WCS Ro32 Group A and B Recaps


The very first weekend of WCS Premier League contained surprises, disappointments and... well, games, and it was a good return of the world's premier foreigner tournament. The first surprise was the comeback of FrodaN, who had been missing from NA tournaments since the dissolution of NASL. Combined with the recent cameo by Gretorp, all we need now is MrBitter and Lauren and we could see the old NASL crew back together again.

Unfortunately, Group A did not quite deliver in terms of game quality.

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In many ways, WCS Premier kicked off with a perfect group. Everyone in Group A performed as expected, with an almost humorous lack of variation. Astrea did well until players started anticipating his protossery, at which point he completely fell apart. (Z)Snute played solidly throughout, using his regular styles to great success as he advanced with a quick 4-0. He continued to play a roach/infestor style in ZvZ, and had little trouble dispatching XiGua in the winners' match. The last match came down to uThermal vs Xigua, but luckily for fans of the veteran, the Watermelon Zerg had enough to advance to the Round of 16. They played one macro game that served as the highlight of an otherwise dull evening, but the games left little doubt on who deserved to advance. After some fairly good play that allowed him to abuse the more obvious weaknesses of the western rookies, it'll be interesting to see if (Z)XiGua can handle some more fiery competition going forward.

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After such an average first day, WCS bounced back with an incredible second day of games. The surprise of the night was undoubtedly Kelazhur, who came 1 game short of advancing in first place. In the end it was the two veterans, (T)Polt and (Z)TLO that would advance from Group B.

It didn't start brightly for the Liquid zerg however as Kelazhur controlled him to take a strong 2-0 win. The Brazilian's Premier League debut could not have gone better, and it looked like he wasn't going to be the fodder that many other debutantes had become. In the other initial match, Polt outlasted Jim with a score of 2-1. Polt used his trademark drop style to tear apart the Invictus Gaming protoss, but the emperor of China did take one game using his patented phoenix colossus composition. That meant Jim would have to try and climb from the loser's match, where he had to face TLO.

Game 1

Overgrowth

RATING:


Aware of Jim's reputation for safe openings and 2base all ins, TLO decided that 14/14 was his best choice on Overgrowth. In classic TLO fashion, however, he followed it up with something different: burrow immediately after speed. Though he was unable to kill the nexus, his lings were able to scout everything Jim had planned as the protoss did not have any mobile detection. TLO safely reached three bases, and Jim built his immortal sentry all in. Yet, it would never happen as TLO constantly outmaneuvered Jim to keep him off his back with roaches. By the time the Chinese protoss attacked, swarm hosts were already out. A counterattack demolished the protoss at home, and swarm hosts swallowed up his units abroad.

Liquid`TLO Z2 RATING:

TLO's weird build paid off over time as his lings were essentially unkillable. He saw everything Jim was doing, and he prepared as well as anyone could have. His movement with his roaches was brilliant, and Jim could not get halfway past the map without having to retreat against a potential counterattack. It was like a game of cat and mouse, except the mouse was delaying for his rabid cousins to arrive. Clever, boy.

P7 iG.JimRATING:

Jim did well to deflect the 14/14, but he predictably decided to use an immortal sentry all in. He blindly chased TLO's roaches all around the map for nothing, and his inability to get the best of his opponent in their funny car chase allowed TLO to prepare for the delayed attack. Jim rammed his head against the wall and appeared outsmarted all throughout.



It was obvious TLO had prepared specifically to counter Jim's penchant for two bases, and he once again bamboozled the Chinese protoss on Expedition Lost. Using early roaches to keep his opponent on his toes, TLO managed to net sentries and forges with his early forces. Jim could have bounced back with a quick third base, but TLO's swarm host transition caught him off guard, and the swarm of locusts could not be stopped from razing the third. Another attack through the back rocks took down all of Jim's gateway power, and he tapped out realizing he was done for. This was the first time that the Chinese champion was ousted by foreign competition in the Ro32, though he will be an odds on favorite to make it Premier League again next season.

After beating TLO in his first match of the day, Kelazhur initially looked outmatched by his esteemed opponent Polt. On Catallena, his one base early attack was repelled with ease. The most memorable moment of the game was when Polt's adventurous mine in front of Kelazhur's base—something we often see in TvT doing nothing—actually killed a medivac full of units. From there Polt cleaned up the Brazilian's base with his first tank push.

Game 2

Deadwing

RATING:

It didn't work the first time, but Kelazhur did the same marine, hellion medivac attack that he attempted in the first game. A good engagement allowed him to take the natural and force a lift off, and Polt was in a tough spot. With very late add ons on his infrastructure, Polt was unable to match Kelazhur's unit production, and soon units were flooding into his main. Kelazhur looked more Polt than Polt himself as he raided his opponent's main base, and by the time things settled, the Brazilian was more than twice up in supply. The succeeding marine tank attack closed out the game to tie the series at one apiece.

Kelazhur T10 RATING:

Kelazhur didn't want to play a macro game against Polt—who could blame him after game 1?—but this time, however, his control was far better and he managed to break Polt's natural with relative ease. His movements looked crisp and constant and he found ways into the main even with Polt entrenched. Some great positioning in the middle of Polt's barracks to shield from SCVs sealed an unlikely win.

T7 CMStorm PoltRATING:

Polt should have been prepared for Kelazhur's attack, but he underestimated the Brazilian Terran's threat. Some poor focus fire and ill-advised SCV pulls put him in a dire spot, and there was little he could do after falling down to less than half of Kelazhur's worker count.


After the humbling loss on Deadwing, Polt tightened up his approach in game 3 by opening with a gas and a more modest early expansion. While Kelazhur attempted the same early marine hellion medivac attack, a cloaked banshee by the CM Storm terran ransacked the Brazilian's base. Unable to find an avenue to deal damage and with a late natural, the gap between the two players' supplies widened, and (T)Polt claimed his spot in the Round of 16 soon after. It was certainly not smooth sailing as Captain America was only 4-2 in maps, but he should be content with his advancement.

As for Kelazhur, a confident display in his first two sets should have given him the confidence to make it out in second. Alas, it was not to be. A somewhat atypical rematch played in favor of the Liquid zerg, and he survived a rough night to reach the Round of 16. His mutalisk control proved to be the difference. In game 1, he was able to camp Kelazhur's main production lines while the terran was supply blocked, and some poor queuing (hellbats before marines) meant that the mutalisks were able to stay there for an infuriatingly long time. In the deciding match on Expedition Lost, (Z)TLO's 2base mutalisks came out just in time to stop the hellbat marine timing attack. No amount of grit could help Kelazhur to stabilize once his natural was forced to lift, and he had no choice but to concede after playing an impressive set of games.

It was a disappointing loss for the Brazilian, but it looks like his career can only look up from here. He almost took Polt down in a TvT, and didn't look out of his depth in his debut. Everyone will be looking forward to his future appearances in WCS, but for now, (T)Polt and (Z)TLO stay alive in Season 1.

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Group A
(Z)XiGua vs (P)Astrea: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
(T)uThermal vs (Z)Snute: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Losers Match: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Winners Match: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Final Match: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3

Group B
(T)Kelazhur vs (Z)TLO: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
(T)Polt vs (P)Jim: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Losers Match: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Winners Match: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Final Match: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3