ESFI World

Things started heating up in Code S as the Ro16 saw major names fall down into Code A. Mvp, Nestea, Jjakji, and MarineKing all failed to make the cut, leaving just two former champions in the running, MC and MMA. They are joined by three first-time quarterfinalists (PartinG, DongRaeGu, and GuMiho), two second timers (Puzzle and aLive), and Genius.

Watch our Code S round of 16 recap video! (Edited by Mike Nguyen)

 Group A

aLive	2-0
GuMiho	2-1
Mvp	1-2
Curious	0-2

The very first match in Group A was a harbinger of the games to come as GuMiho, after having lost 8 of his past 10 mirror matches, 2-0'd the TvT giant Mvp. GuMiho's frantic and sometimes sloppy play completely befuddled Mvp, who lost nearly 100 scvs to harassment over the course of two games. In the winners match, however, aLive seemed to have GuMiho's number, playing a solid defensive game that shut down his opponent's relentless offense, earning aLive the first Ro8 spot.

Mvp beat Curious, who had a poor showing overall, in the losers match, giving him a chance to exact revenge for his loss against GuMiho. Mvp looked strong in the first game, exploiting GuMiho's recklessness by cornering and destroying an overbold army, but in the next two games GuMiho's hellions, medivacs, and grounded viking attacks constantly chipped away at Mvp's economy until he was again forced to concede. GuMiho advanced into the quarter finals after having gone 4-1 against Mvp, the same margin by which MMA won when he took his first GSL championship in October of last year.

 Group B

Puzzle	2-0
MMA	2-1
Oz	1-2
SuperNoVa	0-2

In Group B it looked like MMA might suffer a similar fate. Oz smashed the GSL champ with an innocuous-seeming 2-gate build, displaying some beautiful micro. However, Oz showed some holes in his play, specifically in strategy and decision-making, over the next two games, allowing MMA's superior mechanics to win out.

After holding off a strong two-base timing from SuperNoVa in one game and then winning the second game with one of his own, Puzzle continued his excellent PvT streak in the winners match against MMA. Puzzle's weapons of choice recently have been strong immortal timings that often kill expansions, or at least force lifts, followed by colossi that always seem to hit just before vikings. In this season so far, Puzzle has beaten four top Terrans, going 8-1 against Keen, NaDa, SuperNoVa, and MMA.

Protoss saw even more success when Oz brilliantly held a strong 1-1-1 from SuperNoVa and went on to take the match. MMA again looked to be in trouble after losing the first game of the deciding match to yet another huge immortal timing. But MMA powered through and won the next two games rather convincingly, in large part thanks to more mistakes by Oz, sending the SlayerS Terran to his fourth quarterfinals, where he will face off against aLive.

 Group C

MC	2-0
PartinG	2-1
Jjakji	1-2
GanZi	0-2

MC dominated Group C, not dropping a single game against GanZi nor up-and-coming Protoss PartinG. The GanZi match was straightforward: MC used his usual two-base, gateway-heavy play to batter down his Terran opponent. The mirror against PartinG was much more interesting though, with MC just squeaking by in both games. However artfully PartinG microed his units, MC managed to do it just slightly better, notably winning the deciding second game after a single missed force field from PartinG.

Previous Code S champion Jjakji lost out to PartinG to start his day (GOMTV)

After losing his fourth group opener in a row to PartinG, Jjakji swept Ganzi in a pair of interesting games which included an oddball bio v mech base trade that GanZi could have won until a poorly timed unsiege doomed him to the mire of Code A. The deciding match between PartinG and Jjakji was a thrilling PvT rematch that was one of the best PvTs we have seen in 2012 so far. Highlights include PartinG using storms to block cloaked ghosts, hectic EMP/feedback wars, and constant brawling all over the maps. But what really decided the match was PartinG's super effective zealot/templar harassment that would always eventually put Jjakji economically behind after long periods of advantage. PartinG, having now proven his vP and vT mettle so far this tournament, will be tested against Zerg by the formidable DongRaeGu in the next round.

 Group D

DongRaeGu	2-0
Genius	2-1
MarineKing	1-2
NesTea	0-2

Group D, widely regconized as the deathiest group ever in the GSL, started off with a highly anticipated ZvZ between NesTea and DongRaeGu. They traded the first two games in typical ZvZ fashion, but the deciding third game was mirror truly worthy of a face off between the two top Korean Zergs. In short, NesTea barely missed executing one of the most brilliant zergling flanks of all time; forced DongRaeGu to have to re-expand to his main; lost all his queens to zergling run-byes; and then sacrificed nine burrowed infestors to take out just one expansion, which ultimately lost him the final battle that immediately followed.

The next match saw MarineKing in top form against Genius, beating him first with mech and then with a one-rax double expand. The lovable Terran lacked that luster in the winners match, though, getting caught first by mutalisks and then by brood lords without the proper responses prepared, sending DongRaeGu to his hard-earned quarterfinal debut. In the losers match, Genius pulled off an impressive comeback against NesTea, holding off a 6-pool and massacring a flock of three dozen mutalisks in the process.

NesTea vs. Genius (GOMTV)

The loss marked the second straight Ro16 knockout for the once-invincible Zerg, and the third such exit in the four Code S seasons since his back-to-back championships in May and July. It also continues a disappointing streak against Protoss, which started with the loss against TaiLS that eliminated IM from the playoffs of the last GSTL.

The final match was something of a letdown to cap an otherwise thrilling Ro16. MarineKing won a game with a two-rax that went unscouted despite an incomplete wall-in, lost a game to uncountered colossi, and then lost a death-ball war when his vikings wandered too far away from the rest of his army. The loss was interesting, though, as it was the first time in the new format that a player lost a rematch in the deciding fifth match after winning the first meeting. In fact, MarineKing went 3-2 against Genius in the group. Extended series, anyone? 

Comebacks: The anti-comeback made an unexpected comeback in the Ro16. In the ten full, three-game matches that were played, the winner of the first game lost eight (80%) times. That brings the tournament total to 10-18, meaning the first-game winner has won just 36% of three-game matches this tournament, compared to 60% from before map-picking was introduced.

Tiers and Tears: Of this season's quarterfinalists, three came from last season's Code S Ro8, three from Code A, and two from the UpAndDown matches. In fact, the UpAndDowners technically had the best success this round, since Genius and GuMiho were the only ones left in the tournament and both made it through.

Unexplored Territory: Of the new maps introduced this season, the pros seem to be most comfortable on the ladder map Entombed Valley. Players have picked that map 10 times in their matches, as compared to five apiece for both Cloud Kingdom and Metropolis. Zergs seem most hesitant to change over and have only picked one of the three new maps a single time out of seventeen against another race: Lucky picked Cloud Kingdom against Mvp.

MC's PvP: There have been just five PvP's in the quarterfinals and beyond of all standard GSL tournaments. MC has played in four of those matches, and won three of them.

Rematches: All four groups in the Ro16 had rematches for the deciding fifth. Only a single group out of all eight Ro32 groups had a rematch. In those five rematches, the winner of the first match prevailed four times, but no player 4-0'd his opponent.

Hat Trick: MMA has become just the third player to make the Top8 of three Code S seasons in a row. The other two are Mvp and NaDa.

Clear the Way: This will be the first Code S Ro8 without NesTea or Mvp since Code S March 2011. It is also the first time half of the the quarterfinalists have been Protoss since March 2011. March 2011 was the last time a Protoss won a GSL. That Protoss was MC.

Repeat Performers: Three of last season's quarterfinalists made it back this season. The last time that happened was in Code S May, when Anypro, NaDa, and Sc all repeated.

The Ro8 is when matches usually start getting truly exceptional, as it is the first time players have a chance to prepare for a single opponent. Also, now that they have secured Code S, the players can relax a little bit and focus on working the kinks out of their games.