It's been a long journey for Zi Song "Lalasong" Hee from Malaysia but he's finally done it and this Saturday he became the 32nd and last grand finals competitor for GosuCup SEA.
Being one of Malaysia's most prominent players, it's surprising to see Lalasong make a GosuCup breakthrough just now. Lalasong had tough runs in the early GosuCups but his luck turned around with the coming of 2015. In January, his win rate skyrocketed to 70,59% with 12-5 in games but a tournament victory was still lacking for him.
This Saturday, the stakes for GosuCup #16 were indeed high. It was a budget tournament, meaning only one player would advance to the grand finals. It was also the last open GosuCup tournament for the 2014 season so there were not going to be second chance - the finals wer just around the corner, scheduled for February 28th.
Even though many of the already qualified players took participation nonetheless, Lalasong got lucky, dodged all the big names and got paired with a string of unknown players, securing a relatively easy way to the finals. Those turned out a flawless stomp, Lalasong crushing fellow Malaysian Cloudre01 3-0.
GosuCup #16 standings
1. 
Lalasong - 50 Dota 2 keys + seed for the grand finals
2. Cloudre01 25 Dota 2 keys
3. 
Crazymageeee - 10 Dota 2 keys
4. BlackCrossXIII - 5 Dota 2 keys
5-8. Sayura - 5 Dota 2 keys
5-8. 
ElleWhyJay - 5 Dota 2 keys
5-8. Noraneko - 5 Dota 2 keys
5-8. Cloudre01 - 5 Dota 2 keys
Drawing the line at the nation standings, we see that Philippines excellence and consistency has granted them the first place. More than 20% of their points come from Dustin "WaningMoon" Mangulabnan, the record-breaking three-times GosuCup winner but there's also the gold medal of Genji "Genji27" Saclolo and the large number of top four finishers from the Philippines in general.
Second are the guys from Vietnam, who showed their country has a diverse pool of players. Over the course of the last four months, Vietnam placed four different players as champions, winning both budget and regular cups. Alongside the Philippines, Vietnam is the strongest contender for the GosuCup crown at the end of the month.
Singapore are the bronze medalists in the race. After starting very slow in the early cups, Singapore stepped up their game and delivered back-to-back champions in weeks #14 and #15. They never came close to overcoming Vietnam but the fact they managed to close the gap that at one point was enormous is worthy of admirations.
Final nation standings
1. 
Philippines - 77 points
2. Vietnam - 69 points
3. Singapore - 53 points
4. 
Indonesia - 35 points
4. Malaysia - 35 points
6. 
Thailand - 19 points
With this, the grand finals are complete and here are all the groups:
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| Dennisgosu | Daph | Crunchyboy | Condauco |
| Charge | Genji27 | Teckwei | Azuresky |
| Mokochiro | Jizzes | Hovati16 | Keruya |
| Havatite | ElleWhyJay | Kaka | Quubeeee |
| Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H |
| Waningmoon | Wufflerman | Infernity | TrollTrollTroll |
| Haizstuff | Superpogi | NyikNyukNyek | BibleThump |
| IgnisSolus | Exclusiveee | Ferdzm | Alexieishere |
| Tiemporave | Lalasong | Wespogi | Aaronkoh |
