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.
On April 08 2019 17:47 MockHamill wrote: Is this the first time we have two top10 players outside of Korea?
Depends how you look at it, usually we have 2 foreigners : 6 koreans at Blizzcon RO8 and similar tournaments, so having 2 foreigners in top10 seems about right in following the ration(well, techncially 2.5 foreigner )
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.
Wow, what a bitter post. Anyway, nice to have two players who can compete with Inno, TY and Stats! Hoping for some more Reynor/Serral vs. Inno/TY/Stats matches!
I was rooting for Reynor, but this series was so great that it would have been a good result either way. Love how they always bring it to game seven.
As for Reynor vs. Koreans, he said in his winners interview that he plans to go to Korea in the summer, so we can see for ourselves soon. It's going to be fun.
Well played Reynor! Sad to see Serral not take the title, but I'm happy that Reynor finally managed to take a big win after getting close so many times.
On April 08 2019 20:15 Valyrian wrote: I was rooting for Reynor, but this series was so great that it would have been a good result either way. Love how they always bring it to game seven.
As for Reynor vs. Koreans, he said in his winners interview that he plans to go to Korea in the summer, so we can see for ourselves soon. It's going to be fun.
Nice to hear!
He was playing in GSL Season 3 and got to the Ro16 and almost Ro8! (Throwing a lead vs Maru in game 2 after beeing up 1:0 if I recall correctly)
On April 08 2019 19:19 Xitah wrote: So is Reynor the best Zerg now? And the two top zergs are foreigners??? Why have you forsaken us Life???
not like soO had just won IEM katowice
Also not like Dark is doing rather well currently.
On April 08 2019 20:47 RaFox17 wrote: Well played Reynor! Sad to see Serral not take the title, but I'm happy that Reynor finally managed to take a big win after getting close so many times.
nice! and unlike serral, reynor has competed in the GSL and done pretty well all things considered. all hail reynor!!!!! now that serral is dethroned, we can move maru back up to #1 in the power rank, as serral is no longer the dominant force he was. all maru needs to do is win his 4th gsl in a row.
On April 08 2019 20:47 RaFox17 wrote: Well played Reynor! Sad to see Serral not take the title, but I'm happy that Reynor finally managed to take a big win after getting close so many times.
"getting close so many times"?
I think he means Reynor lost important match point games, 3-4 last Wcs, barely losing to Maru in GSL.
On April 08 2019 20:47 RaFox17 wrote: Well played Reynor! Sad to see Serral not take the title, but I'm happy that Reynor finally managed to take a big win after getting close so many times.
"getting close so many times"?
I think he means Reynor lost important match point games, 3-4 last Wcs, barely losing to Maru in GSL.
Everybody except Bunny barely lost to Maru in the groups. He appeared to play shitty every ro16 group the last year and somehow managed to win.
On April 08 2019 23:59 fishjie wrote: nice! and unlike serral, reynor has competed in the GSL and done pretty well all things considered. all hail reynor!!!!! now that serral is dethroned, we can move maru back up to #1 in the power rank, as serral is no longer the dominant force he was. all maru needs to do is win his 4th gsl in a row.
I'd say Serral is not dethroned yet. He's still blizzcon and gsl vs. the world champ and got out 2nd this WCS. If you follow your logic Maru was dethroned a few months ago by getting eliminated in tournaments very early and easily.
Inno and TY are much more consistent and therefore better players. We'll see how this plays out this year. Going to be exciting!
On April 08 2019 23:59 fishjie wrote: nice! and unlike serral, reynor has competed in the GSL and done pretty well all things considered. all hail reynor!!!!! now that serral is dethroned, we can move maru back up to #1 in the power rank, as serral is no longer the dominant force he was. all maru needs to do is win his 4th gsl in a row.
I'd say Serral is not dethroned yet. He's still blizzcon and gsl vs. the world champ and got out 2nd this WCS. If you follow your logic Maru was dethroned a few months ago by getting eliminated in tournaments very early and easily.
Inno and TY are much more consistent and therefore better players. We'll see how this plays out this year. Going to be exciting!
depending on how his 4th gsl in a row goes, i'd say he was temporarily dethroned, only to reclaim the crown with a vengeance!!!! similarly for serral as well
Although I'd generally consider myself a fan of both Serral and Maru, I definitely don't want a repeat of 2018, so I'm kinda glad Serral didn't win. Just need Maru to lose GSL now.
On April 08 2019 23:59 fishjie wrote: nice! and unlike serral, reynor has competed in the GSL and done pretty well all things considered. all hail reynor!!!!! now that serral is dethroned, we can move maru back up to #1 in the power rank, as serral is no longer the dominant force he was. all maru needs to do is win his 4th gsl in a row.
I'd say Serral is not dethroned yet. He's still blizzcon and gsl vs. the world champ and got out 2nd this WCS. If you follow your logic Maru was dethroned a few months ago by getting eliminated in tournaments very early and easily.
Inno and TY are much more consistent and therefore better players. We'll see how this plays out this year. Going to be exciting!
Inno and TY are more consistent than the guy who go top 8 in every event he entered and won 3 GSLs and WESG. Okay. Even if you're only talking 2019 Inno and TY both did way worse in GSL. Inno did worse than Maru at IEM as well and TY did slightly better but only because he had a much easier group. And TY didn't even qualify for super tournament.
On April 08 2019 15:42 fronkschnonk wrote: 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.
I remember thinking the same thing when I watched his GSL run. I haven't kept up with all his games since then, but just the way he decided to play game 7 here kind of shows this. Congrats to Reynor! He's so young, too; it's a little crazy to think how much better he could become.
On April 09 2019 04:37 Fanatic-Templar wrote: Although I'd generally consider myself a fan of both Serral and Maru, I definitely don't want a repeat of 2018, so I'm kinda glad Serral didn't win. Just need Maru to lose GSL now.
nah whenever a terran not wins they cry as long as they get 10 buffs
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.
Is this what going insane looks like?
Congratulations to Reynor. The young Italian is the future of Europe.
On April 08 2019 23:59 fishjie wrote: nice! and unlike serral, reynor has competed in the GSL and done pretty well all things considered. all hail reynor!!!!! now that serral is dethroned, we can move maru back up to #1 in the power rank, as serral is no longer the dominant force he was. all maru needs to do is win his 4th gsl in a row.
I'd say Serral is not dethroned yet. He's still blizzcon and gsl vs. the world champ and got out 2nd this WCS. If you follow your logic Maru was dethroned a few months ago by getting eliminated in tournaments very early and easily.
Inno and TY are much more consistent and therefore better players. We'll see how this plays out this year. Going to be exciting!
EPT
![[image loading]](https://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/WCS2019/Winter/eugauntlet2.png)
Need to work on your bait game mate 
