Up-and-downs Group A

So it began - the up-and-down matches for GSL August. Alicia, Leenock, Byun, Yoda and Supernova stepped in their booths to fight for their Code S future.

Supernova vs Alicia @ Dual Sight

As Alicia threw down his fast expo and got his colossus tech under way, he moved out to do a poke with his immortals and gateway units. To his surprise, he was met with a 1-basing terran, gearing for a stim/tank push. Hesitation cost Alicia a precious immortal and the protoss found himself in a tough position. Although he managed to get a colossus out in time, Supernova's rush was too strong. The natural fell in seconds and as Supernova climbed the ramp it was a GG.



Byun vs Leenock @ Daybreak.

Leenock played the mid-game smartly, using just a few roaches to deny any hellion damage and then doing a 180-degree tech switch, going for mutas while triple expanding. Byun, who was only on two bases by that time, tried to execute a timing attack during the big window, but Leenock quickly cut out his reinforcements and lost only a single base for the price of the better part of terran's army.

Leenock used his mutas to delay the second push that was directed at his top left base and so he got enough banelings in time to chase the terran away. With all the pressure off, the zerg just hit the macro button and exploded with devastating amount of brood lords that stormed Byun's lines of defense and forced a GG.



Yoda vs Supernova @ Crossfire

Supernova executed yet another perfect 1-base play, proxying a reactor factory and a starport at the expansion south of Yoda's natural. With hellions streaming in faster and by the bigger count, Yoda soon fell apart without even finishing his own starport. Supernova secured a quick 2-0 in his group.



Byun vs Alicia @ Terminus

Alicia opened with a 2-base gateway aggression but as he was unable to break through Byun's bunkers he fell back and geared to take a third, teching to charge, blink and storm. As his tech kicked in, Alicia started winning the map control war, not allowing Byun to take a fourth and this staying a base ahead of his terran opponent. Byun attempted a big bio push but found Alicia's storms and colossi too big a bite to swallow. As Byun started his retreat, Alicia chased him down to get the victory.



Leenock vs Yoda @ Antiga Shipyard

A very standard ZvT was played on Antiga between those two guys. Yoda started with early hellion pressure but only killed a couple of tumors before lings chased him away. The mid to late game was just Leenock trying to defend his gold expo (unsuccessfully) and fight to his best the constant marine drops with which Yoda constantly tormented him.

The game break for Leenock came when he reached his hive tech units(although a bit delayed due to marines sniping his greater spire). Leenock's steady and methodical advance towards Yoda's base met a resistance of marines and vikings but they were hardly enough. Yoda scored a second loss in a row, putting him in a tough position in his group.



Byun vs Supernova @ Antiga Shipyard

This crazy 50-minute long TvT started as a normal bio vs mech but Supernova's perfect strategic decisions closed every gap on the map and Byun's marine/marauder force could not utilize their mobility to their best. Furthermore, Supernova's bases were all heavily turreted up so doing a doom drop was also out of the question.

Byun had to do something and the decision was as simple as it was flawless. A quick tech switch to vikings and BCs caught Supernova a bit off guard and forced him to transition to mass starports as well, while Byun slowly regained the ground his lost. The air battles were long and tense with seeker missiles, thors, yamato cannons and multiple PDDs colouring the entire map. The game was heading towards a record length until Byun made the strange choice to land his vikings and storm Supernova's tank line.

Needless to say, that did not bring any success at all. The vikings melted under tank fire and, seeing that he cannot contest Supernova anymore, Byun tapped out.



Alicia vs Leenock @ Metalopolis

Alicia opened with a DT expand, hoping to deny Leenock's quick third. To his disappointment, Leenock was able to get an overseer out in time and completely deny the tech. Alicia followed this up with a blink rush but was again too late - the infestors were there to destroy everything and thus Leenock got the green light he needed to go on the offensive. His lings and banelings came from every side - they ran to the front, got dropped into the main and were bombed upon the few stalkers that survived the attack from earlier. With his base in ruins, Alicia gg-ed, saying goodbye to his Code S dreams for next season.

GSL August: Up-and-down Group A
Supernova	3-0	Stays in Code S
Leenock	3-0	Climbs to Code S
Alicia	1-2	Drops to Code A
Yoda	0-2	Stays in Code A
Byun	0-3	Drops to Code A