The final group in WCS Europe's round of thirty-two followed through with predictions in who would move forward (Welmu and MMA, albeit not in the expected order). You can watch the VODs here (if you love nukes watch game two between MMA and NightEnD).
The series went as predicted, with NightEnD's appearance in Premier coming as a surprise. Game one MMA took advantage of NightEnD passivity by taking an early third base and going for drops, but NightEnD had good observer positioning and pushed them back; MMA met NightEnD's army out on the map and took a favourable fight, killing all the colossi; MMA attacked the third, but NightEnD pushed him back with storm; MMA went for a big drop on the natural and then attacked the third, which did some damage; yet another attack was deflected as MMA's viking count had diminished enough for colossus to shove the bio back; MMA went for another large assault, this time with a great arc and destroyed NightEnD's army, but wasn't able to kill the Protoss; MMA killed the fourth while sending a drop to the natural which he also snipped, forcing NightEnD to move out--MMA dropped the main, forcing NightEnD recalled his army; MMA killed the fourth again and shortly afterwards emp'd the entire army and NightEnD tapped out. In game two MMA went for a marine/widow mine push which NightEnD was able to hold if off without taking much damage; NightEnD played completely standard going with colossus before teching into templars, while MMA went for much earlier ghosts than in the last game; both players got up to four bases without a major fight; NightEnD had no observer with his army and cloaked ghosts killed all the high templars in it, but MMA still couldn't win the initial fight over the heavily upgraded Protoss; MMA dropped and killed the natural and then nuked the mineral line of the third as NightEnD added tempests to his army; MMA nuked the fourth and killed all the probes and then did it again as NightEnD continued to struggle having enough observers; nukes began raining down all over the place including NightEnd walking his army into one--MMA also killed the third and fourth with nukes; NightEnD finally moved out with his army, getting himself emp'd again, but won the initial fight anyway and pressured MMA's main...but got his entire army emp'd a second time and was destroyed. The second game was very entertaining and I highly recommend it.
Welmu 2 
Starbuck 1
The series followed predictions, albeit Starbuck did not make it easy on Welmu. Game one Starbuck went for early ling pressure, which did some damage and delayed Welmu's expansion; Welmu followed up with three-gate pressure, forcing a cancel on Starbuck's fourth and killing his third; Starbuck broke through Welmu's contain and tried to nydus into his main, but it got spotted and shut down; an attempted roach push did nothing while a third attempted nydus actually lived long enough to send a few units into the third, but ultimately Starbuck lost a ton of army as he transitioned to swarm hosts; Welmu made a push and killed the fourth and then forced an engagement before there were many swarm hosts which ultimately won him the game. In game two both opened passively as each went up to three bases; Starbuck pressured with ling/hydra, ultimately not attacking, as Welmu built a dark shrine; Starbuck transitioned to swarm hosts as Welmu feigned an attack of his own; Welmu sent a bunch of DTs to Starbuck's fourth (killing it) while pressuring the third (with just stalkers/sentries); Welmu built up a sizeable colossus force and killed the fourth yet again; Starbuck began to chip away at the army with vipers, also adding a lot of infestors; Welmu went for heavy harassment with mixed results while going full skytoss (voids, carriers, the mother ship, and eventually tempests); as per every HOTS game I've ever seen the mothership died almost immediately and Starbuck used a combination of fungals, abductions, and static defense to kill the army--while the game dragged on for awhile the outcome after that fight was not in doubt (I have no idea why Protoss players think stargate will work if the Zerg has a ton of static defense). In the final game Welmu went for an economic opening taking an early three bases going for blink and +2 while Starbuck responded with hydras; Welmu pushed the third with a gateway army before Starbuck could get a decent number of swarm hosts, killing off a bunch of drones and most of the Zerg army; Welmu killed the third with a follow-up push as Starbuck got lings into the Protoss base, but they didn't accomplish much; Welmu's massive blink-stalker army killed the third again as he teched up to colossus and DTS; Welmu snipped the natural after forcing a cancel on the fourth and killed Starbuck's army shortly thereafter. This was a great series to watch and it was interesting that despite constant harassment Welmu could not beat Starbuck once he was firmly established on swarm hosts.
The upset of the night and a good series to boot. Game one opened fairly passively with MMA attempting a widow mine drop that did nothing, but made a successful drop on the natural and snipped it (having lured Welmu's army away with another drop); MMA then attacked the third, but Welmu held it off without significant losses; MMA tried for a huge doom drop with four medevac's and Welmu snipped three of them in the air; there was a pause in the action and then Welmu attacked with a ton of colossi (along with some archons), but MMA survived the initial push and killed the third and natural with counter aggression; the Terran was able to chip away at Welmu for quite some time, but the Protoss' rebuilt army rolled over what little remained of MMA's as Welmu never let him re-establish mining bases. In game two Welmu went for the gold expand and MMA tried to bunker rush it--Welmu was able to defend it; MMA attacked with an early marine/marauder push which Welmu was forced to fight with probes, but again saved the gold base; Welmu went for a gateway push, but MMA built four bunkers to defend it and went for counter aggression (which did a ton of damage) while Welmu futilely attacked the defenses, hurting himself with terrible forcefields (blocking out his own zealots) and then tapping out. The final game opened passively as Welmu went for early charge/storm and MMA had to run away with his army when he realised what he was facing, but Welmu followed him all the way back to his base and stormed his army to death to get the win.
Starbuck 2 NightEnD 0
The shortest match of the evening, NightEnD went for a cannon rush which killed Starbuck's natural; Starbuck went for a hatches in NightEnD's base, both of which were stopped, but he got a nydus worm into the base which carried a swarm host (with lings and a queen) and the Romanian tapped out moments later--quite abruptly I thought. Game two NightEnD went for a zealot/mothership core push which was easily deflected by Starbuck who knew it was coming; NightEnD failed to spot the spire and died when mutas arrived in his base.
MMA 2 Starbuck 1
The series went as per the odds, but featured more excellent play from Starbuck. Game one opened passively as both went into standard play (bio vs muta/ling); MMA dropped the natural while pushing the third, with Starbuck sending a ling counter--the drop did damage, but didn't get the hatchery and Starbuck held against the push, yet his counter pressure didn't do much; MMA's next push included hellbats with blueflame, but again Starbuck held; the following attack by MMA could not be stopped and he rolled to the win. Game two again had a passive opening with MMA doing some really weird things with building add-ons while Starbuck went for a proxy infestation pit to use burrowed infestors--MMA never figured out what Starbuck was doing and the infestors wrecked his army and economy and he was forced to tap out. In the final game MMA went for a three-reaper opening, which didn't go as planned as Starbuck killed the first one almost immediately; Starbuck went for a roach/bane all-in, but MMA knew it was coming and defended it without suffering much damage--his counter attack did a ton of damage and the follow-up to it could not be stopped.
Both Welmu and MMA had to put a lot of work into moving on and it was a good night of games.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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