EPTWCS EU Ro32 - Group B Preview
Countdown:
Last night's group saw Miniraiser pull off a surprising upset by advancing first in group A, while fan favorite Snute dropped out of Premier League in third place. Group B will feature another strong Korean menace taking on three foreigners who are all fan favorites for different reasons. Bunny is riding high after a win at Gfinity G3, ToD is loved both for his casting and playing ability, and MorroW the infested Terran will always have his fan following from the early days of Starcraft II.
Unfortunately for these three brave foreigners,
San is the fourth and final member of Group B. San has been one of the most solid and consistent Protoss players outside of Korea since joining Yoe Flash Wolves and beginning to play in WCS Europe. This year, he has fallen just short of claiming a championship in WCS EU, having lost to MMA in the semifinals in Season 1 and StarDust in the finals of Season 2. It's oddly reminiscent of MC, who lost in two finals before claiming his first WCS EU title at the beginning of the year. There can be no doubt that San is one of the most fearsome players in the region and is a favorite in WCS EU. Recently in the Dragon Invitational, San showed stellar PvP and PvT with 2-0 wins over Jjakji, Seed, and Center. In the finals, San looked hard pressed but still managed to win an exciting PvT series against aLive 3-2. With scores like these, San looks like the heavy favorite in this group as well with two potential PvT's against Bunny and Morrow and a potential PvP against ToD. Bunny is certainly on the rise, but San is without a doubt the favorite to win this group. San's first opponent is the Swedish Terran
prop.MorroW. Not many people remember that MorroW is actually an IEM champion from back in 2010, and was the runner up at Assembly Winter 2011. Alas, it has been a long time since the infested terran has had success like that, and this group will be a tough one for him to get back to his winning ways. This is the first season ever that MorroW has made Premier League, and he did it by pulling a surprising upset over the greatest Starcraft II player of all time. A 3-2 victory over Mvp in Challenger League is impressive no doubt, but how much faith can we put in MorroW based off of just that? I can't see MorroW putting up much of a challenge for San, and after that it will be a tough road to make it out of the group.Over the past several weeks,
Liquid`Bunny has been making a serious name for himself and has placed himself in the running for the ever changing, "Best Foreigner" title. He has outperformed his teammate Snute recently and has looked world class especially in TvZ. Just recently he has: 3-2'd the Dreamhack Champion Sacsri in Challenger League, won the WEC European Qualifier, gotten second at the PughCraft Invitational with victories over Armani and Cure, and most importantly, won the Gfinity G3 tournament by defeating Hyun in the finals. Bunny is riding a massive wave of hype and momentum, and he looks to be the likely second place finisher in this group. His TvZ has been the receiving much of the accolades as he had to beat three straight to win his title, but he won't be able to use it as a crutch tonight. He did beat StarDust in the first group stage of that tournament, but his record in the matchup is spotty. It could cause him some problems tonight, but if he can figure out a way to translate his frenetic and high octane TvZ offense to TvP, we could be in store for something special.Finally we have the lovable French caster/player
XMG.ToD. The fact that ToD has managed to keep himself in Premier League while traveling all over the wold to cast tournaments is extremely impressive. The question is, will ToD be able to replicate his Ro16 performance last season or will he be unable to keep up? Oddly enough his Ro32 group in Season 2 also included San and two Terrans, and ToD managed to defeat his two Terran opponents and advance in second place. ToD may not be the favorite in this group, but still has the potential to pull upsets and surprise us all once again by making it to the next round.Overall thoughts and Prediction:
On paper this group seems pretty cut and dry, and that's what I'm going with. San is the runner up from last season, and it's difficult to imagine him getting anything other than first. However, Bunny has been on a big upswing recently, capped off by his win at Gfinity G3. It was a major turning point in the year as it became just the second time (if we count Sen's ECL title) a foreigner won a Major tournament. That makes the Liquid Terran a good bet to make it out of this group in second. MorroW did upset Mvp in Challenger League for a worthy place in Premier, but I don't expect him to continue making miracles. Lastly, Le ToD gets to cast the Ro16. It's a win/win.
San > MorroW
ToD < Bunny
MorroW < ToD
San > Bunny
ToD < Bunny
San and Bunny advance.
