The feature has been updated as Draco dropped out and was replaced by LeiLei. AnyTime and Casy were replaced by Calm and Sheis. Read on for the predictions.
When the news about Fenix getting an invite to this event came out many people asked themselves what was going on. This guy does not have a "big name". If you go by name recognition alone, he should barely be watching this tournament. Of course we're not going by that, we're going by skills. Fenix is clearly a skilled player, he won WCG Peru. However he's yet to prove that he can hang with this level of competition. He lost to Draco and Steelheart at the grand finals of WCG, beating a tourist-like MidiaN. I actually thought this guy would make it out of his group at WCG. Here I'm of a different oppinion. Fenix is in over his head and will be eliminated quickly.
Advokate is such a strong Terran, if a little unpredictable. He was, to my surprise, eliminated from WCG Russia in group stage two. At the same time he won ASUS Summer 2007, which is a tournament stacked full with good players. It's perhaps even slightly harder than WCG Russia. An Advokate in shape could be an interesting player in this tournament and it remains to be seen if he indeed is in shape. He will have a difficult time against many of these players, but could be a positive surprise. Especially if you consider the lack of Zergs.
Testie didn't impress resultwise in WCG, but who can blame him? He lost to Savior and Mondragon then forfeited to ReasoN. Testie is one of those players who have the potential to do really well in this tournament. He is starting to accumulate a lot of LAN experience and he has proved time and time again that he is more than capable of taking on the Chinese players. If he comes in top form it wouldn't surprise me the only thing stopping him ends up being one of the Koreans. I believe it comes down to his motivation. Not just at the event itself, but also before it. How much time he's put in practicing and how much he wants it. This could of course be related to if he lands a deal with CJ Entus about playing for them. If he does his motivation and practice time should be equivalent or greater to anything we've seen from him before.
This man disappoints me so often online, but guess what? This is offline and I'm always impressed by White-Ra offline. He did great this last WCG and it just adds to a big list of accomplishments offline. That's not saying he's not good online, but he always seems to shine offline. The performance during WCG was no coincidence and again he can do well here. He's gonna need to have a few good days once again and be slightly lucky with the draw. Avoiding the absolute top players in this tournament will be key for him.
Unfortunately for his Polish fans Draco could not attend and LeiLei took his spot. This was due to him finishing in fourth place in the Chinese qualifier. He impressed me in the preliminary, but this is going to be very tough for LeiLei. Hwasin is going to destroy him and Advokate will be a very hard match for him i think. I wouldn't go as far as calling it a big upset if LeiLei got out of his group, but I would definitely be very surprised. It will all come down to his game versus Advokate of course and if Advokate is not on form, he could make it. If he does, he'll exit the tournament shortly after.
Another curious player in this tournament. Don't get me wrong, I love Blackman as I suspect most of us do. That being said, what has Blackman done lately? You don't go more or less inactive for that long and maintain your skill level. I have to say that this man would not be in the IEST if MYM were not involved in selecting the players. As much as it gives the community joy to see this oldschool player in this tournament, he shouldn't be here. Blackman doesn't have the shape anymore to make an impact in this tournament. Lets hope I'm wrong.
Inter.Calm does not have the best record. Stating that his best matchup is ZvP seems fairly accurate even though there's not too many games to base it on. He's beaten Stork, Bisu and Free. His weakest matchup if you go strictly by numbers in ZvT. I believe his weakness lies more in a bit of inconsistency though. He's beaten some of the very best in each matchup and lost to some lesser Koreans as well. That being said Calm will easily win his group and then go far after that. I have a tiny, little hope that he'll drop a game or perhaps even a series versus a foreigner after the group stage, but most likely he'll lose to Hwasin or Sheis at some point.Sheis was the last player to be revealed after it was known that Casy and AnyTime would not attend. Not surprisingly he's also from STX Soul as the other two are. Sheis has a TvZ that's about as strong as Hwasin's. His other matchups are not as strong as Hwasin's are though. They are strong enough to take out all the non-Koreans in this tournament though. I think Sheis would beat Calm, but wouldn't be shocked if it went the other way. Against Hwasin I think he's going to fall short. 
Hwasin actually won WCG Korea ahead of Stork. He is perhaps known best for his TvZ, but his other matchups are no laughing matter either. He's also currently doing well in the MSL. This man is my top tip to win IEST. The only person I see stopping him is Casy and that depends on Casy's form. If they both come into the tournament in top shape Casy's TvT is stronger than Hwasin's. That being said, the chance of Hwasin being in better shape than Casy is high. Hwasin will be the IEST 2007 Champion.Fengzi managed to get out of his first group, despite having Beckham and Chinatttt in it. Not a bad feat at all, but he seemed to get the easiest group in stage two. In the quarterfinals he also managed to duck most of the big guns. Then Pj took him down before he defeated LeiLei to grab the last slot for the grand final. He will have an advantage not having to practice ZvZ much, if at all. That being said, I think he's gonna have a hard time with the two other Chinese players and the top foreigners. I don't see him making it far.
Phoenix had a good WCG. He went 3-0 in his group and then faced Pj. He's had a good IEST so far, he came from the amateur preliminary and won his first group. Then went 3-0 in his second group, which included Lx. Once he made it to the final, he faced Pj. In fact, Pj seems to be an unsurpassable obstacle for Phoenix. Either way, he's proven that he is strong. If he can avoid Pj and the Korean players for a while he could earn quite a bit of money in this tournament. He's gonna give everyone a hard time, that's for sure. Pj only won 3-2 in the finals here. 
What a WCG Pj had. Knocked out sAviOr as we all remember. Now he won the Chinese IEST qualifier. He's a dangerous player indeed. Every foreigner is gonna struggle hard against this man. Also he just proved that he can handle the Chinese players. It is going to take a Korean to stop him. If he can pull out another big upset in this tournament is doubtful. It would have to be Casy, but I seriously doubt it. Pj needs a bit of luck with the draw and he can end up taking a medal here. Once again, it won't be gold though.| By.Fenix | MYM.Advokate |
| MYM.Testie | MYM.White-Ra |
| LeiLei | MYM.Blackman |
| Calm | Sheis |
| Hwasin | Fengzi |
| Phoenix66 | Pj |
