[face=georgia][color=#29b5c9" size="6]ASC Summer Final[/color]
Sunday september 13th at 18:00 GMT
ACERGAME09 vs Samwise12
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Time to pack your stuff and get on this hype train! The final of the tournament of upsets is upon us.[/div]You may ask why Im calling it the tournament of upsets, for an explanation we need only look at our first finalist ACERGAME09 and his road to the finals: 3-2 against shmras, 3-0 against diarouga, 4-3 against kynesie (close one!), and 4-1 against MusketJr who had just upset the Spring champion Blackstar_OP the round before. And ACER wasnt the favourite to win in any of those series, looking at the betting event.
ACER has been around a while. During Fan Patch times back in 2009 he was quite the up and coming player, improving fast and showing solid RTS instincts. He went on to play Starcraft II competitively, and hes back to claim an AoE3 championship. Only having returned recently, much like our second finalist, he had some meta knowledge to catch up on but he seems to have caught on quickly. Already he is showing original builds which often caught his opponents with their pants down. Will ACER try to take this series with anti-meta play or will he play on a field where Sam is comfortable: mirror civs, mirror builds? Well be seeing about that, popcorn in hand!
Samwise12, our second finalist, is no stranger to finals. This kid has played in 3 1v1 tournament finals so far, and he won 2 of them all in the 2009-2010 Fan Patch era. Some of you may recall a scrub (me) once saying we should all keep our eyes open, because the Wise was getting back in shape. It looks like hes back in shape now, and hes in it to win it.
Admittedly his side of the bracket was less eventful than ACERs side when it comes to upsets, but his road to the finals isnt any less impressive: 3-1 against PrinceofKabul, a surprising 4-0 against Mitoe (moment of silence for Mitoe, please), and 4-2 against goongoon. Sams mechanics are looking solid as ever and his decisions sharp.
So whos the favourite, you may ask? Im finding it a hard one to call. On the one hand Sams experience under pressure and his superior mechanics should probably come out on top, but at the same time ACER has been surprising everyone throughout this event and at this point, who knows what hes capable of? His anti-meta style might actually be a good counter to Sams style which somewhat relies on his opponents to play predictably. In any case, this final is shaping up to be a good series and we may just see some unexpected builds. Dont know about you but Im excited!
[hr][div style="text-align:center'"][span style="font-size:12pt'"]So tune in Sunday the 13th at 18:00 GMT at the ESOCTV twitch stream, and be sure to share your hype in this thread
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