Code S-wise, GSL Season 2 opened with the group with possibly the most distinct old dogs versus new pups contrast.
Match 1: Genius vs BboongBboong
Game 1 @ Antiga Shipyard
Genius opened with a 1 gate expand into void rays but was immediately put against the ropes as BboongBboong had bred a 2 base roach/speedling force, ready to devour the protoss probes. Genius held to his best with continuous forcefields and multitude of cannons but still suffered 25 probe deaths before the agression was over. Although with a crippled economy, however, Genius was still very much alive and one +2 attack and a blink tech later, BboongBboong was dead as a doornail once his burrow roaches were caught between stalkers and an observer.
Game 2 @ Cloud Kingdom
Genius went for the same build and to his joy Bboong had preferred to play it passively, going for a quick third base. After the void ray blinded Bboong's vision, Genius transitioned into a sentry/stalker pressure but the macro for Bboong - as well as his hydra den - were enough to keep him safe. Once the attack was done, the zerg immediately went on the offensive, soft-containing the protoss for a long time and forcing him into a deathball attack once the colossi popped out. The first battle went bad for Bboong as he engaged the protoss prematurely but ultimately his hive tech was kind enough to win him the forced base race with ease.
Game 3 @ Entombed Valley
After moments of mid-game passivity, game three ended in a singular punch motion from Genius. The protoss saw a weakness in Bboong's play - who was just gearing for a late-game composition and was planting spines all over the place - and deathballed him in the time when his corruptor count was still too low. Bboong was out of position every step of the way, making the final battle all the more one-sided.
Genius deals his finishing blow before brood lords make it to the field
Match 2: Supernova vs Seed
Game 1 @ Cloud Kingdom
The early-game passivity was smashed into pieces by Supernova's La Piovra playstyle, dropping on three places at once, reaching for and crushing Seed's most important structures - his third nexus and the templar archives. The tentacles of the terran continued to tighten the grasp around Seed and at one point the protoss just crumbled - there was no way for him to move out on the map and he was behind in every way possible.
Game 2 @ Daybreak
I can never know how Supernova was ahead of Seed every step of the way, always having the correct tech to punish the protoss. He had vikings before the first colossus was out, his +2/+2 completed before charge and there were ghosts on the field a long time before storm would actually kick in. The latter was Seed's Achilles' heel as by the 24th minute mark when storm finally completed, Supernova was already 50 supply ahead and could do whatever he wanted.
Seed needed the perfect storms to turn the tables around. Sadly, such were not displayed
Winners match: Genius vs Supernova
Game 1 @ Daybreak
Both players went for double upgrades into 200 vs 200 battles of TvP grandeur. Sadly, it was not as exciting as it might sound as Genius always had the upper hand - from the early colossus against bio clashes till the very second that storm completed in the middle of the final engagement, evaporating the army of Supernova in seconds.
Game 2 @ Entombed Valley
"Who's ahead" was a slippery debate in this game. Supernova opened with a 1 base marine/tank rush with SCV support that destroyed Genius' nexus but protoss' decisiveness eventually put an end to the contain. Then, instead of expanding and recovering his economic lead, Genius went for a counter-attack. It all went really well for him in the first few moments but the bio on the highground punished Genius' impatience and overaggressive style, ultimately forcing him into another all-in attack, followed by a tap out by him. A game completely thrown away.
This was the second unsuccesful attempt of Genius to climb Supernova's ramp
Game 3 @ Antiga Shipyard
This was another straightforward PvT with Supernova opening the action with a medivac drop that sniped Genius' cyber core and allowed the terran to safely take a third. Genius then moved out with his deathball while still on two bases but there was never a good positioning for him to engage. All he accomplished was force a lift on the third of Supernova before watching the sea of marauders and medivas streaming down to hug him to death.
Losers match: BboongBboong vs Seed
Having seen the shortest and most one-sided series for the day, I find it troublesome to write in large for each set. So I won't. On Daybreak, Bboong died to a +2 blink stalker timing attack after he neither had the roach count, nor the necessary upgrades to hold his ground. On Antiga Shipyard he was actually 4-gated to death - something that zergs have not seen for a long, long time.
Hard to believe that Seed's build was also fully scouted, is it?
Final match: Genius vs Seed
Game 1 @ Ohana
Genius was dictating this PvP tango from the very beginning as his phoenix expand opening forced an immediate cancel on Seed's colossus tech and forced him to babysit his own base in fear that he may at any time lose his entire economy. This allowed Genius to get his nexus up unpunished and from then get a double robo faster than his opponent. Until the very end of the game, Seed was in a defensive stance and, due to the later second robo, always two colossi and two immortals behind. And numbers do count, especially when you add to them a perfect concave for Genius during the only actual battle.
Hard to believe that Seed's build was also scouted in time, is it?
Game 2 @ Daybreak
Genius would not hold his lead for long as in game two he opened with a 3-gate/robo blink stalker all-in that rotted more and more with each second that Genius could not make it to Seed's base. The IM protoss had a 2-base economy and unstopping immortal production and just sat there when Genius blinked to his death.
Game 3 @ Cloud Kingdom
All praises go to Genius for the third game as the MVP protoss took a very unorthodox approach to the late game. After neither player managed to earn any mid-game victories during the stalker/immortal phase, they started building up their colossus count but, stragely enough, Genius forwent thermal lance and researched observer speed instead. The doubts that this might have been a misclick were refuted after the first few colossus shots which would clearly communicate this to Genius. Instead, the GSL runner-up continued to neglect the vital upgrade in favor of better forge upgrades and higher colossus count.
All of that made a huge difference as Seed's attack was torn to pieces, even though Genius had to more or less get into melee range to shoot at Seed's colossi. Irrelevant obstacle, as it turned out, and soon Seed was on the run and Genius sprinted to his Ro16 spot, leaving the viewers wondering if a new way of playing late-game PvP was just discovered or was that simply a mistake, corrected via an alternative way.
Final standings
| 2012 GSL Season 2: Ro32 Group B | |||||||||
  Supernova | 4-1  Genius5-4 | Seed3-4 |  BboongBboong1-4 | Genius 2-1 BboongBboong Supernova 2-0 Seed Supernova 2-1 Genius Seed 2-0 BboongBboong Genius 2-1 Seed | |||||
