Code S November Group A: MMA, YuGiOh, MC, Ryung

It's an invigorating start of the new season as GSL November kicked in, as per usual, with the champion's group. And as it befits its name, Group A was stacked up to the top with heavy hitters and rising talents.



MMA put a start to his aggression by going for marine/tank push, taking his third behind that. YuGiOh had chosen to stick to a banelingless composition and relied solely on speedlings and mutas to control the game but MMA's attack managed to outzone him, keeping control of the center and using that as a trampoline for his push further into zerg territory.

But YuGiOh somehow managed to lash back, push MMA away and even snipe his third but the recovery rate of the terran was unbelievable. A swift counter move destroyed zerg's fourth and put him to essentially zero income, giving MMA enough time to calmly take the gold and win the game from that point on.



Ryung rushed straight for a one base 2-rax/1-factory rush but as it got scouted, Ryung had to take the long road to MC's base in order to avoid being forcefielded in half. Unfortunately for the young terran, that gave MC just the time he needed to prepare his defenses and when the push arrived at the crime scene, MC already had three immortals ready to shred the tanks and win the game without much fuss.





MMA opened the gate passively, going for his quick CC but soon found himself under pressure as MC had gone for 2-base 4-gate push and tried to batter his way into terran's base. To his bad luck, MMA was safe behind his two bunkers and MC had to fall back, regroup and think of the best transition into the mid-game.

He chose plunging into an all-in strategy, going up to 8-gate speedlot/archon composition and knowing that he doesn't have much time before his build starts its decay, MC immediately pushed up the map towards MMA's third... Only to find himself greeted by a wave after wave of EMPs which rendered his whole army impotent and causing its destruction in mere seconds.





The match escalated into a late-game action that sent Daybreak in tremors under the hooves of YuGiOh's ultras which tried to the very best of their abilities to find a crack in Ryung's lines. But the SlayerS terran played one of the most cost-efficient games in a while and utilized his mass ghosts to snipe ultras and EMP infestors to cripple large portions of YGO's army and prevent any direct engagement that would've spelled doom had the zerg had his way.

Seeing that brute force would not bring him any spoils, YuGiOh executed a very intelligent late-game tech switch to mass mutas and for a moment Ryung was caught off-guard - his base was under attack and burning and his production facilities were ever endangered. But despite the 180-degrees turn of events, YuGiOh just couldn't reach the efficiency that helped Ryung dominate the mid-game and as he started losing mutas to the increasing amount of marines and thors, YuGiOh had to GG out and say hello to Code A.



Tal'Darim Altar saw one of the most precise responses in MC's repertoire that brought the protoss the victory.

Ryung opened with a fast CC but due to the adjacent spawning positions his build got scouted immediately and MC, in a decision brilliance, redirected all his chrono boost to his gateways and rallying zealots straight in Ryung's face. A second zealot soon arrived followed by a stalker and the terran was in huge trouble - his bunker barely got up, his CC was now delayed, he had lost more SCVs than he would've liked and his entire plan was like an open book for MC. As it turned out, though, Ryung would not need to worry for a long time as MC followed his early pressure with a strong stalker attack that stomped upon his enemy's shoulders and pushed him up to the Ro16.

Code S November Group A standings
MMA	2	0	To Code S Ro16
MC	2	1	To Code S Ro16
Ryung	1	2	To Code A Ro32
YuGiOh	0	2	To Code A Ro48

So all in all there was nothing unusual in Group A. As befits his title, experience and reputation, MMA went though his opponents like a hot knife through butter and gave no indication that his throne will be recaptured easily.

Two other players, however, should be awarded with your applauds and these are MC for his jaw-dropping decision making on Altar and Ryung for handling the game on Daybreak the way he did and pretty much showing why ghosts are getting nerfed. The SlayerS terran might need to go through some Code A fights to find himself back in the real game but I dare not say that he was outplayed by any immeasurable margin - he took some chances and he lost, it happens to all of us.

As for YuGiOh it was kind of expected to see him fall 0-2, after all one does not easily survive in the company of such titans. But this zerg was not a free win for his opponents, no sir. His defense against MMA and his massive tech switch vs Ryung were beautifully executed (despite not quite enough for the win) and the Code A players should definitely be on their toes.