Ahead of the WCS Summer Championship, the staff at theScore esports took the opportunity to sit down and predict some of the outcomes of the tournament.
Who will win the WCS Summer Championship?
Christian Paas-Lang: My head and heart say Neeb. It seems like he's been getting more and more comfortable at LANs as the year goes on, and this is his time to really step up. Add that to the fact he's been in Korea and I think he has the edge to win it. My guess is that he'll meet Snute in the final and take the set 4-3.
Simmy Fong: My head says Neeb will win. He’s been so consistent leading up to this tournament, constantly improving and he’s been training in Korea. It would be incredible to see him play against his rival, Hydra, in the finals, but I think it’ll be Neeb taking on viOLet with a 4-2 victory. My heart says that MaSa deserves to finally win a championship and what better place to do it than on home turf.
Connor Dunn: I’ve been a huge Snute fan ever since his amazing series against CJ.herO at IEM Toronto. He’s also coming into this event on a hot streak after defeating recent IEM Shanghai Champion uThermal en route to his first place finish at NEO Star League.
Navneet Randhawa: I think Neeb will win, but my heart says Snute. Although Snute was knocked out of IEM Shanghai during the Round-of-16 to uThermal, he was able to bounce back and win the NSL 2016 International shortly after. But with that said, Neeb's been on the rise for some time now, and I feel like this will be his tournament to shine. The finals will come down to Neeb vs. Snute, and Neeb will take it 4-3.
Who will do the best from each race?
Paas-Lang: Zerg - Snute has a very tough bracket, but has a chance at the finals. His real challenge will be whoever comes out of the top bracket in the semifinals (ShoWTimE, MarineLorD or MaSa) as well as Hydra, but Snute has been so consistent this year that it's hard to bet against him. Ever since WCS switched over to a weekend format, Snute has been crushing it.
Terran - As long as Polt has been practicing, he should be able to take advantage of a relatively easy road to the semifinals, where only SortOf could surprise him.
Protoss - Neeb does the best. Neeb wins. America is great again.
Fong: Zerg - It’s tough for me to pick just one. viOLet had improved a lot going into Shanghai as he defeated the Valencia champion Nerchio in a close 3-2 and just barely fell short of appearing in the Grand Final after losing 3-2 to the eventual champion uThermal. viOLet needs a strong showing here if he wants to go to BlizzCon.
Terran - The easy answer would be the Shanghai champion uThermal, but I predicted Neeb to win the tournament so that wouldn’t work. On the other side of the bracket we have MaSa who time and time again finds a way to impress me in these stacked tournaments. With no Protoss in his path until potentially the quarterfinals, he has a great chance to place higher than any other Terran at this tournament.
Protoss - Neeb is going to win, what more is there to say?
Dunn: Zerg - It feels like ages ago, but Snute actually took second place at the Winter Championships in Katowice. There’s just no way you can count him out when it comes to going far in an event this size.
Terran - I feel like it’s either Polt or uThermal but with the way the brackets worked out, Polt has a higher chance of going further with uThermal likely having to face Neeb in the Round-of-16.
Protoss - The obvious choice is Neeb. He’s earned the respect of the entire Starcraft community while being known as the strongest foreign Protoss. And with second place finishes at both DreamHack Austin and IEM Shanghai, he’s got the results to back it up.
Randhawa: Zerg - Snute is an A-grade student — he always produces good results, though 2016 has been a blend of second and 3-4th place finishes.
Terran: Polt will probably make it in the quarterfinals or semifinals, but then lose to a foreigner. His preparation will definitely be there, but it won’t be up to speed against his opponents the deeper he gets into the tournament.
Protoss: It’s Neeb! Do I Neeb to say more?
Who will underperform, who will over-perform?
Paas-Lang: I think that even after a strong showing at IEM Shanghai, viOLet will underperform in Montreal. He's strong, but he has a very tough bracket ahead of him and I think MaSa or PtitDrogo has what is takes if Kelazhur doesn't. Similarly, I don't think uThermal can repeat his impressive run from Shanghai.
Polt will over-perform simply because he's been out of the picture for a while (Round-of-32 in Valencia, did not participate in Shanghai), but my real answer is Elazer. I think he has a real shot at the semifinals depending on how strong Polt is right now.
Fong: Polt has been quiet ever since he won the Winter Circuit Championship, placing 3rd-4th in spring, and completely missing in summer. I’m not sure how much he’s been practicing and he hasn’t been streaming nearly as much. I expect him to beat ShaDoWn but he could very well lose in the next round to SortOf.
Hydra has had a mental block going up against Neeb in the past few tournaments, but now that they’re on opposite sides of the bracket we could very well see him tear his way through to the semis.
Dunn: I am expecting Nerchio to perform relatively well (especially after his first place finish at DreamHack Valencia) but unfortunately I just can’t see him getting past either Neeb or uThermal.
Masa is my pick for over-performing. He has to be kicking himself for sleeping in at DreamHack Valencia and missing his matches. Hopefully that will light a fire under the young Terran player and he can show the world what he’s really made of.
Randhawa: Hydra’s last big win was at DreamHack Austin back in May, but since then, he hasn’t been able to perform as well. Neeb took him out 3-1 during the Spring Circuit, and 3-0’d him during DreamHack Valencia and IEM Shanghai respectively. Lucky for Hydra, Neeb is on the opposite side of the bracket. However, I feel that his play won’t be up to par.
We’ve called MaSa the “King in the North” for many years since he wins all of the local Toronto tournaments. This has been a good year for him, so I think his preparation for this event will be that much greater, and he will show us some great games.
Which Canadian will go the farthest?
Paas-Lang: MaSa is the only sensible answer here. He's by far the strongest Canadian this year. He has a long way to go in the upper bracket, but unless Scarlett has come back from Korea with her old strength, I don't see her getting past Nerchio, let alone "literal god" Neeb.
Fong: MaSa desperately needs all the points he can get here to make it to BlizzCon. I think he’s easily the best out of the Canadian players participating and has the strongest drive to make it far in this tournament.
Dunn: If MaSa beats MajOr in the Round of 32, he could easily make it to the Semifinals. Unfortunately I don’t see Scarlett going far, even with the home crowd advantage, just because of the way the bracket turned out.
Randhawa: If MaSa is able to pull it together, he will be the Canadian who will go the furthest. It has been some time since Scarlett has achieved the greatness that was a few years ago, Semper is on the right path, but not quite on the same level as MaSa. So here’s to our Toronto boy MaSa.
Who's a dark horse to watch out for?
Paas-Lang: I feel like I always pick either Serral or Elazer, so this time I'm going to pick another European Zerg, SortOf, who has a very strong run in Shanghai and I feel has a chance to cause a ruckus in the lower bracket.
Fong: Cham made a name for himself at the Spring Circuit Championship surprising many by taking out Bly 3-0 and Jim 3-1 to make it to the quarterfinals. We haven’t heard much from him since but he’s definitely who I would look out for.
Dunn: While MaNa has won several events this season, he has expressed multiple times that he is having a tough time understanding the current meta. Maybe he has found a playstyle that works for him and can fly under the radar coming into this major event.
Randhawa: Katy Perry. But in all seriousness, uThermal. He will definitely beat Serral in the Ro32, but the face-off with Neeb in the Ro16 may prove to be an intense matchup. He did defeat Neeb in the IEM Shanghai finals with an outcome of 4-2, but I really hope Neeb can make it out.
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