EPTLiving up to the Hype: Acer.Scarlett
If we had to pick one specific moment, we could say
Acer.Scarlett’s professional career began at her first premier event of IPL 4 in the spring of 2012. Qualified as a result of winning the Playhem “Sponsor Me!” tournament, the previously unknown Scarlett burst into the spotlight by racking up a string of victories against established players like Terius, DdoRo and DeMuslim, and taking Oz to the brink of defeat in a 1-2 series before eventually getting eliminated by Golden. In the end, that was just barely good enough for a top 40 finish in the tournament. But placement didn't matter, for Scarlett appeared to be a rarity: a North American player who was truly competitive with the rest of the world. After a humorous and brief stint on Eclypsia, Scarlett joined her present team of Acer Esports. There, she continued her rise, looking to be a step ahead all of her countrymen as she won WCS Canada. Scarlett then showed she was better than the players on the rest of the continent as well, going 12-1 as she won the WCS North American championship.
Even though, Scarlett had managed to go from being an amateur to the winner of the WCS North America in the span of only four month, that had never been the true test. No, that prove that she could rival the lords of StarCraft themselves, the Koreans.
To that end, Scarlett's vs. Korean performances in her debut year were hopeful, but not entirely successful. She managed to defeat players like Bomber, HerO, and RyunG at IPL5 and MLG Fall, but failed to finish in the top 16 after losing to other Koreans. At the WCS 2012 Global Finals in Shanghai, PartinG showed Scarlett she still had a long way to go after pummeling her 3-0 to send her out of the tournament.
In January of 2013, Scarlett packed her bags and travelled to Korea to train at the Axiom team house, thanks to the newly formed Axiom-Acer partnership. While at first the Korean training didn't seem to have much of an effect initially as Scarlett went out in the Ro16 of the first WCS America, she would have what the Koreans call an "explosion of potential" in August.
In WCS America Season 2, Scarlett went through the heart of EG-TL's line-up, taking out HerO, Revival, and aLive as she made a great run to the semi-finals. She even made it within one map of defeating Jaedong and reaching the grand finals, only to fall to the Tyrant's 6-pool all-in in the fifth and final map. Just a few weeks later at the Season 2 Finals in Cologne, Scarlett would go 2-0 against both MMA and Maru in the group stage, and just barely lose 2-3 to Bomber in the quarter-finals. Hyped since 2012, Scarlett was no longer a player who merely showed glimpses of greatness. She was beating Koreans, beating them when the whole world was watching her, and beating them when it truly mattered. In short, she had arrived.
Scarlett has continued to play well at Red Bull NYC and IEM Singapore. By now, few will have failed to have noticed Game 3 between Scarlett and Bomber which is certainly one of the best games ever played. But Scarlett's standard play might have been even more impressive than such flashy, show-stopping plays. She was only narrowly defeated by WCS 2013 champion sOs in a tight 2-3 series, and she absolutely dominated the BossToss MC in the 3rd place match of the tournament. IEM Singapore was less of a success as Scarlett was eliminated in the Ro8 by CJ's Hydra. However, she still reaffirmed her ZvT credentials by defeating Dream and then Bomber to make it out of the Ro16 group stage.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/asusrog/northcon13/scarlettbridge.jpg)
"Protoss, what a great joke!"
Looking at her Ro16 group going into ASUS ROG, we see that Scarlett is the sole Zerg player going up against Terrans Jjakji and Lucifron, as well as the Protoss elfi. Given her recent performances, there's no reason to worry about Scarlett’s capacity in ZvT. As far as the Protoss race goes, her negative feelings about the race are no secret. But in terms of actual results, her strong showings against MC and sOs suggests she is better than she cares to admit. The more interesting factor here is Scarlett's great respect for (or at least, great bemusement with) elfi, as she is the proprietor of his TeamLiquid Fanclub.
Of course, things only get tougher as the tournament goes on, with players like INnoVation, San, Jaedong, and Life likely to be later round opponents. Against such opposition, few players in the entire world can be considered to be favorites, whether they are Korean or not.
ASUS ROG NorthCon 2013 will be the final major international event of the year, and it presents a set of unique last chances. There's that not-entirely symbolic factor of foreigners failing to win a single premier tournament this year. The GSL has thought it sufficient to hold their Hot6ix Cup solely with players from the WCS Korea region, and as arrogant as that decision may seem, it cannot be faulted unless a foreigner proves them wrong.
Scarlett has shot to the top of the foreigner charts, at least matching NaNiwa in terms of quality of play, if not yet in terms of pure results. Winning a major tournament would be the perfect way to end her 2013, a year where she went from one of the most hyped foreigners to one who proved that she fully deserved that hype. As it stands now, 2013 for foreigners is the year when Stephano retired and NaNiwa almost won. Winning at ASUS ROG makes 2013 the year where Scarlett ascended.
