Iron Squid II Group A

Dimaga 2-0 White-Ra and will be back next week

aLive, the will to survive

Since he came to Paris where he arrived with the crown of IPL 4 champion, it all has been gloom and doom for aLive. GSL was really rough with him as he struggled for a while between Code S and Code A, managing to make his way through the Up&Downs before inevitably falling down to Code A. He kept his head above water until the 5th season where he was defeated in the first round by Flying, a KeSPA Protoss. Team leagues were not more merciful with the Terran as Fnatic lost several players during the last month and was quickly ousted from GSTL. aLive comes back for Iron Squid II with a strong will to show the dog days are over and he is anything but done.



HerO, the real king in the North

When he was the first Korean to join Team Liquid, expectations were big but he was yet to prove his worth. HerO confirmed that he was champion material and he enters Iron Squid II as a two times DreamHack winner. Beastly in offline events, HerO is also good when playing online. He has helped Liquid to do well in team leagues, and managed to qualify to several big events. Europe has been kind to HerO and his first step to Paris is a very tough group. In both WCS and DreamHack, HerO showed he does not fail in group stage, even when in troubles. In Shanghai he beat Stephano, finding the mental resources to bounce back after his earlier loss, a strength that he often lacked.


The face up

It looks quite simple to predict as HerO just obliterated TaeJa in Sweden while TaeJa is currently way hotter than aLive. The Fnatic player probably doubts himself after his loss to Flying in GSL. Nevertheless, it is too early to bury him alive as he is more comfortable when playing as the challenger. When he faced MC in the rounds of 8 of Iron Squid I, he was not expected to be the one to reach Paris, but still he made it.



Symbol, Iron Squid’s emblem

Even though he did not win the first chapter of Iron Squid, Symbol gathered all the attention of the fans thanks to his amazing plays. Surprisingly, Symbol is still yet to win a major title as he returns to Iron Squid. Therefore, Symbol will really be willing to make of Iron Squid II is own story. It is one tough group but Symbol overcame the same situation once, he can do it twice. Lately the Zerg has not been running as hot as he used to during the summer, he will have to go back to his basics: the preparation of his games. He can still count on his team mates and on the great coach Lee to do so.



Golden, Iron Squid’s new nugget

Golden might not be the shiniest of all the names in Iron Squid but he remains a dreaded player. Nobody should forget that he was formed within SlayerS house’s walls as many great players were. Golden was one of the first players to leave SlayerS to try the foreign adventure. He made his debuts with LighT, a team in which he did well at Home Story Cup and even in Korea as he made his way to Code A where he lost to Keen. His performances got him to get the interest of the bigger teams and he was soon recruited by Quantic gaming. Rather under the radar during the summer, he has been on the comeback lately as he managed to qualify to both IEM Singapore and Iron Squid II. Although he is the challenger of the group, he will not be an easy prey.

The face up

Symbol has been training heavily in ZvZ as his GSL Ro16 group was a full Zergs one. Yet he did not make it through, ending up being defeated by Leenock and then Life. Even if there is no shame in losing to those two, it shows that his ZvZ is beatable, a flaw that Golden could take advantage of. Golden offered some solid ZvZ on his way to qualification and the games will be tight.

About advancing

Even if his PvZ was proved beatable by Sen during BWC, HerO is a logical favorite for this first group. Liquid’s Protoss will use his momentum to make it through and as the finals are held in January, it gives him quite some times to practice his champagne (j'aurais mis golden champagne shower perso) shower. To accompany him to the round of 16, Symbol looks like a fairly good bet. May’s runner up will have a tough way through since the group is filled with Korean talents, including aLive who will fight for his honor.

by LeLfe

Also a really nice preview by Kaelaris Read here

Symbol - HerO

Golden - aLive

Symbol - Golden

Symbol vs. Golden
Symbol <Daybreak> Golden
Symbol <Cloud Kingdom> Golden
Symbol <Antiga Shipyard> Golden

Symbol wins 2-1!