IdrA[Media]
It’s no secret that IdrA is the odds on favourite to win this tournament. After a ridiculously successful year in the foreigner scene, and 2 years of Korean training, he is in a prime position to take this tournament. With so much money on the line and his pride and reputation at stake, IdrA must be taking this tournament more seriously than any before and training his heart out. Perhaps I haven’t seen enough Idra replays, but he always strikes me as a foreign version of Skyhigh – plain standard macro Terran. In round one he comes up against Xiaozi and despite Xiaozi giving him a run for his money in 2009, I really don’t think he’s got much of a shot to take out such a solid contender.

ToT)XiaOzI(
Xiaozi has been around forever and is a veteran member of ToT. He had a pretty successful 2009, even managing to beat Idra in the JustinTV Invitational, but he never managed to walk away with a substantial cash prize. Stylistically he plays a rather micro oriented style; specifically he has excellent defiler usage. Xiaozi’s biggest chance to take out Idra is to try set Idra on tilt in Game 1 then ride the emotional rollercoaster to victory. That’s easier said than done. Idra can still play pretty well when he’s on tilt now, so Xiaozi’s going to need to muster everything he can to try and stand a chance.

Draco
Ah Draco, the Protoss that never practices. Draco has also been around the scene for a very long time. He is a part of an exclusive club of foreigners that have tried to make it as a Progamer in Korea (with Hite Sparkyz). He knows how to train when he needs to, and last TSL he showed us all that he’s still got it. Honestly, he didn’t perform to his level in 2009 but that’s no reason to write him off. Anyone with Korean experience is a dangerous competitor – and Draco is no exception. I’m not even going to bother trying to call the Draco vs Sen series, if both of them are in shape then it’s going to be an absolute delight to watch and that’s all I care about at the end of the day.

DuskBin.Sen
Sen has been one of the top non-Koreans since 2004 (except for a brief stint where he went inactive) and I am proud to say that I lost to him in the D ranks on PGT back in 2005. Sen is a scary opponent and is particularly good at managing large groups of units at once. Thus as you might expect he’s got a pretty sick macro oriented game, but equally he has enough skill to pull off a 2 hatch muta. Sen is looking in great shape recently, and should he beat Draco, has the potential to go very far in this tournament.

Liquid`NonY
Nony is one of the most talented gamers to ever come out of America. In early 2008 he tried to luck in Korea and did exceptionally well for the time he was there. He managed to befriend the eSTRO team, give Sangho some game winning advice and then place 2nd in his first ever Courage tournament. Nony refines his builds incredibly well, which is a by-product of his excellent preparation for matches. His play is very solid – and even gave Idra a little scare in the seeding match. Nony is such a monster, I really don’t like Tarson’s chances against him.

iG.Tarson
Tarson tends to fly under the radar mostly due to the success of his compatriots. It’s difficult to truly beak out when you have Draco, Paranoid, Raven and Suncow (lol) hogging all the spotlight. In 2009 he performed well, regularly making the Ro16 and Ro8 in tournaments. Tarson has started to receive some attention after his sick series with sziky in the third round of qualifiers (which he won 3-2). I don’t think the TSL is going to be the place where he gets to break out unfortunately, Nony is just too much of an opponent to handle.

Fenix
Fenix is one of the very few race pickers left in the competitive scene – he plays TvZ, TvP and PvT. Fenix did extraordinarily well in 2009 and picked up a bag of solid tournament finishes (including a 2nd place to Idra). He was one of the most consistent performers last year, and even won the WCG Pan American championship. Fenix vs Kolll is another matchup I can’t call – both are really talented players who are going to give us an explosive series, and I can’t wait to enjoy it.

mouz.Kolll
Kolll is the German wünderkid – he is one of the true naturals to play the game. Kolll plays a very Korean style, which isn’t surprising given that he trains against them regularly. He is well known for his Mutalisk micro and is one of the very few foreigners who can consistently beat Terrans with 2 hatch muta even when they know it is coming. Kolll had some pretty big moments in 2009 – particularly his 4th place at WCG (beating Idra in the process 2-0). Many people are expecting big things from him in the TSL.

BRAT_OK
The Razer TSL was the tournament which blasted Brat_OK into the spotlight. The lovable Russian Terran picked up many fans with his hilarious interviews and unique game play. Since then he has performed extremely well in clan wars and in other tournaments. Brat’s play tends to revolve around slightly unorthodox play – dropships, harassment, mech, fast vessels and whatnot. I would pick him as the favourite over Mondragon, and he certainly has the results from various clan wars to back this up. Nevertheless, the Brat_OK-Mondragon series should be amazing.

Mondragon
Mondragon is the face of non-Korean Broodwar. For many years he was considered the undisputed #1 in the scene. Indeed, he has taken games of Progamers in tournament situations (particularly his defeat of Zeus in the MMI). He has been successful in just about every tournament EXCEPT the TSL – and no doubt he’s looking to change that this season. His ZvT has always been considered a weak spot, in comparison to his ZvP and ZvZ but my scouts indicate that this is no longer the case. He has practiced ridiculously hard for the TSL and now his ZvT is up to par. I’m eager to see what he has to throw at Brat this season.

Terran
GosI[Terran] is about as close to a Korean as you’ll get for a non-Korean. Terran plays almost exclusively with Koreans (hence why he is GosI), he sleep at Korean hours so he can practice just against them, and as you might expect, he plays a very Korean style. He played a very impressive series against Infernal in the qualifiers, and I expect that to be the precursor to him doing great things in the TSL.

IefNaij
IefNaij is the reigning TSL champion; but since the last TSL he has not been as active. He does play, but he got sidetrack for quite some time thanks to DotA and “Real Life”. He has been practicing for the TSL – but the question is whether his inactivity has hurt him beyond repair. When in form, he is known for having hands down the best Reaver micro outside of Korea. In fact, last season he basically won where he made Reavers, and lost when he didn’t. Going up against Terran in the first round is going to be tough – and we’ll have to wait and see whether he’s practiced enough to compete with the big boys once again.

TT1 (Kabal)
TT1 used to be a hacker – there I said it. He got caught, served his time away from the scene, turned legit and now can be celebrated as one of the reformed hackers. TT1 has developed some real skill since his hacking days, and him defeating Strelok in the Qualifiers is real evidence of this. Indeed, him making the Ro16 was is probably the biggest upset so far. TT1 is known for having really good macro – and is particularly strong in PvT and PvP. We’ll have to wait and see whether TT1’s miracle run will continue or not.

White-Ra
White-Ra is everywhere in the foreigner scene. He’s a top three player for a long time now and has the tournament results to back that up. He is one of the favourites for the TSL – anything less than a top 4 spot is a surprise really. White-Ra is always mannered and is consistently nice – in fact he’s probably the nicest guy in all of foreign Starcraft. He’s good at all aspects of the game, but he really excels at timing, unit combination and micro. White-Ra had a monster 2009 and won many tournaments, and placed high in the ones he didn’t.

Ret
Ret is also one of the few players who has tried to make it in Korea. His experience there was not great, and that’s a real disappointment, but nevertheless he remains one of the greatest players of modern foreign Starcraft. His move to Korea made him switch from TvZ to ZvZ – and indeed he will be playing ZvZ against Castro in the TSL. He had a monster 2009 with many high points – including going 1-2 against Nada. Ret plays a drone hungry style but is also has sublime Mutalisk micro, indeed he is one of the few players to have Mutalisk micro to rival Kolll’s. One of the favourites for this TSL – but everyone wonders whether his ZvZ will be able to hold up.

Castro
Castro is probably best known for lagging and cheesing... this reputation isn’t entirely fair or accurate because he is actually quite a solid player. His sound trouncing of Mana 3-0 in the qualifiers is evidence of this. That and his numerous tournament placings throughout the year. Castro has beaten ret ZvZ before (3-1) and could actually cause an upset here. Last TSL he was disqualified for lag, here’s hoping his connection remains solid so we can have some great ZvZ games.