EPTWCS EU Ro32 - Group A Preview
Countdown:
It’s here! WCS EU is finally kicking off its section of Premier League, bringing the road to Blizzcon even closer to its end. 32 final players will duke it out in the last regular season for this year’s WCS.
mYi.StarDustKicking off the day is mYi’s Stardust. The cheery Korean protoss has grown to be one of the most respected players in Europe, building on top of his already strong 2013. Having won the previous season of WCS, Stardust comes into this one with higher expectations than ever before. The year thus far has been a bit of a pendulum for him. After starting off the year with a Ro4 appearance at ROG Winter, the Korean found himself eliminated in the first round of IEM Cologne. Since then, he’s gone from the peak of 1st place in WCS S2 to a Ro32 exit at DH Summer. With his most recent finish being a Ro4 finish at Valencia, will Stardust swing back to the middle of the pack, or will he stick to his guns and finish this season strongly?
In terms of playstyle, Stardust is an incredibly well rounded protoss. With solid macro builds of all styles (zealot/archon, colossus and templar based styles, as well as skytoss), the former ACE player is able to dominate the mid and lategame with his excellent control. However, players shouldn’t feel comfortable about sitting back and macroing blindly. For the first year and a half of his career, Stardust was cheekily named “Cheesedust” and oh did he earn that title. With a deep pocket of cheeses and aggressive plays, Stardust can disrupt any player's momentum in a series. This makes Stardust an incredibly unpredictable opponent to play against.
Fnatic.MiniraserSquaring off against him is Fnatic.Miniraser. The Swedish zerg has been slowly making better and better runs in tournaments since mid 2012, his time on Team Property. Initially making a name for himself in online cups and weeklies, Mini has almost always been an online player. His most recent LAN performance was MLG Anaheim, where he went 1-6 in his pool, taking only a single set off MajOr. Thankfully for the young Swede, he was able to take a decisive 3-1 victory over DeMuslim in his Challenger League match. Miniraser has never been able to crack the Ro16 in any major event but WCS already fulfilled many dreams. Will Mini’s be next?
The Swede’s gameplay is marked mostly by heavy aggression. With a penchant for early attacks, Mini balances strong micro with solid macro back at home. Often opening with some sort of pressure, Mini aims to get his opponent on the back foot in most matches. In the mid and late game, the Fnatic zerg focuses mostly on getting good trades in engagements. If all else fails, much like his opponent, Miniraser is never afraid to all-in. With a variety of cheesy zerg builds, mostly focusing on early roach play, Mini can easily take down an unexpecting opponent.
Liquid'SnuteThe foreign hope. Liquid's Snute is one of the best foreigners to ever touch the game of StarCraft II. Relentlessly competitive, Snute is always aiming to step up his game. After winning HSC VI, Snute has been seeking to take the gold at a major once again. Snute’s story so often seems to be one of “close, but no cigar”. Always showing incredible skill, the Norwegian only seems to be able to channel the magic at the TakeTV studios (1st place HSC VI, 2nd place HSC VII, 1st place SSC, 1st place Ultra Inv). Recently, however, things are looking up for the Liquid zerg. After an amazing run through all of the lower bracket at the IEM Shenzen qualifiers, Snute went on to be placed in the group of death for the event and was immediately written off by most. He did get through the group and moved on to the Ro8, where he narrowly lost 2-3 against Jaedong. Will this event fare better for the Norwegian?
Snute’s playstyle is usually all over the place. Roach maxes, early mutas, ling/baneling, roach/hydra/viper, are all viable for Snute. However, in ZvP, only one strat matters. The dreaded swarm host. Snute has been one of the pioneers and champions of the turtley style. Snute’s variation of the strategy usually involves large amounts of static defense used offensively, as well as occasional Brood Lord integration. Constant repositioning of his swarm hosts ensures that his opponent is never able to find an optimal angle to engage. Snute dictates the pace of the game, slowly chipping away at the protoss until they inevitably die.
AI.PatienceAI.Patience is a player who’s seeing the best Starcraft of his life. Originally a member of Prime, Patience never made much of a splash in the Korean scene. Failing to qualify for Code S, Patience was a relatively unknown B-teamer before he was picked up by Azubu. There, he probably wished that he was still unknown, as he accumulated an overall record of 3-8 in GSTL Season 2. Patience finally had his breakout event at Dreamhack Winter 2013, where he convincingly took third place, finally falling to Life in a tough 1-3 match after battling through a gruesome Losers' Bracket. Since then, the Korean protoss has taken residence in Germany, and has slowly worked his way into larger tournaments, making decent runs at several events.
Patience’s style is largely mid and late game focused. While often aiming for a Skytoss composition as his final go-to, he enjoys micro heavy armies, allowing him to take favorable trades. Barring that, Patience will play the reliable standard of double forge/colossús to take midgame engagements, once again relying on his micro to take down his opponents. Though he doesn’t cheese with great frequency, it’s not entirely unheard of. Patience’s ability to cleanly engage with a small group of units shows just how dangerous a player he has the potential to be.
Predictions:
Stardust 2-0 Miniraser
Snute 2-1 Patience
Snute 2-1 Stardust
Patience 2-0 Mini
Stardust 2-1 Patience
Snute and Stardust advance.
