Ryan ‘NXZ’ Jones (Australia)
NXZ first made waves in a string of Australian Cyber League tournaments in 2013 and continued to play competitively throughout Heart of the Swarm.
He went quiet after the launch of Legacy of the Void as his motivation was intrinsically tied to the availability of offline events. Not motivated just by online glory, NXZ improves in leaps and bounds whenever a LAN presents itself.
With his determination to excel at offline events and the extraordinary form he presented in the Season 3 qualifier, NXZ has a serious chance for a podium finish in Sydney.
Sean ‘Probe’ Kempen (Australia; OSC-ROOT)
Probe emerged around the same time as NXZ and trained his skills until his 2015 breakthrough, winning his first offline event. Not content with resting on his laurels, he continued in earnest and had a string of impressive performances ever since.
Probe is confident in his orthodox Protoss play. He prefers to force his opponents to play longer games where he has the advantage with situational awareness, superior engagements and micro-management.
With five of his last seven major tournament runs being halted by iaguz, Probe will have his sights set on getting revenge on Saturday.
Ben ‘Crimson’ MacDonald (New Zealand; SYF Gaming)
Crimson is a seasoned player within the scene, having competed local tournaments for several years.
He has produced consistent results with orthodox Zerg play and shown a penchant for emulating strategies evolving from South Korea. His Zerg versus Zerg matchup is particularly strong and he has shown he can overcome the region’s finest on a good day.
Having lived for years in the shadows of Enderr, Petraeus, KingKong, PiG, NXZ and MightyKiwi, it’s a safe bet he’s itching to steal the spotlight. If he brings his A-game to the main event, he’ll be a dark horse that many will not be expect.
Ethan ‘iaguz’ Zugai (Australia; OSC-ROOT)
iaguz is a living legend of Australian Esports and has been playing StarCraft II since the Wings of Liberty beta in 2010. He has won multiple offline events and he is unrivalled in online achievements. If there’s one word to describe iaguz, it’s consistency.
Even when he’s in poor form, he’s great. When he’s in good form, he’s magnificent.
He has spent time honing his craft in the ‘ROOT Gaming’ house alongside MightyKiwi and had many opportunities to represent our region overseas due to his performance.
He has a methodical approach to his Terran play, favouring macro-oriented builds and attempting to overwhelm his opponent with huge armies throughout the mid-game. He’s been using variations of this strategy for seven years and shows no sign of mixing things up now.
If it ain’t broke, right?
While he’ll still be dealing with the repercussions of jet-lag having just returned from Jönköping, he’s undeniably a favourite for a podium finish.
The season 3 finals of the StarCraft II WCS ANZ Challenger league start at 11.00 am AEST this Saturday. You can watch the action right here.
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