EPT
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The Code S RO8 concluded with three of the previous season's semifinalists earning their returns to the final four:
Classic, GuMiho, and defending champion herO. They are joined by 'newcomer' Rogue, whose top four placement is his best result since returning from the military.Code S Season 2 will conclude on Sunday, Jun 15 8:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) with the semifinals and grand finals. Besides the Code S title, there will be the additional stake of an Esports World Cup seed which will go to whoever finishes higher between GuMiho and Rogue. If both players lose in the semifinals, they will play a tiebreaker (scheduling TBD).
Group A of the RO8 saw the desperation of EWC hopefuls
Rogue and GuMiho power them by Solar and Maru. Rogue has struggled to live up to his reputation since his return from military service, but we got to see his trademark combination of strong macro combined with clever all-ins in this group. Second place went to GuMiho, who seems to have fully adopted mech as his default strategy in TvZ and TvT. Seeing that he actually took a game off of Classic with mech in last season's semifinals, don't be surprised if he keeps trying it in TvP as well.Group B ended up being a showcase of the current Korean PvP meta, where we've gone back to the old days of all-ins and proxies occurring in virtually every game.
Classic proved to be the best at navigating the chaos and took first place, while herO barely squeezed by in second place. herO was unusually somber in his post-match interview, having eliminated friend and former CJ Entus teammate Bunny in the final match.RO8 Group A Results
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Intial Match #1: Rogue [2-1] GuMiho - (VOD)
Game 1 - Magannatha (GuMiho win): GuMiho opened up with the mech that had helped him get past SHIN in the RO12, while Rogue looked to counter with a mid-game Hydra-Roach attack off of 52 Drones. However, either Rogue's calculations or execution must have been horribly off, as the attack was completely non-threatening and easily stopped.
The failed Zerg attack allowed GuMiho to establish a strong economic foundation, and it was not long before he started a Tank-Cyclone push through the center of the map. However, he countered stiff resistance from Rogue's Hydra-Roach-Viper composition, which took several winning fights against the Terran army.
It looked like Rogue might take the lead after he cleared most of the Tanks out of the center of the map, but the game took a peculiar turn as he opted to remax on Roach-Infestor. This composition really didn't achieve anything at all, with Roaches getting kited by Cyclones while unsupported Infestors were useless against newly produced Battlecruisers (neuralled Battlecruisers kill each other very, very slowly). In possession of a mostly ineffective army, Rogue GG'd out to GuMiho's next big attack.
Game 2 - Ley Lines (Rogue win): Rogue opened up with the unusual mind-game of placing his third Hatchery at a hidden expansion, while GuMiho changed up his plans by going for a Marine-Hellbat push opener.
Unfortunately for GuMiho, Rogue thwarted the attack before it could even begin, with a Zergling backdoor ransacking the Terran natural and forcing all the frontline Terran troops to hastily retreat. GuMiho tried to transition into normal mech play from there, but he was playing from too far behind to make it work (in addition, he played more conservatively than necessary because he had not scouted the hidden base). Rogue severely delayed GuMiho from landing his third base with Roach-Ravager, and eventually overwhelmed him with mass Roach-Ravager-Hydra.
Game 3 - Tokamak (Rogue win): Having shown Rogue mech openers in the first two games, GuMiho mixed things up by going for some old-fashioned 2/1/1 bio play. However, GuMiho couldn't hurt Rogue at all with his initial Marine-Medivac moveout, and Rogue was free to macro up and play Muta-Ling-Bane like it was 2015.
GuMiho kept trying to pressure Rogue with his bio, but Rogue easily parried the attacks while inflicting severe economic damage with Mutalisks backdoors. GuMiho struggled to even establish a fourth base, and was inevitably overrun by superior Zerg numbers.
Initial Match #2: Solar [2-0] Maru - (VOD)
Game 1 - Ley Lines (Solar win): Solar's defense propelled him to an early lead in game one, with his Queens and Lings easily holding off Maru's fast Marine-Hellbat attack. Maru had a sneaky follow-up strategy in store, faking bio by researching Stim but secretly going for mech behind it.
The initial reveal of Cyclones caught Solar off guard and killed his fourth base, but Solar struck back with a Roach backdoor into the Terran third. This triggered chaotic fighting across multiple fronts, and it ended up favoring Solar as Maru was unable to properly take advantage of Cyclone kiting. Solar picked off a good number of battlemech units, as well as putting a decent dent in Maru's economy.
Maru transitioned into Tank-mech to take a more passive approach, while Solar added Swarm hosts to his Roach-Ravager to keep stressing the Terran defenses. Despite the presence of blue-flame Hellbats, Solar's repeated attacks achieved their goal of pinning Maru back and preventing the Terran army from reaching critical mass. Eventually, the resources dried up for Maru, and he could no longer resist the endless Roach-Ravager-Locust attacks.
Game 2 - Tokamak (Solar win): Maru switched to greedy bio play in game two, getting three quick CC's and double-Engineering bays. In response, Solar looked to punish Maru with a maxed-out 1/1 Roach-Ravager timing at just before the 8-minute mark.
While we've seen Maru survive such attacks and win on the back of his superior upgrades, things went the way they were 'supposed to' this time around with Solar punching through the Terran defenses and collecting the GG.
Winners' Match - Rogue [2-1] Solar - (VOD)
Game 1 - Persephone (Rogue win): Both Zergs went for normal 3-Hatch play to begin the series, with neither side able to get the edge in the ensuing Ling-Bane skirmishing. Their paths soon diverged as Rogue stayed on Hatchery tech to prepare a Roach-Ravager assault off of 44 Drones, while Solar continued up to Lair and 56 Drones.
Although Solar got a bit of advance notice thanks to his Overseer, he ultimately ceded the superior fighting position to Rogue and was defeated in the game-deciding battle.
Game 2 - Incorporeal (Solar win): Rogue began with another 3-Hatch opener, while Solar went for the comparatively unorthodox play of staying on 2-Hatch and teching up to Lair quickly. Rogue decided another all-in was in order, and he sacrificed economy and tech to launch a fast Ravager-Zergling attack.
This time, the attack didn't go nearly as well for Rogue, as he couldn't find the small-scale engagement he needed before his Zerglings became obsolete. By the time he cleared out the buildings walling Solar's natural, the enemy Roaches had already reached critical mass, and they easily defeated the inferior Ling-Ravager force.
Rogue had given up too much economy and tech to have a chance of winning the game from that point, and he eventually GG'd out after a last-ditch attack.
Game 3 - Ley Lines (Rogue win): Rogue gambled on yet another aggressive strategy, this time opening Gas-Pool-Hatch. Rather than attack immediately, Rogue hid his initial Zerglings out on the map while also quietly gathering additional rounds of Zerglings in his main. Once Zergling speed was complete, Rogue sprung his surprise attack.
Rogue's perfect anticipation of Overlord scouting patterns saw him catch Solar completely off guard, and he got a free pick-off on Solar's natural. However, Solar pulled off a fantastic hold with Queen-Drone in his main, and combined with Rogue's extreme Drone-cutting, the two players ended up in a roughly even situation. By the 10-minute mark, there were few signs that there had been any early-game shenanigans as both players massed Roach-Ravager armies off of four bases.
After both players researched Tunneling Claws and drop upgrades for harassment, the game became rather messy with fires breaking out all across the map. Ultimately, Rogue was better at keeping his focus on the forest over the trees, and committed more of his army to a crucial battle at Solar's fourth. Rogue took a decisive victory, forcing Solar to GG out.
Elimination Match - GuMiho [2-0] Maru - (VOD)
Game 1 - Ultralove (GuMiho win): GuMiho opened with 2-Barracks proxy-Reapers, but a timely SCV-scout from Maru allowed him to play it extra safe by getting a defensive Bunker before Factory.
The game played out fairly incident-free from there, with both players macroing up and building up mech armies. Maru opted to play more passively with a focus on defense, while GuMiho looked to initiate the action once he had a sizable army.
The defensive focus ended up backfiring on Maru, as GuMiho knew exactly how to exploit Maru's spread out forces. Through some clever maneuvering, GuMiho manufactured an opening for his main mech force to take up a strong siege position right outside Maru's natural and third base. Despite having a considerable number of Ravens, Maru was indecisive about how to use them on defense, and he let GuMiho slowly chip away at his army and SCVs.
By the time Maru committed to breaking the siege, the game had already tilted heavily in GuMiho's favor. Maru's breakout proved to be extremely painful and costly, and he GG'd out shortly after.
Game 2 - Tokamak (GuMiho win): GuMiho went right back to 2-Barracks proxy-Reapers in game two, but this time, his Barracks avoided being scouted. GuMiho was content to cancel Maru's low-ground CC and not push things any further, and once again, the two players ended up on relatively even footing. Curiously enough, both players opted for bio play this time around, quietly building up Marine-Tank armies on their respective halves of the map.
The game came to a head when Maru made his first major push forward, and GuMiho moved his own forces out to meet Maru in the center of the map. A tense game of chicken occured as the armies were about to collide, and Maru blinked first. Maru diverted his forces toward a side path, while GuMiho's army continued to march forward.
For some reason, Maru seemed to think he was now pot-committed to a basetrade, and continued to send his army down the side path. GuMiho was more than happy to play the basetrade with a speed advantage, running down the central highway and into the heart of Maru's territory. Maru wasn't able to manufacture any variables, and GuMiho comfortably won the basetrade to take the series.
Decider match - GuMiho [2-0] Solar - (VOD)
Game 1 - Ley Lines (GuMiho win): GuMiho brought out his favored mech play once more, while Solar came prepared with a clever semi-counter. A small Queen-Roach-Ravager force hit just as GuMiho tried to take his third base, and Solar ended up delaying it heavily for a modest investment. However, Solar somewhat neglected his anti-air in the aftermath, and GuMiho's Banshees paved the way for a Cyclone-Tank push that took down Solar's fourth base.
While Solar's economic situation was less than ideal, he had still been able to tech up unimpeded to Brood Lords. However, the immobile flyers proved to be a rather dubious investment, as they were too slow to stop GuMiho's Cyclones from zooming through Zerg territory and gunning down several expansions. Meanwhile, back at home, GuMiho was adding Thors to his army on the back of his thriving economy.
In the end, Solar just couldn't win the resource game and tapped out against GuMiho's frontal attack.
Game 2 - Magannatha (GuMiho win): GuMiho decided to go completely all-in in game two, sending SCV's across the map for triple proxy-Barracks all-in. Despite not scouting the Barracks, Solar pulled off a great initial hold with good Drone micro, preventing a Bunker from being completed while safely getting up two Spine Crawlers of his own.
GuMiho knew the only solution was to go even more all-in, and he pulled nearly all his SCV's for a last-ditch Marine-SCV attack. Solar saw the SCV's moving out with an Overlord, and he prepared by starting to morph two more Spine Crawlers at home.
While the unit counts suggested Solar could hold off the attack, he committed a fatal positioning error. Somehow, all of Solar's units and buildings were positioned in a way that gave GuMiho a chance to run right past Crawlers at the natural and march directly into the Zerg main.
Solar was forced to take a fight with his Drones, Queens, and Zerglings in his main, but without the help of the Crawlers, he ended up losing the pivotal battle.
RO8 Group B Results
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Initial Match #1: Zoun [2-1] herO - (VOD)
Game 1 - Pylon (herO win): Both players went for 2-Gate starts, but their plans quickly diverged with Zoun adding a proxy-Stargate while herO built a Robotics and an expansion.
Unfortunately for Zoun, herO Hallucinate-scouted the proxy almost immediately and severely delayed the initial Oracle by depowering the Stargate twice in a row. Seeing that Zoun was investing so much in a largely useless proxy, herO simply cancelled his Robo and attacked with 2-Gate Stalkers to force the GG in under 5 minutes.
Game 2 - Persephone (Zoun win): Zoun brought an even more drastic cheese in game two, getting a fast Forge for a Cannon rush at herO's ramp. herO's defensive execution was somewhat questionable, and Zoun seized victory after his advancing Cannon line demolished herO's main Nexus.
Game 3 - Tokamak (Zoun win): Both players opted to play things normally to start, expanding quickly off of two Gateways. However, devious tactics quickly came into play once more, with herO building a Robo in his main but also sneaking a hidden Stargate out on the map. Meanwhile, Zoun teched up to Blink, looking to hit a 2-base Blink timing.
In a humorous coincidence, Zoun started building proxy-Gateways at the same location as herO's hidden Stargate, forcing herO to send his solo Oracle earlier than he would have hoped (he wanted to wait until he had two). Zoun handled the Oracle without much trouble, and was soon ready to launch his 2-base Blink attack.
herO seemed to be very confident in his ability to defend with a handful of Immortals, and he sent his Prism out for a backdoor attack and took a hidden third base in a corner of the map. His calculations ended up being correct, as he was able to barely hold off the Stalker attack while getting in some Probe kills on the other side of the map.
herO seemed to have a commanding lead due to his extra base, but he erred by moving out too quickly with a handful of Immortals and Gateway units. Zoun's reassembled Blink-Stalker army turned out to be much stronger than anticipated, and they took a decisive victory in the field. Round two of the Blink-Stalker all-in commenced, and in rather ironic fashion, Zoun's combination of single-minded aggression and great Blink micro were just enough to take herO down.
Initial Match #2: Classic [2-1] Bunny - (VOD)
Game 1 - Incorporeal (Bunny win): Bunny opened with the trendy fast Cyclone drop build, from which he transitioned into a 3-1-1 Marine-Tank-Medivac-SCV all-in at around the 6 minute mark.
Classic's initial plan was to get Storm quickly off of three bases, but upon seeing the SCV's pulled for the attack, he cancelled Storm and his warping third Nexus to try and hold the attack off with mass Stalker-Zealot.
However, the timings just didn't work out for Classic, as neither his Charge upgrade nor additional Gateways were complete by the time Bunny arrived. Bunny dug his forces in at Classic's natural and easily crushed the belated breakout attempt to take the GG.
Game 2 - Tokamak (Classic win): Bunny changed up his openers in game two, going for Cloaked Banshees before quickly pushing Classic's third base with just a handful of Marines and Tanks.
Classic made a decisive play on defense, Blinking forward to pick off Bunny's first Tank before the second one could arrive. Bunny's push ended up sputtering out, with his Banshees and no-Stim Marines rapidly losing relevance against the growing number of Stalkers and Chargelots.
It wasn't long before Classic broke out and crushed Bunny's army in the field, leaving Bunny in a terrible position where he was behind in every facet of the game. Classic didn't dally about, and finished the game at around the 8-minute mark with a frontal attack + backdoor warp-in combo.
Game 3 - Pylon (Classic win): Bunny went back to his game one build, opening fast Cyclone-Medivac into a 3-1-1 all-in. However, the game went completely differently this time around due a number of adjustments and variables.
On Classic's end, he skipped the fast third base to get Charge a bit more quickly. But more crucially, Bunny dawdled on offense, staying at home for a few extra moments to handle a Stalker backdoor, and even slowing down to build a fake third CC before cancelling it and moving out.
This gave Classic more than enough time to get the Templars and Zealots needed to defend the all-in and take the series.
Winners' Match - Classic [2-1] Zoun - (VOD)
Game 1 - Tokamak (Classic win): The series began with double-tomfoolery, as Zoun opened with proxy-Stargate against Classic's proxy-Robo.
Both players quickly got a read on the situation, which worked to Classic's advantage. Classic stationed units in his mineral line to ward off Oracles, while sending a Prism with Adepts to pick off Zoun's workers. Zoun's double-Oracle strike couldn't do any meaningful damage, and he quickly GG'd out once Classic's frontal Stalker-Immortal attack began.
Game 2 - Incorporeal (Zoun win): The two played a near-mirror game early on, both going for 2-Gate expansions and getting Blink afterward. They proceeded to match each other with their follow-up cheese as well, as both started a hidden Dark Shrine at around the same time.
Amusingly enough, both players also opted to skip Robotics Bays, leading to a comedic basetrade when their DT's arrived in each other's territory at the same time.
Here, the one major difference in their builds ended up deciding the game, as Zoun had happened to build a Forge. He quickly cannoned up his hidden Dark Shrine to give himself a bastion of detection in the base race, while Classic belatedly tried to build his own Forge and Cannons. In the end, Classic couldn't get his Cannons up in time, and conceded the game to Zoun's DT's.
Game 3 - Pylon (Classic win): Both players opened 2 Gate once more, with their strategies quickly diverging into a fast expansion for Classic and a Stargate for Zoun.
Seeing Classic's expansion, Zoun quickly proxied a Gateway to go for a one-base all-in. However, Classic's defense ended up being near perfect, dividing and conquering Zoun's initial Stalker attack. Zoun went for another attack with his next round of Warp-ins, but only ended up losing his army trying in vain to destroy the Pylon powering Classic's Robo.
While Zoun's Oracles did manage to do a fair amount of Probe damage amidst the chaos, it was not enough to make up for the disadvantage of being down an entire base. Zoun launched a last ditch attack and GG'd out after it failed.
Elimination Match - herO [2-1] Bunny - (VOD)
Game 1 - Tokamak (Bunny win): Bunny got off to a solid start with a sequence of successful harassment tactics, hitting first with Reaper-Hellion, followed up by a Mine drop, and then sneaking Turrets into the enemy mineral lines. While Bunny didn't do serious damage, it was enough to keep herO at bay and set himself up nicely on three bases.
herO went for an attack on the Terran third once he had three Colossus with upgraded range, but the attack fell apart as herO didn't have quite enough support units to tank for his Colossus trio. Bunny went on the counterattack after adding Vikings to his army, and he caught herO in the midst of an awkward transition to Disruptors
While herO barely survived the attack, he took mortal damage in the process and GG'd not long after.
Game 2 - Torches (herO win): Bunny changed up his starting gambit once more, opening with a Cyclone into a fast 2-Mine drop. However, he lost both Mines and his Medivac without doing any damage, which made him an immediate target for a Blink Stalker counterattack.
herO played the situation in a perfectly herO-ish way, going for dangerous looking Blinks forward that mostly worked out. While he did overextend himself slightly, ultimately he set himself up safely on three bases while keeping the Terran unit count low.
herO seemed to be in a hurry to get things over with, and went for the killing blow with Zealot-Stalker-Immortal. While Bunny survived the attack, it only earned him a temporary reprieve. herO reloaded with Colossus + Gateway units, and this time he was able to extract the GG from Bunny.
Game 3 - Magannatha (herO win): Bunny went for a Mine drop opener again, which went a lot better this time as he got out safely after picking off a few Probes. Bunny presented the threat of a 2-base all-in as a follow-up, but instead proceeded to secure his third base and play for a macro game.
Unfortunately for Bunny, things went pretty much straight downhill from there. His late Ghost tech meant he wasn't able to get out on the map against herO's Templars, and it wasn't long before herO was sitting on five bases against Bunny's three.
Bunny eventually did manage to secure a fourth base after taking a couple of decent defensive fights, but herO could afford to casually throw away troops while he swallowed up the rest of the map.
Bunny could only withstand taking so many punches to the face from the 'every splash unit' Protoss army, and eventually he GG'd out after being worn down.
Decider match - herO [2-1] Zoun - (VOD)
Game 1 - Magannatha (herO win): Zoun and herO started by playing the least silly PvP of the night, with both players going up to 3 bases without much incident (minus some minor Oracle harassment from herO).
However, Zoun wasn't interested in playing an actual long game, and soon cut Probes to go for a Blink-Stalker all-in. However, herO was more than ready for the attack, defending easily with the help of Immortals. herO then gathered his forces for a counterattack and collected the GG from Zoun.
Game 2 - Tokamak (Zoun win): Game two also started with some semblance of normalcy, with both players opening with 2-Gate expansions. However, this time herO decided to go all-in, staying on two bases for an Immortal + Glaive Adepts timing. Meanwhile, Zoun took his third base and prepared to defend with mostly Blink Stalkers and Sentries.
The attack ended up being a complete failure for herO, as he was unable to make headway versus Zoun's Force Fields and Batteries. herO didn't bother to prolong the game needlessly and GG'd out after the failed attack.
Game 3 - Incorporeal (herO win): Both players went for fast 2-Gate expansions again, but their tech paths diverged with herO going for Blink while Zoun went for Robo first.
Both sides continued up to three bases, but herO placed a proxy Gateway to go for a series of Blink-Stalker strikes at Zoun's third. At first glance it looked like herO was all-in, but he actually kept up Probe production while Zoun was forced to cut Probes and build Batteries. This somehow led to the peculiar scenario where the 'aggressive' player herO was up on workers but down on army supply. herO even got away with taking a fourth base while being nearly 20 supply behind on army, while Zoun kept playing cautiously on three bases.
Zoun didn't get wise to the situation until it was too late, and was forced to go for an all-or-nothing attack off of three bases. However, herO had already converted his superior economy to a stronger army at that point, and he fended off the assault to take the series victory.
