While we all await to see who will lift the championship trophy at WCS Fall, the race to lock down Global Finals spots is proving to be just as intriguing.
#8 place ranked player Elazer took a substantial lead over the pack chasing behind him, securing a direct spot in the Ro16 of the playoffs by winning his group during group stage #3. Scarlett, Lambo, PtitDrogo, and MaSa—the players nipping at Elazer's heels—all failed to win their groups, forcing them to survive more rounds in the knockout bracket/playoffs in their quest to overtake the Polish Zerg. Elazer's group stage victory against Scarlett—a direct challenger to his spot at #9—was particularly significant, sending her down to the Ro24 of the playoffs (a one round disadvantage).
SpeCial (#4) and HeRoMarinE (#5) also improved their chances, and are close to being mathematical locks for the Global Finals after winning their groups and earning spots in the Ro16. Meanwhile, TIME (#6) and ShoWTimE (#7) finished 2nd place in their groups and will be forced to play their way through the Ro24, though their Global Finals spots do not appear to be in immediate danger.
Table includes minimum # of points earned so far at WCS Fall
WCS Fall resumes on day two with the final rounds of the knockoff bracket and the beginning of the playoffs. A clash between Lambo and Elazer with direct Global Finals stakes is brewing, while a potential match between ShoWTimE and HeRoMaRinE could also prove to be consequential depending on other results. Meanwhile, with Reynor and Serral drawn on opposite of the bracket, there's a chance that another final between the two kings of the Circuit will cap off the season.
Upper side of the bracket has lots of really great potential. I'd love to see any matches between Lambo, Elazer, and Reynor, and for any of them to meet SpeCial in the semifinals. I also hope we get to see some great games from an in-form Stephano. In the lower bracket, I'm only really interested in Serral vs Neeb (though it would be cool if TIME had another good performance as well).
Stephano is currently the best foreigner in the world... well he has always been the best foreigner ever since Jinro and Naniwa retired. Serral has nothing on Stephano. Serral has to practice, Stephano never practiced and still beat top Koreans.
On September 07 2019 16:07 evanreyes94 wrote: Stephano is currently the best foreigner in the world... well he has always been the best foreigner ever since Jinro and Naniwa retired. Serral has nothing on Stephano. Serral has to practice, Stephano never practiced and still beat top Koreans.
Stephano taking down Time says a lot about his form, he will likely get Special in RO8 and that seems like a pretty even matchup that could go either way. Having Stephano in a RO4 would be fun to see.
But the real story is as always wherever Serral is, the bottom half of the bracket can anyone take Serral down before he reaches the finals?
On September 07 2019 16:55 Shuffleblade wrote: Stephano taking down Time says a lot about his form, he will likely get Special in RO8 and that seems like a pretty even matchup that could go either way. Having Stephano in a RO4 would be fun to see.
But the real story is as always wherever Serral is, the bottom half of the bracket can anyone take Serral down before he reaches the finals?
Stephano lost to uThermal in group stage 2. Don't get ahead of yourself because he beat TIME.
On September 07 2019 16:55 Shuffleblade wrote: Stephano taking down Time says a lot about his form, he will likely get Special in RO8 and that seems like a pretty even matchup that could go either way. Having Stephano in a RO4 would be fun to see.
But the real story is as always wherever Serral is, the bottom half of the bracket can anyone take Serral down before he reaches the finals?
Stephano lost to uThermal in group stage 2. Don't get ahead of yourself because he beat TIME.
Yes, I know. Did you watch those games? uThermal was playing very well, the deciding factor was how he abused the fact that Stephano loves his ling bling and blind countering it. If Stephano has deeper pockets of strategies than just ling bling and plays more unpredictably I think he would have taken uThermal and I still believe he has what it takes to tango with SpeCial.
On September 07 2019 16:55 Shuffleblade wrote: Stephano taking down Time says a lot about his form, he will likely get Special in RO8 and that seems like a pretty even matchup that could go either way. Having Stephano in a RO4 would be fun to see.
But the real story is as always wherever Serral is, the bottom half of the bracket can anyone take Serral down before he reaches the finals?
Stephano lost to uThermal in group stage 2. Don't get ahead of yourself because he beat TIME.
Uthermal did a big brain build which tricked stephano, he is quite uncomfortable against mech overall but he didn't look outclassed. Special is an obvious favorite but that's not as cristal clear, the thing who prevents the most stephano to perform is zvz That said, he will probably face Scarlett in ro16 which should make his run end, it would be tough yet amazing to see him in ro4.
On September 07 2019 16:55 Shuffleblade wrote: Stephano taking down Time says a lot about his form, he will likely get Special in RO8 and that seems like a pretty even matchup that could go either way. Having Stephano in a RO4 would be fun to see.
But the real story is as always wherever Serral is, the bottom half of the bracket can anyone take Serral down before he reaches the finals?
Stephano lost to uThermal in group stage 2. Don't get ahead of yourself because he beat TIME.
Uthermal did a big brain build which tricked stephano.
uThermal used 3 different builds that he thought were good on the particular maps he did them on. Stephano's play followed the same basic structure 3 times independently of whether it was mech or bio. He didn't have to trick him. The guy went mass ling/bane against a 2 factory blue flame opener.
On September 07 2019 16:55 Shuffleblade wrote: Stephano taking down Time says a lot about his form, he will likely get Special in RO8 and that seems like a pretty even matchup that could go either way. Having Stephano in a RO4 would be fun to see.
But the real story is as always wherever Serral is, the bottom half of the bracket can anyone take Serral down before he reaches the finals?
Stephano lost to uThermal in group stage 2. Don't get ahead of yourself because he beat TIME.
Uthermal did a big brain build which tricked stephano.
uThermal used 3 different builds that he thought were good on the particular maps he did them on. Stephano's play followed the same basic structure 3 times independently of whether it was mech or bio. He didn't have to trick him.
He clearly expected bio in the last map after the double drops without steam. He wasn't ready against the mass blue flame.
On September 07 2019 16:55 Shuffleblade wrote: Stephano taking down Time says a lot about his form, he will likely get Special in RO8 and that seems like a pretty even matchup that could go either way. Having Stephano in a RO4 would be fun to see.
But the real story is as always wherever Serral is, the bottom half of the bracket can anyone take Serral down before he reaches the finals?
Stephano lost to uThermal in group stage 2. Don't get ahead of yourself because he beat TIME.
Uthermal did a big brain build which tricked stephano.
uThermal used 3 different builds that he thought were good on the particular maps he did them on. Stephano's play followed the same basic structure 3 times independently of whether it was mech or bio. He didn't have to trick him.
He clearly expected bio in the last map after the double drops without steam.
He could know that's a mech opener from 3 years ago. But if all else fails, do the Serral and scout his opponent.
Special is safe, we now set that at the standings table on liquipedia too^^
MaSa, Lambo and Cham only have a chance if they reach finals (then they could overtake the current Rank 8 points).
Drogo has to make at least Ro4 and Scarlett at least Ro8 to have a chance to overtake the current Rank 8.
If HeRoMaRinE/TIME/ShoWTimE reach the Ro4 they are also safe, no matter what the others do.
Thx for the Update
if you want more infos: some cases for WCS Fall i will update that (in between helping updating stuff on liquipedia of course^^)
Nice! That s an impressive piece of Information.
well originally i just made it regarding gabes point of view (since im friends with him), but then i thought why not do it for all the players in top 8 that aren’t safe already (i did that before wcs fall started, as one can see some cases (the blacked out ones) aren’t possible anymore^^)
btw, most will not know it, but this year the 9-16 ranked players in both the circuit and the korea standings will also get some blizzcon money, if warchest sells are good enough - first 100k go to the players that qualify, the next 100k will be distributed among the ranks 9-16 of both standings: (see pages 16-18 in the 2019 WCS Rulebook)
All of the players with a longshot chance of getting to the global finals being on the non-serral half of the bracket is pretty crazy. Might see some abrupt ranking shifts as the tournament goes on :o
On September 07 2019 21:16 hjpalpha wrote: btw, most will not know it, but this year the 9-16 ranked players in both the circuit and the korea standings will also get some blizzcon money, if warchest sells are good enough - first 100k go to the players that qualify, the next 100k will be distributed among the ranks 9-16 of both standings: (see pages 16-18 in the 2019 WCS Rulebook)
Wow, that would be absolutly amazing. It would benfit the depth of the overall scene a lot.
On September 07 2019 23:08 Waxangel wrote: All of the players with a longshot chance of getting to the global finals being on the non-serral half of the bracket is pretty crazy. Might see some abrupt ranking shifts as the tournament goes on :o
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/WCS2019/Winter/circuitbanner734.jpg)
Elazer took a substantial lead over the pack chasing behind him, securing a direct spot in the Ro16 of the playoffs by winning his group during group stage #3. Scarlett, Lambo, PtitDrogo, and MaSa—the players nipping at Elazer's heels—all failed to win their groups, forcing them to survive more rounds in the knockout bracket/playoffs in their quest to overtake the Polish Zerg. Elazer's group stage victory against Scarlett—a direct challenger to his spot at #9—was particularly significant, sending her down to the Ro24 of the playoffs (a one round disadvantage).
![[image loading]](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/525598720855900170/619101233055137793/Screenshot_2019-09-05_11.26.33.png)
