Annyeong from Korea again everyone. I am happy to be making this post. You saw how excited I got at a Code A match (and it was my first time too!), but Code S is an entirely different beast. The house is more into the matches and it’s just a generally more exciting experience. Not to dump on Code A, instead it’s more like Code S just goes even further above and beyond my expectations than Code A already did. I began the day by hopping on the subway to head to the studio. By random chance, my friend Sam who I met the previous night at Code A got on my subway in my car. We proceeded to head to the studio to watch some great games. Upon arriving, we noticed SlayerS_Cella standing alone in the main lobby. We came up to him and introduced ourselves. He was very friendly and agreed to take a picture with us. Sam got a normal picture, but for some reason, when I came up to him, he opened his sweater and said “Now you can make a wish” so I went with it and you can see the picture below.
Shortly after that encounter, Tastosis walked up the stairs and headed in to get their makeup done. Sam had passed Tasteless on the street and briefly said hello earlier in the day, so Tasteless said “Oh cool man, looks like you found the place!” when he saw Sam. Tastosis proceeded to be generally excellent hosts throughout the night, thanking those of us who were foreigners for showing up and watching the games. Of course it was no trouble, but there was something really nice about the two casters going out of their way to be so polite to spectators. Since they had to leave for MLG the next day, they were kind of busy that day doing interviews and whatnot, so I didn’t get a picture with them (I didn’t really try because I figure there will be plenty of opportunities to get one with them in the future), but I did snap this picture while they were casting.
The first game up was MMA vs Polt (or Optimus as he is currently called). It was a rematch of the Super Tournament finals and even though he had nothing to fear, I could see that MMA was nervous. Polt had two pretty decisive victories in games one and three, but MMA briefly looked like he stood a better chance in the match during game two which he wound up winning. Keen vs Bomber brought us some longer games which is to be expected in a TvT. In the end, Keen edged out Bomber to win the match 2-1. For the third game, Zenio took an early (and surprising) lead over Top, but Top managed to compose himself for the next two games, taking the match. In the final match, I sat with a new friend I had met who was a fan of Genius. Genius enjoys using his proxy stargates and saw some success with those this time. In game three, Genius put a proxy stargate right in the middle of the road. I was amazed it wasn’t scouted. Each time a probe would come close, people would lean forward in their seats and would yell “OHHHH” when the probe just barely missed seeing the building.
After the match, I got to meet Genius who gives off kind of a goofy vibe. I didn’t have the chance to say much of anything to him because he seemed to be trying to get out in a hurry, but that was fine. Once again before we left, Tastosis thanked all of us for coming out and took some pictures with people before going back into the players lounge for an interview session. At that point, I headed back to my dorm, ready for the GSTL the next day.
The Code S ladder has been chugging along recently, seeing Polt(OptimusPrime) and TOP advancing to the round of four. Tonight, it’s MVP vs Huk and Ryung vs July. Will Huk and July manage to stop the final four from being Terran or will the Terrans come out on top in the GSL Code S August? Tune in tonight to find out!
