EPTWCS Season Two
Premier League
WCS Premier Group F
Elazer, 
MajOr, 
Polt, TLOBrackets and standings on Liquipedia
WCS Premier Group F
The second group of the week features very different players in terms of the richness of their SC2 career. On one side, we have Elazer with barely any experience at offline events. Next, we have two well-established foreigners in TLO and MajOr with many a tournament under their belts. Finally, on the other side of the spectrum sits Polt, multiple champion and a Starcraft 2 legend in its own right. The competition is fierce and the entry barrier for the next round is high this time around!
With the new WCS system in place, players do not retain their Premier League spots on the basis on their performance in previous seasons anymore. They now have to prove that their deep runs were not just a one time thing and that they can maintain consistent form. This season, a number of players were not able to confirm their Premier League status as they fell in the Challenger matches to a breed of new up-and-coming players,
Elazer among them. During the last two years, The Polish Zerg became a regular participant at different online cups where he started to show good results. In light of this, he tried to qualify for WCS already in previous two seasons, but fell short both times. This season, however, he was finally able to secure his Challenger League spot, beating much more experienced players than himself along the way, like SortOf and Kas. It looked like his WCS performance will be a sprint rather than a marathon though, as Season 1 semifinalist ShoWTimE challenged him to a battle for Premier League spot. However, against all odds and expectations, Elazer made a short work of ShoWTimE with a 3 – 1 victory. He currently stands before his greatest challenge yet as he has to face three veterans as far as offline events go. Given his lack of experience, he has to surmount the pressure that comes with performing on a big stage if he ever hopes to advance. Nowadays,
MajOr is widely recognized as the best Starcraft 2 player to emerge from the Latin American scene and he solidified his position by completely dominating in its most prestigious tournament. He took six out of eight online seasons of Copa América while placing first at both offline grand finals of the tournament. However, him being a level above everyone else in his home region is not why he is loved by his fans and feared by his opponents. He is one of the few foreigners that participated in Proleague in the 2013 season representing the colors of Jin Air Green Wings, at the time known as 8th Team. He made a big splash at NationWars II, where he all-killed the french team by beating Dayshi, Lilbow and Stephano. He is also the foreigner who, on his very best day, can compete with players of the highest caliber, which he proved with a win against Polt in the qualifiers for IEM World Championship preventing the Terran to advance. It is these flashes of brilliance at the international level that really demand respect fot the Mexican. Though his WCS Season 1 was cut short relatively early, as he fell to both Bunny and viOLet in Ro32, it would be a mistake to count MajOr out.Since he relocated to USA to study,
Polt has been a dominant force in WCS America. In the era when the tournament was full of top Korean players, all vying for the championship crown, Polt managed to secure it twice for himself. With all his greatest challengers locked out of the tournament, it seems that Polt becoming a champion was a natural flow of events. His Season 1 looked strong, though admittedly he dropped some games and lost a match to mechanically superior Hydra in Ro16. Faced with a tough bracket he first dealt with a TvT beast ForGG and then edged out over the last remaining foreigner Bunny. In the finals, Polt got his rematch against Hydra where he at first fell behind on games 3 – 1, but by the end bounced back in a marvelous way. Since his WCS performance, we have not seen much from Polt – his only recorded games is a TvT against Miso in KeSPA Cup qualifiers which he lost. With two Zergs in his group, he will inveitably have to go through a TvZ which is statistically his weakest matchup in 2015. If we put raw figures into context though, we can see that it is mostly Korean Zergs that have given him a headache here and there and therefore he should be aiming at first place in the group.One could argue that
TLO is a player of two extremes. He can strive for the very top just to fall back into the pit of mediocrity again. Lets take his WCS run in 2013 for illustration. In Season 1, he reached Ro8 where he was knocked out by the eventual champion Mvp. In the aftermath of his loss, he beat Happy and LucifroN, lauded to be the best European Terrans at the time, in order to secure himself the ticket to the regional finals. However, in the consequent WCS seasons, TLO was not able to come close to his previous achievement, as he was knocked out in Ro32 already. As far as 2015 goes, TLO's form is looking to be in high gear. In the absence of the mean Korean bullies, he managed to replicate his best WCS achievement in Season 1 showing good performances, especially in ZvZ. Furthermore, during the recent DreamHack, the German made it to the Ro32 before he fell to MarineKing as he could not find an answer to the Korean's mech. However, the players he beat along the way were not the same caliber as the ones he is facing in his current WCS group. Potentially going against two very scary Terrans, TLO must therefore be weary that his performance does not suddenly shift in reverse.Prediction:
The first place in the group is reserved for the current champion Polt, which leaves only one spot left for the three remaining players. I feel that the youngster Elazer is sorely lacking experience in the offline events and though we have witnessed up-and-comers upsetting their group in the past – like Starbuck in WCS 2013 Season 2 - I still would not put my money on him. The battle between TLO and MajOr, if it comes to it, will therefore be fierce and can really go either way, although I would give a slight edge to the Liquid player.
Elazer < MajOr
Polt > TLO
MajOr < Polt
Elazer < TLO
MajOr < TLO
Polt and TLO advance!
