WCS Europe Season 2 - Premier League

Ro32: Group F Recap
NaNiwa and Lucifron advance

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

VODs on Youtube

by Zealously

NaNiwa and Lucifron win Group F

Detailed results from Live Report Thread by Lorning
+ Show Spoiler [Detailed Results] +

In a group with two clear favorites in Alliance.NaNiwa and mouz.LucifroN, there were no surprises as they took first and second place respectively. While the underdogs Acer.Bly and uzer were able to show skillful and sometimes unusual play, it was clear that they were not up to the task of taking down two of the best players in Europe.

The first match of the night saw NaNiwa go up against Lucifron in a series that went all three games. Having to face a player with the reputation of being Europe's best Terran and playing with some serious Korea-Europe lag on top of that, NaNiwa came into Group F with a specific playstyle in mind: the cheesy one. Not comfortable playing macro games with a significant delay, Naniwa opened up his bag of tricks like TAiLS and Duckdeok before him, throwing out a succession of all-ins against Lucifron. While he lost the first game to the Spanish Terran after failing a proxy void ray all-in, he took the series in the following two games with consecutive, well-executed all-ins. An immortal bust crushed Lucifron's six bunkers in game two, and in game three Lucifron simply didn't have the units to survive Naniwa's gateway-only attack.

Once in the winner's match, NaNiwa was put up against the relatively unknown Polish Zerg uzer, who had just come off a surprising 2-0 victory over Bly (with a notable, very enjoyable second game featuring more or less every Zerg unit in the game.)

With a victory over his greatest threat Lucifron already in the bag, Naniwa put on a convincing display of PvZ as he dismantled uzer with 2 quick wins in the same style as his first match against Lucifron. Again, cheesy tactics were the weapon of choice. The first game was won with a decisive gateway timing that killed uzer before he could get proper defenses in place, and the second was won with a throwback, Inca-style DT rush. A lack of scouting left uzer completely unprepared as DTs marched into his bases and hacked them down, and there really wasn't much he could do in the situation except to tap out and surrender the first spot in the Ro16 to Naniwa.

Down in the losers' match, LucifroN was able to catch a break as he went up against a Bly looking out of form at best. With no all-ins coming his way, Lucifron was allowed to play his more comfortable macro style (though he did make a precautionary tank or two), and once he got his economy going, Bly never truly looked like he was in the running for the series. Despite some holes in Lucifron's play like multiple supply blocks and unnecessarily friendly widow mines, his biomine style was able to beat down Bly in game 2 as well, despite Bly's valiant efforts to make something happen with hive tech.

In the final match, Lucifron went up against another Zerg in uzer for the remaining Ro16 ticket. It ended up being mostly more of the same as Lucifron showcased his strong TvZ in one more series. This time, he approached the match-up differently as he opted to go for hellbat drops in game one, roasting half a mineral line and leaving uzer with an inferior economy and not enough stuff to have a chance to defend a follow-up push. Game two looked like it might go uzer's way until the ESL computer(s), having caused their fair share of trouble already this season, gave Uzer the bad end of the lag-stick as his forces were demolished in an uncharacteristically bad engagement. He did not object, however, and surrendered the series and his chances of advancing to the Ro16.

With Naniwa and Lucifron both advancing to the Round of 16, the foreigner vs. foreigner finals dreams stays alive, and a live rematch between the two will be high up on the fans' wishlists going further into the tournament. With stars like Mvp, MC, Stephano and MMA also having secured spots in the next group stage, Blizzard's dream of the perfect European tournament seems close to being realized.

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