The Time is Now

The first half of the Round of 16 delivered quite shocking results and set up two mirror matches for the Round of 8—but zerg advancement remains at zero. Once more ByuL has the opportunity to become the spearhead of his race, but he faces opposition desperate for victory and WCS points: while Dear comfortably sits in the top 8 of the ranks, Maru and MyuNgSiK—just as ByuL—need to advance to keep their BlizzCon chances alive. Who has the power to pull through?

It’s certainly going to be hardest for MyuNgSiK. Despite the odds being stacked against him time and time again, the protoss has shown remarkable strength by repeatedly advancing into the Round of 16. In the Round of 32 he showcased deadly PvP skills, even upsetting heavy-favorite Stats in the process. His mixture of aggression and knowledge of opponents and maps makes him a dangerous opponent, but he seems to lack the mental strength to put these abilities into action in later tournament situations. Is that why SK Telecom T1 haven’t fielded him in the Proleague playoffs? Do they really have more faith in untested rookie and former Prime colleague Zoun? If so, then that’s probably bad news for MyuNgSiK.

We haven’t seen him play since the Round of 32, so it’s probably safe to say that he’s been focusing entirely on preparation for this group. Maru, as his first opponent, will be confronted with the fruits/cheese of this labor. But really, how surprising could this be for him? Maru can train daily with sOs, a mind even more twisted and crazy than MyuNgSiK. In the past, he has overcome this opponent’s strategies in the past through sheer mechanical skill and exploitation of his indecisiveness. No, Maru doesn’t need to be afraid of MyuNgSiK. In fact, he doesn’t need to be afraid of anyone in this group. His year hasn’t gone great so far regarding individual tournaments and there’s a lot of pressure on him now if he still wants to make it to BlizzCon. But this is Maru—he probably doesn’t even care about most of this. He just concentrates on the game and the opponent.

The odds look quite good for him against MyuNgSiK. He still has solid TvZ, beating two zerg players in the Round of 32 and ByuL in his last Proleague match. Things might become complicated against Dear: the Samsung player defeated Maru recently, showing that his TvP is not unbeatable at all. Fortunately for Maru, the bracket seems to be in his favor: Dear and ByuL meet first, and the latter looks like the slight favorite.

In similar fashion, ByuL hasn’t had the best year of his career regarding results. Very differently from the terran though, he also fell off in terms of performance. While Maru is still considered one of the best of his race, ByuL lost this position during Legacy, unable to adapt to the new game over a long stretch of time. Onlynow has he able to make some impact, mostly by reaching deep into his chest of trickery—called ByuLshit by viewers everywhere—and regaining one of his greatest strengths: defensive play and ridiculously close holds followed by devastating counterattacks. As it has always been with this style the line between victory and defeat is blurry, so it’s easy to slip and fall on the latter at the wrong time. The CJ zerg did look solid in the Round of 32, defeating the hyped SpeeD as well as Dear in dominating manner. His Proleague results stayed average but he scored several high profile victories, as if he wanted to relay a message. Don’t forget about him so fast; ByuL always comes back.

Then there’s Dear, who certainly has the mettle to advance out this group. He currently sits in the top 8 of the ranking for BlizzCon, but his position isn’t set in stone. To lock his spot in Anaheim, the protoss needs to win just like everyone else. Unlike the others, he has a backup plan in SSL the next day.Yet the odds are unclear considering his opponent is Solar. Here I'd put as the underdog against ByuL due to how ByuL handed him in the Ro32. But Dear is strong all-around and capable of cutting through ByuL’s defense. The CJ player might not give him the initiative, forcing Dear into a defensive role.

Predictions

MyuNgSiK is certainly the underdog, while the other three players have quite even chances of going through. Maru can beat ByuL, the latter can beat Dear, and the latter can beat Maru—a classic game of rock paper scissors. There's a chance one of the pieces (or MyuNgSiK) is a shotgun in disguise, waiting to blast the competition away.

Dear 1-2 ByuL
MyuNgSiK 0-2 Maru
ByuL 1-2 Maru
Dear 2-1 MyuNgSiK
Dear 1-2 ByuL

Maru and ByuL advance to the Round of 8.