EPTRo32: Group B Preview
Snute, 
Krr, MaNa, BlinGCountdown:
by Darkhorse
Liquid`Snute is a player that really needs no introduction nowadays, and comes into the group as the odds on favorite to advance in first place. Are you a doubter? Barely over a week ago Snute won his 3rd TakeTV tournament, the TakeTV Ultra Invitational. He achieved the Ro8 in last season's Premier League, tied for the highest placing of any foreigner. Over the past month his online victims include San, Solar, HerO, Patience, Polt, and ForGG. An all time 63% winrate in the ZvP matchup should give him confidence going into this all Protoss group, and he also has the added advantage of having only one matchup to practice for. He holds a winning record over each of his three group opponents throughout his career. If there is one bad statistic here for Snute, it is that the last time he made top 8 in WCS, he bombed out in the Ro32 in the following season. However, Snute seems primed to take this group in convincing fashion and continue to prove that he is worthy of being considered the true foreign hope.
In typical EU tournament fashion, this group does feature a potential Liquid-teamkill should Snute match up with MaNa. However, Snute will first have to get through the Lithuanian veteran
Ai.Krr. It was a bit of a surprise when Krr made it through the WCS EU qualifiers as he hadn't achieved any particularly notable results in the European scene. However, he has been active and placing well in online cups for some time, and his work finally paid off as he qualified for WCS Europe Challenger after four tries. Still, most wouldn't have predicted him to 3-0 Genius with absolute ease in Challenger League to earn his spot in Premier. That match in and of itself provides Krr with some PvP credentials, a matchup which he could see a lot of in this 3 Protoss group. Unfortunately for Krr, he is 1-7 against his first opponent Snute in tournament matches, with his only victory coming in a Playhem tournament in 2011. Snute clearly has the upper hand here, and unless he has some tricks up his sleeve for the opening series, I anticipate that Krr will be taking the long route through this group.
Snute's teammate
Liquid`MaNa begins his journey through Premier League in the second match of the night. MaNa has is one of the most accomplished Protoss players in Europe, and was once considered to be one of the best players outside Korea. However, he hasn't had much success in HotS and the WCS system. After dropping down to Challenger for a couple of seasons, he has managed to earn his return to Premier this season with a 3-2 win over Bly.MaNa is a seasoned veteran who deserves respect, but it certainly won't be easy for him to advance. While MaNa has been traditionally solid in PvP, the match-up is known to be volatile – especially in matches between European Protosses. In addition to this, MaNa has a dismal record against Snute, which doesn't bode well for him should they end up meeting in this group. MaNa has quietly been improving his performances since joining Liquid, and reaching the Ro16 would be the first step in rejoining the ranks of the top European pros
MaNa will have to face
d.BlinG in a PvP to start the group. BlinG is another veteran of the EU scene, and has racked up a string of three consecutive Premier League appearances. BlinG had a surprisingly good run in last season's Premier League, defeating both Happy and StarDust to advance in first place from his Ro32 group, and had a strong showing in the Ro16 with close losses to both Nerchio and San. All in all, the season was a fairly successful for BlinG, and he managed to secure himself his spot in Premier for this season.Advancing from this group will be difficult for BlinG with strong contenders like MaNa and Snute involved, but there is certainly hope for the Dignitas Protoss. He has demonstrated strong PvP in the past with a victory over StarDust and a close 1-2 loss to San last season, and he has never lost to MaNa in a tournament game. Snute will be a difficult opponent for BlinG, but he has a shot against both of the other players in the group in PvP, which makes his advancement just as likely as anyone's. BlinG played solidly in Season 1, but he will need a strong performance here to back it up and truly emerge as one of the foreign hopes in WCS EU.
Final thoughts and Prediction:
Snute's recent form and overall record against the other players in this group leads me to believe that he should advance fairly easily here. The group gets much harder to predict when looking for the second place finisher. Krr looked strong in his recent 3-0 of Genius, but I am not convinced he has what it takes to advance over his more well known competitors in Bling and MaNa. MaNa has had more past success than Bling, but I think the British Protoss will emerge victorious here, albeit in close and scrappy games.
Snute > Krr
BlinG < MaNa
Snute > MaNa
Krr < BlinG
MaNa < BlinG
Snute and BlinG advance.
Not a long ago it was Nani, Vortix, Luci, TLO briefly, Scarlett and a lot of others, and now it is Snute. For how long?
