by DarkLordOlli and Waxangel

We're nearly a month into 2014, but it seems like the year is only just getting started. As Challenger Leagues are wrapping up and and Premier League line-ups are being determined, IEM and ASUS ROG are holding the first two major weekend tournaments of the year. ASUS ROG Winter 2014 features an all-star line-up of players, with some of the best pros from Korea and Europe coming together in Finland for what should be an exhilarating event. Here's a brief preview before things get under way.

The International Tournament Regulars Club

There's a special tier of lucky Koreans who have both the skill and financial backing to be constant threats at major international tournaments. Though a few of them have gone down to Brazil to play at IEM Sao Paulo, most of them are gathered in Finland to see who will jump ahead to an early lead in the great prize-money race.

Two time ASUS ROG Summer champion Liquid`TaeJa returns in hopes of picking up yet another championship. 2013 was an immensely successful year for the Liquid ace, and he will be looking to continue his impressive tournament streak with another title this weekend.

The last we saw of Taeja was, he was playing well in the Warer.com Invitational as he took third place after being eliminated by HerO in the semifinals. Taeja's TvT was especially impressive in that tournament, as he overcame Bomber, MMA and Innovation during his run. He had no TvZs to play, but he should be set in all three match-ups if he can play as well as he did at DreamHack Winter. As always, Taeja looks to a favorite to advance from his group and go far in the tournament. After winning five championships in 2013, anything but first place would be a disappointment.

The other favorite to take the tournament is Evil Geniuses' Jaedong who won the previous ASUS ROG tournament (albeit, produced by an entirely different organization and held in Germany). With five second place finishes in 2013, Jaedong was the second highest earner of the year, and he'll be eager to defend his ASUS ROG title and add to his bank account.

However, recent signs for Jaedong aren't so good as he dropped out of the first group stage of the aforementioned Warer.com Invitational, losing to Dayshi(!) and MMA. Those two are far from being easy opponents, but one would think the BlizzCon finalist would do better. Still, you expect Jaedong to get out of groups at ASUS ROG and make it to the elimination stage of the tournament. There, we'll see whether or not his elimination from Warer was just a momentary blip, or a portent of things to come.

We can't talk about a winter tournament without mentioning Liquid`HerO. After a period of mediocre results exacerbated by a grueling schedule, HerO finally got to settle down at the Incredible Miracle house toward the end of 2013 (thanks to a partnership between Liquid and IM). It seems to have done HerO a lot of good, as he's performed decently in Proleague with a 3-2 record and reached the finals of the online Warer.com tournament with victories over opponents like Life, ForGG, San, and TaeJa (the final against MC has been delayed due to IEM and ASUS ROG).

HerO is playing some of his best games since the last Proleague season ended, and if he can keep his current form he'll once again be a contender to take any foreign tournament he's at. Of course, good online performances don't always translate to good live performances, so we'll have to wait and see how he does. HerO's winter may have had a disappointing start but it may yet finish on a high.


Finally, we'd like to welcome mouz.Dear to the international tournament regulars club! After experiencing the amazing atmosphere at the WCS Season 3 Finals in Toronto one can understand Dear's decision to join a foreign team rather easily. With SouL disbanding and all his teammates moving on, Dear became the first Korean player to join mouz. With his prime motivation for joining being the freedom to compete in international tournaments, we can only assume he's negotiated quite a bit of flight support into his contract.

Dear's few showings overseas have left a good impression. He won the WCS Season 3 Finals, and was barely edged out by Jaedong at BlizzCon in the Ro8. However, there are question marks about his current skill level, as he hasn't done that well in his few online appearances for mouz thus far (most notably losing to Starbuck's drone stack trick). However, as a recent Code S and WCS Season champion, Dear is definitely one of the scariest opponents at ASUS ROG.

The slightly less privileged Koreans

Not every Korean can be a globe-trotting, tournament-playing machine. Even if they're just as skilled as their well-sponsored peers, the less fortunate Koreans must make the most of their limited opportunities. Here's a quick run through:

We barely got to see ST_Life outside Korea in 2013, but he's showed up in one of the first tournaments of 2014 as a late replacement for VortiX. After a strong second place performance at DreamHack Winter, Life disappointed in January's Warer.com Invitational by exiting early. Life is as inconsistent as he is talented, and we could see either championship Life or Ro32 Life at ASUS ROG.

Yoe Flash Wolves' San is far less known than Life, but is no less dangerous a wild card. Once an online-only terror, he was able to turn that into good live performances in 2013 where he took two second place finishes. However, gold has remained frustratingly out of his grasp.

In that way San is very similar to fellow Protoss player AX.Alicia, who had a highly successful and underrated 2012 where he finished second place in three tournaments. Alicia failed to reproduce that form in 2013, and he's come to Finland to try to start off his 2014 on a more optimistic note. The ultimate dream would be to have an underdog run like mYi.StarDust, who came out of nowhere at DreamHack Summer to claim the title. StarDust's performances afterward suggest it was a once in a life-time miracle run, but that won't stop ambitious Korean pros from aspiring to make such a run themselves.


While all of the above players are worth following through the tournament, the player we'll be keeping an extra close eye on is Samsung Galaxy's Solar. He's the biggest surprise of the new Proleague season so far, playing a key role in Samsung Galaxy's second place finish in round one. He's certainly capable of playing great games, but he is still very untested compared to the other Koreans at this tournament.

Other Koreans competing at ASUS ROG: Ai.Patience, Mill.ForGG, IvD.Apocalypse

Foreigners: torturing us with the illusion of hope since 2013

Finally, we have to talk about at least a couple of the foreigners. After all, they do make up more than half of the tournament's roster, and we'll certainly enjoy cheering for them in the Ro32.

Empire|Happy is considered Europe's best Terran by nearly everyone, but the Russian has the strangest trouble with getting past the Ro8, even in tournaments with relatively weak competition. He'll look to get by that barrier in his first tournament of 2014. Having defeated the likes of San and MC in best of five series at previous ASUS ROG tournaments, Happy is a player that even the Koreans will have to look out for.

Another player with an affinity for ASUS ROG and Assembly tournaments is none other than the god Finnish Protoss Ence.elfi. elfi is rarely considered a championship contender, but is infamous for his ability to score inexplicable upsets over top class players. With a 3-2 win over jjakji in hand from the previous ASUS ROG tournament, elfi will look to continue his string of unlikely victories.

Oh yeah, there's also this guy. So apparently NaNiwa had to cancel.


Well, we hope you enjoy the tournament. If a player we didn't mention ends up winning this tournament then we will compensate the player and his fans in esports dollars.

Writers: DarkLordOlli, Waxangel.
Photos: 7mk
Editor: Waxangel.