All four players had qualified for the semifinals in quite spectacular ways. Zanster, despite prediction statistics, winning his group. Lilbow knocking out the season 2 champion Hydra. MaNa rising from sure elimination and ForGG, who was seemingly only playing better and better.

Semifinal #1, Lilbow vs. Zanster

Entering the arena holding hands, much to both the audience and the casters’ joy – Zanster and Lilbow would soon leave all courtesies and pleasantries behind. Both wanted to reach the final so bad – Lilbow, as retribution for season two, and Zanster, to make a statement and to challenge everything you thought you knew about the StarCraft scene.

Playing a best of five, the games were ridiculously close. The attacks and the holds were all textbook material. Lilbow took game one, but Zanster claimed back game two. Lilbow won game three and Zanster tied the score in game four.

The series got pushed into a fifth and final round. Things were looking promising for the young Swede on his side of the map, but Lilbow did what Lilbow does – when you think he’s in trouble, he somehow turns it around. It looked like Zanster successfully threw Lilbow into a tilt by crippling the French bases, buying himself time to finish his buildings. But in doing so Zanster also sacrificed a great deal of his forces, something Lilbow recognised as he sent all of the units he had left across the map towards Zanster’s base. It paid off and by tearing Zanster’s army to pieces, Lilbow won the first semi-finals.

Semifinal #2, MaNa vs. ForGG

The other semi-final would be played between the Korean hope and the home crowd’s hero. As the last standing Korean, ForGG didn’t just want the final for the sake of winning WCS. The alluring Blizzcon was also on the line. MaNa, on the other hand, had the opportunity of winning the WCS trophy on home ground in Krakow, in front of a crowd that only the night before – literally – lifted him to the skies. Much at stake and so much pressure for the both of them.

Game one was a good indication of the games to come – ForGG on a constant offense and MaNa somehow miraculously holding. Their two different, but in a way complementary, play styles would make the games extremely close – maybe even TOO close for some viewers out there.

Going into round four and Iron Fortress, MaNa was in the lead 2-1. But it was still really anyone’s win. At 15 minutes it looked like the competitors had completely eradicated each other. With all bases wiped from the map, MaNa was the one in trouble – with no resources to start over, he would have to find and hunt down ForGG’s remaining forces before ForGG had rebuilt his command center. Hiding in the upper right hand side of the map, for a long time it looked like ForGG might be able to pull it off as MaNa was running blindly around the map.

Despite setting up camp right next to the Korean, only pure luck let MaNa find ForGG’s new position and take it out. With ForGG left with only one SCV on the opposite side of the map and MaNa with no economy to rebuild, the players were unable to finish the game. As if season three wasn’t crazy enough already, we now also had a draw in the semifinals!

While the players were setting up and resetting their frame of minds, the audience was given a short break to breath – so intense and it wasn’t over by a long shot.

Game four restarted. Confident by his holds in previous game, MaNa was playing more aggressive than before. Moving a probe into ForGG’s main base after four minutes, scouting for intel, and then surprising everyone by setting up an early Robotics facility directly followed up with a Stargate, MaNa clearly didn’t have his mind set on conventional play.

After having cleaned up a massive drop from ForGG, MaNa took the fight to ForGG’s main base. Pushing through with conviction, MaNa stripped away ForGG’s possibilities to truly push back. And with that, Poland’s MaNa was matched against Lilbow in the WCS season three grand finals!

Grand final, Lilbow vs. MaNa

With only Europe represented in the finals, this was already a historic event. But why ease up on the suspense from previous games, right? The finals would be nothing short of a nail-biter. Lilbow allowed himself to a tiny grin after winning round one, but as MaNa won game two all hints of a smile were long gone – the pressure was on! Would Lilbow once again miss out on a WCS victory? Could MaNa live up to the expectations, playing on home ground?

After solid plays from both players, game three was starting to look like it would be dragged out. Something the Frenchman clearly objected and showed by moving out his forces. With a slight stalker advantage, Lilbow rolled with it and moved in on MaNa. This surprise maneuver proved too strong for MaNa to hold and Lilbow took back the lead.

By also winning round four, Lilbow was seemingly on a roll. But by overestimating his own momentum and taking a huge risk with an early Phoenix build in game five, Lilbow found himself completely blindsided by MaNa. There was no other option left but to give away that win.

Lilbow was still only one round away from the champion title despite the lead being slightly decreased. But playing like he had done in the previous game he was putting all of that on the line and he knew it. Plays in round six were cleaner, safer and more strategically timed – showing off why Lilbow was once again in the finals. When nobody hits as hard as Lilbow does when the pressure is on, MaNa was forced to type out GG in the eleventh minute.

It could’ve gone either way and still had been a Hollywood outcome, but we raise our baguettes to our new WCS champion  – Lilbow! You had to take the tough road to victory, going up against opponents such as Hydra and ForGG, but you did it! And as the cherry on top, it’s Blizzcon next.

Make sure you follow @ESLSC2 on Twitter for future events and all the latest updates! For more information about the WCS, visit the tournament series’ official website.

And we were in for a treat of an evening!

GunGFuBanDa vs Zanster

First game of the quarterfinals was played between GunGFuBanDa and Zanster. The two youngsters of the tournament took the stage and exclaimed that none of them was ready to go home, which they then went on to prove. By round two the scoreboard was tied 1-1. But maybe the fact that Zanster regularly competes in big tournaments back home in Sweden played out in the Swede’s favour – the German seemed unable to keep his cool and was time after time finding himself out of position and pushed back by Zanster’s controlled and calculated attacks. After three games played, Zanster had claimed the lead and being only one win away from complete victory, GunGFuBanDa was more or less forced into attempting a counter attack in an attempt to cripple Zanster’s Zerg army before it had grown too heavy. GunGFuBanDa launched the attack that could have been successful had it not been for Zanster’s excellent reading of the play – the retribution was clean and swift and allowed Zanster to advance to round of 4, winning 3-1.

Hydra vs Lilbow

Next up was the rematch everyone had been waiting for since the draw on Thursday: Hydra vs, Lilbow. In the season two final, Hydra beat Lilbow with a convincingly comfortable 4-2 in a best of seven. But Hydra had had a shaky start in Poland – would Lilbow’s wish for revenge help or hinder?

After two rounds of Hydra dominating the game and Lilbow barely keeping up, people started tuning out – it really did look like the games were over. Especially when round three started and Lilbow’s vision was more or less nonexistent which immediately put him in trouble. But with another final on the line, Lilbow wasn’t going to tap out despite holding on by the skin of his teeth. If he had to, he was going to fight until his very last unit.

Somehow, in some magical way, Lilbow then managed to turn a one base defence around. And the opportunity was too good to miss out. After all, it could have been his very last of the season! Carried by the European crowd, Lilbow followed up and followed through – taking round three and keeping his dream alive.

Clearly shaken and confused by this win, Hydra never truly made it back – invigorated by his victory, Lilbow’s momentum grew and his plays became cleaner and more aggressive. So much so that he managed to turn his 2-0 disadvantage into three straight wins, thus winning the series and moving on to round of four. Unbelievable!

ForGG – Polt

Another seemingly impossible series to predict was the one between ForGG and Polt – a Terran vs Terran matchup, but with very different play styles represented.

From game one it looked like it was going to be a close matchup. The game swung back and forth, but as ForGG started playing surprisingly careless, Polt was quick to exploit the weaknesses exposed in ForGG’s lines. He moved in and ended the game.

Motivated by his own mistakes, ForGG went into game two determined to better himself. And so he did! A gear was shifted and the pace was picked up. Polt found himself falling behind and being kept down by ForGG’s constant pushes. It was a game we’ve seen ForGG play so often and so well – keep attack them and wear them thin. By keeping Polt’s focus on dodging the persistent waves of enemy units, ForGG could build up to his final blow in peace and quiet behind the frontline. Game two, game three and even game four all went in the same fashion, with the only difference being ForGG turning his aggression up one notch before every round. Polt had no choice but to watch his bases crumble and fall.

MaNa – Petraeus

The last games of the evening would be played between MaNa and Petraeus. While Petraeus had his cool nerves to fall back on, MaNa had the support of the home crowd on site in Kraków.

At first, it would prove difficult for MaNa to stand against Petraeus calculated plays. The New Zealander always seemed one step ahead and every advance from MaNa was efficiently shut down without causing any other effect than MaNa over and over being forced to retreat. It wasn’t long before Petraeus was able to swoop in and finish the local hero off.

After two rounds, Petraeus had claimed both wins and was giving his usual calm impression moving on to round three. But just like Lilbow had resurrected in round three against Hydra, so would also MaNa rise. Knowing the map inside out, having picked it himself, MaNa gained advantage through some extreme micro plays and was able to catch Petraeus uncharacteristically off guard. The audience suspension grew – would MaNa do what Lilbow did? Could he do what Lilbow did?

Quick answer: YES! Carried by the crowd, MaNa overpowered and outmaneuvered Petraeus in three surprisingly quick rounds. When it was clear that Poland’s MaNa had advanced to the semi-finals on home ground in Kraków, the venue exploded. MaNa literally surfed the audience like the hero he was.

Join us for the finals!

Even though we feel like we could use a good rest after all of that, today is the day we crown our season three champion. Are you ready? Don’t forget to update your ESL Fantasy bracket and don’t, for all that’s holy, miss any of the matches – tune in here at 15:00 CEST and follow @ESLSC2 on Twitter for all the latest updates! For more information about the WCS, visit the tournament series’ official website.

Group A

At first glance, MaNa seemed like the safe bet in the first matchup of the day. But elfi’s relaxed approach and unpredictable play style caused trouble for the Pole, almost causing a major upset in group A as the Finn pushed the series into a draw after round 2. After a brilliant defence play in the third round, MaNa was able to turn the table on elfi, hunt down his attacker and finished both him and the series with a  2-1.

MaNa would then move on to face MarineLorD. While both players gave a slightly shaky impression during the initial round, MarineLorD was the one seemingly enjoying the games the least. While MaNa was biding his time, MarineLorD was getting more and more frustrated by the drawn out games which not only showed on his face but also in his plays. MaNa eventually won 2-0 – securing not only the second spot in group A, but also his place in this weekend’s finals.

Final standings in group A:

• Zanster
• MaNa
• MarineLorD (eliminated)
• elfi (eliminated)

Group B

Next up was the interesting matchup between Sen and GunGFuBanDa – an old school Zerg player vs the Protoss ’whippersnapper’. Both players had in their previous games performed OK, but far from convincing, leaving both of them with a lot to prove. Sen opened the game with a daring attack but was quickly pushed back by GunGFuBanD. After that the game pace was more or less exclusively decided by the young German who, after a risky canon push, also managed to win round one. For a while it looked like Sen would bounce back in round two. But greed got the better of the Taiwanese player, making him wait two turns too long while attempting to build up a bigger army than maybe necessary – GunGFuBanDa moved in and forced the victory.

That put GunGFuBanDa against the one player he had previously expressed concern in going up against – Norway’s Snute. Snute took game one despite some smaller misplays, but quickly fell apart in round two. The Norwegian became slower and sloppier while distributing his forces which GunGFuBanDa was quick to pick up on and take advantage of. As GunGFuBanDa started picking of Snute’s buildings one by one, Snute could do nothing to prevent it.

With his newly established confidence GunGFuBanDa quickly finished round 3, knocking crowd favourite Snute out of WCS season 3.

Final standings group B:

• Petraeus
• GunGFuBanDa
• Snute (eliminated)
• Sen (eliminated

Group C

In group C, Hydra probably caused one of the biggest upsets of the season when he lost to Elazer in the early stages of round of 16. But the reigning champion came to the set prepared and hungry for revenge – something viOLet would bitterly taste in the first series of group C. Judging by the expression on his face, viOLet knew he was underperforming after losing round 1 to Hydra. And as round 2 started it quickly became clear that Hydra was playing to win and would accept nothing but a win, making it impossible for viOLet to ever get back into the game.

Hydra won the games against viOLet 2-0 which once again matched him against Elazer – the player who had done the seemingly impossible and beat Hydra only the night before. Would Elazer be able to do it again?

As the map picks were presented, it became clear that Hydra had learned from his mistakes from previous night – the four-player map that cost him the win had been vetoed and scratched. Looking in much better form, Hydra then moved on to play the game everyone had expected to see the night before. In the end, Hydra’s mind games and decoys became too overpowering for Elazer to stand against, despite the youngster showing some impressively confident plays. Elazer’s fairytale championship was officially over.

Final standings in group C:

• Polt
• Hydra
• Elazer (eliminated)
• viOLet (eliminated)

Group D

In group D, iguaz was up against Jaedong. And while it for a short while looked like Jaedong would be throwing the game after a massive misplay, the Korean managed to smooth over his mistake and convincingly take round 1. Round 2 also fell in Jaedong’s favour as he had created a momentum for himself that proved impossible for the Australian to break.

The last game of the evening – and round of 16 – turned into a real nail-biter as Jaedong played ForGG. Going into round one, it was as good as impossible to predict who would come out as the winner and who would be forced to go home.

ForGG’s constant harassment of Jaedong’s bases and well-timed killing blow earned him the victory of the first round. In the second round though, Jaedong bounced back and proved he too could play the game. After shutting down ForGG’d advances with conviction and forcing a painful retreat, Jaedong was ruling the map. But just as you thought it was over and everything was done – out of nowhere – ForGG resurrected, managed to strip away most of Jaedong’s economy and forced an aggressive expansion. In the end it all came down to precise timing and brutal aggression, in which ForGG excelled.

Final standings in group D:

• Lilbow
• ForGG
• Jaedong (eliminated)
• iguaz (eliminated)

The Playoffs

With all of the games played out and all groups settled, it was time for the playoff draws and see who would play who in the upcoming round of 8. With everything drawn live, for your viewing pleasure, here is what you can to look forward tomorrow as the tournament moves on to Kraków and trembling last days of season three’s WCS:

• Zanster vs. GunGFuBanDa
• Lilbow vs. Hydra
• Polt vs. ForGG
• Petraeus vs. MaNa

Don’t forget to update your ESL Fantasy bracket and, most importantly, don’t forget to join us for the games! Tune in here at 15:00 CEST and follow @ESLSC2 on Twitter for all the latest updates! For more information about the WCS, visit the tournament series’ official website.

In the end, it was Polt and Lilbow who joined Petraeus and Zanster, thus reserving their seats in the round of eight.

Group C

Group C kicked off day two with a massive bang as underdog Elazer showed everyone he had what it takes to keep up with – and even beat – reigning champion Hydra. Going in strong and winning round one, Elazer proved he was up for the challenge. Hydra responded firmly with a safer play in round two and efficiently fended off Elazer’s frequent attacks. Successfully managing to stay on top of his reactions despite some misplays, Hydra kicked the scoreboard back to a draw. However, Elazer wasn’t going to back down, seizing every opportunity given in round three. Boom! Elazer won 2-1.

Next up were old friends and once housemates Polt and viOLet. Despite the statistics falling ever so slightly in Polt’s favour, viOLet took round one. However, something happened in round two and viOLet completely deflated, allowing Polt to build up his army supplies and eventually take over.

After beating viOLet 2-1, Polt was matched against Elazer in the winners’ game. Elazer held Polt back but Polt persevered, which put the fairytale of the replacement player swooping in and crushing champions on pause.

Group D

If group C had proved to be nerve wrecking, it was still nothing compared to what was about to go down in group D.

First up was the big game between Jaedong and Lilbow. The matches really treated the fanbase with some beautiful plays – Jaedong was looking confident after game one, but Lilbow went from clarity to clarity and in the end completely tore Jaedong apart in round three.

In the second game of group C, ForGG did what he does best against iaguz. The Korean rolled out his tanks and the Australian crumbled under the pressure, giving ForGG a 2-0 win.

That meant Lilbow was up against ForGG in the winners’ game of group D – and the three rounds played proved exhausting for everyone! Lilbow took a clean-cut win in the first round, but ForGG stomped back in round two. In the final and deciding round, Lilbow showed off some defensive plays that can only be described as out of this world. This gave him the advantage he needed to mow down ForGG’s Terran army and ultimately secure the Kraków ticket.

Join us tonight for the elimination rounds! Who’ll get a second chance and who’ll go home? Tune in here at 16:00 CEST and follow @ESLSC2 on Twitter for all the latest updates! For more information about the WCS, visit the tournament series’ official website.

Group A

First out in group A were MaNa and Zanster. Having beaten Zanster in their previous matchups, MaNa unsurprisingly took round one. However, Zanster bounced back and showed off some solid plays, earning him a step forward in the brackets.

Next up, crowd favorite MarineLorD efficiently crushed elfi two rounds in a row. The safe but convincing games from MarineLorD made sure he was never caught off guard by the wildcard from Finland.

MarineLorD’s win matched him against Zanster in the winners’ game. After two rounds, the scoreboard showed 1-1. With both players proving they wanted a win, the third round, played on Cactus Valley, turned into an intense tug of war lasting for almost 50 minutes with seemingly no clear outcome. In the end, Zanster was able to keep his performance up throughout, building up a small advantage that ended with him winning the game.

Group B

In group B, Petraeus gave a calm and collected impression while building up to a 2-0 win against GunGFuBanDa.

In the next games, the Zerg took over the playing field as Sen went up against Snute. Round one was over almost before it had begun as Snute launched a Baneling attack after only 3 minutes, allowing him to end the game just after the 5 minute mark. While the second round allowed Sen to show off his impressive timing, Snute’s more aggressive playstyle proved too difficult to dodge and he walked away with a 2-1 win.

While Petraeus continued to convince with his calculated plays in the winners’ game against Snute, a well-timed surprise maneuver from the Norwegian put the score back to a draw after round two. In the end, though, it seems as if Petraeus’s more composed style of playing turned out to be just what was needed to stop Snute’s aggressive rampage. The New Zealander convincingly took game three and the direct ticket to Kraków.

It isn’t over yet in group A and B, though. After recharging, MarineLorD, elfi and MaNa from group A and GunGFuBanDa, Sen and Snute from group B will have yet another chance to reach the finals on Thursday, when they will be joined by players from group C and D (who start their games tonight).

Don’t miss any of today’s matches – tune in here at 18:00 CEST and follow @ESLSC2 on Twitter for all the latest updates! For more information about the WCS, visit the tournament series’ official website.