WCS Global Finals
Round of 8

by TL Writers

The World Championship Series 2015 Global Finals are finally here! 8 players have converged at BlizzCon to play out the quarterfinals of this year's Grand Finale. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in single elimination format Best of 5's, while the Grand Final will be a Best of 7.

This thread will be updated in real time as the day goes on, both with live recaps and all that surrounds the event. Please share your thoughts and predictions below, or head over to the Live Report Thread for discussions of all things related (and unrelated) to the opening day at BlizzCon.

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herO vs Classic

Game 1 - Bridgehead

Both combatants opened the same, but quickly deviated with herO opting for a proxy stargate. To gather scouting information herO sent his MSC across the map while also poking the mineral line of Classic, forcing a photon overcharge. herO had to recall his MSC out, but this came back to bite him when his oracle couldn't harass the probes of Classic, while the latter simply went 3 gate stalker to kill herO.

Classic 1 - 0 herO

Game 2 - Terraform

This time the early game was uneventful with herO having gone robo and Classic oracles. Classic was the first to expand but herO opted to put on some pressure with a stalker immortal force, but lost his critical immortal to oracles, but was still able to snipe the expansion. However herO's follow up proxy stargate helped him get wind of the twilight council, so he broke the siege early. Feeling comfortable, Classic expanded faster then herO and got a big worker lead, propelling him in the lead on all fronts, army, economy and tech. hero attempted a attack on Classic's much faster 3rd, but was pushed back, Classic though pushed across the map, sniped herO's 3rd and then recalled out. Choosing to consolidate his advantage, Classic got a 4th base and teched up to Tempest. herO attempted to outmaneuver Classic across the map while he built a fleet of void rays, even managing to snipe Classic's natural. Ultimately Classic caught herO's army and destroyed it convincingly.

Classic 2 - 0 herO

Game 3 - Cactus Valley

This time herO chose to tech heavier, going up first to his iconic blink, while Classic added more gateways. herO aimed to build a proxy pylon across the map but Classic routed it, forcing herO to also go into robo. Classic however was unable to scout herO's tech while herO managed to sneak his MSC into the base of Classic, thus forcing him to go home. Having the tech advantage herO expanded faster then Classic, but the SKT1 protoss deduced it correctly and continued probe production, staying even on economy. The next few minutes unfolded uneventfully with both players executing the standard protoss arms race, adding colossus tech, forges, upgrades and tech. The first player to make a move was herO, who attempted an attack on Classic's 3rd, but was caught out of position and forced to recall. It grim as Classic was up in army supply, but herO executed a deft set of maneuvers that saw him snipe nearly all the tech buildings of Classic. This bought herO the time he need to amass a suitable army to challenge Classic, who flustered at the harass, moved across the map but lost a lot of critical units on retreat. herO attempted to bring the hammer down on Classic, but was unable to finish the job as Classic's tempests reigned supreme. The game entered another period of downtime as both players attempted to harass while building back their armies. But soon after maxing, herO rampped up his harass, doing progressively more crippling damage as he destroyed, tech and economy of Classic, pulling him out of position to strike other vulnerable bases. Classic still had one ace though, his army supply, which grew tremendously as his economy dwindled, eventually he tired of defending and pushed out, forcing a base trade. But as herO continued trading gradually against Classic he wore him down and was able to max on a much stronger army. Classic attempted one last fight, but herO this time was ready and vanquished Classic, making the series closer.

Classic 2 - 1 herO

Game 4 - Coda

Classic looked to turn the tables on herO by teching heavily all the way up to dark shrine. Meanwhile herO had opted for a early sentry into expand, but managed to get enough energy for the critical hallucination scout. Despite not doing direct damage, Classic managed to get his own expand out faster. Classic though teched to robo and managed to put his dark templars to use later on, sniping 7 probles and using the economic buffer to get his colossus and immortals out faster. From there both players macroed to 3 bases, but where as herO was gearing for the late game, Classic had other plans, stopping at +2 attack upgrades and adding archons to push across the map. The attack caught herO completely off guard, he tried to add archons of his own, but at this point it was too late as Classic had broke the line and secured himself another RO4 at Blizzcon.

Classic 3 - 1 herO

INnoVation vs Life

Game 1 - Moonlight Madness

INnoVation went three command center, and Life played relatively safe by adding roaches to fend off hellions. A mech vs Zerg game broke out, and Life tried to catch INnoVation off guard with burrowed roach tech, but to no avail. INnoVation made a big mech army and pushed across the map while defending roach runbys with reinforcing units. Life couldn’t make enough units to hold the push, and was forced to GG.

INnoVation 1 - 0 Life

Game 2 - Terraform

Both players fast expanded, and Life followed it up with an early roach warren. This caught INnoVation completely off guard, and lost a hefty amount of units to the push. His counter attack failed, and with his economy and army in shambles, Life threw attack after attack at INnoVation to finish him off.

INnoVatioin 1 - 1 Life

Game 3 - Cactus Valley

Again, both players went for a fast expand. Rather than go up to three command centers, INnoVation geared up towards a two base mass bio/medivac push. However, Life had other plans as he went for his own aggressive strategy in a roach/baneling bust. This bust hit right before stim finished, but was unable to deal a significant amount of damage. INnoVation countered with his two base build, but Life was able to hold on with just enough, and launch counter attacks to knock INnoVation out of the game.

INnoVation 1 - 2 Life

Game 4 - Coda

Breaking out the specialty builds, INnoVation went for a thor drop. This didn’t do any damage, and behind this INnoVation stayed on two base again. Life made it up to three base with ease, and started to pump out roach/bane/ling. The macro of Life was able to overwhelm INnoVation, and the previous champion knocked INnoVation out of the tournament.

INnoVation 1 - 3 Life

Rain vs sOs

Game 1 - Cactus Valley

The game began in unremarkable fashion, both players going gate first. Rain teched into Twilight Council while sOs opted for an odder followup, building a sentry into fast expand. This safe opening was merely the cover for a huge risk as sOs immediately proxied his third base at the top-right of the map. Despite having early blink Rain never scouted said base and mistook sOs' defensive immortal play as skittishness. He attempted to take advantage with his own quick third, deciding upon a chargelot/archon composition to counter sOs' immortals. sOs transitioned into colossi and moved out once he got 2 of them. Rain was caught offguard by sOs' army and got crushed.

sOs 1 - 0 Rain

Game 2 - Terraform

sOs began with a slightly safer opening, getting a second gate after sentry and a Twilight Council soon afterwards. Meanwhile Rain tried some 3 gate pressure with limited success. He managed to get a pylon up inside sOs' base, but the Jin Air protoss microed well enough to halt the attack. Rain's oracle followup completely failed to do any damage, leading to a faster nexus for his opponent. From then on sOs carefully managed his probe advantage, levering it into a faster third and stronger units. Rain couldn't find any weaknesses in sOs' defense. Instead of playing for the long game, he gambled on a large chargelot/archon push at sOs' third. It almost worked since he managed to wrap around sOs' reinforcement line as sOs was in the middle of the map. But sOs had 2 colossi and more zealots, which allowed him to turn the unexpected flank into a total victory.

sOs 2 - 0 Rain

Game 3 - Bridgehead

Thanks to map architecture, both players felt safe going 1 gate -> expand -> robo. This time Rain took care to control the map and deny information. For a long time it seemed like his faster blink had ensured easy victory. He intercepted and killed a warp prism drop, picked off sOs' first colossus, and forced a cancel on the already delayed third. However, he was unprepared for a desperation dark shrine. sOs' gamble worked out as he sniped Rain's robo and main base. More importantly, the harassment allowed the Jin Air protoss to produce colossi undisturbed. By the time Rain felt confident enough to move out again, sOs was pushing towards his third with 4 colossi and a superior army count. A halfhearted pincer move destroyed 3 colossi but came at the cost of Rain's entire force.

sOs 3 - 0 Rain

Hydra vs Rogue

Game 1 - Bridgehead

Rogue opted with the slightly safer route of 15 pool, while Hydra went for a 15 hatch. They both got their gas at relatively even timings, with Rogue investing the first 100 gas into ling speed, and Hydra banking the gas. A clever sim city from Hydra denied scouting from Rogue as they both teched into lair and droned heavily. The first real deviation happened after the lair timing; Rogue dropped a spire while Hydra invested in roach upgrades. Hydra set up a creep highway to the backdoor rocks of Rogue, while the latter patiently waited for his mutas to pop out. Rogue sent out a ling counterattack, forcing Hydra to push into the natural base of Rogue which was littered with spine crawlers. Hydra broke the wall, and cemented his position in Rogues base with a spore crawler. Hydra went for a nydus to finish the game, but Rogue sniffed it out and took out the threat. This was not enough however, as Hydras earlier push was enough to gain a significant lead, and pushed off the back of this to a win.

Hydra 1 - 0 Rogue

Game 2 - Cactus Valley

Leading 1-0 already, Hydra decided to put on the pressure with a 6 pool. Luckily for Rogue, he dropped a 15 pool rather than a 15 hatch. Hydra sent his first overlord in the correct direction, and pulled drones with his initial lings. Rogue only saw this coming when the push was on his creep, and the game of drones began. Dancing around for a bit, Rogue took a favorable fight with his queen popping out to help the engagement, and Rogue decisively took the fight and tied up the series.

Hydra 1 - 1 Rogue

Game 3 - Dash and Terminal

Now down to a best of three, Hydra gambled once again with a 9 pool with gas. Rogue dropped a 15 hatch this time around, and scouted the early pool from Hydra. Hydra dropped a baneling nest, while the drone vs. ling battle began in Rogues base. Five drones were initially killed off, but that wasn’t enough damage as Rogue stayed slightly ahead in the drone count. Rogue maintained the better micro and eventually pushed back Hydra, and won the game.

Hydra 1 - 2 Rogue

Game 4 - Moonlight Madness

Expecting another early pool, Rogue went for the safe 15 pool, while Hydra went back to the classic 15 hatch. This game mimicked the first, with the addition of Hydra getting ling speed. Stopping at 36 drones, Hydra started to mass ling/roach, and Rogue was able to scout this and reacted with spine crawlers at the front. They finished just in time for the push, and Rogue successfully defended. The spire finished for Rogue, and the mutas were too much for Hydra to handle. Rogue finally broke the round of 8 curse, and moved on to the Ro4!

Hydra 1 - 3 Rogue