It's been a good summer so far for non-Korean Starcraft, especially that of the European kind. After some early Korean domination in 2012, Europeans have staged a comeback, successfully defending home turf at both DreamHacks and HSC V. At ASUS ROG Assembly Summer, we'll see if the momentum can continue.

Players, Brackets, and Schedule

Four of a Kind

Four players of interest at ASUS ROG Assembly Summer

Sorry, 28 other players. We love you and wish you all the best of luck (well, everyone but YOU, ), but four players stuck out in particularly as we went through the groups for Assembly Summer. Not because they're the biggest candidates to win or because they're the most charismatic, but because they were the four players whose games we wanted to see the most. For the most part, these players are at four different, unique points in their careers, and we hope that ASUS ROG will help us learn about where they could go from here.

Shoot for the Moon
by Waxangel

photo by Bumblebee

If I had to be perfectly honest, there's nothing extremely special about FnaticRC Moon compared to other Korean pros. Sure, he made a key contribution in FnaticRC's semi-miracle run in the GSTL, even defeating MarineKing in a victory against Prime. But for the most part, he preyed on Code A opponents, making his performance similar to that of TSL's Shine this season, or FXO's Lucky last time around ('who?' point made). Definitely more than dime a dozen talent, but given the healthy influx of skilled players in the Korean scene, not remarkable.

Right now, that is. The difference between Moon and other emerging players who have yet to prove themselves on a larger stage is that we already know what Moon is capable of. If we take past RTS success as a predictor of the same in Starcraft II (hey Brood War elitists, Warcraft III pros are still waiting for their official apology), then Moon should be getting more hype than Stork, Jaedong, and Bisu combined. Those are merely great players; Moon might be THE greatest player. From Brood War, only NaDa and Flash can claim to be in the same category.

At the same time, one must consider the possibility that Moon is more of a NaDa than a Flash; a player who is now too tired, too spent to reach his previous heights. However, second place finishes at the IEM WC and DreamHack Summer in 2011 while he was playing both Starcraft II and Warcraft III suggest that even if Moon is not at his all-time best, he can still be a force to be reckoned with. After a half-year hiatus from Starcraft II to focus on Warcraft III, Moon started his full-time Starcraft II career in earnest this year after joining FnaticRC and has shown huge improvement since.

We've already seen the slow, steady growth of another Warcraft III legend in Grubby, as he's gone from a fringe competitor to a championship contender. Moon might be overshadowed skill-wise by some of the other Koreans at this tournament, but it will still be fascinating to see how much he has improved since he made an early exit at ASUS ROG Winter in January.

Playstyle
Moon has shown similarities to some other converts like July or Hyun. He's at his best when he's using masses of lair units, and can easily overwhelm opponents who expect passive play until the hive phase. Moon also has a fondness for incessant harassment and back stab tactics. Mutalisks come prominently to mind, but Moon's good multi-tasking means that he can keep his opponent's hands full with whatever combination of units he might have at hand.

From what we've seen of Moon's play so far, this results in far fewer games going to the hive stage compared to a typical Zerg. Because of this strong preference for lair units, and perhaps a lack of confidence at the hive stage, we rarely get to see Moon use ultralisks and brood lords. He has seemed decent on the rare occasions where he does, but until we see more, one must wonder if his lair play is a crutch.

Liquid's Rising Star
by GoSu.Pokebunny

photo by R1CH

When TaeJa was acquired by Liquid, it seemed to many as a bit of a bold move, a step into uncharted territory for Liquid. Already established as a good, productive player with SlayerS, many wondered if TaeJa would really benefit from Liquid as HerO had, or instead stagnate as a borderline Code S player like many others. Early into his Liquid career, the skeptics seemed justified. Despite a solid Code S Ro8 run, TaeJa wasn't bringing anything new to the table with middling finishes at international tournaments. He was just another generic Korean Terran on a foreign team.

Then came the run. Coming out from beneath the shadow cast by Liquid's headline Korean star in HerO, TaeJa strung together some absolutely phenomenal performances: Qualification for TSL4, IPL5, and MLG Arena, Code S top eight, MLG Summer Arena champion, ESV Grand Prix champion, and of course, a 16 – 2 record in IPL TAC3 to raise Liquid into the grand finals. Here’s a short list of TaeJa’s recent victims in the last month and a half or so: Squirtle, Genius, Mvp, viOLet, Leenock, GanZi, LosirA, First, Alicia, CoCa, Puzzle, MC, Polt, TheStC, Curious, Bomber, Life. That's half-way towards completing a list of the best players in the world. Being on Liquid comes with inflated expectations, and TaeJa has not only met them, but surpassed them by far.

Furthermore, TaeJa’s success has been in a variety of formats and playing conditions, including the GSL, a major foreign LAN tournament, online tournaments and team leagues. Going into this tournament, TaeJa is showing little to no weaknesses. MC is the only one that can be said to be TaeJa's better, after handing him a heartbreaking defeat in the GSL.

What makes TaeJa so special compared to other Terrans? Though he's most known for his highlight reel micro, TaeJa is the true full package – a player who seems to understand the game at a level beyond his peers, and has the mechanics to do all the little things that add up. TaeJa’s the kind of guy who will always look for that ebay nexus block or that bunker to prevent creep spread and delay a third base. He’s the guy that knows precisely when to get each upgrade depending on his game plan – everything he does is deliberate and intelligently reasoned. TaeJa looks like a player who has practiced every scenario of his standard gameplay hundreds of times, and he never looks lost in his recent games, always making the right transition or the right attack.

That's not to say TaeJa's looked totally invincible in his recent games against top level players in the IPL TAC. He's often lost battles, gone down 20 supply, and been pushed back to his base, near the point of defeat… but as his 16 – 2 record shows, he always finds a way back, using his superlative army control and sublime decision making to turn things around and and claw his way back to victory. As a player who's always been expected to thrive in a such a weekend tournament format as the ASUS ROG tournament, and with such expectations already met at MLG Arena, all the momentum is behind TaeJa in Helsinki.

Are You Not Entertained?
by Waxangel

Unlike the other players, it's not so accurate to say that this tournament could be a turning point for ROG.elfi. After all, how can one talk of a change of direction when we don't even know where he's headed now, or at what speed. Heck, we don't even know his current position, which makes him an entity of chaos that simply cannot be explained with our current knowledge of the universe.

What other Protoss player could draw four consecutive PvP's in a TSL prelim, or get placed into a four Protoss, one Zerg group at the IEM WC? What other Finn could crack the top eight at Assembly two times in a row, giving the home audience something to cheer about despite seeming outmatched against the rest of the player pool? And what other competitor in any discipline in the world prepares for their games by watching funny videos of cats?

You might watch other players to see if they live up to their potential and their expectations, and you can say the same is true for Elfi, just in a slightly different way. Potential: Anything. Expectations: Madness.

In that respect, elfi doesn't bring his Maximus sword every night either flaming out unremarkably, or winning some disappointingly ordinary games. But you still watch, because when you least expect it, something incredible happens. Things like snapping Stephano's 33 win ZvP streak, and pushing Bitterdam to the verge of committing themselves to a mental hospital. Things like going up 2 – 0 on the hugely favored Korean ST_Life, only to let it all slip away by going for cannon rushes. Combined with his homeground advantage, you can't help but think elfi will make this tournament memorable in more ways than one.

KindOf a Big Deal
by NrGmonk

photo by R1CH

Although many up-and-coming players are attending the ASUS summer tournament, including TSL4 players JohnnyREcco and Babyknight, none seem to shine as brightly as WW.SortOf. Although he only recently gained the attention of the general public when he barely missed out on winning WCS Sweden, SortOf has already been making waves in the Swedish and European scene. For example, at Dreamhack Stockholm, he made it to the third group stage, beating players such as Lalush, Ret, and Satiini before falling to the eventual winner of the tournament Thorzain. Even before that, SortOf has always been an excellent player online, winning 9 Playhem Dailies this year alone.

But his the scale of his achievements didn't start ramping up until very recently, starting with when he won the MLG Summer Arena EU qualifier, notably triumphing 4-2 over recent HSC V winner Nerchio. Although he didn't place so well at the LAN tournament, he did easily 2 - 0 First, a Korean who went on to dominate some of his peers including TOP, Puma, Ganzi, aLive, and Losira.

And after qualifying for MLG Summer Arena, SortOf got a taste of what it was like at this big international LAN and proceeded to qualify for everything he could get his hands on. To qualify for IEM Colonge, he 2-0'd Ret, 2-0'd Grubby, and 2-0'd elfi. To get through ISEF, he beat Naniwa 3-1 in the grand finals. Most recently and most famously, he got second at WCS Sweden and qualified for WCS Europe by beating all the best Swedish players on the way including SaSe, Naniwa, Cytoplasm, Bischu, and Seiplo. He even went 3 - 3 in map score with eventual winner Thorzain, though the last win made all the difference.

Obviously SortOf qualified for ASUS ROG Summer, though if the invite list had gone out just a month and a half later, he most definitely would have been invited. Anyway, that's enough of my writing. Why don't we just ask SortOf himself what he thinks about his recent success, and his outlook on this upcoming tournament?

Interview: WW.SortOf

by NrGmonk

Can you introduce yourself to people who aren't as familiar with you?

My name is Rickard Bergman, also known as SortOf within the sc2 scene, Im 19 years old and I play Zerg for team Western Wolves.

What about your history. How long have you been playing starcraft 2 and what's your experience with previous games?

I've had sc2 since beta, but I didn't play very much due to lack of motivation for the first year. I only started playing more when I joined inferno esports in march 2011. Before that, I played broodwar since mid 2007 up until 6 months before the beta got released.

You've been showing great results very recently, winning the MLG EU qualifiers, winning IESF Swedish Qualifiers, and getting second at WCS Sweden. Can you pinpoint any particular reason you've been so hot recently?

Hmm I've been improving a lot this year I feel, but my skill level took a leap when I went full-time in the end of April, which of course gave me a lot more time to practice. That's the only big difference from before I think.

How would you describe your overall style?

I would decribe it as a pretty solid macro style. Not much else to stay about that

You beat First at MLG, Naniwa in the Swedish IESF qualifiers, and Bischu, Sase, and Naniwa at WCS Sweden. Do you consider ZvP your best match-up?

Yeah, I feel really strong in that matchup, I think it's my best matchup for sure. To me it's always been my favorite matchup since broodwar, and that combined with me having a lot of Protoss practice partners have enabled me to get fairly good at the matchup. Also I feel like Zerg has a slight edge vs Protoss right now.

Your games versus Thorzain in the WCS Sweden finals where you barely lost(2-1, 1-2) were semi-cheesy. You used a lot of roach/baneling aggression and the resulting play was very hectic from both sides. Do you just follow the DRG/stephano phillosphy of always mixing in all-ins in ZvT or is this just your lack of confidence in ZvT showing through?

Those games were just bad pretty much ^^ like I was super tired, so I just tried to end the games as fast as I could. That's why they were so intense. We were always trading 24/7. That and the fact that i didnt like the map pool was what made me do a few all-ins. In contrast, the games we played at Dreamhack Stockholm were all quite standard and macro oriented.

You'll be participating in ASUS ROG summer tournament in a few days. What do you think your chances are?

I think I have really good chances of advancing from my group, since it's pretty Protoss heavy. After that, we'll see. It will depend on who I play. If I get lucky and get a lot of Protosses and Zergs, then I think I could do very well, but my ZvT is currently a bit out of shape since I haven't had the time to practice it as much as I would've liked to lately.

Any particular players your fear or are looking to avoid?

Any good Terran, Taeja, Kas, BratOK etc... otherwise I don't fear anyone.

I think that's about it. Anything else you would like to add? If not, any last words or shoutouts to fans/sponsors?

Im looking forward to the event, its gonna be alot of fun. Shoutouts to my team, Western Wolves and our sponsors; Sapphire, MadCatz, Triton and Cyborg and shoutouts to my fans and followers Thanks for the interview.