WCS NA Finals Preview

After three long and tough national qualifiers, players from Mexico, Canada, and the USA will meet in Raleigh, North Carolina on August 24-26th to battle for a spot at the The World Championship Series Global Finals. 32 players, 7 seeds, 3 days, and one shot to prove yourself as a player and competitor.

THE USA REPRESENTATIVES



The WCS USA National qualifiers took place in June during MLG Spring Championship. Out of 64 players 16 managed to grab a spot for the WCS Grand Finals, and those who stood on the podium were a big surprise to the public.

The American scene was sure that one of Team EG members will win the whole event, and the winner is going to be followed by the rest of the poster-boys for the USA Starcraft scene: NonY, qxc, Sheth, etc. What happened, however, was most of the well-known players lost in the first few rounds except for IdrA who somehow managed to crawl back from the losers bracket to claim fourth place.

ViBE, daisuki, and Insur took the first three places respectively leaving their famous peers far behind. If you count their big achievements prior to this event, put together they have four top three placements during different tournaments, most of which took place back in 2011. Withal, there are 13 more USA representatives besides the top three, making the USA team the largest one in Raleigh and fully capable of surprising the fans.

There is Illusion - the youngest participant, but whose career is constantly moving forward. He had a notable performance during MLG Providence last year, and kept pushing forward ever since taking down players like Zenio, Sheth, Demuslim, and Ret, which is impressive for a 16-year-old. He certainly has the skill set to reach the podium, but I am just not sure if he's experienced enough to claim the throne at this event.

As the winner of the US nationals, ViBE cannot be underestimated by any means. His great run in the IPL 5 North American Satellite Qualifiers gave him a spot in the upcoming IGN ProLeague Season 5, a huge achievement of its own. Lately he's joined ROOT Gaming and has slowly been getting closer to untapping his full zerg potential.

Although his performance has been rather poor lately, IdrA is still a strong and experienced player who will expose any flaws in his opponents play. His last big victory was at ASUS ROG Stars Invite 2011. Greg said that he's currently seeing a psychiatrist, and is not planning to quit progaming anytime soon, but despite his current position as a player, Gracken might be released in the most unexpected moment.

If was to put a question mark next to any player besides Idra, it would definitely be Daisuki. The latter managed to place 2nd during USA qualifiers after beating Avilo, NonY and IdrA himself, and lately managed to get a spot at the IGN ProLeague Season 5 just like ViBE. Now all he has to do is step his game up during the finals.

Let's get back to our top three for the USA contingent and see what's really up.. First place goes to ViBE, because he proved that he has the full package to be the best in his country, and he will hopefully show us great performance during the tournament. Illusion is placed second based purely on his performance and a huge potential that has been noticed by many in the community. Last but not least there is Gracken, who cannot be underestimated at any circumstances. If he's going to wake-up and won't prematurely GG-out of a game then we might be looking at the winner of the WCS NA finals.

THE CANADA REPRESENTATIVES



The tournament in Canada got people aghast when their most beloved player, HuK, barely qualified for the WCS NA Finals after losing to Scarlett in the 2nd round, and then hardly claiming 10th place after losing to TubbyTheFat in the consolation bracket. Still, even HuK's poor performance wasn't as shocking as Scarlett's amazing run. The player representing Team Acer made it look so easy to beat the pinnacle of the Canadian soil and claim the first place; people went bonkers when the final game ended and now Scarlett is considered as a potential winner of the WCS NA Finals.

Even so, Canadians have a strong representation including It's Gosu's dde and Ostojiy, and TT1 and Drewbie representing ROOT Gaming.

It's Gosu stars, Ostojiy and dde, have a huge chance of claiming the top prize. The man of small tournaments dde has won plenty of those, but is he ready to sit at the adults table? Ostojiy on the other hand had a huge entrance to the professional scene during MLG Winter Championship this year where he made it to the playoffs through the Open Winners Bracket. He's definitely a force to be reckoned with.

We obviously cannot forget about Chris Loranger aka HuK. He is the heart of Canada, but hasn't won anything big for almost a year now and is in the same position as IdrA: they both have a lot to prove not only to their fans, but mainly to themselves. It has been visible for the past few months that HuK might have some personal issues that possibly could be the reason why his performance deteriorated, but he's the people's champion after all. Letting the fans down at yet another tournament will be something...

Quick rewind to our top 3 pick for Canada which has two obvious and one less apparent contender. Scarlett had a stunning run during WCS Canada qualifiers and I honestly believe this is the player that may even surpass HuK at some point. The Chris of today is unpredictable in performance and you never know what's going to happen, hence 2nd place in our national ranking. As for the 3rd player we choose Ostojiy who would've likely placed first during Canadian qualifiers if not for Scarlett. He managed to take down top Canadian players and has the momentum to take a place on the podium this Sunday.

THE MEXICO REPRESENTATIVES



Laugh at the Mexican line-up in picture all you want but there is no denying that MajOr was the only logical winner of the nationals. Just a few steps behind him there is Maker - the 2nd best, although mainly because of his team history rather than long list of achievements. Besides these two there are no more notable players who participated in any kind of international event ever, hence my struggle with choosing the 3rd player.

Throughout his career as a professional player, MajOr has been both at the top and at the very bottom - mainly because of his attitude that got him kicked out of the ROOT Gaming, which he re-joined this year on August 6th. He's also managed to qualify for the IGN ProLeague Season 5 through the North American Satellite Qualifiers where he managed to beat Machine 2-1 in the finals. All in all, the small chance for a medal for Mexico depends on Major stabilizing his strength, and calling forth the terran in him that we saw in TSL 4.

Overall, WCS NA Championship is going to be a treat to watch not only because of the amount of high level players, but mainly due to their often intriguing stories. We have superstars who are currently in the slump, and this event is a huge chance for them to make a comeback. There are a few newly discovered talents like Scarlett, but there are also already established players who want to pursue their career in Starcraft 2, and the North American finals can become their pass to the world of top tier professionals. Last but not least, we have real old school players who don't want to quit because of their love and passion for games. All of them are going to meet in what is the biggest regional tournament in North American region so far. You simply cannot miss it.