Recently posted on the ESL website, groups for the next IEM Global Challenge event.
Naniwa, Zenio, MMA and HerO hail from Korea. Next week the Global Challenge Kiev will start and it is time to announce the groups for the StarCraft II tournament. Korea will be represented by TeamLiquid members Zenio and HerO, former Code S Winner MMA and Swedish pro Naniwa who is currently living in Seoul.
American qxc will replace DDE who had to cancel his participation. The case of Norwegian participant TargA is quite unique: He is currently living in Australia and participated in the South-East Asian qualifier for Kiev. Since no Chinese player was able to come, despite all efforts, and because Chinese New Year takes place during the event, DieStar from Poland will fill that last spot since he was next in line from the European qualifier.
Gunna be intressting to see if Kas can do well! Correct me i im wrong, but this is his first big offline event? Will be cheering for Nani tho, he could win it all.
On January 12 2012 00:35 Morale wrote: Gunna be intressting to see if Kas can do well! Correct me i im wrong, but this is his first big offline event? Will be cheering for Nani tho, he could win it all.
Kas has been playing LANs since IEM Kiev last year o_O
On January 12 2012 00:35 Morale wrote: Gunna be intressting to see if Kas can do well! Correct me i im wrong, but this is his first big offline event? Will be cheering for Nani tho, he could win it all.
Nah by now he has been at several bigger offline events.. dreamhack winter or WCG grand finals (3rd place) for example.
On January 12 2012 00:35 Morale wrote: Gunna be intressting to see if Kas can do well! Correct me i im wrong, but this is his first big offline event? Will be cheering for Nani tho, he could win it all.
He was at the World Cyber Games not too long ago taking down MKP, but falling to Mvp.
On January 12 2012 00:35 Morale wrote: Gunna be intressting to see if Kas can do well! Correct me i im wrong, but this is his first big offline event? Will be cheering for Nani tho, he could win it all.
Kas has played two Intel Extreme Masters events before (Kiev 2011, Cologne 2011).
On January 12 2012 00:35 Morale wrote: Gunna be intressting to see if Kas can do well! Correct me i im wrong, but this is his first big offline event? Will be cheering for Nani tho, he could win it all.
He was at the World Cyber Games not too long ago taking down MKP, but falling to Mvp.
Nani deffiantly, followed by any of the toher three!! Put Titan there as a lot of people say when he makes that final brakethrough he will be best protoss not currently in Korea!!!
Group B
DieStar Grubby Kas Zenio
Controversal!!! Zenio would be abbetting mans game but im going to go on Grubby and kas causing upsets!!! lol Porbably be kas and Zenio going through though!!
Group C
HasuObs MMA Pomi TargA
Hasu and MMA easily. MMA undefated hasuobs in 2nd.
Group D
DIMAGA Feast HerO qxc
Dimaga and Hero easily with whoever wins their game in 1st, again my heart says dimaage my brain says hero!!! lol
I think Grubby can be really statisfied. If I remember correctly he lost @Eu Qualifier against Feast in wb and Pomi in lb so if you would replace him with one of these 2 his group would be much harder. I wouldn't rate Zenio above him and for some reason he always seems to have Kas' number so following this he might get easily out of his group. My prediction:
Yeah, this has MMA written all over it, and lets be honest here, he should win it. I agree with the sentiments previously mentioned though, his TvP is not stellar and if anyone can take it away from him, I would hope it was Naniwa, it would be good for him to bounce back after all the controversy surrounding him.
MMA is a bonjwa apprentice in my eyes, although many fantastic pro players here, only he is of that caliber here. Him not being a favorite by a wide margin would be paramount to saying Flash isn't favored in almost everything he enters. So calling MMA to take this one pretty easy.
Still looking forward to seeing Naniwa and Kas perform after their intense training periods.
On January 12 2012 00:32 Jayjay54 wrote: Time to shine hasu. Your PvT is awesome show it to this nobody MMA. Also, he has by far the easiest group
His group comes down to a PvP vs Pomi, because MMA will probably win all his matches. I don't think that Hasu will be too happy about that. He doesn't like PvP and Pomi has pretty solid PvP, beating Grubby and Adelscott in the qualifier.
I've been quite impressed by Feast lately, So I think it's gonna be him and Hero going through in group D. For group A I think it'll be Naniwa-Killer, B Grubby and Kas and in C Pomi and mma going through
On January 12 2012 01:02 Madest wrote: Hey Carmac or anybody, do I need to buy some tickets to attend 2 final days? Couldn't find any info about it on ESL and Cyberarena sites...
That's a good question - you probably need to... O_o I will try to find out asap.
On January 12 2012 00:35 Morale wrote: Gunna be intressting to see if Kas can do well! Correct me i im wrong, but this is his first big offline event? Will be cheering for Nani tho, he could win it all.
Kas has played two Intel Extreme Masters events before (Kiev 2011, Cologne 2011).
On January 12 2012 00:35 Morale wrote: Gunna be intressting to see if Kas can do well! Correct me i im wrong, but this is his first big offline event? Will be cheering for Nani tho, he could win it all.
Kas has played two Intel Extreme Masters events before (Kiev 2011, Cologne 2011).
I'm really interested to see TitaN's PvP against Nani; also I believe KiLLeR might contend for the #1 spot in that group. Group B of death no doubt. Altough Group C will be a number too big for him, I will cheer for TargA who represents the whole SEA region. In D, Dimaga and HerO must pull through, no matter what.
On January 12 2012 01:45 Tppz! wrote: yeah 2 liquid invites and finally seeing Titan in a tournament. He got hyped a lot in the last time so im looking forward to watch his games!
It's going to be verry hard for the non-koreans...but who knows, sometimes HerO and ZeniO falls apart when they are stressed/jetlagged. I don't see MMA not winning this.
I hope Feast will finally make a performance, we're waiting for that since quite some time now, he always seems to fail when there are high pressure match
wow alot of protoss :o and with that map pool they had, surprising. Hope Hasu can do it, just have to get as many pvps as possible, mostly because i like his pvp style that often goes over one base.
On January 12 2012 02:19 sitromit wrote: Naniwa is considered Korean now? :p
IEM considers your place of living
violet/Demuslim do NA qualifiers Naniwa can't participate in any other qualifier
I'm commenting on the fact, that they chose to invite a foreigner for one of the Korean invitee slots. That's all..
How else is he supposed to qualify ? And if they couldn't get any other big-name korean which would bring more value than Naniwa for them, then it's just a good idea.
It's pretty weird not seeing mOOnGLaDe as the SEA representative this time around (He was at WCG when qualies were on) however i have watched a bit of TargA's stream lately and he seems really fucking good so lets see if he continues the trend of SEA underdogs (If people considered GLaDe an underdog in the IEM events he played when the first he was clearly one of the best foreign zergs in the world and the second he was inactive and still made top 8) and soul crushes peeps......GOGOGOGOGOGOOG TARGA I BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WC3 FTW!!! Also MMA to win convincingly
On January 12 2012 01:34 Ambtenaar wrote: So dumb, people like Targa and feast in 1 tournament with players like mma and zenio
Don't throw the word dumb too cheaply without educating yourself first. Feast beat 11 opponents in 3 qualifiers to get to Kiev. Players like elfittaja, Adelscott, Naama, XlorD, SjoW, ClouD, White Ra, SarenS, HayprO, Strelok, ToD, Grubby, Tarson, Socke and a few others did not manage to squeeze through that third qualifier.
Really looking forward to seeing TITAN play. I've heard MrBitter and RotterdaM talk about him a lot, but I've never seen him play in a live tournament setting.
Also GOGO GRUBBY! (nothing wrong with being a bit nationalistic from time to time )
A lot of Europe's elite in the lineup looking forward.
I think MMA will take it pretty "easy". Maybe this tournament Grubby will surprise a few people. I think its only a matter of time till he gets his first Gold on a Major Event.
On January 12 2012 01:25 diskolauch wrote: hey carmac, can u tell us something how the korean invites have been decided? were there other korean players in consideration?
We do not sponsor players' trips to events, so the choice is usually limited to the players that have the backing to go to events and have no schedule conflict with the GSL.
Nice to see a new player in there in the form of Feast. I couldn't find out a lot about him except his Liquipedia page and his qualifying run for IEM Kiev. Anybody care to shed some more light in this darkness?
Anyway good luck Feast. I always like rooting for the underdog (as long as you lose from Hero ).
On January 12 2012 03:57 Golden Ghost wrote: Nice to see a new player in there in the form of Feast. I couldn't find out a lot about him except his Liquipedia page and his qualifying run for IEM Kiev. Anybody care to shed some more light in this darkness?
Anyway good luck Feast. I always like rooting for the underdog (as long as you lose from Hero ).
On January 12 2012 03:57 Golden Ghost wrote: Nice to see a new player in there in the form of Feast. I couldn't find out a lot about him except his Liquipedia page and his qualifying run for IEM Kiev. Anybody care to shed some more light in this darkness?
Anyway good luck Feast. I always like rooting for the underdog (as long as you lose from Hero ).
He likes to research blink
..Like every single game.And he has good blink micro
On January 12 2012 05:10 InsidiA wrote: Oh no, Naniwa is Korean.
So? Huk and Jinro have been invited through the Korean Invites multiple times in IEM. I really don't see the point in these posts as the invites are completely dependent on where you are living...
Everybody in this group is really solid, but none of them (barring NaNi of course) stick out as players who you expect to make deep tournament runs. NaNi should definitely win this and while I generally would say Beasty, after watching TitaN dismantle SuperNoVa 2-0 at WCG, I think I'm confident that he can win. I wouldn't be too surprised seeing Beasty get second here, but TitaN's TvP is scary. I doubt KiLLeR will stand much of a chance, he's good, but these guys are better.
Grubby and Kas are two of the most solid European players of their respective races and, despite Zenio being really good, I think that they both have what it takes to take him down. Grubby's PvZ looked really good at HomeStory Cup and Kas has always been one of the most solid players. Zenio might be the favorite but this group is really good.
If MMA does not get out of this group I think everybody will be surprised. I can't say I've ever actually seen Pomi play, but that doesn't speak very much to his credibility. TargA definitely stands a shot at defeating the other two non-MMA players this group, but having only seen him in the NASL Open tournament I'm not entirely convinced. Hasu is super solid and is the only player in this group who I could possibly see beating MMA (namely because MMA's TvP is eh by his standards and Hasu's PvT is gosu). MMA and then either Hasu or TargA, but probably Hasu (mouz fighting!)
Feast doesn't have the experience of the other players in this group, qxc has been studying recently (I believe), plus DIMAGA and HerO are easily two of the best players at this tournament. DIMAGA to take first place with HerO right behind.
This tournament seems rather Protoss heavy, I don't like it....
On January 12 2012 00:32 Fyzar wrote: Hmm, my predictions; Group A NaNiwa Beastyqt
Group B Grubby Kas
Group C HasuObs MMA
Group D Feast HerO
e; this was supposed to be an edit -.- sorry about that
voting grubby over kas. wat? check country. ahhh netherlands there we go.
Grubby is ridiculously good even though he doesn't have the results (I heard he won an online tournament or something back in WarCraft 3) he's been practicing a lot recently. His play at HSC has convinced me that he is going to become a dominant force in SC2 (check my country, I'm from United States).
Also I don't know if that guy had those groups listed with his predictions saying first and second place, if they were then the weirdest thing I see if him putting Feast over HerO and Hasu over MMA. Those both are way less likely then Grubby beating Kas.
Naniwa should definitely be getting out of his group. He's the best player there, and the others are mid tier pros for the large part. His vZ is still quite weak, so I can see KilleR taking a game or two theoretically, depending on how well he got to learn Naniwa's style while Nani was on dignitas. In theory Nani should clean out the group without a loss and it'll be between beasty and Killer to see who goes through. Killer seems to be good at upsets in tournaments, but the safer bet is on beastyqt. If he prepares for Killers roach-heavy style, he should come out of the group.
If Grubby plays like he did at Homestory, he should break from his group. Kas is good, and he'll probably get out of the group as well, but if Grubby does well, I could see him taking Kas out. Zenio hasn't had much coverage lately, but Grubby and Kas both have pretty good vZ so I don't see him getting out this time. Diestar is very much an unknown quantity. He could do well, but he's unlikely to take out the far more successful players he is up against.
In group C, Hasu and MMA should get out of the group. Once again, it'll come down to how mainstream the styles of Pomi and Targa are. If they have unique styles and MMA and Hasu aren't used to them, they could do badly. Hasu wasn't at his best at HSC, so I don't see him taking down MMA, but he should clear Pomi and Targa. MMa almost certainly takes the group, depending on how much focus he gives to preparing. He has a GSL match only three days before, so he's not likely to be preparing for these opponents. When compared to people like Hasu who have until the event to prepare for him specifically, there could be an upset.
Hero will probably escape group D, but he'll need to beat DIMAGA and qxc. He should take out feast, who isn't such a massive player, but qxc in particular could give him a lot of trouble. On the other hand, he could well beat DIMAGA, who wasn't really on form at Homestory. Qxc will probably take out DIMAGA, but this is definitely the closest group. A three way tie is very much possible, but it's probably going to be qxc and Hero.
On January 12 2012 05:56 DYEAlabaster wrote: I'm a little confused about how they choose the players that participate? Is it through a qualifier process or is it by invite according to region?
At any rate, MMA to win the whole thing, Naniwa to get second (Just my predictions!)
Qualifiers for everywhere but Korea.
For this one, 7 players from a Euro qualifier (Feast, Dimaga, Beastyqt, Hasu, Titan, Pomi and Grubby). 2 American players (dde -> replaced by qxc who was the next highest in the qualifier, Killer) 1 from SEA (Was Yang, but he couldn't attend and no other players from the qualifier wanted to attend. Spot given to TargA) 1 Chinese player (Given to DieStar...?) 1 National Champion (Kas) 4 invited Koreans
To be in one of those groups, you have to just be living in the participating region, hence why Naniwa got a Korean invite.
On January 12 2012 05:44 Yonnua wrote: Naniwa should definitely be getting out of his group. He's the best player there, and the others are mid tier pros for the large part. His vZ is still quite weak, so I can see KilleR taking a game or two theoretically, depending on how well he got to learn Naniwa's style while Nani was on dignitas. In theory Nani should clean out the group without a loss and it'll be between beasty and Killer to see who goes through. Killer seems to be good at upsets in tournaments, but the safer bet is on beastyqt. If he prepares for Killers roach-heavy style, he should come out of the group.
If Grubby plays like he did at Homestory, he should break from his group. Kas is good, and he'll probably get out of the group as well, but if Grubby does well, I could see him taking Kas out. Zenio hasn't had much coverage lately, but Grubby and Kas both have pretty good vZ so I don't see him getting out this time. Diestar is very much an unknown quantity. He could do well, but he's unlikely to take out the far more successful players he is up against.
In group C, Hasu and MMA should get out of the group. Once again, it'll come down to how mainstream the styles of Pomi and Targa are. If they have unique styles and MMA and Hasu aren't used to them, they could do badly. Hasu wasn't at his best at HSC, so I don't see him taking down MMA, but he should clear Pomi and Targa. MMa almost certainly takes the group, depending on how much focus he gives to preparing. He has a GSL match only three days before, so he's not likely to be preparing for these opponents. When compared to people like Hasu who have until the event to prepare for him specifically, there could be an upset.
Hero will probably escape group D, but he'll need to beat DIMAGA and qxc. He should take out feast, who isn't such a massive player, but qxc in particular could give him a lot of trouble. On the other hand, he could well beat DIMAGA, who wasn't really on form at Homestory. Qxc will probably take out DIMAGA, but this is definitely the closest group. A three way tie is very much possible, but it's probably going to be qxc and Hero.
NaNiwa has come so far since he was on Dignitas that I doubt KiLLeR's knowledge will have much impact on the game and NaNiwa's PvZ is super good. Maybe you missed MLG Providence where he beat NesTea in two Bo3s.... But if not look at his games against Zergs. On the first page, the only "weak" player listed there is Ciara, the other players are all ridiculously good and many are Koreans + Show Spoiler +
and he has a pretty positive record on that page too. If KiLLeR can make a game against NaNiwa look close I'd be surprised.
I'm not sure that Diestar is really unknown because we continuously see him in tournaments, but he never goes anywhere. I doubt he'll do anything here either. His play always seems weak from what I've seen, so I agree with you that he has very little chance of escaping a group that talented.
I don't think that Qxc stands much of a chance, sadly. To the best of my knowledge he's been studying at school recently, so I don't really see how he can be as well prepared, which is something he'll need against players like HerO and DIMAGA.
On January 12 2012 05:44 Yonnua wrote: Naniwa should definitely be getting out of his group. He's the best player there, and the others are mid tier pros for the large part. His vZ is still quite weak, so I can see KilleR taking a game or two theoretically, depending on how well he got to learn Naniwa's style while Nani was on dignitas. In theory Nani should clean out the group without a loss and it'll be between beasty and Killer to see who goes through. Killer seems to be good at upsets in tournaments, but the safer bet is on beastyqt. If he prepares for Killers roach-heavy style, he should come out of the group.
If Grubby plays like he did at Homestory, he should break from his group. Kas is good, and he'll probably get out of the group as well, but if Grubby does well, I could see him taking Kas out. Zenio hasn't had much coverage lately, but Grubby and Kas both have pretty good vZ so I don't see him getting out this time. Diestar is very much an unknown quantity. He could do well, but he's unlikely to take out the far more successful players he is up against.
In group C, Hasu and MMA should get out of the group. Once again, it'll come down to how mainstream the styles of Pomi and Targa are. If they have unique styles and MMA and Hasu aren't used to them, they could do badly. Hasu wasn't at his best at HSC, so I don't see him taking down MMA, but he should clear Pomi and Targa. MMa almost certainly takes the group, depending on how much focus he gives to preparing. He has a GSL match only three days before, so he's not likely to be preparing for these opponents. When compared to people like Hasu who have until the event to prepare for him specifically, there could be an upset.
Hero will probably escape group D, but he'll need to beat DIMAGA and qxc. He should take out feast, who isn't such a massive player, but qxc in particular could give him a lot of trouble. On the other hand, he could well beat DIMAGA, who wasn't really on form at Homestory. Qxc will probably take out DIMAGA, but this is definitely the closest group. A three way tie is very much possible, but it's probably going to be qxc and Hero.
hasu had private problems and hasnt practiced a lot over the last weeks but MMA should win the group,yes
On January 12 2012 06:10 Chicane wrote: Interesting groups, though I'm disappointed with no WhiteRa and Strelok based on the location. I guess they can't favor one country too much though.
National champ gets in and rest of them have to play qualis,nuff said they didnt qualify.
Hero might be the favorite be Dimaga's HSC performance was amazing ! Feast doesn't know Hero and qxc very well, might be at his advantage/disadvantage who knows ? He played Dimaga in a few tournaments and lost... Feast's doesn't like PvP so it's gonna be difficult against hero but it's PvP sooo... Qxc, hasn't seen him play since a while. I'm sure he's as strong if not stronger than before !
I would love to see Feast take at leaste second place...
Let's face it, half of the players literally have 0% chance to win it. The skill difference between some of the participating players is too big. Hopefully we'll see upsets and high level games
Once again a organization failing to get Chinese players to their event. I understand there are many circumstances where it is out of their hands. As long as IEM continues to host a yearly event in their country I am happy. But how much longer is it going to take for Chinese players to be able to participate in foreign events other than ones in Korea?
On January 12 2012 06:21 onedayclose wrote: Once again a organization failing to get Chinese players to their event. I understand there are many circumstances where it is out of their hands. As long as IEM continues to host a yearly event in their country I am happy. But how much longer is it going to take for Chinese players to be able to participate in foreign events other than ones in Korea?
As for predictions? I see the Koreans advancing easily and another top 3 finish for NaNiwa! Likely a HerO v NaNiwa finals. Interested to see how Zenio does I'm not sure what was his last foreign event. So glad Huk was not invited. He needs to focus on practice/GSL and quit flying around the globe. Cannot wait for this event! It seems like there are no big offline events going on atm other than GSL.
On January 12 2012 06:21 Patjuh.xpressiv wrote: Feast is an absolute rising star, curious if he can go through groups and get to the playoffs GL to all!
Feast is a baller, he did 4 qualifying tournaments to get his spot !
Should be a great event, looking forward to its games My predictions: Group A NaNiwa TitaN Group B Grubby Zenio Group C MMA HasuObs Group D HerO DIMAGA edit: put Russian player TitaN instead of American one.
naniwa vs zenio (ppl are seriously underestimating him) and MMA vs HerO in the semifinals, probably zenio vs mma in the finals but if naniwa makes the finals im pretty sure he'll take it.
On January 12 2012 06:21 onedayclose wrote: Once again a organization failing to get Chinese players to their event. I understand there are many circumstances where it is out of their hands. As long as IEM continues to host a yearly event in their country I am happy. But how much longer is it going to take for Chinese players to be able to participate in foreign events other than ones in Korea?
It's Chinese new year man, would you go if you were Chinese?
I'll be the happiest little nerd if Naniwa wins this, but it won't be a walk in the park even with TvP being MMA's 'worst' match-up. (Guess many of us would love to suck as much at vP as MMA does...).
A) Nani, Titan Just to make sure we have enough Protoss staying in competition. B) Zenio, Kas While I'd like Grubby to advance, Zenio's still Code S no matter how much he's been slacking lately... C) MMA, Hasu I don't really know the other players that well, so I wouldn't be surprised by either of them taking 2nd place, I don't see MMA not winning the group though. D) Dima, Hero Dima was a beast at HSC and honestly, it'd be stupid of me not to predict all 3 real Koreans advance. (Also, I'm hoping for the fake-Korean to win.)
On January 12 2012 06:31 Sackings wrote: naniwa vs zenio (ppl are seriously underestimating him) and MMA vs HerO in the semifinals, probably zenio vs mma in the finals but if naniwa makes the finals im pretty sure he'll take it.
MMA's TvP is not that good, but it would be unrealistic to count MMA out against Naniwa. Last time they played in the same tournament, Naniwa failed to win a single game and MMA won the tournament. Naniwa is certainly good, but he's barely even Code A caliber. Now, I am not saying that MMA is certain to win against Naniwa either, just that I would say MMA is the heavy favorite against all players in this tournament.
It almost seems unfair, sending MMA to a tournament with a relatively weak competitor pool. Naniwa, Hero, Zenio are the only players who have a reasonable chance against him. Still, this is SC2, and upsets can happen.
On January 12 2012 06:21 onedayclose wrote: Once again a organization failing to get Chinese players to their event. I understand there are many circumstances where it is out of their hands. As long as IEM continues to host a yearly event in their country I am happy. But how much longer is it going to take for Chinese players to be able to participate in foreign events other than ones in Korea?
IEM or better said Intel are the only ones who care about the chinese scene atm and at last years IEM China a lot of chinese players declined their spot to attend another tournament in China. ESL does a lot of stuff that i don't agree with but out of all the threads in this section I think this is the one where your post belongs the least to.
This has to be one of my favorite group of Korean invites ever. Im really looking forward to Zenio play and I would love to see HerO do well but . . . He's just been underperforming lately. Naniwa is the scariest player that has ever come out of Europe and MMA is kind of good at this game.
Edit: One thing about MMA however - he seems weak against Protess players, and if there is anything in abdudance here it is that. If he is removed from tournament (which still doesn't seem likely) I don't know who is the favorite to win it all.
More interested to see the potential breakout players from Europe than the top-calibre players attending. That said Zenio hitting a foreign tournament is cool to see.
Titan has a growing reputation about him and is apparently terrifying at PvT, and an insanely hard worker so perhaps he might bust out at this tournament. He certainly looked handy when I saw him play at Dreamhack, guy's control is nice. As a Grubby fan(boy), I also hope to see him finally make another long run in a tournament, his play is really looking like it's coming together but then I've said that for quite a while now.
I also forsee Hero making a good run, defeats the two Code S Koreans there, wins the thing and still gets called overrated
I hope MMA wins this. I think it's nice to have tournaments be a bit more predictable and have the strongest players come out on top, instead of endless upsets.
On January 12 2012 05:44 Yonnua wrote: Naniwa should definitely be getting out of his group. He's the best player there, and the others are mid tier pros for the large part. His vZ is still quite weak, so I can see KilleR taking a game or two theoretically, depending on how well he got to learn Naniwa's style while Nani was on dignitas. In theory Nani should clean out the group without a loss and it'll be between beasty and Killer to see who goes through. Killer seems to be good at upsets in tournaments, but the safer bet is on beastyqt. If he prepares for Killers roach-heavy style, he should come out of the group.
If Grubby plays like he did at Homestory, he should break from his group. Kas is good, and he'll probably get out of the group as well, but if Grubby does well, I could see him taking Kas out. Zenio hasn't had much coverage lately, but Grubby and Kas both have pretty good vZ so I don't see him getting out this time. Diestar is very much an unknown quantity. He could do well, but he's unlikely to take out the far more successful players he is up against.
In group C, Hasu and MMA should get out of the group. Once again, it'll come down to how mainstream the styles of Pomi and Targa are. If they have unique styles and MMA and Hasu aren't used to them, they could do badly. Hasu wasn't at his best at HSC, so I don't see him taking down MMA, but he should clear Pomi and Targa. MMa almost certainly takes the group, depending on how much focus he gives to preparing. He has a GSL match only three days before, so he's not likely to be preparing for these opponents. When compared to people like Hasu who have until the event to prepare for him specifically, there could be an upset.
Hero will probably escape group D, but he'll need to beat DIMAGA and qxc. He should take out feast, who isn't such a massive player, but qxc in particular could give him a lot of trouble. On the other hand, he could well beat DIMAGA, who wasn't really on form at Homestory. Qxc will probably take out DIMAGA, but this is definitely the closest group. A three way tie is very much possible, but it's probably going to be qxc and Hero.
NaNiwa has come so far since he was on Dignitas that I doubt KiLLeR's knowledge will have much impact on the game and NaNiwa's PvZ is super good. Maybe you missed MLG Providence where he beat NesTea in two Bo3s.... But if not look at his games against Zergs. On the first page, the only "weak" player listed there is Ciara, the other players are all ridiculously good and many are Koreans + Show Spoiler +
and he has a pretty positive record on that page too. If KiLLeR can make a game against NaNiwa look close I'd be surprised.
I'm not sure that Diestar is really unknown because we continuously see him in tournaments, but he never goes anywhere. I doubt he'll do anything here either. His play always seems weak from what I've seen, so I agree with you that he has very little chance of escaping a group that talented.
I don't think that Qxc stands much of a chance, sadly. To the best of my knowledge he's been studying at school recently, so I don't really see how he can be as well prepared, which is something he'll need against players like HerO and DIMAGA.
Naniwa's repeatedly said that vZ is his weakest match-up. If he only had to play vT and vP, he'd be doing a LOT better than he is now. He did well at providence against every race, that doesn't mean PvZ isn't his weakest matchup.
guess MMA wants some of that free money MC is always winning abroad vP is MMA's worst MU but I really don't think the foreigner P's will pose a problem here; only worried about Hero overseas: He's a bonjwa at the international events, a dud in GSL.
On January 12 2012 09:37 amazingoopah wrote: guess MMA wants some of that free money MC is always winning abroad vP is MMA's worst MU but I really don't think the foreigner P's will pose a problem here; only worried about Hero overseas: He's a bonjwa at the international events, a dud in GSL.
On January 12 2012 10:26 strexer wrote: Really hate to be this guy, but Korean top 3 is looking like it's going to happen.
I'm honestly not seeing Zenio advance as much as I'd like him too. MMA and HerO for sure though. Hoping Naniwa takes it all though. He's been doing amazing recently.
Hmm.. only 4 zergs, 5 Terrans and 7 Protoss. This will be interesting. Really Looking forward to seeing what Beastyqt, Diestar, Grubby, and DIMAGA will do. HerO vs DIMAGA is gonna be great. Also looking forward to Diestar vs Grubby. I'm guessing someone from pool B or D will win this.
On January 12 2012 05:44 Yonnua wrote: Naniwa should definitely be getting out of his group. He's the best player there, and the others are mid tier pros for the large part. His vZ is still quite weak, so I can see KilleR taking a game or two theoretically, depending on how well he got to learn Naniwa's style while Nani was on dignitas. In theory Nani should clean out the group without a loss and it'll be between beasty and Killer to see who goes through. Killer seems to be good at upsets in tournaments, but the safer bet is on beastyqt. If he prepares for Killers roach-heavy style, he should come out of the group.
If Grubby plays like he did at Homestory, he should break from his group. Kas is good, and he'll probably get out of the group as well, but if Grubby does well, I could see him taking Kas out. Zenio hasn't had much coverage lately, but Grubby and Kas both have pretty good vZ so I don't see him getting out this time. Diestar is very much an unknown quantity. He could do well, but he's unlikely to take out the far more successful players he is up against.
In group C, Hasu and MMA should get out of the group. Once again, it'll come down to how mainstream the styles of Pomi and Targa are. If they have unique styles and MMA and Hasu aren't used to them, they could do badly. Hasu wasn't at his best at HSC, so I don't see him taking down MMA, but he should clear Pomi and Targa. MMa almost certainly takes the group, depending on how much focus he gives to preparing. He has a GSL match only three days before, so he's not likely to be preparing for these opponents. When compared to people like Hasu who have until the event to prepare for him specifically, there could be an upset.
Hero will probably escape group D, but he'll need to beat DIMAGA and qxc. He should take out feast, who isn't such a massive player, but qxc in particular could give him a lot of trouble. On the other hand, he could well beat DIMAGA, who wasn't really on form at Homestory. Qxc will probably take out DIMAGA, but this is definitely the closest group. A three way tie is very much possible, but it's probably going to be qxc and Hero.
NaNiwa has come so far since he was on Dignitas that I doubt KiLLeR's knowledge will have much impact on the game and NaNiwa's PvZ is super good. Maybe you missed MLG Providence where he beat NesTea in two Bo3s.... But if not look at his games against Zergs. On the first page, the only "weak" player listed there is Ciara, the other players are all ridiculously good and many are Koreans + Show Spoiler +
and he has a pretty positive record on that page too. If KiLLeR can make a game against NaNiwa look close I'd be surprised.
I'm not sure that Diestar is really unknown because we continuously see him in tournaments, but he never goes anywhere. I doubt he'll do anything here either. His play always seems weak from what I've seen, so I agree with you that he has very little chance of escaping a group that talented.
I don't think that Qxc stands much of a chance, sadly. To the best of my knowledge he's been studying at school recently, so I don't really see how he can be as well prepared, which is something he'll need against players like HerO and DIMAGA.
Naniwa's repeatedly said that vZ is his weakest match-up. If he only had to play vT and vP, he'd be doing a LOT better than he is now. He did well at providence against every race, that doesn't mean PvZ isn't his weakest matchup.
Point remains that he's not going to drop a game to KiLLeR. That's all I'm really trying to say. NaNi has defeated an allstar lineup of Zergs and one more mid-tier foreigner isn't going to phase him.
On January 12 2012 05:44 Yonnua wrote: Naniwa should definitely be getting out of his group. He's the best player there, and the others are mid tier pros for the large part. His vZ is still quite weak, so I can see KilleR taking a game or two theoretically, depending on how well he got to learn Naniwa's style while Nani was on dignitas. In theory Nani should clean out the group without a loss and it'll be between beasty and Killer to see who goes through. Killer seems to be good at upsets in tournaments, but the safer bet is on beastyqt. If he prepares for Killers roach-heavy style, he should come out of the group.
If Grubby plays like he did at Homestory, he should break from his group. Kas is good, and he'll probably get out of the group as well, but if Grubby does well, I could see him taking Kas out. Zenio hasn't had much coverage lately, but Grubby and Kas both have pretty good vZ so I don't see him getting out this time. Diestar is very much an unknown quantity. He could do well, but he's unlikely to take out the far more successful players he is up against.
In group C, Hasu and MMA should get out of the group. Once again, it'll come down to how mainstream the styles of Pomi and Targa are. If they have unique styles and MMA and Hasu aren't used to them, they could do badly. Hasu wasn't at his best at HSC, so I don't see him taking down MMA, but he should clear Pomi and Targa. MMa almost certainly takes the group, depending on how much focus he gives to preparing. He has a GSL match only three days before, so he's not likely to be preparing for these opponents. When compared to people like Hasu who have until the event to prepare for him specifically, there could be an upset.
Hero will probably escape group D, but he'll need to beat DIMAGA and qxc. He should take out feast, who isn't such a massive player, but qxc in particular could give him a lot of trouble. On the other hand, he could well beat DIMAGA, who wasn't really on form at Homestory. Qxc will probably take out DIMAGA, but this is definitely the closest group. A three way tie is very much possible, but it's probably going to be qxc and Hero.
NaNiwa has come so far since he was on Dignitas that I doubt KiLLeR's knowledge will have much impact on the game and NaNiwa's PvZ is super good. Maybe you missed MLG Providence where he beat NesTea in two Bo3s.... But if not look at his games against Zergs. On the first page, the only "weak" player listed there is Ciara, the other players are all ridiculously good and many are Koreans + Show Spoiler +
and he has a pretty positive record on that page too. If KiLLeR can make a game against NaNiwa look close I'd be surprised.
I'm not sure that Diestar is really unknown because we continuously see him in tournaments, but he never goes anywhere. I doubt he'll do anything here either. His play always seems weak from what I've seen, so I agree with you that he has very little chance of escaping a group that talented.
I don't think that Qxc stands much of a chance, sadly. To the best of my knowledge he's been studying at school recently, so I don't really see how he can be as well prepared, which is something he'll need against players like HerO and DIMAGA.
Naniwa's repeatedly said that vZ is his weakest match-up. If he only had to play vT and vP, he'd be doing a LOT better than he is now. He did well at providence against every race, that doesn't mean PvZ isn't his weakest matchup.
Point remains that he's not going to drop a game to KiLLeR. That's all I'm really trying to say. NaNi has defeated an allstar lineup of Zergs and one more mid-tier foreigner isn't going to phase him.
Killer's pretty good man. Check out his results on TLPD or Liquipedia. He did damn well at Blizzcon and IEM NY.
On January 12 2012 00:32 Jayjay54 wrote: Time to shine hasu. Your PvT is awesome show it to this nobody MMA. Also, he has by far the easiest group
You do realize that MMA is pretty much arguably the best or 2nd best of this year since he won blizz cup (I didnt detect sarcasm so thats y) However, Hasu will probably make it out ez unless he gets something like 6 pooled when he nexus first ^^
On January 12 2012 13:25 iSometric wrote: I think neither hero or zenio will make it out of group stage.
That is an interesting (read: bad) opinion.
I could maybe see Zenio. He's only been to one foreign tournament before so maybe he won't do so well. Hero is a veteran of this though, he's second favourite to win it all.
But that's a classic case of people making really insane predictions so they can quote themselves later on the off chance it happens.
On January 12 2012 15:45 FuRong wrote: Looks like an MMA charity event, but you never know.
That was my first reaction. And then I looked at again, and again, and again, and i still think MMA takes it np.
I'd like to see more of Titan. Think finals will be MMA vs Protoss, should be interesting, but I could see MMA closing this tourney out without dropping a game.
I disagree with people who think Hasu is going to have an easy ride in his group at this event. He SHOULD progress, and he'll be annoyed as hell at himself if he doesnt, but its not like he's been in the best form since he qualified for the event. Or even just before. He didnt exactly perform incredibly in the EPS and at HSC he had a tough group but still lost to delphi :-/ He defintely has the potential to lose. I'd like him to win, but the upset factor excites me too.
Well, MMA's TvP luckily is his weakest matchup, so there's a small chance for an upset, but I expect him to take it nonetheless. So my brain says MMA, my heart says DIMAGA HWAITING!!!!
On January 12 2012 13:25 iSometric wrote: I think neither hero or zenio will make it out of group stage.
Zenio I can kind of see someone maybe saying won't make it(Even though I still think he will)
But how can you think that HerO won't? The only one in his group thats really a threat is Dimaga....
Feast has very little experience and HerO's PvP is really good...
And QXC though he is improving, isn't anywhere near HerO's level(Sorry QXC but I calls em like I see em!) Plus I heard he was studying somewhere so he might not even have the time to prepare fully for this....
Really want to see more of Titan, bitter and rotterdam were saying only good things about him at HSC, they even said that he was the best P in europe O.o
On January 12 2012 06:21 onedayclose wrote: Once again a organization failing to get Chinese players to their event. I understand there are many circumstances where it is out of their hands. As long as IEM continues to host a yearly event in their country I am happy. But how much longer is it going to take for Chinese players to be able to participate in foreign events other than ones in Korea?
We put up the tournament, the players only have to get there.
On January 12 2012 06:21 onedayclose wrote: Once again a organization failing to get Chinese players to their event. I understand there are many circumstances where it is out of their hands. As long as IEM continues to host a yearly event in their country I am happy. But how much longer is it going to take for Chinese players to be able to participate in foreign events other than ones in Korea?
We put up the tournament, the players only have to get there.
Whilst I cannot speak for certain, pretty much this. It's not IEM's fault if the players from a region do not participate. South East Asia got lucky that despite the whole top 8 of our qualifier refusing to go to Kiev, we had TargA in Norway at the time and could send him instead and actually have a representative. Even if he's Norwegian. From Norway.
On January 12 2012 09:50 TearsOfTheSun wrote: ok guys.
group A: NaNi - killer
group B: zenio - kas
group C: MMA - pomi
group D: dimaga - hero
Group C fail
why is group C a fail? i guarantee pomi will make it out =]
good one XD Hasu is the way better toss(Pomi plays some online cups but thats it).if pomi will make it out of his group there must have been other reasons xd wonder always happen and id laugh my ass off when pomi will make second.but hasu vs.pomi? come on;) seriously
Hasu is the way better toss.already fixed but ONE thing is that hasu hasent practiced over xmas-new year. he also had some private stuff to clear so hasu wont probably play his A-Game but should be enough tho
but there are always people who are new to sc2 so its ok
I'm rooting for my fellow tosses obviously; don't really know who's better, but I'm sure glad there are plenty of photosynthetic golden demigods to root for; hence, go Hero, Hasu, Naniwa, and Grubby (been rooting for the last two since WC3).
On January 13 2012 00:48 Sanhadrian wrote: I'm rooting for my fellow tosses obviously; don't really know who's better, but I'm sure glad there are plenty of photosynthetic golden demigods to root for; hence, go Hero, Hasu, Naniwa, and Grubby (been rooting for the last two since WC3).
Feast is a toss and played wc3 as well... 2 reasons for yout to cheer for him !
On January 12 2012 05:44 Yonnua wrote: Naniwa should definitely be getting out of his group. He's the best player there, and the others are mid tier pros for the large part. His vZ is still quite weak, so I can see KilleR taking a game or two theoretically, depending on how well he got to learn Naniwa's style while Nani was on dignitas. In theory Nani should clean out the group without a loss and it'll be between beasty and Killer to see who goes through. Killer seems to be good at upsets in tournaments, but the safer bet is on beastyqt. If he prepares for Killers roach-heavy style, he should come out of the group.
If Grubby plays like he did at Homestory, he should break from his group. Kas is good, and he'll probably get out of the group as well, but if Grubby does well, I could see him taking Kas out. Zenio hasn't had much coverage lately, but Grubby and Kas both have pretty good vZ so I don't see him getting out this time. Diestar is very much an unknown quantity. He could do well, but he's unlikely to take out the far more successful players he is up against.
In group C, Hasu and MMA should get out of the group. Once again, it'll come down to how mainstream the styles of Pomi and Targa are. If they have unique styles and MMA and Hasu aren't used to them, they could do badly. Hasu wasn't at his best at HSC, so I don't see him taking down MMA, but he should clear Pomi and Targa. MMa almost certainly takes the group, depending on how much focus he gives to preparing. He has a GSL match only three days before, so he's not likely to be preparing for these opponents. When compared to people like Hasu who have until the event to prepare for him specifically, there could be an upset.
Hero will probably escape group D, but he'll need to beat DIMAGA and qxc. He should take out feast, who isn't such a massive player, but qxc in particular could give him a lot of trouble. On the other hand, he could well beat DIMAGA, who wasn't really on form at Homestory. Qxc will probably take out DIMAGA, but this is definitely the closest group. A three way tie is very much possible, but it's probably going to be qxc and Hero.
NaNiwa has come so far since he was on Dignitas that I doubt KiLLeR's knowledge will have much impact on the game and NaNiwa's PvZ is super good. Maybe you missed MLG Providence where he beat NesTea in two Bo3s.... But if not look at his games against Zergs. On the first page, the only "weak" player listed there is Ciara, the other players are all ridiculously good and many are Koreans + Show Spoiler +
and he has a pretty positive record on that page too. If KiLLeR can make a game against NaNiwa look close I'd be surprised.
I'm not sure that Diestar is really unknown because we continuously see him in tournaments, but he never goes anywhere. I doubt he'll do anything here either. His play always seems weak from what I've seen, so I agree with you that he has very little chance of escaping a group that talented.
I don't think that Qxc stands much of a chance, sadly. To the best of my knowledge he's been studying at school recently, so I don't really see how he can be as well prepared, which is something he'll need against players like HerO and DIMAGA.
Naniwa's repeatedly said that vZ is his weakest match-up. If he only had to play vT and vP, he'd be doing a LOT better than he is now. He did well at providence against every race, that doesn't mean PvZ isn't his weakest matchup.
Point remains that he's not going to drop a game to KiLLeR. That's all I'm really trying to say. NaNi has defeated an allstar lineup of Zergs and one more mid-tier foreigner isn't going to phase him.
Killer's pretty good man. Check out his results on TLPD or Liquipedia. He did damn well at Blizzcon and IEM NY.
He's not Ret, SEn, Stephano, or DIMAGA and he's certainly not DRG or NesTea, all of whom NaNiwa has beaten.
On January 12 2012 05:44 Yonnua wrote: Naniwa should definitely be getting out of his group. He's the best player there, and the others are mid tier pros for the large part. His vZ is still quite weak, so I can see KilleR taking a game or two theoretically, depending on how well he got to learn Naniwa's style while Nani was on dignitas. In theory Nani should clean out the group without a loss and it'll be between beasty and Killer to see who goes through. Killer seems to be good at upsets in tournaments, but the safer bet is on beastyqt. If he prepares for Killers roach-heavy style, he should come out of the group.
If Grubby plays like he did at Homestory, he should break from his group. Kas is good, and he'll probably get out of the group as well, but if Grubby does well, I could see him taking Kas out. Zenio hasn't had much coverage lately, but Grubby and Kas both have pretty good vZ so I don't see him getting out this time. Diestar is very much an unknown quantity. He could do well, but he's unlikely to take out the far more successful players he is up against.
In group C, Hasu and MMA should get out of the group. Once again, it'll come down to how mainstream the styles of Pomi and Targa are. If they have unique styles and MMA and Hasu aren't used to them, they could do badly. Hasu wasn't at his best at HSC, so I don't see him taking down MMA, but he should clear Pomi and Targa. MMa almost certainly takes the group, depending on how much focus he gives to preparing. He has a GSL match only three days before, so he's not likely to be preparing for these opponents. When compared to people like Hasu who have until the event to prepare for him specifically, there could be an upset.
Hero will probably escape group D, but he'll need to beat DIMAGA and qxc. He should take out feast, who isn't such a massive player, but qxc in particular could give him a lot of trouble. On the other hand, he could well beat DIMAGA, who wasn't really on form at Homestory. Qxc will probably take out DIMAGA, but this is definitely the closest group. A three way tie is very much possible, but it's probably going to be qxc and Hero.
NaNiwa has come so far since he was on Dignitas that I doubt KiLLeR's knowledge will have much impact on the game and NaNiwa's PvZ is super good. Maybe you missed MLG Providence where he beat NesTea in two Bo3s.... But if not look at his games against Zergs. On the first page, the only "weak" player listed there is Ciara, the other players are all ridiculously good and many are Koreans + Show Spoiler +
and he has a pretty positive record on that page too. If KiLLeR can make a game against NaNiwa look close I'd be surprised.
I'm not sure that Diestar is really unknown because we continuously see him in tournaments, but he never goes anywhere. I doubt he'll do anything here either. His play always seems weak from what I've seen, so I agree with you that he has very little chance of escaping a group that talented.
I don't think that Qxc stands much of a chance, sadly. To the best of my knowledge he's been studying at school recently, so I don't really see how he can be as well prepared, which is something he'll need against players like HerO and DIMAGA.
Naniwa's repeatedly said that vZ is his weakest match-up. If he only had to play vT and vP, he'd be doing a LOT better than he is now. He did well at providence against every race, that doesn't mean PvZ isn't his weakest matchup.
Point remains that he's not going to drop a game to KiLLeR. That's all I'm really trying to say. NaNi has defeated an allstar lineup of Zergs and one more mid-tier foreigner isn't going to phase him.
Killer's pretty good man. Check out his results on TLPD or Liquipedia. He did damn well at Blizzcon and IEM NY.
He's not Ret, SEn, Stephano, or DIMAGA and he's certainly not DRG or NesTea, all of whom NaNiwa has beaten.
Killer has taken a game of MC at an IEM, so to say that he can't take a game off Naniwa is baffling.
Those are my predictions Though I think Nani has an extreamly good shot at winning it all even with MMA in there having beaten both MVP and NesTea before whom are 2 of the top 3 players in the world along with MMA so itll be a good match if it happens
I think Kas and HerO will have deep runs this tournament. I have my doubts about MMA though even though I'm a huge fanboy, there's so few Terrans and Zergs, and we all know how well SlayerS Terrans face against Protosses T__T
On January 13 2012 08:29 Steveling wrote: This should be fun. A pitty there's not even one player on MMAs level, if he is serious he will take the whole thing easily.
While MMA is the favorite, there are enough good players here that this is not going to be easy. Nani can take a match off him for sure, Grubby, Zenio, Hero, QXC and Dimaga have all proven with some luck they can tangle with the best. This is not gonna be easy.
You also forget that MMA is weakest against Protosses, and there's a lot of really good foreign Protoss players in here (Hasu, HerO, Naniwa, heck even Grubby). It's going to be rough.
On January 13 2012 08:29 Steveling wrote: This should be fun. A pitty there's not even one player on MMAs level, if he is serious he will take the whole thing easily.
While MMA is the favorite, there are enough good players here that this is not going to be easy. Nani can take a match off him for sure, Grubby, Zenio, Hero, QXC and Dimaga have all proven with some luck they can tangle with the best. This is not gonna be easy.
You also forget that MMA is weakest against Protosses, and there's a lot of really good foreign Protoss players in here (Hasu, HerO, Naniwa, heck even Grubby). It's going to be rough.
On January 13 2012 08:29 Steveling wrote: This should be fun. A pitty there's not even one player on MMAs level, if he is serious he will take the whole thing easily.
While MMA is the favorite, there are enough good players here that this is not going to be easy. Nani can take a match off him for sure, Grubby, Zenio, Hero, QXC and Dimaga have all proven with some luck they can tangle with the best. This is not gonna be easy.
You also forget that MMA is weakest against Protosses, and there's a lot of really good foreign Protoss players in here (Hasu, HerO, Naniwa, heck even Grubby). It's going to be rough.
On January 13 2012 20:44 JAWS_ wrote: Even though i'm a huge MMA fanboy I fear for this large favoritism on him, this is never good.
He always stomps when he is the underdog.
You can never stop me rooting for MMA, sorry man. =[
I always worry for MMA whenever he is against Protoss, he doesn't have the best TvP record and has been defeated soundly by Protoss players multiple times in the past. I could be completely wrong though and he just destroys this tournament smashing every Protoss player...
Group A: dKiller, QxGNaNiwa Group B: EmpireKas, LiquidZenio Group C: MouzHasuObs, SlayerSMMA Last group was tough....... But.. Group D: mTwDimaga, LiquidHerO
I guess DRG's seeded high enough for the world championship anyway, he doesn't need to attend more. But it sure would have been damn nice to see him fight MMA again.
Naniwa should be a no-brainer here. The second place could be decided between Beastyqt and Titan. They know each other playstyle so any rash prediction might be off. The former is certainly one of the best european terran but Titan has been growing a lot lately. I'll bet on him. Killer is irrelevant unless he has improved a lot during the last months.
Group B
Grubby and Kas can take series of Zenio but I'll place him first anyway. Second place will be a well-earned one (possibly a 3-way tie) as DieStar while the clear underdog here has been taking the shoes of Tarson in the role of the polish terran. He is working very hard right now to improve and I believe he could have a breakout. If he can win against Grubby in his worst matchup he can pass. If not Grubby-Kas will decide the 2nd place with Grubby most likely winning.
Group C
MMA is a no brainer here again. I don't know TargA very well aside from the occasional 2v2, but he seems competent. That said HasuObs is a very strong protoss and certainly one of the most conservative ones. Unless you are all-inning like a korean every game, you will have a hard time winning against him. I'll place him 2nd. Pomi could have a good day since it could come down to a PvP.
Group D
Hero is now a foreigner 100%. Winning international tournaments and losing in Code A like every other foreigner. I am not ashamed of saying that I don't like his style (his hair are awesome though). He should finish 1st but any other player is capable of beating him (albeit not easily). Second place will be a well fought battle. Feast has been upping his game a lot lately (since his arrival in M) and he could have a breakout here. DIMAGA could only be Dimaga and qxc while consistent is brilliant enough to dominate others.
I think TargA is gonna be a surprise package for a lot of people. He was the one who gave stephano that 1 loss in his recent 22-1 or something ladder run and he has been beating the "Who's who" of the EU ladder, check out his match history!
Ukranian Terran Strelok will replace Beastyqt in Group A while NightEnD from Romania will replace DieStar. The Global Challenge Kiev StarCraft II tournament saw two last-minute replacements. In Group A Serbian player Beastyqt had to cancel and will be replaced by Strelok. The Terran player will be the third Ukrainian at the event next to Kas and DIMAGA.
In Group B DieStar from Poland also had to cancel and will be replaced by NightEnD from Romania. This means each group at the event will have two Protoss players, one Terran and one Zerg.
Ukranian Terran Strelok will replace Beastyqt in Group A while NightEnD from Romania will replace DieStar. The Global Challenge Kiev StarCraft II tournament saw two last-minute replacements. In Group A Serbian player Beastyqt had to cancel and will be replaced by Strelok. The Terran player will be the third Ukrainian at the event next to Kas and DIMAGA.
In Group B DieStar from Poland also had to cancel and will be replaced by NightEnD from Romania. This means each group at the event will have two Protoss players, one Terran and one Zerg.
Ukranian Terran Strelok will replace Beastyqt in Group A while NightEnD from Romania will replace DieStar. The Global Challenge Kiev StarCraft II tournament saw two last-minute replacements. In Group A Serbian player Beastyqt had to cancel and will be replaced by Strelok. The Terran player will be the third Ukrainian at the event next to Kas and DIMAGA.
In Group B DieStar from Poland also had to cancel and will be replaced by NightEnD from Romania. This means each group at the event will have two Protoss players, one Terran and one Zerg.
Gogo NightEnD
There's no Stephano at this event, he has this!
Yeah, there's only MMA, Zenio and Naniwa there, EZ! :D
With Strelok replacing Beastyqt, group A looks even closer than ever (for second place, at least :p ).
I still think Killer's consistency puts him ahead of Titan and Strelok, but Strelok is a nightmare to predict, and Titan is more than capable of performing better.
NightEnd has his work cut out for him, but I'll be cheering!
On January 17 2012 02:45 LunaSaint wrote: With Strelok replacing Beastyqt, group A looks even closer than ever (for second place, at least :p ).
I still think Killer's consistency puts him ahead of Titan and Strelok, but Strelok is a nightmare to predict, and Titan is more than capable of performing better.
NightEnd has his work cut out for him, but I'll be cheering!
NightEnD beat Kas 2-0 at DreamHack, vs Grubby it will be a close match, and Zenio probably didn't practiced much ZvP because of his GSL group. I think NightEnD can go through if he plays well.
Znow made it further than both NightEnD and Strelok in the winner's bracket (losing to Beastyqt) and as far as them in the loser's bracket (losing to DieStar). ESL did not e-mail him regarding the substitutions to be made and AFTER the announcement, they notified him that the other two players "reacted faster" and therefore were slotted in the tournament.
If this is actually true that ESL made no attempt to contact Znow about the replacements then it seems like there is some serious bias present in the ESL administration. These politics should not be allowed to continue if the ESL would like to continually showcase the best European talent, not just the most famous.
This might not mean anything to many of you, but for any player trying to break into the scene this is a travesty. How can you break into the scene when players are undeservedly being seeded ahead of you because of their name? This would put an end to the vileIllusions, the coL.TriMasters -- the extremely skilled players that just need a chance. What about the up and coming teams that just need the chance to showcase their talent in order to attract sponsors? I know my team's managers would kill for a chance to get a player in a tournament like this, thereby giving us a chance to showcase our talent in an effort to land a sponsor or two. If this doesn't happen, no new teams will emerge and we'll just be stuck with the status quo.
Group B looks scarier than ever with Nightend in it. He is in better shape than Diestar at this point. I think he has a very good chance, he defeated MaNa, Sase and Kas at Dreamhack, so he will have chances vs both other european guys. I think it improves Zenios chances to make it out of the group, I would have predicted Kas and Grubby to make it out of the group, but now I have no idea who will do it.
Znow made it further than both NightEnD and Strelok in the winner's bracket (losing to Beastyqt) and as far as them in the loser's bracket (losing to DieStar). ESL did not e-mail him regarding the substitutions to be made and AFTER the announcement, they notified him that the other two players "reacted faster" and therefore were slotted in the tournament.
The Winner Bracket doesnt mean Jack. So he won more games in the winner bracket but both NightEnd and Strelok managed to win more games at the lower bracket.
On January 17 2012 04:04 chadissilent wrote: If this is actually true that ESL made no attempt to contact Znow about the replacements then it seems like there is some serious bias present in the ESL administration. These politics should not be allowed to continue if the ESL would like to continually showcase the best European talent, not just the most famous.
How dare you call out IEM to be biased towards big names? They're the organization which gives away the most spots via qualifiers. They always distance themselves from inviting big names and give New Hot Shots a chance. Znow made it as far as the other two. The reason why he fucked up his email is unfortunate but its not like it was HIS spot in the first place. Really...
Znow made it further than both NightEnD and Strelok in the winner's bracket (losing to Beastyqt) and as far as them in the loser's bracket (losing to DieStar). ESL did not e-mail him regarding the substitutions to be made and AFTER the announcement, they notified him that the other two players "reacted faster" and therefore were slotted in the tournament.
The Winner Bracket doesnt mean Jack. So he won more games in the winner bracket but both NightEnd and Strelok managed to win more games at the lower bracket.
Znow lost to Beastyqt in the WB and DieStar in the LB. Look who dropped out.
On January 17 2012 04:04 chadissilent wrote: If this is actually true that ESL made no attempt to contact Znow about the replacements then it seems like there is some serious bias present in the ESL administration. These politics should not be allowed to continue if the ESL would like to continually showcase the best European talent, not just the most famous.
How dare you call out IEM to be biased towards big names? They're the organization which gives away the most spots via qualifiers. They always distance themselves from inviting big names and give New Hot Shots a chance. Znow made it as far as the other two. The reason why he fucked up his email is unfortunate but its not like it was HIS spot in the first place. Really...
I didn't call them out, I said if the information was in fact true then ESL's actions are suspect. I don't understand how you say "he fucked up his email," he receives emails from ESL but never received one about the substitutions.
I think you're underestimating his TvP, while it may not be the best he has beaten Naniwa before and Naniwa is the best PvTer there. So I definitely think that MMA have an insanely good shot at #1
I think you're underestimating his TvP, while it may not be the best he has beaten Naniwa before and Naniwa is the best PvTer there. So I definitely think that MMA have an insanely good shot at #1
I`ll be cheering for NightEnD , but he said he was just informed he will attend so he didn`t had enough time to practice.. But he 2-0`ed kas at dreamhack , and recently did good in pvp beating MaNa and SaSe 2-0.. so he`s like so in this..
On January 17 2012 04:04 chadissilent wrote: Hmmm... something seems fishy with ESL right now.
Znow made it further than both NightEnD and Strelok in the winner's bracket (losing to Beastyqt) and as far as them in the loser's bracket (losing to DieStar). ESL did not e-mail him regarding the substitutions to be made and AFTER the announcement, they notified him that the other two players "reacted faster" and therefore were slotted in the tournament.
If this is actually true that ESL made no attempt to contact Znow about the replacements then it seems like there is some serious bias present in the ESL administration. These politics should not be allowed to continue if the ESL would like to continually showcase the best European talent, not just the most famous.
This might not mean anything to many of you, but for any player trying to break into the scene this is a travesty. How can you break into the scene when players are undeservedly being seeded ahead of you because of their name? This would put an end to the vileIllusions, the coL.TriMasters -- the extremely skilled players that just need a chance. What about the up and coming teams that just need the chance to showcase their talent in order to attract sponsors? I know my team's managers would kill for a chance to get a player in a tournament like this, thereby giving us a chance to showcase our talent in an effort to land a sponsor or two. If this doesn't happen, no new teams will emerge and we'll just be stuck with the status quo.
See, I don't understand postings like these. Everything regarding this was explained in the comments on the IEM website. Still you come here and post rumours and accusations of being biased towards certain players.
No, Znow did not make it farther than LoWeLy, Strelok or NightEnD. That's why they were all asked to step in, when it became clear that DieStar would not be able to come. Strelok actually approached me weeks ago about a chance to get into the tournament in case a player drops out. He was messaging me about it every other day and was the first to react when it became appearent that we would need a substitute for DieStar.
Beastyqt cancelled even later (on Saturday) and I was glad that NightEnD was available and willing to book his flight right away. Everything being so short notice didn't leave enough time to run a decider tournament or something like that so it was basically a "first come, first served"-situation between the four. Coming up now to say "hey, I deserve that slot" when everything is fixed but not answering an email or being available to talk to via Skype, MSN or IRC is a bit weak. I am truely sorry for Znow as I would have loved to see him in a LAN tournament (especially after ToD claimed him to be a maphacker after he lost to him) but I don't see how I could have handled this any different with the tournament coming up in only a handful of days.
I love how IEM has some of the lesser known (yet still good) players. Groups A and B look very difficult to predict, and D also looks quite difficult to predict.
Ah shame with diginitas.KiLLeR damn Visa stuff... there was lots of ukrainians tho in the qualis (whitera, white, bly, ukrainestar) ..incase runnerup qualificants cant make that fast of a travel there which i doubt until tomorrow
And a tweetie bird said that TLO will maybe cast alongside Apollo (from off site), not sure if they're trolling >
Any case i would find it a neat idea to have only your 2-3 main casters on site and kind of outsource additional coverage. thereby saving costs and casters' voices plus increasing number of games brought to the fans.
It's in Ukraine, so there are a bunch of possible people who could replace on very short notice.
White Ra, Bly who live in Ukraine. Mana, Tarson, Nerchio from Poland Depending on where in Russia they live, Bratok, Happy, LiveZerg, etc... Even Lowely from Belarus
On January 19 2012 05:50 Dexington wrote: It's in Ukraine, so there are a bunch of possible people who could replace on very short notice.
White Ra, Bly who live in Ukraine. Mana, Tarson, Nerchio from Poland Depending on where in Russia they live, Bratok, Happy, LiveZerg, etc... Even Lowely from Belarus
MMA is definitely the big favourite. I still believe Naniwa will win though. Will be interesting to see if players like Grubby and Kas are able to compete for the tournament win.
Naniwas group got harder again. White Ra and Strelok instead of Killer and Beasty
On January 19 2012 05:55 -Strider- wrote: There's no one at MMA level at Kiev, he should take 1st easily. Altough I'd like to see a Liquid causing an upset. Zenio and Hero fighting!
Since MMA isn't known for his TvP, I think it isn't as easy as anyone thinks. There are a lot of great Protoss players in Kiev with strange styles that can get him. I do think he is in the easiest group, but never count out HasuObs and he probably doesn't know TargA and Pomi, maybe they have something special prepaired for them.
WhiteRa, Naniwa and TiTaN in Group A are all great Protosses that could take games from MMA. And then you have Grubby and NightEnd in group B together with Kas, the best EU Terran and Zenio who is a solid Zerg. Finally in Group D we have Dimaga who is scary for everyone and the Protosses Feast and HerO.
This is going to be 1 sick tournament and I expect at least 1 of the "Unknown" guys to get to the semi finals!
MMA's TvP is relatively bad, in comparison to his TvZ and his TvT, both of which are incredibly good. That being said, MMA's TvP winrate in international tournaments is 82% percent. Granted, the sample size for his international TvP is not especially large (11 games total), but it still reveals that MMA's relatively poor TvP comes from playing top Korean protosses such as MC, Puzzle, Oz and Sage.
Basically what I am trying to say is that MMA's TvP is relatively weak, yes, but he is not JYP in the sense that he has a huge achilles heel. His record against foreign protosses is still very solid. Hero, Naniwa and Hasuobs are the three protosses that have the best chance of an upset, but since Hero and Naniwa will only meet MMA in Bo5 or Bo7, the chance of an upset is even smaller.
It is going to be hard to stop MMA this tournament.
On January 19 2012 06:19 Bagration wrote: MMA's TvP is relatively bad, in comparison to his TvZ and his TvT, both of which are incredibly good. That being said, MMA's TvP winrate in international tournaments is 82% percent. Granted, the sample size for his international TvP is not especially large (11 games total), but it still reveals that MMA's relatively poor TvP comes from playing top Korean protosses such as MC, Puzzle, Oz and Sage.
Basically what I am trying to say is that MMA's TvP is relatively weak, yes, but he is not JYP in the sense that he has a huge achilles heel. His record against foreign protosses is still very solid. Hero, Naniwa and Hasuobs are the three protosses that have the best chance of an upset, but since Hero and Naniwa will only meet MMA in Bo5 or Bo7, the chance of an upset is even smaller.
It is going to be hard to stop MMA this tournament.
I'm really bad with time zones and was wondering exactly how many hours until this begins. Liquipedia says that the tournament will run from the 19th to the 22nd http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/IEM_Season_VI_-_Global_Challenge_Kiev ; but it isn't on the TL upcoming events bar... does anyone have an ETA?
On January 12 2012 00:35 Morale wrote: Gunna be intressting to see if Kas can do well! Correct me i im wrong, but this is his first big offline event? Will be cheering for Nani tho, he could win it all.
Kas has played two Intel Extreme Masters events before (Kiev 2011, Cologne 2011).
I wish white Ra couldve put on some more interesting games, they were just stupid and drawn out macro games. " Lets mass up, then determine the whole game ona boring a move battle
EPT
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Killer
White-Ra![[image loading]](/tlpd/images/flags/se.png)
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IEM Global Challenge Kiev on Liquipedia
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Look at Hero's flag. That's Korea. 
