EPT
Writer: XXTN
Graphics: Meru
Editor: lichter
WCS AM S3 Ro32H Recap
The WCS AM Ro32 concluded last night with the favorites,
Bomber and MajOr, advancing to the second round. Last season’s runner up Bomber finished in first place with little trouble while MajOr followed in second. The Taiwanese zerg Slam also showed some impressive games but fell just short in the final match. If he keeps working hard, there’s a good chance we’ll see him again in the next season of Premier League.![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/lichter/WCSAM/2014/season3/wcsampremgrph.jpg)
Having lost to Sen just last weekend, Bomber redeemed himself by beating the Taiwanese zerg Slam. Feeling confident in his macro, Slam went for a Snute-esque SH style against a bio-heavy terran on Overgrowth. This led to an entertaining split-map game with Bomber constantly attacking in multiple locations and sniping hatcheries. While Slam hung on admirably, he never got past his half of the map and was eventually worn down by Bomber’s macro. After losing the macro game, Slam opted for an aggressive roach/hydra style in game two. He was able to gain a sizable economic edge by delaying Bomber’s third with early roaches and then sniping it later while the tanks were out of position. Slam then finished the game with a large roach/hydra attack. Tied 1-1, Slam went for a similar style on the third map, but Bomber was completely prepared this time. In anticipation of this scenario, Bomber pumped out a large bio force to deflect the roach aggression. With no anti-air for the zerg, Bomber was able to drop as he pleased, which kept the Taiwanese zerg at home. Clearly frustrated, Slam responded with a huge counter attack that turned into a base trade which
Bomber won decisively. The night’s second series featured a surprisingly one-sided TvP between two of the best North American players. Playing overly passive in game one, puCK delayed his own third way too long and as a result, could not keep up in macro with MajOr. Just to be sure though, MajOr brought SCVs with his larger army and steamrolled the protoss. Moving on to King Sejong Station, puCK chose to play defensive again and allowed MajOr to dictate the tempo of the game. The Root terran slowly built an advantage by staying aggressive and delaying his opponent’s third. With the better production,
MajOr simply rallied his units across the map and slowly whittled down puCK’s army for the easy 2-0 victory.Down in the lower bracket, puCK wound up facing Slam in a closely contested PvZ showdown. puCK’s early three stalker pressure did a good amount of damage to put Slam on the backfoot. This allowed him to follow up with a three-base blink stalker timing which forced Slam into counter-attacking. However, DT warp-ins back home were enough to force Slam to call “gg”. Game two on King Sejong Station turned into a passive, split-map game that came down to one final fight. puCK barely held the ultra/queen/infestor/viper attack but was powerless against the zerg re-max. The final game started out well for puCK, who was able to repeatedly cancel Slam’s fourth base. However, he overextended once and lost his army to an excellent zerg surround. A few minutes later, Slam took the offensive and won a decisive fight with ultralisks, fungals and blinding clouds. Overall,
Slam showcased some phenomenal late game ZvP and expert spell casting.Just as many predicted, the winner’s match featured a TvT between Bomber and MajOr. The best game of the night came on King Sejong Station, where we were treated to an intense, back and forth chess match. In control for most of the game, the Redbull terran was far more aggressive, took better trades, and slowly gained the lead. However, MajOr was able to claw his way back in with good defending and hellion harassment. MajOr’s one real chance at a comeback came in the form of a base trade, but he just couldn’t break into Bomber’s production. MajOr dragged the game on a bit longer, but was eventually forced to “gg” when he lost his last mining base. In the early moments of Overgrowth, MajOr attempted to put the choke hold on Bomber by sieging his natural from the third base location. However, Bomber read the move and intercepted MajOr’s army before it got into position. As the Mexican terran was retreating, Bomber caught him mid-map and took a good fight. From there, Bomber loaded up for a doom drop in MajOr’s main that did enough damage to push
Bomber through in first place. While MajOr has shown some impressive TvT recently, he just couldn’t overcome last season’s runner-up. Thus, the match to decide the final seed in the Ro16 came down to a TvZ between MajOr and Slam. Aggressive from the start, MajOr used hellion/banshee pressure to inflict a good amount of damage. Moreover, he retained most of his hellions, which he would later transform into hellbats in a follow-up attack. Slam tried going for fast mutalisks but paid the price when hellbats and banshees tore through his defenseless natural. Eager to advance, MajOr opened game two with a double proxy-rax on Overgrowth. Even though Slam went for pool before hatch, he still failed to stop the bunkers from finishing. He eventually broke through but at a heavy price. Though he lost his bunkers,
MajOr reached a critical number of marines and soon found himself through to the next round.Overall, today was a good way to end the WCS AM Ro32, as we got to see some fantastic macro games. While Slam failed to advance from this group, he looked really solid against puCK and nearly took out Bomber. Meanwhile, MajOr should learn from his TvT match because he will need all the help he can get for his upcoming Ro16 group. Finally, Bomber continues to impress and can potentially go far should he maintain his current form. With that, WCS America heads into a hiatus for now and will pick back up with the Ro16 on Thursday, September 4th.
![[image loading]](/staff/lichter/WCSAM/2014/season3/ro16.jpg)
WCS America Premier League Ro16 Players (16/16)
Jim, Pigbaby, HuK, HerOHyuN, Jaedong, Check, viOLet, ScarlettNeeb, iaguz, Polt, Heart, TaeJa, Bomber, MajOrRace Distribution:
4
5
7
