Red Bull Battle Grounds
New York City

Brackets and standings on
Liquipedia

by Waxangel

Day one of Red Bull Battle Grounds New York will see the group stages played through. The groups will be played in the very familiar "GSL" style double-elimination, with the top two players from each group moving on to day two. Oh, there's a map with liquid hot magma on it, so that's kinda cool, too.

Group A: Bomber, Golden, Scarlett, PartinG

Starting Match 1: ST_Bomber vs. ST_Golden

In the first match, the face of Red Bull eSports in Bomber goes up against his largely unheralded teammate in Golden. Bomber comes in with some great tournament results in 2013, having taken the WCS Season 2 championship and placing top four in the Global Finals at BlizzCon. On the other hand, Golden has barely done anything of note this year, except winning the a Red Bull Training Grounds. Bomber achieved those placements by beating the likes of Jaedong, Soulkey, and INnoVation—Golden won over players like Sound, Kane, and SeleCT.

While it does seem like this match is very lop-sided in Bomber's favor, there's at least a few factors to make it a little bit more interesting. First, off we haven't seen Golden in a tournament game in forever. His last recorded game was in September, and the one before that was in July. Golden could have improved or declined drastically in that time, and we'll just have to wait and see.

Also, many of Bomber's big TvZ victories in the past months were due to his somewhat unorthodox play. From early mass-marine pushes to marine-tank compositions in the end game, Bomber tried to get away from the predictable marine-mine-medivac compositions established by other Terrans. While Bomber's other opponents failed to adapt to this kind of play, Golden should be more used to such styles since he is Bomber's teammate.


Starting Match 2: Acer.Scarlett vs. SKT_PartinG

At the 2012 WCS Finals, ST_PartinG met rising North American star Scarlett in the Ro16 and sent her out of the tournament. Macro game, soul train, gateway all-in: 3 - 0. Since then, StarCraft 2 underwent a massive upheaval with HotS, PartinG joined SKT and vanished from foreign tournaments, and Scarlett made the pilgrimage to Korea to hone her skills.

The two have met again at a curious intersection in their careers. Scarlett is going through a rocky period after having a most impressive summer (notably with a top 4 finish in WCS AM Season 2), faring poorly against Korean-class opposition as of late. On the other hand, PartinG is finally gathering some momentum after a so-so (by his high standards) start to HotS. He didn't drop even a single map as he took home the $10,000 prize at Stars War 3, and toppled a series of formidable opponents in the TLMC qualifier for Red Bull NYC.

However, PartinG has shown a weakness against Zerg throughout all of HotS, a weakness that he's yet to cast off. His late game has looked weak in particular, and his eggs might all be in the all-in basket. Which brings us to our next topic...

We can't leave out the infamous Soul Train when talking about PartinG vs. Zerg. The initial hydra-ling meta of HotS forced many Protoss players to seal away immortal and sentry based all-ins, but trends have turned and turned to put it back in the Protoss rotation. Scarlett herself was a victim, losing to Oz's two consecutive Soul Trains to be eliminated from the previous season of WCS America. While Scarlett has recently shown some adeptness at stopping all-ins with a throwback lingfestor style, one has to wonder how she will fair against a cheese artisan like PartinG.

Winners Match and Beyond

Overall, PartinG looks to be the player favored to top the group. While his PvZ has been shaky, Golden and Scarlett haven't exactly shown Code S level ZvP. Meanwhile, Bomber's TvP has suffered as the SCV pull all-in has been figured out by Protoss players, and PartinG should be capable of taking him in either a macro game or with all-ins.

The key to Bomber vs. the Zergs will be what kind of style he chooses to use. He's been markedly more successful with his unorthodox, WoL-esque styles than he has been with the HotS standard of marine-mine. Now that Zerg expect him to play differently from other Terrans, will he adjust? And if he decides to stay the course, is his style strong enough to win without the surprise factor?

Predictions:
Bomber > Golden
PartinG > Scarlett
PartinG > Bomber
Scarlett > Golden
Scarlett > Bomber

PartinG and Scarlett advance

Group B: MC, Snute, sOs, HyuN

Starting Match 1: SK_MC vs. Liquid`Snute

Eight players splitting a $50,000 prize? Of course MC was going to be there. However, in his current form, it's doubtful as to whether he's going to be collecting a check in the five figures. Forget the 18 month championship drought—just looking at his recent results gives you reason to worry. Eliminated by ToD and jjakji in the HSC Ro16. Eliminated by Maru in the Blizzcon Ro16. Eliminated by Dear in the WCS Season 3 Ro8. MC will be relieved to be playing a foreigner in his first match, but he may be surprised even in that match-up.

Snute returns from a month of training at the CJ Entus house in Korea, and his current skill level is shrouded in mystery. At his best, he was taking TaeJa to the brink in the HomeStory Cup finals, showing he was one of the best foreigners around. At his worst, he was playing like... well, a foreigner. Different people will give you different answers in terms of how much time you need to spend in Korea for it to actually start paying off. At Red Bull, we'll see what the answer is in Snute's case.


Starting Match 2: Woongjin_sOs vs. Quantic_HyuN

If only because no one has any idea what the hell sOs is going to do, this match is a must-watch. The strategically brilliant sOs has always been an unpredictable player, but the current state of PvZ strategy has made the situation even more chaotic.

The thing is, people stopped using 'sOs-style' (let's very loosely define it as a style with quick void rays, a quick third, and heavily delayed robotics tech). After the WCS Season 3 finals in Canada, the three most visible proponents of the style in sOs, NaNiwa, and Dear all dropped it from their arsenal. And it's not like it was because they suffered crushing defeats in tournaments or anything like that. Between WCS S3 and Blizzcon, something happened that made them think it would be a better idea to do other strategies, whether it was blink all-ins, standard phoenix openers, or lots and lots of cannon rushes.

Whatever sOs has planned, he'll want to be sure it's expertly tuned. There's no messing around with HyuN, as he's the kind of exquisite macro player who will overrun you with mass units in a second if he notices any weaknesses in defense. In a way, HyuN is an excellent "test dummy" if sOs wants to see how his strategies will play against a very skilled, standard player—except this test dummy could very easily be the one wrecking him.

Winners Match and Beyond

It's weird to have both sOs and MC in this group, as both are players whose form varies wildly from tournament to tournament. When things are clicking for them, they're pretty much unstoppable. When their opponents can figure out what they're doing and adapt, they can fall flat on their faces. Throw in Snute, the foreigner we haven't seen for a month, into the mix and group situation becomes rather #dicey indeed. Strange as it may seem, if I had to pick just one player to make it through (regardless of whether it's in 1st or 2nd), I feel safest picking HyuN and his solid macro style. For everyone else, "will he be on his game?" looms as too big a question.

Predictions:
MC > Snute
sOs > HyuN
sOs > MC
HyuN > Snute
HyuN > MC

sOs and HyuN advance.

Writers: Waxangel.
Photos: silverfire.
Editor: Waxangel.