eOSL Pool B - AureS, SeaW, TuZeR & RouaF

As a foreword, I'd like to mention that these games are casted from replays and that for each pool, there will be three sections: Preview, which gives an overview of the players and games to come; View, consisting of the VoDs casted by Vincent "KroK" Ngo Van et Laurent "aspeak" Mizrahi in French; and finally Review, a post-game analysis.

I'll be translating all pools (omg (Wiki)

Elky is in Pool D!) and I'll be working in collabo with egg)aspeak to bring you exclusive content so please look forward to it ^^

[image loading]

We already can name this the "Group of Death". The recipe? Three extremely solid Terrans and a promising Protoss. A soup in which any ingredient could explose at any moment. One thing is for sure though, you will all have a Terran aftertaste whatever the outcome is.

Ahead of this pool lies [image loading]

AureS. Common men are jealous of his natural talent for SC2. His prime strength lies in his macro and a safe playstyle that allows him to secure wins in high stakes situations, the kind of rare matches where cold blood is primordial. AureS is out for revenge, he finished 3rd at EPS.fr where he fought Sarens (1st), TuZer (2nd) and MoMaN (4th). The "Group of Death" sits well with him since he plays the part of the Reaper.
+ Show Spoiler [interview] +

Aurélien "LDLC|AureS" Sannier:
It probably will be very hard as I'm in the hardest pool of all 4 (with 3 Terrans). In Bo1 situations, a mistake can occur really quickly. I'll have to be sure to make none!!

After him comes a Terran who's at least as good as SarenS and AureS. [image loading]

Tuzer is known for being very discreet in eSports despite the fact his level could allow him to do quite the opposite. As a matter of fact, he knows his best friend SarenS better than anyone else as he was the only one able to stop him during EPS.fr. According to him, his TvT and TvZ are his strong matchups but his TvP is his weak point. We assure you that his calm and mastery will allow him to make it far and we hope that he doesn't make us lie.
+ Show Spoiler [interview] +

Romain "aAa*TuZer" Franco:
I fell in a good pool and Bo1 scares me a little because I'm not a fan of the format. After barely practicing these past few weeks I'm not too confident even if I think I can make it. Rouaf and AureS are two opponents I can't underestimate and Seaw is far from bad. I'm simply waiting for our encounters and see how it goes. I hope I can show good games and have fun playing in this eOSL.

On the other hand, we could nominate [image loading]

Rouaf as the most experimented player in this circuit as he's part of the oldest players. Sadly, SC players aren't like good wine, they don't get better with age. It's up to him to show us that SC2 is synonymous to renewal. Despite his constant good mood, Rouaf dreads this pool because he'll be facing top Terrans. However, he's not the kind of person who gets intimidated by his opponents and we rank him as runner up for the best French Terran title, after SarenS. Where are the other contenders? In his pool, of course. According to him, his chances of qualifying are ok if he makes no mistake. His main weapon is TvT. He'll need it.
+ Show Spoiler [interview] +

Raphaël "W8rd_Rouaf" Chevalier:
I think it's gonna be a hard pool, AureS and Tuzer are both very good players probably in the top5 French players. I don't know Seaw at all but we all have to be wary of Protosses who have multiple ways of cheesing. I'm pretty good in TvT but sadly so are my opponents. My chances to qualify stay decent but it's far from already won.

Facing these three strong Terrans, allow us to welcome [image loading]

Seaw who'll have much to prove. If you don't know this young man, it might be because he's in the shadow of his brother SarenS, favorite Terran in this tournament. 19 years old and counting, Seaw has a heavy SC background as he's been playing it ever since he was 15. Choosing to play Protoss, he quickly showed us he doesn't want to follow his brother's footsteps. This little man is slowly showing us how to create your own path. If talent comes from your genes he probably is halfway done, the only thing left to do is work hard. Will his heritage be a burden? Or will it give him to opportunity of stepping out of the first born's shadow? Even though right now he only has to practice for one matchup, the road still remains long and tortuous.
+ Show Spoiler [interview] +

Clément "CN|Seaw" Guivarch:
I think I got in a really complicated pool with a lot of opponents I haven't faced yet. I might be at a disadvantage here. This pool has a lot of Terrans, it scares me a little... I don't even know if I have a chance to qualify seeing the level of these players! I'm a bit sad that the pool stages are done with Bo1.

Maps:
Delta Quadrant
+ Show Spoiler [overview] +

Metalopolis
+ Show Spoiler [overview] +

Xel'Naga Caverns
+ Show Spoiler [overview] +

Prognostic from the Team Managers:

The "Group of Death", or the Terran Empire vs the Protoss Rebels! Seaw will have much to do to not look like an amateur when facing the 3 Terrans in his pool: AureS, TuZeR & Rouaf! This map pool will be decisive because during the EPS, AureS, TuZeR & Rouaf took each other out. The show will be promising! The Protoss or the Terran armada?

Frédéric "Kaoru" Gau
Selector for the French SC2 Team - Team France
aAa SC2 Manager

The Bo1 format leaves no place for mistake and for the not as great pleayers it's an opportunity they can't miss. I doubt they won't use it to advantage agains better players using famous cheeses. TuZer has a very good player in his pool (AureS) so he'll have to play to the best of his abilities. May the best man win (RouaF you're the best <3).

Kévin "illu" Vandini
LDLC.com SC2 Manager

[image loading]

You can find the VoDs here

[image loading]

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS, DO NOT READ BEFORE YOU WATCH THE GAMES!

It's RouaF's and TuZer's turn to qualify! The two Terrans managed to get out of this "Group of Death"! Brilliantly for one, in a more chaotic fashion for the other, they eliminated Seaw and especially AureS from the eOSL Winter '10! This tournament lost one of it's favorites, in exchange for amazing games!

Many surprises in pool B! This pool, also known as the "Group of Death" delivered a fantastic unraveling and not without unexpected turns of events. Who would've thought RouaF would outplay his two Terran opponents? Who could've predicted TuZeR would manage to fight it out? He even felt the reaper's breath on his neck during game 3. AureS didn't deserve more than someone else to be taken out, but ultimately we needed someone famous to be eliminated in pool B. AS for Seaw, we'll remember for a long time his stunning retribution in his game vs TuZeR. At least he managed to prove he was at the required level to play in the eOSL!

In any case, congratulations to RouaF! He took first place of this pool beating the two Terran monsters he had to face! His precise and methodical play, completely mastered, managed to win him quite a few fans. The feedback we got was almost unanimous! Rouaf had on that night a lot of imaginative plays in his mind. He had prepared a defensive strategy, he followed through without problems. From start to finish he manage to make his opponents sick. What's the RouaF method? Getting the Siege upgrade ASAP, hold his ground even under pressure and expand, expand, expand and expand some more. All this while dropping units to keep his opponent busy. A small gem in TvT.

AureS didn't disappont. He showed he had an overall better macro than RouaF, managing to push his opponent to his last defenses despite a lacking economy. Like TuZeR, he fell in the trap the W8rd player had carefully planned. On the contrary in his first match, AureS outclassed Seaw in a simple but efficient way. He expanded faster than his Protoss opponent while dropping units to slow him down. Against TuZeR, it felt like the game was decided on a roll of dice. The build order ended up favoring the aAa player. In a game with such high stakes, AureS could've played safer. He didn't.

TuZeR gets 2nd place showing inferior gameplay to what he really can do. Overwhelmed in his first game against RouaF, saved in an almost miraculous way against Seaw (we'll get back to it later) and winner against AureS thanks to his strategy, that's how you can sum up the aAa player's night. All that remains is his qualification. We're sure TuZeR will be much more lethal in the final stages compared to the pool stages. In 2nd place, he's one of the players the winners of the next groups will hope not to get. The selection ceremony will be a good show.

Seaw had a hard time getting into it. Against TuZeR, he showed solid play and fought the Terran until the end. He pushed back wave after wave of Marauders, he countered the nice army with Colossi, then destroyed his opponents 2nd base. TuZeR now has to kill his own SCVs! The Terran, who's clearly lacking some ghosts, is strapped for time. He manages to kill the leftover units of his opponent but at what cost? He only has a handful of Marauders... and his opponent has double the probe count! But Seaw's unexpected GG interrupts the commentators. What a pity! Congrats RouaF, congrats TuZer!

Key Moments:

Game 1 AureS vs SeaW
11:25 - AureS's Vikings are brilliantly micromanaged to snipe the Colossi. It's over for SeaW.

Game 2 TuZeR vs RouaF
11:53 - TuZeR's tanks are pounding RouaF's base. RouaF remains calm, repairing his Orbital Command constantly and take a gold expo. The economical lead he gets from it was decisive in the game's outcome.

Game 3 AureS vs RouaF
13:30 - Rouaf now has the two bottom starting bases. They remain untouched by AureS for a long time. RouaF's economical lead puts him in a great position.

Game 4 SeaW vs TuZeR
13:26 - TuZeR sends his SCV repair in a hurry to slow down Seaw's attack. He manages to defend but a high price. In a really bad position he decides to counter-attack...and wins the game!

Game 5 AureS vs TuZeR
07:11 - TuZeR's 2nd Banshee cloaks just in time. It's one Banshee too much for AureS because the first is already in his base. He doesn't have energy to scan the bogeys. He taps out shortly after.

Winner Interviews:
Raphaël " [image loading]

W8rd_Rouaf" Chevalier:
I was satisfied with my games, I had solid plays and I expanded a lot to outmacro my opponents while I was harassing them with drops. I qualified by beating two top French players, I didn't expect it even if I knew that in TvT anything is possible. I didn't have a lot of time to practice but I managed to think about my strategy during a long boring conference the same day.
For what's next, I fear SarenS who's not as easy to approach even in TvT but also Zergs because of the recent patches. With that being said I think I can stand up against everyone in this tournament.

Romain " [image loading]

aAa*TuZer" Franco:
I'm not too happy of my games especially against RouaF and SeaW because I don't think I was on top of my games probably due to a lack of practice lately. Right now I'm very happy I qualified because this tourney and everything that surrounds it (the organization, the nice reviews, ect..) are really interesting and I really want to go as far as possible. I got off easy against Seaw after a suicide attack, I didn't feel too confident but I managed to get on top of things again.
All in all, I fear all players ahead because I don't underestimate any French player invited in this tournament, after that I must admit that I fear SarenS the most.

Source:
Pool A Preview
Pool B Review

eOSL Pool B - AureS, SeaW, TuZeR & RouaF

Completed

Ongoing

Upcoming