2026 GSL Code S Season 1

RO4 & Grand Finals Preview

Start time: Sunday, May 17 8:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)

The GSL returns to its old studio home for the offline finale of Code S Season 1, with Cure, herO, SHIN, and Maru as the final four contenders.

Semfinals Match #1: Cure vs herO

by: Wax

Despite being scaled down ever further with a mostly online format, the first Code S Season of 2026 has lived up to all my expectations so far. The fantasy that Code S is a world separate from all other competitions—one governed by its own, immutable, ancient laws—has largely held up. Our two first semifinalists serve as perfect demonstrations.

By most objective measures, Cure has been utterly unremarkable since placing third at the 2025 Esports World Cup. He's been completely overshadowed by the Clem-MaxPax-herO trinity in weekly cups, struggles to reach podium finishes in larger online events, and isn't even much of a threat to get hot in the GSL CK teamleague events. It's hard to single out an event as his 'best' result—his biggest prize money haul was actually in a tournament played with the StarCraft Evolution mod. He sits at #10 in the Aligulac.com rankings, marking him as the cannon fodder needed to make Clem's latest cup win feel a bit more respectable than if he had won it over European Protoss #23462.

However, in the realm of the GSL, Cure has emerged as a true, blue championship contender. The round-of-8 saw him defeat two of the title favorites in Maru (2-1) and Classic (2-0) to advance in first place, all while showing the same strategic cunning from his many deep Code S runs in the past. Against Classic, he snatched game one with a devious proxy-everything 1/1/1 all-in, and then took a methodical macro win in game two after parrying 4-Gate Blink harassment. Cheesy tactics also granted Cure an initial advantage during his opening map against Maru, but unfortunately, he committed the ultimate sin of giving Maru the breathing room needed to turtle up and amass a Raven fleet. Still, Cure was not rattled by having thrown away a lead, tying the series with a Marine-Tank-Raven push in game two and clinching his victory with proxy-Barracks Reapers in game three.

By this point, all of Cure's opponents should expect him to lean on all-ins and cheeses when he's the underdog. The fact that he continues to succeed with these high-risk, high-reward gambles marks him as an exemplary big tournament player. As I'm so fond of reminding people in these TL.net previews, Cure happens to be the most consistent player to not win a championship over the last three years, almost always earning top four finishes in major events. Considering the GSL's stature and its preparation-favoring format, it's a tournament that's practically made for Cure.

Tamping down the romanticism for a second, Cure's transformation was hardly instant. He barely qualified for Code S at all, recording a negative overall map record during the preliminaries and only beating a handful of the weaker players in the bracket. The RO12 was a struggle as well, as he started with a loss against Trigger and had to fight back from the losers' side of the group. Still, when you look at the way Cure flipped the switch in the RO8, and how herO was adversely affected by playing in the GSL, you have to say momentum is definitely on Cure's side.

So, about those difficulties herO faced in the GSL. I'd argue that the T1 Protoss didn't just enter the tournament as the favorite, but as the obvious, undisputed favorite of the 12-player roster. herO has easily been the best player of 2026 so far, winning its biggest event in the All-Star Invitational, winning the second biggest event in the RongYi Cup, and winning the most online weekly cups. herO's only fault is that his success hasn't quite trickled down to mid-size events in the way we're used to seeing from players who earn "current #1 in the world" status, as he's laid a few eggs in tournaments such as RSL Revival and the LiuLi Cup Finals.

Unfortunately for herO, his current GSL run has felt a lot like those other Liquipedia A-tier tournaments he's underperformed in. His initial group stage match saw him give up a 1-2 upset to ByuN, an opponent he's taken out dozens of times in smaller events. Yes, ByuN did benefit from a timely cheese in game one—and he has been improving his head-to-head performance against herO as of late—but it was still an unexpected loss. Things were headed toward utter disaster in the losers' match, where herO dropped his first map against Zoun—a weak PvP player he held 9-match winning-streak again. However, herO made a semi-blunder at the worst possible time, and lost in a cheesy early-game basetrade. Although herO did recover to defeat Zoun and take down Byun in the group decider match, the day as a whole reminded us that despite his recent run of consistency, the possibility of herO inexplicably imploding is still there.

The best example of such a collapse actually came in the last GSL, Code S Season 2 of 2025. In the semifinals, herO completely fell apart against Rogue in the semifinals despite being massively favored in one of the most advantageous PvZ metas, undone by a player who was barely a year back from military service. I wouldn't say that herO is somehow weaker in the GSL—he has won two titles after all, including the first Season of 2025. I think it's more so the fact that he doesn't seem to gain any special advantage from the format.

The tournament-agnostic Aligulac projects herO to have a sizable advantage, with a 81.22% chance to win the BO5 (a 3-0 being the most likely outcome). If I just went by their frequent clashes in online cups, I would heartily agree. herO is 12-5 in matches against Cure on the year, and many of their games follow the predictable pattern of Terran being unable to gain an advantage early, Protoss macroing up without issue, and a swarm of Gateway units overrunning the Terran while Colossus pretend they're helping by tickling a Command Center. The especially brutal thing about herO's weekly cup domination is that he often gets the better of Terrans in non-standard games as well—his random DT's always seem to hit when his opponents are playing unsafe, and his random Phoenix openers always seem to occur when his opponents are playing directly into it.

On the other hand, Cure's TvP profile is that of your typical non-Clem top Terran these days. If the early-game and mid-game go great and he can macro-up to the late-game in peace, he can beat anyone with a fully assembled Ghost-Liberator army. He also brings your typical array of all-in curveball pitches—arguably it's a toss-up between him and ByuN as to who executes them the best. But, as alluded to above, most TvP's tend to end in the mid-game, with the infinite Zealot printer burying the Terran.

However, given the setting, there's plenty of reason to believe that this will be far from your typical TvP series. In fact, herO and Cure themselves gave a near-perfect demonstration of how Code S can change the complexion of a match when they faced off in the grand finals one year ago. Playing in a TvP meta that's even worse than the present day, Cure managed to drag the series to game seven by battering herO with all-in after all-in. The predictability of the approach didn't matter—Cure still had prepared enough twists and variations to keep herO off balance. Although herO just barely won in the end, Cure deserved one of StarCraft II's rare moral victories for keeping the series so close in a loss. The current situation isn't exactly the same—Terran's all-ins aren't quite as potent, while they have a better shot in certain macro scenarios. But in any case, you know that Cure will wrack his brains to find any way to keep herO from playing his game and gain the advantage for himself.

Prediction: herO 3 - 2 Cure

Semifinals Match #2: SHIN vs Maru

by Mizenhauer

Here we go again.

This coming weekend will feature the latest iteration in a historically one-sided rivalry: Maru versus SHIN. This time, there's a Code S finals appearance on the line. The record books tell us that Maru beating SHIN is a near certainty, with 36 of their 38 showdowns having gone Maru’s way—including all 18 of their offline encounters. It's in the running for the most one-sided rivalry ever between high-profile players, so it’s difficult to drum up too much anticipation.

However, TL.net has always relished in the challenge of trying to hype up the unhypeable, and Maru vs SHIN is at least equally as palatable as something like Zest vs Impact from the late 2010's.

For one, SHIN is playing some of the best StarCraft of his life at this moment, and it's showing in Code S as well. After dropping the opening match of the Season 1 qualifier to Maru, SHIN has won his next five GSL bouts on the way to the semifinals (he also qualified for Season 2 earlier this week). It's a hot streak that immediately draws comparisons to the last time he reached the round-of-4, back in 2022. That year, during Code S Season 3, SHIN won seven straight matches en route to the finals. And, while he inevitably lost to Maru, SHIN had to have been quite pleased by joining the prestigious list of Code S finalists.

All that’s to say is that SHIN has been here before. If he fails it won’t be because the lights are too bright. SHIN has gone on numerous runs of impressive form in the nearly four years since he successfully reached the finals of Code S. He made it to the semifinals of IEM Katowice 2023 and DreamHack Dallas 2025 in May—more evidence that he can brush shoulders with the best in the world when he peaks. It's not overly concerning that his broader online results aren't so impressive—he's only #12 on Aligulac.com with a 93-49 match record on the year (65.49% win rate). But unlike some other players, his best tournament runs haven't been preceded by a string of wins in weekly cups—he just has a knack for punching above his weight class when least expected. Of course, a lot of the time, his matches against big players in big matches will go chalk—just today, he lost 0-3 to herO in the playoffs of RSL Season 5. However, one has to think his primary focus was on preparing for this upcoming Code S final four.

Returning to the match at hand, it has to be noted that ZvT is SHIN’s best matchup by Aligulac rating (#4 among Zergs), and that he has a bizarrely decent record against an even better TvZ player than Maru in Clem (13-26 all-time match record). SHIN may have a historically atrocious record against Maru, but skill can't be the main issue there. Either there's something about Maru's style of play that's perfectly incompatible with SHIN, or there's a mental roadblock the size of a mountain. It had to be noted that SHIN did get his second ever 'series' win against Maru last month in GSL CK #3 (a match where SHIN went on a heater and defeated Solar x2, herO, Rogue, and Classic), but given that it was a best-of-1 in a teamleague style match, it's hard to put too much stock into it. Maru's 2-1 win over SHIN in the Code S qualifiers a few days later is far more resonant.

From Maru's side of the equation, he confronts a Korean scene that no longer orbits around him. He's quietly become a secondary (or worse) character, having failed to win a Code S title since April of 2024. Internationally, he's been outperformed by players like herO and Classic (to add insult to injury, both of them won Code S in 2025). Even if we give Maru maximum benefit of the doubt and say he gives minimum effort in online events, his results in such tournaments have still been quite disappointing. That being said, Maru has done just enough to remind us he's still Maru, like winning DreamHack Dallas in 2025 and beating Serral to take the $10,000 Liuli Cup Finals. He still stands at #4 in the overall Aligulac.com rankings, with only Serral, Clem, and herO above him.

How much weight one places on Maru’s ability to elevate his play in Code S compared to other events is up to the reader. But history, as well as recent results, indicate that Maru has at least a puncher’s chance against the players on the other side of the bracket, Cure and herO. Winning Code S would surely be a welcome relief for Maru who (Maru has expressed on multiple occasions that Code S means more to him than other tournaments) had his throne usurped 25 months ago.

As if he was purposefully trying to make this prediction at least a little bit difficult, Maru comes on the back of some mixed recent performances. The last two weeks saw him get bounced from the RO16 of RSL Season 5 with losses to Rogue and Classic, and then he struggled to advance from his Code S RO8 group in second place (5-4 overall map record). But, after that, he coasted through the Code S Season 2 qualifier, taking out Zoun, Rogue, and even Clem's fearsome PvT. Maru fans should be accustomed to this kind of whiplash by now—at least they can look forward to the only consistent match-up he has remaining in the semifinals.

While SHIN would likely enter a state of euphoric delirium if he toppled his long-time bully, Maru would probably consider a BO5 win a decent warm-up match at best. If Maru doesn't defeat SHIN, it's a catastrophe—the kind of black eye that would give his detractors ammunition until the end of time.

SHIN and Maru may have different goals and expectations heading into the final day of Season 1, but both of them will fall asleep on the penultimate night dreaming of a Code S title. Code S appeared on shaky ground (at best) for much of the year, but the addition of two additional seasons Code S feels like a godsend. Maru would surely love to add another trophy to his already massive collection, whereas SHIN is running out of chances to win the tournament he has been participating in since he was 14 years old. Maybe this is the moment where SHIN finally breaks through, but his 3-0 loss to herO in RSL provides a glimpse of what might occur if he sneaks into the final. It’s possible SHIN's dreams simply exceed his reach. Maru, meanwhile, will feel pretty confident if he gets paired opposite Cure in the finals, but less so if his opponent winds up being herO. In the end, it seems likely we’ll get a final worthy of StarCraft II’s oldest competition—with whoever ends up on top adding their name to the ledger of Code S champions.

Prediction: Maru 3 - 1 SHIN

Finals Possibilities

by Wax

herO vs Maru: This final feels like a near 50/50, with the two players having looked very even in their last few matches (including a few deep in the playoffs of larger tournaments). My unscientific tiebreaker here is that Maru just seems due for another Code S championship—if all else is equal, can you blame me for giving a small edge to the GSL's most successful player ever?

herO vs SHIN: While not quite as bad as his record against Maru, SHIN's career record against herO is also deeply in the negative (he's also currently on a nine-match losing streak). SHIN's deep bag of offensive Hatchery strategies and other Zerg tricks should win him a game or two, but herO will still win the series.

Cure vs Maru: A long time ago, this was a match-up where Maru seemed to be deeply inside his opponent's head, with Cure unable to close out leads and continuously finding new ways to lose. In fact, even in Cure's 2-1 win over Maru in the RO8, we saw one such game. However, when you zoom out, Maru's TvT has long since lost invincible status, and Cure has taken several big series wins against him (the biggest one occurring in the EWC finals). I'll pick the upset and say Cure takes this final.

Cure vs SHIN: Maybe I'm just catching SHIN's best games, but his ZvT has felt very Dark-esque as of late. Opponents can't deal with his unending playbook of unorthodox builds, and he has a very strong macro game to back it up. His ultra-late game play still isn't as refined as other top Zergs throughout history, but I think he can get four map wins before that becomes a liability.