IEM PyeongChang (despite its quite superficial relationship with the IOC, the International Olympics Committee) truly feels like a significant step in the StarCraft II year. The opening round of GSL is over and so is WCS Leipzig, with Serral, sOs and Zest all making significant headway. With the Round of 16 of GSL and the extremely stacked IEM Katowice on the horizon, this provides us with a good taste of top foreigners against near-top Koreans, as well as a splattering of other players trying to prove themselves as worthwhile opponents in tournaments to come. To give you an overview of what to expect from all eight matches played in the first round of IEM PyeongChang, we've decided to categorize them as follows: The first tier, named "Sweep or Bust", is for series in which you may expect one player to sink the other with little effort. Series that could provide more entertainment than you would assume at first glance are labelled "Deceptively Close", and "Bite Your Nails" marks truly competitive, unpredictable series.
Zest has ventured into weekend tournaments a number of times now; he's made deep runs at the past three HomeStory Cups (winning the last two) and has performed quite well at a splattering of other tournaments. He's only lost two sets of Bo3+ to foreigners all the while—3-2 vs Elazer at HSC XV and 2-1 vs Serral at IEM Katowice. Needless to say, Stephano certainly faces tough odds, but Zest has looked oddly vulnerable against Zerg in recent times, and seeing this series become entertaining wouldn't be a massive surprise for one of the best showmen in the scene. That said, Zest should be looking at a relative simple series to kick off the tournament on his home soil.
Serral, the reigning WCS champion, is the hottest foreigner in the world right now - the only question people have about him is if he'll win it all, or if he'll "only" make it to the semifinals. eGGz is a rising star in Latin America who's only been to one offline event before, and his only offline win has come against a similarly unknown player in DominiC. Being drawn against Serral in the first round is a particularly brutal introduction to offline StarCraft.
Holy crap, Demi's at his first offline event! Considering he's been around in the scene for a few years now, it's quite surprising to see that he's never made it to one before, although he was meant to appear at an IEM in 2013. Unfortunately, visa issues stopped him in his tracks then, and he hasn't returned until now. PandaBearMe would make a formidable although doable foe, but the most likely situation is a tough match against SpeCial - similarly to eGGz, there's little chance in this one.
While it wasn't broadcast on stream, Elazer and Nice played a wonderfully odd set at WCS Leipzig where Nice somehow pushed the ex-champion to five games. None of his losses were competitive in the slightest, but the two wins Nice notched were in some truly befuddling games, and it'll be interesting to watch this one just for a sense of how Elazer will adapt if nothing else. With his sights surely on a second-round match against Zest, this could be one hell of a speed-bump for Elazer.
This may seem questionable to put in this tier, as opposed to the first one, but with DnS having practiced in Korea for a while now (and improving his performances against notable Koreans while doing so), there might just be a chance for him in this. He certainly won't be favored—sOs is one of the best Protoss in the world, and hasn't shown a particular weakness in the match-up—but that's also what we all said before DnS played against and defeated TY in the GSL qualifiers, so maybe it'll be worth watching just to see if DnS can pull a miracle out.
Similarly to Elazer vs Nice, this may be another dull match-up on paper, but it gains an interesting perspective with Leipzig in our rear-view. There, Probe disappointed quite hard, including an 0-2 loss to Bly, and he'll be surprised to see an opportunity for vengeance come so soon. Bly, of course, is a perennial dark horse with enough decent wins recently to make him an uncomfortable opponent for anyone. Not only that, but one has to imagine SpeCial being the next opponent is significant better than, say, Zest, sOs or Serral, perhaps giving the winner a decent shot at making it even further in the tournament.
Not only is Cham vs Scarlett one of the most entertaining early match-ups of the tournament, as both are unafraid to play fiery ZvZ and both are quite good at it, but the winner of that series has an intriguing opponent in the bracket, TIME. It's hard to put TIME on a scale; he didn't impress much at Leipzig, but he's delivered decent performances in past offline events—those tense sets against Nerchio at Jönköping come to mind. Scarlett would give TIME another big name to potentially make a statement against, whereas Cham would give us a duel of underdogs.
This is easily the single best matchup of the first round. Kelazhur had a disasterous performance at Leipzig—he got dropped by Nice of all people. Not only that, but his challenge for the Latin American crown has been weakened even further, as he got 7-1'd by SpeCial during the WCS Leipzig qualifiers. Kelazhur had as many group stage losses in Leipzig as he did during all four WCS stops combined last year. We've seen much better from him, but he will need to deliver it here, or risk an early exit. Then, there's HeRoMaRinE who looked quite good at Leipzig, his first foray back into the scene since his impressive run at 2016's WCS Summer Championships. With a taste of success in his mouth, it's difficult to imagine the German Terran abandoning his high so quickly, and TvT is certainly a match-up he seems comfortable in. This has the makings of a very intense match.
Acknowledgements and Credits
Writer: Soularion Editor: Olli Photos: Blizzard, Helena Kristiansson Graphics: Hushfield
It should be noted for those who do not know yet, IEM PyeongChang will be a studio-only event. There will not a be a live audience at any point during the event. Carmac cofirmed this on /r/starcraft a few days ago.
On February 04 2018 21:05 Chris_Havoc wrote: It should be noted for those who do not know yet, IEM PyeongChang will be a studio-only event. There will not a be a live audience at any point during the event. Carmac cofirmed this on /r/starcraft a few days ago.
I am hyped to see a motivated Stephano with lots of peparation. Let's see how Stephano looks if he does secret training for a single bo5 and has a plan.
I am a bit confident, because I am facing a Protoss, a matchup that I appreciate. Unfortunately, I have to play against Zest, who is without a doubt a world top 5 player. At the moment, I have a plan in my mind, I have 5 more days to train it in secret.
I would actually but Stephano vs Zest under deceptively close. As you mentioned Zest can struggle a lot in PvZ.
On February 04 2018 21:05 Chris_Havoc wrote: It should be noted for those who do not know yet, IEM PyeongChang will be a studio-only event. There will not a be a live audience at any point during the event. Carmac cofirmed this on /r/starcraft a few days ago.
Was there a particular reason given for that?
Either way excited!! In the olympics baby
Quote from Carmac about this topic:
Hey guys, our primary focus at this event is to deliver a great viewing experience that both you and hopefully many new fans of StarCraft enjoy.
Definitely understand many would want to see the event in person. The reality is that this is a studio broadcast event -- with the Olympic Winter Games next to us there was a very limited choice of available venues and there's no room for a live audience. There is enhanced security around the event and everyone needed clearance for the event weeks in advance, for example.
On February 04 2018 21:05 Chris_Havoc wrote: It should be noted for those who do not know yet, IEM PyeongChang will be a studio-only event. There will not a be a live audience at any point during the event. Carmac cofirmed this on /r/starcraft a few days ago.
Hey guys, our primary focus at this event is to deliver a great viewing experience that both you and hopefully many new fans of StarCraft enjoy.
Definitely understand many would want to see the event in person. The reality is that this is a studio broadcast event -- with the Olympic Winter Games next to us there was a very limited choice of available venues and there's no room for a live audience. There is enhanced security around the event and everyone needed clearance for the event weeks in advance, for example.
On February 04 2018 21:05 Chris_Havoc wrote: It should be noted for those who do not know yet, IEM PyeongChang will be a studio-only event. There will not a be a live audience at any point during the event. Carmac cofirmed this on /r/starcraft a few days ago.
Hey guys, our primary focus at this event is to deliver a great viewing experience that both you and hopefully many new fans of StarCraft enjoy.
Definitely understand many would want to see the event in person. The reality is that this is a studio broadcast event -- with the Olympic Winter Games next to us there was a very limited choice of available venues and there's no room for a live audience. There is enhanced security around the event and everyone needed clearance for the event weeks in advance, for example.
I just hope Heromarine will win his first round and its difficult to imagine anything else than Zest vs sOs in the finals although the banner shows quite accurate who might have a shot at beating them
I agree with the sentiment, but Nice is Taiwanese...
Well the fact is that people who live in Taiwan are Chinese. It is more of a political separation rather than national.
The issue is a bit more complex than that, as a bit of googling shows that their self-identification is as both Taiwanese and Chinese, and I don't think you can just say that the people who live in Taiwan are Chinese.
But on topic, it's nice that it starts at an NA-friendly time. Since Neeb was unfortunately eliminated by Scarlett in the qualifiers (though I think now he would definitely win that matchup), I'm rooting fro sOs.
The issue is a bit more complex than that, as a bit of googling shows that their self-identification is as both Taiwanese and Chinese, and I don't think you can just say that the people who live in Taiwan are Chinese. .
I do not know what you are googling, but a bit of knowledge about history might enlighten you. Taiwan is the Republic of China, so people living there are most certainly Chinese. The separation is purely political. Like North and South Korea or in the past East and West Germany.
I hope this takes off. I was never a fan of the Olympics model in WCG/ESWC in team game like Dota, but its pretty fun and hype for 1v1 games like SC2/WC3.
Well seeing as this is an Olympic associated events people aren't allowed to participate as Taiwanese are they, it has to be Chinese or Chinese Taipei .
On February 07 2018 04:43 Zaros wrote: Well seeing as this is an Olympic associated events people aren't allowed to participate as Taiwanese are they, it has to be Chinese or Chinese Taipei .
True, but it's not like they're especially happy to have to compete under the flag of Chinese Taipei.
Taiwanese nationality is increasing such that more people are identifying as Taiwanese or Taiwanese and Chinese rather than just Chinese.
Nice is likely not culturally Chinese, as he would have grown up in Taiwan that has been separate from the PRC for quite a while now. I think calling him ethnically Chinese is like calling both a N Korean and a S Korean "Korean" under the same banner. While they are both Korean, the decades apart means they are culturally very different.
On February 07 2018 04:43 Zaros wrote: Well seeing as this is an Olympic associated events people aren't allowed to participate as Taiwanese are they, it has to be Chinese or Chinese Taipei .
True, but it's not like they're especially happy to have to compete under the flag of Chinese Taipei.
On February 07 2018 04:43 Zaros wrote: Well seeing as this is an Olympic associated events people aren't allowed to participate as Taiwanese are they, it has to be Chinese or Chinese Taipei .
True, but it's not like they're especially happy to have to compete under the flag of Chinese Taipei.
only this website and esl are promoting this as an olympic partnership blah blah you didnt need to sell it that way to get viewers
There's an official statement from Intel and the IOC which we linked literally in the first sentence of this article, describing it as a partnership between them. So I guess perhaps read that.
Amazing!! In the past I've seen Scarlett Chokea bit when she has the lead and I got a little nervous after game 4 but that was sick for all foreign players!!! Gratz to her