Fairy tales in South Korea: WCG 2011 preview

I can't believe we are finally here. The first ever StarCraft 2 World Cyber Games. An occasion made even more special by the fact that after almost a decade, the tournament returns to where it was born and bred - South Korea. If I was a bit more emotional, a hot tear would run down my cheek. Because WCG is, no matter if you agree or not, a very special tournament. It was the founding symbol of eSports and, to be more precise, BroodWar and despite its bumpy road throughout the years, people still get excited when winter comes close and the best gaming representatives of many countries gather around to play some StarCraft and applaud the Korean champion at the end.

Magical, yet the arcane levels are slowly withering.

A look back and a look forth

I am relatively young so I have troubles pristinely remembering every single piece of WCG history through the years. Yet I recall the hits and misses, the good finals and the awful ones, the roaring audience in Chengdu, China, the murky afternoon of the Monza grand final between July and iloveoov. I remember my compatriot Christian finishing third in year 2004 finishing just behind the then godly Xellos and Midas. I remember Stork's first WCG gold medal, followed by him regaining his silvery reputation by scoring two second places in a row in the following years. I even recall digging up WarCraft 3 videos (a game I honestly hate) just for the sake of soaking up that WCG spirit and wishing I was there.And eleven years after the first ever World Cyber Games, we are to witness another first-timer - StarCraft 2.

The way StarCraft 2 made its way to the WCG was a thorny one, full of IP rights drama, community drama, sponsorship drama and many other kinds of conflict-revolving media-generated events. The fight between Blizzard and KeSPA led to Samsung, WCG's worldwide sponsor, to demand the exclusion of the Blizzard games, including both the pioneer BroodWar and the newly released StarCraft 2. Eventually in March this year, to many peoples' rejoice, the official WCG list of disciplines was published and StarCraft 2, WarCraft 3 and World of WarCraft were all present. Truly, the aging BroodWar was left out, disappointing even more people but overall there was peace - we would see StarCraft games in Busan!



All is well when it ends well, right? Right! It's all like a fairy tale once again - everyone sighs in relief at the end, forgetting all the turmoils that accompanied the hard journey. I wish and I am positive that many more fairy tales will be written, re-written, scrapped, altered, torched, trampled, stomped upon, revived, envigorated, forgotten and remembered as the event goes by. After all let's not lie to ourselves - we've all been expecting WCG to either heed it's glorious StarCraft 2 debut or see it crash down in smoking smithereens. In any case, indifference is not an option.

Group A: The Adventures of SEn in Neverterranland

Sen, F91, Elfi, Socke, Jack, Bigs, Moonglade

I have never hidden the fact that I am madly in love with SEn. In my last tournament preview I labelled him a symbol of eSports and I stand proudly by my words. SEn's fairy tale is written at every event he attends but often his performance is monitored and controlled by the visibly-joyful-but-secretly-evil captain Hook Plott. A vicious curse was born this way and SEn came to be known as "The boy who wouldn't come first because of Day9".

SEn is in a group without a single terran which should be a small relief as, statistically, this is his worst match-up. Knowing his prowess in mirros, SEn should not have any troubles defiling the dreams of the other zergs in the group. Any other day I would say Moonglade is capable of an upset but because the Australian hasn't been on a very strict practice schedule as of late, I would say a flawless ZvZ run for SEn is a record that should not be doubted.

There are two more great pretenders for the top two seed in Group A. Those are the dreading European protosses Elfi and Socke, both of which have had a long and fruitful carreer in StarCraft 2. Elfi has been the guy that always sticks out in most of the tournament he attends. Third at ASUS Rog, second at IEM Guangzhou, top of his group at IEM New York and second at the WCG Finland qualifiers. Of course, Elfi is still young and has not reached the performance stability of, say, Mvp but history teaches us that he has little trouble jumping over a group stage.

Same used to go for Socke too, but the German has been on the low for quite some time now. He made an awful NASL 2 run, could not find strength to defeat Ryung at IPL 3 and, honestly, I don't see him advancing to the Ro16 very clearly. Socke used to be the protoss I actually cheered for a few months ago but now my tiny pieces of protoss love go to Elfi.

Group B: The Easter(n) European Bunnies

Kas, Happy, Nirvana, Xigua, Welmu, Souke, Akiles

So what do we have in Group B? There is Kas, who inbetween Jinro's slump and the rise of Thorzain was considered by many the best terran player in Europe. He was the king of the ladder, He was that aggressive Ukrainian guy (game-wise, of course), who put fear in the hearts of his opponents. But the funny thing about Kas were the ways he shat on his reputation every time he appeared at an offline event. One should wonder can Kas pick up his eggs and carry them gently towards the finish line or will he sit on them and make a very embarrassing omelette.



The other two favourites are Happy and, in part, Welmu: all team-mates of Kas at team Empire. Here comes the big question of how will the Empire boys allocate the top spots between each other. Happy and Kas are the clear favourites. They both have a positive TvP record at around 67% and probably know Welmu's playstyle inside-out. The Finnish may come as his country's champion but hiz vT record is in appalling state. That being said, he will most certainly score two losses against the terrans and will also find the match against Xigua a tough one.

Yes, I am absolutely convinced the terran bunnies will take that home.

Group C: Tinmen

Mvp, Goody, Cobo, Aristeo, Splendour, Cytoplasm, Deny

There isn't much to write about this group. Mvp will take it and if you think otherwise you are WRONG (and if Mvp doesn't you are obviously right and I am deeply embarrassed by my inability to predict the hugest upset in eSports history). Mvp has more medals than all the rest of his groups combined plus he is the South Korean champion. He is a sturdy tinman alright, but he has found his heart already. Along with his big megal hammer-hands, rusty chainsaw, indestructible armor and a highly cost-effective jet pack (the latter with the sole purpose of just looking cooler).

So who gets top two then? My inner urge tells me "Goody, it's Goody". Goody has been known to be the master of mech play in every single match-up which, in times, is highly effective. I am not convinced how often the other players have faced a TvX mech and if it's not part of their everyday life they might find it troublesome. Furthermore, Goody can brag about his victory over NesTea at the TSL 3 which is all the better reason to fear his play style. I hope he can find his own heart to make it through.

The last piece of national dignity in me extorts me to mention Splendour as well. This protoss player, although possibly unknown to the most of you, has made a name of himself back here and although he lost to Jack in the local EPS finals, I actually find his future to be brighter than that of Jack's. I hope I am not proven wrong. I need to see a Bulgarian in the Ro16.

Group D: Big Bad Zergs [and the red riding hoods to be eaten]

Idra, KiLLer, Capoch, Titan, Kelevra, Orly, MasterOK

The group's outcome is transparent as a Scottish lake in the summer. Idra will most definitely come on top as he has done before in much, much harder groups than this one. EG's best zerg is weaved of performance consistency and there are many tournaments with tougher player lists to back this up. Compared to his MLG and DreamHack experiences, this WCG group should be easier to swallow than an apple juice.

The second seed should and will most probably go to KiLLer. The Chilean zerg has proven to be one of the best players in his continent, winning his country's WCG qualifier, coming third at IEM New York and reaching the grand finals of the Latin Bnet Invitational. Killer comes from the very strong school of team Dignitas and believe you me he has some high-tier teammates to tutor and prepare him for his WCG run. I wouldn't go that far to say that he can beat Idra (although as long it's ZvZ virtually anything can happen) but not making it to the Ro16 is, more or less, out of the question.

Group E: HuKsel and Zergtel

Breek, EnDerr, HuK, Gorky, Snute, Morrow, Ptak

It feels like the deeper I go into this preview, the easier my job gets. I am drawing a blank when in the face of Group E as it is so painfully plain and obvious and I really feel like writing the same paragraph for the third time now. Let's try a different approach.



HuK and Morrow are the two main heroes of the Group E tale but there is no evil witch to eat their nerdy bodies. Yet. The two have been on the road, following the trail of crumbs for a long, long time but for a while HuK sprinted forward very quickly, eager to find the big loaf of prize money. HuKsel's marathon did not go unnoticed, the habitants of the forest cheered him up while he was picking gold piece after gold piece until he reached the metaphorical candy house of GSL and got eaten by a covenant of mataphorical Korean witches. Fortunately for HuK, it's never a complete and total carnage feast but the German Canadian (for the purpose of the tale; please, bear with me) never chewed his way through the GSL candy house all the way to the golden waffle. Maybe some day...

The walk of Morrow (or Zergtel for lack of better and/or smarter analogy) has been a bit slow in the last couple of months (boy, that's a big walk!) but nonetheless he remains a fairy tale hero. You know it because when you look at the group his name immediately popps out and not just because it's familiar. Morrow may not hold 17 MLG golds but he did finish top eight at NASL and has been taking survival lessons from the friendly neighbourhood Korean ranger. He has this, don't worry.

Group F: The King of the Castle

MarineKing, Hui, DarkForce, BabyKnight, Wern, Beastyqt, Infeonic

MarineKing. Period.



OK, I guess you need a little bit more than that. MarineKing is, as you might have guessed, the obvious favourite in the group. The young terran has held his fortress of silver for many a month, and proudly to that. He is one of the most respected royalties on the Korean eSports scene and has brought to his castle multiple trophies from his crusades. Yet the king is cursed, as it befits any fictional (again, bear with me) character. Everything MarineKing touches turns to silver with very small exceptions. He placed second at a total of five GomTV events and he qualified for WCG coming once again second at the South Korean qualifier. To his luck, his mortal rival monarch Mvp is far away in group C so MarineKing can sleep peacefully for now. So far as the group stage is concerned, he has everything under control.

Second place? Oh, that will be most definitely DarkForce. The German zerg has had on-again-off-again success in various runs, most notably third at GeForce Pro, first place at his country's qualifier and top eight in NASL 1, all of which constrasts sharply with his mediocre NASL 2 run. I don't like to jinx the guy so I will stop here and not talk about possible upsets against Beastyqt or Babyknight.

Group G: Cinderellas

RedArchon, Kiwikaki, Strelok, Lowely, Cloud, ToD, Bling

Close your eyes and name five players that you always cheer for but who rarely make a blast so huge that it shakes the audience with awe. Ready? Good. Now how many of the do you see in this group?

Group G is by far the most interesting pool in all the WCG. It is stacked with players that are always in a struggle to make it to the royal ball. They all have their values and we all know they deserver the best. Yet the Cinderella race will be vicious, there are only two princes available to take them to the next happening.



I honestly don't know who of Kiwikaki, Strelok, ToD and Cloud will make it through. Kiwikaki has the power of protoss ingenuity to his side, Strelok comes of a country with great traditions in eSports, Cloud has always been a wild card and I had the pleasure of watching ToD play just the sickest games at DreamHack Winter. For the sake of argument let's pair up the zolushka and the cendrillon with the Ro16 groom.

Group H: Rise of the Phoenix

Supernova, MacSed, Maker, Reason, Fenix, Xei, Slider

There is little argument that SuperNova will top that group as sure as the sun rising from the east. The competition in Group H is just not enough to even make him sweat a little and for a hard-trained GSL veteran it should be a walk in the park. The more interesting theme in the pool is the possible return of Fenix. The Peruvian has been in a deep slump since before I can remember and this is one of his fewer chances to make a stand. Of course, the Latin American resistance is not to be neglected (especially Reason) but I am convinced that Fenix know what lies ahead of him. He might even get the chance to take a game or two off of SuperNova although I don't consider it very plausible. Still, the energy of the other five players should be enough to rekindle the flame of the phoenix.



All in all, WCG seems a very straightforward tournament as there is a very distinct skill difference between the 56 contenders. I would even go a step further and way it would be extremely easy to predict the Ro16 as well once we see the pairings. But I never lose since I am convinced that come the quarter finals, WCG will turn into a whole other kind of fairy tale. Stories will merge with each other in a fantasy tangle of wonder, abusing our love for the game and entrapping our attention within its embrace.

And with so many heroes, villains and entities of honest innocence I cannot imagine WCG ending in a lackluster frown.