NaNiwa Dominates Group at IEM Kiev
- Categories:
- StarCraft 2
Quantic's Johan 'NaNiwa' Lucchesi is in Kiev, Ukrane today to compete in the Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge. The event is being held from the 19th - 22nd, with 16 of the worlds best players in attendance. The 16 qualified players are playing for a total of $20,000, and an invite to the Season IV World Championship. This is NaNiwa's first big showing since the controversial Blizzard Cup. Coming off of a bout of training in Korea, NaNiwa's expectations are high as he prepares to take on White-Ra, Strelok, and TitaN in Group A.
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Group A Matches (bo3) |
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| NaNiwa | 1 | 2 | Strelok |
| NaNiwa | 2 | 0 | TitaN |
| NaNiwa | 2 | 0 | White-Ra |
| Group A Standings (top 2 move on) | ||
| 1.NaNiwa | 2-1 | 5-2 |
| 2.White-Ra | 2-1 | 4-3 |
| 3.Strelok | 2-1 | 4-3 |
| 4.TitaN | 0-3 | 1-6 |
After a dealing severe lag and technical issues in his first match of the day versus Strelok, NaNiwa went on to defeat both TitaN and White-Ra in a convincing manner. NaNiwa's 2-gate pressure is showing to be very strong in pvp, and in fact his opening almost never changed. Following his defeat, NaNiwa didn't drop a single game to White-Ra and TitaN who had a tough time dealing with his 2-gate and blink pressure.
A combination of faulty hardware and poor internet has plagued the first day of matches, which only adds to the community's frustration with Blizzard for not including LAN or a adequate solution. As the kinks are worked out, one can only hope the technical issues get solved for the coming days. NaNiwa, having guaranteed a top 8 finish, has secured himself at least $800. NaNiwa's journey resumes on Saturday in the playoffs. Quantic wishes NaNiwa the best this weekend as he battles some of the world's best talent on Saturday and beyond!