MC at MLG Spring Arena 2

Image courtesy of TakeTv

MC at IEM World Championship

The last time HomeStory cup rolled around we saw Min Chul 'MC' Jang take the finals in convincing fashion against Sang-Hwan 'Sound' Bae dominating the Korean Terran 4-0.This time though SK MC would face an even greater challenge. The 4 time GSL champion Jong Hyeon 'MVP' Jung is in attendance coupled with some of the biggest foreign talent such as Joseph 'Ret' de Kroon and Kim 'SaSe' Hammar . This weekend was set to be a challenge if MC wanted to regain his HomeStory Cup title.MC is no stranger to pressure or competing verse the best in the world. His opening group at HomeStory Cup had a lot of people worried as it was one of the more volatile groups in the tournament.MC kicked off day 2 of HSC with a rocky start. His first match was against TLO, after returning to Europe with a few months training in Korea TLO was set to have a good showing at HSC. He managed to take a game off MC but wasn't able to hold up the rest of the series. MC took the last game to take it 2-1.His biggest challenge of the group was HasuObs. The Protoss player is a household name in Germany despite PvP being his weakest match up HasuObs is up there being one of the most feared Protoss players in Europe. However he was no match for MC as he swept the series 2-0 and successfully qualified for Group Stage 2.MC's final group game was verse Tarson, the game was must win for the Polish Terran the group was shaping up well for him and all he needed was to beat MC and he would advance. Everything was playing out well for Tarson tied 1-1 vs MC and HasuObs going down 2-1 to TLO all he needed was a win in the final game. Unlucky for him MC didn't crack under pressure and took the final game of the series giving Tarson an early exit from the competition.Group Stage 1 of HSC showcased a lot of high level StarCraft, but with high level play comes upsets. the 2012 DreamHack Summer champion Grzegorz 'MaNa' Komincz was eliminated early on which came as a huge surprise as he was one of the favourites to win the tournament. Giacomo 'Socke' Thüs and Jonathan 'DarKFoRcE' Belke were also eliminated earlier than expected.Once the groups were released for Stage 2 it was clear that Min Chul 'MC' Jang had another group of death. Dodging his country men, MC was faced with 2 of the best Zerg players in Europe and a deadly PvP player.MC started his first match late on day 3, His first opponent was the Ukrainian powerhouse Slivko who had advanced second in his first group stage. MC looked flawless shutting down attack after attack and taking the series 2-0.In his opening game MC looked unstoppable, his next match was against the Swedish superstar SaSe. MC's best match up by far in GSL is PvP but SaSe is well known for his innovative play and perfect mechanics. However it wasn't enough as MC again took the series 2-0 and guaranteeing himself qualification into the top 8.The final two games in the group stage would be played along side each other, Slivko would face off vs SaSe and as long as MC won vs Dimaga the winner of the game would advance along side MC. However MC was on another level from Dimaga. His heavy stargate play crushed Dimaga both games and in a very convincing fashion took the group 3-0 without even dropping a map.When playing in a tournament of this standard, it's highly unlikely any group will be a breath of fresh air. In both group stages MC has faced contenders to take the whole tournament. It was fitting that MC would get the toughest bracket.His first match of the Ro8 would be against Joseph 'Ret' de Kroon Ret is known as one of the strongest players outside of Korea, although he hasn't captured a big tournament win since Assembly Winter 2011 he's still a player to fear. MC on the other hand doesn't fear anyone and got off to a quick 2-0 lead taking both Daybreak and Cloud Kingdom which are two of ret's best maps. Ret managed to pull it back and take Atlantis Spaceship but the 2 time GSL champion quickly showed why and ended game 4 in a quick 18minute game starting with a Stargate, Sentry timing attack to cripple Ret's economy.After advancing to the Semi-Finals his next opponent would be decided between HasuObs and Nerchio, in which Nerchio took the series with a convincing 3-0.The Polish Zerg player is known for his ability to stomp anyone in Europe in weekly online cups, but his offline history has been less than stellar. The skill level between MC and Nerchio is close but the experience gap is huge. This would not only test Nerchio's bottle in a high stake game but MC is one step away from getting into his 2nd consecutive final.Kicking off again on Daybreak the Polish Zerg quickly showed nerves weren't going to plague him in this game. His ability to shut down MC's attacks time after time put him up 1-0 in the series. After losing the first game MC was ready to make his comeback and he did, taking a long macro game on Entombed Valley showing a full display of his multitasking ability. In game 3 MC made some uncharacteristic mistakes and it cost him big time and lead to him being crushed. Now going down 2-1 the momentum was in Nerchio's favour and he took advantage of it. Finishing off the series with an elimination race killing all of MC's buildings sending MC to the 3rd place decider.Unfortunately MC is now in the 3rd place decider against none other than Myung-Hwan 'Golden' Jo . Mc's ability to open with heavy stargate pressure and transition into a solid late game composition is like none other. Getting off to a quick 1-0 lead MC was full of confidence. In game 2 Golden was plagued with sloppy mistakes and poor decision making which ultimately lead to MC going up 2-0. MC needed one game to end this series and finish in 3rd place and that's exactly what he did. Another deadly timing attack on the 3rd base of Golden forced him to tap out and take a heavy 3-0 defeat at the hands of MC.MC has consistently placed high at HomeStory Cup. Although placing 3rd place didn't satisfy MC he doesn't have much time to sulk as this weekend he will face off against NASL Season 1 and 2 champion PuMA in the Ro8 of NASL season 3 in Toronto, Canada.