Prediction: 3-2 for Startale.PartinG

Prediction: 3-1 for Startale.Squirtle

Match #1:

Game 1:

MVP 1 - 0 PartinG

Game 2:

MVP 2 - 0 PartinG

Game 3:

MVP 2 - 1 PartinG

Game 4:

MVP 3 - 1 PartinG

LG-IM.MVP advances to the finals! StarTale.PartinG will be in Code S next season.

The Semi-finals of the GSL 2012 Season 2 code S were on the agenda today starting off with a tense PvT and ofcourse the volatile PvP matchup that can go either way. The first match of the day would be Jong Hyeon 'MVP' Jung versus Lee-Sak 'PartinG' Won and Song Hyun 'HerO' Deok versus Hyun-Woo 'Squirtle' Park in the remaining Semi-finals match. The recap of this second match can be found by clicking the next page link at the bottom of this article.The first match would be between the King of Terrans, MVP and his top-tier Protoss opponent PartinG who has shown some amazing play this season to backup for his cocky attitude. After reaching the RO8 in Season 1, we'll see if he has what it takes to reach the finals in his second GSL season. His opponent was not eager to let this happen, MVP wants his fourth GSL win badly and be the first to accomplish this in Starcraft II. With MVP having wrist issues, as well as using some all-in strategies to overcome NaNiwa in the round of eight, there was some doubt wether or not he was able to play at the top of his game and overcome the best PvTer in the world.Last week I made some predictions after the RO8 which you can find here and here . Lets see how I did this week. Jong Hyeon 'xxxMVP' Jeong versusThe series began on Entombed Valley with both opting for a fast expand build. MVP follows this up with a three Barracks while his opponent has three Gateways. Both players decide to macro up and get upgrades for their ground armies. PartinG went for a Gateway heavy army and added Colossi while his opponent used a heavy Marine based army with some added Vikings to counter the Colossi. Around the 12 minute mark PartinG chose his tech path and went for Charge Zealots and Storms to deal with the Bio heavy army of MVP. Unfortunately, PartinG moved out of his base and MVP seized this opportunity and grabbed his SCVs for an all-in. He took out the Protoss army with a huge concave of Marines, the Vikings quickly made work of the Colossi and MVP's two base all-in was too much for PartinG and was forced to GG.Game two started on Ohana with PartinG going for a one Gateway, fast expand build. His opponent went for a 1/1/1 build and hid it very nicely from his opponent who didn't see it coming. The Banshee popped out around the 6 minute mark to do some damage to PartinG's base but was forced back without doing too much damage. PartinG knew his opponent was getting Siege Tanks and reacts by going for Immortals. MVP slowly edges his way to PartinG's side of the map and sets up near his base with three Siege Tanks and 3 Banshees. MVP continues his Banshee harass and this time proves far more succesful using some very nifty micro. PartinG doesn't have the army yet to deal with the Siege Tanks and is forced to stay in his base and get Phoenix out to counter the Banshees. Around the 12 minute mark PartinG decides to move down his ramp but loses two Immortals and multiple Zealots for just one Banshee. He tries to break the contain again minutes later but the Siege Tanks are just positioned too well and PartinG loses all of his army in this engagement and is forced to tap out.Being on the brink on elimination, PartinG needed this win badly on Cloud Kingdom. This game started out with both players going for their fast expansions again much like Game 1. PartinG went for Colossi again and grabbed his third base without any problems. High Templars was the tech choice of PartinG after that to counter the Bio ball of MVP. MVP knowing his map is much more narrow, opted for his own third base and Ghost tech. Both players continuously macro-ed up but one fatal mistake by MVP cost him the game. MVP's army gets partially caught by mass Charge Zealots. With MVP’s army being completely out of formation, all PartinG had to do was Storm MVP's remaining army and MVP GG-ed out before the battle ended.For MVP, he was still just one game away from his fifth finals. His chance to prove he is the best Terran and maybe even the best Starcraft II player. Game four started on Metropolis. MVP went for his fast expand build that he had been using in the last games and going for a heavy Bio army backed up with Medivacs. PartinG decided to skip Colossi this game and go for Charge Zealots and High Templars. However, it went wrong all too fast for PartinG. A very effective four medivac drop into the main took out every Pylon that was powering the Gateways, and because neither Charge nor Storm finished MVP could easily micro his Stimmed Bio army around PartinG's base and take out his Zealot based army. With his production crippled, the reinforcements from MVP rolled into the natural and gunned down the tiny army PartinG had left. Parting GGs out.