Results from Live Report Thread by Seeker.

Alicia 3 - 2
TheStC 3 - 2
Bumblebee 0 - 5
Maru 4 - 1
sC 3 - 2
JYP 2 - 2

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JYP <Crossfire SE 1.1> Alicia
Maru <Bel'Shir Beach Winter> TheStC
Bumblebee <Antiga Shipyard 1.2> Alicia
sC <Daybreak> TheStC
Bumblebee <Daybreak> JYP
Maru <Crossfire SE 1.1> sC
TheStC <ESV Cloud Kingdom> Alicia
Bumblebee <Antiga Shipyard 1.2> Maru
JYP <Entombed Valley> TheStC
sC <Bel'Shir Beach Winter> Alicia
Bumblebee <Metropolis> TheStC
JYP <Dual Sight 1.1> sC
Maru <Dual Sight 1.1> Alicia
Bumblebee <Entombed Valley> sC
JYP <ESV Cloud Kingdom> Maru

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3 Way Tiebreaker!
Alicia 0 - 1
TheStC 2 - 0
sC 0 - 1

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Alicia <Dual Sight 1.1> TheStC
sC <Antiga Shipyard 1.2> TheStC

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Maru advances to GSL 2012 Season 2 Code S!!!
TheStC advances to GSL 2012 Season 2 Code S!!!

The Prodigy of Prime

In a night full of cheeses, early rushes, and bungled games, the youngest player in the entire group, the barely fourteen-year-old MaruPrime, was able to outsmart his opponents in his group to become the youngest Code S player of all-time. You might have thought Leenock was young when he broke into Code S as a sixteen-year-old, but the Terran player one upped him by two years by getting there after his second season in Code A.

Known for his early game tactics, Maru was able to live up to his expectations, taking down the players in his group with various mind games and rushes. Even when he went down in his first game of the night against TheStC as his proxy 1/1/1 build failed, it was a game you felt Maru should have won. If he had pulled his SCV's and committed to the push completely, or if he followed up by trying to get an economic advantage while containing TheStC, he more than likely would have won and gotten out of the group with a perfect score. His indecisiveness, possibly due to inexperience, led to his first loss, but he didn't let that put him on tilt. He played without fear in his next four games, sticking to his high risk, high reward strategies.

With three wins and one loss going into his final game against JYP, the entire weight of the group was on the young player's shoulders. If he won, he would get out of the group and be the first place player, joining his teammates MarineKing and B4 in Code S. A loss, and the unthinkable would happen, with a five-way tie between all but one of the players (Bumblebee) forcing another ten games of tie-breakers.

It was do or die for JYP, who had been able to win his first PvT game ever in the GOM booth earlier that night against TheStC. If he lost, he would be 100% out with a 2 - 3 record, with no shot at tie-breakers. Maru knew how important the match was for JYP, and bet that his opponent would try to take it to the late game. With his Code S life on the line, would JYP really go for a cheese? Maru gambled that his opponent would play standard, hid two SCV's when JYP scouted with his probe, and then proxied two barracks while his opponent went for a quick Nexus. JYP never saw it coming. By the time he noticed, it was too late for any desperate nexus cancelling and pylon walling to do any good. The train of SCVs and marines wrecked the defenses and forced the GG.

Looking at his games, no, Maru didn't play as fantastically as Squirtle and Leenock, who looked like they were a class above their opponents in their games. However, Maru did prove that he's savvy enough to survive in the GSL. Going into the day's games, we worried that his youth and experience might work against him in big pressure moments. However, he was able to win a long, drawn out knife against sC; solidly hold a cheese from Alicia; outlast his teammate Bumblebee in an unorthodox situation; and outsmart JYP with a daring gamble when the stakes were the highest. Maru might be just fourteen years old, but he proved that age is an irrelevant number. On the other hand, you couldn't ignore the fact that the Prime Revolution's Code S count had gone up to three, with perhaps their most dangerous player, Creator, looking to make it four tomorrow.


Long Night, Hard Fights.

Let's not beat around the bush. Last night's games weren't that good. Maybe you could say Maru vs. sC was fun in a scrappy way, and that JYP vs. TheStC was interesting due to JYP finally beating a Terran in the GSL, but the seventeen games on the night were mostly a collection of cheeses, bad play (we'll get to that), and six players letting their desperation for Code S show transparently in their play. It didn't help that sC, who is long known to have problems with collapsed lungs, was extra sick with a different ailment during the night, and was repeatedly pounding his chest during look-ins on his booth before and after games. It was amazing in itself that he was able to come back from being 0 - 2 down and make his way into the tie-breakers.

TheStC, outside of Maru, looked the best in the group and definitely deserved to move on. With sC's illness, Alica's all-ins, JYP's inconsistency and Bumblebee's all around poor play, it wasn't hard to be the second best player in the group. When he finally was able to gain his spot in Code S, after months of trying and being known as one of the best players since the beta, he got out of his chair with vigor and did a pelvic thrust ceremony with impressive enthusiasm. It was a hard journey, but the oGs player was finally able to put the nightmare of MLG Orlando and other narrowly missed Code S chances behind him.

The two Protosses of the group did not show us anything special. Congrats are in order for JYP for finally beating a Terran. He played better than his final score of 2-3 might show, but he wasn't able to win the crucial PvP to start the night and got tricked by Maru in the final set that could have given him another chance at getting back into Code S.

Alicia, on the other hand, started the night out with a 3-0 record, and looked to have a Code S spot all but secured. Then he lost badly. Then he lost badly for a second time. Then, in the tiebreaker, TheStC was able to outmaneuver him and prove that he was the better player of the two, leaving Alicia with a mediocre 3-3 score on the night, sending him back to Code A where he will have to try and qualify once more. There is no question that Alicia has improved a lot since his post post-Super Tournament disappearance, but it's not enough for Code S just yet.


The Sting of Defeat

I feel bad for Bumblebee. He goes down in history as the first player to ever go 0 - 5 in Up and Down history. Usually when a player is 0-3 or 0-4, they don't have to play their last game because the two qualifying players are decided before that. But due to his group being so close that it could even have ended in a five-way tie, Bumblebee was forced to play his very last match against sC, even though he was down and out at 0-4.

Oh, and then sC went for a rush while Bumblebee went for a hatch first, adding salt to the wounds as he got run over by a bunker and marines. Terious, Bumblebee, or whatever you want to call him, didn't play the worst we've ever seen in the GSL, but his play ranked pretty low. His closest game of the night was against his teammate Maru, where did what could only be called an Idra gg timing, giving up when he had more supply than his opponent. Though he was not in a good economic situation, most players would have battled it out a little longer, at least looking for a highly improbable turnaround in a last ditch engagement.

He truly was the punching bag of the group. He tried to cheese, but failed. He tried to play long games, going hatch first, and got successfully cheesed. He got a lead against Maru, having infestors and broodlords against a mainly marine army, but moved his army in at weird times and ended up losing everything. While the Prime Revolution might be going strong with the other players, there must be casualties to the cause. And sadly, for Prime, while this will be the night known when Maru rose to prominence, it will also be remembered as the night Bumblebee got bullied and beat up by everyone.


Game of the Night:

MaruPrime vs. MvPsC

None of the games were really that memorable or particularly good, but if you want to see two Terrans fight each other in very scrappy brawl, then this is a pretty good game. Pretty? No. It was like watching two guys fight to the death with wooden knives. Somewhat entertaining to watch next to the rest of the games in the group? Yes.

6. SlayerS_Brown

Dare we say that Brown might have been overrated when he made it into Code S? All credibility we give him originates from a single 2 – 0 victory over Losira, the victory that got him into Code S. Besides that, there's almost nothing to note. His other wins came against Lure (complete unknown), Ryung (poor TvP), and Max (in his last match before military service) – nothing to write home about. Against Killer, Happy, and aLive, he couldn't get the job done.

Here's the most optimistic scenario we could make up for Brown: He is a killer PvZ player, but is only mediocre at PvP and PvT. He had the misfortune to play no Zergs in the last two months, leading to his disappointing record.

Even if that were true, that's not going to help him in this particular group. Lucky is the sole Zerg player in the group, and he's a ZvP specialist at that. Good luck, Brown, you're gonna need it.


5. coL.Killer
4. EG.HuK

The "I wouldn't be surprised to see you anywhere between Code B or Code S RO8" group. Both players played crucial roles for the Protoss race during MC's slump, making sure there was Protoss representation in Code S. However, neither of them could make a semi-final run, and I can't help but get the feeling that they haven't kept pace with the rest of the Protoss pack. Oz and Parting have already started the replacement process, and with players like Creator, HerO, and Seed coming through, the old school duo might find themselves becoming yesterday's news.

Between the two, I would pick HuK to do better in this three Protoss group. For HuK, PvP has been both his bane and fortune, allowing him to do way better than expected in tournaments, as well as knocking him out unceremoniously early. In Killer's case, PvP has almost always worked to his detriment, and he's never been able to coin-flip his way to a higher round.

Both are still good players, and I'm of the belief there are some intangibles GSL veterans possess that give them an advantage against less experienced players. Unfortunately for HuK and Killer, there's a player that far outclasses them in that department...


3. ST_Virus
2. oGs.fOrGG

One player is the survivor of a thousand battles, a veteran of countless leagues, a man with the tenacity and cunning to make the most of his fading abilities amidst hordes of younger, stronger challengers. The other player is Startale Virus.

Yes, if you wanna dig through a career that spans an entire other game, ForGG's resilience even after his Brood War prime had passed makes even the deadly Code S Virus look like a common cold in comparison.

Though his micro is looking a bit suspect, his decision making not always being the sharpest, and even as he endangers a particular species of elephant, ForGG has still shown he can be a Code S level guy in his short SC II career. You can't forget his first Code A run, where he flattened Sage, Polt, and July 6 – 0 to make it into Code S. You definitely can't forget that he has more experience in important games than everyone in this group combined. Mark my words, ForGG is going to pull a Nada, turn that championship switch on for a day, destroy his up-down group, and secure his place in Code S.

As for Virus, many people would place him last in this group. After all, the Code S Virus appears to have been cured by the new system, and Virus missed his first Code S season for the first time in god knows how long.

You know what? I agree. Virus was good enough to cling on in the 24 seed system, but the eight seed system just makes it way harder. Yet, I still believe that Virus is going to give it his all, pull out some tricks we didn't know he had, and show us one or two of those classic "how the f*** did Virus win?" games we've grown to love and hate. Third place it is. I would cheer Virus on and hope he would manages to squeeze into Code S, if not for...


1. FXOLucky

I've had a soft spot for Lucky ever since I met him briefly at IPL3, where the backstage ribbing about Lucky's deep run hurting IPL's success made me immediately pick him up as my new hipster, underrated player to follow (DRG had then recently betrayed me by finally getting into Code S).

In a world where Zergs are limited almost exclusively to "title contenders" and "Code A regulars," Lucky is a pretty fascinating player mid-tier player. He can go toe to toe with most of the guys in Code S, with his ZvP being particularly fearsome. He uses just enough all-ins to boost his win ratio, without becoming a gimmicky player. Though Lucky's relatively poor ZvT will prevent him from affecting the title picture, he's definitely a guy who belongs in the Code S mix. He actually reminds me a bit of CoCa before his ban: Great ZvP, average ZvT, runner-up at a big international tournament, undoubtedly a Code S player.

Though CoCa started to figure out ZvT before shooting himself in the foot, Lucky still seemed a bit lost as of ASUS ROG Winter. However, seeing that he's facing three Protoss, one Terran, and one Virus, that's a problem he can deal with while he prepares for Code S.