Stacked: Code S Season 4 Player Guide Text by Fionn Graphics by Meko GSL on Liquipedia

Player Guide: Code S Season Four Player Guide: Code S Season Four

By: Fionn

Heading into the fourth season of the year and seventeenth overall, you might as well dub this the All-Star edition of the GSL. With their second anniversary coming up on the fourth, the GSL couldn't have asked for a better line-up of its greatest all time players to start off its third year. Of the nine GSL champions in history, seven are competing this tournament. Spread among the roster of thirty are fifteen GSL championships, eleven MLG championships, four DreamHack championships, four IEM championships, and countless other top three finishes at every tournament imaginable.



If there was ever a time to follow the GSL, this is that time.



May we now present to you, the honored thirty-two.







"Finally, I can afford to hire someone to polish my other trophies." - Photo: 7mk "Finally, I can afford to hire someone to polish mytrophies." - The Champions



LG-IM_Mvp: The one and only four-time GSL champion. After completely dominating the Starcraft II scene in 2011, Mvp's progressively worsening wrists and vast improvement from the opposition saw him slip considerably in 2012... but he won a Code S championship anyway. After winning Season Two in dramatic fashion, Mvp looked off in Season Three, only making it into the top sixteen. With a recent victory at IEM over over top European Zergs, but with two straight TvT losses to Polt (WCS) and Baby (WCG), you can't really tell where exactly Mvp stands coming into this season. His performances might not be as good as the 2011 Mvp, but with four GSL titles, who can doubt he can win a fifth?



LG-IM_NesTea: Following Mvp, Nestea is the one and only three-time GSL champion. Nestea's recent run of games makes it easier to guess his form than his teammate Mvp. While Mvp can still boast a great IEM performance in the midst of some mediocre Korean showings, Nestea's current condition hasn't been very good anywhere. An 0 - 3 loss to Byun in the quarterfinals of the last Code S, failure to make it through the open bracket at IEM Cologne, and a disappointing loss to Fantasy in the OSL, combine to make Nestea look vulnerable heading into this season. As the only player to play in all eleven seasons of Code S, Nestea undoubtedly has the experience to get it done at the highest level, but you have to wonder if golden era of the God of Zerg is gone for good.



LG-IM_Seed: As the defending champion of the GSL, Seed rounds out the Terran/Zerg/Protoss trinity of LG-IM champions. Just before the end of WCS Korea, Seed, maybe along with Taeja, was the player with the best claim to the tricky title of "best in the world." With a GSL championship, a big hand in helping his team win the IPL Team Arena finals in San Francisco, and big wins in WCS Korea over Coca, Gumiho, and Polt, there didn't seem a player who could take him out. After running into an acceptable PvP loss against Parting, he got upset by the KeSPA elephant Roro 0 - 2 in the loser's bracket, starting his biggest losing "streak" since the start of summer. While his momentum has been reduced, Seed is still the current champion, is strong in all match-ups, and has shown us the mental strengths that lets us know he'll be confident as ever when it all begins.



MVP.DongRaeGu: DongRaeGu started off the year looking like the leading candidate to be 2012's Mvp (in both senses of the word), winning GSL and MLG championships, but he's now in the biggest slump of his career. His 0 - 3 loss to MC in the semifinals of last season's Code S was followed by a devastating loss to Leenock in the semifinals of the GSTL, and then by quick elimination from WCS Korea. He did beat Jangbi in the opening game of the Auction OSL, but Jangbi played more like an inexperienced player still learning the game than the scary stampeding elephant some expected to see. The good news for DRG fans is that he's no stranger to downturns, and he knows how to come back. He dropped out of Code S in the Ro32 earlier this year, and then promptly came back last season with a semifinal effort.



Slayers_MMA: Whatever the truth was behind the earlier MMA-Slayers drama, it all seems to have subsided. Crank's off to find a better future elsewhere, MMA's back on the first team, and things are back to normal (minus one Boxer). MMA may be the hardest champion to assess going into this season, as we've barely had a chance to see his games. Even before the team drama began, MMA had a patch of poor form that saw him drop out of Code S, and his temporary removal from SlayerS' GSTL roster meant we couldn't check up on how he was recovering. However, he did get through Code A and back into Code S with some impressive victories over HerO and Violet, which is a great showcase in a limited sample. MMA's biggest problem has always been his TvP, but with an absolutely crushing victory over Hero in Code A, there appears to be hope for him yet. Like all the other champions, MMA's proved too much to be left out the title picture.



TSL_Polt: Mostly known for his foreign tournament success in 2012, Polt finally put his foot down and admitted that to do better in Korea, he would have to stop his almost weekly airplane trips to every offline foreign tournament. Following his decision to stop streaming and participating in foreign tournaments, Polt went on a 25-8 streak in GSL, WCS, and WCG, beating fellow champions DRG and Mvp along the way. He had a disappointing end to WCS Korea, losing three straight series to barely miss out on qualification for WCS Asia, a bitter end to an otherwise strong summer campaign. He's looking stronger than ever going into this Code S, and he'll be looking to shake off his WCS disappointment with his second GSL championship.



SK_MC: Losing his first GSL finals to Seed last season was a setback for the richest man in Starcraft 2, but it reaffirmed his place among the elite. Up to that point, MC hadn't made it to a GSL final in over a year, but his awesome Season Three run, where he beat players such as Squirtle, Taeja, and DongRaeGu, MC re-affirmed his place among the elite of the GSL, not just international prize money poachers. A third title isn't out of the question, and he is entering the competition as one of the favorites, but with his inconsistency in the GSL, nothing can be guaranteed. But hey, he has won almost $350,000 in prize money, so if he doesn't get far in this tournament, I'm sure he'll win $50,000 somewhere else this fall.







Having lost so many times, MKP adopted the same reaction to every situation, including winning. - Photo: silverfire Having lost so many times, MKP adopted the same reaction to every situation, including winning. - The Korean Kongs



MarineKingPrime: 'But MKP won MLG's! He is no longer a Kong!!!' In foreign events, yes, MKP is a winner with a couple of MLG titles. In the GSL? He still is, and always will be, a part of the Kong Line until he proves otherwise. In a recent interview, he even jokingly remarked that if he doesn't make it to the quarterfinals this season, he might as well quit. We know he was only kidding around, but MarineKing hasn't made the quarterfinals of a GSL event in a year and a half! Since making the semifinals of the Super Tournament and choking away a 0 - 2 lead to MMA, he hasn't broken the round of sixteen once. Even Clide has made gotten farther in the GSL in the past year, and he's not even a player anymore. In the first three Code S seasons of the year, MarineKing came in hot with strong foreign results, but bombed out in the middle of the tournament. Now, after a disappointing MLG and a thrown away game against Rain in the OSL, MKP is actually coming in under the radar. With lessened expectations and out of the spotlight, it might be just the right situation for MKP to return to prominence in the GSL.



ST_Squirtle: Coming in with three silvers in six months, Squirtle is leading the charge of the Kong Line. Somehow losing two straight PvP's to Creator in the WCS Korea finals, Squirtle had the dubious honor of winning his third straight silver medal. A great player with the sickest warp prism immortal micro you'll ever see from a Protoss player, Squirtle is someone you would expect to have some sort of championship by now. If not a GSL, at least some random foreign tournament where he crushes all the foreigners in his wake (hi, SuperNoVa). After getting eliminated in the group of death last season in the round of sixteen, this is also a time for redemption for Squirtle. As we all know by now, and unfair as it is, it doesn't matter how good you are if you don't bring home the gold. For Squirtle, this is either his chance to win his first major championship and leave the Kong Line forever, or grab his fourth silver and sink deeper into the Kong Line.



Slayers_Genius: He won Blizzcon all the way back in 2010, but since then there haven't been any trophies added to Genius' collection. He made it to the finals in the first season of the year against his teammate DongRaeGu, but lost, started missing games for his team in the GSTL, and eventually left the squad to try and join a foreign team. He got rejected by Liquid when asked if he could join, and probably a few other teams as well since he had ended up on SlayerS. Getting eliminated in WCS Korea by Jaedong, Genius isn't having the best start to his career with his new team, but a strong performance in season four could be a statement to foreign teams that they should have picked him up when they had the chance.



FXOLeenock: Having already won at two of MLG's major events, Leenock will now set his sights on winning his first GSL title. He made it to his only final in November of last year, looking all but destined to win against Jjakji. He had a monster run that season, defeating Polt, aLive, HuK and Mvp on his way to the finals, while also crushing everyone at MLG Providence a week before the GSL Finals. It was one of the best finals we had ever seen, but it was Jjakji that came out on top, after which Leenock has never been quite the same. He spent most of 2012 as a mid-low level Code S player, but after eight long months in mediocrity, Leenock came charging back with an amazing MLG Raleigh run to win the tournament out of the open bracket. Now, Leenock goes into Season Four as the Zerg with the most momentum, a golden opportunity considering the downfalls of DRG and Nestea.





The European Expedition



NaNiwa: If someone had asked you at the beginning of Code S Season Two, if it was more likely that NaNiwa would be with quantic after six months, or that he would still be in Code S, it's pretty likely you would have picked him to be out of both (if you picked "still in both," congratulation, you're Swedish). In a surprising twist, despite leaving Quantic and looking virtually unemployable, Naniwa has clung on to the most valuable thing of all: his Code S spot. Now that he's out of the Quantic-partnered Startale house, the Swedish Protoss will continue to invite people to doubt him. His PvZ, the match-up that everyone expected to be his undoing against Koreans, almost got him to the semifinals, as he barely lost to DongRaeGu in the quarters (2 - 3). His results recently have been down, getting knocked out of WCS Sweden without qualifying for WCS Europe, and getting eliminated from IEM before anyone realized the tournament had started. The odds will be against him as he goes into the toughest Code S season yet, but Naniwa's strength in the GSL format means he should not be underestimated.



mouz.MaNa: How the hell did Mana get in here? Getting an Up/Down seed last week, Mana pulled off the upset of the week day (Suhosin!) with a second place advancement in a group with four strong Koreans. Displaying great TvP against Keen, and beating Hyun, a player who has been almost unbeatable in ZvP, was good enough to seem him through the Up/Downs and give NaNiwa some international company this season. Now that he's at least got his foot in the door, does MaNa have a long shot chance of winning the championship? Probably not. Mana said that he took the Up/Down seed to mainly practice for WCS Europe, and no foreigner has been able to break the top four for over a year now. But going off what we've seen from Naniwa the past two seasons, MaNa could go far if he plays at his highest level.



"TaeJa, MMA, Mvp. Yeah, you're f***ed." - Photo: R1CH "TaeJa, MMA, Mvp. Yeah, you're f***ed." -

mTw.SuperNova: He's on a German team, so he's European now, right? (Cede viOLet to America, and we will consider the deal finished) Things looked bleak when oGs collapsed and had to disband, but Supernova is now in a better situation than ever. He now is on a foreign team that will give him more international opportunities, and he lives with his old oGs-TL buddy Hero so he won't be far away from a top tier practice partner. Now in his ninth straight season of Code S, SuperNoVa is only one quarterfinal placement away from winning the Nestea award, given to a player who participates in ten straight Code S seasons. Never getting to a semifinal before, that should be his goal this season. Supernova is known for amazingly strong performances in the first round, and maybe even the second, but falls apart when he gets to the knockout rounds. Maybe now, as the second best German Terran behind Goody, he can finally push himself to the semifinals or above.





The Royal Roaders





We'll be honest, we only had a picture of Heart. - Photo: R1CH We'll be honest, we only had a picture of Heart. - LG-IM_YoDa: Coming from the old tradition of Korean Brood War, a "royal roader" is a player who wins a championship in their debut season. Each of the first three seasons of 2012 had a strong royal road candidate (Parting, Squirtle, and Symbol), but they all crumbled in spectacular fashion before they could take the championship. This season, besides Mana and the KeSPA players that we'll talk about later, there are three players with their roots in GomTV who are making their Code S debuts. First off, we have Yoda, maybe the player with the best chance of walking down the road to the title. The last two titles have been won by his teammates, and he got through Code A without a single loss. Adding to the hype, Mvp, the greatest player to ever touch this game, said that Yoda, out of everyone on LG-IM, is the best player. We've seen hype condemn many players in the past, but Yoda isn't short on confidence. There's no reason to be cynical without seeing a single Code S game, and it will be interesting to see if YoDa can rise up to the challenge.



ST_Life: Life is fifteen-years-old, unpredictable, and one of the scariest players in the world to play against. With the skill to play a long, macro game against any race and against any player in the world, Life laughs and randomly cheeses. Usually when a player has the ability to destroy players in the late game, they'll, you know, play to the freaking late game. Not Life. Wanna play a long game? Have a 6 pool. Think you can take a fast expand? Ha, I'm going to go fast spire. What, you think I'm going to play standard? Here comes some nydus. Anytime you play the game of Life, you're going to end up in puddles of sweat. He can beat you in a million different ways, but it will never be the strategy you think of. He's young, inexperienced, and stronger in online tournaments, but with his talent, he could very well go all the way.



coL.Heart: Using proxy factory builds and 1/1/1 variants against his opponents in Code A and foreign events, Heart has built up a reputation as a cheeser and a risk taker. Now, after finally getting into Code S, you can't say that anymore. Heart has gone from a player who needed to use cheese to win games, to a player who can play straight up against the best players in the world and beat them. Out of the three royal roaders mentioned in this section, he is the least likely to get far, but if Heart is pushed back into a wall, watch out for his proxy factories, base trades, and overall ability to harness chaos for his own means.





The Redeemers



Liquid`TaeJa: Two straight seasons getting to the quarterfinals. Two straight seasons with disappointing results. In the second season of the year, Taeja made his debut with TeamLiquid, and made his mark by beating DongRaeGu and jjakji in the first round. Getting to the quarterfinals, he then ran into an unstoppable force by the name of Squirtle, got crushed 3-0, and was sent out of the tournament licking his wounds. He came back last season, getting to the quarterfinals for the second time, even beating Mvp in the round of sixteen, and coming in with loads of momentum. He met MC in the quarterfinals, fought him to the brink, but still lost in the end by a score of 2 - 3. Now with more hype than ever, being called the best player in the world by a majority of the community, this is his tournament to win. Getting eliminated in the quarterfinals might have been alright for the past two seasons, but this time, he must go further.



"Hey, lift your keyboard with your arms, not your legs and back. We need those for later." - Photo: silverfire "Hey, lift your keyboard with your arms, not your legs and back. We need those for later." -

ByuNPrime: Byun should have been in the finals of the third season. Byun, in my opinion, was the best player in the third season of Code S up till the middle of the fourth game against Seed. Byun had crippled Seed's economy, was doing well, and all he had to do was be patient and win the game. Instead, he pulled all his SCV's, danced them back and forth with his army, was totally indecisive, and then lost the climactic battle trying to end the game. He would go on to lose the next two games, eliminating himself from the tournament and losing his chance at becoming a champion. This was followed up by an early round loss in the WCS Korean qualifiers to his former teammate Terious, the player infamously known for going 0-5 in his Up/Down group. Out of the many players trying to redeem themselves, Byun might want redemption the most after throwing away a ticket to the finals last season.



ST_Bomber: Spring of 2011. A man named Bomber hits the scene. Destroys everyone in GSTL, and impresses Tastosis with his extraordinary skill. Qualifies for Code A, demolishes everyone, and bests Mvp in the final to. With everyone expecting him to win multiple Code S titles, we all waited to see what would happen. Spring passed. No title. Then Summer ended. No title. Then Winter ended. No title. Then 2012 began, and we waited some more. Any minute now, right? By now, we couldn't blame you for giving up on Bomber for good. He might have insane mechanics, but he lacks some critical component required for success in the GSL. Having only made the quarterfinals once in his career, he has lots of work to do if he wants to repair live up to his (albeit, highly inflated) old expectations. If he plays like he did in the Up/Down groups, he has a shot of making something happen this season, but he's guilty of inconsistency until proven innocent.



TSL_Symbol: Symbol was a royal road candidate last season, getting into the quarterfinals from the group of death, and having a 2-0 lead against Seed in the final eight. Things seemed to be going perfectly for the Iron Squid and MLG Spring Arena silver medalist, but he then suffered one of the most heart-wrenching losses we've ever witnessed as he dropped three straight games and slumped onto his desk in disbelief. He followed up this terrible loss by faltering yet again, going 0-2 against Reality in the WCS Korean qualifiers, and got people wondering if he was nothing but a PatchZerg. This will be his chance not to only quiet the critics and show that he is more than just a flash in the pan.



FXOGuMiho: After his miracle run to the semifinals in the first season, we can no longer overlook Gumiho. Then, we could pat him on the head and say, 'Wow, you got really far! It's okay if you lose,' and pretend that it was just the first of many good runs. Back then, he was fresh blood in Code S, up 2 - 0 against DongRaeGu in the semifinals. DRG was the hottest player in the world, and no one could really blame him for getting nervous in the moment and dropping three in a row. Now that he's spent several months hanging with the toughest competitors in the world, and shown that he's an amazing player by all-killing Slayers in the GSTL finals, we expect a higher baseline performance from Gumiho. If he reaches the semis and drops out this time, there won't be any polite compliments. He's an elite Terran, and challenging for the championship is what he's expected to do.



Liquid`HerO: Speaking of players who got to the semifinals and couldn't get any further, there is Hero. In the second season of Code S, Hero 3-0'ed his now roommate Supernova and made it to his first semifinals in his royal road season. What awaited him was Squirtle, a player who rolled over him 3-0 and made Hero's GSL run come to an anti-climactic end. He didn't go down in an epic Bo5 like sC against Nestea or Gumiho vs. DongRaeGu, but instead in a complete blow out that made it look like Hero had no chance against Squirtle. Getting out of his Up/Down group 4-0, and qualifying for WCS Asia by beating numerous KeSPA players and Polt, Hero is coming into the season looking recharged and as dangerous as ever. While he's recently been in the shadow of his teammate Taeja, that could be said of almost any other player in the world. HerO is definitely one of the stronger players in this tournament, and the fact that he's not one of the players who immediately stands out just speaks to how stacked the field is.



ST_PartinG: The player with the fastest rising stock in Starcraft 2? Parting. With his incredible performance during the OSL group selection, easy wins over Baby in his first game of OSL, and third place finish in WCS Korea, Parting is gaining fans from GOM and OGN fans alike. The only problem with his amazing ceremonies and engaging interviews is that he still hasn't gotten past a semifinal. He lost to Mvp in the semifinals of season two, a series that most people thought he'd win, and then got beat by Creator last week in the semifinals of WCS Korea. He's a big time performer, and a player who showcases some of the best games, interviews, and ceremonies in Starcraft 2, but he needs that championship to go from a kid who gloats a lot to a charismatic champion like MC and Seed.







JYP shows us how many PvT series he has won in the GSL. - Photo: R1CH JYP shows us how many PvT series he has won in the GSL. - The Dark Horses



ST_Curious: Curious is probably in the top five Zergs in the world, consistent in staying in Code S everyone season, but is still someone you don't count as one of the favorites to make it deep. He still hasn't made it past the round of sixteen in any of the Code S tournaments he has participated in, and time is running out for him to establish himself as the best Zerg on Startale. With the absorption of ZeNex, a fifteen-year-old royal roader named Life is reveling at the opportunity to overtake the apathetic faced Curious. If he isn't put in a group of death, Curious should get through the opening round, but the trouble will start when he gets to the round of sixteen. Life is on Curious' heels, and Curious needs to outperform his young teammate to continue being the Zerg ace for Red Bulls Startale.



EG.JYPRC: EG has a representative in this season's Code S, but to the sadness of the foreigner fans, it is not Stephano finally taking Mr. Chae's seed into the tournament. Instead, it is the anti-master of PvT, JYP, someone trying to kill the reputation he has of being terrible against Terran. With PvZ that is good enough to beat any Zerg in this line-up of all-stars, JYP can breathe easy if he is in a group heavy of Swarm. Knowing that PvP can come down to a coin-flip, the real problem will be in how he can handle the Terrans. His PvT has gotten better, and it isn't the worst in the entire world, but it will still cause him problems if he dreams of making it deep in the tournament. If JYP has improved his PvT even more than last time we saw it, he isn't a bad choice for a stealthy player who can get deep into the tournament.



MVP.Sniper Do you want the darkest dark horse to win the championship, person-hopefully-reading-this-gigantic-article? This might put a jinx on him, but out of all the players that no one is expecting to get far, Sniper might be the player that surprises everyone and could actually win this entire tournament. Coming from the same team as GSL champion DongRaeGu, Sniper has sneakily been the player carrying MVP in online and offline team league tournaments. No longer is DRG the one carrying the load, but Sniper, his Zerg sidekick. Taking out Gumiho, Puzzle, and Ace, three former or current Code S players in his Up/Down group, he is coming into this season strong. If you're betting on this season and see Sniper as a heavy long shot, he might be the Seed or jjakji of this season.



LG-IM_Happy: Happy, once #3 on the LG-IM depth chart behind Mvp and Nestea, is now possibly fifth or sixth on that list. With Seed coming out of nowhere to take his GSL championship, Yoda pulverizing everyone in Code A, and even First having success at MLG Summer Arena and Championship, Happy is hanging onto his starter's spot by a thread. He made a big first step in his comeback during the Up/Down groups, 4-1'ing in his pool, and taking down Supernova to get first in the group. With unmatched TvZ stats, he will be praying that he gets thrown into a group with two or three Zergs. He might not be a player you expect to get very deep this season, but he made it to the semifinals before, and with how well LG-IM is doing overall in all competitions, MinVP might finally live up to that nickname.



Slayers_Ryung: Ryung was so close to being Boxer's favorite. He got rid of Taeja, pushing him towards Liquid. He e-mailed Complexity and got them interested in Ganzi. He walked all the way to the KT practice house, whispered in the coach's ear, and told him that Clide would make a perfect SC2 coach. He orchestrated a gigantic scandal that got MMA thrown onto the B-team. Everyone was gone except for him and the man he wanted to impress the most, Boxer. Oh, right, Boxer left to go rejoin SKT, while MMA got himself out of the doghouse. Now Ryung is the forgotten son yet again. Ryung's plan this tournament is to win Code S, beat Rain in the finals, and make Boxer finally remember his name.







"Tier4? I'll show them Tier4." - Photo: R1CH "Tier4? I'll show them Tier4." - The Elephants



T8_Jaedong: In what might possibly be the most anticipated debut ever in Code S history (until Stephano finally decides to join), Jaedong is entering Code S to try and become a royal roader not only in Brood War, but in Starcraft 2 as well. Looking at his stats in SC2, he might not be as good as Rain or Roro, but due to his incredible ability to perform in the clutch (um, disregard the playoffs) during his team's ace matches, Jaedong earned his spot in this season's Code S. Jaedong might be one of the weaker players, with only one big victory under his belt against Genius in a close 2-1 series, but he has the ability to improve faster than maybe any other player in the world. You can be sure that Jaedong will not take this seed lightly, and he will give it everything he has to make it through the first round.



SKT.Rain: Hey, reader, have you ever heard of that guy Bisu? You know, possibly the greatest Protoss in Brood War history? The face of SKT? The one with a million fangirls that go crazy when he enters an arena? Well, that Bisu is doing really badly in Starcraft 2 so far, so let's introduce you to Rain, the guy who is stealing Bisu's life. The best player that KeSPA has to offer, Rain qualified for WCS Asia through a good WCS Korea run, won his first game in OSL against MarineKing, and has the best record in Proleague for Starcraft 2. He's the SC2 ace of SKT, the best Protoss and player KeSPA can send to Code S, and guess what, he even has his own crazy fangirls!





You're going to see this .gif a lot this season



The Outsider



ST_SuHoSin: Finally, we have SuHoSin. Not really a dark horse, someone trying to redeem himself, or a player with a catchy title. He himself admits that he got here through luck. A Code S player last season due to making tons of roaches and taking out unsuspecting top players like Polt and jjakji, Suho found himself right back at the beginning of Code A after losing two straight series in Code S. Getting Crank, a player with an actual crank in his neck, was a godsend, and he was able to secure his Up/Down spot with a win over the former Slayers Protoss. Getting into his Up/Down group, he advanced with the worst score possible in a five man group without a tiebreaker (2-2), and he thanked Shine profusely after the games for preventing anyone from getting a better score.



Out of the thirty two players, Suhosin is the outsider. Unlike the other thirty one players in this tournament, Suho doesn't only play Starcraft. While playing the game he loves, he also has a side job that takes away from his practice, giving a little bit of insight on why he plays like he does. He makes no bones about it that he might not be up to par with the other thirty one beasts in this upcoming clash of the titans, but Suho will try his best to the very end.





We didn't have any pictures of Suhosin either, so we decided to replace it with one of Stephano the way we most fondly remember him: As an African woman.



Also, accept your f***ing Code S seed. - Photo: OldManRodgers





: The one and only four-time GSL champion. After completely dominating the Starcraft II scene in 2011, Mvp's progressively worsening wrists and vast improvement from the opposition saw him slip considerably in 2012... but he won a Code S championship anyway. After winning Season Two in dramatic fashion, Mvp looked off in Season Three, only making it into the top sixteen. With a recent victory at IEM over over top European Zergs, but with two straight TvT losses to Polt (WCS) and Baby (WCG), you can't really tell where exactly Mvp stands coming into this season. His performances might not be as good as the 2011 Mvp, but with four GSL titles, who can doubt he can win a fifth?: Following Mvp, Nestea is the one and only three-time GSL champion. Nestea's recent run of games makes it easier to guess his form than his teammate Mvp. While Mvp can still boast a great IEM performance in the midst of some mediocre Korean showings, Nestea's current condition hasn't been very good anywhere. An 0 - 3 loss to Byun in the quarterfinals of the last Code S, failure to make it through the open bracket at IEM Cologne, and a disappointing loss to Fantasy in the OSL, combine to make Nestea look vulnerable heading into this season. As the only player to play in all eleven seasons of Code S, Nestea undoubtedly has the experience to get it done at the highest level, but you have to wonder if golden era of the God of Zerg is gone for good.: As the defending champion of the GSL, Seed rounds out the Terran/Zerg/Protoss trinity of LG-IM champions. Just before the end of WCS Korea, Seed, maybe along with Taeja, was the player with the best claim to the tricky title of "best in the world." With a GSL championship, a big hand in helping his team win the IPL Team Arena finals in San Francisco, and big wins in WCS Korea over Coca, Gumiho, and Polt, there didn't seem a player who could take him out. After running into an acceptable PvP loss against Parting, he got upset by the KeSPA elephant Roro 0 - 2 in the loser's bracket, starting his biggest losing "streak" since the start of summer. While his momentum has been reduced, Seed is still the current champion, is strong in all match-ups, and has shown us the mental strengths that lets us know he'll be confident as ever when it all begins.: DongRaeGu started off the year looking like the leading candidate to be 2012's Mvp (in both senses of the word), winning GSL and MLG championships, but he's now in the biggest slump of his career. His 0 - 3 loss to MC in the semifinals of last season's Code S was followed by a devastating loss to Leenock in the semifinals of the GSTL, and then by quick elimination from WCS Korea. He did beat Jangbi in the opening game of the Auction OSL, but Jangbi played more like an inexperienced player still learning the game than the scary stampeding elephant some expected to see. The good news for DRG fans is that he's no stranger to downturns, and he knows how to come back. He dropped out of Code S in the Ro32 earlier this year, and then promptly came back last season with a semifinal effort.: Whatever the truth was behind the earlier MMA-Slayers drama, it all seems to have subsided. Crank's off to find a better future elsewhere, MMA's back on the first team, and things are back to normal (minus one Boxer). MMA may be the hardest champion to assess going into this season, as we've barely had a chance to see his games. Even before the team drama began, MMA had a patch of poor form that saw him drop out of Code S, and his temporary removal from SlayerS' GSTL roster meant we couldn't check up on how he was recovering. However, he did get through Code A and back into Code S with some impressive victories over HerO and Violet, which is a great showcase in a limited sample. MMA's biggest problem has always been his TvP, but with an absolutely crushing victory over Hero in Code A, there appears to be hope for him yet. Like all the other champions, MMA's proved too much to be left out the title picture.: Mostly known for his foreign tournament success in 2012, Polt finally put his foot down and admitted that to do better in Korea, he would have to stop his almost weekly airplane trips to every offline foreign tournament. Following his decision to stop streaming and participating in foreign tournaments, Polt went on a 25-8 streak in GSL, WCS, and WCG, beating fellow champions DRG and Mvp along the way. He had a disappointing end to WCS Korea, losing three straight series to barely miss out on qualification for WCS Asia, a bitter end to an otherwise strong summer campaign. He's looking stronger than ever going into this Code S, and he'll be looking to shake off his WCS disappointment with his second GSL championship.: Losing his first GSL finals to Seed last season was a setback for the richest man in Starcraft 2, but it reaffirmed his place among the elite. Up to that point, MC hadn't made it to a GSL final in over a year, but his awesome Season Three run, where he beat players such as Squirtle, Taeja, and DongRaeGu, MC re-affirmed his place among the elite of the GSL, not just international prize money poachers. A third title isn't out of the question, and he is entering the competition as one of the favorites, but with his inconsistency in the GSL, nothing can be guaranteed. But hey, he has won almost $350,000 in prize money, so if he doesn't get far in this tournament, I'm sure he'll win $50,000 somewhere else this fall.In foreign events, yes, MKP is a winner with a couple of MLG titles. In the GSL? He still is, and always will be, a part of the Kong Line until he proves otherwise. In a recent interview, he even jokingly remarked that if he doesn't make it to the quarterfinals this season, he might as well quit. We know he was only kidding around, but MarineKing hasn't made the quarterfinals of a GSL event in a year and a half! Since making the semifinals of the Super Tournament and choking away a 0 - 2 lead to MMA, he hasn't broken the round of sixteen once. Even Clide has made gotten farther in the GSL in the past year, and he's not even a player anymore. In the first three Code S seasons of the year, MarineKing came in hot with strong foreign results, but bombed out in the middle of the tournament. Now, after a disappointing MLG and a thrown away game against Rain in the OSL, MKP is actually coming in under the radar. With lessened expectations and out of the spotlight, it might be just the right situation for MKP to return to prominence in the GSL.: Coming in with three silvers in six months, Squirtle is leading the charge of the Kong Line. Somehow losing two straight PvP's to Creator in the WCS Korea finals, Squirtle had the dubious honor of winning his third straight silver medal. A great player with the sickest warp prism immortal micro you'll ever see from a Protoss player, Squirtle is someone you would expect to have some sort of championship by now. If not a GSL, at least some random foreign tournament where he crushes all the foreigners in his wake (hi, SuperNoVa). After getting eliminated in the group of death last season in the round of sixteen, this is also a time for redemption for Squirtle. As we all know by now, and unfair as it is, it doesn't matter how good you are if you don't bring home the gold. For Squirtle, this is either his chance to win his first major championship and leave the Kong Line forever, or grab his fourth silver and sink deeper into the Kong Line.: He won Blizzcon all the way back in 2010, but since then there haven't been any trophies added to Genius' collection. He made it to the finals in the first season of the year against his teammate DongRaeGu, but lost, started missing games for his team in the GSTL, and eventually left the squad to try and join a foreign team. He got rejected by Liquid when asked if he could join, and probably a few other teams as well since he had ended up on SlayerS. Getting eliminated in WCS Korea by Jaedong, Genius isn't having the best start to his career with his new team, but a strong performance in season four could be a statement to foreign teams that they should have picked him up when they had the chance.: Having already won at two of MLG's major events, Leenock will now set his sights on winning his first GSL title. He made it to his only final in November of last year, looking all but destined to win against Jjakji. He had a monster run that season, defeating Polt, aLive, HuK and Mvp on his way to the finals, while also crushing everyone at MLG Providence a week before the GSL Finals. It was one of the best finals we had ever seen, but it was Jjakji that came out on top, after which Leenock has never been quite the same. He spent most of 2012 as a mid-low level Code S player, but after eight long months in mediocrity, Leenock came charging back with an amazing MLG Raleigh run to win the tournament out of the open bracket. Now, Leenock goes into Season Four as the Zerg with the most momentum, a golden opportunity considering the downfalls of DRG and Nestea.: If someone had asked you at the beginning of Code S Season Two, if it was more likely that NaNiwa would be with quantic after six months, or that he would still be in Code S, it's pretty likely you would have picked him to be out of both (if you picked "still in both," congratulation, you're Swedish). In a surprising twist, despite leaving Quantic and looking virtually unemployable, Naniwa has clung on to the most valuable thing of all: his Code S spot. Now that he's out of the Quantic-partnered Startale house, the Swedish Protoss will continue to invite people to doubt him. His PvZ, the match-up that everyone expected to be his undoing against Koreans, almost got him to the semifinals, as he barely lost to DongRaeGu in the quarters (2 - 3). His results recently have been down, getting knocked out of WCS Sweden without qualifying for WCS Europe, and getting eliminated from IEM before anyone realized the tournament had started. The odds will be against him as he goes into the toughest Code S season yet, but Naniwa's strength in the GSL format means he should not be underestimated.: How the hell did Mana get in here? Getting an Up/Down seed last week, Mana pulled off the upset of theday (Suhosin!) with a second place advancement in a group with four strong Koreans. Displaying great TvP against Keen, and beating Hyun, a player who has been almost unbeatable in ZvP, was good enough to seem him through the Up/Downs and give NaNiwa some international company this season. Now that he's at least got his foot in the door, does MaNa have a long shot chance of winning the championship? Probably not. Mana said that he took the Up/Down seed to mainly practice for WCS Europe, and no foreigner has been able to break the top four for over a year now. But going off what we've seen from Naniwa the past two seasons, MaNa could go far if he plays at his highest level.: He's on a German team, so he's European now, right? (Cede viOLet to America, and we will consider the deal finished) Things looked bleak when oGs collapsed and had to disband, but Supernova is now in a better situation than ever. He now is on a foreign team that will give him more international opportunities, and he lives with his old oGs-TL buddy Hero so he won't be far away from a top tier practice partner. Now in his ninth straight season of Code S, SuperNoVa is only one quarterfinal placement away from winning the Nestea award, given to a player who participates in ten straight Code S seasons. Never getting to a semifinal before, that should be his goal this season. Supernova is known for amazingly strong performances in the first round, and maybe even the second, but falls apart when he gets to the knockout rounds. Maybe now, as the second best German Terran behind Goody, he can finally push himself to the semifinals or above.: Coming from the old tradition of Korean Brood War, a "royal roader" is a player who wins a championship in their debut season. Each of the first three seasons of 2012 had a strong royal road candidate (Parting, Squirtle, and Symbol), but they all crumbled in spectacular fashion before they could take the championship. This season, besides Mana and the KeSPA players that we'll talk about later, there are three players with their roots in GomTV who are making their Code S debuts. First off, we have Yoda, maybe the player with the best chance of walking down the road to the title. The last two titles have been won by his teammates, and he got through Code A without a single loss. Adding to the hype, Mvp, the greatest player to ever touch this game, said that Yoda, out of everyone on LG-IM, is the best player. We've seen hype condemn many players in the past, but Yoda isn't short on confidence. There's no reason to be cynical without seeing a single Code S game, and it will be interesting to see if YoDa can rise up to the challenge.: Life is fifteen-years-old, unpredictable, and one of the scariest players in the world to play against. With the skill to play a long, macro game against any race and against any player in the world, Life laughs and randomly cheeses. Usually when a player has the ability to destroy players in the late game, they'll, you know, play to the freaking late game. Not Life. Wanna play a long game? Have a 6 pool. Think you can take a fast expand? Ha, I'm going to go fast spire. What, you think I'm going to play standard? Here comes some nydus. Anytime you play the game of Life, you're going to end up in puddles of sweat. He can beat you in a million different ways, but it will never be the strategy you think of. He's young, inexperienced, and stronger in online tournaments, but with his talent, he could very well go all the way.: Using proxy factory builds and 1/1/1 variants against his opponents in Code A and foreign events, Heart has built up a reputation as a cheeser and a risk taker. Now, after finally getting into Code S, you can't say that anymore. Heart has gone from a player who needed to use cheese to win games, to a player who can play straight up against the best players in the world and beat them. Out of the three royal roaders mentioned in this section, he is the least likely to get far, but if Heart is pushed back into a wall, watch out for his proxy factories, base trades, and overall ability to harness chaos for his own means.: Two straight seasons getting to the quarterfinals. Two straight seasons with disappointing results. In the second season of the year, Taeja made his debut with TeamLiquid, and made his mark by beating DongRaeGu and jjakji in the first round. Getting to the quarterfinals, he then ran into an unstoppable force by the name of Squirtle, got crushed 3-0, and was sent out of the tournament licking his wounds. He came back last season, getting to the quarterfinals for the second time, even beating Mvp in the round of sixteen, and coming in with loads of momentum. He met MC in the quarterfinals, fought him to the brink, but still lost in the end by a score of 2 - 3. Now with more hype than ever, being called the best player in the world by a majority of the community, this is his tournament to win. Getting eliminated in the quarterfinals might have been alright for the past two seasons, but this time, hego further.: Byun should have been in the finals of the third season. Byun, in my opinion, was the best player in the third season of Code S up till the middle of the fourth game against Seed. Byun had crippled Seed's economy, was doing well, and all he had to do was be patient and win the game. Instead, he pulled all his SCV's, danced them back and forth with his army, was totally indecisive, and then lost the climactic battle trying to end the game. He would go on to lose the next two games, eliminating himself from the tournament and losing his chance at becoming a champion. This was followed up by an early round loss in the WCS Korean qualifiers to his former teammate Terious, the player infamously known for going 0-5 in his Up/Down group. Out of the many players trying to redeem themselves, Byun might want redemption the most after throwing away a ticket to the finals last season.: Spring of 2011. A man named Bomber hits the scene. Destroys everyone in GSTL, and impresses Tastosis with his extraordinary skill. Qualifies for Code A, demolishes everyone, and bests Mvp in the final to. With everyone expecting him to win multiple Code S titles, we all waited to see what would happen. Spring passed. No title. Then Summer ended. No title. Then Winter ended. No title. Then 2012 began, and we waited some more. Any minute now, right? By now, we couldn't blame you for giving up on Bomber for good. He might have insane mechanics, but he lacks some critical component required for success in the GSL. Having only made the quarterfinals once in his career, he has lots of work to do if he wants to repair live up to his (albeit, highly inflated) old expectations. If he plays like he did in the Up/Down groups, he has a shot of making something happen this season, but he's guilty of inconsistency until proven innocent.: Symbol was a royal road candidate last season, getting into the quarterfinals from the group of death, and having a 2-0 lead against Seed in the final eight. Things seemed to be going perfectly for the Iron Squid and MLG Spring Arena silver medalist, but he then suffered one of the most heart-wrenching losses we've ever witnessed as he dropped three straight games and slumped onto his desk in disbelief. He followed up this terrible loss by faltering yet again, going 0-2 against Reality in the WCS Korean qualifiers, and got people wondering if he was nothing but a PatchZerg. This will be his chance not to only quiet the critics and show that he is more than just a flash in the pan.: After his miracle run to the semifinals in the first season, we can no longer overlook Gumiho. Then, we could pat him on the head and say, 'Wow, you got really far! It's okay if you lose,' and pretend that it was just the first of many good runs. Back then, he was fresh blood in Code S, up 2 - 0 against DongRaeGu in the semifinals. DRG was the hottest player in the world, and no one could really blame him for getting nervous in the moment and dropping three in a row. Now that he's spent several months hanging with the toughest competitors in the world, and shown that he's an amazing player by all-killing Slayers in the GSTL finals, we expect a higher baseline performance from Gumiho. If he reaches the semis and drops out this time, there won't be any polite compliments. He's an elite Terran, and challenging for the championship is what he's expected to do.: Speaking of players who got to the semifinals and couldn't get any further, there is Hero. In the second season of Code S, Hero 3-0'ed his now roommate Supernova and made it to his first semifinals in his royal road season. What awaited him was Squirtle, a player who rolled over him 3-0 and made Hero's GSL run come to an anti-climactic end. He didn't go down in an epic Bo5 like sC against Nestea or Gumiho vs. DongRaeGu, but instead in a complete blow out that made it look like Hero had no chance against Squirtle. Getting out of his Up/Down group 4-0, and qualifying for WCS Asia by beating numerous KeSPA players and Polt, Hero is coming into the season looking recharged and as dangerous as ever. While he's recently been in the shadow of his teammate Taeja, that could be said of almost any other player in the world. HerO is definitely one of the stronger players in this tournament, and the fact that he's not one of the players who immediately stands out just speaks to how stacked the field is.: The player with the fastest rising stock in Starcraft 2? Parting. With his incredible performance during the OSL group selection, easy wins over Baby in his first game of OSL, and third place finish in WCS Korea, Parting is gaining fans from GOM and OGN fans alike. The only problem with his amazing ceremonies and engaging interviews is that he still hasn't gotten past a semifinal. He lost to Mvp in the semifinals of season two, a series that most people thought he'd win, and then got beat by Creator last week in the semifinals of WCS Korea. He's a big time performer, and a player who showcases some of the best games, interviews, and ceremonies in Starcraft 2, but he needs that championship to go from a kid who gloats a lot to a charismatic champion like MC and Seed.: Curious is probably in the top five Zergs in the world, consistent in staying in Code S everyone season, but is still someone you don't count as one of the favorites to make it deep. He still hasn't made it past the round of sixteen in any of the Code S tournaments he has participated in, and time is running out for him to establish himself as the best Zerg on Startale. With the absorption of ZeNex, a fifteen-year-old royal roader named Life is reveling at the opportunity to overtake the apathetic faced Curious. If he isn't put in a group of death, Curious should get through the opening round, but the trouble will start when he gets to the round of sixteen. Life is on Curious' heels, and Curious needs to outperform his young teammate to continue being the Zerg ace forStartale.: EG has a representative in this season's Code S, but to the sadness of the foreigner fans, it is not Stephano finally taking Mr. Chae's seed into the tournament. Instead, it is the anti-master of PvT, JYP, someone trying to kill the reputation he has of being terrible against Terran. With PvZ that is good enough to beat any Zerg in this line-up of all-stars, JYP can breathe easy if he is in a group heavy of Swarm. Knowing that PvP can come down to a coin-flip, the real problem will be in how he can handle the Terrans. His PvT has gotten better, and it isn't the worst in the entire world, but it will still cause him problems if he dreams of making it deep in the tournament. If JYP has improved his PvT even more than last time we saw it, he isn't a bad choice for a stealthy player who can get deep into the tournament.Do you want the darkest dark horse to win the championship, person-hopefully-reading-this-gigantic-article? This might put a jinx on him, but out of all the players that no one is expecting to get far, Sniper might be the player that surprises everyone and could actually win this entire tournament. Coming from the same team as GSL champion DongRaeGu, Sniper has sneakily been the player carrying MVP in online and offline team league tournaments. No longer is DRG the one carrying the load, but Sniper, his Zerg sidekick. Taking out Gumiho, Puzzle, and Ace, three former or current Code S players in his Up/Down group, he is coming into this season strong. If you're betting on this season and see Sniper as a heavy long shot, he might be the Seed or jjakji of this season.: Happy, once #3 on the LG-IM depth chart behind Mvp and Nestea, is now possibly fifth or sixth on that list. With Seed coming out of nowhere to take his GSL championship, Yoda pulverizing everyone in Code A, and even First having success at MLG Summer Arena and Championship, Happy is hanging onto his starter's spot by a thread. He made a big first step in his comeback during the Up/Down groups, 4-1'ing in his pool, and taking down Supernova to get first in the group. With unmatched TvZ stats, he will be praying that he gets thrown into a group with two or three Zergs. He might not be a player you expect to get very deep this season, but he made it to the semifinals before, and with how well LG-IM is doing overall in all competitions, MinVP might finally live up to that nickname.: In what might possibly be the most anticipated debut ever in Code S history (until Stephano finally decides to join), Jaedong is entering Code S to try and become a royal roader not only in Brood War, but in Starcraft 2 as well. Looking at his stats in SC2, he might not be as good as Rain or Roro, but due to his incredible ability to perform in the clutch (um, disregard the playoffs) during his team's ace matches, Jaedong earned his spot in this season's Code S. Jaedong might be one of the weaker players, with only one big victory under his belt against Genius in a close 2-1 series, but he has the ability to improve faster than maybe any other player in the world. You can be sure that Jaedong will not take this seed lightly, and he will give it everything he has to make it through the first round.: Hey, reader, have you ever heard of that guy Bisu? You know, possibly the greatest Protoss in Brood War history? The face of SKT? The one with a million fangirls that go crazy when he enters an arena? Well, that Bisu is doing really badly in Starcraft 2 so far, so let's introduce you to Rain, the guy who is stealing Bisu's life. The best player that KeSPA has to offer, Rain qualified for WCS Asia through a good WCS Korea run, won his first game in OSL against MarineKing, and has the best record in Proleague for Starcraft 2. He's the SC2 ace of SKT, the best Protoss and player KeSPA can send to Code S, and guess what, he even has his own crazy fangirls!Finally, we have SuHoSin. Not really a dark horse, someone trying to redeem himself, or a player with a catchy title. He himself admits that he got here through luck. A Code S player last season due to making tons of roaches and taking out unsuspecting top players like Polt and jjakji, Suho found himself right back at the beginning of Code A after losing two straight series in Code S. Getting Crank, a player with an actual crank in his neck, was a godsend, and he was able to secure his Up/Down spot with a win over the former Slayers Protoss. Getting into his Up/Down group, he advanced with the worst score possible in a five man group without a tiebreaker (2-2), and he thanked Shine profusely after the games for preventing anyone from getting a better score.Out of the thirty two players, Suhosin is the outsider. Unlike the other thirty one players in this tournament, Suho doesn't only play Starcraft. While playing the game he loves, he also has a side job that takes away from his practice, giving a little bit of insight on why he plays like he does. He makes no bones about it that he might not be up to par with the other thirty one beasts in this upcoming clash of the titans, but Suho will try his best to the very end.



Writer: Fionn.

Graphics and Art: Meko.

Editor: Waxangel. Writer https://twitter.com/FionnOnFire