WCS Season 3
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America • Europe

Wednesday, Sep 17 10:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
by Trasko

TaeJa, Jaedong, HyuN, Pigbaby

The 45th Anniversary

The Beatles were a group of individuals who revolutionized the music industry, playing shows in front of sold out stadiums all around the world. The individual members of The Beatles were all unique characters yet somehow they were able to come together and create fantastic music. Today we're going to reflect them in the players of today's StarCraft 2 group.

All of the players in group B, just like The Beatles, have attained their own unique characteristics as they all have different backgrounds, are of different ages and have accomplished different things. Despite their differences they all have one thing in common; their ability to leave a mark on the scene. Let's take a look at how these StarCraft 2 players capture the essence of what once was The Beatles and draw some parallels.

John Lennon - Taeja

John Lennon, the frontman of the band, was the most outspoken of them all. He was never afraid to speak his mind; something Taeja's bound to appreciate as he too tends to be straight forward with his thoughts on the game. John expressed his rebellious views through his music and stood out as one of the most prime ideologists of his time. As an eleven time premier tournament champion, Taeja has become a frontman and role model in StarCraft 2. Even when terran was at its weakest earlier this year, Taeja won tournaments left and right, always putting up a fight against opponents considered superior. Another similarity to be identified would be that Lennon left the Beatles when they were at their prime just as Taeja may do as he has hinted at his retirement for a while now.



If these rumors of his imminent retirement end up becoming reality, one thing is for sure; Taeja will undoubtedly leave behind an immense legacy. The only thing missing on his resume would be a WCS and Blizzcon victory. Considering this is the last season of the year, this will most likely be Taeja's last shot. The last song The Beatles recorded prior their disbandment was called "The End". Taeja too will want to leave something as precious behind before exiting the scene. Wouldn't winning a WCS or even Blizzcon be the perfect end? As for his chances in this group; there's little to suggest he won't be making it out - he is one of StarCraft 2's best players after all.


Paul McCartney - Jaedong

Fan girls always insisted that Paul was the 'cutest' Beatle. He was also known as being extremely optimistic, light-hearted and gifted; something that could be heard in a lot the songs he wrote. But what makes Jaedong and McCartney so alike is their shared passion towards what they do. No matter what happens, the music will always live on within McCartney, despite his lackluster modern 'hits'. The same goes for Jaedong. No matter how many games Jaedong may lose, he will always continue practicing for the next opportunity. Whenever Jaedong loses in a tournament, he is always quick to Twitter, apologizing to his fans and assuring them that he will do better at the next event. A song that comes to mind that can be interpreted in such a way to reflect Jaedong's current place in the StarCraft 2 scene would be 'Blackbird'.


"Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise."

Jaedong has pretty much locked down his ticket to Blizzcon as the probability of him advancing lies at ~97.65%. This does not mean that Jaedong will give up on his quest for a WCS title however, so expect him to show up with his A-game. Jaedong has been waiting for his moment to arise in StarCraft 2 for a very long time and perhaps this season finally features the emergence of the Tyrant 2.0?


George Harrison - Pigbaby

Harrison was always the oddball among the four. He was always very humble and not very outspoken, contrary to John Lennon. He only spoke when something needed to be said; something that can also be seen in Pigbaby. In WCS America last season we saw him rise to fame as the dark horse and royal roader. Now he is back; in it to win it and still teamless. After The Beatles disbanded, George Harrison went on with his career as a solo artist and found some success in touring around the world. Pigbaby has yet to travel to tournaments outside of WCS but perhaps if he performs as well as he did last season it will only be a question of time before a team picks him up. With a team comes the opportunity to travel to events and since this is something that Pigbaby has missed out on, it's very unlikely that we'll see him at Blizzcon unless he moves on from today's group.



Pigbaby is the only player in this group who was fairly hard to draw parallels with as his career has been rather short and due to the fact that he has only had one big tournament run. Prior to his WCS championship he had only a few mediocre appearances in Proleague under his belt and only made it into Code S once. Most recently he showed a somewhat lackluster performance during the 2014 Kespa Cup, falling 0-3 to Zest in the first round, raising questions about how well he can do in this group as his opponents are of all of high caliber.

Ringo Starr - Hyun

This was probably the easiest one to place as Ringo and Hyun have a lot in common. They both have the 'joker'-type of personality and they're never afraid to put on an show full of entertainment. Ringo was known as someone who was very light-hearted, funny and sweet as well as the heartbeat and soul of the band. Hyun has showed over and over that he's not only at tournaments to win but also there to have fun and to entertain. A prime example of this was IEM New York last year where dressed up as Spiderman in spirit of the Comic Con convention.



Hyun has also as of late been known as the heart and soul of weekend tournaments in StarCraft 2, participating in most of the 2014 premier tournaments; successively earning him the number on spot in WCS Points. His current form is more or less the same as it has always been and it will be a treat to see him play in an offline setting once again, especially when it's against opponents of this caliber.

Overall thoughts:
This group has the potential of being a semi-finals at any premier tournament and yet here we are today with only two of these four players advancing on to the quarterfinals. As this is the last season for Koreans to easily partake in WCS AM, this might be the last chance for some of them to grab the WCS AM championship before our real American players start singing "Get back, get back, get back to where you once belong!". Despite Taeja being relatively mediocre in WCS, he has never looked better overall and his reign will most likely continue until the day he retires. Jaedong comes into this still riding his high horse after having won his first premier tournament in China last weekend and as long as he doesn't fumble against Pigbaby, he should be ok. Pigbaby may be the one who can stop Jaedong as ZvP is not his forte. Hyun has also been playing great as of recent, so it would not be a surprise if he advanced over Jaedong. However, my bias prevails.

To end this article I will dedicate a Beatles song to each player. Interpret them as you will!

TaeJa - "Hello, Goodbye"
Jaedong - "Don't Let Me Down"
HyuN - "Magical Mystery Tour"
Pigbaby - "I Am The Walrus"

Taeja > Jaedong
Hyun > Pigbaby
Jaedong > PigBaby
Taeja > Hyun
Jaedong > Hyun

TaeJa and Jaedong advance to the quarter finals.

Writer: Trasko
Editor: DarkLordOlli
Graphics: Meru.