Written by TheOneAboveU - @TL_TripleM

Once more, the world focuses its eyes on Paris during a Spring of Nations, as the fifth edition of NationWars nears its exciting conclusion. The four surviving national teams of the tournament will face each other live in the French capital to decide a victor. Never have the spoils of war been as desirable, with a prize purse of $25,000 USD for the winning nation provided partly by Blizzard’s Warchest, as well as additional community funding.


South Korea, the juggernaut of StarCraft, go into the event as the favourites to win and defend their title—nothing new on this front. While the composition of the top 4 is similar to last year—with Korea, two European contenders, and one country from the Americas vying for the title—Korea is the only country actually making a return. The rest are newcomers to the live-stage of NationWars:

Mexico, always a strong wildcard in Nation Wars, look more dangerous than ever with the rise of SpeCial and the surprising strength of Cham. The Netherlands, even though they field the same line-up as last year, have never looked better, with Harstem and uThermal leading the charge. And then there is Finland—or better: Serral, who carried his country to this point with the masterful play we’ve become used to seeing from him.

Four nations, but only one shall stand in the end, and claim the laurels of victory—and with it, the right to be called world champions.






The team Mexico assembled has quite the experience in Nation Wars. Ever since the third edition of the competition, the trio of SpeCial, Cham, and JimRising have represented their country together. And while they were always a force to be reckoned with thanks to SpeCial, the impressive performance of Cham really has catapulted them to a higher level this year, resulting in their best ranking yet with that team composition.

Cham has already brought two all-kills to the table, securing both the qualification to the group stage against Denmark, and the ticket to Paris against Brazil in the Latin American duel. As impressive as that is, SpeCial’s performance deserves higher praise still, as he was the one to defeat South Korea all by himself, beating MMA, soO, and INnoVation to bring Mexico the group victory. SpeCial is the only player in the tournament to remain undefeated so far, a feat more expected from a Korean team member. If SpeCial can continue his solid performance, and Cham continues to give him his full support fire, Mexico look on course to make the finals—their first since 2014.



There’s going to be need of a very stable dam, if anyone wants to halt the Mexican flood. Luckily, the Netherlands are quite apt at exactly that. Harstem, uThermal, and Optimus haven’t been playing together for as long as the Mexicans, but it is already their second tournament in a row representing the Netherlands in this constellation. They also achieved their country's best result in NationWars history, being able to enter the top 4 for the first time. While everyone were counting the Dutch as a strong contenders, the manner of their domination wasn’t expected—especially not from the hands of Harstem, who was able to get three all kills under his belt already. The Protoss player may yet crack the record of four all kills MarineLorD set two years ago. If he managed to do that, the Netherlands would stand triumphant over the rest of the world. Indeed, it would be a performance worthy of having a year named after the player.

Not everything hinges on Harstem, however. In uThermal, the Dutch command the best Terran player in all of Europe. Even though uThermal hasn’t had his time to shine yet with Harstem taking all the glory for himself, it would be a terrible mistake for any team to overlook uThermal. The match against the United States has shown, what the Netherlands’ greatest Protoss and Terran can achieve when working together. Not even the powerhouse Neeb was enough to break the Dutch, a lesson the Mexicans should take to heart.



There are no obvious favourites here, with both teams very evenly matched in their two main players. It’s hard to say how JimRising and Optimus compare, and if they even get to play a role in the ensuing battle, as Nation Wars tend to be dominated by the players with all kill power and true team efforts are rare. Maybe the Netherlands hold a small advantage in regard to stage experience, and a much shorter travel route to Paris, but that probably won’t be the deciding factor. In the end, it comes down to how the ace players fare: Will SpeCial have an “all-killing Korea” kind of day, or can Harstem/uThermal take him out early?

Prediction: The Netherlands advance into the Grand Finals after a close series.




Team South Korea could be much, much stronger, considering the entire player pool of the country, and neither GSL champion Maru nor the Super Tournament winner Stats represent their nation here. However, when it comes to offline and team league experience, the trio of INnoVation, soO, and MMA could very likely ace out all the competing countries combined, bringing Proleague and GSTL experience and titles to the table. While soO has been very invisible in the tournament so far, everyone knows what the Zerg is capable of. And forget about the whole Kong-thing for a second—the man was SKT's anchor during a Proleague championship season.

INnoVation has been a part of Korea’s line-up ever since NW3. Back then, of course, he fell to the wrath of MarineLorD in the Grand Finals, who single-handedly crushed the Koreans and inflicted the most grievous defeat to any Korean national team in StarCraft’s history. In typical machine-form, INnoVation was back for the sequel, however, and avenged his shame last year by securing the title. So overall, his return to Paris should be coupled with good feelings—or INnoVation’s equivalent. Then there is MMA, who was always quite outspoken of his love for the French capital, ever since he won Iron Squid I on a big stage there, gaining the love of the crowd and one of the sickest looking trophies in sports history. Of all the participating players, MMA will probably get an especially warm welcome to the location of his former triumph. Despite securing an all-kill to his name against the UK, the only recently returned fan favourite may have a hard time contributing to his team in a meaningful way. It takes time, for StarCraft skills to return after such a long break as military service. Of course, this may not stop MMA from performing his best. After all, “form is temporary, class is permanent.”



What is there to say about team Finland, other than one word: Serral. While ZhuGeLiang and TheMusZero are fine players in their own right, they alone could never hope to best the likes of INnoVation, soO, SpeCial, Charm, Harstem and uThermal in such a highly competitive environment, especially with the revive feature of the tournament. No, Finland, for all intents and purposes, is a one-man team. If it should be possible for such a team to stand in the top 4 of a Nation Wars tournament is a debate for another day and another time. The fast is: Serral carried his country to his point, and if the Fins want to further, they will have to rely on him to get them there.

The young Zerg has shown great performances throughout the last months, quickly rising to become one of the best—some say the best—players outside of Korea. So far, he has two all-kills under his belt, the last one achieved in the crazy quarterfinals match against Germany, which almost led to Finland’s elimination. And here lies the crux of the Finnish war fortune: Serral has not been as flawless, as he must be, to carry his team into the finals and to the title. He lost to Kelazhur, and he lost to TLO, needing the revive to carry on the struggle. Sure, he triumphed in the end in those cases, but will the Koreans give him that breathing room to stand back up after the revival and regain momentum?



The Koreans look overwhelming when it comes to team league cred, but look very much beatable when it comes to their forms. It is not the best line-up possible representing the country, which is without a doubt still the greatest StarCraft nation on Earth, no matter how this tournament goes. And that’s unfortunate, in a way, as Korea does not get to show its’ true power. That does open the opportunity for the other nations to shine, however. Serral might be in the right position at the right time to profit from the situation.

Prediction: South Korea advance into the Grand Finals after a close series.