WCS Europe Season 2 - Premier League

Ro32: Group A Preview
Mvp, elfi, Tefel, Beastyqt

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

Countdown:

After a very well-received first season, the second instalment of WCS Europe is now set to begin. While the first season was invite-heavy, the tournament composition has undergone quite a few changes, with new Koreans and previously snubbed Europeans flowing in, while some the old world's most established players have been relegated to the Challenger League. Three of these newcomers will get a chance to make a name for themselves on day one, as they go up against the defending champion, LG-IM_Mvp.

But first, enjoy this nice promo video from ESL.

Group A Preview: Mvp, elfi, Tefel, Beastyqt

by Waxangel

The Plight of King Jürgen

LG-IM_Mvp, the four-time GSL champion, the King of Wings, and reigning champion of Europe will be on hand to personally welcome in the second season of WCS Europe. However, it might not be a joyous occasion for our beloved monarch.

Despite having experienced the perils of trying to play cross server from Korea to Europe last season, where he was defeated 2 – 0 by DIMAGA and was just one game away from being dumped out of the tournament by Germany's Socke, Mvp has decided not expend the royal coffers for a trip to Europe. Instead, he will once again take on the debilitating lag that many players have called unplayable. A sure favorite to take the group in a live setting – if not the entire tournament – Mvp is now at risk of being the victim of a huge upset on opening day.

The one thing Mvp has going his way is that he's never been especially reliant on micro or multi-tasking – not that he doesn't enjoy dropping the hell out of opponents when he knows it will be effective. Even when his wrists were whole and uninjured, Mvp's strengths lay in strategy, mind games, and just having all of those intangibles we can't describe because we're not four-time GSL champs. After last season's close call, you have to think he'll bring a style of play that lets him roll to victory while minimizing the influence of lag. He's already shown he can come up with new tricks like the marine-tank builds he used against SaSe in the previous season, and catching his opponents off guard with an unusual playstyle could be his best weapon.

The Three Usurpers

Looking to hamper Mvp's progress are three players who fought their way up into the Premier League from the Challenger division.

First, there's the ever enigmatic Ence.elfi, who will be Mvp's initial opponent. While elfi is famous for his incredibly low APM and affinity for cats, he is perhaps most well-known for his ability to cause big upsets and vex far more famous players. Even the most optimistic caster couldn't bring himself to say "great force-fields!" when he ended Stephano's 30+ game ZvP win-streak in 2012, but he found a way to leave even Stephano shrugging his shoulders at the end. Everyone said elfi was dead when he faced Life in TSL4, but he came within a map of knocking out the future GSL champion. Most recently, Elfi taught TaeJa a lesson in humility at DreamHack Summer, coming back to take a 2 - 1 victory after TaeJa's manner mules proved to be premature. Even though he doesn't have any GSL champion's pins, Elfi is the player most like Mvp in this group simply because he has that "he keeps winning games and I don't really know why" quality. Predicting both against and for elfi is very dangerous – it's best to just treat him as a force of chaos.

Then there's Empire|Beastyqt, a player who almost made it into the Premier League in season one but fell just barely short in the qualifiers. Beastyqt gathered himself and made an impressive run through the Challenger League, falling to Shuttle in the bracket stage but defeating SaSe and groupmate Elfi to advance to the Premier League. Then, going up against an all-Protoss group (monchi completing the trio), Beastyqt brought out four unorthodox builds in a row, tearing through his opponents with a combination of tank pushes, factory-float fakes, and early hellions strikes. While that may just have been an indication of how he felt about the TvP match-up in general, it did show that he can come in with strategies that leave his opponents completely flat-footed. He faces a tougher task here, having to face opponents of every race, but perhaps he will have even more surprises in store?

And finally, we come to d.Tefel. Back when he surprised everyone in 2012 by qualifying for MLG Summer Arena and finishing in the upper half of the 32 participants, I wondered if we'd ever hear from him again. After nearly a year without any particularly noticeable tournament results (minus a so-so outing at IEM Singapore), Tefel is finally back at center stage, having blazed a trail through the Challenger League and into the top flight.

While NaNiwa might call Tefel the worst player in the world, the evidence does suggest otherwise. Not only did he beat TitaN, KrasS, and NaNiwa to advance from the Challenger League, but he's coming in off a really impressive DH: Summer performance where he reached the Ro16, going undefeated against non-Korean players. He had the misfortune of drawing Life in the Ro16, but hey, we can't all be Sjow. Of the three challengers in this group, Tefel has had the best results lately, and just might be the one who thwarts Mvp.

Predictions

Mvp > elfi
Tefel > Beastyqt
Mvp > Tefel
elfi > Beastyqt
elfi > Tefel

Writers: Waxangel
Graphics: shiroiusagi
Banner photo: ESL
Editor: Waxangel.