I feel like these are the guys to watch out for since they have been the strong title contenders throughout 2012 for the major LANs in AUS. mOOnGLaDe, PiG and MaFia are the most hardworking zergs in SEA while KingKong has the experience and knowledge having trained in the StarTale house (although I feel if he doesn't practice due to his studies, he will struggle towards the end of the year). I would be surprised if it wasn't one of these 4 players to take out the titles.
Tier 2 Consists of:
pokerface, Ninja, Petraeus, Light, Rossi, tgun
These guys will have plenty of podium finishes. Pokerface and Petraeus have the most potential to break into the top tier at the moment and they are all extremely tough players. Ninja also practices a lot, tgun not so much but has a lot of experience. Rossi and Light have a very friendly but strong rivalry together they can possibly bring out the best of each other and push each other that extra bit for better results.
It may be difficult for them to break through but they are certainly at the doorstep. They are just lacking that extra oomph or experience they need to get themselves over the line and secure a major win. Maybe a bit of luck with brackets or form on the day could change that. Still I would be surprised to see one of them win a major in the first half of the year.
These are the guys you will see at pretty much all the major LAN events - not 100% sure about the NZers. But you can be certain they will be there and make a splash. I feel JazBas, iaguz and deth probably deserve to be in tier 2 since they are the biggest darkhorses, and they have a wealth of experience when it comes to live lan events. Tilea has always been an unexpected quantity living in the States and training with his team mates from LighT. HuT and DanO round out the rest of the terrans with a lot of online/local lan showings but haven't impressed yet.
Frustration and Bigbird are very similiar in terms of skill since they both played in WCS and had similar finishes. Delete has been around for awhile and only recently started showing some spark of form beating PiG in the recent City Hunter LAN, while XzaM is very underrated but talked up by a lot of his peers. I expect him to show some great form in 2013. Yang is the last player and he's been around for a while. He's due for a comeback for HoTS but it's hard to say if he will perform as well as he did earlier in 2012.
NXZ and fenner have also a great friendly rivalry going on much like the one of Rossi/Light, but they will have to train a lot harder to keep up with the powerhouse SEA zergs ahead of them. Myuu is a very silent but deadly zerg if not taken seriously - it's really hard to know what to expect out of him. Lastly there is Pox, a regular on the tournament scene but yet to have any major breakout performance. 2013 could possibly be the year for him. I don't expect these guys to get any podium finishes, but I hope they prove me wrong.
The top 2 teams will likely be iM/Nv, especially if they continue to ride the momentum of the first week which saw them 3-1 and 3-2 xG and fray respectively. When iM and Nv face off, iM could take it out 3-1 with favourable matchups. Nv will hope to take it to an ace game for their zerg prince mOOnGLaDe to shine.
xG vs fray will be very close and can go either way. Both teams have 2 heavy hitters in their zerg players KingKong and Pokerface for xG and Petraeus and Ninja for fray. But I will have to give xG the edge with KingKong on their side, if he performs on the day he will likely take it home 3-1 or 3-2 for his team.
That ends my blog. Sorry to those that didn't get a mention. Some of you may not have agreed with my predictions but please don't take offence! I encourage you to be motivated to try harder in 2013 and prove me wrong
Yeah I gotta agree with your seacl predictions now, initially I thought xG and fray would be able to do really well with their slightly deeper lineup but I think a lot of the matches may go down to ace where iM and Nv may have an edge. Enjoyed the iaguz on tier 2.9
Nicely written! SEACL is definitely an exciting time as it brings so many players back to the competitive scene. The question on my mind is how much of a long term impact will it have? With HotS around the corner I think the first half of 2013 will be a very active time for SEA!
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