Rouge Wins Big

It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.  Everyone watching was holding their breath.  soO [Zerg] was rushing with his Roaches into Rouge’s [Zerg] base.  It looked like he might not have enough Units but he plunged into and forced a GG out of Rouge [Zerg].  The crowd erupted with excitement.  They were so loud that they drowned out the Casters who were going over the “play by play” of the game [Map].  Yep, you guessed it this was Blizzcon!  But more important, ly this was the pivotal game [Map] between soO [Zerg] vs Rouge [Zerg].  This was the Grand Finals!  And soO, the heavy favorite had just gone up [2-1] in the Best of 7 Match Up.  Unfortunately for him this was the year of the upset.  But how did we get to here?

Well there were some huge upsets which turned this Tournament upside down.  First off Neeb [Protoss] the heavy foreign favorite who had won 3 Majors this year couldn’t move on from the Group Round of 16.  He won big during Day One of the Group Round but on the Second Day he played his worst games of the year and ended up getting double eliminated.  It was a sad day, last Sunday, to watch America’s best hope at a Global Title fade away.

The foreign scene now looked like Poland’s Elazer [Zerg] and Mexico’s SpeCial [Terran], up against the best Koreans in the world.  Luckily they faced off against each other in the Round of 8 Bracket, ensuring at least one of them would make it to the Semi Finals.  Elazer [Zerg] looked good and he was a favorite in this Match Up but once again we would see an astounding upset.  As SpeCial [Terran] would beat Elazer [Zerg] without losing a single game [Map], [3-0].

On the other Round of 8 Bracket there was soO [Zerg] vs GuMiHo [Terran].  This was a nail biter of a Match Up that went to 5 games [Maps].  GuMiHo was pretty even with soO and it looked like either one could take it.  One of the most improbable comebacks of the Tournament was GuMiHo [Terran] in Game 4 [Map 4].  He got attacked during an early Zergling Rush but some how managed to stay with it.  He had one Bunker with 4 Marines up against countless lings but some how managed to save the Bunker and mount a Counter Attack.  It was something to watch!  If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it!  Unbelievably he would win that game [Map] and put soO on the ropes for Game 5 [Map 5].  soO would once again attack aggressively and would end up winning the Match and move on to the Semi Finals.

On the next Round of 8 Bracket herO [Protoss] vs Rouge [Zerg] was another Match Up to watch.  Rouge [Zerg] would go on to beat herO [Protoss] another heavy favorite in the Tournament.  Lastly there was INnoVation [Terran] vs TY [Zerg] in the Quarter Finals.  The two heavyweights went at it and the all time favorite, nicknamed “the Machine”, INnoVation [Terran] lost.  It was unbelievable how so many good players lost.  I mean seriously, no one saw this coming!

soO [Zerg] would go on to beat SpeCial {Terran] [3-0], which was simply total domination.  And Rouge [Zerg] would beat TY [Terran] in a surprising Match Up.  Rouge [Zerg] really went on a hot streak and by the time the Grand Finals rolled around he was ready to play.  This guy looked scary as heck!  I know most people were wondering if he could actually do it.  The main storyline though was about soO’s [Zerg] consistent 2nd Place Finishes.  He has come in 2nd place so many times and has never won a Tournament.  It looked like he might do it as he was up [2-1] in the GF Best of 7.

Yet we would witness the rise of a new star of Starcraft 2 Progaming, Rouge [Zerg].  After Game 3 Rouge recouped himself and began to engineer one of the great ZvZ that Startcraft 2 has ever seen.  Rouge [Zerg] came at soO [Zerg] with the ling/bane Rush, with the Roach/Ravenger Rush, with the Muta/Hydra Rush, with Droppling Rush, yet all of that doesn’t compare to the mind games that he played.  His masterful and now patented Swarm Host Attack that he used against his other opponents showed that he has a great mid to late game.  I’d also like to point out that he isn’t afraid to be aggressive.  I mean holy cow, this guy attacks with Roaches/Ravengers nearly every game!  He was all over the map and no one could stop him.  Some games [Maps] looked like some kind of bizarre scenario out of the SC2 Campaign!  These games are ones to watch over and over again.  They are that good.  And I’m not even a ZvZ fan, and I’m saying this!

Rouge [Zerg] would win 3 straight games [Maps] and would claim the $280,000 1st place prize and the Title of 2017 World Champion.  soO would once again finish 2nd and continue his streak of losing in the Grand Finals.  Wow what an amazing Tournament it was at Blizzcon!  If you want to see replays you can watch them at Blizzcon.com or on the Blizzcon Mobile App.  The 2017 Starcraft 2 Season has now concluded but we are all excited for 2018!  Oh and what is this I hear, Starcraft 2 at the Olympics?  Yeah more on that in another blog.  Congratz to Rouge for the best Swarm Host play I have ever seen!  GG! HF!

It’s a mouthful, the Starcraft 2 WCS Global Finals, started yesterday with the Day One Group Stage.  Where the best in the world faced off against each other.  There are 8 spots up for grabs, for the BlizzCon Finals on November 3-4.  Two Groups played yesterday with double eliminations.  Groups A and B were rock solid with the 4 best out of, 8 WCS Circuit Winners and 8 GSL Korean Circuit Winners.  4 Pro Players for each Group.  Yesterday we saw the match up of the Weekend so far.  The American Neeb [Protoss] vs the Korean Rouge [Zerg].

It was so epic that I’m covering most of this Match Up exclusively.  I mean hey you want to hear about the best of the best right!  You want to follow the history making games!  And you want to see which ones that will be watched over and over again.  Well this Match Up had it all and it was only a best out of 3.  Mind you everyone will be saying, “game 3″.  ‘Enuff Said”!

Talking about each player just gives me goosebumps.  These two Pro Gamers were headed for one of the great epic games of 2017.  Neeb and Rouge come off having an incredible year in separate Circuits.  Neeb in point of fact is the heavy favorite foreigner to going up against the Koreans.  He is America’s best hope for a Global Finals Win, something that no North American has ever done.  Rouge is one of the best Zerg Players coming out of Korea and in point of fact he was a heavy favorite to beat Neeb in their first Match.

Starcraft 2 WCS Dreamhack Montreal 2017 Neeb Wins His 3rd Major of the Year

It was another action packed day of Starcraft 2 at WCS Montreal on [Sunday].  Yet the most exciting thing to talk about was the American [Protoss] Neeb.  He just played out of his mind, crazy good!  It was like watching a master at work.  He did all the little things right during game play.  He took his Microing to the next level. Let’s jump right into the action and see just how Neeb [Protoss] won this tournament.

American [Protoss] Neeb faced off against South Korean [Zerg] True in the Semi Finals, and it was a blow out.  Neeb [Protoss] did his Adept Harrass early on.  He caught True out of position several times.  The first Game ended quickly for True [Zerg], with Neeb [Protoss] winning.

Then in the 2nd Game Neeb [Protoss] Massed Oracles.  He used his Oracles to harass the Drone Mineral Lines.  It was great!  He even used Phoenix’s to clean them up.  At one point in the game, he even picked up his own Adept off the ground to protect it from Zerglings.  Talk about incredible Micro, this dude does it all!  Neeb [Protoss] would get the win [2-0] in the best of 5.

In Game 3 of the Match Up, Neeb [Protoss] did some early “Cheese”.  He Cannon Rushed the Zerg and boy was it unpredictable.  True [Zerg] did his best to survive it which was amazing because it looked like the Game would end there.  True [Zerg] got his bases established finally after several minutes.  Then Neeb [Protoss] transitioned for his counter attack and it crushed True [Zerg] hopes at advancing. Neeb [Protoss] took the Match [3-0].

The Norweign [Zerg] Snute vs the Polish [Zerg] Elazer was easily forgettable.  ZvZ is fun to watch sometimes and this Match Up was probably the best Series to watch ZvZ.  Me personally I’m not a huge ZvZ fan.  Yet I can say that you can pick up a lot of good strategies watching these 5 Games.  I mean seriously, they had everything.  Snute [Zerg] would go on to beat Elazer [Zerg], who is the only other WCS Major Champion this year, [3-2].

Now on to the Grand Finals where it was Neeb [Protoss] vs Snute [Zerg].  In Game 1, of the best of 7, Neeb [Protoss] went right into “Charge” Zealots.  He did decent harass early on but his Micromanaging of units was just out there.  This is a guy who can beat you just with a handful of units, never mind a Golden Armada!  He took Game 1.

Then in Game 2 we saw Neeb [Protoss] push his Microing to the limits.  He started out with his typical Probe scouting and went immediately for Air and Templar Archives.  The way he played next left me speechless. He Microed 2 Prisms with 2 Arcons each at the same time.  He would attack with both of them and pick them up when they got low on shields.

It was something that I had only seen the Koreans do.  And wow, it was masterful!  He saved as many units as he could during the heat of battle. He would do the same things like this in the other Games but here in Game 2 is where he found his confidence and groove to do this over and over again.  It was just so good, and let me remind you he was up against Snute, one of the best European Zerg players!  Snute had no answer to this follow up and ended up losing the Match to Neeb [Protoss] [4-0].

Neeb [Protoss] literally dominated WCS Montreal 2017.  His record for the last 20 Games, or Maps, was [17-2].  This is something that we have never seen from an American in the Starcraft scene.  This was his 3rd Major Championship Win this year, out of a total of 4 WCS Circuit.  I mean seriously his win here in WCS Montreal puts him up there with some of the best in the world. And I think it is safe to say that he is ready for the Koreans.

Neeb [Protoss] will be playing for it all, in the Global Finals in November at Blizzcon.  He will be up against the Top 8 Ranked Players in the WCS Circuit as well as the Top 8 Ranked Players in the Korean GSL Circuit.  Expect him to do great things at this last Invitation only Global Tournament.  He will have to beat some of the best Koreans to get that Title of World Champion.  It would be the first time an American had one it.  I’m thinking he can do it, Go Neeeeb!