WCS Korea Season II

Ro8 - Day One Preview
Maru vs. Symbol
INnoVation vs. Soulkey

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Twitch

Finally, the group stages are over and we're left with just eight players. From here on out it's a single elimination bracket, where it's win or go home. The quarter-finals of the Auction Starleague begin tonight!




by CosmicSpiral

When it comes to premier tournaments, Symbol is forever living in Groundhog Day. One year ago the idea that Symbol would not once, not twice, but four times lose the finals of an important LAN live event played through battle.net was unthinkable. How could the most clutch player of the GSTL season, the man who reverse all-killed Incredible Miracle when IM was actually using its good players, turn into a perennial choke artist? Did MarineKing manage to transfer his evil concoction of tears and failure to an innocent young Hwaseung Oz recruit?

But maybe his misfortune is an indicator of much better things to come. We’ve seen many emerging players go through the same cycle. They show steady improvement over a period of 6-12 months, explode with a short string of great results, and afterwards…mediocrity. Naturally the competition takes measures to neuter the threat and uses its strengths against it. Habits are dissected, builds examined and countered, and new concepts improved and disseminated until what was once new and amazing becomes the standard. Meanwhile the rising star is confronted by growing expectations and the stress of turning his hot streak into his normal skill level. It becomes so easy to dread the next match when the prospect of disappointing your fans, teammates, and personal expectations is always around the corner. Unsurprisingly most players crack under the pressure and revert into merely good players. A few transcend their issues and become the best players in the world. Some unfortunate souls like Seed and jjakji are more like fragile flowers and immediately wither after they bloom.

Symbol was one of the exceptional cases that conformed to none of the above. He kept his head down, studiously improved his gameplay, and ended up as one of the most consistent players in the world. He never announced his arrival with a championship, yet he quietly accomplished something more impressive over the long run. Consider that today marks the third consecutive time Symbol has reached the Ro8 in the GSL/OSL and the ninth time he’s reached the Ro8 in a major tournament. If he wins tonight, it will be the sixth time he achieved a Ro4 finish since February of last year. Not bad for someone ensnared in the long reach of the Kong dynasty.

As for Maru, time will tell whether he is fool’s gold or the real deal. Everything about him screams potential and most of his results suggest that said potential has not been reached. He’s young (only 16), daring enough to do whatever it takes to win, and already one of the best terrans in Korea. Additionally the track record of Korean prodigies has looked pretty good in SC2. But Maru needs more than the promise of greatness to earn comparisons with Life and Creator. He requires solid wins against top players in demanding circumstances. Beating Symbol in the most prestigious tournament in the world would be a good start.

The stakes for Prime should not be underestimated either. While they aren’t in danger of walking the path of HoSeo yet, the team has struggled to make a case for why they still matter. Gone are the days when Prime was the king of team leagues and home to the best terrans in the world. Now they are a hodgepodge of players who perform below slightly inflated expectations, or don't perform at all. Byun’s chances to reclaim his old strength slowly die every time he fails to get out of Challenger League. MarineKing is slowly returning back to prominence but his reputation is still running primarily on fumes of pity and nostalgia. Creator is struggling to transfer his WoL playstyle to HotS and won’t be the monster that terrorized WCS Korea last summer for another few months (if he ever will be). No one hears a peep out of Classic and Terius. Maru taking the stage in the OSL is the only thing that keeps us believing that Prime is still relevant in the grand scheme of things.

For both players, this is the easiest stage of a grueling run to the finals. Whoever presses on must confront either Innovation or Soulkey, a match that will test the limits of their preparation and skill. And I think Symbol will be the one who fights for that ticket to the finals. Maru has the power of unpredictability and a considerably strengthened race behind him but he is still raw in terms of experience on the big stage. Before tonight he had never gotten past the group stages of GSL and had only attended one foreign tournament where he finished in the top 32. Meanwhile this is all old news for Symbol and you can tell that he’s tired of repeating this dance. For Maru this is the greatest challenge of his career, for Symbol it's going through the motions.



Prediction: Symbol 3 - 1 Maru



by stuchiu

“All truths and untruths were made clear by the light of his name. Innovation, born Bogus, he who was reborn under the waters of Yongsan and anointed on the Korean ladder. He who scattered the swarm to the four winds. He who led the soulful disciples from the valley of the shadows to the sacred land of Jamsil. He who brought a new dawn to the Kingdom of Terran.

And for a time, there was peace. Terran came to reign supreme once more, and the lieutenants of the Zerg swarm fled before their wraith. The apostle Dream expelled RorO from the Holy City of Seoul. SjoW exorcised Life from the Realm of Sweden. And Polt freed the philistines of America from HyuN's tyranny.

Yet, the Unholy One continued to defy the will of Innovation. Soulkey, the dark star of Woongjin and master of all Zergs, continued to corrupt the souls of men and blacken Innovation's heart.

And thus, INnoVation spoke words of war. ‘For the dark one, there shall be no surrender, no exile, no mercy. For Soulkey, destruction is his fate. We shall fight in Korea, we shall fight in the waters of Yongsan, the studios of Gangnam, the gymnasium of Jamsil. We shall fight in Cologne, we shall fight in Blizzcon. He will bleed upon the four corners of the earth, and the world will be purified by his blood.’”


Welcome to a finals before the finals. The last time these two met was in the previous Code S grand finals, where Innovation went up to 3 - 0 in a convincing manner before Soulkey made the comeback of a lifetime to win four straight games and become the GSL champion. Since then, both players have become even better, solidifying their positions as the two best players in the entire world. At the WCS Season Finals, Soulkey got to the semis, while Innovation took home the championship. Both players have led their teams to the Proleague finals, and the Proleague championship is likely to come down to a duel between the two. And now, both players will do battle once more to see who will get the chance to win the OSL championship.

While it's not a final, the stakes for this match are as high as they could be. First off, whoever wins will be the odds on favorite to win the OSL. Innovation would feel like he's more than halfway to winning his first major Korean title if he can overcome the mountain that is Soulkey. Conversely, Soulkey would have to feel good about his chances of becoming the first dual OSL/GSL winner if he could beat Innovation again.

On top of that, this will be a preview of the Proleague finals. With STX evolving from a one-man show into a deep lineup backed by a super ace, it makes it all the more likely that an ace match will occur. And finally, a victory here will award an auto-berth into WCS Season Two Finals, while the loser will have to play through brutal seeding matches.

But more than just the money and the titles on paper, both players have something personal on the line as well.

For Innovation, this is about revenge. Last time Soulkey got the better of him in the finals with a full reverse sweep, blemishing Innovation’s otherwise perfect career in HotS. It was the only moment in Innovation’s career that he has ever looked vulnerable, mortal. This is the final test for Innovation. He has beaten the other four best Zergs in the world: Life, Leenock, Roro and Symbol. Only Soulkey has denied him complete dominion over Korea. This is the last battle that Innovation must fight if he wants to prove that he truly, beyond a shade of a doubt, the strongest player on the planet.

For Soulkey, this is about respect. Soulkey won his first ever GSL in a reverse-sweep reminiscent of his old teammate GGPlay, and all anyone wants to talk about is how it was just Innovation choking. When Innovation won the WCS Season One finals, people took that as proof of Innovation's superiority, even though he hadn't even beaten Soulkey in a series. Soulkey lead his team to the finals weeks before the end of the Proleague regular season, and all anyone talks about is how Innovation dragged his team from last place in the league to the finals. With his last GSL victory, Soulkey should have at least won the respect of the fans and his peers, but not even that is afforded to him as people continue to assume that he will naturally be defeated by INnoVation. Soulkey will not let this injustice go.

Everyone knows how Innovation will play. He will go into the mid and late game, getting fast upgrades and pump out an endless army of marines, medivacs and mines. He will constantly attack and drop, attack and drop. He will rip his opponent apart with the brute force of his mechanics. But no one knows how Soulkey will play. The last time he played a TvZ was over a month ago in a PL match against Cure. Since then hellbats have been nerfed, making Cure’s strategy no longer a viable option for Innovation to use. With no information about Soulkey at all, Innovation will have to play his standard style making him a perfect target for Soulkey. The last time Soulkey got a chance to prepare, he beat Innovation 4 - 3, and that was with plenty of advance scouting from Innovation as well. This time, Soulkey is playing completely shrouded while knowing everything about how Innovation plays.

For both players, this match is just the second act. The first act had Soulkey win the GSL finals. The second act will set up the winner as the favorite to win the OSL. The third act could potentially be at the PL finals or at WCS Season Finals. This is the rivalry of the new age. A pure battle of skill between the two best players of this era. They will fight in every major battle, whether it be OSL, GSL, PL or the WCS Worlds. It is an almost inevitable outcome as their only true rivals in this world are each other. No quarter will be given, and none will be expected. All the world is a stage, and Innovation and Soulkey are determined to be the only player to stand atop it.

Prediction: Soulkey 3 - 2 Innovation