WCS Europe Season 1 - Premier League

Mvp wins WCS Europe!
Defeats Stephano 4 - 1 in final


Ro8 Rumble
The best of the bracket phase


TLO takes fifth
Earns last EU ticket to season finals


Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

by Waxangel

Almost exactly one year ago to this date, Mvp limped into the GSL Code S finals. For the first time in his career he was not the prohibitive favorite to win. Plagued by nagging wrist injuries and with the players around him improving by leaps and bounds, it seemed like the reign of King Mvp was coming to an end. Instead, he proceeded to win his fourth GSL title.


A familiar story then, this WCS Europe season. Mvp had dropped down to Code B in Korea, looking the worst he had ever been in his career. Many saw his decision to enter WCS Europe as seeking refuge, unable to hold his own in the brutal Korean scene. As it turns out, he was just seeking new lands to conquer.


Mvp vs. Stephano was a dream match long in the making, and it partially lived up to its considerable hype. The two best players of the Korean and non-Korean scenes in Wings of Liberty going head to head: how would they match up? At first, the answer seemed to be "very well." Mvp deigned to play a straight up, marine-medivac-mine macro game against Stephano's muta-bane-ling in game one, and was thoroughly beaten by the French Zerg's swarming tactics. However, Mvp returned the favor in game two, playing a methodical mech style that had been his trademark since 2011, slowly squeezing Stephano to death until he gasped out a surrender.

It was even up to 1 - 1, but after that things quickly spun out of control in Mvp's favor. Stephano thought that nydus tactics could be a good idea in game three, and it seemed like he was right—until Mvp plopped down a vision giving supply depot just as Stephano looked to take advantage of an unguarded corner of Mvp's base. Nydus attack thwarted, Stephano found himself quickly run over by Mvp's counter all-in attack of hellbats and marauders.

Mvp successfully went for the throat again in game four, going up to a 3 - 1 series lead. His hellbat drop opener cleverly masked another hellbat-marauder attack until it was too late. Stephano put together a truly inspired defense to almost hold out, but an over-extension on defense allowed Mvp to reload and finish him off with a second attack (somewhere in Korea, Squirtle woke up in a cold sweat).

One game away from defeat, Stephano fearlessly decided that an aggressive attack was his way back into the series. Seeing Mvp open up with a rarely seen banshee build, Stephano put together a roach-queen combination for a massive, front door busting nydus attack. Unfortunately for Stephano, Mvp read his intent and had tanks in place to thwart the attack. On the other end of the map, his hellions backdoored Stephano's mineral line, causing severe casualties. In any other game, the failed attack and lost drones alone would have been enough for a GG, but facing elimination, Stephano played it out just a little bit longer before giving the final surrender.

Overall, it was the typical Mvp series we've come to expect from him since he fell from his all-dominating peak in 2011. He had a solid macro game base, used to mask a variety of unpredictable all-in builds and two base timings. Or maybe, it's the other way around? In any case, it's undeniable that Mvp knows how to play an incredible number of styles, and knows exactly how to combine them to maximize his chance of victory.

It will be strange seeing Mvp as Europe's "representative" at the WCS Season 1 Finals in Korea, after being the face of Korea's GSL for nearly two years. Even if he isn't playing for Korea, he's still doing his country a final service and sending his successors an important message: Keep working hard and one day, all this could be yours.

Round-of-Eight Rumble

While Mvp vs. Stephano couldn't be matched for hype, some of the best entertainment to be had was earlier on in the Ro8 bracket.


In terms of drama, it was hard to match Mill.ForGG's comeback from behind against Spain's K3.LucifroN in the Ro8, taking three straight wins after falling behind by 0 - 2 early on.

As for best moments... well, this entire section is mostly an excuse to post the following moment from the Stephano vs. ForGG semi-final. For the most part, Stephano looked to be ForGG's superior in the series, picking him apart in macro games and only dropping a map to ForGG's 11/11 bunker rush. He probably didn't need or even intend to crush ForGG with some incredible widow-mine friendly fire, but it definitely gave the tournament a much needed highlight spot.


Of course, everything is better served with a DIMAGA reaction...


While not necessarily a "highlight" in the true sense, the DIMAGA vs. Mvp series featured an incredibly long game on Newkirk Precinct, which mostly consisted of Mvp being 80 supply down but somehow surviving through the power of turtle mech. It seemed like DIMAGA should have won a few dozen times, but somehow he ended up running out of money while Mvp weathered the storm. It's our "I know how this is going to end but I can't believe it's actually happening" game of the year thus far.

A Little Consolation

On top of deciding the WCS Europe Champion, there was also that business about deciding which five players would get tickets to the combined WCS Season 1 Finals in Korea, to be held in June. The semi-finalists automatically won spots, but the Tie-8th place players were left to play out a mini-tournament to decide who would take 5th place.


In a somewhat surprising turn of events, it ended up being Liquid's TLO who won the ticket to the season finals, earning at the very worst an additional $5,000 as well as some valuable WCS points. Although TLO wasn't able to get over his Ro8 hump this season, that's some very nice consolation indeed.

Losing out was Karont3's LucifroN who found himself getting bowled over by a succession of cheese/aggressive attacks from TLO. From 6 pools to nydus attacks, TLO went at it with a no-holds-barred attitude that he lacked earlier in the tournament. Seeing that it was successful against Lucifron—the player he called the best in Europe—perhaps TLO should consider using that approach more often.

Writers: Waxangel
Graphics: ESL
Editor: Waxangel.