The fourth edition of the HomeStory Cup is exactly halfway through. The round of sixteen is to start real soon and by the end of January 7th we shall have our playoff pairings.
As per tournament rules, the top players from days one and two got the chance to determine their placement at the round of 16 so HerO, JYP, Sound grabbed the reins of their respective groups and awaited their future opponents to be determined.
While at this stage of a tournament it is foolish to talk about a clearly defined group of death, a few compositions do stand out as preconditions for a spectacular eSports fiesta.
Group B will see MC, MarineKing, Socke and Stephano get on each other's throats in what is arguably the toughest pool at the Ro16. MC comes as the only undisputed group winner from the previous days, as MarineKing had a clutch triumph in day 2, unable to secure three series wins but beating ViOlet at the decisive match to get the top seed after all. Stephano and Socke also performed on par with the leaders of HSC 4: Stephano suffered defeat only at the hands of his group leader Sound and Socke fought through Group A, beating one of tournament's highest profile players Thorzain.
Group D will be no walk in the park either. It will host another Korean face-off between HerO and ViOlet, who share the pool with Polish ace Nerchio and Group F's runner-up Naama. For the Finnish terran this will be the second time he faces Liquid's HerO within two days, falling to him 0-2 in the Ro32 and helping the protoss to accomplish the perfect 6-0.
The zergless group C consists of Korean protoss duo JYP/ReaL going against the proud Europeans Goody and Cloud. The terrans displayed amazing perseverance in day two, taking a set even off the group leaders, but the question stands if they can dethrone the Ro32 win-machines.
Group A also does seem like a well-rounded one with Sound being the most possible victor having qualified with a 6-0 from the previous day. However, neither of Dimaga, Grubby and DarkForce are to be underestimated as they have proven times and times again that they are able to compete on par with the strongest of the day.
| HomeStory Cup Group Stage 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Group A | Group B | |||||||||||||||||||||||
  Sound |   Socke | |||||||||||||||||||||||
  DIMAGA | MC | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Grubby | MarineKing | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| DarKFoRcE |  Stephano | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Group C | Group D | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| JYP | HerO | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 ClouD | viOlet | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| GoOdY |  Nerchio | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ReaL |  Naama | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Follow GosuGamers.net and the HSC 4 portal as we shall continue to provide coverage on the event.
