was an upset, he's still the best defensive TvZ player in the world, and he has great head-to-head records against all three of his group opponents.

Predictions: Aligulac pretty much agrees with my initial assessment of this group: Maru is the heavy favorite for 1st place with an 80%+ chance to advance, KeeN has tiny chance of qualifying at around 9%, and the battle for 2nd place should be very fierce between Solar and Creator with both of them having qualification chances in the 50% range. Any combination of Maru + Solar or Creator should be a popular prediction which has a good chance of becoming reality. So the real question is who will I pick between Creator and Solar, and if Maru will qualify in 2nd place instead of 1st.

Even though we barely saw Maru play in the last few weeks, I trust him to still be the fearsome Terran that can bully Solar and Creator at will, so I will keep him in 1st place. Creator would likely face Solar pretty late into the group unless Maru somehow loses his initial match, which would be a good advantage. Indeed, Solar is very well known for playing both great games and choking in the same group stage, so you always want to play him as late as possible.

However, Aligulac sees Solar qualify over Creator, albeit by a narrow margin, and I will predict the same. The first reason is that Creator looked really shaky in the competitions after his lost finals, and I am not sure he has the mental stamina to keep up with his newly gained level of play. The other reason is far less rational: I would just find it funny if Solar broke his no-RO8 streak the same season Trap failed to qualify for the RO8. Technically, it's now the RO10 and not RO8, but I think the spirit of those streaks is still preserved by this logic.

Creator > KeeN
Maru > Solar
Maru > Creator
Solar > KeeN
Solar > Creator

Maru and Solar to advance.



Credits and acknowledgements

Writer: Poopi
Editor: Wax
Images: AfreecaTV
Records and Statistics: Aligulac.com and Liquipedia


Facebook Twitter Reddit
TL+ Member
QOGQOG
Profile Joined July 2019
671 Posts
June 19 2022 20:57 GMT
#2
I think Creator's struggles online are due to him being a prep-dependent player, but maybe that's wishful thinking on my part.
Capitanoano
Profile Joined July 2019
Italy25 Posts
June 19 2022 22:03 GMT
#3
I totally agree. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll see another great run by Creator!
daskleinehotte
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Germany71 Posts
June 20 2022 07:02 GMT
#4
Looking forward to this group, especially since I haven't watched any offline Maru matches since forever.
www.bunker-rush.de (German SC2 and eSports blog)
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States9650 Posts
June 20 2022 08:44 GMT
#5
Go Creator! Kinda boring/worrying as a fan that he's going to face Solar and Maru again like last season, but it'll be interesting to see how it changes this time!
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
FamesCorv
Profile Joined July 2012
Germany33 Posts
June 20 2022 09:02 GMT
#6
I believe in Solar
Xlord fulltime ? - bye, bye Stephano!
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV Winter Champion…
11:00
Playoffs Day 3
MaxPax vs DarkLIVE!
Cure vs Solar
RagnaroK vs SKillous
WardiTV2708
IndyStarCraft 416
IntoTheiNu 379
3DClanTV 149
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
IndyStarCraft 416
LamboSC2 203
TKL 113
Ragnarok 95
SC2Nice 59
UpATreeSC 8
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 31854
Calm 4868
Jaedong 4525
Horang2 1787
Mini 1387
Shuttle 1261
actioN 801
ZerO 636
Soulkey 632
EffOrt 453
[ Show more ]
Light 414
Snow 299
Soma 200
ggaemo 198
ToSsGirL 185
Leta 136
Sea.KH 132
Mind 128
firebathero 118
Mong 112
Rush 99
Sharp 77
sorry 72
ZerO(Twitch) 72
Hyun 66
sSak 31
HiyA 8
ajuk12(nOOB) 8
Dota 2
Gorgc9962
qojqva4587
singsing4124
Cr1tdota585
febbydoto96
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
fl0m2214
Other Games
hiko4002
Stewie2K2303
shoxiejesuss1272
m0e_tv999
Beastyqt703
DeMusliM651
crisheroes647
Lowko394
RotterdaM270
Fuzer 261
KnowMe201
nookyyy 116
ArmadaUGS95
HTOMario2
FunKaTv 1
Organizations
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
ESL CS:GO1668
Other Games
B2W.Neo920
StarCraft 2
Esl_sc290
ESL.tv90
Dota 2
BeyondTheSummit84
StarCraft 2
angryscii 29
StarCraft: Brood War
StarcraftVOD4
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 21 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• KingCobra90 43
• Adnapsc2 13
• nightgamer69 4
• LUISG 4
• YuMi 1
• Poblha
• Migwel
• Laughngamez YouTube
• LaughNgamez Trovo
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Gussbus
• intothetv
• aXEnki
• Alpha X_
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• STPLYoutube
League of Legends
• TFBlade4785
• Nemesis2730
• PePiiNeRO630
Upcoming Events
PassionCraft
1h 33m
Korean StarCraft League
11h 33m
WardiTV Winter Champion…
19h 33m
World Team League
20h 33m
Big Brain Bouts
1d
Grand Platypus Open
1d 16h
WardiTV Korean Royale
1d 19h
Stats vs RagnaroK
ByuN vs SpeCial
herO vs Classic
RagnaroK vs SpeCial
ByuN vs Stats
Solar vs Cure
herO vs Cure
Classic vs Solar
World Team League
1d 20h
CSO Cup
2 days
ESL Pro Tour
2 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Korean Royale
2 days
Scarlett vs NightMare
Maru vs GuMiho
Dark vs DongRaeGu
NightMare vs GuMiho
Maru vs Scarlett
Ryung vs Creator
Dark vs Ryung
DongRaeGu vs Creator
World Team League
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
ESL Pro Tour
4 days
ESL Pro Tour
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

XiaoShuai vs Stork
PiG Sty Festival 3.0
Tournament by teenyeu #2
ESL Pro League Season 17

Ongoing

FS Mania
CWCL Season 6
BWCL Season 58
Copa Latinoamericana
ASL Season 15
Spring Cup Season 4: China
KOR-CHN Invitational League 11: Sea vs XiaoShuai
Individual Silver League
Spring Cup Season 4
KCM Ladies Race Survival 2023 Season 1
KCM Race Survival 2023 Season 1
WardiTV Korean Royale
WardiTV Winter 2023
NGS Storm Division S6
Calamity Cup Division A - Season 5
META Madness #7
BLAST Premier Spring AME Showdown
BLAST Premier Spring EU Showdown

Upcoming

BSL StarCraft 25 years Anniversary Celebration Tournament
DHM Summer
ESL Summer: Europe
ESL Summer: Asia
ESL Summer: Americas
WTL 2023 Summer
LTK Thunderball
Nations Cup 2023
NC 2023 - EU Quals. - 2nd Stage
NC 2023 - EU Quals. - 1st Stage
NC 2023 - EU Quals. - CB
BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023
ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023
IEM Rio 2023
BLAST.tv Paris 2023: EU RMR B
BLAST.tv Paris 2023: AME RMR
BLAST.tv Paris 2023: EU RMR A
BLAST.tv Paris 2023: APAC RMR
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2023 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.