White-Ra, Ex, and Stork, WCG2007

World Cyber Games 2007. The stage is set in Seattle. Three strong Korean favourites are present in the form of Hwasin, sAviOr and Stork. The past year in Monza saw the Koreans sweep 1-2-3 with Midas, Julyzerg and tournament winner iloveoov. It was expected that this year would be much of the same. No one could match up against the Koreans, least of all Stork, one of the strongest players of the era. He was placed in a relatively easy group, lacking both koreans as well as the strongest foreigners such as Mondragon, Pj, Testie, and Draco. His strongest opponents would be in the form of the Ukranian Protoss White-Ra and the Russian Terran Ex.

However, the unthinkable happened. As Stork matched up with the Ukranian oldschool player White-Ra, a few micro mistakes with his dragoons as well as some riskier decision making allowed White-Ra to expand first, build up a larger force and eventually cripple Stork and take the victory. With Ex beating White-Ra through an early advantage with a vulture drop, and Stork taking down Ex slowly with carriers, the stage was set for a tiebreaker. There were three players left, and two slots to go to the Round of 16.

Seeding was already known, and the other groups had finished before the tiebreakers started. Hwasin, having won his group, would face the winner of Stork's group in the quarterfinals. The player finishing second would land on the other side of the bracket and not face the other korean, sAviOr, until the semifinals. Should Stork finish second, it would allow for an all-Korean podium, whereas a first place would guarantee a non-korean in the Top 3.

What followed was a tiebreaker that none of the participants would quickly forget. Stork was drawn to play Ex first, then face off against White-Ra, followed by a game between White-Ra and Ex. Stork dispatched of Ex with little difficulty. When he played White-Ra, however, he faltered. Stork went for a fast expansion with little defense, inviting White-Ra to take an easy victory.


I had a short interview with White-Ra about WCG'07.

Unfortunately for both Ex and White-Ra, Ex' victory did not come. After two tiebreakers where Stork beat Ex, who beat White-Ra, who beat Stork, Stork relented. It had become late and the players wanted to go home. Stork ended up beating the two Eastern Europeans after White-Ra dispatched of Ex, which resulted in Stork being seeded to play Hwasin in the quarterfinals, forcing a "foreigner" into the top 3. The Koreans' plan had been thwarted.

The tournament would however not end too poorly for Stork. As the sole Korean in the Top 4, he managed to beat Pj in the finals, who had surprisingly taken out SaviOr in the Quarterfinals. White-Ra would end up finishing 4th, losing to Pj in the semifinals and Mondragon in the Bronze match. Despite a very strong Korean field, two of the three medals went to non-koreans this year, in part thanks to White-Ra and Ex standing together.
+ Show Spoiler [Final results] +



The replays for WCG'07 for the first encounters between Ex, White-Ra and Stork can be found here. Unfortunately, the tiebreaker replays are unavailable.