EPTWCS Challenger Begins
The system for Challenger has been greatly simplified in 2014, with twenty-four of the previous Premier League players going up against twenty-four of the "Challengers" from the qualifiers in a series of best of five matches. There's just one single round, and there are no second chances. The winners advance to Premier, and the losers must start the next season in the qualifiers. Here are the matches on day one:
WCS Europe Challenger, Day 1
Countdown:
Empire|Happy vs 
mYi.ABomBAh, seeding. The rather accomplished Happy goes up against a first-time Challenger leaguer in ABomB. In a year that was awful for European Terrans in general, Happy was arguably the best of the bunch. Despite his inability to make a run beyond the quarter-finals, Happy proved his skills by going toe-to-toe with players like HyuN, MC and San. As with all of the players making their debuts in Challenger, it's difficult to see ABomB getting by such a formidable opponent in his very first match.
FireCake vs Ai.StrelokHmmm, one of the players in the longest game in pro SC2 history versus a Terran player who has an unusual fondness for mech... Depending on your taste in matches, you may want to skip this potentially marathon length TvZ series. On the other hand, Strelok has a knack for playing his mech more aggressively than most, so perhaps you will be pleasantly surprised.
MiA.Starbuck vs mouz.HeRoMaRinEHeRoMaRinE's championship at EPS Germany Winter and good performances for team Germany in O'Gaming's NationWars suggest he might be the player to redeem the tarnished reputation of European Terrans. However, if Lucifron and Happy are any indication, everyone should be careful about putting too much hope in him lest they jinx him into oblivion. Though HeRoMaRinE is getting all the hype, it's hardly a given that he will beat Starbuck. After all, he did send Lucifron hurtling out of WCS Europe last season!
[A]NaNiwa vs StakimaNThis should be little more than a tune up match for resident best-foreigner NaNiwa, but before we get ahead of ourselves let's remember that NaNiwa has suffered unlikely upsets against East European Zergs in the past. As for StakimaN, we'll just leave him with the advice of "make queens and hydralisks" and see what he can do.
WCS America Challenger, Day 1
Countdown:EG.HuK vs deimos.BailsOne week to prepare for a PvP on relatively new maps? This match could be worth watching to steal some cheese builds for ladder alone. In terms of predicting who's the favorite, you might as well flip a coin, which seems to be the best way to guess PvP matches not involving PartinG.
lvD.Apocalypse vs desRowPoor Apocalypse. By the amount of attention he gets, you wouldn't know he reached the top 16 of WCS America twice will probably do it again. He even won the recent Lake Charles Scion Open, one of the few live NA events in the last couple of months. Not the ideal opponent for desRow after he made it to Challenger in four qualifier attempts, but at least he'll have $600 to show for it!
Acer.Scarlett vs CowmanSo this is what a #1 seed versus last seed match looks like? Scarlett comes in having nearly beat Jaedong at ASUS ROG NorthCon, while the hilariously named Cowman comes in as a replacement for
Sonic who had to withdraw. Though the outcome seems all but pre-determined, hearing casters yell "Cowman holds!" over and over might make this match more interesting than it is on paper.Zoo.Top vs viOLetviOLet's visa issues might be resolved, but returning to Premier League will be no walk in the park as he faces China's Top. Though Top wasn't as impressive as MacSed or Jim in last year's campaign, he still had a reasonably good season where he reached the Ro32 twice in a row. With viOLet dropping games to foreigners Illusion and Petraeus in the recent IEM Cologne qualifiers, we could see viOLet's USA return delayed yet again.
aLive vs deimos.KoMAHere's even more low vs. high seed action as the veteran aLive faces first time Challenger leaguer KoMA. aLive should be a heavy favorite to win, but fans of foreigners can hold out for the chance that the place he's living at now has way worse international internet than the old EG-TL house.
MajOr vs mYi.KaneMajor came excruciatingly close to making it to the Ro16 of the Premier League last year, winning series against the likes of Ryung and TaeJa before falling just short in the deciding series of his groups. Before he can challenge the Koreans again, MajOr will have to go through yet another international 'invader' in Kane. The Canadian Zerg has been practicing in Europe with team mYi, and presents a different kind of challenge to the competitors in WCS America.
