WCS Nordic Nationals This Weekend TargA makes Top 4 in Norway TheCSerps
TargA's Road to WCS Nordic Nationals in Stockholm
NASL Season 3
After being placed in what can only be described as a "Group of Death", TargA gained early momentum earning wins over both his Team Liquid opponents, Sheth and Jinro, as well as beating crowd-favourite and world's most interesting man, White-Ra. Also notable are his 1-2 performances against qxc and MorroW's Terran. At season's end, TargA finished with a record of 3 wins 5 losses and secured himself a invite to return next season by placing in the Top 30. Notable players to miss out on this invite include IdrA, SjoW, HayprO and NonY, as they all finished with 2 or less wins for the season and will have to get in through the open qualifiers next time around.
If you missed out on watching the matches as they happened (early morning SEA time), then you can catch up with the VOD's and interview linked below.
TargA, after finishing up with NASL on June 18th, competed in various tournaments with mixed success.
He was invited to the ASUS Starcraft 2 Pro-Am where he tore through the loser's bracket on Day 2, taking out 4 players that have qualified for WCS Australia in Techtron, Rossi, Light and Mafia before his run came to an end against another qualfier, PiG, leaving him with a 4th place finish and a spot on the Final Day.
On the last day, TargA decided he didn't want to go down to the loser's bracket, and as a result sent mOOnGLaDe and tgun down, with the latter rising from the lower bracket final to face off again. This time tgun exacted revenge on TargA, beating him in the 1st BO3 2-0 before finishing it off in style, going down to the last game of the series to walk away with a 2-1 victory. Still, 2nd Place and $700 richer, TargA could walk away satisfied, and with GESC and ACL Melbourne round the corner, it could only get better.
Next up was the ACL Pro Brisbane Qualifier on July 1st, which also doubled as a WCS Australia qualifier which TargA was not eligible for. Still, with the urge to compete and chance to qualify for group stages at ACL Pro Melbourne, TargA was undefeated against all opponents on the day except one, the eventual victor, mOOnGLade. Although the story of the day belonged to Legionnaire and his miraculous return and qualification for WCS, TargA finished 2nd, earning himself $100 and seed into the groups for ACL Pro Melbourne.
The following weekend featured GESC and ACL Pro Melbourne, with both tournaments allowing time in their schedules so all players could compete and avoid hurting ESports. With a $4000 prize pool for GESC, and a seed into the groups for ACL Pro, TargA decided to compete in both events. With GESC kicking off Saturday morning, TargA showed he was more than ready to dominate, knocking WCS Australia competitors yang, Light, Mafia and tgun to the lower bracket before meeting mOOnGLaDe again in the finals. This time however, after losing the first BO3 2-1, TargA turned it around and took 1st Place and a nice $2500 for his efforts.
His weekend wasn't over though, heading to ACL Pro Melbourne to compete in a stacked group against Rossi, BiGbiRd, Techtron, YoonYJ and HuT. He came out of the group in 2nd place, with a 3-1 record but was subsequently knocked straight down to the loser's bracket where he was eliminated by none other than mOOnGLaDe.
So to recap the prize money won so far since NASL finished.
- 2nd at ASUS Pro-AM $700
- 2nd ACL/WCS Brisbane Qualifier $100
- 1st GESC Melbourne $2500
Total - $3300
The Road to WCS Nordic Nationals - July 28th
From a SC2SEA standpoint, news of a WCS Norway qualifier was non-existent. However, TargA, with his 3G internet, competed against the best Norway had to offer in the 4th and final online qualifier on July 12th, and walked away in 1st Place and a spot in the WCS Norwegian Nationals the very next day. The WCS Norwegian Nationals involved 16 qualifiers competing online to make the Top 4, which will be played out at the WCS Nordic Nationals on the 28th of July. Once the bracket was finalised, the Top 16 started to resemble tournaments from back in SEA, with Zerg taking 9 spots, and ultimately may have helped TargA move deeper into the tournament. At the end of the day though, after being knocked to the loser's bracket by the Terran Seriously, TargA finished fourth, with a showdown against Zerg powerhouse Snute awaiting him in Stockholm on July 28th. The prize pool for Stockholm is $3200 with a guaranteed $350 for 4th place.
With only one seed for the $60,000 WCS European Continentals available, we all wish you the best of luck TargA!
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