EPTRo32: Group G Preview
MMA, 
LiveZerg, Dayshi, ForGGCountdown:
by Peanuts and Waxangel
The GSL disease has landed in WCS Europe. While eight Protoss players and three Zergs players have confirmed their spots in the Ro16, only two Terrans have managed to survive thus far. With no Terrans scheduled to play in Saturday's Group H, Thursday night's Group G will be the final hope for Terran fans around the world.
Leading the charge is last season’s runner up,
Acer.MMA. Catching fire in the summer of 2013, MMA has been a dominant force in WCS Europe ever since. He won the final Premier League of 2013, and took down many of the region's best players on his way to a second place finish in 2014's first season. Many predicted that he would go on to win it all, but he was denied by MC and his devastating all-ins at the very end. MMA looks like he's in position to start off Season 2 on a strong note. Having initially made a name for himself in the (glorious) era of GomTvT, the Acer Terran excels at the mirror match-up, putting up a 14-2 record in the past two months. His play is marked by a wide repertoire of styles, from pure mech, to marine-tank, to drop heavy, pure bio play, which will serve him well in this group. Although MMA lost to VortiX in the last season of WCS, that was more an exception than the norm regarding his TvZ. His two-month record is an incredible 29-4, and LiveZerg is likely to end up as wins number 30 and 31.
It's hard not to feel bad for
Vega.LiveZerg, who had the misfortune of drawing MMA as his first opponent. Still, even if he's in for a difficult night of games, he's not dead in the water. Having just one race to prepare for is always an advantage, and LiveZerg has shown he's willing to use cheese to defeat tough opponents. Going up against jjakji in last season's Ro32, LiveZerg pulled out all the stops, throwing three different busts/all-in builds to try and take a win. Though that resulted in a 1-2 loss for LiveZerg then, it shows that he has the potential to pull off an upset if he catches MMA unaware. Down in Challenger, LiveZerg looked comfortable playing macro games as he beat Morrow 3-1, so look for him to take the other two players relatively straight up with a sprinkling of roach aggression.On the other side of the bracket we have a Millenium team-kill as
ForGG faces off against Dayshi. Both are very familiar faces in the WCS Europe Premier League, but besides ForGG's semifinals run in WCS Season 1 of 2013, neither has been in the championship picture.That fact is particularly disappointing for ForGG, a player who went to Europe in search of titles. He's come close once or twice, and he's made a fair amount of money in the process, but a Premier tournament championship has continued to elude him. Some might even fear his window to win a championship has closed – he was the most fearsome player in the European scene when he first came in, but his frequent losses to foreigners have made it's hard to call it an "upset" when he loses.
ForGG briefly flared up again earlier this year at ASUS ROG Winter, where he showed genuine championship potential as he went toe to toe with players like Dear, San and Jaedong. Unfortunately, he followed that with his worst WCS Europe run ever, dropping out of the Ro32 with losses to BabyKnight and the little-known Lilbow. All that said, it's not like ForGG is chopped liver. He's still a workhorse for Millenium in team leagues, and he continues to be one of the stronger players in WCS Europe.
ForGG's chances of reaching the Ro16 are especially good as he's drawn an ideal first match-up against teammate Dayshi, who he's 16-0 against all time. Yes, 16-0.
To make matters worse for Dayshi, it's not like he's been playing particularly well in TvT overall. With a 14-16 record in the last two months, beating MMA will be a tall order. At least Dayshi has a chance to play against LiveZerg, with TvZ having been his best match-up ever since the start of HotS (although, some fans might have hoped to see Dayshi play TvP for the chance at seeing some mech vs Protoss).
With the two Europeans drawing such difficult first matches, it doesn't seem Europe will be doing much "holding" tonight. It may be a price worth paying to see more Terrans later in the tournament.
Predictions:
MMA > LiveZerg
ForGG > Dayshi
MMA > ForGG
Dayshi LiveZerg
ForGG > Dayshi (just for good measure)
MMA and ForGG advance.
GOGO MMA !!!
