SC2SEA.com - Starcraft 2 SEA eSports Community Site

Descent · Fri, 22nd-Nov-2013, 7:59 PM

It’s been a year in the making and the players are all sitting comfortably at their computers, getting their last day of practice before the big event. Tomorrow, the event will begin, as 32 players play online for their chance at the $2000 prize pool and the ability to call themselves the inaugural SEA Championship Series champion. With players that are coming out of retirement for the tournament and players from around the world having the chance to compete, the competition with be hard fought. We’re going to have a look at our group of the first day and then have a look at the other groups in slightly less detail.

Each group will feed three players into the double elimination brackets, with the second and third players from each group going into the round of twenty and the player that wins the group will go into the round of 16 and will have a guaranteed piece of the prize pool. It’s needless to say that winning your group will be a big advantage going into the second day.

GROUP OF THE DAY

Group A:
In our group we have the Polish superstar, the WCS America Premier League Australian Representative, one of Singapore’s best. It’s fair to say it’s a stacked group and that’s with only 3 of the players in the group. The rest, while not as well known as these players, are also top level players and will be able to take this group should they play well enough, albeit, they are the underdogs to many.

Moonglade, representing Team Nv, goes into this tournament still toted as one of the best Australian Zerg players after representing the country in the WCS America Premier League. He made it to the Top 8 of Season 1 before dropping to Challenger in Season 2. Since then he has continued is training behind relative closed doors, playing in fewer tournaments than he did in the past few years. The Zerg is one of the favourites to be one of the three players to come out of the group, but he has some stiff competition, especially from former Premier League players.

And then you have dTefel, the Polish Zerg player that is coming from an incredible Premier League showing in WCS Europe in Seasons 1 and 2. While this might be a SEA tournament, he has proved his mettle, gathering enough SEA Power Ranking Points to make it among South East Asia’s best, through two different tournament appearances, showing that it is can be easy if you play well enough. He’ll be making a big splash, but his group is a tough one, and his progress through the tournament will be one to watch.

The 17 Year Old Zerg player, NXZ, also looks to make a big impact with this tournament. Under the tutelage of fellow Exile 5 players, he has become one of the better players in Australian Starcraft 2, placing fourth in ACL Brisbane after working his way out of the Open Bracket. Despite his young age, he will look to show these old dogs what this Queensland player can do. Not to call the other players old, but it just sounded cooler.

Flash eSports Blysk is the Protoss terror of Group A and the Singaporean player is looking to show why he was able to make it to the Grand Finale. He is one of the other favourites in the group, but Dano, Another and NXZ might have the ability to knock him off if he is not on the very tip-top of his game. He should be one to watch if he plays to the best of his ability in both day one and day two!

The Protoss player Another will be a competitor who has recently returned to the scene. A former SC2SEA player coach, he has come back playing for a new team. Placing third in the last Masters Cup of the season, he has made his return and has returned with a vengeance and will be looking to make his mark on the tournament, but in one of the hardest groups of the SEA Championship Series.

Dano is the lone Terran player in the group, but a man who must not be underestimated. Qualifying for the tournament by winning 5 weekly tournaments that offered SPR points, he will be a man on a mission. As was said for Another, he didn’t have the best luck with the draw, but should other players not be confident versus Terran, Dano could prove to be a force to be reckoned with.

Eddies Predictions:
Moonglade, Tefel, Blysk

Match of the Group:
dTefel vs. FlashBlysk

Group B:
Group B will also be a hotly contested group, with the most international players in a single group. With Frenetic Array’s Fenner and Iaguz, Steelheart, Silicon’s Pezz, Major and JaBiTo, the group will be a tough one. Any of these players have the real ability to get out of the group, and it will be a scrap fight. What makes it just as interesting is that three of the six Terran players in the entire tournament will be represented in this group, making it the most represented race in this group.

It’s hard to see the former Team 8 Terran, Major, not getting out of this group, and the same with Iaguz, but the last spot out of the group is a real toss-up between the other four players. While not as heavily stacked as Group A, this is a group which features one of Australia’s best Terrans and the Mexican Starcraft 2 Prospect. If you can, try to catch at least Major vs. Iaguz, as it might prove to be the best match in the group.

Eddie’s Predictions:
Iaguz, Major, Pezz

Match of the Group:
Iaguz vs. Major

Group C:
The group that should have featured Axiom.Heart and Fighto now features Dane and Heatz alongside 4 Australian players, Ninja, Wally, MegaFonzie, and Arze. An under-rated group, Group C features some of the top Australian talent… and Dane, the only Terran in the group. Heatz (a Protoss) recently replaced Fighto and will be trying to prove that he was worthy of replacing Fighto.With so much on the line, it’s hard to pick who will come out of the group.

All of the players in this group are great. It is hard for me to pick who will come out of it, so we’ll just leave it at Eddie’s predictions.

Eddie’s Predictions:
Ninja, MegaFonzie, ARze

Match of the Group:
Ninja vs. MegaFonzie

Group D:
The second contender for Group of the Day, Group D has some of the best players from around the world competing, including China’s MacSed. The group features Mafia, Myuu, MightyKiwi, tgun, Frustration and MacSed and is arguably the hardest group to predict. With 6 of the best players from the region, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top of the group.

Any of these players could take out the group on their day. The Chinese Protoss’ style might be too much for the Zerg’s to handle, so it is very likely that he will progress from the group, but the rest of the spots are up for grabs, with the final decision coming down to form. Whether Mafia and tgun can bring their best, or whether SEED has done wonderful things for MightyKiwi or Frustration and Myuu can bring their best, it will be a fun group to watch.

Eddie’s Predictions:
MacSed, Myuu, Frustration

Match of the Day:
MacSed vs. Myuu

With all of the great players fighting to make it to day two to face off against:

Exile 5’s Pig
Frenetic Array’s Petraeus
Avant Garde’s King Kong
Arthur
Lobo
VaLue
Team Nv Rossi
Mineski’s EnDerr

Eddie also gave his final predictions for the overall event following the double elimination bracket where three players from each of the group will be placed in:
MacSed, Petraeus, Iaguz

Check out the BaseTradeTV stream for the main stream and the secondary B streams which can be found: http://www.sc2sea.com/showthread.php?t=8097

We’ll be doing our best to update you via our Twitter: @esportaustralia if you are caught up watching the many other eSports events happening this weekend.

eSports Australia would like to extend their thanks to Eddie, the administrator of the tournament for the help with the article, and he would like to thank the sponsors of the tournament: Tt eSports, Xmashed Gear, Silicon Sports, eSports SG and the community members who have dedicated their time and money towards the competition.

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Originally Posted: http://esportsaustralia.com/2013/11/...age-preview-2/

Brandon "Forever" Gardner