Prediction: 3-1 for Liquid.HerO

Prediction: 3-2 for Startale.Squirtle

Game 1:

SuperNoVa 0 - 1 HerO

Game 2:

SuperNoVa 0 - 2 HerO

Game 3:

SuperNoVa 0 - 3 HerO

Liquid.HerO advances to the semi-finals! oGs.SuperNoVa will be in Code S next season.

Game 1:

Squirtle 1 - 0 TaeJa

Game 2:

Squirtle 2 - 0 TaeJa

Game 3:

Squirtle 3 - 0 TaeJa

StarTale.Squirtle advances to the semi-finals! Liquid.TaeJa will be in Code S next season.

Round of 4 Preview:

Match #1:

Prediction: 3-2 for Startale.PartinG

Match #1:

Prediction: 3-1 for Startale.Squirtle

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Day 2 of the GSL RO8 had two Protoss versus Terran on the agenda. With Young Jin 'SuperNoVa' Kim versus Song Hyun 'HerO' Deok in the first match and Hyun-Woo 'Squirtle' Park versus Young Seo 'TaeJa' Yoon in the last Quarter-finals match.The first matchup is between the seasoned Terran player, SuperNoVa who has already improved his GSL record from last season when he got eliminated in the RO16 and is now eager to get into the RO4 for the first time. His opponent is Liquid.HerO, this Protoss has been doing amazing since he was picked up by Team Liquid and with this being his first GSL code S ever we will surely see more from him in the upcoming GSL and GSTL events.Yesterday during my recap of day 1 which you can find here I made some predictions for the RO8 day 2. Lets see how I did.The series began on Entombed Valley with HerO starting off with a four-gate wanting to finish the game early. Unfortunately for him, it got scouted by SuperNoVa in time who reacted with multiple bunkers and SCVs near his natural expansion. This nullified HerO's attack, only grabbing a few SCV kills and not delivering the damage he wanted. With SuperNoVa in a far better economical situation, HerO retreated and went for his own expansion. SuperNoVa did not capitalize on his lead and let HerO get back into the game due to going for a late Marine/Siege tank push instead of pushing out midgame when HerO was at his weakest trying to tech up. Although SuperNoVa was able to create a strong siege line with Siege Tanks, it got crushed by HerO's mass +2 Charge Zealots. Having invested so heavily in his contain, SuperNoVa had no army left to stop the counter-attack and called GG.Game two was on Metropolis, SuperNoVa wanted to level the score and went for a Fast Expand build into a timing attack with four Barracks and Stimpack upgrades. HerO knew some pressure was coming and prepared for it with plenty of Gate-way units and held the attack off using Force Fields. SuperNoVa had cut economy, upgrades and tech for this failed attack and was getting behind more and more. HerO ruthlessly built on his lead. Without HerO needing to launch a final attack, SuperNoVa eventually GG'd out after seeing his harassment stopped, the Protoss bases multiplying, and his forces getting stormed to death.The third map was Atlantis Spaceshipwhere SuperNoVa went for one of his trademark build styles, a two-base, bio-mech all-in. Using a composition of Thors and Marine he went for a +2 armor timing attack. With HerO having High Templars and Psionic Storm available to him he had to make the hard choice between using Feedback on the Thors or Psionic Storm on the Marines. He went for the last option which worked out amazing, ripping through the Marines and SCVs in mere seconds. SuperNoVa had no answer to HerO's High Templar play in Game 2 and 3 and was forced to tap out.With a clean 3-0 sweep in nearly record time, HerO showed why he has come so far and isn't done yet in the GSL.The second series of the day would get underway with Cloud Kingdom. Squirtle went for one of his trademark two base Colossus builds. Yet, like many Terran opponents before him, TaeJa fell to the attack that came with just a couple of Colossi, despite having Vikings and Bunkers at his base. He was able to kill off the colossi, but he simply lost too many units in the process, GG'ing out to the flood of gateway units that followed up.This must have frustrated TaeJa seeing as he must have studied the strategies and timings of Squirtle endlessly and prepared for it with Vikings and Bunkers but had no real chance against itThe second game of the series started on Ohana. TaeJa made two Vikings out of the first starport without scouting his opponents tech path. You could really see that TaeJa was afraid of the Colossi builds of Squirtle and didn't want a repeat of game one. With Squirtle going for warp-prism and Blink stalkers, the decision of Vikings worked out quite well. Squirtle moved out for a huge attack to TaeJa main base. With the Vikings taking out the Warp prisms it looked like TaeJa took care of the reinforcements of Squirtle. TaeJa did hold off the attack but suffered immense SCV losses, losing over twenty SCVs. After that all Squirtle had to do was hold off TaeJa's counter attack. He teched up to Psionic Storm and went for the kill this time. TaeJa had no answer and was forced to GG.The first map was Entombed Valley. With Squirtle on match point he was confident of sweeping the series. The Protoss went for a one base all-in using Immortals and four Gateways. With TaeJa being on the brink of elimination, he also went for an early agression build. With both players attacking the opponent's base at the same time, this game turned into a good old base trade scenario. With the Terran flying his buildings away to a new location, his opponent got some Probes evacuated and also started a new base. Squirtle decided to hold off any agression in his newly founded base and go for High Templars whilst his opponent wanted to finish it off with Marine/Marauder. Due to Force Fields he bought himself enough time to get Psionic Storm and after that it was smooth sailing to victory for the last semi-finalist, Squirtle.My predictions seemed a little off with Squirtle showing us why he considered such an amazing Protoss player. TaeJa is no easy Terran but he made it look so easy and clean. With both Protoss players destroying their opponents in 3-0 style, the semi finals match between HerO and Squirtle will surely be one hell of a match. One thing is for sure, there will be a Protoss in the GSL 2012 Season 2 finals. Only one Protoss has won the GSL so far, our very own SK Gaming's Jong Hyeon 'xxxMVP' Jeong versusPartinG has been doing very well in the GSL, with this only being his second season yet. Last season he got eliminated in the RO8 against the eventual winner of Season 1, Soo Ho 'DongRaeGu' Park . Having already broken his record of last season he is now eager to take on the King of Terrans, MVP. PartinG is known for his cocky attitude but he will surely have respect for his opponent who is widely considered to be one of the best players in the world. With MVP not being at the top of his game due to having wrists problems caused by Carpal Tunnel Syndrom I think PartinG will take this one. Song Hyun 'HerO' Deok versusThis matchup will be extremely hard to predict. With the current Protoss vs Protoss matchups always being entertaining to watch but most will agree that it revolves more around luck and mindgames compared to other mirror matchups. With Squirtle having more success and experience at PvP. I'll be putting my money on him.