The WCS AM Ro32 concluded last night with the favorites, Bomber and MajOr, advancing to the second round. Last season’s runner up Bomber finished in first place with little trouble while MajOr followed in second. The Taiwanese zerg Slam also showed some impressive games but fell just short in the final match. If he keeps working hard, there’s a good chance we’ll see him again in the next season of Premier League.
Having lost to Sen just last weekend, Bomber redeemed himself by beating the Taiwanese zerg Slam. Feeling confident in his macro, Slam went for a Snute-esque SH style against a bio-heavy terran on Overgrowth. This led to an entertaining split-map game with Bomber constantly attacking in multiple locations and sniping hatcheries. While Slam hung on admirably, he never got past his half of the map and was eventually worn down by Bomber’s macro. After losing the macro game, Slam opted for an aggressive roach/hydra style in game two. He was able to gain a sizable economic edge by delaying Bomber’s third with early roaches and then sniping it later while the tanks were out of position. Slam then finished the game with a large roach/hydra attack. Tied 1-1, Slam went for a similar style on the third map, but Bomber was completely prepared this time. In anticipation of this scenario, Bomber pumped out a large bio force to deflect the roach aggression. With no anti-air for the zerg, Bomber was able to drop as he pleased, which kept the Taiwanese zerg at home. Clearly frustrated, Slam responded with a huge counter attack that turned into a base trade which Bomber won decisively.
The night’s second series featured a surprisingly one-sided TvP between two of the best North American players. Playing overly passive in game one, puCK delayed his own third way too long and as a result, could not keep up in macro with MajOr. Just to be sure though, MajOr brought SCVs with his larger army and steamrolled the protoss. Moving on to King Sejong Station, puCK chose to play defensive again and allowed MajOr to dictate the tempo of the game. The Root terran slowly built an advantage by staying aggressive and delaying his opponent’s third. With the better production, MajOr simply rallied his units across the map and slowly whittled down puCK’s army for the easy 2-0 victory.
Down in the lower bracket, puCK wound up facing Slam in a closely contested PvZ showdown. puCK’s early three stalker pressure did a good amount of damage to put Slam on the backfoot. This allowed him to follow up with a three-base blink stalker timing which forced Slam into counter-attacking. However, DT warp-ins back home were enough to force Slam to call “gg”. Game two on King Sejong Station turned into a passive, split-map game that came down to one final fight. puCK barely held the ultra/queen/infestor/viper attack but was powerless against the zerg re-max. The final game started out well for puCK, who was able to repeatedly cancel Slam’s fourth base. However, he overextended once and lost his army to an excellent zerg surround. A few minutes later, Slam took the offensive and won a decisive fight with ultralisks, fungals and blinding clouds. Overall, Slam showcased some phenomenal late game ZvP and expert spell casting.
Just as many predicted, the winner’s match featured a TvT between Bomber and MajOr. The best game of the night came on King Sejong Station, where we were treated to an intense, back and forth chess match. In control for most of the game, the Redbull terran was far more aggressive, took better trades, and slowly gained the lead. However, MajOr was able to claw his way back in with good defending and hellion harassment. MajOr’s one real chance at a comeback came in the form of a base trade, but he just couldn’t break into Bomber’s production. MajOr dragged the game on a bit longer, but was eventually forced to “gg” when he lost his last mining base. In the early moments of Overgrowth, MajOr attempted to put the choke hold on Bomber by sieging his natural from the third base location. However, Bomber read the move and intercepted MajOr’s army before it got into position. As the Mexican terran was retreating, Bomber caught him mid-map and took a good fight. From there, Bomber loaded up for a doom drop in MajOr’s main that did enough damage to push Bomber through in first place. While MajOr has shown some impressive TvT recently, he just couldn’t overcome last season’s runner-up.
Thus, the match to decide the final seed in the Ro16 came down to a TvZ between MajOr and Slam. Aggressive from the start, MajOr used hellion/banshee pressure to inflict a good amount of damage. Moreover, he retained most of his hellions, which he would later transform into hellbats in a follow-up attack. Slam tried going for fast mutalisks but paid the price when hellbats and banshees tore through his defenseless natural. Eager to advance, MajOr opened game two with a double proxy-rax on Overgrowth. Even though Slam went for pool before hatch, he still failed to stop the bunkers from finishing. He eventually broke through but at a heavy price. Though he lost his bunkers, MajOr reached a critical number of marines and soon found himself through to the next round.
Overall, today was a good way to end the WCS AM Ro32, as we got to see some fantastic macro games. While Slam failed to advance from this group, he looked really solid against puCK and nearly took out Bomber. Meanwhile, MajOr should learn from his TvT match because he will need all the help he can get for his upcoming Ro16 group. Finally, Bomber continues to impress and can potentially go far should he maintain his current form. With that, WCS America heads into a hiatus for now and will pick back up with the Ro16 on Thursday, September 4th.
(Vote): Group A: viOLet, Scarlett, Iaguz, HerO (Vote): Group B: HyuN, Jaedong, TaeJa, Pigbaby (Vote): Group C: Check, Jim, Bomber, HuK (Vote): Group D: Polt, Neeb, Heart, MajOr (Vote): All of the groups are equally difficult.
Holy shit that group B. Also thje four terran group?! What an insane ro16. I like HerO's draw, despite his PvZ struggles and the fact that Scarlett has had his number a few times. I also think Bomber did alright for himself. Check is great but I like Bomber's TvZ atm. Group B just shows that no matter how hard your group is, it could be worse
(Vote): Scarlett and Violet (Vote): Scarlett and HerO (Vote): Scarlett and Iaguz (Vote): Violet and HerO (Vote): Violet and Iaguz (Vote): HerO and Iaguz
Poll: Group A - Heart
Scarlett and HerO (45)
37%
Scarlett and Iaguz (35)
29%
Scarlett and Violet (22)
18%
Violet and HerO (14)
11%
HerO and Iaguz (4)
3%
Violet and Iaguz (2)
2%
122 total votes
Your vote: Group A - Heart
(Vote): Scarlett and Violet (Vote): Scarlett and HerO (Vote): Scarlett and Iaguz (Vote): Violet and HerO (Vote): Violet and Iaguz (Vote): HerO and Iaguz
Poll: Group B - Head
Hyun and Taeja (36)
29%
Taeja and Pigbaby (35)
28%
Jaedong and Taeja (30)
24%
Hyun and Pigbaby (13)
10%
Hyun and Jaedong (7)
6%
Jaedong and Pigbaby (3)
2%
124 total votes
Your vote: Group B - Head
(Vote): Hyun and Jaedong (Vote): Hyun and Taeja (Vote): Hyun and Pigbaby (Vote): Jaedong and Taeja (Vote): Jaedong and Pigbaby (Vote): Taeja and Pigbaby
Poll: Group B - Heart
Jaedong and Taeja (68)
54%
Jaedong and Pigbaby (15)
12%
Hyun and Jaedong (13)
10%
Taeja and Pigbaby (12)
10%
Hyun and Taeja (11)
9%
Hyun and Pigbaby (6)
5%
125 total votes
Your vote: Group B - Heart
(Vote): Hyun and Jaedong (Vote): Hyun and Taeja (Vote): Hyun and Pigbaby (Vote): Jaedong and Taeja (Vote): Jaedong and Pigbaby (Vote): Taeja and Pigbaby
Poll: Group C - Head
Jim and Bomber (59)
54%
Check and Bomber (33)
30%
Bomber and Huk (14)
13%
Check and Jim (2)
2%
Check and Huk (2)
2%
Jim and Huk (0)
0%
110 total votes
Your vote: Group C - Head
(Vote): Check and Bomber (Vote): Check and Jim (Vote): Check and Huk (Vote): Jim and Bomber (Vote): Jim and Huk (Vote): Bomber and Huk
Poll: Group C - Heart
Bomber and Huk (36)
37%
Jim and Bomber (30)
31%
Jim and Huk (17)
17%
Check and Bomber (10)
10%
Check and Huk (4)
4%
Check and Jim (1)
1%
98 total votes
Your vote: Group C - Heart
(Vote): Check and Bomber (Vote): Check and Jim (Vote): Check and Huk (Vote): Jim and Bomber (Vote): Jim and Huk (Vote): Bomber and Huk
Poll: Group D - Head
Polt and Heart (49)
47%
Polt and Major (39)
38%
Heart and Major (12)
12%
Major and Neeb (2)
2%
Polt and Neeb (1)
1%
Heart and Neeb (1)
1%
104 total votes
Your vote: Group D - Head
(Vote): Polt and Heart (Vote): Polt and Major (Vote): Polt and Neeb (Vote): Heart and Major (Vote): Heart and Neeb (Vote): Major and Neeb
Poll: Group D - Heart
Polt and Major (46)
42%
Polt and Heart (28)
25%
Polt and Neeb (14)
13%
Major and Neeb (12)
11%
Heart and Major (7)
6%
Heart and Neeb (3)
3%
110 total votes
Your vote: Group D - Heart
(Vote): Polt and Heart (Vote): Polt and Major (Vote): Polt and Neeb (Vote): Heart and Major (Vote): Heart and Neeb (Vote): Major and Neeb
On August 14 2014 11:44 xobybr wrote: when does Ro16 start? i cant find a schedule or anything anywhere
Going off of what Rotterdam said on stream, the TvT group is on September 10th and based on how they scheduled Season 2, it's fairly reasonable to assume that Group A/B is September 2/3 and Group C/D is September 9/10
On August 14 2014 11:33 The_Templar wrote: Don't forget the group of death poll! + Show Spoiler +
Poll: Group of Death?
Group B: HyuN, Jaedong, TaeJa, Pigbaby (345)
92%
Group A: viOLet, Scarlett, Iaguz, HerO (13)
3%
Group C: Check, Jim, Bomber, HuK (8)
2%
Group D: Polt, Neeb, Heart, MajOr (5)
1%
All of the groups are equally difficult. (4)
1%
375 total votes
Your vote: Group of Death?
(Vote): Group A: viOLet, Scarlett, Iaguz, HerO (Vote): Group B: HyuN, Jaedong, TaeJa, Pigbaby (Vote): Group C: Check, Jim, Bomber, HuK (Vote): Group D: Polt, Neeb, Heart, MajOr (Vote): All of the groups are equally difficult.
Taeja can make it out of that group. He's beaten JD every time they met this year and I think he has a really good record against Hyun too. It all depends on if JD or Hyun can beat Pigbaby. Anyone know how is PvZ is? I know he dropped a series against Check in the RO32
Taeja's wrists are going to be hurting after this lol
On August 14 2014 11:33 The_Templar wrote: Don't forget the group of death poll! + Show Spoiler +
Poll: Group of Death?
Group B: HyuN, Jaedong, TaeJa, Pigbaby (345)
92%
Group A: viOLet, Scarlett, Iaguz, HerO (13)
3%
Group C: Check, Jim, Bomber, HuK (8)
2%
Group D: Polt, Neeb, Heart, MajOr (5)
1%
All of the groups are equally difficult. (4)
1%
375 total votes
Your vote: Group of Death?
(Vote): Group A: viOLet, Scarlett, Iaguz, HerO (Vote): Group B: HyuN, Jaedong, TaeJa, Pigbaby (Vote): Group C: Check, Jim, Bomber, HuK (Vote): Group D: Polt, Neeb, Heart, MajOr (Vote): All of the groups are equally difficult.
How is there even any doubt?? Holy group B!
theres usually at least some kind of argument you might be able to make between different groups in a tournament round but the gap between B and the other groups makes me think the other votes literally must be either trolling/people just voting for players they like
On August 14 2014 11:33 The_Templar wrote: Don't forget the group of death poll! + Show Spoiler +
Poll: Group of Death?
Group B: HyuN, Jaedong, TaeJa, Pigbaby (345)
92%
Group A: viOLet, Scarlett, Iaguz, HerO (13)
3%
Group C: Check, Jim, Bomber, HuK (8)
2%
Group D: Polt, Neeb, Heart, MajOr (5)
1%
All of the groups are equally difficult. (4)
1%
375 total votes
Your vote: Group of Death?
(Vote): Group A: viOLet, Scarlett, Iaguz, HerO (Vote): Group B: HyuN, Jaedong, TaeJa, Pigbaby (Vote): Group C: Check, Jim, Bomber, HuK (Vote): Group D: Polt, Neeb, Heart, MajOr (Vote): All of the groups are equally difficult.
How is there even any doubt?? Holy group B!
theres usually at least some kind of argument you might be able to make between different groups in a tournament round but the gap between B and the other groups makes me think the other votes literally must be either trolling/people just voting for players they like
Or people like me who accidentally clicked on the wrong thing........
With how on point Major's TvT has been recently, I think he may be the favorite in his group. When was the last time a North American was in the quarterfinals of WCS AM?
On August 14 2014 14:25 caneras wrote: With how on point Major's TvT has been recently, I think he may be the favorite in his group. When was the last time a North American was in the quarterfinals of WCS AM?
On August 14 2014 11:31 invisigoat wrote: Holy damn group B..........it is probably better than most GSL round of 16 groups are
Ummm. No probably not.
You guys commenting about Group B vs GSL obviously haven't been keeping track of how insanely stacked GSL is this season.
As of today, the Ro16 consists of Maru, Reality, Stats, Cure, Innovation, Effort, sOs, and Soulkey, with groups consisting players like Zest, soO, Rain, TY, Parting, Flash, and Dear still left to play.
Wait till those groups are announced. the Combinations you can make with the list of qualified players is already terrifying.
So happy with this. 2 of my favourites (Scarlett and Bomber) in very doable groups, a super stacked group B and an all Terran group containing my man Polt.
On August 14 2014 22:25 sacerdose wrote: GROUP B!!!!
Can anyone tell me of a sicker ro32 or ro16 group ever in all WCS combined (GSL, NA, Europe)???
INSANE!!!!!
Flash PartinG Innovation Life when Life and PartinG were the best of their respective races in the world, Innovation was somewhere around GSL winner level, and FlaSh was making the RO16 multiple seasons in a row.
On August 14 2014 22:25 sacerdose wrote: GROUP B!!!!
Can anyone tell me of a sicker ro32 or ro16 group ever in all WCS combined (GSL, NA, Europe)???
INSANE!!!!!
Flash PartinG Innovation Life when Life and PartinG were the best of their respective races in the world, Innovation was somewhere around GSL winner level, and FlaSh was making the RO16 multiple seasons in a row.
Ouch, yeah, agreed... WCS GSL 2013 Season 1 as Darking mentioned. Yikes... However, this group (B, NA) does include 4 incontestable favorites for this tournament (i.e. Hyun, Taeja, Jaedong & Pigbaby), out of 6 or 7 of them (Polt, Bomber and Scarlett being the others IMO).
On August 14 2014 23:15 Jornada wrote: People forget when the stakes are high JD plays his best.
lol what
if that were true wouldnt he have a bunch of championships instead of second place finishes?
Thats what i mean... He will get out of this group... As far as placing 1-3 im not sure... but he will get out of the group. He always finds away to make top 5 even when odds are against him... (Last year's Blizzcon when everyone expected him to lose to first protoss he faced.)
Point is Group of Death is crazy but he makes it out to fight for championship or top 3 atleasat. Thats his MO
On August 14 2014 22:25 sacerdose wrote: GROUP B!!!!
Can anyone tell me of a sicker ro32 or ro16 group ever in all WCS combined (GSL, NA, Europe)???
Sure probably most ro32 groups in gsl are better than group b. It only looks scary in the context of wcs am/EU . Taeja is realistically the only true scary player. Jaedong is slumping. Hyun is losing to foreigners and Pigbaby has only made a name for himself in wcs NA. This is a pretty ho hum group gsl quality wise.
Okay, Group B is super sick and I can't wait to watch it. Why do these damn rounds have to be so far apart?
Also I'm glad that Scarlett will probably get out of her group (unless iaguz decides to Masa her) and that Huk has a shot too. Very imbalanced group selection but it should be entertaining.
On August 14 2014 22:25 sacerdose wrote: GROUP B!!!!
Can anyone tell me of a sicker ro32 or ro16 group ever in all WCS combined (GSL, NA, Europe)???
INSANE!!!!!
Flash PartinG Innovation Life when Life and PartinG were the best of their respective races in the world, Innovation was somewhere around GSL winner level, and FlaSh was making the RO16 multiple seasons in a row.
Ouch, yeah, agreed... WCS GSL 2013 Season 1 as Darking mentioned. Yikes... However, this group (B, NA) does include 4 incontestable favorites for this tournament (i.e. Hyun, Taeja, Jaedong & Pigbaby), out of 6 or 7 of them (Polt, Bomber and Scarlett being the others IMO).
The difference is that as good as these guys are, they are not 4 of the undisputed best in the world as was the case with GSL Group of Deaths.
I'm all for being hyped about this group, but trying to compare it to a GSL group of death is very inappropriate. It's a competitive group, but none of these guys would have good odds to even make it out of a real GSL group of death, so it's hardly comparable.
On August 14 2014 22:25 sacerdose wrote: GROUP B!!!!
Can anyone tell me of a sicker ro32 or ro16 group ever in all WCS combined (GSL, NA, Europe)???
INSANE!!!!!
Flash PartinG Innovation Life when Life and PartinG were the best of their respective races in the world, Innovation was somewhere around GSL winner level, and FlaSh was making the RO16 multiple seasons in a row.
Ouch, yeah, agreed... WCS GSL 2013 Season 1 as Darking mentioned. Yikes... However, this group (B, NA) does include 4 incontestable favorites for this tournament (i.e. Hyun, Taeja, Jaedong & Pigbaby), out of 6 or 7 of them (Polt, Bomber and Scarlett being the others IMO).
The difference is that as good as these guys are, they are not 4 of the undisputed best in the world as was the case with GSL Group of Deaths.
I'm all for being hyped about this group, but trying to compare it to a GSL group of death is very inappropriate. It's a competitive group, but none of these guys would have good odds to even make it out of a real GSL group of death, so it's hardly comparable.
Taeja definitely could be, the others I agree about.
On August 14 2014 22:25 sacerdose wrote: GROUP B!!!!
Can anyone tell me of a sicker ro32 or ro16 group ever in all WCS combined (GSL, NA, Europe)???
INSANE!!!!!
Flash PartinG Innovation Life when Life and PartinG were the best of their respective races in the world, Innovation was somewhere around GSL winner level, and FlaSh was making the RO16 multiple seasons in a row.
Ouch, yeah, agreed... WCS GSL 2013 Season 1 as Darking mentioned. Yikes... However, this group (B, NA) does include 4 incontestable favorites for this tournament (i.e. Hyun, Taeja, Jaedong & Pigbaby), out of 6 or 7 of them (Polt, Bomber and Scarlett being the others IMO).
The difference is that as good as these guys are, they are not 4 of the undisputed best in the world as was the case with GSL Group of Deaths.
I'm all for being hyped about this group, but trying to compare it to a GSL group of death is very inappropriate. It's a competitive group, but none of these guys would have good odds to even make it out of a real GSL group of death, so it's hardly comparable.
Taeja definitely could be, the others I agree about.
Right, Taeja is the clear outlier in this group. He's the only one I would give a decent chance of actually competing in the GSL against decent competition there, which is one of the reasons I do not view this group as being a true group of death.
A true group of death is one where every single player can conceivably go 4-0 or 0-4. This group is only as notable as it is because it contains 4 players that are all contenders to win WCS AM at the same time, so the context is different.
Taeja is still a clear favorite to advance out of this group, I personally consider Jaedong to be a clear underdog although I know his legion of fans will insist otherwise.
Holy shit 3 weeks until Ro16? That seems excessive. Atleast everyone will have time to practice and that means no conflicts with RBBG Detroit and IEM Toronto
On August 15 2014 10:19 rockon1215 wrote: Holy shit 3 weeks until Ro16? That seems excessive. Atleast everyone will have time to practice and that means no conflicts with RBBG Detroit and IEM Toronto
Probably a matter of resource scarcity. The ESL can't simply bring a production crew wherever there might be a call for one, and with how far ahead of Europe they are already, they can afford to take some time off.
On August 15 2014 10:19 rockon1215 wrote: Holy shit 3 weeks until Ro16? That seems excessive. Atleast everyone will have time to practice and that means no conflicts with RBBG Detroit and IEM Toronto
I can't wait either but I think the added practice time will result in better matches overall.
I think group D is underratedly tough... Neeb had a very close series with Polt recently, so if he's that even with Polt then I'd imagine the entire group is going to go down to the wire. (If it's obvious Neeb is on Polt level TvT then sorry, I just hadn't seen him play until recently)
On August 16 2014 12:09 Liquid`Jinro wrote: I think group D is underratedly tough... Neeb had a very close series with Polt recently, so if he's that even with Polt then I'd imagine the entire group is going to go down to the wire. (If it's obvious Neeb is on Polt level TvT then sorry, I just hadn't seen him play until recently)
Polt's TvT has been really underwhelming recently with four consecutive series losses, and getting stomped by MajOr twice. With Heart's TvT being far weaker than his world class TvZ, MajOr is in my opinion the favourite in the group despite his defeat at Bomber's hand. Neeb also has a stronger TvT than the stats show, so I agree that any result out of this group wouldn't be particularly surprising. I wouldn't call it the group of death though, because despite all the players being fairly evenly matched in the match-up, I wouldn't consider any of their TvTs exceptional.
It seems Bomber is the only one who have almost 100% chance to get to the ro8. The rest are.. quite even. It's kind of funny that terran players complained a lot just several months ago about balance and now there are 7 terrans on ro16 lol. Is there any buff released for terran that I unaware of?
For "the group of death", I imagine Taeja and Hyun will seek for revenge if they can meet Pigbaby, while JD.. I'd love to see him in ro8, but it seems the chances are quite slim for him now.
If I have to pick: A: Violet and Scarlet B: Taeja and Hyun C: Bomber and Jim D: Polt and Major
btw, 3 Terrans guaranteed on ro8, or 4 if you believe Taeja will come out
Somehow I'm just now seeing this. Dang that sucks that Group B has arguably four of the best players in the Ro 16... Jaedong's luck continues to suck. And an all T group is kind of wack. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
EPT
Bomber and ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/lichter/WCSAM/2014/season3/wcsampremgrph.jpg)
Slam showcased some phenomenal late game ZvP and expert spell casting.![[image loading]](/staff/lichter/WCSAM/2014/season3/ro16.jpg)
Jim, 
4
5
7
