The DreamHack Sapphire AMD Championship: Valencia Invitational is getting closer by the minute and we can now present another two strong players that are invited to the beautiful Veles e Vents building located in the Valencia Street Formula1 Circuit and the 33rd America’s Cup harbour.
We have already presented the DreamHack Summer 2011 champion HuK from Team EG and the Swedish super player Naniwa from Team Dignitas, today we are very excited to invite our first Terran Xuwen Wang more know as Infi from Team TyLoo. Infi is no stranger to competitions at the highest level and his greatest achievement to date is a gold medal in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne at the grand finals of World Cyber Games 2009.
As player no 4 at DreamHack Sapphire AMD Championship: Valencia Invitational we are proud to once again invite Idra to a DreamHack event. Idra is one of the most popular players in the world and we are sure that he will be one of the top contenders to take the title in Spain the 17th September.
The remaining four players will be revealed shortly…
Buy Tickets Now! Hundreds of European and Spanish eSports fans will have the possibility to attend the show live on-site. The tickets are available now! With the ticket you have access to event from from 14.00 to 23.00, meet your idols in fan meetings and attend the after-party. Tickets will be sold for 140 SEK, or €15, and available at bokning.dreamhack.se. Secure your ticket today, more players and information about the event will be released to you shortly.
Don't think he's very good at SC2, unfortunately - he's still playing WC3 at the moment - but I'm excited to see Chinese players at a LAN outside of China!
Infi was the best "macro human" from wc3. He was the only wc3 player in the very top (won WCG 2009) who was considered having a "bad" micro but an extremely smart play, a very good macro and an excellent decision making.
On August 23 2011 21:24 DaCruise wrote: Lucifron should be an obvious invite as the local spanish hero.
and then Idra 6pools him like Actionjesuz did in his last DH event
Is he even still active? ActionJesuz is said to have ended his career with his 6 pool and indeed, I never heard of him afterwards. Not that I mind that he is still active, I'm just curious.
On August 23 2011 21:27 Cosmos wrote: Infi was the best "macro human" from wc3. He was the only wc3 player in the very top (won WCG 2009) who was considered having a "bad" micro but an extremely smart play, a very good macro and an excellent decision making.
On August 23 2011 21:42 FiReMaN wrote: Wow, will be interesting to see how good infi is in SC2, he could be pretty fucking good. Is this his profile? http://sc2ranks.com/cn/289248/TyLooInfi
On August 23 2011 21:42 FiReMaN wrote: Wow, will be interesting to see how good infi is in SC2, he could be pretty fucking good. Is this his profile? http://sc2ranks.com/cn/289248/TyLooInfi
On August 23 2011 21:24 DaCruise wrote: Lucifron should be an obvious invite as the local spanish hero.
and then Idra 6pools him like Actionjesuz did in his last DH event
Is he even still active? ActionJesuz is said to have ended his career with his 6 pool and indeed, I never heard of him afterwards. Not that I mind that he is still active, I'm just curious.
actionjesus was sarcastic in the interview. unfortunately, combined with the fact that luci was inactive, people thought it was real. luci's inactivity had nothing to do with the 6pool and he never retired. luci is playing SICK GOOD at the moment, probably the best european terran right now, and i'm not afraid to say so.
On August 23 2011 21:27 Cosmos wrote: Infi was the best "macro human" from wc3. He was the only wc3 player in the very top (won WCG 2009) who was considered having a "bad" micro but an extremely smart play, a very good macro and an excellent decision making.
And a lot of offensive tower abuse
And even more defensive towers, his view of WC3 can be described as tower>units and more tower>less tower :p
He was amazing with his style but it was just annoying to watch.
Wow Towerinfi is back, i saw him scv all inning in that chinese blizzcon qualifier but no where else. I hope his playstyle gets more...variable than in wc3.
Hm... it's nice to see a Chinese player invited but not sure about the choice of Infi because he hasn't showed any impressive tournament results in SC2 so far as far as I know unlike other Chinese players. I guess he just has a bigger name thanks to his WC3 career.
On August 23 2011 21:18 babylon wrote: Whooooaaaaaa, Infi?
Don't think he's very good at SC2, unfortunately - he's still playing WC3 at the moment - but I'm excited to see Chinese players at a LAN outside of China!
well thats disappoinitng. we all saw how the koreans who trained wc3 again did in the gstl. hopefully he plays sc2 still.
On August 23 2011 23:27 K_Dilkington wrote: Looks good. Will never understand why Dreamhack would want to host a tournament in Spain though, most random location ever.
Id say the last 4 would be Thorzain MC Marinekingprime (finally) and finally a random european! Maybe lucifron cos hes spanish? Iono! Will be a fun event to watch!
Sweeeeet lineup so far! I really hope HerO gets an invite to this one, want to see him rocking that TL shirt in more tournaments.. ^^ Will be good to se what infi can show us to, havent seen him play sc2.. ^^
Last time I saw infi playing SC2, he was with protoss. I don't know when he switched to Terran. He has not officially transited to SC2 yet, still he had been No.1 on the CN server for some time. Anyway, he was knocked out early on the recent Blizzcon Invitation in China.
Can someone explain why Infi was invited? Liquipedia says he bombed out ro32 at the BNET China Invitational and made ro8 at G-League. Is there some other tournament where he actually did well in sc2 or is this a total waste of an invite based on his merits in a completely different game?
On August 24 2011 01:12 phuzi0n wrote: Can someone explain why Infi was invited? Liquipedia says he bombed out ro32 at the BNET China Invitational and made ro8 at G-League. Is there some other tournament where he actually did well in sc2 or is this a total waste of an invite based on his merits in a completely different game?
To bring in the chinese viewership, much like what TL did with Loner for TSL 3.
Whoa Infi? I never followed the WC3 scene and even I've heard of him. Wish it could have been Xigua instead. I think he's proven himself to be the best player from the young Chinese SC2 scene after he won the Chinese battle.net invitational.
On August 24 2011 01:12 phuzi0n wrote: Can someone explain why Infi was invited? Liquipedia says he bombed out ro32 at the BNET China Invitational and made ro8 at G-League. Is there some other tournament where he actually did well in sc2 or is this a total waste of an invite based on his merits in a completely different game?
Name value. The non-Chinese community know almost nothing about who the best Chinese players are. Dreamhack is still a business and they want to get lots of viewers. More people will tune in because it's Infi, a well known WC3 player.
Hated watching Infi play in wc3 tournaments (for those who wonder why, he was quite fond of towers) but really hyped for this for some reason. Hope the next 4 invites are cool as well, please make one of them ToD!
Game format: 1vs1 BO3 (BO5 Final) Tournament format: Single Elimination Bracket
Not a fan of this and I can't understand the organizers reasoning for wanting this to be a single elim rather than a double with losers bracket. Maybe it's a typo...
On August 24 2011 01:41 GetToDaChopa wrote: From Dreamhack site:
Game format: 1vs1 BO3 (BO5 Final) Tournament format: Single Elimination Bracket
Not a fan of this and I can't understand the organizers reasoning for wanting this to be a single elim rather than a double with losers bracket. Maybe it's a typo...
Last invitational was single-elimination as well, so it probably isn't a typo .
On August 24 2011 01:41 GetToDaChopa wrote: From Dreamhack site:
Game format: 1vs1 BO3 (BO5 Final) Tournament format: Single Elimination Bracket
Not a fan of this and I can't understand the organizers reasoning for wanting this to be a single elim rather than a double with losers bracket. Maybe it's a typo...
It's a one-day event, they can't have double elim due to time constraints.
On August 24 2011 01:41 GetToDaChopa wrote: From Dreamhack site:
Game format: 1vs1 BO3 (BO5 Final) Tournament format: Single Elimination Bracket
Not a fan of this and I can't understand the organizers reasoning for wanting this to be a single elim rather than a double with losers bracket. Maybe it's a typo...
All the Dreamhack tournaments have been single elimination. It's not a typo.
Oh God, guys infi... he was SO GOOD, SO PATIENT, he could defend so WELL he was amazing... I was a kid watching him play and he was so amazing.... i cant emphasis enough
On August 24 2011 01:41 GetToDaChopa wrote: From Dreamhack site:
Game format: 1vs1 BO3 (BO5 Final) Tournament format: Single Elimination Bracket
Not a fan of this and I can't understand the organizers reasoning for wanting this to be a single elim rather than a double with losers bracket. Maybe it's a typo...
Because any other format and you have a terrible final that ruins the whole competition.
that's new- bo 3 single is pretty brutal but i guess it's a must if they rly want it to be 1day only:\ not sure if infi is the best chinese choice based on the posts in this thread but should still be interesting
Often these few player invitationals actually have the best production value. They can schedule everything well, cover all matches, have interviews and backround info, back-stage footage and overall do everything with very hight content. In fact, the best SC2 tournaments so far have been Dreamhack invitational 2010 (?) (the one with White-Ra, MC, Idra, etc) and HSC3.
Infi has been playing for a while now. A few months ago I saw him play against Jinro when he was streaming his games on the Chinese server. He was able to take games from Jinro back then so I imagine he's quite good now. He was also ranked no.1 in the world on sc2ranks for sometime after the chinese server went online. His terran play is very unique, and from what i've seen, he likes early game harassment type builds.
On August 24 2011 03:20 eXigent. wrote: Infi has been playing for a while now. A few months ago I saw him play against Jinro when he was streaming his games on the Chinese server. He was able to take games from Jinro back then so I imagine he's quite good now. He was also ranked no.1 in the world on sc2ranks for sometime after the chinese server went online. His terran play is very unique, and from what i've seen, he likes early game harassment type builds.
From what I've seen as well, very aggressive early game.
they should have chose a stronger Chinese player rather then infi considering he doesn't have results in sc2 when people like xigwa or loveCD, etc do, winning tourneys and even beating people like nestea and mkp. maybe they chose infi because he doesn't have the results....
On August 24 2011 03:12 Kilby wrote: In fact, the best SC2 tournaments so far have been Dreamhack invitational 2010 (?) (the one with White-Ra, MC, Idra, etc) and HSC3.
IMHO, the HSC3 didn't have great production values, but the atmosphere was so chill baller playing-some-games-at-a-friends-house relaxin' that it more than made up for how hodge podge it felt. I suppose it is pretty subjective, but I still don't feel it's right comparing Dreamhack, whom I feel have the BEST production quality bar-almost-none, with someone's apartment. HSC3 was still amazing, not because of the production quality, but because it had the players cast the games. It was hilarious when players like MC with his broken English still managed to talk smack. xD
On August 23 2011 21:02 gogogadgetflow wrote: what are some of infi's achievements?
I don't know that Infi has had a whole lot of accolades in StarCraft 2, but he was one of the best WarCraft 3 players of all time. It's nice to see all those great Chinese WarCraft 3 players switching over to StarCraft 2, I hope they all succeed and do great!
On August 24 2011 01:12 phuzi0n wrote: Can someone explain why Infi was invited? Liquipedia says he bombed out ro32 at the BNET China Invitational and made ro8 at G-League. Is there some other tournament where he actually did well in sc2 or is this a total waste of an invite based on his merits in a completely different game?
Invitationals are about viewership. That's why idra is there despite poor performance. If you want merit watch GSL.
On August 24 2011 01:12 phuzi0n wrote: Can someone explain why Infi was invited? Liquipedia says he bombed out ro32 at the BNET China Invitational and made ro8 at G-League. Is there some other tournament where he actually did well in sc2 or is this a total waste of an invite based on his merits in a completely different game?
Invitationals are about viewership. That's why idra is there despite poor performance. If you want merit watch GSL.
Lol. Bad performance like beating everyone including Sheth in WOLG Iesf US Qual and then getting 2nd in TL Open 21? Or getting knocked out by Nani in MLG anaheim after taking 2nd in a solid group?
Blind hate cracks me up. Guess that means Sheth is doing badly now if IdrA is doing worse...
Hey, you should write clearer press releases. It's not at all apparent in this player announcement or even the one on your site when the event is. I know you announced it in http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=241664 but to be clearer for those of us that didn't see the original thread... It helps to display the date of an event you're promoting.
On August 24 2011 01:12 phuzi0n wrote: Can someone explain why Infi was invited? Liquipedia says he bombed out ro32 at the BNET China Invitational and made ro8 at G-League. Is there some other tournament where he actually did well in sc2 or is this a total waste of an invite based on his merits in a completely different game?
Invitationals are about viewership. That's why idra is there despite poor performance. If you want merit watch GSL.
Lol. Bad performance like beating everyone including Sheth in WOLG Iesf US Qual and then getting 2nd in TL Open 21? Or getting knocked out by Nani in MLG anaheim after taking 2nd in a solid group?
Blind hate cracks me up. Guess that means Sheth is doing badly now if IdrA is doing worse...
You're such a blind fan boy lol. His recent performance is very poor, please admit it. Can't believe you even count TL open in his result and rank in MLG. Sheth definitely doing better, at least 2nd place in US Bnet invitation.
On August 24 2011 01:12 phuzi0n wrote: Can someone explain why Infi was invited? Liquipedia says he bombed out ro32 at the BNET China Invitational and made ro8 at G-League. Is there some other tournament where he actually did well in sc2 or is this a total waste of an invite based on his merits in a completely different game?
Invitationals are about viewership. That's why idra is there despite poor performance. If you want merit watch GSL.
Lol. Bad performance like beating everyone including Sheth in WOLG Iesf US Qual and then getting 2nd in TL Open 21? Or getting knocked out by Nani in MLG anaheim after taking 2nd in a solid group?
Blind hate cracks me up. Guess that means Sheth is doing badly now if IdrA is doing worse...
Lol finalist in a TL open does not a dreamhack invitee make. Idra has been doing ok but obviously the invites aren't solely based on results because there are tons of players more deserving than Idra in that case.
so i guess infi is a high level wc3 player? i'm kinda beyond the point of 'wc3 lololol' but i just hope he's been playing for at least a few months and doesn't get completely steamrolled because if anything's been proven, it's that no matter who you are you can't just jump into starcraft and own in a couple weeks.
On August 24 2011 15:16 Herculix wrote: so i guess infi is a high level wc3 player? i'm kinda beyond the point of 'wc3 lololol' but i just hope he's been playing for at least a few months and doesn't get completely steamrolled because if anything's been proven, it's that no matter who you are you can't just jump into starcraft and own in a couple weeks.
Don't worry about Infi. He's in much better shape than Yellow.
Kidding aside, he's been on top of the Chinese ladder for forever and has plenty of experience with SC2. I still wouldn't expect much from him since he's still a WC3 progamer, but if he gets steamrolled, it won't be from lack of experience in SC2.
On August 24 2011 15:16 Herculix wrote: so i guess infi is a high level wc3 player? i'm kinda beyond the point of 'wc3 lololol' but i just hope he's been playing for at least a few months and doesn't get completely steamrolled because if anything's been proven, it's that no matter who you are you can't just jump into starcraft and own in a couple weeks.
he is for sure =) what im not sure about: how long he has been playing SC2... e.g. at the CN Battle.net Invitational he lost in the first round... and i didnt hear about any great results yet. i guess... we will just see^^
On August 23 2011 21:13 iNfeRnaL wrote: Am I the only one that has never seen Infi play sc2...?! Oh well, guess I'm just not the most active one lately... -.-v
For some reason, I thought they were inviting you!
On August 24 2011 15:16 Herculix wrote: so i guess infi is a high level wc3 player? i'm kinda beyond the point of 'wc3 lololol' but i just hope he's been playing for at least a few months and doesn't get completely steamrolled because if anything's been proven, it's that no matter who you are you can't just jump into starcraft and own in a couple weeks.
Don't worry about Infi. He's in much better shape than Yellow.
Kidding aside, he's been on top of the Chinese ladder for forever and has plenty of experience with SC2. I still wouldn't expect much from him since he's still a WC3 progamer, but if he gets steamrolled, it won't be from lack of experience in SC2.
He's getting to the top of the Chinese ladder by sheer raw talent. His primary focus is without a doubt, still on WC3.
On August 24 2011 15:16 Herculix wrote: so i guess infi is a high level wc3 player? i'm kinda beyond the point of 'wc3 lololol' but i just hope he's been playing for at least a few months and doesn't get completely steamrolled because if anything's been proven, it's that no matter who you are you can't just jump into starcraft and own in a couple weeks.
Don't worry about Infi. He's in much better shape than Yellow.
Kidding aside, he's been on top of the Chinese ladder for forever and has plenty of experience with SC2. I still wouldn't expect much from him since he's still a WC3 progamer, but if he gets steamrolled, it won't be from lack of experience in SC2.
He's getting to the top of the Chinese ladder by sheer raw talent. His primary focus is without a doubt, still on WC3.
That and mass ladder. He massed games like a madman in previous ladder seasons. Probably not as much MKP, but it's still pretty ridiculous.
He's probably behind on the metagame though - Chinese players usually are - and I doubt his gameplay will be very polished. He definitely has a ton of potential, though; most tip-top WC3 players do.
infi was the guy that everyone hated, and admired. in wc3 he was known for mass expanding with static defenses and counterattacking/not engaging in straight up fights.
hes playing T in sc2 so i assume all of this has changed lol. but would be fun to see a greedy infi playing sc2. if hes high on the ladder im assuming he became more aggressive.
On August 25 2011 08:40 jimchoi11 wrote: infi has no sc2 results hes a wc3 pro, why didn't they invite a real sc2 pro from china?
Purely speculation here, but I guess it could be that most of them have other commitments within the same time period, or a lot of them have visa issues. InFi does look like his invitation wasn't simply based on merit, but I think it's ok so long as he is capable of bringing entertaining games to the table.
Oh, awesome! I'm gonna go ahead and expect MC to get invited as well. Provided we don't get any other top notch Koreans we'll see an Infi vs MC finals :D As long as the stars align and they don't end up on the same side of the bracket.
Here's hoping they'll invite BoxeR as well, considering he couldn't make it for the last invitational
I don't follow the Chinese scene much beyond just looking at results, but I've never seen Infi anywhere near the top of the rankings. And given how WC3 is still big in China, I'm sure he's practicing more for that rather than SC2 right now.
I honestly prefer they invited someone who's 100% dedicated to SC2 as of now. Even if they didn't want to invite someone new, there are still quite a few more well-known old BW players like LoveTT, F91, and Super. Or perhaps Loner who had been to Code A.
I don't understand why there's so much hate on Infi just because he focuses on WC3. He's still undeniably one of the best Chinese players in SC2. Maybe you guys should actually wait and see how he performs before complaining. On a side note, Idra is going to tear shit up at DreamHack to make up for his Cologne dodge. Perhaps another Idra vs Huk =D
Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
On August 29 2011 09:05 Kdog3wa wrote: Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
Quality inflamatory post right there.
It totally couldn't be that he did well last Dreamhack, finally falling to MC.
On August 29 2011 09:05 Kdog3wa wrote: Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
Or it's the fact he is on team EG..also still is better than any na zerg for sure, and on par with other euros.
On August 29 2011 09:05 Kdog3wa wrote: Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
On August 29 2011 09:05 Kdog3wa wrote: Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
User was warned for this post
agreed.
He really doesnt deserve the invite over other zergs like sheth/dimaga/sen etc.
On August 29 2011 09:05 Kdog3wa wrote: Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
User was warned for this post
agreed.
He really doesnt deserve the invite over other zergs like sheth/dimaga/sen etc.
And he will be invited for long time, his current skill doesnt matter, its his face/popularity, and the possibility of making next MC vs Idra that will bring 50k people. Sad but true.
On August 29 2011 09:05 Kdog3wa wrote: Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
User was warned for this post
agreed.
He really doesnt deserve the invite over other zergs like sheth/dimaga/sen etc.
And he will be invited for long time, his current skill doesnt matter, its his face/popularity, and the possibility of making next MC vs Idra that will bring 50k people. Sad but true.
He is by far the most popular non Korean player in terms of attracting viewers at the moment. Apart from the usual "MUST SEE HIM WIN!" - fans each player has he attracts a lot of "MUST SEE HIM LOSE/RAGE/FAIL!!"-people. I guess the second group is even bigger than the first one. And, most importantly, he somehow manages to constantly satisfy both groups.
Plus, he may have shown some not so successfull play especially the last month and didn't win anything major for some time now but he pretty much always finishes ok among the top foreigners behind all the Koreans. And honestly, there is currently no foreigner who has won a tourney with Koreans participating.
On August 29 2011 09:05 Kdog3wa wrote: Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
User was warned for this post
agreed.
He really doesnt deserve the invite over other zergs like sheth/dimaga/sen etc.
And he will be invited for long time, his current skill doesnt matter, its his face/popularity, and the possibility of making next MC vs Idra that will bring 50k people. Sad but true.
He is by far the most popular non Korean player in terms of attracting viewers at the moment. Apart from the usual "MUST SEE HIM WIN!" - fans each player has he attracts a lot of "MUST SEE HIM LOSE/RAGE/FAIL!!"-people. I guess the second group is even bigger than the first one. And, most importantly, he somehow manages to constantly satisfy both groups.
Plus, he may have shown some not so successfull play especially the last month and didn't win anything major for some time now but he pretty much always finishes ok among the top foreigners behind all the Koreans. And honestly, there is currently no foreigner who has won a tourney with Koreans participating.
huk won the homestory cup with mc there
and look, idra is not preforming up to his usual standards but he is still the best non korean zerg behind sen, so of course he is going to get invited.
On August 29 2011 09:05 Kdog3wa wrote: Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
User was warned for this post
agreed.
He really doesnt deserve the invite over other zergs like sheth/dimaga/sen etc.
And he will be invited for long time, his current skill doesnt matter, its his face/popularity, and the possibility of making next MC vs Idra that will bring 50k people. Sad but true.
He is by far the most popular non Korean player in terms of attracting viewers at the moment. Apart from the usual "MUST SEE HIM WIN!" - fans each player has he attracts a lot of "MUST SEE HIM LOSE/RAGE/FAIL!!"-people. I guess the second group is even bigger than the first one. And, most importantly, he somehow manages to constantly satisfy both groups.
Plus, he may have shown some not so successfull play especially the last month and didn't win anything major for some time now but he pretty much always finishes ok among the top foreigners behind all the Koreans. And honestly, there is currently no foreigner who has won a tourney with Koreans participating.
huk won the homestory cup with mc there
and look, idra is not preforming up to his usual standards but he is still the best non korean zerg behind sen, so of course he is going to get invited.
It's not glaringly obvious. Stephano, Ret, Nerchio are definitely not worse overall than Idra.
And they are most likely quite some Chinese Zerg players who're at least as good as Sen now.
On August 29 2011 09:05 Kdog3wa wrote: Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
Quality inflamatory post right there.
It totally couldn't be that he did well last Dreamhack, finally falling to MC.
Last Dreamhack he also lost to SaSe and merz. I wouldn't consider 3:3 matches and 7:8 maps "doing well".
IdrA is invited, because he has a huge following of fans (and anti-fans) and not because of his recent results. But i'm fine with it, that's entertainment.
On August 29 2011 09:05 Kdog3wa wrote: Funny how Idra keeps getting invited to all the tournaments. It must be 'cause of his fan base, it's not 'cause of his shitty results in every tournament lately, that's for sure. Rofl.
User was warned for this post
agreed.
He really doesnt deserve the invite over other zergs like sheth/dimaga/sen etc.
And he will be invited for long time, his current skill doesnt matter, its his face/popularity, and the possibility of making next MC vs Idra that will bring 50k people. Sad but true.
I will be watching live only for Greg's matches. All the other good games I'll find reps or VODs of them.
I don't quite expect infi to do well, get out of group stage is my highest bet. Being knocked out of WCG National Finals in WC3 this year (lost to sky in a very close 3rd place match) means the chance of playing WC3 in WCG Grand Final again is smaller from now, and which means he will focus more on his SC2 practicing lately, But judging by his play recently (most notably the PSTL team league finals against team WE), his metagame is a bit off, and have a lot of trouble dealing with top Protoss especially. Though his early game micro is insane, but mechanically and decision-making-wise, he still have a lot of room to improve to be a top Terran.