I am willing to bet that NA/EU will not win 1 tournament in S3 if there is a team from Asia in it
M5 is the only excpetion, they have a small chance
Well, certainly the s2 playoffs showed relative weakness on the part of NA. My assumption though is that the more they play in these types of international events, the better set up for success they will be, because you tend to rise to the level of your competition. Also, they are in a much better position now to train seriously, both between how S2 playoffs went, and the migration of a lot of teams into permanent gaming houses and training schedules.
TPA has been training as a team in a managed system and location since something like last January. They had all the right pieces -- great training structure, good strategic thinkers, strong mechanical players. A team's performance is going to be something like:
[teamwork synergy + amount of practice/quality of practice] x individual skill levels x [in-game leadership + out-of-game planning/leadership]
The high performing Korean teams have many of the same pieces, and are in an ecosystem where they get really high quality practice because they are regularly playing against other teams at that level.
Tournaments like this will push NA to a better quality of game, and when you combine that with a better opportunity to get in steady practice and good out of game planning, I think you'll see the NA ecosystem gradually improve, and be more competitive in S3.
Korean teams are at the top of the world right now
M5 is the only excpetion, they have a small chance
TPA has been training as a team in a managed system and location since something like last January. They had all the right pieces -- great training structure, good strategic thinkers, strong mechanical players. A team's performance is going to be something like:
[teamwork synergy + amount of practice/quality of practice] x individual skill levels x [in-game leadership + out-of-game planning/leadership]
The high performing Korean teams have many of the same pieces, and are in an ecosystem where they get really high quality practice because they are regularly playing against other teams at that level.
Tournaments like this will push NA to a better quality of game, and when you combine that with a better opportunity to get in steady practice and good out of game planning, I think you'll see the NA ecosystem gradually improve, and be more competitive in S3.