$67,000 prize money is the most Starcraft 2 has ever seen aside from WCS since the IEM World Championship almost a year ago. So there is a reason everybody is hyped for Starleague – and here are the first six matches of the Challenger stage. Weiterlesen
Yesterday we saw a 14-year-old entering WCS America Premier League so why not have some oddity tonight too? Challenger League is packed with the best female player in the world, Sasha ‚Scarlett‘ Hostyn, the best random player Jung Woo ‚Balloon‘ Joon, the man with the most awesome beard Ethan ‚iaguz‘ Zugai and the up to now total noname John ‚Believe‘ Lagousakos. Here are some stats and trivia about WCS America Challenger League Day 3.
[match_qxc_iaguz_0:1_0:2_1:3]
After his first season in Premier League [qxc] finds himself back in the WCS. And with [iaguz] he got an opponent that is beatable, though qxc lost when both met in the MLG Anaheim qualifier in May. Since then qxc won 7 out of 9 matches of TvT only losing to [jjakji] and [dayshi] while iaguz is out of training. His last and only TvT recently was against [xenocider] at MLG Anaheim in June – and he lost. But you can guess the Australian is well prepared for his first WCS Challenger league game ever. After all he might become the first Australian in Premier League since [moonglade] one year ago.
[match_illusion_gemini_0:0_0:0_3:0]
Though his World Rank might not be the highest, [illusion] is up for his third consecutive season in WCS America Premier League. As a player defending his slot he got a considerably weaker opponent in [gemini]. The chinese Protoss qualified for his first tournament outside of China. As both players have never met before and TvP is their weakest matchup respectively, it is hard to tell who will have the upper hand here. Your guess?
[match_hero2_ian_0:0_0:0_3:0]
[hero2] was the champion of 2013 WCS America Season 1 but after that his efforts got lower and lower. He hit rock bottom last season when [huk] and [revival] eliminated him in the Ro32. After that he came back with a second place at Dreamhack Summer and is now ready to rock WCS again. His opponent [ian] should be no obstacle on HerO’s way since the Taiwanese isn’t even a big star in his home country. Last season he lost 0:3 to [check].
[match_jim_believe_0:0_0:0_3:1]
Hard to imagine how this match could be any more unbalanced. [believe] is a player who has no record of individual tournaments yet whereas [jim] is one of the best chinese players and was part of the Premier League last season. Nevertheless Believe survived the american qualifier and beat people who were supposedly stronger than him, so why shouldn’t he surprise here again?
[match_puck_balloon_0:0_0:0_3:0]
There aren’t a lot of players out there whose race is „Random“ but [balloon] surely is the best of them. He was picked up by StarTale after a good run in the WCS Korea Challenger League in 2013. He retired in November and came back in April, moving to the United States for university and joining swiss bases myInsanity – as an 18-year-old by the way. He played HomeStory Cup and Dreamhack Summer on a european tour in June and was able to surprise in both tournaments. So [puck] should be warned – his streak of four consecutive seasons in Premier League might end today.
[match_sen_scarlett_0:1_0:3_2:3]
Thanks to Blizzard the best match of this Premier League is saved for last. [sen] and [scarlett] both belong to the best 30 players of the World Ranking. Though it’s somehow a shame one of them has to leave WCS tonight, their match might be the highlight of the Challenger League. A long time ago, in 2012, both met in a GSL-Tournament and Scarlett won 3:0. Let’s see if she can repeat this success. It’s almost been a year since she was third in WCS America and fifth in the following Season Finals – and only three months since she lost 0:3 in Challenger League to [hendralisk].
One of the youngest players ever enters the WCS tonight: Samson ‚Arium‘ Nazaryan is only 14 years old, but will still compete with the best – he is by the way the only american in a day of Challenger League that will be dominated by Koreans with Lee ‚Jaedong‘ Jae Dong at the top. Stats and trivia of Challenger League Day 2.
[match_macsed_ryung_0:2_0:2_3:1]
How could you compare a chinese player, though a good one, to a player who has the experience of 27 GSL-events? Barely. But tonight this comparison is made between [macsed] and [ryung]. And even though the Korean is the much more experienced player and has not even lost a map to his chinese opponent yet, MacSed might surprise. Ryung has lost two matches against [sjaak] lately, another Protoss whom you would consider to be far weaker.
[match_courage_arium_0:0_0:0_2:3]
Being only 14 years old, [arium] is one of the youngest players in WCS ever. Needless to say that this is his first season too and that he never played [courage] in any official tournament – which makes this game kinda unpredictable. Courage however is in his second season, he was close to Premier League Ro32 last season. He is kinda struggling in ZvP lately, his record is 9:6 for the past month. Arium however defeated two Zerg players in the qualifier already.
[match_masa_slam_1:0_3:0_0:3]
It’s time for revenge! [masa] and [slam] were opponents in the last season of Challenger League as well and the Canadian won flawlessly. For both it was their first WCS-attendance. So now, with a little more time passed, who will advance into Premier League? Recently both haven’t played much TvZ in tournaments so it is hard to say if the tides have turned.
[match_top_seed_0:0_0:0_0:3]
In July 2012, [seed] won the GSL Code S – so you know what he is capable of. Unfortunately he failed to show it since then. For example: Tonight is his first WCS match ever. But since joining Team Dignitas in June he went to MLG Anaheim and finished as 9th – his best performance in a year. So maybe he is able to defeat [top] whose PvP is by far his weakest matchup, while Seed is on a 8:0 streak since April.
[match_jaedong_kingkong_1:0_2:0_3:0]
It’s rare to see a Top10 player like [jaedong] in Challenger League, but the Korean legend has managed to fail twice in the WCS Premier League in a row this year. First he lost to [bomber] and [has] then to [heart] and [jim]. Still he is the huge favourite over [kingkong] who has not won a single map in his two appearances in WCS Challenger League. In the past two seasons he lost 0:3 to [nestea] and [major]. The only statistic that might make this match interesting is the records in ZvZ: Jaedong is 13:2 since April, while KingKong is 27:3 in the same time period.
The WCS Challenger League is the time to shine for a lot of new players: On the first day of the third season this year we will see Drew ‚Phog‘ Roberts (16 years), Bailey ‚Bails‘ Thomas (18), Alex ‚Guitarcheese‘ Tarkoff (19) and chinese rookie Shana debuting. And some of them might be able to advance even further. Stats and trivia of Challenger League Day 1.
[match_huk_phog_4:3_11:9_3:1]
Though [huk] is the huge favourite in this game when it comes to former WCS-experience and prestige, [phog] may suprise: The American won the past three games against Huk. Both met in the Midwest Pro Am 1 Qualifier in April and twice in Copa America in June. Phog won 2:1 in each of these games. It would be game-changer in WCS America: Huk played in each season of Premier League so far while Phog plays his first WCS season ever.
[match_crank_shana_0:0_0:0_1:3]
[crank] has played in every season of WCS America to date and he has always been part of the Premier League. So you wouldn’t guess that just [shana] could break this series. The Chinese enters his first WCS-season ever, so far he has only played in a few asian tournaments. The chinese qualifier wasn’t that hard either: With the top players [toodming], [jim], [top1] and [macsed] already qualified, Shana didn’t have to beat any supposedly stronger players.
[match_hendralisk_vibe_2:1_4:2_3:0]
We got an balanced match here by all numbers imagineable: Both are almost tied in matches, they are very near in terms of World Rank, they don’t even distinguish themselves that much experience-wise. While [hendralisk] played his first WCS last season and made it to the Premier League in his first attempt, it’s the first WCS for [vibe] this year. In 2013 he was consistently in Premier League Ro32 though. Least, hendralisk and Vibe both play Zerg. So maybe it will come down to the mental state of both opponents tonight: Lately Vibe is 4:1 in ZvZ while hendralisk is 2:3.
[match_suppy_guitarcheese_0:0_0:0_1:3]
It’s the second attempt of [guitarcheese] to make it into WCS Premier League. And while you may easily underestimate him, let it be said that he almost beat [sen] last season but lost 2:3 in the end. Nevertheless, [suppy] is the clear favourite of this match: He played in each Premier League season since the beginning of WCS with one exception and he is clearly ahead in terms of tournament success and experience. But both players never met in official matches before so we might be surprised.
[match_neeb_bails_0:0_0:0_3:1]
Two seasons ago [bails] was stopped in Challenger League by [huk] easily but this time might be different. The young Protoss was the best player of the all-american Deimos Team League in April, made his first trip to MLG this summer and is currently on a 7:0-streak against Terran. So in a duel of two newcomers, Bails might not be the underdog. However, [neeb] goes into the match with the experience of three Premier League attendances and the training of the Fnatic.Academy.
He played Age of Empires at the age of 5, is pretty good at math and tries to fail better every time: Mathieu ‚MiNiMaTh‘ Perrus is one of three debutants in this season of WCS Europe. Before he faces Park ‚ForGG‘ Ji Soo tomorrow, he took the time to talk about some more of his „first times“
[playerbox_minimath]
… you got nervous because you realized you are close to qualify for WCS?
I felt nervous playing against [adelscott] in the Ro16, because i know him very well and his playstyle is very annoying to me. I was not really nervous against [heromarine] one round earlier because I was the underdog in this match.
… you evaluated your chances in the upcoming Challenger League?
Well the upcoming day I started to look after my possible opponents. I was hoping for a Zerg or Protoss player but I got [forgg] so that’s pretty terrible.
… you read a wise saying that really inspired you?
Well I don’t know when about my first time, but this one really did: „Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.“
… you played a video game?
I was five years old in 1999 and I was playing Age of Empires. Best RTS game ever – after Starcraft of course 😀
… you traveled to an offline tournament?
Before going to Gamers Assembly 2011, i went to some little tournaments in an internet café named Cybernation in Paris. French guys will remember these good old times.
… you shared a hotel room with another player?
I think it was during the Gamers Assembly 2011. I was a member of the Sypher SC2 squad – [feast] was the main player there back then.
… you read a whole book in less than a week?
I think it was harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when i was eight.
… you earned prize money in Starcraft 2?
I think it was in August 2011, I went to Marseille to train for a week in an internet café and I won a little tournament at the end of it and got 150 euro.
… you failed an exam?
At the age of 15 i failed a maths exam for the first time and this was a horrible feeling for me being good in maths 😀
… you really hated a specific race, unit or unit combination?
Protoss OP ! Back in Wings of Liberty, i hated sentries and forcefields, I thought it was too strong and i had been caught off guard so many times 😀
… you went online?
It was in 2000. We had internet very early at home so my big brother and me started playing Football manager games online.
… you beat a player that was allegedly much stronger than you?
Terrible question! I think it was [morrow] in a Craftcup, back when he was at the top. I beat [stephano] around the same time but he was not the beast we all know at that time.
… you left your home country?
I went to the United Kingdomat the age of 10 with my school. The trip was very cool but the food was disgusting. Sorry English people 😀