WCS Europe Season 2 - Premier League

Ro32: Group B Recap
Stephano and MC advance

Ro32: Group B Preview
Stephano, Slivko, MC, Shuttle

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Youtube

by Premasiri

Business as Usual: Stephano and MC advance

Results from Live Report Thread by IeZaeL.
+ Show Spoiler [Overall Results] +

Despite Group B ending with the most predictable outcome, there were still good games aplenty as EG.Stephano.RC advanced in first place, followed hot on his heels by Korean BossToss SK_MC. The two fan favourites eliminated Clarity Gaming’s Shuttle, the second of the group’s two Koreans, and Russian heavyweight VP.BenQ.sLivko.

Both Stephano and MC showed some small signs of weakness in their first games of the night – limbering up before showing strong form as the night progressed. After a few trivial macro errors in Stephano’s first map of the night against sLivko put him down one game in the series, he was quick to rebound and show the superb macro play that was his hallmark in 2012, taking the series 2 - 1 with solid performances on Derelict Watcher and Bel’shir Vestige. Stephano continued to show good form against MC in the winners' match, using a well balanced army composition of Swarmhost-viper-corruptor to deal with the skytoss play that so many Zergs have been unable to handle in Heart of the Swarm. From his brief but impressive appearance in tonight’s matches, it’s clear that the soon-to-retire Frenchman is keen to make his swan song one to remember.


With plenty to prove after his ongoing slump in results, MC was at last able to perform well, although the round of 32 would hardly have been a worthy testing ground for the dominant MC of yesteryear. Having the boon of being in Europe due to HomeStory Cup, MC seemed to be the MC he’s always been in two out of three series, as likely to apply a surgical timing as he is to sit back and simply macro. However, his recent fall in form was all too evident when he was pitted against Stephano, and it seems unlikely WCS Season 2 will further line his gilded pockets unless he finds an answer for defensive Zerg play.

For the Korean Shuttle, who qualified for WCS EU from America, but now plays from Korea (I know, right?) the night’s matches must have been frustrating. An early lead against MC in his first series fell out of his grasp as he dropped 1 - 2 to the loser’s match, where a thrilling base-race vs Russian Zerg Slivko was to be his undoing, again losing 1 - 2 to drop out of the premier league for this season. Though not of the same calibre, his loss was reminiscent of Mvp’s fall to the hands of DIMAGA in WCS Season 1 – a Korean taking the risk of playing with latency to Europe and coming up short. However, While Mvp was able to recover and reach the live Ro16 rounds, Shuttle will spend the rest of his season in the Challenger League.

Within the broader context of HotS metagame, tonight’s matches were nothing particularly unique. The opening series between Stephano and Slivko underlined the recent waning of mutalisk play in ZvZ, with most of the battles being fought between largely roach compositions. Similarly, Shuttle’s Terran play was typical of the current trend; drop as heavily as possible, as early as possible, and aim to get ahead that way. MC was MC, mixing up his all-in play and standard play to keep his opponents off guard.

Recommended Games: Slivko vs. Shuttle Game 3, Stephano vs MC Game 1.

Writers: Premasiri
Graphics: shiroiusagi
Banner photo: ESL
Editor: Waxangel.