Recap: Part One | Part Two | Part Three
The remainder of Saturday’s WCS ANZ Challenger Season 3 Winner’s Bracket was a continuing story of OSC-Root player domination. Teammates Sean ‘Probe’ Kempen and Ethan ‘iaguz’ Zugai had demolished the opposition to set up a fairytale best-of-five series.
The winner would qualify for Valencia and be at least $2000 AUD richer.
The loser would be forced into the most uncomfortable position, having to fight for their tournament life in another best-of-five series. Both players were so close to the prize, yet so far.
Play opened on Abyssal Reef. Both players opted for orthodox openings, choosing economic openings and securing fast expansions (additional mining bases). Probe elected to begin with Blink Stalkers and iaguz got aggressive with Widowmines and Marines.
As Probe deflected iaguz’s aggression, he continued to amass a huge army of Stalkers and Colossus. This army composition proved to be too much, as he won the game with a tidy push.
The next game opened in a similar way and produced the same result. Probe again deflected iaguz’s attempts to inflict economic damage and his late-game army was nigh unstoppable.
Against the ropes and down two games in the series, iaguz opened boldly and built two barracks close to Probe’s base – making reapers in a wild attempt to win the game immediately. It worked a charm.
Unfortunately for iaguz, Probe produced an immaculate performance in game four to clinch the series.
Probe is going to WCS Valencia.
Having been sent down to the Lower Bracket, iaguz met his match in Sheldon ‘Seither’ Barrow. While both are incredible players, only one could win a trip to WCS Valencia.
To call the series action-packed is a severe understatement. Seither and iaguz played fast, aggressive Terran versus Terran (TvT) and spoiled the crowd with their intricate displays of unit control and tactical movements.
As they fought through the series they tied at two maps apiece, with Abyssal Reef the stage for a final showdown.
Seither opened with a proxy marauder rush which iaguz immediately scouted with an SCV. The solution for iaguz was a defensive bunker and cyclone, using his workers to easily deflect the attack.
Iaguz was victorious. His overseas WCS dream continues.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the final recap of Saturday’s event, with a deep dive on the Grand Finals.
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