The third NA qualifier (with 84 participants) featured a StarDust who was at last back on form, overcoming a stumbling MaSa to qualify; on the other side, Scarlett went on a good run before getting run over by PiLiPiLi.
There was a little drama as Bails ran into Internet problems and was disqualified (ala EnDerr in SEA). It's also worth noting that sWs was allowed to play at last (both here and the final qualifier). Here are the notables who fell:
R64: Drunkenboi, Goswser
R32: State, JonSnow, Neeb
R16: desRow, Semper
R8: Intense, Bails, Illusion
Qualifier: Scarlett, MaSa
The final qualifier saw the most sign-ups since Day One (93), with players desperately jostling one another for the final spot. In the end, MaSa qualified at last, beating Scarlett who looked more like herself than she had earlier in the other qualifiers. She mentioned, incidentally, that she'll be attending the season two finals in Toronto (an fyi for all Scarlett fans).
The final day left a number of people on the outside looking in. Here are some notables:
R64: Neeb, State, NonY, Goswser
R32: sWs, Drunkenboi, Illusion
R16: JonSnow
R8: desRow, Semper, Intense
R4: Bails
Final: Scarlett
Three Protoss, three Terrans, and one Zerg ultimately made it through, including both Koreans (meaning that it's likely that 5 of the 8 NA representatives in Premier will be from Korea--the spectre of 2014's absurdity is not far off). There were four qualifiers from last season that did not make it this time around: Guitarcheese didn't participate (he hasn't played competitively since losing in Challenger last season), while State, Bails, and Semper were all unable to break through. As for which players played the best throughout and did not succeed, here's what a "last chance" list would look like if it existed (using the a similar point system to EU):
Bails (195) - was in Challenger last season
Scarlett (180)
Intense (180) - perhaps best known for winning one of the Breakout Invitationals last year
Semper (115) - Challenger last season
JonSnow (110) - came 3rd in the Copa America Grand Finals in the fall
NoRegreT (100) - newer player with a reputation for cheese
Illusion (90) - last played competitively in August
Patchtoss (85)
Hyperbowl (80)
State (75) - Challenger last season
SirRobin (70) - reasonably popular streamer whose play is improving
Moosegills (70) - he's been around for a long time, but doesn't have many results
Drunkenboi(60) - has made it to Challenger twice before
Trace (60)
desRow (60) - now mostly known for Remax and streaming, his mechanics are still good enough for NA
Epic (60) - newer player who seems to be on the upswing
It's good to see some new faces among those who entered the WCS system from WOL. I wonder if hyperbowl is a smurf (I have the same curiosity for polylol and startails), as there's no professional history for him beyond two days in the qualifiers (it reminds me of roxi's run from season one in EU back in 2013--the only time that name ever played anything). NonY played under an alternate name (Enoenwai), albeit a known alias for him.
Speaking of older NA players, Goswser crashed and burned for the second season in a row (ViBE, NonY, and Neeb also failed to show much in the qualifiers, but I don't think the first two put the same amount of work into it, while the latter has switched races). In fairness to the ROOT player, he lost to good players (Jaedong, qxc, State, and sWs), but he's nowhere near the form he displayed two or three years ago. I wonder if this will be the end of the line for him, or if he'll come back to try and qualify for season three?
As fun as the qualifiers were, I do hope there's more thought put into how the bracket is seeded in season three. Why JonSnow and SirRobin played in the R128 on the final day is a mystery to me (and that's hardly the first odd pairing early in the qualifiers).
The final European qualifier was a good one. Petraeus, the man who kept failing at the finish line, finally stormed through, losing just one game in his four straight victories (beating the moribund sLivko as well as three Protoss': Theo, Eiki, and Verdi). On the flipside, Harstem finally made it as well, surviving an early loss to Verdi before eventually beating the Russian Protoss in the final match (he also beat Jeysen, DeMuslim, Namshar, Eiki, and Cooltea).
In terms of predictions, Aligulac and I both got Petraeus right, but neither picked Harstem. With all the qualifiers finished, we have the following players going into Challenger (the players in pink made it to Challenger last season):
Zerg (6): Bly, Ret, Nerchio, Zanster, Elazer, Petraeus
Terran (4): HeRoMaRinE, Beastyqt, MarineLorD, souL
Protoss (4): GunGFuBanDa, elfi, Lilbow, Harstem
A number of participants from last season did not get in: PtitDrogo, Majestic, PsiOniC, BlinG, Kas, and Starbuck (so clearly the biggest turnover was among Protoss players).
Both SEA and China regions have already held their challenger matches. The former featured a huge upset, as the largely unknown NXZ beat R16 player PiG in a close series (3-2). Iaguz had a much easier time dispatching Blysk (3-0). In China, Jim and iAsonu return to Challenger, this time joined by TooDming (who took out XiGua 3-2) and Mystery (who upset MacSed 3-1). I like that new blood is being pumped into the scene (particularly relative unknowns like NXZ and Mystery). The other regions either haven't started their qualifiers (Copa America) or are still in process (Taiwan etc).
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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