EPTRo32: Group C Preview
jjakji, Bunny, YoDa, 
HarstemCountdown: 0m 0s
by Peanuts
Here we go again! Season 2 of WCS Europe has started and foreigners are performing better than ever. While Season 1's promising start ended in tears for the European hopefuls, perhaps things will be different this time around. Aside from foreigner tears, there could potentially be quite a few Terran tears as well as we go forward in WCS Europe. At least Group C will go a long way toward preventing a Code S-esque situation.
mYI.jjakji: Protoss aren't the only races with phoenixes, as Terrans have jjakji to represent them. Largely forgotten after his GSL championship in 2011, Jjakji seemed to be a flash in the pan, a one trick pony. But last summer, the fiery Korean Terran rose from the ashes. With decent showings in MLG and Challenger League, jjakji showed us that he was alive and kicking. In WCS Korea Season 3, he exploded back onto the scene in style, finishing in sixth place. Afterward he soared on to Europe, where he's placed high in multiple tournaments. Though a second title has eluded jjakji so far, he continues to gather momentum. He reached the final four in his first ever WCS Europe last season, and he aims to place even higher this time around.Comfortably sitting at an 8-3 record in ATC thus far, Jjakji is staying sharp and continuing to prove that he is a top contender for a Premier title. Paired against Harstem, the odds are in the Korean’s favor. The mYi Terran is a relentless TvP player, pressuring his opponent at every opportunity. He comes in with #1 rated TvP on Aligulac.com -- and before you complain that his record is padded with wins against European Protosses, guess what Harstem happens to be.
With fellow 2011 GSL champions Mvp, MC and MMA all claiming WCS Europe titles late in their careers, jjakji will be eager to continue the tradition and remember the grand feeling of lifting a trophy up high.
Liquid`Bunny: Things have been going well for Liquid's newest recruit. After being stuck as a middle-of-the-pack European in 2013, he seems to be coming into his own. He reached the WCS Europe Ro16 for his first time last season, and he's made a solid contribution in Liquid's climb the #1 spot in the Acer TeamStory Cup. Just this week, in the Believe in SC2 tournament, he took wins over Happy and Welmu, before ultimately falling 2-3 to Scarlett in the finals. He hit Ro8 at the latest Dreamhack, his best finish in that series. With both MaNa and Snute advancing the Ro16 ahead of him this season, Bunny will be eager to join his teammates in Cologne.Unfortunately, Bunny is forced to deal with his worst matchup in TvT. Since March, he's put up a poor 11-17 record in the match-up. Though he has a winning record in the month of May, he has a very worrisome inability to beat Korean Terrans, two of which are in this group. Besides a win against ForGG in ATC a few weeks ago, he has lost every single one of his tournament TvT series against players from Korea this year. Bunny has had plenty of time to prepare for this group, and European fans will be hoping he has been cramming hard for this tough TvT exam.
YoDa: YoDa comes into this tournament as a more tragic version of jjakji. Throughout his tenure on IM, he was always a solid, mid-tier player, regularly showing up to play in Code S. A solid player in team leagues, his teammates always praised his great skill in practice. It seemed that there was just some sort of mental block that he had to overcome. Mvp went as far as to call him the best Terran in Korea at one point. When HotS came around, it looked as though YoDa’s time to shine had finally come. After dominating the ladder, he won the first HotS tournament ever at the 2013 IEM World Championship, making the buffed medivacs and new widow mines look unstoppable.Like jjakji, YoDa faded away after his win. He continued to perform decently in the GSTL, but never recaptured the brilliance he had during his IEM win. After leaving IM late last year, he has remained teamless for nearly half a year. Fortunately he has found his talent agency GEM to be just as good as a team, providing him with lodging in Europe where he has more opportunities to pursue than in Korea. Living with MC, HyuN and Mvp in Germany, he has been an active participant in all sorts of European competitions.
Unfortunately, YoDa hasn't capitalized on his chances like jjakji. Not only is he losing to Koreans, but he is losing to foreigners as well. Despite playing disappointingly in other events, YoDa has managed to survive in the most important tournament of all: WCS. He can't afford to fail here.
Historically, TvT and TvP are not YoDa’s strong suit. He is on a recent upswing, however, going 11-1 in TvT and 15-7 in TvP this year. He has quite the opponent to face in Jjakji, who will presumably be the brick wall standing between the teamless Terran and the Round of 16.
Fnatic.Harstem: For all the publicity he gets, you'd be surprised to learn this season marks Harstem's debut in the WCS Europe Premier League. A regular Ro16 player at DreamHacks since 2012, Harstem just hasn't been able to cut it in WCS so far. He's a player who can take down the big names, but just never at the right moment. The same man who's beaten Code S level players is the same player who failed to make it out of the WCS EU qualifiers on more than one occasion.Harstem faces a tough situation in his group. In ATC, he’s been performing poorly, with a 3-6 record. In addition, PvT is his worst matchup historically, and he's only 7-11 since March. Though he has shown solid macro play, Harstem tends to resort to all in builds when a lot is on the line. Considering the prowess of the Terrans in the group and lessened potency of blink timings, things look bleak for the Fnatic Protoss.
Predictions:
Jjakji > Harstem
YoDa > Bunny
Jjakji > YoDa
Bunny > Harstem
YoDa > Bunny
