ASUS ROG Winter 2012 Preview: ¾ the way there!

What tournament would be complete without a home-town hero? A bastion of hope for locals to pit their dreams on for a chance of national glory. Since splashing on to the international scene via IEM - Guangzhou and taking 2nd, the road for our Finnish phenom has been a bumpy one taking third at the ASUS ROG invite, part in thanks to his stellar PvP form. Beyond that though Elfi then hit back hard in the SETT.fi Invitational #1, crushing eShara.Satiini in the final with a convincing 3-0. This glory however was short lived, as recently Satiini himself was able to take revenge at Lantrek 2012 with a very strong 3-1 performance over his Finnish rival.

For Elfi going in to Assembly Winter 2012, the trials he will face shall be tough. Depending on his group draw - this could literally make or break Elfi’s chances at advancing in a bigger way than almost any player invited, or yet to be. Elfi will need the lady luck on his side, with his bets placed soley on having a Protoss heavy group to advance. While his vT and vZ are of extremely high caliber, will his weaker match-ups be able to stand toe-to-toe with the big guns of the international scene?


Ah Grubby, a player that needs no introduction, a player that will always place extremely highly but be unable to win unless the tournament itself has his name in the title! This legend’s SC2 run has once again been a rocky one, with 4th, 3rd and 2nd place finishes at extremely prestigious tournaments but never really clinching that coveted 1st prize. After doing well at IeSF and ESWC, unfortunately for our Orc hero very few remember your stellar performances if you’re not in a final. Moving on to the “ShoutCraft Invitational #4” Grubby was in practice one of the only players to give the victor, the foreign Goliath - Mill.Stephano a true run for his money in a fantastic PvZ series, eventually claiming 4th over an extremely stacked lineup.

Looking forward to Finland’s most anticipated tournament of the year, Grubby is always a player people seem to underestimate when it comes to advancing. Assuming he’s able to avoid a “Group of Death” Grubby will almost certainly advance, as his command of all match-ups is almost always under-rated, especially his blisteringly impressive PvZ. Despite recently losing out on his Steel Series sponsor you can guarantee this has only made Grubby more determined than ever to perform on a global stage as he sets his sights directly on Helsinki and the battles to follow.


Some would consider him America’s strongest Terran, some would say he’s a Korean. Regardless of which camp you reside in, no-one can deny the talent and the resilience of such a formidable combatant playing for the black and yellow whirlwind. A player almost guarenteed to place well in anything he participates in, SeleCT is able to crush through his opponents to take fantastic finishes at not only the Battle.net NA Invitational but also MLG, IPL and the i42 in the UK. Not only this, but SeleCT has been able to perform extremely well upon the battleground in question, taking 2nd to IdrA at the ASUS ROG Invitational recently.

When you look at SeleCT closer, it’s hard to determine a match-up he’s “lack-lustre” in. In any given situation and at almost any time, SeleCT with enough preparation can take a game from anyone, making him one of the most fierce players yet to be announced for the upcoming extravaganza. Betting against SeleCT to advance from his group unless it consists of players such as MVP.DRG, IM.Mvp and MVP.Genius would be a ridiculous notion and let’s face it, how can you wager against one of Day9’s favourite Terrans? SeleCT’s relentless aggression can only be out-matched by his relentless desire to win.


The fun loving, smile bear that is Liquid.Sheth will be making his Finland Assembly debut hoping for glory in his second appearance in Scandinavia. Sheth in general, being one of the strongest American Zergs to date has been able to break down some of the most formidable players via either fantastic aggression early on, or via his ability to macro like only a Zerg can do. It’s his decision making that defines Sheth, the ability on the fly to decide whether or not there is a kink in the armor of his opponent. A timid shark lurking in the dark but once the scent of blood in the water is smelt, Sheth is able to take that and work it massively to his advantage.

For Sheth it’s going to be interesting to see how his group shapes up. While his ZvP is very strong, and his ZvZ is almost as majestic as some higher rated Zergs (i.e. Korean), his ZvT to a certain extent is what will let him down the most, not even because he’s “bad” at it per say. It’s mostly down to Terrans becoming extremely good in the match-up and in conjunction it just so happens to be Sheth’s weakest ZvX - All this despite Sheth having still an above average win ratio in ZvT.


Silently waiting in the wings for what seems like forever since he won the HD World Tournament vs DIMAGA, Strelok is back in business only barely missing out on advancing in the IEM Kiev groups. After only taking a RO32 placement in the initial Assembly Winter back in 2011 you can safely bet that Strelok is not going to be happy with a short finish here next time around. Unfortunately though for our Ukrainian Terran - on par, mediocre results have hindered almost his entire SC2 career thus far (and at the recent WCG in Korea) despite taking out players recently like Kas, Naniwa and TITAN.

While Strelok at IEM Kiev was only taxed with TvP and won 2 or the 3 series (lag issues aside), and despite having amazing results in both NASL seasons, i’m a little worried for Strelok in the upcoming group stages. His best matchup is undoubtedly his relatively standard TvZ however is currently falling short on the other two which could be his downfall if he has to play too much TvT as opposed to vZ and vP.


A man I know far too much about, both in terms of play-style and because of things like me still owing him some English tea-bags which I promised him over the Christmas Holiday. MaNa as an entity can be considered as a foreigner most in contention right now for a Kong title, having placed 2nd at a multitude of high profile events such as Assembly Summer, ESWC, the SCAN Invitational and TwitchTV EU Invitational. At the time of writing this he is currently sitting aloft the TLPD Foreigner chart at #1, showing his ability to strive for results not only offline, but online as well. Considering MaNa is still studying and yet able to punch out fantastic results, some would consider him the Protoss equivalent to a pre-focused Stephano, able to play amazingly well despite being unable to commit 100% of his time to the pursuit of glory. I’m actually quite scared to think what this young Psi-Storm of a player could accomplish if he fully applies himself after finishing up his studies.

For MaNa Assembly Winter 2012 will be a tough one. While most of his match-ups feel extremely solid, there can sometimes be either a mental block or the inability to punish extremely strong EU Zergs such as Stephano or his Polish arch-nemesis, Acer.Nerchio. That being said, his vP decision making and all round vT match-up are what will carry MaNa to success in Helsinki, with PvT being considered his strongest suit. Will he be able to break this curse, in a similar vain to Grubby, or will his tournament woes continue before finally hitting it big.


I don’t know if this applies to anyone else, but NightEnD to me is like the DarkForce of Protoss. Always overlooked, under-rated and ends up being a likely dark horse of any tournament. The currently longest standing member on the Fnatic roster is no stranger to the offline scene where he recently stunned everyone taking 4th at the recent Dreamhack. Thanks to his prowess in vP and vT he was able to stifle every opponent with his mix of strong timings or immense ability to throw out some of the most impressive EU Protoss macro to date at a moments notice.

Despite past strong performances and the ability to really pull it out when it matters, I feel that if the level of invites keep up to the standard we currently have, NightEnD is going to have a tough time advancing past the group stage. However, with his strong ability to mix his play up between the timings and macro we mentioned earlier anything is possible for our Romanian “Dracula Toss”. NightEnD’s resilient style though in the early and mid-game could pay dividends if his group is top heavy with aggressive players who sacrifice economy for game-breaking pushes, unless the opponent in question has the name of a certain black cat. Also if Liquipedia is anything to go by, having “the voice of an angel” could swing the tide of battle in his favour!


He’s coming... Akin to Majora’s Mask, the Moon is set to crash land into the northern hemisphere sending shock-waves across the land, causing devastation where he lay and bringing fan-girls from the four corners of the world to bask in his glory. Maybe that was a bit over-dramatic? In any case it’s been a while since we’ve had Moon make an appearance other than taking 2nd to the Kong master himself MarineKingPrime in the IPL 4 Pacific Qualifiers which we all remember so fondly. Almost a mythical entity in himself, Moon goes into Assembly Winter fuelled by a brand new team and no doubt an absolute determination to crush skulls in his wake. While not having performed amazingly in Korea, Moon always seems to pull out fantastic results on foreign soil which makes this appearance all the more potent for an explosive situation.

I think it’s safe to say, although we haven’t seen him as of late, that the Moon of failed-baneling-explosions past is long gone, but despite this he will still have to prove himself a strong player in the upcoming group stages of Assembly Winter. That being said, during the alliance of F.United and the GSTL, our foreign representatives are quoted to have said that Moon in practice was a force to be reckoned with, literally untouchable. Can he bring the same furious vigor to the stage in Helsinki after a brief silent period? It remains to be seen. Personally i’m expecting to see Moon in the top 5 if he can perform to the potential we know he has.






Authors Note: *If the stars align or I can somehow bribe the Admins* - If Grubby and Moon go up against each other (hasn’t happened since NASL S1 I believe?) I actually might die of a seizure.

As always you can check out more from me at www.twitch.tv/mousesports and @mouzKaelaris on twitter!

Article can also be found at www.cyber-sports.net and www.SETT.fi


EDIT: Also as a small announcement I'm pretty sure i'll be casting some Assembly Winter <3 Unsure as to the logistics yet but we'll be sorting stuff soon I imagine. Probably a side stream as big names get the main streams :D

After much time and yet no matches to speak of, people are still very curious to find out the answer to an extremely important question, at least to me as a Brit, “Who is Britian’s best player?!”. Is it who some would consider the reigning champion mr EG.DemusliM? or does the young and eager challenger have a claim to said throne? For me the answer is simple. BlinG as of recent has been pretty much on fire, be it at WCG where he was able to fend off extremely tough opponents such as KiWiKaKi, ClouD and Strelok, only to be defeated by Mvp - or being invited to HomeStory Cup 4 but sadly being eliminated by the two powerhouses that are DarKFoRcE and JYP. Having risen to fame via a Gamer Search of all things, BlinG has shown the dedication and an ability to improve so rapidly that very few can achieve.

For BlinG, as the current invites stand, there’s a joyful balance of races in favour of our young Bulldog. PvZ being statistically his worst match-up over what I consider to be a fantastic PvT and, as is for almost everyone unless you’re Elfi or MC, a potentially volatile PvP - BlinG will certainly have his work cut out for him in the group stage especially considering that the bar has been raised yet again in terms of skill attending.


Our HerO, we all know the trials and tribulations that this Korean faces when it comes to tournaments. You can be winning 1st place one minute but then choking the next, failing to advance further than a group stage of what some would consider a sure-fire-bet for someone of his caliber. Regardless of nerves, HerO has already proved he can play on the Premier foreign stages, with extremely impressive performances as both the NASL Season 2 finals as well as Dreamhack, doubting him based soley on nerves is somewhat of a losing bet. Right now HerO battles his way through Code A, going up against Line and then probably having to face off against JYP in what will be a grueling battle considering JYP’s proficiency with PvP.

HerO going into Assembly obviously has to conquer these mental demons to be successful. His tweets after HomeStory Cup 4 portrayed a downhearted and defeated Protoss which is not we want to expect from such a phenomenal player. However if he can, and my bet is he probably will, unless given a group of Death, HerO will be able to advance quite steadily. As a player in Korea, his win ratios have been rather poor, but abroad, they’re ridiculously good in all match-ups despite the fears he perceives to exist. I personally hope for a Puma invite so we may be treated to yet another rematch of these “Forean” titans. (i’m claiming the rights to that word)


The second of today’s Liquid announcements venturing into the brutal tundra that is Helsinki, Finland this time of year. Jinro holds a sweet spot in my heart from the early days of GSL that for now has yet to be surpassed from a foreigner in that specific tournament. For now though, the glory days of MLG Dallas and GSL semi-finals are long past, the Gorilla Terran is personified, surpassed by those that have evolved in months gone by. If it sounds like i’m being harsh then I apologise, but it saddens me as I too want to see Jinro back on top, battling it out amongst the best of them. If it’s not being dominated by IdrA, Elfi and Jim(?) at IEM Guangzhou, it’s taking 31st place at MLG Orlando or barely being eliminated in the final of the Code A qualifiers.

For Jinro at Assembly I see a long struggle ahead. The problem for our Liquid Terran is that he’s able to be exploited too freely in almost any match-up. Be it allowing a Protoss to expand and macro to his hearts content, or a Zerg with ling/bling/muta being endless aggressive via swoop-ins, run-bys and equally aggressive expanding. I know i’ll probably end up getting rotten vegatables throw at me for this section but, like it or not, Jinro as a whole just isn’t performing right now to the standard we expect and unfortunately I don’t see him advancing past groups here either.


Ever the entertainer, TLO, the cultivator of beards, has had ups and downs in tournament play that we’re all very much aware of when it comes to performance. Be it the constant switching of race from Random, to Terran and now Zerg, or be it his styles when playing said respective races, TLO has been exuberant in execution but disappointing in the final product. This is the part where I normally talk about either impressive tournament finishes or trophies won, but for now TLO hasn’t really been able to attain such feats to match the expectations of his adoring fans. Other than success early on in 2011, he was able to take 3rd place at the SCAN Invitational #2, defeating the formidable “Naama Train” in round one.

Despite my criticisms above, I actually believe that TLO’s performances tournament wise will be picking up soon if he continues a strong practice regime. The switch to Zerg for TLO seems to complement his style more for more “serious” play as opposed to the variety of interesting Terran openers we’ve seen from TLO in the past. TLO in full macro mode as a Zerg is a scary thing to behold at times, not to mention the fact that he has a commanding knowledge of almost every match-up from every side because of his Random past. It’s extremely hard to judge TLO on numbers alone because of his styles and race switching, so i’ll ignore that part for now. For now though while I see TLO performing well at Assembly, the potential for advancement past groups is there but i’m not so sure it will be recognised.


I think the big question to ask here is, “What can’t you say about Empire.Kas?”. The Ukrainian super-star seems to have almost done it all, be it performing exceptionally online or offline, to taking down some of the biggest names in SC2 in dominating fashion. being the original SC2 “ladder monster”, Kas has been able to grind his heart out to the point where there are very few holes in his somewhat conventional but deadly style. Initially rising to fame via the TSL3 where he eventually took third, it’s important to also note he was the first player to actually qualify for the event other than those who were seeded directly in (Tyler, Mondragon and Sen). Since then Kas has gone on to boast a $20,000+ prize pool consisting of victories in multiple weekly tournaments, TwitchTV EU Invitational and a 3rd place victory over Zenio in the recent IEM Kiev festivities.

Kas’s self proclaimed “best match-up” in the form of TvT is quite literally impeccable. With wins over people like MarineKing.Prime, Polt, ThorZaIN and boasting an overall 62% win rate, questioning his ability to take out tip-top players would be foolish. That being said, his rates in the other match-ups are even higher! Kas is one of the safest bets to advance going into any tournament let alone Assembly Winter. The one aspect of his play that worries me is his early game TvP. An almost standard in his play now, the ridiculously quick third Command Center, leaves him extremely vulnerable to Protoss all-ins making for either a super strong early macro advantage for Kas, or a quick departure which few have yet to exploit. Despite that Kas is still one of the most solid foreigners out there and some would consider him THE BEST foreign Terran right now.


Few can say they’re a Super Champion, sounds pretty cool yes? Well the former Optimus.Prime laid claim to this title but since hasn’t been the most impressive of Terrans. With the somewhat over-hyped rise of fOrGG came a swift multitude of banshee thorns in the side of Polt, resulting in fOrGG advancing, Polt being under-estimated and moving to up-and-down. As recently as the FXO Invitational #5 though, Polt was able to seek revenge against “The Pretender”, where he beat him 2-0 in absolute stellar fashion. Since then Polt hasn’t had the best of results up until actually winning the MSI Cup #5 with a very strong performance against ThorZaIN in the finals, defeating him 3-0. Polt is currently playing for his Code A life, going up against Creator, the exceptionally young Protoss who I so fondly remember giving even Mvp a run for his money in PvT on Tal’Darim.

Polt I feel could breeze through the opening group stages at Assembly. We’ve already seen Polt absolutely ravage the foreign competition in the form of MLG Orlando, where he had an extremely respectable 23-4 record, with wins over almost the entire Liquid roster, eventually being eliminated by Puma. Polt’s foreign records at closer inspection are absolutely terrifying, boasting 60% in vZ, vT and an 80% win ratio in TvP, via his potent aggressive style. With the current invite/race distribution Polt has potentially one of the easiest group advancement stories of all time OR a little struggle but you’d be a unwise to bet against him.


Nothing to Elfi’s discredit, but I always find it amusing when people generally overlook the talent that Finland can produce unless it’s IEM Guangzhou’s 2nd place finisher. Unfortunately for Satiini he falls in to the this category on an international level, over-shadowed by his Finnish brother-in-arms and as such people under-estimate his ability considerably. Satiini as an entity though is not one to be messed with. After defeating Elfi at the LANTREK ‘12 finals rather convincingly in a 3-1 battle, Satiini proves time and time again online that he’s not a Terran to be taken lightly. Now boasting the eSahara tag and a multitude of fantastic Foreign plus Korean practice partners in Naama, HongUn and Check etc, it’s hard to take the stance of this handsome Finn’s invite being “underwhelming”.

After all is said and done though, Satiini on the international stage has been unable to prove his entire worth in terms of offline performances. He was able to qualify for the recent DreamHack taking out ParanOid, Bischu, sLivko and even Type.ReaL, however was unable to attend and was replaced. The only reason he’s lacked proving himself of late is mainly because he hasn’t be able to actually appear, so we’re still a little unsure as to how he’ll do. If his online showings are anything to go by though, Satiini may be set to upset one or two people in the following battles to come. With blisteringly aggressive TvP in a similar vain to Polt, not to mention good results against Z and T online, you need to keep an eye out for the underdog Satiini.


Before DreamHack Winter 2011 came around, Seiplo was extremely underground in terms of the wide international scene. Quietly making a name for himself in the EU with online tournaments, being able to take games off very good players but never really pulling out that tournament result he needed to propel him higher. DreamHack changed all that, and with not only his name becoming recognised, but also Alien Invasion as an entity, the opportunity for more arises. I have a sneaking suspicion that without that DreamHack performance he may not have had this invite extended his way? It’s certainly a possibility. In any case being able to place a respectable 5th-8th at DH with such a strong roster was an impressive feat, with convincing wins over players like HuK, Genius and TLO.

Seiplo’s DreamHack run can at somewhat of a price though. Unfortunately for him the majority of the reason he was able to advance so far was potentially because of the luck of the brackets/groups. I think it’s fair to say that Seiplo’s run was based almost entirely off his PvP prowess, as 4 of his 6 series wins came from the match-up, only to finally be taken out by HerO who is considered almost a PvP legend in the foreign scene. The numbers in his gameplay speak for themselves, with a 10-15% lead in his PvP win ratio over his vT and vZ. Unless the initial groups are stacked in his favour, i’m not fully confident on backing Seiplo to advance.


Oh i’ve been looking forward to writing this part all article long. There are very few streams i’m actually subscribed to since I normally just refresh TL every 5 minutes and choose from there. However, one would be absolutely crazy not to follow the rip-roaring adventures of Starcraft 2’s version of Tin-tin as he battles his way through puzzle upon puzzle, out-witting his opponents with his trusty side-kick Canine (This analogy worked out better than initially expected! can I have the rights to “Tin-Tin Zerg” too?). The French tornado that is Stephano has proved many a time on the foreign stage that he’s a force to be reckoned with, taking ESWC, IPL and the ShoutCraft Invitational #4 by absolute storm. Stephano is statistically the most successful foreigner with a collective prize pool of $79,920, dwarfing that of HuK, Naniwa and even IdrA. I could actually write an entire book about Stephano but for the purposes of this article i’ll cut this paragraph here.

For Stephano, Assembly Winter comes at a perfect time. Disappointed with his performance at HomeStory Cup 4 because of interesting factors, Stephano is guaranteed to take Helsinki extremely seriously. I eluded to Sheth’s ZvZ being spectacular in my previous article, BUT when it comes to Stephano I actually do consider his ZvZ majestic to watch. The precision employed and the control in what most consider a volatile match-up is beyond ridiculous at times. Protoss players shake in their boots as Stephano takes full command of Zerg’s ability to macro while throwing a hideous variety of hurdles for his opponent to jump over. Terran’s such as ThorZaIN no less are baffled by 4-0 finals making him look like a play-thing in our monsieur’s hands. Expect the French superstar to rock keyboards once again.


Our second monsieur enters the fray under the name of ToD, who if you’re a WC3 follower you’ll remember quite well for his Human hi-jinx. Not the most widely recognised players in terms of results in SC2 but he manages to sneak under the radar quietly while doing his thing and practicing in Korea. If you’re not of a WC3 background then you’ll probably remember ToD as the person who eliminated Alicia twice from MLG Anaheim, then moving swiftly on to the main bracket where he would eventually be eliminated by Choya. ToD will also be participating in the upcoming “Iron Squid” tournament where combatants are battling it out for the $25,000 prize pool.

For ToD it’ll be the luck of the draw that decides his fate in groups. While his vP and vZ are of the average standard or maybe even a little below, his vT, with an almost 70% win ratio, has been able to rock the socks of some of the most well known foreign Terrans around. The time spent practicing in Korea may be able to turn the tide in his favour but for now i’ve actually seen very few games of him as of late, so I cannot full vet.


As always you can check more out of what I do over at www.twitch.tv/mousesports_sc2, as well as @mouzKaelaris on twitter!

EDIT: Also as a small announcement I'm pretty sure i'll be casting some Assembly Winter! Unsure as to the logistics yet but we'll be sorting stuff soon I imagine. Probably a side stream as big names get the main streams.