EPTAM Challenger: Day 3 Preview
by Darkhorse
Week 2 of WCS AM Challenger League kicks off as big names like HerO and Scarlett enter the fray. WCS AM veterans and some of North America's brightest stars will battle it out for the opportunity to take part in Season 2 of Premier League.
Liquid`HerO vs 
EGXenociderOne of the more interesting Challenger League matchups is this one between a WCS AM champion in Liquid`HerO and an up and coming American Terran in EGXenocider. EG vs Liquid rivalry aside, Xenocider will be looking to repeat the success of teammate Suppy, who managed to defeat the Korean Terran aLive 3-0 last week to advance to Premier. While Xenocider hasn't achieved a great deal of individual league success (with the exception of his win at the IEF tournament in Korea) he has garnered a fairly large fanbase and is one of the strongest Terrans in North America.
Unfortunately for the young Terran, he has drawn one of the most difficult and dangerous opponents in Challenger League, HerO. Generally a WCS AM powerhouse, HerO was knocked out in last season's Ro32 in one of the many upsets that we saw in Season 1. Since then he has been in somewhat of a slump, but he appears to be playing decently as of late. An early elimination from last week's Dreamhack Bucharest isn't as off-putting as it first appears considering he was eliminated by the eventual finalist
AX.Impact. An 8-1 record in Acer Teamstory Cup, including an all-kill of Xenocider's team EG, shows a return to good form, if not the incredible form that HerO had at IEM Cologne. HerO is certainly the favorite here, but WCS AM is still the region of upsets. Xenocider isn't without hope, but defeating HerO will be a tough challenge.Prediction: HerO 3-1 Xenocider
ROOT.Minigun vs coL.qxcAcer.Scarlett vs coL.hendraliskScarlett has been the consensus best North American player for some time now. Unfortunately, she hit a road block in last season's Premier League in the form of
Heart and the Chinese Zerg TooDming. Scarlett has been training in Korea for the past few months which in the past has helped foreigners get into strong shape. The Canadian powerhouse will be looking to reclaim a spot in Premier League and possibly reclaim the title of strongest foreigner.Standing in Scarlett's way is the Complexity Zerg hendralisk, who is actually a fellow member of the Zerg chat alongside Scarlett. Hendralisk has been considered an "up and comer" in the NA scene for a while now and has been quietly asserting himself as one of the strongest Zergs in North America over the last few months with his play in qualifiers, small tournaments, and teamleagues. Although these two are friends, I don't anticipate that this series will be friendly at all. ZvZ is always volatile, and I expect there to be several short and dirty games in this series. I think this series will be close, but I have to give the edge to Scarlett.
Prediction: Scarlett 3-2 hendralisk
yoeFW.Has vs PigbabyOn the one hand, we have the Taiwanese Protoss Has, who became infamous last season for cheesing Jaedong out of the Ro32 and coming close to defeating Bomber as well. While some fans might have thought Has was lucky to be able to defeat Jaedong last season, he's proved to be far from a one hit wonder. In the ZOWIE King of the Iron Series of matches, he's earned victories over Bomber, Nestea, and MarineKing with similarly nefarious tactics. His PvP has looked strong as well, narrowly losing 3-4 to San in the playoffs of the TeSL Season 3 Super League.
On the other hand, we have Pigbaby, the supposedly retired former Jin Air Green Wings player who is now attempting to pursue opportunities abroad. I have not a clue what Pigbaby's plans are, but he managed to advance through the Wild Card qualifiers over a few foreign challengers and Axiom's Ryung. Beyond those qualifiers, we've barely had a chance to see Pigbaby play in recent months, and it remains to be seen how well he will fare in Challenger against one of the most unpredictable Protosses out there.
Prediction: Has 2 - 3 Pigbaby
