On February 21 2013 01:20 krutopatkin wrote:
A: Parting/YongHwa/Nerchio
B: MC/Symbol/First
C: Sting/Violet/Vortix
D: Golden/Mvp/Dream

Pretty easy to call :>

These would be the favorites if it was not Hots.
Alas, it is. And Hots is far less balanced than WoL currently. Also, we dont know who practiced how much Hots.

JOJOsc2news

3000 Posts

February 20 2013 16:35 GMT

#22

On February 21 2013 01:26 LeLfe wrote:

Show nested quote +

You haven't watched Mvp - Curious, have you? he will slay more nerds in Hanover

Gotta make some bold predictions. Otherwise it's no fun to say "I called this, guys... hello... guys... look! I called this!"

SmoKim

Denmark10305 Posts

February 20 2013 18:37 GMT

#23

On February 21 2013 01:24 Lukeeze[zR] wrote:
Any news on this universal ranking (IEM, DH, MLG) and the way it works ?

Yeah i wanna hear more about this. Kinda feeling like it might not happen at all, but let's see

opterown

Australia54784 Posts

February 21 2013 01:26 GMT

#24

pretty sure there will be a lot of upsets here hehe

personally i am hoping 2-3 players drop out and they offer MKP a spot (he's 10 points away) :p far-fetched, but possible!

StarVe

Germany13591 Posts

February 21 2013 01:47 GMT

#25

Group A: PartinG/Yonghwa/LucifroN - potential upset: Yonghwa chokes once again and doesn't make it/sLivko shows that Zerg can still turtle and win/HasuObs profits from his huge amount of HotS experience/LucifroN still can't beat Protoss after two more weeks of practice

Group B: MC/First/Kas - potential upset: Symbol starts to win ZvZs and again and finally manages to straighten out his 2-6 record against Kas/Kas hasn't practiced HotS enough/Ret decides not to play badly/Xlord overcomes balance

Group C: Sting/viOlet/Snute - potential ways this won't come true: VortiX can win ZvPs again and not only ZvZs/ MaNa can win PvZs if he doesn't face Bly/Socke plays better than I expect him to/Zerg sucks even more than everyone says

Group D: Dream/Mvp/Stephano - potential ways my plans are foiled: Grubby can suddenly beat Stephano with his new HotS powers/Golden plays 10000x better than in Katowice/TLO manages to somehow win games/Stephano has too little HotS training due to Proleague/GSL or gets drunk on his flight and the day after

PhoenixVoid

Canada32746 Posts

February 21 2013 02:01 GMT

#26

Group A: PartinG, YongHwa, LucifroN. PartinG is the best player out of the group, with the best results, and YongHwa is still a good choice and can show glimpses of brilliance. LucifroN has been playing much better than Nerchio recently, and could even upset the Korean Protosses.

Group B: Symbol, MC, First. Symbol is arguably the best player in this group, and he has beaten MC in the past decisively. MC is just better than First result-wise, and First hasn't really been the same after IEM.

Group C: viOLet, VortiX, Sting. I would say viOLet is the best player in the group, and VortiX is consistent and strong. Sting will end up tightroping this.

Group D: Stephano, Dream, Golden. Should be an easy group for Stephano because no one is really scarier than him. Dream is a damn good player, and Golden has shown some good play occasionally. Sorry Mvp, but I don't think you are going past this one.

Acronysis

872 Posts

February 21 2013 02:16 GMT

#27

I'll be excited to see viOLet playing HotS. Feel like I haven't seen him play much of it, though i'm sure that's what hes' been practicing primarily. Either way, as long as MVP and viOLet get far, i'll consider this a great tournament =)

+ Show Spoiler +

though i'm sure it'll be very fun regardless hehe

Darkthorn

Romania912 Posts

February 21 2013 02:30 GMT

#28

On February 21 2013 11:01 PhoenixVoid wrote:
Group A: PartinG, YongHwa, LucifroN. PartinG is the best player out of the group, with the best results, and YongHwa is still a good choice and can show glimpses of brilliance. LucifroN has been playing much better than Nerchio recently, and could even upset the Korean Protosses.

Group B: Symbol, MC, First. Symbol is arguably the best player in this group, and he has beaten MC in the past decisively. MC is just better than First result-wise, and First hasn't really been the same after IEM.

Group C: viOLet, VortiX, Sting. I would say viOLet is the best player in the group, and VortiX is consistent and strong. Sting will end up tightroping this.

Group D: Stephano, Dream, Golden. Should be an easy group for Stephano because no one is really scarier than him. Dream is a damn good player, and Golden has shown some good play occasionally. Sorry Mvp, but I don't think you are going past this one.

It's hots where mech is really strong and mvp's speciality is mech...so ye mvp will win because hellbats!!!

StarVe

Germany13591 Posts

February 21 2013 02:36 GMT

#29

You're not taking balance into account. If this was WoL, I'd agree completely.

This is HotS.

HotGlueGun

United States1409 Posts

February 21 2013 02:46 GMT

#30

Since it's HotS expect Zergs to struggle. Terran's seem to be having a great time early game vs Zerg, and late game PvZ tilts in Protoss favor due to skytoss.

DavoS

United States4605 Posts

February 21 2013 03:25 GMT

#31

Oh god, every group looks like death.
Guessing time!
A: PartinG, YongHwa, LucifroN, Nerchio, HasuObs, sLivKo.
B: First, Kas, MC, Symbol, XlorD, Ret.
C: viOLet, VortiX, MaNa, Socke, Sting, Snute.
D: Stephano, Dream, TLO, Grubby, Mvp, Golden.

This is based purely on WoL speculation, as well as assuming Mvp is still injured. If he isn't though...

JJH777

United States4415 Posts

February 21 2013 03:50 GMT

#32

MVP vs Parting finals please.

nakedsurfer

Canada500 Posts

February 21 2013 06:01 GMT

#33

Group A: HasuObs, Lucifron, YoungHwa/unknown. Even though Parting is a huge favourite even without much practice in HOTS, I highly doubt he will make it to the event. I'm anticipating him cancelling due to GSL. Even if he does make it to the event, he should be the one with the least practice in HOTS and could get surprised. It's really hard to pick a zerg to get out of any group.

Group B: First, Kas, MC/ret: If MC gets further in GSL he won't make it through and It'll be one of the zergs since the rest of the groups are zerg(in which case I believe ret is the stronger of them in this group). If he loses to RoRo which I think he will, he will make it through. He will do it with a bunch of 2 base all-ins like he used to play all the time in 2011 and will just incorporate the mothership core making it even stronger than before. Again. I am assuming that they're all playing a lot of HOTS except MC.

Group C: Sting, Violet, Mana: Sting is so strong and will destroy this group easily. I'm actually picking violet over socke because violet's a baller and I feel he is a much stronger player than the others.

Group D: MVP, Dream, Grubby: Again, It's incredibly hard to pick a zergs beating any of these players.

Unfortuantely I do have some zerg bias but it is known that zerg is weaker in HOTS(at least for now until people start figuring things out more). So when looking at the groups, I just find it hard to see them winning at such a high level of play.

Shellshock

United States97276 Posts

February 21 2013 06:04 GMT

#34

Group B would have been the Group of death in WoL. idk enough about everyone in HoTS to say now

Elite_

United States4259 Posts

February 21 2013 13:12 GMT

#35

On February 21 2013 00:59 Nekovivie wrote:
5 terrans out of 24 players, owch. The golden age is long gone

At least they made sure there was a Terran in each group... Unlike Blizzerg cup, putting all the Terran players in one group... Oh wait...

IntelEM

Germany128 Posts

February 22 2013 18:33 GMT

#36

Hello TeamLiquid,

Today we had to announce a replacement for the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship. Since Symbol advanced to the Ro4 in the GSL Code S, he informed us that he would not participate. His replacement will be the next in line player from the season ranking. YoDa.

We have also released our schedule for the event - http://www.esl-world.net/masters/season7/hannover/news/215528/

If you have any questions, always feel free to message this account here on TL or ask on Twitter at @IEM

Have a great weekend!

Shellshock

United States97276 Posts

February 22 2013 18:40 GMT

#37

Cool to see YoDa going. He will probably have practiced more HoTS than Symbol anyways so hopefully this will result in good games.