by Fionn and Waxangel

SlayerS_Miya vs ST_Curious

When we previewed the first round, Miya vs Horror stuck out as a welfare match between little-known players without much broadcast experience, allowing them to get their feet wet before they had to swim with the sharks. The match lived up to expectations – unfortunately in this case – as both players looked quite nervous in some entirely forgettable games. At the end of the day, someone had to be declared the winner, and it ended up being Miya who will now be cruelly tossed into Curious' tank.

Curious is a reliably good player, and no one really blinked an eye when he defeated Puzzle and Creator in Code A lately, or when he took out By.Sun in his first WCS game. If you hadn't noticed, he's quietly climbed up the Korean ELO rankings and is now the #1 Zerg player, and #3 player overall. Curious' problem has always been the weird jinx that strikes him when he plays in Code S, preventing him from playing up to his usual level. By his Ro32 performance, it seems that the curse hasn't carried over the WCS. If that continues to stay true, then Curious is not only a strong candidate to make the ten player Korean representative list, but also a player who is in serious contention to become the national champion.

After three straight victories in his worst match-up of PvZ, Curious now gets to face an untested, jittery opponent in his best match-up of Zerg vs Zerg. Hope was already running dry for Miya, but now that he's going up against Curious, he's practically dead in the water.

Prediction: Curious 2 – 0 Miya


ST_PartinG vs FnaticRC aLive

For the fifth straight day, the Korean Nationals feature an amazing headlining match. PartinG and aLive are masters of the the PvT match-up, and this is an absolute must-watch match for fans who place pure skill as their first criteria.

The two players faced off not long ago in a different Bo3 series, fighting for a direct Code S spot in the final round of Code A. After splitting the first two games, the series came down to a base race on Antiga Shipyard. PartinG ended up managing the situation a bit better, and with the help of his trademark storms, took a 2 – 1 victory in the series. Later, aLive talked about how he regretted not being able to play better, as his participation in the MLG Arena tournament had prevented him from preparing optimally. Now that he's free of jet lag or any other tournament obligations, there will be no excuses for aLive if he fails to take revenge.

Both PartinG and aLive excel in the late game, able to get the most out of all the separate components of their late game armies. PartinG is particularly known for his ability to use and manage templars, always having them in position to stop splinter forces, and finding enough energy to cast those last two storms just as the Terran thinks it's okay to stop retreating. aLive's hair trigger micro on his ghosts and excellent marine-marauder splitting is a great counter to PartinG's storms, making these two very evenly matched. In the Code A series, that meant that the first player to take an advantage was able to snowball it into an easy victory, but hopefully they will play a much more back and forth series this time around.

Prediction: PartinG 2 – 1 aLive


SAMSUNG_Reality vs. Slayers_Puzzle

Welcome to the Reality Show. Since his WCS Korea preliminary performance where he eliminated three Code S-level players (Shine, Heart and most importantly Symbol), all eyes have been on the most impressive KeSPA player since its official transition from Brood War to Starcraft 2. When the announcement was first made, all the talk was about Flash, Jaedong or Bisu and how they'd walk into the Mokdong Studios, end the GOM Era and begin the Elephant Era.

Flash? Respectfully impressive. Won the KeSPA Invitational, has done decently in Proleague, and advanced to the first SC2 OSL by stomping through three KeSPA players most of the Starcraft 2 community has never heard of.

Jaedong? Again, impressive for how little time he's had to play SC2. Has become the Super Ace of the Proleague, but got eliminated in the first round of WCS Korea and didn't qualify for the OSL.

Bisu? Well...uh...he has the worst SC2 record in Proleague, has been constantly eliminated early in qualifying tournaments, and has started some sort of obsession with sentries. Hey, at least he still has nice hair and a huge fan club of girls.

Reality has not only surpassed these legends so far in his short SC2 career, but he has become the KeSPA hope. While his Proleague record isn't stellar, none of that matters with his performances so far against GOM players. It doesn't matter where he comes from. Beating Shine, Symbol, Heart and YuGiOh in a row and only dropping one map against them? That is impressive for any Terran player on the planet.

Reality will face his biggest hurdle tonight. We've seen him crush Zergs, and he was able to 2-1 Heart, a Code S Terran, in the finals of the WCS Korea preliminary finals. Now, with his last winner interview admitting that his TvP isn't his strongest match-up, this is going to be the first time we see him take on a top level Protoss in more than likely his weakest match-up.

With YuGiOh already losing to Reality, SlayerS need Puzzle to take revenge. You wouldn't expect Boxer or especially Jessica to be happy if two of their core players got embarrassed by getting beat by a player with two years less experience. Puzzle is going to have all the pressure on him to perform, and if he can't get it done against Reality, it won't be a happy stroll home back to Slayers.

A win against Puzzle will confirm that Reality is the best KeSPA Starcraft 2 player and put him one series victory away from qualifying for the WCS Asia finals.

Prediction: Puzzle 2 – 1 Reality


SAMSUNG_RorO vs. FXOLeenock

Continuing the Khan theme, Roro, the second of the KeSPA Seven to qualify for the second round of the winner's bracket, will try and stay equal with his partner Reality and make it to the winners Ro8. His performance might not be getting as much praise when compared to his teammate's domination so far, but Roro is a player that can't be ignored. He has actually been better than his buddy Reality in the hybrid Proleague, and he was able to take down arguably a tougher opponent in the first round, beating the Code S hopeful Hack in a 2-1 victory.

Akin to Reality's second round opponent, it's a big step up in competition for Roro as well. Hack is a very good player, more than likely a Code S player by the end of 2012, but he now has to go up against a GSL runner-up. Leenock has been on a war path since regaining his confidence in the middle of the GSTL season and hasn't been stopped since. MC tried to stop Leenock's momentum last night, but it wasn't enough to stop FXO's most accomplished player.

With Nestea's dreadful play against Byun in the Code S quarterfinals, Symbol's sub-par results since choking against Seed in the same Code S quarterfinals, and DongRaeGu losing big game after big game, Leenock is the strongest Zerg player around with his current winning streak against top opponents. He was on course to be the best Zerg in the world last year when he was in the finals of the GSL and won MLG Providence, but after losing to Jjakji in a great finals, started a 2012 slump that lasted until this GSTL season.

Roro is good and ZvZ is a match-up where build orders can give you some easy victories, but Leenock is setting his sights on the championship and is going to be almost impossible to knock off without some luck going the Khan player's way.

Prediction: Leenock 2 – 0 Roro