WCS Season One

WCS America Brackets and Standings on Liquipedia


WCS Europe Brackets and Standings on Liquipedia

The online, Ro32 stages of WCS America and Europe are over, and we're headed to the live Ro16 rounds hosted in Cologne and New York City. But before we move onto the next phase of the tournament, let's take a brief look back at the best and worst the online rounds had to offer.

Best Game: EG.Suppy.RC vs. AX.Heart

If you haven't seen this game by now, stop reading immediately go and watch it. Go! GO!

While the game first appeared to be a pretty standard TvZ, it broke down into utter chaos following a base trade. Normally in those situations, one side comes out with a decisive lead once the dust settles, but not in this game. The thirty minutes following the base trade were played on a knife's edge, and no one had any idea how the hell it was all going to end until the final minute of the game. In terms of tension, excitement, and dramatic twists and turns, this game is one of THE best this year.

Runner-Up: MoonGlade vs. Illusion


Worst game: EG.Suppy.RC vs. AX.Heart

But holy god, was that game poorly played. Now, it's true that with perfect play, we'd never see lead changes or comebacks, and games would just be immensely boring snowballing sequences after one side takes a lead (also known as 'Chinese Dota' or 'Korean LoL'). We accept that little flaws in play and occasional lapses in judgment make for more interesting matches. However, beyond a certain point, the mistakes become too egregious, the decision making so terrible that you have to start wondering "what the f*** am I watching?"

It's kind of like suspension of disbelief while watching a summer blockbuster: you can overlook plot holes and incredibly dumb actions from the characters as long as it serves to make the movie more fun. But at the point where humans are using a macbook to upload viruses to an alien mothership, that's just a line too far. The same goes for Heart losing with 7k in the bank, losing a few dozen liftable buildings to ultralisks, and about 80% of what he did in the game. Sure, he contributed to one of the best comebacks in SC2 history, but it will never be THE best because of the flaws in his play.

Runner-Up: Stephano vs. Grubby


Most pleasant non-game surprise: Free VODs for EU and AM

When GOMTV first released their latest subscription plan, many were indifferent. It was expensive, sure, but it was for some of the best games in the world and that came at a premium. Then Proleague came around, and while the production and casting might have been severely lacking compare to GomTV, it came at a low price of $5 for the entire season. WCS changed the ballgame once more, offering free 720p across the three regions, but with the caveat that VOD services might be pay-only. Not surprisingly, GomTV kept their VODs subscription-only (they did spend a ton of money building a new studio), but it was pleasant to see that WCS AM and EU decided to allows VODs for free. In MLG's case, they even have 1080p quality VODs on Youtube within hours of a match. And that's from a company that tried to hold a pay-per-view only live tournament last year. We like the way esports is going!

Runner-Up: ToD and Kaelaris' surprising chemistry, Rotterdam coming into cast for a day.


Best IP theft: Illusion lifts Thorzain's build

It's fun to see the way strategies are transmitted from player to player, continent to continent. ThorZaIN busted out an interesting Akilon Wastes TvP build at DreamHack Stockholm, which can be described shortly as "hellbat drop harass into two-base marauder-hellbat all-in." After using it pretty effectively at DreamHack, ThorZaIN then brought it to WCS EU where he took a map off TitaN using the build as well. Just days later, we saw Illusion go for a very similar strategy against Alicia in his own WCS group, using it to score his single win in a 1 - 2 loss. Being a Swede, we're sure ThorZaIN didn't mind the free use of his artistic creation.


Best "F*** the haters" performance: HelloKitty

Many were baffled to see Hellokitty's name on the list when the WCS America invites were announced. He was a player barely anyone had heard about, except maybe from complaints from other streamers that he was one of the cheesiest player on earth. The haters cackled with glee as HelloKitty put in dismal performances in his first three WCS matches, having his all-ins shut down by Ryung and Heart.

One game away from elimination, HelloKitty decided there was nothing to lose and did something completely new: he made a Nexus. As it turned out, that was all the difference between being a laughing stock at and eliminating a former Code S player from WCS America. Heart was crushed by HK's macro play, and was sent hurtling down to the Challenger League. While HK didn't win full vindication, getting crushed once more by Ryung in the following series, he still acquitted himself far better than most of his American peers.


Worst map: Newkirk Precinct

Newkirk, sorry to break it to you but you suck (you too, Chris Pine). The two narrow chokes that bridge the closely spaced seven bases leads to long, boring stalemates that end in huge anticlimaxes. Grubby vs. Stephano is the perfect example of the kind of horror that can occur. As the game went into the later stages, it deteriorated into Stephano sending endless swarms of locusts forward while Grubby spent the entire game trading gas and minerals for nothing. The game finally ended when Grubby had no bank after losing a battle, while Stephano had gone to pour himself a drink or something. This isn't a new trend either, as we already saw the worst Newkirk had to offer in the very first tournament it was used. Please never return to any map pool after this season.

Runner-Up: Daybreak


Most HPM (Hellbats per Mineral): CW.Bunny

First there was APM, a metric to measure a player's speed. Then came EAPM, an improved metric that tried to account for APM's flaws. Now, with the release of HotS, it's clear that neither APM nor EAPM are sufficient to measure the single most important factor in securing victory: Hellbats. Thus, we introduce the newest advanced metric, HPM (Hellbats per Mineral).

With the Hellbat hysteria sweeping all of Europe, there were a plethora of Terran players who were vying to be the most dedicated Hellbat producer. But in the end, there was little contest as Copenhagen Wolves' Bunny stood out above the rest with an astounding average HPM of 520. In a world where Hellbats have to compete with mines, medivacs, marines and marauders for Terran attention, only Bunny stayed completely devoted to the Hellbat (ForGG vs. Bunny, a typical Bunny series). Hopefully this quailty will serve him better in the Challenger League than it did in the Premier League.

Runner-Up: Na`Vi.Strelok


Best comedic timing: IdrA



This will never get old.


Most likely to be adopted as American: CMStorm_Polt

When WCS was first announced, there were a plethora of tweets from various Korean progamers hailing Polt as a prophet and a genius, for he left Korea to study in the United States at the end of 2012. This has turned out to be a brilliant career move, with the new regional WCS system favoring him greatly. Polt has managed to acclimatize himself at UT Austin, receive a personal sponsorship with CM Storm, convince TeSPA to do all of his PR for free, and has generally put himself in the perfect position to play in WCS America. Coupled with the fact that he's one of the most personable and most English adept Korean players out there, and it won’t be surprising to see spectators chanting “USA USA USA” whenever Polt wins.


Most Surprising (in-game) Result: More than one player from the Americas making it out of the Ro32

Going into the Ro32, many pundits and commentators were stating that they "wouldn’t be surprised" to see 0 players from the Americas advance. That prediction has turned out to be wrong, but the most surprising result was that a player other than Acer.Scarlett managed to advance. While a lot of Americans did fall (despite the US being the most heavily seeded country), Evil Geniuses' Suppy shocked everyone by advancing as first in his group, defeating Korean Terrans like Heart and Ryung.

It's the second such underdog performance for Suppy ever since he placed top eight at the WCS Global Finals last year. While his form seems to vary greatly depending on how his school workload is, Suppy at his best could very well deserve to be called the best player in the USA.


Best out-of-nowhere performance that we probably should have expected: DIMAGA

DIMAGA, the fully capitalized Beast from the East is back and in full force. Having stayed quiet in the early phases of HotS (he had to unfortunately cancel out of MLG Dallas), he has now stepped back into the spotlight after topping his WCS EU Ro32 group without dropping a single map. He crushed the German Protoss Socke, and then went on to take out four time GSL winner Mvp with remarkable ease. Some still have their reservations, as Socke is known to be inconsistent, and Mvp had to suffer through KR-EU server lag. DIMAGA will have a chance to put all these doubts to rest in the Ro16, where he takes on three of Europe's best in Feast, ThorZaIN, and Stephano.

Runner-Up: Na`Vi.BabyKnight


Gosuest trolling: EG.HuK.RC

HuK, the man of many shift-queue hearts and hallucinated Void Rays, has always understood the value of entertaining his fans. Even though he was narrowly eliminated from the WCS America Premier League by Taiwan's Sen, he didn't leave without putting on a performance worth talking about.



It was clear that HuK was a step above 2012 WCS Argentina Winner Capoch when they faced off in the losers' match. However, instead of rolling to a simple 2 - 0 victory, HuK decided to show his mirthful side by pointing out, and poking fun at an error from Capoch: A critical stalker he had trapped inside his own buildings. Even as HuK battered down Capoch's defenses, he made sure the tragic little stalker would survive the ordeal.


Most entertained fan: Alliance.NaNiwa

There's no question that NaNiwa enjoys watching professional StarCraft, especially when HuK is playing. In fact, he made sure to have the best seats in the house when HuK played his Code S group last season. So it was no surprise that NaNiwa appeared to have quite a good time watching HuK in WCS America group, as he went up against Sen, Crank, and Capoch.



Unfortunately, HuK lost in a narrow 1 - 2 series to Sen, ceding the Ro16 spot to the Taiwanese player. Still, like any true fan, NaNiwa made sure to retweet MLG when they decided to feature a VOD of his favorite player in the whole wide world.


Most disappointing lack of BM:
The XMG.monchi/ Mill.Dayshi / Acer.Nerchio group

Even ESL knew what was up when the trio of Monchi, Dayshi, and Nerchio entered Group F, and they wasted no time trying to play up the vast BM potential.


Unfortunately, none of the players lived up expectations, calmly GG'ing out of their games without a fuss at all. They didn't even throw the fans a bone with snarky tweets about balance after the games. Our humble suggestion to ESL for next season, so that there will never be such disappointment again: Live group selections ceremonies for the Ro16, with a 1 hour open bar beforehand.


Best player not from North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa or Antarctica: Moonglade

From the start, it was obvious that WCS America would be the only refuge for a large number of players who didn't fall into WCS Europe or WCS Korea. Despite their gross mistreatment of Chinese players, MLG at least saw it fit to award one spot to the region known as "SEA", giving it to WCS 2012 continental champion Nv.mOOnGLaDe. If mOOnGLaDe was feeling the pressure of being the sole representative of all the players within a few hundred million square kilometers, he didn't let it show. Tossed into a group with Alicia, Illusion, and Maker, mOOnGLaDe overcame a loss in his initial game to win two straight series and secure his spot in the Ro16. It will only get tougher for mOOnGLaDe in the Ro16, but we're sure he'll continue to keep his composure. It's not like future seeds and considerations for his region are on the line or anything!

Writers: kollin, stuchiu, Waxangel, and Wunder.
Banner Photo: R1CH
Editor: Waxangel.