Code S Ro16 Group B: Halfway there

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In a company of three terrans, one very skilled online cup conqueror fought for dear life.

Rewind button. Time goes back to October 29th, the start of Code S' 5th season. Three of the players that competed today should not have been here if everything had gone according to plan. YoDa and Hyun are paired with Gumiho and Rain and Hack is with Symbol, RorO and Happy. None of them had ever passed Ro32. In fact, this was also the Code S debut for Hyun and Hack and, naturally, they are just not supposed to get that far.

MarineKing was appointed to be their group's leader, both in terms of seniority and placement. Making the quarter final cut was of vital importance for Prime's terran ace as this season is his last chance to win a GSL gold for 2012, which has frankly been a bit too unkind to him since the start. In Season 1, he shared a group with eventual champion DRG. In Season 2 he had to play PartinG and Taeja and in Season 3 he was dealt another group of death with Symbol, Seed and MC. Not until Season 4 did he pass the Ro16 but only to draw the short straw once again, matched with Life, who'd end up winning the whole thing.

To get his first place seed, MarineKing did showcase a form worthy of the quarterfinals, though he was presented with very few opportunities to bring out his genius to light. His TvT was fluctuating - which might bring him troubles against Ryung in the Ro8 - but strong enough to deal Hack a 2-1 loss; and he fought cheese with cheese to slap down HyuN with the same score. A good show by MKP but he'll have to step up his game and fast: zergs are invading and all of them are particularly skilled in shredding terrans.

As for HyuN, he finally defended his online reputation of many (many!) tournament wins with a spot at actual premier playoffs. As impressive as a 14-game win streak in IPL Fight Club might be, those sums are not going to pay the bills and a Ro8 spot gives the TSL zerg a shot at proving why exactly does Symbol regard Hyun as being better than him.

HyuN's menagerie of build orders in the GSL so far has been broad enough but he's only been playing ZvTs and that doesn't tell us much about how his quarter final against Creator will go. Korea's WCS champions just sent Curious and DongRaeGu packing so it's safe to say he's the winner of the popularity contest. In the end of the day, however, if HyuN can pull off four straight wins playing his worst match-up, what can he do playing his best?

Code S Ro16 Group B