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WCS Korea Season 1 - GSL

Code S Ro32 Group E
Symbol, Shine, Keen, Squirtle


Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

by Waxangel

Halfway through the WCS Korea Ro32, a surprisingly balanced round of 16 picture is emerging. The racial balance looks good with two Protosses, three Terrans, and three Zergs, while the KeSPA/non-KeSPA ratio is exactly even with four players representing each side. The action continues this week with Group E, as last season's runner-up Symbol makes his first appearance.




Symbol vs. Shine

Being a GSL runner-up is already a pretty unfortunate thing, but Azubu.Symbol has a case to say he's had it the worst out of any second place finisher. While players like Squirtle and Leenock have at least managed to win fans and recognition in losing performances, Symbol somehow came out of the Code S Season 1 finals with almost nothing but a seed and some prize money. He played in a final that was little anticipated due both to its ZvZ nature and the pending arrival of HotS. The eventual champion, RorO, received some attention due to becoming the first KeSPA champion of a GSL, but Symbol had nothing to make his achievement stand out. It's not that anyone doubted his skill – but to many, he was just another Zerg in a Zerg dominated age, an age that was rapidly coming to an end.

So, let's say this WCS-GSL is a do-over for Symbol. He comes into this season in a similar state as he entered the last. He's considered a top Zerg player, is the ace of a team (Azubu, not TSL this time), and has a string of second place finishes without the big title win that would allow him to command more respect. The main difference is that he's about $18k richer, and he got to pick his first round opponent this time around.

As always, the previous finalists got to pick their first opponent from the bottom eight players (by GSL points) in the tournament. Symbol opted to start this tournament the same way he ended the last, by going up against a KeSPa player in a ZvZ. Only this time, Symbol hopes to leave the victor.

Samsung's [b]Shine was Symbol's pick, but was it the right one? RorO made a similar choice with his pick, taking a KeSPA Zerg in KT's Crazy. The rationale RorO gave was that at the time of the selection, he hadn't had enough time to figure out HotS due to practicing WoL for the finals, and went with the match-up that had changed the least. It seems like Symbol made a similar to RorO, but it might have been a risky pick. ZvZ has always been a volatile match-up, and though RorO did win his match, we've also seen soO make an unexpected advancement to the Ro16 by winning two mirror series against Curious.

To focus more on Shine, he's a player that many will expect to end up like KT's Crazy: a non-descript Proleague Zerg who barely sneaked out of the Up/Downs, only to fail to make the cut in Code S. That's not an entirely unfair assessment, considering Shine's almost league-worst PL record of 3 - 11 (0 - 2 in HotS). However, he can still look forward to the possibility of winning two ZvZ's against Symbol, which is not all that far-fetched considering it is Symbol's worst match-up. Also, don't forget that Shine's biggest claim to fame is eliminating Bisu from the OSL with consecutive hydra busts, so his capacity for upsetting fan-favorites can't be overlooked.

KeeN vs. Squirtle

This is a match where I can hold out for the hope of some genuine bad blood.

Long ago, back in June of 2012, MVP.KeeN and then still-Startale Squirtle had their first Code S clash. Squirtle's stock couldn't have been higher at the time, coming off of a narrow loss to Mvp in the Season II finals. On the first map, Squirtle looked just like the second best player in the GSL should look, crushing Keen in a macro game on Daybreak.

Keen, realizing he wasn't going to get anywhere with a standard game plan, decided he would hit below the belt. He went for two consecutive proxy-barracks marine all-ins, the very same strategy Squirtle choked against in the Code S finals. This dastardly move was super effective, and Squirtle choked two more times and lost the series to Keen (Squirtle would advance second in his group anyway).

A few months later, Keen won another series victory over Squirtle in Code S, but this time it was in two macro-games over a decidedly weak looking Squirtle. It wasn't nearly as interesting compared to the kick-them-while-they're-down victory Keen had scored prior, but it did put Squirtle in a four game losing streak against Keen.

So, where are they at now? Well, it's hard to tell with Keen, although it's been hard to tell with him for over a year now. Keen has always been a very erratic player who we've seen playing anywhere between Code A and the Code S Ro8. He's excellent in short spurts, but doesn't seem have to what it takes to break into the upper echelon of Code S. We haven't seen too much of him in HotS yet, with his 1 - 1 performance against Axiom-Acer in the GSTL being nothing out of the ordinary.

Squirtle is also a player who has been up and down over his career, but he had a much higher peak than Keen when he reached the Code S and IPL4 finals. Keen could definitely beat Squirtle at one of his low points, but recent signs point to Squirtle being on his game in HotS. Squirtle ripped through team FXO in the GSTL, scoring an all-kill against all of their key members minus Gumiho. However, Squirtle did not play any PvT in that match, or in HotS at all for that matter, leaving things wide open in his rematch against Keen.

Whatever the result, I don't expect this series to play out in a straight-forward manner. Keen will surely be tempted to cheese again, and Squirtle knows it. Also, Squirtle was very fond of mixing in all-in builds in his WoL PvT, and the introduction of the mothership core and oracles opens up a lot of new possibilities. Instead of pure macro games, this series is probably going to be decided by strategy selection and scouting.

One more thing: Keen's ceremonies

We can't preview a group with Keen without talking about his ceremonies. Well, it's more the lack of ceremonies these days. During TSL4, Keen stated he wasn't performing ceremonies until he got his skill level back to a place he found satisfactory, and I guess that means he's still not there yet. The king of ceremonies in 2011 barely performed any in 2012, and it would be a shame if 2013 was a dry year as well. We can't blame Keen for considering the Code S Ro16 a place he should be at by default and not worth celebrating, but the the esports world would be a brighter place if he relaxed his standards. Do it Keen, do it for us!

Overall outlook and predictions

The Shine-Symbol ZvZ really screws up any prediction, given that Symbol was only 50% ZvZ in WoL. Shine has a poor chance of beating either Keen or Squirtle, but if he beats Symbol in the first game, he has a chance of being able to beat him twice to make it through. Still, a prediction has to be made, so I'll go with the WoL prediction here. WoL has been as good a measure as any for players who didn't play at IEM or MLG, and by that measure Symbol is the favorite to make it through, with Keen and Squirtle in a close race for second.

Symbol > Shine
Keen > Squirtle
Symbol > Keen
Squirtle > Shine
Squirtle > Keen

Symbol and Squirtle advance.

Writers: Waxangel.
Graphics: petad_, shiroiusagi
Editor: Waxangel.