Starcraft 2 news » WCS Global Playoffs - Day 2 Recap

While day 1 went as expected with favorites Dark, Stats, Neeb and Zest advancing, Day 2 of the Global Finals had some explosive results. As expected, the two Terrans, ByuN and TY, advanced comfortably to the Winners Matches, closely followed by ShoWTimE and Elazer. Dear and Nerchio will still have a single chance to prove their worth, avoiding elimination for now. In a sudden surprise upset, however, frontrunner Solar was eliminated, along with fellow Zerg viOLet.

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In the first game of the day, the two Protoss players first faced off on King Sejong Station. Both went for deceptively similar builds, but their styles couldn’t have been more different. ShoWTimE was slow and methodical, trusting quality over quantity, while Dear was more aggressive, looking to end game as soon as possible. After continuing to trade blows, ShoWTimE’s patience paid off. The Spring Circuit champion delivered the knockout punch by bringing out the ultimate weapon, the Tempest, and Dear had no choice but to tap out.

The two moved onto Frozen Temple for the second map, and ShoWTimE opted for early Adept harassment. Once a Warp Prism appeared on the skies above his base, Dear decided to seize the momentum for himself, going for a risky two-base push to end the game. Once again ShoWTimE stayed calm and collected, knowing full well that his better tech and smarter positioning would give him the upper hand. Dear sent in wave after wave, only to be beaten back time and time again. The final nail in the coffin was a desperate gamble by the remnants of Dear’s army, but ShoWTimE’s defenses just proved to be too strong.

It’s no secret that ByuN is one of the favorites going into the tournament and his first match against viOLet on King Sejong Station demonstrated this perfectly. ByuN went for his very standard two-Medivac drop into a Tank push, and even though viOLet almost certainly knew what was coming, he was powerless to stop the micro machine that is ByuN.

In the most unpredictable map of the tournament, Dasan Station, ByuN opted for a slightly safer build for the second game, delaying his Medivacs in order to rush for quick Stimpacks and Siege Tanks. Not only did this provide ByuN the option to execute a strong frontal-push, it also meant he was safe from any Zerg aggression. Meanwhile, viOLet attempted to pull a fast one on ByuN by going for an Overlord drop with Zerglings and Queens, but ByuN’s choice of build lined up perfectly to deflect the attack.

Against the norm of the metagame, TY opened aggressively with four Hellions, delivering a crushing blow to Nerchio in the form of 14 Drones of damage. The rest of the game seemed like a formality as TY kept pressing and compounding his advantages until Nerchio buckled to the weight of TY’s solid play.

In game 2, TY opted for aggression once more, going through several stages of harass while building a formidable mech force. As TY closed in for the kill, Nerchio launched one last desperate counter-attack, which managed to completely cripple TY’s economy. Nerchio used his new lease on life to macro up to Vipers. With the ball in his court, Nerchio went to work on deconstructing TY’s mech, ping pong-ing from base to base, abducting stray Vikings, Tanks, and Liberators. TY frantically tried to stabilize, but his efforts were not able to deter the multi-pronged harassment and he eventually succumbed to the swarm.

In the third game both players chose economic builds suited to Galactic Process. TY was the first to start the fight for map control. Starting with small skirmishes, his attacks built up in strength as the game advanced, culminating in a snipe of Nercho’s fourth base. With his lead secured, TY decided to tech into his late-game composition and forgo most aggression as to not overextend. Nerchio was more than happy to play the role of the crashing wave and the game turned into a titanic fight for map control and position. Nerchio tried multiple times to break through TY’s defensive line, but the Terran’s superior micro meant that the Zerg bled units after each engagement. After several such skirmishes, TY used his economy to transition into Liberator Ghost while Nerchio slumped more into poverty. Nerchio teched to Brood Lords as his last ace in the hole, but TY was more than prepared to abuse their immobility, sniping a crucial mining base and forcing the Zerg into an unwinnable fight.

Given the size of Dasan Station, Solar opened directly with a 12 Pool, but Elazer’s diligent scouting and control were able buy him enough time to defend with a Drone pull. Unfazed, Solar started including Queens into his attack and the game turned into a weird version of a single lane Heroes of the Storm. After much back and forth, Elazer was able to come out ahead in the micro department and pushed his Queens all the way to Solar’s natural and to victory.

In the second game, the action only started to heat up in the mid-game. Elazer teched to Mutalisks, but Solar was not caught off guard, securing his bases by teching to Hydras. Solar attempted a Roach/Hydra push, but Elazer’s Ravagers along with a great concave repelled Solar and nearly pushed him to the brink. As Elazer’s attack mounted, he made a crucial misstep in the form of a misclick, forfeiting tempo to Solar’s burgeoning high-tech Lurker-based army and thus forfeited the game.

In the final game, both players took their third bases and small Zergling skirmishes raged across the map. The fighting intensified and both players teched to Roaches. Throughout the fights, Solar elected to squeeze out more Drones, giving him a economic advantage as Elazer teched to Ravagers. Elazer shoved into Solar’s territory who, miscalculating his army strength, was forced to pull Drones to survive. The error cost Solar greatly, allowing Elazer to convert his army advantage into an economic advantage and then into a win with one final attack.

In the first game viOLet decided to exploit Dear’s Nexus first tendencies and went for an early aggressive pool with Zerglings. The Zerglings managed to sneak into Dear’s base and inflict significant economic damage. With his lead secure, viOLet decided to continue rolling with the aggression. After teching to Banelings, viOLet busted the natural to kill even more Probes. The aggression reached its climax with viOLet dropping Banelings on three fronts until Dear was forced to tap out.

Both players opened much more economically in the second game on Frost with Dear securing the better mid-game utilizing a combination of better defense and harass. viOLet, not to be outdone, tried to go for Baneling drops once more, but Dear was on top of his defense and barely lost any economy while he continued to secure his third. Dear, in the meanwhile, continued his aggression, stifling the Zerg economy and teched up to a ferocious Gateway army supported by Archons and Immortals to seal the game even after viOLet had teched to Brood Lords.

On King Sejong Station, viOLet again traded early game economy for a mid-game Roach / Zergling attack designed to prevent Dear’s third. Dear’s diligent scouting revealed the lack of a third for viOLet, allowing him to easily repel the attack with an early Void Ray. Dear then used his force to not only secure his third but also to force units out of viOLet. viOLet tried to catch up with a fourth base but Dear, on top of his game, sniped it with a Immortal / Sentry force while teching to Disruptors. viOLet managed to catch Dear’s army in the middle of the map and surround it, but Dear traded evenly with viOLet and, due to his superior economy, was able to reinforce faster and with better units to mount the series-winning attack.

The final series of the day had two fan favorites on the verge of elimination. On King Sejong Station, the two started in the most standard way possible, but Nerchio was able to take an early lead by sneaking some Banelings into Solar’s mineral line. Following up with an unscouted Spire, Nerchio was simply fielding an overwhelming force against Solar’s weaker economy. With virtually no anti-air and a smaller army, Solar was beaten.

On Frost, the Korean Zerg managed to bounce back, tying up the series. While Solar was unable find a crack in Nerchio’s armor with a fast Lair and Roaches, he found an opening later by zoning Nerchio out of his expansion. Faced with dismal economic prospects, Nerchio’s forces kept slowly bleeding out against better positioning, and Solar’s pressure never eased off.

The third game on Galactic Process was then fated to be the decider. Placing everything on the line, Nerchio started the game by claiming the gold expansion for himself. Solar saw the empty natural and was already preparing for the inevitable all-in, but he miraculously scouted Nerchio’s plan just in the nick of time. The match transitioned into a more standard macro game, but Solar was unable to follow Nerchio’s early lead. The Polish Zerg realized that he had all the time in the world and engaged Solar’s army solely on his own terms, eventually dealing a decisive blow in one fell swoop.