EPTWCS Europe Season 2 - Premier League
Ro32: Group C Recap
MMA and MaNa advance
Ro32: Group D Preview
DIMAGA, Duckdeok, HasuObs, Dayshi
Brackets and standings on Liquipedia
VODs on Youtube
Ro32 Group C Recap
MMA and MaNa advance from Group C, TLO and TAiLS down to Challenger
Results from Live Report Thread by NovemberstOrm.
+ Show Spoiler [Detailed Results] +
TLO vs. MaNa
TLO 
MaNa
TLO <Star Station> MaNa
TLO <> MaNa
TLO wins 2-0!
MMA vs. TAiLS
MMA <Neo Planet S> TAiLS
MMA <Newkirk Precinct> TAiLS
MMA TAiLS
MMA wins 2-1!
Winners' Match
TLO <Newkirk Precinct> MMA
TLO MMA
TLO <> MMA
MMA wins 2-0!
Losers' Match
TAiLS <Newkirk Precinct> MaNa
TAiLS MaNa
TAiLS <Star Station> MaNa
Mana wins 2-1!
Final Match
TLO <Newkirk Precinct> MaNa
TLO MaNa
TLO <Neo Planet S> MaNa
Mana wins 2-1!
MMA and Mana advance to WCS EU Premier RO16!
TLO MaNaTLO <Star Station> MaNaTLO <> MaNaTLO wins 2-0!
MMA vs. TAiLS
MMA <Neo Planet S> TAiLSMMA <Newkirk Precinct> TAiLSMMA TAiLSMMA wins 2-1!
Winners' Match
TLO <Newkirk Precinct> MMATLO MMATLO <> MMAMMA wins 2-0!
Losers' Match
TAiLS <Newkirk Precinct> MaNaTAiLS MaNaTAiLS <Star Station> MaNaMana wins 2-1!
Final Match
TLO <Newkirk Precinct> MaNaTLO MaNaTLO <Neo Planet S> MaNaMana wins 2-1!
MMA and Mana advance to WCS EU Premier RO16!
"
Acer.MMA and mouz.MaNa advance." It's a testament to the durability of these two multiple-championship winning players that such a headline is as unsurprising in 2013 as it was in 2011. Despite not being in peak form, MMA and MaNa were still able to shut down challenges from MVP.TAiLS and Liquid`TLO to book their advancement to the round-of-sixteen.MMA looked sharp in particular, advancing in first place in the group. Having travelled to Germany to play on the European server for the online-based Ro32 group, he had the lag advantage as he went up against his first opponent, the Korea-stricken TAiLS. Although TAiLS was able to take one game with a clever dark templar drop, his other two all-ins were rather poorly executed and MMA emerged with a quick 2 - 1 series victory.In his second series against
TLO, who had come up after running a ZvP clinic on MaNa, MMA opened up with a cheesy 2-rax build backed by his patented marine micro. Having gone for a greedy opener, TLO was powerless to stop the attack and quickly surrendered a point. The second game ended up being far closer, with TLO able to show the skills that saw him reach 5th place in the previous WCS Europe and 3rd place at HomeStory Cup VII. However, just as TLO looked to be in good shape after successfully fending off MMA's attacks and teching to ultralisks and 3/3, he threw his troops away in a bloody, headlong charge into widow mines. That loss proved impossible to come back from, and TLO was forced to surrender the series and the first Ro16 spot to MMA.With his opponents not giving him all that much to work with, one was left with the feeling that MMA didn't get to show the viewers everything he had. There was not much to do - his opponents made mistakes, and he capitalized on them expertly—still a worthy performance from the first place finisher.
Down in the losers' match,
TAiLS repeated his cheesy gameplan against mouz.MaNa, deciding that making a second nexus wasn't going to get him anywhere while he was playing cross server. As in his series against MMA, he did manage to take one map (with a 4-gate blink all-in), but his all-ins ended up being too predictable as MaNa simply hunkered down on defense to take a 2 -1 series win. That left MaNa and TLO, two of Europe's most well-known players, to vye for the final spot in the group. At first it seemed like
TLO would be the heavy favorite to win, having torn MaNa apart with great roach-hydra use in their first meeting. The second series seemed to be going that way as well, as TLO fended off MaNa's warp-prism harassment in game one to pull out a win in the late game. However, even with three consecutive losses to TLO in the same day, MaNa was able to stay collected. Thrown into a chaotic late-game scenario against TLO in game two, he used zealot drops and mass-recall backed harassment to keep TLO disoriented and ultimately force him into a fatal base trade. The second Ro16 spot of the night would be decided in one final match between TLO and MaNa on Neo Planet S. With MaNa opening phoenix, TLO made the incorrect read and decided he would go for economy. However, MaNa had actually been planning to follow-up with some zealot pressure, which ended up turning into game-winning damage as TLO was not at all prepared to defend. A desperate attempt to hold his third base failed, with many drones, queens, zerlings lost in the process. After that, the rest of the game was little more than a formality as MaNa build up an overpowering army to collect the final GG from TLO.
Ro32 - Group D Preview
Games begin in...
4.
Mill.DayshiIn 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.duckdeokDuckdeok (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.HasuObsSome 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.DIMAGAPerhaps 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
