WCS Europe Season 3

Ro32 Group F Recap
Titan and Nerchio advance

Ro32 Group G Preview
MMA, Tails, Babyknight, Krass

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Youtube

TitaN and Nerchio Advance

by lichter

TitaN and Nerchio advanced in a closely contested group, over Shuttle and HasuObs, who is going to miss the live portion games this season after reaching the Round of 8 last time around. It was a disappointing result for HasuObs after showing such strong play in Season 2, but it gives an opportunity to the two advancing players leave their mark this season. Neither TitaN nor Nerchio have ever advanced past the Round of 16, which has so far been their stumbling block, but on today's evidence both certainly are on track to overcome that.

Ro32 - Group F
1.	TitaN	2-0 (4-2)
2.	Nerchio	2-1 (5-2)
3.	HasuObs	1-2 (3-4)
4.	Shuttle	0-2 (0-4)

Detailed results from the live report thread by Lorning
+ Show Spoiler +

HasuObs vs Shuttle
HasuObs <Frost> Shuttle
HasuObs <Bel'Shir Vestige> Shuttle
HasuObs <> Shuttle

HasuObs wins 2-0!

TitaN vs Nerchio
TitaN <Frost> Nerchio
TitaN <Yeonsu> Nerchio
TitaN <Whirlwind> Nerchio

TitaN wins 2-1!

Winners' Match
HasuObs <Akilon Wastes> TitaN
HasuObs <Yeonsu> TitaN
HasuObs <Bel'Shir Vestige> TitaN

TitaN wins 2-1!

Losers' Match
Shuttle <Whirlwind> Nerchio
Shuttle <Derelict Watcher> Nerchio
Shuttle <> Nerchio

Nerchio wins 2-0!

Final Match
HasuObs <Derelict Watcher> Nerchio
HasuObs <Frost> Nerchio
HasuObs<> Nerchio

Nerchio wins 2-0!

---

TitaN and Nerchio advance to WCS EU Premier RO16!

HasuObs and Shuttle met on Frost for the first game of the evening, and it was a back and forth slugfest that hinged on Hasu's ninja expansion at the 1 o'clock position. It went unscouted the entire game which made Shuttle misinterpret his position within the game and continuously try and go for the killing blow on Hasuobs. Despite Shuttle's increasingly effective micro, Hasuobs held and he gg'd after spotting the hidden base -- now that all his bases and his last ditch attack had dried up. It was an exciting game with an SCV Train, a hurricane season's worth of storms, 5 dead nexuses, and an unpredictable outcome. Even with the mistakes from both sides, such as trying to squeeze a 200 army through the tiny bridge, it was a good warm up for the matches ahead.

The second game on Bel'shir Vestige showcased a deviation from the standard HasuObs. An oracle opener from the Protoss failed to do damage, but his follow up attack, zealot templar off of 2 bases, ended up killing a ton of SCVs. While not enough to break Shuttle, defensive phoenixes at home gave HasuObs the security to go double forge behind it. From his advantageous position, Hasuobs simply defended (with his phoenixes picking off a drop) until he formed his ideal army, maxing well before Shuttle. Things looked tense for a moment as a miscontrol from HasuObs allowed Shuttle's vikings to pick off a few Colossus for free and get into a good position in Hasu's natural. But after a couple of well placed storms killed off the majority of Shuttle's army, Shuttle gg'd realizing he can't keep up with HasuObs' economy.

The next match featured the two players who eventually advanced, but first they fought it out to see who'd go to the Winner's Match. TitaN showed us an interesting build in Game 1 on Frost, with 2 forges after his gateway expand to get quick upgrades. His 2/2 was already researching even before Nerchio's 1/1, but a poor attack past the bridge gave up too many sentries. This lost TitaN the ability to take a third of his own and was left with no choice but to tech to colossus on his two bases and attack. As he walked across the map, however, mutas came out and flew straight to his main, and so began the base race. TitaN ended up losing 32 workers while Nerchio only lost his natural, and the eventually growing flock of mutas gave the latter his first win.

Seeing his upgrade-centric build fail due to a lack of units, TitaN drew up a different build for their game on Yeonsu. He opened up with a well timed and incredibly early +1 attack with 3 zealots at Nerchio's third, killing a queen and 8 drones for his troubles. On the back of this the Protoss built his robotics facility for immortals while faking a third. Nerchio fell for the ploy and played standard in response. It was until the immortal all-in was halfway across the map before Nerchio was aware of what was going on, and with good forcefields from TitaN, it was game over from there.

The final game on Whirlwind saw TitaN apply pressure again with heavy zealot commitment towards the third, and although it did force a lot of zerglings, things more or less evened out. Behind this aggression, TitaN transitioned into voidrays while Nerchio changed things up with a hydra den and a spire. Seemingly prematurely, TitaN moved out with 2 VRs, a lot of sentries and some backup gateway units. It didn't look like a big army, but TitaN caught Nerchio with his pants down and stockpiling money for tech. He won right there and advanced into the Winner's Match.

Akilon Wastes was the site for the first game in the Winners Match, and it was a straight forward win for HasuObs. His 3gate pressure opening was the perfect counter to TitaN's phoenix build. Hasu just walked across the map with his stalkers, waited until the lifts wore off, and killed everything. Their second game was much more entertaining as HasuObs opted for a cannon rush on Yeonsu. It was a build we've seen before --pylon and cannon below the main, cannons inside the main in range of the nexus -- and it ended up working pretty well, forcing TitaN to evacuate to a natural nexus. The game seemed to even out, but TitaN's faster robotics facility allowed him to pump out immortals early and gain an army advantage. Hasu tried to apply pressure and did pick off a few of them, but TitaN eventually was able to amass a large enough army to move out. Hasu attempted a desperate base race, but it wasn't enough to stop the Russian.

Their final game on Bel'shir Vestige was another straight forward game of opposing builds. HasuObs went for the same build as game 1, but TitaN countered it perfectly with a quick blink off 3 gateways. After TitaN held the initial attack, his blink tech allowed him to take out all of Hasu's forward army. This gave him the opportunity to expand behind it while containing Hasu in his main. The German did try some clever counterattacks, but TitaN continued to be more efficient and found himself with a straight forward win. TitaN advanced first to the Round of 16, while HasuObs had to wait nervously for the winner of the next match, between Nerchio and Shuttle.

The Polish Zerg dismantled Shuttle 2-0 in 2 easy looking games. The first on Whirlwind saw Nerchio play the aggressor, with a roach push forcing Shuttle to abandon his third. The roaches continued to be annoying on Shuttle's side of the map, allowing Nerchio to power into 4 bases and a huge ling bane roach army. Once Nerchio felt comfortable, he simply moved into Shuttle's natural and everything exploded. It was an excellent game from Nerchio that made him look a few steps ahead of Shuttle. Seeing his chances to get into the next round dwindle, Shuttle changed it up on Derelict Watcher with a big barracks push off two bases. But like most of the day his plans didn't work out as a great surround flattened his frontal assault. Nerchio powered units and, with 2/2, rolled straight through Shuttle's natural and into the main where once again everything dies. A couple of drops do damage for the Korean, but it wasn't enough to save him from falling down to Challenger League.

This set up a match between Hasu and Nerchio, where the latter's momentum could not be stopped. Derelict Watcher was once again the map and Nerchio's form from his win against Shuttle was apparent. He continuously pushed and pulled HasuObs apart, delaying his third for what seemed like an eternity. Ling counter attacks, Overlord creep, burrowed lings, mutalisks... all keept HasuObs on 2 bases. The Protoss is still able to amass a sizable army, but the economic difference is just too much. Once Nerchio's Muta+Corruptor composition reaches 200 and HasuObs is forced to move out, the shower of glaive wurms proved too much. Things continue to go in Nerchio's favor in the final game of the evening, as his lings find HasuObs' probe and he scouts the early third with an overlord just as it begins to warp in. Knowing no pressure is coming, he responded well with a 4th base, a spire, and not long after a fifth base too. Triple Stargate went down for HasuObs, but they finished too late to stop the mutas from killing a few probes. From here both players decided to fight in the air: a second spire for Nerchio and a fleet beacon for Hasu. The first critical encounter happened just as Hasu split his phoenixes from the rest of his army, which gave Nerchio an opening to pick off all the void rays. The Zerg Airforce slowly strangled Hasu to death off of the back of an economic mountain impossible for Hasu to overcome.

Nerchio therefore advanced in second, but his last 4 games made him look like the most impressive player of the night. He and TitaN make it through to the Round of 16.

(E/N: Hi Nerchio!)

by Zealously



MMA has to be feeling pretty good about himself. Despite a very unfortunate elimination from Dreamhack Bucharest at the hands of Innovation, MMA showcased the best play we've seen from him (for more than a game or two in a row) since his period of greatness. Beating Flash, Yugioh, Ryung, Avenge and ForGG before losing 1-2 to Innovation (while arguably looking like the better player overall in their series) all in the span of 24 hours is impressive for any player and especially surprising for MMA.

The Acer Terran has looked like he's had his eyes set on a championship win for a while, but while he managed to string together an amazing ATC record, he's never been consistently top-level since the SlayerS drama that seemingly traumatised MMA and every one of his team mates. But with all that behind him, a solid practise environment, regular matches in WCS EU and strong team mates to (potentially) practise with over at Acer, we can finally say with confidence that MMA is back. Now, none of this means MMA is completely out of the danger zone in this group. While he may have dismantled Avenge with his own aggressive brand of TvP, he's matched up against the player who, even more so than duckdeok, is a mixed bag of everything between Protoss heaven and Earth.

MVP.Tails, from the minute Blizzard announced WCS, hasn't been able to catch a break in the tournament. Rough groups, bad bracket luck, unlucky build choices and the great wall of lag have all played part in Tails' repeated failures to make a deep run in WCS. With the year's final season kicking into high gear, this is Tails final chance to show that he is the guy that was supposed to win a championship, not his team mate duckdeok.

As for Tails, there are some doubts in his abilities that the Build Order Wizard needs to dispel. Mostly gaining fame through using fourth-level mind games and quirky build orders to great success in GSTL, Tails has actually had very little success in individual leagues. In a group where he needs to win somewhere between four and six games to advance, specifically prepared build orders won't take Tails all the way. While we know that he has control that's good enough to execute some pretty micro-intensive early pushes, I'm not completely sure that Tails has the necessary skill set to succeed once WCS EU reaches the tougher stages – where macro and on-the-fly adaptability and decision making play equally important roles, but at this point, even getting in second behind MMA seems decidedly possible for him.

Next to the two Koreans in the group, Babyknight and especially Krass come in with things to prove. Babyknight had a good run in Season 1, reaching the Ro8 before losing to Stephano, but dropped right out of the Ro32 the following season. The Danish Protoss has been posting distinctly mediocre results for a while now, working toward the creation of a ”Babyknight Line” to replace the former Grubby Line. To add to this, his story, much like the aforementioned Grubby's, is one of slow but relatively steady improvement. Having taken out both Stardust and Lucifron recently, Babyknight certainly has a shot in this group, but going up against an in-form MMA and the ever-unpredictable Tails, Babyknight needs to bring something more to the table than just distinct mid-level safe, standard play. As for Krass, there still isn't that much to be said about the German Terran in terms of international play. The perhaps most interesting thing to note is that Krass was one of the valiant European heroes to first deny Tails entry into the fabled land of WCS EU Premier, back in the Season 1 Premier qualifiers. Granted, that was five months ago and there has been little sign that Krass has improved very significantly since then, so unless he can up his performance from the past weekend's Dreamhack Bucharest, the German will be the first to fall in this group.

General outlook and predictions

First and foremost, Group G is MMA's group. MMA, having been robbed of a championship some thought he was going to take after his amazing group stage performance in Bucharest, has to be feeling pretty eager to get out of this group and finally win a championship again. The second place in the group is a contest between Tails and Babyknight – Tails' periodically insane play could either catch Babyknight off-guard and unceremoniously dump him into Challenger League, or it could backfire and send Tails reeling all the way back to Korea (which he actually hasn't left yet, but you get the point), something you always risk when you try to get overly cute in a match-up as unforgiving as PvP.

MMA > Tails
Babyknight > Krass
MMA > Babyknight
Tails > Krass
Tails > Babyknight

MMA and Tails to advance.

Upcoming Groups
Sept 18: MC, FireCake, StarDust, Kas

Writers: lichter, Zealously
Graphics: shiroiusagi
Banner photo: ESL
Editor: Plexa.