WCS Season One
Challenger League

qxc vs Kane
puCK vs Guitarcheese
Polt vs Semper
Scarlett vs Astrea

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

Friday, Jan 23 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

qxc vs Kane

A few months ago, qxc said that, if he didn't improve, he'd end up retiring by mid-Janurary. Since then, he's had solid runs at both HomeStory Cup and IEM San Jose (beating viOLet, almost beating Scarlett, and beating the french enigma Lilbow) while also qualifying for WCS quite quickly. However, surely, this match with Kane will be the true test of his abilities. While he's improved a lot against both viOLet and Scarlett, Kane has been a recurring nemesis of his throughout HotS. Holding an all-time record of 0-5 against the Canadian terror—including an 0-2 loss in the OSC Global All-Stars event a week ago—it's no doubt that he has a mountain to climb here. Yet, it's qxc. The man has been around since the dawn of Starcraft2, one of the oldest NA players still competing at the highest levels (at least, the highest levels that NA allows). This is the man who all-killed IM in GSTL, likely the strongest all-kill ever achieved by a foreigner. Therefore, it wouldn't be wise to count him out so easily.

It's obvious that Kane lacks qxc's veteran status, having recorded his first professional games in early 2012 and not becoming an actual threat until almost a year after. But what Kane has over qxc lies in potential. qxc rarely suffers an upset, yet very rarely transcends his skill level at the same time. With Kane, it seems like he's a lot more inconsistent, which is both good and bad. The strength of his inconsistency was shown in his victory against Polt in the qualifiers, which makes it easy to forget that he lost in the previous qualifier to the small-named protoss Azreal. It's what made his success begin in 2013—when he won ShoutCraft America—and it's what kept him from WCS Europe in the same year as he collected losses to nonames Alai and syruisZ. Kane is a player with more potential than seemingly anyone else in the NA scene, Scarlett not included, yet realizing that potential has been a problem for him. WCS is a chance to truly prove himself as something more than 'one of the best players in Canada', and with Scarlett departing the scene sometime soon, the throne of the best Canadian player seems to be as open as ever.

Overall, both of these players are in the mid-high range of the NA scene, and both have had strong-but-not-great performances through HotS. While the head-to-head deems Kane as the favorite, I'm willing to say that qxc's drive to succeed (amplified by the fact that this match is very do-or-die for him) will make this a thrilling match to see pan out, no matter who comes out victorious. Keep an eye on these two (that is, if qxc doesn't retire). They might just surprise you.

Prediction: Kane 3 - 2 qxc

puCK vs Guitarcheese

For many progamers, a defining tournament rarely exists because there is only one winner and a cast of also-rans. Only the winner writes his name in the history books, and everyone else is forgotten. Rarely do losers get a heroic tale, much less for last place finishers. But when Red Bull experimented with a strange elimination format in 2014, that's exactly what happened at Red Bull North America. puCK was the first player to be eliminated, but his record of 3-3 was tied for second best in the tournament. He defeated Scarlett, viOLet and MajOr, but lost to viOLet, HuK and Polt. It was an impressive day for the American even though he was ousted on the first day, and he didn't look out of place against the strongest the continent had to offer. Coupled with his 4th place finish in WEC and 5 straight Premier League appearances, puCK is slowly becoming one of the better protoss in North America.

Against zergs, puCK prefers an army composition based on stalkers, sentries and immortals. He doesn't always use it to pressure, however, as he sometimes utilizes this build to take a third base safely. His transition from there is largely dependent on what the zerg chooses to build, if puCK gives him any time to choose his own tech path. PvZ was in fact puCK's best matchup until the middle of 2014 (when he had a surprisingly high 1750 rating on aligulac in the matchup), but his results have been on a slide since that peak.

That bodes well for his opponent Guitarcheese, owner of the oddest name on NA. Apparently, he's also one of the few pros still practicing heavily on the NA ladder, but what that means is up to you. He lives up to his name by playing a very wonky style of cheese and macro, alternating with ease and unpredictability. Another surprise is his utterly ridiculous 77% winrate in ZvP, which is unheard of even at the highest level. While his results page on aligulac is littered with amateurs and semi pros like Eradin, Ninja, perfect, Philln12, and others, it's still an impressive statistic that's inflated by the lack of big tournaments. He did reach Premier League in S3, but it was a quick exit in the Ro32 after upsetting Alicia in the losers' match. He's already proven that he can keep up with the best his continent has to offer, and his opponent is exactly the kind of player he needs to unseat to prove that he is worthy of a place in WCS.

The match will likely hinge on Guitarcheese's choice of builds. He isn't afraid of doing proxy hatcheries or early all-ins, and puCK needs to be prepared to respond to nonstandard play. They actually met during the qualifiers of WCS AM, and puCK took it 2-1. Expect a repeat of that close series.

Prediction: puCK 3 - 2 Guitarcheese

Polt vs Semper

The soO syndrome is a very strange phenomenon indeed. Victory in the four premier tournament finals he attended would have cemented his 2014 as the finest career year of Starcraft 2 yet recorded. However, failure has left him unfairly maligned as a Kong: a player who lacks the clutch instincts to come through when the pressure’s on. Starcraft 2 is a game of absolutes. You are a winner, or you are not. You are a champion, or you are not. Comparatively, Polt’s 2014 has run a little under the radar. Perhaps it’s because he did eventually pick up a championship at Red Bull Battlegrounds: Detroit. But 3 second places and 3 exits at the semifinal stage point again to the same dilemma.

Polt will be out to add to his stash of trophies in 2015, and Challenger will be as good a place to start as ever for him. In WCS, Captain America is nothing if not consistent. Since losses to aLive and Ryung in Season 1 of WCS 2013, he has not failed to reach the playoffs. Questions may remain concerning his performances in the final stretch, but his record of progressing in the early rounds of tournaments is impeccable. Polt is a terran who typically picks one build and runs with it for months. Up against an unknown quantity in Semper, it’s highly unlikely that he will deviate from that plan, and he will be hoping to kick off 2015 with perfunctory progress in his home away from home.

One of the most eyeraising aspects of this season of WCS is that all Premier League seeds were reset. The stakes in the qualifiers were raised, and fresh blood pushed its way through. One of those new to WCS is the Canadian terran Semper. Like Polt, Semper is a full time student, and it’s impressive to see him make it through to Challenger. His match against RotterdaM in the qualifiers was one of the highlights of the whole round, and well worth checking out for a fresh take on what constitutes protoss cheese. However, it has to be mentioned that his qualifier run was one of the easier ones available. We’re yet to see him play against anyone who has previously appeared in Premier League, so unfortunately his baptism of fire here is unlikely to end well.

Prediction: Polt 3 – 0 Semper

Scarlett vs Astrea

If this is Scarlett's farewell tour (at least until LotV), then there's no better place to start than with Astrea. While the Canadian zerg contemplated retirement or one last shot at the WCS title, she made her first qualifier run in the 2nd tournament, and she fell to the ROOT protoss 1-2 in a surprise upset. When she failed to participate in qualifier 3, the entire foreign scene was abuzz with nervousness. Was that it? Was she throwing in the towel? Was she giving up so soon?

Turns out she wasn't, and it took an 8 hr binge of Dota2 to make her vulnerable to other NA pros. She breezed through qualifier 4 with 1 loss, and her fans breathed a sigh of relief. At the very least, we'd see Scarlett in Challenger League one more time. After her quarter final run in Season 3 last year, it finally appeared like Scarlett had found the consistency to beat the best Koreans in the region—except Heart, the TvZ monster. But a compounding mix of wrist issues and flagging passion (or, perhaps, a sudden spark for another game) has apparently sapped her of the magic that made her one of the best foreign players of all time. In her SSL Challenger match against TY, she looked visibly out of sorts and unable to handle TY's pressure builds. Only an all-in managed to win her a game, and she went home from Korea disappointed.

It's difficult to say just how Scarlett will manage her Challenger match. While the rest of the field are practicing madly to make Premier League, we don't quite know what Scarlett's practice regimen is right now. As interesting a player as Astrea may be—and he proved that he could match up with the best of NA in his qualifying run—all eyes will be on Scarlett, and rightfully so. Will she be prepared? Will she play with the same verve and vigor? Or will this be the last time we see her?

One thing is for certain—or at least, there is one thing we would all like to believe—: this will not be her eulogy.

Prediction: Scarlett 3 - 1 Astrea

Writers: lichter, Soularion, munch.
Editors: lichter.
Graphics: v1.