With the quarter finals of WCS Europe done, players and fans alike behold a familiar sight. Once again, Koreans have taken prevalence with only one foreigner left in the semi finals, just like Grubby in the previous season. The defending champion is also eliminated in a familiar-looking 3-0 stomp and so the premier league will not see a back-to-back victor. And finally, not a single series goes up to five games, continuing the trend set by this season's WCS Korea which had the exact same scores in its quarter final matches - two 3-0's and two 3-1's, the latter almost as equally as onesided.
And finally, in a reverance to the very first Europe premier season, we have a ZvT between a top performing Zerg and a legendary Terran to determine whether or not there will be a foreigner in the grand final.
These are the final words of Nerchio as Acer’s Zerg concedes the game on Frost to his team-mate MMA. Indeed, if the one-sided last set for the night shows anything is that the former face of the now-defunct SlayerS is ready to take championships once again.
Labeled as a tournament favorite right for the very start of the premier league, MMA does not disappoint one bit. His TvZ play, reminiscing of the ease with which he manhandled Zergs in year 2011, is crisp and sharp, calculated to the last detail and one completely outclassing Nerchio’s otherwise best match-up. Hours before the match-up, a GosuGamers StarCraft writer predicts a win for the Korean in five games but MMA makes him look silly in just three games as he rolls over his opponent.
MMA’s play is a mix of stalwart defense against Nerchio’s roach attacks and 12/12 proxy rax rushes with bunker wall off, similar to Bomber’s rush against Jaedong in the Season 2 finals. There’s never even a moment of weakness in his play and Nerchio is forced to concede quickly.
| VOD: |   MMA | 3-0 |  Nerchio | Full set /// Game 1 /// Game 2 /// Game 3 |
The VortiX/StarDust quarter final is, by schedule, the first foreigner test that evening and extra pressure is on VortiX, especially when many regard him as Europe’s best hope for a deep run.
By the end of the day, VortiX is not only the best hope of his continent but also the only one, as Targa and Nerchio see themselves fall. VortiX’s play against DreamHack champion StarDust is standard but executed with caution and finesse. Hydra timings are followed by mass infestor plays as VortiX takes one map after another, only allowing StarDust to take game three on the back of a two-base blink stalker.
Now paired with MMA for the semi-final, Vortix is in the position Dimaga and Stephano were in season one. A grand Terran bastion must be overcome should Europe have a representative in the grand final but whether VortiX can succeed where Nerchio failed is a question whose answer is not as attractive.
| VOD: |  VortiX | 3-1 |  StarDust | Full set /// Game 1 /// Game 2 /// Game 3 /// Game 4 |
Three more wins is what MC needs before breaking a milestone no man has broken before. Featured in several $400,000 articles in the past, the SK Protoss is hungry for a triumph in the third season of WCS Europe and he does not want some Norwegian Zerg to stand in his way.
Otherwise having shown more than decent ZvP’s this season, Targa is thoroughly dominated by the Korean, although not to the extent of some other quarter finals that day. Many of the engagements between the two are nail-biters with masses of units clashing thunderously but what they do is only create the illusion that Targa has a chance of winning. Norwegian’s only glimpse of hope after being down two games comes on Derelict Watcher as his swarms surround and slaughter the Korean but MC is swift in his retort. A cannon rush on Frost beats out the third and final GG from Targa. A PvP semi final is incoming in the bottom half of the bracket.
| VOD: | MC | 3-1 |  TargA | Full set /// Game 1 /// Game 2 /// Game 3 /// Game 4 |
With Genius playing defending champion Duckdeok at the very bottom of the bracket, fans are worried about the level of entertainment the series can actually produce. The brutal 3-0 stomping of Trap at the hands of Dear at WCS Korea is still fresh in their minds, after all.
In disappointment, the first quarter final for the day is just as one-sided as Duckdeok is not given a single moment to gather his thoughts. Genius comes at him with all sorts of Protoss trickery and the champion never gets to play a proper macro game. His eventual defat starts with an unexpected void ray switch by Genius in game one, goes through death by a cannon rush and ends with the slicing blades of and economy-wrecking dark templar. A flawless execution by the former Blizzcon champion and one that surely has to worry SK_MC.
| VOD: | Genius | 3-0 | Duckdeok | Full set /// Game 1 /// Game 2 /// Game 3 |
Rotator photo: ESL
