Starting Games :Krallman vsKhyiraKoreya vsAdonminusOverall Group D is probably a lot more competitive than Group C and it also contains two of the top players of the tournament.Krallman is the 6th and final player in the RO16 from Team SC2Improve qualifying both through a Top 4 place in the Summer League and through points. After returning from a phase of playing with Pandas in WoW he has recently been practicing hard for the RO16 of the Winter League. On a good day he very well might come out in second in his group, but his all-ins are going to have to be strong and the wind at his back.I only say this because his first opponentKhyira is extremely confident about the group and especially the TvP match-up. I feel Krallman made a bad pick here, taking Khyira as his first choice when he could have had a Terran such as HiSTorY instead. Khyira's best match-up is TvP and Krallman has even already used his ace-in-the-hole proxy-robo against him in Qualifiers. The rest of the Group also looks great for Khyira, with two other Protoss. I really feel Khyira has the potential to come out of this group in first as he can take down GM players, providing they aren't Zerg.UnfortunatelyKoreya has decided to more or less quit Starcraft recently, though he has agreed to come play in the RO16 nonetheless. If he had continued to keep in practice he might have been able to take a game from Adonminus and maybe sneak out in second, but in his current form he might very well go out in two fast 0-2s.Adonminus is our final player, qualifying by beating Droot 2-1 in the finals of the 4th Winter League Qualifier. As a GM player he is one of the favourites, though again he might only make it out of here in second if Khyira is on top of his game. Krallman might be able to put up a bit of a resistance in a PvP-off, especially if the builds go against Adonminus, but at the end of the day the higher ranking, better experience and skill is going to be able to most probably carry Adonminus through this group.Krallman < 1-2 >KhyiraKoreya < 0-2 >AdonminusKhyira < 2-1 >AdonminusKrallman < 2-0 >KoreyaAdonminus < 2-0 >Krallman

Starting Games :MystiC vsFrashQDroot vsDelphiGroup C is close to a group of death with two of the potentially top 3 or 4 players in the tournament in it andMystiC, another Team SC2Improve member, is going to have a pretty tough time getting anywhere with this group. He has had a hand injury which has prevented him from practicing for the past few months and so he is not in the same shape he was in when he came third in the Summer League. Sadly he really might end up being the walk-over of the Winter League.As a Top 4 Summer League finisher he at least got to pick his first opponent and so he was able to get himself a TvP againstFrashQ, though it is still not really the best situation for MystiC. FrashQ should be the favourite in his first game though he's going to have a tough time past then as he has two high level Zergs to get through. This combined with his common raging towards the general PvZ match-up lead to him sounding fairly defeatist about his chances in the RO16 leading up to this. Best of luck to him, as he's going to need it.Droot is the first of the killer-zergs in Group C. Originally known as Kreator, he has been in Grandmaster and has now been back from a break he took for a good couple of months and is starting to reach his high-end form again. Only his team-mate Senin and other Grandmasters were able to stop Droot's runs in the qualifiers, which were often deep and made to look relatively easy. He is probably going to be one of the favourites to win the tournament and if he was in any other group I think he'd be coming out in first place without a second thought. But this isn't any old group.Delphi is the second of the killer-zergs in Group C. And his first match will be against Droot. This is probably going to be the best series (or at least one of the best) of the RO16, I can even see both of these Zergs coming out of the group and meeting each other again in the finals - so it really is a series to keep your eyes open for. Delphi himself doesn't need much introduction - but more of a thank you to him for taking the time to partake in our tournament!MystiC < 0-2 >FrashQDroot < 1-2 >DelphiFrashQ < 0-2 >DelphiMystiC < 0-2 >DrootFrashQ < 0-2 >Droot

Starting Games :Gyaru vsgalgtonoldTrOn vsShibbxyzGroup B is potentially the least stacked group of the tournament - though that doesn't reflect the level of play the players in Group B will have for us.Gyaru is another member of Team SC2Improve and he is going to have to prove himself here. After getting into the Winter League by finishing second in Summer League (being defeated 4-1 in the finals by Mix) the question everyone has is whether he is going to be up to the challenge. We haven't seen much from him for a while, so we'll wait and see what he has to show us.Gyaru will have a good start, going into his best match-up PvP as his first game. His opponentgalgtonold represents 3D Gaming and participated frequently in the qualifiers for the Winter League. He showed us some great games, especially vs Khyira on Whirlwind where we saw an hour long PvT. His strategies are often unique and interesting and he can definitely catch his opponent off guard - but is that going to be enough? He often looked weak to early pressure, dropping PvPs to early pressures and PvZs due to being to greedy, so we'll see if he looks any steadier now we're in a new year.Probably one of the most underrated players in the tournament isTrOn, the German Terran player who came out of nowhere to win the second Winter League Qualifier. We didn't see much of him, just some very nicely executed TvP builds in the finals and so there isn't much to judge him on, so I'm extremely excited to see how he does in his group.The fourth player of Group B is our British ZergShibbxyz. He came in and won the first Winter League Qualifier, and in more recent weeks was caught in the stream chat stating "I'm glad I qualified when barely anyone signed up!" He may have a lack of confidence in his ability but he definitely has a great chance of making it out of Group B, and again could very possibly be the favourite. His unique and aggressive ZvT style had me confused and looking like an idiot during his run through the first Qualifier and TrOn will have to do his homework so as to not be caught too off-guard by any quick pressure from Shibbxyz. I feel like Shibbxyz's style will also give him an advantage over the overly-greedy PvZ that has been seen from galgtonold in Qualifier casts, maybe giving him an even better chance at making it out of his group.Gyaru < 2-1 >galgtonoldTrOn < 1-2 >ShibbxyzGyaru < 0-2 >ShibbxyzTrOn < 2-1 >galgtonoldGyaru < 0-2 >TrOn

Starting Games :Mix vsJackOHiSToRy vsJamesykinsThe Group of team-kill, Group A, consists of 3 players from Team SC2Improve. Firstly their isMix, coming into the tournament by winning the SC2Improve Summer League with complete dominance throughout. He's only 14 but he is a force to be reckoned with as his solid mechanics give his macro games great strength and the ability to take down any player in his group.He will be going up against team-mateJackO which will be a re-match from the SC2I Summer League RO8 game where Mix took down JackO 3-2. Both players have come a long way since then and JackO has been able to refine his playstyle and has become one of the best players in Team SC2Improve. This is going to be a close PvZ series with a of a storyline behind it to add to the excitement. If JackO makes it past Mix I think he will be able to have a good shot at advancing to the RO8.HiSTorY is the third player from Team SC2Improve in Group A and is perhaps the underdog. He performed consistently throughout the Qualifiers which allows him to place first by Qualification Points. He constantly managed to take down high-end Master players, but will he be able to keep it up in the RO16? On a good day HiSTorY will be able to make a good fight for second place in this group so let's hope he brings his best performance!Jamesykins has to be my favourite to take the group. Recently qualifying from a BYOC tournament in the i47 UKESET Masters tournament he got to play among the likes of TLO and BlinG. With the current state of ZvT he will be the favourite going into his first game, and with JackO's recent statements of hate towards PvZ it might be that the only player that is be able to put a trip in his stride will be MixMix < 2-1 >JackOHiSTorY < 0-2 >JamesykinsMix < 1-2 >JamesykinsHiSTorY < 1-2 >JackOMix < 2-1 >JackO

In the top of the bracket we haveMix vsTrOn - two players who looked very strong in their RO16 Groups.Mix comes into this group being the only player in the RO16 to proceed without dropping a map as well as being the champion of the SC2Improve Summer League, our last large-scale event, making him a popular player around the SC2Improve Community, though support alone will not carry him through this match. He’s will have one definite upper hand with the ability to study TrOn’s TvZ games from the RO16 - which will play a major role in the preparation of this match.TrOn played spectacularly in the RO16 despite only coming second in his group after losing to Shibbxyz in his first series where, despite his loss, he showcased some fantastic and inspiring late-game TvZ play which contained constant aggression and army movements to keep his Zerg opponent on the back foot all game long.So who’s going to take it? It certainly isn’t going to be easy for either side and it wouldn’t be crazy to think that the victory could go to either Mix or TrOn. I feel if Mix throws in some aggressive openings and is able to also change up his mid-game tech choices between Muta and Infestor he is going to give himself a better chance of succeeding. However with the way TrOn played in the RO16 I really feel that Mix is going to have a tough time if he doesn’t get some damage done early on in each game.This is going to be a fantastic series and I can’t wait to see which of these two will make the semi-finals!As we continue to look down the bracket we find ourselves with the only non-TvZ match in the RO8 -Delphi vsAdonminus.Delphi has just joined a new team and is also beginning to finish with his exams which should hopefully put him into a great mindset for this match. In the RO16 he was the heavy favourite to win his group - and although he did it wasn’t in the spectacular and dominant style which we were all expecting. He pulled out a close 2-1 against Kreator he went on to play FrashQ, who with the slightest better decision making in a base trade could have turned the 2-0 score from Delphi’s favor into his own.Adonminus is the Protoss hope in the RO8 and it will never be easy for him going up against Delphi. With an unfortunate PvP loss in the first series of his RO16 group he finds himself up against this monster of a Zerg player. He isn’t to be counted out quite yet though as just the other day he made it into the finals of the IGA (Israel Gaming Association) tournament - meaning he is definitely going to be up to the challenge.If Delphi comes in the same form as he did for his RO16 Group I really do feel that Adonminus may poke out with the victory here, possibly even convincingly. Deep down however something is telling me that Delphi is going to be bringing his A-game and will not seem as shaky as he did in the RO16.As we enter the lower half of the bracket we are back to the TvZs withHistory vsShibbxyzHistory was probably the underdog of the RO16 - coming out ahead of Jamesykins not once but twice in two nail biting 2-1 series where he showed us a huge variety of TvZ builds, allowing him to advance into the RO8. I said this when I wrote the RO16 preview and I’ll say it again - on a good day History is a monster of a player - but the real question is whether he is going to be consistent enough. In his RO16 group between his series against Jamesykins he got taken down by Mix in two very fast games and he really need to iron out the gaps in his play if he wants to take down his Zerg opponent and make it into the RO4.Shibbxyz is the Zerg with the most fascinating early game ZvT and it’s great that were going to probably see more of it. My only concern however is that History will know exactly what is up with these builds and that could really hurt Shibbxyz here. Providing Shibbxyz’s openings puling him into a reasonable position and he can withstand the numerous openings from History, he should be the favourite to win this series.I betted against History last time and he proved me wrong, so maybe he will do it again but I think Shibbxyz is a class above History here and in any game which looks relatively standard at the 12 minute mark I have to feel is in the favor of Shibbxyz. The way he plays also means History is unlikely to pick up any maps with very early aggression and so I think this could be quite the white-wash for our Terran player (but here’s to him proving me wrong!)And now we come to our final RO8 game and the third TvZ -Kreator vsKhyira. Is Khyira ever going to play someone who’s name doesn’t sound similar to his own?!Kreator has shown to be a strong player in the SC2Improve events he plays in frequently and we even got to have a peak of his ZvT in the RO16 against Destructicon, where he dropped one map due to an 11/11 play. The rest of his games he played aggressively and with strong macro and was able to close out the games relatively quickly, both in the macro game and holding a 2 base timing - but if he finds himself caught off-guard one too many times with these 11/11 builds then he is going to put himself in no danger.His opponent Khyira is a strong opponent, though his mindset vs Zerg does him no favors. “Anyone with two opposable thumbs who selects Zerg can win” is a quote which more or less sums up his mindset on the match-up and this could definitely play a huge role in this match. Having avoided Zergs in the RO16, Khyira was able to come out first in his group, but going up against Kreator is no easy feat and he will have to push back the negativity and throw in a couple of proxy barracks here to take this series!I’m really torn about predicting this one as I feel it can be a landslide defeat against Khyira or a highly competitive series between the both of them, depending on how it starts out and how diligent Kreator is with his control against 11/11 Rax. I’m going to be optimistic here and take the better option for Khyira - where in the initial games we see some very standard Zerg play and no early aggression. If this happens I think Khyira can pick up a win or two and really make a series out of it.