Season 1 of the World Championship Series Europe and America came to an end on April the 13th after months of searching for the best StarCraft II players from each region. It ended with Jang “MC” Min Chul defeating Mun ”MMA” Seong Won in the European Finals and Ko “HyuN” Seok Hyun taking down Kim “Oz” Hak Soo to claim the American trophy. However, the finals had much more to offer than just results: four action-packed days brought with them some absolutely fantastic games. What better way to do them justice than with a closer look at the numbers? Check out our recap infographic below for the ins and outs.
Click the image for full-size infographic
It’s funny how some things pan out. The event’s shortest and longest matches were played on the same map, Europe’s shortest and longest matches were between the same players, Oz played (and won) both the longest and shortest WCS America series, the European quarter finals showcased the shortest series while the semifinals contained the longest…
Zergs have all the fun
Kim “Revival” Dong Hyun, who boasted the highest average APM (actions per minute) in the American region (393) also had the highest APM peak with 922. However, this number was beaten by Jens “Snute” Aasgaard with a tournament peak of 1014! The two Zergs earned themselves 750 / 500 WCS points and sit at 20th and 22nd place in the WCS Global Standings respectively, just short of the Global Finals cutoff mark.
Of course, the Zerg of the moment award (if there were such a thing) would most certainly be awarded to HyuN, Jos “Ret” de Kroon’s choice for best player of the tournament for his “extremely dominant and solid performance all around”. The Korean Zerg, currently second in the WCS Global Standings (2475 points, just 250 points behind MC) put on a fantastic show throughout the tournament. As seen in the infographic above, his battle against Oz in the finals was the longest match of the tournament for WCS America - check out the VOD below.
Mum’s the word
Affectionately known as the “BossToss”, MC defeated Terran legend MMA in the European WCS Finals to take his first major title in a long time. The victory - and the 2,000 WCS points that come with it - mean the Protoss player took a tentative grasp on first place in the WCS Global Standings. However, through it all the charismatic Korean stays deceivingly humble: while talking the talk ahead of the games, when all’s said and done he set aside some of the US$25,000 prize money for his mother.
Despite losing in the finals to the Protoss, MMA remained Shaun “Apollo” Clark’s pick for best player of the tournament as he showcased one of the commentator’s favorite games: MMA vs. San (Game 3): “that moment, seeing and feeling the excitement of the crowd when MMA beat San… seeing the happiness from MMA as he ran off the stage… definitely one of my favourite moments.”
One of our personal favourites was the showmatch that kicked off the World Championship Series Finals. Shaun “Apollo” Clark and Kevin “Rotterdam” van der Kooi faced off against one another with the help of professional players from their respective regions. And Paul “ReDeYe” Chaloner. Let’s not forget him. Check out the madness below:
What was your favorite moment? Let us know in the comments below.
