EPTWCS America Group D Preview
by Soularion
It was a shock to many, but a delightful surprise for more when
Pigbaby won Season 2 of WCS America in one of the most monumental upsets the tournament has ever seen. He was the least known player among the participating Koreans, and despite his time in Proleague, all we really knew was that he had a love of all ins. That reputation still stuck with him as we looked at the bracket stages, but he changed our perception of the baby pig when he defeated Taeja in Rain-like macro games, using a surplus of observers to ensure his safety. He would top that performance in the finals against Bomber by rushing for carriers and tempests to start and end the series respectively, turning into an overnight sensation due to his modest dream and glamorous playstyle. He returns to Season 3 no longer a mystery and no longer an underdog, and he faces a group that typifies what he used to be.His first opponent is
Shana, and there's little we really know about this Chinese Protoss. It sounds like a phrase we've used one too many times, but the insular nature of their scene and the lack of English streams for tournaments ensure that there's little we really know about their less popular players. Jim did call him out as one of the brightest up and coming players in his interview with Meru at IEM Shenzhen, so it appears that he's slowly making a name for himself in the Middle Kingdom. He also defeated a strong player in Challenger League in the form of CranK, but his appearance was not without controversy. Shana originally failed to qualify for WCS AM Challenger League, losing in the Chinese qualifier semi final. Fortunately for him, iAsonu, an Invictus Gaming player who had made an appearance in CL last year, was disqualified for win trading. He was then able to grab that second chance by defeating an unknown Chinese player by the name of MKP to earn his spot. The only games of Shana that we've ever seen were the ones he played against CranK. In typically Chinese Protoss fashion, they were strange to say the least. Whether his love of 10-gate 3-gate is a result of their metagame or a stylistic choice, it's impossible to tell, and he will definitely have the element of surprise on his side in this group. His success or failure will depend on his ability to choose his builds wisely, as he needs to prepare for three matchups. The odds of Shana choosing greedy macro builds is just as high as him using aggressive all ins through the evening for all we know. If there is one thing that is certain certain, however, it that surprises are to be expected.
On the other side of the fence is a player familiar to our champion. Pigbaby and Wayi's
Check used to be on Team8 and Jin Air together before the latter departed for opportunities abroad. He joined Western Wolves and attempted to conquer Europe, but it would be an ill-fated journey. Though he found success as WW's zerg ace in ATC and other online cups, he was unable to replicate that form at LANs or in WCS EU. The team only lasted 4 more months after he joined, and he was back on the streets as a teamless player with a scant resume. Fortunately, Wayi threw him a lifeline and signed him at the start of the year. His new environment in Taiwan and his switch to WCS AM has seen him improve his results: he made it to the Round of 16 last season before losing to Bomber and Polt, and finished 3rd in TeSL Season 4.Unfortunately for Check, many of his best performances have been against foreigners. His Ro32 escape was through the losers' match against Top and Neeb, while he was able to take advantage of his adequate ZvZ in TeSL. He only retains a 47% winrate in ZvT, and his first opponent happens to be a terran in a match-up where we have seen little out of the ordinary from him. The ZvP he displayed against Top was similarly standard, yet Pigbaby and Shana will have to study further to find his style. He's still very much an unknown: talented, but to what extent? This group should help discover exactly where his play is at, and showcase his ZvP for its first true test in WCS AM.
In many ways, he got lucky with his first draw of
Illusion. Illusion is, like many other foreign terrans, a lot of potential without many results. He got here with an easy sweep over a protoss just as unknown as Shana: Gemini. Whether or not this will bode well against Shana's strange playstyle is unknown, but it's a sign of good things to come for the ROOT terran. Possibly the best thing for Illusion in this group is that he won't have to play his worst matchup, TvT. Sitting at a very mediocre 40% winrate, it drags down the success (However fleeting it may be) in TvZ and TvP. It's very difficult to say how Illusion will do here, and a lot of it depends on which Illusion decides to show up.Similar to both Neeb and qxc, Illusion has found tons of potential success through 2014 and his career in general. With wins against viOLet, Scarlett, JYP and even champion Trap in his amazing MLG Anaheim run, it's easy to forget his low points. With losses to every non-Trap korean at MLG, plus jjakji and San, it's clear that Illusion has trouble consistently finding his heights. Just a couple days ago, he played in the IEM Toronto qualifiers and was eliminated by Xenocider and Polt in his least favourite matchup. Yet, outside of TvT, he hasn't been all that bad. Sure, he's lost to San, HyuN, Life and even Heart without getting games, but victories against those types of players wouldn't make him solid, they'd make him championship caliber. Truly, it's tough to see exactly where he's at, and his first match against Check will be a good check-up. If he can topple the Wayi Spider zerg that brought down his fellow AM terran Neeb last season, this group is very possible for him. Yet, if he fails, his potential will have to be put off for yet another season, to the disapointment of NA fans everywhere.
It's tough to side against the returning champion, but the other three are locked in a very difficult battle to determine who advances alongside him. Ultimately, I trust Check's experience in the TeSL and against foreign terrans to come out above Illusion's potential and Shana's surprise factor. Still, none of the three should be considered as a sizeable upset, unless they defeat Pigbaby.
Pigbaby > Shana
Check > Illusion
Pigbaby > Check
Shana < Illusion
Check > Illusion
Pigbaby and Check advance.
