News & Notes (February 11)

A few thoughts for what is a quiet week in WCS.  More balance changes are being proposed in what's a much clearer attempt to nerf Protoss.  These are:

-reduce the Mothership Core's vision radius (which seems sensible, although 14 to 9 might be too much)

-lengthen blink cooldown for Stalkers (I'm not a fan of blink all-ins in either PvP or PvT, but I wonder if the change will be too much for PvZ)

-give Widow Mines increased damage to shields (this seems largely an effort to see the unit used more in the PvT match-up--I have no strong opinion on this one and would have to see how it plays out)

-increase Tempest damage versus structures as a means to combating swarm hosts in PvZ; this was proposed just a couple of weeks ago and this second pass is a clear indication we'll see the change implemented--I'm not sure it will make much impact, as Tempests seem like an easy unit for Zerg to shut down (very slow with an equally slow attack speed)

-increase Hydralisk attack speed; this comes after the previous attempt to buff the unit, but at least this isn't a resource change (and unlike that change I'm not as positive this is awful, but it could be)

It's important to remember that Blizzard's changes are largely influenced by what happens in Korea.

Speaking of Korea, the first two groups in Code S have completed and four Protoss moved forward.  There's no balance issues to draw from this specifically, as the losing players consisted of three middling Zergs and a Terran.  Groups C and D play this week and judging from Aligulac we'll see sOs, Panic, Soulkey, and Squirtle move forward.  I'm less sold on Squirtle and think Sora will move forward in his place, while soO has a chance to beat out Panic.  Overall I think the back end of the group stage features the most interesting match-ups.

 

WCS Europe Premier groups have been announced and look much more balanced than those in NA.

IEM Cologne begins on Thursday (details here) and I'll post predictions beforehand.  It's an interesting mix of players, featuring some of the best Terrans and Protoss players in the world (the Zergs aren't of the same calibre).  None of the foreigners participating seem likely to go very far (TLO and Grubby, if on form, are the best of the lot).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)