Crimson Starleague Invitational Season 3 - Page 4

Looks like two Protoss and two Zergs will be taking the stage in Group A. The favorites to come out of the group are definitely GoShox and LTY, as the two are roughly around the C+ and C level, respectively, while I believe Reuental and Iway are both teetering on the D+ margin. Save for crazy cheese or multiple mis-plays, I don't see how either Protosses won't be advancing out into the Round-of-32.

Prediction: sMi.ShoX and LTY

A candidate for the group of death, featuring 3 Protosses and 1 Terran, this is anyone's group. I'd have to say skill-wise, SpaNiarD is the best of them all, but LandOwner is of course, solid in his own right, and Arcania is capable of winning with his infamous cheese-style play. At the same time, icedraco can't be counted out either due to his insane APM and multitask ability, but the lack of polished mechanics (possibly from inactivity) might keep him from advancing out of the group. It should shape up to be a quality group, and save for a puncher's chance from Arcania, I don't see LandOwner and SpaNiarD not advancing from the group.

Prediction: LRM)SpaNiarD and LandOwner[eMg]

Maybe the actual group of death, we have three C+ (2Pac roughly around B-), and a C- player who can also be very creative. If the groups were round robin, I would have no idea who would win, but seeing as it's ODT format, it makes it a little easier. In the first game with TelecoM vs Hyeon, I think TelecoM will be taking the tourney, as Hyeon is out of practice and more used to PvP rather than TvP. For 2Pac vs Taehee[KaL], I would say Taehee is the favorite simply because he is probably the best Terran player in the entire tournament, and has very solid TvP shown in Maroon Starleague despite being eliminated. If it goes into TelecoM vs Taehee, I think Taehee will take it again, in a rather macro-intensive game on Luna. 2Pac vs Hyeon, again, I believe Hyeon is just too out of practice to beat someone at 2Pac's skill level, and when it comes to TelecoM vs 2Pac, I'm not 100%, but my instincts are saying that TelecoM will take the victory in some way, shape, or form, but 2Pac has taken note that the way to win PvPs are Dark Templars...

Prediction: Taehee[KaL] and TelecoM

This group is rather reminiscent of a classic D-Ranks Individual Tournament before the strict cutoff came about, except now the players have all gotten better and are roughly in the C-/C skill level. We have two players from DeSPA in Squishy and art_of_turtle, and a SunKhan player in DsT-Napoleon. Right away, I see DsT-Napoleon advancing from the group with solid play, as I believe that he is better skill-wise than the other 3 players, but one can never be too sure. hp.Shell has been practicing just for this tournament, art_of_turtle has been playing more and more as of late, and Squishy is always capable of taking games with his cheese-centered style. It's hard to pick a player, but based off of personally knowing the player better, I would say art_of_turtle ends up advancing out of group alongside the American Terran player.

Prediction: DsT-Napoleon and art_of_turtle

Is this the TAKK in-house tourney #2? With 3 TAKK players, feels like an in-house tourney we used to do back in the day, plus endy. endy will be taking the first spot easily due to the margin in skill level. Then comes greenelve, chrisolo, or Stardom. Although greenelve has an underrated (and sometimes underestimated) early games, he seems to unfortunately falter out in the mid to late game despite an early advantage. chrisolo and Stardom should be the two fighting for the second spot to play, and although Stardom has probably been playing more, chrisolo holds some cards in his hands with the fact that he is solid in his own right and is playing PvT, a matchup generally favored for Protoss. I see chrisolo taking the second spot and moving on into the Ro32 with endy.

Prediction: endy and chrisolo

Unfortunately, there's two players I've seldom watched play, if at all, in Demurity and BigFan. I believe the last time I saw BigFan "play" is in his most recent Battle Report that you guys can read here. However, assuming that Demurity is around the C- range, I think sB.Birdie, despite his claims of ZvT being D-, should be able to beat Trozz in anticipation of the Hydra ZvZ and take out whatever Terran wins between Demurity and BigFan. Unfortunately for the two Terrans, I think Trozz ends up being too good for both players and will end up taking the remaining games and advances into the Ro32.

Prediction: sB.Birdie and Trozz

Poor Passafist... He can just never catch a break. Winless in DRTL, in his first invitation to Crimson, he gets pitted with a Maroon Starleague semifinalist, a former Crimson finalist, and a C-ranks league mainstay. He just can't catch a break. If Lannister has really been out of practice that he's been saying he is, I believe widowkiller_ and MVP will easily cruise into advancing into the Ro16 with no obstacles other than each other in the Winner's Game.

Prediction: MVP and widowkiller_

Almost cursed with an all-Terran group, we were blessed to receive Favian into the group as viewers. However, the Terrans in this group can't be happy at all, as Favian is rather solid with his Zerg, despite being an offrace and should look to practice with solid Terran and Zerg practice partners in Bizzy[PaiN] and widowkiller_. I see Favian advancing from the group, although I wouldn't be surprised if he's the second player to advance. After all, DarkNetHunter is finally playing again, and we're likely to see him showcase his solid all-around play and although he's playing against two rapidly-improving Terrans in pebble444 and sB.Minscandboo, I don't think either of them has what it takes to beat someone at the level of DarkNetHunter.

Prediction: DarkNetHunter and Favian[PaiN]

We have two interesting returning players of foreign BW in the beloved EleGant[AoV] and the 'possibly' notorious sGs.BaBo. Regardless of their background and reception in Teamliquid, both are players seem to be the favorites of the group, with a C/C+ range as compared to floladriblere, who has been inactive and sits around D/D+ while Sero's offraces are always rather terrible (how many times can I emphasize that he lost a 20 minute PvT because he didn't research Dragoon range?). Should look to see EleGant[AoV] and sGs.BaBo advance with no problem with Sero fails to execute a 4pool properly.

Prediction: EleGant[AoV] and sGs.BaBo

Although BisuDagger is finally playing in a league, I don't think he'll be able to channel his inner-Bisu a pull off any upsets against the two favorites in Artanis[xp] and RulzBoooM. I believe molotow will be able to pose some type of threat to both players, as I don't know much about his playstyle, but maybe with preparation, should be able to put up a fight. Interesting note is that Artanis and RulzBoooM are probably the best two players to originally have played in DRTL, with both players having made it to the Round-of-16 in the two previous Crimson installments.

Prediction: RulzBoooM and Artanis[xp]

This group is rather hard to predict as well, with three players probably around the same skill level in C-/D+ or so. Between Lmaster vs Rlentless, I think Lmaster will be able to take the game, as even though both players have been rather inactive due to school and studies, Lmaster has probably the broader knowledge of the matchup and will be able to take advantage of the matchup favoring Protoss. Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of info on Ender[eMg], other than he plays for East Manner Gaming, and that should say that he's a strong player. I'm gonna have to stick with the two players I know best though, and say Lmaster and Rlentless will be advancing into the next round.

Prediction: Lmaster and Rlentless

And last but not least, our last qualifier group will feature, in my opinion, one of the most anticipated players to play in the tournament... YuMe is finally playing. After 3 invites, YuMe finally accepts and comes to play in a rather stacked and challenging group posing a threat in each player. We have Mewka, who is probably the best player, mechanics-wise. Qikz, one of the fastest improving players I've seen, and dazed, an incredibly creative Zerg player that was arguably the best Zerg player in DRTL after Artanis. I think YuMe, despite the challenges, will be able to put up a fight and take a game off of one of these players, but in the end, I believe Mewka and dazed will be able to edge out in the games and move on into the Ro32.

Prediction: Mewka[AoV] and dazed