After a thrilling undercard featuring no-holds-barred combat between StarCraft II fans during the voting phase, it's now time for our main event. Beginning August 15th, eight WCS Circuit players will face off against eight GSL players at GSL vs. The World 2019.
Ahead of the tournament, the TL.net writers submitted their bracket predictions and elaborated on the key points in the competition (some were more serious than others). Enjoy the preview, and let us know who you think will win!
Finally, the Dream Match
by Orlok
There's a case to be made that Serral vs Maru was never a 'real' rivalry, given that they barely ever played each other at the peak of their powers. However, the fact that Maru vs Serral is still one of the most hyped matches possible at GSL vs. World proves that a rivalry that exists inside the heads of fans is just as valid as one that plays out in actual StarCraft II matches.
Of course, we have to contend with Maru's traditionally poor performances in weekenders. Maru has been more than a little off of his game (suffering GSL Ro32 elimination in the previous season), and he's never been as dominant in weekender tournaments as he has in Code S to begin with. It's quite likely that he advances a round or two before being unceremoniously knocked out by a hefty opponent (most likely Dark in this bracket). Serral too, has looked mortal in his last few bouts of competition. TY, Reynor, Stats, and even TIME have either given Serral a stiff challenge or defeated him outright. Even if the lower bracket is comparatively weaker, it might be Serral who fails to live up to his end of this fan-made bargain.
However we have reasons to hope. Serral is only “slumping” compared to his previous, ridiculously high ceiling—in what world is 1st, 2nd, and top 4 at your past three events not impressive?' As for Maru, his ruthless takedown of Reynor at WCG 2019 for the $25,000 1st place prize suggests he's woken from his stupor, and he's ready to be a monster player if there's a monster payday to be won. Maybe the best case for a Serral vs Maru final can be found in your gut: At the end of the day, do you really feel comfortable betting against these two?
Reynor Levels Up
by Soularion
There's a lot going on this tournament, and realistically a lot of it will disappoint. I imagine TIME and HeRoMaRinE won't find much success against their Korean opponents, even if soO is a bit off as of late. Elazer vs Dark is a fun call-back to their 2017 BlizzCon set, and it's fun to imagine Elazer finding another upset. But even if he did, that would only further guarantee the winner of Maru/Stats a path to the finals (it's not like Neeb has a great shot either).
Speaking of, it's always difficult to imagine what version of Maru shows up to a weekender like this. Peak form Maru wins this event comfortably, but we don't know if peak form Maru even exists anymore. Personally, I expect the familiar weekender pattern to repeat itself—he'll lose to a credible opponent in the later rounds (I expect it to be Dark who topples him this time).
That leaves me with Reynor as the player who has the best chance to surprise and outperform expectations. Reynor should beat his first round opponent SpeCial, as he's typically taken care of business against the Mexican Terran at big events (WCS Summer, WCS Montreal, WCS Valencia, WESG). Reynor would most likely face Classic next, which would be a huge swing match and possibly the hardest one of his entire tournament. IF Reynor can overcome that hurdle, his likely reward would be a semifinal match against Serral. The word 'reward' isn't even sarcastic here—Reynor is an extremely peculiar player who has a significantly better chance of beating Serral than championship-caliber Koreans.
If Dark manages to defeat Maru, Stats, or whoever else comes out of the top half of the bracket, then Reynor would challenge for the GSL vs. World title using his Serral-beating, arguably world-best Zerg vs Zerg. Put it all together, and there's a surprisingly realistic scenario where Reynor wins the whole thing: Serral takes care of Trap and TY, Dark takes care of Maru or Stats, and Reynor sweeps up the ZvZ pieces.
But can Reynor really get past Classic, the best Protoss player in the world for the first half of 2019? Probably not. Even if Reynor won a Code S series against Classic last year, his overall record against top-tier Korean pros is quite shaky. However, an upset is far from impossible. And more than anything, it would be the most interesting story for competitive StarCraft II.
A Totally Plausible Prediction
by TheOneAboveU
I know what you are thinking right now. 'More foreigners in the quarterfinals than Koreans?! What is this fool thinking?!' But hear me out, and just try to envision the following scenario:
After crushing the foreigners at Assembly Summer and proving that they still run this scene, the Koreans come under unexpected assault on their home turf. Riding a wave of TvZ momentum from Assembly, TIME scores the first upset by defeating soO in the Ro16. The ever-cheerful soO sees the silver lining in his loss: he's TY's substitute caster whenever TY has a match, so why not collect a few more checks by helping TY advance as far as possible? Unfortunately for TY, soO ends up being the worst possible sparring partner for a match against Serral. 'How come he didn't suicide 50 supply of ultras for no gain?' wonders TY as he types out his last GG in a 0-3 sweep.
In the final foreigner vs Korea match of the first round, HeroMarine scores a huge upset over Code S runner-up Trap, proving the superiority of EPS over Code S once more (the following week, he presents his two map losses as proof of Protoss imbalance on his stream). Suddenly, the Koreans are outnumbered, and there is a chance of a foreigner-only top four. Korean elitists and foreigner fanboys engage in all out war on TL.net, but they're both swallowed up in a deluge of Chinese memes when TIME wins his first map against Dark.
Alas, Dark proceeds to crush TIME with three roach-ravager busts, while Stats does his patriotic duty by winning a close series against ShoWTimE. One Korean is guaranteed to be in the finals—the catastrophe has been averted. On the other side of the bracket, Big Gabe bunker-rushes Serral for two quick wins and tries a third, but the Finnish Phenom finally catches on and defends, proceeding to win the series. Maynade's post-match speech hyping Serral goes on for so long we actually miss Classic vs Reynor, though it's later reported that Classic won with glaive adepts or whatever.
Dark secures a spot in the finals with a clean victory against Stats, and the community begins to get hyped for a Dark vs Serral grudge match. So, of course, Classic crushes Serral with a mixture of immortal all-ins and other Protoss bulls***. The final turns out to be quite a mixed bag, starting with one-sided all-in games before serving up a couple of intense macro games with non-stop action. In the end, Dark comes out on top, and channels DRG's old disrespect ceremony by handing Classic a military uniform. The final image on stream is Classic chasing Dark out of the studio, trying to whack him with his runner-up trophy. The final audio is Maynarde, who still hasn't finished praising Serral from two days ago.
In Which We Tell You Not to Have Fun
by Ziggy
Weekend, marathon-esque tournaments featuring talent from both Korea and the foreign circuit have become a rare treat for the StarCraft II scene. While GSL vs. The World's vote-based system is a topic of contention, one can hardly complain about the overall level of play and collective resume of the tour's participants.
Do allow me to get one, possibly controversial opinion out of the way: GSL vs the World is more of a 'showmatch' type tournament. It doesn't grant WCS points. It's a closed event, where the invitees are determined through a community vote. It's a weekend tournament. That's why I don't think it should be held in as high regard as Code S, IEM World Championship, or the Global Finals.
Serral's victory over Stats last year was praised as the end of an era—a well-selling headline. On the one hand, he 3-0'd INnoVation, took down Korea's strongest Zerg in Dark, and narrowly reigned supreme over a Protoss legend in the grand final. A remarkable performance, no question about that. And yet, given that it already happened before, wasn't the storyline of Korean dominance finally being matched a bit far fetched? Didn't the same thing happen with Neeb's win in KeSPA Cup or Scarlett's IEM Pyeongchang victory? All three tours took place on Korean soil. And all of their results were remarkable in their own right.
But there's is clear comparison to be drawn between Guillaume Patry's win in the year 2000 and the three foreign champions in Korea of the past three years. He won a Starleague, and that Starleague tradition (in a vague sense) has been passed down through GSL Code S. The results achieved by Neeb, Scarlett, and Serral matter. The tours themselves? Not so much. Serral didn't magically legitimize GSL vs the World by winning—he legitimized himself.
Perhaps, to most fans, that's not an important distinction. My point is: enjoy the games, enjoy the tournament. But don't read too much into what it means. Unlike BlizzCon, unlike Code S, the narrative can be spun in myriad different ways.
Ere, the Sun Still Rises!
by Wax
TY is one of those rare players whose reputation supersedes his short-term results, and his fans have been vindicated for believing in him through a brief, spring slump where he was eliminated in the Code S Ro32. Since then, he's finished second place at HomeStory Cup (narrowly losing 3-4* to Serral in the grand finals), beat Maru to advance to the Code S Ro16, and racked up enough online-offline wins to put him at #4 in the Aligulac.com rankings.
A tough first round match against Serral obscures the fact that TY should be considered one of the top candidates to win. He's recently defeated Stats and Maru in major tournaments, and went a combined 4-6 against Serral over two series at HomeStory Cup (he even beat Classic in the online Alpha X Pro Series, though Classic's online results rarely seem indicative of how he'll do in bigger offline events). Those matches against Serral seem to have given TY confidence—he recently said he thinks he has a 50:50 chance against Serral come GSL vs. The World.
If the brackets break correctly for TY, GSL vs. The World has the makings of being a weird, reverse-order boss-run. If he can edge out a victory against Serral in the first round, everything that follows would seem easier in comparison.
Dark and Classic generally perform so damn good in korean events, I'd agree with putting them as favourites. Really should have been the latest Code S finals, maybe even the season 1 finals had Dark been on the other side of the bracket.
A much more interesting read than large year's Blizzcon preview where almost everyone predicted basically the same bracket. TIME seems pretty overhyped though given that all the hype comes from one series against Serral, and that soO has won the last five series he's played against TIME, still has a pretty good ZvT record despite his recent struggles, and plays nothing like Serral.
I know I have a reputation for generally being unreasonably excited, but holy shit I am unreasonably excited for this tournament. Every round is well-balanced, with potential for upsets and steamrolls alike. I don't want to miss a single second here, as this tournament is pregnant with promise. Amazing stuff - see y'all on the other side!
Yeah, but SoO hasn't been playing the sophisticated tech zerg that other top kr and non korean zergs are using, he is still relying on roach-ravanger and thus open to a lot more timing punches.
If he plays roach based zvt. I favor Time, if he plays queen-ling-bane-hydra I expect a SoO win.
The predictions for Maru Stats are 4:1 in favor of Maru... Am I the only one who feels like his TvP in GSLs is about 40 tiers higher than his TvP in non-GSLs? I can't remember a win of note in the matchup outside of a GSL since IEM Katowice last year against sOs.
i think serral got really unlucky with his draw. i could see him getting eliminated by TY in the first round but i hope that does not happen! looks to be an amazing event
Very interesting predictions. Can I do a Chinese translation and upload it on the Chinese community website? I will quote the original url. Thank you, TL!
On August 14 2019 13:02 Boggyb wrote: The predictions for Maru Stats are 4:1 in favor of Maru... Am I the only one who feels like his TvP in GSLs is about 40 tiers higher than his TvP in non-GSLs? I can't remember a win of note in the matchup outside of a GSL since IEM Katowice last year against sOs.
the match situation is basically the same as Gsl. ( got Weeks to prep )
however if i was maru or stats i wouldn't even try hard in this,
there is nothing to gain and they will have to play each other again in Gsl ro 16.
On August 14 2019 13:02 Boggyb wrote: The predictions for Maru Stats are 4:1 in favor of Maru... Am I the only one who feels like his TvP in GSLs is about 40 tiers higher than his TvP in non-GSLs? I can't remember a win of note in the matchup outside of a GSL since IEM Katowice last year against sOs.
the match situation is basically the same as Gsl. ( got Weeks to prep )
however if i was maru or stats i wouldn't even try hard in this,
there is nothing to gain and they will have to play each other again in Gsl ro 16.
If ~25 000 Dollar means "it's nothing to gain", THEN ur right.... :D
Some things are wishful thinking tho, like Dark losing to Elazer who doesn't even have the best ZvZ in EU. I'd love Showtime to win against Neeb but he recently didn't look too good which is a little sad since he had such a fantastic form after his HSC injury. Fantasy winning against Classic is something I can see happen though. In the end, I'm expecting another edition of Stats vs Serral.
From TL's prediction I think Wax's is looking the most fun, but I REALLY doubt we will see a TvT final.
I love TIME and always root for him, having a Chinese top player would be so great for the scene too. But right now, after asus rog, he is a bit overhyped imo.
The balance patch hits after the tournament, the 15th patch is war chest and bug fixes. Stats beat Maru on stream very recently.
I don’t understand either why so many put TIME ahead of soO, one good series against Serral doesn’t mean he will suddenly win matches he is not the favorite in. I highly doubt he’ll get past soO in bo5.
On August 14 2019 17:37 Musicus wrote: I love TIME and always root for him, having a Chinese top player would be so great for the scene too. But right now, after asus rog, he is a bit overhyped imo.
Well, he's playing against soO. Do you say that many of us thinking that TIME will win against soO makes him overrated? soO certainly isn't to be underrated, however he lately showed a lot of questionable games, but more so in ZvP and ZvZ I guess.
As a fan of TY and Serral, I'm not sure if I should be glad or sad... Also rooting for Showtime and Classic. Think of it, this may be one of the last tournaments for Classic, how brilliant it would be for him to win and have a nice send-off to the army.
On August 14 2019 17:37 Musicus wrote: I love TIME and always root for him, having a Chinese top player would be so great for the scene too. But right now, after asus rog, he is a bit overhyped imo.
Well, he's playing against soO. Do you say that many of us thinking that TIME will win against soO makes him overrated?
Yeah I do, compared to Serral, soO and all the Koreans so know TIME very well. And soO can show weak games and still be the best player in the world the next day and win IEM katowice. TIME is great, but still "just" a ro8 WCS player and not a "good chance he makes the final" player like soO.
I hope TIME wins for the hype and if it happens it's not a big surprise, but I don't think it makes sense to predict a win for him here.
On August 14 2019 17:37 Musicus wrote: I love TIME and always root for him, having a Chinese top player would be so great for the scene too. But right now, after asus rog, he is a bit overhyped imo.
Well, he's playing against soO. Do you say that many of us thinking that TIME will win against soO makes him overrated?
Yeah I do, compared to Serral, soO and all the Koreans so know TIME very well. And soO can show weak games and still be the best player in the world the next day and win IEM katowice. TIME is great, but still "just" a ro8 WCS player and not a "good chance he makes the final" player like soO.
I hope TIME wins for the hype and if it happens it's not a big surprise, but I don't think it makes sense to predict a win for him here.
soO hasn't been in "good chance he makes the final" form for a while. That can always change at any point, but I don't think it's too outlandish to give TIME a good chance here.
On paper, it's still probably quite soO favoured but I don't like the idea that predicting TIME to win doesn't make sense. The whole point of predictions is to add a little flair, a little personal bias etc. If we all based our predictions on what is most statistically likely, would what be the point of predictions? Everyone would have the same one.
TIME still has a lot to prove in terms of results. But it's much more fun to predict the rise/upset rather than predict "predictably" until someone has proven themselves, and then you start predicting them to win. It reminds me the last GSL vs The World where people thought Serral would get smashed by Innovation and Dark because he had yet to do it, you can't blame people for thinking that but that's a bland way of predicting up-and-comers. People have seen some inspired play by TIME and have some faith that it might manifest itself into a victory. Even if the odds are against him, that sort of prediction makes a lot of sense to me.
Am i the only one, who laughed so hard at this piece? I really root for GiantGabe to prove him right with this quote!
In the final foreigner vs Korea match of the first round, HeroMarine scores a huge upset over Code S runner-up Trap, proving the superiority of EPS over Code S once more (the following week, he presents his two map losses as proof of Protoss imbalance on his stream)
On August 14 2019 21:45 midhigh wrote: Am i the only one, who laughed so hard at this piece? I really root for GiantGabe to prove him right with this quote!
In the final foreigner vs Korea match of the first round, HeroMarine scores a huge upset over Code S runner-up Trap, proving the superiority of EPS over Code S once more (the following week, he presents his two map losses as proof of Protoss imbalance on his stream)
That made me read the entire piece, and the joke about DongRaeGu handing military apparel to his teammate made me read DRG's history on liquipedia, heck I remembered he was a top zerg especially in ZvT back in the days, but I forgot he actually won code S.
Nice predictions. Everyone except wax at least is a possibility. I like TY and he is definitely good but c'mon. Wax you have him predicted to beat the best Zerg player in the world, best Terran player in the World, and 2 of the top 3 Protoss players in the world. That's just not realistic.
I love how everyone is sleeping on Neeb. I understand things are based on performances but Neeb is honestly one run away from being extremely dominate again.
On August 14 2019 23:02 SuperFLY1 wrote: I love how everyone is sleeping on Neeb. I understand things are based on performances but Neeb is honestly one run away from being extremely dominate again.
Prediction: Neeb vs soO Neeb wins 4:3
But Neeb and soO are on the same side of the bracket, they won't play a Bo7! :O
Maru has to deliver close to his best at one of these the odd time right?
Last time he played Stats in the first round of a tournament he brought some mech goodness that he’d obviously been preparing in-house, and rather well. Curious what to see what he brings this time around.
Apparently, although I haven’t seen the games because WCG is as well organised as my life he also has some pretty nasty new lategame ZvT tricks up his sleeve that Reynor couldn’t find an answer too.
Pretty damn pumped for this tournament, feels that half the field could plausibly win it depending on form and how the brackets shape up.
On August 14 2019 23:02 SuperFLY1 wrote: I love how everyone is sleeping on Neeb. I understand things are based on performances but Neeb is honestly one run away from being extremely dominate again.
Prediction: Neeb vs soO Neeb wins 4:3
But Neeb and soO are on the same side of the bracket, they won't play a Bo7! :O
Wow i must be tired. Still stand by my Neeb predictions but now its 4:3 over Serral
Hmm, liquipedia says that for the team match the format is the same as the previous year, except the ace match if necessary: it's not between Dark and Serral by default, but between randomly chosen players. Or have we quite given up on the team match as it is?
On August 14 2019 17:40 Poopi wrote: Why so many put Maru ahead of Stats?
The balance patch hits after the tournament, the 15th patch is war chest and bug fixes. Stats beat Maru on stream very recently.
I don’t understand either why so many put TIME ahead of soO, one good series against Serral doesn’t mean he will suddenly win matches he is not the favorite in. I highly doubt he’ll get past soO in bo5.
Other than that the predictions seem plausible
shit I thought the balance patch was gonna be before this tournament, I was so excited
On August 14 2019 22:55 Syn Harvest wrote: Nice predictions. Everyone except wax at least is a possibility. I like TY and he is definitely good but c'mon. Wax you have him predicted to beat the best Zerg player in the world, best Terran player in the World, and 2 of the top 3 Protoss players in the world. That's just not realistic.
Does any championship run really sound realistic when you put it in such abstract terms? TY is also a top 3 player of his race (and by consensus the best TvT player in the world), none of those wins are out of his reach individually. This chain of wins is not likely enough to make anyone bet on it. But I also don't see Maru vs Classic finals with Classic winning as realistic.
I do agree that the series vs TY is a very very tough one for him, however i also feel that so could Maru bow out round 1 to a very inform Stats right now. Will be very intriguing this first round of the bracket.
On August 14 2019 17:37 Musicus wrote: I love TIME and always root for him, having a Chinese top player would be so great for the scene too. But right now, after asus rog, he is a bit overhyped imo.
I've watched his live stream after rog, he communicated with fans, and obviously he became much more mature.
I do believe he will be well prepared today, and don't be shocked imo.
Seems like I get more excited for each passing tournament. Sad to see the TY/Serral and Maru/Stats so early. Hoping for a Maru vs Serral final just so that narrative can finally end lol.
There’s not a single boring Ro16 match. So hype even though I’m gonna have to force my impatient self to not check the scores so I can watch VODs when I wake up due to this taking place in the middle of the night for me.
On August 14 2019 22:55 Syn Harvest wrote: Nice predictions. Everyone except wax at least is a possibility. I like TY and he is definitely good but c'mon. Wax you have him predicted to beat the best Zerg player in the world, best Terran player in the World, and 2 of the top 3 Protoss players in the world. That's just not realistic.
Well TY is the second best terran, so having him beat the #3 and #2 best protoss is not outlandish. And Serral might be the best zerg, but isn't close to being the best ZvT player.
TY vs Maru is 50/50, usually I'd only favour Maru over TY in terms of championship mentality. But even then it's a weekender so I wouldn't expect either to win.
the worst thing that can happen is that right before a huge buff to Terran timings Terran kills a lot of folks with marine tank timings. The next worse thing that could happen is that right before a nerf to zergs best defense against BCs Terran wins a ton of games with BC rushes.
The least likely parts of this are Fantasy beating Classic and Time’s deep run. My explanation is that I really liked Times play at ASUS Rog and that Fantasy is going to return to form any day now. I think the rest is all pretty likely.
Serral has to be a heavy favorite based on meta alone... I don't like toss vs Serral (or even Dark) ATM and I don't like any Terran vs Classic/Stats/Trap in a bo7. Even if you ignore current meta, Serral crushes these weekend tournaments more consistently than any other player so...
Also in B4 soO stomps Time 3-0. He got pretty lucky vs Serral and people are making too much of one series.
On August 14 2019 23:02 SuperFLY1 wrote: I love how everyone is sleeping on Neeb. I understand things are based on performances but Neeb is honestly one run away from being extremely dominate again.
Prediction: Neeb vs soO Neeb wins 4:3
Neeb is the 3rd beat WCS Circuit player but he hasn't looked dominant in any match up and he hasn't beaten a Korean since March 2nd. While I would like to see him do well, there is absolutely no reason to think he goes further than the ro8.
Are we expecting the games to start soon after the stream or do people think there will be a lot of pre-game stuff? Deciding whether it'll be worth it to watch before bed
Having watched TIME vs Serral, I'd favour TY advancing. Serral showed weakness when he played against TIME's aggressive style and you can be darn sure TIME will discuss his loss against Serral when he meets TY on ladder.
Things are looking good for Protoss with soO slumping and sent instead of Rogue/Solar, Fantasy sent instead of Innovation/Cure/Gumiho. Meanwhile Korea sends 3 of their top Protoss.
Then the 2 good Terrans at the event are drawn vs their hardest opponants (dark would have been hard for them too). Dark is given ZvZ vs EU zerg Classic & Trap get easy match-ups The 2 ~weaker protosses are drawn vs each other guaranteeing one goes through.
It reminds me a bit of Asus ROG where Protoss sent their more of their best and less of their worst and got to sucseed through that. Now the draw helps them.
I hope it doesn't lead to balance complaining since balance is pretty good and Protoss had been winning less before ROG.
On August 15 2019 21:13 bulya2561 wrote: 5 predictions in the preview, and only 1 got 2 out of 4 correct winners. The others got only a single correct winner.
Even coin flips do better then that.
You made an account to post that? Really? But okay, I'll bite. I don't think a majority of people expected Elazer winning vs. Dark, and Neeb vs. ShoWTimE was as close as possible (and both are a very reasonable pick to win here in my opinion). So yeah, not sure what you're getting at here. If you're so much better than us at predictions, come and share yours beforehand next time.
On August 15 2019 21:13 bulya2561 wrote: 5 predictions in the preview, and only 1 got 2 out of 4 correct winners. The others got only a single correct winner.
Even coin flips do better then that.
You made an account to post that? Really? But okay, I'll bite. I don't think a majority of people expected Elazer winning vs. Dark, and Neeb vs. ShoWTimE was as close as possible (and both are a very reasonable pick to win here in my opinion). So yeah, not sure what you're getting at here. If you're so much better than us at predictions, come and share yours beforehand next time.
Foreigner ZvZ > Korean ZvZ. From almost 2 year now. And PvP is a very unpredictable match up so I think that was very hard to predict the result of those match up.
On August 15 2019 21:13 bulya2561 wrote: 5 predictions in the preview, and only 1 got 2 out of 4 correct winners. The others got only a single correct winner.
Even coin flips do better then that.
You made an account to post that? Really? But okay, I'll bite. I don't think a majority of people expected Elazer winning vs. Dark, and Neeb vs. ShoWTimE was as close as possible (and both are a very reasonable pick to win here in my opinion). So yeah, not sure what you're getting at here. If you're so much better than us at predictions, come and share yours beforehand next time.
Foreigner ZvZ > Korean ZvZ. From almost 2 year now. And PvP is a very unpredictable match up so I think that was very hard to predict the result of those match up.
Idk if it has been 2 years, and even though I agree that at least the European top ZvZ players are stronger than the korean ones are, Dark losing to Elazer was not easy to predict. Elazer while good, is not on the level of Serral or Reynor in ZvZ.
On August 15 2019 21:13 bulya2561 wrote: 5 predictions in the preview, and only 1 got 2 out of 4 correct winners. The others got only a single correct winner.
Even coin flips do better then that.
You made an account to post that? Really? But okay, I'll bite. I don't think a majority of people expected Elazer winning vs. Dark, and Neeb vs. ShoWTimE was as close as possible (and both are a very reasonable pick to win here in my opinion). So yeah, not sure what you're getting at here. If you're so much better than us at predictions, come and share yours beforehand next time.
Foreigner ZvZ > Korean ZvZ. From almost 2 year now. And PvP is a very unpredictable match up so I think that was very hard to predict the result of those match up.
Idk if it has been 2 years, and even though I agree that at least the European top ZvZ players are stronger than the korean ones are, Dark losing to Elazer was not easy to predict. Elazer while good, is not on the level of Serral or Reynor in ZvZ.
I always sayed Elazer had his chance against Dark this the best match he can have in this tournament I think. He has alway been very good in ZvZ and he defaited Solar in HSC. I don't thought he had any chance in a best of 5 against someone like Stats or TY for exemple but in ZvZ against a Korean zerg imo he had a chance.
On August 15 2019 21:13 bulya2561 wrote: 5 predictions in the preview, and only 1 got 2 out of 4 correct winners. The others got only a single correct winner.
Even coin flips do better then that.
You made an account to post that? Really? But okay, I'll bite. I don't think a majority of people expected Elazer winning vs. Dark, and Neeb vs. ShoWTimE was as close as possible (and both are a very reasonable pick to win here in my opinion). So yeah, not sure what you're getting at here. If you're so much better than us at predictions, come and share yours beforehand next time.
I didn't made an account to post it. I posted it from work so I was probably logged in with my Reddit account rather then my main account on TL.
I wrote that because when I read it on Wednesday I was very surprised that nobody treated the Dark vs Elazer match as one that Elazer can win. Considering all the previous times Dark was knocked out of such an event (Blizzcon or GSL vs The World) was by a zerg player, and many times a foreign Zerg. Yes, that foreign Zerg was usually Serral, but Elazer did it as well in 2017.
On top of that most of the writers were quite certain that Stats doesn't have a chance vs Maru, or at least bet against Stats, even though Maru didn't really show anything good in recent times while Stats won the tournament in Finland just recently, and on top of that last year was the one who knocked Maru out of GSL vs The World. Another factor in favor of Stats was that he is in Maru's group in GSL, and I think in a TvP the Terran player has more to hide regarding his preparations, so not the best Maru would have showed up no matter what. All these arguments in total made me think from the get go that Stats is the favorite in that match.
With the other 2 the bets of the writers were going both ways and most of the betters got a single correct prediction by predicting correctly one of them. I was favoring Showtime in the PvP, but I didn't count out Neeb, so I'm not surprised I wasn't correct on this one.
With Time vs soO I didn't even have a prediction simply because I don't know Time's current form enough, all I knew was that its quite good based on his match vs Serral in Finland, while soO's form isn't great at all as he was knocked out of GSL season 3 in the RO32 and probably didn't take his preparations that seriously. Not having an idea of what form they are I could bet only based of my heart which said Time (I'm not a Time fan, but most times I'm in favor of the foreigner when it comes to KR vs foreigner, there are exceptions to it though), but I don't consider it as a correct bet as all I had is my heart there.
So its 2 correct bets out of 3 for me on Yesterday.
If you want some bets ahead of time, then I bet against all the Terrans today. I think I will be correct with at least 3 of these bets, but I agree that today's matches are easier to predict as Trap and Classic are very bold favorites, unlike yesterday's games where no match had such a clear favorite. There were favorites like Stats as I said, but not as clear as Trap and Classic today.
On August 15 2019 21:13 bulya2561 wrote: 5 predictions in the preview, and only 1 got 2 out of 4 correct winners. The others got only a single correct winner.
Even coin flips do better then that.
You made an account to post that? Really? But okay, I'll bite. I don't think a majority of people expected Elazer winning vs. Dark, and Neeb vs. ShoWTimE was as close as possible (and both are a very reasonable pick to win here in my opinion). So yeah, not sure what you're getting at here. If you're so much better than us at predictions, come and share yours beforehand next time.
I didn't made an account to post it. I posted it from work so I was probably logged in with my Reddit account rather then my main account on TL.
I wrote that because when I read it on Wednesday I was very surprised that nobody treated the Dark vs Elazer match as one that Elazer can win. Considering all the previous times Dark was knocked out of such an event (Blizzcon or GSL vs The World) was by a zerg player, and many times a foreign Zerg. Yes, that foreign Zerg was usually Serral, but Elazer did it as well in 2017.
On top of that most of the writers were quite certain that Stats doesn't have a chance vs Maru, or at least bet against Stats, even though Maru didn't really show anything good in recent times while Stats won the tournament in Finland just recently, and on top of that last year was the one who knocked Maru out of GSL vs The World. Another factor in favor of Stats was that he is in Maru's group in GSL, and I think in a TvP the Terran player has more to hide regarding his preparations, so not the best Maru would have showed up no matter what. All these arguments in total made me think from the get go that Stats is the favorite in that match.
With the other 2 the bets of the writers were going both ways and most of the betters got a single correct prediction by predicting correctly one of them. I was favoring Showtime in the PvP, but I didn't count out Neeb, so I'm not surprised I wasn't correct on this one.
With Time vs soO I didn't even have a prediction simply because I don't know Time's current form enough, all I knew was that its quite good based on his match vs Serral in Finland, while soO's form isn't great at all as he was knocked out of GSL season 3 in the RO32 and probably didn't take his preparations that seriously. Not having an idea of what form they are I could bet only based of my heart which said Time (I'm not a Time fan, but most times I'm in favor of the foreigner when it comes to KR vs foreigner, there are exceptions to it though), but I don't consider it as a correct bet as all I had is my heart there.
So its 2 correct bets out of 3 for me on Yesterday.
If you want some bets ahead of time, then I bet against all the Terrans today. I think I will be correct with at least 3 of these bets, but I agree that today's matches are easier to predict as Trap and Classic are very bold favorites, unlike yesterday's games where no match had such a clear favorite. There were favorites like Stats as I said, but not as clear as Trap and Classic today.
someone get this guy TL+. hell, fire all the TL staff and just use this guy. as he pointed out he's incredibly smart and good at predictions. while we're here do you have any lottery picks for me? i could use a big win
On August 15 2019 21:13 bulya2561 wrote: 5 predictions in the preview, and only 1 got 2 out of 4 correct winners. The others got only a single correct winner.
Even coin flips do better then that.
You made an account to post that? Really? But okay, I'll bite. I don't think a majority of people expected Elazer winning vs. Dark, and Neeb vs. ShoWTimE was as close as possible (and both are a very reasonable pick to win here in my opinion). So yeah, not sure what you're getting at here. If you're so much better than us at predictions, come and share yours beforehand next time.
I didn't made an account to post it. I posted it from work so I was probably logged in with my Reddit account rather then my main account on TL.
I wrote that because when I read it on Wednesday I was very surprised that nobody treated the Dark vs Elazer match as one that Elazer can win. Considering all the previous times Dark was knocked out of such an event (Blizzcon or GSL vs The World) was by a zerg player, and many times a foreign Zerg. Yes, that foreign Zerg was usually Serral, but Elazer did it as well in 2017.
On top of that most of the writers were quite certain that Stats doesn't have a chance vs Maru, or at least bet against Stats, even though Maru didn't really show anything good in recent times while Stats won the tournament in Finland just recently, and on top of that last year was the one who knocked Maru out of GSL vs The World. Another factor in favor of Stats was that he is in Maru's group in GSL, and I think in a TvP the Terran player has more to hide regarding his preparations, so not the best Maru would have showed up no matter what. All these arguments in total made me think from the get go that Stats is the favorite in that match.
With the other 2 the bets of the writers were going both ways and most of the betters got a single correct prediction by predicting correctly one of them. I was favoring Showtime in the PvP, but I didn't count out Neeb, so I'm not surprised I wasn't correct on this one.
With Time vs soO I didn't even have a prediction simply because I don't know Time's current form enough, all I knew was that its quite good based on his match vs Serral in Finland, while soO's form isn't great at all as he was knocked out of GSL season 3 in the RO32 and probably didn't take his preparations that seriously. Not having an idea of what form they are I could bet only based of my heart which said Time (I'm not a Time fan, but most times I'm in favor of the foreigner when it comes to KR vs foreigner, there are exceptions to it though), but I don't consider it as a correct bet as all I had is my heart there.
So its 2 correct bets out of 3 for me on Yesterday.
If you want some bets ahead of time, then I bet against all the Terrans today. I think I will be correct with at least 3 of these bets, but I agree that today's matches are easier to predict as Trap and Classic are very bold favorites, unlike yesterday's games where no match had such a clear favorite. There were favorites like Stats as I said, but not as clear as Trap and Classic today.
someone get this guy TL+. hell, fire all the TL staff and just use this guy. as he pointed out he's incredibly smart and good at predictions. while we're here do you have any lottery picks for me? i could use a big win