[WCS] Global Finals 2014 Day 1 - Page 730

On October 22 2014 18:30 jarod wrote:
It is hard to make a power rank on these players, they are all really good, but I`d classify them in potential winners and participants.

Based on this, here is my power rank for winning the tournament, the actual contenders.
1. Bomber - just look at the brackets, he is really good in all matchups, really solid games in the last period, comes after two premier winnings (WCS and Redbull). Also he will face probably herO in the semis and I rate Bomber higher then herO.
2. Zest - probably the best player from this tournament, really solid and constant in the last months. Easy route until the semi-finals. Also I think that Bomber can beat him in the finals, if this will happen.
3. Taeja - TL biased? maybe. Taeja didn't show anything lately.. and summer is over... But it is potentially his last tournament, he is speaking about this tournament since the beginning of the year, I`m pretty sure that he is more than prepared. If he pass soO I feel like he can take Innovation and Zest. Taeja beat Innovation in offline events before, it was not that recent games, but I feel his style favor him vs Innovation. Also he beat Zest this year, when Zest was in godly form, though it was a BO3 (IEM group stage). What I mean when I put him on 3, is that he has the skills and maybe he is the player who wants to win the most from this 16. Ofc all of them wants to win.
4. herO - he has a winner mentality, and also he plays really really good. I definitely see him in the semi finals. And even if I favour bomber vs him, it is only something like 52%-48%.
5. Innovation - he is the machine, he just won GSL, but he didn't faced any protoss in RO8. In round of 16 he beat 2 toss with 2-1 not that impressive. If he can revenge Taeja and avoid Zest, then we will have Innovation in the finals. And once in the finals he has what it takes to win it all.

Players who have the skills to win but they are not in the top form, or have hard brackets.
6.Life - one of the players with the best wining mentality, only Taeja and MMA has won more tournaments then him. If he is in a good weekend he can all kill the lower bracket. But it will be really hard with Zest, Taeja, soO and Innovation in it.
7.MMA - showed great form, 2 premier tournament wins in the last 2 months, but the level of competitor was far from Blizzcon. Still is a sign that he is in good shape.
8.Polt - really constant and good player. He can definitely beat anyone from this tournament, but he has really hard first 2 rounds, at least he knows that he need to prepare TvP. Also if he pass the RO8 by a miracle, Bomber will wait for him for a close series with bomber on top.

Players who can definitely not win this. They are great players but compared to the others are bad, they can progress 1 or 2 rounds, but that's all.
9.Classic - a recent GSL champion is still a GSL champion. Doesn't matter if he will beat or not Polt, he will lose in the following rounds.
10.Hyun - no1 WCS points - not anymore. I expect the series vs Innovation to be really good. I guess his style give him at least 40% chance vs Innovation, but his paly atm is not enough to take him out.
11.soO - really, this guy is so good, sometimes he will win a premier for sure, but not this one. He has 2 of the best TvZers in the world in front of him. Even if he beat taeja, innovation will destroy him, and if somehow he beat innovation, there will be Zest waiting in the semis.
12.MC - somehow this guy manages to stay on the top of the SC2 players. I guess he has more silver medals overall then soO. He is a great personality and always brings a nice color to sc2 comunity. But his level at the moment is way above the contenders.
13. Jaedong - he is still in this somehow, has time to prepare from the shadow and take about bomber? Not sure. Anyhow from the remaining players he is the most skilled. We all know he is one of the greates RTS playes all time. One day he can dominate again, but not likely that this will happen at Blizzcon.
14-16. San, jjakji and Stardust - First of all they are great players, but I don`t need to like everybody. I don`t see what are they even doing on this top16 Blizzcon. WCS rating.. the feels like opportunists for me. They took the easy road. I would any time replace them with Maru, Rain and Solar (I have more names, just the first 3 that poped in my mind).

#IMadeThis

On October 22 2014 19:16 Sakat wrote:



I feel ya
Seriusly, though, where would you have put him?

On October 22 2014 19:02 H8 wrote:
Power Rank / Preview by H8

16. Classic - GSL winner taking the last spot, yey! If he didn't face half of his team in GSL season 2, he wouldn't be here at all. And semifinals in Kespa Cup after beating Rogue and San before being destroyed by Zest, aka the only worth-mentioning result for the whole year.. Well, not really impressive for supposed number 13 in the world. And hey, he is facing Polt in the first round - the guy with best TvP in the world. Sorry Classic, you will be out of the tournament very fast.

15. MC - Another Protoss GSL winner! Although MC showed some good results throughout the year including winning the WCS EU season 1 and three second places in different events, he has a serious problem - abysmal PvP. Like 40% against top Koreans, that sucks. And it sucks even more that MC is facing herO in first round. Remember Sao Paulo? I sure as hell do!

14. StarDust - And another Protoss. It seems like I don't like the race or something. StarDust actually won the second season of WCS EU and played some overall good Starcraft in 2014, but he is not the guy who would you bet on to take the whole thing. He will maybe cheese through the first round, but that's all. Neither he isn't the top guy here, nor isn’t he dark horse of the tournament. He is just here somehow, someway to play one round of Starcraft.

13. jjakji - When jjakji moved to Europe, I expected (as many others) that he will stomp the tournaments left and right. Unfortunately, he didn't win a single premier tournament since his GSL win in 2011. He will probably face the two Protosses in the first two rounds of the tournament and given the fact that his TvP is really mediocre, I don't expect very deep run.

12. HyuN - Placing worst semifinals in all three seasons of WCS NA is sure impressive, stomping Taeja and Polt in them is even more impressive. But unlucky guy, that HyuN is. Bomber took the first place in WCS rankings five minutes before midnight and poor HyuN got as an opponent no other TvZ monster then INnoVation. If only he was on the other side of the bracket, I would have faith in him. Now, I really don't have any.

11. Life - GSL semifinalist in season 1 proceeded to win Dreamhack Bucharest and then disappeared. Emerged in IEM Toronto where he went on somewhat good 13-1 + one draw streak just to be stopped by Zest at the semifinals. Luck of the draw was very fortunate for Life and so he will face Zest again. Life in monster mode wasn't enough to break the so-called "best player in the world" and I have bad feeling that Life isn't currently in his top form.

10. TaeJa - Summer already ended and we all know that without summer Taeja is just one of the many average Terrans. But fanboys gonna fanboy so I will put him above jjakji, but it won't made any difference. TaeJa is soO done in first round!

9. Bomber - Ok, ok. Let me say something first. Bomber is on fire like nobody else in tourney, he probably well deserved the first spot in the rankings and he is winning all tournaments on American soil. But there is this thing, you know, called Bomber's Law. So many people expecting him beat Jaedong, going into the finals and taking the trophy and so so many tears will be shed on November 1st..

8. San - San has kind of consistent year in terms of results. Few first places in smaller tournaments, six semifinals or better placements (including 1st place at ASUS ROG) in Premier tournaments. But I think San is missing the final piece of the puzzle, to be the best of the best. You cannot just win the biggest stage of the year by having one matchup ridiculously great (PvZ), one mediocre (PvT) and one coin flippy (oh Dear finals in Helsinki vs Stardust finals Cologne). There are possibly three PvZs on his way, but it seems that San won't see any Zergs from player perspective.

7. Polt - Captain America is ready to save his home ground. Or is he? Let's have a few facts. Polt is facing Protoss in first round (Classic) and second round (herO/MC) and he did beat all three of them before, also having statistically best TvP in the world for some period of time now. He may have what it takes to eliminate all the Protoss scrubs, but only 1 tournament win from 7 major+ semifinals in this year doesn't make him the real contender for throne.

6. MMA - Another Terran who is recently on fire. After taking a "Dramhack" in Moscow and WCS EU season 3, MMA is standing strong as currently best Terran, maybe even best player, representing Europe. He may as well get easily through first two rounds, but his weaker matchup is TvP and is highly probable that there will be Protoss waiting and preparing in semifinals for our handsome looking European Korean. At least MMA won all three semifinals of premier events this year, so he has this going for him.

5. soO - Sorry, no second soO joke today from me. There is no doubt he is the best and by far most consistent Zerg on the planet right now. That said, he is also the guy who never won a premier tournament. As I am not personal fan of soO, looking at the harder part of the Blizzcon bracket, I have to acknowledge his power. He is force to be reckoned with. Jokes aside, he is one of the three players, who will not surprise me at all, if they make it to the finals.

4. herO - I guess there is a good reason that he is massive aligulac favorite to win the championship. After perfect start of the year, he fell, but rose again in the right time. Second in Kespa Cup and semifinals in Dreamhack Stockholm are not as impressive as two first and one second place IEM from the earlier this year, but he is getting in the shape in right time. herO dodged a harder half of the bracket and if he does not fail in first rounds because of the PvP, he is obvious pick for the finalist from the upper bracket.

3. INnoVation - After sort of meh year, he finally won a GSL title for his belt and thanks to that, he qualified for Blizzcon in last possible moment. He also returned back to KeSPA team, indicating that he want to rule in Korea as he did at beginning of HotS. Machine is now back, starting with his favorite matchup - TvZ. As funny as it is, he can face all four Zergs in tournament, but he does not need to rely on that. Bogus proved he is world class in every matchup and if Terran should seize the title, it would be him.

2. Zest - KT is the best KT! Zest is the best! By terms of accomplishments this year, he is favorite to win Blizzcon. Zest won GSL, GSL championship and KeSPA Cup by playing only PvP, also ridiculed SKT1 by all-killing them and won Proleague. Therefore Blizzcon is the only relevant tournament left to be won by Zest. His only "weakness" seems to be PvT, but lack of really good Terrans besides INnoVation in tournament plays into the hands of handsome Protoss. He is coming for that championship!

1. Once upon a time in distant land called Brood War one Zerg was born and rose above everybody else. He was killing legends left and right, sown destruction everywhere he went and he was equaled only by the God himself. Unfortunately terrible disaster hit a land of Brood War and many residents died. Those who survived moved to the new land, now called Starcraft 2. Our Zerg, now revered amongst his bretheren, struggled for survival at first, but he proved he is capable of surviving, that he is capable to adapt. As he climbed back to the top of the food chain, most terrible thing happened. The curse from the legends struck him and struck him hard, but he kept fighting relentlessly. But the curse was stronger. First in Jönköping, then in Valencia, Santa Monica and Cologne. Still he refused to give up. But then came Anaheim. He successfully took wings from the King, Roach burrowed himself through Protoss Royal Roader, Frosted young Terran prodigy, but in the end it didn't matter. He was tricked by the former clanmate. Legends were true, he realized. Even unstoppable force can't break the curse, so he gave up. He gave up himself into silent darkness of void...

But a genius idea came into his mind. If he can't break the curse, he can pass it to somebody else. Because there must always be a Zerg Kong. But is there some Zerg worthy? He smiled maliciously.

They think he is weak now, that he is lost, that he doesn't have it anymore. But they are wrong. He is prepared as never before, he is prepared to return back from the void to take what is rightfully his - being the very best.

There is no sOs to trick him. God is lost between mediocre. The Kong curse has passed to another poor Zerg. There are just fifteen naive mortals, who dream about money, trophy and championship. But there is that one beast who found them, one monster who brought them all to Anaheim and will in the darkness bind them. One Zerg to rule them all.

#IMadeThis and I'm proud of it.

EU passion! Hype!

On October 22 2014 19:34 Sakat wrote:


I like Jaedong, but I just don't see hi winning. Not after a year like this

On October 22 2014 19:38 TheBloodyDwarf wrote:
What kind of music do you guys listen? Metallica in playing in Blizzcon and that's good.

On October 22 2014 19:40 AWalker9 wrote:

Yeah he should be 16th

On October 22 2014 19:38 Sakat wrote:
WCS GLOBAL FINALS DAY 1 (ro.16) Biased Preview by Bronze leaguer:
(organized by matchups)

1. Bomber vs. Jaedong

While I am a huge fan of THE DONG, I must admit that, in his current form, I cannot see him bet Bomber. Bomber is the player of fire right now. He won RedBull DC, he won WCS AM, he made Rain look like a scrub, and he looked amazing in every single tournamet he entered. The only time Bomber showed signs of bleeding were his series against Polt. Mostly because of the whole AFK medivac moments. Bomber is the player to beat, and even though we all know never to doubt The Dong, he will most likely exit this tournament early
Overall prediction

Bomber 3 - 1 Jaedong

2. MMA vs. StarDust

In the good old tradition of Trolling, I should give the edge to Stardust in this match. He is basicly this years equivalent of sOs. No one cares about him, no one talks about him. I neither will I. MMA got this for sure. He has fallen of since his WCS EU win, but He'll practice his heart out for Blizzcon and defeat Cheesedust with ease.

MMA 3 - 2 Stardust

3. herO[jOin] vs. MC

We all now what MC is capable of. We all know what this match will look like.
Game 1 - proxy oracle
Game 2 - proxy oracle
Game 3 - proxy oracle
And herO will advance because he is just too god for this nonsense...
Maybe MC tries in-base proxy oracles cause herO never scouts inside his own base. Then he has a chance

herO 3 - 0 MC

4. Polt vs. Classic

The classic series (I had to get one of those puns in) from IEM Cologne, Where Polt beat Classic 3-2 with very unclassical (ok, two) type of play that branded him the already classic (three) nickname "Sir Polt of Terran". I wish for the series to repeat itself in all of it's magnitude, suspence, and action and that It becomes yet another HotS classic (now I'm pushing it already).

Polt 3 - 2 Classic


5. San vs. jjakji

The battle of "no-one-really-cares-about-them" players (exept Cricketer). Great players, no dubt, but definitely looking for their only tournamnet victory in this match. Given the fact that PvT is Sans worst matchup, and TvP seems to be jjakjis worst matchup, I'm calling for an entertaining series that will justify the two of them being at Blizzcon. Overall, I'm giving the edge to San

San 3 - 2 jjakji


6. Life vs. Zest


Basicly the match I'm the most excited about, part from soO vs Taeja. At IEM Toronto, Zest dominated Life pretty hard, and I hope for Life to have that revenge motive and play his absolute best. Even then though, I find it difficult to see him beating Zest. Zest is, without a doubt, the best player in the worl right now, as indicated by his performances. Sure, he doesn't win every time (as demonstrated by Sora, just last week) but he'll surely go into Blizzcon prepared and ready to face anyone. In this match, I give him a small edge

Life 2 - 3 Zest


7. soO vs. TaeJa

The Match I am most excited about! The ultimate Kong vs Taeja - the man with 11 premier titles. Honestly, I think soO has this no problem. Taeja is sick good, but, given his wrist problems (evident in WCS AM ro 16) he mught just bum out 0 - 3.
Then again, if he is ok with his condition, he could beat soO. It mostly depends on what kind of Taeja shows up at Anaheim.

soO 3 - 2 Taeja


8. HyuN vs. INnoVation

On paper, Innovation should win this easy. Hyun is great, but The Machine is almost invicnible atm. He destroyed soO in the GSL (granted it was a lot of 2-rax). But, remember Soulkey guys, remember Soulkey...
What did Soulkey do to beat Innoavtion last year? Roach all-ins. And roach all-ins are Hyuns speciality. If Innovaton gets tunnel-visioned, he will die to Hyun, and his roaches.

Hyun 3 - 2 Innovation




So, that is my preview of the Blizzcon ro.16. Hope you enjoyed it. This proves that EU has more quality posts than NA and therefore more Passion!!!!!!!

#IMadeThis

On October 22 2014 19:43 TheBloodyDwarf wrote:
I meant music genres