GSL Code A Day 4

For all 6 players in Day 4 of Code A, this represents a chance at rebirth. Many of these players struggled during the end of Heart of the Swarm, falling early in Code S, Code A, or even during qualifiers. Even TY, hyped by many to become one of the best terrans in a mechanically demanding metagame, flattered to deceive. Now, each player has a chance to reach Code S and all they have to do is win one series. Sacsri and Patience came back from Europe to prove their worth at home. HerO's rollercoaster career desperately needs a crest. Choya, the excavator of the pit, must face his very creation in Losira, in what may be one of the cruelest draws in recent Code A memory.



Legacy of the Void Competitive Record:
Sacsri : 5-4 (5-4 in ZvP)
HerO : 6-12 (4-9 in PvZ)

For all the solid play that Sacsri sometimes shows in Korea, he currently seems destined to have one good foreign run a year and not much else. In 2014, it was Dreamhack Valencia—a coming-from-nowhere run that saw him beat MC and StarDust in tight sets to clench a surprising but certainly earned championship. In 2015, Sacsri similarly splashed back onto the scene with a top two finish over Patience, PartinG and Jaedong (and a close set against GSL champion Rain) at HomeStory Cup 11, a height which he has since failed to reach with saddening Code A failures and a couple fairly disappointing Dreamhacks.

Yet, if there's one thing that rings out true for Sacsri, it's that his ZvP has always been good. Over the course of 2015 he kept a respectable winrate in the matchup—mid 50's—despite repeated meetings with players on the caliber of PartinG and Rain, proving that he's a real force to be reckoned with. Therefore, it's not all that surprising that he's managed to qualify for GSL on the basis of his ZvP, beating Blaze and Stork; perhaps not the two best protoss ever, but still a welcome sign!

In contrast to Sacsri's shockingly solid steadiness, HerO's form has always resembled a rollercoaster. Similarly to Sacsri, HerO spent a season in Code S (where he got booted out in the hardest Ro32 group) before falling out of Code A in disappointing fashion, albeit perhaps to a stronger opponent than Sacsri. Unlike Sacsri, there wasn't a HomeStory Cup 11 run to salvage a saddening 2015 for HerO, and the only thing to come close was a solid run in Valencia where he beat Leenock and (funnily enough) Sacsri before losing in the Ro8 to TRUE. Combine that with an ultimately disappointing PvZ record in LotV thus far—padded by mid-tier zergs such as Impact and Symbol—and it becomes quite obvious that HerO is the underdog here, although not a massive one.

In 2015, HerO's wins stopped making sense. He was successful in Proleague (seriously, go take a look) at a time where he was getting beaten up on by far less terrifying opposition, and his Code S qualification over Terminator came after going 2-5 in PvP sets the week before. HerO does hold the head-to-head over Sacsri so far, beating him in both Valencia and DH Winter to prove that this is entirely doable for him. The Team Liquid protoss may have been plagued with inconsistency in HotS, but against a player who is by most measures more consistent and has shown better results than he has, it might just work in his favor.

Predictions

HerO has experience, time and peak skill on his side, while Sacsri has standard solidity and shockingly skillful ZvP. I expect this to either be one of the best Code A series or one of the worst depending on how HerO performs—and, well, I'm an optimist.

Sacsri 3 - 2 HerO



Legacy of the Void Competitive Records
Losira : 60-38 (21-8 in ZvP)
Choya : 35-43 (12-25 in PvZ)

Choya is evil. Choya is really, really evil. His piracy of Prime players for MVP during 2015 was one of the bigger storylines among the smaller teams, and it paid off fairly well for him. MVP became a definite mid-tier team, and that was in no small part aided along by LosirA—the ace for the team, or more humorously, MVP's MVP. To face the ace of the team he helped to build in his return to Code A (last seen in mid-2014, where he got the boot by TRUE and TY in a reasonable showing) is dramatic irony indeed, and Choya's probably laughing his head off thinking about it. But, does he have an actual chance?

Sure, nobody knows a player as well as their coach, and Choya has a fascination with being an evil bastard to his own teammates, but this is still a huge lead for LosirA... right? Just look at the records! Choya's lost to frickin' BBoongBBoong in LotV, while LosirA's only ZvP losses have come from MyungSiK and Hurricane who have both looked extraordinarily good in LotV thus far. By all common sense and all logic, this should be an absolute reckoning from LosirA. But, yeah, he's still gotta be scared out of his skin at just how terrifying the potential of losing to the man that more or less revived your career.

In Choya's defense, it isn't like LosirA has had the most successful GSL career over HotS: if not for his surprisingly amazing run in Season 3 last year, he would've gone the entire expansion without even having a single Code A run, and not for lack of trying. Sometimes it's just unfortunate opponents, like in Season 2 (DongRaeGu and Journey, ouch) while for others it definitely does have something to do with a misstep (getting double eliminated by MC in 2015? What?) but LosirA's strength has definitely been more in Proleague and in a couple solid foreign runs (ASUS ROG championship, IEM Shenzhen Ro8, HSC X Ro4) than on home turf in Korea.

This acts as LosirA's chance to prove that Season 3—where he beat Zest in Code B and TY in Code A before failing against herO/Rain in the Ro32— wasn't a fluke. Honestly, his LotV form has been impressive already. He denied ByuN an online trophy in OlimoLeague, which isn't an easy task, and had one hell of a run in GSL Pre-Season where he beat Dear, Patience and ByuN all over again. Yet, this is one of the most tense matches a player can find himself in. If he wins? He gets nothing. It's expected. If he loses? Dear god.

Prediction:

Losira 3 - 1 Choya



Stats (in Legacy of the Void vs other Koreans)

TY vP 10-10 (50%) in maps 2-4 (33%) in series, overall 45-26 (63%) in maps 16-7 (70%) in series
Patience vT 34-24 (59%) in maps 14-7 (66%) in series, overall 73-68 (52%) in maps 26-21 (55%) in series

The starting phase of a new expansion seems to be the perfect environment for a player like TY. He is able to quickly adapt to changes in how the game is played and he is fast to pick up and implement new tactical nuances. And he is excellent at what people call 'abusing the map': TY comprehends the importance of terrain and positioning like few other terrans do. He used siege tanks in TvZ when no one else would in Heart of the Swarm.

He incorporated offensive missile turrets, sensor towers and even bunkers in TvP to limit his enemies' ability to collect information and move around freely, using these disadvantages in a merciless and frustrating way. To some TY is the incarnation of what's wrong with terran, to others he is just a brillant tactician who does everything he must to secure victory on the battlefield.

It's not only the game which changed however. Legacy of the Void is a new chance for TY in another way: Finally the shadow he had been standing in during the last years has been lifted. Flash, KT Rolster's face and supreme terran,
is no more. It is now on TY to carry the banner and fill the void the Ultimate Weapon has left. The legacy Flash left for KT is now in TY's hands. This terran has the potential to be a champion, has the skills to lead the terran race. But so far his nerves—his mind—have denied him the last, necessary step: Becoming a champion. Being Flash's heir this is his destiny... it is his Legacy of the Void.

Patience is actually not supposed to be here at all. He was supposed to die upon returning to Korea after having lived in Germany under the flag of Alien Invasion for almost a year. Patience was perceived as one of the players that would never be able to compete with the best of Korea after being abroad, playing against foreigners and not even making a real impact there. He had this one amazing run at DreamHack, a feat he never repeated. He couldn't even win Germany's ESL Pro Series. How could this average-DreamHack/IEM/ASUSROG-quarterfinals-guy ever be a threat to the true Greats of Korea?

It's safe to say that Patience was thouroughly underestimated for a long time after coming back home. This may have been a blessing for him though. No one had expected him to do anything noteworthy, no one perceived him as a threat. There was simply no outside pressure on him.

But Patience proved everyone wrong. He did in fact repeat his top 4 run in a DreamHack in 2015—although it wasn't as impressive as his original miracle run—and he did way better in Korea than anyone imagined. Sure, he didn't win a title. Yet in the stacked, dangerous environment of Korea's qualifiers for international tournaments as well as for home leagues Patience was able to show his worth. He managed to stick around, qualify for things and even throw out some fan favourites along the way. He survived against all odds and in the end this is one of the most important and impressive achievements. Patience is still not in a KeSPA team, despite being robbed of the chance to compete overseas. He is one of the few people who made the step into Europe, came back to Korea and are still kicking and beating.

Patience is a survivor and he sometimes manages to exceed everyone's expectations. At the right moment he's able to bring out his best and plow through a bracket of superstars. However he isn't capable of doing this on a regular basis. It's only sporadically that the protoss finds this power hiding inside him and activates it for the world to witness. Will the match against TY be one of these moments?

Prediction

Terrans have famously complained a lot about protoss in the last weeks and the stats—at least the small sample size we have—of both of these players seem to confirm exactly the same point: Balance is on Patience's side while TY might overall be the superior StarCraft-player. Both players act kind of wonky a lot of the time, playing risky and aggressive builds, something the meta isn't opposed to at the moment.

Both can however also play out very impressive macro games—still, if Patience could just win with a few well executed adept warp prism builds he'll probably do that. Why risk a longer game when you can secure some quick and easy wins. That has always been the protoss way... and Patience certainly won't divert from it if he can. Code A has been a clusterfuck of results so far, we don't expect that to stop.

TY 2 - 3 Patience