The second half of Day 1 brought two exciting mirror matchups. The opening TvT on Tal'Darim Altar sees fast expansions for both players, Virus favouring bio-play while GanZI goes straight to siege tanks. Both decide to hang around their area of the map, daring the other to make the first attack. Virus' drop play was thwarted by sensor towers, and he decides to harass and expand. Having gotten the third base much quicker, GanZI is perfectly happy to play the passive role while focusing on economy and tech.

Virus attempts an attack from the lower ground but the lack of air control loses him a full medivac and a few siege tanks. While going for a fourth base GanZI scans the lone siege tank in Virus' force and decides it's time to engage. GanZI does well to bait the marines forward into his tank fire but the sheer amount of stimmed marines eventually rolls over his force. With heavy losses for both sides, the two players regroup and go back to expanding and small drop-harass. Having rebuilt their respective armies, we see the two large forces moving around the centre of the map, jockeying for control. GanZI decides he wants to deny the expansions to the west and brings his whole force.

Virus spots the blue army and pursues with his marine-heavy composition. With a couple of stims, he easily catches up to the lagging siege tanks of GanZI and snipes them all before they can fire a single shot.



Desperate, GanZI goes for a double drop at the red natural but it's cleaned up easily. Meanwhile at his main base Virus makes no errors and the result is simple math. Superior marine numbers and tank numbers just roll over the paltry force of GanZI and a scrappy game 1 draws to a close.

The second game on Crevasse has both players spawning on the bottom of the map. Before the early banshee from Virus can deal its damage his computer puts an end to it:



The restarted game only goes for 10 seconds before another pause is requested. Finally the game is underway properly, cross-positions on Crevasse. Virus decides to go for the banshee again, and manages to accrue a massive 16 kills before GanZI scans to take it out. The second banshee is killed without so much as a squeak while Virus goes for a marine/tank push at the blue Terran's choke. GanZI is forced to pull SCVs while Virus inches towards the natural.

Repositioning occurs for both players around the centre of the map, with GanZI careful not to repeat the fatal error of the first game. He manages to pick off a semi-full dropship but then returns the favour by losing 2 of his own. Virus charges into the blue position and seeing the superior force, GanZI runs away. The stimmed marines rip through the small force and Virus streaks further ahead.



The next few skirmishes all go in Virus' favour and the killing blow is delivered at the 3rd base where GanZI loses all his army with the Orbital soon to follow.


ST_Virus B+
GanZi B-
The players were equal in their macro, both taking the opportunity to expand when possible and pressure with drops. The stark difference in their play was that Virus won almost every major engagement between the players. His superior positioning and unit control made GanZI, a very good player in his own right, look sloppy.

One of the favourites for Code A, the much-lauded Leenock was pitted against a rising Zerg player, CoCa for the right to advance. Game 1 took place on Scrap Station, with Leenock opening 10-pool and applying some early pressure. CoCa holds the initial half-dozen lings off with ease and chooses a baneling nest, which Leenock mirrors slightly later.

Lair tech is reached for both players, but the divergence from here is clear: Leenock chooses the Infestation Pit while CoCa throws down a Spire. A handful of banelings are carefully taken out near Leenock's base as both players look to expand. Despite spotting the three queens and infestors, Coca does a fly-by and loses the pricey mutas to excellent fungals.



While CoCa switches to Roach and moves to take out the center rocks, Leenock sneaks his infestors to both the main and expansion minerals lines to spawn buckets of infested terrans. His army is out of position and the drones shredded, CoCa goes for a frontal assault on Leenock's ramp, only to be met by transfused spinecrawlers and well-timed fungal growths. From this point, Leenock patiently waits for his upgrades to kick in, for the roach numbers to swell, and he simply rolls Coca's paltry force. A decisive victory.

The second game is on Terminus RE, with the players in the 3 and 9 o'clock positions. Mirroring builds thus far, with ling speed and baneling nest morphing in. CoCa decides to expand early and defend with roach, while Leenock starts his lair and expo slightly later. Both scouts are denied by the respective queens, keeping them in the dark.

Leenock's mutas are spotted, and the reaction from CoCa is multiple evo chambers and infestor/hydralisk tech. The map control from the mutalisks allow Leenock to snipe overlords and he feels safe to take a third base. Puzzlingly, Coca goes for an in-base hatch and amasses a large army of two base. Just as he moves out from the creep, burrowed banelings from Leenock cripple the hydralisks and stall the inevitable push.

10+ spinecrawlers are trying their best to finish but CoCa's large army goes straight to the natural, forcing the mutalisks to return. A couple of fungals are helpful, but the squishy hydras and infestors are easily taken down and the multitude of roaches are left helpless agains the growing muta flock. CoCa trades his whole army for a couple of tech structures, putting him firmly behind. Effectively it is 4-base against 2-base, and the longer CoCa stays cooped up the further he is from victory.

Sensing his impending fate, CoCa musters all his attacking units and makes his way across the map. Similar to his previous attack, he guns for the natural, bringing a few drones, queens, and a fearsome hydra/roach/infestor army. Leenock spots the push from a fair way out and begins construction of the spinecrawler wall. The engagement takes place: Leenock throws banelings at the red zerg, softening the front lines while the spines continue to pick away. Once the roach component is whittled down enough, the second wave of banelings crash into the hydralisks and infestors, leaving only a few survivors behind.

Finally, the huge muta cloud hovers over the carnage in a mostly ceremonial fashion as Leenock takes a forceful win.




ZeNEXCoCa B
LeenockfOu A
This 15-year old knows how to play. Leenock showed beautiful understanding of the infestor vs muta relationship in game 1. He also demonstrated how it's done from the 'other' side of the matchup, utilising his mutas in a cost-efficient and deadly manner in game 2. CoCa showed solid fundamentals and game sense, but he was simply outclassed.

The map is Crossfire SE, and we see an early gas steal by LosirA, trying to limit the Terran's tech options. The early game hellions are warded off by a good number of roaches. Meanwhile, August is busy rushing out a cloaked banshee to take advantage of his opponent's roach tech investment.

Sensing a disturbance in the force, LosirA places spore crawlers in his mineral line, which prove to be a good investment. The harass does a moderate amount of damage as the zerg's healthy queen count and smart rally points keep the losses down. Meanwhile, August's sends his mostly marine/tank army forth and decides to bring a bunch of SCVs along for his 1-base all-in.

The engagement near the Xel'Naga tower goes horribly for August, with the banelings evaporating his marines and SCVs while the queens and roaches mop up the few tanks and banshees that remain. Within a few seconds lings are pounding at his front door and with no economy and no army he correctly resigns.



For game 2 the players land up in cross-positions on the new map Crevasse. They both grab quick expansions, taking advantage of the long rush distance. The terran opens with blue-flame hellion harass, but the big push with a hellion/marine bulk comes just a tad too late. LosirA's timing is spot-on as the roaches pop in time to defend his third base. August wisely backs off and awaits his marine and tank reinforcements before approaching the creep once again.

The agonisingly slow push from August is his undoing as LosirA has plenty of time to prepare a flank with more roaches and speed banelings. He makes a brutal sandwich with a multitude of roaches and the terran army disappears. Reinforcements on their way are also snapped up quickly and the zerg retreats, satisfied with his 60 food lead.Small drops around the map from August are easily cleaned up by the living, breathing swarm of lings and blings.



Maxed out, LosirA sees the sieged tanks protecting the Terran third base and runs headlong into it. The flood of zerg units envelope August's troops and the base is reduced to rubble. LosirA easily takes the series 2-0 as he advances to face HuK in the quarterfinals.


IM.LosirA A-
ST_August B-
Smart play from LosirA in game 1 averted a death-by-banshee ending. Perfect reaction: Queens, spore crawlers, and most of all, creep spread. August was forced to engage on the purple surface and he was crushed outright. The second game was also a massacre, only longer. LosirA's timings were down to the wire and his decisions were excellent. In this series August did not show his true potential - sticking stubbornly to heavy 1 or 2 base pushes which were crushed.

The runner-up in Season 3 comes up against a rising ZeNEX star in JJUN. Almost identical factory builds from both players, with a starport to follow. JJUN begins to pump out marines and siege tanks while Rain researches the cloak for his upcoming banshee. Smart scouting from JJUN prepares him for the incoming harass and his viking and marines mop up accordingly.

Rain transitions into marine/ tank while getting his expansion ready while JJUN shows his intention of staying on 1-base. Rain does well to stall his opponent's superior army with his banshee while he prepares his forces on the high ground. A horrible attack into multiple tanks by JJUN puts him far behind and his own banshee does precious little damage.

His dropships are sniped with full losses, JJUN struggles to match the air-production of his opponent as the superior number of vikings from Rain take out the important raven and the banshees go unchecked. A double drop of Rain's distracts JJUN enough to let him secure the middle of the map, and his army marches towards JJUN's third.

Rain's air control allows him to pick off siege tanks at will, forcing JJUN to reposition time and time again. As the red forces encroach on his natural, JJUN goes for the base trade, circumventing Rain's force and charging up into the main. Well placed tanks and some SCVs clean up the paltry force while JJUN's base crumbles.



Terminus RE is the stage for the second game, with the Rain and JJUN spawning at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions respectively. Rain decides to open with a blue-flame drop while JJUN rushes to banshee, mirroring Rain's play from from game 1. The banshee is fended off by marines and an eager viking while Rain's smart repairing of hellions INSIDE the medivac surprises everyone. He takes out a good handful of SCVs and follows this up with a slightly slower expansion than his opponent.

Both players advance their marine/tank army to the middle of the map, but with the superior viking count (again!), Rain has the spotting advantage. In addition, Rain's own banshee is up to it's tricks again, forcing JJUN to give up his sieged position while Rain rolls his army right across, obliterating the blue forces. Rain is having his way with JJUN, dropping in to the main base while out-shelling the tanks at the natural.

JJUN extends the game far longer than necessary, and with almost negligible supply he GGs out.




TSL_Rain B+
ZeNEXJJUN D+
Incredibly sloppy play from JJUN in both games contrasts his tip-top TvZ display in the previous round. Rain understood the importance of air control in the mirror matchup and when he achieved it the games looked unloseable. The siege tank and banshee micro from Rain was excellent, as was his decision making. JJUN showed his inflexibility when the second game took the same path of the first and he proceeded to lose in the same fashion.

Similar to the first set of the previous match, the players are duking it out on Crossfire FE, with Alicia going 2-gate robo into a quick expand. Noblesse also sets up to expand while he pressures with marauders. However, his super early (and sneaky) 3rd at the gold base is spotted by an observer. Alicia does well to delay the Terran third while fending off drop harass with his colossi and phoenix.

The two players are focusing heavily on air units, with Noblesse setting up turrets with his centrally-placed army. A huge engagement at the elevated area takes place with Protoss dominating the air battle while the ground forces trade forcefields and EMPs. Neither player overextends and forces continue to rally to their respective expansions.

The deathball of Alicia has been remade, favouring a stalker-heavy ground composition rather than zealots while Noblesse has plenty of vikings. Or so he thought. The final confrontation takes place at the Terran natural, where the vikings waste time destroying the annoying phoenixes as opposed to the destructive colossi. While the air battle rages on, the six colossi shred the marauders to pieces and the influx of stalkers spells gg.



Map favourite Xel'Naga is next, with the Terran spawning in the bottom location. Alicia opens with this favourite 1-gate into robo with a fast expo. Noblesse goes for an early marine + tank push and forces the cancel on the Nexus, forcing Alicia to drop additional gates in the main. The terran wisely retreats, and Alicia, with his army sitting comfortably outside Noblesse's main, ninja expands to the west.

At the same time, he rushes to a dark shrine, hoping to cement his newfound map control. His small force continues to deny the Terran natural expo and the warp prism lets a DT loose in the base, casually slicing up 8 SCVs. Meanwhile Alicia is grabbing his third base while keeping Noblesse cooped up and thoroughly confused.



The DTs continue to prod and shred things in the Terran main and Alicia has almost reached Templar tech as well as upgrades. Noblesse does a strong push into the Protoss natural with good tank placement, but the pure damage of psi storms and immortals wipe the floor. Alicia takes his fourth and fifth while tech-switching to colossi. Fast forward a few minutes and it's the doom push marching towards the 6 o'clock position. The 70 food lead proves insurmountable for Noblesse, and even with very well placed EMPs his army is far too weak and far too small.

A thoroughly resounding win from SlayerS_Alicia.


SlayerS_Alicia A
MVPNoblesse B-
Forget about game 1, let's talk about game 2. It was a masterclass, simply put. Alicia made exceptional decisions and toyed with poor Noblesse the whole time. Everything came together beautifully for Alicia - it started with the Nexus cancel and the soft contain. From there, the sneaky expo gained him a strong lead while the DT play kept the terran in his base and clutching his teddy bear. When the push from Noblesse finally came, it was countered perfectly, followed by a lightning quick tech switch into a FACESMASH.
Yes I just repeated myself, yes this game deserved it.

The last quarter of the Round of 16 featured four players who all have legitimate claims to Code S. Both series went to a third set, with SuperNoVa (SaiR) and Killer (SangHo) narrowly prevailing.

A paradox of starcraft is that games between stong players do not necessarily make entertaining games. Such was the case with these matches, as SuperNoVa and aLive played a messy TvT series, while SangHo and M played a series of ultra-passive macro games.

The most entertaining game of these series was the third set battle between SuperNoVa and aLive in which the oGs terran recovered from failed early aggression to put a vice grip on aLive's natural and prospective third. Both players made critical army mistakes which made this a back and forth contest, but aLive's errors proved more devastating as he could not get any semblance of map control for the game's duration. For his occasional lead-fingered execution, SuperNoVa can be forgiven, as his overall game plan was superb, and his diligence in wearing aLive down was game winning. The series essentially ended with SuperNoVa sniping aLive's transplanted original command center at his third, a command center that had been damaged earlier and that aLive had been too poor to repair. It was a scrappy end to a scrappy series, and SuperNoVa deservedly earned a date with Code S in the Up/Down matches.

oGsSuperNoVa - B+
TSL.aLive - B-

The last series delivered long games, huge battles, and full tech trees of units, yet managed to be wholly underwhelming. PvT is a dangerous match-up for both sides, and both played seemed to be most comfortable in putting their tournament on the line in maxed or near maxed army battles. In the first game, M came out squarely on top after expanding more aggressively, but in the second and third game it was SangHo who maintained an economic advantage and husbanded it to a win. This series was notable for almost the complete lack of force fields, as both players executed so safely that the optimal window for mass sentry use came and went each time. There were the occasional flashes of the unusual, as SangHo opened with void rays in the second game, while M got thors. But even that set ultimately devolved into colossi vs viking wars, and was ultimately put to bed with protoss storms. If you wanted an exhibition of the protoss and terran units, then this was it. If you wanted a competitive series of starcraft, this was alright, but left much to be desired.

TSL.SangHo - B
SlayerS_M - B

With the Up/Down matches assured, SuperNoVa and SangHo had only Code A "prize" "money" to play for. What developed was a short and generally fun series, even if it was one sided. In the first game of the series on Shakuras, SangHo began extremely well, harvesting unexpected fruit from his standard zealot/stalker pressure, as SuperNoVa was strangely unprepared for this. Both players expanded and SangHo made a normal transition into a six gate colossus mid-game while SuperNoVa added two factories and prepared a mass tank push across the shared pathway. SangHo had looked to be doing fine, but was completely unable to deal with the numbers of SuperNoVa's tanks once they were in place, and had to tap out just a minute after seeming completely fine.

In the second series, SangHo attacked with a void ray stalker army off of one base, but unfortunately met stiff resistance from a three rax opening from SuperNoVa. Both players were solid but unambitious in their control, and after trying several timings with no success, SangHo declined to draw the game out further and gg'd.

The most impressive thing in this series was probably SangHo's gg timing, which was accurate in both games. SuperNoVa played solidly and SangHo played slightly less solidly, though he can hardly be faulted for any tremendous errors in judgment. One feels that the maps played a role in cutting this series short; as long games are not usually the result of close position meta or backdoor Shakuras. But overall, it's a travesty that there is so little to play for in the later rounds of Code A, a tournament that has largely upstaged its more elite counterpart. Winning Code A this season will be many times the achievement that getting to the Code S finals will be. (From the bottom part of that bracket, at least.) With strong players like SangHo and SuperNoVa all but mailing it in, Code A could use an extra incentive.

oGsSuperNoVa - A-
TSL_Killer - B

With all the players today guaranteed a place in the upcoming up-and-down matches, most of the pressure of Code A was off. The two top zergs were in action today, both coming into their matches as favourites. Huk will be desperate to join his teammate Jinro in Code S for the next season of GSL and increase the foreigner contingent.

Huk chooses to 3-gate into expand in the first game on Xel'Naga Caverns, with Losira poking and prodding with speedlings. Losira sticks to a ling/roach composition, focusing on upgrades and burrow. Huk makes the mistake of engaging far into the creep spread and without his immortals, and he loses most of his valuable sentries as the 3-hatches of Losira pumps out an absurd amount of roaches.

By the time Huk gets his third base, Losira is already supply-maxed and has a 60+ food lead. The next two attacks from Losira are fended off well with the growing immortal and colossi count. The zerg manages to deny the gold base of Huk consistently, re-maxing again and again with more banelings and corruptors.



Finally, the mix of lings, upgraded roaches and corruptors crashes through Huk's army as the colossi fall down incredibly quickly. The influx of roaches into his third base forces a protoss resignation.

On the expansive map Crevasse, the two players spawn in the bottom two locations. Huk goes forge-first and plonks three cannons next to the zerg FE. Losira smartly cancels the hatch at the very last second while Huk's buildings complete. The zerg simply grabs the next closest expansion while teching to roach quickly. Upon scouting Huk's fast expand, Losira decides to cancel the new hatch and goes for a roach all-in. Huk is oblivious to this, but when the roaches march up to the rocks he places cannons down and forcefields the incoming zerglings.

Unfortunately for him, the cannons are taken out quickly, and further attempts to wall off are futile as the forge is destroyed. The roaches simply waltz into his main, and with no way of fending them off, Huk says gg.



IM.Losira B+
Liquid'HuK B-
There was one major error in each of the games which allowed Losira to take firm control. In the first game, Huk made the mistake of engaging a numerically superior army, on creep, before his immortals could supplement his army. Huk showed good defence in the latter stages but was too far behind to realistically come back. In the second game Losira showed his versatility and matchup prowess by cancelling two hatches after Huk's forge play to take advantage of the wasted minerals.

The second series of the day is a ZvT on Shakuras. The favourite, the 15-year old Leenock spawns in cross positions from the Terran player. He easily fends of Virus' bunker push and 2-rax pressure. Both players cease the aggression for a while, with the Zerg looking to stick with speedling/baneling/mutalisk composition. The threat of dropship harass forces Leenock to cancel his third, but the incoming mutas will give him map control and allow him to expand freely.

Virus stays heavy two-base, getting infantry and mech upgrades, looking to expand along the base of the map. With his marines out of position, the thors are magic-box'd and taken out in a pinch. Leenock swings around to the terran natural with lings/mutas and breaks through the engineering bay wall before an upgrade completes. The orbital command is crushed along with other important production buildings.

A last-ditch push from Virus in the middle of the map is easily crushed by muta cloud, and with only one base against at least four from zerg, the terran surrenders.



Game 2 on Metalopolis has the zerg at the 8 o'clock position and the terran at the 6 o'clock base. A 15 hatch opening from Leenock is up against Virus' favourite 2-rax aggression. However, at the 4-minute mark Virus brings along almost all of his SCVs for an all-in reminiscent of season 2. Virus doesn't manage to kill the spinecrawler that's morphing in, and the Leenock manages to get a few speedlings out in time.

The majority of the SCVs fall trying to complete the bunker, and at the last second the building completes and a couple of marines scoot inside for safety. The problem for Virus is the spinecrawler which outranges the bunker, and the lack of repairing and mining capabilities. Virus constructs another barracks and soon after he goes for attempt #2, bringing the new SCVs along for the ride.

The speedlings get a lovely surround on the marines while the drones and SCVs duke it out, and Leenock comes out from the engagement far ahead. With only 3 harvesters left, Virus decides it's time to leave.



ST_Virus D-
LeenockfOu B+
Virus' fail grade stems mostly from his second game, which was abysmal. Poor control of the marines let the spinecrawler and queen live, and the majority of SCVs were simply wasted. Leenock showed excellent defense in game 2, which contrasts his aggressive yet precise demolition of his opponent in the first game.

Here in the Ro8 of Code A, we have former GSL runner-up faces one of Boxer's prodigies, Alicia. Rain is known for his very cheesy strategies, and he doesn't disappoint in the first game as he went for a proxy barracks. Alicia, however, scouted this with his starsense and is well aware of the incoming concussive shell upgrade. A zealot is sent out to attempt to kill off the tech lab before it finishes, but reinforcements came out on time. Alicia was able to hold off the early pressure after pulling some probes and laying down forcefields, and reacted by placing down an expansion at the gold base at 4. In the meantime, Rain floats the proxy rax back to his base and goes for MMM off one base. Alicia positioned his units for a light contain on Rain, and by the time Rain was able to pressure with drops, Alicia's gold base already kicked in with a third base at the natural on the way. With an amazing lead, Alicia was able to roll over Rain once his expansion got up.


.
In the second game, the players spawn cross positions at 12 and 6 on Terminus RE. Rain went for a 1rax expo and Alicia proxied a DT shrine at the 3 main. Rain did not expect this at all, and three DT's wreak havoc in Rain's base. The techlab upgrading stim was taken out, scv's were killed, and the natural was forced to lift to the main while burning down. Alicia is already getting a third base up while this is going on, and once again, he rolls over Rain without letting him get his expansion up once again.



TSL_Rain - C-
SlayerS_Alicia - B+
In the first game, Rain cheeses and Alicia defends well, and Rain proceeds to one base afterwards. In the second game, Alicia cheeses, Rain doesn't defend at all, and Alicia proceeds to get three bases while containing his opponent to one. While these games weren't the greatest show of skill from either player, they do highlight each players' ability to react in times of crisis, and Rain fails in that regard.

Alicia faces his third terran in a row in the semi-finals of Code A, against SuperNova, whom Plexa predicted at the beginning of the season would rock Code A. Both players opened up with really safe expansions on Crossfire SE, and without any battles occurring, Alicia instantly takes a hidden gold base at 4. SuperNova's first banshee harassed Alicia's natural and didn't see much of an army, prompting SuperNova to move out after his first raven. The raven turned the tide of the game as Alicia opted for early DT's, and two of them are caught helpless in the middle of the map.

With a much inferior army, Alicia decided to counterattack and did decent damage at the cost of his whole army. Alicia continuously tries to outmaneuver SuperNova's army in an attempt to buy time to get his economy up, but a scan from SuperNova reveals the gold base and SuperNova instantly countered, knowing he has a huge timing to abuse. With half of his army caught out of position, Alicia loses his natural and SuperNova set up a push with tanks that Alicia just couldn't break.



Contrary to the first game, both players decide to tech off of on base on Shakuras Plateau. Alicia was able to hold off SuperNova's first few cloaked banshees without incurring too much damage, and gets his natural expansion up. SuperNova on the other hand, expanded a bit later, but gets a hidden third base also, reminiscent of Alicia's plan in the first game.

Without knowing about the third base, Alicia attempted to do a timing attack with three colossus. The colossus do terrible terrible damage in combination with forcefields, and SuperNova loses his whole army and pulls back to his main. Amongst all the chaos, SuperNova's first two banshees from beginning of the game cleared out all the probes in Alicia's main and natural, leaving him with only a measly 10 remaining. With his army trying to trickle out of the barracks and no reinforcements coming from Alicia, SuperNova is able to hold off the attack just barely after pulling scv's.



With a superior economy, SuperNova sat back to remake his army and easily rolled over Alicia's base, and landed a mule right when the game ended.

SlayerS_Alicia - B
oGsSuperNova - A-
Against any other terran player, Alicia's strategies would've worked. SuperNova was keen on everything that Alicia was going to do, opening with ravens early on in both games knowing that Alicia likes his DT tech. The only time SuperNova seemed like he was in trouble was when Alicia did his timing attack in the second game, but even that was stopped easily because his banshees killed all the probes during the attack. SuperNova was just solid in both games, and he was able to earn his spot in the finals.

We're treated to a rare ZvZ with non other than Leenock and Losira squaring off, both looking to secure the all important top-2 finish in Code A. Leenock is spawning in the 12 o'clock while Losira starts in the 2 o'clock base on Scrap Station.

Both zergs signal their intentions to go into the mid-game with hatch-first openings. Leenock is the first to get the baneling nest, but is unable to convert his build advantage. In the ling/baneling wars that ensue both players show very good micro to minimize the baneling splash damage. The roaches come out for Leenock earlier, but his natural was evacuated due to an influx of red speedlings.

With the drone advantage, Losira also goes for the roach tech and through his economy, is upgrading at the same pace as his opponent, despite his tardy tech. Losira pushes through the middle rocks and the huge engagement at Leenock's choke takes place. Good baneling splash and a superior angle of attacks tilts the battle in Losira's favour. The roach mass advances towards the main hatch and Leenock reluctantly concedes his first loss of this Code A Season.



On the second map Crossfire we again see identical builds: this time it's gas into pool. Leenock gets a very fast baneling nest but his opponent goes straight to the roach warren. Losira fends off the handful of lings and banes with well timed roaches, forcing Leenock to run all the way home. With an army and economy advantage Losira is content to sit on 1-base and power units.

Satisfied with the army he has accrued, Losira moves out with roach/baneling along the vast expanse. Leenock sees the push from a mile out and plonks down a few spinecrawlers in range of the ramp as well as banelings of his own. This proves insufficient as Losira simply marches up the ramp and kills the queen, lings, and spinecrawlers in that order. Speedlings come to mop up Leenock's sacrificial drones, and it's all over very quickly.



IM.Losira B+
LeenockfOu B-
Leenock's trademark aggressive ZvZ play backfired on him in this series. Losira was happy to play a solid, defensive style and cash in on his economic advantage in the mid-game. This series was quite low-tier, with only zerglings, banelings and roaches fighting it out. Losira showed he grasped two concepts: well controlled roaches beat banelings, and more roaches beats less roaches.

This was what we were all waiting for, the conclusion of GSL Code A in March. Both of these players were hyped up to the max, and their journeys to the finals were no easy task. Losira took out big names like Leenock and HuK while SuperNova took out Alicia, Killer, and Squirtle. Losira was one of the first zerg players to incorporate banelings in ZvP in a televised match, and SuperNova was just known for super-solid play, the MVP of Code A if you will. I know for certain that I definitely expected either HuK or Squirtle to be in this final, but these two players definitely destroyed my fantasies.

Both players opened up for an expansion before anything else, and SuperNova instantly teched to blue flame hellions off of two factories, moving out with the first five. He got a little overzealous and tried to skirt past a spine crawler, and Losira holds off the pressure with a handful of speedlings after surrounding them on creep. SuperNova transitioned into marine/tank and did a timing attack right before stim finishes.

SuperNova set up a really fortified contain positioned right outside of Losira's natural. With his signature army composition of roachbaneling, Losira was able to break out of the contain with a nice flank but the incoming reincforcements proved to be too much, and Losira gg's while still on hatchery tech.



Interestingly enough, SuperNova mentioned before the games that he wasn't confident at all, but he was able to snatch the first set. In the following set, Losira opened speedlings before hatch and felt pretty safe to the 2rax that SuperNova showed him. Unfortunately, he lost a lot of speedlings while trying to scout out the marine numbers and SuperNova constantly moved his army out to the tower and back to his base in an effort to scare Losira into making more zerglings. SuperNova sneakily made a bunker out at his natural to fake a fast expansion, but instead opted for 2port banshees. With four banshees and a bunch of marines out, SuperNova attacked into Losira's roachling army. All the marines died but with no antiair at his natural, Losira loses the hatchery. Losira countered the natural of Supernova, forcing a lift-off, but is forced to return once another banshee came out.

With nothing but spore crawlers and a queen for antiair, Losira turtled off one base for a while and teched to lair. SuperNova, seemingly ahead, made the biggest mistake he could've possibly made in this situation. Losira remakes his natural with two spore crawlers, and SuperNova flew past them without forcing them to cancel.



This natural expansion allowed Losira to get back into the game, as once the banshees turned around to attack it, the spore crawlers were already up to defend. What followed was painful to watch, as SuperNova was still behind on workers at this point, and was only getting his expansion up. SuperNova kept throwing small armies at Losira, and Losira patiently took them out systematically. Despite what the commentators said, this wasn't a comeback from Losira as much as it was a huge mistake from SuperNova to let the natural hatchery get up without any resistance.

In the following set on Crossfire SE, SuperNova opened up with a reaper expand and transitioned into blue flame hellions again. Once again, Losira did a speedling expand and transitions to roaches and banelings on hatchery tech. The damage from the hellions is nullified by the roaches, but they're able to take map control since the roaches didn't have speed yet. SuperNova went for a timing push similar to the first game, with stim finishing right as the push reaches Losira's natural. Losira countered with some speedlings and forced a lift-off at SuperNova's natural, also denying reinforcements at the same time. Though it was a contain, bunkers and all, Losira ran over it with his roachbaneling army with few losses. With great army retention and better economy, Losira countered again and killed a bunch of marines and scv's at the natural.

When mutalisks finally come out, SuperNova isn't prepared at all and realizes that the only way to defend it was to apply some counter-pressure. It got easily wiped out by Losira's army advantage and the rest of the game from then on was easy clean-up by Losira. With more than 50 banelings in his army, Losira forced a gg out of SuperNova without even engaging.



With Losira on a two win-streak after losing the first set, the series progressed to a game four with the players spawning in the highly controversial close positions of Metalopolis. Losira opened with speedlings again, and faked an expansion by sending a drone out to the natural in the vision of a scv. SuperNova felt something was up and sends another scv out to scout that no expansion was taken. He bunkered up while expanding and getting reactor'd hellions, and decided to attack with four. These hellions caught Losira's army out of position and forced drones off mining, but not many drones were lost. However, three more hellions came out later, and once again circumvented Losira's army.



Meanwhile, Losira's five roaches counter into two bunkers but they fail to do any damage. While SuperNova got his natural expansion up, he countered after realizing how behind Losira was. With a horrible economy and no army, Losira tapped out.

Set 5 came next, and Losira opened hatch first, feeling safer on the bigger map of Tal'Darim Altar. SuperNova does the same build as he did in the previous games, following the same pattern of expand -> hellions -> stim push. Losira, after having seen this plenty of times already, is already prepared and defended it with few losses.



This failed push allowed Losira to freely drone up and expand while SuperNova had to turtle and remake his army. Once SuperNova moved out to take his third, Losira met him with his army and killed some tanks. Without even focusing on getting his third up, SuperNova dropped the main while sieging up Losira's natural. Though Losira was ahead and took out all the tanks, he didn't have enough banelings to take care of the overwhelming number of marines that SuperNova had.

With only one more game to win, SuperNova opens up with 2rax and tried to bunker rush Losira's natural. Losira held it off with minimal losses, but SuperNova responds with a double expand. It's really hard for zerg to stop something like this as the layout of Terminus RE allows terran to easily turtle off three bases without any pressure. Losira does take his own third and in traditional SuperNova style, SuperNova makes blue flame hellions and pressured along with some marines. This does not work out, at all, as roaches and queens do well against both of those units.

After holding that pressure off, Losira was able to drone up off of three hatcheries. SuperNova, once at 130 supply, moved out with a marine/tank/hellion army. Interestingly enough, he didn't have stim yet, but whether that was a mistake or not we'll never know. SuperNova set up a contain outside Losira's natural again, and Losira patiently made a whopping 60+ banelings. With the banelings trailing the roach army, the banelings destroyed all the tanks and bunkers while the roaches and zerglings clean up the retreating tanks and marines.





SuperNova desperately tried to remake his army, but with broodlords on the way and no starport yet, the odds were stacked against him. SuperNova turtled until he maxed out in order to take his fourth base, but the sheer number of banelings that Losira has destroyed the terran army. On five bases, Losira instantly remade his baneling army and once again, the screen filled with green explosions as SuperNova's army and planetary fortress evaporated instantly.

With the score tied at 3-3, the final reached a set 7 just like last season's final. On Crevasse once again, both players opened up with expansions first. However, reminiscent of Flash vs Jaedong finals of the old BW days, Losira responds to a CC first by making three hatcheries before pool in order to get an exploding economy.

SuperNova did, yet again, the same build with the same transition into the same push at the same time. This time however, with better economy and more units, Losira intercepted the terran army before it got into position and SuperNova entered panic mode, sending all his scv's to the ramp and bunkering up. Even though SuperNova held off the counterattack, losing his whole army that early in the game meant a really rough game ahead. SuperNova attempted to turtle and get his third base up, but Losira gets his fourth up at the same time. Losira maxed out on supply while SuperNova is still at 130, and even though it looks like SuperNova's defense was unbreakable, Losira tried to break it anyway. In what seemed like an unfair fight, Losira destroyed what army SuperNova had and marched straight into the main. SuperNova landed a mule amidst the roaches to express his frustration as he gg's.









IMLosira - A-
oGsSuperNova - B
SuperNova's style became more and more stale as the series progressed, and he didn't bother changing it up much. After losing the first game to the marine/tank stim push, Losira learned from his mistakes never lost to it again in the series. His games were on opposite sides of the spectrum, though. In the games that he lost, it almost seemed like a second-rate player was playing the game. However, the games that he won were breathtaking and enjoyable to watch. Hopefully Losira is able to get into Code S this season, as his journey through this Code A really demonstrates that he is one of the most fearsome zerg players in all of Korea.

Fanboys rejoice, as this day was full of some of the biggest names in the GSL. With every player in these series having made a name for themselves, this day was bound to yield some good games.

To start the day off, former GSL champion MC played against last season's Code A runner-up, Byun on Terminus RE. Though MC missed the timing for some pressure against Byun's FE, he followed it up with a double expand of his own which allowed his economic advantage to snowball easily in the ensuing macro game. In the following game, both players take early expansion and MC defends Byun's early stim pressure with amazing forcefields. Using this as a springboard to take a third base, MC's resulting economic advantage, again, dominates Byun. Forcefields never allowed Byun's army to properly engage or retreat, and MC rolls over another Terran with ease. These two games were extremely one-sided and reinforced the "MCvT" adage that many have come to use to describe MC's skill in the matchup.



Jinro's games have already been recapped here, so I'll offer my two cents on them. The first two sets were extremely underwhelming, since they were practically build order losses which resulted in short one-sided games. As a fan, it was painful for me to watch Jinro play the third set as it demonstrated so much inexperience, something that Jinro isn't usually known for. To put it into perspective, it was like watching a chicken walking with its head cut off, Jinro being the headless chicken and phoenixes being the blade that severed his hopes of winning the game. There were many times when you could tell that Jinro didn't know what to do with his army, as he pokes around the map without accomplishing much. The first battle at HongUn's third decided the game since HongUn just had so much army retention, and his economic lead won the game from thereon out. Sadly enough, this meant that the fans wouldn't be able to see a MC vs Jinro rematch for a third season in a row.

After just beating MVP 2-0 in the group stages, July was matched against the well-known Clide on Xel'Naga Caverns. This begged the question of whether or not Clide has been able to demystify July's unique style of "hyper-aggression", and game one definitely answered no to that. With banelings aplenty and roachling to follow along, July overwhelmed Clide's natural with exploding bunkers all around. Game two ended up being a showcase of July's constant aggression, repeatedly trying to break Clide's fortified natural. After failing to do so in multiple attempts and realizing the position he was in, the series continued onto game three. July finally decided to play the more popular style of macro zerg, and he proved that he isn't just a one-trick pony, utilizing great mutalisk harass that eventually won him the game.

The following clash between ex-WC3 pro and ex-BW pro proved to be slightly entertaining. Unfortunately for Check, he spawned close to NaDa on Shakuras Plateau, every zerg's nightmare. NaDa followed his 2 barracks FE with dropship stim harass, and once he had a sizable army of marines and tanks, he pushed through the backdoor path. This spelled gg for Check, who wasn't able to hold off the constant reinforcements streaming from NaDa's base. Following up on Crossfire, Check opened up by letting two hellions into his main, which is never a good thing for zerg in the early game. After roasting a respectable number of drones and lings, NaDa knows he has a timing for a one-base attack and goes for marines/tanks/banshees. With a small number of roaches and a handful of speedlings, Check is able to kill off the first wave NaDa's ground army, but the following wave proves to be too much, and NaDa takes the match 2-0 in seemingly easy victories.

MC - A-
Byun - B
Byun didn't play badly persay, but everything he did was completely shut down by MC. Not once in his games was he able to grab even the slightest advantage against MC, and his reaction after losing game two just screamed out helplessness against the mighty MC.


Jinro - C+
HongUn - B
It's hard to take too much out of these games as they were so one-sided. At most, both players were average, with the third game being slightly disappointing from Jinro to say the least. Nothing special here, folks.

July - A-
Clide - B-
July's aggression was able to net him an easy win in the first game, but it was his over-aggression that ended up losing him the second one. Playing a safer, more macro-oriented style in the third game, he was able to roll over Clide as if he was a second-rate Terran. Clide wasn't able to impress, at all, against the god of war.

Check - C+
NaDa - B+
Similar to MC vs Byun, NaDa just completely outplayed Check and Check wasn't able to deliver. A silly mistake of letting two hellions into his base in game two wrecked his economy. NaDa's gameplan in both games were solid, and his knowledge of timings made his 2-0 victory look like a walk in the park.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the first series of the day also happened to easily be the best series of the day. This series ended up being a lot closer than I could have ever imagined. Going into this, it seemed that unless some strange rush, or cheese worked out for him, TheWind was going to get rolled over by San's. Even though the score might at first indicate that's what happened in the game he managed to win, those numbers alone don't give the image nearly enough justice. I'll admit the series got off to a shaky start with TheWind failing a nydus opening and then just getting rolled over by a massive stalker force. But this seemed to kick start something deep down inside of him, causing him to show us he wasn't just going to let this Sans guy walk all over him just because of hype; he was going to have to earn it.

Game 2 showed TheWind opening up his skill set in both the strategical and mechanical departments. After holding off San's initial 6 gate timing push, the winds of change really did start to blow. Supplemented by great harass, and amazing multi tasking TheWind was able to build up an incredible economy while always keep his opponent on the back foot. If it wasn't a drop in the main, it was mutas flying behind the third. San wasn't one to go down without a fight, seeing as he was expected to win this series. Despite constant pressure attempts, and severals stabs at DT aided assassinations, TheWind just would not budge. He didnt care, he was going to win this. TheWind continued to flood out units, and attack from every angle. Pulling his opponent exactly where he wanted him, and how he wanted him there. Eventually his brood lords came out and San realized this game was a lost cause.

I believe in game 3 both players came to a sudden realization, TheWind knew he could win this series and cause an upset. While San realized that this zerg could actually beat him, but that he wasn't just going to be beat, it was going to take much for than previously for him to lose. Despite this intense build up, the initial phases of this game start out pretty passively. That is until San decides to show off some of his phoenix play. These speed demons pay for themselves taking the lives of many a poor zerg miner. TheWind even hurts his own position further through faults of his own, getting a massive corrupter count to deal with phoenixes and colossi, only to lose a large portion to unexpected blink stalkers. For some reason, again, TheWind did not care about any of this. He could lose units, throw things away, one would think this would weaken his position but then he lets loose. He pulled San's main army all the way towards his 3rd by setting up defenses, and right when the army is as far away as it willf get, TheWind drops into San's main and starts tearing everything up. The damage to the main base alone is already massive by the time San's army comes back, but in his haste he leaves his colossi out of position. TheWind swoops in with his corrupter force and picks them off handily before retreating.

With this colossus empty army, TheWind strikes at San's remaining bases with his swarm of forces. He manages to take out two nexus before San pushes him back with voidrays. The voidrays clean up the broods, and the roaches...and they just keep going and going. San's voidrays remain unopposed for so long that by the time TheWind responds to them it's too late. San blasts through the few remaining forces. Based off this one mistake of TheWind, San just barely claws out the series.

Amazing series, if you really want to check out anything from this match day please I implore you watch this one! My attempt at a brief summary does not do it justice. I'm not claiming it was the best series ever, but it was refreshing compared to a lot of series recently.

As for everything else...eh. Lyn and Ensare showed us a confusing series with Lyn playing confusingly, but solid, while ensare managed mistake after mistake.

Anypro and Kyrix had solid games, they just weren't that interesting. Anypro showed us he's very consistent, well disciplined, has his timings down, and understands the game well. Kyrix showed us that he can make a lot of units but has very little idea what to do with them.

Tester,tester,tester. The guy probably didn't deserve quite the level of bashing that he got, but this series was certainly not one to be expected in the ro16 for code S. The matches displayed that Tester was either very off his game for that day, or that his decision making has gone way down hill. In both of the games he lost his decisions made little sense, attacking into a bunker wall when he could have went around through the debris. Or horribly failing an attack into an opponent that should have had less than him. The remaining game was sC failing an all in. Fairly uninspiring series, just not at the level I was hoping for. It wasn't even entertaining in the hilariously fail kind of way, just the kind that gives off a confusing and disappointing kind of response.

San - A-
TheWinD - A-
Both of these guys played great. I was especially happy with TheWind's play, if not for his botched game 1, his overall rating could have been a little higher. Beating an opponent that played so well naturally deserves its own praise. San played well but I feel he could still do better.

TricKsteR C
sC B-
...Tester? sC did a good job of winning games based on the fact that his opponent made egregious errors, even trying for a cute free win in one game.

Ensnare - C+
Lyn - B
Ensnare and tester can certainly be compared on this match day. They're both players who we've seen play a lot better, who were making mistakes and errors in judgement that shouldnt happen with people of their calibre. Lyn on the other hand played extremely solid, his play may have seemed a bit strange at moments but he didn't really have any major flaws. Just a shame his opponent made the games too easy for him.

anypro - B+
Kyrix - B-
If anypro had faced a stronger opponent his grade would have been higher, and I'm sure he could have still managed to beat a strong opponent. Everything about this guy was solid in his games. I do believe if Kyrix had focused on making better decisions with his units, his talented macro could have taken the series for him.

In this Ro8 match, the Kratos Protoss seeked vengeance from the one who took out his best friend Jinro, HongUnPrime. PvP is notoriously known to be dominated by the infamous 4gate build, and these games attest to that. MC did a standard 4gate in the first game while HongUn teched to a twilight council after the first gateway. As you can expect, this doesn't work out for HongUn at all, who was getting a dark shrine while MC's first wave of units warped into his main.



This time around on Xel'Naga Caverns, MC opened 3gate blink stalkers while HongUn went 3gate robo. MC's first attack didn't work out well as immortals rip through stalkers even with blink, but MC decided to snipe off all the immortals at the cost almost his whole army. MC attempted a light contain on HongUn, which was easily broken once HongUn's first colossus came out. HongUn tried to go for an attack but MC abuses his stalker's mobility and countered, easily sniping off a colossus and a robo, and runs away. A funny situation occured where HongUn just gave up his base to MC and goes for a base trade. The ensuing few minutes of dodging each other's army resulted in one of the closest games in GSL history.



Once again, MC decided to 4gate again on Termins RE and HongUn, again, decided to be a rebel with 3gate blink. A repeat of game 1 occurred where MC's first wave of unit hit before HongUn got his tech up, and it became an easy 3-0 for MC.



oGsMC - B+
HongUnPrime.WE - C-
In a PvP series, there aren't many factors to take into account aside from how well the players execute their build and how well the players micro. MC did both of those solidly whereas HongUn failed in both regards. His builds didn't account for the most common build in the PvP metagame, and in both games 1 and 3, it seemed as if he was just praying that MC wouldn't do it.

Protoss hero San took on sC, who hasn't made the biggest name for himself yet, in this Ro8 match. Both players spawned close positions on Metalopolis and both faked a fast expansion build. sC did a 3rax bio opening and San took a hidden expo at 6 while teching to DT's. Still on 1base, sC sends a group of units to take out the expansion and succeeds because San was too slow to react.

The game continued into the lategame with MMM vs HT, which is never a good position for terran to be in. San took control of the right side of the map, denying sC an easy third base. sC attempted to take the high-ground third between their bases, but San is keen on this and tried to deny it and failed. San ended up giving up control of the left side of the map, and was content on rebuilding his tech on the right. While sC was still on 2 mining bases, San was already on his way to 5 bases. With lots of money in the bank but no time, San tries to rebuild his army while sacrificing his expansions.



San's game plan was really interesting in this game, deciding to constantly expand away from the terran and making the most of his warpgate tech to abuse mobility. Though he didn't execute it greatly, he did manage to eke out a win due to sC's mistakes.

The series continued onto a game on Scrap Station, with San opening a fast nexus. sC floated a factory to San's base to make a hellion while bunker rushing the nexus at the natural. The bunker rush was held off but cloaked banshees came in to kill some probes. Luckily, San's build accounted for this and the damage is minimized.



sC gets his expansion up much later and is blindly making vikings while San is going for templar tech. San is allowed an easy third base because sC's tech and economy is so behind. sC realized the position he was in and attempts to apply pressure, but with good forcefields and constantly warping in storms, San denied any possible way of sC coming back into the game.

San opened up a similar build to the first game, getting quick DT's while getting an expansion up. sC is keen on this opening, though, and forced a cancel on the nexus with early bio pressure while getting an expansion up with turrets to defend. With the theoretical advantage, sC attacks into San's natural but good forcefields allowed San to come out ahead easily.



The structure of Terminus RE allowed the game continue into the lategame, and this time around sC finally realizes that he needs ghosts earlier to counteract HT. It became a battle of cat-and-mouse as sC went around the map trying to deny San's expansions. sC does a good job of coming ahead in each battle, and San does a good job of leaving his HT in the middle of nowhere. With sC constantly killing nexuses all over the map, he was able to secure his advantage and win his first game of the series.

Both players opt for an early expansion with some pressure, sC with stim and San with a void ray. They turned around after meeting each other in the middle to go home and play it safe. Once again, the game progressed to the lategame with MMM+ghosts against HT tech. San did a really good job of abusing warpgates to harass sC's expansions. The game boiled down to 1.5 bases of San against one of sC's bases, which was constantly being harassed. With about a 30 worker lead on sC, San was easily able to amass a bigger army and wipe out what remained of sC's hopes of winning.



SanZenith - B+
sCfOu - B-
San's style of PvT is interesting, in that he opts for HT over colossus tech, and for good reason. He's really on top of using his HT to the best of their ability, but carelessly loses them too. sC slowly learned this throughout the series, as he realized he needed ghosts earlier and earlier in his army composition. As a fellow terran player, it hurt me to watch sC play because he very rarely, if at all, dodged storms in the middle of key battles. His play also feels largely uncreative and very boring, if you will.

Game 1 begins on Crossfire, where we get to see the beginning of a developing trend for our terran. Nada opens with some early marine pressure supported by a bunker. July who is more than experienced with this, defends with little worry. He continues this rock solid defense by allowing no entrance to the drop attempts by Nada. In order to follow up this pressure, Nada goes for a marine, tank push. However, he becomes too overzealous with his aggression, instead of strategically leap frogging his tanks Nada pushes them all to the front. July noticing this as well as a late siege, dismantles the push by the terran. Carrying the momentum from the break out, July steam rolls into Nada's main. This makes game 1 look a little easy for The God of War.



We’re then taken to game 2 on Terminus RE. Nada tries again for some early marine pressure with a bunker rush, but july shows us he hasn’t lost the ability to stop this from bw. Picking off marines with great zergling micro, july breaks this contain making it look easy. He then transitions into banelings, and busts Nada’s natural ending the game immediately.



Completely against the wall, Nada has to begin making his stand on Metalopolis. Nada decides that since it didn’t work last time, that he wouldn’t go with another bunker rush this game, that and the maps a little long for that. July chooses a very fast 3rd base while Nada goes 3 rax 2 fact, making many hellion indeed. Nada’s early pressure is strong, killing its share of lings, banes, and drones. But July’s 3 bases help him quickly rebound from this.
July keeps his usual low drone count, managing to bust through Nada’s pushes and crushing the terran bases. With a large economy Nada manages to keep holding on. July decides to throw everything away into Nada’s natural instead of taking out a naked expansion, making his critical mistake in this game. Despite the awesome muta harass, and constant pressure at lair tech, Nada manages to make and micro his strong composition well. This ends up winning him the game.



On the comeback trail Nada takes the next step on Crevasse. Yet again Nada tries some early bunker pressure, and yet again July denies it. Though with more difficulty than previous.
July tries to counter again with a bane ling bust( a lot of reoccurring themes so far), but he chose the wrong building. A depot instead of tech lab made all the difference in allowing nada to hold on by the skin of is teeth. After that stim and medivacs added that extra fortification in holding on from this well-known July pressure.




This is it. It’s come down to game 5 on Xel’Naga caverns, with Nada showing the possibility to make the best come back of the tournament. To no large surprise Nada opens again with a bunker rushs, July doesn’t even need to comment on how he deals with these by now.
A common theme from this series prevailed in this game; Nada sieging late, and July counter attacking at every opportunity. For a changeup July picks up a better economy, and doing what he does best with mutas. This insanely mobile destruction force, chips away at Nada until there is nothing left, and July holds on to win one of the best series of the tournament.






ST_July - A
oGsNada - A-
It's July and Nada, and it went to 5 games.

We start the series off on Shakuras Plateau. Anypro scouts a tech lab, with Lyn opening fast concussive shell he heeds the advice of Tasteless and quickly goes void ray. This put Lyn into a situation that was entirely his fault for not scouting. His reaper came into the base and missed the starport by inches. Instead of using this reaper in the base for scouting out everything he could, Lyn thought it might be better to try for a probe kill or two. He found out the hard way that this was the inferior decision.



Moving on to Xel’Naga Caverns, Lyn opens a similar way this game. Anypro changes it up by defending some early pressure crushing Lyn’s initial force. In this case two can play at that game, Lyn defends Anypro’s counter pressure extremely well, picking off sentries and back stabbing with marines. Lyn ended up playing a very solid game. Anypro’s micro left something to be desired; the dreaded one hotkey syndrome, causing zealots to get stuck, and templars to clump beautifully for emps. All of this resulted in a Lyn win.



Rebounding back to an even series, the match up takes itself to TalDarim Altar. Lyn again shows a similar build from the previous games, while Anypro again decides to mix it up. He fakes a double gas opening, cancelling one after Lyn’s scout leaves the base. Transitioning from this into a warp gate rush, and with Lyn having no information he is left completely unprepared for the ensuing pressure and Anypro takes this game in a quick fashion



With Anypro taking the series lead, the next game beings on Terminus RE. Despite Lyn initially wanting us to believe otherwise, he does in fact opt for the same build yet again. Anypro decides to show us a standard game, opening with an expansion into colossus. Lyn however gets far too greedy trying to take a quick third along with dual teching. Anypro does as “any pro” would do…just attacks into his opponent who shows the weakness of his greed.



FOXLyn - C+
With only one solid game in the entire series, Lyn got completely out classed here
anyproPrime.WE - B+
To negate Lyn, Anypro only had one significantly sloppy game, making the rest look far too easy

"Scrap" Station seems a fitting name for the first game of this match. July starts this series off showing us that he is just as capable of being a cerebral assassin as a god of war. 6 pool. What more is there to say? I can’t imagine Anypro would be expecting a 6 pool in game 1, and that’s exactly why July did it. Setting the stage for the rest of the match; the pressure is on.



So quickly onto Crossfire it's difficult to recall what the previous map was. Anypro opens with phoenix, while July opens with a suicide march for his initial forces, feigning some pseudo pressure. While the phoenixes do a lot of economic damage, the roaches counter with some of their own. Anypro goes for a semi-suicide into the third of July, sacrificing some units to take it out before blinking away with what he has left. Unfortunately, 10 minutes into this game July has doubled the supply of Anypro, and only needs to hit the A key at this point.



Game 3 on Tal’Darm Altar shows us the only semblance of a real macro game in this series. Anypro begins with a fast expand, and July answers with a quick third. Anypro proxies a stargate hoping to stifle the spread of the swarm, but ends up supply blocked severely impacting the timing of his build. Failing this build against a 3 base zerg puts Anypro into a sad place, not a happy place. After this supply block Anypro decides it’s time to turn on the macro. With a strong death ball, he took advantages of July’s poor unit composition that failed to adapt to what Anypro was doing. Having far too many useless air units, including the myriad of overlords lost in the big clash; it was impossible for July to stand up any sort of fresh army while Anypro ran over him.



July isn't happy, and he wants to show it here on Xel'Naga Caverns. Anypro starts off risky with a fast expand despite the somewhat short distances and wide surface area of the naturals here. July punishes this by doing a zergling run by and inflicting massive damage, eventually morphing some of these into banelings and blowing up Anypro’s mineral line. After this it becomes only a matter of time. July does that voodoo that he does so well. With a non-stop assault comprised of roaches and mutas, July slams away at Anypro until overwhelming him.




ST_July - B+
The interactions of this series were very similar to that of MC and San. July looked strong in all of the games he won, but not quite in his top shape.

anyproPrime.WE - B-

Disappointingly for Anypro, July walked all over him in this series. From the 6 pool, to the doubled supply he’s just not at the level of July yet.

These two protoss begin on Xel'Naga Caverns.This was an extremely unfortunate game from San. MC executed his cannon rush extremely well because he’s MC. But San made some terrible decisions; not blocking his ramp to prevent the probe from building in his base, focusing a useless pylon even though the cannons in his base were powered from the low ground. It looks like he’d almost never faced this build, or he panicked. Funny game from MC, funny in a sad way from San.



Hopefully forgetting the last game, San wants to start anew on Crossfire. Despite holding off MC’s early pressure and coming out with the advantage, MC simply retorted with a strong timing attack. He hit San right after he got a bit too greedy putting his expansion up faster. And MC's unit composition was much better because of his zealot mix. San instead took too many risks going expand, thermal lance, and stalkers trying to cover all his risky bases and paying for it.



At this point on Shakuras Plateau San is hoping for anything but a clean sweep. San holds off another strange attempt by MC to beat 4 gate with 4 gate. MC again tries for a timing attack, but San covers the right precautions this time. He executes a beautiful forcefield to split off some of MC’s army, which also delays for thermal lance. San manages to finish the upgrade in time and win the battle.



With each player showing they are capable of winning a game in this series, the next game features Metalopolis. This game really showed us that San’s decision making still needs a little work despite all the way he’s come. Trying to get revenge on MC for game 1, San goes for a forge build aiming to cannon rush. However after his first cannon he chooses to build a pylon instead of a cannon and this made all the difference in the rush. Allowing MC to have enough time to get his cannons up and defend. But san hadn’t lost at this point, MC went for counter pressure in hopes of using his tech lead. San was just one cannon short of being able to hold this off, assuming just a little too much into his defensive capabilities



oGsMC - B+
He’s solid, and he’s MC. However this series didn’t look like much of a challenge for him, and yet he still made some strange decisions like twice trying to combat 4 warp gate with 4 warp gate giving san unneccesary advantages
SanZenith - B-
Besides the game he won, San just didn’t look that great this series. It was likely in part to playing such a strong opponent, but also some of his decision making was just not up to par.