WCS Europe 2014
Premier League

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VortiX, Lilbow, ForGG, BabyKnight

by Waxangel

With NaNiwa and Scarlett dropping out in the early going, it's time to look for some new foreigner heroes. Bunny and Nerchio are through to the WCS Europe Ro16 so far, and we'll have to wait and see which Europeans will be able to join them.

Many will be looking to mouz.VortiX to pick up the banner. VortiX has been one of the best foreign players since mid-2012, placing high in plenty of tournaments. He's 10th place in prize money earned among international players, just behind Scarlett and Snute. Though it's a bit of a shame that his quiet and reserved demeanor led to him getting overlooked at times, we can't argue if a guy wants to let his play do the talking.

VortiX will get a relatively easy first match to buoy his prospects of advancement, facing first time WCS player
XMG.Lilbow. Lilbow isn't just a newcomer to WCS – this tournament will actually be his first time competing in a 'major' tournament. The fact that XMG decided to pick him up is a testament to his talent, and his tournament record has been surprisingly good so far (if he went on at this pace for four more months, then he could even be the 2014 version of Dayshi!). However, since it's so exceedingly rare to see a newcomer make an immediate impact in the foreign scene, we just can't be optimistic about Lilbow's chances.

On the other side of the bracket we have an unfortunate team-kill match between Mill.ForGG and Mill.BabyKnight. We already mentioned ForGG briefly in the preview for Group B, pointing to him as a cautionary tale about Koreans who have a sizzling first few months overseas before eventually flaring out.

Though he's lost the "best player in Europe" aura, ForGG is still a very strong player. He's also a frustrating enigma, playing on par with the very best Korean players in one tournament, only to flop out of another tournament a week later. We mean that literally: he was magnificent at ASUS ROG Winter where he defeated Jaedong and San, and almost beat Dear, but was uninspiring two weeks later in a Ro16 elimination at IEM Cologne.

Teammate BabyKnight will be hoping it's the off-form, raging at Protoss ForGG that shows up to this match. BabyKnight is a good player in his own right, more than capable of winning series against Korean pros. But if it's the ForGG from ASUS ROG Winter who shows up, then BabyKnight should forget about winning the match and make second place his goal in the group.

Predictions: ForGG's form will dictate how this group goes. It's likely he'll go through in first place, but elimination at the hands of BabyKnight and VortiX is a small but real possibility.

VortiX > Lilbow
BabyKnight > ForGG
VortiX > BabyKnigt
ForGG > Lilbow
ForGG > BabyKnight

VortiX and ForGG advance.

WCS Europe Premier League Season 1 Player List

Protoss (13): MC, Genius, Stardust, NaNiwa, Grubby, BlinG, Lilbow, Welmu, ShoWTimE, HasuObs, San, BabyKnight, NightEnD
Terran (8): MMA, Mvp, Happy, Bunny, Dayshi, Kas, ForGG, jjakji
Zerg (11): VortiX, Nerchio, TargA, FireCake, Starbuck, Slivko, TLO, Bly, LiveZerg, Snute, Miniraser