• ASUS ROG
  at Liquipedia
• VODs at Twitch.TV
• Interview with Acer.Elfi

With eight of the best players in the world gathered in Helsinki for the ASUS ROG Stars Invite, Evil Genius' IdrA emerged at the top of the pack and took home the first place prize of $6,000. It was another feather in the cap for the American, who has been enjoying a run of fine form since winning the IEM Global Challenge Guanzhou in October.

While Stephano was conspicuously absent, the event provided a good look at where the best of the west stood just weeks before MLG Providence and DreamHack Winter bring a close to what has been an amazing year for competitive Starcraft II.


Day One: RO8

The first match provided an early shock as hometown favorite Acer.elfi knocked out the reigning MLG champion EG.HuK 3-1. The use of four-gate, an old PvP standard, was critical in Elfi's victory. With the meta-game having long shifted towards Robotics Facility based builds, HuK seemed caught off guard by a build many considered to be on its last legs.

A familiar sight in Elfi's games.

While fans may have been shocked – and some even infuriated – by the uspet, the reasons were all there. Of any player with a substantial sample size, Elfi has the highest TLPD PvP win rate with a whopping 73%, surpassing the likes of MC (70%), HuK (66%), and Sase (66%). Also, while travel can only provide so much of an excuse for a player who willingly participates in so many international tournaments, HuK's Korea-USA-Korea-Finland world tour would not have helped his conditioning.

While international fan support would definitely have been lopsided for the first match, the second featured two neck and neck fan favorites. mTw.DIMAGA and dignitas.SeleCT met in a rematch from the 2011 Blizzcon Invitational, where SeleCT earned a narrow victory through superior late game management.

The two continental representatives once again provided an exciting show for the audience, playing the kind of evenly matched, macro TvZ games that give the matchup its reputation of being the most entertaining in Starcraft II. On Shakuras Plateau in particular, there were echoes of Blizzcon, as DIMAGA played very well only to lose to SeleCT's brutal half-map macro play in the late game. The game on Metalopolis was another one of note, with SeleCT using an MKP-esque float-to-gold move for an early attack. DIMAGA was not amused, and he dispatched SeleCT with patience and poise. The series came down to the final game on Antiga Shipyard, which SeleCT took home with solid standard-game performance.

The third match of the day featured Idra and SjoW, two players who favor a drawn out slugfest to a quick and easy victory. Given their recent tournament performances, there was some surprise when SjoW bloodied IdrA's nose early by defeating him in a straight up macro game on Terminus. SjoW employed a mech style that looked down right abusive, rolling over Idra like a slowly moving glacier.

However, IdrA returned to his red-hot form in the following games and took the series with three straight games. When SjoW tried his mech style again during the final game on Antiga Shipyard, IdrA tossed aside his icepick and blew apart SjoW with some explosive, swarming macro play.

The final RO8 game had the enigmatic Liquid`Ret go up against the even more enigmatic Tt.White-Ra. For the first two games, it looked like Ret was toying with White-Ra for the lack of a better word. He seemed to be two steps ahead of White-Ra at all times, droning up at will while easily predicting White-Ra's fruitless attempts to harass and apply pressure.

First we make Stalker, then we... blah whatever.

Of course, being down 0-2 didn't faze White-Ra at all. Instead, he used it as a grand opportunity to show off his patented "Special Tectics" and came back with a 3-2 reverse-sweep. The fourth set on Tal'Darim Altar was a particularly good showcase of the Ukrainian's comeback powers, as he defeated what looked like an invincible force of Brood Lords with skillful use of blink Stalkers and Colossi. And to no one's surprise, White-Ra finished Ret off in the final set with his patented (and recently, much imitated) Warp-Prism tactics.


Day Two: Semi-Finals

The action resumed with Elfi going up against SeleCT in a battle of the very slow and very fast hands. The first game saw Elfi riding his four-gate build to yet another victory, as the fast-expanding SeleCT was completely unprepared for the early onslaught. However, SeleCT maintained his composure and fought back, defeating a two base Colossus rush in game two, and performing a strong one base marine-tank push in game three.

With the series on the line, Elfi was forced into his first real macro game of the tournament on Tal'Darim Altar. He proved to be just as formidable an opponent in a long game as in a short game, fighting evenly with SeleCT for over thirty minutes. While SeleCT was more than happy to once again validate his reputation as a wicked multi-tasker – harassing Elfi and denying expansions with vigor – the real surprise was that Elfi kept up with him for most of the way. Elfi's units were constantly making their way into SeleCT's expansions a handful at a time, killing dozens of SCVs and forcing Orbital floats.

In the end, SeleCT was just a little bit more dogged than Elfi about denying his opponent's expansions while trying to sneak in more of his own. Elfi found himself running out of mineable bases, while SeleCT continued to produce off of a respectable economy. Destructive battles continued to rage between the two sides, but SeleCT was able to reproduce his army faster. After a hard fought game, Elfi was forced to GG.

The second semi-final match pitted IdrA against White-Ra in an IPL3 rematch. Idra had mentioned in a previous interview that he didn't feel quite as good about ZvP as other match-ups, but it ended up seeming like a giant hustle.

White-Ra looked just as lost as he did against Ret in his first few games, but this time there was no last-minute magic to turn the series around. White-Ra offered just a glimmer of hope in the final game, but IdrA easily snuffed it out with dominating macro.

Before moving onto an exciting grand finals, there was a brief interlude as the 3rd/4th place matches were played between White-Ra and Elfi. With the difference between third and fourth place being $1000, it was not an entirely inconsequential match.

Four-gate was once again a key point in an Elfi series. This time, he mixed up a clever fake four-gate into Robotics build with a regular four-gate build to try and confuse his opponent. White-Ra opened with a fast three Stalker build in every game, but was fatally unable to choose the correct follow-ups. Elfi walked away with a 3-1 victory, taking home a well earned $1000.


Day 2: Grand Finals

The Grand Finals saw two of North America's finest show down for a handsome prize of $6000. For the umpteenth time in his career, IdrA found himself getting bunker rushed to start a ZvT series. And for the umpteenth + 1 time in his career, IdrA started the series 0-1 down.

However, such a frustrating loss did not cause IdrA to lose his composure. When SeleCT attempted yet another gold-float marine SCV all-in in the second game on Metalopolis, IdrA remained collected and cool as he planned his defense. Though he even fell into a very dire looking position as marines managed to commandeer his main base, IdrA did not panic. He executed a good Zergling counter attack while waiting to gather enough troops to secure his main. SeleCT took severe damage from IdrA's counter attacks while being unable to cause enough damage himself, and conceded the second game.

The third game on IdrA's much despised Xel'Naga Caverns saw a return of the "old" IdrA. After predicting a loss the map in a pre-match interview, IdrA did his best to make sure he was correct. SeleCT used dogged hellion harass to go into the mid-game ahead, and he was able to secure his gold base relatively easily. Down, but not quite out, Idra smashed some Mutalisks and Double-lings into SeleCT's gold base before quickly declaring GG while on even population counts. Apparently, he had decided that it would be better to move onto the next game than to expend too much energy on what would surely be a very up-hill battle.

The two players next spawned on diagonal spots on Tal'Darim Altar. SeleCT's reaper expansion build was unable to pressure IdrA adequately early, allowing the American Zerg to build up a powerful economy. The pesky drops SeleCT had been using so well in recent months were conspicuously absent and he found himself trying to fend off Mutalisks while IdrA got further and further ahead. With good harassment combined with overwhelming macro, IdrA took the game and brought the series back to even.

He even cracked a smile.

The fifth game on Shakuras Plateau ended up being something of a "best-of-Idra" game. SeleCT was coming off three impressive TvZ victories on Shakuras Plateau, with two wins against DIMAGA and one against GamaniaSen. By splitting the map in two and abusing his prodigious mechanics, SeleCT had been able to swat away waves of Hive units and wear down two of the top foreign Zergs.

At least from this game alone, IdrA appeared to be on a higher level. SeleCT tried to repeat his plan of holding the center while launching a series of to make sure his Zerg opponent could not take the central expands. While the plan seemed to work at first, it eventually became clear that IdrA had simply too much stuff. Wave after wave drove the Terran line back further and further until it finally broke. SeleCT had nowhere to make a last stand, and was forced to GG.

IdrA showed yet another aspect of his play in the sixth and deciding game on Antiga Shipyard. SeleCT went for a relatively quick third base as Terrans are inclined to do on Antiga, and IdrA pounced on the momentary defensive weakness caused by such ambitious plays. He used Mutalisks, Zerglings, and Banelings to bust through SeleCT's defenses, causing large amounts of damage. Though he was unable to finish the game, this mid-game damage put IdrA vastly ahead of his opponent. IdrA simply let his lead grow with time, and eventually finished off SeleCT with Hive tech to emerge as the ASUS ROG Stars Invite champion.


Day 3: Fun and Games

With the main tournament over, ASUS ROG also provided a series of show matches for the community. These fan-voting selected matches offered the viewers another day of top level gaming, while also giving the players a shot at additional prize money.

In the end, almost everyone ended up going home with heavier wallets, as SjoW, DIMAGA, and White-Ra were able to win their matches. Unfortunately for Ret, he was unable to garner enough votes in the fan-polls to earn a spot in a showmatch, while HuK lost both of the two he was voted into. After a night at a Finnish bar, those two may have gone home with slightly poorer finances, but were hopefully richer for the experience.

Even the event's commentator dignitas.Apollo was allowed to get in on the fun, facing ASUS ROG adminstrator Mudis in the final series of the tournament. While caster TotalBiscuit was unfairly robbed of an opportunity to display his skills as well, he was consoled by having the company of White-Ra as a casting partner for the Apollo-Mudis match.

And with that, the ASUS ROG Tournament came to a close.