WCS America - Season 3
Ro32: Group E Recap
HuK and TaeJa advance
Ro32: Group H Preview
Scarlett, puCK, Minigun, Crank
Brackets and standings on Liquipedia
VODs on Youtube
Ro32: Group E Results
by Waxangel
North America holds! Well, maybe it's not quite holding as much as it is saving the bare minimum amount of face, but we have to take what we can get. Canada's EG.HuK took top honors in Group B of the Ro32, becoming the first North American player to enter what was previously an entirely Asian Ro16 pool.
Mexico's MajOr almost made it two North Americans in the Ro16, starting off the night with a sensational 2 - 1 win over Korean powerhouse Liquid`TaeJa. While it was a victory to make a continent proud, TaeJa would take his revenge in the eventual rematch to eliminate Major and advance in second place.
Ro32 - Group E | ||
---|---|---|
1. | EG.HuK | 2 - 0 |
2. | Liquid`TaeJa | 2 - 1 |
3. | MajOr | 1 - 2 |
4. | ZOO.Top | 0 - 2 |
Detailed Group A results from Live Report Thread by Shellshock.
+ Show Spoiler [Click for Detailed Results] +
TaeJa vs MajOr
TaeJa <Akilon Wastes> MajOr
TaeJa <Polar Night> MajOr
TaeJa <Frost> MajOr
MajOr wins 2-1!
Top vs HuK
Top <Akilon Wastes> HuK
Top <Bel'Shir Vestige> HuK
Top <Derelict Watcher> HuK
HuK wins 2-1!
Winners' Match
MajOr <Whirlwind> HuK
MajOr <Yeonsu> HuK
MajOr <Bel'Shir Vestige> HuK
HuK wins 2-1!
Losers' Match
TaeJa <Akilon Wastes> Top
TaeJa <Whirlwind> Top
TaeJa <> Top
TaeJa wins 2-0!
Final Match
MajOr <Akilon Wastes> TaeJa
MajOr <Frost> TaeJa
MajOr <> TaeJa
TaeJa wins 2-0!
HuK and TaeJa advance to WCS AM Premier Season 2!
TaeJa <Akilon Wastes> MajOr
TaeJa <Polar Night> MajOr
TaeJa <Frost> MajOr
MajOr wins 2-1!
Top vs HuK
Top <Akilon Wastes> HuK
Top <Bel'Shir Vestige> HuK
Top <Derelict Watcher> HuK
HuK wins 2-1!
Winners' Match
MajOr <Whirlwind> HuK
MajOr <Yeonsu> HuK
MajOr <Bel'Shir Vestige> HuK
HuK wins 2-1!
Losers' Match
TaeJa <Akilon Wastes> Top
TaeJa <Whirlwind> Top
TaeJa wins 2-0!
Final Match
MajOr <Akilon Wastes> TaeJa
MajOr <Frost> TaeJa
TaeJa wins 2-0!
HuK and TaeJa advance to WCS AM Premier Season 2!
The group kicked off with MajOr's aforementioned upset over TaeJa. The first game sent some bad signals, with TaeJa walking all over Major with a marine-hellion-banshee attack off one base. However, Major hit back by winning not one, but two macro games in a row.
In game two, Major appeared to fall behind with just two-base mech against TaeJa's three-base mech, but Major was able to push at a critical timing before TaeJa's superior economy could fully kick in. Game three then saw Major straight up out-duel TaeJa with marine-tank after nearly identical cloak banshee openers.
Meanwhile, in the other opening match, HuK secured a victory over the Chinese Protoss player Top in a close series. After winning in a wild base trade in game one and falling to zealot-immortal in game two, HuK clinched the series with his signature blink-stalkers in game three.
That led to an unexpected NA vs. NA winner's match, with HuK and MajOr fighting for a spot in the live Ro16 in California. HuK began by going for a risky Nexus first build on Whirlwind, which paid off after he was able to defend against Major's mine and hellion harass. Major attempted to go for a marine-tank composition afterward, but had to GG out after getting caught out of position by HuK's army. HuK's 1-0 lead was short lived, as his mostly unsuccessful blink stalker attack on Yeonsu allowed Major to recover a point.
The third and deciding game played out fairly standard, with both players going up to three bases after Major opened with light harassment. The turning point of the game came when HuK made a transition from his initial templar tech to colossi before Major was fully ready, dealing a painful blow to Major with an attack at his natural. From there, the game spiraled out of control for Major as HuK added another robotics to add two colossi at a time. Despite managing to take one impressive engagement against HuK's deathball, it was not enough for Major to overcome his disadvantage and he GG'd out.
Down in the loser's match, TaeJa seemed to be especially in a hurry to earn a chance at revenge against Major. Two quick infantry+stim timings made short work of Top, earning TaeJa the rematch.
Major went on the offensive in game one of the final match against TaeJa, going for a non-all-in proxy barracks rush. While Major succeeded in taking a small advantage with his early marines, TaeJa was able to pull right back ahead with some banshee harassment as both players set up for a macro game. TaeJa extended his lead even further with marine-tank attacks while taking a third base, leading Major to try a big two-base attack rather than trying to catch up. Unfortunately for Major, TaeJa had just enough defenses to hold on at home while counter-dropping with marines, forcing the GG out.
Major once again played aggressively to start in game two, with his marine-hellion-medivac attack putting him on par with TaeJa as they geared up for another macro game. Though Major continued to try and pepper TaeJa with attacks, they proved to be less than optimal against TaeJa's defensive, economy oriented play. TaeJa almost made pay Major pay for his fruitless attacks with a powerful mech push off three bases, but Major's tank production kicked in just in time to thwart the attack.
With economies and army counts being even, the balance of the game lay on a knife's edge. Alas, Major was unable to tip the game in his favor, with TaeJa being the one to find the game winning opportunity. Catching Major's tank force on the move, TaeJa dropped in hellbats from overhead while his own tanks rolled in on the ground. His tank core broken, Major was forced to GG out of the tournament after an impressive showing.
Ro32: Group H Preview
by DarkLordOlli
WCS America brings you the finale of the Ro32 tonight, featuring a group where absolutely anything could happen. Why you ask? Well, there's 3 Protoss players in a group with Scarlett who's just now returning from her break. Please don't expect accurate predictions this time [Editor's note: show him no mercy!].
The Homecoming Queen
Acer.Scarlett returns to the pro-gaming scene after a short but hopefully helpful break as she gave her wrists some well deserved rest. This unfortunately leaves us with nothing new to say about her. Scarlett's last broadcasted matches against Protoss opposition happened over a month ago in the SC2L against Sage and Super, where she emerged victorious in both matches. While those are good signs, it's hard to tell what her form will be like coming out of a break. She did confirm watching the GSL recently but that couldn't possibly be the only preparation she did, right? Add to that her frequent complaints about difficulties facing Protoss... ...I guess we'll have to wait and see.
If you're a fan of Scarlett, why not expect nothing from her at all tonight? If she does well you'll be pleasantly surprised and if she didn't, no big deal. She just took a long break, you know?
puCK Your Things And Go Home
ROOT Gaming's puCK recently left the ROOT house, allowing me to use this awful pun. Continuing the theme of letting the writer know nothing, puCK repeatedly tweeted that about playing a lot better once returning home, and something about disliking PvP. I guess a 0 - 6 record against Protoss during the last ATC season and losing to teammate Minigun 1-2 and 1-3 in your last two series will do that to you. So it's good for Puck that there's no Protoss draw, but that comes at the cost of facing Scarlett first. PuCK will still have to play at least one Protoss to advance, but having taken games off both Minigun and CranK in the past, why not take two this time and puCK your things and go to the Ro16?
The Tiny Gun Against the Big Guns
Making up the other half of ROOT's 50% representation in Group H is Minigun. Chad "Monkey Flipping" Jones had a good showing last season, making it to the Round of 16 - a feat that only one other NA player in Scarlett achieved. Minigun especially rode a strong phoenix/colossus PvT style to victories over Apocalypse and Demuslim but fell short against the might of Korean terrans TaeJa and aLive in the end. But Minigun didn't waste any time coming back. In the final Challenger round he faced Apocalypse again and the Quantic Terran got the worse end of their exchange again.
Unfortunately for Minigun his PvT prowess will be of no use in this group as he faces only protoss and potentially zerg opposition. His PvP is hard to rate as he's only really traded blows with other American protoss players, most of which - State and puCK - are now on his team. In the recent Lanhammer finals he took HuK to a deciding 5th game which isn't bad. But the power of statistics revealed to me that Minigun has not taken a map off Korean protoss opposition in Heart of the Swarm so far. He faces CranK in his first match so change definitely needs to happen in that regard. If he could take out the Axiom toss then Minigun could be in for another shot at the Ro16.
CranK 3
I'm starting to believe that CranK has chosen his ID for a reason. Maybe he feels like Jason Statham does in the movies? Maybe what he actually needs is the adrenaline. Whether it's a clash with esports' most famous celebrity, match fixing accusations after two dubious GGs against his teammate Alicia, or thrilling races across airports, CranK's seen it all. What he hasn't seen however is a major tournament win. Who could blame him? Smart protoss player, creative builds and strategies? He must be high up on famous headhunter Artosis' list.
But all of these fun facts are just to hide the fact that it's hard to predict what shape CranK will be in when he plays. He seems to be able to beat anyone when he's in form, but it's never been easy to predict what kind of form Crank will show up in.
Predictions!
Scarlett > puCK
Minigun < CranK
Scarlett < CranK
Minigun > puCK
Scarlett < Minigun
Crank and Minigun advance.
Qualified for Ro16 (14/16)
Zerg: Jaedong, NesTea, ByuL, Sen, HyuN
Protoss: Oz, HerO, MacSed, HuK
Terran: Apocalypse, Hack, Heart, Polt, TaeJa
Zerg: Jaedong, NesTea, ByuL, Sen, HyuN
Protoss: Oz, HerO, MacSed, HuK
Terran: Apocalypse, Hack, Heart, Polt, TaeJa