The best games of MLG Winter Championship

Written by: Cyniko

The first major tournament for Heart of the Swarm after official release has concluded, and what a tournament it was. Growth rate in viewership numbers skyrocketed, with numbers for StarCraft 2 surpassing what we’re used to seeing, and community enthusiasm reaching an all-time high. Let’s take a look at five of the games and some honorable mentions that re-inspired our love in StarCraft 2.

Life vs Flash on Daybreak VOD

• Why was it good: It was the final game of the tournament and the excitement was palpable. The entire tournament had generated so much hype about the game, and everyone knew that with every advantage Life gained he was one step closer to ending it all. While none of the games in the final series were particularly good, the tension and the thrill while watching the final set was undeniable.

Life vs Polt on Cloud Kingdom VOD

• Why was it good: The exhaustive day two came to an end here and Day[9] and Husky poured out their most sleep-deprived and overexcited cast yet, if you’re into that sort of thing. While the game itself wasn’t too interesting, the crowd shots and playfulness of the entire cast is worth a mention.

Sen vs Parting on Cloud Kingdom VOD

• Why was it good: In a tournament where foreigners got slapped down, nearly every win they pulled out is worth mentioning. In this particular one, Sen showed the strength of late-game Viper/Hydra and pulled the retreating deathball of Void Rays and Colossi into the Hydra’s strong DPS. Despite uncertainty from the commentator desk on whether or not Sen’s composition choices would work, he absolutely crushed Parting by the end of it.

• Why was it good: Feast provided the tournament with its second upset with strong play throughout the entire game.

Early on in the tournament, Heart of the Swarm was providing the types of games we wouldn’t normally see in Wings of Liberty. The micro and positioning mechanics of the new units were being shown in great fashion, most notably through speed Medivacs and strong Widow Mine usage. However, Feast used his Mothership Core alongside his incredible blink Stalker control to create a memorable game two performance.

In a 4-gate Blink/Mothership Core attack that transitioned into a containment, Feast was able to do just enough damage and control his units very precisely for a long period of time. In a tournament dominated by strong Terran control, Feast was able to put a strong case out there for Protoss. Once MVP finally broke out, Feast had his economy, tech tree, and upgrades rolling, and was able to roll over to finish.

• Why was it good: In the first big upset of the tournament, Bly reached into his thinking cap and pulled out a winner with strong burrowed Infestor play to catch the God himself completely off-guard.

Bly put on a great show in Game 3, and it was the first exciting set of the tournament. In a series that looked hopeless, Bly’s creative play finally shone through with burrowed Infestors all across the map. Bly was able to sneak in about 5-6 Infestors into the main and natural of Flash only to patiently wait. Minutes had gone by, and Bly didn’t reveal a single bit of his intention to God, who in this case was anything but all-knowing. When Flash finally began pushing out with his mech-heavy composition, Bly started to drop infested terrans in three of the mining bases of Flash.

The infested terran play completely crippled Flash’s economy and delayed him so much that Bly’s bank was able to build up, and when Flash did push out onto the map, the Zerg was once again able to utilize burrowed infestors to disrupt the tank lines of Flash. With another mech army cleaned up, Bly was able to transition into brood lords, and with Flash stuck in an economic position where he could only make more tanks, he tapped out once he saw the broods looming in.

• Why was it good: Bomber nuked almost all of his army which made for a pretty interesting game until he decided to drag it out 20 minutes longer than it needed it to be.

The round of 32 didn’t really have any big upsets in overall match results, but it had its fair share of entertaining games. This one was a prime example of an exciting late-game TvZ between Korean and foreigner, and this time Bomber had gone “Full Bomber”. Showing off great techniques earlier in the series by using hunter-seeker missile on his own medivac and boosting it into his opponent’s army, this time he just took it a step further and self-nuked almost his entire force.

The two armies continued to posture around the map for a long stretch of time, but Goswser finally got the best of the macro-terran. Bomber stuck around for much too long after the game was decided, but the nuke heard round the world was still resonating with everyone watching the game.

• Why was it good: Because Life and Polt were playing, that’s why. In one of the only times we saw Life make it into the very late-game against terran, Polt was able to pick apart the young prodigy and secure a strong win.

To be honest, Life was one of the least exciting players to watch in the entire tournament. His play is undeniably strong, and he’s incredibly talented, but he’s just too good at killing people. Polt on the other hand has been a fan-favorite for as long as he’s been on the scene, and he showed some great play in this game on Star Station. In what is probably the most underrated game in the tournament, Polt was able to pick :ofe a[art through a series of drops while having strong defenses and transitions back at home. Life also played valiantly, utilizing vipers to pull in medivacs and tanks, but ultimately didn’t use them well enough. The final battle culminated at Polt’s defensive posture at his natural/third position, and the end-game compositions were very strong for both.

Life had won the major engagement, but his economy couldn’t finish the job. Polt’s booming economy that he had been building up was able to power through and clean up the rest of Life’s army. Polt takes the game and forced game 5.

• Why it was the best: Flash and Innovation were the two strongest terran players in the tournament, and terran was (arguably) the most fun race to watch. So when these two were pitted together, the games were awe-inspiring and a whole level above the rest. Especially game three.

Pictures will not do this game justice. A game summary won’t even matter. Forget everything you know about Starcraft 2 TvT, and just watch this game. I’m serious, if you didn’t see this game, stop reading this and just watch it. And if you did, you probably don’t need me to remind you of how incredible it was.

To relate this to any past Starcraft 2 experiences or games wouldn’t be sufficient, because it was a noticeable step up in all aspects. What that means is that it created a spectator experience that I haven’t yet had in Starcraft 2. Not “nukes are dropping” or “he doesn’t see the Nydus” exciting, just two mechanically crisp players fighting at break-neck speeds trying to out-position and outplay each other on incomprehensible levels. I was speechless for a large portion of the game, and we have Heart of the Swarm’s new mechanics as well as these two incredible players to thank.

Would you rearrange or change our list in any way? Tell us your top five of MLG Winter Championship games!