Day 1 of WCS NA Premier league is here and with it some impressive looking matches with players such as Snute, Theognis, Vibe, and TheSTC. A group with two Terran players and two Zerg players.
Snute shows some great plays against Theognis
The day began with Snute vs. Theognis, a ZvT matchup with Team Liquid's Foreign Zerg and Root's relatively unknown Terran player. Game one began with Theognis going for a very macro heavy game plan by performing a gasless expand and getting an early third command center. Snute took advantage of this by going for a heavy baneling/roach bust even though Theognis showed an impressive display with his widow mine placement, Snute's forces eventually proved too much giving Snute game one. Game two took place on Cloud Kingdom and saw some very impressive Macro plays from both players. However Snute was able to contain Theognis on two bases while Snute played a very heavy macro focus and went up to four bases before teching to Ultralisks. After that he just overran Theognis with his massive army giving Snute the series 2:0.
Bad news for Root Gaming
The Second Series was another ZvT including the Korean Giant and a favorite to win the group TheSTC, and his opponent the defending WCS NA champion Vibe. In game one played out much like game one in the Snute vs. Theognis series with Vibe going for an aggressive Roach/Baneling timing that was able to break through TheSTC's defences and allow Vibe to take game one. Game two began with Vibe doing a very intriguing opening taking three bases before making his spawning pool. After he got three bases up Vibe went for a Baneling/Roach all in, however TheSTC was able to defend it without taking a large amount of economic damage counterattack to take game two. With the series tied 1:1 game three played out entirely different then any of the matches before. With TheSTC constantly dropping and harassing Vibe. Vibe was able to deploy some impressive fungals which led to an extremely back and forth battle between both player's armies. However TheSTC's upgrades paid off for him and allowed him to take game three and the series 2:1. Now both Root players have been knocked down and will have to face eachother to see who will get a chance to advance to the round of 16.
TheSTC showing why he is a Korean Giant
The winners series was to decide the first person of the group that would advance to the round of 16 which was between TheSTC and Snute. Game one Snute showed some impressive use of banelings along with infestors. Which allowed him to tech into ultralisks, and overwhelm TheSTC giving Snute game one. Game two lasted for 20 minutes with neither player going over 120 supply. An extremely back and forth game with aggressive zergling run bys and marauder/hellibat pushes. TheSTC was able to snipe all of Snute's mining bases and eventually take game two. With the series tied 1:1 TheSTC decided to make it even more interesting by doing a double proxy rax, and successfully sniping Snute's natural expansion. Though Snute was able to stay in the game with some impressive exchanges with banelings, TheSTC was able to trample over him with his Marine/Marauder force giving TheSTC the series 2:1 and being the first of the group to advance to the round of 16.
A Valiant Team Kill
The next series was between Root teamates Vibe and Theognis to see who would go on to face Snute for a chance to advance to the round of 16. Game one was extremely back and forth with Vibe, with Theognis going for some early Hellion/Reaper harass. Vibe looked good until he decided to go for an massive Zergling/Baneling attack, and did not do very much damage with it. At the same time Theognis was able to do large amounts of damage to Vibe's economy by dropping numerous bases and was able to take game one with a large marine/marauder followup attack. Game two saw Vibe return to a large baneling/roach timing attack that was able to bust through Theognis's wall and give Vibe game two which tied up the series 1:1. Game three seemed like it would never end with vibe teching to infestor/swarm host. Theognis put up a valiant defense with numerous drops and sniping multiple bases, but in the end Vibe's force was just too much and Theognis was forces to GG giving Vibe the series 2:1.
Root couldn't stop Snute
The final series of the night was between Vibe and Snute to see who would be the other player to advance to the round of 16 from Group F. Game one saw Snute get an earlier gas and an earlier lair. This allowed him to get mutalisk out and and simply decimate Vibe's bases. Game two was short and sweet, with Snute blocking Vibe from walling off and allowing Snute's zerglings to flood into Vibe's main and destroying his mineral line, allowing Snute to take the series 2:0 and advance on to the round of 16.
