WCS America - Premier

Ro16: Group A Recap
Jaedong and Oz advance


Ro16: Group B Preview
Demuslim, TaeJa, aLive, Minigun


Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Twitch.TV

Jaedong and Oz advance

by Waxangel
Detailed results from Live Report Thread by vult
+ Show Spoiler [Click for detailed results] +

viOLet's forfeiture turned the first group of the WCS America Ro16 into a three-man affair, with EG.Jaedong, AX.Ryung, and EG.Oz vying for spots in the quarter-finals. At the end of the night, it was the duo from Evil Geniuses that marched on to the next round, while the Terran from Axiom was sent down to the Challenger League.

Jaedong and Ryung opened up the group as Oz waited up in the winners' match, being the forunate recipient of a walkover against viOLet. The Tyrant was able to show why his ZvT is as feared as his ZvP is mocked, making short work of Ryung in a 2 - 0 victory. Neither game made it past the lair phase, with Jaedong swarming over Ryung with muta-ling-bane in game one, and then roach-bane in game two, never allowing Ryung to find his rhythm.

The result seemed to favor Oz given Jaedong's infamous issues with ZvP, but instead Jaedong put in a solid performance that saw him defeat Oz 2 - 0 as well, sending him through the group in first place. A simple mass-roach attack was all Jaedong needed to take the first game, punishing Oz for his decision to go for a zealot-archon composition.

Game two on Akilon Wastes proved to be more interesting, as the two players split the map and took the game late. A standoff of brood lords, corruptors, and infestors vs. void rays, tempests, and colossi looked like it might never end, until Jaedong threw his forces at Oz in what seemed to be a reckless engagement. However, Jaedong had a good follow-up plan in mind, spending his considerable bank to produce forty-nine mutalisks at once. The move caught Oz completely flat-footed, and he had no choice but to concede the series to Jaedong.

With Jaedong through in first place, Oz and Ryung were left to fight for the second place spot. Game one saw Ryung unable to punish Oz's gamble to take a quick third base, and he inevitably fell to overpowering economy of his Protoss opponent. Ryung decided to play aggressively in game two by harassing with early reapers and widow mines, but after failing to do significant damage, he fell behind once again. Playing it slow and steady, Oz rode his advantage to a second victory, earning his spot in the Ro8.

Group B Preview: TaeJa, DeMusliM, Minigun, aLive

American Dream

by DarkLordOlli

WCS AM has been WCS EG so far, with two Evil Geniuses players in Jaedong and Oz making it through to the Ro8. Tonight, teammates EG.DeMusliM and EG.aLive will look to keep up EG's hot streak. However, it won't be easy as they go up against the ASUS ROG champion Liquid'TaeJa, and the defender of freedom, democracy and middle names that start with 'M', ROOTMinigun.

Running Hot

The first series of the night features the Brit-we-wish-was-American EG.DeMusliM and his Korean brother in arms, EG.aLive, facing off in a good ol' team kill match. It's not quite as classic as the omnipresent Liquid-teamkill or the neverending Moreno Durán fratricide, but it may become a regular fixture if EG players continue to perform this well in foreign tournaments.

DeMusliM enters this group on a high after demolishing his Ro32 group without dropping a map. However, he did so on the back of strong TvP (taking out teammate HuK and AX.CranK), whereas this group will present him with mostly different challenges. Minigun should be beatable, but the biggest hurdles toward reaching the Ro8 will be the two Korean Terrans, both of whom are historically strong in the mirror matchup.

We've seen precious little of DeMusliM's TvT in recent weeks, and his last tournament results aren't that encouraging. While he managed to beat a recently returned d.SeleCT at Red Bull Training Grounds, he was thrashed 0 - 3 by ST_Sound, who is a rough approximation to TaeJa and aLive. Those two are on a higher level still, making this group a seriously difficult test for DeMusliM as he tries to live up to his popularity and expectations.

aLive on the other hand is still looking for the same thing he's been striving for ever since his huge IPL4 success - another big win to prove that he wasn't just a one hit wonder. That may sound harsh towards a player who's been around as long as aLive, but even aLive himself acknowledges the 'Invisible Terran' nickname. A long dry spell towards the end of Wings of Liberty saw aLive almost quit progaming before he was picked up along with Oz to strengthen EG's roster, and ever since he's been slowly recovering his old Code S regular form.

While aLive has been trying to repay EG with good performances, he keeps managing to get himself into teamkill situations instead. Last season he was eliminated from WCS AM by teammate and eventual finalist Revival, but it didn't stop him from eliminating Stephano 2 - 0 from the Season Finals. aLive continued his team-kill streak this season by beating EG.Suppy twice to eliminate him from the tournament. If aLive takes out DeMuslim as well, EG will have to wonder if it would have just been better if aLive just played WCS Korea instead.

Moving on to the other side of the bracket, we have Liquid`TaeJa. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what time of the year it is. It's hot, the sun is shining and TaeJa is winning tournaments - it must be summer! The Liquid Terran ace may not be showing the same level of dominance as he did last summer, when he was briefly considered the best player in the world, but he's certainly back in winning form.

As HotS came out, TaeJa seemed to decline a bit, dropping series against players he'd never have lost against in his prime. But the cheeky, sometimes a too cheeky kid in blue is looking like himself again, claiming victory at the all-blue HomeStoryCup VII and at ASUS ROG Summer. The latter came just a few days ago, where TaeJa ran through arguably the strongest players at the tournament in HyuN, Alicia and San to repeat his 2012 victory at the ASUS ROG tournament. His TvP seemed to improve on the fly, looking a bit shaky in against Alicia in the semis but dominant against San in the finals. TaeJa has said he doesn't believe in momentum in the past, but surely he must be feeling a little spring in his step as he heads into this group.

His opponent will be the sole (real) American in the group, Chad M. Jones, otherwise known as ROOT Gaming's Minigun. Not only will Chad try his best to defend his country against the Korean invaders, but he'll also be facing an old foe in the bloody British.

No beating around the bush, Minigun is a huge underdog coming into this group. He made it through his Ro32 group in second place, dropping the first series to Apocalypse but getting revenge on the Quantic Terran in the deciding match. In those games Chad Jones showcased a phoenix/colossus style of PvT he had just learned, later stating in an interview that he didn't have its timings and transitions down perfectly yet. Seeing as his first opponent is Liquid'TaeJa, he will have to bring a style he's completely fluid with. Phoenix/colossus may be a good choice as it's one of the more uncommon things for Terran to play against (for now), at least as long as Minigun has refined it further.

By the way, you know what's very helpful with practice and preparing for a big match? That's right, a teamhouse environment! Minigun recently moved into the newly opened ROOT house which should help him be in top shape for this match. Foreign players are notorious for mostly playing on ladder and not actually practicing with teammates, but surely with the stakes so high, things will be different?

While TaeJa was out winning tournaments, Minigun was sitting in the comfort of his new home, playing LoL preparing for tonight with tons of opportunities to study TaeJa. Fearless leader Catz will surely have been playing Dota2 working hard to get Minigun's mindset in the right place to win this match. And if Minigun can somehow win against TaeJa, he should be able to take aLive and DeMusliM too, right?

Predictions!

TaeJa is in the best shape out of the four and seems likely to advance. The series between DeMusliM and aLive could go either way as neither of them looks really dominant at the matchup but with TvT seemingly reverting back to more WoL-esque builds and overall play, aLive should feel at home in the matchup. That would leave the two foreigners duking it out in a heartbreaking fight against elimination, only to be put up against a Korean Terran again. But we can hope, right?

aLive > DeMusliM
TaeJa > Minigun
aLive < TaeJa
DeMusliM > Minigun
aLive > DeMusliM

TaeJa and aLive advance!

Writers: DarkLordOlli and WaxAngel
Graphics: Pathy
Editor: Waxangel.