• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 15:28
CEST 21:28
KST 04:28
  • 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
Serral wins EWC 202522Tournament Spotlight: FEL Cracow 20259Power Rank - Esports World Cup 202580RSL Season 1 - Final Week9[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15
Community News
[BSL 2025] H2 - Team Wars, Weeklies & SB Ladder2EWC 2025 - Replay Pack3Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced36BSL Team Wars - Bonyth, Dewalt, Hawk & Sziky teams10Weekly Cups (July 14-20): Final Check-up0
StarCraft 2
General
EWC 2025 - Replay Pack #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Greatest Players of All Time: 2025 Update The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings Serral wins EWC 2025
Tourneys
Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) TaeJa vs Creator Bo7 SC Evo Showmatch Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $10,000 live event Esports World Cup 2025
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 484 Magnetic Pull Mutation #239 Bad Weather Mutation # 483 Kill Bot Wars Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune
Brood War
General
Shield Battery Server New Patch BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced Dewalt's Show Matches in China Help: rep cant save
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL] Non-Korean Championship - Final weekend [BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China CSL Xiamen International Invitational
Strategy
Does 1 second matter in StarCraft? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Beyond All Reason Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Total Annihilation Server - TAForever [MMORPG] Tree of Savior (Successor of Ragnarok)
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
UK Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative
Fan Clubs
INnoVation Fan Club SKT1 Classic Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Korean Music Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Gtx660 graphics card replacement Installation of Windows 10 suck at "just a moment" Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Ping To Win? Pings And Their…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Socialism Anyone?
GreenHorizons
Eight Anniversary as a TL…
Mizenhauer
Flash @ Namkraft Laddernet …
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 684 users

Code S RO8 Preview - Maru, GuMiho, Cure, Classic

Forum Index > SC2 General
2 CommentsPost a Reply

Code S RO8 Preview - Maru, GuMiho, Cure, Classic

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
May 8th, 2023 08:29 GMT

2023 GSL Code S Season 1

RO8 Group A Preview: Maru, GuMiho, Cure, Classic

Start time: Tuesday, May 09 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00)

by Wax

Code S enters unfamiliar territory this season, with the round-of-8 being played out both as a group stage and in an online setting. While fans will certainly miss the heightened stakes of single elimination BO5 matches, it could be good news for players who would have drawn dead in certain playoff match-ups.

Consider Group A—Cure, Classic, and GuMiho might have been afflicted with deep despair had they drawn Maru in a typical bracket, but in a four way group, they can still hold out hope for that second place spot.

More info: GSL Code S Season 1 on Liquipedia


Maru

Actually, let's reexamine the notion that Maru is an absolute lock to take first place in this three-Terran group (with apologies to Classic, I don't think his PvT has reached a level where he can threaten Maru). Advancing from the RO16 wasn't a total formality for the G5L winner, as he had to tough out a 2-1 victory against ByuN in the winners' match. As it turned out, that close series against ByuN wasn't a blip, as Maru proceeded to lose two more series to ByuN in the following week in the Kung Fu Cup and the KSL weekly (the KSL win was particularly impressive from ByuN, who won in fairly straight-up games).

Sure, ByuN is arguably the second best TvT player in the world, and the second best player is bound to pick up some wins against the best player every now and then. But when you look at Maru's overall TvT results from the last six months—which includes earthshaking upsets like his 1-4 to Olivera at IEM Katowice, and relatively minor but still surprising hiccups like a 1-1 vs Kelazhur in the WTL—he's looking the most vulnerable he's ever been in TvT since TY retired.

Yet, even with the gap closed somewhat, I still believe Maru is the top TvT player in the world and a huge favorite to advance from this group. That's just how hard he dominated the match-up at his peak. The most I can say against Maru here is that I can't make him an absolute lock to take first place.

GuMiho

GuMiho is the toughest player in the group to rate, as his level of play fluctuates the most from match to match. He's talked about his hands/mechanics being inconsistent after his military service, which tracks with what he's shown us in his games. While he's never been the most gifted player in terms of hand speed, he can still occasionally hit a hyper-frenetic rhythm of multi-tasking that matches Maru and Clem in terms of creating sheer chaos for an opponent. When things aren't clicking, however, things can get rather one-sided.

GuMiho's RO16 results were encouraging headed into this TvT-athon, as he took down Ryung in consecutive mirrors to advance in second place. Playing at 100%, GuMiho has a fighting chance against Cure in straight-up games. However, he will have to hope he can capitalize on a poor outing from Maru if he's to win his initial TvT. For instance, the overaggressive Medivac-Tank harass that cost Maru dearly against Oliveira in Katowice has been something of a recurring problem, so GuMiho might want to keep an eye out for that. Also, Maru reminded us of his love of proxy-Barracks cheeses against ByuN in the RO16, and he may be tempted to pull the same move against GuMiho. ByuN happened to miss with his scouting, but GuMiho stands to benefit if he's lucky.

Again, those are just long-shot scenarios, and GuMiho will be hard-pressed to advance. With Classic playing his best post-military StarCraft as of late, GuMiho could be in for an uphill battle against all three opponents.

Cure

The legend of online-Cure was starting to wane in 2023, but it's become THE story of the StarCraft II landscape over the last couple of weeks (well, at least I think it SHOULD have). The beast of Battle.net has been playing at a tremendous level, winning two Kung Fu Cups, ending Dark's ESL Open Cup win streak, and leading ABYDOS to an ace-match win over title favorites DKZ Gaming in the WTL. Oh, since I guess Code S now counts as an online tournament, he also cruised through his Code S group with 2-0's over Solar and herO.

Before, this would be where I added the familiar reminder that Cure's online form doesn't carry over to the GSL. But at least for this tournament, I can forestall that warning for one more round, as online-Cure can still play up until the RO8.

Instead, here's a different caveat to consider: much of Cure's online success has been due to his monstrous TvP, where he's currently on a 26-match unbeaten streak (it may be even longer by the time you read this). This is certainly good news ahead of his opening match versus Classic, but the follow-up TvT's will be much thornier. In the Terran mirror, Cure has been closer to a 'one of many good players' level, compared to the 'reduce opponents to subatomic particles' level of his PvT. All versions of Cure—online and offline—have struggled against Maru, and even GuMiho has a puncher's chance of taking Cure down. A second place finish is still my prediction for Cure, but it would be far more preferable for him to face Classic, not GuMiho, in a decider match.

Classic

Poor Classic! Up until the RO8 group draw, I was feeling the faintest vibes of '19 Classic. That year, Classic was able to score some big moral victories during a dark time for Protoss, notably a 3-2 over Rogue in the BlizzCon RO8 and a 4-3 over Dark in the Code S semis.

Starting at IEM Katowice 2023, Classic started to painstakingly inch his way back up to that level, stringing together a number of notable results. In Katowice, he far overperformed expectations by escaping the RO36 and finishing 2-3 in a difficult RO24 group. That earned him a chance to play in Gamers Without Borders, where he seized the unlikely opportunity by taking down GuMiho and RagnaroK to qualify for Gamers8. Then, in this current season of Code S, he defeated INnoVation and Creator to get past the first round for the first time in his post-military career.

Not exactly mind-blowing results, but it suggested Classic was building momentum and wasn't merely on some flukey three-month run. Obviously, contending for a Code S title was out of the question. But, maybe, just maybe, he could sneak into the semifinals and save face for the Protoss faction one more time.

Unfortunately, Classic has been handed one of the most brutal group-draws possible, facing the two best TvP players on the planet in Maru and Cure. He doesn't just need a PvT equivalent of his BlizzCon DT-Blink rush—he needs several such ace cards up his sleeve if he's to advance.

Prediction

Classic's recent games suggest he's very keen on playing PvT with a safe and predictable Phoenix-Colossus style, which I think would be utterly disastrous against Maru and Cure. I hope it's all part of a devilishly clever mind-game, which he'll look to cash-in on with unorthodox strategies in this group. If he could somehow take down one of Cure/Maru and advance, the sheer difficulty level of the achievement might be equal to his RO8 win over Rogue at BlizzCon 2019.

It's much more likely that this turns into a TvT-fest, where there's a clear Maru > Cure > GuMiho hierarchy. If we do see an upset in this group, I think it will be GuMiho taking down Cure.

Maru > GuMiho
Cure > Classic
Maru > Cure
Classic > GuMiho
Cure > Classic

Maru and Cure to advance



Credits and acknowledgements

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

Facebook Twitter Reddit
TL+ Member
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany6928 Posts
May 09 2023 09:13 GMT
#2
Nice write-up! Though the starting time might be wrong
Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
tahay
Profile Joined May 2023
1 Post
May 09 2023 20:17 GMT
#3
--- Nuked ---
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
16:00
Warm Up Cup 4
uThermal356
SteadfastSC221
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
uThermal 356
SteadfastSC 221
UpATreeSC 150
goblin 107
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 15882
ggaemo 526
Dewaltoss 133
Aegong 31
NaDa 7
Stormgate
RushiSC32
League of Legends
Grubby2956
Dendi1305
Counter-Strike
shoxiejesuss678
pashabiceps649
byalli327
oskar202
flusha76
kRYSTAL_65
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu510
Other Games
B2W.Neo1189
Hui .194
Trikslyr82
QueenE52
Sick43
ZombieGrub5
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 22 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• davetesta73
• LUISG 6
• Reevou 6
• IndyKCrew
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Kozan
StarCraft: Brood War
• HerbMon 19
• 80smullet 15
• FirePhoenix5
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota21649
League of Legends
• Nemesis5341
• TFBlade819
Counter-Strike
• Shiphtur252
Other Games
• imaqtpie979
• WagamamaTV312
Upcoming Events
The PondCast
14h 32m
Online Event
20h 32m
Korean StarCraft League
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
2 days
Mihu vs QiaoGege
Zhanhun vs Dewalt
Fengzi vs TBD
Online Event
2 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
3 days
Bonyth vs TBD
OSC
5 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 20 Non-Korean Championship
FEL Cracow 2025
Underdog Cup #2

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL 20 Team Wars
CC Div. A S7
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025

Upcoming

BSL 21 Qualifiers
ASL Season 20: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 20: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 20
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
SEL Season 2 Championship
WardiTV Summer 2025
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
HCC Europe
Yuqilin POB S2
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
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 © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.