The StarCraft II World Championship Global Playoffs opening week playoff concluded after four grueling days of intense action. The conclusion of the group stage whittled the 16 qualified Starcraft II professionals to a mere eight for the showdown at BlizzCon. Of the final 16 players, only six were non-Korean representatives; another example of the region's ironclad grip on the game. The final eight players will playoff in a single-elimination bracket for the chance at the $500,000 prize pool in the World Championship Global Finals.
The favorites to win the entire event were arguably Park "Dark" Ryung Woo, Team expert Byun "ByuN" Hyun Woo, and KT Rolster's Jun "TY" Tae Yang. Each South Korean expert was the best at their style and, oftentimes, their race. Dark entered as the dominating force in StarCraft II with a banner 2016 year. He's the one player that is impossible to truly game plan for and pilots his Zerg army with different looks in every game to throw an opponent off. ByuN could be considered the best at micro'ing in the entirety of professional StarCraft competition. He was dominating when he won his championship at the GSL Season 2 finals and won his games due to his ability to outplay in fights instead of macro. And finally, TY was the Terran player to watch for the majority of the year. He was a master of unpredictable strategy and dismantling opponents or tilting them to losses.
The opening week closed the book on eight players, but the most surprising exit was Samsung Galaxy's Kang "Solar" Min Soo. This Zerg master was considered to be a major threat for the championship, but his disappointing 0-2 performance was a product of poor adaptability in pressure situations over raw outplay. On the other side, the most surprising result for the final eight qualified players was the success of True eSport's Mikołaj "Elazer" Ogonowski.
Strongest after opening week:
1. Millenium's Tobias "ShoWTimE" Sieber
The only player to qualify out of the group stages without a single loss, ShoWTimE played impressively from beginning to end. He came into the tournament with little fanfare and exited the opening week with the largest message to everyone watching: "this is my championship." ShoWTimE's strength throughout his matches was his ability to force a grinding pace onto his opposition. In addition to his elite macro play, the slower pace forced the opponents to unforced economic and unit composition mistakes.
His best victory over ByuN was a demonstration of how excellent defense and macro play could defeat even the best actions per minute. But, ShoWTimE's pace and passivity at times did create awkward situations in his otherwise brilliant performances. It will be a weakness to monitor if ShoWTimE wants to continue his positive momentum.
2. Dark
The favorite to take down the tournament looked every bit the part. Dark showcased his world-class, and arguably best, macro play by expanding and adjusting his base and compositions faster than his opposition; his signature early mobility upgrades to units and Overlords was a constant in his matches. His ability to truly max out supplies, fast expansion, and apply ridiculous pressure at the same time distances him from his opposition. The list of Dark's strengths may prove too strong for the rest of the bracket.
His lone blemish in the opening week was a loss against KT Rolster's Kim "Stats" Dae Yeob. In the set, and especially the loss, he was slow in adjusting his composition to the opposition. There were several moments where Dark was too slow to strike with a superior ground army or lost his element of surprise with the superior scouting from Stats. More concerning was Dark's micro decisions against units with better mobility like blink stalkers and his insistence to just run his important units into unfavorable fights.