WSVG World Championship 2015- Unofficial Write UP |
Finally, the Unofficial WSVG Write-up reaches the end, with a write-up of the amazing, 2750 viewers game between TheViper and Mr. Yo. The complete write-up of the tournament is at this point 14276 words long, and 18 ½ pages in LibreOffice. I've been enjoying writing this along along the way, and I hope you've been enjoying reading it as well, despite it growing quite long at times. I plan to do more write-ups about other tournaments, so I hope you will stay tuned.
Grand Final - TheViper vs. Mr. Yo
Game 1 - Dry Arabia Aztec Mirror
Yo's perhaps surprising victory over RiuT in the consolation final, set up the 1v1 final on Friday in the week on the Maldives, with an impressive introduction by the WSVG staff (no kidding). Yo's victory meant that not only was this a battle between the potential top 2 players in the world, it was also a struggle for the 1v1 throne between China and the rest of the World, and the two top clans, SY and TyRanT. The Bo5 series, which was to reach 2750 viewers at the peak, opened with the final Dry Arabia Aztec war of the tournament. Yo had made himself noted through aggressive play earlier and the tournament, and this time he did as well, going forward against Viper and attacking his base after stealing a boar early on. Yo acquired access to Vipers base, and cut him off from gold. This forced Viper forward to seize forward gold, but Yo was constantly able to get economic harassment in, despite Viper winning several micro battles. In the end, Yo's safe economy admitted him into the Imperial Age earlier, and like against LoveCheng earlier, Viper was forced to endure a prolonged Castle against Imperial war, which proved unwinnable. Yo managed to seize the first game through this aggressive style.
Game 2 - Rooster Viking Mirror
As expected, Viper put his trust in his micro skills, and picked Rooster, which was to prove a Viking war as expected. However, Viper seemed nervous early on, and screwed up several parts of his early Dark Age up. Unexpectedly, this meant that Yo was faster out with galleys, and had a slight advantage in macro over Viper. This meant that micro would prove decisive, but Viper was incapable of picking the good fights he is famous for picking – instead, Yo was able to win a little more advantage with every fight, as his economy pulled ahead, and Viper failed to catch up. Winning Viper on Rooster was not something usually seen, but as it happened, even an early Castle Age from Viper did not give him the sufficient catch up he needed. Despite having the advantage upon reaching Castle himself, Yo created a transport ship which was immediately sunk, stating that he “wanted to land”, despite having the advantage. However, he did not let go, and eventually, Viper was forced to GG, leaving a shocked audience to realize, that Yo was ahead 2-0.
Game 3 - Ghost Lake Mayans Mirror
This provided Yo with the ultimate match point in his only home map of the series. Many expected a choice of Nomad, but Yo, wanting to win through skill rather than leaving it up the Goddess of map generation (who had no doubt had Yo in favor earlier on), Yo picked a Mayans war on Ghost Lake. As Yo had done earlier with success, he attacked with a forward, but this time with less luck. Viper was prepared and successfully defended, forcing Yo and the defensive. This meant that Viper was finally gaining an advantage he needed, after realizing that his chance of loosing was very real. Viper reached Imperial Age earlier, and made the successful push with rams and elite plumed archers, eventually Yo was forced to give up his dream of a clean sheet victory, and Viper managed to secure a point, putting the score 2-1.
Game 4 - Team Islands Viking Mirror
Owing to his position as winner of the Winner's Bracket, Viper had two home maps to Yo's one, a considerable advantage. Despite his loss in Rooster, Viper chose to rely on water skills against, picking Team Islands as a home map. This time, neither player made significant screw-ups in the early build, and therefore a very micro-intensive, close war ensued. Viper was always a little bit more perfect, and managed to secure an early advantage and lead. Yo made the tactical decision to go full feudal, and devote entirely to his chance of destroying Vipers navy, before the critical Castle Age researches made it in. Yo went aggressive, and managed to destroy several of Vipers galleys, but in the end, the advantage of possessing the Castle Age researches mad the difference, and Viper managed to secure a 2-2 equalizer, forcing the series to take a final decisive game.
Game 5 - Chaos Pit Mayans Mirror
In the absolute final game to decide months of high-level AoC play, a map from the WSVG map pack was picked, and it ended up being a Mayans Chaos Pit, requiring to chop through the trees to reach gold. Yo used his re in the first game, and that meant a laming war of the highest level in the decisive game. Viper proved a superior lamer, stealing everything from Yo – boars, sheep, killing his deer, walling in his stone, and everything that was possible. Yo seemed to be irreversibly behind, but went ultra-aggressive to counter this position, with a tower attack, that however did not prove efficient enough. Yo however, was not beaten – he switched into Castle Age, and managed to swarm into Vipers base with plumed archers, and managed to slowly gain the upper hand in the plumed wars. However, as Viper put up a castle of his own, and reached Imperial Age first, the game approached the decider. Vipers push was merciless, and eventually, Yo was forced to call the GG. With a hard-fought 3-2 victory proving the final game of the tournament, Viper took his position as the best AoC player in the world once again. Yo, perhaps disappointed to not crown his recent Nations Cup victory with a 1v1 trophy as well, had however fallen with honor, and made it further than most people expected – second place was, after all his best 1v1 result to date. But the winner of a great tournament was once again TheViper, who retained his crown, in atournament that ended up dominated by the two top clans, TyRanT and SY.