WCS Season Two
Challenger League

The New World Order
What's new in Challenger?

Day 2 Preview: NA
Who rises, who falls?

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

by Shtanjel

The new WCS system, set in place for 2015, has changed the way players are seeded into the Premier League and how Challenger League operates. Contrary to 2014 rules, where the top 8 players from previous season retained their Premier League spots, only the champion is directly seeded. Other 31 competitors have to face off in the Challenger League against the players from regional qualifiers. Premier League players have the advantage of deciding which player they want to battle for a Premier League spot. Due to this new twist, we may see some hot showdowns be called out and, possibly, some new rivalries emerge.

by XXTN, lichter, munch and Destructicon

viOLet vs qxc

At one point, it seemed that viOLet’s career in Starcraft might be over. Forced to forfeit from all three seasons of WCS in 2013 by his interminable visa issues, he was limited to a handful of appearances at weekend tournaments. He had fallen from being one of the most promising Zergs touring the foreign circuit to a faded memory. Then, suddenly, the US Government threw him a bone. In a broader aspect, his US visa may yet prove to be a landmark case for aspiring progamers; for viOLet though, it was a crucial lifeline.

Though he may have failed his first test, falling out of Challenger at the first time of asking, he hasn’t looked back since. His hat-trick of top four placements at MLG and Red Bull last summer was a glorious reminder of the weekend warrior of old. On the WCS front, however, things weren’t quite as rosy. While two exits at the quarterfinal and round of 16 stages respectively aren’t terrible results, neither are they indicative of the old dominance he used to wield. More damningly, his results in a weaker field of competitors in 2015 have been even worse. After all that effort to kickstart his American dream, viOLet has to start delivering.

Much like viOLet, qxc has been in a limbo of sorts for a while. After seemingly running out of ideas in the game, he stated towards the end of 2014 that he would retire early in 2015 if results did not improve. Well, Season 1 has come and gone, and the American Terran is still hanging on doggedly. For all his ventures into casting and board games. a five year dream is hard to abandon. qxc’s main issue that’s troubled him throughout his career is consistency. Anyone with the ability to pull off that all-kill can hardly be doubted for skill; it’s maintaining that level throughout a tournament run that’s proved vexing. Luckily for our bandanna-clad hero, Challenger this season is a straight BO5 shootout for a place in the spotlight at the ESL studios. Time and time again he’s fallen down; time and time again he’s learnt to pick himself up. He’ll want to show that he’s still got some magic in the tank following his failure at this stage last season.

Prediction:
Despite qxc’s history of brilliance at the most unexpected of times, it’s very difficult to look past viOLet here. The Korean is an aggressive Zerg player, historically favouring the hydralisk-roach composition that’s been resorted to by many since Swarmhost Extinction Day, so it’s unlikely that he’ll be too troubled in the new meta. qxc was easily dealt with last season by Kane in a quick 3-0, and unless he’s fixed his TvZ issues, it’s going to be another Korean who rumbles on.

viOLet 3 – 1 qxc

puCK vs Xenocider

WCS Season 1 was the acid test to finally see where foreigners ranked against each other. Never had we seen a tournament where all the world's best foreigners participated, and it was a great opportunity to separate the foreign hopes from the foreign fillers. It proved to be a harsh Ro32, as many fan favorites fell at the first hurdle, puCK among them. The American protoss may have earned his 5th straight Premier League appearance, but it ended in anonymity just like all the others. Not even puCK's favored matchup of PvZ could get him past the Ro32. Though he was able to beat the Taiwanese legend Sen, FireCake manhandled him twice to escape at his expense.

Now, he won't be able to rely on his strengths and must prove he's worked on his weakness. with a PvT winrate of 46.41%, it was rather strange to see puCK choose a terran. This may have been his choice, but it may come back to haunt him. While his ability to think on the fly and come up with unconventional attacks has served him well in PvZ, that same knack seems to backfire for him in PvT. He isn't quite as comfortable playing late in the matchup, and his defense of drops and harassment has often been his downfall. Even though he has time to clean up his act in time for his Challenger League match, it's unlikely to suddenly become a point of strength after such a long struggle. A victory against his opponent would go a long way towards showing he's no PvT dunce, but another loss will make him regret this decision.

Xenocider on the other hand should be looking forward to this Bo5. The EG player is probably the only major tournament winner (IESF 2013) to have never made a premier league appearance, but it's not like he has done much aside from his one unlikely win to suggest he belongs in the upper echelon of WCS. But that's the great thing about the new format; no one really knows how all the best foreigners stack up against each other, and this is everyone's opportunity to suddenly reach for the top. We've seen many new faces in Challenger League, and even some surprising new players in Premier, and Xenocider must be chomping at the bit to make his debut.

Just like many Challenger League staples, the EG Terran can beat the lower rungs of players with ease. Yet whenever he's had to face players of WCS-quality, he has either struggled or scraped by. His 57.29% record in TvP may appear impressive, but many of his matches against important players (HuK, Harstem, puCK, Arthur, etc) have ended in defeat. On a good day, Xenocider can play like a mini-Polt with drops and maurauders everywhere. On most days, however, he plays like all the other North American terrans trying to copy Captain America. He will have to channel the Season 1 winner if he wants to finally reach the main event of WCS.

puCK and Xenocider are basically dead even against each other. History suggests that this is going to be close, but there are can be no draws in Challenger League. Xenocider was unfortunate to run into viOLet in Challenger League last time, but he'll prefer his chances against puCK.

Prediction
puCK 2 - 3 Xenocider

Astrea vs MaSa

Despite starting from very humble beginnings, MaSa has slowly but steadily made a name for himself on the NA server, despite not making it very deep in WCS he still managed to a qualify for two WCS NA's last year and made a 3rd appearance in Challenger. He also managed to qualify for IEM Toronto, defeating his much more notable compatriots like Scarlett and Kane. With Scarlett taking a break from SC2 and and HuK declining, it's been MaSa and Kane that have had to pick up the slack on the international scale. So far Kane has been more successful, reaching the RO8 of last season's WCS. However one can't fault MaSa for not succeeding as he was matched up against Hydra in challenger league. Still MaSa did salvage some honor by at least taking one map off Hydra and he has shown that in online settings he is more than capable of taking down Koreans like Violet or Arthur and consistently defeating his NA peers. This season MaSa's luck has changed as he got a far easier opponent in Astrea. Given MaSa's dominance of the local scene he should be feeling happy about this draw and should make full use of it by hopefully not dying to some early cheeses.

It's hard to say what form Astrea is in. His history has been that of the regular NA ladder toss, participating in a lot online cups and occasionally upsetting a bigger name player via some sort of weird cheese. His latest victim has been none other than Scarlett in last season's Challenger. Overall however his games didn't look very impressive and his win looked like it came more from Scarlett's lack of practice rather than his own cunning. In the WCS RO32 he was quickly dismantled and destroyed 2-1 and 2-0 by XiGua and uThermal. Ever since he has not played in any online cups or qualifiers. Now, even with practice he wasn't very consistent at taking out European players or Koreans, and he only sporadically defeated the best of NA, now he seems even less likely to win a BO5 against a much more experienced player.

Prediction
MaSa 3-1 Astrea

Suppy vs Jaedong

Team kills oftentimes make for the most dramatic storylines and entertaining games in Starcraft 2. Mind games and emotions surface as players must place their careers ahead of feelings for their teammates. These factors will come into play in tonight’s final Challenger match between Evil Geniuses’ Suppy and Jaedong. On one hand, you have Conan Liu, a college student living his dreams of being a progamer. On the other hand, you have Lee Jaedong, a global Starcraft icon and a legend of the game. This is a battle between two of the most lovable characters in the SC2 community, but sadly only one can advance to Premier League.

A University of California, Berkeley student and part-time progamer, EG.Suppy is considered by many to be the underdog in this Challenger match. While there is no doubt that Jaedong far surpasses Suppy in both experience and achievements, this series is by no means a walkover. Juggling school work and SC2 for a few years now, Suppy has been able to make a name for himself in the scene. He reached top eight at Battlegrounds Atlanta last year and qualified for WCS Premier League yet again last season. The only other SC2 player in history to have outdone Suppy as a full-time student is non-other than Polt. Suppy’s hard work and natural talent have kept him going strong for so long and may be pivotal to unseating the Tyrant. Suppy already defied the odds once when he defeated Jaedong 2-0 in the Kung Fu Cup just two weeks ago. Now can he repeat that performance with a much higher ante? Going up against a mechanically superior Jaedong who’s also famous for his ZvZ, Suppy may need to go for some unorthodoxed strats. Whether it be 2-base muta, nydus worm, or viper rush, Suppy must take the fight to Jaedong. If he sits back and plays passive, he is almost sure to be overrun.

After nearly three months of indecision and uncertainty, EG.Jaedong is finally back to competing at full form. For the Dong, 2014 was a rollercoaster year filled with brilliant performances as well as tearful eliminations. His competitive spirit forced him to as many tournaments as his body could bear, and by year’s end, JD had to take a much needed break from the flying and self-induced pressure. During these past few months, there has been much uncertainty regarding if and where Jaedong was going to play. Some even speculated that it was time for the Legend Killer to call it quits. But then, just two weeks ago, this happened:
Jaedong stormed back in true Tyrant fashion, dominating the first WCS S2 American qualifier by winning 10 games in a row to secure a Challenger match.

With his future in America finally secured, Jaedong can now focus on a fresh start in WCS. His WCS performances in 2014 were disappointing, to say the least. Blame it on cheese, slumps, or lack of preparation, but the world had expected more from one of the game’s greatest players. Those three early exits nearly cost him a spot at Blizzcon - a position that JD never wants to be in again. Needless to say, he is already way behind in the Race to Blizzcon, and Suppy currently stands between him and those precious WCS points. Famous for his trademark “JvZ”, Jaedong has a whooping 71.7% winrate against Zerg. He knows the dynamics of ZvZ inside-out and understands exactly what needs to be done in any scenario. The combination of his game sense and flawless mechanics is what makes Jaedong so deadly in this matchup. That being said, Jaedong has been criticized in the past for underestimating foreigners by trying to simply outplay them with better mechanics. This lack of preparation has proved to be his undoing in the past, and it is a habit he must shed especially now that he’s playing in a foreigner-dominated WCS.

Prediction:
Jaedong 3 - 1 Suppy

Writers: Shtanjel, Destructicon, XXTN, munch, lichter.
Editors: DarkLordOlli.
Graphics: v1.
Stats: Aligulac