EPT
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The first two semifinalists of Code S Season 1 have been determined, with herO and Cure advancing over ByuN and Rogue in Group A of the RO8.
Off-season powerhouse herO demonstrated why he was one of the championship favorites entering the season, taking first place in the group with wins over Cure and ByuN. Second place ending up going to Cure, who just barely nudged out ByuN in a cheese-filled decider match. While Rogue garnered some praise from his groupmates for his strong play on the ladder, he was unable to display much of it in the GSL as he went out in last place.
Match Recaps
Initial Match #1: ByuN [2-0] Rogue - (VOD)
Game 1 - Tokamak (ByuN win): ByuN opened with 3 fast CC's into an 8-Barracks push, while Rogue looked to play a standard Hydra-Bane into Lurkers strategy. Rogue achieved some success in stalling ByuN and setting him back with Ling-Bane backdoors, but ultimately had to cede several of his expansions to ByuN's waves of Marine-Tank. While Rogue did manage to get Lurkers out, he had taken too much damage by that point and had to eventually surrender.
Game 2 - Ley Lines (ByuN win): ByuN went for a different kind of offensive opener in game two, hiding Factories for an unusual Cyclone + blue flame Hellion timing. Rogue was caught completely off-guard by this attack, and GG'd out against the rapidly compounding value of Cyclone kiting.
Initial Match #2: herO [2-1] Cure - (VOD)
Game 1 - Tokamak (Cure win): The two players exchanged early game blows, with Cure going for a Cyclone-Marine drop while herO went for some 3-Gate Blink harassment. However, herO did not expect a Cloaked Banshee follow-up from Cure, resulting in heavy Probe losses. A 1/1/1 push with Marine-Tank-Banshee inflicted even more pain upon herO, with Banshees tearing into Probes while he struggled to deal with the frontal assault. While herO barely managed to survive, the game had already spiralled out of control at that point, and he soon conceded the GG to Cure.
Game 2 - Magannatha (herO win): Cure threw herO a curveball to begin game two, opening with fast Concussive Shell Marauders into a Marine-Tank-Marauder all-in off of two bases. However, herO responded decisively on defense, backdooring with Blink Stalkers while stalling with Force Fields back at home. That brought him just enough time to complete his Zealot Charge upgrade, allowing him to narrowly hold off the Terran attack at his third base. herO's economic advantage kicked in soon after he repulsed the push, and he quickly counterattacked to tie the series.
Game 3 - Ley Lines (herO win): Cure went on the offensive early with fast Marine-Tank pressure, but herO managed to survive at the cost of briefly delaying his third base. In fact, the overall exchange went favorably for him, as he got in several SCV kills with a backdoor Stalker attack. The advantageous early game set herO up to hit a strong mid-game timing with Storm, securing him a berth in the RO4.
Winners' Match: herO [2-0] ByuN - (VOD)
Game 1 - Ley Lines (herO win): The two players began with some token aggression but eventually settled into a macro build-up. However, ByuN wasn't taking an extremely long term view, staying on single-ebay upgrades and setting up a big 1/1 push with a heavy Marauder ratio. Unfortunately for ByuN, none of his aggression bore significant fruit, only killing off expendable bases while herO's overall economy grew unimpeded. Eventually, ByuN found himself struggling to take a fourth base, and had to GG out against unending waves of Protoss troops.
Game 2 - Tokamak (herO win): ByuN went for a more passive approach in game two, absorbing various early aggression from ByuN while setting himself up on four bases. However, herO was perfectly fine with a mutual build-up, establishing a strong macro foundation for himself.
herO then used some shrewd warp-ins to attract ByuN's attention, forcing him to spread his troops out to defend multiple bases. After that, he consolidated his own forces to attack ByuN's key fourth base, while ByuN's army remained split up in fear of warp-ins/run-bys. It was too late when ByuN realized he should join up his forces, as herO ended up slicing up his army in halves. From there, it was simple for herO to keep flooding in troops and snowballing to victory.
Elimination Match: Cure [2-0] Rogue - (VOD)
Game 1 - Persephone (Cure win): Cure got away with a greedy opener, where he started his third CC before Rogue could even put down his third Hatchery. This set up a powerful 3-base push from Cure, which Rogue looked hard pressed to stop.
Rogue seemed to handle the situation well at first, stalling for a long time at his fourth base while sending a Ling-Bane backdoor to hamper Cure's economy. However, Cure made a final push into Rogue's main and natural with his standing army, and survived the decisive battle with just enough troops to force the GG.
Game 2 - Magannatha (Cure win): Cure mixed things up with a 2-Barracks Reaper opener in game two, and went up to 8+ Reapers for some very committed early aggression. This throwback strategy seemed to disorient Rogue, and Cure got in some serious early game damage with his Reapers. Having seized the lead, Cure quickly closed Rogue out with a Marine-Medivac push.
Decider Match: Cure [2-1] ByuN - (VOD)
Game 1 - Ley Lines (ByuN win): ByuN brought out a 2-Barracks proxy-Reaper cheese to open the decider match, threatening Cure's Rax-Fact-CC opener with a quick death. A pivotal battle occured just outside the Cure's natural, where ByuN took the victory and received a sub-4-minute GG.
Game 2 - Pylon (Cure win): Cure repaid the favor with his own 2-Barracks Reaper strategy in game two, although his Barracks were placed inside his main instead of being proxied. Cure managed to gain a moderate lead with his Reaper harassment, but he gave some of this lead back with a failed follow-up drop.
With his scouting showing that ByuN was aiming at a big 3-Raven timing, Cure decided to gamble on base-trading with a big counterdrop while stalling at his natural. This plan worked out perfectly for Cure, as he was able to bog down ByuN's push while camping the enemy production facilities with his drop. With no way to advance his push into striking distance of any critical facilities, ByuN conceded the GG.
Game 3 - Ultralove (Cure win): Both players laid off the cheese to start the deciding map, both going for your usual Raven-heavy TvT openers. However, Cure decided to get his Interference Matrix upgrade significantly earlier, allowing him to push into ByuN's natural at a vulnerable timing. While ByuN managed to survive the attack, he had to sacrifice many SCV's to do so. Cure proceeded to make ByuN's situation even worse with a well-timed Liberator backdoor, raiding ByuN's mineral lines while his Vikings were occupied in the middle of the map.
After taking so much damage, ByuN had just one chance to drag himself back into the game with a push down the middle. However, the game had already spiralled out of his control by that point, and Cure easily shut down the push and counter-attacked to book his RO8 ticket.
