by Waxangel

LG-IM_Mvp

We've already seen one Korean great from the past fall in MMA – now all eyes are turned to see if Mvp will suffer the same fate. Actually, Mvp would probably laugh at the comparison. He may have lost to MMA in one GSL final long ago, but he still has three more Code S titles than the ex-SlayerS ace, and he used his veteran savvy to stay in title contention during the BL-Infestor era while MMA was nailed to Code B.

It's undeniable that Mvp has looked bad both on paper and in terms of gameplay over the last six months, possibly worse than he has in his entire SC2 career. Forget the IEM World Championship, a tournament that took place under special circumstances (before HotS release), the results of which have proven to be an awful indicator of HotS form. If you take that away, you're left with a player that got knocked out of Iron Squid by Goswser, went 0 – 4 in the Blizzard Cup, and fell instantly from Code S to Code B at the hands of soO, Keen, and RorO. He recently lost to Scarlett in the GSTL, and was crushed by DIMAGA in the Ro32 of WCS EU (albeit, there was KR-EU lag).

All that said, he's getting through this group. Even with the infamous KR-EU lag, he managed to take out Siw and Socke to progress through his Ro32 group. Also, he's f***ing Mvp, the greatest player to ever play StarCraft II. The last time we doubted him and said he was finished as a competitive player, he killed everyone at IEM Cologne and won the championship. No further questions will be taken.


Fnatic.SaSe

SaSe has the misfortune of being the first player to take on Mvp, but if we had to give any player from this group the nod to beat the 4-time champ, it would have to be SaSe. The Swede's ability to bring clever, effective builds – whether they're all-ins or greedy set-ups (or some weird combination of the two) – is well-known and admired. While he preferred to play more normal-ish games in the Ro32, this series is the perfect place to bust out something unusual. Remember, SaSe was the player who immortaled a prime-Stephano to death before the words Soul Train existed, and was one of the few to briefly put the summer of TaeJa '12 on ice (a two base blink-stalker build did the trick).

Of course, we can't talk about SaSe without the usual lines about inconsistency in big tournaments and big matches. What can we say, that's what the tournament results for his career show. However, he's been on a pretty good roll in HotS so far, killing his Ro32 group with wins against ForGG and Slivko, and then making it to the Ro16 of DreamHack Stockholm with wins against Nerchio, Jaedong, Goswser, and ForGG along the way. If he can beat Mvp here, then I don't see who can stop SaSe in this entire tournament outside of PvP.


K3.LucifroN

Lucifron was our pick as 'best post-HotS' foreigner when online results were all we could go by in Europe, but unfortunately he didn't get to prove his live stage chops at DreamHack: Stockholm. As many of you may have heard, he fell victim to the worst rule that exists in any professional competition anywhere in the world, as DreamHack coin-flipped for the winners of his Ro64 group after two rounds of tiebreakers were inconclusive (even more embarrassing because it already happened to DreamHack before). Strelok and YuGiOh were luckier than Lucifron, and thus they progressed to get eliminated in the Ro32, probably because they were afraid that Lucifron might hit them with a chair at any moment.

In any case, Lucifron has some sick online results in HotS, and it wasn't any surprise that he destroyed Bly and Happy to reach the Ro16. While multi-prong harass and relentless working hunting has become the EU Terran norm, Lucifron was doing all of that of that way before it was cool, making him the 'Gumiho of Europe' if you will. Back at his first live event since DreamHack: Stockholm, Lucifron will look to right the wrongs committed against him and prove that he is the #1 non-Korean player in the world.


Acer.Nerchio

You know it's a tough group when Nerchio looks like the weakest player. Kas's comments on Nerchio's work ethic made the rounds on Reddit, and while we're sure the Ukrainian Terran has to be exaggerating (right?), what he said was not all that surprising. Nerchio's results have been decided 'decent' since the release of HotS, no longer at a level of a player we called a top 3 foreigner at times. A lack of practice combined with a lack of BL-infestor would certainly explain it.

That didn't stop Nerchio from making his way through his RO32 group, where he defeated Dayshi and Monchi to take second place to VortiX. Even if he's not at his peak powers, Nerchio is still talented enough to give all three of these guys some serious trouble. With the tremendous efficiency of hellbats and widow mines posing a problem for Nerchio, well calculated all-ins could be his best chance of going through a group with Mvp and Lucifron.


Overall Predictions:

Until doctors reveal that Mvp has the cartilage and nerve health of an 80 year old with arthritis, we just can't pick against him. As cliche as it always sounds, he just knows how to win. We're torn between SaSe and Lucifron as the second place finisher, but the fact that SaSe is starting against Mvp, and that Lucifron has karma on his side makes us go with the Spaniard.

Mvp > SaSe
Lucifron > Nerchio
Mvp > Lucifron
SaSe > Nerchio
Lucifron > SaSe

Mvp and Lucifron advance.