Two days ago, Harstem and YoDa squeezed through Group C with jjakji finishing in a disappointing 4th place. With that, WCS Europe heads into Group D with two Koreans and two foreigners once again. The Europeans have put up a good fight so far... can they continue to hold?
A rising star sitting pretty at #4 on the WCS Global Standings, yoeFW.San is the clear favorite to clinch first place on paper. So far, 2014 has been a very successful year for San - he won ASUS ROG Winter, reached the semis of GSL Global Championship, and dominated the TeSL Super League. The yoe Flash Wolves Protoss is currently red-hot and shows no signs of cooling off anytime soon. Overall, San is a smart and decisive player whose mechanics are on par with the top Korean protosses. But most importantly, he is very good at adapting his strategies to deal with unconventional play. This last quality could be key to getting through his group.
While San shows no glaring weakness, he may have some minor concerns coming into a group of only Terrans and Protosses. For instance, Parting knocked him out of the GSL GC with a 3-0 score, but luckily San won’t face a Protoss of that caliber in this group. While PvT is San’s weakest matchup, he shouldn’t be too concerned, having beaten Maru 2-0 in the GSL GC and recently defeating Taeja twice in the ATC Cup. Having reached the semifinals of season 1, San comes into season 2 looking to add another accolade to an already very successful year year. The only thing that might stop San is cross-server lag, as he will be playing from Korea.
San’s first opponent and also the least known player in the group, is the Dutch Terran, AT|uThermal. An up-and-coming European player, uThermal recently turned some heads by beating Jjakji 2-0 in the Dreamhack Bucharest group stages. Now, he’s found his way into Premier league after qualifying for Challenger and then defeating HasuObs 3-1. Unfortunately for him, he's being welcomed into the Premier League by a championship class player in San. You wouldn't be remiss to predict multiple SCV-train all-ins, but I doubt that will be enough to take on San. That being said, he did manage to beat Stork 2-0 in the Fragbite Masters qualifiers - a small sliver of hope for uThermal fans.
The second match of the day featuresXMG.ToD, the French Protoss who made it back to Premier league by beating TargA 3-0 in Challenger. The part-time caster will be looking to make the top 16 of Premier league for the first time in his career. Surprisingly, ToD managed to top his Ro32 group at Dreamhack Bucharest by defeating two Korean Zergs, Jaedong and Golden. But here’s the bad the news for ToD fans: there are no Zergs in Group D. Furthermore, ToD seems a bit lost in PvT at the moment. He recently lost to two French Terrans, Downfall and MarineLord in Underdogs Season 8. As the darkhorse of the group, ToD could potentially shock us again by knocking out the two Korean heavyweights... or he could finish dead last in the group.
Unfortunately for ToD, his first opponent of the night is none other than the “King of Wings”, IM.Mvp. By now, you all probably know who this man is, so I’ll spare you the long introduction (that could take a few pages). But despite all his accomplishments in WoL, Mvp has only one major tournament win in HotS - he defeated Stephano in the first ever WCS Europe Premier league. That happened almost a year ago. Since then, Mvp has been missing the big international events, and he’s been stuck in the first two rounds of Premier league. To be honest, we haven’t seen the man in a while so it’s hard to predict how he will do in this group. Since he got knocked out of season 1 by MMA, Mvp has only played some King of The Iron matches, where he managed to defeat Has and Scarlett.
So in the end, it all boils down to which Mvp shows up: the 4-time GSL champion who dominated his opponents or the injury-plagued Mvp who’s nearing the end of his illustrious career. If he has been practicing seriously, Mvp should be able to make it out of a group with two foreigners. Hopefully some time off has allowed Mvp to recollect and refuel himself for a grand return.
Predictions San should be able to make quick work of uThermal but may face a tough challenge against Mvp in the winner’s match. Again, this all depends on which Mvp shows up. The last time San played Mvp was at IEM Singapore where San won 2-1. Because of ToD’s under-performance in PvT, I’m giving the edge to both Mvp and uThermal. Finally, while uThermal may not be a the favorite to get out of the group, he could potentially make the race for second interesting. With TvT as his strongest matchup at 60.7%, uThermal could challenge Mvp for that second spot.
San > uThermal Mvp > ToD San > Mvp uThermal > ToD uThermal < Mvp
I pray he will mech it happen against San or ToD. Which honestly might not be out of the question given his unwillingness to play a standard micro-oriented TvP.
I seem to remember another group where a Dutch guy was the underdog, with a few 'champion-class' players in it, which he couldn't possibly overcome according to most.
Obviously there's no guarantee but well... Lets see what happens, shall we?
On May 22 2014 18:19 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Furthermore, ToD seems a bit lost in PvT at the moment. He recently lost to two French Terrans, Downfall and MarineLord in Underdogs Season 8.
Implying losing France's two hottest players is a shame!?!
Mvp Fighting! We need the King to return and slay all on his path to glory and to remind everybody why he was the best of the best for the longest time in wings.
Tod is in the worst possible group he could achieve, between a beast of PvP and his worst matchup >_> I don't have idea of how uThermal plays, hope he brings out a top performance... and MVP is always a pleasure to watch. San is going to steamroll the group and take the whole WCS so I don't expect anything less than utter dominance.
On May 22 2014 20:06 MavivaM wrote: Tod is in the worst possible group he could achieve, between a beast of PvP and his worst matchup >_> I don't have idea of how uThermal plays, hope he brings out a top performance... and MVP is always a pleasure to watch. San is going to steamroll the group and take the whole WCS so I don't expect anything less than utter dominance.
People thought jjakji was going to crush his group too...
On May 22 2014 20:06 MavivaM wrote: Tod is in the worst possible group he could achieve, between a beast of PvP and his worst matchup >_> I don't have idea of how uThermal plays, hope he brings out a top performance... and MVP is always a pleasure to watch. San is going to steamroll the group and take the whole WCS so I don't expect anything less than utter dominance.
People thought jjakji was going to crush his group too...
Jjakji relies on mid game pressure and his gameplan is generally the same, San is more of a freeform protoss, his is more a system than a series of builds (or at least that's the impression I get when I see him playing. Saying that he doesn't use builds at all seems ridiculous I know, but that's not my point) and has absolutely no trouble when it comes to improvisation. Jjakji is a former GSL champ and overall strong terran, it's safe for people to use logic and presume he would have passed. With San it's completely different, he's a warrior forged into flames. Logic does not apply.
Well since ToD's likelyhood of beating players like Mvp and San are quite low, I don't really see him getting through. uThermal always struck me as a BM player so I always get a sour taste in my mouth whenever he is involved with something.
Can't say I expect anything except a Mvp/San domination.
Holy shit guys, what happened here.. San was predictable.. But wow. Shame that no Terrans got through! Would have loved to see uThermal advance, he was really close today.
EPT
San, 
uThermal, 
