Lucifron showed that he could be the player to light up 2009 after an impressive performance in today's King Of Kings final.

Matching-up against one of the legends of the game, Check, the up-and-coming orc player rounded off a superb tournament with a 3-1 victory. The score makes it seems comfortable for the young Spaniard, but he played almost perfectly. Check even took the lead on the first map, Ancient Isles.

From there on, however, it was all about the horde. Game two saw Check attempt an audacious tier one tower push with huntresses and a demon hunter. Lucifron was able to force the DH away to heal up, though, and took down the towers while he was away. That gave him enough time to reach tier two and make demolishers. From that point on it was an uphill struggle for Check, who conceded soon after losing a handful of huntresses and glaive-throwers.

Game three was a perfect reversal of the previous one. Incredibly, Lucifron went for a burrow rush on Terenas Stand and - even more incredibly - pulled it off. Check was trapped in his base for the entire ten minute duration of the game, unable to push the orc back.

The final game turned out to be game four, as Lucifron made it 3-1 on Twisted Meadows. Another unusual strategy paid off but a good start (including a tome of experience) allowed him the leeway to go dual beastiary wyverns. A quick expansion at 40 food pushed the advantage home and after a couple of skirmishes Check was forced back to his base. This gave Lucifron space to creep like a madman and out-level his opponent. The final battle in Check's base wasn't even close, as the orc player had almost double the elf's foodcount.

This victory puts down a marker heading into the new year. Not only because of the emphatic fashion of the final win, but because of the fact that Lucifron had to do it the hard way from game one. Having been in arguably the most difficult group, the Spaniard overcame the likes of Shy and Who on his way to the final.

Although the $300 prize money is nice, the significance of this result is much deeper; it signals the progress Lucifron has made since his explosive performance at Blizzcon. Further, it proves that there is still room for new talent in Warcraft III.

All four replays can be found here.