EPT
ESL Pro Series Germany/Winter Season 2013, Germany Cup/4 and The BCON Clash 2. So before their ending i made again my personal little skill-check of the german scene.The august version can be found here:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=426111
The almost famous
SaltTheWound*good final sprint in EPS, but nothing more
KnowMe*very promising results lately, but still no major achievements
AcRo*doesn't have last EPS season's form
Tarrantius*disappointing showing of the former season runner-up in EPS
*no notable other achievements
kauP*still not good enough
KrasS*very disappointing performance in WCS S3
CPU*talented, but not ready for top10.
The Top10
10. Monty new!
The newcomer in the last months. 2 times 9th place finisher in EPS and a good run int the european qualifier for IEM Singapore with wins over Kas, Daisy, ParanOid, Tefel guarantee Monty the 10th place. Someone to look for in 2014!
9.
GoOdy -Loved by the fans, hated by the players for his turtle playstyle he isn't invincible but always a challenge to play against. Last surprise was his 2-0 victory over TLO at BCON Clash 2. Perhaps a bit overrated, but his defensive skills and his decision making is still impressive to watch. If there would be no TvP perhaps he could be even higer in the ranking with his mech style vsT and vsZ.
8.
Hanfy -1The 8th place is the still-skilled-but-no-results place. Hanfys announcement that his opponents in EPS are easy defeatable, followed a poor 8th place in the season ranking. In the group stage however he defeated SaltTheWound and took a map of Socke and HeRoMaRinE, being narrowly eliminated. Let's see wether he can show good results in ESL Euro Series with his team or qualify for a major event 2014. He surely has the potential for it.
7.
GunGFuBanDa +3The youngster in the list. His recent achievements were the first place at The Munich Starcraft Tournament #8 and a win in the NA Zotac Cup #128. Together with his all-kill of the german elite at Germany Cup #3 he deserves the 7th place. When he is finally 16 we have another good (protoss!) player in the german EPS.
6.
Delphi new!Delphi is in good shape lately. He managed to qualify for the EPS group stage by beating Hanfy, HasuObs and SaltTheWound in the last cup and gave HasuObs quite a hard time there. In ZOTAC Cup NA #119 he proved that he also can win against koreans like Trend, Tassadar and almost Solar.
5.
HasuObs -4HasuObs is not particularly worse than in August. But his macro oriented playstyle is perhaps a bit too predictable to achieve really top results. In EPS he got only fourth in the season ranking, not winning a cup, at HSC8 he fell down in the first groupstage. Perhaps being a bit too harsh with his position, he has the opportunity to prove me wrong in WCG and in the EPS playoffs.
4.
TLO -2TLO's form is a bit decreasing lately. Some disapointing showings at HSC and his one-time apperance in EPS didn't convince us. At least he was making some money out of his "favorite" tourney Kaspersky Arena, where he won Bo5s against Socke, Bly and Happy. Let's see what he can achieve at Dreamhack Winter as the sole german representantive!
3.
HeRoMaRinE -For the first time HeRoMaRinE attended a full EPS season and performed well, but not dominating it as predicted by some hipsters. In HSC8 he advanced to second groupstage, winning twice against TLO. In BCON Clash 2 he beat MaNa and Ret. All in all very impressive for a part time player, who only plays as a hobby!
2.
ShoWTimE +3His full time playing really payed off. As Socke he won 2 EPS cups and won the following group stage decisevely with wins over CPU and HasuObs. Also not forgotten is his performance in WCS Europe Premier league season 3, where he was the local hero after TLO and HasuObs in the previos seasons.
1.
Socke +5As predicted in August, Socke is back in business! Being able to execute both, all-in and macro strategies, he is probably the most complete player in Germany. In terms of results he managed to win 2 of 5 EPS cups and advancing to the second grupstage in HSC8. Not hyper impressive, but enougth for the german throne. He should have good chances to qualify for WCS14 in his current form.
