Welcome to another look at IGN Pro League Team Arena Challenge, the StarCraft II tournament featuring the very best teams in the world. In each match the teams play a Best of 9, elimination style match, where the winning player stays on while the losing player is replaced by another player on their team. First team to five wins is the victor.
In this weekly column we preview the upcoming matches with some analysis of their current performance and their performance in the tournament thus far.
This week, some of the middle tier teams determine who the pretenders and contenders are as the tournament continues on to the final twelve teams.
Acer v aTn
Rosters
Acer
Bly, DarkHydra, Mondragon, Nerchio, ParanOid, Scarlett
AlternateType
Cloud, DarKFoRcE, Delhpi, Socke, Breek, DBS, Enza, NarutO, Nemuke, PhoeNix, PSiArc, ReaL, SaltTheWound
Road So Far
Acer
- Won 5 - 4 v Eclypsia
- Lost 4 - 5 v Prime
- Won 5 - 3 v Mouz
AlternateType
- Lost 2 - 5 v Dreamteam Gaming
- Won 5 - 2 v Infinity Seven
Analysis
In a match where many would say that Acer would be outclassed by the former champions of Europe, Acer actually looked to dominate last week against Mouz, without having to showcase their top players. They handed Mouz a well fought 5 - 3 defeat, sending Mouz out with a disappointing finish (No wins, two losses) considering they were the runner-up of Team Arena Challenge 1. This puts Acer in a position where their only loss came against the current best team in the world, Prime, in a match where they should have won after being up 4 - 2 with their best 2 players still undefeated. AlternateType has looked inconsistent; great at times and mediocre at others. Recently Socke became known as being the only player to defeat DongRaeGu at MLG Anaheim 2012 on DRGs championship run and has continued to showcase himself as one of Europe's greatest players, but the rest of AlternateType's roster looks sketchy and has performed as such in their first two matches in the tournament.
This honestly shouldn't be a close match. While Real and Socke could take two or three maps, I would be surprised if they managed four wins against Acer, especially now with the addition of the world's best female player and international sensation Scarlett. While Acer may be team Zerg, no one has figured out how to crack through them with any consistency thus far in TAC3. I would expect Acer to keep rolling through this match, and possibly not even stop there. Long live the new Kings of Europe.
Prediction - Acer 5 - 2 AlternateType
Karont3 v Empire
Rosters
Karont3
LoLvsxD, LucifroN, Ryo, VortiX, AlastOr, MikOeL
Empire
Aristeo, Beastyqt, Happy, ho8ot, Kas, TheMista, VINES, viOLet
Road So Far
Karont3
- Lost 2 - 5 v Quantic
- Won 5 - 2 v Check 6
Empire
- Won 5 - 3 v It's Gosu
- Lost 1 - 5 v SlayerS
- Won 5 - 0 v FXO.CIS
Analysis
This match would have looked a lot closer on paper if not for the fact that Beastyqt just proved himself by defeating Eastern European rivals FXO.CIS with style in an amazing all kill. He looked almost flawless against players that are generally regarded as being his superiors, including BratOK and Strelok. While Karont3 originally looked to just be a two man team in the Moreno Duran brothers, AlaStOr has emerged as a very strong European player, finishing deep in online European events and even performing well offline. While now with Beastyqt's performance revealed, many people will think this will be a blowout, but I still think it will relatively close and Karont3 actually has a chance to win as I believe they possess the strongest online player across both teams in LucifroN.
Two player teams generally don't win, but it's possible in online team leagues in this format. I have full confidence that LucifroN and Vortix will at least make this close after the embarassing defeat they had at the hands of Quantic's Hawk. I still think Empire will win because of their deep roster, but it won't be the blowout everyone thinks is coming.
Prediction - Empire 5 - 3 Karont3
Dignitas v Evil Geniuses
Rosters
Dignitas
Apollo, Bischu, BlinG, DreAm, KiLLeR, Merz, SeleCT, SjoW
Evil Geniuses
DeMusliM, IdrA, iNcontroL, JYP, HuK, LzGaMeR, Machine, PuMa, ThorZaIN
Road So Far
Dignitas
- Lost 0 - 5 v Team Liquid
- Won 5 - 3 v Eclypsia
Evil Geniuses
- Won 5 - 3 v Infinity Seven
- Lost 0 - 5 v MVP
- Won 5 - 3 v DtG
Analysis
It just wouldn't be a Team Arena Challenge without EG getting All Killed by someone. Luckily for them, the all kill was the same as any other loss and they recovered well by dispatching DtG in a very easy looking 5 - 3 win. While their Korean players have managed to carry them so far, they will likely need a little bit of a contribution from their non-Korean players for this match. Dignitas is a quandary of a team, looking nigh unbeatable at times and washed up at others. BlinG went on a tear earlier this year and last year, but lately has had very little follow up on his breakout performances. SeleCT again is inconsistent, but extremely talented, and the rest of the lineup goes through spurts of brilliance followed by lack luster play. They will need all of the spark they can ignite to defeat EGs lineup.
While both teams go through severe periods of inconsistency, it is Dignitas that truly looks like a team playing uninspired. It seems like it's been forever since we've even seen a top caliber performance from any of their players and they'll have to have several players playing at the top of their game to win over EG. Even with the inconsistency of EGs Western based players, PuMa and JYP should be enough to carry 3 wins, with a contribution or two from HuK, ThorZaIN or IdrA to take this one down.
Prediction - Evil Geniuses 5 - 2 Dignitas
compLexity v FXO
Rosters
compLexity
GanZi, Goswser, Heart, Killer, Minigun, QXC, Ryan, Ryze, Trimaster
FXO
asd, Choya, Crane, Gumiho, jks, Leenock, Lucky, Sirius, Supreme, TheBest, Tear, Tree, Weekend, Whale
Road So Far
compLexity
- Lost 4 - 5 v FXO.CIS
- Won 5 - 4 v It's Gosu
FXO
- Lost 4 - 5 v TSL
- Won FF v Quantic
Analysis
While all games involving these teams have been very close, FXO is clearly the stronger team, having these close matches against superior team(s). Their match against TSL was an all time classic, as I mentioned last week, and compLexity just managed to squeak by two teams that had to qualify for the tournament, as opposed to having to play one of the GSTL powerhouse teams. coL also looked extremely vulnerable as they relied heavily on a few players to do all of their damage while even some of their Koreans were inconsistent in their play. They will need a much better united effort to get through FXO as even lesser known players like Tear have really started to impress, in both the GSTL and in TAC3.
I wish I could say I saw coL winning this, but it's just not probable. FXO is still one of the strongest teams in the world despite losing to TSL. They did benefit from a forfeit against them by Quantic, but realistically, Quantic probably wouldn't have beaten FXO anyway. This will probably be relatively one sided as at every position, FXO is simply better.
Prediction - FXO 5 - 2 compLexity
What do you think about this week's matches? Can EG break their curse and overcome the two-man punch of LucifroN and VortiX? Will FXO prove the GSTL teams are too strong to be stopped?
Let us know in the comments below and make sure you watch all of these great games on the IPL site and tune in next week for a wrap-up of these matches and our breakdown of Losers Round 3.
Source : ign[dot]com
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