Manuel 'Grubby' Schenkhuizen successfully eliminated orc rival June 'Lyn' Park from NGTV's WAR3League today in an enthralling set of matches ending three to two in the Dutchman's favour.

The initial match on Centaur Grove could have gone either way. The two were on relatively even ground for the majority of the match, but solid creeping and keen scouting helped Grubby pull ahead in the final stretch. Lyn attempted to take the wind out of Grubby's sails by hitting his base, but did so without a scroll of town portal (TP), essentially costing him the match.

Superior healing, efficient micro and a handful of peons gave Grubby the edge he needed to shut Lyn down then and there. Lyn did manage to back out with a handful of units, but wasn't able to recover. The first map went to Grubby.

Game two on Tidewater Glades started out well for Lyn, picking up a potion of greater healing right off the bat and scoring an early Blademaster kill on his opponent. Grubby chose to revive his Blademaster at the tavern, which Lyn spotted, choosing to press Grubby killing a grunt and costing him valuable creeping time.

The two continued to creep for several minutes, then both attempted to hit the others base. Grubby decided to TP back to his base given Lyn's less accommodating base build and additional raider.

Grubby's grunts TP'd right into several ensnares giving Lyn superior positioning. Lyn had as many as four units attacking one of Grubby's, while Grubby's movement was being limited by those initial ensnares. Lyn had upgraded Steel Melee Weapons just before the battle, he also brought a kodo beast and a handful of peons to spirit link with, stacking the odds in his favour. Lyn took map two to tie it up.

Game three was played on Snow Drop, where Grubby's creep pattern was more item based, where as Lyn was looking to level up as fast as possible. Snow Drop, being a rather large map, gave both players ample time to creep without having to worry about crossing paths. Lyn was able to scout Grubby creeping, killing his level two Blademaster and picking up a second pendant of energy, also severely slowing down Grubby's leveling on his Blademaster.

Lyn cleared a few of the smaller creep camps around Grubby's base for additional experience and to stop Grubby creeping solo with his Shadow Hunter.

Lyn was well aware of the lead he had over Grubby and once again pushed his base to force a fight, Grubby at this point still had a level one Shadow Hunter, Lyn had a level two Shadow Hunter with six hundred and fifteen mana, he had also begun researching Steel Melee Weapons and had a kodo beast on route.

On this particular map Lyn's timing was just perfection, he was able to interfere with Grubby's creeping pushing him further and further behind while storming ahead himself. Lyn took the third map to take the lead.

Game four's battle ground was Melting Valley, where Lyn shook things up a bit playing more aggressively in the early game than we had seen in the previous three maps, possibly owing to its smaller size. Lyn got things underway with the first grunt kill of the match.

Both of these players creep patterns were very methodical, moving from camp to camp creeping for maximum efficiency and the most rewarding item drops, testament to how refined he methods of both of these players are. The two started creeping their Shadow Hunters solo while scouting with their Blademasters, Lyn once again jumped ahead initially, hitting level two on his Shadow Hunter just as Grubby started to creep.

Grubby eventually managed to catch up in hero levels just as Lyn forced a fight by the goblin merchant. Lyn definitely had the advantage in the situation with both level one upgrades on his melee units. Grubby was able to land a Shadow Hunter kill thus stopping Lyn from healing and hexing. Without any healing support or control spells control slowly started to slip away from Lyn. The Shadow Hunter kill was a huge mistake on Lyn's part, moving him so far towards the front line was unnecessary and careless.

The two eventually met up again as Grubby made a push on Lyn's base, Lyn had again out researched Grubby however, superior micro from Grubby, in every sense of the word, saw Lyn losing units at an alarming rate. Grubby took Melting Valley to tie the game and move on to the fifth and final map.

The final map was Twisted Meadows where Lyn opened things up with an early harass, but losing a grunt in the process. Lyn's creeping fell behind almost instantly, hitting level two on his Blademaster just as Grubby had reached level three after picking up a tome of experience from the goblin merchant camp. He fell further behind after Grubby was able to jack him creeping the goblin merchant, stealing the experience from the warlord, killing another grunt and pushing Lyn back to his base, further delaying his creeping.

Grubby used his advantage to harass Lyn, killing a third grunt and canceling his spirit lodge. Not long after Grubby managed to press Lyn while he was creeping and walk away with a Shadow Hunter kill. Lyn was able to drop Grubby's Shadow Hunter as well, but still ended up back in his base, nursing his wounds. Grubby used the time by creeping additional camps.

The two met one final time by Grubby's goblin laboratory, where Lyn had a slight food advantage, but no upgrades compared to Grubby's one-one and a far weaker Blademaster. Grubby played it smart and instantly set about focusing down Lyn's two kodo beasts to remove the damage buff. Lyn decided to try and focus Grubby's Blademaster though only with a handful of units, not enough to kill him, but enough so that the few left fighting Grubby's actual units stood no chance of making a dent.

The battle was probably a lot closer than it actually looked, Lyn made a few questionable choices with his Blademaster, which may have contributed to the loss. Fighting a foot away from Grubby's base probably didn't help.

Grubby took the final map, winning the series three to two.

Schenkhuizen will now go on to face Lu in the NGTV WAR3League season I finals for a 12,000USD first place prize and bragging rights as the original WAR3League champion.