EPT
Tournament Preview
Super League 2016 S2
KR Summer Regionals
Bracket and schedules on Liquipedia
The summer season is about to start in Korea! Korea performed quite well during the spring season, with MVP Black winning the Spring Championship and TNL finishing in the top 4. While MVP Black is still the unstoppable force, the competition for the 2nd place is fiercer than ever with many old faces such as Lockdown, kinnu, and duckdeok returning as strong players with a fresh new team. The tournament will kick off on April 25th at 10:00 GMT (+00:00) with MVP Black vs RoMg, a face-off between the No.1 Pro-team and No.1 Amateur team in Korea.
The format of the tournament is same as last time: two groups will face off in a dual-tournament format, and the top two teams of each group will advance to the playoffs in a double elimination bracket. The games will be played on Monday and Wednesday every week at 19:00 KST, all Bo5 matches. Keep on reading for our preview of each team and what to expect from the group stages.
Article Outline
- Team Snapshots
- Group Stage Expectations
- Match Schedule
Team Abyss Star
The Lucky Underdog
An unknown team with a minimal history, the team managed to qualify mostly based on a lucky bracket. Little is known about the team other than couple members of the team are high-ranked players in the Korean ladder.
Roster
- FairyDragon
- GGaMang
- 정해빈
- I1on
- 오재
RoMg
Amateur King
With the title of “Best Amateur Team” in Korea, RoMg is an aggressive team composed of several top rankers of Korean ladder. They failed to participate in Super League during Spring Season due to facing MVP Black in the qualifiers, but they were able to make a strong impression to MVP’s players. While they lost one of their key players, Hooligan, they showed they are still a force to be reckoned with in the Grand Finals of Winner’s League, especially their Illidan composition and Good's solid ETC.
Roster
- mdk (former Mighty)
- ePrime
- FrankWhite
- SWoN
- Good
Key Points
- High preference towards Illidan comps.
- Aggressive style focused on team fights.
- Strength: Good’s ETC, strong coordination in skirmishes.
- Weakness: Weak draft diversity compared to dedicated pro-teams.
RAVE
Jack of All Trades
The 4th place finisher of last season, RAVE HotS went through a fair amount of changes, releasing some of their key players while bringing in former MVP Sky players JFeel and Gilduck. Though they still have some rough edges, they showed solid gameplay in their recent Bo5 against RoMg. Although they aren’t as aggressive as they once were, the addition of JFeel and Gilduck has brought in lot of flexibility and control to their style.
Roster
- Hamelin
- NMx31
- JFeel (former MVP Sky)
- Gilduck (former MVP Sky)
- Hidden
Key Points
- Team centered around Hamelin’s melee assassins and NMx31’s ranged assassin, while Gilduck provides the necessarily flexibility to their draft.
- Expect quirky talent builds from Gilduck.
- Strength: Gilduck’s carry potential and Gilduck’s flexibilty.
- Weakness: JFeel’s recent switch to the dedicated support position.
Mighty
Seeking Redemption
Mighty is back with a fresh roster after a disappointing run in the spring season. Although the team doesn’t look as threatening as they used to in the previous season, the frontline of Jocker and the backline of kong will be a force to be reckoned with for the other teams.
Roster
- JOCKER (former RAVE)
- DooSIM (former SupremeMixtape)
- minepang (former 1.4)
- Zzangman
- kong (former AsD)
Key Characteristics
- Jocker (former RAVE) and kong (former AsD) will be the two key players.
- Zzangman switched from warrior to a support position.
- Strengths: Veteran frontline and dps.
- Weakness: Lacks a strong “playmaker”, Zzangman has history of under-performing in big stage.
Tempest
The New Hope
The “Dark Horse” team composed of former MVP Black players, Lockdown and Hide, along with MRR’s duckdeok, dami and HongCoNo (aka RaverLord). All five players in the roster are extremely talented in their mechanical play, worthy of contesting even the top spot of the tournament. They are the No.1 team to lookout for in this tournament.
Roster
- Hide (former MVP Sky)
- Lockdown (former MVP Black)
- duckdeok (former MRR)
- HongCoNo (aka RaverLord. former MRR, Young Boss)
- Dami (former MRR, Young Boss)
Key Characteristics
- No dedicated support. One main warrior (duckdeok), four flex.
- Raw, hyper aggression (MRR-style) + adaptability (MVP)
- Expect weird drafts and hero picks.
- Lockdown & Hide are two brothers who used to be the founding members of MVP Black.
- Dami and HongCoNo are one of the most mechanically gifted duos of the scene, and have shown love for off-meta heroes such as Butcher, Nazeebo, Cho’Gall, Azmodan, etc.
- Strengths: Incredible pool of talented players.
- Weakness: Relatively small amount of time playing together as 5-man team.
DsA
Return of AsD
Team DsA is a team composed of former AsD players, kinnu, ttst and mongD. As one would expect from players who used to be at the top of the Asian scene just a year ago, they earned their ticket to Super League by defeating Team HERO in the qualifiers. The newcomers to the team, NaChoJin (former RAVE) and BDG (former Mighty), are both exceptionally talented and should synergize well with the team.
Roster
- kinnu (former AsD)
- ttsst (former AsD)
- mongD (former AsD)
- BDG (former Mighty)
- NaCHoJin (former RAVE)
Key Characteristics
- Strong veteran players all around.
- NaCHoJin coming from RAVE, BDG coming from Mighty.
- kinnu is known to be one of the most strategic players of the scene, and also a great team manager.
- ttst used to be one of the best warrior players of the scene, rivaling TNL's sCsC and MVP Black's sign.
- Strength: kinnu’s shotcalling and top-level warrior play of ttsst
- Weakness: Fresh new roster. Kinnu and ttsst might be out of form due to their long from the scene.
Team No Limit
Veteran Gatekeepers
TNL is coming back from quite a successful spring season, making it to the top 4 of the Spring World Championship despite many people’s doubts. As the longest running 5-man roster, it is going to be tough for many of these fresh new teams to break through the team synergy of TNL. While they had a rough start at the beginning of last season due a position switch between Noblesse and sCsC, expect them to kick things off at full force this time.
Roster
- Jaehyun
- CrazyMoving
- sCsC
- Noblesse
- Sniper
Key Characteristics
- CMoving, sCsC, Noblesse and Sniper are former SC2 pros.
- Oldest 5-man roster in Heroes competitive scene. (1+ years together)
- Like to iterate on well-known, traditional compositions.
- Strong comfort picks. Noblesse's Muradin, CMoving's Jaina, sCsC's Zeratul, Jaehyun's Malfurion, and Sniper's Zagara.
- Strengths: Known for their strong early rotations and merc control. Strong signature heroes and comfort picks.
- Weakness: One of the most predictable teams when it comes to drafting, particularly Noblesse’s warrior pool.
MVP Black
The Final Boss
The undisputed best team in the world right now, they have proven themselves by winning the spring season tournament. It often looked as if they were far ahead of the rest of the competition, not just in Korea but also in the world. With an unprecedented winning streak of 30+ games and counting, taking even a single game off MVP Black is considered a great accomplishment.
Roster
- Sake
- merryday
- KyoCha
- sign
- Rich
Key Characteristics
- Wide hero pool and strong drafting. Excels at absorbing and dismantling the meta.
- Each member of MVP Black is a world-class player in their respective role.
- Strengths: Top-class qualify on every aspect of the game, on both individual level and team level.
- Weakness: Potential for tournament fatigue as they will be flying back-and-forth between China and Korea every week in order to play in both Super League and Gold League.
Group Stage Expectations
Group A: MVP Black, RoMg, RAVE, Mighty
MVP Black is expected to come out of the group in 1st place without a doubt. As for 2nd place, it will be a close competition between RoMg and RAVE, with RAVE expected to be the stronger of the two based on their recent matchup in Winner’s League. While Mighty isn’t expected to fall too far behind these two, they have a history of underperforming in live tournaments. However, they should be more than capable of making it to the playoffs with the right preparation.
Match List:
- MVP Black vs RoMg - April 25th 10:00 GMT (+00:00)
- Mighty vs RAVE - May 2nd 10:00 GMT (+00:00)
Group B: TNL, Tempest, DsA, TAS
The “Group of Death” in this tournament. It is going to be a fierce battle between TNL, Tempest and DsA. These three teams are expected to be the Top 2-4 teams of the region currently, and it is hard to say how the three teams stack against each other. TNL has historically shown to perform well against raw aggression type of plays expected from Tempest, while DsA should have an edge against TNL when it comes to drafting. Tempest on the other hand should fair better against DsA as their superior individual mechanics is going to be something DsA’s backline will have a hard time dealing with.TAS being the the weakest team of the tournament, is expected to finish last in the group.
Match List:
- TNL. vs Tempest - April 27th 10:00 GMT (+00:00)
- DsA vs TAS - May 4th 10:00 GMT (+00:00)
Schedule
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/tz6UCR2.jpg)
Remember to follow us @LiquidHeroes to stay in the loop with live tournament coverage and news! We are dedicated to bringing you quality articles and the best Heroes of the Storm news coverage on the web!
