WCS America Season 1 - Premier League

Finding the American Dream
Challenger Round One in Review

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

All VODs on MLG's Youtube Channel

by Pokebunny and Wunder

The first week of WCS America's Challenger League is over, with upsets and unexpected results abound. And for once, Americans actually did well! Let's take a look at the highlights from week one.

USA: Fighting Tyranny Since 1776

In the opener of WCS America's Challenger League, we saw perhaps one of the most feared Brood War players in EG.Jaedong.RC go up against the mostly unproven ROOT.theognis, who had recently fallen from the premier league with a 1 - 4 record. While Theognis' skills were respected in North America, few thought he had a serious chance against one of the most successful and talented RTS players in history. However, Theognis quickly showed he was unfazed by such odds - opening up game one by going for a strong economic build and staying calm in the face of early aggression. There were no major twists or turns afterward, and theognis was able to ride his macro advantage to a surprising game one win. With Jaedong making some questionable strategic decisions throughout, Theognis's army of traditional bio-tank was eventually able to wear down Jaedong's roach-hydra-viper with no transition behind it.

Game 2 headed towards a macro game straight off the bat. Amazingly, in spite of Jaedong beating back theognis's army time and time again, he was eventually worn down after finding no true cost efficient counter to the bio-mine army of theognis. Zerg players round the world cried tears of ZvT woe seeing this game, but honestly, we expected something better from the man who once sat atop the Zerg throne. While theognis's play was solid, Jaedong just seemed to be throwing his head against a brick wall, in a way that was reminiscent of foreign Zergs going up against Koreans.

While Jaedong's troubles in SC2 might not be on the level of fellow BW greats Bisu and Stork, his struggles to recreate his Brood War form are even more publicized due to his position on EG. You can be sure that he isn't satisfied with his performances thus far. With only "decent" results in Proleague and many losses to players who would once have been cowering in fear, one has to wonder if Jaedong is worth the hefty salary he must be pulling from EG. It's absolutely a big victory for theognis, ROOT, and the USA, and we can't take anything away from them - theognis did legitimately take out a top Korean player. But in the end, the implications are bigger for Jaedong and EG than theognis and ROOT.

Screenshot of the Week

Tilea vs Capoch, WCS America Challenger Ro40, Game 2

This weeks top screenshot comes from Tilea vs. Capoch, two players who are their countries' sole representatives in the entire WCS tournament. While we can't say it was the best match in terms of pure gameplay, it still proved to be entertaining for reasons illustrated above.

The Other Beasts From the East

While Korean domination has been the story of the WCS Premier league, we've seen a far more interesting line of results in WCS Challenger. The Chinese contingent of WCS America invaders received a good bit of publicity from their qualifier fiasco, and they surely came into WCS with a vengeance, looking to prove themselves fit for the top level of competition. One interesting thing of note is that while Korean players may have chosen WCS America for strategic reasons, the Chinese were basically forced to either move to Korea or play cross-server to America - Blizzard's WCS system seems to have left out the interests of those areas outside the three primary regions.

The Chinese took full advantage of the opportunity, and went 3 - 1 over their American and Korean opponents. The Taiwanese player Ian, in a similarly awkward position as Chinese and SEA players, also advanced in the first round with a 2 - 1 victory over Minigun (while his countryman Sen advanced in the Premier League).

While the only "true" upset was Jim taking down Oz, the Chinese players showed solid and consistent gameplay against the American players they were favored against. MacSed, one of the Chinese names that foreign fans were likely to have heard of, was the only one to fall, with Illusion advancing over him into round two.

On the other side of the coin, many of the Korean players looking to get an easy road to Premier fell short in the first round of competition, losing to both to Chinese and American opponents. Alongside with theognis' aforementioned win against Jaedong, ViBE defeated teammate Sage, Jim took down Oz, and Goswser defeated HwangSin to complete a semi-sweep of Koreans in round one. The only one to advance was TaeJa, after a defeating fellow countryman Heart in a Korea vs. Korea battle. While none of the Koreans defeated were ones who are doing particularly well at the moment, it was still is a surprising turn of events after we saw Koreans destroy Americans over and over without hesitation in the Premier division.

Forgive me, Forgive-me-not

Now that the Challenger League, the equivalent of Code A in the GSL, has started up in WCS America and Europe, it's important to point out some of the important differences between the regions.




When WCS first started and the qualifiers kicked off, it was clear that there were a lot of spots to fill, at least for the AM and EU divisions - they were building a league from the ground up! What not many people realize is how the leagues are supposed to work after this current season ends. Next season, WCS AM/EU will only have 8 new players entering their Challenger League, compared to WCS Korea’s 22, through the Code A Qualifiers. This means that while the turnover rate in Code S/Premier League is the same (with 24 of 32 spots up for grabs in all three regions), there is an extremely limited amount of new blood introduced from the bottom in NA/EU. With each season spanning several months, a few bad breaks in the qualifiers could spell disaster for any up and comers trying to break into Challenger.



The reason less new players enter each season of AM/EU Challenger compared to Korea is because less players get knocked out. While a round one loss means a direct ticket back to the qualifiers in Korea, R1 losers in AM/EU get placed straight into the secondary Group Stages (a modified form of the Up/Downs for WCS Korea) for yet another shot at the Premier League.

What this means is that a Premier League player seeded into the first season of WCS AM would have to lose four to five Bo3s in a row to get knocked out of WCS for good. For the 24 players that received an invite straight into the Premier League this season, they can stay in the WCS system by winning a single Bo3 at any point in the Challenger League. Compare that to the harsh reality of WCS Korea where they play with hardcore mode ON, where Code S players are capable of leaving the tournament in the blink of an eye.

Writers: Pokebunny and Wunder.
Graphics: shiroiusagi.
Editor: Waxangel.