Both Team Acer and FXOpen e-Sports took wins in their first Contender Division matches, and now these two powerful teams will come to head in their second match. Acer's lineup consists of only Zerg players, but two of them make a good case for being the best foreign Zerg at this point in time. On the other hand, FXO is the reigning GSTL champion, reaching the title on the back of their ace GuMiHo and a couple of solid Zerg players. Let's take a look at some of the keys to the match.
Lineups
Acer:
- Nerchio (Z)
- Scarlett (Z)
- Bly (Z)
- ParanOid (Z)
- DarkHydra (Z)
FXO:
- GuMiho (T)
- Leenock (Z)
- Lucky (Z)
- asd (T)
- Choya (P)
- JKS (Z)
- mOoNaN (T)
- Sirius (Z)
- TheBest (T)
- Tree (T)
- Weekend (P)
Potential Starters
Acer: ParanOid (Z), DarkHydra (Z)
Though he was one of the strongest European Brood War players, ParanOid has not been able to achieve that kind of success since switching over to Starcraft 2. He and DarkHydra are certainly the weakest Zergs in the Acer lineup. One or both of them will likely be used in a leadoff spot to try and steal a win before turning the reins over to the more skilled players on the team--Bly, Nerchio, and Scarlett--who will almost always be relied on to take all five of the map wins. This could be a tough task against a Korean team like FXO.
FXO: Choya (P)
Choya has been one of the more successful player/managers to this point in Starcraft 2. The FXO staff relies on Choya to essentially run the Korean division of the team, as far as regulating practice time, preparing lineups, and just handling general coaching duties. Yet somehow, he has managed to remain at a competitive level of play, showing this most recently by scoring four kills against Complexity in FXO's last IPTL match. Using him early in a match makes a good deal of sense: if he enters early and then steps aside, he can dedicate himself entirely to his coaching duties instead of having to maybe play later on in the clan war.
Key Players
Acer: Nerchio (Z), Bly (Z)
It is very difficult to not call Nerchio the ace of any team, as he is just that good, but right now Scarlett seems just a little bit stronger. Nerchio is more than capable of out-playing any opponent, Korean or not, as he proved during his championship run at Homestory Cup V, but other than that never seems to put up results that match the skill level he brings to the table. Bly is more of an up-and-coming player whose results have been better and better since joining Acer in early 2012, with his most recent accomplishment being a first place finish at the WCS Ukrainian Nationals over a strong field of players like White-Ra, Strelok, and fraer. Between the two of them, Nerchio and Bly cleaned up the aTn.Type roster, but the FXO lineup is much, much stronger, and they will need to bring their best play to have a chance at defeating such a potent Korean team.
FXO: Leenock (Z)
Though Leenock fell a bit off the pace he set towards the end of 2011, where he won an MLG championship and came second in Code S, he remains a staple of Code S, qualifying for every 2012 season. Many people thought he would be the best Zerg in the world in no time after that early success, and while we have not quite seen the level of play that leads to GSL championships, Leenock is certainly good enough to give both Nerchio and Scarlett a run for their money. However, both of these Acer Zergs are strong in the ZvZ matchup; Scarlett's mind-blowing run through many of North America's best Zerg players springs immediately to mind. FXO's strongest Zerg has a tough task ahead of him, but he does have the liberty of training heavily in just that one matchup up until the match.
The Aces
Acer: Scarlett (Z)
Scarlett doesn't play in that many tournaments, but when she does make an appearance like she did at WCS North America, she takes down anyone who stands in her way. She has quickly ascended from being an up-and-coming female player, and straight past best female player, to one of the strongest Zerg players in the foreign scene. Between the WCS Canadian Nationals and North American Continental Finals, Scarlett dropped a total of two maps, an absolutely insane achievement. However, she will likely need to defeat GuMiho to achieve an Acer victory, and her ZvT was rarely tested in the North American tournaments. It will be very interesting to see how Scarlett matches up against the world-class players of FXO, as she grabbed three kills in her only other IPL team league appearance against TSL during TAC3.
FXO: GuMiho (T)
GuMiho cemented both his role as ace and a GSTL championship with his all-kill of SlayerS in the grand final, taking down phenomenal players like the team league hero Puzzle, and the great TvT player Ryung. He proved himself yet again by coming in as the last man against Complexity, and grabbing the final kill against Killer to avoid an upset defeat. But, much like Scarlett, GuMiho has not played a tremendous amount of TvZ recently, though he was able to beat both CoCa and Miya in the course of his GSTL all-kill. After not making it out of his GSL round of thirty-two group, GuMiho could very well be looking to rebound here and show why he should be considered the best player on FXO at this moment.
Prediction
Acer: 5 > FXO: 4
This match should belong to FXO, but the result will come down to the performance of Scarlett when she is called upon. She has not been tested as an ace player very often since joining Acer, but she will have to play at her very best level to clean up after the rest of her Zerg brethren fall. Also, this result could be very different if one of the lower tier FXO players can defeat any of the big three Zergs for Acer, opening the door for the Korean team's superior depth to come into play. However, I think Nerchio will play at a very high level and take up to three maps, making life very difficult for FXO, and possibly granting Acer an upset victory.
The match will take place on Thursday, September 27th. Check in to see if the curious Zerg-only lineup for Acer can stand up against the well balanced FXO attack!
Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com
