WCS Season Three
Premier League Recap

WCS Season Three Premier League Recap

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

“I know I have failed many times. But the failures and struggles I faced made victory all the more meaningful.” - Bomber

When we talk about the foreign scene now, it becomes all too easy for fans to bash on their lack of success. No foreigner won a premier despite getting close multiple times in 2013. Sen was the only foreigner to win a Premier in 2014. In 2015 the first two seasons of WCS were won by Polt and Hydra. Yet that is an oversimplification of the inherent struggles that a foreigner pro has to face when they play Starcraft 2 as well as a complete misunderstanding of the increasing competitive difficulty in the scene.



To put things into perspective, the amount of total competitive Korean players was doubled once the move over of KeSPa from BW to SC2. Yes there has been mass retirements since then and the overall pool of players is actually lower now than it was at the end of 2012, however with it came better infrastructure, training and coaching for SC2 players over in Korea. Foreigners can and have put in similar hours of work into the game as the Koreans, but it is never quite as efficient and the Korean ladder will always be superior. In addition to that if you are born outside of Europe or the West/East Coast of NA, it's hard to connect to any server with decent latency at all much to the woe of players in SEA/CN. (Jim’s entire style for instance was created with the expectation of always playing in 400 ping environments).

And then comes the economics of the scene. Europe is full of online cups, locals, nationals and international lans, but for smaller scenes like SA or SEA, there is nothing comparable and so they are left landlocked unless an outside team like ROOT or mYi picks them up.

Yet the Korean struggle is no less. They work just as hard if not harder to the point of often burning out their players. Some have played 14 hours a day for years before they retired without a single result to their name. And they do this knowing that they are essentially selling their youths to work full time in a career that has no transferable skills once their pro-career is over. And at the end of all of that is 2 years of military service.

I say all of this not to start a pity war over who has it the hardest, but to make you understand that it takes a certain quality of crazy and passion to become an SC2 pro player. There are no more easy breaks for anyone, you could pay your own way to play in WCS EU, win your only Championship after years of hardship and pain and then be called a faceless Korean for daring to fulfill your dream. You could spend years playing and practicing SC2, but not have anything to show for it until after you retire.

For foreigners in particular, they are always fighting a legacy of their predecessors. Fans often wax nostalgic about the days of players like idra, Huk, Stephano or Naniwa. Days when it was expected to have a foreigner hope that could battle the Koreans and win. Yet they never take into account the increased competitiveness, the decreasing chances to prove yourself, the amount of hard work is needed to put into the game and the very likely chance that nothing could come of it.

The trophies of the Champions is bloodied by the countless broken hopes and dreams of the players they crushed along the way.



Yet despite that, year after year, season after season we see players both new and old get up to challenge for it again. And that was part of what made this WCS Season 3 so magical. Players like Has or Hitman used to be reviled for their cheesy aggressive styles, but have since become two of the most beloved foreigners in the scene for being complete unflinching and shameless in who they are.

At the same time you saw players rise up after years of dedication, players like Zanster (with an untimely drop out by Hitman), GungfuBanda and Petraeus have strong runs. Petraeus has proven that even after retirement that he has what it takes to challenge for a Championship. Zanster has already sworn that he will be back next year to take the crown.



Yet the runaway story has to go to three people: The Polish Crowd, Lilbow and Mana. The Polish have always congregated in large numbers for SC2 events and this time it was no different. In a scene where daed game is a constantly spreading meme, it was drowned out by the roars and enthusiasm of the Poles. And because of their exuberance, because of their passion,the atmosphere became electric and the victories became all the more meaningful for players to fight for.

And out of this arena came two players: Lilbow and Mana. Lilbow spent years practicing to finally break out last season as he made it all the way to the finals before losing to Hydra. This time Lilbow won and cemented his place as the best foreigner in Europe. On the other sid was Mana. A player whose run could be termed as a miracle.

While Mana was respected among pros and fans, no one had pegged him for championship material. Yet round after round, game after game, series after series, just when it looked like his time had come up, Mana would find that inner strength, that inner determination to go the extra mile to win. It was an astounding feat when you think about how it has been 3 years since his peak in WoL and he has never been even close to winning a tournament throughout all of HotS. Yet in the very last WCS, in front of his country, Mana stood up for one more night to carry the hopes of his country alive, to defeat ForGG and to give us the first ever WCS all foreigner finals. Lilbow carried the hopes and dreams of the foreigner world as a victory here would ensure his place as the only foreigner at Blizzcon.



Perhaps the detractors are right. We may never see another Stephano or Naniwa or HuK again. We may never see a foreigner rise up to consistently challenge for a spot to be one of the best players in the world. But there is beauty in the struggle. That disappointments and failures can become badges of honor. And sometimes you don’t fail, despite everything. Sometimes you succeed and when that happens, there is something incredible, something magical in that moment. And this time we got to see it between Lilbow and Mana on the grandest stage WCS has ever given us. And this time we will see Lilbow rise up to become the second foreigner ever to attend Blizzcon.

Writers: stuchiu
Editors: stuchiu.
Graphics: Meru.