The best Starcraft player of 2013 will be crowned this weekend at Blizzcon 2013. The final 16 players are confirmed after NaNiwa took down Revival 3-0 in the tiebreaker match. Here is my prediction.
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Round of 16
Soulkey vs. NaNiwa: There are few players who can beat Soulkey, and NaNiwa does not seem to be in that category. Soulkey may need to choke in order for NaNiwa to take this, but how often is that?
Bomber vs. MMA: I never doubt Bomber’s TvT. Let’s see if Bomber’s law is working at Ro16. MMA is no push over in TvT either. The GomTvT days.
HerO vs. sOs: 50-50. Recent PvP results of HerO is worrying, albeit he only lost to top class Protoss.
Polt vs. aLive: Both are pretty good with TvT, but I rate Polt as a better player.
Dear vs. TaeJa: Dear has that INnoVation of Season 1 aura around him now. I agree with TaeJa that TvP is his worst match up. Winter is here.
Jaedong vs. Mvp: It is hard to gauge how well will Mvp plays this weekend, so Jaedong seems like a safe bet.
Maru vs. MC: This will be close. Both sides have that aggressive mind set, so it can turn out to be a great set. MC’s blink stalkers may be the X factor to shut down Maru’s drops.
INnoVation vs. duckdeok: I doubt anyone will bet on duckdeok. Sorry to be that honest.
Quarter final
Soulkey vs. Bomber: Soulkey is much more superior in TvZ than Bomber. I am sure Soulkey will want Bomber to beat MMA, who is certainly going to give Soulkey a much harder time in TvZ.
sOs vs. Polt: 50-50. A match of expected vs. unexpected. Expect the unexpected from sOs, and expect Polt being Polt. I see Polt may just sneak a close win here.
Dear vs. Jaedong: This is going to be a heavy weight match. It could go either way. But again, I don’t dare to bet against Dear’s form.
Maru vs. INnoVation: 51-49 for this. INnoVation has improved his TvT since his 4-0 defeat to Maru in season 2. But after watching Maru’s convincing victory against MMA in season 3 finals, I think Maru is a better player in TvT.
Semi final
Soulkey vs. Polt: Soulkey won Polt convincingly in season 3 final. Obviously, Soulkey is well aware of Polt’s TvZ opening, and hence, Polt will need to mix it up against Soulkey if he wants to stand a chance against the best Zerg in TvZ.
Dear vs. Maru: Dear plays perfectly against Maru in season 3 finals. Will Maru prove that he could have won Dear if he was using his own mouse? I will go for Dear.
Final
Soulkey vs. Dear: Watch season 3 finals. There you have it.
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My prediction is mainly based on recent games and my own intuition. Who knows what will happen on the actual day since these top players are so closely matched. Feel free to come back and laugh at me if I predict as well as Artosis could.
TerranCraft 
I think this should be “now”: “The final 16 players are not confirmed”.
Thanks for your predictions, I mostly agree with them. I want to believe in Naniwa still though. I think he can take out anyone on a good day. Soulkey is definitely one of the harder ones to topple though.
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Really? Which pairings have yet been confirmed?
What I was trying to say is that you have a typo at the beginning of the article, you have a “not” and it should be “now”. :)
Thanks. Edited. =)
Was Maru using a mouse he wasn’t used to during season 3 finals? That’s incredible that he managed to play so well! Do you know what mouse he was using vs what he normally has?
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=434388
“To be honest with you, my mouse broke at the Season 3 finals so I had to borrow another players mouse. Because I wasn’t used to the mouse, I had trouble with my control. I’m certain I’ll beat him if I meet him again at the WCS Global Finals.”
He is giving me high expectation now.
Well this would be exactly my preditcion .. pretty safe ^^ almost boring.
I feel 1-2 upsets can have a “MASSIVE” impact though.
My heart says Innovation will take the tournament ;)
My mind says Dear will win without a single map loss ^^
It is a massive call to think that Dear won’t even drop a map. It is hard to label “upsets” for Blizzcon since most of the pairings are 50-50 or close.
I was joking …well Im praying for Innovation :3
It seems like many Terran fans are rooting for INnoVation. Many on Twitter are telling me that they are hoping that INnoVation can take this.
What if quark quark pulls off a true upset? lol
Am I the only one who think Taeja might be able to take down Dear?
Taeja’s TvP is godly, the way he took out Rain in the last season’s finals with impeccable play, especially Ghost micro and Army positioning. Plus Taeja usually does really well in offline, weekend tourneys.
That said Dear is slightly more aggressive than Rain, so if Taeja get caught off guard then its a different story.
I will be happy to see TaeJa does well. But… Dear seems to be too perfect. At least at the moment.