HomeStory Cup might be all about laid-back fun at first, but by the final day, the focus will inevitably shift back to the tournament and the players competing to cash in on the $15,000 prize pool. When the tournament becomes the focal point, the main story at HomeStory Cup will center around a familiar question from 2011: Can the foreigners defend their home turf?

Unlike most notable tournaments in 2011, HomeStory Cup III protected itself from Korean invasion by making oGs.MC its sole Korean invitee. MC made it all the way to the final three in the tournament, and no one could accuse of him of being merely borrowed credibility. He pulled his weight on the entertainment side as well, fishing away at the poker table and even offering up his services as a caster.

That was six months ago in June of 2011. Since then, the tournament scene has changed considerably, and it seems that even a unique tournament like HomeStory Cup feels the need to open itself up to Korean participants. For their general lack of personality, the quality of play and prestige the Korean pros bring has made them a much desired commodity for anyone trying to hold a noteworthy tournament.

This time around, however, the arrival of the Koreans isn't cause for despair. The Koreans are sending a talented but noticeably shaky line-up, while the rest of the World has some of its best players ready to man the front lines. It could be a golden opportunity for the foreigners to win the first battle of the New Year, and go ahead a point in Starcraft II's most watched rivalry.



Wild Cards from Korea

Anything is possible with this line-up of Koreans, as it consists almost entirely of unpredictable players. EG's Puma was originally slated to go, but was forced to drop out due to the GSL Code A qualifiers. That's a shame, because I would pick Puma as the captain of any Korean invasion team due to his consistency in the discipline of traveling the world and taking foreigner money. With twelve Protoss players participating, I thought a top finish for him was all but assured (especially with his Polish kryptonite mouz.Mana not in attendance).

Two other usual suspects in oGsSK.MC and Liquid`HerO will lead the way for Korea, but their success is less assured for the same reason. PvP has been a matchup where foreigners have created the most upsets, and HerO and MC have been victims in the past. Also, the two Protoss' playing out of Incheon are prone to a considerable amount of inconsistency. It's almost guaranteed that MC will win at least one series against a top player so convincingly that shouts of "MC IS BACK!!!!" will flood the forums, only to be silenced by an immensely disappointing loss soon after. The same applies to HerO, although he can't really be "back" since he never really established himself as a consistent player in the first place. Every Protoss fan knows that they should enjoy HerO's spectacular play in the moment, but not count on it in every single game.

As long as we're talking about Protoss wild cards, let's look at JYP. HerO and Puma's good friend was EG's year end acquisition, who was given a warm welcoming present in a trip to Germany (yeah, it's in Krefeld... but at least it's not Hanover, ugh). It's not surprising that someone who talks strategy with HerO regularly and helped pioneer warp-prism style in Korea alongside is good at PvZ. On the other hand, it's perplexing that someone who practices with Puma is the butt of jokes referring to him as the worst PvT in the world. 0 – 11 PvT in the GSL speaks for itself, though he's obviously not that bad. If the upper boundary of success in a match-up is around 70% with a large sample size, then I'm willing to posit that at worst JYP is around a 30% vs Terran player (still pretty goddamn bad). Fortunately for JYP, Terran has the smallest representation in this tournament – but meeting ThorZaIN or even a recently resurgent Naama will probably spell his end.

Another factor is that this will be his second overseas tournament after IEM Guangzhou in October, where he disappointed by showing some nervous performances. All the credit in the world to DIMAGA for defeating him there, but JYP didn't look anywhere near the same guy who had taken down DRG a month back (he didn't seem to mind the loss though, as his you can see from his twitter profile). In the end, though, he's still a Code S player, which carries an enormous amount of weight. If the guy's not shaking on the GSL stage, I don't expect him to have foreign tournament jitters the second time around. He could be the surprise player to carry the Korean contingent.

Startale's Sound and a teamless viOLet are in the mix as well. Sound is a practical unknown who did well to make it through the qualifiers, but for the most part we have no idea how he is. Though he hasn't made an impact on the Korean scene, he's still a Terran on a Korean pro-team, which carries some weight by itself. And while he will be unfamiliar with the play-styles of many of his opponents, he will at least have the advantage of having that same factor apply to himself. As for viOLet, we're on the cusp of appropriating him as a foreigner alongside his other USA-residing countrymen Rain and Artist.

Finally, we have our craziest wild card Korean in MarineKingPrime, a man who specializes in not winning tournaments and is a top player nonetheless. Capable of dropping what seems like a regular macro build and declaring "I'M ALL-IN!" at any moment he wishes, his play style is as unpredictable as his tournament performances. In the GSL, he fits into any spot between Code A and the Code S finals without a hitch, capable of winning and losing with the rest of 'em. Interestingly enough, he's never been through a period where he's been legitimately "bad" as we can say for other notable GSL finalist MC. MKP is always average at worst, but the height of his performance is highly variable. Another thing to consider with MKP is that he has always underperformed outside of Korea. One would think that a GSL finalist could do better, but top four against a surprisingly shallow ESWC field was the best he could manage. Not only that, but he's been a victim of top tier foreigners as well. Stephano knocked him out of ESWC, HuK dropped him from MLG Orlando, and Kas eliminated him from WCG 2011. So despite being one of the biggest names at the tournament, it's tough to say he's one of the leading candidates to win the championship.


Europe: Narrowing the Gap

Do I dare say this Korean side looks weak, with its inconsistent and unproven players? On the other hand, the foreigner roster is looking strong, even with a few last minute drop-outs.

Stephano is the most notable participant, coming off of an impressive stay in Korea. He earned a spot in the Blizzard Cup after a great performance at iPL3, and he was unlucky to be eliminated from the GSL's final 2011 event after going 2-2 against some of the top competition in the world. After that, he took to streaming on the Korean ladder, where he showed his skill by defeating plenty of Code S class opponents. The thing that might have been most impressive was that his stream was highly popular among Koreans as well, simply on merit of his high level of play and unique play style. Though people debated whether he would make it or not in Code S, many Koreans were sad to see him go before he could answer that question.

Though their Korean-slaying achievements aren't nearly as grand, ThorZaIN and Ret are right up there as well. They might not have been standing at the award podium lately, but the quality of their play has been outstanding. Ret bulldozed through the other foreigners at DreamHack Winter, only to be stopped by eventual champion HerO in the semis. ThorZain is on a tear as well, with a top four finish at NASL S2 followed by a rampage through IPL TAC as he helped carry Mouz to the finals against a slew of Koreans.


...and everyone else

Alright, it's actually going to take a long time to go through twenty-something foreigners, so here's a quick run through. In the spirit of HomeStory Cup, this section will be a tad... irreverent. And sadly, I will skip some players. Inappropriate way to respond to my lack of appreciation: complaining in this thread. Appropriate way to respond to my lack of appreciation: Beat some goddamn Koreans.

Nerchio is still looking to make his first big impact at a live event after being talked up for months (though he did win at the surprise hit, Battle in Berlin). DreamHack Winter was disappointing for him, but he's still pointed out by many as one of the European players who's too good not to succeed eventually.

Naama should be the ultimate wild-card on the foreigner side. He made an amazing comeback and DreamHack Winter where he upset ThorZaIN, White-Ra, and Banjo after pretty much falling off the face of the Earth for 11 months. In the HSC4 EU qualifiers, he went through Nerchio, Adelscott, and DIMAGA to win first place. Even so, it's probably too early for him to win it all – I'm more interested in how he will improve after he trains in Korea.

Someone hire MoMan please, he's too funny to be teamless.

Goody, Socke, DarkForce and HasuObs: Good German players who make me wish more Americans were there for them to embarrass. They have marginal upset potential against Koreans (especially PvP), but their overall performances against them hasn't been so great.

On that note: KawaiiRice, Destiny, iNcontrol, and Attero are our non-IdrA NA representatives. Korea-World has evened up a bit, but NA-EU has potential to become the new one-sided relationship in the Starcraft II scene. I hope you guys can prove me wrong!

DIMAGA needs to be more consistent, but he'll always be a threat. Being Ukraine's sole representative in the competitive drinking category of HomeStory Cup might hurt his chances, however.

Grubby is Teflon, nothing the haters throw at him is gonna stick.

Hey, did you guys know NightEnd finished top four at DreamHack? He's pretty good. ClouD and BlinG are also relatively underrated, they're probably going to surprise a few people.

The Banjo has disappointed since MLG Providence, but we still haven't forgotten those performances against Nestea and MVP. One more time!


In Conclusion

Like I said, foreigner victory ahead! The Koreans are outnumbered, and quite possibly 'out-skilled.' But even if they go home without any money, and they have to suffer the horrible shame of defeat (those Korean netizens are going to let them have it), they're probably not going to go away totally empty handed.

If any tournament in the world can dispel the stereotype of the faceless, wordless, Korean prize-hunter, it's HomeStory Cup. No other tournament focuses on the personality of the players quite like HSC, and they'll be aware of the reputation those Korean pros bring. Though it could be tough to get them to cast games (Korean racial attribute: passive -50 in English confidence), we might see some of their genuine character yet. Not everyone has it in them to be an MC, but there are real personalities inside them that the world would love to get to know. If they can do that, and win over our hearts, then maybe that will be the true victory.