Judas Smiled

prOp.Cytoplasm, WW.MorroW, prOp.RunA, mouz.hOpe, Fnatic Miniraser : These Swedes aren't the most well-known players at the tournament, but they'll surely get a boost from playing in front of a friendly audience on their home ground. Mill.DieStar: DieStar has had a minor revival in HotS, but he's still looking to make his first big tournament splash since 2011.  Ence.elfi: The best player with the lowest APM, elfi will seek to work his magic once more and vex opponents with his strange play. Mill.Feast: A master of blink micro and all-in play, Feast's fortunes will depend on how well he can supplement his early game attacks with solid macro play. ESC.GoOdy: The Panzer general has always frustrated opponents with his slow methodical mech play, and the addition of hellbats has only helped his cause.  Mill.Goswser: One of the only Americans to attract the attention of a European team, Goswser has certainly looked better than his nationality would suggest at times. However, he's never had a breakout run in a big live tournament, so this could be his chance. Fnatic.Harstem: Defeating Ret at the DSCL.nl finals was a breakthrough moment from the up-and-comer from the Netherlands, and now he'll get a chance to see if he can make the leap on an international stage as well. EG.HuK.RC: With IdrA's dismissal and iNcontrol's focu on being a host and caster, HuK has been left to hold the fort as EG's superstar North American player. A top 16 run at the previous DreamHack Stockholm, where he won against both Grubby and Polt, proved HuK is still a force to be reckoned with in tournaments, even if he is past his prime. mouz.MaNa: MaNa seems to have taken the upperhand again his rivalry with Nerchio, as his counterpart seems to be more focused on his studies than StarCraft at the moment. While the results haven't been coming for MaNa in the most recent months, he's still one of the Europe's top players and capable of putting together a strong run at any time. Alliance.NaNiwa: Having come just one map short of the championship at DreamHack Stockholm, NaNiwa should be more motivated than ever to win the whole thing this time around. Even though he had a poor run in WCS Europe, NaNiwa has all the skills and big tournament experience to give the Koreans another stiff challenge. Fnatic NightEnD: As a very solid, macro style player, NightEnD is one of the few foreigners to hand TaeJa a loss in a live tournament. He's sure to be one of the dark horses of the tournament. Liquid`Ret: The king of drones has been doing fairly well in HotS, but he hasn't recovered his old level just yet. Falling behind both Grubby and Harstem among dutch players would surely hurt his pride, and he really needs a good performance at DreamHack to reestablish himself. VPBenQ.sLivko: Thriving during the days of Brood Lord – Infestor, Slivko hasnt' done as well after HotS turned everything upside down. Even so, he's a very good player from Russia, and was able to qualify for the Premier League again through the Challenger League. Liquid`Snute: Already one of the best players from Eurpoe, training in with the legendary Coach Park at the EG-TL house in Korea will only have made Snute stronger. What kind of skills will he show us in his return to Europe? WW.SortOf: Haha, like anyone says anything about SortOf. EG.Stephano.RC: Even with a retirement date set and his skills declined from his peak, Stephano continues to maintain his position atop of the foreigner world. After a disappointing showing in the WCS Europe Ro32, he made a dominating run to the finals where he was only stopped by the greatest SC2 player of all time in Mvp. What else can be said? Stephano just knows how to get things done. EG.Suppy.RC: As a full-time student at UC Berkley, Suppy has already succeeded beyond what anyone could have imagined with such a schedule. However, even if he is one of the best players in America, he's probably going to have to go full-time to rise to the next level. d.TargA: The other Zerg from Norway, Targa is known for his aggressive and unorthodox play. He was able to ride this to a personal best semi-final finish at DH: Valencia, and is not a player to take lightly. EG.ThorZaIN.RC: The spoon Terran is the only player to protect Swedish soil against foreign invaders in the last couple of years, defeating Polt at the finals of DreamHack: Stockholm 2012. Even though he hasn't been at his best lately, his slow, methodical style of play is enough to frustrate any opponent. Liquid`TLO: The creative and unique TLO has always played the game they way he thinks it should be played, not the way others say it should be. Finally his approach is paying off, with his strategies catching opponents off guard (especially swarm host drops) and leading him to 5th place finish at WCS Europe. 

In some ways, winning games in Starcraft is like having a good economy in real life politics. When the economy is bad, people don't give a damn about anything else. All other priorities be damned, just fix the goddamn economy! It's the same thing when a race can't win games. It's nice to win with aplomb, with style, and with elegance. But when there's just no winning going on at all, people don't care how you get those wins. All-ins, cheese, all sorts of tactics are acceptable. Obviously, there is a minimum level of morals to maintain in both spheres – we can't increase employment by creating state sponsored meth labs, just like we can't 4-gate every game (well, some Starcraft players have been as 'morally' bankrupt as politicians in that respect).

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One of my favorite high level Korean ladder smurfs was Bulgomeurobangmangijil (try saying that three times fast!), which translates roughly to 'clubbing with marauders.' As in, clubbing YOU to death with marauders.

It really captured the essence of the marauder's attack as something that used blunt force trauma to inflict damage. Police brutality? Marauders. Barry Bonds squaring up and landing a solid swing to your ribs? Marauders. Daniel Day Lewis beating Paul Dano to death in There Will be Blood? Marauders. 

Starcraft is a young man's game. After a certain age, synapses start to fire more slowly, and fingers cease to dance as quickly as before. Thus, watching a veteran play a younger player in his prime is a fascinating affair.

You can see that the old man knows what he has to do, but his hands can't execute the things his brain is telling them. You can see his strategy is based around this fact, so he plays a slower paced game where he can take time to make decisions, where split second reactions will not decide the outcome.

Meanwhile, the young man is ruthless. He knows that behind the old man's strong mind is a weak body. He will attack fast and fierce, test those aged reflexes to their limit, and give no quarter. Though he respects the past, the young man knows he has no time to waste.