To celebrate the coming holidays, Take welcomed 32 players in his home in Krefeld. With the spirits high as they are, it's almost as it doesn't matter that eight are already out.
After many iterations, HomeStory Cup caught up with the popular trend in premier tournaments and sent the four terrans that competed yesterday home (figuratively).
The day began with all cameras on Stephano's struggles in Group A. The heavy favorite with the scary 73% win rate against protoss dropped two losses in a row to Feast to be sent to the losers match of the group. There, he met GoOdy who, despite not having the greatest TvZ record of recent, gave the Frenchman a run for his money, winning an excruciating, one-hour long game on Metropolis to seriously threaten Stephano's tournament life.
GoOdy tried to apply the same method in game three as well but Stephano was quick to learn and outexpanding the terran helped him survive the losers match. As he walked towards the closing game of the group, Stephano would remember the saying "revenge is best served cold" as his opponent would be none other than Feast, who had just lost to Socke. This time, things went in favor of Stephano and the zerg barely survived group a, finishing second to aTn's toss.
Group A
Socke4-0
Stephano5-3
Feast2-5
Goody1-4
Feast 2-0 Stephano
Socke 2-0 Goody
Socke 2-0 Feast
Stephano 2-1 Goody
Stephano 2-0 Feast
After finishing on one of the last spots last season, TLO took a 180-degree turn in performance and destroyed Group B, taking down both Cloud and Mana. The Liquid zerg, who said in a recent interview that he's in his best shape in a long time dropped but a single map to the Ro16 and is looking forward to continue his spree tomorrow.
Not contrary to the expectations, DH Summer and ESWC champion Mana was the second one to advance and he has his victories over ToD and Cloud to thank for that.
Group B
TLO4-1
Mana5-2
Cloud2-5
ToD1-4
TLO 2-0 Cloud
Mana 2-0 Tod
TLO 2-1 Mana
Cloud 2-1 ToD
Mana 2-0 Cloud
Following up on his satisfying performance in the last few months was BabyKnight, who sat atop Group C after beating Fuzer and HasuObs. Yet, while BK's triumph was as natural as they come, more or less surprising was seeing Ret doing more than OK. The Dutchman lived through several months of appalling results as well as tournament suspension but somehow managed to survive the culling of Group C.
Group C
BabyKnight4-1
Ret5-3
HasuObs2-5
Fuzer2-4
HasuObs 2-1 Ret
BabyKnight 2-1 Fuzer
BabyKnight 2-0 HasuObs
Ret 2-1 Fuzer
Ret 2-0 HasuObs
There were many similarities between Group A and Group D, starting with Boss Toss MC scoreboarding a 0-2 loss to Naama, not really showing the greatest play in his career. Like Stephano, however, MC sprung back, defeated the hometurf player in the losers match and took revenge on Naama with equally one-sided 2-0 to make it to second place.
Meanwhile, Snute tore everybody in Group D apart to finish first without dropping a single map and joined Socke in the "flawless run" club.
If day one can be considered intense, day two should be beyond all adjectives. The cream of the crop of HSC VI gathers today to bring the first group stage to completion and players like MarineKing, MMA, Kas, Grubby, Symbol, BlinG, Bly and Dimaga are surely ready to deliver.
Group D
Snute4-0
MC4-2
Naama2-4
Tarrantius0-4
Snute 2-0 Tarrantius
Naama 2-0 MC
Snute 2-0 Naama
MC 2-0 Tarrantius
MC 2-0 Naama
