[Dox]

In less than 24 hours, our SEA King mOOnGLaDe will commence his journey to Poland, where he'll be playing alongside 23 of the world's best in the IEM Katowice group stages.

As of right now, 8 of these competitors are yet to be determined, as they'll be making their way through the Open Bracket on Friday. This isn't to say they'll be pushovers either, as we saw the likes of MVP, Grubby, MC, PuMa, NesTea, Bomber, ReaL & ForGG advancing from Cologne's Open Bracket. With Grubby narrowly missing out on a championship title in Singapore, you can be sure he'll be keen as ever to shoot for the gold this time!

GROUP A	GROUP B	GROUP C	GROUP D
mOOnGLaDe	Siphonn	jookTo	Golden
Grubby	Bly	Socke	VortiX
Snute	Lucifron	Nerchio	Kas
Dream	PartinG	YoDa	First
TLO	MaNa	Verdi	Daisy
Tarson	Tefel	DieStar	ParanOid

As far as mOOnGLaDe vs Grubby goes, the rivalry goes back as 2007, where our Aussie Night Elf was the only player to take a match from the Orc King amongst the likes of DeMusliM & Xiaot at WCG. They also faced off in Cologne last August, with Grubby taking a nailbiting 2-1 victory, preventing GLaDe from playing Elfi in a tiebreaker.

For a refreshing change (lol), ZvP won't be the only match Mr. Pender will need to focus on in Poland. Team Liquid's latest pick-up Snute will be looking to prove his worth now that he's flying the blue horse banner. After his terrifying 4-0 victory against Symbol at Homestory Cup, not only did he put himself on Liquid's radar, but simultaneously established himself as a force to be reckoned with for our Aussie hero.

And lastly we have Dream, an extremely young-but-talented Terran from the land of soju and gosu. Originally Maru was supposed to attend, however he was required to forfeit his spot due to age restrictions. Although Dream hasn't had any significant GSL breakthroughs, he's been a frequent participant which speaks volumes for his skill. His lack of large-scale tournament experience & international competition may have an impact on the youngster, but as we all know too well, you can never count a Korean Terran out! Will mOOnGLaDe needs to be careful not to underestimate this youngster by focusing all his preparation on ZvP & ZvZ!

For further coverage, check out this GAMECOM Australia article.

I also had a chat with Grubby & mOOnGLaDe prior to the event, here's what they had to say:

Grubby Q&A
Dox: Since your stellar grand finals performance against Sting in Singapore, is there any specific preparation you're intending to employ for Poland? ie. Mental preparation? Any particular matchups or builds you've refined?
Grubby: I haven't prepared specifically for IEM. I'm practicing here to get better overall.

Dox: Did you feel particularly empowered playing in front of the Singapore crowd? I wasn't able to attend in person, but even watching the stream - I could hear and feel their energy!
Grubby: I did. The Singapore crowd was amazing, and I felt energized to be playing in front of a crowd that is "so close to my heart". It really helped bring out the best in me. I feel like my 2nd place achievement is thanks to that.

Dox: How are you feeling about all of your match-ups in general as you go into this tournament? What do you feel is your strongest/weakest, if any? Also, do you have any rough predictions for each of the groups, as they currently stand?
Grubby: My PvT improved drastically, it was lagging behind the other match-ups in a serious way. I don't think I have one particular weakest match-up anymore. I don't have any predictions for Katowice.

Dox: And lastly, what is your favourite change about Heart of the Swarm (as of current patch)? I know that there are a lot of eyes on you as plenty of fans expect the future of Protoss to be shaped around the innovative play of people like yourself!
Grubby: Void Rays being useful and actually benefiting from attack upgrades. But it's just one of the many changes which I think are great in HotS. Other much needed changes include +1 range to Phoenix, no upgrades on Infested Terrans and I also like the no-upgrade requirement for Siege Tanks; it changes almost nothing about dedicated mech play, but the barrier to make 1 to 3 tanks for defense is (im)measurably lower. I didn't understand why Blizzard didn't outline that in their situation report, I believe it is the most relevant application. I believe it will help bio Terrans to defend better on certain maps against Gateway allins or Roach/Bane busts.

mOOnGLaDe Q&A
Dox: You and Grubby face off again. Did you catch his matches at IEM Singapore? Any comments?
mOOnGLaDe: Unfortunately I missed Grubby's games, but i have an idea of how he plays and I'm fairly prepared for Protoss. I will just come into it with an open mind and deal with whatever comes my way.

Dox: Snute (having been added to the Liquid roster a few days ago) has shown some impressive ZvZ results lately. After MLG Dallas, you mentioned that your ZvZ needed a lot of work. How are you feeling about it now?
mOOnGLaDe: Currently it feels pretty good, I have a new style which I'm having success with, so it will be interesting to see how it goes against a player like Snute.

Dox: You spent some time at the MVP house when you were in Korea back in 2011. Did you meet Dream while you were there? Many would agree that he's the underdog of Group A. Are you feeling confident against the 16 year old Korean Terran?
mOOnGLaDe: Unfortunately I don't think I had a chance to meet Dream while I was staying in the MVP house. I've been fairly consistent against Terrans in practice so I'll be feeling pretty confident. Korean Terrans are something else though!

Dox: Overall predictions for the rest of the groups? With the top 3 advancing from each group, and the top player being seeded directly to the quarter finals, it's looking very likely that we're going to see the Spanish brothers face off again! Stephano vs Nerchio for the top spot in Group C is a hot topic too. You can't count out the home turf advantage for Nerchio!
mOOnGLaDe: For B I think Lucifron and PartinG, C Stephano and YoDa (nerchio seems to have really bad motivation from what i saw, preferring to play LoL instead of SC2 :P) and for D i think VortiX and First. This is all providing no monsters come from the open bracket.

Dox: Any shout outs or comments?
mOOnGLaDe: Just shout out to my sponsors for getting me there and anyone cheering for me! The biggest fight itself will be the huge journey to get there, so wish me the luck most of all for that lol!

As the stream goes live, I'll be sure to post results and updates here & on Twitter/Facebook.

Results

+ Show +

First ($6,500)
Dream ($3,300)
PartinG ($1,700)

Quick Comments

	Maynarde:	So pro, SO HYPE
	CleighMoores:	Those groups so HNNNGG. Gonna be a sick tourney!!

[MezjE]

Awesome post and great way to hype up the tournament, I am definitely looking forward to watching GlaDe play and hopefully dominating!

Good luck to mOOnGLaDe and I hope he has a great time~

[x5_dot]

Good luck at IEM, Glade! Hope you have enough gadgets to fill your time during your massively long journey there. Hope you also get to cast again

[breadfan]

woop gogo Glade! Hope 2013 is your year, starting with this!

[inFeZa]

MOONGLADE FREEZING!

err... FIGHTING!

[CleighMoores]

Oh man that Group A. Can't wait to see Grubby and 'Glade duke it out. GLGL all! ^^

[aLtShortizz]

Whats the odds on a Grubby vs Moonglade final? :O

[Flamga]

Damn Singapore was amazing, wish I could see it over in Poland as well!!! Glade fighting!!! Gogo man

[ToRSpookToR]

lucifron is going to win

[Asrathiel]

Originally Posted by Dox

from the land of soju and gosu.

Land of Soju is best land!

glhf to Glade!

[ETL.noTTuh]

Grubby vs glade always a good show BOL Glade

[nirvAnA]

yay moonglade!!!!!!!

[Dox]

Added mOOnGLaDe Q&A to the OP!

[LiviBee]

I will be watching!!! how exciting
/holds up *go glade* sign

Quick Comments

Dox:

i got my cheerleader outfit & pom poms ready.... I MEAN ERR WAT

[Dox]

Stephano has pulled out of IEM Katowice due to failing to qualify for Iron Squid II (presumed).
Socke will take his place.

Quick Comments

CleighMoores:

Damn, always a good time with Stephano. Not a bad trade though I guess!

[breadfan]

Originally Posted by Dox

Stephano has pulled out of IEM Katowice due to failing to qualify for Iron Squid II (presumed).
Socke will take his place.

I like this move from Stephano. The best place for him is in Korea right now, playing in ProLeague and practicing in the team house. Hopefully the results show in his GSL run

Don't think it changes much for Glade though... with the state of Stephano's ZvZ, I think Socke is probably just as tough an opponent, although maybe Glade has that bit of extra confidence vs Protoss at the moment if he still considers it his best mu?

[Dox]

Historically, GLaDe has had the most international success against Protoss, so I think that's a safe assumption!

[Dox]

Open Bracket complete! Groups updated. Interestingly the majority of the successful Open Bracket qualifiers were Polish, with only 3 of them being Zerg! We now have:
x10
x8
x6


Be sure to catch the stream tonight when the group matches go live. They're 9 hours behind AEST.

[breadfan]

Wow glade's group is pretty much all of those foreigners you love to see do well. It's gonna be a shame to see him kill them all.

Quick Comments

	asdfSchnitzel:	yeah, I hope TLO gets out of the group though
	TtSYF.tRoy:	Should be great to watch, its top 2 makes through yeah?
	Dox:	Top 3, as per OP :D

[syfMiley]

I like Andrew Pender, he is a good guy!

Quick Comments

inFeZa:

iGladeiGladeiGladeiGladeiGlade