[nirvAnA]

With MLG just 2 days away, lets start having fun with predictions!! For some reason i love MLG / DH so much more than the normal GSL cause it just happens over 3 days so its easy to follow, all replays are released and its so fun to see the foreigners battle Koreans.

If this thread gets over 30 replies then its probably justifiable to give an achievement to the best predictor. So cmon join the fun and lets see who has the best judge of starcraft skill haha! i recall from last season's seabet the casters as a whole were by far the most accurate group. posts edited after 31st July will not count to prevent edit cheating!

Pool A

NaNiwa
HayprO
TLO
HuK
DongRaeGu

Pool B

IdrA
iNcontroL
SjoW
Sheth
BoxeR

Pool C

SLush
Ret
Socke
drewbie
MMA

sorry ret no dutch flag on this site yet lol!

Pool D

KiWiKaKi
SeleCT
moONan
Machine
MVP

Other Notable Players from Open Bracket (275 players signed up so far holy shit!)
tgun!! SEA!
Lee "Choya" Hyung Seop
Yang "Alicia" Joon Sik
Kim "GanZi" Dong Ju
Spanishiwa
ToD
dignitas.Merz
SonkiE
WhiteRa
Jinro
Ajtls (LastShadow)
FnaticRain
FXOz (Twilight)
Liquid`Tyler
FXO.qxc
Fenix
SixJax's Vibe, Major, Skew, and dde
EG's DeMusliM , Axslav, LZGaMeR & StrifeCro
HDStarcraft go caster! lol!
Destiny
coL's cruncher, FireZerg, Ryze, Catz, and Stalife
Agh
KawaiiRice
ThisIsJimmy
Pokebunny
FnaticTT1
4kWarden

I believe its Top 2 from each group and top 4 from open bracket who get seeded into the championship bracket so lets pick that!

[nirvAnA]

My predictions!

Group A: Huk #1, DRG #2
2nd Spot will be the winner of DRG/naniwa imo

Group B: Idra #1, Boxer #2
Incontrol will obviously be last (no offense intended!) but this is probably the most even group as sheth and sjow have very strong chances of qualifying too.

Group C: MMA #1, Socke #2
drewbie will be last, hard to place 2/3/4. MMA the reigning MLG champ will make it out of his group and socke has been in super hot form recently, with big wins all over the place so gonna give him the edge here.

Group D: MVP#1, Select #2
Weakest group imo. everyone of these players seem to be off form lately. kiwikaki just destroyed wsop, i think he cashed some decent 6 figure amount. machine will be last not sure of the rest.

Open bracket Top 4
This is the hardest one, sick amount of talent here.

I'll be going with Alicia, Ganzi, Major(lol dislike him personally but skillwise i think hes top 4 here) and QXC.

[jason]

Originally Posted by nirvAnA

My predictions!
Open bracket Top 4
This is the hardest one, sick amount of talent here.

I'll be going with Alicia, Ganzi, Major(lol dislike him personally but skillwise i think hes top 4 here) and QXC.

U think Major is better than Jinro and WhiteRa?

[|Erasmus|]

Group A: Huk #1, DRG #2

Group B: Idra #1, Sjow #2
I think Sjow and Sheth have great chances of qualifying. I feel like Sheth is better in ZvP than ZvT though, so I won't be surprised if Sjow beats him, and I'm sure Sjow can take incontrol and Boxer. The wildcard may well be Sheth beating Idra to throw things off.

Group C: Ret #1, MMA #2
I hope Ret has been practicing. If he has, he will beast through his group... He seems to fall short more often than not (see, NASL where he beasted his group) but I think he can do this. MMA will probably lose to Socke, which I think might put him behind Ret.

Group D: MVP#1, Select #2
I like moonan, and think his Korean practice will have made him a better player, but I'm yet to see an impressive TvT from him, which bodes very badly for his chances in this group.

Open bracket Top 4
Have we seen the draw yet, so we can pick people getting to the top 4 without facing each other?

But in terms of quality, I think Alicia, QXC, Jinro and Choya. If Choya has been practicing (and his GSTL games suggest he has) I think his agressive (TL calls it cheesy) style is good for the open bracket. He doesn't normally 'all-in' but he does strong timings and doesn't let up for too long. At the very least he'll go very far in the open bracket (Rain has a similar style, but I haven't seen anything since he dropped the korean scene, I doubt he's as well practiced as Choya). Jinro is also an interesting choice, but I stand by it. He's an amazing player, and last time he came ouf of Korea with no expectations to do well, he swept the entire tournament. Hoping he's been motivated by his drop to Code A to put in the work and get back to his best.

Quick Comments

nirvAnA:

loved reading this

[jason]

Pool A - HuK and Naniwa
Pool B -Idra and boxer
Pool C - Ret and MMA
Pool D - IMMvp and Select

Open Bracket :
WhiteRa, Jinro, qxc and Alicia

[TargA]

group a:
naniwa drg
group b:
sheth idra
group c:
mma socke
group d:
mvp select

Open bracket:
major tgun tod whitera

top 3 mlg:
DRG
tgun
MMA

Quick Comments

nirvAnA:

haha go tgun!!

[Nobunaga]

IIRC from previous MLGs, the top open players get slotted into pool play and then continue playing? This means the wildcards in the open bracket could come into their group and stomp them (like July did).

Pool A
NaNiwa
HayprO
TLO
#2 HuK
#1 DongRaeGu

I'm calling DongRaeGu 1st. He's really on a roll here and I don't think anyone's XvZ is that great. TLO and Haypro are the least likely to get out of this pool, and second is a tossup between NaNiwa and HuK. I'm giving 2nd to HuK just because he practices with MC and is show to be pretty solid lately.

Pool B

#1 IdrA
iNcontroL
SjoW
Sheth
#2 BoxeR

Tossup between IdrA and Boxer, because Boxer is Boxer. I'm giving it to IdrA though because he's more consistent, and doesn't have an arm problem. The other players don't seem to have the consistency that the top 2 have.

Pool C

SLush
#2 Ret
Socke
drewbie
#1 MMA

MMA is going to lmaocrush this group as long as he's not in a slump that's slumpier than slump mcslump. Slush and Ret are my next picks, though I'm giving it to Ret because he's European and has a good training base without the Root/Reign drama.

Pool D

KiWiKaKi
SeleCT
moONan
#2 Machine
#1 MVP

Haha, MVP is going to eat this group alive. I really don't know about this group, because Select and Kiwikaka had some pretty poor showings last MLG, and then heard nothing about them except for Kiwikiki playing poker. I'm giving it to Machine for now, because he has IdrA as a training partner, but I won't be surprised if someone from the opens comes up and stomps the group for 2nd place.

The top 4 from Opens for me will be:
Alicia
Ganzi
Rain
qxc

I don't know about how well Rain will do, but I'm going the Korean factor with him and saying he should do ok. I'm giving qxc a chance because he has good endurance (all kill and parkour), and he should've benefited heaps from his Korean trip. Alicia and Ganzi are pretty solid players, and whichever pool they get slotted in, I'm calling that they would most likely come second, the people who are first are pretty strong and wouldn't have had to play a billion games to get there.

I would like to give Choya a chance, but I really haven't seen how good he has played except via the stream. MLG rewards strong, solid and consistent play, especially if starting in the open bracket and I just haven't seen that from him.

Quick Comments

nirvAnA:

[maximusPrime]

Pool A

NaNiwa
HayprO
TLO
#2HuK
#1DongRaeGu

Pool B

#1IdrA
iNcontroL
SjoW
Sheth
#2BoxeR

Pool C

SLush
Ret
#2Socke
drewbie
#1MMA

sorry ret no dutch flag on this site yet lol!

Pool D

KiWiKaKi
SeleCT
moONan
#2Machine
#1MVP

I really want DongRaeGu to take out the entire tournament though
Edit: also really want to see a final decider between MMA and DRG

[xpaperclip]

Originally Posted by nirvAnA

I believe its Top 2 from each group and top 4 from open bracket who get seeded into the championship bracket so lets pick that!

(Doesn't affect predictions, but) I don't think this is quite true. I believe it works as follows:
(1) Top 4 of the Open Winners each get seeded into a group and go from there.
(2) Top 8 of the Open Losers get seeded lowest into the Championship Losers bracket.
(3) You have to win your group to get a seed into the Championship Winners bracket.
(4) Everyone else in the group gets seeded into the Championship Losers bracket.

No one is eliminated from groups. Essentially, the more games you lose in groups, the more games you have to win in the Championship Losers bracket to get to the Grand Final. Further, if you don't win your group, you are then one match away from elimination.

+ [My Predictions] +

Group A: HuK, DRG
Group B: BoxeR, IdrA
Group C: MMA, Ret
Group D: MVP, no idea

Reasoning: Picked essentially through fanboy-ism and I expect it to be totally wrong.

Open: Depends entirely on the brackets. Until we see who is in which quarter I don't think any predictions are going to have more reasoning. Hopefully they at least seed the Koreans to different quarters so we don't have all of them having to knock each other out.

[bloken]

A = DRG + Huk (it's only group stage but any of the other guys here are capable of beating huk and drg)

B = Idra + Boxer (Idra nearly always plays ok in group stage, don't be suprised if sheth pulls and upset though)

C = MMA + Socke (obvious [slayers team are very passionate about making their team the best and recently have been putting the work in to get them back to the top of the korean teams. In saying this foreign tourneys have had a LOT of impact on the global scene so i would expect slayers mma and boxer to be in tip top shape])

D = MVP + Kiwi (MVP obvious here and i'm going with kiwi to show protoss

O = Destiny + QXC + alicia + merz (destiny because i think he is peaking at the right time and is a solid NAzerg and qxc because of his GSTL all kill)

MLG - 1 MVP
2 DRG
3 MMA

So many good terrans here. I feel the top 8 will be filled with them

[Maynarde]

Group A: HuK, DRG
Group B: Sheth, IdrA
Group C: MMA, Ret
Group D: MVP, KiWiKaKi

Open: Alicia, qxc, Ganzi, WhiteRa

WINNER: THE DONG!!

[UncleTom]

Pool A

NaNiwa
HayprO
TLO
HuK
DongRaeGu
1st: Huk, after his Dreamhack, homestory cup and gsl victories I feel Huk is a easy bet to take this group.
2nd: DongRaeGu: I place more weight on tournament performances rather then just team league exploits so even though he does consistently well in GSTL he has only proven himself in the LG special 3D league, So comparing him against the only other challenger in this group Huk I would put him a step below.
ETC: Haypro and Naniwa to upset can take games off anyone if the right situations fighting for 3rd place with the open bracket winner who I feel will have a strong chance at 3/4th but of course TLO to disappoint in this group going 0-5 like normal.
Pool B

IdrA
iNcontroL
SjoW
Sheth
BoxeR
1st: Idra, no one in this group comes close to challenging Idra clear cut ezzzzzz.
2nd: Sheth/Open bracket Player: More up in the air but coming from Korea, after losing to Idra in ZvZ which he has no chance in winning he only has to defeat two unknowns Incontrol and Sjow who doesn't have much recent results, but to be honest I feel the open bracket player will take 2nd seeing the strong open bracket list.
ETC: Boxer to be very disappointing his last American venture went badly his macro was bad losing games he had huge leads because of macro alone, will finish last in this group but still hoping for him to win the group. 1st is locked in but everything else rest on the open bracket player.
Pool C

SLush
Ret
Socke
drewbie
MMA
1st:MMA: lololololoololololol
2d: Open Bracket player/ Ret/ Socke: I feel this will be a good rock, paper, Korean contest with the open bracket player deciding this group depending on who is is with Ret and Socke having a good chance for 2nd.
ETC: Slush and drewbie are trash don't kid yourself deathfang.
Pool D

KiWiKaKi
SeleCT
moONan
Machine
MVP
1st: MVP...You put the lotion in the basket or else you get the hose again.
2nd:Everyone but Machine: Select I feel is strongest for 2nd place, Kiwikaki been away doing poker or drinking the maple tree of life and Moonan being in Korea but losing all his GSTL match's and not really doing anything after his 8th place in Dallas, so yeah like a lot of these groups come down to open bracket player.
ETC: Machine being underrated by me in this group looks to upset, moonan not sure what are you doing you krazy Korean.
Open Bracket
Slayers_Alicia: Top tier Korean Protoss no brainier.
Slayers_Ganzi: Slayers terran beat IMMVP in the super tournament very good GSTL record I woundnt say he is instant top 4 but he is top 4 if MLG does the brackets correctly.
Liquid_Tyler: Heart before head or head before heart he isn't Korean but he is just my favorite protoss ever ever.
FXO_QXC/ A random Korean that comes to MLG: GSTL wins are not as impressive to me compare to tournament wins so a Korean could take this spot from him but yeah Koreans are Korean so not sure about the last spot but I will say QXC.

Quick Comments

nirvAnA:

haha entertaining!

[FaDeBadger]

Pool A:

1st - DRG
2nd - Winner of Huk/Naniwa

Pool B:

1st - Boxer
2nd - Idra

Pool C:

1st - MMA no contest
2nd - Socke played really well in TB's invitational

Pool D:

1st - MVP
2nd - Going to have to say Select, even though I want it to be Kiwikaki

Open Bracket:

Alicia, Ganzi, QXC, and Rain (the cheese is strong in this one)

[cRSenSei]

Pool A
NaNiwa
DongRaeGu

Pool B
IdrA
BoxeR

Pool C
Ret
MMA

Pool D
KiWiKaKi
MVP

Open Bracket
Alicia, GanZi, Twilight, Rain

[ToRDeathsFang]

Group A
#1 HuK -HuK has been in great form. Doing well in GSL, taking down DH and a few other tournaments etc. He's doing really well and i don't think there will be too much competition in his group.
#2 DongRaeGu -Obviously DRG has also been playing really well. A lot of success in the GSTL but the only thing keeping him from being my no.1 guess is whether or not he can play under pressure on the big screens.
#3 Naniwa
#4 Haypro
#5 TLO

I was kind of sad to see 3 TL players in 1 group

Group B
#1 IdrA -IdrA is quite obviously a great player. He has a fairly easy group, not saying the others are bad, but i don't think SjoW or IncontroL would be able to beat him. BoxeR could, even Sheth could, his ZvZ is pretty boss if i remember correctly. It's a toss-up. I'll just go with IdrA.
#2 BoxeR-BoxeR being the legend he is and just overall a boss. Jokes aside i think he won't have much of a problem against SjoW or IncontroL, Sheth would be a problem but for me i'm thinking either Sheth or Boxer. Though i personally want Sheth to advance, i think i'll put my imaginary money on Boxer
#3-Sheth
#4-SjoW
#5-IncontroL

Group C
#1 MMA -Not much competition here. I think this is the weakest group. The 4 foreigner's are good, just not very good. MMA should take it easily, will be disappointed if he doesn't
#2 SLush -SLush is a very strong Zerg who imo will go 3-1 in the group, lose to MMA and beat the rest. There's not too much to say except i think he's better than the rest of the foreigner's, maybe Socke will beat him, idk, just gonna put my money on him o.O
#3-Socke
#4-Ret
#5-Drewbie

Group D
#1 Kiwikaki -Kiwikaki definitely has the potential to take this group away. He is so fricken good and underestimated. Whether or not he can beat MVP cannot be answered but i really want to see Kiwikaki win. He has the potential.
#2 MVP -MVP hasn't been in good form at all. I'm not going to check as i'm too lazy and don't quote on this but i think he got knocked out of Code S group stages at 0-2. Not too much else to say on this one.
#3-SelecT
#4-Moonan
#5-Machine

Open Bracket
tgun (remember to play with a knife in your mouth k?)
White-ra
Alicia
Ganzi

[Next_rim]

Group A

Huk's PvZ is fairly strong, so he has solid 2:0. I feel like Naniwa's PvP is better than Huk's, and Naniwa has a whole lot of PvT experience, so 2:0 for Naniwa here. DRG is unknown to me, as I don't follow gom.tv that much. Question is - can Naniwa put up good PvZ? Maybe not as good as Huk's, but he can always copy HuK's builds, right? My call:

#1 Naniwa
#2 Huk

Group B
BoxeR>Idra, imho. Idk why every1 is betting on Idra, but after watching Boxer roflroll Sen, and Dimaga saying Boxer is only terran he is truly scared to face, I'd give #1 to king.

#1 Boxer
#2 Idra, since every1 else is of even lower caliber.

Group C
Idk about this one, I've only seen sufficient number of games by Socke, but MMA is that type of Ironman Koreans, I heard.

#1 MMA
#2 Socke

Group D

I don't see American players capable of winning solid Koreans yet. Maybe that's because they are busy bming so much on NA servers .

#1 MPV
#2 Kiwikaki

Open bracket

WhiteRa, because when he is fresh, he plays phenomenal. He seems to get tired too quickly, and loses stupid games as the tournament goes on.
Destiny, as he can beat WhiteRa and basically every protoss out there.
Jinro, the only terran in the list capable of steamrolling Destiny and other strong zerg in there.
Tyler/Catz - both are fairly even in my eyes. I'd also keep an eye on Cruncher, as he is the joker with jokers stuck in sleeves, and QXC, as he has shown some solid gaming lately.

overall winner

Very hard to tell. But I think there will be 2 protoss, a zerg and a terran in semis, and finals will be a PvT. The rooster has very strong protoss and terran players, but kings of zerg race are missing the fun. I'll go with MVP vs Huk. And I won't be surprised to see Naniwa vs QXC or something.

[Satu]

Group A: Huk #1, DRG #2
Gotta agree with nirvana on this one.

Group B: Boxer #1, Idra #2
Just based off their NASL games.

Group C: MMA #1, Slush #2
Just feel like they are the two best.

Group D: MVP#1, Select #2
Don't see how this group could be any other way.

Open bracket Top 4:
Major, Ganzi, Alicia, QXC

They are the best players. Basically all my picks are just off who I see is the best in each group, whether I like them or not.

[porkchop]

1st of i dint see SEN or MC,dint they join?
pool A- i think, NaNiwa, TLO and huk are the favorites
pool B - idra and boxer
pool C - socke and RET
pool D - kiwikaki and select machine is their dark horse
the open bracket would be the most interesting since it will feature the likes of whiterah,qxc and jinro
but eventually i think the top 8 will be
TLO,boxer, whiterah, boxer, idra , huk,jinro,qxc i think.hehhehe
then its a toss up, hopefully all races will be represented,
im excited to see them matchup,


holy shit indeed,!!!!!!

[Primex]

Group A: HuK #1, DRG#2
Like Nirvana mentioned a toss up of Nani and DRG for #2.

Group B: IdrA #1, Boxer #2
This group looks really strong.

Group C: Socke#1, MMA#2
I am loving the way Socke is playing lately, especially because I'm Toss . Also MMA can have some fail moments.

Group D: SeleCT#1, MVP#2.
This was a hard decision.


Open bracket Top 4: WhiteRa, Qxc, Destiny (I would like to see this, his style seems to fare well against protoss.), Major.

This MLG is looking mighty fine.

[iM MaFia]

my predictions are:

Pool A

1. LiquidHuK

2. DongRaeGuMVP

Pool B

1. EGIdrA

2. dSjoW

Pool C

1. SlayerS_MMA

2. LiquidRet

Pool D

1. IMMvp

2. dSeleCT

Top 4 from opens:

hard to predict because there can easily be upsets from the matchups early ppl knocking each other out etc..

SlayerS_Alicia

SlayerS_Ganzi

FnaticRain

LiquidJinro