StarCraft II - IPTL - NsHoSeo needs a good showing vs Karont3 to advance to Up and Downs

Contender Division Group B has the most difficult situation to asses. Why? Currently, there are 3 teams with similar score: Team Empire 1-2 (10-13 in small points), Team Dignitas 1-2 (10-11) in small points and New Star HoSeo 1-1 (6-7) with one game left. Who’s going to join Karont3 e-Sports Club in the Up and Down Matches?

The game between the Spanish organization and Koreans is going to be the decisive factor in establishing the final result in their group.

Karont3 e-Sports Club line-up: LoLvsxD (Z), LucifroN (T), Ryo (P), VortiX (Z), AlaStOr (Z), MikOeL (T), Verdi (P)

New Star HoSeo line-up: Tassadar (P), jjakji (T), Seal (Z), Sculp (T), SalvatioN (T), Brave (P)

Potential starters

Karont3 e-Sports Club: AlaStOr (Z), MikOeL (T), Verdi (P)

Three players that I’ve put above are the ones loaned from other teams purely for the “Team Games:” AlastOr is playing for French organization, Team LDLC.com, MikOeL represents another Spanish team, Aprender, and Verdi wears Vega Squadron tag together with DaNa, Polish player who will probably represent his country in the upcoming WCG 2012 Finals.

So far, both Spaniards have opened a game for Karont3 with Zerg falling to BlinG and MikOeL defeating Beastyqt, but later losing to Brat_OK. Now it’s time for Verdi to open the most important match for the Spanish team thus far.

New Star HoSeo: Tassadar (P), Sculp (T), Seal (Z)

New Star HoSeo went from being one of the best teams in Korea to a mediocre organization with one star player on the roster and average key players. They’ve lost four players over the last 3 months and their IPTL performance wasn’t as good as people would expect especially in one of the weakest groups in Season 1.

So far, both Brave and SalvatioN opened a game, so now it’s time for one of the core NSH players to be the lucky participant in the opening game against Karont3. Just like with the Spanish, NSH starters represent all three races available in Starcraft 2. Should be interesting.

Key players

Karont3 e-Sports Club: MikOeL (T), Verdi (P)

Both have decent results in IPTL and look strong against New Star HoSeo. I can see Verdi taking even a double-kill if Karont3 decide to use him in this match. As for MikOeL, he should be able to win at least one match just like he did against Team Empire, but will probably lose the next one. One should bear in mind that mediocre Korean player is still a level above decent European. We will see if that’s true in this case as well.

New Star HoSeo: Tassadar (P), SalvatioN (T)

So far besides jjakji they are the only players to grab a win in IPTL Season 1, thus it is safe to assume that they might be able to do it again especially against core Karont3 players. However, even when most of Karont3 roster is out there are always LucifroN and Vortix left who might be more than enough for NSH this time.

Ace players

Karont3 e-Sports Club: LucifroN (T), Vortix (Z)

Duran brothers are currently considered top Europeans with a huge potential that they’ve been showing for the past few months. IEM and DreamHacks were perfect tournaments for them to shine and make room for themselves among the best of the best in the world.

Both had a huge experience with Warcraft 3, but back then it was LucifroN who managed to achieve some international recognition. This time it is Vortix leading the family with impressive results lately.

But, are they going to fall in a slump as always? LucifroN was a one game wonder back in W3 era and after three / four good tournaments he quickly became another pray among beasts like Grubby, Moon or Sky. Is the same thing going to happen to Vortix? Let’s hope not.

New Star HoSeo: jjakji (T)

Although he failed to stay in GSL Code A jjakji is the best player on NSH, but despite his unstable play he managed to grab a victory for NSH in their match against Team Empire. However, in NSH match against Team Dignitas he wasn’t able to defeat Bischu.

Prediction

New Star HoSeo 1 > 5 Karont3 e-Sports Club

At this point Karont3 is just too much for NSH. If Team Dignitas was able to defeat NSH 5 – 1 then Karont3 will crush them even harder. I expect to see one game won by jjakji  and that’s it. In that case, Karont3, Team Dignitas and Team Empire will have 1-2 score so their small points will count when deciding who’s going Karont3 in the Up and Down Matches. However, if NSH win then both them and Karont3 are the undisputed winners of Contender Division Group B.

Tune in on October 19th to our stream to watch Karont3 e-Sports Club against New Star HoSeo live!

Source : ign[dot]com

Can the Zerg-only Acer lineup upset FXOpen?

Both Team Acer and FXOpen e-Sports took wins in their first Contender Division matches, and now these two powerful teams will come to head in their second match.  Acer's lineup consists of only Zerg players, but two of them make a good case for being the best foreign Zerg at this point in time.  On the other hand, FXO is the reigning GSTL champion, reaching the title on the back of their ace GuMiHo and a couple of solid Zerg players.  Let's take a look at some of the keys to the match.

Lineups

Acer:

• Nerchio (Z)
• Scarlett (Z)
• Bly (Z)
• ParanOid (Z)
• DarkHydra (Z)

FXO:

• GuMiho (T)
• Leenock (Z)
• Lucky (Z)
• asd (T)
• Choya (P)
• JKS (Z)
• mOoNaN (T)
• Sirius (Z)
• TheBest (T)
• Tree (T)
• Weekend (P)

Potential Starters

Acer: ParanOid (Z), DarkHydra (Z)

Though he was one of the strongest European Brood War players, ParanOid has not been able to achieve that kind of success since switching over to Starcraft 2.  He and DarkHydra are certainly the weakest Zergs in the Acer lineup.  One or both of them will likely be used in a leadoff spot to try and steal a win before turning the reins over to the more skilled players on the team--Bly, Nerchio, and Scarlett--who will almost always be relied on to take all five of the map wins.  This could be a tough task against a Korean team like FXO.

FXO: Choya (P)

Choya has been one of the more successful player/managers to this point in Starcraft 2.  The FXO staff relies on Choya to essentially run the Korean division of the team, as far as regulating practice time, preparing lineups, and just handling general coaching duties.  Yet somehow, he has managed to  remain at a competitive level of play, showing this most recently by scoring four kills against Complexity in FXO's last IPTL match.  Using him early in a match makes a good deal of sense: if he enters early and then steps aside, he can dedicate himself entirely to his coaching duties instead of having to maybe play later on in the clan war.

Key Players

Acer: Nerchio (Z), Bly (Z)

It is very difficult to not call Nerchio the ace of any team, as he is just that good, but right now Scarlett seems just a little bit stronger.  Nerchio is more than capable of out-playing any opponent, Korean or not, as he proved during his championship run at Homestory Cup V, but other than that never seems to put up results that match the skill level he brings to the table.  Bly is more of an up-and-coming player whose results have been better and better since joining Acer in early 2012, with his most recent accomplishment being a first place finish at the WCS Ukrainian Nationals over a strong field of players like White-Ra, Strelok, and fraer.  Between the two of them, Nerchio and Bly cleaned up the aTn.Type roster, but the FXO lineup is much, much stronger, and they will need to bring their best play to have a chance at defeating such a potent Korean team.

FXO: Leenock (Z)

Though Leenock fell a bit off the pace he set towards the end of 2011, where he won an MLG championship and came second in Code S, he remains a staple of Code S, qualifying for every 2012 season.  Many people thought he would be the best Zerg in the world in no time after that early success, and while we have not quite seen the level of play that leads to GSL championships, Leenock is certainly good enough to give both Nerchio and Scarlett a run for their money.  However, both of these Acer Zergs are strong in the ZvZ matchup; Scarlett's mind-blowing run through many of North America's best Zerg players springs immediately to mind.  FXO's strongest Zerg has a tough task ahead of him, but he does have the liberty of training heavily in just that one matchup up until the match.

The Aces

Acer: Scarlett (Z)

Scarlett doesn't play in that many tournaments, but when she does make an appearance like she did at WCS North America, she takes down anyone who stands in her way.  She has quickly ascended from being an up-and-coming female player, and straight past best female player, to one of the strongest Zerg players in the foreign scene.  Between the WCS Canadian Nationals and North American Continental Finals, Scarlett dropped a total of two maps, an absolutely insane achievement.  However, she will likely need to defeat GuMiho to achieve an Acer victory, and her ZvT was rarely tested in the North American tournaments.  It will be very interesting to see how Scarlett matches up against the world-class players of FXO, as she grabbed three kills in her only other IPL team league appearance against TSL during TAC3.

FXO: GuMiho (T)

GuMiho cemented both his role as ace and a GSTL championship with his all-kill of SlayerS in the grand final, taking down phenomenal players like the team league hero Puzzle, and the great TvT player Ryung.  He proved himself yet again by coming in as the last man against Complexity, and grabbing the final kill against Killer to avoid an upset defeat.  But, much like Scarlett, GuMiho has not played a tremendous amount of TvZ recently, though he was able to beat both CoCa and Miya in the course of his GSTL all-kill.  After not making it out of his GSL round of thirty-two group, GuMiho could very well be looking to rebound here and show why he should be considered the best player on FXO at this moment.

Prediction

Acer: 5 > FXO: 4

This match should belong to FXO, but the result will come down to the performance of Scarlett when she is called upon.  She has not been tested as an ace player very often since joining Acer, but she will have to play at her very best level to clean up after the rest of her Zerg brethren fall.  Also, this result could be very different if one of the lower tier FXO players can defeat any of the big three Zergs for Acer, opening the door for the Korean team's superior depth to come into play.  However, I think Nerchio will play at a very high level and take up to three maps, making life very difficult for FXO, and possibly granting Acer an upset victory.

The match will take place on Thursday, September 27th.  Check in to see if the curious Zerg-only lineup for Acer can stand up against the well balanced FXO attack!

Source : ign[dot]com