WCS Season 2 Premier: Ret

May 23 2015
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Everything went as planned for Liquid on the first weekend of the [image loading] WCS Premier League Season 2. In the opening group of the Ro32, our very own Bunny stormed to victory, defeating mYi.Petraeus and iG.Jim to advance in first place. Now, in the second weekend of the round, his teammate Ret will aim to replicate that achievement.

It won't be easy sledding—it never is. Despite Liquid's unprecedented success in the tournament this year, there is never any guarantee that the party will continue. Every inch of ground gained is hard won.

For Ret, that's even more so. Many wrote the Dutch zerg off, after he fell out of Premier League in 2013 and labored to return throughout 2014. But those who mocked the King of Drones have had to eat their words this year. He qualified for WCS Challenger in Season 1 (before being teamkilled by TLO), then returned again in Season 2 and eliminated Welmu to finally re-earn his spot among the top dogs.

But if you know Ret, you know that merely making it to Premier will not satisfy him. And why should it? We're talking about a player who has been considered among the best in the world in the past, and sees no reason why that couldn't happen again. He is on the best foreign team in the world, with the best resources at his disposal, and unparalleled experience in progaming. With these advantages, never count Ret out.


2015 WCS Season Two Premier
nl [image loading] Liquid`Ret
May 23rd, Burbank, California, USA

[image loading] [image loading] 2015 WCS Season Two Premier



Ret's group draw is a good one. This is not the group with the brightest star power in the Ro32, and the top two spots are wide open. The most famous participant is probably Ret, and while name value doesn't win you games, it certainly can be used as a proxy for things that do, like skill and experience.

Beyond our Dutch zerg, the name that most fans will recognize is viOlet, who has long been a staple of the foreign scene, with much success. But while the Korean is still a formidable force in the foreign scene, his star has certainly faded of late. Then there's MarineLorD, who is a longtime SC2 player breaking into the top ranks after years of lower-tier mediocrity. While his skills have yet to be tested on a big stage, beware this French terran, and especially his TvZ which might just see him through this group. The final member of the four is the Chinese protoss Mystery, who is frankly well named, because we know nearly nothing about him. He has played his entire career in East Asia, and this is his first tournament in the western scene.

We'll learn a lot about him quickly, as he is Ret's first opponent. After that ZvP, viOlet and MarineLorD will clash, and the group will proceed in normal dual tournament style from there.

nl [image loading] Liquid`Ret < 19:00 GMT (+00:00) > cn [image loading] THpj.Mystery
kr [image loading] EnVy.viOlet < 20:00 GMT (+00:00) > fr [image loading] MǂMarineLorD


There is a huge factor that make this group hard to predict. Only MarineLorD has a reasonable recent sample of games. Ret, viOlet, and Mystery have all stayed very under the radar in the past month, perhaps preparing for this critical group stage. Because of this, there is definite cause to take any ratings or expressions of form with a grain of salt.

This is to preface the ratings from Aligulac, which rate the French terran MarineLorD as the favorite to advance. Aligulac's numbers have correctly called both groups so far, but the level of uncertainty here is noteworthy. MarineLorD's recent results are predominantly wins against lower level French, Belgian, and Dutch players, which has inflated his score. Meanwhile the radio silence of the other players has done them no favors in the rankings.

Aligulac ranks viOlet as the second favorite, and it certainly is plausible that the Korean zerg should advance. His reputation cannot be ignored. In season one, he was eliminated in the Ro32 by the MaNa-Bunny tag team. But ZvZ has always been a strength of his, and neither Mystery nor MarineLorD are as strong as their Liquid counterparts. This is more forgiving group for viOlet and he will be expecting to move on.

Ret is the third most likely to advance given the numbers, but the percentages are still quite strong for him. The wildcard in this match will be the Chinese protoss Mystery. If he turns out to be a strong player, then all bets are off. But if he is a standard-issue opponent, then Ret should surpass him and get two solid cracks at moving on.

                    Top 2      1st      2nd      3rd      4th    
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MarineLorD 79.46% 47.03% 32.43% 13.71% 6.83%
viOLet 65.76% 28.34% 37.41% 23.53% 10.72%
Ret 47.34% 21.81% 25.52% 39.60% 13.06%
Mystery 7.45% 2.81% 4.63% 23.17% 69.39%

Estimated by Aligulac. Modify.

With so little to go on, it's simply hard to issue an iron clad prediction for this match. But it's worth repeating the sentiment that started this article. Don't count Ret out. He has shown tremendous grit to fight his way back into the conversation and he's hungry for more. When TLPro spoke to Ret before WCS Season 1, he said:

" I'm pretty sure I can beat anyone on a good day... It's really hard to say but I think there's only about 3 or 4 players that I would feel are favored against me."


If Ret has the confidence and mindset to play his game the way he wants to, then he will advance, making it two for two so far for Liquid, and once again surprising the doubters.

Liquid Fighting!




Writer: tree.hugger
Graphics & Format: shiroiusagi
Photo Credits: Arvid Wuensch