The top StarCraft 2 players in Oceania and Southeast Asia will duke it out this weekend at their World Championship Series Challenger qualifier for the WCS stop in Valencia later this year.
While Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia may not play at the top level of Korea, North America, or Europe, the region has produced many competitive players capable of making an impact on the world stage. This weekend you’ll get to see the region’s best earn a spot to compete on that stage.
Here are some of the players to watch at this weekend’s qualifier.
Sheldon “Seither” Barrow, Terran, 470 WCS Points
Winner of the last WCS Challenger event in the region, Seither is automatically seeded into the final round of this weekend’s event. The Terran player ranks among the region’s best, emerging on the scene in 2016, winning a regional Challenger event over Ethan “iaguz” Zagui and Caviar Napoleon “EnDerr” Marquises-Acampado.
More recently Seither has led his team, SYF Gaming, to back-to-back titles in the ANZ Proleague.
Seither is a bit of an enigma when it comes to attending international events, turning down invites to multiple majors after winning the regional qualifier, like at WCS Leipzig earlier this year. Seither did attend WCS Austin earlier this month where he failed to make it out of his group, but beat Chinese Terran Li “TIME” Peinan to rank in the top 24 at the tournament. He’s the favorite this weekend based on recent form, but he’ll have stiff competition from the rest of the field.
Ryan “NXZ” Jones, Zerg, 270 WCS Points
The second invited player, Zerg mastermind NXZ is already entered into the second round this week thanks to placing second behind Seither at the last Challenger event. In 2015, NXZ qualified for the WCS Premier League. Since then he’s struggled to replicate that success, but has consistently improved his domestic results to once again rank among his region’s best and will look to cement his position this weekend.
Sean “Probe” Kempen, Protoss, 360 WCS Points
The aptly named Probe is the best Protoss player in the ANZ region. He’s earned more WCS points than NXZ so far this year thanks to qualifying for WCS Leipzig in January.
In 2017, Probe made an impact on the world stage, ranking in the top 16 at both WCS Austin and WCS Valencia, as well as placing top 24 at WCS Montreal. He ranked 15th in the WCS standings outside of Korea last year.
So far this year, though, Probe has disappointed. While he’s attended multiple majors across the globe in 2018, like IEM PyongChang, he hasn’t lived up to the high standard he set for Australian StarCraft last year. This weekend will be the first step towards Probe putting himself back on the worldwide map.
Cameron “Yours” Foster, Zerg, 250 WCS Points
Zerg player Yours placed third at the WCS Leipzig qualifier and then inherited the invite to the main event after Seither dropped out due to personal reasons. Yours made the best of the opportunity, winning a match against German Terran Alexander “kauP” Hahn to place in the top 24.
Yours first placed in WCS in 2016, and like NXZ he’s steadily improved his results, finally becoming a true challenger this year.
Ben “Crimson” Macdonald, Zerg, 120 WCS Points & Nick “HuT” Hutton, Terran, 120 WCS Points
Crimson and HuT are part of the core of two-time ANZ Proleague champs SYF Gaming, alongside Seither. The pair have similar results domestically this year, with Crimson ranking top six and top eight in the first two WCS Challenger events and HuT placing top 12 and fourth. Crimson in particular had strong results last year as well.
Varun “Demi” Immanuel, Zerg, 120 WCS Points
Zerg player Demi holds the notable distinction of being the only Indian pro gamer competing on the StarCraft international stage, a consistent competitor in WCS events since 2016. He’s placed in the top 8 in Challenger events in the region four separate times, including a third place finish in the WCS Austin qualifier in May. He also appeared on the international stage at IEM PyongChang alongside Probe, but neither of them were able to win a match.
Craig “Azure” MacKechnie, Terran, 90 WCS Points & Noah “nOtoRioUsPiG” Krensel, Terran 90 WCS Points
Azure and nOtoRiUsPiG are both members of Legacy Esports alongside Probe, who they’ve helped place second and fourth in the first two seasons of the ANZ Proleague. Both have solid, if not spectacular, results domestically in WCS competition. PiG placed fourth at the WCS Leipzig Challenger event while Azure ranked top 12 there and followed it up with a top 8 finish at WCS Austin. Neither are top contenders for the region, but both are competitors capable of taking the title if they have a great weekend.
Ethan “iaguz” Zugai, Zerg, 60 WCS Points
The 27-year-old Zerg player is the oldest contender at this weekend’s Challenger event. He’s scored less WCS points thus far this year than his younger peers. But over the past three or four years, no player from the region is as successful as iaguz. In 2017, he placed in three WCS main events. In 2016, he placed top 8 at WCS Mexico, beating famed Zerg star Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn. In 2015, he qualified for all three season of the WCS premiere events.
But 2018 has not been kind to the veteran. He placed in the top 8 at the WCS Leipzig qualifier, but failed to make it out of the open bracket at the WCS Austin qualifier in May.
Last year in an interview with Team Liquid, iaguz noted his age may be catching up to him with regards to competing against young guns like Seither and Probe, and that he wanted to have “that one big win” before hanging up his mouse. If iaguz hopes the final chapter of his career to go the way he wants it to, he’ll need to turn things around this weekend.
There are even more players who have a chance to win competing at the WCS Challenger event this weekend, but it’s most likely two of the players above will attend Valencia.
The Oceania and Southeast Asia region may not feature the creme of the StarCraft’s crop, but it still fields a talented list of competitors in a scene that’s greatly improve its level of play over the past two years. Whether we see some of the newer contenders like Seither and Probe continue to grow into competitive players internationally or see an aging titan like iaguz return to form, this weekend’s WCS Challenger event that books two ticket to Valencia should be a fun one.
Tune in at 10am AEST tomorrow (or 7pm ET tonight) on Blizzard’s ANZ Twitch channel to catch the open bracket, with the final round set for Sunday.
