WCS EU Premier League Ro16 Recap

Team Dignitas’ Polish player Łukasz “Tefel” Czarnecki played in the Battle.net World Championship Series Europe Premier League Round of 16 Wednesday in a brutal group with Alliance’s Naniwa, Acer’s MMA, and Empire’s Happy. Tefel’s first round opponent was long time pro and current Alliance player Naniwa. Tefel was looking to continue his good fortune against Naniwa, beating him 2-0 in last season’s Challenger League. This game was hyped with a sense of bad blood between players, as the casters reminded viewers of Naniwa’s negative comment during their last match.

Game 1 saw Tefel strike first blood against Naniwa on Newkirk Precinct. Although Naniwa was able to put on some early zealot pressure on the Zerg player’s expansion, Tefel was able to stabilize. Naniwa then made a committal tech switch to Skytoss, which Tefel smartly responded with a mass hydralisk composition. Naniwa then went for a second wave of aggression with his void ray heavy army, which was completely shut down by the high DPS anti-air capability of hydralisks. Tefel was then able to re-mass his force and attack move into Naniwa’s base. GG.

Games 2 and 3 saw an almost identical style from both players, with Naniwa using his trademarked 1 gate expand against Tefel’s midgame roach/hydralisk heavy aggression. Naniwa prepared with extra gateway units, most notably extra sentries. Tefel’s attacks were split into manageable chunks by Naniwa’s force fields, allowing his void ray’s amazing range to suppress the infantry and the addition of high templars for storm gave Naniwa the typical Protoss death ball that lead him to 2 wins and the match. GG 2-1 Naniwa.

Tefel then faced Empire’s Happy in the lower bracket match of Group C. Both games saw macro heavy play from both sides. Game 1 saw Tefel securing 3 quick bases and Happy going command center first. Happy’s follow-up hellion attack did little damage, while Tefel began to mass his roach/hydra army he favored in previous WCS EU games. Happy then transitioned into drop play, causing Tefel to cancel his fourth. As the game progressed, Happy massed a large amount of tanks while Tefel was dealing with continuous pressure. Knowing the situation was dire, Tefel added infestors and engaged the fortified position of Happy and suffered irrecoverable losses. Game 2 also saw a similar fate for Tefel, being unable to break the tank laden defenses of Happy. GG 2-0.

In the other matches of the group, Naniwa beat MMA in the Winner’s match 2-0. MMA 2-0’d Happy in the first round, then again in the final match to advance. Naniwa and MMA advance to the Round of 8.

Tefel fans will see him again when he joins Team Dignitas teammates Samayan “BlinG” Kay and Kristoffer “TargA” Marthinsen in the Challenger League. Tefel will play in the Round of 16, while BlinG and TargA will play in the Round of 40.