In the final day of week one of Code S Ro32, DongRaeGu returned from MLG to find three terrans waiting to spar with the ZvT expert.
Match 1: DongRaeGu vs TheSTC
Game 1 @ Ohana
TheSTC played passive and safe style, going for a meaty marine/tank composition and making a move towards the third of DongRaeGu. TheSTC took a position on the highground and started shelling the hatchery and in order to save it, DongRaeGu needed only a simple sandwich maneuver that would clean the terran presence. Hesitation proved to be the root of his unsuccess, however, and TheSTC's army remained healthy enough to finish the base and go home. DongRaeGu continued to miscontrol his units in the late game as well, as his ultralisks ended up being more than useless, even being sandwiched themselves on a number of occasions.
Game 2 @ Atlantis Spaceship
TheSTC opened with a pair of preigniter harassments and ended up trading 15 hellions for about 20 drones - an exchange that was not entirely worth it and knowing that there is no immediate threat incoming, DRG simply droned back unhindered. Thus, the series entered the standard TvZ river-bed with TheSTC transitioning into hellion/thor with a few tanks and DRG took the path of the greater spire. Sadly, though, what should have been a succession of epic clashes for map control and expansions ended up being a throw-away game as TheSTC put too much confidence in his thors and ventured deep into zerg territory without any viking support. After he lost every single mech unit. both parties knew that the game was DRG's.
TheSTC's only mistake in this series
Game 3 @ Antiga Shipyard
DRG took an early warren but instead of using it to go for a 2-base attack, he took an additional base and did a delayed attack to delay the third of TheSTC. The follow-up zerg wave was a roach/baneling/muta overflow that was designed to punish the terran for the economy-heavy build he was using but TheSTC somehow knew what was brewing for him in DRG's kitchen. The terran bunkered up heavily and mitigated to great extent the damage he suffered during the attack - although his tank count dropped to zero, TheSTC had better upgrades and a stalwart marine force, which he used to take control of the center and get a fourth.
With the map now cut in half, it was much easier for TheSTC to orchestrate attacks towards zerg's bases. He chose to go for the fourth and laid what looked like to be an endless siege of marines, tanks and vikings. Although in possession of hive tech, DongRaeGu was helpless as the brood lord to corruptor ratio was never in the correct value and doom was swiftly brought upon him.
Match 2: Jjakji vs Taeja
Game 1 @ Atlantis Spaceship
The newest member of Liquid and the former GSL champion opened their series with mirroring marine/tank builds but stayed away from any direct battles. Even after they hit maxed supply, it took them eight more minutes to actually engage each other.
Jjakji made the first move worthy of noting, dropping marines onto Taeja's tank line to clean a lot of them and establish a temporary superiority over the center. Still, the series was as close as it got and if it wasn't for Jjakji's hard to spot but cumulatively lethal mistakes--such as attacking at fortified locations (as opposed to Taeja's raids on relatively unprotected bases) and adding a not too efficient marauder component to his army--the game could have gone on till the map was mined out.
Game 2 @ Entombed Valley
Jjakji opened with 2-base mech timing attack that caught Taeja in trouble and the HoSeo terran swiftly doubled the supply of his opponent. And just like that, with the game practically won, Jjakji found himself out of position and the 50 food lead he had disappeared. The next step in this warfare was a base race initiated by Taeja but the fortune would not smile upon the Liquid terran for the second time in a row. The slap in the face had returned Jjakji to the reality of the situation and he kept his composure to defend his own base and earn the gg out of Taeja.
Game 3 @ Antiga Shipyard
In a single motion, Jjakji decided the outcome of this series as a massive drop in Taeja's main left his base barren. Taeja struggled some more in attempt to recover from the destructive damage he suffered but in vain - rebuilding his production facilites anew was an arduous task and Jjakji would not allow him the time.
Jjakji sets Taeja's expiration timer
Winners match: Jjakji vs TheSTC
Game 1 @ Dual Sight
TheSTC opened with preigniter hellions/banshee build into a reactored starport and tried to do some fancy early attacks to utilize his air superiority but the bio force of Jjakji was just too mobile and good versus air. Alas, it was also very much weaker than mech, especially when hellions are not allowing you to expand anywhere and the meching player is up one base and has more supply. A very text-book win for TheSTC.
Game 2 @ Daybreak
TheSTC opened with a fast third CC which died some minutes later after a marine timing attack of Jjakji caught TheSTC's own marine squad poorer on upgrades. Instead of re-expanding, however, TheSTC immediately went for the counter, drew Jjakji away from his natural with a small attack at his third and sprinted up to destroy his natural. There, TheSTC established a wonderful position between Jjakjis's army and his main, easily putting the score to 2-0 and grabbing a Ro16 spot for himself.
Jjakji tries to regroup but is bombed every step of the way
Losers match: DongRaeGu vs Taeja
Game 1 @ Dual Sight
Taeja displayed a rock solid defense on Dual Sight against all of DRG's aggression and for the first time in many games, the ZvT guru could not act as freely as he's used to in his favourite match-up. Finally, a pair of muta/ling/baneling hit-and-runs destroyed the natural of Taeja--which was DRG's first real victory in this set--but that was far from enough. Although with his economy partially crippled, Taeja still had a substantial marine count which was used to apply non-stop pressure to the zerg. If DRG looked to be in trouble at that point, having his hive tech on the field actually made it worse. The high investment in ultralisks went down the dumpsters as a few micro mistakes of queens barring their way put the final nail in DRG's coffin.
Game 2 @ Daybreak
Being one game away from elimination doesn't usually bother a seasoned veteran like DRG but this time it was different. The zerg went for a quick hive by skipping infestors in the mid-game which was the main reason for losing his third with little to no sacrifices from Taeja. The brain melt of DRG after the death of his expansion now shined clearly as he put a second ultralisk cavern on the field and botched all of the remaining battles to drop down to Code A. Taeja could not and would not hide the overflow of joy as he kept his Code S life for now.
Awkward and horrible are both good words to describe the angle of the final engagement for DongRaeGu
Final match: Taeja vs Jjakji
Game 1 @ Cloud Kingdom
Once again, Taeja would meet Jjakji on the battlefield for the precious Ro16 spot and after the first few minutes of game one, there were strong indications that Jjakji might just walk out with a second victory. The HoSeo terran opened with a stim 1/1 timing attack that caught Taeja's marines without stim (forgotten) and no +1 armor (still not fully researched). But as was often the theme with these two's previous games, Jjakji would not hold a lead for too long and after miscontrolling a siege tank attack onto Taeja's third, the supply was back in the balance.
As the game progressed further, Taeja's superior macro began to have a critical effect. The Liquid terran traded a whole army for a planetary of Jjakji and was still on equal footing supply-wise, thus safe from any type of counter-aggression. Jjakji was now in dire straits - he had no banked money, no mining bases and no presence on the map. And Taeja had the absolute opposite of all that.
Game 2 @ Entombed Valley
Taeja opened with a CC first build which Jjakji failed to scout as he employed the very common nowadays technique of failing to scout your opponent by an inch. Nevertheless, Jjakji atoned this small sin of his by going for a marine/tank/banshee rush to force a lift on Taeja's natural and safely expand behind the attack. This led to him always being a base ahead of the Liquid terran. Still, his personal curse of throwing games away against Taeja would return as he donated a huge chunk of his army, allowing Taeja do to whatever he wanted.
And he wanted that Ro16 spot.
Taeja's path to recovery started here
Final standings
| 2012 Code S Season 2 Ro32 Group A | |||||||||
  TheSTC | 4-1 Taeja| 5-2 | Jjakji2-5 |  DongRaeGu1-4 | TheSTC 2-1 DongRaeGu Jjakji 2-1 Taeja TheSTC 2-0 Jjakji Taeja 2-0 DongRaeGu Taeja 2-0 Jjakji | |||||
