World Cyber Games 2007: Group Stage

Overview[edit]

The Group Stage did not result in any significant upsets, with the expected participants advancing in their respective groups. It is worth noting, however that two Korean participants, sAviOr and Stork, both favorites for the tournament, would lose a game apiece during the round-robin competition, but these defeats did not affect their advancement to the Elimination Stage.

In light of the aforementioned absences, three of the groups were left with fewer participants than originally scheduled. Notably, group E was left with only three competitors vying for the two spots. This was a significant advantage to the players in these groups as most of the groups were composed of five participants competing for the two spots.

The results from the Group Stage round robins are summarized below. Notable games and events are summarized in text, followed by the final group records and detailed match-ups, including tiebreakers, where applicable.

Groups A-D[edit]

Broadcast stage

In Group A, Draco and Steelheart would advance to the Elimination Stage, with their lone game deciding who would take the top position. Both players in the PvP would go one-base Zealot, with Draco opting to build proxy Gateways in Steelheart's main. Steelheart would hold off the attempt, but be contained by Draco's Dark Templars. In the meantime, Draco teched to Reavers while expanding to overwhelm his Protoss opponent.

In Group B, eDDyiSrEADy and satanik advanced with 3-1 win-loss records. satanik was dealt his lone loss by eDDyiSrEADy in a TvZ, as the Terran opted for a surprising proxy Factory outside the Zerg base with minimal Marines to reinforce. eDDyiSrEADy responded with Zerglings to eliminate the threat, then attacking satanik's main to end the game.

eDDyiSrEADy's lone loss, on the other hand, was dealt by breakdown in a tightly fought ZvZ match-up. Although both used identical two Hatchery build orders, breakdown would attack with his Zerglings just as both players' Spires were about to completing morphing. This forced eDDyiSrEADy to morph his Larva into Zerglings, consuming valuable Minerals in the process. breakdown would build a large troop of Scourge to target eDDyiSrEADy's Mutalisks, followed by Mutalisks of his own to finish the game.

In Group C, Phoenix66 and GoOdy advanced into the Elimination Stage, with Phoenix66 dealing GoOdy his only loss. In their lone match-up, in a TvP, Phoenix66 would Wall in at his choke, expanding at both his natural and mineral-only third while GoOdy opted for a Dark Templar drop that Phoenix66 had no difficulties countering. Phoenix66 would tank push in with occasional Vulture harassment while expanding at a fourth base to dominate the Protoss, thus ending the Group Stage without a defeat.

In Group D, Androide and JohnRambo advanced with identical 3-1 records. JohnRambo's lone defeat came at the hands of Androide in their TvT match-up. Both Terran players opted for one-base Tanks and early Wraiths. With JohnRambo electing to build two Starports, however, Androide would attack with an early Tank force that JohnRambo would barely survive, losing much of his SCV force. While JohnRambo attempted to rebuild, Androide would expand twice to build a substantial Goliath army to finish the game.

Androide's lone loss also came in a TvT match-up, against Nyoken. In this game, Androide would attempt both a proxy Barracks near Nyoken's base, then later in the game, a proxy Factory, only for both to be discovered. To counter, Nyoken would attack Androide's main, with the latter barely surviving with Wraiths. Nyoken would then mount another attack with Goliaths a few moments later to earn the victory.

In another notable game, Nyoken played a TvT against JohnRambo in the longest game of the Group Stage, as well as being the last match of the day. Nyoken opted for a traditional Tank and Vulture force, and later, Goliaths, to deal early damage against JohnRambo, who would survive with cloaked Wraiths. After building a sizable Wraith force, JohnRambo would effectively harass and contain his Terran opponent while expanding multiple times, prompting Nyoken's surrender after the latter lost his last fully harvesting expansion base.

Standings[edit]

Group A[edit]

Group A

1.

Draco

3–0

+3

2.

SteelHeart

2–1

+1

3.

Fenix

1–2

-1

4.

MidiaN

0–3

-3

Group A Matches

October 5, 2007

Group B[edit]

Group B

1.

EddYisrEADy

3–1

+2

1.

satanik

3–1

+2

3.

BrEaKdOwN

2–2

0

3.

LoWeLy

2–2

0

5.

kaiser

0–4

-4

Group B Matches

October 5, 2007

Group C[edit]

Group C

1.

Phoenix66

4–0

+4

2.

GoOdy

3–1

+2

3.

Lamer

2–2

0

4.

iNcontroL

1–3

-2

5.

Notforu

0–4

-4

Group C Matches

October 5, 2007

Group D[edit]

Group D

1.

Androide

3–1

+2

1.

JohnRambo

3–1

+2

3.

asS

2–2

0

3.

Nyoken

2–2

0

5.

cooch

0–4

-4

Group D Matches

October 5, 2007

Groups E-H[edit]

In Group E, the two top spots were earned by Hwasin and Dreiven. In their lone match-up, a TvP, both would opt for build-up in the early game, both expanding twice with minor Vulture and Reaver harassment. Discovering Dreiven was attempting Carriers with three Stargates, Hwasin would tank push to raze the Protoss expansion and the Stargates, with Dreiven barely surviving. Hwasin would expand again, to total four expansions versus two for Dreiven, before pushing out with a reinforced Tank and Goliath army to finish the game.

Group F would feature the most surprise, and controversy, of the Group Stage, with a predicament occurring between the top three competitors, Stork, White-Ra, and Ex.^[1]^[2]^[3] With all three players ending the Group Stage with a 3-1 record, a three-way tiebreaker was played. Surprisingly, the first tiebreaker would lead to, once again, identical 1-1 records among the three players, forcing a second tiebreaker. The second tiebreaker would end identically, prompting a third tiebreaker that finally broke the tie to allow Stork and White-Ra to advance.

Group stage:

Stork and White-Ra were the first to play, with White-Ra taking the victory, and dealing Stork his sole loss, in this PvP match-up. During their one game, both opted to build up and expand. Stork went Dragoons while White-Ra built Dragoons and Reavers, enabling White-Ra to slowly push into Stork's natural expansion and eventually force the surrender.
White-Ra was dealt his lone loss against Ex, in their PvT match-up. In this game, both built up after an initial skirmish between Dragoons and Tanks and Marines. Ex would successfully drop four Vultures to harass and disrupt White-Ra's economy and production while Tank pushing into the Protoss base. White-Ra made a last ditch effort to build Carriers with one Stargate, but was quickly overwhelmed by the Tank push.
Ex's lone loss was to Stork. In their lone TvP match-up, both largely built up with three to four bases with very typical ground troop production. Ex was content with expanding and holding the center with Tanks and Vultures, while Stork built Carriers secretly in the back of his base. Without Goliaths, Stork quickly broke through Ex's Tank push, supplementing the Carriers with a sizable Dragoon force to end the game.

Tiebreaker #1:

Stork and Ex during the tiebreaker

Referees review Stork's observer use

The random draw called for the first game to be played between Ex and Stork in a TvP. Stork would macro with Dragoons and Zealots to overwhelm Ex's Tank and Vulture force. After both players signed off the game completion form, however, one of the observant commentators pointed out Stork had placed an Observer over one of Ex's Missile Turrets, causing it to remain cloaked and not to be detect by Ex's Turret. Ex would build a neighboring Turret to eventually eliminate the threat, but because this was a forbidden exploit of a game/AI bug, referees gathered to watch the replay after the game. They would ultimate decide that the bug play did not have a significant impact on the match and ordered a re-match to be played. Per the official game rules, the referees had the authority to how to resolve the issue, electing to not levy more punitive disciplinary action on Stork (e.g. forfeit or disqualification) for this "Observer bug". Notably, use of the Observer over Turret was not outlawed during KeSPA-sanctioned play.^[4]
In their re-match, Stork played aggressively with a proxy Gateway near Ex's main. Stork would then harass and kill off the majority of Ex's SCVs before Ex would barely hold off the attack, at the expense of a severely disrupted economy. After a brief build-up period, Stork would return with a infantry force to end the game.
In the White-Ra and Stork PvP match-up, Stork would elect to go for a fast expansion with minimal troops. White-Ra attacked with several early Zealots to catch Stork defenseless, prompting Stork to surrender
White-Ra lost to Ex in the third game of the tiebreaker. The replay for this game was unavailable.
All three competitors ended with a 1-1 record to prompt another tiebreaker.

Tiebreaker #2:

Stork would beat Ex in the first game. The replay for this game was unavailable .
Stork then played White-Ra. In this PvP match-up, Stork would opt for two Gateways, Cybernetics Core and Dragoon range upgrade immediately, while building minimal units. White-Ra, meanwhile, had a sizable Zealot army at this point, and would attack to kill off most of Stork's probes. With his economy severely disrupted, Stork surrendered.
In the Ex versus White-Ra TvP match-up, both elected to go for one base strategies. Ex opted for an early Vespene Gas Geyser and Tanks and Vultures to contain White-Ra. With some Marines, Ex slowly pushed into White-Ra's base to earn the victory.
Once again, identical 1-1 records for all three competitors.

Tiebreaker #3:

During this third tiebreaker, the random draw called for White-Ra to play Ex in a PvT. White-Ra would win. The replay for this game was unavailable .
White-Ra next faced Stork in a PvP. Stork opened with a tech build of two Gateways and Cybernetics Core while White-Ra attacked with Zealots. Stork had a few Drgoons and was able to micro them around to eliminate the larger Zealot force. Both players build up and replenish, with Stork building a sizable Zealot and Dragoon army and taking a new expansion. White-Ra teched to Reavers but was stopped during a Reaver drop by Dragoons. Stork built up his infantry units a bit more and overwhelmed the Protoss opponent to end the game.
Stork played Ex in their final battle. Stork went for early Dragoons but was contained by Ex's Tanks in the middle of the map. Stork would expand to boost his economy and build a larger force to overwhelm Ex, prompting the surrender.
Stork would win the group with a 2-0 tiebreaker record, with White-Ra taking the second spot with a 1-1 record.

Stork vs White-Ra controversy:

Altogether, the three consecutive losses by Stork to White-Ra were very surprising. ^[5]^[6]^[7] The strategies employed called into doubt whether Stork was intentionally attempting to not win during these matches. For example, although his APMs/EAPMs during these games were comparable to previous PvP matches, his strategies were very peculiar. For example, the decision to not build any advanced tech units such as Reavers against an opponent who was actively using these units was highly questionable. In every other PvP victory during the tournament, Stork had built a combination of Reavers, Dark Templars, and/or High Templars during the mid game, but Reavers would be completely absent in Stork's first game against White-Ra, while only a handful of Dark and High Templars were built after the game was already decided. In comparison, during two games in which Stork played Pj, Stork elected to build 14 Reavers in game one and 22 High Templars in game two. Meanwhile, during the tiebreaker, Stork's build order strategies continued to be questionable. In both tiebreaker losses to White-Ra, Stork would not have units to defend against imminent Zealot threats from an actively attacking opponent. The questionable practices included the decision to build minimal units while expanding early in one game, followed by the decision to build minimal units while going tech and upgrades in the other.
Viewers immediately suspected Stork had thrown his games to ensure a number two position in group F. Had this been the case, it would have enabled Stork to not play against a Korean compatriot until later in the elimination bracket, leaving the possibility of Korean players sweeping the first, second, and third podium positions to mirror the 2006 Grand Finals. Stork denied losing any games intentionally in several post-match interviews, with the Korean team offering the explanation that Stork was new to competing at the international level.^[8] At a post-tournament interview, however, an onsite Korean-English translator revealed Stork did admit to the intentional losses, but that this admission was censored by Stork's handlers, who instructed the translator to not include the admission as part of Stork's responses.^[9]

In group G, the two players advancing to the Elimination Stage were ClouD and Pj, both with 3-1 records. ClouD's victory over Pj would be the latter's only defeat. In their PvP head-to-head match, ClouD would use an early Zealot attack from two Gateways to destroy several of Pj's probes. This enabled ClouD to gain a large economic advantage as he would expand twice and harass Pj's natural expansion multiple times with drop attacks, furthering the economic disparity. This in turn enabled ClouD to build a significant larger ground force that overwhelmed Pj. Meanwhile, ClouD's only loss in the Group Stage was dealt by Westside in a PvZ. ClouD attempted an early Corsair with Dark Templar build on one base, while Westside opted for an early expansion and Hydralisks, which easily turned away ClouD's two Corsairs. Westside would push into ClouD's base with his economic advantage and constant Hydralisk production with Overlord detection to earn the victory.

sAviOr vs ReasoN

In group H, the two players advancing were two Zerg players, Mondragon and sAviOr, with records of 4-0 and 3-1, respectively. sAviOr's lone defeat came at the hands of Mondragon, with both opting for very similar build order. Mondragon would opt for a composition of more Scourge and less Mutalisks than sAviOr in the air battle. At one point, Mondragon drew a slight air advantage with sAviOr losing all his Mutalisks. Mondragon then seized the opportunity to attack sAviOr's natural with Zerglings, destroying all of sAviOr's Drones and heavily damaging the Hatchery. With this economic edge, Mondragon continued with small waves of Zerglings and Mutalisks to earn the victory. Although the defeat of sAviOr, as a tournament favorite, surprised some fans, the tightly fought game play and slim loss did not seem to suggest any of blatant manipulation seen between his Korean compatriot, Stork, and White-Ra.^[10]