Emperor's Old Clothes: MLG Winter Championship Preview

Standing on the doorstep of an MLG event always makes our editor fingers move with excitement. Unable to disconnect ourselves from the exuberant net of exalted fans, we take a look at what is to come in two days’ time – the royalty of the American eSports scene returns for one final winter parade.




After a February 2012 debut that marked the beginning of the new format and a not-so-mild PPV drama, MLG is donning its old garments. It goes back to the large offline event, the pool play plus open bracket competition, the free to watch streams, the hundreds of players both famous and unknown, the grand stage taunts, banters, victory ceremonies, murloc costume dances and just everything that had made MLG what it is now. For me, Nydra, it's a chance to return to the black-bordered, red-striped texts I so enjoy writing.

Pool A

MarineKing, Ganzi, MC, Sase

Nydra's take

MLG Winter Arena was not a rebirth for the tournament only. In the high towers of New York we witnessed the personal reincarnation of a player loved and supported by many - MarineKing. The Lord of Silver in SC2 finally unclogged the oozy pipe that was his "never a champion" curse and scored a major gold. However, his fans still spin around in a restless slumber, tormented by questions of uncertainty... Was that a one-time only miracle? Can MKP triumph over MC? Is there a real shot at a WB semi-final spot?

The answers to the second and third questions from the paragraph above are the ones that will most likely define the outcome of Pool A. History is on neither's side, as both players have been known to defeat each other in the past. Both MC and MKP enter the Winter Championship with their confidence elevated to high heavens with their victories at the IEM World Championship and MLG Winter Arena respectively. It is going to be a battle of now tempered emotions against undaunted determination. Also, a way better movie than "Clash of the Titans".



What of Ganzi and Sase, then? If everything goes according to plan (and there are no indications that it might be otherwise), the Swede will play the role of the innocent casualties caught between the aforementioned clash. Many events from the past and present have taught us that foreigners don't usually grow too well on Korean-infested soil. As for Ganzi, he is the player that actually defeated both MC and Mvp in the Winter Arena so if you are in a dire need to support someone that is not yet heavily injected with champion's stardom he is your go-to guy.

procyonlotor's take

MKP has been winning his fair share of tournaments as of late, but it’s still hard to see him as anything else but the true inheritor of the kong line. While MMA, MVP and NesTea inspire the awe behemoths such as themselves rightfully demand, MKP is still the fragile virtuoso hanging on the sidelines, waiting for a niche to fill. The new season of MLG will give him the chance to bring home the same spoils his other illustrious countrymen have.

Ganzi is a SlayerS bred terran, but not champion material. Good enough to make it to the GSL semifinals but not much further, he will be going up against familiar competition in an arena he has visited before.

What is there to say about MC that has not already been said? No matter how weak he may have looked at any point, MC has always been a force to be reckoned with at MLG. Coming out of his win at the IEM World Championship his already prodigious confidence is bound to have increased, and we have seen his skills have only improved. He has all the tools he needs to win the entire event.


It’s tempting to estimate SaSe’s chances by only looking at his opponents, especially given his history of lackluster performance in Korea. Of course, the same could be said NaNiWa, and we would wrong. These are not unbeatable odds, but they are daunting, and the results will come down, as always, to the brilliance SaSe can display on the moment.

One of the two which look like a feasible GSL group, pool A is likely to see its initial merry-go-round of punches spin predictably, though for all we know they might end up playing spin the bottle.

Pool B

DongRaeGu, Naniwa, DeMuslim, HayPro

Nydra's take

Pool B is an area where there is no need to thread carefully. It is very, no, extremely easy to point a finger at DongRaeGu and yell "There's the champion" and not in a million years will you be wrong. With NesTea and Leenock out of the MLG picture, the MVP ace stands alone as the very best zerg in the tournament. I am sorry Ret, Violet, Idra and the others but that's just axiomatic.

Let's leaf through the old, dusty pages of MLG history and see what the annals say about DongRaeGu. Undefeated in his group in Anaheim over both Naniwa and Haypro - check. First place in his group in Raleigh - check. Top three in Providence and second place in the Winter Arena - check and check. Is that more than enough to answer the question "Will DongRaeGu make fun of the foreign resistance by crushing it to pieces"? Yes, it should be!



The remaining players - foreigners to the last man - stand as the wild-card triad just because they are very equally skilled. Naniwa stands out as probably the most prominent of them, having achieved the best run through MLG Winter Arena and being heavily trained in a Korean environment. MLG has always been a ground on which Nani feels extremely comfortable and even though he might not make it to the WB semi-finals, there's little doubt that we won't see him place high in the tournament.

DeMuslim and Haypro, on the other hand, are still desperately clawing for any actual order. "But, Nydra," you might say "DeMuslim beat NesTea in the Winter Arena and Haypro got top eight in Providence!" Yeah, well, if we lived in a world in which excellency was measured by a couple of isolated cases and not consistency, there would be countless champions who just beat DRG once on the ladder.

procyonlotor's take

Anything on DRG begins and ends with ‘Code S Champion,’ though, let’s be frank, the hallowed trophy is not a shield against failure, nor a guarantee for success. The South Korean star is a well known quantity, and the most we could say about him is that he will be the barometer against which we will judge DeMuslim, long hyped as a foreigner hope, and HayprO, who may or may not show us some cool play.

NaNiWa is in a position to beat everyone in his pool. Then again, DRG is coming off a championship win against Protoss, so we can assume his ZvP will be in better shape than it was at Providence, where he was taken out by none other than NaNi himself. Still, the Swedish protoss will give anyone in his group pause, GSL results be damned.



The devil apparently comes from Britain as DeMuslim, the Devil Terran, is looking poised to get payback for not winning IEM Sao Paulo. Innuendo excluded, DeMuslim still has a lot to prove. This event may be enough to show us he can truly play with the best, and that foreign terrans can be not just good, but top of the line.

The little engine that could - or Liquid’Haypro, a man known to possess powerhouse zerg skills which come out unevenly, irregularly, and unreliably. We’ve seen him take out NesTea and very nearly beat the nail into MVP’s coffin at MLG Providence, and he could very likely do so again if whatever mystical conditions that brought out the surge in power could be recreated. HayprO has not built the most impressive career in Starcraft 2, but we have definite proof that he can do it, though very little incentive to believe that he will do it. Here’s to Banjo.

Verdict? You can build a nursery rhyme on DRG and Na-Ni-Wa, but you’d find it hard to fit DeMuslim and HayprO in there without breaking the meter. Maybe we should anyway and see what happens.

Pool C

HuK, Violet, Ret, Socke

Nydra's take

Peculiar. We have a group with three Koreans, two of which recent champions, and this is still the pool of death.

Every time HuK hits a foreign podium, both he and his fans forget his GSL misfortunes. It doesn't matter anymore if he barely did not make it to Code S. He is still the only two-times champion and the only non-Korean to win an MLG since the exchange program. Not betting on Chris to do well is a bigger waste of money than paying a kid to guard your ice cream.



The Canadian has a hearty competition, however. Violet is of the few Koreans that went away from a Korean training house and got better; Ret can be one of the absolute best zergs in the entire world if he can keep his drones safe; and Socke... well, OK, Socke might be screwed but I wouldn't put my head on the stump for it.

The beauty of this group is that each one has this one flaw that keeps him away from consistent domination. They players are also very familiar with this and it is but a matter of who can make fewer mistakes and can they make Ret pay for his greediness.

procyonlotor's take

HuK is fighting to get back into Code S, but everywhere else he is a serious contender for the title. It seems while old favorites may falter, the Canadian dynamo spins his way to the top, where his energy may or may not run out. Expect him to do well, as he always has at MLG.

ViOlet is an S level zerg coming into this event with strong performances, among which first place at IEM Sao Paulo, but somehow ViOlet has never looked as scary as Leenock or DRG, no matter how well he might have played. He’s a top player, but sadly not quite top enough, though he might still surpass everyone he shares the pool with.

Ret is easily as good as ViOlet if not better. While ViOlet seems strong all around, Ret has the reputation, if not the allure, of a monster held back by - who knows what. The Dutch zerg will probably keep searching for that je-ne-sais-quois, but meanwhile he’s going to be adding heads to his collection.



Pool C’s standings will vary according to HuK’s ability to exploit Ret’s greedy play. With Violet likely by a thin margin to take the group, HuK and Ret are essentially rivals in the struggle to throw sticks in Violet’s wheels, while Socke is Socke, the space in the center that separates the hopeless from the decent-but-that’s-all kind of player.

Pool D

Oz, Parting, Grubby, TheSTC

Nydra's take

Or the young Korean hopes and the foreign old-timer.

Group D is different from the other three in the way that there is so much more to see from all four of them. This is a feeling that cannot elude me and makes me shiver every time I set eyes on this vista.

There are no champions here. There is no MC vs MKP struggle, or DongRaeGu owning foreign hopes, or the eternal battle of who is the best non-Korean. What we have is the inspiring play of Oz, the still untapped full potential of TheSTC, the protoss that beat MC (!) and DongRaeGu (!!) in the Winter Arena and one of the most notable and erudite eSports figures of all-time.




I am stopping here as I dare not tarnish the blossom of this group with torpid predictions. You should do that too and prepare to savor its taste come this weekend.

procyonlotor's take

For a player still looking to prove his worth, the chance to beat Korea’s newly ascended Oz, Parting, TheSTC, is a golden but double-sided opportunity. If Grubby performs well, we will be impressed; if he fails, he will be none the worse for wear. But let’s not write him off so easily. He’s made it to pool play over a great many players, finding himself in the company of previous champions and star players.

GSL watchers assemble! Three of Code S’s brightest young stars enter the stage at MLG, though to be fair TheSTC has been here before - no matter: he was not Code S then, but he is now. This is the second pool which might very well be a real Code S group, with the notably oddball but forgivable inclusion of Grubby. TheSTC is going to have his TvP tested against those who might be considered the best PvTers at the moment. The three protoss players are going to have at it in the unforgiving arena of PvP. Whoever enters the pool from the Open Bracket is going to find their competition huffing and puffing, but very much in their stride.

Trial by Fire: MLG WC Open Bracket

It’s hard to say meritocracy isn’t at work when the sixteen starting players are survivors of month long qualifiers, an entire year of MLG events, and last month’s superb but grueling Winter Arena. Everybody else, no matter how good, no matter close they got, starts where everyone else does: the Open Bracket.

The Open Bracket is essentially the poorman’s GSL qualifiers. Historically, it has been where the hopeful chaff have been measured and weighed, and usually cast aside. Call it the Harrowing, the Final Exam, the one and true tribal - and very much brutal - initiation into the select class everyone wants to be a part of: progaming. There are no catches and no refunds: if you make it through, you’re a pro, and don’t bother arguing.

While the chances of seeing a new face push through the throng are always slim, familiar names constantly draw our attention, among which: Polt, ThorZaiN, Stephano, Killer, MVP, TLO and many others. Only eight of the 240 competitors will make it into Pool Play. For everyone else: lights out.