by Waxangel

The Ro32 of WCS Europe aptly ends with a diverse, all-European group. While the players in Group H might not have the notoriety of mega-stars like Stephano/Mvp/Lucifron/Naniwa, they are players capable of going on dangerous, deep runs into this tournament. Alas, only two will progress past this phase.



1. Empire|Happy

Okay, before you read any further, go look at this link. Leaving that insane record to speak for itself, here are some thoughts about Happy's performance in season one.

Happy had a great run through WCS Premier League Season 1, beating players like HasuObs, Bly, VortiX and BabyKnight as he made it to the final eight. Alongside Lucifron, Happy was one of the few Europeans whose play resembled that of the elite Korean Terrans, abusing the marine-medivac-marauder core to its furthest extents, whether that meant skirmishing hyper-efficiently on the ground or driving his opponents insane with nonstop drops.

DIMAGA expressed his concern of facing Happy ahead of their Ro8 match, saying Happy was the big favorite in their online exchanges. With Happy showing some of his most impressive play in the TvZ match-up, a trip to the Ro4 seemed sealed for the Russian Terran.

But as is often the case in StarCraft, things didn't play out like they should have on paper. DIMAGA sealed away the muta-bane-ling style and opted for roach and roach-hydra backed compositions, a style that seemed to catch Happy off guard. Although Happy took two games by going for mech compositions, his bio was picked apart by swarms of roaches coming in at unexpected timings. After going up 2 – 1 early in the series, Happy eventually had to concede a 2 – 3 loss.

So, what did that mean?

Part me wonders if it was just nerves. Better players than Happy (hi, INnoVation) have faltered when the stakes became higher, so it wouldn't be anything to be ashamed about. But Happy is a long time veteran of the WarCraft III scene, with experience at countless LANs, WCGs, and other tournaments.

Maybe DIMAGA was just lucky, and Happy equally unlucky on that day. It wouldn't have been the first time DIMAGA rolled the dice and saw the dots come up seven, whether it was a 1/1 speed roach rush or an off-beat speedling timing.

Whatever the case, this is a season for Happy to see if he can go further. Last season, the table was set for Happy to reach the semi-finals and perhaps get the best result of his StarCraft II career. He proved that he had all the skill he needed to get there, only to stumble at an unexpected hurdle. Topping this group will be just the first step if he wants to make up for what could have been.

2. XMG.ToD

It was a tough call between SortOf and ToD for the second place spot in the group, but with the two playing against each other in the first match and with SortOf having the disadvantage of playing from Korea, I had to give ToD the advantage.

ToD is an unusual case I'm having trouble wrapping my head around. Coming into StarCraft II as one of WarCraft III's greatest players (even coming in at 5th place on our unofficial power rank!), his WoL results could be described at mediocre at best. After he began to show some serious skills as a caster, I thought that might even be the more lucrative option for him down the line.

Instead, ToD is looking the strongest he has ever been in SC2 after HotS was released. His run into the Premier League was seriously impressive, defeating players like Stardust, Socke, Slivko, and ThorZaIN as he worked his way up from "Code B" and into the Premier division. After struggling to break through the Ro32 of major tournaments in WoL, he's coming into this group with back to back Ro16 finishes at HSC7 and DH Summer.

Can the death of BL-infestor and the introduction of mothership core openers really change so much? Well, considering Creator's catastrophic fall, I guess we have to assume that an equally meteoric rise is possible as well. Still, you have to wonder if ToD went soul searching in the Himalayas and was taught the secret to enlightenment by some mountain guru or something along those lines.

3. Alliance.SortOf

If SortOf had been in Europe, I might have taken him over ToD in this spot. However, even with San and Genius making it through the recent WCS EU qualifiers, and NaNiwa and Duckdeok finding a way to make it out of their WCS Premier groups, I don't think SortOf can overcome the KR-EU lag as he plays from the Evil Geniuses house in Korea.

First off, all those guys listed above are Protoss, and they all abused the hell out of all-ins. Maybe it's not the method that gets you the most fans, but it's what you have to do when you're a professional gamer looking to minimize your disadvantages. Unfortunately SortOf is neither a Protoss player or a player known for his all-ins. While NaNiwa might advise him to go for 6 pools or roach bust timings, I don't expect SortOf to be fully comfortable with that kind of play. At least not as comfortable as NaNiwa, a player who has always been great at tailoring builds.

The only player to overcome the KR-EU disadvantage in WCS Premier by playing macro games? That's Mvp, the greatest StarCraft II player of all time. ForGG tried yesterday and just barely failed. Shuttle tried earlier in the tournament and failed as well. SortOf is definitely no Mvp, and he's probably somewhere between Shuttle and ForGG's level. Nope, things don't look good for the Swede here.

4. RoX.KIS.TitaN

So, I guess tree.hugger is batting around .500 then?

Starting to make waves toward the end of 2011 where he finished fourth at WCG. Titan lived up to his reputation as one of Europe's best up and comers in 2012 as he won the WCS Russia championship and defeated Rain en route to a top 16 finish at the WCS World Finals.

Regrettably, TitaN has slowly declined since reaching that pinnacle, and he looked solidly middle-tier when we saw him in the previous WCS Europe season (to which he was invited). Ro16 advancement seemed like a possibility, but some horrible engagements/throws against ThorZaIN after taking a lead forced him to work his way through the Challenger League to make his return this season.

I get the feeling that TitaN should be better than a fringe Ro32 player in WCS Europe, and recently he's shown some glimpses that he can rise to his previous level. He defeated Kas and Feast to make it back into Premier, and defeated Kas (again ), BabyKnight, and Socke to qualify for the upcoming IEM Shanghai. However, considering TitaN's lukewarm start to HotS, I can't give him the benefit of the doubt.

Predictions:

Happy > Titan
ToD > SortOf
Happy > ToD
SortOf > Titan
ToD > SortOf

Happy and ToD advance.