Power Rank - WCS Europe Edition Text by TL.net ESPORTS Graphics by shiroiusagi

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Power Rank

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Players, brackets, and schedules on







PreviewPlayers, brackets, and schedules on Liquipedia The Power Rank by NrG monk, Porcelina, tree.hugger, and Waxangel.



Noticing an alarming trend of peace and calm in the TeamLiquid community these days, we decided to remedy the situation by opening up a topic that no one can possibly agree on. Yes, the Power Rank is BACK, in a special Korean-free edition.



Before we dive in, here are a few obligatory notes.



The Power Rank only takes players competing at WCS Europe into account. Qualifiers are rough, and some players just didn't make it.



The power rank is a compromise between the opinions of several writers, ensuring that not even we are happy with the end result.



TeamLiquid is not responsible for rage or rage related injuries suffered from reading the Power Rank.

Criteria

+ Show Spoiler [TL;DR] + "Who would beat whom in a best of 101 series with their lives on the line?" That crossed our minds. So did "Who had the best tournament results in the past X months?" Those, and many other questions factored in as we attempted to figure out the contentious question: "who's better?" It was a complex process, which we're not even sure we completely understand ourselves. A few notes:



The Power Rank does not suggest that a higher ranked player is better than a lower ranked player in a head to head. Rankings are based on a player's overall package.



Also, the PR is not a ranking of everyone's chances to win the tournament, though we will mention that purely as a point of interest for some players. There's a lot of bracket luck involved, in terms of specific opponents and match-ups someone could end up with. Again, the Power Rank is just our all-around answer to the question "who's better?"





#32: LLL.Orly



With DeathAngel not qualified for WCS Belgium, and Feast deciding school would take priority to pro-gaming, Orly was left to swoop in and pick up the pieces. Now he comes into WCS Europe without a single TLPD game recorded since 2011, leaving us quite intrigued as to how he will do.



#31: inF.JeaL

#30: TRIStarEagle



After winning the WCG Italy qualifiers for something like five consecutive years, somehow managed to miss out on qualifying out of WCS Italy. Instead, it was JeaL, a player who doesn't have a TLPD page yet, and StarEagle, a player with the best ID in Europe, who came out as Italy's representatives.



Ah, well, that is life.



#29: SLEeel

#28: ECǂDayshi



Dayshi's second place finish at WCS France actually represents his position pretty well. As Stephano soars far above the rest of his countrymen, down below on earth, Dayshi has fought his way up to become arguably the second best French player. However, besides Stephano, France has never really been a StarCraft II power despite its large playing population (like its international soul-mate, 'Murica), so it's hard to say it means that much. Dayshi has yet to make a big impact in live tournaments, so it's unlikely he's going to kick it off in a tournament where all the best players of Europe are gathered.



On the other hand, Eeel is more of a surprise as the #3 player finisher in WCS France, but similar to Dayshi, it's hard to say that #3 in France will mean much against the rest of the field.



#27: GLNoticimus



Is there any player who has improved more than Noticimus? Beginning with no RTS experience in bronze league the Norwegian Protoss defeated his two more internationally famous countrymen, Snute and TargA at the



Finishing the last ladder season at #22 GM, Noticimus has also recently made the difficult leap from 'top 100 GM' to the far more exclusive group that can maintain a top 30 placement. That's a big deal; while the NA and KR ladders are traditionally a poor measure of anything, the EU ladder has been remarkably good at highlighting rising talents.



Noticimus is not so different from most top Protoss players. He can mix in a bunch of all-ins, cheeses, and timings to his standard macro style. His mechanics are nothing to write home about, but they serve him well, and his micro is above average.



Noticimus almost entered WCS Europe as the only player to not have a Liquipedia page (his page was made on September 12th). With the rate he's improving at, that page might fill up quite quickly.



#26: BLASTǂKrasS



It's a travesty that Germany has four invites to this event when countries like Ukraine are stuck with two. That said, I've [tree.hugger] gotten over it because it means we'll get to see KrasS in action. Perhaps the sole player on the continent (and nearly in the entire foreign scene) who deserves the title 'Up-and-coming Terran', KrasS has been getting better slowly but surely for over a year, and in the most quiet way possible. With a solid debut at



Or perhaps not. Since then, we've hardly heard from him, and the speculation is that he has taken a break to concentrate on his studies. At this point, the best German prospect mantle now probably belongs to his former teammate . This WCS Europe event is the Terran's chance to focus the spotlight back on himself.



KrasS's style is generally multitask oriented, and he has the mechanics to back it up. In all match-ups, the German has a reputation for being persistent in harass—especially in TvP—striking at weird times and in strange locations. Prolific and highly regarded on the ladder, how KrasS's style will have held up after what might be a dry period is an open question. But we've seen players come back re-energized and refreshed as often as they've come back flat. KrasS's earlier results have shown him to be a talented player; that stuff doesn't evaporate overnight.



His trajectory earlier this summer was extremely promising. He seemed poised to be one of Europe'st strongest Terrans. Where is he now? No idea, but it'll be interesting to find out.



#25: WW.Ziktomini



What we know about Ziktomini: He has a cool beard.



He won WCS UK after beating both JohnnyREcco and Demuslim.



He once beat Stephano at Dreamhack Summer.



He's Zerg. Those seem to be doing well in Europe lately. As Obama might say, "not bad".



#24: Tt.White-Ra



White-Ra is not only the international scene's own in spirit, but in game play as well. Even though he's flying all around the world, playing in show matches, doing events for his sponsor, and streaming hours of HotS beta, you still somehow expect him to have a 50/50 chance against anyone in this tournament. It's some kind of incomprehensible, yet benevolent Ukrainian sorcery.



Few people may remember this series, but White-Ra came within a hair of defeating MKP at IPL4, back when MKP was at the height of his power. By forcing a chaotic situation MKP didn't know how to deal with, White-Ra almost scored a magnificent underdog victory, but ended up being just as confused by the chaos he created, and wasn't able to consolidate his advantage in the end. It's just one anecdote, but it goes to show why people should always have hope when White-Ra is playing.



#23: FXOLoWeLy



At the WCS Island of Misfit Toys Combined European Finals, where players from South Africa to Portugal competed, it was Belarus' Lowely that emerged victorious. Ah, Belarus, nestled between Russia and Ukraine; almost a bit like America is in between Korea and Europe, yet somehow still only manages to produce a limited number of top players. As chance would have it, Lowely has been a regular fixture in the NASL since season one, might actually be one of the more familiar faces to the non-European viewers.



#22: Ai.Seiplo



Seiplo comes in as the fan favorite killer, having first made a real name for himself at Dreamhack Winter 2011 where he beat TLO, Genius and HuK before going out. Then, at WCS Sweden, he took out Sase and managed to qualify for WCS Europe at the expense of more popular players such as Naniwa and Morrow. Recently, he helped eliminate HuK yet again, this time from ASUS ROG Summer. At this point, it's a wonder that the DreamHack organizers haven't sent out someone to break his fingers yet.



#21: aTn.DarKFoRcE



What would a big European tournament be without DarKFoRcE? DarkFoRcE always qualifies or is invited to any noteworthy Euro tourney, after which he settles for a predictable, unremarkable mid-table result. DarKFoRcE was abusing brood lord-infestor before it was cool, yet somehow he hasn't reaped the benefits the patch like others, and he's probably headed towards yet another tie-12th finish in WCS Europe. Which in the end, we suppose, will validate the fact that WCS Europe really was a premier European event.



#20: Acer.Bly



Bly has been winning online cups since time immemorial, and has continued winning them even after Koreans realized that they could supplement their grand larceny with petty theft as well. Conveniently, Bly started making a splash in the live tournament scene after the queen patch, though the PatchZerg moniker is slightly unfair considering that he qualified for the pre-patch MLG Spring Arena II as well. Since then, he's been an occasional sight at live tournaments, though he's yet to make a big splash in international waters. His biggest claim to fame is definitely his championship run at WCS Ukraine, where he beat Fraer, White-Ra, and Strelok to qualify for WCS Europe.



#19: FnaticRC NightEnD



Known to many as 'Helium Dracula,' NightEnD serves to remind us of how terrible all other progamer nicknames are in comparison. Alongside his awesome nickname, the Romanian Protoss brings some awesome PvT to the tournament as well, recently having upset PuMa at Assembly Summer.



NightEnD is such an integral part of the tournament scene in Europe that it would have been plain weird not to see him here. But like other players in this region of the rankings, he's had trouble breaking through into the championship contender tier. An impressive fourth place finish at DreamHack Winter 2011 was his best result at a major tournament, but he's been unable to reproduce that performance since. Even after he traveled to Korea for a few months to train, we haven't really seen a new side to NightEnD, and a mid table finish is unfortunately the safe expectation here.



#18: EmpireHappy



In the waning years of Warcraft III, Happy was known as one of the top two players in Europe. But even more so than his high level of skill, Happy was known for his predictability. Happy, for most of his Warcraft III career, used only four builds, one for each race he had to face. This was actually viable in Warcraft III, although he would make small tweaks, or consider an overhaul every half year or so. Happy continued to do fairly well in every tournament he entered, relying on his mechanics and well-practiced execution to overcome his opponents' blind counters.



Flash forward to Starcraft II. Happy continued to try to employ his one-strategy-per-race in the early stages of the game, which explained his legendary ladder success at first. But to his utter disbelief (or so we like to imagine), he did not keep on winning. Even after he altered his style, he continued to stay in the middle of the pack. Happy's reliable enough to get one or two kills for his team Empire in team leagues, but never seems like the type to all-kill. He's always a threat in early group stages of European tournaments, and sometimes even gets past the first round, but he's never really managed to get deep into bracket play. Happy, if nothing, is consistently above average, and his second place finish at



#17: EG.DeMusliM.RC



In 2012, DeMusliM has three second place finishes worth noting: IPL5 NA Regional, WCS UK and Samsung European Encounter, where he respectively lost in the final to Sleep, Ziktomini and Nerchio. It is fair to say that a lot of the favorites to win WCS Europe are Zerg as well, and that qualification for the world final will require DeMu to rise to the challenge. DeMusliM has stated that he will be a player showing Terran how to beat Zerg in the current environment, and it will be quite the grand stage to sink or swim on.



DeMusliM has had good tournament runs in premier events, even beating Nestea when beating Nestea still meant something. However, he's never been able to string together many great games in a row, becoming a threat to any opponent, but not a player expected to rise to the very top. A top six finish is all DeMusliM needs to qualify for the world finals, so maybe there is hope for him after all.



#16: FnaticRC Naama



Does anyone in this tournament have a more definitive personal style than Naama? The banshee-obsessed, SCV-train conductor brings not only skill, but much needed variety to the WCS Europe tournament. Whether he goes 4-port banshee against Zerg or mix-and-matches every Terran unit against Protoss, Naama is the essence of the unpredictability that keeps a strategy game from becoming stale.



While Naama has been stuck with mostly mid-table finishes in European tournaments ever since winning DreamHack Winter back in 2010, WCS Europe's best-of-three elimination format might be just what Naama needs to break back into the top eight. He's even beaten players like Mvp in short series, so Naama should be high on everyone's upset watch.



#15 d.JonnyREcco



Whether he's a rising star or another PatchZerg (or both), JonnyREcco is definitely a work in progress. He has a firm grasp on the "brood lords + infestors = win" equation, but has had problems in other departments such as spreading a reasonable amount of creep, or not dying to Protoss before he actually has brood lords and infestors. In any case, he was still good enough to earn the highest non-Korean at the recent TSL4 tournament, where he placed top eight while narrowly missing out on a semi-final spot with a 3 – 4 loss to Keen.



At #15 JonnyREcco is a bit higher than some might expect, but we have reason to be optimistic. While a number of the players on this list are veterans who have more or less settled at their present level, JonnyREcco is relatively new to the scene is more likely to improve. Ever since making his first big splash at WCS UK, he's looked a little better at every successive tournament. After taking third at



#14: mouzHasuObs

With a number of solid, textbook, and somewhat uniform Protoss players dominating the Korean scene in the summer of 2012, HasuObs must be wondering whether or not he should be collecting royalties. Long before CreatorPrime was causing people to say "that guy's pretty good, now I wish I had more to say than that," HasuObs was already eliciting those reactions.



Like many foreigners, HasuObs has found it hard to stay in the championship mix ever since Koreans started their expeditions overseas, but he's a consistent threat in inter-European competition. He's been on a hot streak recently, beating a difficult field to become the champion of



#13: FXOBabyKnight



If there's a player who might truly surprise the Starcraft world in Stockholm (and 99% of non-european viewers) it'll be BabyKnight. He qualified for TSL4, but had the misfortune of facing VortiX in the first round; a mismatch of his worst MU against his opponent's best. But if you saw the games, you at least know a bit of BK's quality.



The Danish protoss first made his name as one of the world's best Dota players, but transitioned to SC2 a while ago, and earlier this year began to show that a championship mentality could bring dividends in a different game. As you might imagine, the cornerstone of BabyKnight's game is



Pretty predictably, in the Danish WCS BK had an easy time of it, dropping only two sets en route to qualification. Easily keeping a top space on ladder – and once the two top spots – BabyKnight has the interesting distinction of being the most dangerous player in this event that the least people know about.



#12: Karont3ǂLucifroN



See #5.



----------------- The #11 Grubby Line ------------------



For something that started as a dumb joke, we're sure getting a lot of mileage out of the



The Grubby Line – our cut off line for foreigners who have a fighting chance against Koreans – has special meaning in this tournament. No, there aren't any Koreans competing at WCS Europe. But it's the final gate before the WCS World Finals, where six Europeans will be chosen to go up against however many Koreans emerge from WCS Asia (probably 6/6). In the context of this tournament alone, it would be great to see some of the lesser known players spread their wings, or see some of the older veterans finally get their due. But in the big picture, most fans would rather have the best European representation possible for the final boss fight against the Koreans, and those players exist above this line.



Grubby's combination of coin-flipping (PvP), Immortal all-inning (PvZ), and death-balling (PvT) ability lead us to believe that he has what it takes to go beyond picking on just , and show other Koreans that foreigners cannot be taken lightly.



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#10: aTn.Socke



Absolutely no one was surprised to see Socke win



#9: VPBenQsLivko

#8: Liquid'Ret



We're all familiar with the term "patchzerg." This often derogatory term refers to Zergs who have started performing significantly better, coinciding with the release of the overlord/queen buff patch. When talking about patchzergs, Vortix, SortOf, and JohnnyRecco are frequently brought up.



Although sLivko doesn't want for tournament results compared to his fellow "patchzergs", far fewer people know his name. In contrast to the aforementioned Zergs, sLivko has avoided the specific kind of spotlight that makes you a household name. He did not qualify for TSL or get top four in an IEM like Vortix, nor he did not stomp over most of Sweden including fan favorites Naniwa and SaSe like SortOf.



What sLivko has been is consistently good, and consistently underrated. Look at his finishes in live tournaments this year: Ro8 IEM Sao Paulo, Ro8 HSC V, Ro8 IEM Cologne. sLivko might be as well be doubling as a Korean, showing that if you're not from Western Europe or North America, you've got to make a gigantic impact to be remembered. After all, being "that guy who made IdrA rage" seems to be a better claim to fame than placing top eight in Code S.



sLivko definitely has potential to finally become noticed. After all, what is a ro4 finish but one bo3 series away from a ro8? In the tournaments previously mentioned, sLivko was eliminated by Supernova, Golden, and Mvp. As this tournament somehow has an astonishingly low number of Koreans, sLivko's chances at a top four finish have suddenly increased.



Ret is almost Slivko's opposite. While his fellow European Zergs are on the rise, Ret seems to be immune to the magical powers of this patch. If anything, Ret's results have fallen off since it was released. At



It's a strange pattern we've seen emerge with some other Zergs who were very strong in 2011, as players like DRG and DIMAGA also seem immune to the patch's beneficial effects. Whatever the cause, it's forced us to make a drastic change we never imagined half a year ago: we're leaving Ret out of the top five Europeans.



#7: RoX.KIS.TitaN



Nine months ago



TitaN hasn't abandoned his creative roots, in fact, many Protoss have begun to incorporate some of his styles into their play, especially gateway first openings, which have become a common change of pace for many Protoss players in PvZ. TitaN also led the development of some brutal early timing attacks, also in PvZ, that have been shown widely in competition from other players. His mechanics remain strong and micro remains a trademark. He is also very much in practice, having begun a regular streaming routine from the Ministry of Win.



Even more promising is TitaN's bracket, which is the second easiest quadrant of the bunch. TitaN has a first round draw against StarEagle, which he should win handily, a second round match against Socke, which is favored for the Russian representative on account of his much stronger PvP. TitaN would then find himself in another favorable spot in the Ro8, with few games, but all winning records against his most likely opponents there. In short; it would take very little to see TitaN in a semi-final match against Stephano and holding a ticket to Shanghai.



#6: EG.ThorZaIN.RC



The Spoon Terran comes into this tournament on a ten game losing streak, with a losing record over the past two months, having recently recovered from a bad bout of tonsillitis, and having spent about fifty hours streaming the HotS beta in the last week. What can we say? Things aren't looking so great for the definitely-not-cursed-ThorZaIN.



He does, however, happen have one thing going for him: No one in the history of StarCraft II has made the words "homefield advantage" mean as much as ThorZaIN. He's already won two DreamHack-run tournaments in his hometown of Stockholm this year, and Ingrosso & Alesso's



Additionally, even when ThorZaIN is at his worst, it's hard to say there's a non-Korean Terran who's better. Occasionally, some players flare up with a good streak of results in minor tournaments, but ThorZaIN is the only Terran who has consistently stayed in the title picture. It's always risky to give a player too much credit for his past success, but with ThorZaIN playing in Stockholm, you can't help but feel he'll a way to overcome his recent troubles and give the fans something to cheer about.



#5: Karont3ǂVortiX



At the beginning of the summer, LucifroN was the talk of the town. At the end of the summer, all we're talking about is VortiX. He has wrested the spotlight away from his brother with his attention-grabbing play and impressive consistency. While it's sometimes been a struggle to figure out exactly how LucifroN will play at any given moment, you can reliably expect top calibre games from VortiX. To make things more impressive, VortiX has shown himself to be the more flexible brother as well. He's content with passive macro styles but truly at home with aggression, and that seems to throw a good number of people off. His top four finish at



That's not to say we should forget about LucifroN, whose safer style and supreme comfort in late-late game situations give him a unique edge. But after starting the summer off with great tournament performances and much deserved hype, he's cooled off. WCS Europe will represent his best chance in the foreseeable future to recapture the magic (another will be Karont3's IPTL matches).



It's worth remembering that WCS Spain was also his last big triumph, and he 2-0'd VortiX in the finals of that event. Another positive sign for the Spanish Terran have come in the



Things are seriously looking up for the Spanish contingent at WCS. This is a country that was hardly on the Starcraft map a year ago, but now it is well respected, mostly due to these two. At WCS Europe, it's certainly possible for at least one to make the worlds competition, strong as the field may be. While they've got a lot of work to do, the Spaniards are definitely in the hunt for Shanghai.



#4: WW.SortOf



Given the chaotic state of the monarchy in the Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire series, we're totally okay with throwing yet another contender into the ring for the title of "King in the North." SortOf may not have won any major championships yet, but his stock has been going straight up as he's outshone both ThorZaIN and NaNiwa in recent months.



The first surprise came when SortOf made it through a tough MLG Summer qualifier, earning a spot at Summer Arena in New York (thought he would finish in the bottom half of the table). But SortOf really broke out at the end of July, when he tore through WCS Sweden to finish in second place. Along the way, he took series against NaNiwa, SaSe, and ThorZaIN, and came within one game of defeating ThorZaIN in the grand final and winning the championship. SortOF then proceeded to then make top eight at ASUS ROG Summer (tying MaNa for best non-Korean finish), where he took games against HerO, Kas and TitaN along the way. That was followed by another good showing at IEM Cologne, where he made it through the group stage by defeating Inori, Nerchio, and DeMuslim. Oh, and he happened to qualify for both of those tournaments by running a brutal gauntlet of online qualifiers.



There are plenty of players in this tournament that have won championships before - which is a very important thing to consider - but a player doesn't need a title to be a title contender. SortOf may not have that one big championship to his name, but he's definitely been the most consistent live tournament player in the lead up to WCS Europe Finals, and it would be no surprise to see him continue on with that form.



#3: mouzMaNa



Last week, MaNa seemed to be on top of the foreigner world. His first major tournament win at Dreamhack Summer saw him off to Korea with an Up/Down seed in hand. There, facing a tough group consisting of HyuN, Bomber, Keen, and Jjakji, MaNa surprised everyone by making it out and qualifying for Code S, the first foreigner to do so since HuK last year.



Put in position to match or even surpass NaNiwa's runs in the almost all-Korean tournament, things came to a screeching halt for MaNa as he was drawn into the group of death. Against Taeja, Mvp, and MMA, three of the best Terrans in the world, not even MaNa's best match-up could save him from being outplayed and crushed.



So, back to the drawing board?



One thing to consider for Mana in this tournament is that he has only just recently begun training in Korea for the past few weeks. As has been mentioned multiple times in the past by players like Idra and Naniwa, when you start training in Korea, you actually get worse initially. Because of the many more diverse styles you're likely to run into on the Korean ladder, it's very likely that you'll have to revamp your style altogether. Only after you've broken yourself down can you start rebuilding yourself back up again. With his short time in Korea, Mana is certainly only in the rebuilding stages. But even then, it he had enough in him to get by respectable opponents like Hyun and Keen in the Up/Down matches.



The truth is, the #3 spot is a bit of a problem. #1 and #2 are automatic, but there's no obvious order after that. MaNa comes in with a very distinct achievement in winning DreamHack Summer. While many of the players at WCS are national champions, MaNa won a championship against a truly international pool of talent. The only players who have more impressive achievements? The two ahead of him.



#2: AcerNerchio



Almost exactly a year ago, there existed two then-considered off-the-beat European Zergs who used infestors in ZvT while the entire rest of the world focused on mutalisks. One was Nerchio. The other, Stephano. While Stephano traveled all around the world, from Europe to North America, to Korea, and then back to Europe, Nerchio preferred to stay on his home soil in Europe, keeping up with his studies at the same time, and thus he missed chances to show his true skill to a wider audience.



And while Stephano eventually became the biggest star in the international scene, Nerchio was just too good to avoid the spotlight forever, despite his insistence on only competing at Old World tournaments. A few months ago, Nerchio won his first major tournament at HSC V in spectacular fashion, taking out the PvZ master, MC along the way. A few months later, Nerchio went to IEM Cologne and impressed again, taking out fOrGG, PuMa, Inori, viOLet, and MC a second time, before finally being stopped by four-time GSL champion Mvp in the finals.



Korea might have their Symbol and DongRaeGu, but Europeans can safely reply 'so what?' For perhaps the first time ever, a non-Korean region can claim that they truly have the best players at a single race. For Nerchio and Stephano, it may not be just the title of best European Zerg that is on the line, but the title of best Zerg, period. May the better man win.



#1: EG.Stephano.RC



Something is going to happen to Stephano at this event. Whether it be a flawless triumph in the tournament or an arrest after it, the easiest prediction for WCS Europe is that whatever Stephano does will be scrutinized, warped, and analyzed beyond all recognition. (Stephano wins? He's too good even for the EG curse. Oh, he lost? EG curse, bro.)



There's little left to be said about Stephano's play. We know his tremendous strengths and we know his subtle weaknesses. We know enough about Stephano at this point to expect that he will destroy basically everyone unless he sabotages himself physically. Now that he's joined EG, the chances of that kind of weekend meltdown happening have been drastically reduced. That means someone is going to have to beat Stephano on their own merits, and given the bracket it's hard to see that happening before the quarterfinals. His first round opponent is HasuObs, who is coming off a good run of success in EU LANs, but is also the type of passive and orthodox opponent whom Stephano should almost never lose to. Stephano would likely face Naama in the following round, a player who is chaotic and widely feared. But Stephano has never lost to him and it would be a shock to see him fall here.



It is in ZvZ where Stephano has seemed the most vulnerable. Stephano's theoretical opponent in the round of eight could be teammate ThorZaIN or NightEnD, both of whom he will be a massive favorite against. But the most likely player to emerge from that part of the bracket is also the most likely to stun Stephano early. JonnyREcco has had a superb summer, with a solid TSL4 run and a number of excellent offline results. He is the third wing of the leading patchzerg troika (along with VortiX and SortOf) and like his colleagues, has elevated his ZvZ in the post baneling wars era. This potential Ro8 match will be key.



Just because Stephano is vulnerable in ZvZ does not mean that he will definitely lose in it. But Stephano will surely be happy that his end of the bracket is so Zerg free. Get past JonnyREcco, and the next toughest test seems likely to come in the finals. And for Stephano, anything less would be viewed as a disappointment.



Noticing an alarming trend of peace and calm in the TeamLiquid community these days, we decided to remedy the situation by opening up a topic that no one can possibly agree on. Yes, the Power Rank is BACK, in a special Korean-free edition.Before we dive in, here are a few obligatory notes.With DeathAngel not qualified for WCS Belgium, and Feast deciding school would take priority to pro-gaming, Orly was left to swoop in and pick up the pieces. Now he comes into WCS Europe without a single TLPD game recorded since 2011, leaving usas to how he will do.After winning the WCG Italy qualifiers for something like five consecutive years, ClouD somehow managed to miss out on qualifying out of WCS Italy. Instead, it was JeaL, a player who doesn't have a TLPD page yet, and StarEagle, a player with the best ID in Europe, who came out as Italy's representatives.Ah, well, that is life.Dayshi's second place finish at WCS France actually represents his position pretty well. As Stephano soars far above the rest of his countrymen, down below on earth, Dayshi has fought his way up to become arguably the second best French player. However, besides Stephano, France has never really been a StarCraft II power despite its large playing population (like its international soul-mate, 'Murica), so it's hard to say it means that much. Dayshi has yet to make a big impact in live tournaments, so it's unlikely he's going to kick it off in a tournament where all the best players of Europe are gathered.On the other hand, Eeel is more of a surprise as the #3 player finisher in WCS France, but similar to Dayshi, it's hard to say that #3 in France will mean much against the rest of the field.Is there any player who has improved more than Noticimus? Beginning with no RTS experience in bronze league the Norwegian Protoss defeated his two more internationally famous countrymen, Snute and TargA at the Nordic WCS to qualify for this event. That's an unbelievable leap. Noticimus probably won't lead Norway to the heights that we'd expect had either of the aforementioned zergs gotten the nod, but that's impossible to say, because he beat both to get here.Finishing the last ladder season at #22 GM, Noticimus has also recently made the difficult leap from 'top 100 GM' to the far more exclusive group that can maintain a top 30 placement. That's a big deal; while the NA and KR ladders are traditionally a poor measure of anything, the EU ladder has been remarkably good at highlighting rising talents.Noticimus is not so different from most top Protoss players. He can mix in a bunch of all-ins, cheeses, and timings to his standard macro style. His mechanics are nothing to write home about, but they serve him well, and his micro is above average.Noticimus almost entered WCS Europe as the only player to not have a Liquipedia page (his page was made on September 12th). With the rate he's improving at, that page might fill up quite quickly.It's a travesty that Germany has four invites to this event when countries like Ukraine are stuck with two. That said, I'vegotten over it because it means we'll get to see KrasS in action. Perhaps the sole player on the continent (and nearly in the entire foreign scene) who deserves the title 'Up-and-coming Terran', KrasS has been getting better slowly but surely for over a year, and in the most quiet way possible. With a solid debut at Copenhagen Games 2012 , and his qualification to this tournament, KrasS could be poised for a huge breakout.Or perhaps not. Since then, we've hardly heard from him, and the speculation is that he has taken a break to concentrate on his studies. At this point, the best German prospect mantle now probably belongs to his former teammate roof . This WCS Europe event is the Terran's chance to focus the spotlight back on himself.KrasS's style is generally multitask oriented, and he has the mechanics to back it up. In all match-ups, the German has a reputation for being persistent in harass—especially in TvP—striking at weird times and in strange locations. Prolific and highly regarded on the ladder, how KrasS's style will have held up after what might be a dry period is an open question. But we've seen players come back re-energized and refreshed as often as they've come back flat. KrasS's earlier results have shown him to be a talented player; that stuff doesn't evaporate overnight.His trajectory earlier this summer was extremely promising. He seemed poised to be one of Europe'st strongest Terrans. Where is he now? No idea, but it'll be interesting to find out.What we know about Ziktomini:As Obama might say, "not bad".White-Ra is not only the international scene's own BoxeR in spirit, but in game play as well. Even though he's flying all around the world, playing in show matches, doing events for his sponsor, and streaming hours of HotS beta, you still somehow expect him to have a 50/50 chance against anyone in this tournament. It's some kind of incomprehensible, yet benevolent Ukrainian sorcery.Few people may remember this series, but White-Ra came within a hair of defeating MKP at IPL4, back when MKP was at the height of his power. By forcing a chaotic situation MKP didn't know how to deal with, White-Ra almost scored a magnificent underdog victory, but ended up being just as confused by the chaos he created, and wasn't able to consolidate his advantage in the end. It's just one anecdote, but it goes to show why people should always have hope when White-Ra is playing. At the WCSCombined European Finals, where players from South Africa to Portugal competed, it was Belarus' Lowely that emerged victorious. Ah, Belarus, nestled between Russia and Ukraine; almost a bit like America is in between Korea and Europe, yet somehow still only manages to produce a limited number of top players. As chance would have it, Lowely has been a regular fixture in the NASL since season one, might actually be one of the more familiar faces to the non-European viewers.Seiplo comes in as the fan favorite killer, having first made a real name for himself at Dreamhack Winter 2011 where he beat TLO, Genius and HuK before going out. Then, at WCS Sweden, he took out Sase and managed to qualify for WCS Europe at the expense of more popular players such as Naniwa and Morrow. Recently, he helped eliminate HuK yet again, this time from ASUS ROG Summer. At this point, it's a wonder that the DreamHack organizers haven't sent out someone to break his fingers yet.What would a big European tournament be without DarKFoRcE? DarkFoRcEqualifies or is invited to any noteworthy Euro tourney, after which he settles for a predictable, unremarkable mid-table result. DarKFoRcE was abusing brood lord-infestor before it was cool, yet somehow he hasn't reaped the benefits the patch like others, and he's probably headed towards yet another tie-12th finish in WCS Europe. Which in the end, we suppose, will validate the fact that WCS Europe really was a premier European event.Bly has been winning online cups since time immemorial, and has continued winning them even after Koreans realized that they could supplement their grand larceny with petty theft as well. Conveniently, Bly started making a splash in the live tournament scene after the queen patch, though the PatchZerg moniker is slightly unfair considering that he qualified for the pre-patch MLG Spring Arena II as well. Since then, he's been an occasional sight at live tournaments, though he's yet to make a big splash in international waters. His biggest claim to fame is definitely his championship run at WCS Ukraine, where he beat Fraer, White-Ra, and Strelok to qualify for WCS Europe.Known to many as 'Helium Dracula,' NightEnD serves to remind us of how terrible all other progamer nicknames are in comparison. Alongside his awesome nickname, the Romanian Protoss brings some awesome PvT to the tournament as well, recently having upset PuMa at Assembly Summer.NightEnD is such an integral part of the tournament scene in Europe that it would have been plainnot to see him here. But like other players in this region of the rankings, he's had trouble breaking through into the championship contender tier. An impressive fourth place finish at DreamHack Winter 2011 was his best result at a major tournament, but he's been unable to reproduce that performance since. Even after he traveled to Korea for a few months to train, we haven't really seen a new side to NightEnD, and a mid table finish is unfortunately the safe expectation here.In the waning years of Warcraft III, Happy was known as one of the top two players in Europe. But even more so than his high level of skill, Happy was known for his predictability. Happy, for most of his Warcraft III career, used only four builds, one for each race he had to face. This was actually viable in Warcraft III, although he would make small tweaks, or consider an overhaul every half year or so. Happy continued to do fairly well in every tournament he entered, relying on his mechanics and well-practiced execution to overcome his opponents' blind counters.Flash forward to Starcraft II. Happy continued to try to employ his one-strategy-per-race in the early stages of the game, which explained his legendary ladder success at first. But to his utter disbelief (or so we like to imagine), he did not keep on winning. Even after he altered his style, he continued to stay in the middle of the pack. Happy's reliable enough to get one or two kills for his team Empire in team leagues, but never seems like the type to all-kill. He's always a threat in early group stages of European tournaments, and sometimes even gets past the first round, but he's never really managed to get deep into bracket play. Happy, if nothing, is consistently above average, and his second place finish at WCS Russia truly was a landmark moment.In 2012, DeMusliM has three second place finishes worth noting: IPL5 NA Regional, WCS UK and Samsung European Encounter, where he respectively lost in the final toSleep,Ziktomini andNerchio. It is fair to say that a lot of the favorites to win WCS Europe are Zerg as well, and that qualification for the world final will require DeMu to rise to the challenge. DeMusliM has stated that he will be a player showing Terran how to beat Zerg in the current environment, and it will be quite the grand stage to sink or swim on.DeMusliM has had good tournament runs in premier events, even beating Nestea when beating Nestea still meant something. However, he's never been able to string together many great games in a row, becoming a threat to any opponent, but not a player expected to rise to the very top. A top six finish is all DeMusliM needs to qualify for the world finals, so maybe there is hope for him after all.Does anyone in this tournament have a more definitive personal style than Naama? The banshee-obsessed, SCV-train conductor brings not only skill, but much needed variety to the WCS Europe tournament. Whether he goes 4-port banshee against Zerg or mix-and-matches every Terran unit against Protoss, Naama is the essence of the unpredictability that keeps a strategy game from becoming stale.While Naama has been stuck with mostly mid-table finishes in European tournaments ever since winning DreamHack Winter back in 2010, WCS Europe's best-of-three elimination format might be just what Naama needs to break back into the top eight. He's even beaten players like Mvp in short series, so Naama should be high on everyone's upset watch.Whether he's a rising star or another PatchZerg (or both), JonnyREcco is definitely a work in progress. He has a firm grasp on the "brood lords + infestors = win" equation, but has had problems in other departments such as spreading a reasonable amount of creep, or not dying to Protoss before he actually has brood lords and infestors. In any case, he was still good enough to earn the highest non-Korean at the recent TSL4 tournament, where he placed top eight while narrowly missing out on a semi-final spot with a 3 – 4 loss to Keen.At #15 JonnyREcco is a bit higher than some might expect, but we have reason to be optimistic. While a number of the players on this list are veterans who have more or less settled at their present level, JonnyREcco is relatively new to the scene is more likely to improve. Ever since making his first big splash at WCS UK, he's looked a little better at every successive tournament. After taking third at WCS UK in the beginning of July, he placed first at i46 – another gathering of the UK's best – just seven weeks later in August. Now, moving into September, the only thing that's assured is that JonnyREcco will be stronger than ever.With a number of solid, textbook, and somewhat uniform Protoss players dominating the Korean scene in the summer of 2012, HasuObs must be wondering whether or not he should be collecting royalties. Long before CreatorPrime was causing people to say "that guy's pretty good, now I wish I had more to say than that," HasuObs was already eliciting those reactions.Like many foreigners, HasuObs has found it hard to stay in the championship mix ever since Koreans started their expeditions overseas, but he's a consistent threat in inter-European competition. He's been on a hot streak recently, beating a difficult field to become the champion of EPS Berlin Open while also taking 3rd place at Campus Party Europe . The most significant mark HasuObs has against him is that he's never won the big one, leaving him stranded while colleagues like DIMAGA and MaNa all found a way to get theirs. The overall field at WCS Europe is probably too strong for HasuObs to get over that hump right now, but don't rule out a top six finish.If there's a player who might truly surprise the Starcraft world in Stockholm (and 99% of non-european viewers) it'll be BabyKnight. He qualified for TSL4, but had the misfortune of facing VortiX in the first round; a mismatch of his worst MU against his opponent's best. But if you saw the games, you at least know a bit of BK's quality.The Danish protoss first made his name as one of the world's best Dota players, but transitioned to SC2 a while ago, and earlier this year began to show that a championship mentality could bring dividends in a different game. As you might imagine, the cornerstone of BabyKnight's game is superb micro , and his bread and butter is a variety of timing attacks, early and late, that are frighteningly well controlled. That's in part how he defeated Ret 2-0 at Campus Party en route to a top six finish. BK is also somewhat famous for being one of the only players to have a perfect record against Stephano in TLPD (3-0) - and ZvP really is his worst MU.Pretty predictably, in the Danish WCS BK had an easy time of it, dropping only two sets en route to qualification. Easily keeping a top space on ladder – and once the two top spots – BabyKnight has the interesting distinction of being the most dangerous player in this event that the least people know about.See #5.For something that started as a dumb joke, we're sure getting a lot of mileage out of the The Grubby Line The Grubby Line – our cut off line for foreigners who have a fighting chance against Koreans – has special meaning in this tournament. No, there aren't any Koreans competing at WCS Europe. But it's the final gate before the WCS World Finals, where six Europeans will be chosen to go up against however many Koreans emerge from WCS Asia (probably 6/6). In the context of this tournament alone, it would be great to see some of the lesser known players spread their wings, or see some of the older veterans finally get their due. But in the big picture, most fans would rather have the best European representation possible for the final boss fight against the Koreans, and those players exist above this line.Grubby's combination of coin-flipping (PvP), Immortal all-inning (PvZ), and death-balling (PvT) ability lead us to believe that he has what it takes to go beyond picking on just Oz , and show other Koreans that foreigners cannot be taken lightly.Absolutely no one was surprised to see Socke win WCS Germany earlier this year, securing a direct seed into the WCS World Final on the way. Few players seem to be able to flip a switch the way Socke can, as he goes from looking very average to very good on what seems like a whim. Some might call it inconsistency, but with a trip to China in the world's biggest Starcraft II tournament on the line, was there really any doubt Socke would find a way through? With a world final trip already confirmed, you have to hope that it hasn't done anything to affect Socke's motivation. As scary as some of the top dogs in this tournament are, Socke is definitely a player who could win it all if he's playing at his best.We're all familiar with the term "patchzerg." This often derogatory term refers to Zergs who have started performing significantly better, coinciding with the release of the overlord/queen buff patch. When talking about patchzergs, Vortix, SortOf, and JohnnyRecco are frequently brought up.Although sLivko doesn't want for tournament results compared to his fellow "patchzergs", far fewer people know his name. In contrast to the aforementioned Zergs, sLivko has avoided the specific kind of spotlight that makes you a household name. He did not qualify for TSL or get top four in an IEM like Vortix, nor he did not stomp over most of Sweden including fan favorites Naniwa and SaSe like SortOf.What sLivko has been is consistently good, and consistently underrated. Look at his finishes in live tournaments this year: Ro8 IEM Sao Paulo, Ro8 HSC V, Ro8 IEM Cologne. sLivko might be as well be doubling as a Korean, showing that if you're not from Western Europe or North America, you've got to make a gigantic impact to be remembered. After all, being "that guy who made IdrA rage" seems to be a better claim to fame than placing top eight in Code S.sLivko definitely has potential to finally become noticed. After all, what is a ro4 finish but one bo3 series away from a ro8? In the tournaments previously mentioned, sLivko was eliminated by Supernova, Golden, and Mvp. As this tournament somehow has an astonishingly low number of Koreans, sLivko's chances at a top four finish have suddenly increased.Ret is almost Slivko's opposite. While his fellow European Zergs are on the rise, Ret seems to be immune to the magical powers of this patch. If anything, Ret's results have fallen off since it was released. At ASUS ROG Summer, Ret did not make it out of the first group stage with 1-3 losses to both Suppy and Kas, and at Campus Party , Ret was rather quickly eliminated after losing series to Babyknight, Snute, and ForGG. And despite this, Ret is still a name that is quickly brought into any "top foreigners" discussion, as many fans remember his multiple top four finishes in 2011.It's a strange pattern we've seen emerge with some other Zergs who were very strong in 2011, as players like DRG and DIMAGA also seem immune to the patch's beneficial effects. Whatever the cause, it's forced us to make a drastic change we never imagined half a year ago: we're leaving Ret out of the top five Europeans.Nine months ago TL highlighted TitaN as a 'Player to Watch' in 2012. In the time since, TitaN hasn't dominated the world like he could've, but he's hardly disappeared from the spotlight. The truth is, the chances for players from Russia to play in lag free online events, or in foreign LANs is less than their counterparts in western Europe. When he has played in marquee events, the Russian Protoss has largely delivered on his promise, taking third in the first RSL and winning the WCS Russia competition. Coming into WCS Europe, TitaN is a sleeper, just as he was in his breakout event at WCG 2011 where he took fourth place.TitaN hasn't abandoned his creative roots, in fact, many Protoss have begun to incorporate some of his styles into their play, especially gateway first openings, which have become a common change of pace for many Protoss players in PvZ. TitaN also led the development of some brutal early timing attacks, also in PvZ, that have been shown widely in competition from other players. His mechanics remain strong and micro remains a trademark. He is also very much in practice, having begun a regular streaming routine from the Ministry of Win.Even more promising is TitaN's bracket, which is the second easiest quadrant of the bunch. TitaN has a first round draw against StarEagle, which he should win handily, a second round match against Socke, which is favored for the Russian representative on account of his much stronger PvP. TitaN would then find himself in another favorable spot in the Ro8, with few games, but all winning records against his most likely opponents there. In short; it would take very little to see TitaN in a semi-final match against Stephano and holding a ticket to Shanghai.The Spoon Terran comes into this tournament on a ten game losing streak, with a losing record over the past two months, having recently recovered from a bad bout of tonsillitis, and having spent about fifty hours streaming the HotS beta in the last week. What can we say? Things aren't looking so great for the definitely-not-cursed-ThorZaIN.He does, however, happen have one thing going for him: No one in the history of StarCraft II has made the words "homefield advantage" mean as much as ThorZaIN. He's already won two DreamHack-run tournaments in his hometown of Stockholm this year, and Ingrosso & Alesso's Calling has effectively become his personal theme song. While there have yet to be any clinical studies on the effects of a supportive crowd and terrible Euro-house music on esports performance, we can say that at least for ThorZaIN, it gives him a significant boost.Additionally, even when ThorZaIN is at his worst, it's hard to say there's a non-Korean Terran who's better. Occasionally, some players flare up with a good streak of results in minor tournaments, but ThorZaIN is the only Terran who has consistently stayed in the title picture. It's always risky to give a player too much credit for his past success, but with ThorZaIN playing in Stockholm, you can't help but feel he'll a way to overcome his recent troubles and give the fans something to cheer about.At the beginning of the summer, LucifroN was the talk of the town. At the end of the summer, all we're talking about is VortiX. He has wrested the spotlight away from his brother with his attention-grabbing play and impressive consistency. While it's sometimes been a struggle to figure out exactly how LucifroN will play at any given moment, you can reliably expect top calibre games from VortiX. To make things more impressive, VortiX has shown himself to be the more flexible brother as well. He's content with passive macro styles but truly at home with aggression, and that seems to throw a good number of people off. His top four finish at IEM Cologne looms large, and although the luster is perhaps a little duller after a rare flop at the ESL Berlin Open , there's no indication that VortiX is headed for a slump. Assume the opposite; this could be another huge tournament for one of Europe's top summer prospect.That's not to say we should forget about LucifroN, whose safer style and supreme comfort in late-late game situations give him a unique edge. But after starting the summer off with great tournament performances and much deserved hype, he's cooled off. WCS Europe will represent his best chance in the foreseeable future to recapture the magic (another will be Karont3's IPTL matches).It's worth remembering that WCS Spain was also his last big triumph, and he 2-0'd VortiX in the finals of that event. Another positive sign for the Spanish Terran have come in the Pokerstrategy.com League , where he's varied up his style and been rewarded with a 7 - 3 roll over Grubby and a 5 - 5 fight with MorroW. Certainly not results that indicate much of a decline.Things are seriously looking up for the Spanish contingent at WCS. This is a country that was hardly on the Starcraft map a year ago, but now it is well respected, mostly due to these two. At WCS Europe, it's certainly possible for at least one to make the worlds competition, strong as the field may be. While they've got a lot of work to do, the Spaniards are definitely in the hunt for Shanghai.Given the chaotic state of the monarchy in the Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire series, we're totally okay with throwing yet another contender into the ring for the title of "King in the North." SortOf may not have won any major championships yet, but his stock has been going straight up as he's outshone both ThorZaIN and NaNiwa in recent months.The first surprise came when SortOf made it through a tough MLG Summer qualifier, earning a spot at Summer Arena in New York (thought he would finish in the bottom half of the table). But SortOf really broke out at the end of July, when he tore through WCS Sweden to finish in second place. Along the way, he took series against NaNiwa, SaSe, and ThorZaIN, and came within one game of defeating ThorZaIN in the grand final and winning the championship. SortOF then proceeded to then make top eight at ASUS ROG Summer (tying MaNa for best non-Korean finish), where he took games against HerO, Kas and TitaN along the way. That was followed by another good showing at IEM Cologne, where he made it through the group stage by defeating Inori, Nerchio, and DeMuslim. Oh, and he happened to qualify for both of those tournaments by running a brutal gauntlet of online qualifiers.There are plenty of players in this tournament that have won championships before - which is a very important thing to consider - but a player doesn't need a title to be a title contender. SortOf may not have that one big championship to his name, but he's definitely been the most consistent live tournament player in the lead up to WCS Europe Finals, and it would be no surprise to see him continue on with that form.Last week, MaNa seemed to be on top of the foreigner world. His first major tournament win at Dreamhack Summer saw him off to Korea with an Up/Down seed in hand. There, facing a tough group consisting of HyuN, Bomber, Keen, and Jjakji, MaNa surprised everyone by making it out and qualifying for Code S, the first foreigner to do so since HuK last year.Put in position to match or even surpass NaNiwa's runs in the almost all-Korean tournament, things came to a screeching halt for MaNa as he was drawn into the group of death. Against Taeja, Mvp, and MMA, three of the best Terrans in the world, not even MaNa's best match-up could save him from being outplayed and crushed.So, back to the drawing board?One thing to consider for Mana in this tournament is that he has only just recently begun training in Korea for the past few weeks. As has been mentioned multiple times in the past by players like Idra and Naniwa, when you start training in Korea, you actually get worse initially. Because of the many more diverse styles you're likely to run into on the Korean ladder, it's very likely that you'll have to revamp your style altogether. Only after you've broken yourself down can you start rebuilding yourself back up again. With his short time in Korea, Mana is certainly only in the rebuilding stages. But even then, it he had enough in him to get by respectable opponents like Hyun and Keen in the Up/Down matches.The truth is, the #3 spot is a bit of a problem. #1 and #2 are automatic, but there's no obvious order after that. MaNa comes in with a very distinct achievement in winning DreamHack Summer. While many of the players at WCS are national champions, MaNa won a championship against a truly international pool of talent. The only players who have more impressive achievements? The two ahead of him.Almost exactly a year ago, there existed two then-considered off-the-beat European Zergs who used infestors in ZvT while the entire rest of the world focused on mutalisks. One was Nerchio. The other, Stephano. While Stephano traveled all around the world, from Europe to North America, to Korea, and then back to Europe, Nerchio preferred to stay on his home soil in Europe, keeping up with his studies at the same time, and thus he missed chances to show his true skill to a wider audience.And while Stephano eventually became the biggest star in the international scene, Nerchio was just too good to avoid the spotlight forever, despite his insistence on only competing at Old World tournaments. A few months ago, Nerchio won his first major tournament at HSC V in spectacular fashion, taking out the PvZ master, MC along the way. A few months later, Nerchio went to IEM Cologne and impressed again, taking out fOrGG, PuMa, Inori, viOLet, and MC a second time, before finally being stopped by four-time GSL champion Mvp in the finals.Korea might have their Symbol and DongRaeGu, but Europeans can safely reply 'so what?' For perhaps the first time ever, a non-Korean region can claim that they truly have the best players at a single race. For Nerchio and Stephano, it may not be just the title of best European Zerg that is on the line, but the title of best Zerg, period. May the better man win.Something is going to happen to Stephano at this event. Whether it be a flawless triumph in the tournament or an arrest after it, the easiest prediction for WCS Europe is that whatever Stephano does will be scrutinized, warped, and analyzed beyond all recognition. (Stephano wins? He's too good even for the EG curse. Oh, he lost? EG curse, bro.)There's little left to be said about Stephano's play. We know his tremendous strengths and we know his subtle weaknesses. We know enough about Stephano at this point to expect that he will destroy basically everyone unless he sabotages himself physically. Now that he's joined EG, the chances of that kind of weekend meltdown happening have been drastically reduced. That means someone is going to have to beat Stephano on their own merits, and given the bracket it's hard to see that happening before the quarterfinals. His first round opponent is HasuObs, who is coming off a good run of success in EU LANs, but is also the type of passive and orthodox opponent whom Stephano should almost never lose to. Stephano would likely face Naama in the following round, a player who is chaotic and widely feared. But Stephano hasand it would be a shock to see him fall here.It is in ZvZ where Stephano has seemed the most vulnerable. Stephano's theoretical opponent in the round of eight could be teammate ThorZaIN or NightEnD, both of whom he will be a massive favorite against. But the most likely player to emerge from that part of the bracket is also the most likely to stun Stephano early. JonnyREcco has had a superb summer, with a solid TSL4 run and a number of excellent offline results. He is the third wing of the leading patchzerg troika (along with VortiX and SortOf) and like his colleagues, has elevated his ZvZ in the post baneling wars era. This potential Ro8 match will be key.Just because Stephano is vulnerable in ZvZ does not mean that he will definitely lose in it. But Stephano will surely be happy that his end of the bracket is so Zerg free. Get past JonnyREcco, and the next toughest test seems likely to come in the finals. And for Stephano, anything less would be viewed as a disappointment.