£400 SC2Improve Summer League 2013

Game Order :
Adonminus vs Satiini
GraVe vs TrOn
Winner's Match
Loser's Match
Final Match


Adonminus
http://cascadeprogaming.com/
Overall Rank : 1st with 280 Points
Season 2 Rank : 1st with 200 Points


Adonminus is the SC2Improve Winter League Champion and while he did not look so impressive in Season 1 of the Summer League with losses to players such as JackO he made up for it with his performance in Season 2. He strung together an impressive set of results, finishing 2nd to Tefel in Qualifier #5, the most stacked Qualifier we hosted with multiple top level players, followed by a win in Qualifier #6 and a RO4 finish in Qualifier #7 where he lost to TrOn. The points he has accumulated tell the story on their own as he currently resides almost 100 points ahead of second.

Adonminus should be able to play a relaxed set of games, knowing that if he does not make it into the RO16 through this Season Finals he is still almost definitely guaranteed a place due to his amazing overall ranking. What he does have to play for though is seeding - wherever he finishes here determines what seed he will receive in the RO16 which could be important for him to avoid big names in the early stages of the tournament.

Adonminus is possibly going to be the favourite in the matches as well, though his weakness in PvT may come to haunt him. Although determined to tell us that his PvP is his worst matchup when we see him he is always losing to Terrans - and with two strong TvPers in the group this could cause him some issue. Satiini is his first opponent who showed some weakness just a week ago dropping a map to GraVe, but was still able to take the series. If he makes it past his first opponent it is very likely Adonminus will meet TrOn who took him down 2-0 two weeks ago. This likelihood is what makes me feel as though Adonminus, despite being the favourite, may only make it out of this group in second place.

GraVe
http://www.cplay.de/
Overall Rank : 2nd with 195 Points
Season 2 Rank : 2nd With 120 Points

GraVe is in a strangely similar situation to Adonminus, he is highly ranked in the Overall points and so even if he does not make it through today he has a good chance of making it through on these points he has accumulated. GraVe is definitely the weaker player to Adonminus, although maybe the more consistent. He earned his points through numerous RO16+ finishes, including a second place finish to Satiini in Qualifier #8.

So what has GraVe got to lose? Going into this probably as the underdog of the group all he has to think to himself is that he isn't expected to make it through here and if he doesn't he still has that RO16 spot secure. This could lead to some interesting builds from GraVe and maybe some riskier play than what we usually see. His first match is against TrOn who plays a very standard yet solid macro style. Yesterday TrOn dropped a map against GraVe's teammate JackO, so maybe we will see some planning from the CPLAY Protoss' to catch TrOn off-guard.

His other potential matches are against Satiini and Adonminus. I think he has a fair chance against Satiini - he only lost 2-1 to him in Qualifier #8 and those games had quite some interesting twists and turns. It could definitely fall either way here, with Satiini being the slight favourite. Against Adonminus though I really don't feel GraVe has much of a chance. Adonminus is so brilliant when it comes to his pick of build in PvP and he has shown us everything from clutch defences to simple aggression in the match-up. I feel GraVe is going to end up in the bottom 2 of this group, though it could definitely be third instead of fourth.

TrOn
http://www.the-dead-generation.de/
Overall Rank : 5th with 113 Points
Season 2 Rank : 3rd with 110 Points

TrOn was a RO8 finisher in the SC2Improve Winter League and he has only in Season 2 really begun to take part in the Summer League, which is possibly why he isn't in as strong a position in rankings as you might expect, only scraping into the Season 2 Finals. These games mean a lot to TrOn as a failure to Qualify here will mean he has to up his game and participation to earn some points to secure his qualification in another way. And he does want to Qualify - back in the SC2Improve Winter League TrOn was stopped short of showing himself on Finals Day (RO4 + Finals) when he lost 3-2 to Mix who used a mixture of all-ins against him. TrOn will definitely be looking for a way to improve on his past performance in an SC2Improve League.

Let's look at TrOn's chances here. He looks amazing in TvP and in the past 3 weeks we have seen him dismantle every Protoss opponent in his path, including multiple GM's (and Adonminus!). Going up against GraVe in his initial match I think TrOn has a strong chance to make it through - and then it comes down to the other result.

Against Adonminus our German Terran will have the mental edge, knowing he took the 2-0 against him very recently. I think if we see macro games TrOn definitely has the upper hand here and could top the group. However if Satiini is his next opponent then I do not really know what to think. I have not seen much of TrOn's TvT (except when I played against him and he Hellion-Nuke Rushed me... I probably should have won that) and nor have I seen much of Satiini in terms of TvT. This is a match I really do not know what to expect if it comes down to it.

Satiini
http://www.gamersleague.no/
Overall Rank : 11th with 100 Points
Season 2 Rank : 4th with 100 Points

Satiini really has cut this fine! He only played in one single Qualifier and he won it to squeeze into the Season 2 Finals. Out of all the names here you are most likely to have heard Satiini's. Though never yielding amazing offline results Satiini has always managed to deliver online with numerous high finishes in online cups. If he doesn't make it through today it will be interesting to see whether he wishes to try and play in more Qualfiiers to make that RO16 in some other way.

He plays against Adonminus first and I think Adonminus is just a clear favourite here being the higher ranked player on ladder and in terms of just how impressively consistent he has been. I would be surprised to see Satiini make this upset happen.

I've already more or less covered this, but again I feel against GraVe and TrOn things may swing either way which means his final placing in the group comes heavily down to whether we see any upsets - if he loses to Adonminus but does not meet him again then he has a good chance to progress. If he finds a way to get best Adonminus he will find himself with an even better opportunity. He is the dark-horse in this group and anything can happen around him.

My Predictions!
Adonminus 2 : 1 Satiini
GraVe 0 : 2 TrOn
Adonminus 1 : 2 TrOn
GraVe 1 : 2 Satiini
Adonminus 2 : 1 Satiini

Below I have included the Aligulac predictions, but read them with a pinch of salt as we are discussing some players who do not have a lot of games input into their system.

                   Top 2      1st      2nd      3rd      4th    
----------------------------------------------------------------
      Satiini     63.38%   34.14%   29.25%   20.30%   16.32%    
    Adonminus     58.03%   29.36%   28.67%   22.86%   19.11%    
        GraVe     47.96%   23.09%   24.88%   27.18%   24.85%    
         TrOn     30.63%   13.42%   17.21%   29.66%   39.72%    

Today is a big day for the SC2Improve Summer League as we have amazing news to share with you all. After almost three months of running the Summer League we find ourselves almost at the end of Qualifiers, with only two qualifiers remaining for players to earn points and try to squeeze into the top of the tables to make it into the RO16 of the main event. We've seen multiple great nights of games and many top level players already secure places into the RO16.

So far we consider the event to have been a huge success - but we're only just getting started as we are very proud to announce that the SC2Improve Summer League is now sponsored by ZOWIE GEAR.



This is a great moment for SC2Improve - acquiring our first even sponsorship for an event - and hopefully it is a strong sign of our continued growth and validity as a tournament provider. We cannot thank ZOWIE enough for this opportunity.

The sponsorship by ZOWIE GEAR will provide us with additional prizes to the £400 Prize Pool. They are as follows :

- 1st Place will receive a ZOWIE MiCO
- 2nd Place will receive a ZOWIE G-CM Black
- 3rd Place will receive a ZOWIE P-CM Blue
- a ZOWIE G-CM to be given away during the Finals of the SC2Improve Summer League

We hope you will all join us in thanking ZOWIE GEAR for their support of the SC2Improve Summer League and we hope you will all join us on Monday 12th August 1900 CEST for Qualifier #11 of the SC2Improve Summer League.


ZOWIE GEAR Website
ZOWIE GEAR Twitter
ZOWIE GEAR Facebook

Group C Preview!

Today the RO16 of the Summer League kicks off with Group C. We we're very fortunate when the groups were drawn and ended up with a very balanced set of groups when you look at the races in each, which means we are going to get a great variety of match-ups tonight in our first group!


Tefel vs CPU and Adonminus vs TrOn are the initial matches of the group and will be followed by a winner's match, a loser's match and the final match. So why don't we get things started with the favourite of the group, Tefel?


Tefel is by far the most well known name in tonight's group representing Team Dignitas. Not only does he have many results in online cups and monthly finals but recently he has started taking that experience and skill offline making it to the RO16 in both WCS Premier and Dreamhack recently.

His results say he should win this group, but will that be the case? His first opponent will be CPU, who actually lost to Tefel 0-2 in the middle of August in a GO4SC2 cup. I think this is probably expected as CPU is by no means a weak player, but Tefel is just on another level. In the winner's match Tefel will meet Adonminus or TrOn. If he played against TrOn I think he would again have a fairly easy time as TrOn's TvZ looked weak last time we saw it. Adonminus is a different piece of the puzzle - he is a player who is highly ranked in GM and can take games off of Tefel, despite losing 0-3 to him in the finals of Qualifier #5. But will Adonminus bring a good enough game when it really matters? Will Adonminus even meet Tefel? Let's talk about why I think he will.


Adonminus is probably the second favourite to come out of this group. He is high up in GM on the ladder and his quirky play styles can often catch players off-guard. He demolished TrOn 2-0 last time he met him in a TvP, despite it being TrOn's best match-up. His style relies heavily on defending and heading into a strong late-game army often involving Tempest's, Storm and Collossi. Using a Stargate opening frequently in the match-up we will see whether TrOn has him figured out.

So if all things go as expected we arrive at the Winner's Match with Tefel vs Adonminus. Talking to Adonminus he is extremely confident about his group as he states he has 'been having success vs Tefel on ladder and I beat the other two recently as well'. So can he live up to his words? That's for us to find out. Even if he falls to Tefel I feel the only way he is going to drop out is going to be some spectacular play from either CPU or TrOn who are both going to have to be on top of their game to advance here today.

P.S. Adonminus is the SC2Improve Winter League Champion - so he is pretty desperate to defend his title


TrOn is our Terran representative tonight and is extremely happy about his group in terms of the match-ups. Him and his manager would agree that TvP is by far his best match-up, an uncommon thing to hear for Terran players nowadays. Recent statistics show that the PvT win-rate is 57% for Protoss players, but TrOn doesn't pay much attention to this. His safe and standard opening with a Reaper into 1/1/1 gives him early game safety as well as a solid foundation to macro from.

He is also used to high-pressure situations being the ace player for his team, The Dead Generation. So can all his practice pay off for him here today? Will his TvP carry him through or will he sadly fall a stage before where he finished in the SC2Improve Winter League when he lost in the Quarter-finals? Tonight we find out.


So will CPU be on top of his game? He is a player who frequently made it to the RO16 and RO8 of the Qualifiers and just scraped through into the RO16 of the main event with a good performance in the final Qualifier. Sadly I have to say I feel CPU is the real underdog in this group. Tefel is a well-known and great player, Adonminus a not so well-know but still fantastic player and then TrOn who has a TvP which is levels above his TvT and TvZ. Can CPU cause an upset? Because he may have to cause two to make it to the RO8.

Predictions

Tefel 2 - 0 CPU
Adonminus 2 - 1 TrOn
Tefel 2 - 1 Adonminus
CPU 1 - 2 TrOn
Adonminus 2 - 0 TrOn


Aligulac Prediction


Estimated by Aligulac. Modify.



Tonight is going to be a great set of games and I couldn't think of a better way to get the RO16 started! See you all at 1900 CEST at http://twitch.tv/wardiii !! Don't forget to share your opinion with us over on our Twitter and Facebook with #SC2ISL !

Group D Preview!
Tune in at http://twitch.tv/wardiii from 1900 CEST

Satiini vs Sabre
Noname vs JackO
Winner's Match
Loser's Match
Final Match

On Monday we saw Tefel and Adonminus advance from Group C in a set of great games. Tonight we will see which two players will be the next to join them in the RO8!

Satiini is going to be tonight's player who everybody knows and should be feeling fairly confident of coming out of this group in at least second place. He is well known for being a strong player in online cups and we saw why when he qualified into the RO16 when he beat Adonminus and TrOn - two players who we know are very good - in the Season 2 Finals.

Recently we haven't heard quite so much of Satiini, but his level of play should definitely be enough to make him one of the favourites to come out of tonight's group. Expect standard and straight up play from him as he will look to simply outshine his opponents mechanically.


Tonight may end up as a bit of a Terran sweep as we have WCS EU Premier League RO32 player Noname as the second Terran in this group. Another player who plays in a lot of weekly and online cups and somebody who very few people know about. His recent performance (getting to WCS RO32) will put him as a favourite for this group next to Satiini and first place in the group will most likely come down to a BO3 in the Winner's Match between these two players.

Noname played some great games against MVP and despite losing the series he was definitely able to get into very good positions, but a mixture of nerves and possibly inexperience cost him his advantage. These nerves shouldn't be an issue for him here, a much lower-key event which he should be expecting to make the RO8 of very easily.


JackO is the first of tonights under-dogs. He is a Protoss player from Luxembourg putting in a lot of time to practicing while studying at University. He is one of these players who nobody will deny is good, but is he good enough? He made it here through a lot of consistency in Qualifier's where he made it to the RO16 and RO8 frequently - but he was never really able to go any further and the list of players he took out on his way is by no means weak, but it isn't like he was causing upsets left right and centre either.

Having joined ESC just yesterday after his previous team CPLAY merged JackO will be looking to take a series wherever possible. Maybe he can use the PvT 'imbalance' to show us a surprise against Noname, if not then expect him to probably be battling it with out underdog in the loser's match to finish 9th-12th, compared to his SC2Improve Winter League 2012/2013 finish of 13-16th after going 0-4 in his RO16 Group.


And who is this other underdog? Well that would be Sabre from Team SC2Improve. Out of all the people from my own team who I thought might be able to qualify when the Summer League started I definitely did not expect Sabre to be the one person who would be able to make it and represent us in our own tournament. But over time he has definitely grown a lot stronger as a player and very similarly to JackO consistently has good runs through the Qualifiers.

This being said he is a player who hits RO16 in the Qualifier every time and then just loses, and he qualified with almost half the qualification points of JackO. It's going to be interesting and if things go as expected I expect Sabre and JackO to be fighting for that third place in the group in the Loser's Match - for dignity if nothing else.


Predictions

Satiini 2 - 0 Sabre
Noname 2 - 1 JackO
Satiini 1 - 2 Noname
Sabre 1 - 2 JackO
Satiini 2 - 0 JackO

Aligulac Prediction
Note this is possibly a pretty inaccurate group as all four players lack having a lot of data present.


Estimated by Aligulac. Modify.

Amazingly it is already time for our final RO16 Group in this years SC2Improve Summer League! We've already seen Tefel, JonnyREcco, Noname, Satiini, Adonminus and Lucky make it through to the RO8 but tonight we find out which two players will be the final players to complete the RO8 line-up.

Tonight we will see Qxc, Storm, Pink and GraVe take part in the RO16 Group A. It's a pretty interesting group as we have the clear favorite, Qxc, but it's the first group in which there won't be a clear favorite to advance from the other three players. It really could go any single way - which is exciting because it means we will have one player in the RO8 to play the underdog roll.

So let's as usual start with the favorite, Qxc . Why is he our favorite? Probably because plain and simply he is the most experienced player with the largest set of results behind him and because of this he is probably the best known player heading into this group. You could potentially even claim he is the most popular player of all in the RO16.

There's not much else to say really. He is definitely capable of beating everybody in this group, with recent results such as qualifying to IEM NY showing that he is definitely in good form currently. Maybe GraVe and Pink will have a good day and can catch him off guard with some timings or with the general power of Protoss. Maybe Storm can hit some powerful Zerg all-in as well. He can be beaten, but it's unlikely.


So who are our other three Group A competitors? Well first up we have Qxc's first opponent, GraVe. GraVe is arguably the least likely to make it out of this group, but the evidence for this is pretty small. He played extremely well in all of the qualifier's which he participated in and was able to secure himself the top seed on overall points. He played so well in Season 2 he made it to the Season 2 Finals, where we sadly saw him get stomped 0-4 by Adonminus and TrOn.

But everybody has bad days and that was definitely one of his. In qualifier's we saw him play fantastic games week after week, his series against JonnyREcco in Qualifier 2 is one which personally I will never forget. So can he perform here today? Yes, I think he can. He is slightly below Pink and Storm on the ladder, but he has shown the ability to beat players better than him. He can beat both of them, in the same day? Maybe. Not likely, but maybe.


And now we come to the Danes. Pink is a Protoss player currently playing for FNATIC and streaming a lot of his ladder and online cup play. He's probably one of those guys you're unlikely to have heard of and you go 'who?' when he gets put out in a Clan War. But damn is he good. He's one of the best players in Denmark and while he hasn't had the same impact as Babyknight, Bunny and Sonder over there he is consistently making it to the top 8 of the Danish events.

He had an up and down road through qualifiers, but once he got going he was really going and taking some pretty decent players down on his way into the top 7 on overall points. I personally think that the second place of this group is going to be a toss up of Pink and Storm, which should be an interesting first game as both players talk to each other frequently about strategies and more.



— Storm when seeing he has to play Pink first.


Storm was our first player to qualify into the RO16 so it's been a long time since was saw him beat players such as Dignitas Dream and CMStorm's Pandatank to the first place of the first qualifier. Back then Storm showed us two things : he loves Mutas and he isn't afraid to switch things up. In a recent Dreamhack he was able to beatt ToD 2-0 as well - so with two Protoss players in his group surely he can only feel confident about making it into the RO8.

I also think that the fact that Pink and Storm talk to each other a lot will probably hurt Pink more than Storm. As a Zerg player you're the one who is going to benefit more from knowing what is coming so that you can react to it quickly and efficiently. I think if Storm is playing smart he will open up into a standard macro game against Pink, but will potentially go aggressive and a little cheesy if he plays against GraVe. If he plays Qxc, well it's ZvT and that's just un-winnable anyways, right?


I really feel this is a hard group to predict and to see who will come out from, so my predictions are based more on guess work than they have been in other days.

Predictions
Storm 2 - 1 Pink
Qxc 2 - 0 GraVe
Storm 1 - 2 Qxc
Pink 2 - 1 GraVe
Storm 2 - 1 Pink

Aligulac Prediction

Estimated by Aligulac. Modify.