by: Fionn

Games at 02:30 GMT (+00:00)
Games played in Wings of Liberty.

5. MaruPrime

A little under a year ago, three young standouts broke into the GSL. Life, Creator and Maru were the prodigies in each of the three races, all showing tremendous ability at under 15 years of age and looking like the players who would lead the next generation of StarCraft progamers. Just like in traditional sports, where people start hyping up any kid who shows incredible talent for his or her age, the trio received considerable hype as potential future champions. For Life and Creator, they've already grown into this potential. Life is a multiple time GSL champion and has crushed foreign tournaments around the globe. Creator, while not as successful in the GSL, won WCS Korea and came close to taking the entire WCS tournament itself before losing to Parting in a PvP finals.

Maru? Well, you can't say he's a bust, but he is lagging behind his two child genius peers. Studying under MarineKing, Maru has shown brilliant micro and early game strategies, but his best accomplishment is still a Code S Ro16 performance that occurred months ago. He's still a player that you can't look over when you're placed against him, but isn't the type of player that you are most scared to go against in an Up and Down group. The biggest marks against him heading into this group is how much Heart of the Swarm he's been playing, as he was near the top of the Grandmaster rankings during the beta period.

If Maru can make it out of this group, he could be one of players to benefit the most from the switch to Heart of the Swarm. He is one step away from going from one of the lower level Code S players to being an actual threat to get into the knockout rounds, but he still has one more night of Wings before he can put it down forever.

4. LG-IM_NesTea

Speaking about players who might get an upgrade with the new expansion pack rolling in, you have the former God of Zerg, LG-IM's Nestea. The oldest progamer in the GSL by a wide, ever-growing margin, Nestea has watched the people around his age retire, join the army, go into coaching, start commentating, or move into other aspects of e-sports. Nestea has held strong, focusing solely on his career as a player. As one of the earliest innovators of Zerg, Nestea's second chance at being a champion might come in the form of Heart of the Swarm, putting him on even footing with the rest of GSL. New units, maps, and strategies can only be a good thing for Nestea, giving him a chance to get a leg up on the competition once again with new tricks and strategies.

The caveat to all of this is that he will first have to qualify for Code S in WoL, going up against four tough opponents that could prove too much for the former leader of Zerg. Most Zergs would have a mile wide grin on their face if they learned their group contained three Terrans, but not Nestea, holding slightly above a 50% winning percentage in the match-up. With only three wins in his last ten games against Terran, it's going to be a tall order for him to take out Maru, Keen and Fantasy to make it into the next round.

The biggest game of the group will be between him and Hero. If he can steal one or two games against his Terran opponents, he can then lean on his recently on-fire ZvP (9 - 1 in last ten games). Even with his current run against Protoss, Hero won't be the easiest opponent, the Liquid Protoss ace having always been known for his stellar play against Zerg. It would be nice for Nestea to prove his doubters and critics wrong for what seems like the hundredth time in his career, but his shaky record against Terran makes it hard to put much faith in him. Win or lose, this will be the last time we see Nestea playing Wings of Liberty, so it will be a night to remember.


3. SKT_Fantasy

Maybe I am giving too much credit to Brood War Fantasy, but I still think Starcraft 2 Fantasy can be one of the biggest contenders in this group. With Maru already putting in most of his effort into Heart of the Swarm and Nestea's ZvT being shaky at best, Fantasy has a chance to do well in his group. His recent results haven't been good, and he's currently on an eight game losing streak in Proleague. He was able to beat Zenio in the first round of Code A by a 2 - 0 score, but this isn't January 2011 and beating Zenio won't make anyone think you're a Code S caliber player.

Dropping in the second stage of Code A to Samsung's Shine, Fantasy needs a big night in the Up and Downs to meet his rival and close friend Flash in Code S. Everything about Fantasy would make you believe that he would be a great player in SC2, but his skills simply haven't transitioned well from one game to another. While the Elephant in the Room article made us fear the Fantasy's of the world crossing over and destroying everyone, it is Roro, the sub .500 player known for busting Proleague fantasy teams, who has become KeSPA's best player and is in the finals of the last Wings of Liberty Code S.

With how much pressure KeSPA puts on players when it comes to Proleague, you would have to think that Fantasy hasn't touched much of HotS, mostly practicing for his Proleague games. This could give him an edge against a player like Maru who is topped the HotS GM ladder, but his recent results make you think that he might actually bomb out of this group altogether and lose to all four his opponents.


2. MVP.KeeN

I'm just going to come out and say it: Keen's become stale. Remember the days when you would tune in specifically to see Keen bust out a new ceremony? The joy he would show every time he won a game, coming out with a new celebration to the glee of the Korean and foreign communities? How can anyone forget his epic rivalry with Nada, the two having a continuous veteran vs. rookie war that stretched out through many seasons, always ending up with the older Nada getting the better of the up-and-coming young lion?

It used to be fun to talk about Keen. No, he never beat Nada, but he was good enough to be seen as Nada's rival, something that any young player would love to be called. Now, everything that used to make Keen who he was is gone. No longer do you see him busting out new ceremonies. Nada, his half mentor and half rival, has gone on to the World of Tanks, which I don't think is anywhere near the world of Code S. Don't get me wrong, Keen is still a very capable player and has at times looked like someone who might very well get into the top eight of Code S, but he's lost the charisma and spark that made him special.

I am using this part of this article as a plea to Keen. Please, Keen, bring back the ceremonies. We miss them. We miss your goofy attitude. We miss your wacky antics. Yes, I know that being serious and winning games should be your main focus, but do not forget what made you a player that everyone loved. Come back to us, Fun Keen. We miss you.


1. Liquid`HerO

It's not the Christmas season and Hero isn't on fire, but he still is good enough to win this group. Everyone in this group has had consistency issues of late, but with Proleague on the mind, Hero should be mainly practicing Wings of Liberty. His Proleague stint hasn't been the best, holding a 10-9 record, but is still one of the better players on his EG-TL team, which sits in last place of the standings. With EG-TL down in the dumps in Proleague, a good performance in Up and Downs and a spot in the first season of HotS Code S could be a good mood lifter for HerO.

With CJ's herO looking like the stronger hero lately, winning an MLG Dallas spot and going 6 - 0 in round 3, it's time for capitalized HerO to get back on track after a couple of poor tournaments and games. His HotS skill doesn't look to be at its best, and he got rolled over by Polt in the MLG Dallas qualifier matches. But that wasn't unexpected with Polt being one of the better HotS players in beta, and Hero most likely only had a few hours of the game under his belt due to GSL and PL obligations.

Hero was never able to become a GSL champion in Wings, a 0 - 3 loss to Squirtle in the semi-finals being the furthest he ever got. People will say he might never become a GSL champion with his nervouness and confident issues, but don't count Hero quite yet. With a new expansion upon us, it's a new beginning for one of the most exciting Protoss players in the world.

by: stuchiu

Games at 09:10 GMT (+00:00)


6. SKT_LabyRinth

Every once in awhile in GSL, there comes 'that' guy. That one guy who realizes he can’t play straight up games so he goes for all-in after all-in, either dying a bitbybit or becoming the villain. In Labyrinth’s case he was able to take out Bisu in the last round of the qualifiers and then eliminate LG-IM's First from Code A with 1-1-1’s, before finally falling to HyuN after a failed proxy 2-Rax (he promised he was going to show macro games in his interviews). While the Up/Down groups are always chaotic and tend to favor aggressive plays, every player in this group should completely know what to expect from this Terran.


5. MVP.Noblesse

MVP's third string Terran behind Dream and Keen projects to finish around 5th in this group. Having said that, his actual skill is about tied with the players I have placed at 3rd and 4th, but I gave Noblesse the disadvantage here as his best matchup is TvP and there’s only 1 Protoss here. His TvZ is fairly weak in comparison and with two zergs, this group will be much harder for Noblesse to get through. But this is a chance for Noblesse. With Dream out of the GSL, Noblesse will get a chance to outdo him and perhaps move up Team MVP's internal Terran rankings. For Noblesse it will all come down to his TvT, specifically his match against Alive. If he can take out Alive, and either one of the Zergs he has a longshot to take a spot. If not, then he’ll be relegated to Code A for next season.


4. KT_Crazy

Within the GSL, there’s not much to say about Crazy other than that he played strong late game PvZ against Vampire, and that he got jumped by in ZvZ by KeSPA 8th Team's TRUE. Outside of GSL, he’s been used by KT to play against either Zergs or Terrans with a win rate of around 50 percent. While his TvZ should be good enough to beat both Labyrinth and Noblesse, Alive will be problematic for him. Especially when you consider in a bo1, aLive is very likely to pull out the 2 rax on him. His chances against BBoongBBoong are a coin flip and while I’d give Crazy slightly better odds in a long game against Avenge, Avenge can just take it early with a Soul push. Crazy is pretty much in the middle of the pack here, but anything goes in Up/Down groups.


3. ST_Avenge

Avenge is the newly crowned king of ST Protoss players. While this would have been a great title to have had 2-3 months ago, now it’s more of a reminder that the two best Protosses in the lineup have left - Parting for SKT and Squirtle for LG-IM. While Avenge has won the title of best Protoss on ST by default with all other candidates stuck in Code B hell.

Avenge has already shown he has some chops when it comes to PvT by taking out Baby in the first round 2-0. On top of that, his historically weaker PvP won’t hurt him here with no Protosses around. And being at the top of the ST Protoss line, I full expect Avenge to be able to execute a reasonably good Soul Train on Bboongbboong or Crazy as a get out of jail card. While not an out and out favorite, Avenge is a definite threat to everyone in the group.


2. aLive

After ignominiously losing in the first round of the last GSL, Alive is back to try to make it back into Code S just in time for the HotS release, and finally gain the recognition he wants. This is a pretty decent group for Alive. The Terrans are numerous, it’s only bo1’s with Zergs, and his TvP should be more than enough to take out Avenge. The biggest hurdles here will be Crazy and Bboongbboong, but if he can 2 rax one of them successfully, I can’t see Alive going below the #2 spot.


1. Azubu.BBoongBBoong

The pizza zerg’s stock has recently gone up. Many players seem to do well whenever they change teams. And in BBoongBBoong’s case this will be his second team change in 2 months, going from Prime to MJ and from MJ to Azubu. B4 has reaped the team change blessing twice now going from Code B to Code S and then using the second one to finally break his way into ro16, playing some of the most solid games of his life. While Code A matches showed B4 couldn't topple MajOr's anointed messiah in TRUE, he should still be the favorite in this group. His ZvZ is his only real weakness, but with both him and Crazy losing to true, it's not like we can say one is significantly better than the other.. On top of that most of the Terrans here are weak to Zerg putting B4 in the perfect position to take this group decisively.