Countdown:

Snute vs. MMA

by Trasko

This is a clash of two excellent players who have fought many times before. One could say that revenge is one of Liquid`Snute's motivations in this battle, while Acer.MMA seeks to cement his legacy as one the game's greats as he heads into the twilight years of his career.

Snute has always showed great potential throughout his professional StarCraft 2 career and has worked hard to be where he is today. Looking at the Aligulac.com charts, he comes in at third place on the ‘non-Korean’ list, only under the retired Protoss player Naniwa and the Spanish Zerg player VortiX. On the whole, 2014 has been a sensational year for Snute. His region switch to WCS Europe has gone swimmingly, and he has already proved his prowess by making it to the quarterfinals in his very first season. He's taken out formidable opponents along the way, such as HasuObs, jjakji, and Dayshi. He's done very well outside WCS as well, showing off excellent ZvZ skills to make championship runs at SeatStory Cup and two Norwegian LANs.

However, a best-of-five against MMA poses a fiercer challenge than any Snute has faced so far. Snute's record against Terran in the last six weeks is 23-23, so there is no doubt he has been practicing the TvZ matchup willingly or not. Whilst a 23-23 record may not sound too impressive, it's understandable when you see many of the losses have come against strong Korean Terrans. Unfortunately for Snute, a strong Korean Terran is exactly what he is up against in the Ro8. A victory here in the quarterfinals would be a huge accomplishment and step forward for the Norwegian Zerg player, especially considering his head to head record against MMA. Even outside a loss at the recent Dustin Expo March Madness exhibition against Team Acer, Snute has been defeated by MMA in many matches in the past.

In terms of gameplay, Snute has shown that he is more than capable of going into a long macro-game with MMA, dealing effectively with multi-pronged drops and relentless harassment. However, MMA is almost always able to get the better of Snute in the end. He stops creep spread, refuses to stop harassing until he finds a weakness, and takes advantageous engagements that eventually lead to Snute's downfall. However, Snute's victories over jjakji in the Ro16 suggest that if Snute can safely drone up and seize the initiative with mutalisk harassment, then even the best Korean Terrans can be powerless to stop him. Of course, MMA will not allow Snute to play so comfortably, and the question for Snute is whether or not he will be able find a way to play his game.

Snute can be a little encouraged by the fact that MMA did not reach the quarterfinals unchallenged. In fact, in both of the group stages MMA made it out in second place after falling to both Welmu in the Ro32 and VortiX in the Ro16. Overall, his map score is a mediocre 9-7 this season. Still, he is the defending WCS Europe champion, and will feel a strong obligation to defend his throne. MMA is said to have put high expectations upon himself in an interview with Korean website Inven, declaring 2014 as something of a make-or-break year in his career. Thus, one can only expect him to have put in many hours of training for this coming match. "Life is like a lemon; sour at times but gives you the right boost when you need it" said the Medivac and that is probably how MMA is going to continue playing this TvZ series. With phenomenal unit control and a repertoire of different builds he will come into this more than prepared.

Prediction: As long as MMA can keep playing that constantly moving, harassing, unrelenting style that he plays so well, then he should be favored to win the series. However, Snute is not a player to write off. He is among the foreigners who is capable of fighting back and creating an upset. If Snute can get his own harassment going and takes smart defensive engagements, then he has a shot at taking the series.

MMA 3 - 2 Snute

San vs. Welmu

by Waxangel and Zeweig

All the players who have reached the WCS Europe quarterfinals are known around the world as fierce competitors, and NewRoSoft's Welmu is no exception. Though he has no big tournament win to his name, the Finnish Protoss has always been respected by his European peers. In 2014, Welmu's renown even seems to be going international, with Korean Protoss PartinG joining the many players who have shown appreciation for Welmu's play.

Welmu has made a solid, but not untroubled run through WCS Europe to reach this point. In the Ro32 he defeated StarBuck and MMA, showing a great sense for hitting timing attacks, as well as good defense against harassment and solid late-game army control. However, there were a few troubling moments for Welmu in the Ro32, especially in terms of maintaining leads. Against StarBuck, he allowed the Slovenian Zerg to come back with a swarm of locusts. Against MMA, Welmu's indecision between offense and defense almost allowed MMA to reverse a lost game with a multitude of drops all over the Protoss bases.

In the round of 16, Welmu hit a Danish brick wall named BabyKnight to start, losing his first series 0-2. He went on to face TLO, where he went down to 0-1 after a very sneaky hidden spire play by the German. So close to elimination, Welmu unleashed his inner Grubby by pulling back with two consecutive wins in very close games. Up against BabyKnight again with a quarterfinal spot on the line, Welmu proceeded to lose again in the first game. But yet again, Welmu was able to fight back from behind, forcing the GG's from BabyKnight to reach the Ro8.

yoe.San has been having a good year of his own, finally putting the pieces together and winning a championship at ASUS ROG Winter. Off the back of that win, he entered WCS Europe as one of the strong contenders to take the title, even brushing aside feared PvP expert elfi 3-0 in the Challenger League.

However, things did not go smoothly for San in the online Ro32. He lost 1-2 to Dayshi (who is not known for his love of TvP) in his very first game, and had to fall back on his strong PvZ to advance against TargA and Miniraser. However, things got easier for San once he reached the Ro16 where was able to play live and lag-free from the ESL studio. He prevailed on the strength of his Protoss versus Protoss, first beating BlinG 2-1 and then following it up by beating the Bosstoss MC 2-0. San's play against MC was so convincing that player-caster ToD even said "MC is playing like he is scared."

Prediction: As with any Protoss versus Protoss series, it is very hard to predict the outcome. Just look at the IEM Katowice finals: did anyone expect the games to play out in such a way? Still, it's very worthwhile to note that both Welmu and San have abstained from going for early game cheeses in their WCS games, so the series might offer several longer, macro games.

As much as Welmu has impressed both casters, players and viewers, he has shown a tendency to drop the first game of a series. As he says it himself "I need a kick to wake up and play well." That can work against some players, but considering San’s recent WCS record combined with wins against MC at IEM Katowice and Has in TeSL, Welmu can't afford to give away any games.

Welmu played well in late-game PvPs against BabyKnight, and that is where he will have his chance. On Frost or Alterzim Stronghold, he has a good shot of outplaying San. However, San has vetoed Alterzim Stronghold and Daedalus Point in every series, leaving Frost as a critical map for the Finnish player.

Considering how well San has played PvP against his recent opponents and how Welmu struggled against BabyKnight, San seems to be the favourite to take the series. But let’s not count Welmu out completely, because if he gets a decent start and doesn't need his "kick", he may surprise against the Korean. After all, when playing on his game, Welmu was even able defeat MC and First 3-0 in the ATC qualifiers.

San 3 - 1 Welmu

Countdown: or whenever EU ends.

Polt vs. Revival

by Peanuts

Ah finally. What would any season of WCS be without a team-kill to spice things up? CMStorm_Polt has been on fire these past few months, taking high placements at IEM tournaments. Revival, newly signed to CMStorm, is looking to jump-start a career that stagnated since 2013. Both players took home golds last year (though the scales are invariably tipped towards Polt’s trophy case). Both desperately want to claim WCS America Season 1 as their first championship of 2014.

Revival, as noted in our Ro16 preview, is a terribly inconsistent player. He’s always been good at online events, but has never been the most reliable player when playing live. Some decent performances in the GSTL were what got Revival noticed despite his lack of GSL success, even though he was never the most important player on TSL. 42 Playhem daily victories, 0 Code S appearances. That sums up Revival's early career pretty well.

2013 seemed to be Revival's breakout year. Signed by EG in late 2012 for Proleague purposes, Revival actually failed to deliver in that regard. Although he started out decently, he soon hit a wall and ended the season with an overall record of 8-16. However, he was able to take advantage of some of the opportunities afforded by being an EG member. Joining the WCS America region, he took second place in the inaugural season of WCS America. He then went on to win IEM Shanghai, claiming the first championship of his career.

However, nothing else came after. In the WCS Season 1 Finals, he was eliminated by Innovation and RoRo, a stark reminder of his inability to play at the Code S level. At his next IEM appearance in New York, he saw himself leaving in the first round after falling to San and HuK. Not long after, he found himself teamless as EG cut ties with most of the players they had hired as Proleague temps.

Even as he enters the WCS America Ro8 for the second time, Revival finds himself dogged by a few disappointing matches in the previous rounds. Barely scraping by in the Ro32, Revival needed a throw of epic proportions from ByuL to advance. Revival looked better in the Ro16, but still showed weakness against American Terran Neeb. Indecision was a constant element in Revival’s play, unable to decide whether he wanted to commit to defending at home or going on the offensive. On one particularly disastrous occasion, he attacked Neeb's forces only to immediately decide to disengage, escaping with his mutas while the slower banelings were left to be slaughtered. Going into the Ro8, Revival needs to show that he's a steadier player.

Polt comes into the Ro8 with an obvious advantage as the defending, two-time WCS America champion. He's come a long way from being the once "forgotten" GSL champion, and one might say he's had one of the most ideal careers of any SC2 progamer. He now looks to take his first championship of the year, to make it three WCS America titles in a row.

At present, it seems that the momentum Polt built up from last year has carried over intact. In both his Ro32 and Ro16 groups, Polt was able to easily take first place. In the Ro16 in particular, Polt seemed entirely at ease. When taking on Bomber, he calmly dismantled him a macro game and then with a strong timing attack. His brilliant play has been on display in non-WCS tournaments as well. Polt was able to take 2nd place at IEM Cologne and 4th at IEM Katowice, defeating some of the best players from Korea like Classic and Rain. Though it didn't pay all that much in cash, it allowed him to rack up 1900 WCS points to put him at 4th place in the overall standings.

That being said, the 5 Star General has had one quirk in his tournament play this year that might be relevant to this match. Four major tournaments in, he has only played two TvZ series in a live setting: One in Sao Paulo (vs Tunico) and one in the Ro16 of WCS (vs Xigua). For what it's worth, Polt manhandled his opponents both times. Even with a lack of recent TvZ's to go by, there's plenty of reason for to be confident in Polt. In 2013, all of his titles were won in TvZ finals. With victories over Jaedong, HyuN and ByuL under his belt, most other Zergs will pale in comparison.

Predictions: All of Polt’s podium finishes last year were taken over Zerg opponents. With a 15-5 record against his former TSL teammate, Polt seems heavily favored to win. However, in Revival’s single tournament win last year, he beat Polt 3-2 along the way in the Ro8. That being said, how does one pick against the two-time WCS America champ?

Polt 3 - 2 Revival

Oz vs. Arthur

by Trasko

The WCS America Round of 8 ends with a PvP between two of the biggest underdogs that remain.ESC ICYBOX Arthur and Planetkey Dynamics' newly acquired Oz have both shown great potential this season and it will be interesting to see who will march on and continue their quest to make a career defining run. Perhaps this will be Oz's opportunity to prove that he's not just some veteran who passed his prime long ago, and is still one of the top contenders for the WCS championship. Or maybe the mysterious Arthur will show us that he is capable of winning more than just online tournaments and cups, and that his run to the quarterfinals was no fluke.

Arthur constantly played as the underdog in WCS America, and he faces another opponent that few will expect him to overcome in Oz. Yet here he stands in the quarterfinals, ready to surprise again. Despite playing in plenty of smaller online cups, Arthur barely competes competes in major, streamed tournaments. That makes Arthur somewhat of a master of disguise, leaving behind few games for his opponents to research. The only notable PvP Arthur has played since February was versus the Taiwanese player Has, who he defeated in the Ro32 of WCS. Oz will be hard pressed to know what Arthur will pull out of his hat.

From Arthur's recent games across all match-ups, we might expect a plethora of cheesy builds along with aggressive early game attacks. Arthur's series against Has showed that he was more than willing to proxy stargate and to go for early gateway pressure. Though both Has and Arthur made some questionable moves in their series, Arthur still came out ahead and won rather convincingly. Arthur's PvP is statistically his best match-up over his career, recording a 62% win rate. However, most of those wins have come against lesser known European players he encountered in online cups. The real question now is how he will do against a seasoned player like Oz in a live setting.

Arthur is a man looking for that break-out moment, and he knows what it's like to come close and fail (he almost qualified for the NASL4 live finals back in late 2012). He knows the value of this opportunity and will be sure give it all he's got in this upcoming match.

Oz has actually had a much better career than most fans seem to remember, with several top four and top two finishes in prestigious tournaments. He finished top four in the previous season of WCS America, only falling to Polt, the eventual champion. Not only that, but he also clinched second place at IEM Shanghai in 2013. However, that was all quite some time ago, especially in the StarCraft 2 world where a player's fortunes can change completely in a month.

Our most recent Oz sighting prior to the WCS round of 16 was at the IEM World Championship, where he fell early on in the tournament playing a PvP against the eventual champion $O$. With his most recent PvP match being against the American Protoss player puCK, Oz's overall win rate percentage stands at 56%. In the games against puCK you could see that Oz preferred going for macro based builds and that he felt more comfortable with at least one expansion up. If Oz thinks he can get to the mid-game safely against Arthur, then he'll certainly try to play that style.

Predictions: Oz is a veteran of countless tournaments, including the most difficult ones in the world in Code S and Proleague. He has all the experience he needs in preparing for a specific opponent and a specific style. On the other hand, Arthur is still somewhat inexperienced in that environment (though it didn't stop him from sniping players like Bomber).

But then again it's PvP, the most volatile, random and unforgiving match up of them all, and it's very difficult to determine the outcome. A single small mistake may cost you the game. Given our players' history I will have to hand the advantage to Oz.

The Dalai Lama once said "A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity", which is a very accurate description of how one might win OR lose a PvP. May the most skillful man win!

Oz 3 - 2 Arthur