Dreamhack Austin, the first stop of the 2017 WCS Circuit, featured 3 days of games between 80 of the world’s top foreigners, with a 100,000 dollar prize pool and a WCS Global Finals invite on the line.
The first group stage featured 64 players and was a largely routine affair. uThermal, Harstem, Kelazhur, PtitDrogo and the rest of the favorites breezed through to the next stage.
Fan favorites CatZ, Pokebunny, Bails, MaSa and ViBE were among those who fell out in the second qualifying stage.
The sixteen who made it to the third group stage were then joined by sixteen more players who had qualified prior to the weekend. It was then that the rubber really met the road. Zergs topped six of the eight groups, with ShoWTimE and Kelazhur representing the other races. Neeb, Snute and MajOr escaped in second place, joining the likes of Nerchio, TRUE and Serral in the single elimination portion.
The Round of 16 started off with a Bo5 between Serral and TooDming. Serral won the match 3-0, setting up a quarterfinal match-up against MajOr, who had defeated iAonsu. Neeb made it past Lambo (3-1), while ShoWTimE squeaked by Namshar. TRUE didn’t drop a game taking care of uThermal. Cham set up a ZvZ when he knocked Probe out (3-1). Kelazhur notched one of the biggest wins in his career with a 3-2 over Snute, while Nerchio summarily sent JonSnow packing.
Despite Serral being the more hyped up player, MajOr was the first to reach the semifinals with a 3-1 win over the Finn. Next up were the two remaining Protoss. Neeb came out on top in a hard fought battle with ShoWTimE. TRUE took care of business against Cham in the second mirror match-up, while Kelazhur fell just short of taking down Nerchio. Nerchio’s 3-2 win saw him face off against TRUE to determine which Zerg would face the winner of Neeb, MajOr in the finals.
The first semifinal was defined by phoenix/adept play. MajOr won the first game as his doom drop undid Neeb, and caught his opponent off guard in game three when a cloaked banshee went unanswered. In the other three games Neeb dictated the pace with aggressive phoenix/adept play, but it was a hold at his third base in the final game against bio/mine/liberator which led to him taking the series 3-2.
The second semifinal started off with a victory for TRUE, but from there it was all Nerchio. Quick thinking gave him the edge in a basetrade while teching to lurker put him over the top against ultralisks and infestors. Strong defense on Newkirk Precinct was the biggest step on his way to closing out the series and setting up a showdown against Neeb in the final.
Game one of the finals took place on Cactus Valley. Nerchio opted for a roach ravager composition with Neeb favoring immortal/archons and charge. Neeb was forced to play defensively as Nerchio macroed up to seven bases. When Neeb finally lost his fourth, Nerchio was ahead by 60 supply and closed things out shortly thereafter.
Nerchio favored roaches again in game 2, but ended the mid game down on workers. Rather than macro following Neeb's first wave of adepts, Nerchio went for a roach ling attack off his low economy. He killed Neeb's third before droning. The game normalized from there, with Neeb ultimately adding carriers to his army. Nerchio scrambled together a defense, but was never able to build the bank or army required to keep the game going.
Neeb couldn't establish any real pressure until Nerchio already had his fourth on Abyssal Reef. The initial adept push was deflected and Nerchio powered into a ling/bane/hydra composition that ended the game soon after.
Up 2-1, Nerchio suffered early damage from a pair to oracles. Back at home, Neeb had assembled a massive adept army with glaives that stormed Nerchio's third. Nerchio ran with every single drone, but there was nowhere to escape to and he had to concede the game.
With things tied 2-2, game five got off to a slow start. Nerchio established his fourth, but Neeb found value with his immortal/adept/sentry army and adept harass. Nerchio went for a massive drop while attacking Neeb's fourth. Neeb lost the base, but little else. He kept his own pressure on while his disruptor count rose. An attack on Nerchio's fourth closed the game out and put Neeb one game away from the title.
The sixth game took place on Honorgrounds. Neeb opted for a double stargate void ray strategy, then switching to disruptors. Meanwhile, Nerchio added corruptors to his roaches on four bases. He looked to have held Neeb's assault, but adepts managed to kill too many drones as Neeb's army swelled. Nerchio tried to hang on, but the American Protoss' disruptor shots connected over and over. With his army devastated and his opponent on five bases Nerchio conceded, making Neeb the Dreamhack Austin champion.
With his victory Neeb became the third player to qualify for the WCS Global Finals, joining Stats and TY at BlizzCon 2017.
I wish we would see more Terrans in the foreigner scene. Foreigner tournaments are very Z/P dominated.
As a terran player it's alway kinda boring for me to follow foreigner tournaments, because i don't really have someone anymore to cheer for, especially on the higher brackets.
On the other hand we didn't have 7 Koreans and 1 foreigner in the RO8 which makes it less entertaining for the foreigner scene to follow.
That's what people keep saying, so I guess it's true for a majority of us. Honestly I just want to see the most high level play as much as possible. As you said, foreigner wins are more meaningful and exciting when they are against Koreans (ex: Kespa Cup 2016).
Even so, congratulations to Neeb. He seems like a good guy from his recent interview, and a tournament this size is still a significant achievement.
On the other hand we didn't have 7 Koreans and 1 foreigner in the RO8 which makes it less entertaining for the foreigner scene to follow.
That's what people keep saying, so I guess it's true for a majority of us. Honestly I just want to see the most high level play as much as possible. As you said, foreigner wins are more meaningful and exciting when they are against Koreans (ex: Kespa Cup 2016).
Even so, congratulations to Neeb. He seems like a good guy from his recent interview, and a tournament this size is still a significant achievement.
At blizzcon and katowice we already see KR vs foreigners. I think foreign-only tournaments are pretty entertaining and having 4 of them is fine. Last year was terrible with 11 foreigner tournaments and 4 korean tournaments but now I don't have any complaints.
On the other hand we didn't have 7 Koreans and 1 foreigner in the RO8 which makes it less entertaining for the foreigner scene to follow.
That's what people keep saying, so I guess it's true for a majority of us. Honestly I just want to see the most high level play as much as possible. As you said, foreigner wins are more meaningful and exciting when they are against Koreans (ex: Kespa Cup 2016).
Even so, congratulations to Neeb. He seems like a good guy from his recent interview, and a tournament this size is still a significant achievement.
At blizzcon and katowice we already see KR vs foreigners. I think foreign-only tournaments are pretty entertaining and having 4 of them is fine. Last year was terrible with 11 foreigner tournaments and 4 korean tournaments but now I don't have any complaints.
There will be some Korea vs World events right? Not sure if one or two. Do we know for when they are scheduled?
Edit: I guess it's not yet known and only one.
"GSL vs. the World – At mid-year in Korea, we will host a very special all-star event for your favorite Circuit and Korea pros to compete against each other. Stay tuned for details on the selection process and the structure of the event."
On May 01 2017 19:14 StraKo wrote: I wish we would see more Terrans in the foreigner scene. Foreigner tournaments are very Z/P dominated.
As a terran player it's alway kinda boring for me to follow foreigner tournaments, because i don't really have someone anymore to cheer for, especially on the higher brackets.
Anyways, GG Neeb.
well to be fair there were 3 P and 3 T in the final bracket, doesn't seem all that terrible
On May 01 2017 19:14 StraKo wrote: I wish we would see more Terrans in the foreigner scene. Foreigner tournaments are very Z/P dominated.
As a terran player it's alway kinda boring for me to follow foreigner tournaments, because i don't really have someone anymore to cheer for, especially on the higher brackets.
Anyways, GG Neeb.
This was an excellent showing for Terran compared to usual!!
On May 01 2017 19:14 StraKo wrote: I wish we would see more Terrans in the foreigner scene. Foreigner tournaments are very Z/P dominated.
As a terran player it's alway kinda boring for me to follow foreigner tournaments, because i don't really have someone anymore to cheer for, especially on the higher brackets.
Anyways, GG Neeb.
This was an excellent showing for Terran compared to usual!!
Agreed, odd tournament to complain about Terran, especially given the usual foreigner Terran representation.
On May 01 2017 19:14 StraKo wrote: I wish we would see more Terrans in the foreigner scene. Foreigner tournaments are very Z/P dominated.
As a terran player it's alway kinda boring for me to follow foreigner tournaments, because i don't really have someone anymore to cheer for, especially on the higher brackets.
Anyways, GG Neeb.
EU have been very zerg heavy for a long time and even more so in lotv. Some of the better terrans (Lucifron, Bunny and Thorzain) have fallen off (to studies I think) and apart from Uthermal it looks rather bleak on this side of the atlantic.
Looking at the wcs standings, while there are 2 terrans in top 8, Heromarine is 4th terran at 21st place.
On May 01 2017 19:14 StraKo wrote: I wish we would see more Terrans in the foreigner scene. Foreigner tournaments are very Z/P dominated.
As a terran player it's alway kinda boring for me to follow foreigner tournaments, because i don't really have someone anymore to cheer for, especially on the higher brackets.
Anyways, GG Neeb.
This was an excellent showing for Terran compared to usual!!
Agreed, odd tournament to complain about Terran, especially given the usual foreigner Terran representation.
I was just generally speaking, not about this tournament in particular.
Been a fan of Kelazhur and Special (rip Major) for years. I always thought they were insanely good in online cups. Even the equal of top foreigners. Glad to see them reach their potential this tourney. I think they will only get better and I can't wait to see that. Also, congrats to Neeb! Upstate NY represent!! I wonder how close I am to him haha
EPT
uThermal, 
Harstem, 
CatZ, 
