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Ro16: Group C Recap
NaNiwa and MMA advance

Ro16: Group D Preview
MC, MaNa, VortiX, TitaN

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Youtube

NaNiwa and MMA advance

by Premasiri

Detailed results from Live Report Thread by Yello
+ Show Spoiler [Click for Detailed Results] +

The favorites on paper made sure there were no upsets, as European-top-dog contender NaNiw[A] and veteran Korean Acer.MMA advanced, while dignitas.Tefel and Empire|Happy dropped down to the Challenger League.

Initial Matches: NaNiwa vs. Tefel, MMA vs. Happy

The night began with NaNiwa avenging his Challenger League loss to Tefel, although it wasn't as emphatic a victory as Swedish fans might have hoped. Tefel even took the first map, using a mass hydralisk attack to punish NaNiwa's too-fast transition into stargates and skytoss. However, NaNiwa worked out the kinks in his strategy for game two, and was successfully able to defend against yet another hydralisk attack from Tefel while going for mass void rays. With Tefel still relying on lair-tech to combat a maxed chargelot/archon/voidray army of his Swedish opponent, the Dignitas Zerg was forced out of game two.

Game three followed a similar script, as Tefel was unable to hinder NaNiwa from taking to the skies. Good micro and great force-fields kept NaNiwa safe until he attained critical mass, after which he erased the Zerg forces and forced Tefel's surrender.

On the other side of the bracket, the Russian Terran Happy took on the Korean veteran and multiple champion MMA. While Happy had shown impressive Korean Protoss slaying abilities against MC and San at ASUS ROG, those abilities wold not extend to Korean Terrans as MMA took a convincing 2 - 0 victory.

Despite having a good build to deal with the cloaked banshee opening of MMA in game one, Happy's sloppy defensive positioning allowed the Acer Terran to deal what should have been avoidable economic damage while establishing an early third command centre. A textbook marine-tank (MMA) vs. mech (Happy) midgame favoured MMA as he was able to establish the faster third base and superior upgrades. MMA was unafraid to use this breathing room to make a slick and swift transition to sky Terran, and as the first battlecruisers rolled off the production lines with +2 upgrades, MMA broke Happy’s defensive tank line with his Viking banshee vanguard to take game one.

In Game 2 on Bel’shir vestige, MMA once again favoured a cloaked banshee opening, but uncharacteristically sloppy map awareness allowed Happy to pick off the first banshee for free. With both players opting for early tanks, neither player was able to make much of a dent in the defences of the other, leading to a mid-game once again favouring the economy of MMA. Trying to take full advantage of speed medivacs, Happy consistently tried and failed to doom drop MMA’s production lines. In what was probably the winning move of the series, MMA showed Happy how it was done, doom dropping him with far more success. After gutting Happy's infrastructure, MMA just needed one final push to force the GG and move onto the winners match.

NaNiwa advances in first

In a somewhat anticlimactic if tense opening to the winner's match between NaNiwa and MMA, MMA threw caution to the wind with a proxy barracks SCV pull all-in on Bel’shir vestige. With his mothership core barely making it out in time to defend, Naniwa was able to mop up the marines rallying to his main and take the game with surprising ease.

In a similar vein, game two was to bear witness to another cheesy opening from MMA – this time a proxied factory and widow mine harassment. Despite good reactions and a generous helping of luck (one probe sneaking into an assimilator while the mine projectile was in mid-air ), another mine blast wiped out eight probes to give MMA the advantage. With MMA able to translate this slight edge into the constant threat of drops, Naniwa’s third was heavily delayed. While Naniwa’s choked economy manifested in a severe upgrade disadvantage, MMA’s 3 - 3 timing was still somehow held by the Swede. NaNiwa kept his cool, expertly defended MMA's aggression, and slowly brought himself back in the game. His resolve seemingly broken, MMA gradually let a game that had looked so promising slip away, and Naniwa took the series with a perhaps surprising 2 - 0 to advance on to the round of 8 in first place.

MMA takes second

Down in the losers match, Happy and Tefel faced off for a chance to take on MMA. Unlike against MMA, Happy looked very much in his element, pounding yet another poor European Zerg into submission. Game one saw Happy abandon his aggressive MMM style for an extremely defensive one, sitting tight on two bases for an atypically long time. When he eventually moved out to push Tefel’s third base, this allowed him to still have plenty of units at home to defend his freshly established third base, holding a desperate infestor-roach counterattack with ease to take the win.

In a clinical display of positioning and tactical thinking, Happy was able to put an end to Tefel’s season two hopes and dreams, taking game two on Newkirk precinct. Despite Happy’s early hellion pressure being aptly deflected, an enormous commitment in the form of a roach push at Happy’s third was just as easily crushed a few minutes later. With Tefel’s army indecisively caught in the middle of the map, the Polish Zerg was forced to attack into a campaign-style defensive wall of bunkers, tanks, missile turrets and marines as happy simultaneously dropped the Zerg’s third and main. With happy winning on all three fronts, he was free to expand, tech up, and establish a sprawling mass of infrastructure before massing ravens to perform the coup de grace and eliminate Tefel from the round of 16.

After losing to MMA in the initial match of the night, Happy had much to think about going into the final match to decide the second place finisher of the group. Unfortunately, the gap in the two players' TvT ability was not something Happy could overcome with just an hour's contemplation as MMA took yet another 2 - 0 victory.

Happy opted to try for aggressive play in game one, going for a gas first build into a marine-hellion elevator. However, MMA was able to capitalize on Happy’s aggression, shut down the elevator play with ease, and establish a much faster natural expansion. On top of that, he was able to send troops across the map, killing off 15 of his European adversary's SCVs. In a bizarre hellion vs hellion midgame, MMA was able to retain his economic advantage despite successful hellion harass by Happy, eventually translating this into enough of an army advantage to simply roll over Happy’s natural and take the first game.

In a defiant “anything you can do, I can do better” gesture, MMA returned the aggressive token in game two. With a super early marine/hellion poke catching and brutally punishing Happy’s add-on heavy 1-1-1 opener, it was only a matter of time before MMA was able to squeeze Happy out of the last game of the night and secure a 2:0 victory, claiming the 6th spot in the round of 8.

Group D Preview: MC, TitaN, VortiX, MaNa

by Premasiri

With at least six Protoss guaranteed in the round of eight of this season's WCS EU Premier league, the question leading into group D is whether TitaN, MaNa and MC can snuff out the remaining Zerg hope VortiX, to make it seven for eight.

The opening match of the evening, RoX.KIS.TitaN vs. SK_MC, could well be closer than most would assume. While I'm going to give MC the edge overall due to reputation, the very fact that Titan's made it to the round of 16 demands some respect. Sure, TitaN's group H was one of the three groups in the round of 32 populated entirely by Europeans, but he looked strong in victories over Happy and SortOf to advance in first place. Also, MC recently suffered elimination from ASUS ROG at the hands of another European Protoss in Bischu, where he looked vulnerable in PvP.

However, MC's historic tournament experience pulls more and more weight the deeper into any tournament he gets. With a lot to prove after an untidy performance in the round of 32, dropping a map to Shuttle and a series 0 - 2 to Stephano, one can only expect MC to come out all guns blazing in the round of 16. Ever the performer, the LAN setting is where he's most comfortable, and even though I wouldn't put it past Titan to take a game off MC, I wouldn't bet on him taking the series.

The other opening match of the group to be played tomorrow is perhaps a little more clear cut. mouz.MaNa is definitely no pushover, but teammate mouz.VortiX has to be the favourite heading into their series. Though MaNa made it through to the round of 16 on the back of his PvZ, his matches versus TLO were anything but convincing, dropping their first series 0 - 2 and only taking the second by a narrow 2-1. MaNa himself said after he was getting back to his old form, and we'll see how much how he has improved in the many weeks between the Ro32 and Ro16.

In a game as unpredictable as Starcraft, there's certainly room for an upset, so MaNa could definitely make it to the winners match on the back of some well prepared strategies. While we haven't seen as much of VortiX's ZvP as his other matchups in recent weeks, his overall solidity against players not-named-lucifron means he'll be difficult to defeat.

With those opening predictions in mind, what feels likely to be the winner's match shapes up to be an excellent series between MC and VortiX. MC's historically had Vortix's number, with the Spaniard yet to take a series off the Bosstoss in Heart of the Swarm. Though VortiX looks to have a reasonable shot on paper, MC's always been able to read him correctly. Call it favouritism or unreasonable hope, but I feel that Vortix has it in him to finally pull out a win against MC given the boss-toss' growing weakness against foreigners. That's not to say an MC victory would surprise me or anyone else, but if VortiX is to make up for his mildly disappointing showing at the recent ASUS ROG Summer Tournament, a victory over MC in the round of 16 of THE premier European tournament would be an excellent place to do it.

A potential loser's match of MaNa vs Titan is problematic to predict, and there's nothing more that can really be said other than the player that is in better condition, and simply gets luckier will take the game. The two European Protosses in the group are evenly matched both on paper and in their past head to head matches - but the relevant question here isn't really who makes it out of the loser's match, but whether either of these two have it in them to then take a (re)match against either MC or VortiX.

Predictions:

MC > Titan
Vortix > MaNa
Vortix > MC
Titan > MaNa
MC > Titan

VortiX and MC advance

Writers: Premasiri.
Graphics: shiroiusagi, Smittmeister
Banner photo: ESL
Editor: Waxangel.