The peak performance of Byun was several month ago. He wasn't persistent at all since then, and I don't remember a lot of high quality games from him. I don't know why that many people treat him as a safe bet for first place in group A. He remains a tier 1 Korean player, but I won't be surprised if he'll be 3rd there or even knocked out by the other Koreans.

Zest is coming jetlagged and tired. Doubt if he will have the strength for a marathon of 5 BO3 in a row. I don't think he'll be first in his group. He may advance there, but its just because its the easiest group of all.

bulya

Israel386 Posts

March 01 2017 15:27 GMT

#24

double post

zakadar

Germany409 Posts

March 01 2017 16:42 GMT

#25

but zest is still best

[PkF] Wire

France24236 Posts

March 01 2017 16:59 GMT

#26

On March 02 2017 00:26 bulya wrote:
The peak performance of Byun was several month ago. He wasn't persistent at all since then, and I don't remember a lot of high quality games from him. I don't know why that many people treat him as a safe bet for first place in group A. He remains a tier 1 Korean player, but I won't be surprised if he'll be 3rd there or even knocked out by the other Koreans.

Zest is coming jetlagged and tired. Doubt if he will have the strength for a marathon of 5 BO3 in a row. I don't think he'll be first in his group. He may advance there, but its just because its the easiest group of all.

I definitely see where you're coming from, but I have this uncanny feeling ByuN will do well in front of that crowd. As for Zest, I think his group is so easy he could advance first after three sleepless nights (OK, maybe he'd lose to Patience). I guess we'll see.

NonY

8751 Posts

March 01 2017 17:30 GMT

#27

Stats will probably sweep the terrans in his group if he uses his best builds. His losses vs innovation looked more like the exception to the rule than his wins did. If he's comfortable and playing well then I don't think any terran beats him here. And he'll probably beat Harstem as well just by playing safe and outplaying him. Neeb is probably his biggest threat head-to-head, but I think stats can win the group by going 4-1 and getting the tiebreaker over TY by beating TY. If Neeb comes loaded with some good PvT builds then he's a major threat for advancing. Does he have his finger on what these terrans struggle against atm or can he throw something unexpected at them that'll actually work? Of course he also needs to continue his PvP excellence. Ryung looked vulnerable to Drogo. I'm sure Neeb watches those games and sees how Drogo could have won and is eager to get it done against some of the other Korean terrans.

I think herO was built for succeeding in a group stage like this. He's got nasty builds to mow people down in bo3's in pvt and pvz. He's very strong right now and faltering against sOs in GSL is not very indicative of how he'll perform in a "weekend" tournament, especially before the single elim bo5 portion of the tournament. But still I could see him not winning the group if him and ByuN both go 4-1 but ByuN gets the tiebreaker by beating herO. Or of course ByuN could just go 5-0. Did he spend too much time newb bashing on the ladder? He needs to be sharp to win this group.

sickkkciiityyy

34 Posts

March 01 2017 18:12 GMT

#28

I see Byun TY Nerchio/Zest and Innovation. Byun is still a beast hopefully he will show it, Solar should be 2nd. TY just won huge cup in China earning 100k so he know how to do it, Stats and Neeb should get out. I hope Nerchio will show up, he is a big big talent just choking offline, Zest is out of his prime and this group is not easy, True is playing best atm also Patience is very hard to play, anyone can make it from group C tbh! and group D is ultra hard like WTF is this, Inno is top dog like top top but at qualis he try 3 times so i dont know how he will preform, same with Dark- he can win the whole thing but also he can be eliminated from this group, he is shaky atm i think, Showtime and Gumiho got huge shot to get out, Mana will have very hard time.

Elentos

55555 Posts

March 01 2017 18:19 GMT

#29

On March 02 2017 02:30 NonY wrote:
Stats will probably sweep the terrans in his group if he uses his best builds. His losses vs innovation looked more like the exception to the rule than his wins did.

He also looked completely helpless against TY for most of their series in GSL and Stats was on the verge of getting 3-0'd by INnoVation before he turned it around. It'd be very foolish to count out TY.

Stats has the advantage though in that he's been in Poland for longer than TY so he's pretty acclimated with the whole setting. TY is traditionally someone who has trouble adjusting when he plays in tournaments outside of Korea, a bit of a slow starter who won't be at 100% immediately.

NonY

8751 Posts

March 01 2017 19:44 GMT

#30

On March 02 2017 03:19 Elentos wrote:

Show nested quote +

He also looked completely helpless against TY for most of their series...

Wow really? I felt like he was on the threshold of very good PvT in those games but just had some miscalculations and a few kinks to work out. If you look at his wins, or how other protoss win PvT's, it's very similar to his losses to TY but with just a few tweaks. Those games don't look like helplessness to me but rather the final stepping stone before getting >50% win rate in the matchup. There's just a lot to map out with that style of play. And since he had to prepare for a Bo5 against Innovation, he has been mapping out a lot more of it in the weeks since he played TY. So at this point I think he's got the edge. But I admit there's a lot of room for creativity for terran and you never know how far each race has advanced in the arms race until the games are played.

Charoisaur

Germany16008 Posts

March 01 2017 19:53 GMT

#31

If Inno wouldn't have suicided his medivacs into phoenixes he would have very likely 3:0ed Stats and we'd all be talking about how poor Stats' pvt is

Poopi

France12904 Posts

March 01 2017 19:56 GMT

#32

Fucking epic groups of SC2, and titan battle in LoL with SKT against dream KT team, tomorrow is gonna be an awesome esports day. I'll try not to miss class but damn these groups...
Plus there are enough terrans for my liking :x.

Malgo

Germany76 Posts

March 01 2017 20:10 GMT

#33

when will they announce the first matchups?

Ej_

47656 Posts

March 01 2017 20:10 GMT

#34

On March 02 2017 04:56 Poopi wrote:
I'll try not to miss class but damn these groups...

fortunately enough I got a sick leave from doctor today and got 2 days of staying in bed and watching IEM

life is good again

NonY

8751 Posts

March 01 2017 20:24 GMT

#35

On March 02 2017 04:53 Charoisaur wrote:
If Inno wouldn't have suicided his medivacs into phoenixes he would have very likely 3:0ed Stats and we'd all be talking about how poor Stats' pvt is

and if inno had had a better move than trying a doom drop across a void zone against a protoss with a ton of phoenixes and great map awareness, then maybe he wouldn't have taken such a bad trade. but he had gotten outplayed up to that point and had to take a risk! we're lucky that inno didn't get lucky there so that we could collect more data on who gets the better of the other in each interaction throughout a game. stats had some good play to show!

pvsnp

7676 Posts

March 01 2017 20:32 GMT

#36

Inno choked and choked hard in the GSL. He completely stomped Stats in the first two games before he got surprised in game three. He also said in the Dankshrine interview that losing game 3 screwed up his mentality and caused him to lose the series.

Inno is hands down better than Stats right now and losing 2-3 in one series doesn't change that. Stats can beat Inno of course but he isn't favored to do so.

usopsama

6502 Posts

March 01 2017 21:12 GMT

#37

Poll: Whose tears will be the most delicious?

Nerchio (35)

78%

ShoWTimE (4)

9%

Neeb (2)

4%

HeRoMaRinE (1)

2%

Harstem (1)

2%

uThermal (1)

2%

MaNa (1)

2%

Snute (0)

0%

Serral (0)

0%

PiLiPiLi (0)

0%

45 total votes

Your vote: Whose tears will be the most delicious?

(Vote): HeRoMaRinE
(Vote): Snute
(Vote): Neeb
(Vote): Harstem
(Vote): Serral
(Vote): Nerchio
(Vote): PiLiPiLi
(Vote): ShoWTimE
(Vote): uThermal
(Vote): MaNa

intotheheart

Canada33091 Posts

March 01 2017 21:15 GMT

#38

Where's the entry for the fanbase?

Fango

United Kingdom8987 Posts

March 01 2017 21:32 GMT

#39

On March 02 2017 03:12 sickkkciiityyy wrote:
I see Byun TY Nerchio/Zest and Innovation. Byun is still a beast hopefully he will show it, Solar should be 2nd. TY just won huge cup in China earning 100k so he know how to do it, Stats and Neeb should get out.

He earnt $200K in China. which is ridiculous on its own

Fango

United Kingdom8987 Posts

March 01 2017 21:33 GMT

#40

On March 02 2017 06:12 usopsama wrote:

Poll: Whose tears will be the most delicious?

Nerchio (35)

78%

ShoWTimE (4)

9%

Neeb (2)

4%

HeRoMaRinE (1)

2%

Harstem (1)

2%

uThermal (1)

2%

MaNa (1)

2%

Snute (0)

0%

Serral (0)

0%

PiLiPiLi (0)

0%

45 total votes

Your vote: Whose tears will be the most delicious?

(Vote): HeRoMaRinE
(Vote): Snute
(Vote): Neeb
(Vote): Harstem
(Vote): Serral
(Vote): Nerchio
(Vote): PiLiPiLi
(Vote): ShoWTimE
(Vote): uThermal
(Vote): MaNa