The second season of the Acer TeamStory Cup will come to an end this weekend with four teams gathering at Take's flat in Germany. In season one, the Korean juggernaut Team MVP crushed all challengers as they took home the championship. Season two features no such Korean teams, but strong Korean players will certainly be a huge factor as four teams vye for the title.
Countdown:
Regular Season Standings
Semifinal 1: Team Acer vs. Team Liquid
by lichter and stuchiu
Acer and Liquid have faced off before in the ATC semifinals, just one season ago. In that meeting MMA went full SlayerS mode as he all-killed Liquid to give Acer a 5-1 win. However, Liquid later repaid the favor in the SC2L finals, where TaeJa took out Acer's MMA-INnoVation duo to help his team take the championship. And now, the rubber match commences...
At 8-1 and on an 8 game winning streak, you’d be hard pressed to call Acer anything but the favorites to win ATC Season 2. Their +23 in map differential is greater than all the other playoff teams combined, which is just insane. We all knew that Acer would become a force to be reckoned with after claiming INnoVation in one of the biggest transfer coups in history, but over the course of the season it’s become clear that Acer is far from a one man team.
Instead of taking over, it seems as though the former STX ace has galvanized his new squad into raising their level of play to try and match his. MMA has looked like a champion reborn since INnoVation’s arrival, while Bly, Nerchio, and most of all Scarlett have climbed up the foreigner rankings during the tail end of 2013. Acer will hope that their momentum carries over into the ATC postseason and that they end their year on a high. With a win in Krefeld, Acer will certainly be in the discussion for best foreigner team of 2013.
INnoVation: In an interesting twist, this might become INnoVation’s THIRD major team league title in 2013. After winning the SK Planet Proleague on STX before departing for Acer and winning the GSTL just last month, he has yet another opportunity to make his sponsors proud as their undisputed Ace player. However, Acer is no one man team as RoBogus doesn’t even have the most wins in ATC. With one All-Kill and a 17-5 record, he has done very well for himself, but most viewers would have expected him to be waaaaay above everyone else in the win rankings of a foreigner league. Instead, he was able to comfortably sit out for 3 matches while his teammates thrashed the opposition. THAT should make any team shake in their boots. But even this Super Ace has a weakness: TvT. Losing twice in TvTs against Axiom and losing to foreigners Happy and Dayshi, everyone knows that it’s his weakest matchup. Still, at 66% in ATC, and having won two crucial matches against SuperNoVa in the GSTL finals, can we truly call his TvT weak?
Bly: As the second best foreigner behind VortiX, Bly’s ATC season has been a resounding success. Though most of his wins were concentrated in his 3-kill of CompLexity and All-Kill of IG, amassing a Top 10 record in a league filled with strong Koreans is no easy feat. A streaky player, Bly has often appeared early in the lineup. After a successful regular season, Acer will hope that Bly will be able to replicate his performances on the big stage where he is the most untested among their top 5 players.
MMA: Don’t let MMA’s unflattering record of 7-2 deceive you; the only reason he’s played so few games is that he just hasn’t had the need to. With INnoVation, Bly and Nerchio racking up wins left and right, MMA has only been called upon infrequently. He’s only played in 4 of Acer’s matches, closing things out twice against Mouz and TeamLiquid. Having the WCS Europe Season 3 Champion as your third best player must feel nice.
Scarlett: Mysteriously absent for most of ATC, Scarlett should be considered Acer’s wild card. After impressing during the back end of 2013 at ASUS ROG, IEM Singapore and RedBull NY, Scarlett is in the best form of her career. She has played some of the best games of the year in ZvT, especially against Bomber, but her winrates are even all around. Scarlett could be deployed anywhere as needed, and Acer will have to think carefully about the right time and place.
Teamliquid makes their entrance into the ATC finals aboard a raft in a sea of tears, due to their controversial, last second entrance into the final four. For those who don't know, Liquid was all but out of the running until Taeja's miraculous 5-0 all-kill against Quantic tied them with Mouz in record and map differential. The controversy came because of the tie-break: Mouz had defeated Liquid in their head-to-head. tournament rules stated that total map wins took priority over head-to-head. While the argument over what tie-break system is most ideal will never cease, no one can deny that TaeJa deserves an immense amount of credit for putting his team in that position to begin with. He was asked to deliver a 5-0 on command, and he did.
Team TaeJa: The monster has a total record of 19-9 in ATC, better than the combined scores of his five teammates Hero, Ret, Snute, Zenio and TLO, who went 18-25. TaeJa also recently won the most prestigious and lucrative tournament of his career at Dreamhack Winter, netting him $30,000+ and capping off an incredible year where he won five individual titles.
As amazing as TaeJa has been in solo competition, TaeJa's name is synonymous with team league success as well. You just can't help but remember his godlike run through IPL TAC 3 where he almost single-handedly won Liquid the championship. More recently, he was responsible for taking out both INnoVation and MMA as Liquid claimed the SC2L championship. If Taeja is on fire this weekend, no one will stop him.
And his supporting cast
Ret: Once one of the top Zergs in Europe, Ret has fallen off in HotS. He occasionally graces us with what looks like a perfect macro game, a tantalizing glimpse of what could be. Ret has been solid for Liquid in ATC, going 6-6 in map score (just barely worse than HerO's 7-6), though his wins and losses have come in streaks. Ret's play on the upcoming weekend could be the difference between TaeJa having a reasonable workload, or having to bring in PirateTerran and MoustacheTerran as well.
TLO: After his constant 5th place finishes in the beginning of the year, TLO has come back down to earth as the increased competition has made it harder than ever before to stay on top. Despite that he is still one of the better Zergs in Europe, and more than game to take matches off Koreans on his good days. In fact, he's kind of like a European version of Life, with only just a few less strengths and a few more weaknesses, literally.
Snute: It's not something you notice at first glance, but Snute had an extremely successful 2013. Among the foreigner Zergs, he has won the most money this year and was one of the few foreigners to make it to the finals of a premier tournament (HSC7). However, most of his success came earlier in the year, and he hasn't really had much luck recreating that form. He has spent a lot of time in Korea at either the EG-TL house or the CJ house, leaving him little time to actually participate in the ATC league. This will be our chance to see what he picked up in Korea, and see if he can contribute in ATC when it matters the most.
Conspicuously Absent - HerO: After traveling around for the past 2 months going from tournament to tournament, HerO has finally got some time to kick back and relax. Liquid has allowed him to take the ATC finals off, so that he might be better rested as 2014 approaches.
Western Wolves are going to the finals as the dreaded dark horse. Ever since failing to qualify for season 1, Western Wolves changed their roster considerably, allowing them to qualify for season 2. In their first match they barely edged out a 5-4 win against compLexity, giving the impression that while they could certainly hang in there, they wouldn't be competing for the title.
The truth was far from it: Western Wolves, together with their joker San, extended that one win into a four win streak, including an impressive 5-0 win against Axiom thanks to San. Not only did they secure playoff qualification early, but they also turned quite a few heads in the process.
Going into the finals, the hype has cooled down a little. Even though they secured their qualification early, losing painfully to Acer and Mouz in their last handful of matches had to be embarrassing. But the big blow against their chances of winning the championship is that their joker and key player San will be missing, as he must fulfill other obligations in Taiwan's TeSL.
StarNaN: Being the third Protoss in the team behind San and Daisy, the senior wolf StarNaN only had two caps this season, plus one in the qualifiers. When he played, he faced other European players where he took a map before losing twice, but never went on a streak. Outside of the ATC, he is a regular in Dreamhacks and other Swedish events where he had some deep runs.
Daisy: Things have been silent around Daisy after he made himself known at IEM Katowice and many online tournaments. He has been struggling in the WCS EU region, blocked by the wall of lag, unlike his peers duckdeok or Genius. How might he have performed had he made it to the offline rounds? Now we might be able to know. Daisy achieved a balanced 5-6 record in the regular season, but he will need to play better to take the burden off Check.
Sting: Sting's most notable achievement was his IEM Singapore win in 2012, but like Daisy, it he has been very quiet as of late. He is mostly visible in the ATC regular season where he had a 5-8 record, with four of his wins against Quantic and his other win against LucifroN. Not only was he outmatched against the top Koreans in the league, but he also had many losses against Europeans. Maybe the offline setting will allow him more crisper play than he showed in the regular season? Like Daisy, he needs to show better play so that he can take some of the pressure off of Check.
Check: With San missing for the finals, Western Wolves' hopes lie on Check's shoulders. His stats in the regular season are 6-1 against Protoss, 5-2 against Zerg and 4-4 against Terran, being one of the league's top players and actually taking more maps than San in the regular season. He made his first splash in SC2 in the stacked Korean qualifiers for IEM New York, where he beat the likes of DRG, PartinG and FanTaSy, only to fall to INnoVation during his TvZ peak. Since then, he showed promising performances, yet he hasn't made a bigger name for himself in the shark tank that is Korean SC2. The ATC finals will be his first offline appearance in a foreign tournament, maybe the first of many more in 2014.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the red and blue trunks, one half of the GSTL champions, Axiom Esports!
After partnering with Team Acer to win the most recent season of GSTL, Axiom are now all on their own as they try to win yet another team title. While it's undeniable that INnoVation played a gigantic role in Axiom-Acer's GSTL win, it would be foolish to sell Axiom short. In the GSTL season prior to that, an INnoVation-less Axiom-Acer achieved a second place finish in the regular season with even contributions from all of its members. Axiom's players may not have had much individual league success in HotS, but they have always been strong team league competitors, with any player capable of stepping up and being the hero of the day. They are a team that exemplifies the idea of "the sum of the parts is greater than the whole," and they are very much in this title fight.
CranK: With a 9-6 record, Axiom's player/coach/cook/driver/maid/manager/cameraman Crank has racked up the most wins for Axiom in the ATC. Given the nature of Axiom's roster it wouldn't have been surprising to see any of their players get the most wins for their team, but it's definitely a nice bonus for Axiom's founding member. Crank looked absolutely devastated after dropping a key map in the GSTL finals, and he'll be looking to make up for it in the ATC.
Heart: Once known as the cheeser supreme, Heart has 'rehabilitated' himself by becoming a generic, solid macro Terran. Such a shame, since he was more interesting when he was more of a shameless cheeser, but at least he's still got some of that in his blood.
Impact: Axiom's new recruit has been good in ATC with a 6-3 record, but his performances in live settings is a worrisome. He had a poor 1-5 record in the GSTL, and he has yet to show he can really perform in a pressure situation. Well, another trial by fire it is!
Ryung has been doing poorly in recent months. He's fallen out of WCS America's Challenger league, and has failed to make a big impact in GSTL or ATC. This is particularly worrisome because on a team like Axiom that relies on even contributions from all its members, Ryung was the one player that you could have called the "ace." He was the one you'd look at to score multi-kills or bail the team out in tough situations, something he had been doing since his SlayerS days.
If Ryung can give his team a spark, then it might be enough for Axiom to fight against streaky aces like TaeJa, INnoVation, and Check. If Ryung's slump continues, then Axiom will be hard pressed to take the title. Unless...
Alicia: With Ryung in trouble, who's the player you look to first to step up? Why, it's none other than Alicia, the player on Axiom who's had the most individual league success in the past. As a player who once managed to win three silver medals in a row (long before Jaedong), Alicia's peak-level play is probably the best out of all the Axiom players.
And indeed, Alicia has picked up the slack. He was the best player on the Axiom half of Axiom-Acer in GSTL, going a combined 11-6 in the tournament. Though he's not a one-man championship team like INnoVation or TaeJa, Alicia has all the skills needed to be Axiom's ace in a pinch.
On December 14 2013 01:20 Darkhoarse wrote: No HerO? Seems like Liquid will have to bring in PirateTerran, MustacheTerran, and Liquidsucksballswithoutme.
Hey, I already made that joke! You have to pay royalties to me now
On December 14 2013 01:20 Darkhoarse wrote: No HerO? Seems like Liquid will have to bring in PirateTerran, MustacheTerran, and Liquidsucksballswithoutme.
Hey, I already made that joke! You have to pay royalties to me now
Hello my name is Lionel Hutz, and I represent the copyright holders of Hwaseung House. I am here to deliver a cease and desist order regarding plagiarized material, namely jokes referring to players disguising themselves as pirates, wearing fake mustaches or other means of misrepresenting their true identity, in order to participate multiple times in a team based computer game competition. Failure to comply with this order will result in legal ramifications. Good day.
A bit sad Nerchio isn't playing, but Acer will dominate this tournament so hard anyways, it's ok. Acer vs Axiom finals will be funny, let's hope for some great games .
And yes, as Yhamm is pointing out, Acer is not 70-46 but 43-20 in the regular season. 70-46 was MVP's winrate in Season 1.
I have no team to root for (Millenium sucked hard in Season 2 and mouz got very unlucky at the end) so I will just enjoy the games and the magnificent cast.
I'm not surprised that Hero is super tired. He traveled a ton the past two months or so and he's still settling into the IM house. Though, without him in ATC, not too sure how Team Liquid will do. If Taeja is still trying to break that #1 TL elo spot, gg. If he's having a bad day, who knows what'll happen.
On December 14 2013 06:29 Kokokoz wrote: So is somerone here seriously thinking that Scarlett is better than MMA ? Eh eh eh
Looking at their match history they seem fairly evenly matched. If it comes down to trying to take out Taeja I'd probably send Scarlett first. MMA if it's Hero.
MMA is a boss at base trading though, as we saw on stream yesterday.
When Taeja all killed Quantic, we saw one one-man team fall, and another rise to take its place in the playoffs. Liquid's always been top heavy in teamleagues, but without Hero, Liquid is just like Quantic, except their ace is Terran and better. :p
When Taeja all killed Quantic, we saw one one-man team fall, and another rise to take its place in the playoffs. Liquid's always been top heavy in teamleagues, but without Hero, Liquid is just like Quantic, except their ace is Terran and better. :p
On December 14 2013 06:29 Kokokoz wrote: So is somerone here seriously thinking that Scarlett is better than MMA ? Eh eh eh
Looking at their match history they seem fairly evenly matched. If it comes down to trying to take out Taeja I'd probably send Scarlett first. MMA if it's Hero.
MMA is a boss at base trading though, as we saw on stream yesterday.
On December 14 2013 06:29 Kokokoz wrote: So is somerone here seriously thinking that Scarlett is better than MMA ? Eh eh eh
Looking at their match history they seem fairly evenly matched. If it comes down to trying to take out Taeja I'd probably send Scarlett first. MMA if it's Hero.
MMA is a boss at base trading though, as we saw on stream yesterday.
Hero won't be there though.
I know, just how I see the best match ups would be for Acer. This time it's basically just throw everything, including the kitchen sink and the fucking plumbing for good measure at Taeja and hope he falls over. Which he realistically should.
On December 14 2013 06:29 Kokokoz wrote: So is somerone here seriously thinking that Scarlett is better than MMA ? Eh eh eh
Looking at their match history they seem fairly evenly matched. If it comes down to trying to take out Taeja I'd probably send Scarlett first. MMA if it's Hero.
MMA is a boss at base trading though, as we saw on stream yesterday.
On December 14 2013 06:29 Kokokoz wrote: So is somerone here seriously thinking that Scarlett is better than MMA ? Eh eh eh
Looking at their match history they seem fairly evenly matched. If it comes down to trying to take out Taeja I'd probably send Scarlett first. MMA if it's Hero.
MMA is a boss at base trading though, as we saw on stream yesterday.
MMA was on a stream yesterday?
Yeah, he played a single game on Scarletts stream (Innovation too btw). He 8/8/8 vs. a proxy hatchery, wacky game.
When Taeja all killed Quantic, we saw one one-man team fall, and another rise to take its place in the playoffs. Liquid's always been top heavy in teamleagues, but without Hero, Liquid is just like Quantic, except their ace is Terran and better. :p
better is an understatement
Don't be underrating Hyun. Dude can play lair-tech aggression like nobody's business.
As much as I want to cheer for Liquid, I just can't deny the glorious concept of an Axiom vs Acer finals. I think that would be great for the two teams, great for the sponsors, and great for the fans.
I think TL has this. Acer doesn't really have any super reliable way to take out Taeja. He has beaten Scarlet MMA and Innovation the last time he has played all of them. Add in that Taeja is probably one of the most clutch Team League performers in SC2 and they have to beat him twice and Acer along with anyone else might be in trouble.
TL is in a bad spot here. While Taeja could probably realistically carry Liquid through Axiom or WW without San (although he has lost to Heart before and Check is a boss), a HerO-less Liquid is gonna have all kinds of trouble with Acer. Some ZvZ wins early in the match would be huge for TL
On December 14 2013 07:33 bourne117 wrote: I think TL has this. Acer doesn't really have any super reliable way to take out Taeja. He has beaten Scarlet MMA and Innovation the last time he has played all of them. Add in that Taeja is probably one of the most clutch Team League performers in SC2 and they have to beat him twice and Acer along with anyone else might be in trouble.
MMA and Scarlett aren't pushovers, and Innovation has been practicing so much TvT recently and regaining the lost ground in that matchup.
He's definitely capable of carrying TL, but should not underestimate how difficult his job is right now.
When Taeja all killed Quantic, we saw one one-man team fall, and another rise to take its place in the playoffs. Liquid's always been top heavy in teamleagues, but without Hero, Liquid is just like Quantic, except their ace is Terran and better. :p
better is an understatement
Don't be underrating Hyun. Dude can play lair-tech aggression like nobody's business.
He is good but TaeJa owned him, both in ATC and HSC ^^
On December 14 2013 06:29 Kokokoz wrote: So is somerone here seriously thinking that Scarlett is better than MMA ? Eh eh eh
Looking at their match history they seem fairly evenly matched. If it comes down to trying to take out Taeja I'd probably send Scarlett first. MMA if it's Hero.
MMA is a boss at base trading though, as we saw on stream yesterday.
MMA was on a stream yesterday?
Yeah, he played a single game on Scarletts stream (Innovation too btw). He 8/8/8 vs. a proxy hatchery, wacky game.
Regular streamers play ads or just leave the stream running when they take a break, Scarlett gets Innovation and MMA to fill in. That's a service minded approach right there.
On December 14 2013 07:33 bourne117 wrote: I think TL has this. Acer doesn't really have any super reliable way to take out Taeja. He has beaten Scarlet MMA and Innovation the last time he has played all of them. Add in that Taeja is probably one of the most clutch Team League performers in SC2 and they have to beat him twice and Acer along with anyone else might be in trouble.
I see that the other way. Acer has three players that can take out TaeJa while TL has only one guy (unless one of the zergs is on fire) to take out three Acer players.
On December 14 2013 07:33 bourne117 wrote: I think TL has this. Acer doesn't really have any super reliable way to take out Taeja. He has beaten Scarlet MMA and Innovation the last time he has played all of them. Add in that Taeja is probably one of the most clutch Team League performers in SC2 and they have to beat him twice and Acer along with anyone else might be in trouble.
MMA and Scarlett aren't pushovers, and Innovation has been practicing so much TvT recently and regaining the lost ground in that matchup.
He's definitely capable of carrying TL, but should not underestimate how difficult his job is right now.
I know they aren't just saying in the last month or less Taeja has played all of them and has won against all of them. It obviously won't be easy (they are the underdog for a reason) but they have Taeja and its an all kill format so there is always a chance especially when Acer doesn't have any super reliable player to snipe Taeja.
On December 14 2013 07:33 bourne117 wrote: I think TL has this. Acer doesn't really have any super reliable way to take out Taeja. He has beaten Scarlet MMA and Innovation the last time he has played all of them. Add in that Taeja is probably one of the most clutch Team League performers in SC2 and they have to beat him twice and Acer along with anyone else might be in trouble.
MMA and Scarlett aren't pushovers, and Innovation has been practicing so much TvT recently and regaining the lost ground in that matchup.
He's definitely capable of carrying TL, but should not underestimate how difficult his job is right now.
I know they aren't just saying in the last month or less Taeja has played all of them and has won against all of them. It obviously won't be easy (they are the underdog for a reason) but they have Taeja and its an all kill format so there is always a chance especially when Acer doesn't have any super reliable player to snipe Taeja.
Hopefully that doesn't happen. Liquid barely squeezed their way to the playoffs, while Acer dominated. Acer is definitely the better team.
On December 14 2013 07:33 bourne117 wrote: I think TL has this. Acer doesn't really have any super reliable way to take out Taeja. He has beaten Scarlet MMA and Innovation the last time he has played all of them. Add in that Taeja is probably one of the most clutch Team League performers in SC2 and they have to beat him twice and Acer along with anyone else might be in trouble.
MMA and Scarlett aren't pushovers, and Innovation has been practicing so much TvT recently and regaining the lost ground in that matchup.
He's definitely capable of carrying TL, but should not underestimate how difficult his job is right now.
I know they aren't just saying in the last month or less Taeja has played all of them and has won against all of them. It obviously won't be easy (they are the underdog for a reason) but they have Taeja and its an all kill format so there is always a chance especially when Acer doesn't have any super reliable player to snipe Taeja.
He's 2-2 vs Scarlett and 5-4 vs MMA, hardly a spectacular record. He does a very good record vs Innovation, 9-3.
On December 14 2013 07:33 bourne117 wrote: I think TL has this. Acer doesn't really have any super reliable way to take out Taeja. He has beaten Scarlet MMA and Innovation the last time he has played all of them. Add in that Taeja is probably one of the most clutch Team League performers in SC2 and they have to beat him twice and Acer along with anyone else might be in trouble.
MMA and Scarlett aren't pushovers, and Innovation has been practicing so much TvT recently and regaining the lost ground in that matchup.
He's definitely capable of carrying TL, but should not underestimate how difficult his job is right now.
I know they aren't just saying in the last month or less Taeja has played all of them and has won against all of them. It obviously won't be easy (they are the underdog for a reason) but they have Taeja and its an all kill format so there is always a chance especially when Acer doesn't have any super reliable player to snipe Taeja.
Hopefully that doesn't happen. Liquid barely squeezed their way to the playoffs, while Acer dominated. Acer is definitely the better team.
Oh no doubt. But Liquid has the best player that has no clear weak point and in this format that can mean a lot.
He's 2-2 vs Scarlett and 5-4 vs MMA, hardly a spectacular record. He does a very good record vs Innovation, 9-3.
On December 14 2013 08:50 Squat wrote: And he's still 1-7 vs Jaedong. Hah.
Yeah but Taeja beat Scarlet 2-1 at HSC beat MMA 3-2 at DH Winter and Innovation 2-1 also so nothing I said is false. And what does the point about JD have anything to do with this? Is JD there? No.
On December 14 2013 07:33 bourne117 wrote: I think TL has this. Acer doesn't really have any super reliable way to take out Taeja. He has beaten Scarlet MMA and Innovation the last time he has played all of them. Add in that Taeja is probably one of the most clutch Team League performers in SC2 and they have to beat him twice and Acer along with anyone else might be in trouble.
MMA and Scarlett aren't pushovers, and Innovation has been practicing so much TvT recently and regaining the lost ground in that matchup.
He's definitely capable of carrying TL, but should not underestimate how difficult his job is right now.
I know they aren't just saying in the last month or less Taeja has played all of them and has won against all of them. It obviously won't be easy (they are the underdog for a reason) but they have Taeja and its an all kill format so there is always a chance especially when Acer doesn't have any super reliable player to snipe Taeja.
Hopefully that doesn't happen. Liquid barely squeezed their way to the playoffs, while Acer dominated. Acer is definitely the better team.
Oh no doubt. But Liquid has the best player that has no clear weak point and in this format that can mean a lot.
He's 2-2 vs Scarlett and 5-4 vs MMA, hardly a spectacular record. He does a very good record vs Innovation, 9-3.
On December 14 2013 08:50 Squat wrote: And he's still 1-7 vs Jaedong. Hah.
Yeah but Taeja beat Scarlet 2-1 at HSC beat MMA 3-2 at DH Winter and Innovation 2-1 also so nothing I said is false. And what does the point about JD have anything to do with this? Is JD there? No.
The point is there are far too few games vs MMA and Scarlett and the records are far too even to draw any conclusion that Taeja has an advantage against either. If anything Liquid wants to match him against Innovation while avoiding the aforementioned duo. Too much of a gamble. If MMA or Scarlett loses vs Taeja, Acer is still ok, if Taeja goes down before taking out Innovation, TL is fucked.
The JD thing was just to gloat because JD is awesome and stomps the supposedly best terran in the world like it ain't no thang whenever they play.
On December 14 2013 07:33 bourne117 wrote: I think TL has this. Acer doesn't really have any super reliable way to take out Taeja. He has beaten Scarlet MMA and Innovation the last time he has played all of them. Add in that Taeja is probably one of the most clutch Team League performers in SC2 and they have to beat him twice and Acer along with anyone else might be in trouble.
MMA and Scarlett aren't pushovers, and Innovation has been practicing so much TvT recently and regaining the lost ground in that matchup.
He's definitely capable of carrying TL, but should not underestimate how difficult his job is right now.
I know they aren't just saying in the last month or less Taeja has played all of them and has won against all of them. It obviously won't be easy (they are the underdog for a reason) but they have Taeja and its an all kill format so there is always a chance especially when Acer doesn't have any super reliable player to snipe Taeja.
Hopefully that doesn't happen. Liquid barely squeezed their way to the playoffs, while Acer dominated. Acer is definitely the better team.
Oh no doubt. But Liquid has the best player that has no clear weak point and in this format that can mean a lot.
He's 2-2 vs Scarlett and 5-4 vs MMA, hardly a spectacular record. He does a very good record vs Innovation, 9-3.
On December 14 2013 08:50 Squat wrote: And he's still 1-7 vs Jaedong. Hah.
Yeah but Taeja beat Scarlet 2-1 at HSC beat MMA 3-2 at DH Winter and Innovation 2-1 also so nothing I said is false. And what does the point about JD have anything to do with this? Is JD there? No.
The point is there are far too few games vs MMA and Scarlett and the records are far too even to draw any conclusion that Taeja has an advantage against either. If anything Liquid wants to match him against Innovation while avoiding the aforementioned duo. Too much of a gamble. If MMA or Scarlett loses vs Taeja, Acer is still ok, if Taeja goes down before taking out Innovation, TL is fucked.
The JD thing was just to gloat because JD is awesome and stomps the supposedly best terran in the world like it ain't no thang whenever they play.
I wasn't saying there was a clear advantage but that recent records show Taeja has a slight edge. And don't forget Taeja basically gets two lives because of the format which I think is huge. Without that I think they have a WAY smaller chance. But beating Taeja twice is not going to be easy. Taeja has gone up against much deeper teams in the past and come up big for TL (IPL TAC 3 *cough cough*) And about JD Taeja has more championships than JD and all are equal or bigger wins than JDs sole win. And he doesn't stomp him. Since Taeja has actually been in form they have played one bo3 series iirc and it was a 1-2 JD and that was when Taeja was still not looking too hot because he then lost to heart. Where was JD at DH winter? Oh that's right couldn't win a series outside of his relatively easy group while Taeja went on to smash multiple players in the top 10 overall right now.
You just can't help but remember his godlike run through IPL TAC 3 where he almost single-handedly won Liquid the championship.
unless ur wrong or u phrased it terribly :D ez game ez lyfe for acer np
?
Yeah I don't know what this guy is smoking either
me neither. On top of that I have a hard time even trying to figure out what he is trying to say. Does he mean Taeja didn't carry Team Taeja err Liquid at IPL TAC 3?
On December 14 2013 09:10 bourne117 wrote: And about JD Taeja has more championships than JD and all are equal or bigger wins than JDs sole win. And he doesn't stomp him. Since Taeja has actually been in form they have played one bo3 series iirc and it was a 1-2 JD and that was when Taeja was still not looking too hot because he then lost to heart. Where was JD at DH winter? Oh that's right couldn't win a series outside of his relatively easy group while Taeja went on to smash multiple players in the top 10 overall right now.
Cool, by that reasoning the only reason JD didn't win more tournaments than Taeja is because he was not in form, so it doesn't count. 1-7 is still 1-7, you don't get to pretend like some of those games didn't happen because Taeja played poorly. Taeja not having any real mental fortitude is a legitimate weakness and something we've seen more than once, it's not some kind of freak occurrence that makes him lose games randomly. And you don't want to do the "my guy has more tournament wins!" thing here, 5 major titles in BW trump pretty much anything ever achieved in SC2.
Is Taeja the best player right now? Possibly, he has a good claim to it, better than more or less anyone else. Is he still prone to tilting and under-performing? I think so.
On December 14 2013 09:10 bourne117 wrote: And about JD Taeja has more championships than JD and all are equal or bigger wins than JDs sole win. And he doesn't stomp him. Since Taeja has actually been in form they have played one bo3 series iirc and it was a 1-2 JD and that was when Taeja was still not looking too hot because he then lost to heart. Where was JD at DH winter? Oh that's right couldn't win a series outside of his relatively easy group while Taeja went on to smash multiple players in the top 10 overall right now.
Cool, by that reasoning the only reason JD didn't win more tournaments than Taeja is because he was not in form, so it doesn't count. 1-7 is still 1-7, you don't get to pretend like some of those games didn't happen because Taeja played poorly. Taeja not having any real mental fortitude is a legitimate weakness and something we've seen more than once, it's not some kind of freak occurrence that makes him lose games randomly. And you don't want to do the "my guy has more tournament wins!" thing here, 5 major titles in BW trump pretty much anything ever achieved in SC2.
Is Taeja the best player right now? Possibly, he has a good claim to it, better than more or less anyone else. Is he still prone to tilting and under-performing? I think so.
Ok you have convinced you have very little idea what you are talking about. 1. By out of form I meant dealing with wrist injuries so bad you almost retired there was a reason he barely played PL after season 1. 2. How on earth does taeja not have mental fortitude? He is arguably the best Team league ace in SC. Has shown to be beyond clutch for his team on multiple occasions. During the first summer of taeja was easily the most concaistent Terran for the last year of WoL (last non Zerg ever in the GSL WoL) then when his wrists got better was right back to being. Top 10 or better player. In terms of consistency he is probably one of the very best in all of SC. If you still think he has weak mental fortitude or often underperformed and tilts please find 5 examples of that. 3. We are talking about SC2 not BW. No one denies JD is a legend but in SC2 Taeja is the undeniable better overall player and the results clearly show that. 4. Because we are talking about a team league tournament let me ask you a question. If you could start a SC2 team with one ace player who would you take. JD or taeja?
On December 14 2013 09:10 bourne117 wrote: And about JD Taeja has more championships than JD and all are equal or bigger wins than JDs sole win. And he doesn't stomp him. Since Taeja has actually been in form they have played one bo3 series iirc and it was a 1-2 JD and that was when Taeja was still not looking too hot because he then lost to heart. Where was JD at DH winter? Oh that's right couldn't win a series outside of his relatively easy group while Taeja went on to smash multiple players in the top 10 overall right now.
Cool, by that reasoning the only reason JD didn't win more tournaments than Taeja is because he was not in form, so it doesn't count. 1-7 is still 1-7, you don't get to pretend like some of those games didn't happen because Taeja played poorly. Taeja not having any real mental fortitude is a legitimate weakness and something we've seen more than once, it's not some kind of freak occurrence that makes him lose games randomly. And you don't want to do the "my guy has more tournament wins!" thing here, 5 major titles in BW trump pretty much anything ever achieved in SC2.
Is Taeja the best player right now? Possibly, he has a good claim to it, better than more or less anyone else. Is he still prone to tilting and under-performing? I think so.
Ok you have convinced you have very little idea what you are talking about. 1. By out of form I meant dealing with wrist injuries so bad you almost retired there was a reason he barely played PL after season 1. 2. How on earth does taeja not have mental fortitude? He is arguably the best Team league ace in SC. Has shown to be beyond clutch for his team on multiple occasions. During the first summer of taeja was easily the most concaistent Terran for the last year of WoL (last non Zerg ever in the GSL WoL) then when his wrists got better was right back to being. Top 10 or better player. In terms of consistency he is probably one of the very best in all of SC. If you still think he has weak mental fortitude or often underperformed and tilts please find 5 examples of that. 3. We are talking about SC2 not BW. No one denies JD is a legend but in SC2 Taeja is the undeniable better overall player and the results clearly show that. 4. Because we are talking about a team league tournament let me ask you a question. If you could start a SC2 team with one ace player who would you take. JD or taeja?
Dozens of players deal with wrist injuries, it's a fact of life as a pro gamer. It doesn't invalidate results. If it did we would of course have to say the HSC victory vs Scarlett doesn't count since she had just taken a big break for wrist issues of her own. But of course we won't do that because that would be silly.
Taeja has been known to GG early, has said more than once he is in it mostly for the money. Honestly I don't even give a shit about whether he is the best or not, this conversation is dumb. He is a fantastic player who is often overrated by his sometimes rather delusional fans, possibly the best player in the world but he will never live up to the absurd image TL fans have of him.
I think he loses to Scarlett and beats MMA of they play this weekend.
On December 14 2013 09:10 bourne117 wrote: And about JD Taeja has more championships than JD and all are equal or bigger wins than JDs sole win. And he doesn't stomp him. Since Taeja has actually been in form they have played one bo3 series iirc and it was a 1-2 JD and that was when Taeja was still not looking too hot because he then lost to heart. Where was JD at DH winter? Oh that's right couldn't win a series outside of his relatively easy group while Taeja went on to smash multiple players in the top 10 overall right now.
Cool, by that reasoning the only reason JD didn't win more tournaments than Taeja is because he was not in form, so it doesn't count. 1-7 is still 1-7, you don't get to pretend like some of those games didn't happen because Taeja played poorly. Taeja not having any real mental fortitude is a legitimate weakness and something we've seen more than once, it's not some kind of freak occurrence that makes him lose games randomly. And you don't want to do the "my guy has more tournament wins!" thing here, 5 major titles in BW trump pretty much anything ever achieved in SC2.
Is Taeja the best player right now? Possibly, he has a good claim to it, better than more or less anyone else. Is he still prone to tilting and under-performing? I think so.
Ok you have convinced you have very little idea what you are talking about. 1. By out of form I meant dealing with wrist injuries so bad you almost retired there was a reason he barely played PL after season 1. 2. How on earth does taeja not have mental fortitude? He is arguably the best Team league ace in SC. Has shown to be beyond clutch for his team on multiple occasions. During the first summer of taeja was easily the most concaistent Terran for the last year of WoL (last non Zerg ever in the GSL WoL) then when his wrists got better was right back to being. Top 10 or better player. In terms of consistency he is probably one of the very best in all of SC. If you still think he has weak mental fortitude or often underperformed and tilts please find 5 examples of that. 3. We are talking about SC2 not BW. No one denies JD is a legend but in SC2 Taeja is the undeniable better overall player and the results clearly show that. 4. Because we are talking about a team league tournament let me ask you a question. If you could start a SC2 team with one ace player who would you take. JD or taeja?
Dozens of players deal with wrist injuries, it's a fact of life as a pro gamer. It doesn't invalidate results. If it did we would of course have to say the HSC victory vs Scarlett doesn't count since she had just taken a big break for wrist issues of her own. But of course we won't do that because that would be silly.
Taeja has been known to GG early, has said more than once he is in it mostly for the money. Honestly I don't even give a shit about whether he is the best or not, this conversation is dumb. He is a fantastic player who is often overrated by his sometimes rather delusional fans, possibly the best player in the world but he will never live up to the absurd image TL fans have of him.
I think he loses to Scarlett and beats MMA of they play this weekend.
There can be different degrees of severity to an injury. When a player has to cancel playing in the most prestigious league in SC because he physically can't practice enough and is struggling from it so much he is about to retire. And saying ignore a win vs Scarlett when the next two weekends she had massive wins against bomber doesn't really make a lot of sense. GGing early is not even close to saying he has weak mental fortitude or starts titling. He GGs because he thinks the game is over. Some players stay way to late like fantasy or MKP does that mean they have way more mental fortitude because they think they can still win? Of course not. Saying he is in it for the money is obviously a very black and white statement. He clearly still cares about his fans but at the same time any player that is telling you they don't care at all about the money is flat out lying. Finally what image do you think TL fans have of him that he can't live up to? He is a top 3 player in the world unquestionably. He is one of the most clutch TL players in all of SC. Has carried TL through multiple team leagues including this one. How can you possibly hold someone to higher standards than that?
As much as I'm a fan of Liquid, they only have 1 super heavy hitter to Acer's 3 =/. While I'd favor TaeJa over any of them individually, asking him to beat all 3 is a really tall order. Not looking good without HerO.
On December 14 2013 11:43 Kitai wrote: As much as I'm a fan of Liquid, they only have 1 super heavy hitter to Acer's 3 =/. While I'd favor TaeJa over any of them individually, asking him to beat all 3 is a really tall order. Not looking good without HerO.
Don't forget he can be played twice because of the ace player so its more like 2v4. Still hard but not AS hard lol.
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/ATC/atcstandings.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XfuhBqJ.png)
INnoVation: In an interesting twist, this might become INnoVation’s THIRD major team league title in 2013. After winning the SK Planet Proleague on STX before departing for Acer and winning the GSTL just last month, he has yet another opportunity to make his sponsors proud as their undisputed Ace player. However, Acer is no one man team as RoBogus doesn’t even have the most wins in ATC. With one All-Kill and a 17-5 record, he has done very well for himself, but most viewers would have expected him to be waaaaay above everyone else in the win rankings of a foreigner league. Instead, he was able to comfortably sit out for 3 matches while his teammates thrashed the opposition. THAT should make any team shake in their boots. But even this Super Ace has a weakness: TvT. Losing twice in TvTs against Axiom and losing to foreigners Happy and Dayshi, everyone knows that it’s his weakest matchup. Still, at 66% in ATC, and having won two crucial matches against SuperNoVa in the GSTL finals, can we truly call his TvT weak?
Bly: As the second best foreigner behind VortiX, Bly’s ATC season has been a resounding success. Though most of his wins were concentrated in his 3-kill of CompLexity and All-Kill of IG, amassing a Top 10 record in a league filled with strong Koreans is no easy feat. A streaky player, Bly has often appeared early in the lineup. After a successful regular season, Acer will hope that Bly will be able to replicate his performances on the big stage where he is the most untested among their top 5 players.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/h8h6JTI.png)
HerO: After traveling around for the past 2 months going from tournament to tournament, HerO has finally got some time to kick back and relax. Liquid has allowed him to take the ATC finals off, so that he might be better rested as 2014 approaches.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NMlI6Bn.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WhrdZwD.png)
![[image loading]](https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1456666_560424497365076_695757170_n.jpg)
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