GSL 2013 Season 1 Code S
Ro32: Group F Recap
MarineKing, RorO, Mvp, Keen
Ro32: Group G Preview
Soulkey, Noblesse, TaeJa, Nestea
Brackets and results at Liquipedia
Ro32: Group F Recap
Results from Live Report Thread by Yello.
+ Show Spoiler [Results] +
MarineKing vs RorO
MarineKing <Cloud Kingdom> RorO
MarineKing <Daybreak> RorO
MarineKing <Whirlwind SE> RorO
MarineKing wins 2-1!
KeeN vs Mvp
KeeN <Akilon Flats> Mvp
KeeN <Daybreak> Mvp
KeeN <Whirlwind SE> Mvp
KeeN wins 2-1!
Winners' Match
KeeN <Neo Planet S> MarineKing
KeeN <Cloud Kingdom> MarineKing
KeeN <> MarineKing
MarineKing wins 2-0!
Losers' Match
RorO <Neo Planet S> Mvp
RorO <Cloud Kingdom> Mvp
RorO <> Mvp
RorO wins 2-0!
Final Match
KeeN <Whirlwind SE> RorO
KeeN <Daybreak> RorO
KeeN <> RorO
RorO wins 2-0!
MarineKing and RorO advance to Code S RO16!
MarineKing <Cloud Kingdom> RorO
MarineKing <Daybreak> RorO
MarineKing <Whirlwind SE> RorO
MarineKing wins 2-1!
KeeN vs Mvp
KeeN <Akilon Flats> Mvp
KeeN <Daybreak> Mvp
KeeN <Whirlwind SE> Mvp
KeeN wins 2-1!
Winners' Match
KeeN <Neo Planet S> MarineKing
KeeN <Cloud Kingdom> MarineKing
MarineKing wins 2-0!
Losers' Match
RorO <Neo Planet S> Mvp
RorO <Cloud Kingdom> Mvp
RorO wins 2-0!
Final Match
KeeN <Whirlwind SE> RorO
KeeN <Daybreak> RorO
RorO wins 2-0!
MarineKing and RorO advance to Code S RO16!
Only Room for One King
– MarineKing advances from Group F while four time champion Mvp is eliminated in final Wings of Liberty season.
It's a rare occasion when MarineKingPrime can say he got the better of LG-IM_Mvp. No, the brackets didn't work out in a way that would see the two meet for the eighth time in the GSL, nor did MarineKing finally get his first official win over Mvp in the world's most prestigious StarCraft II tournament. But at the end of the day, MarineKing advanced to the round of sixteen, while Mvp was sent down to Code A. That's worth at least a victory by decision.
Instead of his arch-nemesis, it would be Samsung Zerg RorO who provided MKP with his toughest challenge of the day. The first game saw everything go wrong for MKP, as RorO held off a proxy-barracks bunker rush and then countered with a roach-baneling bust for a fast 1 - 0 lead. However, MKP would get back in the groove of things in game two. His early bunker rush was again thwarted, but he nonetheless pounded his opponent into submission with relentless attacks after RorO allowed a transition into a macro game. The third game ended up being a simple clean-up, with MKP's stim marine timing catching RorO completely off-guard.
In contrast, Mvp's initial series against MVP.KeeN started off well, but ended in disaster. Game one was a vintage performance from Mvp, as he turtled up on four bases and steamrolled Keen with battlecruisers in the late game. However, the following games saw Keen get the better of Mvp in two consecutive base trades, with Mvp playing Keen tightly before collapsing due to poorer execution.
Ro16 Players
ST_Life
Azubu.Symbol
Azubu.BBoongBBoong
LG-IM_LosirA
Samsung_RorO
ST_Curious
SK_MC
SKT_PartinG
Squirtle
MarineKingPrime
ST_Bomber
FXOGuMiho
+ Four remaining
With Mvp out of the picture, the rest of the night was smooth sailing for MarineKing. In game one of the winners match, MKP's quick proxy reaper-bunker-marauder rush made short work of Keen's fast expansion. In the following game, MKP's conservative build allowed him to easily defend against Keen's own proxy-reaper, and he counter-attacked to take an insurmountable advantage. With the 2 - 0 win, MarineKing made it six GSLs in a row where he had advanced to the Ro16, and took another step in his quest to win at least one GSL championship in the WoL era.ST_Life
Azubu.Symbol
Azubu.BBoongBBoong
LG-IM_LosirA
Samsung_RorO
ST_Curious
SK_MC
SKT_PartinG
Squirtle
MarineKingPrime
ST_Bomber
FXOGuMiho
+ Four remaining
Meanwhile, Mvp was sent down to the losers match to face RorO for a second chance. While few players would want to face LG-IM_Mvp with his back up against a wall, RorO ended up playing his best games of the night against the four time champ. With both players facing elimination to Code A, RorO won a clean 2 - 0 victory by overwhelming Mvp at the hive stage of the game. Though it was a disappointing defeat for Mvp, he can still take solace in the fact that no matter what happens in the next two months, he is still indisputably the greatest player of Wings of Liberty.
– RorO stumbles once more, but manages to secure Ro16 spot.
After taking out Mvp, Samsung_RorO advanced to the final match of the night and encountered a familiar situation. In the previous season, RorO had also gone into the final match of his Ro32 group, where he faced off against Startale's Hack for the remaining Ro16 spot up for grabs. In that series, RorO looked poised to advance, holding an advantageous position in game three. However, he committed a horrible and fatal error, placing several Ultralisks in a nydus worm and forgetting about their existence. Missing a few dozen supply worth of troops, RorO was unable to match Hack in the deciding battles of the game, and was forced to GG out.
Twenty-eight minutes into RorO's first game against Keen, it looked like he was going to outdo his mistake from the previous season. After taking a large lead against Keen in a long game on Whirlwind, RorO gifted Keen an almost unbelievably large donation of infestors, corruptors, and brood lords. Had RorO ended up losing, there would have been something almost poetic about it. Alas, RorO had been so far ahead in the game that he could afford to lose so many troops, and he took the game after reinforcing with ultralisks and zerglings. With crisis averted, RorO went on to finish Keen off on Daybreak, holding off mid-game marine-tank attacks and cleaning up with a combined hive army. While Code A and the Up/Downs were not kind to KeSPA players, RorO's advancement makes it two elephants who are qualified for the Ro16 so far with Soulkey and Innovation yet to play.
Ro32: Group G Preview
Group G: Woongjin_Soulkey, MVP.Noblesse, LG-IM_NesTea, Liquid`TaeJa
After making a surprise final eight appearance last season, Woongjin_Soulkey will try to continue his momentum in the first Code S season of 2013. It's no secret that many considered the last season to be one of the flukiest due to the rushed format, reduced preparation time, and the large number of upsets that occurred through the group stages. Last season's top eight haven't done anything to silence the critics so far, with only MarineKingable to get past the Ro32 group stages in the new season. It's now up to Soulkey, and tomorrow Bogus, to try and save the credibility of 2012's Season Five.
Soulkey's biggest victory in his career so far was his major upset of Life last season in the Ro16, where he became known for his insane preparation and scouting of his opponent. The Woongjin player had Life analyzed perfectly, and defended beautifully against the aggressive genius to win four straight games and eliminate him from the tournament. While it didn't seem like such a big deal at the time, time would show that it was a huge achievement. During Life's reign of terror where he won Code S Season 4, MLG Dallas, the Blizzard Cup, and most recently Iron Squid II, Soulkey has been the only player to completely shut down Life in every aspect of the game and make the best player in the world look inferior. Unfortunately, Soulkey couldn't keep it up in the Ro8 against Innovation and got rolled over himself.
Soulkey's ZvZ is by far his best match-up—the only one where he has more than a 50% win-rate—and he'll be hoping for a date with the former king of ZvZ, Nestea, for the best chance at advancing. While his ZvT hasn't been excellent as of late, both Terran players in the group have gigantic question marks over their heads, and that might give Soulkey the edge in the group.
His first opponent will be MVP.Noblesse. If your memory is hazy on who he is, here's a list of the three notable things he has done in Wings of Liberty:
1) He beat his teammate DongRaeGu in Code A to make it into this tournament, pissing off many fans in the process (DRG got through the Up/Downs anyway).
2) Back in the middle of 2011, he made it into Code S only to be thrown into a group with three GSL champions in MC, Mvp and Polt. Not surprisingly, he did not make it out, losing to Polt twice and falling back into obscurity.
3) He lost to Maka in the 2011 Super Tournament when he got stuck in traffic and couldn't make it to the studio in time.
Now back in Code S for the first time in over a year, Noblesse is one of the biggest underdogs of the season. Even with his win against DongRaeGu in Code A, he still needs to prove that he isn't going to get bounced straight out of Code S the same way he was in 2011. His TvZ did look excellent against DRG, a good thing in a group with two Zergs who haven't had the best results against Terran lately. A TvT against Taeja, a player whose wrists might have entered the Mvp Zone, could also be good news for him when going into a long series.
Speaking of Liquid`TaeJa, what's up with him? We know that his wrists are not in good shape, and that he hasn't appeared in Proleague for about a month. Not playing in Proleague might just be a precautionary measure, as he wants to be as healthy as possible for his Code S matches. Even so, it's worrisome when you think about how other top Terran players like Flash and Mvp were pulled down by wrist injuries in the past (and in Mvp's case, it doesn't seem to be getting any better).
If Taeja is at 100%, playing like he did during the Summer of Taeja, crushing everyone in his wake, he is the easy favorite to take this group. Soulkey, Noblesse and Nestea are no pushovers, but a healthy Taeja should be good enough to get through these players with maybe one map loss and four victories. An injured Taeja, the one who lost to players he would usually beat at foreign tournaments and in GSL, is going to have trouble against three capable opponents. He's the biggest wild card of this season and could either make it all the way to finals, or he could go out without a single win and end up back in Code A with even more worries about his condition.
When talking physical condition, we have to talk about the oldest man still in the GSL, the three-time champion himself and former God of Zerg, LG-IM's NesTea. Falling to Code B and looking like it was time to shovel dirt on the legend, Nestea showed everyone why age doesn't really mean much when you're motivated and talented. Pulling himself out of Code B, Nestea rose up the ranks in a single season, making it back into Code S through the Up and Down groups and letting us dream that maybe, just maybe, Nestea has one more run in him to make another finals to close out Wings of Liberty.
If we're gauging his chances to win this season honestly, he doesn't have that good of a chance. He did get through Code B by the skin of his teeth, battled through Code A and topped his Up and Down group, but when looking at the competition that he will have to get through to even make his first semifinal in over a year, the task seems almost impossible. It would be easy to count out Nestea and say that he's simply too old and too figured out, and that he should switch to Heart of the Swarm Beta ASAP to try and master it before anyone else.
I'm pretty sure if anyone told Nestea that, he'd punch that person in the face. He doesn't care about age or who he should and shouldn't beat, and is more motivated to make his fourth final than possibly anyone in Code S. Some people care about money or fame, but Nestea is someone who has his eyes set on becoming an even bigger legend. He wants to stand on the finals stage, show the flawless play that inspired everyone in 2011, and take a fourth championship to tie his friend and rival, Mvp.
Yes, he's twice Life's age, and doesn't look to be anywhere near the level that once saw him go unbeaten in an entire season, but he's still one of the smartest and experienced players in the world. Mvp won Season 2 last year solely with his smarts and experience, so why can't Nestea do the same? He got 3rd place at Iron Squid, almost beating DongRaeGu and then sweeping MarineKing in the bronze series, so it's not like he can't stand on even footing with the other title contenders. When a player like Nestea is involved, it's okay to dream.
Predictions:
Noblesse > Soulkey
Nestea > Taeja
Nestea > Noblesse
Taeja > Soulkey
Taeja > Noblesse
Nestea and Taeja advance.