At the end of week one, the 2012 WCS America champion Vibe was thrown in the midst of a dangerous group: the BroodWar bonjwa Jaedong, the StarCraft 2 Zerg legend NesTea and MLG and DreamHack bronze finalist TheSTC.
Saying that it couldn't have been worse for Vibe would not be an overstatement. Both Jaedong and NesTea were particularly known for their skills in the match-up and although TheSTC was nowhere near them, he was still a Korean Terran capable of using the dreaded 4M quite well.
Expectedly, the sole American in this otherwise Korean-only group didn't make it out but at least he didn't finish last, beating NesTea 2-1 in his opening match. Below, we recollect the events and the highlights from Group B before we move on.
Group B highlights
The finest series of the day is courtesy of Jaedong and TheSTC in group's first opening match. TheSTC comes at the Tyrant with unrelenting aggression in the form of bio drops and 4M pressure but Jaedong's defense is ironclad. Running a muta/bane/ling composition, Jaedong makes exponentially more favorable trades until he is able to overwhelm the withering forces of TheSTC.
The rest of Group B in short
Vibe 2:1 
NesTea - Vibe drops the first game after an unfavorable muta war but is quick on the recovery. An early pool against NesTea's fast hatch ties him with the Korean and defending against NesTea's own early aggression eventually puts him at a winning 2:1 - Game 1, Game 2, Game 3
Jaedong 2:0 Vibe - It's a short game in the winners match. Jaedong opens game one with early aggression but quickly switches his posture to a defensive one as Vibe stabilizes and counters with roach/ling. Successfully defending this allows JD to come one game ahead, an advantage he doubles through a 6-pool on Akilon Wastes for the 2:0. - Game 1, Game 2
NesTea 2:0 
TheSTC- NesTea sprints to an early lead on the wings of a 2-base roach bust but has to play a bit longer game to emerge victorious. Similarly to his games against Jaedong, TheSTC throws a marine/medivac/mine composition at the Zerg but is again unsuccessful in breaking the muta/bling composition of the IM powerhouse. - Game 1, Game 2
NesTea 2:0 Vibe - It's revenge time for the Korean at the deciding match of Group B. Game one goes to NesTea after a successful muta war but the battle for game two is on the ground. Defending well against Vibe's ling/baneling pressure, NesTea earns enough time to tech to roaches and pin back-to-back victories to join Jaedong in the Ro16. - Game 1, Game 2
In the first day of America's Season 3, all eyes were on aLive, expecting the EG Terran to repeat his strong run from the Season 2 finals. Grouped with second-tier competitors of sort in ByuL, Hack and Arthur, aLive's task looked even easier.
Today, aLive resides in Challenger league, not winning a single series in a group that should've been his while ByuL and Hack enjoy their Ro16 seeds. This is how they did it.
Group D highlights
ByuL meets Hack in the winner's match of Group D and the two go at each other in one very dynamic TvZ. Constantly bashing their heads together, the two competitors are soon reduced to one base economies and wage war on the back of minimum income.
The rest of Group D in short
Hack 2:0 aLive - Hack shows prowess in the mech and marine/tank mirrors. In both games, the underdong pressures aLive with suffocating contains, as he outmacroes him on Akilon Wastes and out-trades him on Bel'Shir Vestige. - Game 1, Game 2
ByuL 2:0 
Arthur - ByuL opens Grop D strong with two convincing victories over Arthur. The first comes from an undiscovered three hatch on Frost, allowing the Zerg player to gain a large economic advantage with impunity. In the second match Byul scores advantages via a few zergling run-by's that exploit Arthur’s inattentiveness. - Game 1, Game 2
Arthur 2:1 aLive - aLive flies out of premier league after three games against Arthur. The young Protoss utilizes a 4-gate attack in game one and a proxy gateway which turned into a BO loss against aLive's lower CC in game three to deliver the a big upset right at the start of the season. - Game 1, Game 2, Game 3
Hack 2:0 Arthur - Hack opens with proxy reaper which deals way more damage than it should. Arthur responds with a four gate push that doesn’t do enough damage. Unable to overcome the early deficit, Arthur soon falls to Hack’s stim enhanced bio, giving Hack the 1:0 lead. Game two develops almost analogically to give Hack the 2:0 and the ticket to Ro16. - Game 1, Game 2
Three Evil Geniuses, one Korean Terran. This was Group F in short played on the PDT evening of September 17th. Yet although the initial story was the lone Apocalypse fighting against the power of the foreign house, the final chapter of Group F was yet another tail of foreigners losing to the South Korean flags.
Group F highlights
Suppy goes full Zerg in the first set of the deciding match against Apocalypse as he fights to keep his tournament life. The EG player gives a lecture on how to play muta/baneling as by the 20th minute he has the entire Derelict Watcher covered in creep, his airborne forces scouting every inch of the map for Apocalypse's bio.
The rest of Group F in short
Oz 2:0 Suppy - In game one, Oz soft-contains Suppy to deny him a third base and starve him to death for the 1:0 lead. Game two sees the Protoss baiting the Zerg into a hydralisk/corruptor army, which he then slaughters through colossi and void rays. - Game 1, Game 2
Apocalypse 2:0 
DeMusliM - Apocalypse sandwiches DeMuslim's only victory between two quick kills on the back of one banshee and one mass reaper harass. - Game 1, Game 2
Oz 2:1 Apocalypse - Oz takes the early lead after recovering from his natural being bunker-denied and by using warp prism play and death ball attacks to outmuscle the Terran. He loses game two through a couple of mistakes, but set three sees him play a perfect templar game to which Apocalypse finds no answer. - Game 1, Game 2, Game 3
Suppy 2:0 DeMusli - DeMuslim is escorted out of Premier league in the shortest game of the night after a 6-pool in game one and a 1-base baneling bust in game two. - Game 1, Game 2
Group H, Sep 23, 15:00 PDT
Group A, Sep 24, 15:00 PDT
Group B, Sep 25, 15:00 PDT
| 1 | Innovation | Korea | 5900 |
| 2 | Jaedong | America | 4600 |
| 2 | Bomber | Korea | 4425 |
| 4 | Taeja | America | 4000 |
| 5 | Polt | America | 3800 |
| 6 | Soulkey | Korea | 3700 |
| 7 | aLive | America | 3600 |
| 8 | HerO | America | 3575 |
| 8 | MVP | Europe | 3575 |
| 10 | sOs | Korea | 3425 |
| 11 | Revival | America | 3000 |
| 12 |  Naniwa | Europe | 2750 |
| 13 | Maru | Korea | 2625 |
| 14 | Duckdeok | Europe | 2500 |
| 15 | MC | Europe | 2475 |
| 16 | ForGG | Europe | 2450 |
