GSL Preview: Group C
Group C
Group C of the round of 32 for the first GSL of 2018 starts in roughly 5 hours (13th 1:00PM KST). The group consists of Rogue (Z), Billowy (P), Scarlett (Z) and aLive (T). While I won’t be writing articles for every group of the gsl, I want to write them for the ones featuring the most popular/anticipated Zerg players so that I can show people who to look out for.
Non-Zergs
aLive (T) was off to a great start at the beginning of 2017, he placed in the top 16 of the first GSL of 2017, while not particularly spectacular it is certainly a respectable and good place for aLive’s caliber. However he really started to show his skill at IEM katowice going 5-0 in his group defeating players such as TY and stats. He bested INnoVation in the round of 8 before falling just short to TY in the semi-finals. After this performance (and a second place at the first GSL super tournament) aLive was starting to look like he could be one of the best terrans of 2017. However he fell off and wasn’t able to have a similar performance throughout the rest of 2017 (including a particularly poor performance in the second season of SSL despite qualifying for premier).
aLive definitely has the potential to be one of the stronger terrans in the scene, but his ability to perform consistently at the highest level has not been shown thus far.
Billowy (P) has yet to have a breakout performance and did not even qualify for GSL in the third season of 2017. He is clearly the underdog in this group and I expect him to be eliminated in the loser’s match. With that being said, any player that can qualify for GSL can compete at the highest levels and billowy could surprise us by upsetting anyone in the group.
Rogue – Champion
The blizzcon champion makes his first performance in a WCS event since defeating soO in the 2017 WCS finals and becoming the 2017 world champion. I fully expect Rogue to dominate this group. Anything but a winner’s match victory for Rogue would be a disappointment even if Scarlett is comfortable and playing her best and aLive plays like he did at IEM katowice one year ago.
If Rogue were to drop a series at all, whoever loses the first aLive/Scarlett match is going to be severely disappointed.
Scarlett – Fourth time the charm?
Since Scarlett became the first foreigner to truly compete in GSL in a very long time in the first season of GSL in 2017, no foreigner has made it past the round of 32. Scarlett lost in the round of 32 in all three GSL’s of 2017, however she had sparks of brilliance throughout the year at GSL as well as moments of complete despair.
Scarlett plays incredibly and bests INnoVation on abyssal reef, before arguably throwing the next two games to lose the series.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwCs_mlXO2g]
She also lost her entire army to a nuke
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwJ4EiLpgPU]
It is clear that scarlett has the skill, talent and hard work to compete at the GSL level, however it is also clear that she has not been able to make that next step and get past the round of 32. With that being said, this group is certainly better than any group she had in 2017 and if this was finally the GSL she was able to make it happen I would not be surprised at all. If she can get comfortable and play her best (without making silly mistakes) and aLive isn’t on point, I would favor her to get out of the group but those are two big ifs. Either way, she has a good shot.
Prediction
I can’t see Rogue not getting out in first place, and I think that aLive has the best chance of squeaking out in second place. With that being said, past Rogue this group is very close and anyone could make it out. This group will be the best chance Scarlett has had thus far to make it to the round of 16. I expect Rogue to get out in first place and for Scarlett and aLive to be in the final match where I would give a slight advantage to aLive but very slight.
