by tree.hugger

MǂBabyKnight vs Vega.Revolver

Today's opening match is one of the most one-sided of the whole opening round. On one side is BabyKnight, who in 2013 was consistently impressive and earned a reputation as one of the strongest protoss players in Europe. On the other side, we have Revolver, who boasts a two line Liquipedia entry and was (along with StrinterN who lost 0-3 to TLO) the lowest seeded of all the challengers. The Russian Zerg barely made it into WCS by winning the last spot in the last qualifier, one that wasn't even supposed to exist until forfeitures caused spots to open up. He lost 1-2 to stakimaN (who lost 0-3 to NaNiwa) and 0-2 to hOpe. He beat two unknown Russian Protosses 2-1 to qualify. That's a paltry resume, and not one that inspires any confidence in Revolver's abilities at all.

The only thing that might give anyone pause is knowing that PvZ has long been BK's Achilles heel. He's not a destroyer in this match-up, and would probably have preferred a match-up against a similarly weak Terran. But jokes on him, weak European Terrans don't really qualify for WCS. So he'll have to make do with this, and in the end I doubt he'll mind too much.

Prediction: BabyKnight 3-0


Empire|Kas vs Fnatic.Zanster

If there was an award for the longest unbroken span of time in which a player has remained relevant, Kas would be one of the prime candidates. He has been around forever. He has always been good; one of those players who you don't really want to be facing at any point in time. But at this point in his career, you have to question whether he will ever be great. We've written a lot about the Grubby line in the past, but perhaps we also ought to draw the "Kas line". On one side sit players who will, at some point in their career, achieve a moment of greatness. On the other lie players who are good, and will remain that way forever until they don't. Kas will never die, but he seems destined to slowly fade away.

He might fade a bit faster in this WCS cycle. Zanster is one of a large group of players who Fnatic somehow picked up when nobody was looking, and he's currently the best and most promising of them. At ASUS ROG Winter 2014, Zanster made big waves early by beating Liquid`HerO 3-1. Sure he lost 0-3 in the final match and failed to advance, but that first win is an impressive statement nonetheless. Zanster's Helsinki heroics were also in his worst match-up, which is fairly impressive. He is historically a much stronger ZvT and ZvZ player. When he last faced Kas in the O'Gaming Nation Wars, he defeated him.

This ought to be a close close series. But my bias is always for the up and comers over the creaky old-timers. Slight edge to Zanster.

Prediction: Zanster 3-2


yoe.San vs Ence.Elfi

Elfi is the boogeyman of SC2. He hides under the bed. He lurks in the closet. He sneaks around your house at night and messes with your stuff. Then he watches cat videos. Elfi is the eternal mystery of SC2. How someone who plays with the same APM needed for Solitare can be so good makes no sense. We tell ourselves that SC2 isn't just a strategically taxing game, it's a physically taxing one too. Zergs practice their creep spreading. Terrans practice their stutter step micro. Protoss practice their forcefields. But who cares? It's all irrelevant. Elfi just beats you somehow.

Against Elfi in this match is a Protoss who just destroyed the competition at ASUS ROG Winter. In the bracket stage, against the very respectable Protosses mYi.StarDust and mouz.Dear, San did not drop a game. This is a player on top of his game right now. He is destroying top players left and right and has just come off his first ever major championship.

So naturally, he's going to lose to Elfi.

Oh, and this might be the first time I've ever picked Elfi to win, so if he loses, I'm taking credit for jinxing him at last. Screw you, Wax.

Prediction: Elfi 3-2


AT.uThermal vs Liquid`Snute

Poor uThermal. Your strong group stage performance at the end of 2013 ensures that you'll remain in WCS Challenger League for 2014. Not only that, you'll be a seed! Your opponent is going to be one of the randoms who manages to squeak through. And even if it's someone well known, you're still dodging almost all the big names. "Almost" being the key word there. In drawing Snute, uThermal probably does not have much of a chance. It only takes a glance at his recent TvZ record to know he's in for some trouble, as Snute is a step above all of the players he has been losing to. If uThermal is to advance here, he will need to have upped his game considerably over the weeks he had to prepare for this one match.

Meanwhile Snute has been strong of late. His performance was crucial to Norway's O'Gaming Nation Wars victory, trading blows with players like HeRoMaRinE and Happy in the process. He lost 0 - 3 to MǂForGG at ASUS ROG, but it was a somewhat forgivable defeat considering the fact that ForGG was playing the best he had in years. uThermal is not forGG, and Snute should be able to beat him comfortably.

Prediction: Snute 3-0