Hyun, San and Life are the huge favourites to win the CaseKing X-Mas Cup today – but they have to beat a legend and two uprising terrans. Here’s the round of 8.

The CaseKing X-Mas Cup started yesterday with 16 participants of which eight already dropped out in the first round. Among them were all foreign participants like [bunny1], [tlo] and [mana], but also world-class players like [mma], [first] and [mc]. So the fight for 2.500 euro comes down to these matches:

[san] vs [jaedong]

No doubt [jaedong] isn’t on the peak of his career at the moment. He hasn’t had much success since winning the WEC in September. Lately he dropped out in the semifinals of the KungFuCup #1 – even though he lost to [parting] which should be allowed, a 0:3 is pretty explicit. [san] on the other hand is in the top10 of the World Ranking for the first time and continues to rise. This should put him ahead in this match too.

[hyun] vs [forgg]

[hyun] is still one of the most active players in Starcraft 2 but he hasn’t won a tournament since April – not even a minor one. To change this he has to beat [forgg] who lately won the Dreamhack Winter but isn’t quite active in tournaments for some months. Thus it is hard to evaluate his real strength. Despite the obvious ranking advantage for [hyun], this might be a close one.

[impact] vs [jjakji]

Newcomer [impact] eliminated [bunny1] in the first round, which is quite impressive. But one may doubt if he can repeat this success against another terran player. [jjakji] is very experienced when it comes to competitive Starcraft and was fourth at the Dreamhack Winter lately. He is also in his best shape since late 2012 so beating him won’t be easy.

[parting] vs [life]

The highlight of this round of 8, which could easily be a grand final too. Both players struggled in tournaments this year but are regaining their strength for a few months. [life] of course shines by winning the WCS Global Finals and his second place at Dreamhack Winter, but [parting] is on a streak too: He won HomeStory Cup X and two minor tournaments – 32 Boys 1 Cup and KungFu Cup #1 – in just about a month. Plus, he knocked out [mma] in the first round.