Code S Group H: The Ultimate Weapon with victorious debut
Written by: Nydra
Arguably the most exciting group in the Ro32 saw the Code S debut of the "Ultimate Weapon" Flash. The firepower of his marine/mine composition proved strong enough once again and the bonjwa advanced to the Ro16, joined by his KeSPA buddy Soulkey.
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Table of Contents
1. The matches today
1.1. Match 1: Maru vs Soulkey
1.2 Match 2: Flash vs Bboong
1.3. Winners match
1.4. Losers match
1.5. Final match
1.6. Group standings
Today's matches
[Match 1] Soulkey vs Maru
Puncturing aggression and long periods of passivity alternated in the Group H opening match between Soulkey and Maru, the KeSPA veteran and the eSF youngster eager to oppose him.
Parading some old-school Wings of Liberty openings, Maru went for 4-hellion drop in game one and although Soulkey was on point with his defenses, the young Terran persistently continued, adding hellbats to the hellions as the game progressed. Although every attempt of his to kill workers was denied, Maru's perseverance paid off in the sense that it kept Soulkey locked in his base, giving him the free opportunity to go mech and push out. With no appropriate hive tech out, Soulkey was beaten into the ground.
Maru's mech: 1. Soulkey's swarm: 0
Confident that he can take a 2-0 to the elephant's face, Maru took a page of MKP's book and went triple CC as game two started. But while greed might be good for the Gordon Gekko's of the world, it certainly wasn't for the young Terran. A 2-base baneling bust calmly busted through the ramp wall and made Maru gg for the tie.
As game three started, Maru tried to keep his economical impulses in check and only went for one quick CC. Unfortunately, that was delayed as well as an early ling speed killed an SCV after SCV and by the time Maru disposed of the Zerg nuisance, Soulkey had already set himself up and perfectly scouted Maru's plans - mech once again.
A painful passivity set in with the coming of the mid game as no player wanted to be the first to attack, knowing that a bad engagement would mean losing a sizeable armada. After long minutes of Cold War, Maru finally decided his army is big enough to put Soulkey to the gun and slugged across the map, only to be greeted by blinding clouds, hydras and swarm host flanks. Maru had to turn his back and run and that was precisely what Soulkey needed. Continuing to build up his hydra army and reinforcing it with even more vipers and infestors, Soulkey moved south to lay siege on Maru's only mining base at 9 o'clock. By trading locusts for precious mech units allowed Soulkey to widen the cracks in Maru's defenses and nigh the 50th minute the Terran tapped out surrendering.
Although it looks good for Maru, he'll soon me overrun by the power of Zerg spellcasters
[Match 2] Bboong vs Flash
By the time Flash was about to play his first match in Code S, every StarCraft 2 fan knew how the God plays TvZ so seeing the now signature factory expansion into bio/mine on Bel’Shir Vestige was no surprise. A slight hellion pressure confirmed that Bboong isn’t going for any aggressive build and Flash safely landed his third just north of his main, a potent maneuver as we’d later see.
Zerg’s fourth was placed down shortly, just a few inches away from Flash’s newly established base and Bboong immediately threw down static defenses, expecting Flash’s incoming aggression. Said aggression did not lag behind and the bio/marine versus ling/muta tug of war began.
In those moments, Bboong played fantastically, defending to the best of his abilities against the unending malice of Flash. Unfortunately, even that was not enough. Rallying north straight to Bboong’s fourth allowed Flash to both quickly reinforce and keep his base safe and step by step he choked the Zerg to death despite his phenomenal defense.
After killing a base and a spawning pool with a single attack, Flash stops for a drone dessert
Game two started similarly but became uglier much more quickly. The light hellion pressure that did nothing in game one took 17 drones this time around and Flash embraced this early Christmas gift. With an advantage of this scale on his side, the God bio/mine pushed for the 2-0.
[Winners match] Soulkey vs Flash
Understandably, Flash had no intention to fix something that’s not broken and went for the very same opening as in the Bboong game but Soulkey, having certainly watched the series start to finish, knew what he had to change in order to not fall the same way.
Thus, Woongjin’s Zerg left the ling/muta composition behind in favor of a roach/hydra tech and that worked extremely well for a while. Flash’s tendency to push out with small groups of marines and mines was easily slapped down to the ground by the meaty Zerg army and Soulkey temporarily took the supply lead.
That wouldn’t last for long as Flash’s playstyle was downright superior. By the power of his unfaltering micro and cool tricks like flanking with medivac drops and building railways of widow mines to cut out Zerg armies while the main bio/mine force exacts punishment, Flash slowly but surely found his way to Soulkey’s heart.
Flash dropping bio from behind to stop retreating Zerg unites
Selecting Whirlwind for the second game, Soulkey did go back to playing a ling/muta-centric style and expanding as far away from Flash as possible but, again, it didn’t matter at all. The tango between the two was very similar: Soulkey would take the early lead and push Flash back for a while but Terran’s ability to never miss a beat on his reinforcements combined with hamstringing drops kept him in the game. Even diagonal pushes across the entire Whirlwind were not impossible for Flash and the divine aria of marines, mines, medivacs, micro and macro (and marauders) triumphed for a 2-0.
Soulkey's final stand
[Losers match] Bboong vs Maru
A short but not unentertaining series followed, all games of which can be summarized into a .gif of Maru beating Bboong like a piñata. The youngster opened with a proxy rax reaper against Bboong’s hatch first and set up a bunker at the top of the ramp. Bboong put down a spine crawler but Maru gave zero damns about the static defense, dodging its every shot by hiding in the bunker during the attack animation and popping out to shoot before the attack can restart (i.e. not unlike Illusion’s famous marine micro). Losing the spine crawler made Bboong immediately GG and the players went into game two.
Stand in bunker, wait for spine crawler's attack, pop out, shoot, hide back in. Repeat until spine's dead
The Atlas set was not much kinder to Bboong. A reactored hellion opening cost the Zerg eight drones and a follow-up hellion/hellbat drop put another nine to the death. Severely behind, Bboong started mutalisk production but Maru was already into too big an advantage. With thors, vikings and hellbats, Maru a-moved into Bboong’s natural and ended his life.
[Final match] Soulkey vs Maru
Soulkey and Maru threw yearly punches at each other as their revenge match (and the last series for the day) was given start. A hellion drop from Maru killed eight drones before it was cleaned up but a ling/roach aggression returned the favor, overcame the widow mine and bunker defenses and took the lives of double that many workers.
As the early engagements stepped aside to make way for the mid game, Soulkey added a spire and prepared to snipe the inevitable drop attempts of Maru, while applying additional ling and baneling pressure to hurt Terran’s economy times and times again.
On the back of the anti-worker aggression, Soulkey was diligently teching and at 17th minute he arrived at hive tech, going immediately for ultras. Having meaty tanks and big damage dealers in addition to his fungal growths and speedlings made Soulkey’s job much easier but Maru proved incredibly resistant. Microing his heart out, Maru was able to kite around the Zerg swarm for incredible amounts of time and even hint a comeback by the power of some grand widow mine shots but ultimately Soulkey had too much production. Once brood lords joined the ultra army, Maru gg-ed after 32 minutes of fighting.
Kiting is fun and all but Soulkey's Ultras are just too many
An 8-8-8 proxy rax reaper followed to deal Soulkey a tying death and a third game had to be played, one reminiscent of the very first set of today. Maru opened with a hellion drop and prepared to go into mech but Soulkey wouldn’t see himself fall victim to this for the second time and ended up leading Maru by the nose. Using just a handful of mutalisk to apply light pressure while using roaches for his main army, Soulkey patiently prepared for a big mutalisk switch which kicked off just as Maru moved out.
Completely unprepared for the mutalisk flock, Maru lost the entirety of his armada, getting just a single hatchery in return. The Terran initiated massive thor production to fight off the mutalisks but Soulkey was already a step ahead and had triggered another switch back to roaches. A final front wall ramming and Maru tapped out, giving Soulkey the Ro16 spot.
Soulkey's muta tech switch decides game three
Final standings
Click on image for match details
Arguably the most exciting group in the Ro32 saw the Code S debut of the "Ultimate Weapon" Flash. The firepower of his marine/mine composition proved strong enough once again and the bonjwa advanced to the Ro16, joined by his KeSPA buddy Soulkey.
More WCS Korea coverage
Check link for VODs, news and match info
Table of Contents
1. The matches today
1.1. Match 1: Maru vs Soulkey
1.2 Match 2: Flash vs Bboong
1.3. Winners match
1.4. Losers match
1.5. Final match
1.6. Group standings
Today's matches
[Match 1] Soulkey vs Maru
Puncturing aggression and long periods of passivity alternated in the Group H opening match between Soulkey and Maru, the KeSPA veteran and the eSF youngster eager to oppose him.
Parading some old-school Wings of Liberty openings, Maru went for 4-hellion drop in game one and although Soulkey was on point with his defenses, the young Terran persistently continued, adding hellbats to the hellions as the game progressed. Although every attempt of his to kill workers was denied, Maru's perseverance paid off in the sense that it kept Soulkey locked in his base, giving him the free opportunity to go mech and push out. With no appropriate hive tech out, Soulkey was beaten into the ground.
Maru's mech: 1. Soulkey's swarm: 0
Confident that he can take a 2-0 to the elephant's face, Maru took a page of MKP's book and went triple CC as game two started. But while greed might be good for the Gordon Gekko's of the world, it certainly wasn't for the young Terran. A 2-base baneling bust calmly busted through the ramp wall and made Maru gg for the tie.
As game three started, Maru tried to keep his economical impulses in check and only went for one quick CC. Unfortunately, that was delayed as well as an early ling speed killed an SCV after SCV and by the time Maru disposed of the Zerg nuisance, Soulkey had already set himself up and perfectly scouted Maru's plans - mech once again.
A painful passivity set in with the coming of the mid game as no player wanted to be the first to attack, knowing that a bad engagement would mean losing a sizeable armada. After long minutes of Cold War, Maru finally decided his army is big enough to put Soulkey to the gun and slugged across the map, only to be greeted by blinding clouds, hydras and swarm host flanks. Maru had to turn his back and run and that was precisely what Soulkey needed. Continuing to build up his hydra army and reinforcing it with even more vipers and infestors, Soulkey moved south to lay siege on Maru's only mining base at 9 o'clock. By trading locusts for precious mech units allowed Soulkey to widen the cracks in Maru's defenses and nigh the 50th minute the Terran tapped out surrendering.
Although it looks good for Maru, he'll soon me overrun by the power of Zerg spellcasters
[Match 2] Bboong vs Flash
By the time Flash was about to play his first match in Code S, every StarCraft 2 fan knew how the God plays TvZ so seeing the now signature factory expansion into bio/mine on Bel’Shir Vestige was no surprise. A slight hellion pressure confirmed that Bboong isn’t going for any aggressive build and Flash safely landed his third just north of his main, a potent maneuver as we’d later see.
Zerg’s fourth was placed down shortly, just a few inches away from Flash’s newly established base and Bboong immediately threw down static defenses, expecting Flash’s incoming aggression. Said aggression did not lag behind and the bio/marine versus ling/muta tug of war began.
In those moments, Bboong played fantastically, defending to the best of his abilities against the unending malice of Flash. Unfortunately, even that was not enough. Rallying north straight to Bboong’s fourth allowed Flash to both quickly reinforce and keep his base safe and step by step he choked the Zerg to death despite his phenomenal defense.
After killing a base and a spawning pool with a single attack, Flash stops for a drone dessert
Game two started similarly but became uglier much more quickly. The light hellion pressure that did nothing in game one took 17 drones this time around and Flash embraced this early Christmas gift. With an advantage of this scale on his side, the God bio/mine pushed for the 2-0.
[Winners match] Soulkey vs Flash
Understandably, Flash had no intention to fix something that’s not broken and went for the very same opening as in the Bboong game but Soulkey, having certainly watched the series start to finish, knew what he had to change in order to not fall the same way.
Thus, Woongjin’s Zerg left the ling/muta composition behind in favor of a roach/hydra tech and that worked extremely well for a while. Flash’s tendency to push out with small groups of marines and mines was easily slapped down to the ground by the meaty Zerg army and Soulkey temporarily took the supply lead.
That wouldn’t last for long as Flash’s playstyle was downright superior. By the power of his unfaltering micro and cool tricks like flanking with medivac drops and building railways of widow mines to cut out Zerg armies while the main bio/mine force exacts punishment, Flash slowly but surely found his way to Soulkey’s heart.
Flash dropping bio from behind to stop retreating Zerg unites
Selecting Whirlwind for the second game, Soulkey did go back to playing a ling/muta-centric style and expanding as far away from Flash as possible but, again, it didn’t matter at all. The tango between the two was very similar: Soulkey would take the early lead and push Flash back for a while but Terran’s ability to never miss a beat on his reinforcements combined with hamstringing drops kept him in the game. Even diagonal pushes across the entire Whirlwind were not impossible for Flash and the divine aria of marines, mines, medivacs, micro and macro (and marauders) triumphed for a 2-0.
Soulkey's final stand
[Losers match] Bboong vs Maru
A short but not unentertaining series followed, all games of which can be summarized into a .gif of Maru beating Bboong like a piñata. The youngster opened with a proxy rax reaper against Bboong’s hatch first and set up a bunker at the top of the ramp. Bboong put down a spine crawler but Maru gave zero damns about the static defense, dodging its every shot by hiding in the bunker during the attack animation and popping out to shoot before the attack can restart (i.e. not unlike Illusion’s famous marine micro). Losing the spine crawler made Bboong immediately GG and the players went into game two.
Stand in bunker, wait for spine crawler's attack, pop out, shoot, hide back in. Repeat until spine's dead
The Atlas set was not much kinder to Bboong. A reactored hellion opening cost the Zerg eight drones and a follow-up hellion/hellbat drop put another nine to the death. Severely behind, Bboong started mutalisk production but Maru was already into too big an advantage. With thors, vikings and hellbats, Maru a-moved into Bboong’s natural and ended his life.
[Final match] Soulkey vs Maru
Soulkey and Maru threw yearly punches at each other as their revenge match (and the last series for the day) was given start. A hellion drop from Maru killed eight drones before it was cleaned up but a ling/roach aggression returned the favor, overcame the widow mine and bunker defenses and took the lives of double that many workers.
As the early engagements stepped aside to make way for the mid game, Soulkey added a spire and prepared to snipe the inevitable drop attempts of Maru, while applying additional ling and baneling pressure to hurt Terran’s economy times and times again.
On the back of the anti-worker aggression, Soulkey was diligently teching and at 17th minute he arrived at hive tech, going immediately for ultras. Having meaty tanks and big damage dealers in addition to his fungal growths and speedlings made Soulkey’s job much easier but Maru proved incredibly resistant. Microing his heart out, Maru was able to kite around the Zerg swarm for incredible amounts of time and even hint a comeback by the power of some grand widow mine shots but ultimately Soulkey had too much production. Once brood lords joined the ultra army, Maru gg-ed after 32 minutes of fighting.
Kiting is fun and all but Soulkey's Ultras are just too many
An 8-8-8 proxy rax reaper followed to deal Soulkey a tying death and a third game had to be played, one reminiscent of the very first set of today. Maru opened with a hellion drop and prepared to go into mech but Soulkey wouldn’t see himself fall victim to this for the second time and ended up leading Maru by the nose. Using just a handful of mutalisk to apply light pressure while using roaches for his main army, Soulkey patiently prepared for a big mutalisk switch which kicked off just as Maru moved out.
Completely unprepared for the mutalisk flock, Maru lost the entirety of his armada, getting just a single hatchery in return. The Terran initiated massive thor production to fight off the mutalisks but Soulkey was already a step ahead and had triggered another switch back to roaches. A final front wall ramming and Maru tapped out, giving Soulkey the Ro16 spot.
Soulkey's muta tech switch decides game three
Final standings
Click on image for match details
