A few weeks into the first WCS season of 2014, it's become very apparent that there's no upset that can't happen. In Group E of WCS America, EG.HuK and iG.XiGua both scored unexpected victories over Liquid`HerO to advance at the expense of the recent IEM Cologne champion.
HuK earned the first place spot in the group with wins over XiGua and HerO. His first match against XiGua was what some might call 'typical' HuK, using a two base all-in to claim victory. However, HuK showed a variety of solid play afterward. After finishing XiGua off by defeating his muta play in game two, HuK then took care of business against HerO by taking one win in a colossus war, and closing out the series with a timing attack to punish HerO's failed DT tech.
After losing his first series to HuK, XiGua rebounded back by fending off ZoO.Top's all-ins to earn a place in the final series of the night against HerO. Though XiGua lost the first game to HerO's zealot-archon timing, he tied up the series in game two by crushing HerO's attempt to go sky-toss with an incisive hydra-ling attack. XiGua then closed out the series by using hydras and corruptors crush an ill-advised move out by HerO, and counter attacking until HerO was forced to submit.
Players Qualified for Ro16: Protoss (4): Alicia, Oz, Arthur, HuK Terran (2): Heart, Bomber Zerg (4): TooDming, HyuN, Revival, Xigua
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'sCranK 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 shroudedaLivein 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
On March 06 2014 01:38 Paljas wrote: Taeja and Crank imo. unless Taeja doesnt want to win
Pretty much this.
That and CranK has pretty good chance considering he will of had a month of specialised practice with INnoVation, Ryung, MMA and Heart and those are some pretty good T practice partners.
- TaeJa is at ~ 40.23 % chances for top 16 points of 2014 ~ 67.59 % of the time TaeJa wins and their chances go up to ~ 49.14 %. ~ 32.41 % of the time TaeJa loses and their chances go down to ~ 21.65 %. ------------------------------------------------- - aLive is at ~ 11.67 % chances for top 16 points of 2014 ~ 52.48 % of the time aLive wins and their chances go up to ~ 17.39 %. ~ 47.52 % of the time aLive loses and their chances go down to ~ 5.35 %. ------------------------------------------------- - CranK is at ~ 6.35 % chances for top 16 points of 2014 ~ 37.62 % of the time CranK wins and their chances go up to ~ 11.76 %. ~ 62.38 % of the time CranK loses and their chances go down to ~ 3.09 %. ------------------------------------------------- - MajOr is at ~ 9.03 % chances for top 16 points of 2014 ~ 42.31 % of the time MajOr wins and their chances go up to ~ 16.20 %. ~ 57.69 % of the time MajOr loses and their chances go down to ~ 3.78 %.
Hoping for aLive to go through, I don´t care that much about the second player, all of them would probably be deserving, so I´fine with anyone of those.
On March 06 2014 02:00 Darkhorse wrote: Yesterday I was a nervous wreck because of HerO but now I get to have fun rooting for aLive! HAN LEE SEOK!!!!!!!
So basically Olli pls, although I like that the article's picture is of aLive.
On March 06 2014 01:47 Yorkie wrote: C'mon Taeja/aLive! And anyone who says aLive has no personality simply refuses to acknowledge anything he's done since 2012
Even Koreans and his ex-EG teammates refer to him as the invisible Terran. He's ridiculously good at Starcraft and will most likely get out of this group, but that doesn't give him personality
On March 06 2014 01:47 Yorkie wrote: C'mon Taeja/aLive! And anyone who says aLive has no personality simply refuses to acknowledge anything he's done since 2012
Even Koreans and his ex-EG teammates refer to him as the invisible Terran. He's ridiculously good at Starcraft and will most likely get out of this group, but that doesn't give him personality
They don't call him that because he has no personality, they call him that because he is so good with so few fans. If you watch any of his more recent interviews or follow him on twitter you'll see he's actually a pretty funny guy
Juan needs to hope for some strong lag in order to advance - he can beat major Koreans in TvT, but I wouldn't exactly call him consistent.
Alive has been the most deeply hidden of the trio since his release - Oz and Revival stream once in a while, but Alive is a Stalker - he appears in the shadows. If his form is like that of his colleagues, he'll be able to handle things pretty well for himself, but he still hasn't had a serious tournament showing since the WCS Season 2 Finals.
The first thing Crank said upon discovering his group is "Fuck life. U kidding right. 3 Terrans." A few minutes later he said NASL threw him "into the hell". His practice partners are clearly not doing enough for his PvT.
Taeja has only been in 2 tournaments so far this year - ASUS ROG and "ToD's little tournament", as everyone else in ESL called it. He's been facing pretty much every big name one could hope for: MC, Bomber, MMA, and Innovation all fell to him in the Warer.com Invitational, and he was knocked out of ASUS ROG by Stardust and Dear - clightly more intimidating Protosses than CranK. The only weakness I can see from him is that his first match is against Major, who did take a Bo3 off him in WCS America last season.
It looks like it should be pretty straightforward for Taeja and Alive, but Alive's form is a MASSIVE question mark. The odds are against the Protoss this time around, certainly, but we COULD get Major coming through this group.
I think Taejas TvT is his worst. He is extremely predictable in his banshee opening, and major knocked him out last wcs. i feel like this is the worst group he could have hoped for
crank's not intimidating but let me put it this way he tailored builds especially for innovation at a dream hack and beat him 2-0 taeja's p v t may be better then innos put i doubt the other twos are, he's also had months to prepare the builds he's going to use crank seems very scary to me in this group and the only one i think could upset taeja (naturally after saying this crank will drop out 0-4 and what modicum of credibility i have will be shot)
MAJOOOOOOOOOOR, make us pride and destroy that Korean asses, we will be rooting for you... Mexican fighting, if your score is 2-0 you'll be my next Terran inspiration... Will be rooting for Mr. Taeja too...
EPT
EG.HuK and 
iG.XiGua both scored unexpected victories over ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2014/America_1/ro32groupe.png)
Protoss (4): Alicia, Oz, Arthur, HuK
Terran (2): Heart, Bomber
Zerg (4): TooDming, HyuN, Revival, Xigua
TaeJa, 
. Gogo!
