WCS America - Season 3

Ro16: Group D Results
Polt and ByuL advance to Ro8

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Youtube

Polt and ByuL advance to Ro8

by lichter

Another day, another Round of 8 for CMStorm_Polt the American Hero. His games were closer than his 4 - 1 map score might suggest, with his opponents giving him a tough challenge in many back and forth games. But at the end of the day, Polt extended his Bo3+ win streak to seventeen victories, and came all the closer to retaining his WCS America title.

Unfortunately for the Canadian fans looking forward to the Season 3 Finals in Toronto, it was not EG.HuK who came through in second place. Instead it was ByuL, the oft overlooked Zerg from Korea who advanced behind Polt, continuing his under-the-radar run through WCS America.



Polt vs. ByuL

The champ started off the day with a loss, playing passively against ByuL on Yeonsu. ByuL stuck with Muta Ling Bane for the entire duration of the game, and his excellent ling micro and disarmament of widow mines allowed him to constantly take cost effective engagements. Polt struggled to expand past 2.5 mining bases, and with constant counter attacks and advantageous battles, ByuL was able to grind out the win.

Game two followed a similar pattern, but this time Polt was the player taking efficient engagements. Though Polt looked all but dead at many points in the game, but his strong macro allowed him to maintain a high enough supply to hold ByuL back from striking a decisive blow. The real game changer was Polt's denial of the Zerg 5th, which eventually resulted in ByuL getting starved out.

The first two games were decided by thin margins, and the two players headed onto Akilon Wastes to decide the victor. This time, however, ByuL decided to go for a 2 base ling bane attack. Unfortunately for ByuL, Polt reacted perfectly, saving his hellions by juking lings until he had enough to one shot them. ByuL kept up the pressure with constant waves of reinforcements, but Polt always quickly rebuilt his wall and tech up to medivacs. On 2 bases and with zero tech, it was only a matter of time before ByuL had to GG out against Polt's superior army and economy.

Polt vs. Apocalypse

Polt would then face Apocalypse in the winner's match, Apocalypse having defeated HuK in a close, scrappy 2 - 1 series. Like Polt's series against ByuL, it was another close call as Apocalypse displayed very good TvT that nearly matched the WCS AM Champion.

It was a back and forth, tug-of-war affair with all the games of the series settling into marine-tank-medivac after slightly different banshee openers. With constant battles, massive supply swings, and bases being lost and re-taken, it was impossible to tell who was winning at times. However, Polt's vigilance in sending lone marines to medivac drop paths distinguished himself from Apocalypse, being able to intercept repeated attempts at doom dropping. It was another close shave for Polt, but in the end his ability to retain tanks and remain patient despite even when behind in supply allowed him to overcome his opponent and head to the round of 8 in first place.

HuK vs. ByuL

Apocalypse would would have to wait on the winner of HuK and ByuL, who ended up fighting an action packed PvZ of their own on what was turning out to be a rather exciting night of games. The first on Akilon Wastes, everyone's favorite swarm host map, was exceedingly close, with HuK looking like the probably winner for most of the game after keeping ByuL on four bases to four. The Canadian Protoss was able to effectively neutralize the swarmhosts with constant pokes and good use of storm, and an attack into the heart of ByuL's natural just as he was transitioning into BroodLords looked like the deathblow. But HuK was also drying out back at home, and his inability to rally enough troops to end ByuL then and there allowed the Zerg to regroup and amass enough swarm hosts to push the Protoss back. Unable to take another base and facing a constant surge of free units, HuK's ended up losing the game despite looking to be in good position at some points.

It was a hard blow to take, but he was able to bring it back even with a DT build on Frost. It caught ByuL completely off guard, killing over 20 drones, and the game was merely a formality from there. They ended their series on Derelict Watcher, where HuK started by taking a quick third after relying on a mass of gates to defend. ByuL tried to apply pressure with roach ling, but was unable to get much out of it. The game swung into the Zerg's favor with the dreaded muta switch--HuK was in the middle of the map with his stalkers when the mutas fluttered into his base. Like most muta-switch games, this forced HuK to initiate a base trade, but ByuL preemptively built over 20 spines in his natural and main, convincing HuK to recall after losing his main and natural for a single Zerg base. With the muta ball growing and stuck on one base, HuK had to let go of his hopes of advancing and playing in Canada.

Apocalypse vs. ByuL

ByuL continued his penchant for base trades in his first game against Apocalypse. It was the Terran that looked ahead after engagements at the third--we even got to see hellbats!--, but a slight over-extension more or less reset any advantage he had made against ling bane. It was not until mutas were out that a base trade ensued, and ByuL's use of his mutas to bounce back between attack and defense allowed him to keep his third base safe. Once ByuL felt that he had bled enough of Apocalypse's bio with his ling bane, he simply mopped everything up with mutas for the win.

Similar to his game against Polt, ByuL opted for an aggressive opening in game two on Akilon Wastes. His Roach Bane attack was able to initially break Apocalypse, but despite killing a good amount of SCVs, the Korean Terran was able to stay alive, and even looked to be in good position with a third CC already done. The game normalized after the early pressure, Apocalypse's drop harass proving ineffective. It was not until the 19 minute mark that ByuL decided to attack, but poorly into a concave. His banelings stuck behind zerglings could not connect against the marines, and it looked like Apocalypse could rally push to victory. He did take out the Zerg's third, but a muta counter attack proved just as effective. It appeared to be another stalemate, but a retreat back on to creep was disastrous as a great surround obliterated Apocalypse's entire force, including straggling reinforcements. From there ByuL's growing muta ball could not be contained, which slowly picked away at the Terran army and even his main. a surge of ling bane finally appeared at Apocalypse's front door to end his hopes of a Round of 8 appearance.

Polt's chances of being the very first double WCS Champion increased with another impressive outing, but let's not forget ByuL, who might just be an attentive, totally-not-sleepy, and kinda really good version of NesTea. His games against all 3 players were impressive, and he has a good shot of repeating the same underdog surprise that Revival pulled off in Season 1 as runner up. Almost an afterthought on the IM line up, he might just be showing his team that he is, in fact, their best Zerg player.

Writers: lichter
Photos: itsjustatank.
Editor: Waxangel.