Surprises continued in WCS America as HerO failed to move on to the round of sixteen. Lag didn't help HerO's PvP, but decision making cost him against XiGua. Predictions weren't completely off as HuK also made it through. You can watch the VODs via the link.
An expected result, albeit the hints of poor decisions (or lag) appeared. Game one HerO lost his mothership core, missed his forcefield at the ramp and died to Top's push. In game two HerO tried the double gas-steal, but failed to pull it off; Top went for DTs, but HerO scouted it and it accomplished nothing; both players got blink and HerO did good economic damage with a 4-stalker hit squad; both players built immortal-based armies as HerO went for DTs himself and did some economic damage with them; Top got damage done via warp prism harassment as his push to the third was stopped; HerO added colossus and pushed the third, eventually forcing Top to tap out. In the final game both players went for blink and Top went for a huge one base blink all-in which HerO defended, winning him the game.
This series was more one-sided than expected as HuK was in good form (playing on the NA server certainly gave him the edge over his opponents). Game one HuK went for the gold expansion and then for zealot/mothership core pressure at the third which went well enough to clear out the base, but not kill it (XiGua responded by building roaches); HuK then went for an immortal/sentry push and rolled over his opponent. Game two HuK went for a quick third while XiGua built a ton of slow lings which accomplished nothing; XiGua went for a proxy spire while building a bunch of roaches; HuK got blink and a ton of gateways; HuK split his army well to defend against the mutas and then XiGua took a bad engagement with his army, putting him behind; the next engagement was close, but HuK won it as while transitioning into stargate play (XiGua built corrupters); the next engagement also went Huk's way as he killed the third but couldn't quite finish the Zerg; HuK killed the fifth and sixth with zealot harassment and when XiGua failed to kill the fourth he tapped out.
The second biggest surprise of the evening. Game one Huk went for early aggression with stalkers as HerO got the robo--HuK forced a cancel on the natural; HerO went for an immortal drop and was forced to sacrifice them or lose both they and his warp prism to blink stalkers; HuK went for a straightforward attack and lost most of his army without doing economic damage; HerO's subsequent pressure was held off, but HuK left his base and then HerO did a ton of damage; HuK killed off HerO's third in response; HerO killed HuK's third and his army in the process, winning the game. In game two HerO went for every tech option in the game (robo, stargate, and twilight) and HuK lost his mothership core to one phoenix as HuK apparently did not realise it was real until it was too late; HuK went for a double archon drop that did a ton of damage at the natural; HerO did his own harassment with the warp prism as HuK attacked the third and dropped the natural; HerO survived but was far behind so went for DTs; HuK harassed all three bases at once before going for the main engagement which HuK won easily and HerO tapped out shortly afterwards. In the final game HerO went for DTs as HuK applied two-gate pressure; the DTs did nothing and both players expanded; HerO sent a stalker hit squad into HuK's main as HuK attacked the natural--the attack killed the base along with HerO's army and the Korean tapped out moments later.
This series was not close. Game one Top went for a two-base attack and XiGua simply built units and won. Game two Top went for a cannon rush that cancelled the natural, but XiGua took the gold and built a ton of units to face Top's inevitable gateway attack, crushing it.
The biggest surprise of the night as HerO demonstrated how bad skytoss is against Zerg when that's all they face. Game one HerO went for zealot pressure on the third and sloppy decision-making by XiGua (separating his lings from his queens) allowed HerO to do so much damage he won the game with the follow-up attack. Game two HerO opened with an oracle (heading towards skytoss), but XiGua was prepared and it accomplished nothing; XiGua made a ton of units (anchored by hydras) and simply rolled over HerO's tiny army. In the final game HerO again went stargate and XiGua simply absorbed the limited damage inflicted by phoenix and crushed HerO with a huge hydra-based army.
HuK and XiGua move on.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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