MLG Dallas Day 2 Preview

Group A
Liquid`HuK vs. sung
Liquid`Ret vs. EG.LzGaMeR


Nadagast vs. NeOReSpOnSe
Liquid`Jinro vs. Sockeh


Match Breakdown:
Liquid`HuK vs. sung:
There is very few people you could put against HuK at an MLG event that would be a favorite against him. Now I will be the first to admit I do not know much about sung as a player, and by not much I mean nothing. However this only makes it more of HuK's match in my eyes. He stumbled a bit dropping one game to NrG.dde, he has shown consistent results in every major NA LAN. He's taken 1st at MLG Raleigh, 3rd at IEM New York, and 3rd at MLG DC. He's never lost in anything that could be called a major upset of the proportions if he lost to sung. He's consistent, and he's already got the hit of going down in game one in a series this event, a speculated weakness. He's been there and will be fresh off a night's sleep, sung is in trouble.

Prediction: HuK storms through sung, pillow in hand, easy 2-0 and HuK gets to enjoy being the #1 seed.


Fear it

Liquid`Ret vs. EG.LzGaMeR
This is a very intriguing match up and hopefully will be cast. This match will really set the mood for Ret in this tournament. Ret has unlimited potential, but to be knocked in the losers bracket this early would be a big hit. He seems to ride momentum very well but that could backfire here and he could be put in a bad spot.

LzGaMeR also has a tough time ahead of him. He is tasked with defeating Ret, who has been on a tear but the prize for that is a match with HuK, who he has had problems with in previous matches.

Prediction: I really believe MLG Dallas will be Ret's true return to the attention of the foreign audience. BW players know and love him but the new SCII crowd onyl has really heard of him the last couple weeks. He has been on a complete tear those couple weeks however winning Gosucoaching weekly, and also winning a BO7 show match with QXC, no small task. I see Ret taking this one, he has a great style to beat LZ with, and he also has stronger mechanics.

Prediction: I see Ret taking this 2-1. He will advance to play HuK where I think HuK will beat him 2-1 in some close games. However don't be at all surprised to see Ret make it out of this group, he's rare, natural raw talent.



Nadagast vs. NeOReSpOnSe
Nadagast has really been one of the biggest breakthrough players of 2010. A professional WoW player, Nadagast entered MLG Raleigh with low expectations from the fans. It was not believed at this time WoW was a legit background for SCII. No one still really knows if it's the WoW skills or just natural talent but Nadagast has proven to be a force in MLG events. As far as I know he has not entered many if any other SCII events other then MLG. But he has done AMAZING placing 10th in Raleigh and 11th in DC. While some people will come and say "If you're not first you're last!" they are wrong. Taking those spots is a great accomplishment and speaks volumes about Nadagast.


No Ricky, you can be second, third, HELL you can even be fourth!

Response is a great player that has been playing from the start of the beta. However with all the current shift in the way SCII has played he has not kept us as well as many other beta heroes. He has not been a factor in the competitive scene in months and I don't see him being a true threat to a player like Nadagast.

Prediction:Easy 2-0 for Nadagast. Response has not been overly impressive in months while Nadagast continues to shine.

Liquid`Jinro vs. Socke
Edit: Found out this WAS actually Socke so here's a quick pick.

PredictionJinro 2-1 over Socke in a RAZON THIN series. Jinro's time in Korea should pay off here


FINAL BRACKET PREDICTION
Round of 64
Liquid`HuK > sung - 2-0
Liquid`Ret > EG.LzGaMeR - 2-1


Nadagast > NeOReSpOnSe - 2-0
Liquid`Jinro > Socke - 2-1


Round of 32
Liquid`HuK > Liquid`Ret - 2-1
Nadagast < Liquid`Jinro - 2-0

Final word: All in all look for Teamliquid to be their own worst enemy in this group.




Group B
Root.Drewbie vs. sean
Axslav vs. Liquid`Tyler


Painuser vs. ThisIsJimmy
Liquid`Nazgul vs. IdrA


Root.Drewbie vs. sean
Who the hell is sean? I don't know, do you know?


It's not this Sean

Let me highlight the difference in paths these to players have taken to get here. Drewbie has 2-0's AllAboutYou and Liquid`Haypro while sean has went 2-1 with SleppyOwl and V4LOR. Wait who are those guys?

Prediction: Drewbie 2-0 all day. sean is screwed, Drewbie has been on fire lately.

EG.Axslav vs. Liquid`Tyler
This is a absolute fantastic match and I cannot wait to see the replays of these two. Axslav may normally fly under the radar but he is a beast of Protoss player and has a great PvP.

Tyler (aka: Nony) is much like Ret. He has an unlimited skill cap and all the talent in the world. I have not seen many PvP games that I can remember from him recently but having Nazgul and HuK on your team can prepare you for about anything.

Prediction: This match is A LOT closer then most people would think it is. However I feel like Axslav's mechanics with fail him (he's a very low APM player) and he will not be able to out wile the crafty veteran Tyler. I have to go with Tyler 2-1 here, but I don't see him getting past the ultra hot Drewbie, and will drop to him two games to one.

Painuser vs. ThisIsJimmy
These two have crossed paths before and they will again at MLG. Painuser is one of the most underrated players out there right now. He took out Ret and White Ra int he losers bracket after being knocked down there in round one at MLG DC. He is an all around good player and excels in the macro game. Against most opponents, the longer the game goes, the bigger advantage he gets. He is too passive at times but it rarely is his downfall.

ThisIsJimmy was a player that was soaring through the ranks in Beta Phase 2, then people figured out how to deal with Banshees. Jimmy is in need of a style change, and hopefully he brought it to MLG Dallas. He is at this point way too well known for his Banshee harass, and Painuser is well aware of this.

Prediction: Painuser takes out Jimmy due to Jimmy's all too known Banshee play. 2-1, I do believe Jimmy can win a straight up game two, but in a BO3 he always goes Banshee in game three.

Liquid`Nazgul vs. IdrA
This
is
awesome.


and you thought HuK had a cool hoodie...

This match is soooooo cool. It's the chance to finally temp ban the owner of TL to the losers bracket. More then that it's a really intriguing style match up.

IdrA has been on a total tear as of late through the foreign scene (sans a BO7 loss to Tyler). He is one of the most methodical and straightforward macro players in the non Korean scene. His plan is out there and it's something everyone knows.

1: Get to three bases at any cost
2: Drone up and macro up
3: ????
4: Profit.

He has won a variety of events lately but most notably making it to the Round of 32 in GSL 2 and winning MLG DC. Only in his matches with QXC did he really look beatable in DC, and he is one of the biggest threats in the whole tournament.

However, Nazgul is no normal player. Where IdrA thrives off predictability and normal play, Nazgul thrives off chaos and 100% original play. He brought sweeping changes to the way the Protoss race was played early beta. However lately he has been largely inactive. He started practicing on the NA servers several week ago and his old BW talent has already shown, in a week he made Top 200 in NA. WHAAA????

Prediction: I think in a perfect world where both players have properly trained for months Nazgul would take this easy. He makes you play his game, which is IdrA's biggest weakness. IdrA wants to play IdrA's game and as soon as he does not he falls apart. The biggest factor is delaying his third for a long time, he reacts poorly once it's been delayed awhile and is the biggest hole to attack him during, and you better believe Nazgul knows this.

However in the real world where Nazgul runs a massive community site and a pro team he is not 100% practiced, and has spent his recent practice time on the NA server, where IdrA is on the Korean. I believe Nazgul can at least make this a competitive match before falling to IdrA's might 2-1. IdrA will then be locked in a match with Painuser who cannot hope to out macro the monster, IdrA. Great style match for IdrA and he will probably take it 2-0.

FINAL BRACKET PREDICTION
Round of 64
Root.Drewbie > sean - 2-0
Axslav < Liquid`Tyler - 2-1


Painuser > ThisIsJimmy - 2-1
Liquid`Nazgul < IdrA - 2-1


Round of 32
Root.Drewbie > Liquid`Tyler - 2-1
Painuser < IdrA - 2-0

Final Thought: This is a tough bracket for IdrA, Nazgul and Drewbie are very unorthodox, and could present him problems. If he makes it through this bracket I think he will have a massive momentum swing that will propel him deep into the tournament.


Group C
SeleCT vs. exo_dus
EG.Machine vs. EG.iNcontroL


Agh vs. Fenix
Attero vs. SLush

SeleCT vs. exo_dus
Ok so I do admit this is taking longer then I thought and I'm crazy tired so a couple of these are going to be shorter then the rest. Unless exo_dus is just a poor MLG account name he's screwed. SeleCT should be considered the single biggest threat not named IdrA. He is an amazing player with the second best mechanics out of any Terran in the foreign scene (yes I know he's Korean).

Prediction: SeleCT made a historic run through the Losers Bracket at DC, I am sure he will make sure it does not have to happen like that again. SeleCT 2-0 all day.


EG.Machine vs. EG.iNcontroL
Poor Machine. His 2010 accomplishments include from teammates: Getting knocked to the losers bracket by iNcontroL at Raleigh, getting eliminated by iNcontroL at DC, and losing to LZ in the EG Masters Cup. Normally when someone has lost back to back to someone at MLG's I would look for them to play strong wanting to fix that. However Geoff seems to be subscribed to "How to get paired up against and beat Machine in every major tournament you both enter in weekly".

Prediction: Machine is looking great but iNcontroL plays him A LOT and really is great at destroying Machine's tempo and doing things to mess with his early game macro like cannon rushes. 2-1 iNcontroL to send Machine to the losers bracket, AGAIN. However he will be forced to face SeleCT who should delight many a SoTG haters when he lights up Geoff 2-0.


Agh vs. Fenix
Agh has been another MLG success story like Nadagast. But playing Fenix "SUCCCCKKKSSSSSS" as Tasteless would say. Remember when I said SeleCT has the second best mechanics of any Terran in the foreign scene, Fenix has the best. This guys average APM is well over 350, and often dips over 400 for long periods of time. It's not spam, it's a true 400 APM. Fenix is a beast and Terran suits his style well. His ability to do things like drop three places at once will be too much for a player like Agh.

Prediction: 2-0 Fenix. Agh has been using mainly Colsi in day one, and there is no way he will be able to react to Fenix's non stop harass fast enough in the late to mid game. Fenix is just on another level.


Attero vs. Root.SLush
Attero is a solid player and one of the best random players out there. SLush is a monster and has been since pretty much forever in SCII. Attero is a solid player, but much like the Fenix/Agh match I think SLush is a bit too much to bite off for the random beast. SLush is on a tear lately and I would not expect it to slow down here.

Prediction: SLush should take this, but Attero's choice of random should allow him to steal a game of the Canadian Zerg. 2-1 in SLush's favor. However Fenix has a great style to sotp SLush and move him down to the losers brackets in two quick games.


FINAL BRACKET PREDICTION
Round of 64
SeleCT > exo_dus - 2-0
EG.Machine < EG.iNcontroL 2-1

Agh < Fenix - 2-0
Attero < SLush - 2-1

Round of 32
SeleCT > EG.iNcontroL - 2-0
Fenix > SLush - 2-0

Final Thought:: Can you say SeleCT vs. Fenix in the Round of 16? I know I sure can see it...



Group D
Root.QXC vs. Fnatic.Sen
Newsh vs. Fnatic.Xeris


jerimiahthebullfrog vs. Liquid`TLO
sincerelysleeping vs. Kiwikaki

Ok now it's like 4AM so the rest of these are going to be like one sentence breakdowns lol!

Root.QXC vs. Fnatic.Sen
I would not be surprised I was wrong on this one but I think QXC's creativity and harass focused play will be Sen's early introduction into the loser's bracket. 2-1 QXC

Newsh vs. Fnatic.Xeris
Newsh did beat Root.Bubba in the Round of 64, but Xeris always does very well in large LAN's. He's a damn good Protoss player and should be able to rout out Newsh for the quick 2-0 before getting run over by QXC 2-0.

jerimiahthebullfrong vs. Liquid`TLO
TLO 2-0, nuff' said.

Zelniq vs. Root.Kiwikaki
Kiwikaki says you need "Mah-wad-ers" to beat Protoss. Zerg does not have this secret unit only avaliable by picking "Terran" at the start of the game. 2-0 ROFLstomp for Kiwi, and a masterful series vs. TLO where I think he will barely edge TLO out, 2-1.



FINAL BRACKET PREDICTION
Round of 64
Root.QXC > Fnatic.Sen - 2-1
Newsh < Fnatic.Xeris - 2-0


jerimiahthebullfrog < Liquid`TLO - 2-0
Zelniq < Root.Kiwikaki - 2-0

Round of 32
Root.QXC > Fnatic.Xeris - 2-0
Liquid`TLO - 2-0 < Root.Kiwikaki - 2-1

Hope everyone enjoyed and as excited as I am for day 2! I'm off to bed now!