Shocked if he doesn't advance: Byun. He just has such an easy bracket and I don't think anyone in the top half really compares to him.
Other favorites in terms of power level: her0, DRG. Both of these probably sit comfortably above the "non top-6 foreigner" echelon and are the top Koreans along with Byun. Either of them could definitely be upset once or even twice, however.
Fighting it out for the upset/fourth spot:Elazer, Nice, Creator, Astrea, Skillous, uThermal, Has, Cyan . Of these, Elazer and Astrea are the ones to watch out for, especially Elazer.
Shocked if they advance Anyone else.
Interestingly, however, one of Has/Cyan/Kelazhur/uThermal is going to necessarily get two shots at qualifying, which is pretty significant.
Predictions for making it out the top: Byun, DRG Predictions for making it out of the bottom: Hero, Skillous.
Poll: What's your HYPE level???
4 - LET'S GOOOOOOOO (29)
91%
3 - Yeah I can't wait!!! (2)
6%
1 - I'm really not hyped about this. (1)
3%
2 - It'll be good, looking forward to it (0)
0%
32 total votes
Your vote: What's your HYPE level???
(Vote): 4 - LET'S GOOOOOOOO (Vote): 3 - Yeah I can't wait!!! (Vote): 2 - It'll be good, looking forward to it (Vote): 1 - I'm really not hyped about this.
thought it was interesting from the Solar-Maru preview on Team NV Youtube that suggested DRG wasn't practicing much—or at least not enough in Solar's opinion. Not sure how seriously to take it.
what's everyone's current favorite multitwitch? I made one a long time ago but it hasn't worked since twitch changed the way their embeds work and I never looked into it
Some impressive upsets already, Nice over herO and Spirit over DRG! Wifi at the airport seems a bit bad and 4g is not much better but I'll try to watch as many matches as I can Rooting for ByuN and uThermal as well as Creator
Astrea messed up the opening so badly that last game, like why the Robo was not making a 2nd observer for like a minute? And why making Colossi against the Invisible Mine Drop instead of Blink?
On February 24 2022 00:17 Shathe wrote: Damn that lower bracket is tougher than the upper bracket
it is yeah, most round one results were surprising
Also, the bracket is so lopsides with lots of better players on one side, and pretty much Byun on the other side.
The upsets actually evened out the bracket alot. If things went as expected, the top half of the losers bracket would have also been way easier - but Elazer/herO/DRG put themselves there which means the lower bracket is pretty balanced overall.
On February 24 2022 00:17 Shathe wrote: Damn that lower bracket is tougher than the upper bracket
it is yeah, most round one results were surprising
Also, the bracket is so lopsides with lots of better players on one side, and pretty much Byun on the other side.
The upsets actually evened out the bracket alot. If things went as expected, the top half of the losers bracket would have also been way easier - but Elazer/herO/DRG put themselves there which means the lower bracket is pretty balanced overall.
Well the first round loser matches were DRG - Creator and Elazer - herO on the one side and Percival - Probe and Has - Kelazhur on the other side. Wouldn t say that is balanced. The later 4 are arguably the 4 worst players of the tournament (maybe 4 out of the worst 6 together with Cyan and Ryung), while the other 2 matches could as well be played in the qualifying match
Holy shit Probe won a series at an international tournament. It's been so long.
When you aren't automatically put in a group with the like, absolute best of the best Koreans and foreigners in the world you can actually win a series! Truly beautiful, hope he can take it even further and take a big scalp.
On February 24 2022 00:17 Shathe wrote: Damn that lower bracket is tougher than the upper bracket
it is yeah, most round one results were surprising
Also, the bracket is so lopsides with lots of better players on one side, and pretty much Byun on the other side.
The upsets actually evened out the bracket alot. If things went as expected, the top half of the losers bracket would have also been way easier - but Elazer/herO/DRG put themselves there which means the lower bracket is pretty balanced overall.
Not quite, the first round of LB was pretty stacked one side as well, because they belong to the same side in the bracket. Only 2nd round and onward are more balance.
On February 24 2022 00:25 Pandain wrote: The smiling assassin still the best nickname in SC2?
On February 24 2022 00:21 tigera6 wrote:
On February 24 2022 00:18 [PkF] Wire wrote:
On February 24 2022 00:17 Shathe wrote: Damn that lower bracket is tougher than the upper bracket
it is yeah, most round one results were surprising
Also, the bracket is so lopsides with lots of better players on one side, and pretty much Byun on the other side.
The upsets actually evened out the bracket alot. If things went as expected, the top half of the losers bracket would have also been way easier - but Elazer/herO/DRG put themselves there which means the lower bracket is pretty balanced overall.
Not quite, the first round of LB was pretty stacked one side as well, because they belong to the same side in the bracket. Only 2nd round and onward are more balance.
Yes, that's what I was going for. But re: the other poster now actually I'm not sure that's more balanced because it's only balanced because two top players got eliminated first round haha.
okay skillous has done a great job bringing this back
I actually think the commentators were wrong about this, tho, he should have pushed harder at the beginning when skillous was just dead, but once skillous had a pheonix fleet and defensive position with colossi, kelazhur should have focused more on expanding and teching rather than just trying to attack continuously
gotta give skillous credit tho, he turtled super hard and used the phoenix well for what they're good at (fending off drops and smaller attacks) and then went like hell for carriers
On February 24 2022 01:08 Poopi wrote: Right as I land in Katowice and open a stream I see Kelazhur getting a clicked by Skillous carriers, unfortunate timing
On February 24 2022 01:08 Poopi wrote: Right as I land in Katowice and open a stream I see Kelazhur getting a clicked by Skillous carriers, unfortunate timing
I remember watching Kelazhur streaming customs versus Elazer because there would be a lot of Korean zergs in the open bracket, but with Armani not coming and RagnaroK getting DQ’d he got a bit screwed by the unfortunate turn of events :/. Feel bad for Elazer too
herO is the only player in the bracket who has a good shot at the playoffs, it would be a shame if he loses here in terms of just making the ro24 good.
On February 24 2022 03:10 Ciaus_Dronu wrote: Holy s*** Ryung pulling out the games of his life. GG.
I haven't been following SC2 lately, do those games come out of the blue or were there hints of such great shape coming into this event ?
I recall seeing some good games from him recently in small cups, so I'd say he's been in form. But no real big results I know of. This is a level I don't know that I've ever seen from him (outside of TvT where he always seemed capable of miracles).
Wow Ryung, I've been a huge fan of him since WoL it will be very cool if he makes it to groups. Just hope he doesn't get placed in Maru's group. Weird results today. DRG going 0-4 is sad and very surprising a month after he beat Serral.
On February 24 2022 03:10 Ciaus_Dronu wrote: Holy s*** Ryung pulling out the games of his life. GG.
I haven't been following SC2 lately, do those games come out of the blue or were there hints of such great shape coming into this event ?
I recall seeing some good games from him recently in small cups, so I'd say he's been in form. But no real big results I know of. This is a level I don't know that I've ever seen from him (outside of TvT where he always seemed capable of miracles).
thanks ! I'm amazed as well, especially since he's not known for his fondness of TvP ! Winning that series vs herO is very promising, he can absolutely get that ro24 spot !
On February 24 2022 03:10 Ciaus_Dronu wrote: Holy s*** Ryung pulling out the games of his life. GG.
I haven't been following SC2 lately, do those games come out of the blue or were there hints of such great shape coming into this event ?
He showed some pretty good games near the end of WTL but it was unclear how good he was going to be coming into this. But he was definitely underrated in that people sort of wrote him off.
On February 24 2022 03:10 Ciaus_Dronu wrote: Holy s*** Ryung pulling out the games of his life. GG.
I haven't been following SC2 lately, do those games come out of the blue or were there hints of such great shape coming into this event ?
I recall seeing some good games from him recently in small cups, so I'd say he's been in form. But no real big results I know of. This is a level I don't know that I've ever seen from him (outside of TvT where he always seemed capable of miracles).
I think Ryung TvP has been very good recently, taking down Protoss in WTL and almost beat Zoun in GSL as well. So its not that shocking to me that he beat herO, but it would be very exciting to see him moving on nevertheless.
On February 24 2022 03:26 Captain Peabody wrote: build 100 charge zealots -> a move
this is the peak of Protoss strategy
Work great against Terran aggro style of non-stop mine drop and Bio split. If Spirit can ever get maxed out and move out with the Bio Mines deathball, those Zealots will be melted.
Phoenix/Zealot/Archon is an underrated unit comp on ladder. So many Protoss players that are lower skill level want to try and use more advanced compositions when this is literally a-move and it's so effective.
Granted Ghosts wreck it, but that's putting the burden on the Terran to execute the more difficult to control army.
If Nice wanted to be 200 IQ he'd mix in Immortals. It's the sim city that is costing him all of his units. If he had a few Immortals in here the bases would die and Spirit would starve.
The full clown fiesta play here would be for Spirit to use his fusion core to go straight for BCs, not libs. Then nearly die while transitioning, only to get out just enough BCs to equalise things.
I just want to point out that Nice started losing the whole series when he abandoned controlling the skies. Spirit was completely lost when Nice had air dominance and the second he yielded it Spirit came back.
I think I just watched the worst fights from a protoss since forever :d ... 5 bases vs 3 bases 40 zealots to trade let's send them in the sim city with all the bunkers widowmine and tanks to see how it go :d., floating 1200 minerals and not dropping a single cannon it's better to lose 30 probes I dont mine I still have 60 :d
On February 24 2022 04:22 sim9999 wrote: I think I just watched the worst fights from a protoss since forever :d ... 5 bases vs 3 bases 40 zealots to trade let's send them in the sim city with all the bunkers widowmine and tanks to see how it go :d., floating 1200 minerals and not dropping a single cannon it's better to lose 30 probes I dont mine I still have 60 :d
I'm still shocked and salty that DRG didn't win a single map. Gotta give Spirit credit though that is not an easy bracket to advance from. Good luck to him in the group stage.
On February 23 2022 20:58 Waxangel wrote: I can't believe the B-stream randomly has a live reporter on site when the main stream doesn't.
I realized I had a friend on site last night, so I quickly put something together. So glad you enjoyed it!
You guys did great!! Super fun and great games. Sucks about herO though
On February 24 2022 04:27 honorablemacroterran wrote: Let's go for 4 Terrans advancing!
Would be epic! Also would mean we have 3 T in each group
On February 24 2022 04:30 Vindicare605 wrote: I'm still shocked and salty that DRG didn't win a single map. Gotta give Spirit credit though that is not an easy bracket to advance from. Good luck to him in the group stage.
This was said earlier but apparently Solar said that DRG had not been practicing enough for this event.
On February 24 2022 04:45 Fango wrote: Credit to the replacement players for still staying in shape and practicing, despite probably having accepted they weren't going to be at the event
I feel like "no pressure/expectations = better play" is DEFINITELY a real thing for certain players. Ppl mention it fairly often in interviews.
Oh, re: ESL twitter apparently winner of Ryung/Nice goes into Group B; winner of astrea/uthermal goes into Group C
On February 24 2022 05:37 Malinor wrote: I do not know who Spirit is, never heard of him. Probably just an oversight from my sight, but anyway, super happy that he made it through! Local heros are fantastic for such a tournament.
I do not know who Spirit is, never heard of him. Probably just an oversight from my sight, but anyway, super happy that he made it through! Local heros are fantastic for such a tournament.
On February 24 2022 05:37 Malinor wrote: I do not know who Spirit is, never heard of him. Probably just an oversight from my sight, but anyway, super happy that he made it through! Local heros are fantastic for such a tournament.
I think Astrea got the best group of the four for him, nobody there is straight up unbeatable for him. Will still be difficult for him to advance though.
of course Byun goes to group D lmao, just couldn't give those guys a break? Byun has the most EPT points of anyone advancing from the ro36, and they put him into the group that already had by far the most EPT points???
I'll never understand why Protoss players don't mix in a couple of Tempests if they are going to make Carriers. You get so much zoning power the Terran can't just endlessly kite the Carriers.
On February 24 2022 05:37 Malinor wrote: I do not know who Spirit is, never heard of him. Probably just an oversight from my sight, but anyway, super happy that he made it through! Local heros are fantastic for such a tournament.
I'd say Ryung has a fair shot of advancing out of Group B. Serral and Dark are the obvious favorites for 1 and 2 but that 3rd spot is open. Special and TIME are good TvT players and the way that Ryung looked today and considering Showtime always seems to struggle with Terrans I'd say Ryung has a fair shot to take 3rd place in that group.
It's really really annoying me how much weaker Group C is than the others and how stacked Group D is. You could make the groups so much fairer if you just swapped some players around in just those two groups.
On February 24 2022 06:59 Vindicare605 wrote: I'd say Ryung has a fair shot of advancing out of Group B. Serral and Dark are the obvious favorites for 1 and 2 but that 3rd spot is open. Special and TIME are good TvT players and the way that Ryung looked today and considering Showtime always seems to struggle with Terrans I'd say Ryung has a fair shot to take 3rd place in that group.
It's really really annoying me how much weaker Group C is than the others and how stacked Group D is. You could make the groups so much fairer if you just swapped some players around in just those two groups.
I don't think Group C is the weakest and I think it might even be the second strongest. I would say everyone in Group C other than (maybe) Astrea is better better (1) three players in Group A - Neeb, Spirit, Dream; and (2) four players in Group - Showtime, Special, Time, and maybe Ryung (not sure how strong is Ryung is non TvP).
With that said, Ryung got put into the worst group for him I think. I think he actually might have what it takes to upset countless players TvP and TvT, but TvZ is just so mechanically demanding and he seems more strategic to me than anything. And so him being with Dark and Serral seems like two auto-losses whereas I don't think he would be an auto-lose versus anyone else.
Cool to see Ryung do well after a big hiatus, don't think he is getting out of the groups tomorrow though.
Group C isn't weak, Zest is one of the tournament favourites, Traps highs are championship material, HeroMarine and Bunny are great players. I'm not sure about Lambos current form but I think he is similar to Astrea in that they are very capable players and can take matches off the best if they play well.
On February 24 2022 06:59 Vindicare605 wrote: I'd say Ryung has a fair shot of advancing out of Group B. Serral and Dark are the obvious favorites for 1 and 2 but that 3rd spot is open. Special and TIME are good TvT players and the way that Ryung looked today and considering Showtime always seems to struggle with Terrans I'd say Ryung has a fair shot to take 3rd place in that group.
It's really really annoying me how much weaker Group C is than the others and how stacked Group D is. You could make the groups so much fairer if you just swapped some players around in just those two groups.
I don't think Group C is the weakest and I think it might even be the second strongest. I would say everyone in Group C other than (maybe) Astrea is better better (1) three players in Group A - Neeb, Spirit, Dream; and (2) four players in Group - Showtime, Special, Time, and maybe Ryung (not sure how strong is Ryung is non TvP).
With that said, Ryung got put into the worst group for him I think. I think he actually might have what it takes to upset countless players TvP and TvT, but TvZ is just so mechanically demanding and he seems more strategic to me than anything. And so him being with Dark and Serral seems like two auto-losses whereas I don't think he would be an auto-lose versus anyone else.
Everyone else in that group is probably going to lose to Serral and Dark so it's not a problem. He has a good shot at 3rd place.
This ro36 just to get into the main event is better than practically anything from WoL era. The competition is so fierce and balanced. We are living in a great time to watch StarCraft. SC2 is the best ya'll.