WCS Europe continued to be an upset factory asd.BlinG manufactured wins over both mYi.StarDust and Empire|Happy to advance to the Ro16. For the British Protoss, it was a solid start to the 2014 WCS campaign after having a largely uneventful 2013 where he managed just one Ro32 appearance.
BlinG employed some devious mind games against StarDust to take a 2-1 victory in his first series of the night, opening hidden Dark Shrine twice before successfully planting a fast expand in the deciding set. Against Happy in the winner's match, BlinG's used his deathball to bully his opponent and progress to the Ro16 in a most Protoss-esque way.
With a three race trio of Stardust, Happy, and Acer.Bly vying for second place, the Korean Protoss was able emerge victorious from the scrap. Though he suffered an early defeat to a signature Bly all-in in the loser's match, StarDust rallied back to take the series 2-1. StarDust then fought Happy in a couple of close macro games for the final Ro16 spot, winning 2-0 to escape the group.
Group E was also notable for what happened outside of the games. Upon taking second place in the group, StarDust sent out a jab to Protoss haters on Twitter, pointing to his refusal to use the controversial blink all-in strategy. On the other hand, BlinG's used his post-match spotlight to foment harmony rather than conflict, bringing in his mother for a post-match inteivew with a sweetness uncharacteristic of StarCraft.
WCS America suffered its group of tears on Wednesday which saw the beloved Jaedong go down in flames. Now it's Europe's turn to face the pain as the immensely popular TLO and Grubby have been put into the same group. They are competing against Genius and Kas for spots in the Ro16, leading us to forecast a shower of "I don't have any reason to watch this tournament anymore" complaints once the group is over.
The first match of the night will have LoveYourGirlFriend.Genius go up against Empire.Kas in what could be an upset to start the evening. Typically, European Terrans struggle against Protosses, and even more so against Korean Protosses. However, LoveYourGirlFriend.Genius is fighting with the weight of KR-EU cross-server lag bearing down on him. Lag didn't stop him from getting through the Ro32 last season, but San's cross-server loss to Dayshi in Tuesday's Group D is a warning that must be heeded.
Conflating the uncertainty from the lag factor is the fact that LoveYourGirlFriend.Genius hasn't actually played an official recorded tournament game in 2014. With almost every Protoss pro playing better than ever, could we simply assume that LoveYourGirlFriend.Genius has also improved?
But we could just as easily assume that he comes into the match after having spent a little too much relaxing during the off season. If that's the case, LoveYourGirlFriend.Genius is in for quite a bite of trouble. Despite being one of the more vocal Protoss detractors in the European scene, Empire|Kas's record against Protoss during their recent period of dominance (arbitrarily picking Dec 1 as the start) is perfectly fine. His anti-toss rhetoric is actually amusingly similar to Dayshi's, right before Dayshi went on to defeat San in WCS Europe. Have some confidence in yourself, man!
The other initial match of the group is a ZvP, but you could almost call it a mirror-match. Liquid`TLO and Grubby are eerily similar players. Both are hugely popular due to their nice guy personas, both are seen as exemplars of professionalism (or whatever passes as professionalism in this industry), and both have made admirable, steady improvement over the years. Starting as players without the results to match their fan support, they've become well established in the European tournament scene. Another similarity they share is that they've both had had semi-breakout moments where they reached the top four of major tournaments. Unfortunately, neither one has been able to sustain that level of play.
TLO has the momentum right now, coming in off a deep tournament run at IEM Sao Paulo where he finished in the top four after taking out Bomber 3-2 in the quarterfinals. Grubby has his own sort of momentum as well. He's had a quiet 2014, skipping a couple of big European tournaments that he very likely could have gotten spots in if he wanted. However, he's been undefeated in online WCS events in the new year, with a 7-0 series record through the qualifiers and and Challenger.
Overall thoughts and predictions
There's one Korean player in each of the WCS EU Ro32 groups, and they've typically been the favorites to take first place. However, with LoveYourGirlFriend.Genius coming in with a two month void of tournament games and facing KR-EU lag, it's hard to say who the strongest player is in this group. In this last group before the upcoming balance patch, we'll go with our gut and take the two Protosses to advance.
LoveYourGirlfriend.Genius > Kas Grubby > TLO Grubby > LoveYourGirlfriend.Genius TLO > Kas LoveYourGirlfriend.Genius > TLO
- Kas is at ~ 2.45 % chances for top 16 points of 2014 ~ 40.14 % of the time Kas wins and their chances go up to ~ 4.58 %. ~ 59.86 % of the time Kas loses and their chances go down to ~ 1.02 %. ------------------------------------------------- - Genius is at ~ 11.24 % chances for top 16 points of 2014 ~ 62.57 % of the time Genius wins and their chances go up to ~ 15.13 %. ~ 37.43 % of the time Genius loses and their chances go down to ~ 4.74 %. ------------------------------------------------- - TLO is at ~ 9.93 % chances for top 16 points of 2014 ~ 48.88 % of the time TLO wins and their chances go up to ~ 16.39 %. ~ 51.12 % of the time TLO loses and their chances go down to ~ 3.75 %. ------------------------------------------------- - Grubby is at ~ 2.98 % chances for top 16 points of 2014 ~ 48.41 % of the time Grubby wins and their chances go up to ~ 4.95 %. ~ 51.59 % of the time Grubby loses and their chances go down to ~ 1.13 %.
Recap still says "BlinG and San move to the Ro16" D: Anyway, pretty interested to see how Genius is doing after two months. Hopefully he'll bring some Protoss builds worthy of the likes of sOs and Has!
On March 01 2014 12:04 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Starting as players without the results to match their fan support,
Didn't TLO start as one of the big names of the Wings of Liberty beta? At the very least I remember him playing a high-profile GSL series against Hyperdub.
Damn this group... I don't want to see any of these players eliminated . On the other hand, at least I have the guarantee of two of them advancing.
i love all four of these players. i will be sad no matter what, and i will also be happy as long as Grubby makes it through. also there's a dude that works at the asian restaurant across the street from me who looks like Genius. so gogo Genius, you make really good sushi!
For the recap, it says StarDust played Happy in three close macro games, but on the side it says StarDust took the series 2-0?
Hoping for Grubby and TLO to advance, in both heart and liquibet, but I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of them don't make it out. Still, hope stays alive, Grubby and TLO hwaiting!!
Kas is gonna win this.. EZ.. can't think of why people are so much underestimating him.. He's a monster, can take out both Grubby and TLO IMO any day
The only question I have is - is it gonna be Genius 1st or Kas 1st.. Think it will be Genius though
Like - true that Kas's strongest matchup is TvT iirc and there aren't other Terrans in this group, - still - if he doesn't mess up bad - he's still gonna roll over Grubby and TLO with his macro
There is no such "military intervention" here, and Kas gonna win this just because hes good. That's quite ironic that people making such previews "bury" him like every time, and he's still manages to screw their previews for the last two years
Don't know why people tend to underestimate Kas, i think if he overcomes his TvP hate and dont mess anything up, he can take first place through his mechanices.
On March 01 2014 12:21 DarthNeBuL wrote: Grubby will take first place? Are you kidding me? He won't get out of this group, that's what i say. Genius's gonna take first place and TLO second.
On March 01 2014 12:21 DarthNeBuL wrote: Grubby will take first place? Are you kidding me? He won't get out of this group, that's what i say. Genius's gonna take first place and TLO second.
EPT
d.BlinG manufactured wins over both 
Empire|Happy to advance to the Ro16. For the British Protoss, it was a solid start to the 2014 WCS campaign after having a largely uneventful 2013 where he managed just one Ro32 appearance.![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2014/Europe_1/ro32grouperesult.png)
Acer.Bly vying for second place, the Korean Protoss was able emerge victorious from the scrap. Though he suffered an early defeat to a signature Bly all-in in the loser's match, StarDust rallied back to take the series 2-1. StarDust then fought Happy in a couple of close macro games for the final Ro16 spot, winning 2-0 to escape the group.
Protoss (5): MC, BabyKnight, San, BlinG, StarDust
Terran (3): Bunny, jjakji, Dayshi
Zerg (2): Nerchio, VortiX
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/g6SRd.jpg)
. On the other hand, at least I have the guarantee of two of them advancing.
and TLO/Genius to advance!
