Welcome to my second ever Weekly Recall, a recap of the major events in StarCraft in the past week.

GSL Round of 16 – Group C

Players: Kim “herO” Joon Ho, Cho “Trap” Sung Ho, Kim “Ryung” Dong Won, Lee “Leenok” Dong Nyung

Advancing Players: herO, Ryung

herO

herO came into Group C looking to make a statement. With so much focus recently on the top Terrans, it’s easy to forget there are genuine threats from other races. And he made his point, tearing his way through the Group, making it too clear he’s still in the running for the trophy. HerO advanced in 1st place, 4-1, dropping a game only to Trap. It’s no secret that herO has been a dominant force in PvT, and he proved it here.

Especially with the top three Terrans currently playing tournament favorites. If herO can make it past his next round into the final stages of GSL, there is a very real possibility that this could be the season herO finally takes his first GSL title.

Ryung

If there’s one thing to say about Ryung, it’s that he’s resilient. He showcased some intriguing Mech builds against Leenok, taking a relatively clean series 2-1. After getting taken out by herO 0-2 in the Winner’s Match, he took a close series against Trap 2-1. Advancing in second place after a final game on Cactus Valley simply by surviving Trap’s repeated waves of Adept harassment and pushing the fight back to Trap’s side of the map at his most vulnerable point.

Trap

Trap’s ability to harass has to be among the best in the world right now. We saw his ability to dig himself out of a massive disadvantage with only a handful of Adepts against Armani. His Oracle micro against Solar was nothing short of inspirational. And again here against Ryung, taking a map of Ryung with repeated Adept harassment. Taking out as many as 30 workers in a single run to win Abyssal Reef.

Again, in the final game on Cactus Valley, Trap continuously traded out waves of Adepts, but dealing almost crippling economic damage in return. Unfortunately, Trap’s over-commitment to his harassment style ended up costing him the game. Ryung eventually took the fight right to Trap’s main army and Trap was simply unable to hold. He failed to tech up into any form of AoE Protoss needs to take a fight against a complex Terran army.

He ended a hard fought day 4-4.

Leenok

Leenok was, for the most part, just outmatched, ending the day 1-4. He took a single map off Ryung from a disadvantageous situation with some impressive Fungals and swift punishment of Ryung’s aggressive positioning.

GSL Round of 16 – Group D

Players: Kim “sOs” Yoo Jin, Hwang “KeeN” Kyu Seok, Lee “Bunny” Jae Sun, Cho “Maru” Sung Ju

Advancing Players: Maru, sOs

Maru

A week ago, I said Jun “TY” Tae Yang looked like the best player in the World. Maru came out in Group D to make his case. After dismantling Bunny in his first match 2-0 through superior tactical positioning, he went on to crush KeeN in the winners match. In his first game, he punished a heavy over-extension by KeeN in TY’s base by making a doom drop right into KeeN’s army before he had a chance to replenish.

His second game against KeeN was hard to watch. Pushing into KeeN with a heavy Reaper harassment, taking him apart through nothing but Reaper micro. Closing out the game in less than four minutes and dropping a “manner-MULE” into KeeN’s base for his trouble.

Maru ended the day 4-0, advancing cleanly in first place.

sOs

Ever the wildcard, sOs ended up in the Elimination Match against Bunny after losing to KeeN 1-2 in the first match of the day. SOs would then proceed to win the next four games in a row, first 2-0 against Bunny, and then again against KeeN in the final match. Showcasing his unique take on PvT with mass Phoenix and Adept harassment. Reminding us that sOs’ greatest asset has always been his ability to know exactly what his opponent’s least expects.

SOs ended the day 5-2, advancing in second place.

SOs will face a rematch in the quarterfinals against herO, both of whom met previously in the last GSL, in the quarterfinals as well. SOs took that series 3-0. With herO looking near unstoppable in PvT at the moment, sOs is now looking to play upset, possibly being all that stands in the way of herO’s first GSL win.

KeeN

We really have to give some love to KeeN because he got nothing of the sort from the pair from Jin Air. He first got manner-MULE’d by Maru, then BM’d again from sOs as he closed out the Final Match. KeeN put on a strong show against sOs in the first match of the day. Game 3 of the first match on Abyssal Reef was perhaps the best game of the day. But for KeeN, the day went downhill from there. KeeN ended the day 2-5, losing 0-2 to Maru in the Winner’s Match, and then 0-2 again to sOs in the Final Match.

Bunny

It seems the theme of Week 2 of the Round of 16 to have one player that just failed to show up. For Group D, that player was Bunny. Though it’s unfair to compare Bunny’s performance to Leenok in Group C, Leenok for the most part looked like a fish out of water. Bunny put on a resilient show against Maru, but was just outclassed.

Call to Action: Test Map Updates

Terran

Widow Mine: +shield bonus damage on splash reduced from +40 to +25 (to be clear, damage on primary target will be unchanged from live, only the splash damage has been nerfed).

Zerg

(New) Corruptor: Movement speed changed from 4.1343 to 4.725. Acceleration speed changed from 3.675 to 4.2. Parasite Spore weapon damage point (ie. attack delay) changed from .1193 to .0446.

Hydralisk: Health increased from 80 to 90

Community Highlights

And since this is my first Community Highlight ever, I’m just going to cheat with two bonus entries from a couple weeks ago.

MCanning trolls TY. And check the comments for TY’s reaction.

Nate’s RPG.

Featured images courtesy AfreecaTV and Blizzard Entertainment.

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