WCS Korea Recap

Author's note: I started writing this as a mock-up but discarded the idea as it was way too late to post as a feature. I did keep coming back to it though. While I am not 100% happy about this as an article, it was fun to write and perhaps even more fun when it came to giving me silly ideas.

WCS Korea Recap

It’s all about the small differences.

WCS Nationals have been a welcome addition to the SC2 tournament scene. When WCG decided to become its own worst enemy, the redeeming feature was that it still served as the Olympics of StarCraft. However it was a twisted, ghastly and almost unrecognizable version of its former self. WCS stepped in, as if given to the masses as a gift from the heavens to liberate the land from having to endure a nostalgia fest as its prime and truly multi-national event.

The exposure given to the different national scenes has been a good start to some real incentive based growth in scenes that get overshadowed by the juggernauts of tournament hosting, where up and coming players can make their names through taking matches sporadically over the established professionals. Not only in making storylines belonging to the national scene leading into a global battle, what is very welcome is the growth in infrastructure. Having Nationals on offline events, produced by independent organizers, getting crowds of fans and players together,

It has not all been perfect, but it has been a terrific first year and with the North American, European and Asian Championships being next on the horizon, it will hopefully continue to impress, entertain and titillate.

[image loading]

Your Nationals have a few contenders for top places in the Global Championships? How nice. Here, let us just insert this little portion of our talent base into the equation...

Of course, Korea would be a bit different.

Korea, the land of concentrated StarCraft talent, practice and history, would also be the country that truly deviated from the norm when it came to how the WCS National Championship would be held. Hosted by GomTV, it was held as a multi-week event, serving as a mini GSL championship rather than being a one day or weekend event like all the others. For a fan of watching games, this was a pleasure, we got to see all matches played and it felt more prestigious as a result. On the other hand, it meant that some players would not be able to compete; players like Taeja and Alicia decided not to enter in the first place due to attending other tournaments while notably Mvp, MC and Liquid’Hero had to forfeit during the tournament. I guess you could say that it detracted from the Nationals as such; it clearly felt wrong for a lot of fans to see their favourites left out in order to compete in what felt like less important tournaments. On the other hand, given how hectic and stacked the tournament scene is, these scheduling conflicts could not be helped given the timeline and notice available to other organizers as well as to Blizzard and Gom. If the WCS lives up to its promise, giving it the prestige in currently holds mostly in potentia and if Blizzard continue to take an active hand in working with tournament organizers, we should see a smoother execution next year and with that, one can hope that scheduling conflicts can be avoided more efficiently.

So apart from the structure, which was a blessing and a curse, what exactly did set WCS Korea apart?

Pachyderms in the China Shop.

+ Show Spoiler +

While bulls are not elephants, whenever I see the term I am for some reason reminded of this little song.

Now, some time ago I re-wrote the lyrics. I thought about making an 'Elephant fan club' on Team Liquid, but the whole eSF vs. KeSPA situation in live report threads put me off the idea. They can safely be used here though!

The elephants stampede, titles guaranteed
You either creep spread like you're Jaedong or get the fuck out outta Gom
With OSL, MSL, Pro League the arts
You will know the competition's a farce
Mechanics for life, practiced in strife, ungodly micro
Non-Kespa players? There's no tomorrow
Getting to play for two years without them trying
Quit lying, in six months they're gonna own face

Hybrid Proleague going on
While they're in the WCS
HotS on the horizon
Bow down to fucking TBLS

Practice's their food, their power, their moves
Build order wins, they'll take it but in real games you're screwed
Look up VODs on GOMtv, you see nine champions - mass abdications
Join the unemployment line (Or LoL)
Joined TL in 2010 and think you know what a good game is son
It's a damn shame you were so late you missed out all the fun
This game will soon see a true professional's caress
Hots on the horizon - Bow down to TBL and fucking S

Hybrid Proleague going on
While they're in the WCS
HotS on the horizon
Bow down to fucking TBLS

Elephants on parade
Elephants on parade
Elephants on parade

It started out small. Ten Gom players were seeded in, as were sox KeSPA players, based on their GSL and ProLeague records. The others had to qualify through varying degrees of competition. The qualifiers were the first time we got a glimpse of the new future where elephants faced bears. They almost all fell, some making it far, some going out early. However, one player did make it through. Reality from Samsung Khan went through two TSL Zergs in Shine and Symbol and ended up beating Complexity’s Heart in his group final to advance. Not much of a foreshadowing of what would follow, but hey, that changed rather fast.

Of course, round one of WCS Korea proper did not change all too much about the prevalent view that KeSPA players would need more time to fully compete with their GSL counterparts. Seven entered, five fell. Reality beat a visibly nervous Yugioh; looking at how far out of his comfort zone the King of Code A looked, this was;

a) not an upset at all, people who had seen Reality play TvZ would have more than a slight suspicion that he would be able to get through his first match with flying colors.
b) an insight into just what kind of pressure the current GSL players felt when facing their more elusive and experienced KeSPA brethren.

The other WR1 winner was Roro, beating Hack 2-1 to advance. Again, given Hack’s notoriously inconsistent performance, it was not the biggest upset and also perhaps not the most portentous of matches. Roro looked solid, he looked like he would not be out of place in Code A and he deserved his advancement. But while having the first GSL player get Roro’lled gave much amusement and/or annoyance to live report posters, we did not know if it truly meant anything.

Then something magical happened. It is not entirely known whether it was the sheer brilliance of KeSPA professionals, having years of experience of getting damn good at RTS games, if it was what looked to become an insurmountable pressure on GSL players or if it was an annihilation of a calibre of players never to be seen again But somehow, some way, KeSPA players went on a run of total domination in LR1, going up to a run of 11-0 over GSL players. You can hide your kids, you can hide your wife, but there was no hiding the fact that the people who said that it would take six months for KeSPA players to catch up in skill were either the most modest or the most delusional predictors of the future seen since the New York Times triumphantly declared that ‘A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere’ in 1936.

[image loading]

This gif cannot be used too frequently. Fionn named it 'Rain steals Bisu's life', which is a fine title.

Perhaps the most clinical demonstration was seen in Effort defeating DongRaeGu in game three of their LR1 series. In a pure low economy ling/bling game, Effort was able to out-micro, out-multitask and out-strategize a player who had known no equal in terms of Zerg mechanics in SC2. The micro wars seemed to never end, it almost felt like time stood still as Effort simply outplayed the MVP champion. In the end, the question was no longer whether KeSPA players would be able to catch up in the lifespan of Wings of Liberty; the question would be how dominant they would be.

Finally, Liquid’Hero stood up and stated ‘No more’, defeating Soulkey as the first KeSPA player was eliminated from the tournament. But the statement had been made. CJ Entus’ Roro and herO as well as SKT Rain laid claim to three out of the ten qualification spots to WCS Asia. KeSPA had three of their seven players qualify. And while GSL players would go on to state just how much pressure they felt, how intimidating it was to face KeSPA players and how the fans should not criticize them so harshly for being eliminated by players still practicing Brood War for ProLeague, the old guard of the StarCraft scene, the machines, would show the world that StarCraft2 would tremble before their might.

The Fall of the Korean Terran.

You are Terran you say? Wrong tournament, hope winning just about everything in 2010 and 2011 can somehow make up for it?

So in a world where the only thing preventing Terran from being universally buffed, the only thing that has stood between Terran and all kinds of nerfs being reverted and in a world where Terran in the western world is almost extinct was the Korean Terran, we can all guess how many Terrans would ultimately qualify from WCS Korea.

...

Ok, so Taeja did not even try to qualify. Mvp dropped out so that he could show the world how to beat Zerg in Europe. MarineKing somehow had an MKP moment going out to Horror in the qualifiers. The Terran starting line-up for the tournament featured sC, aLive, Polt, Gumiho, Mvp, Hack, Happy, dreamertt and Reality. Seeing that Mvp forfeited, that is not the formidable group as we have seen in GSL previously. In all fairness, a lot of unrelated reasons conspired to make Terran less of a force, but having zero Terrans qualify for WCS Asia is shocking. Of course, while this was happening Mvp was busy unveiling new strategies and developing a play style that protects exploding wrists while still taking foreign prize money, so it is not as if all hope is lost. But it all just feels wrong: We have had two years to learn that Korean Terrans will win no matter what.

The (Continued) Rise of Korean Protoss.

You thought you had seen enough PvP after watching Seed destroy MC in the GSL S3 finals? You thought that you could easily live the rest of your life not watching another humongous Colossus war? You thought that the Korean tournaments could not get more Protoss top heavy after seeing ¾ Protoss in the last two GSLs?

Well, WCS Korea was a rude awakening. Just as we have been trained to believe in Terran dominance for two years, we have been trained to believe that the only consistent and truly championship capable Protoss was MC.

[image loading]

The storm is here. Protoss domination the logical outcome

It is time to re-evaluate. Creator, Squirtle, Parting, Seed, SKTRain, CJherO and LiquidHerO made up seven out of the top eight spots. Now, Seed is the newest Code S champion. Squirtle has been consistently strong over a long period. Parting is a PvT maestro and was hailed as the best new Protoss a few GSL seasons ago. Creator revolutionized PvT and may have the most consistent PvZ in recent memory. Liquid’Hero has been lauded as one of the most exciting and best players sans nerves since winning DreamHack Winter 2011. Rain and herO are stampeding elephants. So perhaps none of these would be a surprise in the top eight individually, it did make for a very strange top half of the tournament. GomTvT became GomPvP.

Of course the randomness of how the brackets did work out made it all come together like this, but it was a landslide that we rarely get to see from a race that up until very recently has been the least likely to accomplish such a feat.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (and a little extra at the very end).

The Good.

Seed and Parting got to re-affirm their strength. It is no mean feat to do well in the tournament following a Code S win; Jjakji, DRG and even MMA have shown patchy form after accomplishing such a thing. Seed is establishing himself as a true contender to MC’s throne, embodying both deadliness and consistency. Meanwhile, Parting shot himself back into the limelight after being rather quiet since losing to Mvp Code S round of four. Of course, it helps to have a je ne sais qois (French for amusing celebrations) to help you along, but all in all this was reminiscent of the most exciting new Protoss player who should be a contender for GSL titles.

[image loading]

Je ne sais quoi...but perhaps Parting is implementing his multi-stage plan to attract fans.

Rain, CJherO and Roro. All showing pure strength, of course this was the elephant tournament in terms of storyline until that particular narrative was cruelly usurped by Protoss somehow dominating the top eight.

Miya. No-one believed. Miya quite often looked like an inferior version of Yugioh, a Maganic Wars if you will. Coming from a team looking to be in distress, not having had much stage experience, much less success, he was the most unlikely of all the qualifiers. Rounding out the performance beating Polt in a well played series, we finally got to see some of the praise lauded by proxy (Wolf) from Choya.

The Bad.

The not quite Code S players. Coca, sC, Hack, B4 and Horror. All came into it with a legitimate chance at qualifying, perhaps not the best, but still it looked like the kind of tournament where they could prove some return to form. Through being outclassed by Protoss or trampled by elephants, they all fell short indeed of that goal.

Effort. Yes, some criticism for the DRG killer. I really wanted a category of Bad and Good mixed together, because Effort would definitely belong, but with the praise in the elephant sections this belongs here. Effort looked lost in ZvP. While no Zerg looked dominant in this matchup for WCS Korea, Effort was completely and utterly lost. If there existed a Grubby line for ZvP, Effort would not be able to see the line. And it is a shame, because he looked like a real contender elsewhere.

DongRaeGu. His lead up to the tournament was not the best. DRG is in a slump, people would write. Well, I am not quite comfortable enough with what that actually means, but he got outclassed in two series in a row. While the defeats were narrow enough, the fact that he soundly deserved to lose twice in a row is not a sign of the DRG that was the final boss, was the GSL champion and was the undisputed best Zerg in the world.

The Ugly.

Happy. You were the protégé of Mvp. That is Mvp, four time GSL winner. Blizzard Invitational winner. Best player in the world. You then shot up to make Code S round of four in your inaugural season. You played mech like perhaps only Mvp would. You looked strong. Here you go out to Tails in a series that will not be remembered for being sublime. And then, in a matchup that has looked like Happy’s real forte some time ago, you go out to Reality, winning a first game you had no right to before subsequently getting outclassed as soon as Reality decided not to donate games.

Yugioh. Seldom have we seen a player look more like a deer caught in the headlights. To be fair, elephant headlights would be a very scary thing, but it was very disheartening to see a player so obviously lose his grasp on the game so utterly. Losing to Reality and herO is not the worst, it is understandable and could happen to any Zerg of his calibre, but the way he did it served as a stark example of the difference of mindset between someone like Yugioh and what looked to be seasoned professionals.

Puzzle. Poor Puzzle. He looked like Seed before the world was ready for Seed, consistently strong, awesome mechanics, rarely outplayed, never outclassed. Miya let it slip in one of his winner interviews that the pressure on him lead Puzzle to contemplate retiring after being herO early on; while I doubt that this was a serious comment about the state of Puzzle’s future plans, it must be distressing to lose to the same player later on in the tournament and then finally lose out on qualifying for WCS Asia.

The Winner!

Creator. We have all known for a while that Creator was the real deal. The question was whether he would really be able to challenge the likes of Seed and Squirtle as far as consistency and power went, or Parting for innovation and flair.

[image loading]

This man has his own fashion show! He also apparently has a WCS Korea trophy. Finally, he has a devout fan that makes sniping him easy - opterown may or may not be the StarCraft equivalent of a real life stalker leading hit men to his celebrity obsession.

The question has been resolved. Not only did Creator win WCS Korea, he looked splendid in doing so. While his fame when bursting onto the scene came from his PvT, right now one would have to argue that his PvZ is probably stronger and that his PvP looks stellar. While PvP may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it is easy to take delight in his clinical execution of aggressive plays when needed and even more so, his super mechanics in the late game. He has the most consistent usage of chrono boosting upgrades, he has the most fleshed out late game plan and he plays a strategic game that was simply superior to the other Protoss (of which there were, if you have not really been following the story up until this point, rather a lot).

Incidentally, people may find it interesting in the tournament that let elephants loose to trample the establishment, a player with very limited ties to both KeSPA and to the ‘b-teamers/training partners/dishwashers’ (hello Parting, you got your revenge!) turned SC2 professionals’ camps.

TSL4 finals make for a compelling argument that the new generation is here, ready to kick serious behind.

Creator is a worthy winner. He may also be a harbinger of things to come, where we see a new age of players come in and defeat elephants and ex-dishwashers alike. Not only that, but there is also the tantalizing possibility of seeing fashion show reels in live reports, so there are things to look forward to for everyone.

WCS Korea Recap

Completed

Ongoing

Upcoming