Kyeong Hyun 'SeleCT' Ryoo, made his debut Thursday in the Battle.net WCS America Challenger League Round of 40 against the Season 1 NA Premier League champion and Proleague rookie of the year, HerO from Team Liquid. This was a hyped match even in the studio, as SeleCT has made a meteoric return to SC2, reportedly gaining the #1 American GM spot within one month of playing.

Game 1 on Akilon Wastes was a tale of two halves. SeleCT began with a 1 rax FE into MMM against a 1 gate FE with a very fast blink then into a gateway/colossi army. HerO’s 2nd and 3rd gates were significantly delayed and SeleCT’s reaction early in the game allowed him to pick off several stray stalkers that helped keep HerO’s food down. In the midgame, SeleCT met with an unfortunate time warp on his ramp, restraining his marines and causing significant losses. He was continuously on the defensive with blink stalkers aided by the vision of a mothership core darting around his natural. As the game progressed, HerO’s constant pressure and his colossi/templar/archon deathball was too much for the Terran player, who gg’ed.

Game 2 on Korhal Sky Island saw SeleCT employ a successful engineering bay expansion block while fast expanding. As a response, HerO went for 1 gate stargate oracle play. While the first oracle was dispatched handily in the main base, a second came into the natural and dealt considerable damage to the worker line and marines. The Terran was unable to recover from the economic losses and psychological threat of repeat aggression, leaving him unable to aggressively posture and giving the Protoss time to mass the super OP colossi/templar/archon/gateway superball of death. GG.

SeleCT fans shouldn’t get too discouraged, he moves to the Group Stage of the Challenger League. A 1st or 2nd place finish in his group would earn him a Premier League spot. HerO moves on to the Round of 24 to play State, who beat the STC 2-1 in their RO40 matchup.

Casual Terrans at home could also take SeleCT’s openings today and reasonably execute the basics. Very macro and economy focused, while still producing bio out of 3 rax early enough to defend pressure with bunkers as in the game. Replay link to come when I find it.

Thanks readers, this is my first article for Team Dignitas, and hopefully the first of many for the SC2 and Dota 2 communities!