The first season of the 2014 World Championship Series Europe is concluding this week. The remaining eight players have proven themselves over the course of the Premier League and will now fight for the title of European Champion and so we asked our commentators what they think about the matchups and who they would pick to be their favorites.

Three players will be defending Europe’s pride over the coming four days, and both Kaelaris and Apollo think at least one of them, namely the Spanish Zerg VortiX, has a good chance at making a splash in this year’s round of eight.
 

“I will happily admit that I’ve been a VortiX fan for quite a while, waiting for him to rise to the very top where I believe he belongs. What’s special this time around, though, is that I think he also believes in himself as well. VortiX has shown us some extremely well-executed aggression against the Koreans while fighting through WCS EU. Every hurdle, including the fearful PvZ of San, is extremely doable in this final Ro8, and if nerves hold, we could be crowning our first non-Korean premier champion in over a year.“

- James “Kaelaris” Carrol

The other two European hopes are Finnish Protoss player Welmu and the TeamLiquid Zerg Snute, who only made his move from WCS America to WCS Europe this season and has already proved his strength by moving on into the round of eight.

Facing them will be five Koreans with a long history of winning. There’s StarDust, who has constantly been at the top of European tournaments since his move to Europe. There’s jjakji, MMA and MC, all of whom have been at the top since the initial release of StarCraft II and have one thing in common: they’ve all won at least one GSL back when it was the only tournament that mattered.

And then there’s the odd one out: San. He’s been around forever, yet never quite as successful as the other three. However, that’s changed recently. His performance has been impeccable and Apollo says he could be a favorite to win the European Premier League this weekend:
 

“Looking at the eight players that we have playing in WCS Europe this weekend, I have nominate San as a favorite to win the tournament. He’s playing the best StarCraft of his life currently, he is very strong in every matchup and, despite not being the most popular player, he will cause upsets against fan favorites.

I personally want to see Vortix do well, and I think he will against Jjakji, but whoever he plays next - MC or Stardust - I think he might have a hard time against them, especially Stardust, who is another player I am looking at to do well.

MMA and Snute is going to be a great series. They’ve played a lot against each other recently and I think this is a really even matchup and will probably provide quite entertaining games as a result. Hard to call a winner here."

- Shaun “Apollo” Clark

Who will prove to be the foreign hope? Who will make it the furthest among the European players and how good of a show will they put on against the top-tier Koreans in this season’s Premier League playoffs?

Below you can find a full schedule of the WCS Ro8 action, for a full WCS schedule and information concerning ticket sales click here. The competition will continue on Saturday and Sunday with the Semifinals and Finals. Don’t forget that right after WCS Europe, the show goes on with WCS America! You can follow the action on Twitch.​

Thursday 10th April 

• 20:00 - 21:30 CEST - MC vs. StarDust (WCS Europe)
• 21:30 - 23:00 CEST - jjakji vs. VortiX (WCS Europe)
• 23:00 - 00:30 CEST - Alicia vs. Bomber (WCS America)
• 00:30 - 02:00 CEST - TaeJa vs. HyuN (WCS America)

Friday 11th April

• 20:00 - 21:30 CEST - MMA vs. Snute (WCS Europe)
• 21:30 - 23:00 CEST - Welmu vs. san (WCS Europe)
• 23:00 - 00:30 CEST - Polt vs. Revival (WCS America)
• 00:30 - 02:00 CEST - Oz vs. Arthur (WCS America)