As explained in part one, the groups are played out in Korean "dual-tournament" style, a miniature double elimination bracket. Two wins mean advancement and two losses mean elimination, with no meaningless games.
At the beginning of Starcraft II, if you told people that two years into its run as an e-sport, that a foreigner would have a real shot at winning a world championship, most people would have laughed in your face. Koreans have always owned Starcraft, and the notion that the WORLD champion could be someone from a country outside the mecca of esports was farcical. Now, with the finals upon us, there is one foreigner with a complete disdain for old ideas who knows he can become world champion and take home the largest prize in Starcraft history.
Stephano's probably not the hero foreigners imagined they'd be cheering for at the beginning of Starcraft II. Not even a relationship with IdrA could really prepare them for a player who's been through a high profile contract row, a very public run in with the police, and a suspension by his own team. But altogether, it's become a large part of his appeal, alongside his prodigious StarCraft skill. Some people might hate his aloof attitude that's far from that of a model professional, but most others love him for his confidence and straight-forwardness, never pretending that glory is worth more than making lots of money.
Maybe giving a little plot twist before the big show, Stephano, after having a lackluster performance at ESWC in his home country of France, decided that he needed to focus a bit more for his next tournament at Lone Star Clash 2. When asked if he was staying with the rest of the players at the TeSPA house, having a good time with everyone else, he surprisingly said he wasn't. He would go on to win the tournament, beating Bomber in the finals and putting more money into his bank account. Stephano might not always be the most serious or focused pro, but you know that with $100,000 on the line, he will be at his best.
It always seems like when things are finally going well for Hero, something bad happens and it ends with him sadly tweeting something vague and melancholy. Since his championship win at Dreamhack Winter last year, Hero has experienced a mix of good and bad times in 2012. He made it to the Code S quarterfinals and semifinals, losing both times in romps to Squirtle and Rain respectively. He placed highly in a number of foreign tournaments, but wasn't able to win another title. With the emergence of TaeJa, who took on the role as the Liquid ace and won multiple titles, Hero got pushed to the wayside.
He's been on a poor run lately, and things only got worse when he was thrown into a first round match-up with Stephano. Ever since the NASL3 finals, HerO just hasn't been able to beat Stephano, whether it's online or in a live setting. Making matters worse, ZvP has tilted over to the Zerg's side since then, and Hero has struggled in what used to be his signature match-up. Becoming the world champion would give HerO his fairytale ending, but in a tough group with two great Zergs, and his nemesis Rain likely waiting in the Ro16, he will need to play the best he has in his life to earn it.
RorO, while being a very decent player in Brood War, is in a group with three huge fan favorites, and the vast majority of viewers wouldn't really care if he went 0 - 2 and straight out of the tournament. Sadly for them, Roro has shown Code S caliber play, and has looked improved with every game he plays. A one in a hundred mistake was all that kept him from making a deep run in Code S this season, and he is sneakily one of the favorites to win the entire tournament.
The thing you need to understand about RorO is his famous reputation from the Brood War days as a liquibet and fantasy league destroyer. Whenever people thought he would do poorly, he suddenly flipped a switch and played like a top class player. When people saw his good play and predicted him to win, he'd fall back into a slump. It's like everything he does is tuned to maximize the tears of the fans. Since he's flying under the radar right now in a group full of popular players, the outcome here seems inevitable.
Idra fans will scream bloody murder that this was David Kim's revenge for Idra bashing him and Blizzard for the last - well, ever since the game was released - but it's not all bad. How I see it, it's a no lose situation for arguably the most popular player in the foreign world. If he's eliminated, then it's no big deal. He got put into a group with an elephant, a Code S semi-finalist, and the best foreigner in the world, and wasn't able to make it out. Any player in the tournament would have a hard time qualifying out of this group. If he wins, then there will be a tidal wave of 'GRACK IS BACK!', and it won't even matter if he gets slaughtered in the Ro16. Idra making it out of this group will be a sign that he's still a top player when he's on his game, something that his fans have believed for years, and it will make up entirely for a poor 2012. This group is insanely difficult for Idra to get out of, but not impossible. He gets a lot of hate for not being as good as he was in 2011, but it's not like he isn't capable of taking the occasional game off top Koreans and foreigners.
All eyes on E
This is the group, along with Group H, that everyone will be tuning into see. Will Stephano start off the world championships looking like a contender, or will he look like the weak player that lost to Lucifron badly in the Stim to Win tournament and Mana at the ESWC? Can Hero swallow his nerves, get over the gut punch losses to Zergs in recent weeks in the GSL, and make it out against a player who has terrorized him in the past? Will Roro get out of this group and seriously piss off at least two fan bases in the process? And can Idra, the foreigner that at the beginning of Starcraft 2, most people thought would have the best chance of conquering the Koreans, finally come back to being one of the best foreigners in the world?
Stephano gave us a scare, but reaffirmed the universal belief in him after he took no prisoners at Lone Star and won convincingly. Hero, while extremely talented, still has problems closing out long games against Zerg, and Stephano isn't the best cure for his nightmares. Looking at the ZvZ between Roro and Idra, on paper you would have to give the edge to Roro, but the KeSPA star didn't look too hot in the match-up in his most recent GSL games. Idra getting out of this group would probably start some sort of World War 3 fight between fanboys, and while we'd love to see it, it's still a long shot. For the fans who are hoping to see a non-Korean be named the first SC2 world champion, the best bet is the controversial French Zerg from Evil Geniuses, and not the controversial American Zerg from Evil Geniuses.
Prediction
Initial Match 1: Stephano > HerO Initial Match 2: Roro > IdrA Winners Match: Stephano > RorO Losers Match: HerO > IdrA Final Match: Roro > HerO
It was no surprise to fans of the Korean scene that Curious made the final cut into the WCS grand finals. Playing one of the safest, no-frills Zerg styles out there, Curious has been solid enough to make it into the past six Code S tournaments. In fact, many would say he plays the recent hive-turtle style so well that he should be a title contender at any tournament... if not for the fact that he performs terribly under pressure. In low-stakes games in the lower rounds of tournaments, Curious looks like a world beater, but he starts to crack as he advances further, making errors and poor decisions that cost him dearly. For his six Code S appearances, he's never made it past the Ro16. Considering all that, Curious should easily make it out of this first round group. The real problems for him lie in the elimination stages where Curious will need to hold down his emotions and find his usual form.
One year ago, TitaN showed up at WCG 2011 and surprised everyone with a top-four finish. You could say he lived up to his potential and hype to some degree by becoming a regular on the tournament scene, and also by taking first place at the tough WCS Russia nationals. While that's all fine and dandy, the problem for TitaN, like it is for many foreigners at the WCS finals, is that it's just not enough to be one of the best players in your national, or even continental scenes. To succeed in Shanghai you have to be world-class (in a world where Koreans live), something TitaN hasn't proved himself to be yet. His showings in 2012 live tournaments besides WCS Russia have been disappointing, but online he's shown he can take on elite Europeans and steal games off Koreans with all-ins. WCS will be the test to see if TitaN has truly grown since one year ago.
MajOr is an endangered species in the StarCraft world: a good, North American Terran. Everyone in the NA scene is fond of pointing him out as a top player, and even Koreans have mentioned him in a positive light. However, while MajOr has dominated Latin American competition and done well in North American tournaments, he's yet to get a good result in a tournament on the international level. While his overall tournament placements haven't been great, individual victories such as his 3 - 2 win over online beast HyuN in TSL4 suggest that the final rankings don't always do him justice. If MajOr truly has better games to show or more skill to reveal, now would be a good time to do it.
MajOr and his associates confer on how bulls*** his group is. Photo: silverfire
It's always a headache when players share ID's, and even more of a headache when both of them are good, high-profile players. Like most of the leaders of the KeSPA transition to StarCraft II, CJ Entus' herO wasn't a star in Brood War or someone people expected to be at the head of the pack (a blow to elephant theorists). Regardless of expectations, herO quickly made a name for himself by tearing through the WCS tournaments in Korea and Asia on the back of excellent PvP and PvZ skills. With the indifferent form of Liquid`HerO at the moment, you could say that CJ_HerO is actually the better hero going into this tournament - quite an impressive achievement for a player who's only been playing StarCraft II full time for half a year. Depending on how their tournaments turn out, we might end up calling CJ_HerO plain old "herO," while the one from Liquid becomes the one who needs the distinction.
Too Cruel Koreans
Let's look at the two ways the groups could have turned out:
A) Koreans spread evenly around eight groups so more foreigners have a chance to make it through to the Ro16 in second place. High possibility all the Koreans get through, resulting in an all-Korean round of eight and beyond.
B) Some groups stacked with Koreans while others with none at all. A few foreigners fall to tough two-Korean groups, but overall the brackets work out so that there's at least a few non-Koreans in the later stages.
I could have lived with option B as a way of serving the greater good, IF Blizzard hadn't made it so that Nerchio, Scarlett, and Stephano are all in danger of dropping out in the Ro32 right now. Now, we might see fan favorites go out in the first round, AND end up with an all-Korean semi-final anyway. Alas, MajOr and TitaN, your sacrifice here may be for naught.
Prediction
Initial Match 1: Curious > TitaN Initial Match 2: herO > MajOr Winners Match: Curious > herO Losers Match: TitaN > MajOr Final Match: herO > TitaN
While there's no WCS equivalent to the mysterious central Asian player at every WCG, a tournament with the aspiration to be 'global' will inevitably have some participants who are not as well-known as the rest. It's also inevitable that a tournament with a group of death with have a group of not-death. Thus, group G.
Insur was one of the big surprises that came out of the WCS North American region. Beneath a thin upper crust, NA is known to have a lot of mid-tier depth, and it was impossible to predict who would be able to take the global final spots that were up for grabs. In the end, Insur managed to follow up his strong WCS USA performance with another good showing at WCS North America, placing tie-6th to ensure a trip to Shanghai.
Levin was a similar surprise from the South American region. The former WarCraft III pro edged out his more famous countrymen Tunico and Potiguar, as well as other South American players to take the third and final seed into the WCS Global finals.
We have to be honest: this is about as far as these two are likely to go. It's great that they made it here, and perhaps some will see it as a success of the WCS system. But as far as determining a world champion goes, neither of the two have proven they can be competitive at the international level.
North Americans have a group therapy session tactical meeting ahead of their inevitable beatdown tough group stage matches. Photo: Antoine
Lowely called us out for placing him 23rd of 32 in our pre-WCS Europe power rankings, the tournament he would eventually take fourth place in. It would make sense to re-evaluate our opinion of him and give him some more credit this time around. However, it would make even more sense to continue to downplay his ability and get yet even more cheap attention when he calls us out again, and just pretend we were right all along if he doesn't do well.
In all seriousness, Lowely's WCS Europe run was very impressive, with the Belarusian taking series wins over JonnyRecco, ThorZaIN, Happy, BabyKnight, and SortOf, while only losing to Stephano and Lucifron. In our defense, it was hard to tell he would do so well from his past tournament results (to those who predicted a strong Lowely performance, we tip our hipster hats to you). Lowely hasn't done so well in online tournaments thereafter, but perhaps he's the kind of player who does better when the stakes are higher. We're eager to see if he can bring a repeat performance.
Alongside his brother VortiX, Lucifron experienced an incredible rise to fame in a short period. Though he had a reputation for being a skilled Terran player, he barely attracted any mainstream attention until his breakout performance at the WCS Europe finals where he showed impressive play to earn a third place finish.
What made Lucifron an instant star, compared to his three group mates who also did well at WCS? Part of it must be that Lucifron just did better than the other three, as third place in Europe is better than third in the USA, South America, or even fourth in Europe. But half of it just seems to be dumb luck, as all of the circumstances worked out so that Lucifron got a chance to show himself at his very best in front of the largest audience possible. He faced Stephano, the most popular player in the world, in WCS Europe, the best produced tournament in the world, and Stephano just happened to want to play some seriously epic games. It was a perfect storm of circumstances.
Lucifron should take care now. He used a more established star to make a name for himself, and his opponents in the group will be quite eager to do the same to him.
Prediction:
Initial Match 1: Lowely > Insur Initial Match 2: Lucifron > Levin Winners Match: Lucifron > Lowely Losers Match: Insur > Levin Final Match: Lowely > Insur
Back in April, Scarlett shocked the world by coming out of seemingly nowhere to defeat TeriusPrime and Demuslim at IPL4. After that strong debut where she even gave Oz a run for his money, Scarlett has continued to improve drastically, and is now the undisputed best North American player with tournament wins at both WCS Canada and WCS North America. Unlike many other North Americans, if Scarlett makes it to the bracket stage, she'll actually be favored over most Europeans and she even stands a fighting chance against the Koreans. She's beaten plenty of them online, and recently proved she could handle them in a live environment at MLG Dallas. Alas, this is a group of death, and favorites to win other groups face a very real chance of elimination. Like her first opponent mOOnGLaDe, Scarlett is a promising player who could have shone brightly this tournament, but may have her light snuffed out quickly instead.
mOOnGLaDe, the WCS Oceania champion, must be face-palming on the level of Idra at the sight of his group. He might be raking his memory, trying to think of something he might have done to gravely offend Blizzard.
A few weeks ago, mOOnGLaDe was not on anyone’s radar. After all, players from the SEA region seldom participate in international events, and it's hard to know their current shape, even of their best player by reputation. So no one could have predicted his impressive run at the MLG Fall Championship, where he took out both Huk and MC. As Grubby calls it, this is the “The Australia Effect”. The isolation provided from living on his own separate continent provides certain advantages for a player. On one hand, his playstyle lies hidden and unexposed to those who would want to research him. But on the other, he may not have access to the top tier practice partners or viable connections to the best servers. mOOnGLaDe's unique set of advantages and disadvantages, combined with his obvious skill, puts him in a unique position going into this tournament. Unfortunately, that's probably not going to be enough to see him through this group.
It was over a year ago when Nerchio and Stephano were both known as the two "pretty good", wonky European Zergs who preferred heavy Infestor player to the much more established Mutalisk styles. But in October of 2011, Stephano made his first breakthrough after winning IPL3; since then, he has not never looked back. Nerchio, was left to look on from the shadows of battle.net, apparently not interested in the fame and fortune Stephano was reaping in bushels. Nerchio took things at his own pace, and in July of 2012, he finally accomplished what many fans knew he was capable of, winning a major tournament in HomeStoryCup V. Since that victory, Nerchio has kept up his reputation as Europe's second best Zerg, showing that he is one of the only foreigners who is able to consistently take games off of Korean players. Now, it's time to look to the next frontier: overtaking Stephano.
GSL has taken to calling Creator the 'Hephaestoss,' named after the mythical god of the forge. It's very apt for the player who codified the the colossus-double forge in PvT, but even without much Terran competition at the WCS finals, it's a fitting nickname. Alongside his outstanding defense, Creator's greatest strength might be his ability to temper, harden and hone some of the most efficient and widely copied builds Protoss has. The reason infestors and brood lords aren't as big a problem for Creator is because he is extremely good at killing Zergs before they get there. Creator's arsenal of three-base, pre-hive timing attacks are some of the best out there, whether he goes for one based on immortals and blink stalkers, colossi, or chargelots and archons.
Creator did show some weakness at WCS Asia when he was goaded into playing longer PvZs, where his finesse and decision making were not always optimal. If his opponents can convince him to play longer games or hold out against his timing attacks, they do have a chance. However, Creator's execution is excellent, and merely knowing his builds, strengths, and weaknesses won't mean anything to the three foreign Zergs if they can't execute on his level.
Acer Rivalry
Even though this group is very stacked with brilliant players, at the end of the day, Creator should be the favorite of the group. Perceived PvZ imbalance irregardless, he is the Korean champion. Just think on that for a second, the KOREAN champion. And mOOnGlade, while showing great results lately, is not nearly as consistent or proven as other players in this group. So it seems as if the second advancing spot will come down to a team-kill between the twin Zergs (though, you hardly need to make a race distinction for this team) from Acer.
So, how to decide between the two? Well, in the recent, not much publicized RSL tournament, the two teammates met in combat in the winners bracket semifinals and Scarlett took the win in a 3-1 victory. Not only that, Scarlett then proceeded to stomp on another Zerg in Vortix, proving that first victory was no fluke and that she may possess an understanding of ZvZ no other foreigner has yet to grasp. Oh, and she was undefeated in ZvZ at WCS North America and Canada, for what that's worth. We're going to call for Scarlett to make it through.
Prediction
Initial Match 1: Scarlett > mOOnGLaDe Initial Match 2: Creator > Nerchio Winners Match: Creator > Scarlett Losers Match: Nerchio > mOOnGLaDe Final Match: Scarlett > Nerchio
These previews are always so impressive, I can't help but think you're doing yourself a disservice by putting them out so late. We're very close to the opening ceremony and this will skip a lot of eyes because of it. But then, it might be a matter of finishing the articles in the first place. Thanks in any case.
At the beginning of Starcraft II, if you told people that two years into its run as an e-sport, that a foreigner would have a real shot at winning a world championship, most people would have laughed in your face.
I'm going to have to disagree with you here. I have followed this scene since GSL open season 1 and the Korean superiority in SC2 was rejected by many and disputed by most, until the turning point, MLG Anaheim 2011.
After MLG Anaheim 2011 the popular opinion changed from "Koreans aren't really better than foreigners" to "Koreans are better, but they are boring".
And fun fact: LoL scene went through the exact same thing some weeks ago. As a longtime SC2 fan it was hilarious to watch the same thing happen twice. Western team hype -> Brutal results -> "Asians are boring and I'm not watching anymore"
At the beginning of Starcraft II, if you told people that two years into its run as an e-sport, that a foreigner would have a real shot at winning a world championship, most people would have laughed in your face.
I'm going to have to disagree with you here. I have followed this scene since GSL open season 1 and the Korean superiority in SC2 was rejected by many and disputed by most, until the turning point, MLG Anaheim 2011.
After MLG Anaheim 2011 the popular opinion changed from "Koreans aren't really better than foreigners" to "Koreans are better, but they are boring".
well, I'd say Columbus was the harsh reality check, and Anaheim was the point of no return
On November 17 2012 01:29 tomaszot wrote: I agree with Pres1990. Nerchio is obviously one of the best foreigners and will be able to knock down anyone in this tournament!
Well Scarlett did beat Nerchio recently in ritmix so I think that is an important factor in this, obviously is it very hard to call this group. I also think there is a real chance that Creator does´nt make it out of this group. Moonglade defeated Huk and MC recently, Nerchio have crushed protoss players of all calibers for some time now and Scarlett is obviously also very strong ZvP.
Creator better bring his A-game otherwise he will have a very short tournament.
For the sake of as much skill as possible in the next round, I hope your predictions turn out to be correct. Agree with every single prediction this time and the next round of the WCS should be represented properly by an outcome like this.
I would be so, so happy if Idra could miraculously make it out of his group and show some stellar play. I just want to see the guy that got me into professional Starcraft be at the top of his game again.
I think if you mention the RSL, you also have to say as well, that all 9 games (against Nerchio and Vortix) were played on NA and we all know, that server choice can produce results as Adelscott 2-0 MVP. Also the word "stomp" in context with a 3-2 win with all games on home server seems heavily misplaced. I have faith, that Nerchio can even things out here. Also with recent happenings in the Code-A-qualifier, I think one of Titan/Major has a decent chance to advance in group F. Otherwise I agree on pretty much all of the prediction.
Whether it's IEM, WCG or WCS, TL's official predictions never have mOOnGLaDe advancing. Well, he's going to prove you wrong yet again, and he's going to do it in the hardest group of the tournament.
Just a quick fact that I know 100% of people here dont know, but it is still worth mentioning.
Levin is actually REALLY good, and get this: he`s almost 31 years old and he`s a full time doctor and barely plays SC2. He beat Tunico in WCS South America, who`s only 19 years old and despite him going to college, at that time he used to play almost full time SC2.
Levin has been playing online games for ages, and he was quite successful at Warcraft III, he managed to beat players like Madfrog and suho (top night elf player from China).
Im almost sure he will not go through his group, but he`s a legend around here. Of all WCS players qualified, he`s the only one who does not play SC2 profissionaly.
Anyway, I`m just saying these things because it`s really worth mentioning it. A nice curiosity
ps: On the link it says Levin has been engaged to his girlfriend for 15 years hahaha... I dont know how the hell you can delay the marriage so much hahaha
I just hope at least 1 Z in each group won't make it out. I've had enough of BL/Infestor recently (not hating on Z players, but that is boring as hell )
Group E: HerO, Stephano Group F: herO, Titan/Major Group G: Lucifron, any of the other 3 Group H: Creator, Scarlett
I always love the previews and agree with most of it.. I would've loved to see more about insur and/or levin's individual stories cuz it's always fun to learn more about unknowns who make it to stages like this. If nothing else I feel they deserve more than 'hey they did well in bad regions now they're totally screwed.'
Not that I can fault your predictions on the group, though the american in me is rooting for insur. :D
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
She's hyped because she's unequivically been the best starcraft 2 player in north america for the last 6 months or so...
Think of the Olympics, you usually cheer for your home country right? Not the country that's favored to win it all...
Allow us North Americans the fun in cheering for the home team, or do we all have to cheer for Stephano?
I'll never understand the negativity towards Scarlett...she's the best in NA, she's beaten pretty well all the notable players in Europe (excluding Stephano who she hasn't played), and beaten quite a few good Koreans in various events. In team games she fairly consistently beats code A caliber Koreans, and shows flashes of brilliance that gives us hope that she can compete and win at the very highest levels.
And she just all-killed team dignitas the other day which was pretty cool
I wouldnt put Nerchio behind Creator. Nerchio been bashing top Korean protosses real good. Other than blatant Creator praise, excellent write-up. Looking forward to group F. Will likely be a lot of fun matches.
Every single time TL says GLaDe won't get out of his group/produce good results and every single time he has proven them wrong and us Australians are left saying "I told you so". Then he doesn't compete internationally for a few months and it happens all over again. That being said, i think this is the 1 time that they may be right, it's unfortunate that this is the biggest SC2 tournament ever and he is in (In my opinion) the hardest group, but such is life.
However i will still be rooting for Andy and hopefully he pulls off the upset yet again.
On November 17 2012 02:11 maracuja123 wrote: Just a quick fact that I know 100% of people here dont know, but it is still worth mentioning.
Levin is actually REALLY good, and get this: he`s almost 31 years old and he`s a full time doctor and barely plays SC2. He beat Tunico in WCS South America, who`s only 19 years old and despite him going to college, at that time he used to play almost full time SC2.
Levin has been playing online games for ages, and he was quite successful at Warcraft III, he managed to beat players like Madfrog and suho (top night elf player from China).
Im almost sure he will not go through his group, but he`s a legend around here. Of all WCS players qualified, he`s the only one who does not play SC2 profissionaly.
Anyway, I`m just saying these things because it`s really worth mentioning it. A nice curiosity
ps: On the link it says Levin has been engaged to his girlfriend for 15 years hahaha... I dont know how the hell you can delay the marriage so much hahaha
That is some really interesting information, thanks! Guess I will cheer for Levin a lot more now already, just knowing things about people helps a lot.
On November 17 2012 02:11 maracuja123 wrote: Just a quick fact that I know 100% of people here dont know, but it is still worth mentioning.
Levin is actually REALLY good, and get this: he`s almost 31 years old and he`s a full time doctor and barely plays SC2. He beat Tunico in WCS South America, who`s only 19 years old and despite him going to college, at that time he used to play almost full time SC2.
Levin has been playing online games for ages, and he was quite successful at Warcraft III, he managed to beat players like Madfrog and suho (top night elf player from China).
Im almost sure he will not go through his group, but he`s a legend around here. Of all WCS players qualified, he`s the only one who does not play SC2 profissionaly.
Anyway, I`m just saying these things because it`s really worth mentioning it. A nice curiosity
ps: On the link it says Levin has been engaged to his girlfriend for 15 years hahaha... I dont know how the hell you can delay the marriage so much hahaha
That is freaking awesome, thanks for pointing this out. And also a huge LOL for the last part about the delayed marriage. He must be one smooth talking son-of-a-gun to keep her for that long without tying the knot!
On November 17 2012 02:11 maracuja123 wrote: Just a quick fact that I know 100% of people here dont know, but it is still worth mentioning.
Levin is actually REALLY good, and get this: he`s almost 31 years old and he`s a full time doctor and barely plays SC2. He beat Tunico in WCS South America, who`s only 19 years old and despite him going to college, at that time he used to play almost full time SC2.
Levin has been playing online games for ages, and he was quite successful at Warcraft III, he managed to beat players like Madfrog and suho (top night elf player from China).
Im almost sure he will not go through his group, but he`s a legend around here. Of all WCS players qualified, he`s the only one who does not play SC2 profissionaly.
Anyway, I`m just saying these things because it`s really worth mentioning it. A nice curiosity
ps: On the link it says Levin has been engaged to his girlfriend for 15 years hahaha... I dont know how the hell you can delay the marriage so much hahaha
Wow amazing story! Not your typical Pro-Gamer at all!
On November 17 2012 02:11 maracuja123 wrote: Just a quick fact that I know 100% of people here dont know, but it is still worth mentioning.
Levin is actually REALLY good, and get this: he`s almost 31 years old and he`s a full time doctor and barely plays SC2. He beat Tunico in WCS South America, who`s only 19 years old and despite him going to college, at that time he used to play almost full time SC2.
Levin has been playing online games for ages, and he was quite successful at Warcraft III, he managed to beat players like Madfrog and suho (top night elf player from China).
Im almost sure he will not go through his group, but he`s a legend around here. Of all WCS players qualified, he`s the only one who does not play SC2 profissionaly.
Anyway, I`m just saying these things because it`s really worth mentioning it. A nice curiosity
ps: On the link it says Levin has been engaged to his girlfriend for 15 years hahaha... I dont know how the hell you can delay the marriage so much hahaha
That IS interesting stuff. Adds some flavor to his story for sure.
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
2nd place RSL (4-3 to Leenock), AK Dignitas, IPL's world vs korea qualifier. She also beat both Bomber and HerO in the last MLG to tie with Suppy as the fourth highest placed non-korean. And all of that is just in the last month.
On November 17 2012 02:11 maracuja123 wrote: Just a quick fact that I know 100% of people here dont know, but it is still worth mentioning.
Levin is actually REALLY good, and get this: he`s almost 31 years old and he`s a full time doctor and barely plays SC2. He beat Tunico in WCS South America, who`s only 19 years old and despite him going to college, at that time he used to play almost full time SC2.
Levin has been playing online games for ages, and he was quite successful at Warcraft III, he managed to beat players like Madfrog and suho (top night elf player from China).
Im almost sure he will not go through his group, but he`s a legend around here. Of all WCS players qualified, he`s the only one who does not play SC2 profissionaly.
Anyway, I`m just saying these things because it`s really worth mentioning it. A nice curiosity
ps: On the link it says Levin has been engaged to his girlfriend for 15 years hahaha... I dont know how the hell you can delay the marriage so much hahaha
yeah I remember him in WC3. He had a very decent Nightelf vs Nightelf matchup and played in the WC3L (most important teamleague outside Korea) under the Jungleteam (jNg) along with Skyward etc
And its true he could ocassionally beat top players in Europe in a Nightelf vs Nightelf
Too bad hes too old to play serious now, hope another Brazilian star rises soon in the world of SC2
Stephano, HerO, Curious, TitaN, LucifroN, Insur, Creator, and Nerchio. Agreeing with all the top picks and disagreeing in all the 2nd picks. I'm a Bomber fan; I've learned to have faith
On November 17 2012 03:11 Madars wrote: "Winners Match: Stephano > RorO"
Did Stephano improve his ZvZ so much?
It's weird, while he has significantly improved his ZvZ, it still isn't the best in the world. Not by a long shot. Since ZvZ is in a way a clash of styles, there's many great ZvZers who might outright lose to stephano but some "not as good" players who could beat him in ZvZ.
Example: In WCS Europe, when he first improved his ZvZ a little, vortix, who then was a good ZvZer and even took out nerchio i think, couldn't lay a finger on Stephano, no matter what he did. That happened to a few other players afterwards as well. SortOf, who has a slow ZvZ style, couldn't touch him as well in ESWC. Though it isn't the best tournament to compare, neither korean zergs nor stephanos A game were present, at the same time johnnyrecco gave him a run for his money, while his zvz is worse than sortof's.
I think this translates to higher caliber players as well. Since Stephano hasn't played him before (not any kespa players in tournaments), and his ZvZ is pretty style dependant, while better since the last time we saw it vs koreans, I can't predict the winner.
On November 17 2012 03:19 philip697 wrote: TL shows that this starts in 7 hours 42 mins, which would make it 2am UK time... that doesn't seem very clever! Is that definitely right?
On November 17 2012 03:19 philip697 wrote: TL shows that this starts in 7 hours 42 mins, which would make it 2am UK time... that doesn't seem very clever! Is that definitely right?
Yes,,,,,,unfortunatly.
Oh ok Well I've been up about 30 hours as it is now, as I didn't go to sleep after night shift.... so I gue4ss I'd better get some sleep if I want to watch any of this!
Amazing read as usual, i am actually looking forward to Stephano playing as the foreigner hope from these groups... All hopes on Stephano and Grubby!!!
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
2nd place RSL (4-3 to Leenock), AK Dignitas, IPL's world vs korea qualifier. She also beat both Bomber and HerO in the last MLG to tie with Suppy as the fourth highest placed non-korean. And all of that is just in the last month.
She was the only player in RSL to play on her own server, the only players on Dignitas worth beating are JR and Bischu now, whoop-de-do she beat Catz and Suppy so far.
She went 2-2 at MLG. She lost to Daisy, who is essentially a European Protoss. Hero can't beat Zergs lately. The Bomber games were impressive though.
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
2nd place RSL (4-3 to Leenock), AK Dignitas, IPL's world vs korea qualifier. She also beat both Bomber and HerO in the last MLG to tie with Suppy as the fourth highest placed non-korean. And all of that is just in the last month
Actually, Suppy made it 1 round farther than Scarlett did, They didn't tie.
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
2nd place RSL (4-3 to Leenock), AK Dignitas, IPL's world vs korea qualifier. She also beat both Bomber and HerO in the last MLG to tie with Suppy as the fourth highest placed non-korean. And all of that is just in the last month
Actually, Suppy made it 1 round farther than Scarlett did, They didn't tie.
On November 17 2012 03:11 Madars wrote: "Winners Match: Stephano > RorO"
Did Stephano improve his ZvZ so much?
The only real weakness of his ZvZ : Mutas. He really stuggles not to take too much damage from it but then i ve never rly seen him loosing a macro game when he didnt go from too far
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
2nd place RSL (4-3 to Leenock), AK Dignitas, IPL's world vs korea qualifier. She also beat both Bomber and HerO in the last MLG to tie with Suppy as the fourth highest placed non-korean. And all of that is just in the last month.
She was the only player in RSL to play on her own server, the only players on Dignitas worth beating are JR and Bischu now, whoop-de-do she beat Catz and Suppy so far.
She went 2-2 at MLG. She lost to Daisy, who is essentially a European Protoss. Hero can't beat Zergs lately. The Bomber games were impressive though.
Daisy had a great tournament there and generally a pretty underrated player, you should read more into it man. I'm sure it won't happen again though lol
On November 17 2012 02:11 maracuja123 wrote: ps: On the link it says Levin has been engaged to his girlfriend for 15 years hahaha... I dont know how the hell you can delay the marriage so much hahaha
No matter how many times you mash the key to make it happen, you can still be supply blocked.
At the beginning of Starcraft II, if you told people that two years into its run as an e-sport, that a foreigner would have a real shot at winning a world championship, most people would have laughed in your face.
I'm going to have to disagree with you here. I have followed this scene since GSL open season 1 and the Korean superiority in SC2 was rejected by many and disputed by most, until the turning point, MLG Anaheim 2011.
After MLG Anaheim 2011 the popular opinion changed from "Koreans aren't really better than foreigners" to "Koreans are better, but they are boring".
well, I'd say Columbus was the harsh reality check, and Anaheim was the point of no return
It was something else to actually be in that crowd at Anaheim and witness firsthand the sort of crushed morale the crowd had when the Koreans not only beat their fan favorites but CRUSHED them.
Columbus I feel was more of a "oh so THESE are the Koreans we've heard so much about, they look really tough I can't wait for Anaheim so our guys can have another chance" only to reach Anaheim and see it dominated by players most of the crowd at that time had never heard of before.
I enjoyed it personally. It made me feel vindicated for following the GSL so closely and not buying into the hype surrounding the western scene at the time.
BTW, Roro's bit made me laugh my ass off. Well written for sure.
I don't know these days, but I remember being very impressed by Scarlett's debut. I was not getting the feeling of pure boring "pseudo-foreigner-over-defensive-i can only macro brainlessly and try to disguise it as conservative absorbtion-brood war style" over it at first glance.
On November 17 2012 05:56 oRacLeGosu wrote: I don't know these days, but I remember being very impressed by Scarlett's debut. I was not getting the feeling of pure boring "pseudo-foreigner-over-defensive-i can only macro brainlessly and try to disguise it as conservative absorbtion-brood war style" over it at first glance.
That's because that style hadn't truly proliferated to the extent it has 6 months later.
Now that's all ANY foreign zerg ever does most of the time, but back then it didn't carry the same kind of stigma.
Plus I feel like a lot of people get free passes on HOW they win when they are unknown rising stars, but when they become known players with fan followings they get added pressure on them to produce games with particular style and flair.
Really surprised by the lack of faith in Insur. The guy tears up LANs like Suppy but doesn't really get noticed for them. I like him over Lowely twice even.
On November 17 2012 02:11 maracuja123 wrote: Just a quick fact that I know 100% of people here dont know, but it is still worth mentioning.
Levin is actually REALLY good, and get this: he`s almost 31 years old and he`s a full time doctor and barely plays SC2. He beat Tunico in WCS South America, who`s only 19 years old and despite him going to college, at that time he used to play almost full time SC2.
Levin has been playing online games for ages, and he was quite successful at Warcraft III, he managed to beat players like Madfrog and suho (top night elf player from China).
Im almost sure he will not go through his group, but he`s a legend around here. Of all WCS players qualified, he`s the only one who does not play SC2 profissionaly.
Anyway, I`m just saying these things because it`s really worth mentioning it. A nice curiosity
ps: On the link it says Levin has been engaged to his girlfriend for 15 years hahaha... I dont know how the hell you can delay the marriage so much hahaha
i actually remember levin from wc3, didnt know he was 31 and a full time doctor haha, thx for the info, nice to know these fun facts
On November 17 2012 05:56 oRacLeGosu wrote: I don't know these days, but I remember being very impressed by Scarlett's debut. I was not getting the feeling of pure boring "pseudo-foreigner-over-defensive-i can only macro brainlessly and try to disguise it as conservative absorbtion-brood war style" over it at first glance.
That's because that style hadn't truly proliferated to the extent it has 6 months later.
Now that's all ANY foreign zerg ever does most of the time, but back then it didn't carry the same kind of stigma.
Plus I feel like a lot of people get free passes on HOW they win when they are unknown rising stars, but when they become known players with fan followings they get added pressure on them to produce games with particular style and flair.
Well..personally I feel I have seen this style since day 1 of Sc2, but I agree it has become even more like this with broodlord/infestor. This style has had a stigma ever since BW..a style for people who can't control the direction of games with agressive skill and game sense, trying to abuse impatience and somehow thinking it takes skill..then again, the style was also used by skilled players, but in a more counter-aggro-fun to watch manner. SC2 hasn't evolved enough where players can destroy this easily yet, but I look forward to the day you have to micro the crap out of your units even defensively to even have a chance against top tier players. It just bores the hell out of me to watch this style when it is not coupled with skill-based stuff..when even intel is not needed. The best players never use it because you almost always give away control to the other player by doing this straight forward..it's really a survival game for lesser players done on it's own.
I agree on the "HOW" they win thing..it is easy to get impressed by newcommers and make it more than it is.
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
2nd place RSL (4-3 to Leenock), AK Dignitas, IPL's world vs korea qualifier. She also beat both Bomber and HerO in the last MLG to tie with Suppy as the fourth highest placed non-korean. And all of that is just in the last month.
She was the only player in RSL to play on her own server, the only players on Dignitas worth beating are JR and Bischu now, whoop-de-do she beat Catz and Suppy so far.
She went 2-2 at MLG. She lost to Daisy, who is essentially a European Protoss. Hero can't beat Zergs lately. The Bomber games were impressive though.
So how does that line up against your statement that she hasn't done anything but beat NA players? She is significantly better than most if not all of the other NA players.
Predicitons seemed nice unitl i read. Nerchio < Scarlett. When Nerchio has a strong MU it´s ZvZ .He will go through Scarlett like a knife trough butter 100%.
On November 17 2012 02:13 Corsica wrote: I dont see how Scarlett can beat best foreign ZvZ player sry, last group should be Nerchio/Creator.
Scarlett has probably practiced with Nerchio alot way before this tournament.. They're teammates it will come down to who can meta game the other better and who can out play each other. You obviously haven't seen Scarlett's ZvZ in team leagues or even just 1v1 tournaments... Her ZvZ is actually pretty good especially if she can take out Code A koreans in that MU...
I would be so stoked to see idra get out of this group and have some awesome games, id love to see stephano vs idra, its every foreign zergs wet dream lol
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
lol clearly this guy didnt even read the preview, where the writer puts justification for this pick ( a recent win over Nerchio and Vortix, the two best European zergs outside of stephano). Scarletts ZvZ is top notch, anyone who cant see that is crazy.
I cant wait to watch Groups E and H, but they really need rank the groups instead of random draw. We have 2 champions in 1 group from 2 of the 3 major areas.
Sadly this tournament has to go a very specific way to hold my interest because of grouping. An all korean round of 8 would be a snoozer.
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
lol clearly this guy didnt even read the preview, where the writer puts justification for this pick ( a recent win over Nerchio and Vortix, the two best European zergs outside of stephano). Scarletts ZvZ is top notch, anyone who cant see that is crazy.
I cant wait to watch Groups E and H, but they really need rank the groups instead of random draw. We have 2 champions in 1 group from 2 of the 3 major areas.
Sadly this tournament has to go a very specific way to hold my interest because of grouping. An all korean round of 8 would be a snoozer.
There are only 7 Koreans in this whole thing. RorO, Curious, both herO and HerO, Creator, Rain and PartinG.
Scarlett and Nerchio are pretty damn close in skill, I think it's reasonable for the article to read the way it does. You could easily make the case either way. They both have 1 major tournament win, both have taken out some pretty great players over the past few months, but both lose to some players they probably shouldn't.
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
lol clearly this guy didnt even read the preview, where the writer puts justification for this pick ( a recent win over Nerchio and Vortix, the two best European zergs outside of stephano). Scarletts ZvZ is top notch, anyone who cant see that is crazy.
I cant wait to watch Groups E and H, but they really need rank the groups instead of random draw. We have 2 champions in 1 group from 2 of the 3 major areas.
Sadly this tournament has to go a very specific way to hold my interest because of grouping. An all korean round of 8 would be a snoozer.
Yeah, 2 foreigners are guaranteed in the RO8, B and G are all foreigner groups and their 1st and 2nd places play each other in RO16. If all goes well, we'll have two Spanish players in the Round of 8.
On November 17 2012 01:27 Dexington wrote: I will never understand this Scarlett hype. Outside of beating NA players she's hardly done anything. I expect her to go 0-2 out of the group.
lol clearly this guy didnt even read the preview, where the writer puts justification for this pick ( a recent win over Nerchio and Vortix, the two best European zergs outside of stephano). Scarletts ZvZ is top notch, anyone who cant see that is crazy.
I cant wait to watch Groups E and H, but they really need rank the groups instead of random draw. We have 2 champions in 1 group from 2 of the 3 major areas.
Sadly this tournament has to go a very specific way to hold my interest because of grouping. An all korean round of 8 would be a snoozer.
There are only 7 Koreans in this whole thing. RorO, Curious, both herO and HerO, Creator, Rain and PartinG.
Oh my bad, I thought the article mentioned a round of 8 all korean possibility.
I have the faith in HerO! not the kespa hero, but the liquid hero, even though the other hero will advance too... gah it is all just so confusing. Anyway I'm going with HerO/Stephano, Curious/CJhero, Insur/Lucifron, and Creator/Scarlett. Probably my only real upset pick is for Insur to advance over lowely.
I'm really curious as to how Fenix will do. Haven't seen him in forever. Last time we saw him he got silver in WCS south America, won wcg Peru and did okish in some weird steelseries thing. Now he has WCG and WCS right after each other against some really tough competition. GL Fenix!
Lucifron could be the surprise player of this tournament. He's been playing well recently, and he also has the advantage that basically noone will have practiced vT for this tournament. I'm not saying he's gonna go on a crazy run stomping Koreans left and right, but I think he could go further than expected.
Whatever happens I hope Nerchio doesn't make it out. Sorry to all the Nerchio fanboys out there but he's just an okay player, certainly undeserving of all the comparisons to Stephano, and a cocky whiner.
On November 17 2012 07:02 MooLen wrote: Predicitons seemed nice unitl i read. Nerchio < Scarlett. When Nerchio has a strong MU it´s ZvZ .He will go through Scarlett like a knife trough butter 100%.
In hindsight, apparently not! Scarlett goes 2-0 against Nerchio, and Group H goes precisely as predicted. Group H was a bit wild in general, though; I would not have been overly surprised to see Moonglade upset one or both of the Acer players, or for someone to upset Creator. Glad Scarlett made it out of groups, though
In the mean time...gotta admit, I was expecting Idra to 0-4 his way out of this tournament, not 4-0 his group. In hindsight I think I would still not have changed the prediction too much. (I'd probably change it to Stephano and Hero advancing, rather than Stephano and RorO, as apparently RorO's ZvZ is not his strongest matchup, but regardless Idra winning the group still has to be seen as an upset).
Group F, yeah, thought this might be a group to watch. Titan seems like a player who's absolutely terrifying when he's on-form, and then sometimes has silly losses to bad players. Guess he was on form last night as he won his double Korean group. MajOr, too, is a foreigner known for his Korean kills, and...didn't get one, but it was close (with two 1-2 matches).
EPT
EG.Stephano.RC vs. 
Liquid`HerO
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2012/worldfinals/stephanoinset.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2012/worldfinals/idrainset.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/flags/ru.png)
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/terrantlpdlight.png)
ROOTMajOr vs. ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2012/worldfinals/curiousinset.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2012/worldfinals/majorconference.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/flags/by.png)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2012/worldfinals/grouptherapy.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/flags/pl.png)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2012/worldfinals/scarlettinset.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2012/worldfinals/creatorinset.jpg)
)
