August

In case you’ve somehow missed the excitement surrounding last month’s show, SHOUTcraft is back! TotalBiscuit’s revamped format for SHOUTcraft Kings is a fresh take on the otherwise predictable tournament format we see all over the place, and with both top foreigners and top Koreans in attendance, it’s no exaggeration to say that this is the most competitive Starcraft event outside of the two starleagues right now. With a chance to finally see how foreign heroes will cope against the might of Korea, SHOUTcraft is an event that fills a sweet spot that’s been sorely lacking since the revamped WCS system was introduced this year.

A quick explanation of the format first—this is pure King of the Hill, Winner Stays On, in a Best of One showdown for supremacy. Players get $250 for each map win, summing to a total prize pool of $5,000 per event. None of the players are aware of the opponents they’ll be facing—each is chosen individually by TotalBiscuit during the event—lending an air of mystique to the event, and making this a test of pure gameplay with little preparation possible.

If you’ve missed last month’s run, we’ve got a recap of the big moments of SHOUTcraft Kings July, as well as some recommendations for the best games of the tournament. Just like last month, some players for this month’s event have been announced already, while others will be held secret for the show itself. So check out our preview for a look at some of the players we’ll be seeing (as well as an exclusive scoop for a player as yet unannounced!), and try and pick with us the player you think will score the most wins this month. If it’s anything like last month, it’ll be a tournament to savour.

SHOUTcraft Kings July - Five Conclusions

One

There’s only one real place to start—with the big winner of the month, and the current reigning King. INnoVation might have only signed up for some free birthday cash, but his seven map winning streak was one of the first significant impacts he’s made on the Starcraft 2 scene all year. Failure in all four starleagues has left him with very little to do indeed, while the fact that he was dropped from the SKT Proleague roster for good chunks of the year tells you all you need to know about his barren 2016.

The aura he exuded as he breezed past his competitors suggests an upturn of form—more the pity that SHOUTcraft is the sole competition you’ll see him in until 2017 then. His win over Maru was easily the pick of the bunch (VOD), featuring some delicate liberator work as his superior positioning skill with his siege units turned the game in his favour. To give context of the scale of that accomplishment, it’s only Maru’s second loss in TvT all year.

Also of note was the ease with which he dissected the array of zergs he was presented with (TLO, Snute, Scarlett, TRUE, Solar). Confronted with the mass queen style that’s been all the rage for some time now outside of Korea, INnoVation eschewed liberator production, focussing instead on mass marines with a couple of tanks in support. At times, he resembled vintage 2013 INnoVation—beating his opponents by sheer mass of units and micro—and it’s yet another reminder of his power in the matchup. Since February, INnoVation is 19-4 in TvZ, with Dark the sole zerg able to beat him. With his TvT and TvZ seemingly fully operational, the only question remaining is his TvP. He coped fine with Harstem, but his 8-13 record in the matchup since February suggests that stronger protosses might represent a sterner test for him. Still, you can’t argue much with 7-0, and the reigning King will be one to watch this month.

Two

Before INnoVation’s startling domination of the closing rounds, the big story of the month was undoubtedly Stephano’s hattrick of victories. After being in quasi-retirement since 2014, to come out and beat Nerchio, ByuN and herO was one of the most impressive performances of the competition. His win over herO in particular was one of the games of the month (VOD), featuring some stunning ling-bane play as he tore the triple IEM and SSL champion apart with harassment across multiple fronts.

His win over ByuN was a pretty nervy affair too, and possibly the weirdest of the whole competition. It’s a long held tenet that many of the true classics of Starcraft 2 kick into gear when bases begin to mine out across the map, and that stifled economy certainly contributed to an enthralling game. Stephano stood on a massive worker count, but only on a single mining base and with a handful of ultralisks representing his whole army. Meanwhile ByuN had barely any economy, but a massive pack of bio roaming the map. It’s a game that was testament to both players’ unwillingness to give in, and the mindgames that Stephano pulled to seal the win were reminiscent of the Frenchman at his very best.

Three

However, it’d be harsh to overlook the player who set the scene at the start of the competition. Polt has done more than anyone else to raise the perception of WCS, and the record four-time champion has dominated the competition since its inception in 2013. Who else more suited then, to lead the charge against Korea? His opponents might not have played particularly well—Super and RagnaroK looked shaky, while Hydra’s instant tap-out was a laughably easy $250 paycheck—but if there’s one thing Polt does, time and time again, it’s win. His four win streak here was a warning to the rest of the competitors—one that he delivered on when taking home second place at WCS Summer a couple weeks later.

Four

Stephano wasn’t the only foreign zerg to taste success though; sandwiched on either side of the Frenchman’s 3 kill streak were a pair of wins for Nerchio over Dear and GuMiho, and a win for TLO to make it 6 in a row for the EU region. Nerchio’s wins were particularly impressive, especially the lurker-fuelled win over Dear. We’ve seen in the past how the forward 4th base on King Sejong Station is crucial for any zerg playing the late game (particularly prior to the swarm host nerf in HotS), and Nerchio exploited it to much the same effect here; defending adequately with a pack of lurkers while flanking and destroying Dear’s economy.

Foreign zergs have dominated WCS so far this year (6/9 of the current leaders in the WCS standings are zerg right now—Elazer and viOLet tied for 8th), and so the big question was always going to be how they’d cope with stiffer opposition. While Dear’s PvZ has looked shaky recently, and GuMiho’s new mech build perhaps a little too greedy, they’re still a seriously impressive pair of scalps to take. Allied to Stephano’s results, they really do whet the appetite for the upcoming Korea vs the World narrative that we’re going to see played out in SHOUTcraft (and at BlizzCon!) for the rest of the year.

Final score for July:
Korea 7 - 6 WCS

Note: All Koreans playing in WCS competitions counted as WCS representatives (i.e. Polt, TRUE, Hydra).

Five

A quick statistical breakdown then:


Last month wasn’t a particularly happy one for protoss fans, with Dear the only one to score any wins at all (3). That’s explained though by the fact that only four protosses played in the competition, and while Harstem losing to INnoVation was expected, Super and herO wouldn’t have been too happy losing to Polt and Stephano respectively. Meanwhile, it was INnoVation’s turn to single handedly wreck the balance in the TvZ figures, turning a 2-2 record after match 13 into a 7-2 stomp in terran’s favour. We’ll have to see if any zerg has what it takes to end his streak this month, or if TB will have to turn to the other races to end INnoVation’s domination.

SHOUTcraft Kings August - Preview

INnoVation

Only five players have been announced so far, but without a doubt the headliner is the SKT behemoth and returning SHOUTcraft King. INnoVation had by far the biggest winstreak last month at 7 wins, while his closest competitor Polt only managed four. The scary part? He’s not even done yet, and he’ll return to fight in game 1 to retain his crown. We’ve already seen how his TvZ is scarily dominant, with five wins over TLO, Snute, Scarlett, TRUE and Solar that looked like he was barely changing out of second gear. We’ve seen comparatively less of his TvT, but a 5-2 record in Proleague suggests that it’s still decent enough (wins over Ryung and TY in particular), while the elegance of his liberator push against Maru last month was a tantalising glimpse of what we might see in the future. The gaping hole in his arsenal though is his TvP, as his 41% winrate this year would suggest. Crucial losses to Trust and Stats cost SKT dearly in the Proleague Season Playoffs at the start of the week, and it’s clear he’s got some way to patching up his flaws. If you’re trying to bet on who he might lose to, picking a protoss is a decent start.

Ryung

That said, it looks like TotalBiscuit might be heading in a different direction. The latest player to be announced was Ryung, and the hype video released last night certainly suggests there’s a decent chance that TvT will be our first matchup of the day. There was a time when Ryung was viewed as purely a TvT specialist (as the video alludes to). Offline winrates in WoL of 47% and 48% in TvP and TvZ respectively, compared to a monstrous 64% in TvT (especially impressive given the sheer number of quality terrans in play back then) certainly bear out that oft held opinion. As time’s gone by though, it’s become harder and harder to crowbar him into that single slot though. While that’s partly to do with the fact that his other two matchups have improved, it’s also because his TvT has slowly slipped from its once lofty peak. That said, it’s undergone a resurgence in this current GSL campaign—wins over aLive, Dream and TaeJa were all impressive, as was his ability to hang in against one of the best in the business in ByuN. If INnoVation goes for mech here, it’ll play right into Ryung’s hands—the positioning game in late game TvT has always been his forte (remember Flash vs Ryung on Whirlwind?). INnoVation might be the King, but Ryung was once a Slayer.

ByuN

INnoVation won’t be the only player returning from last month’s show though. ByuN’s been confirmed to appear for a second time as well, and he’ll be smarting from his loss to Stephano last time round. There’s no more online-focussed player in Korea right now than ByuN bar Solar, and he’s proven over the past 12 months or so that this is his domain. His online winrates have touched absurd levels—80%+ winrates in all three matchups, with over 550 games played so far this year. If that’s not enough for you, he has a 93% match winning record online in 2016 (206-19). There’s been no player in Starcraft history more adept at hoovering up wins and cash from online events. True, some of those have come against weak opposition, but the sheer mass of results he’s earned makes that a moot point. ByuN has been winning against pretty much anyone he faces, and he’ll be desperately looking to atone today.

PandaBearMe & SolO

After sitting on the bench for the entirety of last month’s broadcast in case there were no-shows, both PandaBearMe and SolO have been awarded slots for the main event this time round. The pair of Root rookies have yet to make a breakthrough in Starcraft 2 so far. SolO’s been a mainstay of online qualifiers and cups, while competing regularly in the opening group stages of various Dreamhacks and smaller EU lans. PandaBearMe is similarly inexperienced—his only offline experience came earlier this year in the opening stages of Dreamhack Austin. For both players, their games in this tournament will arguably be the most highly viewed and anticipated games of their careers so far, and they should be raring for the chance to go against the best of the best.

MC

Honestly, what event would be complete without MC? We’re grateful for the chance to announce that the BossToss will be one of the 21 players we’ll see at SHOUTcraft Kings. While he might be the pinnacle of the Starcraft trend of reversing retirement decisions, MC is still very much a formidable player. Anyone who saw him manhandle Zest in his return to competitive play on his Proleague debut will find it hard to underestimate the talent behind one of the greatest players that this game’s ever seen, or the value of his showmanship after his ceremony. If there’s one thing that MC does better than beat people at Starcraft, it’s managing to escalate the scale of an event. In a scene sadly lacking PartinG at the moment, there’s no doubt that MC is the charismatic colossus that every tournament needs. He might win big here; he might lose in match 1; but there’s no way MC’s going to leave without making a statement.