MaNa is a name that everyone should know; he is, after all, the 2012 Dreamhack Summer champion. Immediately after his win at Dreamhack he crushed his way through the TSL Qualifiers and looked to be a real force in the foreign scene. Sadly, ‘looked’ is all you can say about it because MaNa has somewhat dropped off the radar since his championship. His performance at HomeStory Cup reminded everyone that his vZ was still his Achilles heel and in the Gigabyte invitational, he lost to Nerchio 1-3 which reminded everyone that Nerchio is the best Pole at the moment.

Maybe I’m being overly critical. After all, MaNa hasn’t attended too many tournaments lately and did recently stomp his way through a Go4SC2 cup with no difficulty whatsoever (3-0’ing Tarson in the final). There’s a lot more going in his favour as well; without a loaded tournament schedule it gives him ample time to prepare for his upcoming match and he will be playing his strongest matchup. Rather than being the champion that you see in ever tournament wherever you go, he is the quiet dark horse of the tournament that could very well make a huge splash.

Of course, for MaNa to do so he needs to go through ST_Hack. Hack hasn’t really made much of a splash in the Korean scene yet – but he did recently play in GSL Code A where he lost to JYP (and will be playing in the Up and Downs soon). Losing to JYPvT isn’t exactly reassuring, particularly when the games were, bluntly, pretty terrible. But simply judging by his GSL results is incredibly deceptive. It isn’t too hard to find proof that Hack deserves his spot in the TSL.

Firstly, Hack recently qualified for both WCS: Korea and WCG: Korea – one of two players who were able to qualify through the preliminaries for both events. This clearly indicates that Hack will be someone to watch over the coming seasons. But moreover, his PvT isn’t as bad as his GSL results indicate either – a narrow 3-2 loss to Creator and a 2-0 of Hero show that he can put on some results – albeit inconsistently.

All things considered, MaNa certainly has a good chance in this match. Hack certainly has proven himself in the unprepared environment, but has failed to deliver an impressive performance when given time to prepare. Moreover, Hack has suddenly found himself with a lot of tournaments on his plate and has to prioritise between tournaments. His inconsistency in TvP also raises a few questions about whether he will deliver on the day.




A very interesting matchup between two players who have both certainly had their bumps in the road in their time as pro players, Creator vs SeleCT is a duel between different playstyles and personal stories. Although both players are Korean, I still somewhat consider SeleCT a representative of the NA scene, as his best performances and rise to fame occurred in the early days of the American Starcraft II scene. On the other side, Creator represents a new generation of Korean stars for whom Starcraft II is their first professional game, and at the age of fifteen is slowly starting to turn talent into tournament results.

It’s a bit hard to know where SeleCT currently stands in regards to the best of the best. With no big results in 2012, SeleCT just hasn't shined as brightly since Koreans invaded the international scene. He's still a deadly player in his hemisphere, dominating the NA ladder, winning the NA Spring Arena 2 qualifier, and performing fairly well in the TSL qualifiers. SeleCT’s trademark style of hyper-aggressive play featuring plenty of drops and stellar multitasking seems to have morphed a bit to include more aggression of the all-in variety, and it’s possible that’s he’s not quite as confident in a long game against a top tier Protoss or Zerg. However, SeleCT is still a very scary player – the question is, is he scary enough for GSL level competitors?

Creator has long been noticed as someone who could be the next big thing and has shown inspired Protoss games for quite a while, sometimes even popularizing standard builds and styles. Creator hasn’t had a breakout performance in either Korean or international tournaments, but it certainly wouldn’t be too unlikely that we see a big performance from him in TSL4. He’s shown he can compete with top level opponents in both team and individual leagues, and he’s no stranger to playing in cross-server conditions as an occasional participant in NA online tournaments. TSL4 seems like it could be a place for Creator to shine, and he’s definitely a player to watch.

In any case, this match should be a fun one, with both players capable of diverse playstyles and action-packed games. Both players have a few question marks floating around as to what they can really do, but both also have a proven track record of great play, especially in the TvP and PvT matchup. However, the advantage must be given to Creator, as he has far more recent results against players of Code S caliber, while SeleCT seems to struggle occasionally when he's not slaughtering American players in the shadows. It wouldn’t be out of the question for SeleCT to pull together three wins with a cheeky all-in or two and a game or two of his 2010-esque drop heavy style where he picks apart a greedy Protoss, but he’ll certainly have to bring his best if he hopes to stand a chance.




Though the other two mirrors are probably more anticipated, Daisy vs First is still intriguing as a match that should reveal more about two unknown Koreans who might make their presence felt in TSL4.

Having begun his career as a Starcraft II pro just this year, First is yet another Brood War convert who was active in the KeSPA scene until fairly recently. Though fOrGG and Hyun weren't able to live up to the hype they came into the scene with, First gives hope to those believe that the Elephant is merely resting. After putting up impressive results in various online qualifiers, First had a break-out performance at MLG Summer Arena, beating players like Ganzi, PuMa, aLive and Losira before being eliminated by eventual champion TaeJa. It might not be enough to call it a Code S worthy performance, but in terms of international tournaments, he's already outdone the other little elephants.

Though First has put in some performances that suggest he's a player to look out for going forward, Daisy really could be anything. As viOLet was once a member of Korean pro-gaming team MVP, Daisy belonged to Prime for a short period before heading out to make his fortune in Germany. Looking at viOLet's example, we know there's no reason a talented Korean player can't maintain his skill, or even get better outside of his own country. On the other hand, you can look at a player like PhoeNix (also a former MVP member) and say that decline is more natural in that situation. And then there are players like Sleep and Golden, whose mid-tier results carried over consistently in the USA, making them good enough to beat most international players, but not against the very top tier.

Whatever their destinies might be in TSL4, there's a good chance that we're going to keep seeing these two in the Starcraft II scene as a whole. Could this be the turning point?

On a final note, I know the fact that this is a PvP duel – a match-up even the Code S finals failed to salvage – will turn a lot of people off. However, I still recommend you read NrGmonk's PvP viewing guide and give it a chance. It might be called rock-scissor-papers, but knowing the difference between kitchen shears and bolt cutters, or a pair of scissors driven through a wooden board can make all the difference in enjoying Starcraft II's most enjoyable match-up.





Last week we saw Ret take on Squirtle in a much anticipated duel between two top players from Europe and Korea. This week, the races are reversed as SaSe and CoCa enter the ring. Both players are acknowledged as being extremely skilled and capable of fighting evenly with the best players in the world, but a lack of consistency and tournament results keeps them just a step away from being considered as top candidates to win TSL4 alongside TaeJa and Squirtle.

For SaSe, he got a HUGE break at MLG Spring Championship, where he beat players like Stephano, Polt, Leenock, and viOLet to take fourth place. On one end, it proved that his considerable reputation was not ill-deserved, but on the other it made many fans wonder why he couldn't reproduce that result at other tournaments.

As for CoCa, he's already been near the top with a second place finish at MLG Raleigh last year, but he's been struggling to get back into the individual tournament mix since his return from suspension. His contributions to SlayerS in various team competitions have been immense, but as we all know, team leagues are where players go to put up gaudy numbers and proceed to not-win singles tournaments (unless you're DongRaeGu).

TSL4 is an amazing opportunity for either of these players. As expected, both breezed in through the online qualifiers. CoCa didn't look an inch out of place as he competed against Code S's best, and SaSe made international scene competitors look a level beneath him. Though the nature of the competition definitely changes once you enter the tournament proper, the online element will surely help dispel whatever live-tournament voodoo they might have, and allow them compete at their highest level. It's a shame that only one can progress, but that's the cruel nature of tournaments. One will continue their quest towards glory and validation, while the other will remain in limbo, waiting for the next opportunity to arise.

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