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The Competitors of Red Bull Battle Grounds Atlanta
Is this the day that North American StarCraft players have been waiting so very long for?
Polt at Red Bull Battle Grounds North America
© Cameron Baird / Red Bull Content Pool
With Battle Grounds Atlanta kicking off at the end of the week, it's already shaping up to be a truly North American tournament as many of the region's best and most notable players prepare to compete.
Not only does the tournament welcome some familiar faces from Battle Grounds North America, but it will also give viewers a chance to watch player like Geoff "iNcontroL" Robinson take a break from the casting desk and get back to the battlefield, or see Brood War and Team Liquid alum Tyler "NonY" Wasieleski return to the main stage.
Foreigner Hopes
Atlanta residents Choi "Polt" Seong Hun and Kim "viOLet" Dong Hwan will also be at the tournament, but so far the lineup for this tournament is stacked with American players. They are, however, joined by fellow veterans Ryoo "SeleCT" Kyung Hyun and Choi "Bomber" Ji Sung. The latter is coming off a very strong run in WCS America after a spring and early summer where he had a number of good tournament runs, but never quite broke into the top four.
There are a number of other WCS America Premier players making their way to Atlanta for Battle Grounds. Chinese Zerg Huang "TooDming" Hui Ming may have just missed out on the American quarterfinals with a loss to Bomber, but he'll have a chance at revenge next weekend. TooDming has looked like he's ready to take his game to an elite level since last year, but so far success has barely eluded him. Battle Grounds may give him his chance to break through.
(North) American Pride
The Can-Am contingent of Premier League has had its own share of struggles. Chris "HuK" Loranger has had some great performances this year, both at Lone Star Clash and at the qualifiers for Red Bull Battle Grounds, but he's also had his share of disappointments, including a rough Day 2 performance at Battle Grounds North America.
He's joined by fellow Premier League players Kevin "qxc" Riley, Henry "hendralisk" Zheng, Brandon "puCK" Qual, and Conan "Suppy" Liu. Qual has shown a lot of improvement this year, with a round of 16 appearance in WCS America and a heroic performance at Battle Grounds North America, where he adopted the moniker Iron Man after he was targeted by his fellow competitors for Day 1 destruction. But at times, every player in this group has looked good enough to make deep tournament runs against strong opposition.
ViBE vs Grubby at Training Grounds Santa Monica
© [unknown]
Dan "ViBE" Scherlong, the United States 2012 WCS champion and NA runner-up, will also be playing at Battle Grounds Atlanta. We haven't seen much of him in 2014, but he was a regular presence in Premier League last year and has shown flashes of greatness. With a lot of spacious, Zerg-friendly maps in rotation, this could be a great opportunity for ViBE to remind everyone why he was once the US champion.
Don't Call It a Comeback
Atlanta will also be a chance to see some familiar faces who don't appear in competition as often as they used to. Geoff "iNcontroL" Robinson is also going to be at Atlanta. While iNcontroL has worked mostly as a host and analyst in the last couple years, he's made the odd appearance at MLG and HomeStory. He'll be joined by former FXO players Marc-Olivier "desRow" Proulx, Derek "TheoRy" Travisano, and Robert "SirRobin" Switts.
Finally, NonY will be competing at Atlanta following a quiet 2013 and 2014, after he parted ways with Team Liquid. He made a good run at breaking into WCS Premier this season, but had the bad luck of drawing Lee Jae Dong in the challenger matches, and lost to the Zerg legend 3-1. He stands a very good chance of achieving a better result in Atlanta.
NonY at Red Bull LAN Seattle
© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool
There also a total wildcard in Olivia "Livibee" Seeto, the Australian Zerg and caster, who will be putting her skills to the test in Atlanta. While most of her focus has been casting to date, she plays at the Grandmaster level on the Southeast Asia server. She made an early exit from MLG Spring in 2013 after losing to Hendralisk, but it's hard to read much into that given that she's only made a few competitive appearances. She may surprise people next weekend.
Still, registration doesn't close until July 10, and more players could enroll to challenge the North American stars on their home turf. With every player who survives to the round of 32 earning prize money, and each of the top 16 taking WCS points, there is plenty of incentive for some more pros to come looking for their share of the glory in Atlanta.
Full list of Battle Grounds Atlanta Contenders as of 7/8
- StoicNonY624
- BCNRehabThis
- ArtOfWar
- HuK
- iNcontroL
- SquidfingerS647
- Egg
- Darkblue
- FrozenEcho1316
- Huha
- toodming400
- dSeleCT
- ironman.1811
- desRow.816
- Geeden
- Ralethon.724
- PrimalMoon
- LuvstoSpooge
- CobraVenom
- Falcon.1801
- BoneArchist
- Cowman.509
- ReMiiX.306
- Filoleg
- TheoRy
- Napoleon
- colqxc.503
- hendralisk.869
- eradin.543
- Kansas1154
- gladiusreal
- Merovingius.723
- ViBE.727
- livibee.177
- honeybadger
- Aestis240
- FXOSirRobin.629
- SuGaR
- popsicleB
- Alumina
- Josiah.870
- RuFF.528
- ilililililil.1634
- PiRatE516
- Jank#192
- LaxAxeman
- Sosaryu
- Apocalypse.1121
- noko
- Havoc
- Future603
- Baer639
- Maximus
- Destiny1691
- Blast.227
- SiliconJeebus
- TheWay
- Lycan
- DirtyGG
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