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Verging on irrelevancy - 4 players who have something to prove
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/lqQF4mB.png)
The WCS Europe Premier League Season 1 continues tomorrow as we approach the round of 16. I want to go through Group A which will be played on May 14th and look at the players who, I feel, need to bring their best performance to date.
Ro16 of WCS Europe Premier League Group A:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WTp4vCX.png) ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NZtB3tE.png) TLO - Team Liquid
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/pL5xR9G.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DAzcJIW.png) ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MjlkEDf.png) MMA - Team Acer
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WwOqkYs.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dzlhPdE.png) Strelok - Natus Vincere
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/eJnRD0Q.jpg)
ForGG - Millenium
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/FqO8MGL.jpg)
The Group Matchups
TLO vs. ForGG
MMA vs. Strelok
TLO - Can he keep his performances up?
Dario ‘TLO’ Wünsch, the community fan favourite, has been pouring hours and hours into rebuilding himself from his former glory days when StarCraft was first released. His last tournament victory was in January 2011 and since then he has not come close to claiming another tournament win.
Since that time, TLO has lived and trained in Sweden, he currently lives back in Germany but most notably he stayed in Korea where he still struggled to show improved results as he could not qualify for Code A and had low finishes at international tournaments.
He is now on a big swing full of momentum with great posting of improved results over the last 6months where he has finished multiple times Top 8 but he is still in search of the big result that he desperately needs.
He enters the Ro16 with a group full of Terrans, which greatly eases his preparation as he only needs to practice one matchup, Zerg vs Terran. This is his chance to prove to all of us that he has what it takes to compete at the most prestigious level of StarCraft. Do you think TLO has what it takes?
Prediction: 2nd place
MMA - The son of Boxer returns?
Mun Seong Won also known to us as MMA the son of Boxer. A former Code S, MLG and IEM champion. Through a period of 2011 MMA was regarded as one of, if not, the best player in StarCraft. Today MMA is a shell of his former self without a big result to his name in over a year. No other player has seen such highs and lows combined with drama around them.
This is his chance to return, his chance to get back to the top of his game and really prove to us that the old MMA is still there. Will we see the recovery play out, live, throughout this group?
Prediction: 1st place
Strelok - Another Ukrainian Korean killer?
Eugin ‘Strelok’ Oparyshev, the Ukrainian shadowed by his fellow country men such as Dimaga, Kas and WhiteRa. If he is able to do well within this group, especially in a group with two Koreans in it, this will be his chance to challenge them and in all honesty, return some former glory back to Ukraine.
The last time we saw big results from Ukraine against Koreans was when we saw Dimaga beat Nestea, JulyZerg and the king himself, MVP back in 2011 for the GSL World Championship and not forgetting his great run at Blizzcon 2011.
Strelok is probably going into this group as the underdog but with his recent performances in Heart of the Swarm, his technical and strategic side shining through with his consistent use of Mech, its possible he could advance. As Strelok approaches his 28th birthday come the 25th May, could this be his one last true attempt to prove himself within the SC community.
Prediction: 4th place
ForGG - Can he find glory in SC2?
Park Ji Soo also known as ForGG. The original Elephant, the first top tier Brood War professional to move into StarCraft II. He holds 3 SC:BW titles, 2 Proleague victories and 1 MSL (1v1) victory, where he beat KaL, Flash and Jaedong to claim it.
Within StarCraft he went straight through Code A into Code S after only a few months of his official switching date but fell straight back down again. ForGG had different plans than the standard Korean who aspires to challenge the Korean scene and rise the ranks, he decided to join Millenium, a French team, and conquer Europe where he found great success.
ForGG has finished 2nd place at two big international tournaments, ESWC and Dreamhack Valencia yet is still without a StarCraft tournament victory. He is looking incredibly strong coming into this, especially when it comes down to Terran vs Terran games. In April, ForGG streamed 184 hours, does he still have it in him to be a champion or is he content to just carve out a decent living being an online streamer?
Prediction: 3rd place
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United States33629 Posts
didn't call TLO creative, 5/5 stars
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I believe that as long as TLO plays as well as he has been in the last couple of months, he should make it out of his group. Practicing only 1 matchup greatly improves his odds of winning. But, only time will tell. Can't wait to watch!
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I like how creative and inspirational TLO is.
5/5
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"ForGG has finished 2nd place at two big international tournaments, ESWC and Assembly Summer yet is still without a StarCraft tournament victory." Dreamhack Valencia doesn't count as a big international tournament?
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I hope the opposite happens!
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Katowice25012 Posts
I believe in you TLO.
And your creativity.
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On May 14 2013 08:30 prOpSnuffe wrote:
"ForGG has finished 2nd place at two big international tournaments, ESWC and Assembly Summer yet is still without a StarCraft tournament victory." Dreamhack Valencia doesn't count as a big international tournament?
He didn't win it. TaeJa did thus beginning the Summer of TaeJa. Overall ForGG is a nightmare for Millenium fans. He looks so strong sometimes but can lose stupidly in the next game. If stars align then the sky is the limit ...
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I want TLO to make it through for obvious reasons, but this Terran stacked group...
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Germany25658 Posts
TLO is obviously going to win this
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I want to see MMA win another Premier tournament. WCS EU would be nice
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On May 14 2013 08:30 kollin wrote:
I like how creative and inspirational TLO is.
5/5
On May 14 2013 08:48 heyoka wrote:
I believe in you TLO.
And your creativity.
Why are we making jokes about this again? I don't get the context.
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United Kingdom2950 Posts
Go MMA! For my Fantasy points.
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I hope TLO and ForGG advance...
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There is this tendency of Koreans crushing aspiring foreigners by sheer amount of pressure. Hope TLO is ready for Hellbat and mine abuse to the max.
Also hope TLO will not try to win pretty, but win no matter what it takes.
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Remember Apollo NOT to do any bets on LM finals with Carmac. Im sure he will find something better than pink pikachu.
Also... MMA and Strelok to advance.... HPM all the way ^^
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opterown
Australia54784 Posts
i hope TLO and forgg advance. would be ok with strelok over forgg. europe must hold!
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I'm predicting the exact opposite. I think ForGG has the strongest TvT by far, and Strelok comes in second in that. TLO might make it out if he manages to beat MMA in the loser's match though.
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
kinda funny using that strelok picture btw.. he lost a TON of weight and looks a lot different than that atm
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I'm not sure I'd call ForGG the original elephant, he was far from top tier at the end, other than that nice blog. I also have TLO and MMA advancing, although I have no idea how good MMA is atm
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On May 14 2013 11:07 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2013 08:30 kollin wrote:
I like how creative and inspirational TLO is.
5/5 Why are we making jokes about this again? I don't get the context.
how many times have you heard someone call TLO creative?
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On May 14 2013 18:20 7mk wrote:
I'm not sure I'd call ForGG the original elephant, he was far from top tier at the end, other than that nice blog. I also have TLO and MMA advancing, although I have no idea how good MMA is atm
Original elephant as in the first GOOD progamer to switch from SC:BW to SC2 
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On May 14 2013 18:19 iNcontroL wrote:
kinda funny using that strelok picture btw.. he lost a TON of weight and looks a lot different than that atm
Ya, should've used this one
Strelok has a shot, I think and so does everyone else in this group.
I'd say that the first game between TLO and ForGG could already decide the group.
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#1 ForGG
#2 MMA
#3/#4 TLO/Strelok
not because of koreans being generally better than europeans, but because strelok doesnt seem to be as good as the 2 other Ts in the group and TLO is very gimmicky, which most of the times doesnt work against koreans, especially now that some of his stuff has been shown already.
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On May 14 2013 19:37 JollYRoGeR wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2013 18:20 7mk wrote:
I'm not sure I'd call ForGG the original elephant, he was far from top tier at the end, other than that nice blog. I also have TLO and MMA advancing, although I have no idea how good MMA is atm Original elephant as in the first GOOD progamer to switch from SC:BW to SC2
yeah but he wasn't actually good at the time of the switch anymore, he lost 8 out of his 10 last matches. MVP for example was imo doing slightly better before his much earlier switch, for example won against some strong players in Hana Daetoo msl round before getting knocked out by Flash.
But hey this is all just nitpicking, there's definitely more important things to argue about :p
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I think you underestimate Strelok and overvalue MMA.
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On May 14 2013 20:37 Type|NarutO wrote:
I think you underestimate Strelok and overvalue MMA.
Think so too, but MMA really is the wildcard of this group, I have a clear idea about the strenghts/weaknesses of forGG,Strelok and Dario but there just isn't much to work with when it comes to evaluate MMA. Last WCS group and a few ATC matches are all there is available and in those he showed very mixed performances (not looking at results at match outcome but the way he played).
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On May 14 2013 20:03 BiG wrote:
#1 ForGG
#2 MMA
#3/#4 TLO/Strelok
not because of koreans being generally better than europeans, but because strelok doesnt seem to be as good as the 2 other Ts in the group and TLO is very gimmicky, which most of the times doesnt work against koreans, especially now that some of his stuff has been shown already.
TLO has a history of beating strong korean terrans when he wasn't nearly as solid as he's now. You might call it gimmicky but him being unpredictable and not going for the greedy style every game is exactly what terrans are afraid of.
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On May 14 2013 08:59 Otolia wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2013 08:30 prOpSnuffe wrote:
"ForGG has finished 2nd place at two big international tournaments, ESWC and Assembly Summer yet is still without a StarCraft tournament victory." Dreamhack Valencia doesn't count as a big international tournament? He didn't win it. TaeJa did thus beginning the Summer of TaeJa. Overall ForGG is a nightmare for Millenium fans. He looks so strong sometimes but can lose stupidly in the next game. If stars align then the sky is the limit ...
I think he was referring more to the fact that ForGG should be credited with 3 big 2nd place finishes, not two.
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Forgg slightly favored over TLO but not by much. Should be an interesting match for sure.
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On May 14 2013 22:01 DavoS wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2013 08:59 Otolia wrote:On May 14 2013 08:30 prOpSnuffe wrote:
"ForGG has finished 2nd place at two big international tournaments, ESWC and Assembly Summer yet is still without a StarCraft tournament victory." Dreamhack Valencia doesn't count as a big international tournament? He didn't win it. TaeJa did thus beginning the Summer of TaeJa. Overall ForGG is a nightmare for Millenium fans. He looks so strong sometimes but can lose stupidly in the next game. If stars align then the sky is the limit ... I think he was referring more to the fact that ForGG should be credited with 3 big 2nd place finishes, not two.
He shouldn't though, Apollo screwed up, ForGG got 3rd place at ASUS ROG and 2nd at ESWC and DH Valencia, it's still "only" two 2nd place finishes.
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If I don't vote for TLO, he'll make it for sure.
Go not TLO!
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On May 14 2013 22:14 Thor.Rush wrote:
Forgg slightly favored over TLO but not by much. Should be an interesting match for sure.
TLO has had ForGG's number for quite some time now.
That being said, I've become a ForGG fan all over again watching the showmethemsl vods. Definitely hope he pulls through.
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my favorite thing about this whole thread is how everyone makes fun of people who call TLO creative and then he gets out of his group by being creative
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United States97276 Posts
On May 14 2013 18:19 iNcontroL wrote:
kinda funny using that strelok picture btw.. he lost a TON of weight and looks a lot different than that atm
wow I hadnt seen him in a long time and when he was on stream it was like a completely different person almost
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On May 15 2013 06:43 sertman wrote:
my favorite thing about this whole thread is how everyone makes fun of people who call TLO creative and then he gets out of his group by being creative
I came back to this blog the moment I watched his games, lol...
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On May 15 2013 06:43 sertman wrote:
my favorite thing about this whole thread is how everyone makes fun of people who call TLO creative and then he gets out of his group by being creative
How was TLO creative? The only thing he did that was uncommon, was a swarmhost drop that didn't win him the game. The early spire and the damage done from it was key. He could have continued a complete standard game and still would be very good in there.
Other than that, I saw 3 solid games vs forGG... so :x yeah
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Where can I find the vods for this?
Thanks
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On May 15 2013 15:46 Dumbledore wrote:
Where can I find the vods for this?
Thanks
On their regular twitch stream page.
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On May 15 2013 15:46 Type|NarutO wrote:Show nested quote +On May 15 2013 06:43 sertman wrote:
my favorite thing about this whole thread is how everyone makes fun of people who call TLO creative and then he gets out of his group by being creative How was TLO creative? The only thing he did that was uncommon, was a swarmhost drop that didn't win him the game. The early spire and the damage done from it was key. He could have continued a complete standard game and still would be very good in there. Other than that, I saw 3 solid games vs forGG... so :x yeah
I agree. TLO used to be a gimmicky player, but nowadays, he seems to have become much more solid. His defense vs. ForGG in game 2 and game 3 was very well done. Strelok just got rolled by TLO's strategy, which basically hard-countered Strelok's playstyle. Game 1 in that series was really nice, TLO didn't just abuse his opponent's build (quick mutas, fast tech), he also took advantage of the map layout. (sh drop, huuuge concave to siege Strelok's third.)
I think that TLO has never been better. Depending on who he meets in the next round, he could go very far in the tournament.
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On May 15 2013 15:46 Type|NarutO wrote:Show nested quote +On May 15 2013 06:43 sertman wrote:
my favorite thing about this whole thread is how everyone makes fun of people who call TLO creative and then he gets out of his group by being creative How was TLO creative? The only thing he did that was uncommon, was a swarmhost drop that didn't win him the game. The early spire and the damage done from it was key. He could have continued a complete standard game and still would be very good in there. Other than that, I saw 3 solid games vs forGG... so :x yeah
Of course those drops didn`t won him the game but at what other game did you see sh-drops
at a pro level? Those drops made Strelok split his main army into two to defend his 3rd and main.
I think you can be creative by doing things that won`t win you a game directly.
But the main reason i am posting here was that nobody even mentioned that Apollo
was so fu**in hilarious! When he analysed game 1 against Strelok i was literally laughing
my ass off.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://starcraft.md/Content/Gallery/a7147b85-3316-4e9b-aad5-4bcb9889f482-Strelok%20Carpet.jpg)
