NationWars 5 Wraps Up With a Dominant Korean Performance
By Zac Cameron ·
The NationWars 5 tournament has concluded with Korea emerging as the dominant nation after almost a month of games.
It was a big weekend for tournament results, with Ninja’s Vegas Fortnite event pulling the numbers, and the successful launch of the H1Z1 Pro League giving birth to a whole new style of Esports. There was another event happening, quite far from the glitz and glamour of the Vegas Strip, as the StarCraft 2 NationWars 5 tournament came to a close. Here’s a brief breakdown of the Semi-finals and the Grand Final.
Semi-final One – Mexico vs the Netherlands
The first of the best-of-seven series to take place saw the Netherlands claiming victory after six tough matches. The Netherlands took the first match, with Vincent "Optimus" Klerks taking down Jaime Arturo "JimRising" Duran Silencio on the map Abiogenesis. Mexico was quick to claim revenge however, with Juan Carlos "SpeCial" Tena Lopez taking down Optimus and Marc "uThermal" Schlappi back-to-back to gain a lead. Kevin "Harstem" de Koning was the next to step up for the Netherlands, and proved to be the deciding factor as he quickly took down SpeCial, Pablo "Cham" Blanco, and SpeCial again to seal the deal for his country.
Semi-final Two – Korea vs Finland
The second semi-final series was a much shorter showdown, as Korea would only need a single player to decimate Finland’s line-up. Eo "soO" Yoon Su proved too much for Finland, as he knocked down Wenlei "ZhuGeLiang" Dai on Abiogenesis, Joona "Serral" Sotala on Blackpink, “TheMusZero” on Eastwatch, and Serral again on Neon Violet Square. With Korea proving to be such a dominant team, their face-off with the Netherlands was sure to be epic.
Grand Final Match – The Netherlands vs Korea
The final match of the event was set for a best-of-nine showdown between Korea and the Netherlands. Starting the match strong for the Netherlands, Marc "uThermal" Schlappi managed to take down Mun "MMA" Seong Won on Catalyst, before also defeating Eo "soO" Yoon Su on Blackpink, to give the Netherlands an early 2-0 lead. Korea was quick to fire back however, with Lee "INnoVation" Shin Hyung taking down uThermal twice before moving on to defeat Vincent "Optimus" Klerks and Kevin "Harstem" de Koning. The final matches would be played out between Harstem and INnoVation, with Harstem claiming revenge for the previous map to set the score at 3-4 in Korea’s favour, before INnoVation finally sealed the deal to claim the final victory for Korea.
With the event concluded, all that’s left is for the winners to celebrate, and the losers to plan their next attack.
(cover image from nationwars.tv)