This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.
South Korean StarCraft II player Baek "Dear" Dong Jun from team Soul has won Blizzard's World Championship Series (WCS) Season 3 Finals today, earning himself $40,000. In the tournament's last match he would sweep powerhouse Kim "Soulkey" Min Chu in four convincing games. Today's win paired with Baek's win in the South Korean regional finals earlier this month brings him to $60,000 in earnings for October.
When giving his winner's interview Baek noted, "I didn't think I was going to win this tournament, but I did. I'm so overwhelmed with emotions right." He went on to thank the 2,500 plus fans in attendance at Toronto's Congress center.
Many of the interesting moments at this weekend's WCS Season 3 Finals were auxiliary to the games themselves. The Season 3 Finals was the last event of the that awarded WCS points towards Blizzard's 2013 World Championship Series Grand Final at BlizzCon. With only sixteen spots available, every point was starting to matter for those just above or just below that sixteenth spot.
Swedish fan favorite Johan "NaNiwa" Lucchesi, who wasn't in attendance due to an underwhelming performance in the European region this season, was nearly knocked out of Grand Finals contention by a run from South Korean programer Cho "Trap" Sung Ho. Had Cho won one more series Lucchesi would have fallen just shy of the points required to attend BlizzCon.
Luchessi's spot for sixteenth is not guaranteed. If Evil Geniuses' player Kim "Revival" Dong Hyun wins his WCS Challenger Group he and Luchessi will sit tied for the last, coveted spot. In that instance a best-of-five tiebreaker will take place at BlizzCon to determine who advances to the main event.
BlizzCon and the WCS Grand Finals are November 8th and 9th at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. The tournament's stream will be produced by Blizzard's European WCS broadcast partner ESL.
PreviewPhoto Credit: Silverfire