WCS Season One
Premier League

WCS Ro32 Group A
XiGua, Astrea, uThermal, Snute

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

Saturday, Feb 14 11:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)


We watched the qualifiers as well as Challenger League with much anticipation. There, the best of each region competed to finally reach a global league with representatives from every corner of the world. No longer will we have a scene separated by continent; every foreigner will have an opportunity to take home a singular WCS trophy. While there are still Koreans—4, in fact—in Premier League, Group A represents the first all foreigner group in the Round of 32.

Undoubtedly the most popular member of the group is Team Liquid's own Snute. Even though the Norse demigod had a good year in 2014—2nd at WEC, Ro4 at DH: Moscow, several Ro8s—absolute victory eluded him on the biggest stages. However, the biggest knock on his pedigree has been his inability to surmount the throngs of Europeans in WCS in order to defend the continent from its invaders. His placements in SC2's premier tournament circuit plunged from Ro8, to Ro16, to Ro32, and it will continue to be the asterisk beside any assertion that he is the best foreigner currently playing the game.

The new WCS system will be his opportunity to change that. His 74.32% winrate against non-Koreans is striking, and should he perform up to this lofty standard there should be little standing in his way towards the playoffs. Of course, that's what we repeatedly said last year before he lost to Harstem and Miniraser in Seasons 2 and 3 to be knocked out early. But form is a powerful thing, and Snute is currently on a 13 series unbeaten run against foreigners, with a match score of 31-1 during that time. Certainly an incredible streak, but Mr Swarm Host still has something to prove in WCS, and he must dispel any inkling of overconfidence that he might feel.

His greatest threat will likely be XiGua. The Chinese zerg has been around forever—even when Starcraft 2 had yet to be released in China—and he dominated their scene in 2011 with 5 major wins. Since then he has become one of the staple Chinese players in WCS AM, though his reign atop the Chinese scene has now been usurped by Jim (and arguably others, like MacSed or TooDming). The 28 year old "Chicken Buster" remains a strong contender as his nickname implies, but it also appears to be a limitation. His Chinese nickname is an idiom for someone who "never loses to someone he shouldn't lose to". XiGua eats underperforming or unknown players like "chicken" for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but he has also been unable to beat the cream of the crop. The Watermelon Zerg has repeatedly choked on the Korean Corn Cob, but that won't be a problem for now.

While Astrea should be one of his chickens, uThermal will present more of a problem. One of XiGua's most memorable games last year was his collapse against Heart, where he failed to transition from muta ling bling and was outmatched by Heart's micro. That hardheadedness is often his downfall, and he must remain open minded in his approach in a potential match against uThermal. He has lost just about every ZvT he has played against non-chickens, and the Dutch Terran should prove difficult to chew.

In order to advance to his first Ro16, uThermal will likely have to get the best of at least one zerg. It remains his worst matchup statistically at 58%, but his matches against DongRaeGu (1-3), TerrOr (2-1) and Solar (1-2) recently showed that he is competent albeit unspectacular. He mopped up Bly in Challenger League in order to make it this far, and he defeated four other zergs in the qualifiers. After cleaning up in online tournaments throughout 2014, it's now uThermal's chance to become one of Europe's terran hopes. Fortunately, there aren't any terrans in Group A, the matchup he insists is his worst..

As for Astrea, there's really not much to say. He defeated a Scarlett that had rarely practiced, once in the qualifiers and again in Challenger League, but the games did not look pretty. It appeared that it was Scarlett conceding into retirement rather than Astrea making a statement of intent. Their game on Deadwing was particularly difficult to watch, as both players looked bent on throwing away the game. Fortunately for the young protoss, all it takes is one good outing to change everyone's perception of his play. There's a good chance that nerves and inexperience played a role in his poor series against the retired Canadian, and he's being tossed from the waffle iron and into the oven that is Premier League. And there's no better place to change our minds.

Overall Predictions:

Let's get one thing straight: Snute is the favorite. Yet that seems to be a burden more than a blessing for him, as he continues to impress more in tournaments he can't win (by defeating Koreans) than in tournaments that he should (by losing to foreigners). He's basically a reverse XiGua, and the two players will likely meet one way or the other. uThermal will be the difference maker in Group A, and his TvZ will be put to the test. As for the youngster Astrea, he'll need a few more seasons before we can really write anything about him.

XiGua > Astrea
uThermal < Snute
XiGua < Snute
Astrea < uThermal
XiGua < uThermal

Snute and uThermal to advance.

Writers: lichter.
Editors: lichter.
Graphics: v1.