Friday 11 April 2014

WCS Europe/America Round of 8 (Day One)

Given that ESL ran both WCS EU and NA on the same day I thought I'd include the recaps of both here (along with how they meshed with predictions--America and Europe).  The VODs can be found here.  Aligulac (whose predictions I followed) was completely wrong on the day (0-4), which is remarkable.

WCS Europe

Picon small.png MC 3 Picon small.png StarDust 1

While the Boss Toss certainly had the pedigree to win the series, he was a considerable underdog according to Aligulac.  Game one (Frost) StarDust opened two-gate versus MC's one-gate; StarDust got the scout, applied pressure and MC nearly lost his mothership corp because it was out of position; StarDust went for blink as he pulled back his stalker pressure (MC also got blink); StarDust killed some workers with a blink-stalker hit squad in the main; there was a period of passivity as both players went up to three bases, but with an upgrade advantage and a slightly bigger army, StarDust took a favourable engagement at the top of the ramp to MC's third and won the game.  Game two (Yeonsu) MC went for a cannon rush, which killed the nexus in the main, but StarDust was able to keep his other buildings and rebuild in the natural; MC was too far ahead and StarDust couldn't great enough units to hold him off and had to tap out.  Game three (Habitation Station) MC went for a proxy two-gate which StarDust scouted late and while the game dragged out for a bit the result was never in doubt.  Game four (Heavy Rain) MC went for a proxy stargate and then blink as StarDust faked DTs (or changed his mind) and went for blink; MC made a heavy stalker/immortal push and while StarDust didn't die to it he lost his natural and a ton of units and then died attempting to pressure with a counter.  The series, other than game one, was not particularly engaging.

Ticon small.png jjakji 3 Zicon small.png VortiX 0

The only series Aligulac gave the edge to the foreigner.  Game one (Frost) jjakji went for a greedy three CC's that VortiX scouted late and couldn't do much about; the game went into the usual muta/ling vs bio; VortiX set up a flank and forced away jjakji's initial push; VortiX attacked the third and killed off a lot of SCVs, then defended jjakji's next attack leaving the Terran behind on supply; jjakji was able to snipe the fifth with a drop; VortiX killed off the mineral line of the fourth as jjakji had no turrets to defend; jjakji attacked as he maxed, targeting the fourth (killing it) while dropping the fifth and killing it again; VortiX harassed as he rebuilt the fifth (now the fourth)--jjakji dropped it again, but couldn't kill it; jjakji took his fifth as he killed the fourth; jjakji dropped and killed the re-built fourth and fifth; VortiX (now with ultras) killed the fifth; jjakji attempted a frontal attack, but could not win on creep as both players wound up around 100 supply after the fight; jjakji killed the fourth with a drop as VortiX did not spot jjakji's ninja fifth; an attempt on VortiX's fifth was deflected, but jjakji killed a lot of drones long distance mining on the fourth; jjakji killed the fifth and sixth as VortiX dropped below 60 supply and tapped out moments later.  Game two (Habitation Station) jjakji went with a one-base all-in with an SCV pull which VortiX was not ready for and died too immediately.  Game three (Daedalus Point) VortiX went for quick speed as jjakji went for a banshee with cloak; jjakji's banshee/hellion push did a little damage; both players were going for the usual style (muta/ling vs bio); jjakji attacked with a marine/hellion push and steamrolled VortiX's army which did not have a critical mass of mutas yet and ended the series.  The best game was the first which is well worth watching.

WCS America

Picon small.png Alicia 3 Ticon small.png Bomber 2

One of the two most surprising upsets of the day (the other follows).  Game one (Habitation Station) Alicia went for a gold base expand with oracle into a void ray/gateway all-in which rolled over Bomber.  Game two (Heavy Rain) both players went for quick expands as Bomber went for a quick three racks and Alicia a quick colossus with blink; Bomber attacked with a combat shield/stim timing which killed some units, but he had to withdraw because of the colossus; when Alicia pushed out Bomber sent in a marauder hit squad into the natural which did a ton of damage; Alicia's attack did some damage with blink stalkers going in and out of the main, but eventually Bomber trapped the Protoss forces and crushed them, winning the game.  Game three (Polar Night) both players opened up economically again; Alicia went for blink as Bomber went for a widow mine drop, but had to withdraw because of stalkers at the front; Bomber moved out and Alicia used a warp prism to harass; Alicia got a good engagement with Bomber who lost track of his opponent's army; the counter attack was barely held and Bomber's attempted doom drop was deflected and he had to tap out shortly afterwards.  Game four (Yeonsu) Bomber went for an ebay block; Alicia attempted a one base four-gate, including sneaking a pylon into Bomber's main, but Bomber found it at the last minute and Alicia tapped out moments later.  Game five (Frost) Alicia went nexus first as Bomber went for three racks; Alicia seven-gated and as Bomber didn't scout and (anticipating a blink attack) he got most of his army forcefielded out of his natural and tapped out moments later.  No standout games unfortunately.

Zicon small.png HyuN 3 Ticon small.png Taeja 2

The other big upset of the day.  Game one (Frost) Taeja went CC first into cloaked banshee; HyuN scouted the banshee and it did minimal damage as he prepared for a huge upgraded roach push; the roach attack did not do much economic damage as the two players exchanged armies; HyuN transitioned into ling/muta; Taeja pushed the third and HyuN was late with his banes (which didn't have speed) which lost him the fight and the third; HyuN held the push, but found himself far behind on upgrades; Taeja killed the third again while dropping the main; HyuN held the natural briefly, but lost all his mutas and Taeja continued to push and won moments later.  Game two (Heavy Rain) Taeja opened with three reapers as he transitioned into banshee--the first he flew over a group of queens and lost without accomplishing anything; HyuN went straight into muta/ling; both players were passive until they were firmly into the mid-game; Taeja dropped the fifth, but didn't get much done while his push on the fourth killed the base; Taeja's army pushed the fourth, but couldn't quite kill the base; Taeja killed the fifth again as HyuN killed the third and a ton of SCVs winding up double the Terran supply; Taeja tried and failed to defend his fourth and tapped out shortly afterwards.  Game three (Polar Night) Taeja went for just two reapers as HyuN went for early ling harass to lead into his upgraded roach push; when HyuN pushed out Taeja went for a counter double drop triggering a full blown base trade, but Taeja did not have enough army tapped out moments later.  Game four (Habitation Station) Taeja went for a bunker push which wound up reducing HyuN to six drones; Taeja went home to macro up and HyuN killed a few SCV's with his lings; Taeja went up to three bases including the gold; HyuN also went up to three aiming for a roach all-in; Taeja pushed back the attack and HyuN aborted a full engagement rather than lose his army; Taeja pushed with tanks and crushed HyuN's slow bane/roach army and the Zerg tapped out.  Game five (Daedalus Point) opened standard with Taeja pushing and killing the fourth before HyuN had his mutas out; HyuN kept running banelings at the third, which at first accomplished nothing but over time caused serious economic damage; Taeja pressured the fourth and third, killing neither, but resetting the muta count; Taeja lingered near the fourth a bit too long allowing HyuN to surround his army; Taeja forced HyuN to cancel his fifth with a drop as the Zerg began to transition into ultralisks; HyuN sent his mutas into the main as Taeja pressured the new fifth, but inattention from Taeja lost him his units out on the map and down 70 supply he tapped out moments later.  This was the best series of the day and HyuN won through better decision-making.
 
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

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