What a relief! No Protoss is advancing from today's group! After Alicia and Oz became the first two players to earn Ro16 spots last night, tonight's group commences with just Zergs and Terrans.
Seeded into this group with a top eight finish last season, Axiom's Heart will try to remind everyone that his lack of notoriety doesn't mean he's lacking in skill. Few paid Heart any heed in the previous season of WCS America, but he showed that he was a force to be reckoned with by reaching the top eight.
Heart probably breathed a sigh of relief when he saw there were no Protosses in the group. TvP was never his best match-up (though it was his most famous one due to his liberal use of cheese), and Terrans in general have been having an especially hard time against Protoss as of late. In contrast, his TvZ is looking very strong as he has not dropped a series since November while taking on players like Rogue, Check, Suppy and KassiA.
Heart will like his chances against his first opponent in ZoO.TooDming, but like all Chinese players he's not one to be underestimated. While players Jim, MacSed and Xigua have had their styles exposed to some degree, Toodming has the advantage of still being mostly shrouded. Most people would have to dig deep into their memories to remember more than a couple of his games. He took out Drunkenboi 3-1 to make it into Premier League, but Heart will definitely be a tougher challenge.
The odds are against TooDming, but don't count him out. His Zenith of Origin teammate Top already scored one of the biggest upsets of the tournament by eliminating viOLet in the Challenger league, and Chinese players have generally been the biggest threat to Koreans in WCS America. We might see another unexpected result.
The other initial match-up will be very interesting for anyone who has been following MLG's Ender's Game Tournament. Did you think Acer.Scarlett would stroll to victory in an NA only tournament? Nope, it was ROOT'sMaSa who broke through and took the championship.
Amusingly enough, MaSa might be the only Terran who wouldn't have minded the inclusion of a Protoss opponent or two, as he won the Ender's Game Tournament on the back of a 10-4 TvP record over players like State and Nony. Instead, MaSa has drawn the reigning best foreigner Zerg in Acer.Scarlett, who surprisingly dropped out in the group stages of the aforementioned tournament. Though MaSa didn't have to play against Scarlett (she was eliminated by buddies MajOr and Kane), he did show strong TvZ against Kane (3-1 win in semis).
Will that be enough to topple Scarlett? As strong as MaSa's break out performance was, there no way we can pick against the best foreigner Zerg. It's a rare instance to be able to call a North American player the favorite to win a group but in Scarlett simply performed levels above her NA peers in 2013. Even she was eliminated in the Ender's Game Tournament, one bad tournament result could easily just be a blip. Also, Kane and MajOr have been playing some of the best SC2 of their careers, and losing to them isn't the worst thing in the world. We've seen time and time again that Scarlett is capable of taking games and series off even top level Koreans and ZvT has traditionally been the matchup where it happened most often. Barring a bizarre, NaNiwa-esque performance, Scarlett should make it through this group.
Predictions!
Heart > Toodming MaSa < Scarlett Heart < Scarlett Toodming < MaSa Heart > MaSa
I think Masa and Scarlett will advance. Scarlett is kinda a for sure if you ask me. Masa a little bit of a wild card but winning that Enders game MLG tournament is pretty impressive. Heart is probably a smart pick but, I am rooting for root. And you know Root gaming will do everything they can to support Masa and make sure he is ready.
On February 20 2014 06:27 HeeroFX wrote: I think Masa and Scarlett will advance. Scarlett is kinda a for sure if you ask me. Masa a little bit of a wild card but winning that Enders game MLG tournament is pretty impressive. Heart is probably a smart pick but, I am rooting for root. And you know Root gaming will do everything they can to support Masa and make sure he is ready.
You must have missed the recent tournament where, in my opinion lesser players, Major and Kane, took out Scarlett. I mean Heart is better than Major and Toodming is better than Kane. My point is, Scarlett is not a "for sure" by any stretch. Maybe last year. This is 2014. Let's see what she can do.
On February 20 2014 06:27 HeeroFX wrote: I think Masa and Scarlett will advance. Scarlett is kinda a for sure if you ask me. Masa a little bit of a wild card but winning that Enders game MLG tournament is pretty impressive. Heart is probably a smart pick but, I am rooting for root. And you know Root gaming will do everything they can to support Masa and make sure he is ready.
You must have missed the recent tournament where, in my opinion lesser players, Major and Kane, took out Scarlett. I mean Heart is better than Major and Toodming is better than Kane. My point is, Scarlett is not a "for sure" by any stretch. Maybe last year. This is 2014. Let's see what she can do.
Ehhhhhh Enders Game wasn't exactly a huge tournament (especially not money wise), I think it'd be stretch to use those results as a be all end all of scarlet's shape... if she was Korean we'd be speculating that she probably hid builds knowing that WCS was coming up.
I have no reason to believe that Scarlet is out of shape, if anything it looked like she wasn't really trying in Enders Game, I'd be shocked if she dropped out of this group.
This group is going to be a lot closer than I originally thought with masa playing well in the MLG tournament thing. hoping for Scarlett and Heart but really wouldn't mind Scarlett + anyone
I don't think that Toodming can get out of this group. At least not based on his performance in Challenger.
Also, I really hope Scarlett can make it out, but I'm pretty worried that she might not. After a long period of being the #1 foreigner, she is starting to show cracks in her consistency.
I'd love to see Scarlett then Masa advance, but I bet it will be Heart then Scarlett.
Will be funny if Scarlett somehow doesn't advance (which i prefer not to see). But people will start to hype new "foreign hopes", so Nani and Scarlett will be free from it :D
My prediction is Scarlett & TooDming going through to next round, I know TooDming might not be at his prime, but I think he can do it and I will be cheering for him, and no I'm not cheering on them both just because they are zerg since I play Terran myself.
If I remember correct Heart seems to be traditionally underperforming against Chinese players, but the lack of Terran practice partners could be a problem to Toodming, other than Scarlett I think it's everyone's group, root for my home town hero.
On February 20 2014 06:27 HeeroFX wrote: I think Masa and Scarlett will advance. Scarlett is kinda a for sure if you ask me. Masa a little bit of a wild card but winning that Enders game MLG tournament is pretty impressive. Heart is probably a smart pick but, I am rooting for root. And you know Root gaming will do everything they can to support Masa and make sure he is ready.
You must have missed the recent tournament where, in my opinion lesser players, Major and Kane, took out Scarlett. I mean Heart is better than Major and Toodming is better than Kane. My point is, Scarlett is not a "for sure" by any stretch. Maybe last year. This is 2014. Let's see what she can do.
Ehhhhhh Enders Game wasn't exactly a huge tournament (especially not money wise), I think it'd be stretch to use those results as a be all end all of scarlet's shape... if she was Korean we'd be speculating that she probably hid builds knowing that WCS was coming up.
I have no reason to believe that Scarlet is out of shape, if anything it looked like she wasn't really trying in Enders Game, I'd be shocked if she dropped out of this group.
I hate to say I told ya so...
I didn't want her to go down, but I'm not surprised at all.
Oooohhhhh - what has happened to our foreign hopes? Naniwa & now Scarlett out of WCS! We'll have to find someone else to cheer for though the Koreans still have a strong hold over most (if not all) of the tournaments. Will hope spring eternal?
On February 21 2014 01:53 OldLadyStarCraft wrote: Oooohhhhh - what has happened to our foreign hopes? Naniwa & now Scarlett out of WCS! We'll have to find someone else to cheer for though the Koreans still have a strong hold over most (if not all) of the tournaments. Will hope spring eternal?
EPT
Heart will try to remind everyone that his lack of notoriety doesn't mean he's lacking in skill. Few paid Heart any heed in the previous season of WCS America, but he showed that he was a force to be reckoned with by reaching the top eight. 
ZoO.TooDming, but like all Chinese players he's not one to be underestimated. While players Jim, MacSed and Xigua have had their styles exposed to some degree, Toodming has the advantage of still being mostly shrouded. Most people would have to dig deep into their memories to remember more than a couple of his games. He took out Drunkenboi 3-1 to make it into Premier League, but Heart will definitely be a tougher challenge.
