WCS Global Champion Serral reclaimed his seat on top of the WCS Circuit in Kiev, besting a field of over seventy competitors to win his fifth Circuit championship at WCS Spring. Serral had briefly ceded the European crown to Reynor in April's WCS Winter Europe finals, but he avenged that defeat with a 3-0 semifinal sweep against the Italian Zerg.
Perennial semifinalist SpeCial advanced from the opposite side of the bracket, passing an important career milestone by besting Western powerhouses ShoWTimE and Neeb to reach his first Circuit finals. However, SpeCial ended up becoming Serral's fifth WCS Circuit finals victim, giving up a 0-4 sweep to the Finnish Phenom.
SpeCial looked to be dangerous opponent for Serral in the first two games, fighting Serral to a near standstill with his slow and methodical mech-Terran play. However, Serral was able to swing both games with decisive engagements, wiping out mass Battlecruisers with Infestor-Corruptor in game one and taking down a Tank-Liberator force as it advanced onto Creep in game two. The last two games of the series featured more 'typical' Serral dominance as SpeCial switched to infantry based armies. Serral slowly snowballed small early leads into unlosable positions, leaving SpeCial looking just as helpless as many top Terrans before him.
The finals victory gave Serral his fifth WCS Circuit championship, $20,000 in prize money, and a direct seed into the 2019 WCS Global Finals. Serral also attained his first sweep in a major tournament finals, something he had not achieved in the course of winning seven major championships. Serral will look to continue his reign at July's WCS Summer, with WCS returning to Ukraine for another Circuit event.
Just well played. Amazing games by him. He made some stupid mistakes in the game he lost against TIME, otherwise pretty sure that would have been 3-0 as well. Another really dominant tournament and the revenge against Reynor was especially sweet!
I wish there was a way to convince Serral it’s a good idea to play a GSL Season. Really when you think about it, he’s done just about everything else. 👀
On May 20 2019 06:07 StarcraftSquall wrote: I wish there was a way to convince Serral it’s a good idea to play a GSL Season. Really when you think about it, he’s done just about everything else. 👀
Yes, it would really be amazing. He has to go to Korea for GSL vs the World anyway.
On May 20 2019 06:07 StarcraftSquall wrote: I wish there was a way to convince Serral it’s a good idea to play a GSL Season. Really when you think about it, he’s done just about everything else. 👀
Only thing missing now would be a sweep like TaeJa, but yes, it would be nice for him to go to Korea. He won't always win WCS of course, you can't always win at Starcraft, but it's clear that he's way better than everyone there.
Congrats to Serral for the win and Special for getting to final, and to Goblin, Skillous and Hellraiser for having great runs! I really liked this format. Non-stop SC2 action! Many exiting moments, like Bly's proxy hatch spine rush vs Neeb. Couldn't deal with my attention craving kids for a while there.
On May 20 2019 06:24 MajiN1 wrote: I'm sure that trap hero & impact have seen the whole run of special specially cause he did well against protoss
Congratz to Juanito to reach his first finale (not the last I hope) and to serral for doing serral stuff.
This wcs season is interesting regarding the run for top 8. Scarlett, Showtime, Lambo and Drogo are close to the top 8
This top 8 is quite nice but I would like to see Scarlett and uThermal at BlizzCon for the first time(as well as Reynor and TIME who would be in already).
I'd really like to see Serral comepeting in the most prestigious SC2 tournament, but I understand his position and respect him even more. There are more important things in life and he has already proved to be a starcraft legend
I like them adding the knockout bracket. It seemed like a real shame that you would put up the 💵 to travel to a Circuit event and your entire tournament could be done in four games. This is a lot better for both players and fans. Hopefully it sticks. I also would like to see the semifinals be changed to Bo7 like GSL considering the amount of WCS Points difference there is between 2nd and 3rd/4th.
On May 20 2019 07:11 StarcraftSquall wrote: I like them adding the knockout bracket. It seemed like a real shame that you would put up the 💵 to travel to a Circuit event and your entire tournament could be done in four games. This is a lot better for both players and fans. Hopefully it sticks. I also would like to see the semifinals be changed to Bo7 like GSL considering the amount of WCS Points difference there is between 2nd and 3rd/4th.
It seemed both fair and enjoyable. Apart of the music volume being way too high during the interviews, Starladder has delivered!
On May 20 2019 07:11 StarcraftSquall wrote: I like them adding the knockout bracket. It seemed like a real shame that you would put up the 💵 to travel to a Circuit event and your entire tournament could be done in four games. This is a lot better for both players and fans. Hopefully it sticks. I also would like to see the semifinals be changed to Bo7 like GSL considering the amount of WCS Points difference there is between 2nd and 3rd/4th.
It seemed both fair and enjoyable. Apart of the music volume being way too high during the interviews, Starladder has delivered!
Well that and putting TWO events in Ukraine, which is not the easiest place to get to.
EPT
I really liked this format. Non-stop SC2 action! Many exiting moments, like Bly's proxy hatch spine rush vs Neeb. Couldn't deal with my attention craving kids for a while there. 
