WCS Europe Season 2 - Premier League

Ro32: Group C Preview
MaNa, TLO, TAiLS, MMA

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Youtube

Did you enjoy watching NaNiwa, the European, take on hordes of Koreans at MLG Anaheim? If you did, then we've got a show for you. Two more of Europe's favorite players are in action against Korean invaders, but this time they're doing battle on their home turn of WCS Europe.

Group C Preview: MaNa, TLO, TAiLS, MMA

by Waxangel

4. MVP.TAiLS

TAiLS, the clever and tomato-headed buildsmith would be a very dangerous opponent if he were playing in a live setting, but playing from Korea makes him the easy pick to get eliminated. It's surprising that he and his MVP teammate Duckdeok (aka finale) even made it to the Premier League in the first place. Both were crushed by the great wall of lag when they tried to make it through the Season One qualifiers, getting painfully knocked out in every single attempt. However, their persistence paid off in the end, and they were able to claw their through the Challenger League qualifiers, and then the Challenger League itself to make it into the Premier League.

The biggest thing TAiLS has going for him is his unpredictability and creativity. He thrived as a sniper for Team MVP back when GSTL was still a best-of-nine competition, always able to bring some kind of cannon rush, dark templar rush, or other well-planned strategy to ensure at least one win for his team. Considering this is one of the biggest opportunity he's had in his career so far, I'd expect him to have slick strategies prepared to use against every single opponent. On the other hand, his standard play isn't particularly notable, which is why he might have fallen out of favor in the new best-of-seven GSTL where players need to be more well-rounded.

In the end, I just don't think even TAiLS' best strats will be enough to overcome the lag. He might have conquered the Challenger level of competition despite the difficulties of playing cross-server, but I don't know if anyone but Mvp can succeed in those conditions at the Premier level.

3: mouz.MaNa

MaNa was one of the twin titans of European Protosses alongside NaNiwa in 2012, but HotS appears to have sapped his power. It's strange that PartinG compared MaNa to Creator just a few months ago, because both players have been affected by HotS in a similar way. They became some of the best players at their races in WoL on the back of solid, by-the-book play, but they've faltered against the other race's new weapons in HotS. Who knew afterburners and medivacs could make two of the best PvT defenses crumble so dramatically? Now, both are stuck looking decidedly middle-tier in their respective regions.

In one of the softer groups, I think that MaNa would have been able to find a way to slip his way through. It's not like his macro game has deteriorated catastrophically, and he has always been good at choosing the right time to all-in and get an easy win. But against an MMA playing from Europe and TLO looking in the best form he's ever been, MaNa will be hard pressed to get through until he breaks out of his doldrums.

2. Liquid`TLO

TLO's steady progress really is something to behold. Whether you look at his Aligulac.com graph or Liquipedia results page, you can see the same thing: slow but consistent upward progress. If this rate of improvement was sustainable indefinitely, then TLO could be winning every single StarCraft II tournament by 2015. Of course, everyone has to max-out somewhere, but TLO has shown no signs of stopping yet, achieving a career best top-three finish at HomeStory Cup 7, where he defeated players like MC, viOLet, and HyuN. With that kind of result in hand, a group that would have looked forbiddingly difficult for TLO last season now looks surprisingly passable.

MMA is a strong player, and particularly good at TvZ at that, but if he's playing from Korea then TLO should be in good shape. MaNa, as stated before, just isn't that scary an opponent right now (*add all the warning clauses about MaNa having a knack for making big tournament runs out of nowhere). As for TAiLS, as long as TLO doesn't get completely blindsided by some genius builds, then he should be able to beat a Korean who is playing cross-server. All in all, advancement seems quite likely for the German.

1. Acer.MMA

For the second straight season, MMA will be making the long trip to Europe in order to play the online rounds of the Premier League. Last time, it paid off for MMA as he was able to defeat MaNa and SortOf to make it through to the Ro16. Unfortunately, things didn't go too well in the live rounds, as Strelok and ForGG combined to send MMA out in last place.

MMA might not be the player he was in his prime, but HotS has given him enough strength back to be the favorite in this group. The TvT that troubled him in the previous Ro16 won't be a problem as there are no Terran opponents for now. His TvP, while never great, has always been fairly decent. It should be enough to defeat TAiLS playing in Korea, and a MaNa who is just not the rock-solid PvT player he used to be. The last time they played in the Ro32, MMA steamrolled MaNa without much trouble in macro games, and he's likely to do the same if they meet again.

As for the TvZ against TLO, that's the one match-up where MMA seems to have recovered most of his old form. Brood lord-infestor crippled him during the later stages of WoL, but marine-medivac-annihilation has returned for Heart of the Swarm. Is it any surprise that Soulkey gave MMA a ton of kudos for advising him for his Code S final against INnoVation? There's no Terran player in the world who understands the mindset of a relentless TvZ attacker like MMA. That was his style long before it belonged to anyone else. When you add all the things up, it's hard to see MMA failing to make it out of this group.

Predictions

TLO > MaNa
MMA > TAiLS
MMA > TLO
MaNa > TAiLS
TLO > MaNa

MMA and TLO advance.

Writers: Waxangel
Graphics: shiroiusagi
Banner photo: ESL
Editor: Waxangel.