After six tense games, David "Lilbow" Moschetto claimed victory in the WCS Season 3 Grand Finals, becoming the first ever non-Korean WCS champion and securing his spot in the WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon.

Game 1

The Grand Finals for the last season of WCS Premier kicked off between the foreign hope Lilbow and the hometown hero MaNa on Cactus Valley.

The two players mirrored one another’s builds up to the point at which MaNa opted for a faster Robotics Facility while Lilbow decided on a faster Nexus.

Lilbow opted to go for early pressure as his Blink research finished but it was defended cleanly by MaNa, whose Robotics Facility put him ahead in tech. Lilbow broke off the attack and went back to building Probes. Lilbow did not tech up any further than Blink Stalker, though, as MaNa moved across the map with his own Stalkers.

Lilbow was able to hold that push, and moved out himself. At a crucial moment, he caught MaNa’s Stalkers out of position and was able to Blink on top of them to block their retreat. Seizing on that slight advantage, Lilbow continued to Blink forward and took the first game.

Game 2

MaNa tried to even up the series on Terraform, sticking with his Twilight Council tech while Lilbow diverged from the previous game by choosing a Stargate. Lilbow’s Oracle did succeed in sniping a Sentry, but did little economic damage.

Lilbow continued to defend by building multiple Immortals, whereas MaNa focused on attempting to harass with Blink Stalkers. That harassment ended with a clutch snipe on MaNa’s observer that denied the Polish player highground vision around Lilbow’s base.

The French Protoss pushed out across the map once his first Colossi finished, but MaNa’s backstabbed him with his Blink Stalker force, causing Lilbow to recall and killing a Colossi in the process.

Lilbow again moved out across the map, MaNa again counterattacked with Stalkers, but this time Lilbow kept moving across the map, forcing a quasi basetrade. Lilbow choose to snipe MaNa’s natural Nexus rather than fight the army, and at home the Frenchman fought with Probes against MaNa’s Stalkers.

Lilbow was eventually pushed back, and a clutch Probe surround destroyed most of his army. MaNa launched his own counterattack, and this time he brought a superior Colossi count. While Lilbow was able to hold on for several engagements, the double Robotics Facility production of MaNa eventually took the game to tie the series.

Game 3

After tying the series, MaNa maintained the initiative in the series by going straight for a Dark Templar rush. Lilbow initially went for Blink, but kept safe with a Robotics Facility for detection. Lilbow actually let in the two DTs, only to Force Field them inside the base to kill them.

Lilbow pushed out across the map but was quickly shoved away by MaNa’s own Blink Stalkers, leading to an uneasy balance on the map.

The French Protoss then mimcked his build from Game 1, producing constantly from his Gateways and pumping out a massive amount of Stalkers at an unexpected time. He quickly pushed across the space between the vertical spawn positions on Iron Fortress, crushing through MaNa’s defense.

A Blink war ensued, with both players furiously microing their units, but eventually the numbers advantage for Lilbow proved too much, and MaNa surrendered the third game.

Game 4

The fourth game brought the finalists to Coda, with Lilbow holding the slight 2-1 edge in the series.

The rotation through the various tech choices of early game Protoss continued, this time with both players choosing Stargate tech. Both opted for an Oracle rather than the less standard Phoenix, and the two Protoss then expanded, mirroring one another.

Lilbow’s Oracle was far more successful, getting four kills in MaNa’s mineral line while MaNa’s own air unit only got one Probe. Lilbow then went on a sacrificial mission with the Oracle again, killing an additional four Probes.

Both players produced Phoenix after this, but MaNa produced five to only a few from Lilbow, giving MaNa air superiority. Both players transitioned from there, with MaNa adding two Robotics Facility as well as the Robotics Bay.

MaNa continued to scout with his Phoenix, while Lilbow took his third base and began to mass Stalkers. Lilbow added the Templar Archives and started researching Charge, crafting a Gateway based army.

A nice trap led to the death of MaNa’s Phoenix army when it was Feedbacked by Lilbow’s High Templar. Lilbow seized map control with his ground army, but MaNa continued to craft a perfect composition based on Robotics units.

MaNa moved across the map at just over 150 supply with his superior army. Lilbow attempted to make a hold at the highground near his fourth base location, but in the ensuing fight, MaNa took a decisive lead.

Knowing that he couldn’t contend with the Robotics army, Lilbow initiated a desperate basetrade. MaNa did not have the energy to recall, so the two armies began destroying one another’s production and bases. With just one probe and a handful of buildings alive each, MaNa was clearly in the lead with a stronger army and a building Nexus.

Knowing that it was his one choice to survive, Lilbow made the crazy, brilliant decision to ignore the defending army and attack only the Nexus, the last surviving building of his opponent. With only a handful of units left, Lilbow was able to kill the Nexus, winning the game.

Game 5

The combatants switched over to Bridgehead, where Lilbow again chose a Stargate opener while MaNa instead went for a more aggressive two-Gateway opener, hoping to put on Stalker pressure.

MaNa went full aggressive on this map, pushing forward with his Stalkers and Lilbow was totally unable to defend with his Phoenix, which he had chosen over the more standard Oracle.

MaNa was able to unpower the Gateway at the front and then whittle down the Cybernetics Core. Unable to build Stalkers, Lilbow fruitlessly pulled Probes but could not push back the Stalkers, handing MaNa the game.

Game 6

With that quick game behind them, the two finalists were set on Dash and Terminal. The players copied one another’s builds and both went for Blink research. From there both players continued to mass Stalkers, with Lilbow going for some small scale aggression before being warded off.

MaNa then went for something of the same aggression that we saw Lilbow execute in previous games. Lilbow saw it coming however, and with strong Blink micro and Photon Overcharge, he was able to hold the attack and take an extremely favorable fight.

With a massive army advantage, Lilbow moved across the map and struck at the heart of MaNa’s economy and production, Blinking on top of the remains of the army and annihilating it.

With that, MaNa tapped out, and Lilbow won.

Lilbow becomes the first ever WCS Premier champion, and with his win secures his seed in BlizzCon.