by XXTN and Trasko

After nearly four months of toil, two teams will fly out to Krefeld, Germany to compete in the ATC S3 grand finals. Acer and Liquid - the top two teams from the regular season - are not only competing for the $10,000 first place prize, but also for the title of “best foreign team”. They will face off in a Bo3 clanwar with an all-kill format and an ace player. Coming from the Winner’s Final, Team Liquid will start off with a 1-0 lead in each of the Bo9 series.

The defending ATC champs, Team Acer returns with the same squad from S2 led by league MVP, INnoVation. With the absence of HerO, TaeJa and co. will have to pick up the slack if they wish to take down the green giants. Don’t forget, Acer will be itching to avenge their 1-5 defeat at the hands of Snute from the Winner’s Final. Can Liquid dig deep, or will the Acer trio of INnoVation-MMA-Scarlett be too much to handle? It all happens this weekend at TaKeTv studios.

The Defending Champs: Team Acer

#1 Seed: 9-2 Regular Season, 51-27 map score (+24)

After defeating Axiom in the S2 finals, Team Acer continued to dominate in S3 by taking first place in the regular season. They have a talented lineup that includes MMA, Scarlett, and Nerchio, all led by the mean green machine INnoVation. While Acer has a lot of individual talent, they have been relying mostly on INnoVation to carry them through this team league. Even in the Loser’s Final, they were down 1-4 against mousesports until INnoVation came out as the Ace and won four straight games. To win this final, INnoVation will need more contributions from his supporting cast, namely MMA (10-9) and Scarlett (9-8), who have performed underwhelmingly this season.

Scarlett: Currently Acer’s second best player and one of the two top foreigners, Scarlett will be crucial to her team’s success this weekend. She’ll have to shoulder some of the burden and take pressure off INnoVation. Since returning from Korea, the Queen of Blades has been consistently competing at a high level. She finished top four at HSC and MLG Anaheim and won Battlegrounds NA. In addition, Scarlett recently requalified for WCS Premier League and also scored a paid trip to Battle Grounds Detroit. Acer will be glad to have a healthy and confident Scarlett representing them in the finals.

So far, Acer has called upon Scarlett more frequently this season, and she has a 9-8 record to show for it. Her biggest contribution was an all-kill of NrS in the regular season. While Acer doesn’t necessarily need a home run from Scarlett, they will need her to contribute more than she did a few weeks ago against Liquid and mousesports. She has a solid, standard ZvT and she’s quite clever in ZvZ. It would be such a huge boost to her team if Scarlett could take out TaeJa or Snute. In a bo1 situation, maybe she will even unsheathe her psi blades as she once did against DRG.

Nerchio: A mainstay in WCS EU Premier League, Nerchio is more than capable of taking a game or two off TL. Nerchio was once considered an elite European Zerg in 2012, but he hasn’t produced any significant results in 2014. To be fair, he has made it to PL in all three seasons this year but that’s pretty much it. As for the ATC, the Polish zerg has been called on ten times this season and he’s only delivered on three occasions. Mainly selected for ZvZ, Nerchio could have a tough time against either Snute or TLO. While Nerchio may no longer be Acer’s star player, he could still play a key role in determining the outcome of this final.

MMA: Streaky and sometimes volatile, MMA is essentially Acer’s X-factor. MMA can conquer Europe when he’s playing well, and he can be a deer caught in headlights when he’s struggling. Since his runner-up finish in WCS S1, MMA has been in a bit of a slump. He has bowed out in the Ro32 in both WCS S2 and Dreamhack Summer. At IEM Shenzhen, MMA looked completely off his game as he committed one unforced error after another and went 0-4 in his group. A week later, the same thing happened again in “The Big One”; MMA came ill-prepared and lost two quick series to Revival and HyuN. Acer desperately needs MMA to snap out of this funk; they need the MMA who all-killed TL in the S2 semis.

Acer’s second most important player this season, MMA has posted a decent 10-9 record in ATC. While MMA has losing records against both zerg and protoss, he is 5-0 against terran opponents. So don’t be surprised if MMA is chosen to snipe TaeJa or Bunny. MMA will try to use his bio-heavy style and hyper-aggressive drop play to break down his opponent. Expect to see him push every tiny advantage and go for the kill when he sees an opening. MMA just needs to draw on these qualities and play at the high level that we know he’s capable of. The Son of Boxer once led Slayers to back-to-back titles in the GSTL... can he do the same now for Acer?

Bly: Bly played a crucial role in Acer’s title run last season but has not been nearly as successful this season. While he was often chosen as a starter during the regular season, Bly failed to pose a real threat to the opposition. Furthermore, he has yet to make an appearance in the playoffs, but Acer could still bring him out this weekend. With a 61.2% ZvP as his strongest matchup, Bly could end up facing MaNa at some point. Given the chance, Bly will want to replicate his brilliant performance from S2.

INnoVation: This season, INnoVation has pretty much single-handedly carried his team to the finals. With an astounding 37-6 record and four all-kills this season, INnoVation is by far the league’s most valuable player. Throughout his career, INnoVation has consistently thrived in team leagues as he is now gunning for his fourth team league title. Though he has been struggling in Code S this year, The Machine continues to be one of the most disciplined and dangerous players in the world. Most recently, he reached the quarterfinals at a stacked IEM Shenzhen and then topped his Code A group.

While he appears utterly dominant against terran and protoss, INnoVation's one weakness lies in his TvZ. He recently lost to Starbuck and Snute in the ATC and was also swept out of IEM by Solar. The question remains: can Liquid exploit this weakness? INnoVation is heading into this final with a huge target on his back but he doesn’t mind. In fact, he will see this as an opportunity to remind us why he was once considered the best player in the world. This is a man who loves to play under the spotlight and wants to be the hero for his team. INnoVation has saved Acer time and again this season, but does he have enough gas left in the tank for one last push?

The Home of TaeJa: Team Liquid

#2 Seed: 9-2 Regular Season, 49-29 map score (+20)

Team Liquid have had a very successful run at this season of ATC, going 9-2 in group stages as well as wrecking havoc during the playoff phase. Now they stand only one step away from bringing home gold as they cleared their way to the finals with relative ease. With a very dominant and successful season, Team Liquid have a lot going for them coming in to this finals. Lets take a look at all available Liquid players.

Bunny: Successful European terrans are a rarity as the current inclination points towards protoss and zerg as the more dominant races. Bunny however, has proved over and over again that he is not one to count out, especially when it comes to ATC. With a prominent 69% win rate and one all-kill, Bunny has established himself as one of the key players for Liquid's success this season. ATC has not been his only strong suit as he's found much success in other events, making it to the round of 32 at Dreamhack and will now next week try his luck at the WCS Challenger league.

Bunny recently enjoyed a fantastic run in the Gfinity G3 qualifiers, taking out YoDa, Armani, Sleep and Patience so it will be very interesting to see how he performs at this finals as his opponents are of equal, if not better level. Bunny's overall winrate history shows that his worst match up is TvT, something that may be deflated due to the number of Korean terran players he has faced. However, At ATC however it lies at a solid 5-1, the only loss being against Acer's own MMA. Bunny has been sent out as the starting player for Liquid many times before and it would not be surprising if history were to repeat itself.

MaNa: MaNa so far has not had great success in Heart of the Swarm, but he's still managed to place at least top 16 in many tournaments throughout the year. After his acquisition by Team Liquid, MaNa's been provided with plenty of opportunities to not only improve his play but also be a key component in the line up at ATC. After strong Ro16 finishes at both Dreamhack Valencia and WCS EU Season 2, MaNa will be more than likely a strong contender against team Acer. Mana has won 6 out of 10 games this season and PvP is the only match up that has suffered. Lucky for him, Acer lacks Protoss players so this will not be a problem coming forward. He was never summoned as one of the players when Team Liquid previously faced Acer but due to the absence of HerO, MaNa's participation will be key.

Snute: It's hard to say who the 'best' player of Team Liquid has been this season, but Snute sure stands out as one of the top contestants. TaeJa may have won more matches than Snute but Snute's matches have arguably been the more important ones. With an all-kill against Team Acer, Snute comes in as the star player (along with perhaps TaeJa) and all eyes are focused on him as the Acer killer. Considered one of the best foreign players, Snute has made sure to live up to that reputation as he's the only Liquid player to have taken games off team Acer this season. Snute's last offline event was IEM Shenzhen where he was knocked out in a close 2-3 quarterfinals by non other than Jaedong, a true ZvZ champion, in a close 2-3 series. Aside from facing Jaedong, Snute took out TRUE 2-1 and overcame Stork as well. Snute looks to be in tip-top shape for the upcoming finals.

TaeJa: There's no question TaeJa has carried Team Liquid in the past. Last season's ATC took place during one of TaeJa's terrifying reigns and he proved to be extremely vigorous all the way up until the finals. This season is a little different as both Snute and HerO have been doing very well in not only ATC but also other tournaments. TaeJa's dominance still lives on though as he is currently an 11-time Premier tournament champion in StarCraft 2, the most recent title being IEM Shenzhen. TaeJa has the best record out of all his teammates coming in at an impressive 70% win-rate. His best match up has been TvT, even though he lost against Innovation during the group stage phase. This will bode well for Team Liquid as Acer has both Innovation and MMA as potential snipers. Out of two ace matches TaeJa has been sent out as the ace player once, the other time being Snute and so there's a lot of pressure on him going into this match.

TLO: He may considered one of the better foreign zergs yet with his inconsistent play, TLO comes into this with the worst ATC record on the team. With 5-4 in map score, TLO is still over the 50% margin but still not as consistent as say Bunny. Of course this doesn't mean he will perform poorly at the ATC finals. We all know TLO has days where his play is equal to that of a Korean player: at the recent "The Big One" TLO managed to take down SuperNova and prior to that, he placed just outside top 16 at Dreamhack Summer. If TLO plays with perfect conditions and feels confident, he can achieve wonders and hopefully for Team Liquid, Sunday will be one of those times.

Notable Absentees: Ret & HerO
Even though he is on Liquid's ATC roster, Ret has yet to play a single match in this league so don't expect him to show up in the finals. This is the second time HerO is absent during the playoff stage of ATC, a real shame for Team Liquid as he has been a valued member of the squad. HerO's absences is due to "real life issues" and we wish him the best of luck and hope to see him playing again soon!

Would You Kindly...

When Acer and Team Liquid faced each other in the Winner's Finals, Snute brought out his inner Korean and all-killed the whole team. Even though statistically, Innovation has been ATC's best player in terms of win/loss ratio, Liquid may have a better shot at bringing home gold. Snute's ZvT and ZvZ are looking really strong right now and even though Scarlett is still in business, Snute's all kill must still be in the back of their heads. Taeja is still riding his high horse but MMA is an ex-GSL champion and will know how to counter him. Bunny has been a strong and solid starting player for Liquid whilst Bly has worked well for Acer.

Without a doubt both teams have championship-quality rosters and it will be a treat to see them duke out this weekend. The taste of revenge is sweet and that is exactly what Team Acer are after. They are the reigning champions of ATC after all and will give their all to defend their title.