Heading into the RO6, we decided to review the group stages in Fionn's favorite article format: A Power Rank! But first, a some spoilerific Group B short match recaps from WaxAngel:

+ Show Spoiler [Spoilerific Short Match Recaps] +

1. SlayerS_MMA - The Son of Boxer had a blazing start to the Blizzard Cup, taking down every single player in his group, including the best ZvT player in the world, Leenock, twice. He did drop one game to arch-rival Polt in the final game of the group, forcing a three way tie break, but was able to avenge his earlier loss with a strong showing in a rematch for the top spot in Group B.

2. IMMvp - Did MVP win his group? No, he did not, but that isn't going to stop me from placing him as the second most impressive player so far. He went from winning the World Cyber Games championship to the Media Day Event for the Blizzard Cup to his first group matches in a span of twenty four hours. He came out second his group with a score of 3-1 and only dropping a close game to DongRaeGu.

3. FXOLeenock - Only losing to one player in his group, the first placed MMA, Leenock dominated the rest of his competition, taking down Nestea, Naniwa and Polt twice to give him a commanding second place in Group B. Both games against MMA were close, but he wasn't able to take down the ace from Slayers when it came down to the end game. On the flip side, against Polt, he dominated both games with creative drop builds and beautiful defense that reassures the statement that he is the best ZvT player currently in the world.

4. MVPDongRaeGu - Talking about players with great ZvT, DRG was one game away from being eliminated from the entire tournament, but he persevered and took down MC in the final set of Group A and was able to pull out a miraculous first seed. He did drop a game to the foreigner Stephano, but was able to defeat the Game Genie Terran in the best match of the first day.

5. TSL_Polt - A lot of people wondered, 'How would Polt do?' Many people believed he shouldn't have been invited and that his time of being a top player was long gone. Polt was able to shut up some of his critics by playing excellent games, beating Nestea on Crossfire (a map that Nestea doesn't lose on), Naniwa, and his rival MMA. Sadly, he lost two games to Leenock and faltered in the final game of the night in a rematch between him and MMA. Still, he was able to advance out of the group and prove that he belonged at the Blizzard Cup.

6. oGs.MC - The Protoss President was the only player from his race to win a game in the Blizzard Cup, and he was also able to advance with victories over Stephano and Hero. MC still looks shaky when it comes to playing Terran, but his game against Stephano was some of the best play that I've seen out of the former GSL champion in quite some time. He has a tough test next round against Leenock, but he has a chance if he plays as well as he did against Stephano.

7. Mill.Stephano - The French Zerg played really, really well. I can't stress that enough. I came into the tournament thinking that he had a good shot of going 0-4, but he proved me wrong by taking the first two sets and putting himself in a great position to get out of the group. Unfortunately for the foreigners, Stephano dropped his last two games and had to watch as DongRaeGu beat him out for the final spot by beating MC in the deciding game. He might be seventh in my ranking, but I can assure you that he is high (very high) above the people below him.

8. IMNesTea - What happened Nestea? In each of the first three games against MMA, Polt, and Leenock, he had golden opportunities to win, but then threw the games away with bad decision making. When I think of smart players, I think of Nestea, but this was one of his worst outings in his entire career. Unlike Hero, Nestea was allowed to get into longer parts of the game, but fell apart when his macro was needed the most. He did "win" one game, but that sadly isn't enough to get him anywhere near the seventh spot in the ranking.

9. QxGNaNiwa - What can I say? Naniwa went up against two tricky builds when going up against the Terrans of his group, and was able to prolong a game against Leenock where he was behind economically all game, but the only game we'll remember from his time in the Blizzard Cup will be the match against Nestea. Do I hate Naniwa and think he's an awful human being for throwing away a meaningless match? No, but I am disappointed. Even if there wasn't money on the line, pride still was. Naniwa in the GSL, now counting the Blizzard Cup, is 0-10 (if you count the Nestea game) and has only won once in the GSTL. I still believe he has all the talent in the world, and that he can become a big player in Code S, but he needs to vary up his builds.

There is a reason why Leenock, Polt, and MMA went for what they did. They've scouted Naniwa. They know that he likes to play longer games and opts to go for Nexus first a lot of the time. What they do in response is simple: kill the Naniwa before he can get ahead of me. If Naniwa wants to go anywhere in Code S, he needs to mix up his builds and play style. He's no longer an unknown quality to Koreans – in fact he might even have a target sign on his back. They'll know his style and know how to abuse it.

10. Liquid`HerO - Hero didn't play well. He tried to play longer, macro games in his group, but his opponent would slap him alongside the head and kill him before he could get into the late game. Hero showed he still has nerves when it comes to the big stage, but this was a good opportunity for him to get his feet wet before delving into the Up-and-Down matches coming up in the next week. No, he may not be the best Protoss in the world, but he surely has the potential to be one of the better ones with a bit more training. Not any of the games he played were that close, and he really wasn't able to get going in any of the four games he played.

RO6 Match One: oGs.MC vs FXOLeenock

Whoa, I thought the changing of the guard was supposed to be a peaceful process. I didn't know Leenock was going to go around and mount the heads of previous GSL champions on pikes. MMA, Mvp, and Nestea have fallen. Now the ruthless Leenock has his sights set on oGs.MC, looking to let out some more rage from his GSL Finals loss by collecting another GSL Champion's head.

When we take recent momentum into consideration, MC looks like he will be brushed easily aside. Leenock has been performing progressively better in each of the last six GSL tournaments he competed in. Code A RO32, RO16, RO4, RO4, Code S RO16, Finals. It's been incredible to check in on his progress, where you literally saw a young talent improving by the week. On the other hand, MC recently experienced a massive slump, partially recovered, and has been stuck in limbo ever since.

One thing the President might have going for him is the match-up. For all his leaps and bounds, Leenock PvZ is slightly less convincing than his other match-ups. This is kind of Protoss's fault. At least for Terran, there are titans like MMA and Mvp that can be toppled to prove oneself. As for Protoss... Well, it feels like they're starting their top ten list with the first five slots absent. Beating Naniwa and HuK like drums is impressive for sure, but it doesn't really have the oomph of Leenock's Terran and Zerg triumphs. Then again, if MC isn't conclusively better than Naniwa or HuK, isn't Leenock still favored anyway?

Style wise, MC is as varied as always. He comes with an arsenal of one and two-base all-ins and timing attacks that he can deploy at will, as well as the solid mechanics to play a good macro game. What he doesn't seem to enjoy are the Warp Prism shenanigans of HerO and JYP, which while risky, are extremely useful at taking the fight to Zerg after other avenues of aggression have been closed off. While the safe, macro, deathbally style of Protoss is certainly still valid (insert obligatory IdrA joke here), I think that it's been the stubbornness of sticking to that style that's put Protoss in its PvZ rut. MC might have to be more dynamic to beat Leenock.

As for Leenock, his ZvP style in recent months boils down to "Be a dick now with Roach rush, or be a dick later with mass Mutalisks." He seems determined to defeat Protoss in the ways that offer them the least satisfaction, by either killing them off early before they can even play their game, or by pecking away with Mutalisks and getting the win without even allowing Protoss that massive engagement they relish. While MC is pretty good against the early all-ins, he's shown a weakness against the annoying mass-Mutalisks style as of late, and that does not bode well.

Prediction: Leenock 3 - 2 MC

Though I really think MC has a good underdog's shot at it, I have to go with the red-hot Leenock on this one.



*I'm kidding, I'm well aware that the only real DT build is "Fast DTs into fast loss."

RO6 Match Two: IMMvp vs. TSL_Polt

What a turn of events going into our third day of Blizzard Cup action. MVP, due to already having three invitations to the Blizzard Cup with his #1 ranking in the GSL points alongside his wins at Blizzcon and WCG, got to see those two spots taken up by his Terran brothers in the #4 GSL ranked player MMA, and #5 ranked player Polt.

It's deliciously ironic that after two days of group play, the two players who road in on MVP's coat-tails now stand in his way of a Blizzard Cup championship. First up, is MVP vs Polt.

Both Polt and MVP had strong outings in group play, both going 3-1 in the original round robin format. They both fell to the two best ZvT players in the world, Leenock and DongRaeGu, and cleaned up the rest of the competition. Polt did lose two straight in the tiebreaker portion of his group, but he had already guaranteed himself a spot in the Ro6 and was just playing for seeding.

Now, looking at this match, the favorite is clear. MVP, who has been on a roll for the past few months, should win this match. Not only should he win this match, but he should more than likely 3-0 or 3-1 Polt in the process. That isn't to say I don't think Polt is one of the best Terran in Korea, but MVP just plays a style of TvT that overwhelms how Polt plays. It doesn't matter how many tricky builds Polt can come up with or how long he waits for MVP to make a mistake by unsieging his tanks. The three-time GSL champion has shown us that he will play a patient, long game and not overextend himself.

If Polt had gotten second place in the group and faced MC, I would have favored him heavily, but the styles of these two Terrans heavily favors MVP. Polt loves to play bionic. MVP loves to play mech. If MVP was a run-of-the-mill mech user who didn't siege correctly or wasn't able to keep all his bases defended, Polt would have the opportunity to run him over, but there is a reason why MVP is the best player in the world and looking for another trophy to add to his case.

Polt's main strength in TvT is that he can punish players who make small mistakes. If you move your army at the wrong time for a split second or go a little forward without your tanks positioned correctly, Polt will go head first into a battle and clean you up. MVP isn't the type of player that will give him those chances in a match. Instead of going in blindly or moving his units incorrectly, MVP slowly plods around the map and, like an anaconda, chokes you out until you have nothing left to do but tap out.

Even if Polt does fall to MVP, he has shown that his invitation to the tournament wasn't a wasted one. Coming into this tournament, after two straight disappointing Code S seasons, a lot of people started to doubt that Polt would be able to stick around. Now, with an impressive display in his group stage, Polt is given another shot at showing everyone that he can get back to where he was months ago as the champion of the Super Tournament.

If there was ever a moment for Polt to shock the world, this would be it. The last time these two faced off in the Arena of Legends, Polt got crushed by the superior multitasking of MVP. He'll need the better builds to win this series. His mechanics aren't as polished as MVP's and his macro won't be able to stand up over a long, drawn out game. Just like how MMA was able to get MVP off his toes by using two strategic builds in a row at the GSL October Finals, Polt will have to do the same. He can't and shouldn't try to play 100% standard against MVP. If he does, the chances of him winning are slim.

MVP is standing in front of Polt with his arms crossed, and tapping his foot impatiently. "It's time to lose, Polt. I gave you your spot, and now I'm giving you a chance to leave quietly."

So, what will it be, Polt? A quiet, predictable exit, or a result that shocks the world? I hope you guys like seeing marauders running at siege tanks because you'll be seeing a lot of explosions tonight. Will it be the scraps of tank flying or the heads of Polt's army? Only one way to find out.

Prediction: MVP 3 - 1 Polt