Early Games: 04:10 GMT (+00:00)

EG.JYP.RC vs MVP.Noblesse

On the one hand we have EG.JYP.RC, a man notorious for his bad PvT. For one brief moment in time it looked like he would finally climb his win rate in the matchup above 40% as he started to take series off of Supernova, Hack and Thorzain. But then he met the stiffer Code S competition in MVP, MKP and Maru. Since his brief resurgence in the matchup, JYP has gone 3-7. While not as bad as it once was, it’s clear that instead of being a PvT player that any Terran could beat, he is now a PvT player that any Code S Terran can beat.

On the other hand we have Noblesse, a player that has been stuck in Code B for a long time after dropping out of the GSL. He made it back last season only to fall to Creator 2 - 0. While the score looks bleak, Noblesse played some excellent games against Creator as he played the late game both times and was able to go toe-to-toe with Creator and make it look much closer than it should have been.

If we look at the content of the games, Noblesse seems to understand TvP at a high level. JYP on the other hand looks fairly competent in the matchup, much better than when he lost to every bio-medivac timing. Not only that, but JYP likes to mix in different kinds of all-ins now in his PvT player. With the fact that JYP is a Code S regular and Noblesse will once more be fighting for his life or be regulated in Code B, I’m giving the edge to JYP.

Prediction: JYP 2 - 1


ST_Bomber vs ClassicPrime

Bomber's Law: Bomber will always disappoint.

Corollary to Bomber's Law: If Bomber does not disappoint, it will be in order to set up a bigger disappointment later.

Under those premises, it's really hard to determine what's going to happen tonight. If Bomber had won at MLG Fall Championship or Lone Star Clash, there was a 99% chance he would crash out into Code B upon returning to Korea.

However, his results in the USA are difficult to categorize, making it tough to predict what cause and effect relationship should take place now. Was beating by.Rain the anticipation builder, with the subsequent disappointment already having happened when he blew the semi-final series against Leenock? Did he already clear his 'disappointment balance' when he lost to Stephano in the LSC2 finals? If that were the case, we would expect him to crush Classic here if only to build expectations, allowing him to fumble further down the line in the GSL.

If we (foolishly) ignore Bomber's quasi-supernatural jinx, he really should crush Classic easily. The Classic we've seen in recent months has been a poor man's TAiLS of sorts, making appearances for Prime in the Team League when they need a sneaky Protoss cheese. On the other hand, Bomber just came off a 2 - 0 thrashing of by.Rain at MLG, getting to showcase his spectacular TvP bio micro. Though Bomber has consistency problems in TvT and general problems in TvZ, he's always been an elite TvP player, and Classic should not be a problem unless he is caught horribly off guard.

Prediction: Bomber 2 - 0 Classic.


ByuNPrime vs 8th_Terminator

We're not totally over how great and cheesy Terminator's ID is, but we have to say we're over the honeymoon period and willing to judge him a bit more objectively. Terminator played pretty well against not-quite Code S opposition in his first season out in the GSL, but he couldn't handle proven players like Polt, Heart, or Happy. If you notice a pattern, all three of those players happen to be Terran, whereas the players Terminator did manage to beat were Protoss and Zerg. Thus, barring some huge improvement over the last few weeks, the TvP expert ByuN has to be favored here by quite a lot.

ByuN's TvP stock might have fallen a bit, but that's unfair because he was getting punched repeatedly in the stomach by one By.Rain. It's like Rain got all the rub and hype he needed out of beating a proven TvP player like ByuN, and somehow ByuN gets tossed to the wayside and undervalued instead. ByuN is still a great TvP player with a formidable arsenal of non-orthodox openers that transition into standard play, and Terminator cannot be prepared for every possibility.

Prediction: ByuN 2 - 1 Terminator.


STX_Trap vs FXOasd

This should be a very interesting match. Asd is a solid all-around ESF Terran player that has been around for a long time playing for FXO. He’s always played strong multi-tasking macro based bio-medivac styles in his TvP. Trap is a less famous Kespa player that has a very unique style in TvP whose composition consisted of immortal archon and HTs with zealots. He had very strong defense and was able to shut down Supernova’s aggression easily last time around. But was destroyed by Gumiho’s hyper multi-tasking. After that, he easily fell in the Up/Down matches as the mass melee seemed to fit him badly compared to the single player preparation of Code A.

But that was a month ago, and a lot can change in a month. Since then, neither of them has played a lot of matches. While I don’t expect asd to deviate much from his style as he’s refined it for a long time, Trap could have easily changed how he plays his PvT. This is another match can go either way, but I’m going with asd. Trap impressed me with his play last season, but his PvT seemed to only work well against Supernova.

Prediction: asd 2 - 1 Trap.


Late Games: 09:10 GMT (+00:00)

ST_Brain vs 8th_BaBy

Startale's absorption of ZeNEX has given them an interesting assortment of players, from Royal Roader Life, Legend Killer Sparta, and now, Elephant Hunter Brain (all of these are plausible titles for an anime). The virtually unknown Brain finally made it through the Code A qualifiers on his fourth try, taking down KeSPA players Crazy-Hydra and Free along the way. Now, he'll have to defeat the mightiest elephant he's yet faced if he doesn't want to start the Code B cycle all over again.

BaBy is a KeSPA player you feel a little bit sorry for. He was hyped ever since he debuted at the age of thirteen, and 'waiting for him to fulfill his potential' has become an anachronistic narrative that's stuck, even though he's now eighteen years old. It didn't help that GomTV inadvertently set him up to fail last season by giving him a Code S seed, leading fans to believe he was a top class player when he still needed to work on a his game. Overall, he appears to be a good KeSPA player, but not one of the best.

With basically zero information on Brain, it's tough to make a call here. It doesn't seem like he was considered a prospect in the past, since he didn't even get playing time on ZeNEX, much less Startale. It could be that he worked hard on his game after joining Startale and got better, or it could be that he just got lucky in the qualifiers. Cautiously, we'll go with the more established player in Baby.

Prediction: BaBy 2 - 1 Brain.


Acer.MMA vs ByuL

I guess this is where MMA should come out of the shadow realm, having been battered and bruised, undergone internal turmoil and strife to once again prove to the world that he is one of the best Terran players Wings of Liberty will ever provide. In finally being done with SlayerS and having found at the very least a functional team, still with Cella and with a brighter future than what has been on the horizon for the last six months, this is the moment where we will find out what kind of MMA is left.

Meanwhile, Byul gets a chance to prove himself after having had some rather bright spots for Fnatic last GSTL. Ironically, as MMA departed SlayerS, Byul is following along the same lines having severed his ties with his former team. He struggled to build upon his team league success following the initial rise of the patch Zerg, but has pretty consistently shown himself a player that should at least aspire to make it into Code A.

They both have a lot to fight for. For MMA, it remains to be seen whether his new situation will be a new motivation as well as a new security. For Byul, this season could be pivotal in terms of finding a new team. For both players, the stakes are high. The favorite is definitely MMA, but Byul is exactly the kind of Zerg he has found it hard to deal with since his TvZ went from godlike to merely good. Overall, MMA should be at the point where he is ready to display his best again, while the pressure on Byul should never have been more profound. Sometimes these circumstances will make for strange games, but MMA’s biggest obstacle to getting into the round of 32 will once again be himself.

Prediction: MMA 2 - 1 Byul.


SKT_By.Rain vs MVP.Dream

Dream upon entering Code A: Alright! With me making it into Code A, this will be the first time ever that the entire MVP Terran A-team will all be in the GSL at the same time. This is great, especially since I’ve been working so hard and practicing so much. I got a bit unlucky with Genius last time around, but this time I will show all of my skill I’ve been working on and if I work hard I can even make it to Code S! I wonder who my first opponent is? It’s Rain? The Terran player right? I heard he retired, but I won’t take him lightly if he stands between me and victory. Oh, you mean the other Rain? …..Goddamit.

Thus the Dream ended. To be fair to Dream, he’s a strong solid Terran player who has shown he can take games or even series off of some GSL regulars. Unfortunately for him, Rain is a monster in contention for the best Protoss of the year. Sorry Dream, maybe next time.

Prediction: Rain 2 - 0 Dream


KT_Flash vs NSH_Brave

1. He's Flash.
2. Brave has one of the most unfourtante profile pictures in GOM history.
3. He's Flash.
4. HoSeo is on life support with Brave, a rookie, there only hope left in the SC2 world.
5. He's Flash.
6. Brave had one of the easier prelim brackets, with his only notable win being a 2-1 over Hoejja, a player who hasn't qualified for any SC2 tournaments so far.
7. He's Flash and you beat one of his teammates.
8. Brave is NOT the retired Brood War player of the same name.
9. He's Flash and you're dead, Brave.
10. Play some Electric Romeo and watch David vs. Goliath commence.

Prediction: Flash 2 - 0 Brave