EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2026/ro8results.png)
The final four of Code S Season 1 is set, with Cure, herO, SHIN, and Maru moving on from the round-of-eight to compete at the offline finals (begins Sunday, May 17 7:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)).
Group A of the RO8 gave us a minor upset, with Cure brushing off his recent slump to advance in first place. Cure took a surprisingly clean 2-0 victory over Classic to start the night, winning the first map with a 1-base all-in and surviving Classic's 4-Gate Blink harassment to take game two. The winners' match against Maru was much more of a challenge, with game one hearkening back to the early 2020's as Maru came back from an early deficit to take a late-game victory. However, Cure tied things up with well-executed Marine-Tank-Raven timing in game two, and clinched his RO4 spot in game three after a 2-Rax proxy-Reaper gamble gave him a decisive early-game lead.
With many Terrans struggling with TvP at the moment, it wasn't surprising for second place Maru to also book his RO4 ticket with aggressive tactics against Classic in the decider match. Successful Banshee harass set up a deadly 2-base push in game one, while an all-in attack with SCV support was just enough to break through Classic's defenses in game three.
Group B also gave us an unexpected first-place finisher, with SHIN taking out both Zoun and ByuN by 2-1 scorelines. While SHIN showed off his much improved macro play in both series, it was ultimately his penchant for unorthodox tactics that clinched him both game three wins. Zoun actually had SHIN's backdoor mine-through attempt scouted out on 10000 Feet, but poor defensive execution and overreaction saw him suffer defeat nonetheless. In a similar vein, SHIN didn't inflict any critical damage to ByuN with his offensive Hatchery block in their deciding bout, but he set ByuN back enough to safely tech up to his game-winning Ultralisks.
Championship favorite herO barely squeezed through Group B in second place, surviving an initial loss to ByuN to fight back from the losers' side of the group. Last place briefly seemed like a possibility for herO after some questionable decision-making lost him a map to Zoun in the elimination match, but he survived that scare and eked out a 2-1 victory against ByuN in the final match of the night.
Code S Season 1 will conclude on Sunday, May 17 7:00am GMT (GMT+00:00), with Cure, herO, SHIN, and Maru competing in the playoffs.
