TaeJa, CranK, aLive, MajOr

by DarkLordOlli

It's time for the group of death! According to you, the TeamLiquid readers, this group is tied as the most difficult group in WCS America. And how could it not be? You have three Korean players alongside MajOr, whose former Jin Air teammates will tell you is basically an honorary Korean.

Liquid`TaeJa is the favorite to win the group, which is a bad sign considering what has happened to other favorites in WCS Europe and America so far. While Taeja's TvZ and TvP have looked very shaky in recent tournaments like ASUS ROG Winter, his TvT has always been rock solid. His decision-making and positioning in the match-up are stellar, and his ability to play and execute every style from pure mech to pure bio especially shines through in long series. All around, he has the complete TvT package and is among the best in the world at the Terran mirror. MajOr, a foreign Terran, is one of the better first round match-ups TaeJa could have hoped for.

Regardless of whether or not MajOr advances today, he's got plenty of reason to feel positive at the moment. After his extended stay in Korea was ended by Team 8/Jin Air sacking players due to financial cuts, MajOr has gotten solid results in a variety of international tournaments. The highlight of his year so far was his 2-1 victory over Code S player Bbyong at IEM Sao Paulo, which contributed to knocking the CJ Entus player out of the tournament. MajOr then went on a hot run in the MLG Ender's Game Invitational, beating Scarlett and Kane beforegetting eliminated by runner-up State.

With three Koreans in his group, MajOr will have to play his absolute best to advance. Fans of foreigners will hope that MajOr's strong TvT showing against Bbyong was not a fluke, and that he will star in the biggest WCS Ro32 upset this season.

It's hard to predict how Axiom's CranK will do in this group, as he's had more Starbow games streamed than regular SC2 games in 2014. The biggest match we've seen him in was his closely contested 3-2 over PiG to advance to Premier League, but PvZ won't factor into this group. CranK has been vocal about confidence issues in the past, and with a losing record this year you have to ask yourself if he can keep himself calm and collected in this group.

Crank does have a solid advantage in only having to prepare for Terran opponents, and he's had over a month's advance notice ahead of this group. If Crank comes in with a month of solid PvT training under his belt, then he has as good a chance as anyone to advance.

Crank will face the always shrouded aLive in his first match, with the invisible Terran looking even more camouflaged since his departure from Evil Geniuses. Both of his ex-EG teammates in Revival and Oz have made it through the Ro16 against strong opponents, and that may even have helped Revival find a new team in CMStorm. If there's any bigger motivation to make it out of this group, then we don't know what it is.

aLive may not be the most marketable personality out there but he's a seasoned veteran whose was very consistent in 2013. Even though we've seen barely seen him play in 2014, it's reasonable to expect another quiet, strong performance from him in the Ro32.

Predictions

Taeja > Major
Crank < aLive
Taeja > aLive
Major > Crank
Major > aLive

Taeja and MajOr advance.