EPTThe Summer of Suppy
As I am sure many of you are aware, EG's
Suppy is pretty much the consensus selection for 2013's player to watch. What I do think people fail to realize, however, is how good Suppy, who is currently a college student, was when his semester was over. Considering his last major tournament with CheckSix and his first four with EG (MLG Anaheim, ASUS ROG Summer, MLG Raleigh, MLG Dallas and BWC Finals) that were not all NA tournaments, Suppy's record is staggering. At these tournaments he defeated, followed by map score:+ Show Spoiler +
He also fell to the following, followed by map score:
+ Show Spoiler +
Comparing good wins to bad losses, the Suppy significantly comes out ahead, notably defeating Koreans TAiLS, SeleCT, SangHo, jookTo, and Revival while only falling to significantly notable players except for Naama and MaSsan, who had a very good MLG Raleigh run, while Naama was bounced from ASUS ROG by HerO and MC. Although Suppy is not known for exceptional innovation except for contaminating researching infestation pits in ZvZ, his strong mechanics should be able to keep him a major player in the foreign scene by the time the summer of 2013 rolls around and the HotS metagame has had 2 months or so to develop. Look for Suppy to return for a repeat performance once the spring semester is over.
The Fallen Kings of Auir
The next three players that I believe will show their true colors with the release of HotS are presently at very different points in their respective careers:
Grubby, White-Ra, and NonY. All three have been champions in different games, but none have recently duplicated that success. Grubby has recently shown some excellent results, but hasn't been able to capture that elusive title. White-Ra has failed to replicated his success since his IPL 2 victory, while NonY has been unable to find the success he had in BW and the early phases of SC2. What these players do have in common however, is their creative approaches to the Protoss race.When Grubby first switched to SC2 from WC3, his development was slow but methodical, as he attempted to develop his own style of play independent of the metagame. NonY, on the other hand, has always been known as an unothodox player, fond of gateway openings in PvZ and phoenix play in PvT. Both of these approaches, as well as White-Ra's massive amount of HotS play, are extremely conducive to the implementation of entirely new units and therefore an entirely new metagame. If White-Ra and NonY's age and practice habits hold up, look out for them to make dangerous runs in a foreign tournament or two. Grubby, however, is certainly the safe selection of the three.
Quick and Controversial
In decreasing order:
1.
Polt will sign with Team Liquid, and play a schedule similar to Sheth's preinjury. While he goes to school, he should be able to afford time to play some US based and online tournaments. He has also shown very well in interviews in terms of his English and seems quite personable. He could be the Terran TL needs.2.
Stephano will perform decently at best in the current format of Proleague, but will be monstrous in the all-kill format. With the amount of time and map to snipe him, it will be much easier on the KeSPA teams, but with some uncertainty, Stephano will benefit.2b. EG-TL will win Round 2 of PL, as the KeSPA teams with several very good players such as SKT1's Rain and soO will not be able to take down HerO,
TaeJa, and Stephano if they're all there to play. Throw in Jaedong as their fourth best player, and that's a very hard team to kill.3. The infestor will be nerfed by Blizzard in January (see this tweet from DB), and it's going to be the nerf that breaks the backs of Zergs everywhere. The immortal sentry all in will once again regain its full power (if it ever lost any in the first place), and the metagame will continue to change as it always does following patches. Considering that there are only two Protoss players currently qualified for the first season of 2013's GSL Code S, a Terran will take down the tournament.
4. Mvp's results will continue to decline until perhaps April, when he will rise again for the first season of GSL HotS, where he will rise again, harder and stronger than ever.
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