WCS Season II Finals

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From Twelve to Four

by Waxangel

The middle day of the WCS Season 2 Finals saw the trend of surprising results continue as the remaining twelve players were trimmed down to a final four.

The first shock was that all three regional champions, MaruPrime, MVP.duckdeok, and CMStorm_Polt, were eliminated before even reaching the quarter-finals. Which ties into the second surprise—two of them were eliminated by non-Korean players who showed fine form on the day. Alliance.NaNiwa got his revenge on Duckdeok in the final match of their Ro16 group, avenging an earlier loss from day one, and a slightly older loss from the WCS EU quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Acer.Scarlett scored a massive upset over Maru in the final match of Group D, eliminating the reigning OSL champion and further affirming her credentials as a killer ZvT player.


Although the fine play of the foreigners continued in the quarter-finals, it was not enough to see them into the semi-final round. NaNiwa seemed to vex Jaedong at some points with tactics ranging from cannon rushes to voidray-zealot, but the Evil Geniuses Zerg showed far better adaptability and decision making than in their previous meetings and was able to take a 3 - 1 victory. And while Scarlett managed to duel ST_Bomber evenly all the way to a fifth game on Akilon Wastes, a clever proxy-reaper into hellion-banshee build that Bomber had saved for such a dire occasion saw him triumph over the Acer Zerg who had no such secret weapons.

In another upset of note, Liquid`TaeJa secured a 3 - 0 quarter-final win against SKT_Rain, a player who he had not been able score a single win against before. Battling into both players' preferred late-game phase, TaeJa used his superlative ghost micro to gain the edge and take three straight wins. The remaining quarter-final match, though not an upset in terms of results, was still a thriller, with IM_First edging EG.aLive out narrowly by a 3 - 2 scoreline.

Semi-Final #1: Jaedong vs. First Preview

by Zealously, who correctly predicted INnoVation to be eliminated in the Ro16

For Lee Jae Dong, winning is a fact of life. Since he won his first major title in 2007, EG.Jaedong has been a championship contender over and over, again and again. Going up against his rival Flash in no less than four finals, he is no stranger to difficult opponents and playing with all the weight of the world on his shoulders.

However, the Tyrant's switch to Starcraft II offered some early trouble. Despite high finishes in several tournaments, he famously struggled to find his footing against the Protoss race, creating the new concept of "JvP", the antithesis of the famously strong "JvZ" that existed since the Brood War days.

Like many other players who came to Starcraft II late from another game, the story for Jaedong is one of slow but constant improvement. Slowly but surely, Jaedong has grown – from a man who (like his humble beginnings in Brood War) could only play ZvZ, to a man highly capable in TvZ as well, and finally to a man who can be called a complete StarCraft 2 player.

Perhaps it was inevitable all along. From putting up a meager fight against the suddenly-good-at-PvZ-Naniwa at Dreamhack Open, to narrowly losing to Stardust at the next Dreamhack, to knocking Jim out of WCS America, Jaedong has gradually shored up the holes in his PvZ. Known as one of the hardest working players in all of e-sports, the work is finally paying off for the Tyrant. For the first time since KeSPA's transition to Starcraft II, Jaedong isn't "just" a good player, but a championship contender at the highest level. He has made it to the finals of other major events before, granted, but I've felt like there has were still significant weaknesses in his play or some luck involved in his brackets. Watching Jaedong's play this weekend, I feel like this is no longer the case.

For the first time in Starcraft II, his play against Protoss has been stellar. Placed in a group with Rain, MC, and Welmu to begin, many expected Jaedong to struggle. Jaedong's poor overall ZvP record inspired no confidence, and although he beat Jim in WCS America, it was a narrow 3 - 2 victory that left lingering questions. Jaedong's answer in Cologne was a 2-0 trashing of two-time OSL finalist Rain and a 2 - 1 victory over MC to advance in first place. He proceeded to beat his nemesis Naniwa 3 - 1 in the quarterfinals, making this tournament a true eye opener for many fans.

Jaedong no longer has a glaring match-up weakness, no auto-lose condition. By beating Naniwa, MC and Rain, Jaedong has overcome three separate styles of PvZ and gathered significant momentum along the way. Now, his semifinals opponent is another Protoss, LG-IM's First.

IM_First is a member of an exclusive players' club, rooted in Brood War but perhaps more prominent in Starcraft II. Along the likes of aLive, Curious and Light, First is a player no one ever seems to notice. Despite winning a major tournament, placing runner-up at two, and finishing top eight in five more, First is anything but a fan favorite. It's hard to tell the reason. He plays a strong and unique brand of Protoss, but perhaps it's just not strong or unique enough to attract attention. Despite being an excellent player and a serious title contender, First has gone through two stages of the tournament while being given little attention.



Players like Sniper have taught us that not being given attention does not mean anything in terms of skill. First outlasted his Terran counterpart aLive in a very high-level series of PvT and made both Polt and Grubby look silly in the group stages, showing that while he is not the most hyped player of the tournament, he has the skill to make things happen.

However, matched up against a Zerg in the semifinals, there is one big question mark hovering over First's head: how is his PvZ? To find any clues, we have to go back to the recently concluded OSL. The IM Protoss beat Symbol 2 - 0 in the consolation matches and had a mixed record against the likes of hyvaa, RorO and Leenock in the group stages. Good opponents for sure, but do they measure up to an on-fire Jaedong? The knee-jerk answer would be "No" if we were to get swept up in this weekend's hype, but you always count out players like First at your own risk. WCS Korea's reputation may have suffered this weekend, but First did show he could take care of business in PvZ in the OSL.

But in the end, Jaedong has, as absurd as it is to say when the opponent is a guy with as many high finishes as First, much more experience. Jaedong has the ability to stay calm under pressure and while First has shown us nothing to indicate that he doesn't, Jaedong's 6pool against Scarlett in the WCS America semi-finals has something to say about his killer instinct in particular. First is good, but he lacks a certain flair – the ability to throw everything out the window to go for a proxy 2-gate on the final map. Until he shows that he possesses that kind of instinct, he does not benefit from a longer series like Jaedong does.
Jaedong has managed to overcome his greatest hurdle this weekend, and I don't expect him to fall to a Protoss now.

Prediction: Jaedong 3 - 1 First

Semi-Final #2: TaeJa vs. Bomber

by Zealously, who correctly predicted INnoVation to be eliminated in the Ro16

Life must be great for Liquid'TaeJa. Not only did he make the semifinals of both WCS America and the Season 2 Finals, going a long way toward securing him a spot at the Global Finals, but he beat the (previously) consensus best player in the world and the WCS Korea runner-up to make it here. And not only that, a dangerous opponent in Polt, the man who eliminated him 3-2 in WCS America, dropped out in the Round of 16 before a re-match could take place. Things could hardly have worked out better for the Liquid Terran thus far.

In one of the bigger subplots in the ongoing story that is Starcraft II, Taeja has returned to his fabled summer-form. A year ago, he was moneyhunting overseas, winning triple foreign tournaments by taking out a few big names in each. Then came the stereotypical bad guy present in every novel, an evil being named ”Wrist Issues”. The struggle was long and hard, but it seems Taeja has finally overcome his nemesis, and he now returns to where his story began, neck-deep in a tournament full of big names.

In Taeja's victory over Innovation, he fully showcased the strength of his bio-tank play. People like to talk about Innovation's surgical play and astonishing multitasking, but Taeja was on point for most of the deciding game, with barely a moment passing without some kind action taking place to wrest control of the map from INnoVation. With a combination of an ideal unit composition and multi-pronged aggression, Taeja was able to pick Innovation apart, eventually taking the win after an hour-long game.

In the semi-finals, Taeja's opponent will be ST_Bomber, a player very unlike Innovation. Not only because Bomber is a more colorful character, or because of his tendency to sometimes look beyond great and sometimes lose to players he should have no business losing to, but because the StarTale Terran plays a wholly different brand of TvT. If the series against INnoVation was about how to unlock the mech puzzle, then the series against Bomber will be one about fighting fire with fire. Bomber plays bio-tank as well as any player in the world, and not even Flash or INnoVation could stand up against him in the OSL.

To be constantly belittled and expected to fail has become perhaps the most sad constant in Bomber's career. Ever since his fateful choke against Byun in 2011, the possibility of yet another choke, another throw, has always lingered. StarTale is mocked when their ace Terran fails to deliver, and Bomber is ridiculed as he manner-mules himself to death. But all of this might be in the past for Bomber. He hasn't looked as good, as consistent (yes, I'm using that word in a sentence describing Bomber) in a long time, perhaps ever. The only competition to today's Bomber is a Bomber attending an MLG of ages past, where all opposition was promptly executed on site.

I would go as far as to say that Bomber's Law (and its corollary) is history. Starting with WCS Korea season 1, Bomber has been on the rise – not just in terms of skill, but in terms of confidence and consistency. Gone are the days where Bomber might crumble just minutes after demolishing his opponent in Game 1. What we have now is a Bomber like the one we thought would emerge two years ago, again on the cusp of greatness. This is the Bomber that made Mvp look like a joke in the Code A finals, back when Mvp was the most dominant force on the planet. He crushed Flash and Innovation, the two most prominent KeSPA terrans and made First, now a fellow semi-finalist, look just as crushed.

The second semi-final will pit two Terrans against each other. One played Innovation and emerged victorious but bloodied, pushed to the limit. The other played him and emerged without a scratch. Both have had their soaring highs and abysmal lows, tournaments they seemed destined to win but allowed to slip away. Both have an affinity for muling on the wrong side of the map, and both have defeated the reigning Season Champion to prove that they are formidable foes in the match-up.

With all this in mind, does Taeja have a chance? Yes – there are things he could potentially do to switch things up, to catch Bomber off-guard and secure a spot in the grand finals.

But Bomber is my favorite to take it. His systematic disassembling of Innovation and stomping of Flash instilled enough confidence in me that I cannot reasonably see him going out to Taeja, who just barely got past Innovation on the champion's worst weekend yet. It has been said time and again, but if there ever was a tournament made for Bomber to win it, the WCS Season 2 Finals is it. This is where he either dispels the Law, or falls to its might.

Prediction: Bomber 3 - 1 Taeja

Writers: Waxangel and Zealously
Editor: Waxangel