HuK knocked out of Code S. Sniper and HyuN drop to Code A. The GSL Code S Ro32 continues…
On Wednesday we started our coverage of the GSL Code S as the round of 32 kick starts this first 2013 season.
Now we’re at the end of day four and we’re slowly seeing this number get reduced down as the 16 player lineup begins to take form. Some you may expect, others you may not, but we’re only just at the half way point of this phase of the competition so you can be fairly sure there will be plenty more upset/excitement to come!
GROUP C
Group C took to the arena on January 24th and consisted of one of the most talked about line-up yet.
Evil Geniuses “HuK” is one of the first entries that caused a stir in the contest, an entry that even shocked the young Canadian Protoss player after he claimed his spot in the preliminary Up/Down phase at the start of the month. Startale “Bomber” is the next player to fall into the hugely talked about category. Coming hot off the heels of his most successful international run, the veteran Terran has played fairly inconsistently over the past year, so to hear that he had landed his first spot in Code S in over a year certainly peaked fans attention. FXOpen “GuMiho” is the third player in the group, probably most known for performing the first ever “all kill” at the GSTL finals, yet the Terran still remains to have little to no notable appearances to his name. Finally, returning champion MVP “Sniper” makes a return to Code S. Despite taking the crown at the last GSL the question remains to be answered, could the Zerg player do it again?
Game one saw HuK pitted against current champion Sniper, after Sniper had elected to take the Canadian as his first victim. With so much to lose, the Korean 
Zerg clearly saw HuK as an easy means to get into the Ro16. After a slightly unexpected spinecrawler rush followed up by a speedling/baneling play in the first set, HuK managed to equalise in the second set, despite mis-executing his build. The victory was short lived however, as sniper fought back valiantly against an 8 Gate push from HuK. Sniper takes the win 2 – 0
Game two threw Bomber against fellow rival and Terran GuMiho. Unable to get a sufficient lead with a Mech centric play GuMiho felt the full force of Bomber as he crushed through his army with a simple Bio composition. Sadly, the suffering wasn’t over as Bomber took a second win as GuMiho’s Hellion/Banshee play crumbled. Bomber takes the game 2 – 0
Game 3 saw current champion Sniper fall to Bomber as the first games stalemate came to a quick finish, as some sloppy Ultralisk engagement against Bombers marauders quickly allowed for the balance to tip in Bombers favour. Set two saw Sniper reeling and recovering fairly well from baneling/roach push that was deflected by Bomber, but it wasn’t long before Sniper knew his demise was imminent due to the economic lead Bomber had claimed. 2 – 0 to Bomber provided him the group lead and the first advancing spot.
Game 4 saw HuK take on GuMiho for his survival in the tournament. An early marauder rush from GuMiho and the second sets marine/SCV cheese saw the young Canadian overwhelmed and losing out 2 – 0. Sadly, as expected by many and probably no surprise to others, as
HuK is knocked out of the competition and falls into the Code A Ro48
The final game of the session saw Sniper against GuMiho for the second advancing spot. After two heated games, one of which very much a reminiscent version of Snipers earlier game against Bomber, it was the third game that was the deciding factor. Unable to keep up with GuMiho’s constant drops, the returning champion fell, losing the game 2 – 1.
Bomber and GuMiho advance. Sniper is relegated to Code A Ro32
Group D
Moving on to today’s GSL Code S antics. Group D is probably one of the most underwhelming in terms of player prowess. In the group we have the Protoss “Squirtle”, Zerg “BBoongBBoong”, Terran player LG-IM “YoDa” and the final Zerg of the match up “HyuN”. One has to wonder why 3 of these players are currently teamless and haven’t been snatched up, as it is quite clear that in their play they truly are capable of great things as was evident by some of the games.
The first match pits BBoongBBoong against HyuN, both of which make their second GSL appearances. HyuN however clearly hasn’t got himself quite as comfortable as he’d like to be in this super star environment, as was evident by his play. The first set saw HyuN take some major damage whilst trying to adopt a Symbol late gas style of play. This clearly didn’t pay off as a small speedling run by, managed to almost cripple HyuN. Stuck on two bases, a Mutalisk switch seals the deal as HyuN all ins with what little forces he has left. The second set, although playing identical builds, BBoongBBoong is able to take the lead quite quickly after severe sloppy play from HyuN, leaving him with nothing else to do but GG. BBoongBBoong takes the game 2 – 0.
The second match threw LG-IM YoDa into battle with Squirtle, the young Protoss known best for his deceptive tactics and constant denial of scouting information. An immortal push from Squirtle in the first set just does not do the damage it needed to and YoDa is able to fight back quite easily, giving the set to him. The second set see’s Squirtle try and do the same again, except this time…..PROXY ROBO. Unsure of whats happening, YoDa was caught off guard and with a second wave of Stalker/Sentry warp in’s, YoDa has no other option than to GG. The final game was fairly evened out with a stalemate right until the last minute. With a maxed out army, Squirtle pushes head long into battle and hammers his way through YoDa’s fourth expansion AND his army. Squirtle takes the game 2 – 1.
After a good start for both players it was now down to Squirtle against BBoongBBoong. The first set see’s Squritle go for yet another Immortal push which should have easily been held off. However, with too few roaches in his unit competition, BBoongBBoongs expansion crumbles and GG is called. The second set see’s Squirtle irritate BBoongBBoong by blocking his expansions with pylons. After finally getting expansion up, Squirtle trys to break his morale with Dark Templars. With an overseer already on the field, the DT’s are crushed and BBoongBBoong simply builds up an army to steamroller through. Second set to BBoongBBoong. The third and final set see’s Squirtle attempt to go air harass with 4 pheonixes up and a voidray. Unfortunately for him, despite his harassment BBoongBBoong had already started on Hydralisk production and with a Roach/Hydra/Ling combo, he takes the lead. GG. 2 – 1 to BBoongBBoong
BBoongBBoong and Squirtle advance. Hyun relegated to code A Ro32. LG-IM YoDa is out of Code S and falls into the Ro48
The best is yet to come
All the action starts once again next week on Tuesday, January 29th and it seems the best is yet to come. With foreigner HuK taken out by the Korean onslaught, our last hope remains with Evil Geniuses “Stephano” who plays Friday. His group contains none other than arch rival MVP “DongRaeGu”, whom recently stopped Stephano from achieving an All Kill in Stephano’s recent Proleague debut.
Other games to come include appearances from PartinG, MarineKing and Nestea, so it truly is only the beginning from the GSL Code S Ro32!
Be sure to check out all the action from Tasteless and Artosis over on the GOMTV website or visit them on the new GOMTV Twitch stream
GL HF
Loading ...
