GSL 2013 Season 1

Code A Ro32: Day 1 Recap
Code A Recaps


Code S Ro16: Group C Preview
MC, Curious, Gumiho, Losira


Brackets and results at Liquipedia

by: Fionn

Results from Live Report Thread by Alstroemeria
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God's Rival
- KT_Flash wins his rematch against Ax.Ryung, moving onto the final stage of Code A.

In the course of Wings of Liberty, we've had a fair amount of great player rivalries. Polt vs. Stephano, MarineKing vs. DRG, and Seed vs. Symbol have all seen the two players clash repeated, often in the spotlight as they brought the very best out of each other. When thinking about KT_Flash - a true God in Brood War - transitioning into Starcraft 2, you would have thought his first rivalry would have been against one of his KeSPA peers like Fantasy or Rain, or an eSF superpower like Mvp or Life. If someone told you that the player who would bring the best out of Flash in Wings of Liberty would be Ax.Ryung, the former sidekick to MMA, most people would have called you TotalBiscuit.

Ryung made a statement the first time the two players met in the Up and Down matches last November, and the newly acquired Axiom ace proved why he is considered one of the best TvT players in the world. In a drawn out battle that stretched both players to their limits, the Axiom Terran squeaked out a victory over the Brood War legend, showing all the experience and veteran savvy he collected through two and a half years of playing Wings of Liberty. Ryung qualified for Code S on the back of that win, where he would go all the way to the semifinals before losing to the eventual champion Sniper.

Last night's rematch in Code A was a test to see how much Flash had grown in three month's time. The first time these two met it was an explosive affair, but there was no doubt that Ryung was the better player. Flash had the makings of a top flight player, and his mechanics and macro were as top notch you'd expect from a man nicknamed God, but his game knowledge, positioning and understanding of the flow of the game weren't comparable to one of the best strategic players on the planet.

The rematch lived up to expectations, with Ryung still showing why he is one of the most dangerous TvT players. However, Flash was the real star of the night, and he showed how much he improved in such little time. His positioning, army composition, and ability to read the game were superior, leading him to a sweep of the Axiom ace.

The first game was quick, and served more as a prelude to the larger clash to come. Ryung tried to get an early lead with a fast reaper, but Flash held off the harassment and countered quickly with a hellion-marine contain at Ryung's natural, getting an early economic lead by delaying Ryung from landing his command center. Ryung was able to get a nice counter-attack off with a rag tag army of marines and marauders, killing a hefty chunk of Flash's workers, but took just as much damage in return to the KT player's follow-up banshee. Without medivacs and behind in every possible way, Ryung had to tap out to the two base mech push that came next.

Game two was an epic game reminiscent of their iconic first clash that went super-late. Ryung's used persistent harassment throughout the game to damage Flash's economy, but Flash still found a way to safely transition to a superior Sky Terran composition against Ryung's army of thors, tanks, and vikings. With ravens and battlecruisers playing a crucial role, Flash controlled every major battle in the late-game, crushing Ryung with his PDD's and high DPS coming from his battlecruisers. Even with a beautiful concave and a superior viking count at the end of the game, the lack of ravens saw Ryung's army get run over.

Flash went through with a 2 - 0 score, and is now only one series away from making Code S for the first time in his career. While you can say there's a rivalry between any two players who meet often, this is one that's blossoming out of beautiful play every time the two players meet. Ryung took the first round, his veteran knowledge outweighing Flash's inexperience, but Flash has come back with a major victory of his own. Now with Wings of Liberty ending and a new chapter beginning in only a month's time, we can eagerly await their next clash in new game.

Primetime Players
FXOLeenock, LG-IM_YongHwa, and MVP.Sniper all advance to the Ro24 in the evening session.

In the other three evening games aside from Flash vs. Ryung, there weren't many surprises. You might have pegged CreatorPrime, the younger but more experienced Code S player, to take down the inconsistent LG-IM_YongHwa, but no one is going to look at Yonghwa's 2 - 1 win and be baffled at how it happened. Yonghwa might not be the player who you would bet your life on due to his nature of coming up short when it matters the most, but his skill level ceiling is right up there along with the best Protoss players in the world. The series was uneventful in general, with Yonghwa taking his games with a hidden pylon 4-gate and good defense against a blink-stalker all-in. Creator should have no shame losing to an in-form Yonghwa, and he should still be expected to be a major favorite heading into the Up and Down groups, but it is a setback to a player who won WCS Korea and looked on the verge to getting to the same level Life has shown at a young age. Yongwha, on the other hand, will be heading into the final round against Leenock, in a duel between two of the best players in Code A fighting for a straight shot into Code S.

On the subject of FXOLeenock, he mauled CJ_Bbyong in their second round match. Bbyong's weakest match-up is TvZ, Leenock's strongest is TvZ, and factoring in Leenock's status as simply one of the best players in the world, this series looked like a blowout from the start. You can give some credit to Bbyong for fighting Leenock straight up, not laying down any proxy barracks or any other type of early game rush strategies, but his overall TvZ ability wasn't comparable to Leenock. Leenock just played some straight-up muta-ling-bane strategies, never looked troubled, and almost toyed with Bbyong as he cruised to victory.

The previous Code S champion MVP.Sniper also progressed to the next round, taking a 2 - 0 victory over Prime's young Terran Maru. After wiping Maru with muta-ling-bane in game one, Sniper quickly wrapped things up with a roach-bane all-in. Sniper won't be winning any popularity contests any time soon against the wide majority of GSL players, but he is undoubtedly a Code S player, someone with the skill to be in the top sixteen every single season if his skills can transfer over to Heart of the Swarm. His play can still be considered somewhat unexciting, and he might not have the same games to excitement ratio as many of the top players on the planet, but the guy gets the job done. Scream imbalance all you want into his ear, but he doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

Quick hits: Morning at the Matinee

Hero vs. Avenge: Avenge is still a very nice piece in the future of Startale's team, but his time isn't now. Hero, who can range from Code S championship level to Code A straggler, had one of his better PvP performances in his GSL career, taking out the Startale Protoss in quick fashion.

Byun vs. Center: Byun got revenge for last season's loss to Center, getting a sweep against Quantic's newest player. Center had some nice moves, going for his now patented doom drop move when he goes down in a game, but it wasn't enough against an on the ball Byun. Similar to Hero, Byun can range from hero to zero, and this was a night where we saw Byun play more like his former championship caliber self.

LabyRinth vs. Hyun: LabyRinth told everyone in his last winner interview he wasn't going to cheese Hyun, so of course he started the series with double proxy barracks. Hyun, not believing his opponent's interview, scouted intensely for the double rax, caught them before they could do any damage, and stopped the SKT1 trainee in his tracks. This set the tone for the series, Hyun having no trouble taking out the much less experienced player.

Trust vs. Yoda: In another series that had an established GSL player going up against a KeSPA trainee player, Yoda followed Hyun's suit with a 2-0 victory of CJ's Trust. Yoda was once called the best player on LG-IM by Mvp, and he has shown glimpses of that player Mvp warned us about, but he still isn't consistent enough. Trust showed a bit more strength than LabyRinth in his games, but it will be a slog for him and his KeSPA trainee peer LabyRinth to get out of the Up and Downs.

Writers: Fionn, Kollin, and Waxangel.
Graphics: Meko.
Editor: Waxangel.