NationWars: Group A

Friday, Jan 17 4:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/NationWars

All the streams will be embed on http://nation-wars.ogaming.tv.

O'GamingTV with Pomf, Thud, Anoss, Makoz, FunKa and MoMaN
Sean Day[9] Plott, John "TotalBiscuit" Bain & Gregory "Idra" Fields
TaKeTV with Dennis "TaKe" Gehlen
sc2tv.ru with Yan "SubZerO" Pyatrin
EmScTV with Emil
HysteRya and Pr0gr4m3r
UniSL

Spain vs. Russia

Captains' interview:
+ Show Spoiler +

Vortix, who is currently playing for Mousesports, is the Spanish Captain whereas Stranger, who is the manager of Empire, was chosen by Russian players to represent the Russian National Team.

Thank you for accepting this crossed interview together.
NationWars is about to begin. What do you think about this tournament?

Vortix: " I have always liked NationWars, it was very interesting to play NationWars back in wc3 days, it is good to see some organization trying to organize one in SC2."

Stranger: "Personally, I like NationWars, especially since ENC 2010 Lan finals of WarCraft III. I have great memories and good emotions when I think about it. There are not so many good online StarCraft II events at the moment and NationWars is a nice idea."

You are in the same group as Norway and Poland. Are you happy with the draw?

Vortix: "I think the group A is a bit harder than B, but that's just my opinion. However, I don't see that as a bad thing, in order to win the tournament we must be ready to win any country, so starting with the tough ones is not a big deal."

Stranger: "All the teams are good, draw doesn’t matter, but in general I like our group. It seems that group B is a harder one. If Russia wants to win this event, we must be ready to win any team. I don’t want to play vs Ukraine at Group stage and we’re happy to see Ukraine in the other group."

What do you think about your first match? Does your team feel confident?

Vortix: "We feel confident against anyone. We think if we play our best we can take the whole tournament. We are prepairing ourselves to do our very best and we are very motivated about it. Russia is a very strong country, some would say the strongest, but we think we can definetely beat them if we play our best."

Stranger: "Spain is a strong team, even without Lucifron. Vortix is one of the best EU zerg. We feel confident about our game but the «all kill» match system can make match very unpredictable and interesting for fans."

According to you, what will the most important game be?

Vortix: "All 3 of their players are really good so it's hard to say. I would say the matches vs Happy are the most important, as he is probably the strongest and if we take him out early enough it will probably be quite determining."

Stranger: "Obviously, any match vs Vortix !"

What is the key to win this match? What is the detail which will make your team win?

Vortix: "When talking about representing our country Spain is one of the hardest-working countries and we will hopefully show it."

Stranger: "Our lineup is balanced, we have player of each race and I think we are very motivated for that league. For the victory, players must play their best game and cheer each other."

Do you have any pronostic for this group?

Vortix: "I'm gonna be optimistic and say Spain and Russia advance."

Stranger: "I never made it for the events where my teams or players play. Teams of group A seem very close by skill and any submatch can decide the winner. I believe Russia will pass from our group and I also wish best of luck to Spain."

Do you want to add something?

Stranger: "I want to thank all admins of this league, it’s really good project and I hope all StarCraft II fans will like and enjoy it. I know in Russia a lot of people will watch it and support our national team and I want to thank them for it. We will show our best. Special thanks to Happy, who usually don’t play for national team, but this time he decided to help us to get victory!
I wish good luck to all teams. It’s great to be part of nation event!"

Stranger's twitter

Spain's squad : AlaStOr, Majestic and VortiX.

+ Show Spoiler +

AlaStOr
AlaStOr just joined the Russian team Vega after having travelled in the whole Europe. This Zerg player became known to have kept the first rank in the grandmaster league for several weeks and to have reached the third place in the WCS Spain 2012.
He stated that Norway is the weakest country in this NationWars.

(Wiki)

Majestic
Majestic is a rising Protoss player and is now playing for the Spanish team Giant. At the age of 16, he has skyrocketed in ladder for the last months to become one of the Spanish hopes thanks to a very aggressive style.

(Wiki)

VortiX
Vortix steadily improved on StarCraft II before his reputation rose dramatically as he reached the semi-finals at IEM Season VII - Cologne. Then, he took the second place in WCS Europe 2012 and became one of the most dreaded Zerg in the world. He was recently a threat for any player as a semi-finalist of WCS Europe Season 3 and he could be the silver bullet of the Spanish roster in NationWars.

Russia's squad: Happy, TitaN and sLivko

+ Show Spoiler +

Happy
Happy is a true winning machine. He is often in the very first player on ladder and reached the last grid in WCS Europe 2013 thanks to incredible runs. His micro from Warcraft III is really sick and Russia has a wonderful asset with Happy to win NationWars

(Wiki)

sLivko
sLivko favors a macro-heavy style that typically involves lots of droning and is also able to surprise his opponents with very powerful and cheesy build orders. Member of the Premier League WCS Europe, he did not manage big runs in 2013. After his semi-finals at the IEM Singapore in 2012, he was considered as one of the top European player and he now aims at a new target with the NationWars.

(Wiki)

Titan
The Russian has been one of the most consistent players since the release of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. He has a very good micro and is able to trade his units better than most European players to reach the victory. He shows in WCS 2013 that he is one of the best European players. He really could be the silver bullet of Russian squad.

Norway vs. Poland

Captains' interview:
+ Show Spoiler +

Snute, who is currently playing for Team Liquid, is the Norwegian Captain whereas Nerchio, who is currently playing for Team Acer, is the Polish Captain.

Thank you for accepting this crossed interview together.
NationWars is about to begin. What do you think about this tournament?

Snute: "Last time I participated in a nation war was in March 2012. So it's cool to finally have it back. Many nationwar matches back in WoL weren't even casted so it's great that there is hype being created around it now."

Nerchio: "I think there are too few nation war tournaments, I think we had only 2 in 3 years of Starcraft2 and they weren't really hyped at all. So I am excited to be playing in this one."

You are in the same group as Spain and Russia. Are you happy with the draw?

Snute: "I think it's a great draw, although VortiX is a threat. I expect Spain to win. The pools of 4 aren't too different in average skill so being in this pool is not bad for Norway."

Nerchio: "I think we are a little bit lucky because we dodged Sweden and Germany, both of which could be quite a problem for us.
There is nobody we couldn't beat and I believe we should be favoured in most of the clan wars as well."

What do you think about the match Norway-Poland? Who is the favourite nation according to you? Will it be close?

Snute: "I think Norway is slightly favored. Our players are slightly stronger on average. Poland has a lot of players that are amazing versus Terran so it's unfortunate for them that they weren't matched up with France instead."

Nerchio: "It probably depends on the draw and the daily shape of the players. On the one hand, it could end heavily onesided because our line-up is not very strong against zerg players. On the other hand, it's only a series of Best-of-1 so everything could happen."

According to you, what will the most important match be?

Snute: "The most important match would be a Snute or TargA vs Nerchio match if it is to happen."

Nerchio: "I think the most important match-up is Mana vs Zerg not particularly any player. I am good at ZvZ but opponents are strong so it's a little bit more random
and Diestar might have trouble fighting vs Targa and Snute as they can easily compete with koreans in ZvT."

What is the key to win this match? What is the detail which will make your team win?

Snute: "Playing well. I don't want to go into details on strategies so I'll leave it there "

Nerchio:"We will tell Mana to all-in every game and it should be a clear win for us, I will use my standard 1 base strats and we will ask organizers to play pre-hellbat nerf patch so Diestar has a chance too."

Which nations should advance to the semi-finals?

Snute: "Norway and Spain from the top bracket. Ukraine and Germany from the other."

Nerchio: "One spot is already taken by Poland, i think the others will go to Sweden, Ukraine, Russia."

Norway's squad: Eiki, Snute and TargA

+ Show Spoiler +

Eiki
After having won NM SpillExpo 2013, Eiki can boast he is the National champion in Norway. This protoss is the best player of the rising team Karnage eSports and is able to show very interesting things. Always good at online competitions and in ladder, Eiki could surprise a lot in this NationWars.

(Wiki)

Snute
Snute is one the most amazing and respectable player in Europe. Second at HomeStory Cup VII, winner at HomeStory Cup VI, he shined in many other major tournaments, is the last foreigners to have won a major tournament and seems able to beat any player in the world thanks to his very lovely style. His experience in Proleague and in WCS NA could give to Norway a very good weapon to fight in NationWars.

(Wiki)

Targa
The Norwegian had a remarkable run to the semi-finals at 2012 DreamHack Open: Valencia and is one of the rare Zergs able to scare all the European players thanks to the very good shape he showed in late 2013.

Poland's squad : Diestar, MaNa and Nerchio.

+ Show Spoiler +

Diestar
Diestar is a Terran player currently playing for Millenium. From the beginning of Starcraft II, Diestar has always been one of the major Polish player, winning the ESL Pro Series Poland and participating to many international events.

(Wiki)

MaNa
The Polish is one of the most appreciated players, by both players and the community. In addition to being nice, the Protoss is a fierce player who already has an impressive list of achievements : winning Electronic Sports World Cup 2012 and 2012 DreamHack Open: Summer, getting the silver at Electronic Sports World Cup 2011, etc.

(Wiki)

Nerchio
In 2012, Nerchio won many international tournaments such as HomeStory Cup V and DreamHack Open: Bucharest 2012 and has become a famous player able to eliminate any player. The Acer player is considered as one of the best European players and his experience could be very useful for his country.

Group A features eight Premier League players such as VortiX, Happy, Nerchio and Snute . Besides, the main player of each nation - except Russia - is from the Swarm.

Only AlaStOr, Majestic and Eiki have no participations in WCS.

Spain is probably the favoured country in this group. VortiX was the best in WCS past year, participated to the global finals and that's why he will have to score points for his unexperienced nation. His legendary ZvT will definitely help Spain against Happy's Russia and then his strong ZvZ could be the key to defeat Nerchio, Snute or TargA and enable Spain to reach the semi-finals. Majestic is a very unknown and young player but he is also one of the hot prospect in Europe. His ability to surprise his opponent will be likely to help Spain to get his qualification.

Except the Happy's extraordinary regularity, Russia does not seem in shape. TitaN failed the WCS Qualifiers in Europe and sLivko did not recently prove big things. Moreover, Snute, TargA, VortiX and the whole Polish squad have shown a very competitive level in the match-up versus Terran. Given Happy is the best Russian player, this nation could be in trouble during this NationWars and will have to hope feats from TitaN and sLivko to reach the semi-finals.

Norway is one of the most underrated nation because all the Norwegian players seem at the peak of their career. The fate of Norway is on the shoulders of the Zergs Snute and TargA. The latter, who just left Dignitas, has shown very interesting things in late 2013 and is still in shape for he recently defeated Happy in eSportsventure cup. Then, Snute is still the last foreigner to have won a premier tournament at the Homestory Cup VI and showed a very lovely gameplay in the 2013 NA WCS. Moreover, the young protoss Eiki is able to snipe any player with his strong all-ins. The weakness of Norway could be the numerous Zerg in this group whereas their two best players do not have a very strong ZvZ.

Finally there is Poland. Poland has a very solid and experienced squad, composed of a Zerg, a Terran and a Protoss. So they are able to put the worst match-up against each team and can have diverse strategies depending on their opponent. The main interrogation is about MaNa's shape. Teamless from his departure from Mousesports squad, the Protoss, who was one of the best recently in 2012, showed a bad level during the WCS qualifiers but then all his fans took pleasure when they attended to his recent good performances in eSportsventure Cup: he defeated Ret and Dayshi. The third Polish player Diestar just got his first qualification for WCS and may use it as a springboard to reach more and more victories during NationWars.

Predictions:
Spain >

Russia

Norway < Poland

Spain < Poland

Russia < Norway
Spain >

Norway

Poland and Spain to advance.

Poll: Spain vs. Russia?

Spain (40)

19%

Russia (172)

81%

212 total votes

Your vote: Spain vs. Russia?

(Vote): Spain
(Vote): Russia

Poll: Norway vs. Poland?

Norway (88)

38%

Poland (142)

62%

230 total votes

Your vote: Norway vs. Poland?

(Vote): Norway
(Vote): Poland

Poll: Which country will join the semi-finals?

Russia & Poland (115)

49%

Russia & Norway (50)

21%

Poland & Norway (21)

9%

Spain & Russia (20)

9%

Spain & Poland (16)

7%

Spain & Norway (11)

5%

233 total votes

Your vote: Which country will join the semi-finals?

(Vote): Spain & Russia
(Vote): Spain & Poland
(Vote): Spain & Norway
(Vote): Russia & Norway
(Vote): Russia & Poland
(Vote): Poland & Norway

Russia and Norway advance.

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NationWars: Group A

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Ongoing

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