GSL Season 5 Code S RO 32 Group A - RECAP

Liquid_TaeJa vs. MVP_Finale

Set 1 - Abyssal City - TaeJa to the left and Finale to the right

There weren't really any kinds of aggression during the first 10 minutes. TaeJa invested a lot in ghosts with cloak and Finale initially went for archons and storm tech, but later also added colossi.

TaeJa lost some ghosts for free when they were chasing part of Finale's army and got forcefielded away from the rest of his army. Finale on the other hand lost a colossus for free due to a misrally.

When they had their final engagement Finale had a couple of Colossi, but TaeJa had no vikings and Finale's archons, colossi and storms tore apart TaeJa's army and the young Protoss took the first set.

TaeJa vs. Finale = 0 - 1

Set 2 - Antiga Shipyard - TaeJa in bottom right and Finale in top left

TaeJa took his natural quickly, but Finale was able to sneak a pylon into the natural of TaeJa.

Finale pretended to expand as well, but went for a 4-gate instead, and unfortunately for poor TaeJa he never scouted the pylon. Finale warped in and attacked just before TaeJa got a second bunker up and the 4-gate pressure was far too much for TaeJa who was forced to GG giving Finale a surprising win in the first match.

TaeJa vs. Finale = 0 - 2

TSL_Polt vs. StarTale_Parting

Set 1 - Daybreak - Polt in bottom left and Parting in top right

Both got their third bases up (Polt's in the main though) without getting harassed. Parting tried some heavy 8 gate pressure, but Polt had 3 bunkers and was able to barely deflect the attack. From there Polt could fly his third safely out and they both went for double upgrades with Parting investing in archons and Polt in ghosts.

Polt tried some heavy drop play, but Parting scouted it and used the opportunity to move in at Polt's third and force a lift. But Polt was able to prevent Parting from pushing further on with great EMPs.

From there Parting started producing double colossi, but at the same time Polt went for triple viking production.
Parting however managed to force a big engagement before Polt had built up a decent army so that gave the protoss a good lead.
Polt tried some counter harassment, but Parting cleaned it up and was able to push towards Polt's base and take out his remaining forces with his Colossus/Archon based army.

Polt vs. Parting = 0 - 1

Set 2 - Antiga Shipyard - Polt in bottom right and Parting in top left 

Parting went for a DT into expand build whereas Polt took his natural quickly and from there aimed for a 8-minute marine/marauder with stim and +1 attack.

Parting's DTs were able to do a good amount of damage, but Polt evacuated some of his SCVs. At the same time Polt was able to take out Parting's natural with his push. On top of that Parting did an unfortunate move-command mistake and lost a lot of units for free.

By pulling probes Parting was able to deflect Polt's attack and then retake his natural.
Eventually Parting got some Immortals and Colossi, but around the 15-minute mark Polt pushed with his big bio army, and with good drop play was able to catch Parting's Colossi and different parts of Parting's army at different locations and in the end Parting had lost too much and was forced to GG.

Polt vs. Parting = 1 - 1

Set 3 - Cloud Kingdom - Polt in bottom left and Parting in top right

Parting went Nexus first whereas Polt went for some early 3-rax aggression upon scouting the Nexus first. Polt tried to get a bunker up at the natural of Parting, but by pulling probes Parting was able to defend.
Instead Polt expanded himself, but was of course pretty far behind in economy. Polt still has a bigger army though and he tried to push at the natural of Parting again and this time he forced Parting to retreat into his main and also got a bunker up at Parting's natural.

Parting got an immortal out and was able to push down his ramp and take out Polt's army and the bunker with good force fields, and thus save his natural.
At this point Parting was far ahead and he decided to go for a big counterpush. Polt was able to hold on for a while by pulling SCVs, but Parting stayed ahead while adding on colossi.
Polt never found an answer for Parting's colossi and was forced to GG in the end.

Polt vs. Parting = 1 - 2

MVP_Finale vs. StarTale_Parting

Set 1 - Antiga Shipyard - Finale in bottom left and Parting in top right

Finale went for a 4-gate and Parting went for 2-gate and a robo.

Finale managed to get a pylon into the natural and main of Parting and the game turned into a heavy micro battle in Parting's base, but Parting managed to survive and was only a few probes behind Finale after the attack ended.

From there Parting expanded whereas Finale decided to continue aggression instead of expanding himself. Finale was able to force Parting to retreat into his main, and thus take out Parting's natural.

From there though Parting was able to push out and take out Finale's army and also retake his natural.
Parting then pushed towards Finale's base, who had tried getting his own nexus up, but when Parting arrived he had far too much so Parting took the set.

Finale vs. Parting = 0 - 1

Set 2 - Cloud Kingdom - Finale in bottom left and Parting in top right

Finale went for quick DTs into expand, but Parting went for quick robo so he took no damage from the DTs.
Parting then expanded himself while Finale cancelled his Nexus and added more gates instead.

Eventually it came down to an all-in attack from Finale with his archon-immortal based army.
By barely having enough immortals and pulling drones Parting was able to survive the attack and with that the game was over.

Finale vs. Parting = 0 - 2

TSL_Polt vs. Liquid_TaeJa

Set 1 - Antiga Shipyard - Polt in bottom right and TaeJa in top left

Both went for quick CCs and TaeJa did a good early drop that took out some SCVs and Polt's tech lab researching Stim. Polt though did a decent counter push and was able to take out TaeJa's tech lab researching combat shields. Eventually both took their third while going for heavy Marine/Tank compositions.

Polt took control of the center, but at some point TaeJa was able to stim and catch some of Polt's tanks giving TaeJa the tank lead. Polt still remained in the center though.

Eventually TaeJa tried to do a big flank on Polt's army in the center, but ended up getting flanked himself when Polt came in with another force from the south and from there on Polt had a good lead.

They both took their fifth bases, but Polt was able to push on TaeJa's third with his tank lead advantage. Eventually Polt also pushed further towards TaeJa's natural and main and at this point TaeJa was way behind in army supply.
He still had 4 bases and a lot of SCVs, but since he had no answer for Polt's army and he was forced to GG eventually.

Polt vs. TaeJa = 1 - 0

Set 2 - Daybreak - Polt in bottom left and TaeJa in top right

Polt went for bio and TaeJa went for mech. TaeJa took his third faster than Polt and he also took out one of Polt's tanks early on with hellions so the Liquid player was in a good position.
Eventually Polt sieged up outside TaeJa's third and natural and it looked like neither would break the other.
Suddenly TaeJa engaged at the ramp outside his natural with only half his army and Polt's bio force took out lots of TaeJa's tanks practically for free and with all of TaeJa's remaining tanks still positioned at his third, Polt was able to move on into TaeJa's natural and TaeJa was forced to GG and with that was knocked out of the tournament.

Polt vs. TaeJa = 2 - 0

After taking out most of TaeJa's tanks Polt's bio force has free reign!

TSL_Polt vs. MVP_Finale

Set 1 - Whirlwind - Polt in top right and Finale in bottom right

Finale took his third rather early on whereas Polt invested a lot of all kinds of aggression, but Finale was ready for all his drops and took out several full medivacs, so Finale got way ahead in economy. 

When Finale finally pushed out Polt had no answer to the massive damage that Finale dealt with his Colossi and storms.

So Finale could push all the way up the main of Polt who tried a counter drop, but once again Finale defended well and thus he took the set.

Polt vs. Finale = 0 - 1

Set 2 - Antiga Shipyard - Polt in bottom right and Finale in top left

Both went for some aggressive builds with Polt going for reactor'd hellions + banshee and Finale for early twilight (blink) and robo. 

Polt got hellions into Finale's main and was able to take out 10 probes. Finale tried to counterpush with blink stalkers and was able to do a good amount of damage in Polt's base. Polt however got more hellions into Finale's base and in the end Finale has no probes left. 

At the same time Polt was able to force the blink stalkers to retreat with excellent SCV and hellion + banshee defense and with that he claimed the second set.

Polt vs. Finale = 1 - 1

Finale's only hope is his remaining blink stalkers, but they're doomed

Set 3 - Antiga Shipyard - Polt in top right and Finale in bottom left

Finale went for a 2-base 6-gate push around the 8-minute mark with around 5 sentries. Polt had two bunkers, and he scouted the incoming attack in the last second and was able to position all his SCVs correctly and also get a 3rd bunker up.

Finale decided to try and break him anyway, and he took out two of the bunkers, but his army was crushed and as stim finished for Polt the attack was absolutely denied.

From there Polt was far ahead, but Finale tried to transitioned into a longer game while getting DTs.
Polt moved out when he had a bunch of medivacs and Finale was able to hold on a bit with his DTs, but Polt just kept sending units and eventually Finale was forced to GG.

Polt vs. Finale = 2 - 1

Polt defends perfectly against Finale's big attack

Parting and Polt advanced to the round of 16! 

Finale and TaeJa is knocked down to code A!

Polt is a happy dude as he secures himself a spot in the RO 16

All in all some pretty surprising results as TaeJa was probably the favourite going into the group, but ended up finishing in last place.
Parting on the other hand showed some really dominating play and is definitely looking like a protoss contender to take this season.

GSL season 4 RO 32 group H

Recap incoming - BEWARE OF SPOILERS

 So today was the final group of this season's round of 32.

It consisted of Bomber, DongRaiGu, GuMiho and Polt who had to battle for the final two spots in the RO 16.
So one of the absolute best Zergs in the world and three really consistent and killer Terrans.


First series was between Startale_Bomber and MVPDongRaiGu and it was supposedly a really cool series.
We only had a chance to watch the third and final set after both players had won a set. And if we had to compare this set to an icecream flavor it would be chocolate. Mostly just because we like that flavor and we liked this game as well.
DongRaiGu used some really cool Mutalisk harassment to keep Bomber in his base. It was a cool style where he never actually went for SCVs with the Mutas, but instead just kept snatching add-ons and supply depots. And then when Bomber finally moved out he finally went for the drones with his mutas and at the same time attacked with Zerglings at the third. And then after doing loads of damage he went back with the Mutas and along with a big number of Banelings they were able to crush Bomber's army and thus DRG took the first series.

DongRaiGu vs. Bomber = 2-1


Second series was between FXOGuMiho and TSL_Polt and was an ok series. If we had to compare it to an icecream flavor it would be the strawberry. Just because it's red and tasty.

First set was on Daybreak and we expected a pretty long game that could end up in a classic TvT split map situation. GuMiho however dominated Polt completely. Maybe because of the lucky piece of cloth that he places over the mouse, or maybe just because he is a bad ass kid.
Anyway, they went for pretty much the same Tank/marine/medivac composition but GuMiho just rolled over Polt when they finally engaged.

Second set was on Antiga shipyard and whereas game 1 looked one-sided in favor of GuMiho this game was a lot closer in general. In the early game Polt went bio and GuMiho went mech, and in this phase Polt generally seemed to be able to use his composition better.
Polt used his mobility and did some nasty drops that killed around 30-35 SCVs. GuMiho didn't have his defense positioned all too well during these drops, and all the damage Polt did allowed him to take control of the center with a big number of siege tanks. GuMiho tried to attack into the center but couldn't break Polt so Polt felt safe enough to start transitioning into skyterran. GuMiho had been smart as well though and built a lot of vikings and ravens along with his mech army. With this composition he was able to put on some pretty good pressure on Polt's army in the center. But then Polt moved out with a Battlecruiser fleet and they killed GuMiho.

Third set was on Cloud Kingdom and was actually a really cool and close game. Once again Polt seemed to favor bio (as he always does) whereas GuMiho seemed to favor Mech. GuMiho used a cool Helion/viking composition to control the map and this allowed him to take his third faster than Polt.
Polt invested heavily in marauders and tried to break GuMiho's third, but he was too well defended. From this point on it was a very back and forth game where both players kept moving forth in different locations. They both played really well in all of the engagements in this phase but at some point Polt caught GuMiho's army unsieged and this gave him too big a lead and GuMiho resigned.
A very good comeback from Polt that looked like he was in big trouble in the first set, but really showed some good bio skill in the next two sets.

Polt vs. GuMiho = 2 - 1


Third series was the winners DongRaiGu and Polt going at it for a spot in the RO 16.

First set was on whirlwind. DongRaiGu went for his classic style three base opening with some heavy drone production.
At some point Polt did a big push but DRG held it beautifully by building the exact right amount of units in the very last second and then sandwiching Polt's army.
From here on DRG's three base economy gave him what he needed to do a giant and insane baneling bust on Polts base and with constant zerglings and Mutas streaming in, Polt had to GG

Second set was on Antiga shipyard.
DRG played some of his usual three base zergling/baneling/mutalisk style again. This time he also had an absolute fantastic creepspread that went all the way to Polts base. Polt was also on 3 bases and when DRG took his fourth and fifth at the same time Polt decided to move out. But moving around on DRG's creep is not a very safe thing to do, unless you're chuck norris or a T-Rex with a light saber.
Polt had neither in his army though and at some point Polt's tanks were unsieged for a second too long and drg rolled in and crushed his army.
After that DRG had 5 bases against the three bases of Polt, and of top of that he had a massive supply lead, so that was game over for Polt

DongRaiGu vs. Polt = 2 - 0


Fourth series was between the loser's of the two first games GuMiho and Bomber.

First set on whirlwind
They both got up to three bases relatively unharmed. At this point GumiHo did a 4 medivac drop with siege tanks and marines in Bombers main that Bomber had not anticipated at all as he had his entire army out on the map. The drop did massive damage and took out a lot of supply depots and production fascilities. This provoked Bomber into attacking into GumiHo's natural but he had siege tanks set up and was able to defend pretty well. Bomber did manage to take out Gumiho's third though, by parking the tanks outside his natural. From here on the game stabilized a bit as they cleared each other's armies up.
Gumiho then took a sneaky fourth on the opposite side of the map. Bomber scouted it and tried to drop it, but Bomber defended it. Then Bomber tried to do a massive drop in GuMiho's main, but Gumiho scouted it with vikings. Bomber was never able to catch up after this and GuMiho took the game.

Second set was on Ohana
Bomber placed a proxy barracks with a tech lab just outside GuMiho's main. GuMiho scouted Bomber's proxy marauder plan and started a bunker immediately.
This caused Bomber to give up his initial plan and follow up with a proxy factory and starport.
He then tried to drop in GuMiho's main with a few marauders, marines and a couple of helions. He did this a couple of times but never did any real damage.
From here he went for cloaked banshees from his proxy starport, but GuMiho knew it was coming and he built a viking. Bomber never did any real damage with the banshees and eventually all his initial aggression ended.
From there GuMiho was able to move out on the map while building a third orbital. This gave him an economic lead over Bomber who only had two orbitals. GuMiho dropped some marines in Bombers main while assisting with tanks from the low ground, and he was able to take out Bomber's tech lab that was upgrading stim. GuMiho also pushed a bit at the natural and there he took out Bomber's third that was under production.
At this point GuMiho was in a pretty big lead so Bomber decided to try to do a doomdrop to find some way back in the game, but GuMiho scouted it almost by chance and took out all of the medivacs with all the units in them. This was a gameending move at this point and GuMihos lead was too big and he took the series and with that bombed Bomber out of the Code S.

GuMiho vs. Bomber = 2 - 0


The last series of the day was a rematch between GuMiho and Polt and this series was easily our favorite series of the day.

First set was on Abyssal City and it was an insane TvT. It was a really unique game and we have a hard time describing everything that happened, but we'll try do give an overview.
GuMiho did a helion drop in the beginning in Polts main, but Polt was ready and it did practically no damage.
From here on GuMiho transitioned into a mech composition whereas Polt once again focused on building up his bio force.
GuMiho went for a ton of blue flames helions.
When they were both on three bases Polt pushed at GuMihos third base and was able to take it out because Gumiho had a hard time defending with his helions against the sieged up tanks that supported Polt's bio troops.
Instead Gumiho went for a counterpush with an insane helion/viking/raven composition. It was a weird but successful push because a lot of Polts army was still parked outside Polt's third.
From here the game just went wild and very back and forth for a while with both players doing massive damage to the other at different locations.
Around the 25 minute mark they had both killed more 50 SCVs but GuMiho had more mining bases, because had done some amazing helionbased attacks on Polt's different bases that also showed that helions actually can take out command centers, tanks and all this other stuff that they arent supposed to take out. In the end GuMihos economy was just a lot better and eventually he pushed out with a big thor/tank army that Polt could not stop and GuMiho took first game.

Second set was on Entombed valley.
Polt went for cloaked banshees and Gumiho once again went for a heavy helion style. Polt didn't do much damage with the banshees and when Gumiho got a raven out Polts banshee agression was completely over. Polt followed this up with a tank/marine push and was able to siege up at the ramp at GuMiho's natural. GuMiho was just barely able to defend with a strange helion/raven/banshee composition, but he took quite a lot of damage and Polt got a supply lead.
They were both on two bases and Polt decided to do another big push and exploit the fact that GuMiho still did not have siege mode. Once again Polt sieged up at the ramp of Gumiho's natural and once again he did a lot of damage. But Gumiho pulled off another miraculous hold with some good raven usage with some point defence drones.
The problem for Gumiho was that Polt kept having a supply lead and that Polt was able to build up a decent force quicker. This allowed Polt to control the map and take a fourth base behind this.
Gumiho tried to move out a bit on the map with his mech force, but Polt was able to engage from a multiple sides and win the engagement.
From here on Polt could push into GuMiho's third and Gumiho could do nothing but GG.

Third and last set of the day was on Daybreak.
This time GuMiho went for bio as well.
Polt went for a nice two base marine/marauder push on Gumiho's natural. Polt's army was bigger, but GuMiho was able to hold by bringing his SCVs and by having two medivacs which Polt did not have.
This attack gave Polt a lead in SCV's but while this was going on GuMiho had begun building his third which Polt had not so the economy was pretty even in fact.
In stead of building his third a well, Polt did a two pronged attack by dropping in Gumiho's main and attacking the third at the same time. With this he killed a lot of SCVs and from here Polt took his third. This gave him an economic lead as he had lost no SCVs and had too fully saturated bases already.
At this point Gumiho decided to try and do a big drop in Polt's main but Polt was ready for it and the drop did no damage. At the same time Polt caught a lot of GuMiho's army out on the map and Polt gained a massive supply lead after this.
From here Polt pushed at Gumihos third and this attack could not be stopped. Polt continued into GuMiho's natural and that was it.
So Polt took the last spot in the RO 16, and GuMiho was thrown into code A even though he showed a really original and cool style today.
Congratulations to Polt though for making two amazing comebacks on one day against the same player.

Polt vs. GuMiho = 2 - 1


If we have to recommend one game it would be the first set of the second series between Polt and GuMiho. Everyone who has every been bored watching TvT, should watch this game cause it was pretty damn cool.
We look forward to the RO 16 and this season it's actually pretty damn impossible to guess who can make it into the RO 8 as there are so many good players fighting for the spots.