Kim “Cure” Doh-wook has met with Byun “ByuN” Hyun-woo 26 times in 2022, most recently during ESL Open Cup #151 Korea at the end of November, when Byun won 2-1. It marked ByuN’s 14th head-to-head victory of the year and his fourth consecutive.

Over that stretch, ByuN has managed just one clean sweep (0-2), with two series ending with just one map separating the two StarCraft II pro players. So considering ByuN’s recent success against Cure, the offered SCII betting odds make a lot of sense.

ByuN is in excellent form and holds a 72.04% win rate in mirrored matchups, whereas Cure’s TvT record over the last 65 outings stands at just 47.69%. Cure is still an excellent player who should do some damage on Saturday, but this is Byun’s game to lose.

ByuN to win 3-0 pays at $4.00, which is a fair price and a solid longshot bet.

Kim “Classic” Doh-woo enters this match as a massive underdog ($4.33), which isn’t too shocking, considering Kim “Cure” Doh-wook is 4-0 up in the head-to-head (10-3 in maps) on the year. Moreover, Cure is 15-5 against Classic since the two first met in 2014 but has not lost a single series since 2018.

The four-year-long streak of dominance Cure has been enjoying is quite impressive, as is his map win rate (67.55%) against his compatriot. So while you could argue that Classic is good enough to compete against any SCII player, Cure is his kryptonite.

If Cure’s last games against Classic are any indication, there’s a very good chance we’ll see another clean sweep, and $3.00 is a very generous offer on the outcome.

Park “DRG” Soo-ho and Byun “ByuN” Hyun-woo last met at the start of November, during PiG Sty Festival 2.0, when ByuN won 2-0. It marked his fifth (5-2) head-to-head victory of the year and 22nd (22-13) since the two first clashed in 2012.

And yet, despite holding an impressive h2h record against DRG, ByuN enters this match priced at $1.53, which seems a bit too generous. Although DRG won (2-1) this affair in September, it was only his first victory since March. Over that stretch, ByuN has won 11 maps to DRG’s five and has swept DRG in two of their last three meetings.

Beyond that, DRG’s recent win rate into Terran players over the last 28 outings is at just 50%. In contrast, ByuN is 86-29 (74.78%) against Zergs over the last 115.

It’s entirely possible that ByuN wins with a 3-0 sweep, but we’ll play it safe and pick the 29-year-old with a -1.5 map handicap.

The final round of Brawler’s Club #37 group stage will see Park “DRG” Soo-ho face off against Kim “Cure” Doh-wook for the eighth time in 2022 and the first time since November when DRG won 3-1. It marked DRG’s second consecutive victory and his third of the year.

Cure is still up (4-3) in the head-to-head this year, but he has managed to beat DRG just once since May (3-0 during Brawler’s Club #32), so it’s fair to view DRG as the favourite. But this is still a 50/50 bout in our book, mainly because the last two head-to-head matches were pretty close.

Even the players’ win rates into the opponent’s race are close to even (49.32% – 50%), so there are a couple of reasons why $1.25 on DRG is a bit too low. A bet on Cure to win at $3.75 is hard to ignore, as it offers excellent value.

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In the first game of Group C, played on February 21, GuMi opened up with mech against protoss, which is basically unheard of, but fitting for the legendary player nicknamed “the build master” for the wide variety of play styles he employs.

He killed a few probes with a hellion run by early on, whereas Classic tried some stalker/adept pressure but was unable to break GuMiho’s defences after some nifty widow mine micro and the timely arrival of a couple of cyclones. GuMiho actually managed to get his third CC out before Classic could take his third base, so he ended the early game with a modest economic advantage.

As the players entered the middle game, GuMiho moved out and Classic’s army met his in the middle of the map. At this point, Classic’s composition was mostly zealots, with some stalkers, and a single immortal. Gumiho for his part had a mix of tanks, hellions, cyclones, and liberators with one raven for detection and anti-armour missiles. Classic tried to catch GuMiho in the middle of the map near the neo violet squares, and while he traded out effectively, GuMiho did eventually win the fight.

Meanwhile, Classic had teched up to fleet beacon with triple starport, but unfortunately he never really had the time or the money to start carrier production. In a neat little mind game, the Protoss player did fake a carrier at one point, after GuMiho scanned him, with the hopes of tricking his Terran opponent into an inferior tech composition. This legerdemain ultimately proved to be in vain, as GuMiho eventually managed to push through to Classic’s fourth base. When the two armies collided, GuMiho scored an incredible hit with his raven’s anti-armour missile and Classic’s forces melted under the weight of GuMiho’s mechanical onslaught. With a twenty to one hundred army supply deficit, Classic was immediately overwhelmed and had no choice but to surrender.

Classic won both of his Bo3s and was the first player through to the Ro8, while Maru defeated Gumiho in an incredibly close series, that came down to a rubber match with both players floating their buildings to the center of the map after a base trade, to take the second spot.

Gumiho and Dear are both out of the tournament.

Group C results

Group C Matches