

Photo: Red Bull



It's getting fancier by the second



Opening match #1: First blanks Polt in Group B opener

Waiting for the MC-Jaedong series to finish, the second WCS stream hosted the opening match for Group B as IM’s First faced the America champion Polt.

Eager to repent himself from the crushing loss to Bomber in the Korea playoffs and remind StarCraft fans he’s still an inspirational PvT player, First’s performance in this series was nothing short of spectacular. In a game one very reminiscent of his games against Fantasy in WCS Korea (a match that was analyzed in detail by our own Cyniko), First treated Polt to storms and zealot warp-ins while simultaneously out-racing him in expanding. That wounded Polt severely and shoved him in a position from where he could not straight-on fight First’s colossus/storm army and the first map went to the Protoss.

Game two was an equally dominant performance by the IM player. Using a similar style, First was able to out-expand Polt and take on multiple favorable engagements, eventually leading to the surrender of the Terran and the 2-0 for the IM protoss.

Opening match #2: Bomber tramples the Dutchman

It wasn't the pleasantest of beginning for Grubby as he went against OSL semi-finalist and TvPer extraordinaire Bomber. From minute one, the Korean was out for the Dutchman's blood, opening with a multi-pronged bio attack with a medivac drop in the main combined with a frontal punch towards the natural.

Despite Grubby's beautiful defense on the back of his colossi and zealots, Bomber had no intention of stopping and minutes later came the follow-up attack, this time with a substantial SCV pull. Taking the fight at his ramp, Grubby looked to be in a comfortable position as high templars were already out but throwing all the storms at the viking flotilla of Bomber proved to be a critical mistake. With his ground army still healthy, Bomber issued an a-move and ripped Grubby apart.

Game two went a bit more evenly as Grubby played more or less a perfect game build and army comp-wise. There were no obvious flaws the Korean could exploit and the single foreign spark in the group held his ground right until a large chunk of his army was caught out on the map. Bomber's coup was swift and deadly and gunfire shells bombarded both Grubby's army and his bases, forcing him to tap out and surrender the series to the StarTale Terran.

Winners' match: Bomber > Protoss

Up in the winners match, Bomber continued to defy his namesake of a law as his shred First to pieces in two quick games. Spawning for game one on Star Station, the Terran quickly established map control through his medivacs and sniped First's warp prism to further ensure there will be nothing threatening coming his way and continued to macro like only he can, gearing for a singular bio/SCV push.

As the SCV train left the station, Bomber was already significantly ahead of First in terms of supply and he arrived at the Protoss front door, riding a 40 supply advantage. With storms not ready on time and with his food levels critically low, First was ran over in seconds.

Game two wasn't any more exciting and followed a similar paradigm. A timely two-base bio attack sniped First's natural and pretty much decided the game on the spot, although Bomber would still have to do one final marine/marauder attack peppered with impeccable army split before he can officially advance to the quarter finals.

Losers' match: Polt erases another foreigner

Quick and painful to watch were Grubby's last moments at the Season 2 finals as Polt soundly defended his status of Protoss killer, eliminating the Dutchman in two maps.

Both Bel'Shir Vestige and Newkirk Precinct developed in a similar manner. Polt would block Grubby's natural with an e-bay and would pressure him with reapers while gearing for a standard bio composition. The killing move would come around the 15th minute mark and in both games Grubby would be vastly outmicroed and outgunned, making him go home after day one and allowing Polt to live and fight another day.

Current Group B standings: