WCS Season II Finals

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Bomber wins the WCS Season 2 Championship

by Zealously

After a championship drought that lasted exactly two years, ST_Bomber finally climbed his way back to the top of the mountain, overcoming all of the best players in the world to win the WCS Season 2 title. Struggling with a maddening lack of consistency ever since he took the championship at 2011's MLG Raleigh, Bomber truly shined for one weekend in Cologne as he finally put everything together and delivered some of the best Starcraft he had played to date.

His TvP was nothing short of unstoppable in the Ro16, going 4 - 0 with aggressive timings that finished off First and Grubby before the late game. Going up against Scarlett in the Ro8, Bomber didn't let his long time weakness of TvZ stop him as he pulled through in game five with a clever build saved for the occasion. It seemed as if his 'law' was finally going to be enforced after he nearly blew a 2 - 0 lead against TaeJa in the semi-finals—but instead it was Bomber who kept his composure while TaeJa fell apart in the final game.

While Bomber's TvZ had looked shaky for months, and he only barely edged out Scarlett 3 - 2 in the quarterfinals, none of that seemed to matter as he dominated Jaedong 4 - 0 in the grand finals. Bomber seemed to have ironed out some of the holes in his play from his games against Scarlett, and utilized a number of old-school strategies from before Jaedong's time, ranging from marine-tank to hellion-less openers. All the while his trademark macro never faltered, and every mistake from Jaedong was punished by ten more marines rallying in.



For every victor there is a loser, and Bomber's redemption came at the cost of EG.Jaedong's damnation to the Kong line. Jaedong found himself with yet another silver medal—his fourth in just over two months, and his second loss in a clean 4 - 0 sweep. It was a bitter ending for Jaedong who seemed to have exorcised all of his ZvP demons, convincingly beating MC, Rain, NaNiwa and First to reach the finals. But in the stead of the once infamously bad JvP's, the Tyrant has found a new weakness in his ZvT.

Though he fought valiantly against Bomber's very WoL-esque playstyle, he looked like yet another ordinary Zerg in the end, unable to keep up with Terran's unrelenting macro and cost-effective units. Jaedong attempted a variety of strategies to shut Bomber down before his bio-mine play could take over the map, but despite using everything ranging from early zergling attacks to quick third bases (he declined to go for any straight up all-ins), he could not faze the Startale Terran. Two months of bile and venom, Bomber might have reminded Jaedong, is not enough to fight someone who had been waiting for this moment for two years.

With his Season 2 victory, Bomber rises to third place in the WCS point rankings with 4350 points, and is virtually assured a spot at the global finals at Blizzcon. Jaedong managed to least outdo Bomber in this regard, rising to second place in the standings with 4425 points, many of them earned through his second place finishes at non-WCS events.

Grand Finals Recap

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Game 1 – Newkirk Precinct

The game opened up fairly standard as both players opted for macro builds, with Jaedong going hatch-pool and Bomber with a CC on the high ground before his first rax. Jaedong attempted to throw Bomber off with a hit squad of 16 zerglings, but Bomber was prepared for the attack. The game settled into a rather standard bio-mine vs. Muta/ling/bane ZvT from that point, with Bomber getting a few tanks to stay safe from roach/bane aggression.

Making the crucial mistake of getting baneling speed late, Jaedong was unable to cost-efficiently engage Bomber once he decided to move out. While Jaedong managed to hold on for a while after losing his fourth base, Bomber's seamless play allowed him to slowly but surely strangle Jaedong to take a 1-0 lead.

Game 2 – Star Station

With openings similar to game 1, Jaedong opted for a quick third with double evo chambers whereas Bomber threw down several barracks before getting a third, also getting a few tanks in case of roach/bane aggression. The game played out similarly to game one from that point, but with Jaedong getting earlier baneling speed to be able to properly engage Bomber's forces. In response to the upgraded banelings, however, Bomber moved out carefully, pre-spreading his forces to minimize splash damage while getting a fourth.

Ahead on upgrades, Bomber was able to hold Jaedong off long enough to take out the Zerg's third and fourth in a trade for his own third. With his income being cut off, Jaedong went for some desperation backdoor attacks, but it wasn't enough to level the playing field and he was forced to surrender the second game in a row.

Game 3 – Neo Planet S

Knowing full well that he'd just won two convincing macro games, Bomber went for a change of pace and employed a two-rax bunker all-in on Neo Planet S. Jaedong spotted the attack but was not able to get enough defenses up in time, and three bunkers of marines tore down his natural expansion for a quick GG.

Game 4 – Whirlwind

On the biggest map in the pool and the most important map of the series, Jaedong knew that he had to do something to get an edge against Bomber in a macro game. Going for triple hatch before pool, Jaedong could not have asked for a much better opening against Bomber's 1rax expand, with Bomber only causing a slight hiccup in mining with an empty bunker next to Jaedong's expansion. However, he did not expect the follow-up, an old school combat-shield marine rush at the 8-minute mark. Despite the surprising nature of the attack, Jaedong seemed to deal with it well, his drones and queens lost not being all that bad considering Bomber's early investment in units.

The game continued to play out a lot like games 1 and 2 from that point, with both players going into their favored mid-game compositions: Bomber with bio-mine and a few tanks sprinkled in, Jaedong with mutalisk-heavy ling/bane/muta play. And much like games 1 and 2, it was a slow grind toward Jaedong's inevitable defeat.

As drops began to come into play, it became apparent that Jaedong was unprepared to deal with the harassment, losing an expansion and being put on equal footing with Terran. With +3 weapons about to finish and 14 marines in production at a time, Bomber's superior economy allowed him to constantly stream units across the map and force desperate defenses from Jaedong. Although Jaedong traded as well as he could against Bomber's lethal composition, it wasn't enough and he tapped out at 16 minutes, surrendering the game and the championship to the StarTale Terran.

Writers: Zealously
Photos courtesy of: Helena Kristiansson and esportphoto.com
Editor: Waxangel