The WCS Leipzig 2018 marked the beginning of the newest World Championship Series season of StarCraft II. Our Elazer and Lambo fought proudly at DreamHack Leipzig, ending in Top 8 and Top 16 respectively.
Even if they couldn’t climb to the top spots, both our Team QLASH players expressed their satisfaction about the results. “It’s a good start to the year”, they said right about the end of their performances.
Well begun is half done...
A Top 8 for Elazer
Mikolaj ‘Elazer’ Ogonowski’s path started in Group Stage #3: the Polish superstar earned this right by winning the WCS Leipzig 2018 European Qualifier few weeks ago.
He won both his matches, qualifying for the Playoffs in the top spot while showing off his full bag of tricks. In the Top 16 he faced ‘Nice’ and managed to beat him with a 3-2 result after a very intense match.
In Top 8, Elazer found ‘Neeb’, considered by many the top player outside of Korea (defeated by our Lambo during Group Stage #3, by the way): this match was another nail biter and ended up with another 3-2 score, but this time Mikolaj was defeated.
Elazer, from underdog to favourite
We’ve grown used with Mikolaj’s wins and Top 4s, but a Top 8 is most definitely a good way to start the 2018. Also because up until now, Elazer has been able to qualify for every event: WCS Leipzig, IEM Katowice, end especially IEM PyeongChang.
“I’m very happy and excited to represent QLASH and my country, Poland, in such an important event. For the first time ever, esports will be introduced to the Olympic Games and I couldn’t miss this milestone”.
What a way to kick-off the new year for Elazer, after becoming a world-class StarCraft II player during 2017. Last year, Mikolaj was always announced as an underdog, but right now he’s presented as a favourite – if not the #1 favourite.
Keep going, Mikolaj!
Lambo’s Top 16
The road to the Top 16 in the WCS Leipzig 2018 has been way more complicated for Julian ‘Lambo’ Brosig. Indeed, Lambo got to start from Group Stage #1, after winning a live qualifier to the tournament.
The German player ended up the first round with 2 wins and 1 losses, enough to advance to the Group Stage #2 – which he won. Lambo made a hell of a play during Group Stage #3, when he defeated ‘Neeb’ winning his group.
The (winning) Secret Tactic
Defeating a player like ‘Neeb’ is not an easy task, but Lambo told us he had been training for this: “I’ve worked so hard to come up with a special strategy, in order to beat a player like ‘Neeb’. I tested it secretly a lot with just one person. And I’d say it worked out pretty well!”.
Unfortunately, Julian lost his Top 16 match against the Norwegian superstar ‘Snute’, but not his smile: “Qualifying for this tournament and achieving a good result was very important for me, and I did it. My goal is to qualify for the BlizzCon 2018 and this Top 16 is definitely a good start in terms of confidence and WCS Circuit points”.