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HomeStory Cup XXII - Last Chance 2022

Forum Index > SC2 General
15 CommentsPost a Reply

HomeStory Cup XXII - Last Chance 2022

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
December 14th, 2022 16:43 GMT

HomeStory Cup XXII - Tournament Preview

by Wax

With another year of StarCraft II coming to a close, it's time for us to observe and celebrate that wonderful tradition: the winter HomeStory Cup.

After one event that was inexplicably Mexican-themed and another that was held in an indoor swimming park, TakeTV seem to have finally accepted the holiday spirit for tournament #22.

(Wiki)HomeStory Cup XXII

I'm delighted to see what they have prepared for us—personally, I'm hoping to see RotterDaM jump out of a giant gift box and give us a sultry rendition of "All I Want for Christmas is You." Or perhaps Serral will reveal his true identity as the "Yule GOAT?"

Besides the fun, games, and games (the other kind) we can usually expect at HomeStory Cup, this edition of the tournament has an added twist in being the final EPT points awarding event before IEM Katowice (unless AfreecaTV Champions Cup #2 drops from out of nowhere in January). So while some players will be in town for the festivities, others will be going all-out to get the best possible result.

Key Info

Schedule (Dec 15-17 start time is 11:30 GMT (+00:00); Dec 18 is 10:30 GMT (+00:00) )
  • Dec 15: RO32 Groups A & B
  • Dec 16: RO32 Groups C & D
  • Dec 17: Double elimination playoffs
  • Dec 18: Double elimination playoffs

Prize money: $26,000 total, $7,000 for first place
EPT points: 2540 points total, 500 points for first place (standings)

Naughty or Nice: Wax's Christmas List

After observing an entire year of StarCraft II, it's come to my attention that certain players were exceptionally well-behaved… …others, not so much. In order to aid Father SChristmas, I've compiled a naughty and nice list for him, as well as some suggested gifts and punishments.

ByuN - Nice: For the last few years, Solar seemed like he was cursed to never win a major tournament due to arch-nemesis Maru always eliminating him at some point in the tournament. But in last week's Super Tournament II, ByuN made the ultimate sacrifice by taking down Maru before losing to Solar in the very next round. As a result, Solar was able to defeat Dark in the grand finals and win his first major title in over six years.

For this incredible act of selflessness, I recommend ByuN receive the gift of not one, but TWO new wrists.

Reynor - Naughty: Those of you who keep up with SC2 social media might know that Reynor is an occasional guest of RotterdaM's, sometimes playing tournament games from the Dutch caster's place. Alas, it also turns out that Reynor broke the laws of both gods and men, repaying RotterdaM's hospitality with malice: he broke Rotti's favorite mug.

Actually, I'm not even sure this happened this year. Whatever. I recommend Reynor be sent a pizza baked by HeroMarine as punishment.

Reynor - Nice: On the other hand, this year also saw Reynor travel to Korea, apparently just for the challenge of playing in GSL Code S. That's certainly more than we can say about certain other European Zergs

For this courageous and honorable act, I hereby rescind the above punishment and recommend a gift of one mug for Reynor.

Serral - Naughty: Unfortunately, Serral had the worst year of his career in 2022, ONLY winning the championship in three out of the nine major tournaments he entered into. It was an utterly disgraceful performance, and one that inflicted incalculable amounts of mental distress upon Serral's legions of fans.

For his abhorrent conduct, I recommend Serral be given a first-class, round-trip ticket to South Korea at some time between the months of March and November in 2023.

Harstem and uThermal - Nice: This year's Nation Wars was marred by much controversy, including a bait-and-switch by the tournament organizers about whether or not travel-restricted teams would be able to play online. Upon seeing the potentially unfair decision, Netherlands representatives Harstem and uThermal threatened to forfeit their invitations to the live event. While the two rejoined the tournament after the organizers reversed course, it was great to see the Dutch duo take a stand for their fellow players.

For their outstanding moral fiber, I recommend Harstem and uThermal be gifted year-long, Tier 3 subscriptions to Twitch.TV/LowkoTV

NightMare - Naughty: At DreamHack Atlanta, NightMare went on the tournament run of his career, starting from the bottom of the losers bracket and making it all the way to the top eight. For a player who had previously existed on the fringes of Code S, it was a breakout run that portended greater things to come.

However, NightMare's success came at the expense of both Neeb and Scarlett, who he defeated consecutively in the RO24 and RO16. As we all know, DH: Atlanta was an enormously successful event with a hot crowd—imagine how much more hype it would have been if some of North America's most popular players had gone deep into the playoffs? Alas, the dream of alivegame was not meant to be.

For killing NA StarCraft II once and for all, I recommend NightMare pay his penance by playing StarCraft II for a North American esports team with a great support system and competitive wages.

Nice - Nice: Obligatory.

Last Chance for Katowice: EPT Standings

*Thanks to hpjα for clarification on parts of the standings.

With DreamHack Masters: Last Chance phased out of the EPT in the 2022/23 season, HomeStory Cup XXII will be the final opportunity for players to earn EPT points before the World Championship at IEM Katowice.

As in previous years, IEM qualification has been mostly finalized by now. However, there are still a handful of races that will be decided at HSC XXII, and a group of players that desperately need whatever EPT points they can get.

HSC XII: EPT points distribution chart

Latin America's #2 seed (qualifies for play-in): Cham (#2, 635 points) vs Kelazhur (#3, 615)

Standings

The race for the last IEM qualifying spot out of Latin America will go down to the wire as just 20 points separate Cham and Kelazhur. Who travels to Katowice and who watches from home could actually end up being decided by single-digit points, in which case it would become the narrowest qualifying margin in the history of WCS/EPT (the current record is Spirit qualifying over uThermal by a difference of 18 points in the 2021/22 EU rankings; uThermal still ended up playing as a last-minute COVID replacement for RagnaroK).

The points distribution system at HSC XII makes for many complicated scenarios. To simplify things from Kelazhur's side, he MUST advance from the group stage (top four in his group) to have any chance of overtaking Cham. From Cham's point of view, there are a decent number of scenarios where he can finish slightly below Kelazhur at HSC XXII but still preserve his lead in the EPT standings. Barring a complete disaster tournament from himself or an incredible run from Kelazhur, he's in a good position to hold onto his 2nd place spot.

The Combined Standings Puzzle, Part 1: RO24 qualification

  • Korea: GuMiho (#10, 1232 points), Cure (#11, 1084 points)
  • Europe: ShoWTimE (#5, 1401 points), Lambo (#6, 1386 points), Elazer (#7, 1191 points)
  • Combined standings


While players mostly compete for IEM spots inside their individual regions' rankings, a handful of 'wildcard' qualification spots are given through the combined rankings which compare players from every region. This has led to an international points race at HSC XII.

The way this breaks down at HSC XXII is pretty complicated; for the sake of readers who don't want to spend hours staring at Liquipedia tables and re-reading the ESL rulebook, I've simplified things as follows: The five (5) of ShoWTimE, Lambo, GuMiho, Elazer, and Cure are competing for three (3) RO24 main event spots (group stage) at IEM Katowice.

The remaining two players would have to begin IEM Katowice in the RO36 play-in stage. While all the players involved would have a pretty good chance of surviving the play-in (where four out of sixteen players advance), they would surely prefer to bypass any unnecessary risks. As Maru can attest, ANYONE can lose 0-2 to Meomaika on a given day.

Click below if you want slightly more detail on the qualification rules behind this qualification scenario
+ Show Spoiler [Click Here] +
The RO24 spots at IEM Katowice are awarded to the champions of GSL Code S (3x) and DreamHack Masters (2x), the top EPT point earners in their respective regions (5x Korea, 4x Europe, 2x NA, 1x China, 1x LATAM), and the remaining players who earned the most EPT points regardless of region (the "combined standings").

For IEM Katowice 2023, three RO24 spots will be awarded through these combined standings, due to rules regarding how qualification spots 'roll down' when players meet multiple qualification criteria (herO, Dark).

Depending on the exact point totals and final standings, ShoWTimE, Lambo, and Elazer could qualify from either Europe or from the combined standings. The same applies to Cure and GuMiho, who can qualify from either Korea or the combined standings. But whatever the source of these spots happens to be, ultimately it boils down to a competition for three spots between five players.

There are a handful of players who are above or below this group of five in the standings, but I've omitted them because it's extremely unlikely that they will factor directly into this race.


ShoWTimE and Lambo have pretty comfortable point buffers, and are thus likely to obtain IEM main event spots barring a complete collapse combined with tremendous performances from their rivals. However, we could end up seeing a very close finish between Cure, GuMiho, and Elazer for the last ticket. For the first few days of HSC XXII, fans should just hope these players advance as far as possible. As the tournament progresses and more players are eliminated, it will become clearer exactly how high these players have to finish in order to lock in an RO24 seed at Katowice.

The Combined Standings Puzzle, Part 2: RO36 seeds

  • Europe: Spirit (#9, 718 points), Harstem (#10, 680 points), ShaDown* (#11, 617 points), SKillous (#12, 599 points), Gerald (#13, 556 points)
  • Korea: Armani* (#23, 535 points), Dream* (#24, 430 points)
  • *Not competing at HSC XXII

When a player earns an IEM main event spot from the combined standings as mentioned above, that effectively 'rolls down' the play-in/RO36 cutoff for their region by one spot. To simplify a complicated situation once more: Depending on how ShoWTimE, Lambo, Elazer, Cure, and GuMiho perform at HSC XXII, Europe could earn up to three additional spots in the IEM RO36, while Korea could earn up to two.

Spirit, Harstem, SKillous, and Gerald have some say in deciding their destiny. By performing well at HSC XXII, they can put themselves in front of the line to receive the windfall RO36 spot(s) if Lambo, ShoWTimE, and Elazer also get good results.

In the case of HSC XXII non-attendees Armani, Dream, and ShaDoWn, things are completely out of their hands. If their regional colleagues perform well, they could luck into RO36 spots at IEM. If not, I guess there's always next year (?).



Writer: Wax
Images: TakeTV
Statistics and records: Liquipedia and Aligulac.com


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TL+ Member
hjpalpha
Profile Joined August 2017
Germany312 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-12-14 19:53:15
December 14 2022 19:52 GMT
#2
a few remarks:
  • Prize pool is in USD ($) not EUR (€)
  • Start times for thursday - saturday is the same, sunday 1h later
  • Gabe, ByuN and Solar can technically also drop to qualifying via combined standings but they have secured a Ro24 seed in any case
  • DRG can technically (very unlikely) still be eliminated from Ro24
  • Technically Zoun NightMare and Scarlett could also make it, but for that to happen they would have to win the event as well as all of ShoWTimE, Lambo, GuMiho, Elazer and Cure would have to bomb out in the groups.
LiquipediaSCV ready | SC2-Liquipedia Admin, reviewer and editor | Wax called me a Liquipedia wizard in one of his articles for 2019 WCS Standings
qcHanHan
Profile Joined September 2011
Denmark63 Posts
December 14 2022 23:11 GMT
#3
Hype!
HerO - herO - PartinG - sOs - Rain - Zest - Stats
DrunkenJedi
Profile Joined November 2010
Germany169 Posts
December 15 2022 07:59 GMT
#4
As always a good read. Thx Wax!
"Don't worry, I use Special Tactics this time, no problem."
majloon
Profile Joined March 2010
Sweden122 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-12-15 08:40:56
December 15 2022 08:38 GMT
#5
The link to the liquipedia page for the tournament is broken (extra /starcraft/).
CicadaSC
Profile Joined January 2018
395 Posts
December 15 2022 09:04 GMT
#6
ty wax
Capitanoano
Profile Joined July 2019
Italy22 Posts
December 15 2022 09:43 GMT
#7
Ahahaha, so fun to read, thank you so much for the article!!!
I hope it will be fun as hell as always!
Hyped for another "passive videogames-wasted" weekend :-D
IArako
Profile Joined June 2015
Germany190 Posts
December 15 2022 10:44 GMT
#8
Happy to watch another HSC as always
Special Tactics
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France11704 Posts
December 15 2022 12:58 GMT
#9
Funny preview for the funniest serious tournament (or most serious funny tournament?) series .
HSC closing out the year is so cool and since EPT took over it’s usually one of the latest tournaments instead of the first tournament post BlizzCon, which makes it extra spicy :D
WriterSee you at Katowice 2023 :), will be the guy with a Maru shirt
Gluon
Profile Joined April 2011
Netherlands312 Posts
December 15 2022 18:23 GMT
#10
Great read, excited to watch this great tournament over the weekend!
Administrator
Curufinwe Feanor
Profile Joined August 2012
Brazil53 Posts
December 17 2022 14:09 GMT
#11
Horrible EPT points distribuition. Kelazhur lost once, while Cham lost 4 times. And yet, Cham gets more points.

And since im already bitten by the World Cup, its hurts more this kinda situation.

I need brownies.
Aure Entüluva
tigera6
Profile Joined March 2021
1899 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-12-19 04:38:56
December 19 2022 04:38 GMT
#12
So the seeding into IEM is finalized, interesting to point out that with the HSC tournament win, Reynor passed Dark into top 4 seed, meaning there is a chance he will dodge Dark/Serral in the group. Astrea also made top 8 seed which means he has a better shot to make it further this time around.
redraccoon
Profile Joined December 2022
1 Post
December 19 2022 07:10 GMT
#13
LMAO, great post
TaKeTV
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Germany1058 Posts
December 19 2022 20:53 GMT
#14
On December 17 2022 23:09 Curufinwe Feanor wrote:
Horrible EPT points distribuition. Kelazhur lost once, while Cham lost 4 times. And yet, Cham gets more points.

And since im already bitten by the World Cup, its hurts more this kinda situation.

I need brownies.


18 = 18
Commentator
Ciaus_Dronu
Profile Joined June 2017
South Africa1667 Posts
December 20 2022 00:12 GMT
#15
Nice.
Curufinwe Feanor
Profile Joined August 2012
Brazil53 Posts
December 20 2022 18:40 GMT
#16
On December 20 2022 05:53 TaKeTV wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 17 2022 23:09 Curufinwe Feanor wrote:
Horrible EPT points distribuition. Kelazhur lost once, while Cham lost 4 times. And yet, Cham gets more points.

And since im already bitten by the World Cup, its hurts more this kinda situation.

I need brownies.


18 = 18



Ahhh got fixed!! Cool.

Thanks!
Aure Entüluva
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