What would a TeamLiquid tournament preview be, without an overly contrived and campy series of themed analogies? We take our cue from the awe inspiring East Coast earthquake from a few days ago.

*Exhaustively researched through Wikipedia.

Pool A: Hurricanes - Saffir-Simpson Scale

NaNiwa, HuK, iNcontroL, Rain, CoCa

Coca: Category 3 + Thunderstorms
Unless you've followed the GSL closely (which can be tough considering its hours and price tag), you probably raised your eyebrows when CoCa was announced as one of the GSL-MLG exchange players. Sure, he's a Code-S Korean so he's probably pretty good, but what makes this guy special?

Though he can't inspire the dread of a category four hurricane or above, Coca is still powerful enough to warrant the boarding up of windows and evacuation from small residences. However, CoCa brings a very unique danger to the table as well.

While he is nondescript in ZvZ and ZvT, Coca brings an insanely dominating ZvP game to Raleigh. For a particularly brutal demonstration, check out his dismantling of Alicia during the July Code-S (http://www.gomtv.net/2011gslsponsors4/vod/65655). Now, consider the fact that three of his opponents are Protoss...

Hurricanes are usually unaccompanied by thunder and lightning, but rarely there comes along a hurricane that has electric qualities. In a town where every building is made of lacquered wood, Coca is a class three electro-hurricane.


Rain: Category 3

While Rain was better known by his Korean monicker of "cheese-king" in his early career, he was becoming quite a solid player in his own right during the summer of 2011. It looked like he was on course to become a regular mid-tier Code-S fixture, when his career took a rather bizarre turn.

Not only did Rain abruptly leave the TSL team and declare his interest in joining a non-Korean team, he was also disqualified from two GSL seasons after withdrawing from the Code-S group selection on a single day's notice (the details of this case make it difficult to determine who was to blame). This led him to join Fnatic MSI and move to the USA, where he has been for the last few months.

Though he showed that he was still a skilled player back at Anaheim, no storm can avoid losing its power when the special meteorological conditions are gone. Let's face it: The USA hasn't exactly been a good place to get good at SC2 for almost a year now. Rain is a category three hurricane, but it's as if he's relocated from the West Pacific to the Persian Gulf. Unless he goes back to Korea, he will run out of steam.


Huk: Category 4

HuK's been on an amazing upswing over the past few months, going from Code-B to top eight Code-S. And it's not like he's one of those players who lucks into the higher rounds once, never to be seen again. Hard work and solid play have brought HuK up to the level of the better Koreans. All things equal, I'd consider him a top five candidate to take this entire tournament.

However, we have to consider his schedule. That's Seoul - Anaheim – Helsinki – Anaheim – Seoul – Cologne – Seoul – Raleigh. A little less than two trips around the Earth's equator in three weeks. With such a brutal travel schedule, it's pretty miraculous that he's managed to progress through each round Code-S each time he was back in Korea, and not at all surprising that he got beat up at IEM and Assembly.

All hurricanes lose their force over distance. Even that category five terror, oGs.MC, is now a category four storm after one two many trips across oceans. While HuK's had plenty of time to build up strength in the Korean tropics, he's expended so much of it during his travels. Though he's still a force to be reckoned with, no one can say he's in pristine condition.


Naniwa: Category 2

Sorry Nani, but for better or for worse, you're still a foreigner! And while I make sure to include 'let Naniwa become a Korean' in my daily prayers (right after 'save Brood War'), a few weeks in Korea aren't enough. Book another top two foreigner finish for Naniwa, but he's still an underdog vs. this batch of Koreans.

Naniwa's akin to the hurricanes we see originating from the Atlantic ocean. Yes, those hurricanes devastate America's eastern seaboard and deserve their fearsome reputation. However, just like in Starcraft II, you have to go to the West Pacific to really see s*** go down. Hurricane Nani is unrivaled in the Atlantic, but he's yet to measure up to the typhoons from the east.


iNcontrol: Tropical Depression.

Though he is a mannered gentleman who would have taken home the MLG sportsmanship award at least a couple of times had that award existed, iNcontrol is simply no threat to anyone in his group. Even the randomness of PvP won't help him much here, as HuK and Naniwa are more than capable of making sure the matchup doesn't devolve into a simple coin-flip (at worst, a more complicated coin flip). At a combined 7-19 over the last two MLGs, there's just not much to say.

As long as everyone brings their umbrellas, they should be alright.



Pool B: Earthquakes - Richter scale

IdrA, SjoW, HayprO, Machine, Bomber

Idra: 6.8 magnitude

So apparently the Richter scale is base-10 logarithmic, meaning that a 6.0 is ten times more powerful than a 5.0 or something like that. I probably used the word "powerful" wrong, too, by some scientific definition. Anyway, f*** that, I'm gonna pretend it's a linear scale.

Wikipedia says 7.0-7.9 is "major," and "Can cause serious damage over larger areas." While the Idra of the past certainly lived up to that definition, he has fallen a long way over the course of 2011. At the same time, he will occasionally show us glimpses of the beast he can be when he's on his game with his overwhelming macro and total control of the game.

Idra's always on the verge of being awesome, but ends up disappointing more often than not. Honestly, I'm already looking past this tournament. With a return to Korea in the near future, I'm more excited for what he's gonna be like in three months.


Sjow: 6.7 magnitude

Tempted as I was to put Sjow ahead of Idra, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Their recent results have been similarly average as of late, but Idra won their latest head to head. Also, only Swedes will bother me about putting Idra ahead of Sjow, and they're not nearly as annoying as my fellow, proud Americans.

SjoW is to Starcraft II as earthquakes are to a little cottage in Yokohama. He's a constant danger, and strikes with great regularity. But at the same time, because he is always expected, we are jaded to his threat and he has become just another fact of life.

Whatever major tournament you go to, SjoW is there, winning games. But at the same time, no one seems to get excited for him (besides aforementioned manner Swedes). Not surprisingly, the 'underdog' pick of the group.


Machine: 3.5 magnitude.

"Often felt, but rarely causes damage." 9-21 over the last two MLGs. The description seems pretty apt. Unfortunately for Machine, his recent MLG performances have been treated like the recent East coast earthquake: widely talked about, but not for its destructiveness.

Oh s***, I just remembered I'm going to be attending the event live. In case I encounter Machine or iNcontrol there, I plan to wave print-outs of their recent TLPD stats around while screaming "THE STATS DON'T LIE!" as they proceed to bench press me into the nearest dumpster.


HayprO: 4.1 magnitude

“Significant damage unlikely.” That about sums it up for HayprO, who's just slightly ahead of Machine over the last two MLGs with a combined record of 11-17. He's pretty similar to Machine in a lot of aspects, being ever present in MLG, but leaving no lasting impact. The story's even a bit sadder for HayprO, as the wins he gets often end up being team kills.

I can't even think of a good analogy for that. Maybe if an earthquake in Southern California managed to open up a hole in the earth that swallowed up the entire San Jose Earthquake Football team, but only succeeded in knocking over a few vases otherwise.


Bomber:





Group C: There's not many natural disasters with well-known, easy to use scales of destruction. Let's just do this one plain.

SLush, SeleCT, TLO, DongRaeGu, Trickster

Slush:You know, I was just about ready to say that at Raleigh, Slush was finally gonna get the respect he deserves and be considered a top contender to take his group. He's been the feel good story of MLG for the last few months: the relatively unknown player who earned a pool seed and recognition from the fans through purely solid gameplay.

Then, MLG, GSL, and coL-MVP conspired to drop Select, DongRaeGu, and Trickster in this group. God, if you're out there, you're not really upholding your end of this “Karma” deal.

So #1 is out of reach for certain, #2 is a long shot, and even #3 will have to be hard fought for. And for all his horrible pool luck, he's probably still gonna fight his way to a high finish in the championship bracket.

Select: Maybe two absolutely awful MLGs were what Select needed to kick himself into gear. After the last embarrassment at Anaheim, Select answered by clinching first place in the NA Battle.net invitational. Later, at IEM, he would go blow for blow with MC in a hard fought battle. So in just a month, he's shed most of the disappointment and doubt, and reemerged as the top Terran player in North America.

With all this momentum behind him, Select is an enticing outsider's choice to *gasp*, beat a Korean and take second place, or *double gasp*, to beat TWO Koreans and take first place in his group.

TLO: With yet another month to recover from his health related period of inactivity, TLO should be better yet again than when we last saw him at MLG. If DeMuslim's example is anything to go by, TLO is still a few months off from completely recovering his old form... but he is definitely in wild-card territory now. #1, #2, and #3 are out of reach, but he could find himself with a surprisingly good championship bracket spot if things go his way.

DongRaeGu: For the guy who was supposed to earn his much deserved Code-S spot at Anaheim, DRG's fifth place finish was nothing less than a disappointment. He took out his frustrations by all killing the Prime.WE team last week.

It's the same goal and same stakes this time around: Take #1 or the entire thing was meaningless.

He should find the conditions more favorable. Without MMA or MVP in the pool stages, he is by far the leading candidate to win the entire tournament. Dangerous Koreans like Puma, HerO, and Noblesse challenge from below, but they must first break through the treacherous open bracket.

Trickster: My darkhorse pick for the entire tournament. No, he's not living up to the reputation he made for himself during the early stages of the game. No, he's not the most spectacular player either. However, Trickster remains an incredibly solid player, and it would be folly to think of him as one of the less notable Koreans. Like Ganzi, Rain, and Boxer showed the last time around, any Korean pro has a solid shot at winning the championship.



Group D: Tornadoes - Fujita Scale

KiWiKaKi, Ret, Sheth, mOoNan, NaDa

Kiwikaki: F2 Tornado

A surprisingly low key few months from the best NA based Protoss player, though poker may have attributed to that. MLG just hasn't been his game since the Koreans came in, but that's the same case for everybody.


Ret: F0 - F4 Tornado

The best foreign Zerg player in the world. Well, at least he was for a day when he won the Battle.net Invitational. The thing with Ret is, though, that you never know which Ret will show up to a tournament. Uninspired, non-chalant, mediocre Ret? Or the Ret who utilizes his prodigious talent to crush all opposition and prove that he's a tier above the other foreigners? It's hard to say what the EU Invitational will have done for them. It could have sated his appetite for destruction, or it could merely have aroused his hunger.


Moonan: Dorothy of Kansas

Whisked off by a Tornado to the wonderful land of Oz, Moonan met some fascinating new friends and went on a perilous adventure before finding himself back home in Kansas. Alas, no one would believe her story, for there was no evidence that she was there.

The Korea trip must have been quiet the experience for the players of FXO, and surely it helped them grow as players and as a team. However, in Moonan's case, I'm not sure I see much evidence of a trip to Korea. Maybe he has grown wiser inside, but we'd like to see some improved results as well...


...like Sheth, perhaps. It's hard to say how much (if any) of Sheth's recent good performances can be attributed to his experience in Korea, but you can't deny a nice upswing in Sheth's career following his trip. He must see something in it as well, as he is open to the idea of going back to train and compete again.


Nada: F5 Tornado

I'm not really sure how Nada ended up with Tornado Terran as one of his nicknames. I suspect that it was because back in 2000, casters were throwing whatever nicknames they could at progamers to see which ones would stick. While he could be like a glacier at times, slowly but surely erasing his opponents from the map, Nada also showed the ability to cause rapid destruction when needed. Nada was too versatile and perfect all-around to really be defined by just his Tornado style, but the title ended up sticking and following him to this day.

As the 2nd Bonjwa and the one and only Tornado Terran, can't give him anything else but F5.

South Atlantic residents, it’s our time to fly.

This year at live StarCraft 2 events, the competition hasn’t been limited to just the players. People who show up are competing against other regions for the title of best fans. Admittedly, the crowd at Dallas was lost among other issues, but the following events haven’t held back.

At Columbus, the reception shocked everybody. There had never been enough chairs for the StarCraft 2 fans at MLG, but at Columbus they weren’t even close. These Midwesterners blew everyone away with their passion, visibly moving MMA during his winner’s interview.

In Anaheim, SC2 was moved to the main stage, largely due to the efforts of those at Columbus. The West Coasters showed up in droves, untold masses filling up the venue. Although they weren’t as loud (don’t try to deny it, eyewitnesses will back me up), the players felt the impact – everyone mentioned how great the environment was.

Just last week, there was IEM Gamescom. Now I’m going to be honest: the crowd there didn’t impress me. Their responses were lukewarm, despite the best efforts of Carmac and TaKeSeN, who have managed great crowds before at events like the Battle.net Invitational in Poland.

It’s not just SC2 events that we’re competing against, either. The GSL has sent over NaDa, and you can bet your ass he’ll be comparing us to the legions of screaming fans he is used to facing at his many Brood War major events. This is his first competition in America, so we’re the ones charged with leaving a lasting impression.

So now it’s our turn. MLG is returning to the venue where it premiered StarCraft 2. Back then it was a fledgling competitive scene, and everybody was just trying to find their footing. MLG support of SC2 fans has come a long way since the humble accommodations at Raleigh a year ago, and it’s up to us to remind them exactly why and show them how we’re still not done yet.

The rest of the world might consider it a challenge to us, but in reality we'll be the ones challenging them. Let’s show them that we aren’t a bunch of rednecks who only get riled up for NASCAR. We might not have the benefit the Germans had in masterful MCs like Carmac, or TaKe, but we don’t need them. We might not have nearby population centers like Columbus or Anaheim did, but we don't need them either. Let's help them remember just who it is that sets the bar so high that it will be nigh impossible to reach.

I’ll be there, cheering my ass off to make sure people know exactly where to find the best crowds in the world. How about you?