GSL Code S Group C Recap

Our first foreigner steps up to the plate in group C, with Chris “Huk” Loranger flying not only the foreigner flag, but that extremely small Protoss player flag we mentioned yesterday. No doubt the main hope for many fans outside Korea, but does he have what it takes to compete with a very strong group with 2 power-punch Terrans and a champion Zerg?

Lets see how each player took on their respective game. Remember if you’d like to know more about the map changes for this season of GSL look no further than our quick review here on D-eSports.

Code S Group C

• Set 1: MVPSniper (Z) vs EG_HUK_RC (P)
• Set 2: StarTale_Bomber (T) vs FXOGuMiho(T)
• Set 3
• Set 4
• Set 5
• Final Results
• Gameplay Summary

 Set 1: MVPSniper (Z) vs EG_Huk_RC (P)

A very well rounded Zerg player in Sniper, who has taken his own GSL championship he is definitely one of the top picks to come out of this group. His well-rounded playstyle will bode well for him in a group comprising of a Protoss in Huk, a strong Terran with great timings in Bomber, and an unpredictable-yet-stable Gumiho who can throw out all sorts of things.

This is Huk’s first time back in GSL Code S for over a year, not competing in any Code S during 2012. He had “fallen off the map” during some of the 2012 year but is still a strong foreign Protoss player with dependable micro and some great 2 base push skills. His first match here against Sniper will no doubt be a tough match though.

DUCK EXPECTS: 2:0 Sniper

Game 1: GSL Icarus

On the new map with some interesting dynamics, things start with a change straight off the bat. Sniper starts up his gas on 13, and a pool on 14. Artosis mentions that this map does have rocks blocking the back entrance to the “backyard” natural base and it’s quite likely that Sniper will want to force Huk to make cannons at the back and the front natural base thus putting quite a lot more minerals into early defence, delaying his tech.

Shortly after we actually see that Sniper starts morphing a lair at the 3:30 mark, and starts producing a few zerglings too. It’s a very old-school and rare build to see Overlord creep with spines right at the bottom of the ramp to Huk’s main base. The spines start poking away at the wall, and while Huk does his best to try and re-establish a larger wall with more cannons behind it Sniper has banelings waddling in. The wall falls like a sack of potatoes, as does Huk in game one.

Game 2: Neo Planet S

Huk opens up with a ForgeFE after seeing a pool first into hatch from Sniper, and after a slight hiccup where 2 probes die to 6 early zerglings, things proceed as normal. A third goes down for Sniper, quite a far position for someone to defend too given the layout of this map, but of course Sniper should be quite fine until Huk’s post-Cyber tech.

Huk does something a little interesting here, using only 2 probes on the gas in the main which is spotted by the scout overlord, and then also puts down 2 gas in the natural which is seen by the overlord just as it dies… but the 2 gas are then cancelled shortly after and 7 gates go down in the main for Huk.

Sniper, unaware of what’s going on, continues to drone up his mineral lines but Huk is on the way. There is a slight issue though because Huk misses a pylon, and gets quite supply blocked which is a major issue with an 8-gate push like this. He remidies this situation; only to be plagued by another small issue alongside it - there is a gateway that has not switched over to a warpgate inside the main, and it will cost him one unit per warp cycle.

Huk attempts to push into Sniper’s third base, but Sniper is well prepared upon seeing the proxy pylons and despite some great micro and forcefield usage from Huk, Sniper is able to hold. The small errors that Huk made with his supply and also the gateway are adding up.

Sniper, not one to be undone by someone elses mistakes destroys the rocks that funnel the ramp leading into the third and pushes down the entrance right into a mass of zealots and stalkers with a few sentries throwing down some brilliant forcefields. Huk takes a lead in supply and starts dancing his zealots as he cleans up the third base, and begins his assault on the natural base forcing Sniper to GG.

Game 3: GSL Whirlwind SE

Sniper opens up with a pool on 15 on this very very large map, making sure he is quite safe for the start of the game, and also opening up his tech a little earlier. Huk goes for a more economic route, nexus first with a forge shortly after no craziness just yet.

A proxy pylon goes up on Sniper’s side of the map which is unscouted but the scouting Overlord checking through Sniper’s base did find that there are 7 gates on the way yet again from Huk. A very similar situation to game 2 is at hand, with Sniper being able to defend at the top of a very small ramp and Huk’s first group of units push up and get annihilated by a roach/ling/spine defense. Huk is in a very precarious position, surely Sniper will not make a mistake like he did in the previous game, and he doesn’t. With many roaches and lings out, speed done for the lings, Sniper is able to push Huk back and puts him into a very awkward spot given that 8-gate play like this is difficult to transition out of.

Huk does attempt a secondary push but it is thwarted quite easily, and while he does attempt to pick up a third base, there is no hope for him to win this. Infestors come out, roaches and lings constantly pressure the nat/third (which never gets up) and the game is over.

Sniper wins 2:1

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Set 2: StarTale_Bomber (T) vs FXO_GuMiho(T)

Bomber continues to be a force to be reckoned with his multitasking skills absolutely unparalleled for quite some time during early 2012, appearing in GSL code S 7 times. His appearances did fall off for part of 2012, but he is still definitely someone not to underestimate.

Gumiho is a great Terran to watch, guiding his Team to some brilliant wins in GSTL and is certainly no slouch in individual GSL leagues either, with 56 wins and 37 losses in total (60.2% winrate). He commonly uses mech styles and is certainly able to throw in strong cheese builds to keep his opponents guessing. This set will be a difficult one to call.

DUCK EXPECTS: 2:1 Gumiho

Game 1: GSL Whirlwind SE

Both players start out with a heavy economic footing; CC first with gas very quickly after from Gumiho, but Bomber goes for a standard 2 barracks after. With Bomber going for faster marine/tank and Gumiho going for tech, both players really start to differentiate showing their particular styles. Bomber also grabs a quick third base though the banshee of Gumiho is on the way.

Cloak research finishes for Gumiho, and he does get a few SCV kills along with several marines too. The banshees are eventually forced out once stim finishes and some turrets are placed, but Gumiho is already on his way to a mech build, with Bomber scanning and seeing this he goes for the more mobile marine/marauder/medivac combination.

Bomber finds a nice timing to attack in, with stim done and combat shields too he pushes up into Gumiho’s natural, and while is is able to kill off a sizeable number of Gumiho’s units, eventually the attack is forced back. A decent trade for Bomber, but perhaps a slight mistep, given that he was actually in a beautiful position to kill off Gumiho’s quick third base.

The multitasking of Bomber kicks into gear dropping marauders at both the third and the main of Gumiho, though Gumiho does sneak a couple of hellions into the natural of Bomber and gets some decent damage done. A lot of damage is done by Bomber, killing of a lot of SCVs and continually pecking away at Gumiho’s third base. This has put quite a burden on Gumiho right now, as Bomber continually pressures Gumiho all over the place, not giving him a moment to re-establish his mech army. Gumiho is forced to GG after his main force of units is cleaned up along with his third base.

Game 2: GSL Cloud Kingdom

Gumiho opens gas first into barracks, Bomber a little safer with Barracks/gas. Presumably a Banshee build from Gumiho, and Bomber looks towards countering it most likely given that he is able to scout the very quick factory.

I’ll be honest I have no clue what Gumiho’s plan was with this build. It was obvious his banshee was going to get countered because Bomber saw it all and for some reason he sent SCVs to to support his hellions(2) with repair. Unfortunately for Gumiho however, 5 hellions were up for Bomber, and 2 vikings were prepared. The “push” is thwarted, and Bomber pushes in with his own odd force of hellions and vikings and is able to easily crush Gumiho.

Bomber wins 2:0

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Set 3: MVPSniper (Z) vs StarTale_Bomber (T)

DUCK EXPECTS: 2:1 Sniper

Game 1: Cloud Kingdom

Bomber opens up with a normal 1 barracks expand, followed up by what has become quite a popular style in the KR scene double factory blue flame hellions. Sniper meanwhile has been safe but standard, with a hatch first into pool, followed along by a slightly delayed third base.

Bombers hellions push across the map, and he is able to get a fair amount of damage done, 2 queens and 11 drones killed in total, but the attack is quite well held by Sniper, he’d be quite happy with that trade. After the attack is over, Sniper goes for a fourth, spire, Hive, bane speed, patho glands, basically every upgrade he can pay for right now. This is due to the fact that the BF hellion attack was quite efficiently thwarted, and Bomber will need to macro up and resupply his army before it’s anywhere near possible to attack.

Bomber pushes out with a large marine/tank force, at around the 14 minute mark but Sniper already has a counter-strike prepared with a lot if zerglings and banes sitting just outside vision of Bomber’s third base. As Bomber moves out… the lings and banes move in;

A lot of damage is done but Bomber still has quite a high worker count, sitting at over 60 despite the losses. He is able to clean up the pre-emptive strike from Sniper, and then continues with his original plan to push out. Bomber pushes out with 6 tanks but Sniper strikes just before the tanks are able to siege up, and Bombers attack is easily disposed of by Sniper.

Ultras and lings along with some infestors now make up the main force for Sniper, a very strong force that with good fungals will easily be able to sweep across the map and take down Bomber. The macro of Bomber is still very on key, producing many units and still cranking out tanks but Sniper’s creep spread is insane, his composition of Ultra/ling/bane is perfectly setup to take Bomber down.

Bomber has 4 established bases now despite the brilliant creep spread, and by some form of wizardry is still able to push back the various ling/bane/ultra attacks from Sniper. And with no Broodlord switch in sight (25 minutes in, and Bomber only has 1 starport) Bomber is able to slowly but surely wrest control of the game away from Sniper, and is able to miraculously storm through and take Sniper down.

Game 2: GSL Whirlwind SE

One barracks expand from Bomber, and of course on this large macro map there is a hatch/pool from Sniper. Bomber continues on his heavy macro style, putting down the third CC very quickly, with only 1 gas behind this of course.

Sniper wants to switch things up on this map because Bomber is in a comfortable horizontal spot which does bode well for a Terran and Sniper gets a quick roach warren and baneling nest and prepares to go for a bust on the natural. 10 roaches come out from Bomber along with quite a few banelings, but Bomber switched things up on his own with a change to the style instead of taking quick double-factory blue flame hellions, he goes with siege tanks straight up alongside early hellions and is easily able to stop the bust.

With that attack failed, Bomber is freely able to establish his third base, and take over map control with 10+ blue flame hellions out on the map mopping up zerglings, and making sure Sniper has a tough time taking his own third base.

Sniper’s spire completes and he morphs 10 mutas to get back the map control, and looks to go for muta/ling/bane style. He does start to take the dominance on the map, with his creep spreading far and wide, but his mutalisks aren’t able to get any damage done at the mineral lines because Bomber was well prepared with turrets and small squads of marines. Bombers upgrades for 2/2 infantry finish up and he starts looking towards pushing out through very dangerous territory; the creep covered middle of Whirlwind.

On this dangerous ground Sniper is able to flank Bomber and is then able to crush the imposing army of Bomber. Banelings roll across the plains, zerlings bound in taking siege tank fire, and mutalisks push forward, destroying everything in their path. Bomber has been cut down quite a bit but due to late tech from Sniper, he will not be able to push in to finish off Bomber just yet. (18 minutes and no infestation pit)

Things start falling apart for Sniper due to some indecisive moves, and he loses a lot of drones at his fourth base, not to mention the hatch at the fourth itself. Bomber in a commanding position right now; after the push he falls back to resupply and is even able to take down the secondary hatch that was built at the fourth.

With his resource income suffering, Sniper goes for a last-ditch attempt to salvage the game with ultra/ling/bane but it is too late, Bomber has ravens, marauders and many tanks, and takes the win.

Bomber wins 2:0

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Set 4: EG_Huk_RC (P) vs FXO_GuMiho (T)

DUCK EXPECTS: 2-1 Gumiho

Game 1: GSL Cloud Kingdom

Barracks into gas from Gumiho not the normal 1 barracks expand this time from him. Huk meanwhile goes for a simple 1 gate expand after warp gate tech starts.

The fun and trouble starts early for Huk his first zealot being caught out by the concussive expand from Gumiho, then the first stalker too. With a quick expand build from Huk, this puts him in quite a tough spot as the marauders with concussive are a major threat which causes Huk to cancel his fast Nexus.

A reaper follow-up comes from Gumiho, but only 1 probe dies so there isn’t too much trouble. The reaper did see the 4 warpgates of Huk, and thus he prepares some bunkers at the top of his main ramp because of the impending heavy gateway unit pressure coming from Huk.

Huk pressures the natural and forces a contain on Gumiho who still has no medivacs just yet. Unfortunately for Huk, a small squad of 3 marines and a maruader somehow snuck around the map and were able to get into Huk’s natural, then mineral line, and took down a large amount of Huk’s probes.

Despite Huk’s best efforts, medivacs come out, and with Huk struggling to get any units and and with no tech, Gumiho is easily able to push straight into the base of Huk and finish him off.

Game 2: GSL Whirlwind SE

Huk opens nexus first, followed up by 2 gateways. Gumiho however plays very meta and goes 2 barracks on this large macro map with one of them proxied just outside his own base.

Gumiho is able to get a bunker down at his opponents natural, taking down a lot of probes at the same time. In what turns into a crazy micro battle, Huk is able to stay alive however with 14 workers killed, his natural nexus destroyed, Huk is in grave danger in this game. He attempts to go for a dark shrine, but it isn’t enough. In a very similar push to game 2, Gumiho’s m/m/m composition easily deals with Huks minimal forces, even including an MKP factory block.

Gumiho wins 2:0

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Set 5: MVPSniper (Z) vs FXO_GuMiho (T)

DUCK EXPECTS: 2-1 Gumiho

Game 1: Neo Planet S

Gumiho changes things up in the first game between these two opting for barracks/gas instead of the standard 1 barracks expand. Unfortunately for him, Sniper has drone-scouted and should be well prepared for anything that comes along so Gumiho actually keeps it standard, expanding out to his natural, and getting started on some reactor-hellions with a switch to banshees.

Sniper deflects the early pressure, and again Gumiho changes things up a bit going for marine/tank on a map that is largely considered a strong map for mech. Sniper with a big batch of early roaches is able to push into Gumiho’s main base doing large amounts of damage, but it is eventually cleaned up.

After some passivity from both players, Sniper starts pushing out a large amount of units over 40 banelings are built and Gumiho barely has any siege tanks, but somehow this very large bane/ling/muta army is cut down due to some indecision from Sniper.

Behind this Sniper finally establishes a fourth base, and while this is a very late fourth (about 18 minutes) his creep spread over the map is just incredible. With pathogen glands on the way and infestors coming up soon, Sniper has started looking towards the late game.

With Gumiho maxing out he is able to finally push across the map and start pushing across the northern part of the map and reduces Sniper’s fourth to ashes. He is then able to clean up even more of the creep tumours out on the map, and attempts to establish the gold base in the middle but Sniper will have none of that. Busting in with ultras, banelings and zerglings, he is able to drastically reduce the size of Gumiho’s army, and stop the fourth Terran base from being established.

Sniper once again seems to be stuck on ultra tech just like in his game against Bomber, despite doing an amazing job in pushing back a strong Terran player he continually fails to properly switch to Broodlords or at least execute proper attacks with an ultra/infestor/bane/ling force. Gumiho is able to macro up a lot of marauders and is able to smack down the GSL champion in game one.

Game 2: GSL Daybreak

Standard builds from both players, hatch/pool from Sniper and reactor hellions after the barracks/CC from Gumiho.

After the normal initial opening (only a few drone kills from the first 4 hellions) Gumiho goes into marine/tank with double engineering bay, and heads out to take his third base. He has also been clearing out overlords around the map with a swiftly made viking during the early stages and it is cutting down the vision that Sniper has on the map.

Sniper meanwhile is going for standard ling/bane along with infestors coming about behind that. Besides losing his fourth hatchery, Sniper sitting comfortably with his creep spread pushing out on the map quite far and a nice safe defense. Gumiho with a third base mining also has his 2/2 for marines and the +1 weapons for his tanks, and this game looks set to go to a long-term macro game.

Once again Sniper is going for an ultralisk-centric composition, with banelings and marines to support - Gumiho continuing to drop in the main of Sniper but isn’t getting a large amount of damage done. Upon losing his fourth in the middle Gumiho is now switching over to an anti-ultra force, with marauders and even ghosts starting to come out from the Terran base.

Unlike previous games Sniper actually has the greater spire prepared for a tech switch as needed and with continual busting of Gumiho’s fourth base, Sniper is sitting in a very comfortable position at the 22 minute mark.

Gumiho attempts to retake some presence on the map with ghosts dropping nukes, but unfortunately no damage is done. A large battle then occurs at Gumiho’s attempted fourth base, and with broodlords, infestors and ultras, Sniper is able to get a sizeable amount of damage done but still is unable to finish off Gumiho; but things look grim for the FXO Terran. After a secondary battle with more lings and banelings to support, Sniper is able to take the win.

Game 3: GSL Cloud Kingdom

Gumiho attempts some double barracks play to open up on Cloud Kingdom, but his second barracks is in a very odd position in the center of the map, and is scouted straight away by Snipers drone scout. Sniper has a few lings roaming the map to try and gain a foothold but Gumiho is still out in force with his marines.

After the failed proxy, Gumiho of course follows up with a fast third CC to try and re-establish his economy. He continues to push out on the map with his early marines and gets extremely close to knocking down Sniper’s third hatchery that is building, but unfortunately makes a micro mistake and the marines die to the defending zerglings.

Sniper switches into muta/ling/bane again Gumiho attempting a lot of drops around the map to try and abuse Sniper’s base spread, but with the mutas coming out there’s no real damage being done by Gumiho who is now sitting on 3 base with 5 CC. Gumiho starts to pressure through the mid with marine/tank and does get some good damage done especially given that he has destroyed quite a number of creep tumours through the middle of the map.

Gumiho restarts his drops yet again abusing the fact that Sniper has been trying to pressure his’s third base and while Gumiho does lose most of his third base he destroys Sniper’s fourth and a lot of mining at his natural.

Yet again Sniper is able to counter but at the cost of his own economy, and Gumiho takes the victory.

Gumiho wins 2-1

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Final Results

Bomber and Gumiho advance from the group.

Summary of gameplay:

FXOGumiho:
Gumiho was incredibly impressive despite having to push for the last set of the night. Once again we see that his varying styles come out to the party and uses them to great effect. Given the rest of the field I’m not sure if he’ll be able to survive the round of 16, but it’s certainly possible.

StarTale_Bomber:
Impeccable. There is no real way to describe his play for tonight other than impeccable. His multitasking was top-notch as per usual, his decision making was perfect and despite being in some slightly awkward spots he was able to overcome the former GSL champ with relative ease in their match. Look out for Bomber probably going to the round of 8 at a minimum if he keeps up this play.

MVPSniper:
The former champion falls to code A straight after a code S season win not the first, but it is quite unfortunate to see a quality zerg player fall down like this. His decision making at times was extremely questionable; not only just due to a “strategy A is better than strategy B why did you pick B” but also because at times he was extremely hesitant. His match on Whirlwind against Bomber clearly demonstrated this when at multiple times his positioning was incorrect and he also would attack but then double-back without doing any damage at all. Definitely not a one hit wonder, but he will need to refocus if he’s to have a shot at coming back big.

EG_Huk_RC:
It’s hard to properly dictate how to feel about Huk’s play, especially as quite a large Huk fan. His first game of the night against Sniper was obviously a very difficult thing to face an off beat rush strategy on a very new map but I still felt like his handling of the situation wasn’t the normal Huk we used to see. Remember MLG Huk vs Hero and the incredible defensive micro wars? That kind of grit and determination alongside perfect decision making just wasn’t there tonight at all, and it cost him. He also seems to be suffering from an issue quite a few players from the “early days” of SC2 come up against; changing styles. Huk has never been big on tech plays, ever since he first rose to prominence in the foreigner scene, and it was actually partly why I became a big fan because he was never a  “get 90 colo and win each matchup e z” kind of player. He’d do things with blink stalkers, and heavy gateway styles just due to his superb micro. But now, in a day in age when things have changed dramatically and with HoTS just around the corner if he wants to stay relevant in WoL for now he really needs to look at trying some alternative styles. His PvZ will continue to suffer if gateway-only styles are the only thing he looks to, and who knows maybe it was just what he had in mind for the particular maps today. But there needs to be a little more variety thrown in the mix. Then again, maybe he’s as excited for HoTS as I am.