When Blizzard announced in their initial statement that the World Championship Series aimed to find the world's best players and pit them against each other, hopes were high. Now that we are about to witness the European Finals go down, StarCraft 2 fans couldn't have asked for more. This weekend old stars like White-Ra, ret, HasuObs and Grubby face talents that, in some cases, only hit the wider sphere because of their national qualifiers, such as Ziktomini and JohnyREcco, SortOf and BabyKnight or KrasS. All of that in a double elimination tournament setting with $60,000 on the line. Even with players like NaNiwa, Sase, Bling and TLO failing in their respective qualifiers, this line up is nothing short of exciting.
The two brackets will pit their winners against each other in the grand finals. All rounds are best of three, with the lower bracket grand finalist having to win two sets.
The Bracket
Bracket A
KrasSvs Bly MaNavs DeMusliM
Some evil-spirited people might say that KrasS got through the national qualifiers on a fluke, losing to the more prolific Germans. Bly has the upper hand.Having just dropped out of Code S in the first round and the long trip to Sweden may take its toll on MaNa. If he can brush it off, he'll come out ahead.
GosubetsGosubets
VortiXvs Noticimus SortOfvs Nerchio
The rise of the European Zergs has VortiX as one its faces, while the young Norwegian failed to make an impact on the scene since. VortiX should be safe.Talk about the rise of Zergs. This match is the embodiment of everything that is exciting about the European Swarm right now. Despite Nerchio's experience, this can go either way.
GosubetsGosubets
sLivkovs Grubby retvs JeaL
Both of these players' PvZ is so-and-so, therefore a definite winner can't necessarily be agreed upon. sLivko gets a head up for his recent form, though. Italy is not exactly a powerhouse when it comes to StarCraft 2, so even despite ret's lackluster performances lately, he should take this one.
GosubetsGosubets
White-Ravs Orly BabyKnightvs Seiplo
Sadly Grandpa Toss has retreated into less time consuming showmatches for the most part and it starts to show. Orly can take this, or at least prove to be an arduous task for White-Ra.A Scandinavian PvP, that, like so many others, can go either way. A safe prediction is not to be made.
GosubetsGosubets
The problem with having all the best Europeans in one place is that they all have a shot at winning the whole thing. Of course, some are more likely than others to make it far, but it takes one breakout star to mix up everything. So let's start with a safer prediction: either one of the two Terrans making it to the finals of that bracket is highly unlikely. If we look at the Protosses next, we see that half of them are fresh blood, while a tournament like this often requires endurance and experience next to vigor. The one Protoss that combines all three of these the most would be Grubby. The Zerg on the other hand are full of equally skilled and promising players, so it probably wouldn't shock anyone to see the likes of Nerchio, sLivko or even the 'younger' ones like SortOf or VortiX going deep.
Home to it all: the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm.
Bracket B
Ziktominivs DarKFoRcE LucifroNvs Happy
Ziktomini is probably the rising star of UK's StarCraft 2 scene and can put the prolific German under a lot of stress. If DarKFoRcE has one of his better days, he can take it.Being VortiX' brother and equally strong as of late, the Karont3 duo dominates the Spanish scene and him being stopped by Happy seems unlikely at this point.
GosubetsGosubets
Sockevs Eeel TitaNvs StarEagle
For most people, there is only one French Zerg and judging by the names alone in this match, it will remain that way. Not necessarily easy for Socke, but he is still the favorite.As is almost always the case with Italian StarCraft 2 players, StarEagle has to face a player with a lot more renommee than himself. TitaN gets a head start.
GosubetsGosubets
Naamavs Dayshi Stephanovs HasuObs
Dayshi's chances are slim, and to take out Naama he would have to catch him by surprise. Unfortunately it's usually up to Naama to surprise with his unconvential builds and play style.Probably the match of the first round. Stephano, being the favorite in every tournament he's in, shouldn't count out the German winner of the EPS Berlin Open just last week and his superior in WarCraft 3.
GosubetsGosubets
ThorZaINvs NightEnd LoWeLyvs JonnyREcco
Without jumping on the "EG curse" bandwagon, it has to be mentioned that ThorZaIN has failed to impress since he won DreamHack, except for WCS nationals. NightEnd, on the other hand, has beaten top European Terrans and doesn't need to be afraid of this match.Contender for the UK's rising star title is JonnyREcco, whose claim to fame leads him to the winner of the European Combined Qualifiers, LoWeLy. Predicting ZvZ's is always tougher than other match ups, and this is no exception.
GosubetsGosubets
With so much to win for the renowned stars and even more to win for the newcomers, players like Ziktomini and Dayshi and JonnyREcco will do all they can to see the top players falter. For players like Stephano, HasuObs, ThorZaIN, Socke and NightEnd an early defeat would a devastating blow, so they will pull all the strings to avoid that. Clear favorite is of course Stephano, who is eager to gather the first major win for his new team, Evil Geniuses. Everything but a qualification for the final tournament in China would be a let down.
Links: GosuBet
The two brackets will pit their winners against each other in the grand finals. All rounds are best of three, with the lower bracket grand finalist having to win two sets.
The Bracket
Bracket A
KrasSvs Bly MaNavs DeMusliM
Some evil-spirited people might say that KrasS got through the national qualifiers on a fluke, losing to the more prolific Germans. Bly has the upper hand.Having just dropped out of Code S in the first round and the long trip to Sweden may take its toll on MaNa. If he can brush it off, he'll come out ahead.
GosubetsGosubets
VortiXvs Noticimus SortOfvs Nerchio
The rise of the European Zergs has VortiX as one its faces, while the young Norwegian failed to make an impact on the scene since. VortiX should be safe.Talk about the rise of Zergs. This match is the embodiment of everything that is exciting about the European Swarm right now. Despite Nerchio's experience, this can go either way.
GosubetsGosubets
sLivkovs Grubby retvs JeaL
Both of these players' PvZ is so-and-so, therefore a definite winner can't necessarily be agreed upon. sLivko gets a head up for his recent form, though. Italy is not exactly a powerhouse when it comes to StarCraft 2, so even despite ret's lackluster performances lately, he should take this one.
GosubetsGosubets
White-Ravs Orly BabyKnightvs Seiplo
Sadly Grandpa Toss has retreated into less time consuming showmatches for the most part and it starts to show. Orly can take this, or at least prove to be an arduous task for White-Ra.A Scandinavian PvP, that, like so many others, can go either way. A safe prediction is not to be made.
GosubetsGosubets
The problem with having all the best Europeans in one place is that they all have a shot at winning the whole thing. Of course, some are more likely than others to make it far, but it takes one breakout star to mix up everything. So let's start with a safer prediction: either one of the two Terrans making it to the finals of that bracket is highly unlikely. If we look at the Protosses next, we see that half of them are fresh blood, while a tournament like this often requires endurance and experience next to vigor. The one Protoss that combines all three of these the most would be Grubby. The Zerg on the other hand are full of equally skilled and promising players, so it probably wouldn't shock anyone to see the likes of Nerchio, sLivko or even the 'younger' ones like SortOf or VortiX going deep.
Home to it all: the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm.
Bracket B
Ziktominivs DarKFoRcE LucifroNvs Happy
Ziktomini is probably the rising star of UK's StarCraft 2 scene and can put the prolific German under a lot of stress. If DarKFoRcE has one of his better days, he can take it.Being VortiX' brother and equally strong as of late, the Karont3 duo dominates the Spanish scene and him being stopped by Happy seems unlikely at this point.
GosubetsGosubets
Sockevs Eeel TitaNvs StarEagle
For most people, there is only one French Zerg and judging by the names alone in this match, it will remain that way. Not necessarily easy for Socke, but he is still the favorite.As is almost always the case with Italian StarCraft 2 players, StarEagle has to face a player with a lot more renommee than himself. TitaN gets a head start.
GosubetsGosubets
Naamavs Dayshi Stephanovs HasuObs
Dayshi's chances are slim, and to take out Naama he would have to catch him by surprise. Unfortunately it's usually up to Naama to surprise with his unconvential builds and play style.Probably the match of the first round. Stephano, being the favorite in every tournament he's in, shouldn't count out the German winner of the EPS Berlin Open just last week and his superior in WarCraft 3.
GosubetsGosubets
ThorZaINvs NightEnd LoWeLyvs JonnyREcco
Without jumping on the "EG curse" bandwagon, it has to be mentioned that ThorZaIN has failed to impress since he won DreamHack, except for WCS nationals. NightEnd, on the other hand, has beaten top European Terrans and doesn't need to be afraid of this match.Contender for the UK's rising star title is JonnyREcco, whose claim to fame leads him to the winner of the European Combined Qualifiers, LoWeLy. Predicting ZvZ's is always tougher than other match ups, and this is no exception.
GosubetsGosubets
With so much to win for the renowned stars and even more to win for the newcomers, players like Ziktomini and Dayshi and JonnyREcco will do all they can to see the top players falter. For players like Stephano, HasuObs, ThorZaIN, Socke and NightEnd an early defeat would a devastating blow, so they will pull all the strings to avoid that. Clear favorite is of course Stephano, who is eager to gather the first major win for his new team, Evil Geniuses. Everything but a qualification for the final tournament in China would be a let down.
Links: GosuBet
