So the Esports World Cup is ‘fin’ for another year and all we’re left with is memories, could-have-beens, and in Who’s case, a sizeable check. But which of those memories will stay with us the longest and what have we learned?

Who won ESWC?

Nobody is getting tired of ‘who?’ jokes yet, right?

After providing the fans with the upset of the tournament, Who played it tough the whole way through both group stages. Second place in stage one, second in stage two, the eventual winner looked every bit the runner-up in day one. But after his loss to Grubby in stage two, the orc player only dropped a single map on his way to first place.

A 2-1 win over Sky in his last group game set the tone as he went on a rampage in bracket play. 2-0 vs Sase, 2-0 vs Reign and finally 2-0 vs Sky is an impressive record and nobody can deny that the Korean earned his victory. The question now is whether he can maintain his meteoric rise to the top, or if this is his peak.

As for Sky himself, is his slump at an end or is this a temporary reprieve? Only time will tell. But his ESWC performance was clinical and he can be proud to say that his only losses came against the eventual winner.

WC3 is not Dull

With all the towers, base trades and nightelf mirrors rife in the modern game, matches like Shrierk vs Th000 were a joy to behold. Yes, okay, so Shriek did make quite a few towers, but it didn’t ruin the game. If anything, they added suspense to proceedings. Could Th000 take them all down before the American’s army caught up? Throw in some typically unusual decisions from Wacraft’s most famous race switcher (hyppo raiding, for example) and you have yourself a classic.

Even the final, featuring arguably the most boring professional player on the scene (incoming forum post: ‘SK biased against WE?!’), was more entertaining than most tower fests. Who’s blademaster usage against Sky was right of the proverbial textbook. If Sky wanted to hide behind towers, Who was going to make sure that’s exactly what he did; constantly harassing his MK so that he was unable to fight in almost every battle. Anyone looking for a lesson in how to beat a fast expansion should watch game two of the series in particular.

Nightelves Left in the Dark

When the latest patch hit, there were a few voices in the community that said nightelf players were going to suffer. They were mostly drowned out by cheers, but if ESWC is anything to go by the pessimists might have been right. The last eight of a tournament won last year by Soju featured just one nightelf player, and he bowed out at the first hurdle, losing 0-2 to Who.

When you look at it pragmatically though, there were really only three or four top nightelf players. It’s not such a big surprise that only one of them made it so far – although the fact that Moon wasn’t the one is perhaps more of a shock (and he was very close anyway) As for the defending champion, Soju was in the toughest group in stage two. His early departure was no surprise, nor even an upset.