EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2025/codes1/ro12grouparesults.jpg)
Double comebacks from sOs and Reynor were at the center of attention on GSL opening night, but it was
Cure who gave the best performance of Group A as he advanced in first place. The veteran Terran had been quietly raising his level of play over the last few months of the off-season, and it paid off in the GSL as he took down sOs (2-1) and Solar (2-0) to book his RO8 spot.Unfortunately for
sOs, his trickery and scheming were not enough to win him a match in his GSL return. Though it was nostalgic to see his proxies grace the GSL for the first time since 2021, he couldn't overcome the combination of Cure and Reynor. Still, sOs fans may have reason to be cautiously optimistic, as Cure mentioned during his winner interview that he had been wary of sOs due to the hard work he had been putting in lately.Speaking of
Reynor, one of the group's comeback players did manage to achieve their goal. After three failed attempts since 2018, Reynor finally earned a ticket to the Code S RO8. The privilege hardly came easy for Reynor, as he started the night with a 1-2 loss to Solar. However, after bouncing back with a 2-0 over sOs in the elimination match, Reynor made the rematch curse work against Solar and won the decider match by a 2-1 score. Reynor credited not putting too much pressure on himself for his success this time around, whereas before he felt as if he didn't succeed he was, to quote, a "f***ing loser." Hopefully, Reynor enjoyed a pleasant "not a f***ing loser" celebration with his friends afterward.Match Recaps
Intial Match #1: Cure [2-1] sOs
Game 1 - Persephone (Cure win): The series opened with the two players taking some potshots at each other, as sOs pressured the Terran natural with Stalkers while Cure went for some Cyclone-Marine drop harass. Both players continued to macro up from there, with sOs going for Psi Storm as his initial choice of AOE damage.
While sOs was able to hold Cure at bay for a few minutes, eventually Cure broke out with a powerful Ghost-supported push. With his Colossus transition being late, and having wasted a few Templars in fruitless drops, sOs had to GG out to the push.
Game 2 - Tokamak (sOs win): sOs brought out his first cheesy build of the day, going for a fast proxy-Robo Immortal attack. Cure went for early offense as well, rushing up to a fast 4-Mine drop. The cross-map exchange favored sOs slightly and he retreated his troops after taking a moderate worker lead.
Unfortunately for Cure, he mistakenly thought the time for early game aggression had ended, and sOs took advantage of his unprepared opponent by finishing the game with a rapid series of follow-up attacks.
Game 3 - Magannatha (Cure win): sOs continued to be aggressive, going for a 5-Adept poke early on in game three. This turned out to be a waste as sOs blindly shaded into waiting Marines, but that didn't stop him from doubling down on offense with a Blink Stalker strike a few minutes later. Once again, his attack was thwarted by entrenched Terran troops, leaving him trailing in both tech and upgrades.
It seemed like Cure might easily snowball to victory from this point, but his overly cautious play + the size of the map allowed sOs to hang in the game. However, just as it seemed like sOs was a few good trades from bringing the game back to even, he committed to a disastrous fight where his Colossus were poorly protected against Vikings, giving Cure the victory.
Initial Match #2: Solar [2-1] Reynor
Game 1 - Tokamak (Reynor win): Both Zergs got off to normal 3-base starts, but their strategies diverged with Solar going up to Lair while Reynor stayed on Hatchery tech for a big Roach attack.
The gig seemed to be up after Solar slipped a scouting Zergling into the enemy main, but Reynor simply stayed the course and went for a slightly delayed Roach attack. For some reason, Solar didn't seem to think there was a credible threat of an all-in after his earlier Zergling scout, and was easily defeated after getting caught over-teching and over-droning.
Game 2 - Ley Lines (Solar win): Reynor initiated some heavy Zergling-Baneling knife fighting to start game two, but as is often the case between similarly matched players, they stabilized and went into a Roach war on fairly even footing.
Solar took the upper hand in the first major Roach engagement, slipping Zerglings into the enemy main during the fighting. He ruthlessly seized upon this advantage, continuing to pile pressure on with his Roaches until Reynor had to concede.
Game 3 - Magannatha (Solar win): More Ling-Bane fighting ensued in the early game, but this time Solar was able to come out with a meaningful advantage. Solar converted his lead into a faster Roach transition, which he used to finish the game before Reynor had a chance to catch up.
Winners' Match - Cure [2-0] Solar
Game 1 - Ley Lines (Cure win): Cure cheesed to start the series, proxying 2-Barracks for a 3-Bunker rush. While Solar managed to defend himself by pulling several Drones on defense, Cure still took the advantage as he double-expanded safely behind his early attack.
Solar tried to play defensively while teching up to Lurkers, but Cure came knocking at his front step with Marine-Tank far too quickly. The Ling-Bane defenders were easily defeated, and Solar had no choice but to GG out.
Game 2 - Pylon (Cure win): Cure played the common cheese-into-greed mindgame in game two, going up to 3 CC's fairly quickly. He went into an aggressive 3-base Marine-Tank push from there, but Solar responded well with a series of backdoors into the Terran third while stalling back at home.
With his economy taking serious damage, Cure pushed forward aggressively onto Creep to force a do-or-die battle. Despite Solar getting a solid flank with his Hydra-Ling-Bane, Cure came out on top in the decisive fight to force the second GG.
Elimination Match - Reynor [2-0] sOs
Game 1 - Ley Lines (Reynor win): sOs kept up his reputation as a trickster, opening with Void Rays into a fast 2-Stargate Tempest strategy. While a Zergling runby let Reynor discover the strategy before it was too late, he still had to give up his natural to continued fire from upgraded Tempests.
Even so, Reynor stalled well and took other expansions while teching, so ultimately sOs' opener had the result of fast-forwarding the two players into the mid/late-game. Given the current state of PvZ, this seemed to favor sOs as he soon combined his Tempests with supporting Archons and Templars on the ground.
However, sOs' deathball attack went horribly awry, as Reynor kited back with his motley army of Roach-Ravager-Corruptor and took out the Protoss force in more manageable chunks. sOs simply couldn't keep his army consolidated, and what initially looked like a promising attack turned into a disaster. sOs couldn't recover from losing his core tech units, and it wasn't long before Reynor battered him to death with constant attacks.
Game 2 - Ultralove (Reynor win): sOs attempted to play a mindgame off of his game one strategy, opening Void Ray into Fast Tempest once more. Only this time, it was a fake where he just showed his opponent a single Tempest while actually going for mass Glaive Adepts behind it.
sOs managed to dupe Reynor somewhat, though he didn't deal enough Drone damage to take a decisive lead. Still, he was able to keep the initiative and transition to mass Stalkers, keeping Reynor pinned back on defense.
Reynor faced a dangerous window where sOs threatened him with mass Gateway units backed by Templars, but he survived the crisis and got Lurkers and Vipers out on the map. The momentum flipped at that moment, with Reynor going on the offensive while sOs tried to transition out of his low-tech army. Unfortunately for sOs, he just couldn't buy enough time to put together a high-tech force, and he gave the GG that ended his Code S comeback.
Decider match - Reynor [2-1] Solar
Game 1 - Tokamak (Reynor win): The two players swapped roles from game one in their initial series, with Solar going for a 3-base all-in off of Hatchery tech while Reynor went for standard play. Unlike Solar, Reynor made sure not to greed too hard, and he came out with the win after parrying Solar's attack.
Game 2 - Magannatha (Solar win): Solar mixed up his openers with a gas-pool build, taking down Reynor's natural expansion and macroing behind it. More early game skirmishing ensued, with Solar coming out ahead after also razing Reynor's third base.
Playing from behind, Reynor gambled on investing in tech and upgrades, but unfortunately for him, Solar was looking to be even more aggressive with his advantage. A big Roach attack from Solar put Reynor even further behind, and after a few minutes of going through the motions, Reynor gave up the tying GG.
Game 3 - Ley Lines (Reynor win): The winner-take-all game started with what seemed like a standard Roach vs Roach build-up, but the situation changed shortly after Reynor's Zergling runby got some scouting done. Perhaps seeing a potential weakness, Reynor opted to cancel his +1 attack upgrade and pivoted to a Roach-Baneling all-in off of Hatchery tech. Whatever Reynor's read had been, it turned out to be correct, and he overpowered Solar to reach the Code S RO8 for the very first time.
