After representing Europe as its champion in the WCS Season 1 Finals, all eyes were on LG-IM_JurgenLG-IM_Mvp to see if he could make a second run for the European Championship. While many fans have complete faith in Mvp’s abilities to pull victories from thin air, they will also admit that Mvp has traditionally been weakest in group play. Still playing from Korea for the online portion of the tournament (the Ro32), reaching the Ro16 didn't seem all that assured for Mvp.
Despite the doubts, Mvp put on a show in his first match as he slaughtered Ence.elfi with ease, showing better macro, harassment and better positioning despite a server disadvantage.
In the winners stage, Mvp had a much tougher time with d.Tefel, as Tefel's unique style of going mass queen into big mid-game roach/hydra attacks caught Mvp off guard. In the first game, Tefel seemed to have it all but won as he minimized the damage received from Mvp’s hellbat drop and did a mass counter attack with roaches that left him up 50 drones to Mvp’s 5 scvs, and 80 supply to Mvp’s 30 supply. It could be forgiven that the casters and fans thought Mvp was pretty much dead at that point, with Apollo even swearing he would eat a hat if Mvp won. And in typical Mvp fashion, he found a way to come back and leave everyone wondering what the hell had just happened.
80 supply to 30, 45 workers to 5
Twenty minutes later.
After holding out against the roach-ling attacks with catastrophic damage, Mvp started slowly chipping away at Tefel with drops. Even then it looked unlikely for Mvp to win as he was at half the supply of his opponent, but Tefel found a way to lose half his army inside of Mvp’s natural. Tefel continued to try and batter down the front door with roach-hydra, but Mvp kept holding on while keeping up his constant drops. After one too many failed Zerg attacks and successful drops from Terran, the pendulum finally swung in Mvp's favor. As Mvp rolled on out with his superior marine-tank army, Tefel could only try for a failed base trade before he GG'd out.
Tefel didn't let his epic throw affect him in game two, as he took a solid win against Mvp with an unexpected ling-hydra timing that crushed Mvp's greedy play. This time he was able to stay calm and compound his lead before closing the game out with a final attack. However, by game three Mvp had got a grip of how Tefel played, and abused his immobile style with fast hellions followed by a fast stim drop. From there both players took a break to build up, Mvp making a standard bio-tank army while Tefel went up to ultralisks. While Tefel was able to win a major battle against Mvp with his ultras, he couldn't stop Mvp from rolling around the map and wrecking his economy, and had no choice but to kneel and make way for the king.
Tefel Advances in Second Place
Although he'll be more talked about for his game one throw against Mvp, d.Tefel shouldn't care so much as he still advanced to the Ro16, showing better play than the other Europeans in his group. While Mvp was able to stop Tefel’s mass roach style, Empire|Beastyqt was much less fortunate as he was run over by Tefel's powerful midgame attacks.
Against Ence.elfi, Tefel demonstrated that he could also defend against unorthodox attacks. While he lost the first game to a one base, five gate zealot all-in from elfi, he quickly evened up the score by flattening Elfi with roaches and hydras (are we sensing a pattern here?) as he tried to take his third base with immortals and sentries. The third and final game saw Elfi go for his best Huk impersonation as he tried a 2 base gateway all-in, but it was easily sniffed out and held by Tefel. With the victory, Tefel cinched his spot in the Ro16, to be played live at the ESL studios. Now, if only NaNiwa would show up...
All the Best to the Rest
Ence.elfi: He continued to look solid in his PvT, while showing his love for varied build orders with a five gate all-in and proxy-oracle rush being part of his repertoire. However, Mvp and Tefel were just too good all-around to be defeated.
Empire|Beastyqt: He didn't deal well with Tefel's aggressive style, but that's forgivable considering Mvp was very close to going 0 - 2 versus that style as well. He did show an entertaining 2 base mech all-in against Elfi, but was eliminated in the end by the Finnish Protoss' proxy oracles.
WCS EU, to the regret and joy of many, might be Stephano's last big hurrah. The extraordinarily successful French Zerg - who through the last half of WoL was universally considered to be the best foreigner in the world - has announced his retirement in August, and with nothing else on the horizon in terms of tournaments for him (as far as we know), this is his chance to prove that he has the best foreigner title on lockdown as long as he is playing, and that he beat the King, LG-IM_Mvp.
Stephano through his long and illustrious career has stood up to, and even overcome the previously unbeatable enigma that was the Korean player. He has revolutionized ZvP and ZvT at least once apiece, and showed engagement skills that even top Korean Zergs struggle to emulate. However, his play in HotS has been riddled with flaws and inconsistencies compared to WoL. He stated in interviews that the harsh training environment and lack of English speaking people to talk to while he stayed in the EG-TL team house massively demotivated and demoralized him, and he simply lost his drive to win. Not too soon after those interviews, Stephano announced his retirement and the end of an era come August.
Despite that, in the past month or so Stephano has had plenty of tournament exposure, as he came second in the first season of WCS EU to a renewed Mvp, got knocked out in the Ro16 of Dreamhack Summer, and lost to Snute in the quarterfinals of Homestory Cup VII. Throughout these multiple top tier events, Stephano took out some of the best foreigners of the moment so there is a very real chance that he could go all the way to the finals again, as long as he avoids ZvZ. This group should not provide too large of a problem, with MC being the only major concern as an opponent.
Formerly the best Protoss player in the world, having earned $368,000 from tournaments, MC is now but a shade of his former self and seems to play more of an entertainer role in the SC2 world than anything else as he made repeated cameo appearances through HSC VII and WCS EU Season 1. Now the BossToss is at best a solid Code A player, which is evident through his wins over players such as SortOf, SalvatioN and Socke. But solid Code A player is arguably significantly better than sLivko and Shuttle, and MC's quirky play style can still overcome Stephano if the EG-TL Zerg isn't careful. MC hasn't had a tournament win in over a year, and things have gone downhill ever since he placed second in the Season 3 finals of GSL 2012. If he wants to prove to the world that he's still the face of Koreans taking foreigner money, then he needs to make the finals in this tournament.
The player formerly known as a patch zerg has experienced a slight fall from grace when HotS was released, because infestor brood lord was nerfed...hellbats were brought in... the game's landscape significantly changed, and players had to readjust quickly. While nobody really expected him to straight up win a tournament in WoL, it seems that his chances may have disappeared almost entirely in HotS as he is quite simply not competing at the level he used to. At best, sLivko looks like a mid-tier European player, who manages to take out the lower level pros and occasionally take maps off the higher level Europeans. MC and Stephano are a very scary combination to face. Stephano's ZvZ is very hot and cold, and it could be where Slivko finds his best chance at advancement. If MCs play on the day is below what we've come to expect from him, then that would strengthen sLivko's chances of advancing by a large margin, but if we assume that doesn't happen then the Russian Zerg is looking like he will drop out.
The American-European-Korean Terran, who is a part of North American team Clarity Gaming and is based in New York was one of the first players to start hellbat dropping like a madman in NA/EU. He was also one of the first Koreans to make it through the extremely gruelling WCS EU qualifiers, seemingly coming out of nowhere and beating Tails in the process. His results lately have deteriorated though, as he went from being players such as SaSe and Beastyqt to losing against miscellaneous EU ladder heroes. While drawing results from online tournaments isn't always the best measure of a player's skill, it is still concerning when considering that none of the players in this group are anything close to EU ladder heroes. Shuttle's only saving grace is hellbats, which is a pretty damn good saving grace but I don't think it will be enough.
On June 26 2013 11:03 Prplppleatr wrote: 45....to 5
I didn't see this game, but how the fuck is MVP so awesome? Anybody care to link me to the VOD? I thought his incredible comeback against Innovation was a fluke, but apparently not...
On June 26 2013 11:03 Prplppleatr wrote: 45....to 5
I didn't see this game, but how the fuck is MVP so awesome? Anybody care to link me to the VOD? I thought his incredible comeback against Innovation was a fluke, but apparently not...
Tefel also played like shit though. Seriously, when you are 100 supply up against your opponent, and you lose, you wonder if a random Master League player could have done better. The amazing comeback was a result of teamwork: Mvp's great play and Tefel's amazing throw.
The only way for Tefel to throw the game was to stay on roaches for a long ass time and then he researches pathogen glands and then gets 2 sh. I just feel that massive comebacks are due to players sticking to roaches
On June 26 2013 11:03 Prplppleatr wrote: 45....to 5
I didn't see this game, but how the fuck is MVP so awesome? Anybody care to link me to the VOD? I thought his incredible comeback against Innovation was a fluke, but apparently not...
On June 26 2013 11:03 Prplppleatr wrote: 45....to 5
I didn't see this game, but how the fuck is MVP so awesome? Anybody care to link me to the VOD? I thought his incredible comeback against Innovation was a fluke, but apparently not...
he just never quits .. and little by little he takes advantage .. we can never count him out .. hes like boxer in broodwar .. who comes back time and time again
On June 26 2013 12:06 bhfberserk wrote: King of Wings does not go down that easy. He came back against Innovation from 9 scv. Are we going to see a comeback with less than 5.
oh yeah he came back with 9 scv's ... and hes faced the arguably strongest player ATM
On June 26 2013 11:03 Prplppleatr wrote: 45....to 5
I didn't see this game, but how the fuck is MVP so awesome? Anybody care to link me to the VOD? I thought his incredible comeback against Innovation was a fluke, but apparently not...
Tefel also played like shit though. Seriously, when you are 100 supply up against your opponent, and you lose, you wonder if a random Master League player could have done better. The amazing comeback was a result of teamwork: Mvp's great play and Tefel's amazing throw.
That's a little harsh, Mvp came back from ~11 scv's and half the supply against Innovation in the WCS S1 finals too. If Mvp can engineer a comeback like that against the best player in the world, it's hard to fault tefel too much when Mvp pulls the same thing.
On June 26 2013 11:03 Prplppleatr wrote: 45....to 5
I didn't see this game, but how the fuck is MVP so awesome? Anybody care to link me to the VOD? I thought his incredible comeback against Innovation was a fluke, but apparently not...
he just never quits .. and little by little he takes advantage .. we can never count him out .. hes like boxer in broodwar .. who comes back time and time again
That's the difference beween a player than wins by brute force of mechanics and perfection of execution and another who understands the game. Understanding, once gotten, never goes away.
On June 26 2013 17:58 H2k_Abaddon wrote: Is it my eyes or can I see more than 5 workers for MVP on the first picture ?
He had 5 workers at a time but maybe this picture was before he lost all his workers or after and he restarted to create SCVs ForGG did a thing like that at an ESET lan in England against Snute, I think he had 4 SCVs and Snute 40 drones
For group B it seems obvious stephano and MC advance. The gap between their skill and the skill of the other two players in the group are just too large.
On June 26 2013 18:40 Adonminus wrote: For group B it seems obvious stephano and MC advance. The gap between their skill and the skill of the other two players in the group are just too large.
Which is exactly why slivko and Shuttle will probably advance.
On June 26 2013 19:27 Hanna wrote: Can anybody explain to me, what "Now, if only NaNiwa would show up..." implies? I don't get the meaning of that sentence.
If I am correct, Naniwa kinda hates Tefel after being defeated by him in the challenger league. He stated something in the likes of Tefel being the worst player in the world.
On June 26 2013 19:27 Hanna wrote: Can anybody explain to me, what "Now, if only NaNiwa would show up..." implies? I don't get the meaning of that sentence.
If I am correct, Naniwa kinda hates Tefel after being defeated by him in the challenger league. He stated something in the likes of Tefel being the worst player in the world.
Haha, why would you say that, doesn't that imply Nani is even worse?
On June 26 2013 19:27 Hanna wrote: Can anybody explain to me, what "Now, if only NaNiwa would show up..." implies? I don't get the meaning of that sentence.
If I am correct, Naniwa kinda hates Tefel after being defeated by him in the challenger league. He stated something in the likes of Tefel being the worst player in the world.
Haha, why would you say that, doesn't that imply Nani is even worse?
Well. I just should have posted this outright, he just stated it ingame.
But about the topic, I believe that MC will win in group B, followed by Stephano.
On June 26 2013 19:27 Hanna wrote: Can anybody explain to me, what "Now, if only NaNiwa would show up..." implies? I don't get the meaning of that sentence.
If I am correct, Naniwa kinda hates Tefel after being defeated by him in the challenger league. He stated something in the likes of Tefel being the worst player in the world.
Haha, why would you say that, doesn't that imply Nani is even worse?
Well. I just should have posted this outright, he just stated it ingame.
But about the topic, I believe that MC will win in group B, followed by Stephano.
On June 26 2013 11:03 Prplppleatr wrote: 45....to 5
I didn't see this game, but how the fuck is MVP so awesome? Anybody care to link me to the VOD? I thought his incredible comeback against Innovation was a fluke, but apparently not...
That G1 of MVP vs Tefel just hurts my Zerg soul to watch... my god man, roaches aren't good, stop building them!
Predictions for group B look solid enough, though i wouldn't count out sLivko completely. Stephano hasn't been looking AS godly as he used to and ZvZ is volatile, I'm thinking sLivko with some luck and cheese could take a game or two off Stephano, however that shouldn't matter in the end.
On June 26 2013 11:03 Prplppleatr wrote: 45....to 5
I didn't see this game, but how the fuck is MVP so awesome? Anybody care to link me to the VOD? I thought his incredible comeback against Innovation was a fluke, but apparently not...
MVP is of course an old school boss but Tefel choked soooo hard....didn't take a 4th until way late (if ever), never saw vipers, never saw hive tech units, never saw drops or any other strategy besides running headlong into MVP's inferior but better positioned army.
do you guys use the amazing features your own devices provide you with? Because Slivko's downfall is a natural occurrence and has nothing to do with balance changes. Up to november 2012 53.62% winrate November-hots 47.22 December-hots 35.85
On June 26 2013 18:40 Adonminus wrote: For group B it seems obvious stephano and MC advance. The gap between their skill and the skill of the other two players in the group are just too large.
Which is exactly why slivko and Shuttle will probably advance.
I'm trying to understand how a professional gamer is up 45 workers to 5, and loses. Terran has no way back in the game but drops. Expand everywhere, throw up static defense, tech up, and win. Not even going to bother watching the VOD because I can pretty much picture it already... probably undefended drops, not teching up to better units...
How does MVP find ways to win these games though? His tenacity is amazing.
On June 26 2013 23:40 Flonomenalz wrote: I'm trying to understand how a professional gamer is up 45 workers to 5, and loses. Terran has no way back in the game but drops. Expand everywhere, throw up static defense, tech up, and win. Not even going to bother watching the VOD because I can pretty much picture it already... probably undefended drops, not teching up to better units...
How does MVP find ways to win these games though? His tenacity is amazing.
just the usual Mvp doesn't give up and builds the direct counter to your current composition only. If you think you can slam your units into him he will massacre you. And everyone can lose to it if they face someone like Mvp known for coming back in those situations and then don't want to mess up. You could say Mvp stomps and the ground screams "this is Terran" and puts you into overawe status.
On June 26 2013 23:40 Flonomenalz wrote: I'm trying to understand how a professional gamer is up 45 workers to 5, and loses. Terran has no way back in the game but drops. Expand everywhere, throw up static defense, tech up, and win. Not even going to bother watching the VOD because I can pretty much picture it already... probably undefended drops, not teching up to better units...
How does MVP find ways to win these games though? His tenacity is amazing.
1) Tefel is known for throwing games if ahead (EU King of throw). 2) If you have watched the VOD then you will notice that he did exactly nothing (no tech, no static denfense, no expansion etc). Mvp won already at this "5 vs 45 workers" time. 70 supply of marauder + tanks win ezpz vs 155 supply of roaches at good position. Exaclty this happenend. And after this fight, Tefel only built roaches (again).
On June 26 2013 23:30 The_Darkness wrote: I don't think Stephano will advance. He seems more or less to have checked out.
People say that since WCS season 1 ro32. Guess who was in the finals. It's like everyone wants to see him fail just to be able to say "I told you so, he's not the best anymore." Yes he is not as good as he was during his 2011 run but he is still a level (at least) above other foreigners, even when playing the game is a chore to him.
The only way for Naniwa, Thorzain, Demuslim and more recently Snute, Lucifron or TLO to become really relevant will be when he retires.
On June 26 2013 11:03 Prplppleatr wrote: 45....to 5
I didn't see this game, but how the fuck is MVP so awesome? Anybody care to link me to the VOD? I thought his incredible comeback against Innovation was a fluke, but apparently not...
he just never quits .. and little by little he takes advantage .. we can never count him out .. hes like boxer in broodwar .. who comes back time and time again
MVP is the King of Wings, and mules are pretty good.
EPT
Mvp 
elfi
Tefel ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2013/Europe_2/mvptefelbefore.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2013/Europe_2/mvptefelafter.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WkP1Dz2.jpg)
