WCS Korea Season II

Ro16 - Day Three Recap
Soulkey and First in poll position

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Twitch

by Waxangel

Soulkey, First, and INnoVation in strong position to reach quarter-finals

Day three of the round robin Ro16 phase of the Starleague saw the first few players reach two wins, putting them in a strong position to reach the quarter-finals. Woongjin_Soulkey defeated SKT_soO in Group A and STX_INnoVation defeated CJ_Bbyong in Group B, bringing last season's finalists one step closer an epic rematch in the bracket phases of the tournament. Meanwhile, LG-IM's First continued his string of impressive performances in the Starleague, crushing SKT_Rain to go up 2 - 0 in his group, just one week after defeating SKT's Terran ace in Fantasy. Finally, STX_Trap defeated LG-IM_KangHo in Group D, putting himself at 1 - 1 while KangHo is in danger of elimination with a 0 - 2 record.

No eliminations or advancements have been confirmed yet, with Thursday's games being required for there to be a clearer picture. Depending on the upcoming results, the players at 2 - 0 may 100% confirm their entry into the quarter-finals, or may still face the lingering possibility of tie-breakers.

Group A
1.	Soulkey	2 - 0
2.	soO	1 - 1
3.	PartinG	0 - 1
3.	Symbol	0 - 1

Group B
1.	INnoVation	2 - 0
2.	Bomber	1 - 0
3.	Flash	0 - 1
4.	Bbyong	0 - 2

Group C
1.	First	2 - 0
2.	Rain	1 - 1
3.	FanTaSy	0 - 1
3.	hyvaa	0 - 1

Group D
1.	SuperNova	1 - 0
1.	Maru	1 - 0
3.	Trap	1 - 1
4.	KangHo	0 - 2

Detailed results from Live Report Thread by NovemberstOrm.
+ Show Spoiler [Click for detailed results] +

Woongjin_Soulkey (2 - 1) SKT_soO

The best Zerg player in the world defeated soO to improve to 2 - 0 in his group, but he had a harder time about it than some expected. Game one was a masterclass in rush defense from the Code S champion, as Soulkey deflected soO's 10-pool baneling rush with surprising ease after starting the game with a 15 hatch opener. However, soO skillfully recovered a point in game two, successfully busting Soulkey with banelings and speedlings after expansion openings on both sides. While Soulkey didn't take fatal damage, soO played his advantage slowly and intelligently, eventually winning the mutalisk war in the end. Fortunately for the defending champion he hit his stride in the deciding game, exploiting the timing just before soO's mutalisks hatched to deal a heavy blow with zerglings. Just like soO had done the game before, Soulkey played out his advantage with patience to seal a 2 - 1 victory.


STX_INnoVation (2 - 0) CJ_Bbyong

The Ro32 match between INnoVation and Bbyong involved a never-ending series of drops and counter-drops, and their Ro16 match was not very different in that regard. Game one played out as lengthy mech vs. mech war, where there was nary a moment where one player wasn't trying to sneak a small hellbat drop by to gain an economic advantage. While the two players were evenly matched in roasting each other's SCVs, INnoVation proved to be better at maneuvering his army around the map, shutting down Bbyong's expansion attempts while managing to safely take bases of his own. Eventually the resource disparity became too much for Bbyong to overcome, and he GG'd out after a final desperation engagement.

After an exciting game one which involved careful army positioning and strategic decision making, game two ended up being decided mostly by hellbat drops. Once again, both players decided to repeatedly fling hellbat drops at each other, and this time around there was a clear winner in INnoVation. After damaging Bbyong's economy and mostly preserving his own, it wasn't hard for the WCS Season 1 champ to snowball his advantage into an easy victory.


LG-IM_First (2 - 0) SKT_Rain

After clinically dissecting Fantasy in his first Ro16 game, First put in another impressive performance by defeating SKT's Rain, solidifying himself as the big dark horse candidate to win the Starleague. First employed some trickery in game one, going for a 'hidden' dark-shrine, only to cancel it after being scouted and playing greedily after. It paid dividends against Rain's no-risk style of play, as First took an economic advantage. First would later say that the move was possible due to studying Rain's play patterns from Proleague games (source: thisisgame).

With neither side being particularly aggressive in the early or middle phases, the game eventually moved on to the massive colossus war stage. In one of the game's crucial battles, First managed to get a feedback off on Rain's mothership core beforehand the two armies met, taking victory due to his time warp advantage. When Rain tried to withdraw and recover, First kept pushing his advantage with warp prism tactics, making a mess of Rain's base and putting him in a difficult situation. With DTs razing his robotics facilities in his main, Rain moved out for one last battle and GG'd out after it was clear there was no way back.

First then closed out the series with a build order counter in game two, with his phoenix opener crushing Rain's proxy oracle strategy. Rain recovered surprisingly well from his poor start, even putting together enough blink stalkers for one dangerous attack. However, he could not handle the powerful anti-armor combination of void rays and Immortals that First managed to scrounge together. Rain conceded the second GG, giving First one more win against one of SKT's aces and a 2 - 0 record heading into his last Ro16 match against hyvaa.


STX_Trap (2 - 0) LG-IM_KangHo

The last series of the night was probably the one that went the most predictably, with the PvZ savant Trap making short work of a skilled but ultimately outmatched KangHo (aka Losira). Trap didn't need any special strategies or tactics to take his victory, simply playing safe phoenix openers and transitioning into big three base timings with stalkers and colossi. Each time KangHo was powerless to stop Trap's attacks, and had no choice but to concede the series.