GSL Ro16 Group C Recap

Group C was one of the most surprising nights of Starcraft that we’ve had so far this season. Solar continued on his path to redemption with a flawless 4-0 sweep, while Rogue battled back from defeat in the winners' match to take a clean victory over Dream in the final series of the day.



It started out quite differently in the first match. Game 1 was a complete PvZ clinic from Rain. Rogue gained an initial advantage by opening 3 hatch before pool after seeing Rain’s gateway opening, but the mYinsanity Protoss blocked all attempts to hurt him before shredding the swarm host/corruptor army with psi storms and colossi. Rogue adapted quickly in Game 2. The open third base on Foxtrot Labs, combined with Rogue’s increased aggression meant that Rain failed to get away with the same build. Rogue’s aggressive streak continued on King Sejong Station, abusing the lack of protoss mobility by hitting everywhere at once—killing both the natural and third bases while harassing the fourth expansion with swarm hosts. With his economy shattered, Rain was forced to try his luck in the losers' bracket.

Solar was equally impressive in his opening match against Dream. Dream’s lack of scouting was heavily punished in both games: a roach/nydus build easily crushed through his limited defense on Foxtrot Labs, while an unscouted brood lord transition on Overgrowth caught his mech army pants down in the middle of the map. Solar continued to channel the spirit of TSL in the winners' match with another roach nydus build in the first game. On Overgrowth, Rogue took the initiative. A large swell of lings almost inflicted critical damage, but Solar’s exceptional micro allowed him to hold with minimal casualties. Now all-in Rogue returned with banelings, but each successive failure dropped him further and further behind, before Solar finally sealed the deal with roaches. Coming just before Round 2 of Proleague, hopefully this is a sign that the Samsung ace has shaken off his odd failings in that particular arena.

When the time came for the losers' match, Rain had caught the aggression bug. On Merry Go Round, his heavy commitment to early blink was scouted and foiled by bunkers at the natural. Rain’s belated follow-up was a DT drop in the main. Dream’s defense was excellent and his massive bio/medivac ball easily battered its way through Rain’s meager army. Rain gambled again in game 2, spinning the wheel of cheese and landing on a slice of proxy oracle. Again Dream’s scouting was on point and he managed to finish turrets just in time. From there Rain looked curiously lost: the decisive Protoss play he first showed against Rogue was completely absent. Ahead in economy and army strength, the resulting SCV pull sealed the game with ease.



After being outplayed by Solar in the winner’s match, some feared that Rogue’s fragility would come back to haunt him. However, he dispelled such criticisms with a fine display against the current terran du jour Dream. An early spire in Game 1 gave him the air mobility to do significant damage, and the subsequent baneling bust easily rolled through Dream’s limited forces.