The four-month campaign of GosuCup SEA is over and a champion has been elected. In a 4-1 grand final, Aki “AkiSera” Sera ruled over Jowy “HAVATITE” Escobido, bringing the trophy to Malaysia.
The story of AkiSera, a.k.a. TrollTrollTroll, has been one of consistency. Ever since the GosuCup SEA circuit in November, the Malaysian has been competing and winning, persistently climbing the rankings. After slow start in November, AkiSera stepped up his game and clocked a 78% win-rate in December, winning GosuCup #9 along the way with victories over players who would later qualify for the GosuCup finals themselves. In 2015, AkiSera continued performing, and was at 58% win-rate in January and, at press time, the astonishing 87,5% in February.
Nonetheless, as the Malaysian prepared to embark on his final GosuCup journey, he entered the grand finals as somewhat of an underdog. He came from a country that has struggled overall to perform in the circuit and he was overshadowed – as were many others – by the absolute tournament favorite, the three-times champion Dustin “WaningMoon” Mangulabnan.
That didn’t phase AkiSera at all. Paired with Aaronkoh, BibleThump and Alexieishere, the Malaysian graduated with a perfect 3-0 record, one of the only three players in the tournament to do so. This was more than enough to qualify him for the playoffs where several hard battles awaited him. In the Ro16, AkiSera met GosuCup #13 bronze finalist Wespogi who also gave him the toughest opposition in the tournament, only giving up in game seven.
Everything was easier from there on. The quarter final match against last-minute replacement Podol87 was a 4-0 slaughter. The final battles against the Filipino duo of Genji27 – the player who surprised everyone by winning GosuCup #12 with a budget Fatigue Mage – and Hearthstone veteran HAVATITE also went in his favor, 4-2 and 4-1 respectively.
The last clash also crowned AkiSera the ultimate champion of the 2014 GosuCup SEA circuit, proving the words of fellow countrymen Lalasong true: Malaysia did secretly have the upper hand.
