by: stuchiu

Results from Live Report Thread by nRoot
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Once more unto Code S
- Bomber, Leenock, Yoda, and Hyun return to Code S

The first round 3 matches of Code A were played last night with little surprises. The biggest upset of this round was LG-IM_YoDa beating MKP 2-1, but Yoda always had impressive TvT and as MVP is probably practicing with him for the match one could expect Yoda to give MKP a stiff challenge. The first game was a failed proxy 11/11 by MKP into Yoda torching all but 7 of MKP’s SCVs. From there Yoda continued to try to harass MKP to death while building up his lead back home. Eventually indecision took a hold of Yoda as MKP was able to force his way into a third base and allowed MKP to max out on his units and upgrades. For a small while it seemed that MKP had finally made his way back into the game with better engagements and run-bys that killed Yoda’s third, but Yoda rallied in the last hour and sieged MKP’s last mining base till he bled him out.

The second game was more of an even fight as both players macroed up on Whirlwind to three bases. MKP ran around Yoda’s army in the middle and hit a nice 2/2 timing that rolled over Yoda’s army for victory.

Game three had Yoda and MKP play a bio vs mech game where Yoda used the bio forces while MKP used the mech. It started off well for MKP as he deflected all harassment attempts by Yoda, and got to a rather large army count. Unfortunately, MKP’s tendency to be aggressive and greedy hurt him as he moved out before he hit his max army and was caught in the middle surrounded by Yoda’s units. MKP won the fight, but Yoda refilled faster and MKP had just double expanded. With double the area to cover now with half the supply, MKP was torn apart as his slow immobile army was given the runaround until MKP was forced to GG. With the game won, Yoda was able to fulfill the sacred duty of the IM team to forever try to deny MKP’s desire.

Quantic.HyuN vs MVPSniper was another highly contested match as they also went 2-1 with a very close series. The first game was decided by small advantages that Hyun would take, giving him the faster tech and slightly better economy. From there he used it to max out faster on roach-infestor and ran over Sniper who was trying to get to the roach hydra infestor max army. Game two Hyun tried to pull a fast one on Sniper with a 2 base baneling bust, but Sniper easily held without losing a drone and had a fast tech to spire. From there, Sniper slowly chipped away at Hyun with lings and mutalisks as he amassed a large roach infestor force to crush Hyun.

The last game saw Hyun use his final trump card for revenge. Hyun used a nice anti-Sniper build as he went for fast 1/1 upgrades on roaches and hit Sniper with a roach-hydra timing as Sniper was transitioning from mutalisks to roach-infestor. With that victory, Zombie Quantic gains its first participant in Code S and Hyun was able to get some sweet revenge with some dancing at the very end. As for Sniper, he’ll drop down to the Up/Down groups and do what he always does, kill fan favorites and reap the tears of their supporters. With Effort, Creator, Ryung, Keen, Nestea, Stephano and Fantasy already confirmed in the Up/Downs, Sniper will have plenty of bitter tears to harvest as he tries to gain the respect he wants.

ST_Bomber and FXOLeenock’s series both went as expected. Bomber’s TvP was too much for Liquid`HerO to handle as his macro, positioning and build orders were more than HerO was prepared for. Hero used some nice tricks to try to get back into the game, but the play of Bomber was too much. Leenock likewise was able to beat LG-IM_YongHwa, but it was a closer match. The first game Yonghwa tried an old triple void ray gateway all-in but was easily held off by Leenock’s queens, roaches and late hydras. Leenock then lost the next game with a re-run of Flying's match against Stephano a few nights ago when Yonghwa executed the exact same build, but with doing even more damage. Afterwards, Yonghwa beat him with an unstoppable 3 base follow up. The last game had Yonghwa trying to do the same build twice, but Leenock was far more prepared and took no damage. Instead Leenock used Yonghwa’s tendencies against him and surprised him with 16 mutalisks that Yonghwa didn’t see coming until they came into his mineral line. With no Stalkers and only 4 phoenixes, Yonghwa had no choice but to give up the game.

by: Fionn

• STX_Innovation
  
  Strengths
  - When he's at his absolute best, his micro and macro seem almost unbeatable
  - Can kill you early with his precise timing attacks, but can also transition into a strong late game
  - Is good enough that people are actually starting to abide by his wishes and call him Innovation instead of Bogus
  
  Weaknesses
  - Does not always play to his highest level
  - Has to juggle GSL and Proleague on a team where he must carry as the clear ace
  - Me and Artosis both really like him, so that can't be good
  
  Ideal Winning Scenario: Proves that he is the best Terran in the world, beating Symbol in a variety of ways. With a timing attack, a long macro game, and a creative cheese, Innovation beats Symbol in all three stages of the game and moves to his second semifinal.
  
  Craziest Winning Scenario: Wins every game by building up a superior army due to his insane micro, sits back without a care in the world, and then a-moves his forces in the most cost insufficient way for the victory by pure macro.
  
  
• Azubu_Symbol
  
  Strengths
  - ZvT is by far his strongest match-up, coming in right below a 70% win rate
  - Does not have to worry about MLG or team leagues, and can focus solely on winning Code S
  - Zerg is pretty strong at the moment, don't you think?
  
  Weaknesses
  - Has history of choking in the quarterfinals of Code S
  - Most of his team has already switch to HotS, so finding practice partners might be difficult
  
  Ideal Winning Scenario: Just winning. It could be the ugliest way possible, but finally getting out of the round of eight would be a gigantic accomplishment for Symbol.
  
  Craziest Winning Scenario: With how hyped up Innovation is coming into this series, simply winning would be a crazy scenario for most people.
  
  

The Eccentric Innovator

Starting off this ESF vs. KeSPA quarterfinal mega card, we have possibly the current consensus best Terran in the world, Innovation, going up to bat first for the KeSPA team. After having a strong royal road performance last season, Innovation was stopped in the semifinals in Las Vegas when going up against TSL's Hyun. This is no slight to Hyun, who was only a few better decisions away from being a Code S champion, but Innovation did not play his best games in Vegas. He tore through Soulkey in the quarterfinals, got to Vegas, and then played under his potential in the semis and the IPL5 tournament, showing extreme weakness against Zerg players.

Some thought this could be a sign that Innovation was simply a flash in a plan. He was able to get through the first few rounds of Code S and make a name for himself with his timing attacks, but with those figured out, he was nothing more than a gimmicky player. Innovation proved those critics wrong by having an even better season this time around, making his second straight quarterfinals and hoping to get back to the semifinals to get another crack at a championship match. His games have been nothing short of domination, taking out Taeja in a historic TvT series in the Ro16, and following it up with a strong win over DongRaeGu that gave him first in the group.

While Innovation is a part of KesPA and has been the ace of STX even before they transitioned to StarCraft 2, he isn't your normal KeSPA player. When every KeSPA player was scared to have people see their builds on the ladder, taking the identity of a barcode to keep themselves anonymous, Innovation was up front with who he was. He was Innovation, the top Terran on the ladder, beating the best players in the world and hovering around a 70% win rate. Going one step further, he changed his ID officially to his ladder ID, making sure everyone would know that it was him taking their ladder points in Wings of Liberty.

His timing attacks are strong, but he is no one trick pony, being able to defeat S-level opponents in long macro games. When he is playing at his peak potential, Innovation is really hard to defeat. The only real players you can compare him macro wise to would be an uninjured Mvp and a non-choking Bomber, but even then he might be better than those two when at his best. With Proleague, GSL and even a qualifier for MLG Dallas played on HotS on his plate the past month, Innovation's biggest problem has been his heavy work schedule. On the second lowest ranked team in Proleague, Bogus has been pretty much one of the only bright spots for STX Soul, carrying the flag as their ace.

His TvT is his strongest match-up, but his TvZ has been almost every bit as impressive. He did lose to Hyun last season in a disappointing display, but he has beaten Stephano and DongRaeGu in the road to the quarterfinals for this Code S tournament. He lost to DRG in the first group stage, but got his revenge in the Ro16, taking first place and ultimately seeing DongRaeGu not even qualify for the round of eight. His biggest problem will be if he runs into Parting next round, as he is the owner of an abysmal 4-10 record against Protosss.

Third Time's a Charm

Last summer, Symbol was really, really hot. Imagine him as the hot girl that every guy in school wants to ask out. He was charming, fun to watch, and just had something special about him that drew people to him. He performed the first reverse all-kill in GSTL history, slaying LG-IM and making himself a star. Most people thought he would have a cakewalk to his first GSL finally, more than likely becoming our first royal roader in the process. He was up 2-0 against Seed in the quarterfinals, and you could see everyone gushing over how amazing of a player he was.

Then Seed took a baseball bat and smashed it across Symbol's face. The hot girl that everyone wanted to go out with didn't look so great anymore, losing three straight games to Seed and getting bounced from the tournament. He was still good - no doubt about that - but it wasn't the same. His GSTL record was still very good, but couldn't compare to that reverse all-kill that made a majority of people fall in love with him. He made it to the quarterfinals next season, but it wasn't as sexy and the hype was gone. Life was the new girl in school, wearing shorter skirts and making everyone forget Symbol existed. Mvp beat up Symbol in the quarterfinals, killing any bit of luster he still had, and throwing him into a pile of Zergs that people thought only did well because of recent patches.

Hyun would then go to his first finals in Las Vegas, only missing a championship by a single game. It was bad enough that players like Life and Sniper were already getting more attention than Symbol, but now even Hyun, a player on his own team, was seen as the better player than him. TSL folded not too long after the end of the fifth Code S season, leaving Symbol without a team before joining the upstart AZUBU. With a change in wardrobe and a new team around him, Symbol got a bit of that shine he had back when he was a royal roader in the summer of 2012, but he was still season as just another good Zerg in a team when there were a lot of good Zergs.

Surprising many, he got out of the first round in this season, losing to Life in the first series of the night, but taking out the inexperienced Byul and then Creator to make the second round. In an even more surprising result, he beat MarineKing and Squirtle, two of the best players to never win a GSL championship, and made it to his third quarterfinals. Unlike his first two trips, he was not a favorite in any of the groups he was placed in. Now in a new underdog role, he will be heading into a date with the hottest Terran player on the block, KeSPA's Innovation.

Not a lot of people are giving Symbol much of a chance in this series, but Symbol's ZvT has always been his calling card. He made a name for himself by beating MarineKing repeatedly, and he holds one of the strongest records against Terran in Korea. Innovation might have the new player glow and the praise from the commentators, but Symbol is no stranger to beating Terran players who are favored against him. His biggest obstacle, maybe even more than beating Innovation himself, will getting over the quarterfinal roadblock that has stopped him twice in his career.

It can be argued he was the better player than Seed in Season 3, but he took his foot off the gas pedal and let the LG-IM Protoss back in the series, ultimately winning it. His play against Mvp was uninspired, nothing like you would expect from Symbol in the vT match-up, knocking him out of the quarterfinals for a second straight season. Both those times, Symbol was either the heavy favorite (vs. Seed) or a slight underdog (Symbol), but this will be a whole different story. People expect Innovation to roll over Symbol and potentially give us a Parting vs. Innovation semifinal, a match that many people have been clamoring to see.

Let's make this clear: Symbol is no longer the sexy Zerg that people fawned over when he was still a royal roader. He's the experienced underdog who a lot of people see as cannon fodder to the stronger Terran player. The roles might be reversed from the first time Symbol made a quarterfinal, but maybe the new team and expectations will finally break his quarterfinal curse.

Overall thoughts and predictions

If both played their best, I'd give the slight edge to Innovation. Symbol, while being heavily overlooked, is one of the strongest vT players in the world. Thing is, if you asked me which of these two players has a higher chance of choking heavily, I'd answer Symbol. He's been in this position twice before, and he has come up with two huge disappointing performances both times. He had the Seed series under control, but he threw it away. His series against Mvp wasn't even close and made him look leagues below championship level.

Innovation might roll over Symbol easily, but I see this being a closer affair than expected. Symbol will have a lot to prove in his third quarterfinal appearance, and I expect a close match where both players show how good they really are. I give the edge to KeSPA in this round, but third time really might be the charm for Symbol.

Prediction: Innovation 3 - 2 Symbol

by: Fionn

• SKT_PartinG
  
  Strengths
  - Has a variety of strategies he can execute against Zerg
  - Has a 2-0 all-time record against Curious, beating him during WCS Korea
  - Even if he loses, he can still sleep soundly on his bundles of cash
  
  Weaknesses
  - StarTale knows Parting, and they will help Curious formulate strategies to take him out.
  - His immortal push isn't as unbeatable or scary as it was two months ago
  
  Ideal Winning Scenario: Takes out Curious in an easy series, showing the skill gap between the two players. As the more experienced player at this stage in Code S, he shows more calm, collected play and gets into the semifinals without dropping map. Oh, and throw a soul train push in there for good measure.
  
  Craziest Winning Scenario: Choo choo, Curious. Three straight games. Parting then does a ceremony to his old teammate, resulting in Parting starting a war with his old team after eliminating Life and Curious in consecutive weeks.
  
  
• ST_Curious
  
  Strengths
  - He finally made it to the Ro8, so the immense pressure should be lifted from his shoulders
  - Has Life and the rest of StarTale to make the perfect strategies to take out Parting
  - In a fist fight, he'd probably knock out Parting
  
  Weaknesses
  - His ZvP is his weakest match-up
  - Has never been this far into a tournament, so the experience edge goes to his opponent
  - Has a habit of following a big accomplishment with a flat performance
  
  Ideal Winning Scenario: The same as Symbol, really. If he wins, it will be a huge step for Curious' career and solidify himself as maybe a top ten Zerg in Wings history. Get the three wins any way you can.
  
  Craziest Winning Scenario: Stops the immortal push three times, finally putting an end to the soul train and then performing a celebration on his former teammate.
  
  

The Rainmaker

In the final Wings of Liberty season, we have two Protoss remaining. Both charismatic, personable, and known for raking in lots of money, they have made it through the first two rounds. One of them, MC, will go down as the greatest Protoss to ever play Wings, already having two championships and a runner-up in the GSL, various foreign titles, and a bank account that has most won money in Wings history at $355,403. Parting might not be able to send Wings off as the most accomplished Protoss of all-time, even with a victory in the final Code S, but he can make sure people remember him as the final great Protoss in Wings of Liberty.

When talking about consistency, Protoss haven't been the poster boys, with most of their top players not able to continually perform at a peak level. Even MC, the greatest Protoss in history, has had trouble staying at the top, falling down to the lower levels to Code A, and even falling into Code B once a long time ago. Protoss' last champion, LG-IM's Seed, is currently residing in Code B, having been knocked out two straight Code A seasons in the first round. Hero, Creator, Squirtle, and the list can go on and on of current top Protoss players have amazing highs, but equally disastrous lows. Parting is the exception to the consistency issues of his peers, having now qualified for his seventh straight Code S season, even competing in the most recent Blizzard Cup, only losing to Life in the finals.

Parting got a lucrative deal from SKT, but he earned it in full, being the only Protoss to stand the test of 2012. Adding to his consistency, his personality, connection with the fans, and exciting games are all reasons why SKT and KT Rolster wanted to dish out a large sum for his services, seeing how valuable he could be in-game and out. With a new dyed blond hair color, Parting made the jump back to KeSPA after being a B-teamer long ago in Brood War on eSTRO, going from the guy who had to wash the floors for the stars of the team, to the guy the stars asked for strategies and advice. Now, in a strange turn of events, KeSPA's first GSL championship might come from a player who was one of the heads of the eSF only two motnhs ago.

His loss to Life in the Blizzard Cup finals was a learning experience, giving Parting a taste of the GSL finals. Having to play Life again in the round of sixteen this season, he got blitzed in the first match-up of the night, getting slapped around easily by his opponent's hydra-centric offense. After scraping a 2-1 victory over BboongBboong in the loser's match, he got one final shot at Life, being able to exercise some demons from the Blizzard Cup and get into the quarterfinals. Knocking out Life, his former teammate on StarTale, he now walks into another match with a former teammate, having a chance to knock StarTale out of Wings of Liberty forever.

Technically classified as a KeSPA player, Parting has all the advantages, but none of the disadvantages that his new faction have. He gets to live and practice in the best environment in e-sports, getting coached by the very best in the business, but he doesn't have to worry about the strenuous Proleague scheduled, not allowed to play until Heart of the Swarm begins in Round 4. In a few years’ time, if Parting decides to continue his career on SKT or another KeSPA team, we will see him as an established KeSPA player, but right now he's essentially an eSF player that was brought to the opposite side due to the allure of cash, fame, and prestige. Not that any of those things are bad, but he's only a KeSPA player by name, having all his Starcraft 2 knowledge and experience coming from his career on StarTale.

He will be the favorite heading into this showdown with former ally Curious, but it's not as cut and dry as some would believe it will be. The people that know Parting best are on StarTale, and they will be doing everything in their power for their teammate to be able to eliminate Parting from Code S. Life, who got knocked out by Parting, will be looking for some second-hand revenge by Curious' hands.

The Grim Reader

Being known as the Code S Reader for the past year, weeding out the Code A overachievers, Curious has finally made it out of the round of sixteen. Sixteen months of trying was his lucky number, getting through in first place, being able to do it almost effortlessly, taking the group 4-0. MC had beaten him the first round of Code S, but Curious was more prepared the second go around, taking him out in a sweep, and then following it up with another impressive performance against Gumiho. The gatekeeper of Code S had finally left his position at front of the gate and walked through it, entering the knockout rounds for the first time in his career.

It's astonishing how long it took Curious to get here, being one of the top players in Korea for the past year. He broke out from the bottom by having one of the longest winning streaks in Korean history, not dropping a single map during GSL October's Code A season, ending it with a 4-0 stomp against the hyped up Protoss, FXO's Oz. Paralleling Nestea's perfect season in Code S only a few seasons early, Curious seemed to be the next big thing in StarCraft 2. He looked untouchable in Code A, destroying top prospects and former Code S players that had dropped down to the lower league. His mauling of Oz was just confirmation that Curious was going to be the next star of GSL, showing an ice cold, killer-like demeanor in the booth after each victory.

The unstoppable monster gimmick didn't last long, getting knocked out in the first round of his first Code S season, looking like a Code A player who got lucky to make it into Code S, and not the destructive force that he once appeared to be. Curious would get back into Code S, and he would improve, starting a streak of consistent performances in the top flight, routinely getting into the second stage before falling apart. It didn't matter how well he played in the first round, because he would follow up it up with a lackluster showing in the second group stage. Lots of players have accomplishment roadblocks in their careers, like MarineKing with second place in GSL, or First with always losing in the first round of Code A, and for Curious, the round of sixteen was a hurdle he just couldn't get over.

He became the player that people didn't want to see in the first round, but would have no problem facing if they met in the second. Once seen as a future Code S champion, Curious became a player who existed solely to separate the championship contenders from the pretenders. He would be able to take out the trash in the first round, but was a stepping stone for the up-and-comers when it came to the second stage. Becoming his moniker and what he was known for, Curious' entire career had become somewhat of a joke. 'Oh, Curious? Yeah, he'll do good, but then it'll get into the round of sixteen!' From monster to gatekeeper, Curious had only one tournament to change the people's perception of him around in Wings of Liberty.

Now, in his first round of eight, he will get one final chance at becoming a Wings champion. Standing in his way is his old teammate Parting, the two only having played once during the WCS Korea tournament. Parting came out on top in that tournament, but Curious is playing the best StarCraft of his career, excluding his dominating form in his first Code A debut season. MC, the man to go to when talking about PvZ, was no match for Curious in the round of sixteen, Curious playing a perfect series from start to finish.

Life, Curious' young teammate, and the Zerg who brought a championship to StarTale first, will be helping him prepare to take out Parting. The rest of the team that have lived and practiced with Parting for the past two years, will also be breaking down Parting's builds and tactics. Everyone knows about the soul train push, and Curious might be one of the best people in the world at knowing how to stop it due to how many times he's practiced with Parting, but the former StarTale Protoss showed in the last round against Life that he has more tricks up his sleeve than just the immortal push.

Overall thoughts and prediction

Watching Curious and Parting play in the first two rounds, you can make a strong case that Curious should be the favorite in this series. He did lose to MC in the first round, but didn't have any trouble against him in when facing him a second time in the group stage. His ZvP might be statistically his weakest match-up, but it's been getting better of late, and his games versus MC spoke volumes of how much it's improved. The question will be that now the round of sixteen obstacle has been lifted, will he falter in the next round, or will Curious be able to play his best now that he has gotten past the sixteen curse?

This series will come down to if Parting can out think Curious. That is what he did against Life, being able to take out the best Zerg in the world with a wide array of strong strategies, and he will need some new builds if he wants to beat someone who he was teammates with for almost two years. Curious is the Zerg that knows Parting best in the entire world, and it might be even a tougher time beating him than it was Life.

The choice is tough, and it really comes down to what Curious shows up and what builds Parting has created to break down his former teammate. In the end, I have to go with the consistency that Parting has played at for the past year. Curious is a great player, but too streaky to put faith in against a player like Parting.

Prediction: Parting 3 - 1 Curious