WSVG World Championship 2015- Unofficial Write UP |
Here is the un-offocial write-up for the Asia and Oceania bracket. Image credit to Taff.
In Asia and Oceania, the amount of sign-ups in the end amounted to significantly less than in Europe and Africa, despite an official tournament announcement on Voobly China. Namely, players such as Ding, Tim, Abu, James, Lyx and Paladin were absent from the tournament, despite their traditional top 1v1 placements in Asia. However, that did not mean the Asia bracket was weak by any measure – as expected, both sign-ups and tournament were dominated by Vietnamese and Chinese players, led by only Asian TyRanT BacT and the clans of VNS and SY. The Asian brackets were smaller than in Europe, with only 8 players in each bracket, giving one less match necessary to reach the regional final than in Europe. In the first bracket, a clear favorite was provided in the person of BacT of TyRanT warlords. BacT, coming off a runners-up position in War is Coming and a fourth place in Balance of Power, and confidently opened his route to the Maldives by routing Australian player LetsImprove with a 3-0 victory. He faced country-mate VNS_Exchange in the next round, but had little trouble reaching the regional final with a 3-0 victory.
The other end of BacT's bracket was filled with several different nationalities. SY A player Xiaoxiong being the favorite. In his first round, Xiaoxiong faced Australian Tom Cruise, and cruised (pun completely intended) to a 3-0 victory. In the subsequent round, Xiaoxiong progressed to face the opposition of Poison of Zone player Cloud from Hong Kong, but he did in the end, prove only a meager opposition to Xiaoxiong, who was ready for the regional final vs. BacT. BacT was according to many a clear favorite in this game, and he seemed to prove it, winning Rooster, despite the lag that always comes with Chinese players against non-Chinese players, and subsequently Arabia and Gold Rush as well. Leading 3-0, BacT seemed posed for a clean sheet going into the showdown stage, but in the traditional Chinese home map, Nomad, Xiaoxiong, playing as the Chinese, pulled one back to 3-1. Progressing from this however, would still require an impressive feat from Xiaoxiong however, and BacT won his traditional home map Regicide Fortress next round, securing him a spot in the Showdown stage, while Xiaoxiong had to make do with the play-offs.
The second bracket was from the offset perceived as interesting, without a clear favorite. VNS_Yellow of Vietnam was a favorite along with Chinese SY_LoveCheng, playing as Yinghua, but these two seemed very close in level. Yellow, the man with a thousand nicks, this one Thuongthoi, faced the SY sponsor in the first round, where he was provided with an AW. Things would not be that easy for him in the next round however, where his opponent was Japanese Chinge, playing as Aquarias. Chinge impressed by winning the first Dry Arabia game, putting the favorite under pressure. However, Yellow held it together, winning Sand Maze, Arena and Raft, meaning he progressed to the regional final with a 3-1 victory, and limiting his difficulties to a minor scare versus the Japanese player.
In the other end of the bracket, LoveCheng opened with expected ease, beating Australian PranPineapple 3-0 to progress to the semifinal, where his enemy was countryman Dee. This proved about as onesided for LoveCheng as expected, winning two Dry Arabia games and a Migration to secure a 3-0 victory. That meant a potentially very interesting regional final between Yellow and LoveCheng, and truly, the game proceeded to be one of the great dramas of the entire tournament. Yellow was forced to resign the first game of Dry Arabia after canceling Imperial Age tech. However, Yellow equalized by winning Atacama to pull the score 1-1. However, this meant LoveCheng turned up the heat, winning Nomad and Mediterranean to reach a 3-1 lead, and put him stumblingly close to the showdown stage. However Yellow soon proved that he too, was capable of turning up the heat when necessary. He reduced LoveChengs lead by winning Migration, and in the slated Teuton's war in Hippo's Belly, Yellow equalized, forcing the Bo7 into a last game of Maya war in v2. Here, Yellow impressively completed his comeback, and with a 4-3 victory and a great drama, Yellow was ready for the showdown stage, while LoveCheng, keeping his honor intact after the impressive display, had to take a detour through the play-offs.
The third Asian bracket had a very clear favorite in the person of SY_Yo, otherwise known as Mr. Yo. He was widely regarded as possibly the best non-TyRanT player in the world, and one of the best players, as well as perhaps the best Asian player. Yo had ended in a bracket absolutely dominated by Chinese players – only Israeli Arena legend RoR_xTeRRoRx and Australian Oomps was there to face of against the Chinese. Yo, a clear favorite to reach the Maldives, started off with receiving an AW against VG_Mike. xTeRRoRx proved little match for SY talent Fangxiaoqi, who proceeded to beat him 3-0 and proceed to the semifinal vs. Yo. Playing against a top player such as Yo at this early stage in the tournament however was merciless, and Yo proved about as superior as he was expected to be, winning 3-0, after obtaining AW in the first game due to a failed restoration of the game. However, with this result, Yo was ready for the regional final, where he expected to meet a countryman.
And this proved clear to be a fact pretty quickly, as Oomps was beaten 3-0 by China B player IamOk with little difficulty. However, something of a drama did play out to decide his semifinal opponent, as Vivi had to win a deciding fifth match to pull home a 3-2 win against LK_SkyWalkeR. Vivi proceeded to take the first game against IamOk, but these proved a temporary ruse, as IamOk came back to take the game 3-1, before progressing to meet Yo in the final. In this clash of SY for a position in the showdown stage, Yo won the Arabia game as expected, but was overtaken in the subsequent Migration game. As IamOk proceeded to win Sand Maze as well, many viewers perceived a big surprise in the Asian bracket to be in the process of happening, seeing as Yo was trailing 2-1. IamOk nearly pulled even further ahead, breaking into Yo's base in Regicide Fortress, but Yo's superior level control managed to win that game and equalize instead. After overcoming this scare, Yo started to take control again. Having won Baltic, he was now leading 3-2, and in the Teuton mirror in Hippo's Belly, Yo won and pulled home the expected 4-2 victory. IamOk had impressed, but was send off to the play-offs, while Yo comfortable took his seat in the showdown stage, as the first player, given this was the first regional final to be played.
The final bracket was unique by being completely devoid of Chinese players. Instead, 3 out of 4 Japanese players in the tournament was to be found here, including Power of Japan players Tokiwa_Miao and Bustos. However, the faced tough opposition from VNS players ACCM and CooL, and the bracket was an expected showdown between these two clans. This seemed to prove very true in the first round. Despite the presence of old time Korean AoC legends such as Kkab, Arch-Koven and IamGrunt, only one Korean had signed up for this tournament, and NOH proved no match for VNS_CooL, losing 3-0. CooL proceeded to a meeting with Tokiwa_Miao who had won two games versus Hong Kong player Kyo, and received AW for the last. However, the clash of Japan and Vietnam proved more onesided than expected however, and with 3-0, CooL was ready for the regional final.
In the other side of the bracket, ACCM started out with expected superiority, beating Australian Jiggsy 3-0. Meanwhile, Bustos did as he was expected by winning 3-0 against countryman Komtan, and proceeding to face ACCM. However, this game as well, was firmly dominated by VNS, and ACCM won 3-0 after three games. This meant that the regional finals of Asia was filled with only Chinese and Vietnamese players, and the final spot in the showdown stage was a direct clash of VNS, between CooL and ACCM. Similar to Yellow – LoveCheng, this proved one of the great dramas of the tournament. CooL won the Dry Arabia game after an extended play for 50 in-game minutes. When CooL won the Nomad game as well, he seemed to be moving toward a showdown spot, but ACCM pulled one back by winning Regicide Fortress. With CooL taking the 3-1 lead through a Black Forest victory, he did, similar to LoveCheng, seem very close to reaching the Showdown stage. But like Yellow, ACCM woke up now. He won Sand Maze, and the Teuton War in Hippo's Belly, putting the score at 3-3, and leading into a final decider in a random map. Here, a grush map became the deciding factor, and after 40 min. of playing, ACCM completed his comeback, and with a 4-3 victory reached the showdown stage, while CooL had to make do with the play-offs