The top Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, and Swedish StarCraft II players gathered in Stockholm, Sweden on July 28 for the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) Nordic Nationals. Each of the 28 competitors battled their countrymen for a share of the $30,000 USD prize pool and one of six slots in the WCS Europe Finals in September.

Norway Nationals

After elimination of the two favorites Jens “Snute” Aasgaard and Kristoffer “TargA” Marthinsen, everything was decided among the relatively unknown up-and-coming players. The 16-year-old protoss player Nicolai Christian “Noticimus” Jacobsen made it through the Consolation Bracket to the Grand Final, where he faced terran player Mikal Saxvig “Seriously” West. Noticimus was more successful this time around, decisively taking the Norway championship and a spot in the Europe Finals.

Nicolai Christian “Noticimus” Jacobsen - the champion of Norway

Denmark Nationals

Protoss player Jon “BabyKnight” Andersen will represent Denmark in the Europe Finals after dominating his countrymen and taking out zerg player Anders “Blackcidy” Pedersen in the final match.

Jon “BabyKnight” Andersen - the champion of Denmark

Finland Nationals

With such an evenly-matched top four consisting of Jonne “Protosser” Sotala, Vesa “Welmu” Hovinen, Samuli “elfi” Sihvonen, and Santeri “Naama” Lahtinen, the competition was bound to be fierce. Naama and elfi met in the Grand Final after both oozing confidence in their pre-match interviews. The bold prediction that elfi would win 4-0 appeared possible when he took the first match, but Naama came back in style to close the exciting series, taking the Finnish trophy and a spot in the Europe Finals.

Santeri “Naama” Lahtinen - the champion of Finland

Sweden Nationals

Following a series of great matches, the first surprise came when Kim “SaSe” Hammar was eliminated after first losing to Championship Bracket finalist John “Seiplo” Seipel, and then shortly after to the dark horse of the tournament, Rickard “SortOf” Bergman.

Up in the Championship Bracket, Marcus “ThorZaIN” Eklöf defeated Johan “NaNiwa” Lucchesi in a giant clash of the Swedish titans. ThorZaIN then went on to defeat Seiplo in the bracket final. With two of the Europe Finals slots already locked down for ThorZaIN and Seiplo, SortOf and NaNiwa met again in the Consolation Bracket, ready to fight for the third and final Swedish slot. The second big surprise of the day then took place, as underdog SortOf eliminated the favorite. But he wasn’t done yet, also overcoming Seiplo and advancing to the thrilling Grand Final.

Having torn through the Consolation Bracket, SortOf’s winning streak continued as he took the first best-of-three series from ThorZaIN. His terran opponent put up a very strong performance though, and took the series back, winning in the last match of the tournament.

Congratulations to ThorZaIN, the “King in the North” and Swedish StarCraft II champion, as well as runners-up SortOf and Seiplo. Huge congratulations also go out to the Norway, Denmark, and Finland national champions Noticimus, BabyKnight, and Naama. We’ll see all of them again in the Europe Finals, set to take place on September 15-16 at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden!

Marcus “ThorZaIN” Eklöf, with the rest of the qualified players, as well as the casters and the organizers.

Videos of the Matches

Shoutcasters: Shaun "Apollo" Clark and Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen

Norwegian Grand Final

Grand Final: Seriously vs Noticimus

Danish Grand Final

Grand Final: BabyKnight vs Blackcidy

Finnish Grand Final

Grand Final: Naama vs elfi

Swedish Brackets

Consolation Bracket Round 4.2: SaSe vs SortOf

Championship Bracket Final: ThorZaIN vs Seiplo

Consolation Bracket Final: NaNiwa vs SortOf

Consolidation Final: Seiplo vs SortOf

Swedish Grand Final

Grand Final part 1: ThorZaIN vs SortOf

Grand Final part 2: ThorZaIN vs SortOf

Replays of the Matches:

Click here to download

Additional coverage:

TeamLiquid page: Sweden Nationals

TeamLiquid page: Finland Nationals

TeamLiquid page: Norway Nationals

TeamLiquid page: Denmark Nationals

Player Spotlight: EG.ThorZaIN and MorroW

Event Article on Battle.net