KeSPA Cup has finally started, and began with an extremely exciting group. Without any previous matches between Koreans and foreigners this year, we had little clue just how an encounter like this would play out.
Neeb showed that the best foreigners may just be able to hang with the best Koreans right now. In a highly impressive showing, the American Protoss outplayed both Rogue and Zest, winning the group with a perfect 4-0 score.
Rogue appeared to have no answer to Neeb's quick 3-gate adept build with resonating glaives, something that has been a staple of his play for a while. Against Zest, Neeb played a more defensive series, deflecting Zest's stargate play twice and growing into the midgame with a sizable lead each game. It was an impressive performance, and one that makes us look forward to seeing more of Neeb in the tournament.
Zest's PvT looked very impressive again today after a rough string of results recently. Defeating ByuN twice, in convincing fashion as well, may signal a return to form for the GSL Season 1 champion who had lost his last seven series prior to KeSPA Cup. When asked about his loss to Neeb, Zest reaffirmed that he had heard about Neeb's quality a lot, and considered him a strong contender to win the tournament.
Both Neeb and Zest are already qualified for BlizzCon, so today's results had next to no bearing on the race for Global Final spots. It may still affect the seeding, however.
Group B of KeSPA Cup is played tomorrow, with herO , Pet, TRUE and TY.
Todays group was hype as hell to watch, theres definetely something special going on whenever a foreigner beats a Korean. Even better when it happens 2 times in a row :D
PS : surprised how bad Byun looked today in his TvP; it looked so unbeatable just a few weeks ago.
I mean, I watched live so it doesn't really affect me in the end
But do we really have to have the headline include everything you have to know about today's group? I'd rather have some more terrible puns. Something like "Zesty Rogue hits ByuN like a Neeb truck!" seems like it's right up your alley.
Wow, really unexpected, or maybe I was guarding myself from disappointment, can't wait to watch the vod (is it up anywhere?) and really happy for Neeb <3