The king of the WCS Circuit was finally dethroned as Italy's Reynor defeated Finland's Serral in the full-set grand final of WCS Winter: Europe. The loss marked the end of Serral's year-long reign over the WCS Circuit, where the Finnish Phenom had won all four WCS Circuit tournaments in 2018.
Reynor had nearly toppled Serral in the finals of WCS Montreal in 2018, but lost the series after blowing a huge lead in what would have been a series-clinching game six. A similar scenario played out in the WCS Winter finals as Serral tied the series after being down 2-3, but this time Reynor was able to finish Serral off with a +1 speedling all-in in game seven.
Serral had suffered some high-profile losses at IEM Katowice (2-3 loss to soO in quarterfinals) and WESG (3-4 loss to INnoVation in the finals), but his 3-0 sweeps of PtitDrogo and HeRoMaRinE in the WCS Winter playoffs suggested he still stood head and shoulders above his European peers. However, Reynor's victory over Serral during the group stages proved to be a real portent of things to come, as the sixteen-year-old elevated himself from rising star to champion.
The next major WCS Circuit event will be WCS Spring in Kiev, held during May 17-19. Regional qualifiers for WCS Spring will be held over the upcoming weeks.
Serral is awesome, but Reynor is one of the most entertaining and inspiring players I've seen in SC2. Both are beasts and what a great ending. Congrats Reynor!
Praise be to Reynor for slamming the door shut on the Serral is the bestest ever people. He's now officially my second favorite non-Korean. He doesn't play a real race, so he's unlikely to ever hit first though if he knocks Serral out of a few more tournaments, I might change my mind.
On April 08 2019 09:29 Boggyb wrote: Praise be to Reynor for slamming the door shut on the Serral is the bestest ever people. He's now officially my second favorite non-Korean. He doesn't play a real race, so he's unlikely to ever hit first though if he knocks Serral out of a few more tournaments, I might change my mind.
We need more people like you in the community, keep up the good fight
On April 08 2019 09:29 Boggyb wrote: Praise be to Reynor for slamming the door shut on the Serral is the bestest ever people. He's now officially my second favorite non-Korean. He doesn't play a real race, so he's unlikely to ever hit first though if he knocks Serral out of a few more tournaments, I might change my mind.
We need more people like you in the community, keep up the good fight
Nice work Reynor. What I love about Serral is that when he goes out, he always takes it to the last game which makes his series exciting to watch. I hope Raynor and Serral starts a rivalry that shakes the Koreans!
On April 08 2019 09:29 Boggyb wrote: Praise be to Reynor for slamming the door shut on the Serral is the bestest ever people. He's now officially my second favorite non-Korean. He doesn't play a real race, so he's unlikely to ever hit first though if he knocks Serral out of a few more tournaments, I might change my mind.
the cognitive dissonance is strong in this one.
Wp by Reynor, good series overall. I dont understand why would Serral go pool first in game 5, but exciting series nonetheless
Reynor is really impressive. His Muta-Ling game was just exciting and totally astonishing. I felt some Life-vibes because of this game: fast, aggressive, creating/finding holes. I already had this feeling when he beat Classic in GSL last year. I really hope that his seemingly more chaotic playstyle will prevail and make games a little bit more breathtaking again.
EPT
![[image loading]](https://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2019/Winter/eugauntlet2.png)
