

Photo: Kevin Chang​​ NAME: Thorzain

COUNTRY: Sweden

RACE: Terran

TEAM: Evil Geniuses Ever since DreamHack Stockholm 2012, EG's Thorzain has become one of the faces of the DreamHack circuit. Though he never repeated that particular run and the closest he ever got was a top eight at Winter 2012, there is little doubt that the Swedish Terran will evoke maddening cheers from the local crowd. After all, he is the first and only Swedish winner of DreamHack and this is something he can always bring up in the popularity contest with his "rival" in this regard - Naniwa. What Thorzain needs to do here is much more than a repeat of a personal success. On Swede's seemingly physically weak shoulders lies the burden of bringing EG back on their feet now that the team has lost Idra and is certain to not reach the Proleague playoffs. For the American organization, Thorzain is its best shot.



Photo: MLG NAME: Naniwa

COUNTRY: Sweden

RACE: Protoss

TEAM: Alliance If we bring out one half of the Swedish eSports royalty, we are obliged to talk about the other as well. In the last few months, Naniwa has been picked up by a new team and has cut back on his thrash-talk a little bit but where he continues to excel is coming up with interesting build orders and strategies, revolutionizing the Protoss match-ups one small step at a time. Naniwa furthermore carries the momentum of DH Stockholm, where he narrowly missed the gold and finished second, causing a weird mix of disappointment and genuine foreign pride from viewers all over the world. Come this weekend, Naniwa will attempt at the trophy again, taking advantage of Leenock not being around to stop him. Now if only he can dodge Life...



Photo: itsjustatank NAME: TLO

COUNTRY: Germany

RACE: Zerg

TEAM: Team Liquid TLO is a weird lot. Around the end of 2012, he wasn't doing particularly well and in an interview with us at IEM Katowice he shared that he had to take a mental break from StarCraft 2, to put aside the handle TLO and become Dario for a little while. At that time, I had my strong personal doubts that the German will be able to recover and make his way back into the highly competitive, ever-developing world of StarCraft 2. In a scene so vicious and with such short memory, stepping away from the game even for a second sounded like an unwise decision. But here TLO is, stronger than his ever been . The third best player in Europe according to WCS rankings and the fifth on the continent overall. Although sans the majestic beard of the days of old, TLO's presence on the scene can once again be felt, either through his diligency in swarm-host favoring playstyle or through him making playoffs after playoffs. With Heart of the Swarm so young still, now is the time for the innovative Zerg to unfold all his talent. Plus, everybody really likes cheering for him!



Photo: Battle.net NAME: Lucifron

COUNTRY: Spain

RACE: Terran

TEAM: Mousesports It has been a tough couple of months for Lucifron. Or rather unfair couple of months, as the Spanish Terran just can't seem to win. Along with his brother, he carried Karont3 to a high position in TeamStory Cup. He improved by the day and found new ways to abuse old HotS tactics to make people cry in the dark before they go to sleep. He dominated left and right and got named "The best Terran in Europe" only to narrowly miss the Season 1 finals. Jonkoping now opens doors to one very determined and very scary Lucifron. One Lucifron who desires the head of ForGG's compatriots (because of the lack of ForGG himself), of TLO for barring him from the Season 1 finals and of every other person who has stood and wills tand in his way. After all, for someone named "the best" in some category, the lack of any premier gold is almost embarrassing and the Spaniard simply has no other option but to make playoffs.



Photo: MLG NAME: Stephano

COUNTRY: France

RACE: Zerg

TEAM: Evil Geniuses Although the StarCraft community has been taking Stephano for granted, it now has to adjust the idea that there're are a very few months left of his career. With his retirement coming very soon, the French Zerg needs something big so he can go out with a bang. Stephano's days in Heart of the Swarm have definitely been bumpy ones. His first steps in the new game were a disappointment and led to many a speculation of if the "best foreigner of all time" will ever recover his previous form. Many of the naysayers were disproved during WCS Europe where Stephano ended up the runner up but placing second has never won anybody a trophy. His second shot at a WCS championship at Season 1 finals ended disastrously and the shadow of a doubt crept back. All in all, DreamHack Summer might be Stephano's best chance to retire with a gold in his hands. A WCS Europe S2 run equally successful to the first one might be difficult to pull off but DH is different: it will allow Stephano to channel his power of improvisation, take advantage of the weekend-long tournament on European soil and crash some Korean and foreign skulls alike.



Photo: Foxy NAME: MaNa

COUNTRY: Poland

RACE: Protoss

TEAM: Mousesports Unlike TLO, MaNa has not been doing too well, not in individual leagues at least. He often comes to carry Mousesports to team league victory but outside the comfort of roster battles, the Polish hasn't yet reached the peak he experienced in 2012. His Ro32 WCS EU elimination came after a succession of unconvincing IEM results (at least for a player of his position) and he's dangerously close to losing the popularity battle in Europe. It is around here that we ought to bring up that MaNa is actually the reigning DH Summer champion but that trophy was one in much different circumstances. In the summer of 2012, MaNa was playing some of the best StarCraft 2 of his career, the Korean opposition was small and the PvZ weakness of Stephano was figured out. This time around, not of that is true and the Protoss star of Poland will have a very hard, if not impossible way to the trophy.