[WCS KR] Ro32 - Group C Preview/Group B Recap (S1) Text by TL.net ESPORTS Graphics by shiroiusagi

2013 GSL Season 2 WCS Korea Season 1 - GSL





Code S Ro32 Group B

Recap: YoDa and Flying advance





Code S Ro32 Group C

Preview: MKP, sOs, soO, Curious





Brackets and standings on



Recap: YoDa and Flying advancePreview: MKP, sOs, soO, CuriousBrackets and standings on Liquipedia Code S Ro32: Group B Recap by kollin and Waxangel



Results via Live Report Thread by opterown.

+ Show Spoiler [Results] + MC vs. Flying

MC <Red City> Flying

MC <Daybreak> Flying

MC <> Flying



wins 2-0! Flying wins 2-0!



YoDa vs. DongRaeGu

YoDa <Bel'Shir Vestige> DongRaeGu

YoDa <Whirlwind> DongRaeGu

YoDa <> DongRaeGu



wins 2-0! YoDa wins 2-0!



Winners' Match

Flying <Atlas> YoDa

Flying <Daybreak> YoDa

Flying <> YoDa



wins 2-0! YoDa wins 2-0!



Losers' Match

MC <Atlas> DongRaeGu

MC <Daybreak> DongRaeGu

MC <Red City> DongRaeGu



wins 2-1! DongRaeGu wins 2-1!



Final Match

Flying <Daybreak> DongRaeGu

Flying <Star Station> DongRaeGu

Flying <Akilon Wastes> DongRaeGu



wins 2-1! Flying wins 2-1!





YoDa and Flying advance to Code S RO16!







Disturbance in the Force

- LG-IM_YoDa tops Group B while Woongjin_Flying upsets SK_MC and MVP.DongRaeGu to advance in second.



had a lot of pressure on his back going into Group B. As the only Protoss able to advance to the Round of 4 at the recent MLG Winter Championships and the only Protoss able to convincingly beat top level Terrans with his innovative stargate openers, he had to show that he could turn that into results in the very first HotS GSL and first WCS KR season. With one of his Protoss brothers, Creator, already being knocked out by Terran fiends in Group A, MC had to go big or go WCS America if he wanted to start making his way towards the $250,000 Blizzcon pot.



However MC failed up to live his reputation as the top star in Group B, and instead had the spotlight stolen by the IEM World Champion . While Mvp once did say YoDa was the best Terran on Incredible Miracle, that seemed like more of an encouraging comment than actual truth. At least, until HotS was released. Whether it was because of the new expansion, the new studio or the new trophy sitting back in the LG-IM display case, something is driving YoDa to reach heights he has never rose to before. Yes, YoDa has reached the Ro16 in Code S before. But the way he has been playing in the past month, and especially last night, suggests he could be ready to make the run of his life.



YoDa's first series of the night was against the 'Final Boss,' , in an ironic twist. The MVP Zerg had become one of the greatest players in WoL using muta-ling-baneling, a style which has been strengthened by the changes brought about in HotS. However, DRG couldn't work his magic on the night, with YoDa taking a 2 - 0 victory.



The first game of the series was on Bel'Shir Vestige, and produced an action packed MMMM vs. muta ling bane game with both players executing at an extremely high level. Both players butted heads around the entire map in a battle of control and positioning, and it was difficult to determine who had the upper hand as even the GomTV observer struggled to keep up with the speed of the game. The game eventually ended in a fairly large anti climax, as DRG's refusal to go beyond 1/1 ground upgrades (whether it was by design or by mistake) saw him get crushed as soon as he made a mistake against YoDa's 3/3 Terran. DRG's near perfect play saw him take a lead even with his massively under-upgraded troops, but it took just one poor battle for it to all come crashing down. Even DRG seemed to find it slightly funny, as he cracked a smile in the booth post-game.



The next game was underwhelming in contrast to the first, as YoDa started the game by dealing crippling economic damage to his opponent with an hellion drop that killed 24 workers while getting an obscenely quick 3 command centres himself. DRG then started his fifteen minute death animation as YoDa built up a large bio mine army and started flinging units at his opponent to try and end the game. A lot of marines and huge widow mine hits later, YoDa finally left his booth as the victor.



YoDa's next opponent turned out to be , the difficult-to-rate Protoss playing for Woonjin Stars. A slump toward the end of 2012 saw many fans downplay his skill, but his resurgence in 2013 forced his opponents to stay on their toes. Flying came into the winners match after proving his mettle against MC in a strong 2 - 0 victory, another sign of his recovery. However, Flying would have to wait until the end of the night before he could fully declare himself as a serious contender in Code S, as he lost a quick 0 - 2 series to YoDa in the winners' match.



The first game was fairly scrappy from both sides, as Flying attempted to execute a version of the



While YoDa might not be in the very top tier with players like Life, you have to consider him a serious contender to make it extremely deep into WCS Korea. Always a monster of mechanics, the multi-tasking heavy nature of HotS has benefited YoDa even further. What YoDa still needs to overcome is the inconsistency he shows in the GSL. He showed at the IEM World Championship that he can be nigh unstoppable over a four day stretch. If he can bring his IEM form over the course of the next four GSL rounds, from the Ro16 to the finals, then a GSL championship is certainly within grasp.



President in Exile



Unfortunately for the Bosstoss, he went through another one of his famous Code S swings, breaking his fans' hearts after a successful campaign in the previous season. His initial series against Flying ended 2 - 0 in Flying's favour. The first game saw the two players take the game late and decide it in an epic, final battle where Flying's archon-templar-colossus-stalker proved to be superior to MC's void ray-colossus-tempest composition. In the second game, MC failed to keep oracles in mind as he performed a fast expansion build and had his probe line devastated by Flying's oracle + 3 gates attack. When he finally shifted his stalkers over to his mineral line, he lost his his natural. Another successful oracle strike meant the game was all but over, and Flying applied the coup de grace to send MC to the losers' match.





Ironically, Skytoss doesn't do well against Storm.



In the losers match, MC met fellow GSL champion DRG, a familiar foe in GomTV tournaments. The first game, which ended in a victory for MC, continued the trend of HotS being a PvZ time machine back to early 2011, with colossus-void ray bludgeoning roach-hydra repeatedly until it collapsed into a bloody heap on the floor. The next game threatened to play out in a similar way, but DRG's roach-hydra-corruptor was enough to kill MC off before he could reach critical mass. The final game also had a retro feel with MC investing heavily in an early gateway attack, only to be foiled by speedlings picking off unprotected sentries. DRG used his lead to comfortably go into mutalisks, eventually goading MC into a one-sided base trade. With that, the MC became the third player to fall to the Challenger League, left to consider his options in the upcoming season.



With Flying Colors



How do you prove that your OSL Ro8 run wasn't a fluke, and that you truly deserve to be in Code S? Why, you defeat two GSL champions in a single night, of course! By defeating MC and DongRaeGu to advance from group B, announced that he had fully escaped from his slump and proleague losing streak, and was ready to cause some damage in WCS Korea.



As described above, Flying won an impressive 2 - 0 series against MC to start the night, looking like the superior player throughout the series. Though he was manhandled by YoDa immediately after, Flying more than made up for it by scoring another great win against DongRaeGu to clinch a spot in the Code S Ro16. The first game saw Flying use the same kind of gamble he used to crack Stephano back in Code A, showing phoenixes to DongRaeGu early and then hitting with a devastating +1 zealot attack after he had convinced his opponent to skip roaches and make only zerglings. DongRaeGu got some of his thunder back in game two, where he used his roach-hydra-viper combination to mangle Flying's colossus-reliant army for the easy win.



The third and final game of the series turned out to be a real nail-biter, one worthy of the Ro16 spot that was at stake, and one that forced us to look at the winner in a new light. The early-mid games saw both Flying and DongRaeGu take plenty of resources and face off in a series of action packed battles, but the real fun came in the late game as both players started to fight over extra bases with their resources running thin. DongRaeGu seemed to have an edge with a huge flock of mutalisks controlling the map, as well as having a strong spine crawler + swarm host defense that would make any Protoss attack very costly. Unfortunately for DRG, he could not get the win as Flying showed great composure and decision-making in such an unusual, high stakes situation. Flying used Dark templars expertly to deny DongRaeGu from expanding and force him to invest in detection. He also persistently made new attempts to take new bases until DongRaeGu finally managed to let one slip through, all while staying calm and refusing to overreact as DongRaeGu destroyed huge portions of his main. In the end, DongRaeGu ran completely dry while Flying successfully held a solitary mining base. When DongRaeGu made a last-ditch attempt to take a new base, Flying crushed him with superior numbers to earn the GG and a spot in the Ro16.





SK_MC had a lot of pressure on his back going into Group B. As the only Protoss able to advance to the Round of 4 at the recent MLG Winter Championships and the only Protoss able to convincingly beat top level Terrans with his innovative stargate openers, he had to show that he could turn that into results in the very first HotS GSL and first WCS KR season. With one of his Protoss brothers, Creator, already being knocked out by Terran fiends in Group A, MC had to go big or go WCS America if he wanted to start making his way towards the $250,000 Blizzcon pot.However MC failed up to live his reputation as the top star in Group B, and instead had the spotlight stolen by the IEM World Champion LG-IM_YoDa . While Mvp once did say YoDa was the best Terran on Incredible Miracle, that seemed like more of an encouraging comment than actual truth. At least, until HotS was released. Whether it was because of the new expansion, the new studio or the new trophy sitting back in the LG-IM display case, something is driving YoDa to reach heights he has never rose to before. Yes, YoDa has reached the Ro16 in Code S before. But the way he has been playing in the past month, and especially last night, suggests he could be ready to make the run of his life.YoDa's first series of the night was against the 'Final Boss,' DongRaeGu , in an ironic twist. The MVP Zerg had become one of the greatest players in WoL using muta-ling-baneling, a style which has been strengthened by the changes brought about in HotS. However, DRG couldn't work his magic on the night, with YoDa taking a 2 - 0 victory.The first game of the series was on Bel'Shir Vestige, and produced an action packed MMMM vs. muta ling bane game with both players executing at an extremely high level. Both players butted heads around the entire map in a battle of control and positioning, and it was difficult to determine who had the upper hand as even the GomTV observer struggled to keep up with the speed of the game. The game eventually ended in a fairly large anti climax, as DRG's refusal to go beyond 1/1 ground upgrades (whether it was by design or by mistake) saw him get crushed as soon as he made a mistake against YoDa's 3/3 Terran. DRG's near perfect play saw him take a lead even with his massively under-upgraded troops, but it took just one poor battle for it to all come crashing down. Even DRG seemed to find it slightly funny, as he cracked a smile in the booth post-game.The next game was underwhelming in contrast to the first, as YoDa started the game by dealing crippling economic damage to his opponent with an hellion drop that killed 24 workers while getting an obscenely quick 3 command centres himself. DRG then started his fifteen minute death animation as YoDa built up a large bio mine army and started flinging units at his opponent to try and end the game. A lot of marines and huge widow mine hits later, YoDa finally left his booth as the victor.YoDa's next opponent turned out to be Flying , the difficult-to-rate Protoss playing for Woonjin Stars. A slump toward the end of 2012 saw many fans downplay his skill, but his resurgence in 2013 forced his opponents to stay on their toes. Flying came into the winners match after proving his mettle against MC in a strong 2 - 0 victory, another sign of his recovery. However, Flying would have to wait until the end of the night before he could fully declare himself as a serious contender in Code S, as he lost a quick 0 - 2 series to YoDa in the winners' match.The first game was fairly scrappy from both sides, as Flying attempted to execute a version of the Tails DT drop, but got shut down when his warp-prism was spotted, and then counter-dropped dropped by YoDa. Somehow Flying managed to turn it into a weird, pseudo-base trade scenario, but he couldn't overcome the might of MMM in the end. The second game was the showcase game that allowed YoDa to show that he is really, really solid in TvP. The game played out like a standard TvP on Daybreak and YoDa simply played better, cleaner Starcraft than Flying and won without really breaking a sweat. Drops led into a better economy, a better economy led into a better composition (hellbats to counter mass zealots!), which eventually ended with YoDa crushing Flying's army while casually standing in storms.While YoDa might not be in the very top tier with players like Life, you have to consider him a serious contender to make it extremely deep into WCS Korea. Always a monster of mechanics, the multi-tasking heavy nature of HotS has benefited YoDa even further. What YoDa still needs to overcome is the inconsistency he shows in the GSL. He showed at the IEM World Championship that he can be nigh unstoppable over a four day stretch. If he can bring his IEM form over the course of the next four GSL rounds, from the Ro16 to the finals, then a GSL championship is certainly within grasp.Unfortunately for the Bosstoss, he went through another one of his famous Code S swings, breaking his fans' hearts after a successful campaign in the previous season. His initial series against Flying ended 2 - 0 in Flying's favour. The first game saw the two players take the game late and decide it in an epic, final battle where Flying's archon-templar-colossus-stalker proved to be superior to MC's void ray-colossus-tempest composition. In the second game, MC failed to keep oracles in mind as he performed a fast expansion build and had his probe line devastated by Flying's oracle + 3 gates attack. When he finally shifted his stalkers over to his mineral line, he lost his his natural. Another successful oracle strike meant the game was all but over, and Flying applied the coup de grace to send MC to the losers' match.In the losers match, MC met fellow GSL champion DRG, a familiar foe in GomTV tournaments. The first game, which ended in a victory for MC, continued the trend of HotS being a PvZ time machine back to early 2011, with colossus-void ray bludgeoning roach-hydra repeatedly until it collapsed into a bloody heap on the floor. The next game threatened to play out in a similar way, but DRG's roach-hydra-corruptor was enough to kill MC off before he could reach critical mass. The final game also had a retro feel with MC investing heavily in an early gateway attack, only to be foiled by speedlings picking off unprotected sentries. DRG used his lead to comfortably go into mutalisks, eventually goading MC into a one-sided base trade. With that, the MC became the third player to fall to the Challenger League, left to consider his options in the upcoming season.How do you prove that your OSL Ro8 run wasn't a fluke, and that you truly deserve to be in Code S? Why, you defeat two GSL champions in a single night, of course! By defeating MC and DongRaeGu to advance from group B, Woongjin_Flying announced that he had fully escaped from his slump and proleague losing streak, and was ready to cause some damage in WCS Korea.As described above, Flying won an impressive 2 - 0 series against MC to start the night, looking like the superior player throughout the series. Though he was manhandled by YoDa immediately after, Flying more than made up for it by scoring another great win against DongRaeGu to clinch a spot in the Code S Ro16. The first game saw Flying use the same kind of gamble he used to crack Stephano back in Code A, showing phoenixes to DongRaeGu early and then hitting with a devastating +1 zealot attack after he had convinced his opponent to skip roaches and make only zerglings. DongRaeGu got some of his thunder back in game two, where he used his roach-hydra-viper combination to mangle Flying's colossus-reliant army for the easy win.The third and final game of the series turned out to be a real nail-biter, one worthy of the Ro16 spot that was at stake, and one that forced us to look at the winner in a new light. The early-mid games saw both Flying and DongRaeGu take plenty of resources and face off in a series of action packed battles, but the real fun came in the late game as both players started to fight over extra bases with their resources running thin. DongRaeGu seemed to have an edge with a huge flock of mutalisks controlling the map, as well as having a strong spine crawler + swarm host defense that would make any Protoss attack very costly. Unfortunately for DRG, he could not get the win as Flying showed great composure and decision-making in such an unusual, high stakes situation. Flying used Dark templars expertly to deny DongRaeGu from expanding and force him to invest in detection. He also persistently made new attempts to take new bases until DongRaeGu finally managed to let one slip through, all while staying calm and refusing to overreact as DongRaeGu destroyed huge portions of his main. In the end, DongRaeGu ran completely dry while Flying successfully held a solitary mining base. When DongRaeGu made a last-ditch attempt to take a new base, Flying crushed him with superior numbers to earn the GG and a spot in the Ro16. Code S Ro32: Group C Preview

by PigsCanFly



Group C: ST_Curious, SKT_soO, Woongjin_sOs, MarinekingPrime



Mediocrity?



Three of the four players in this group have one thing in common: a lack of exposure in HotS. While suffered a quick 3-0 exit at jjakji’s hands in the 2013 MLG Winter Championship, he has still gotten significant air time in HotS. In contrast, the other three players have scarcely registered on the HotS radar. has a single 3-0 loss to Mvp in the MLG winter showdowns, which took place in the midst of his WoL GSL run and before hellbat drops were severely nerfed. and have only played one meaningful competitive match each: a single mirror match in Proleague. While sOs has also appeared in Proleague's "The Special," few conclusions can be made from games in such an noncompetitive environment (expansion into mothership rushes are hardly going to catch on). With little HotS evidence with which to judge these player’s abilities, their WoL form becomes the clearest guide as to who will advance. In general, players who have WoL pedigree have gone on to do well in these early days of HotS – just look at Flash, Life, RorO and MC.



With that in mind, SKT_soO is the player who looks least likely to advance. He is in a position similar to that of KT_Crazy, who crashed out of Group A with a 0-4 map score. Both players scraped into Code S via the Up-and-Down tie breakers when few expected them to do so. Both players have looked decent, but not spectacular. Both players have a 56% WoL win rate. soO is a mediocre candidate in a slightly above average group, and he is unlikely to make it any further.



Woongjin_sOs might have easily gone under the radar of a non-Proleague fan. His lone Code S appearance in 2012 Season 5 saw him quickly dispatched in the Ro32 by Marineking and Sniper. However, sOs is not to be trifled with. He has been monstrous in Proleague for the high-flying Woongjin Stars, where he has a 69% win rate with an 18 - 8 record. This does not overly flatter him as he boasts an impressive 65% win rate in WoL on the whole. sOs could even advance in first place if he brings his A game, especially given the inconsistency of the opposition he faces.



In the last GSL, after crushing through the group stages and Ro16 with an 11-3 record, Curious failed just as many felt he was gaining momentum and fell 4-2 to Symbol in the semi-finals. Many expected him to finally fulfill the potential he showed way back in October 2011, when he famously romped through Code A with a perfect 13-0 map score to reach Code S. However, Curious has failed to turn his promise into tangible achievement during WoL and given the struggle that Zergs-not-named-Life have shown so far in HotS, it might be a while before he does so. Still, anyone who has shown that much potential should not be underestimated. Speaking of unfulfilled potential…





MarineKingPrime is a three-time GSL finalist, yet finds himself desperately needing a medal in order to prove his relevance. While constantly competing in the upper echelons of the GSL, he has failed to claim the prize he craves most. His only titles were won during back-to-back MLGs that took place more than a year ago. With the influx of Terran elephants (INnoVation, Flash, Last, FanTaSy) Marineking needs to prove that he is still a top Terran, especially given the upheaval that HotS has caused. Unfortunately, in his few HotS appearances, he has done little to show that he has improved as a player – he remains the same flawed genius we saw in WoL, with his poor decision making, nerves and over-aggression causing him more damage than his stellar micro is able to compensate for. Although Turbovacs™ should be a great boost [haha] to Marineking’s micro-intensive style, it remains to be seen if he has what it takes to remain competitive.



Overall thoughts and predictions:



With the exception of sOo, everyone in this group is fairly evenly matched. Expect games to come down to the wire.



Marineking micro + Turbovacs™ should give him the slight edge in this group and he should advance. Just. Curious, though able to beat anyone on his day, might find himself struggling to advance against sOs, given that the Broodlord-infestor army of death seems much less viable in HotS. With the added Kespa/Elephant momentum on his side, sOs should make it to the Ro16.



Curious > sOo

Marineking > sOs

Marineking > Curious

sOs > sOo

sOs > Curious



Marineking and sOs advance





Three of the four players in this group have one thing in common: a lack of exposure in HotS. While MarineKingPrime suffered a quick 3-0 exit at jjakji’s hands in the 2013 MLG Winter Championship, he has still gotten significant air time in HotS. In contrast, the other three players have scarcely registered on the HotS radar. Curious has a single 3-0 loss to Mvp in the MLG winter showdowns, which took place in the midst of his WoL GSL run and before hellbat drops were severely nerfed. soO and sOs have only played one meaningful competitive match each: a single mirror match in Proleague. While sOs has also appeared in Proleague's "The Special," few conclusions can be made from games in such an noncompetitive environment (expansion into mothership rushes are hardly going to catch on). With little HotS evidence with which to judge these player’s abilities, their WoL form becomes the clearest guide as to who will advance. In general, players who have WoL pedigree have gone on to do well in these early days of HotS – just look at Flash, Life, RorO andWith that in mind,is the player who looks least likely to advance. He is in a position similar to that of KT_Crazy, who crashed out of Group A with a 0-4 map score. Both players scraped into Code S via the Up-and-Down tie breakers when few expected them to do so. Both players have looked decent, but not spectacular. Both players have a 56% WoL win rate. soO is a mediocre candidate in a slightly above average group, and he is unlikely to make it any further.might have easily gone under the radar of a non-Proleague fan. His lone Code S appearance in 2012 Season 5 saw him quickly dispatched in the Ro32 by Marineking and Sniper. However, sOs is not to be trifled with. He has been monstrous in Proleague for the high-flying Woongjin Stars, where he has a 69% win rate with an 18 - 8 record. This does not overly flatter him as he boasts an impressive 65% win rate in WoL on the whole. sOs could even advance in first place if he brings his A game, especially given the inconsistency of the opposition he faces.In the last GSL, after crushing through the group stages and Ro16 with an 11-3 record,failed just as many felt he was gaining momentum and fell 4-2 to Symbol in the semi-finals. Many expected him to finally fulfill the potential he showed way back in October 2011, when he famously romped through Code A with a perfect 13-0 map score to reach Code S. However, Curious has failed to turn his promise into tangible achievement during WoL and given the struggle that Zergs-not-named-Life have shown so far in HotS, it might be a while before he does so. Still, anyone who has shown that much potential should not be underestimated. Speaking of unfulfilled potential…is a three-time GSL finalist, yet finds himself desperately needing a medal in order to prove his relevance. While constantly competing in the upper echelons of the GSL, he has failed to claim the prize he craves most. His only titles were won during back-to-back MLGs that took place more than a year ago. With the influx of Terran elephants (INnoVation, Flash, Last, FanTaSy) Marineking needs to prove that he is still a top Terran, especially given the upheaval that HotS has caused. Unfortunately, in his few HotS appearances, he has done little to show that he has improved as a player – he remains the same flawed genius we saw in WoL, with his poor decision making, nerves and over-aggression causing him more damage than hisis able to compensate for. Although Turbovacs™ should be a great boost [haha] to Marineking’s micro-intensive style, it remains to be seen if he has what it takes to remain competitive.With the exception of sOo, everyone in this group is fairly evenly matched. Expect games to come down to the wire.Marineking micro + Turbovacs™ should give him the slight edge in this group and he should advance. Just. Curious, though able to beat anyone on his day, might find himself struggling to advance against sOs, given that the Broodlord-infestor army of death seems much less viable in HotS. With the added Kespa/Elephant momentum on his side, sOs should make it to the Ro16.> sOo> sOs> Curious> sOo> Curious