WCS Europe 2014
Premier League

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StarDust, BlinG, Happy, Bly

by Waxangel

While WCS America is recovering from the carnage of Group D, the Ro32 continues as usual across the ocean in WCS Europe.

The first match of the night will feature mYi.StarDust, the Korean Protoss residing in Switzerland, going up against d.BlinG, the hope from the United Kingdom.

StarDust, the Korean of the group, happens to be one of the most non-Korean progamers there is. He's not shy about his limited English vocabulary and powers his way through interviews like an Eastern European player. His ironic Twitter self-description of "cheesedust and s***dust" shows he a sense of humor worthy of any American hipster (alas, he has changed it something more mundane lately). The only thing he really has in common with his Korean countrymen is that he enjoys beating up foreigners for their money.

Woe is to BlinG who must face StarDust in his first match. Playing against a Korean player is always rough, and it only gets worse when you play them in their best match-up. StarDust boasts an absolutely insane 76% PvP winrate since December, and you might even be able to say that he's the best PvP player in the world alongside CJ's herO. It's a very unfortunate first match for BlinG who earned himself consecutive Premier League appearances after having a mostly uneventful 2013, but perhaps the Power of Protoss™ can lead him to victory against the other opponents in the group.

On the other side of the bracket, Empire|Happy and Acer.Bly will meet in a battle of Eastern European pros.

Happy's been one of the players we've been bandwagoning for a while now. He has great multi-tasking when playing bio, is one of the most annoying turtlers in the world when playing mech, and is an all-around excellent player. He's also had a reasonable amount of success against Korean players, though his most famous victories (wins against San and MC at ASUS ROG Summer 2013) seem to be a distant memory by now. Happy suffers from rather peculiar round-of-eight block, in live tournaments, but he's always looked in his element in the online Ro32 phases of WCS.

Though Happy would probably feel comfortable in a macro game against any player, he faces a particularly prickly opponent in Bly. The Ukrainian Zerg's choice of strategies is so unorthodox and outlandish that "getting Bly'd" is now an official part of the European progamer vocabulary. With even players like Dear on his victims list, Bly poses a dangerous threat to any opponent who isn't prepared.

Overall thoughts and predictions

Contrary to expectations at the beginning of the year, Korean pros have been anything but safe picks to reach the Ro16. We're halfway through the Ro32 in WCS America and Europe, and we've already seen ForGG and Jaedong get eliminated. However, we believe this alarming trend should correct itself soon enough, and the stream of foreigner tears will continue to flow uninterrupted.

StarDust > BlinG
Happy > Bly
StarDust > Happy
Bly > Bling
Happy > Bly

Stardust and Happy advance.

Qualified for Ro16:

Protoss (3): MC, BabyKnight, San
Terran (3): Bunny, jjakji, Dayshi
Zerg (2): Nerchio, VortiX