Photo: Team Liquid
Without dropping a single map in the grand final series, STX's ace Shin Hyung "Innovation" Lee is crowned the season one champion of WCS and banks  $40,000 cheque.Â
The second day of WCS Season 1 competition brought the tournament to the last four players and binded them in pairs which uncannily resembled the last Code S semi finals. Soulkey, sOs, MVP and Innovation were all ready for the final fight and a few hours later, the last of them emerged king.
Innovation made it through the finals by living through a tense, five-game series against Europe's champion Mvp, parts of which featured massive scale battles like the one below. With 6-2 in the playoffs and 10-3 overall, the STX finest readied himself to play his first TvP for the tournament.
Against him stood the quirky, innovative player of Woongjin Stars, sOs. The Protoss, too, had been dodging the PvT match-up throughout the entire tournament and had prevailed over team-mate Soulkey in a GSL rematch to earn his ticket for the grand finals.
While both semi-finals ended up five-game series, the concluding one was more or less a one-sided butchering. Innovation opened strong on Whirlwind and took sOs by force but came very close to losing the next game on Bel'Shir Vestige, securing a win for himself against all odds and the dominating presence of sOs.
Losing a game that was basically in his basket had a tangible effect on sOs in the next two games. Despite still playing some high-level StarCraft, the Protoss never got close to winning a map again and found himself outmicroed, outmacroed and outskirmished on Akilon Wastes and Planet S. As his tempest armada in the final game was shot down, sOs typed his fourth and final GG, crowning Innovation champion.
?oday's victory not only makes Innovation $40,000 richer but also elevates him to the very top of the WCS rankings, leading with 4100 points before Mvp and Soulkey (both at 3100).Â
Â
1st | Innovation | $40,000 |
2nd | sOs | $20,000 |
3rd/4th | Soulkey | $10,000 |
Mvp | $10,000 | |
5th/8th | RorO | $7,000 |
Alicia | $7,000 | |
ForGG | $7,000 | |
aLive | $7,000 |
Â