EPT
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The first day of WCS AM Challenger League was not without surprises as strong players like CranK and Suppy fell out against their less prominent opponents. CranK's elimination will likely go down as one of the biggest surprises of the year in WCS AM; his 1-3 loss to unknown quantity Shana was certainly impossible to predict.
WCS America Challenger League - Day 1 Results
HuK 3 - 1 
Phog
CranK 1 - 3 Shana
hendralisk 3 - 0 ViBE
Suppy 1 - 3 Guitarcheese
Neeb 3 - 1 Bails
HuK 3 - 1 PhogCranK 1 - 3 Shanahendralisk 3 - 0 ViBESuppy 1 - 3 GuitarcheeseNeeb 3 - 1 BailsEverything went as expected in the first match of the evening which saw HuK advance ahead of Phog. While the young American has performed well in several online cups and has competed at MLG open brackets, facing one of the most seasoned foreigners in HuK was one of the more difficult Challenger League matches he could have drawn. With his signature aggression and 2 base builds, HuK returns to Premier League for the 6th straight time where he will hope to improve upon his Ro16 exit in Season 1.
The most shocking result of the evening occurred in the second set of the evening when chinese semi-pro Shana beat Crank 3-1. Blame it on the PvP matchup or on the fact that CranK hasn't looked too sharp recently, but what's for certain is that we'll have one more Chinese Protoss player in WCS AM Premiere League. In Chinese Protoss tradition he relied on bizarre all ins that only they could dream of, and it's not difficult to imagine him becoming another favorite if he continues to show unique games. He isn't an entirely unknown player though, as he is supposedly GM in Korea and was called out by Jim as one of the best young players in China.
The succeeding match also had an unexpected result, but in a different way. Hendralisk swept aside ViBE with ease in 3 straight games. Hendralisk continues to show good ZvZ against foreigners as he also escaped Challenger League last season by beating Scarlett by a similar score. With a little luck, hendralisk has a good shot at improving upon his Premier League Ro32 performance in the last season of the year.
Another surprising result was Guitarcheese's victory over Suppy. While Guitarcheese had shown potential in his previous WCS AM Challenger League appearance, losing 2-3 in close games to Sen, this is his first time to appear in Premier League. His army movement and engagements were particularly good against Suppy as he found ways out of surrounds and poor positions in roach vs roach battles.
The final series of the evening was an interesting one as Neeb and Bails squared off in 4 close games. Deadwing was perhaps the most curious map of the night as Neeb tried to pull a fast one on Bails by going mech. While mech vs Protoss games usually end up going long, Neeb effectively ended the contest early by discovering that Bails didn't know how to split his probes. Hellion drops and runbys completely incinerated the Protoss mineral line and killed over 40 probes. Neeb became a bit overconfident in his attempts to end the match, as he repeatedly lost his army to pitifully small amounts of Protoss units. It was a final hellion drop that snapped Bails' last straw, and he gg'd to end the evening.
WCS America Premier League Players
Seeded from Season 2 (16)
Pigbaby, Oz, Alicia, ArthurBomber, TaeJa, Heart, Polt, MajOrRevival, NesTea, viOLet, Check, HyuN, TooDming, XiGuaChallenger League Winners (5/16)
HuK, Shanahendralisk, GuitarcheeseNeeb
. He has a match coming up against a zerg in a day and im not sure if he practiced enough for it 
