The final match of BlizzCon’s StarCraft II WCS Global Finals came fast and furious after hours of gameplay by our competitors. Park “Dark“ Ryung Woo defeated Kim “Classic” Doh Woo in the semifinals to earn his spot in the finals, and Riccardo “Reynor“ Romiti defeated Joona “Serral” Sotala. But only one of these two players could be crowned the best StarCraft II player in the world.
StarCraft II WCS Global Finals: Dark vs. Reynor
Map 1 – Acropolis
Both players started things off by going for Roach Warrens and Lairs, not deviating from one another at all by the 5-minute mark. Finally, Dark threw down a Spire after taking his third base, which was a fairly sneaky move. Reynor scouted it early, but as soon as he did Dark adjusted his build, getting Banelings with upgraded speed while continuing to mass Mutalisks, which was the same build we saw fail for Serral against Reynor in the semifinals.
Dark executed the build with precision and skill though. At the 9-minute mark he managed to take out 20 Drones at once with his Banelings. Reynor built Lurkers again to try and counter, but against Dark it wasn’t enough. The Korean Zerg pushed through with his Mutalisks and Banelings at just the right time and took the win.
Map 2 – Thunderbird
Six minutes into this heated StarCraft II finals match, Reynor had the higher worker count and was ahead in his upgrades. This map was looking better for him, as both players went for Roach upgrades, and Dark went for Swarm Hosts, Nydus Worms, and Lurkers.
Reynor lost his Hatchery and his Roach Warren to this build, among other tech, which left him with an excess of gas and minerals and nothing to spend it on as Dark destroyed his bases over and over. But Reynor still had a huge army, and he didn’t GG while there was still a chance. He stubbornly held on for a while, but Dark didn’t give any quarter and finally Reynor admitted defeat, bringing the score to 2-0 for Dark.
Map 3 – Winter’s Gate
The third map went fast. Dark went all-in right at the beginning of Winter’s Gate, but Reynor somehow managed to hold him back with Spine Crawlers and some excellent, frantic Drone micro, winning the third match in a surprise with impressive defense.
Map 4 – Disco Bloodbath
Map 4 began with Reynor pushing across Disco Bloodbath and engaging in some minor Zergling skirmishes early on to try and provoke Dark into overreacting. But the Korean Zerg couldn’t be provoked, and they both transitioned into their tech, with Dark being the one to move things forward with his build and Reynor on the back foot reacting to what Dark was doing once again.
By 7 minutes Dark had Mutalisks out, and Reynor was building a Spire of his own. Once again Dark made some excellent Baneling connections and generally stayed ahead of Reynor until he could mass Lurkers, take them into Reynor’s main, and knock it out, winning game 4 and taking the finals to match point.
Map 5 – Triton
Just after the 5-minute mark, Dark had managed to take out 15 workers with some excellently microed Banelings, followed up by his Zerglings taking advantage of the remaining low health Drones that didn’t quite die to the Baneling connections. This left Dark in a very strong position, up 30 supply, which he used to take out Reynor’s Roach Warren and then wipe out his army. Reynor won the match and the tournament.
Dark is now a GSL, SSL, and Super Tournament champion, as well as the 2019 StarCraft II WCS world champion. What a year this player has had.
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Published: Nov 2, 2019 10:32 pm