Archiv der Kategorie: Europe

World Championship Series (WCS) 2015 Season 1

Here Is All You Need To Know About The WCS Premier League Season 1

The World Championship Series Season 1 is different from all its predecessors: For the first time, Europeans, Americans and Asian except Koreans will play in one league for a ticket at the Global Finals in November. The WCS is already down to the best 32 players from all around the world – including four Koreans who live abroad. Much is to be said about these guys but i thought it is best to show them all in one giant infographic. So here is all you need to know about this season! Weiterlesen

Starcraft 2 Tournament Champions of 2014

Korea, Korea, Korea: These players won all important Starcraft tournaments in 2014

Normal human beings are nearly unable to remember a time when a foreigner won a major tournament in Starcraft (it was Ilyes ‚Stephano‘ Satouri in 2012). All big events this year were won by Koreans, but only two of them won more than once. Weiterlesen

Every participant of WCS Europe Ro8

Here are all participants of WCS Europe Round of 8 ever

Always the same faces in WCS Europe Round of 8? Well, that’s actually partially true because some players like Jang ‚MC‘ Min Chul and Mun ‚MMA‘ Seong Won really have been around for a long time – but there are some new faces as well this season. Weiterlesen

Sebastien 'Firecake' Lebbe

Interview with Firecake: „I leave every ZvT and ZvZ in ladder“

In an all-Protoss group, Sebastien ‚Firecake‘ Lebbe is the lonely Zerg tonight in WCS Europe. But as he tells in our interview, he has specially prepared for this situation: „I leave every ZvT & ZvZ in ladder in order to play only Protoss.“

[playerbox_firecake] How did you prepare for the Round of 32?
Well, I played a lot. Since I know my group, I leave every ZvT & ZvZ in ladder in order to play only Protoss and I have to thank my friends and my team to accept to train with me. I hope it will be enough.

How do you feel going into the matches?
It is going to be very tough. I believe I got the strongest group with three very high-level Protoss including two top Koreans. [babyknight] is a very dangerous Protoss, playing for the best French team. [first] has played for a long time for IM and [stardust] won a Dreamhack. I have so much respect for them and I wish them good luck. I will need to make a surprise. I am able to do it.

What are your chances to advance into Round of 16?
It is the third time i qualified for WCS Premier League Europe. This is a very high performance so i guess i am not so bad. I feel confident because i am able to deal with late game in ZvP. If i can deal with the 2 or 3 base all-ins, I will be fine.

Who will be your hardest opponent in the group and why?
I believe [stardust] has the strongest all-ins.

What are your goals for this season?
Advancing into Round of 16.

WCS Logo

Former champion Mvp and San meet with ToD and rookie uThermal tonight in WCS Europe

On paper tonights group of WCS Europe is a sure thing: Jung ‚Mvp‘ Jong Hyun is a former champion and Kang ‚San‘ Cho Won was third last season while Yoan ‚ToD‘ Merlo never made it to the Round of 16 and Marc ‚uThermal‘ Schlappi hasn’t played a single match in WCS Premier League yet – any hopes for surprises? Maybe. Check the stats and trivia about WCS Europe Group D.

[group_4_mvp_san_tod_uthermal]

Results

[san] 2:1 [uthermal]
[mvp] 1:2 [tod]
[san] 2:1 [tod]
[uthermal] 2:0 [mvp]
[tod] 2:1 [uthermal]

Final Standings

  1. [san]
  2. [tod]
  3. [uthermal]
  4. [mvp]

WCS is played in Double Elimination mode: A player who wins two matches advances, a player who loses twice is out

Trivia

  • [san] and [uthermal] met once in a tournament last August – San won 2:1
  • [mvp] and [tod] never met before
  • San is slightly positive in PvT and PvP lately but not extraordinary well
  • Mvp has only played two TvT in tournaments since September – both were in last seasons Round of 16
  • ToD is now on a 3-8 record in PvT but 6-3 in PvP
  • uThermal has a 16-6 record vs Protoss since March, his stats against Terran are even
  • Mvp was the champion in the very first season of WCS Europe back in 2013
  • San played his first ever WCS Premier League last season and immediately got third place
  • ToD never made it past the Round of 32 in two attempts
  • uThermal is one of seven rookies this season – four already played and two of them advanced to the Round of 16 ([harstem] and [yoda])
Marc 'uThemal' Schlappi Interview

Interview with uThermal: „I would be really embarrassed if I would lose every single map“

In his first season of WCS Premier League, Marc ‚uThermal‘ Schlappi got three really tough opponents to beat. Therefore his goals are set very low, as he tells in this interview: „I just want to win one map.“ But the past days have shown that more is possible for dutch underdogs this season.

[playerbox_uthermal] How did you prepare for the Round of 32?
I don’t really prepare for people, i don’t like playing custom games that much either, so i just play the same amount of ladder as usual.

How do you feel going into the matches?
Not very good, my shape in both TvT and TvP is really bad at the moment, I don’t really have any strategies i can win with either.

What are your chances to advance into Round of 16?
On a good day, maybe 1%? haha

Who will be your hardest opponent in the group and why?
[mvp] for sure, it seems really hard to beat people that are better than you in TvT. In TvP and TvZ it is alot easier to make upsets, beating [mvp] is probably close to impossible for me.

What are your goals for this season?
I just want to win one map. I think it looks really silly when people qualify and then lose 0-4. So i would be really embarrassed if I would lose every single map.

WCS Logo

Rookies Yoda and Harstem challenge the former GSL-champion jjakji

In an almost all-Terran group in WCS Europe tonight, it’s rookie Kevin ‚Harstem‘ de Koning who has to challeng his Korean nemesis Jung ‚jjakji‘ Ji Hoon and his fellow countrymen Choi ‚YoDa‘ Byung Hyun, also a rookie. They are accompanied by the third Terran, danish Patrick ‚Bunny‘ Brix – stats and trivia of Group C.

[group_4_jjakji_yoda_harstem_bunny]

Results

[jjakji] 1:2 [harstem]
[bunny] 2:1 [yoda]
[harstem] 2:1 [bunny]
[jjakji] 0:2 [yoda]
[bunny] 1:2 [yoda]

Final Standings

  1. [harstem]
  2. [yoda]
  3. [bunny]
  4. [jjakji]
  5. WCS is played in Double Elimination mode: A player who wins two matches advances, a player who loses twice is out

Trivia

  • [jjakji] was 5-0 (7-0 maps) against Protoss before he met Harstem
  • He and Harstem only met in the SeatStory Cup in March so far – the Korean won 3-0
  • [yoda] and [bunny] never played each other in a tournament or league
  • Harstem and Yoda are two of seven rookies this Premier League season
  • Yoda is now 10-1 in TvT at the moment
  • Jjakji was third last season of WCS Europe and is a former champion of GSL Code S
  • Bunny made it to the Round of 16 last season for the first time in three tries
Kevin 'Harstem' de Koning - Starcraft

Interview with Harstem: „I played like 300 games against Terran in the past week“

It’s the first time ever that Kevin ‚Harstem‘ de Koning plays in the Premier League of WCS Europe. The dutch is one of the youngest players in this season and thus acts overmodest if asked about his ambition: „I hope I can play as well here as I can play in practice“, he tells in our interview – but he trained hard to maybe even be succesful.

[playerbox_harstem] How did you prepare for the Round of 32?
I played like 300 games against Terran in the past week.

How do you feel going into the matches?
If I play well I might win, on paper the other three players (Note: [jjakji], [bunny] and [yoda]) are better than me.

What are your chances to advance into Round of 16?
A realistic estimate would be 20 percent.

Who will be your hardest opponent in the group and why?
I think [jjakji] is the best player in the group. I only ever won one map against him on ladder. My total stats are like 1-22.

What are your goals for this season?
I hope i can play as well here as i can play in practice. I don’t really care about winning/losing as long as i can transfer the skill that i have in practice to tournaments.

Gerzegorz 'MaNa' Komincz

MaNa and BlinG in a double interview: „Snute is the best foreigner at the moment – and his play against Protoss is terrifying“

They represent Protoss in tonights group of WCS Europe but neither Gerzegorz ‚MaNa‘ Komincz nor Samayan ‚BlinG‘ Kay feel like they are able to win the group. „Snute is the hardest opponent – for obvious reasons“, BlinG says. Yet both are confident to advance as second – if they get lucky when playing each other.

[playerbox_mana]
[playerbox_bling] How did you prepare for the Round of 32?
Mana: I didn’t prepare somewhat specially. I came up with a couple of ideas and tried to make them work. We will see today if they do.
Bling: I prepared with ladder games mainly and custom games when I could find them.

How do you feel going into the matches?
Mana: I feel good. I’ve been playing good recently even though I didn’t have much good results. It’s time to finally get some results again.
Bling: To be honest I don’t feel too confident, but then again I never do so lets see!

What are your chances to advance into Round of 16?
Mana: I would say it’s close to 70 percent, just because it’s mostly PvP-action and anything can happen.
Bling: I’d say I have a pretty good chance to advance, just depends who gets lucky in the PvP I guess!

Who will be your hardest opponent in the group and why?
Mana: My hardest opponent will be [snute] because we’re both teammates and he’s probably the best foreigner at the moment and his ZvP is terrifying for a long time already.
Bling: [snute] for obvious reasons. He’s playing pretty well as of late and especially against Protoss.

What are your goals for this season?
Mana: I’d like to make it at least to Top8. I used to be capable of pressuring myself to take the wins from tournaments, but now I want to take it slowly. I would be happy with Top8.
Bling: If I get to the Ro16 again I’ll be happy, but of course I’d prefer to get further than that.