by Premasiri



4. Mill.Dayshi

In most circumstances, a 60% overall winrate in HotS ought to stand one in good stead. Perhaps not so in group C of WCS EU Premier ro32. Although Dayshi has been able to take games and series against notable European players since the release of HotS (this week: TLO and Feast), his strength lies primarily in his tvz. Unfortunately for him, his opening matchup is vs Hasuobs, rather than always capitalized DIMAGA. As one of Europe’s most consistent and longstanding performers, Hasuobs seems the logical favourite to take this opening match – his strong all-round play has held up even against the strength of Terran drop play in Heart of the Swarm, with a perfectly respectable showing at Homestory Cup 7 that included a 2 - 0 victory over Thorzain. With Dimaga’s consistent form throughout WCS Season 1, placing top 4 regionally and reaching the season finals, it seems unlikely that Dayshi will get the opportunity to play his strong suit, TvZ, in the losers match.

3. MVP.duckdeok

Duckdeok (formerly known as Finale) should be, on paper, a strong candidate to advance to the round of 16. With a Korean practice house environment and a strong showing in EU challenger league last season, surely the only Korean in the group should stand every chance to make it out of the group? Unfortunately, as with so many other Koreans seeking to optimize their chances in the semi-region-locked world of WCS, Duckdeok will be playing his group matches from Korea. While he would be on safe ground as a strong contender in the offline finals were he to make it through to the round of 16, latency can be undoing of any player, no matter their calibre.

Despite Dimaga’s most recent result being a poor performance at HSC7, the Ukrainian zerg has shown in his previous WCS performances that he has what it takes to topple Koreans of the highest level, taking a 2 - 0 victory over a cross-server burdened Mvp. This, and location factors combined make it likely we will see Duckdeok drop to the losers' match. Although he would likely be able to handle Dayshi, even with latency, a rematch against DIMAGA or a faceoff with Hasuobs both seem unpleasant prospects and will most likely be the end of the Team MVP player's WCS EU dreams for this season.

2. mouz.HasuObs

Some players don’t know when to quit. Some, like Hasuobs, never seem to need to. While not an unstoppable, Korean-slaying juggernaut, Dennis Schneider has shown consistent results against even the strongest Europeans since the beginning of starcraft two. Most at home in Germany’s EPS, he is nevertheless a contender at nearly any event. With recent, relevant victories over Thorzain and Morrow at HSC 7, the Hasuobs playing tomorrow seems much stronger than the Hasuobs that lost to Dayshi in last season’s EU Challenger league. While he probably won’t cruise to any easy victories tonight, his millennium adversary should be a manageable threat. If Duckdeok were to manage the unlikely feat of besting Dimaga in his opening match, Hasuobs would have a very reasonable chance to make it out of the group in first place. With a particularly polished PvP winrate thus far in HotS, and taking into account the latency that Duckdeok would be playing with, such a match would be the best case scenario for the German player.

Even leaving aside this possibility, Dimaga and Hasuobs seem fairly evenly matched. Though not as outstanding as his mirror matchup, Hasu’s PvZ is certainly up to snuff and his staple macro play should never be written off. While I’d be tempted to give Dimaga the edge in such a winner’s match, Hasu would be more than capable of beating out Duckdeok in the final series of the bracket to make it out of the group.

1. Roccat.DIMAGA

Perhaps not everyone’s pick to make it out in first place, but hear me out. DIMAGA certainly doesn’t have the numbers on his side in this bracket. He’s got the lowest win rates, the least consistency thus far in HotS, and Aligulac.com projects him as by far the least likely to advance out of the group. Okay, so perhaps he’s not the DIMAGA he was at the very beginning of Wings of Liberty.

However, last season in WCS EU DIMAGA showed the world what he’s capable of. Performing strongly throughout the season, he beat most expectations to book a place at the season finals. Admittedly, he didn’t shine on that largest of stages, but who can be expected to in a group with Innovation, Roro, and Revival? Within the scope of the round of 32, DIMAGA has shown his brilliance before, and is capable of doing the same, here and now. If you were to review his recent games, you’d see plenty a loss. You’d also see those losses at the hands of players like Mvp and RorO. In this group, and against these players, Dimaga has what it takes to advance. With his first match being against a decent, but not outstanding Korean, playing with latency no less, what DIMAGA should be worried about most is holding his cool in the winner’s match. Should he manage that, he’ll once again secure a spot to play in front of the crowd that spurred him on to some of his finest play last season.

Predictions

DIMAGA > Duckdeok
HasuObs > Dayshi
DIMAGA > HasuObs
Duckdeok > Dayshi
HasuObs > Duckdeok

Dimaga and HasuObs advance