On February 7th we had two pretty one-sided games between StarTale and fOu which ended with a crushing victory for the former, and TSL and Prime with the latter losing 4-1.
 StarTale 4:0 fOu | |||
 GgoBooGie | > |  Gumiho | @ Shakuras Plateau |
| GgoBooGie | > | sC | @ Crossfire |
| GgoBooGie | > | TheBest | @ Tal'Darim Altar |
| GgoBooGie | > | Nuclear | @ Metalopolis |
GgoBoogie a.k.a. Squirtle was the hero for StarTale. With a brilliant play, he managed to easily defeat four Terrans from fOu while showing incredible aptitude at two of the new maps - Crossfire and Tal'Darim Altar. TheBest was the only one that managed to put up a decent fight and pressured GgoBoogie hard from the start. However, the Protoss hero managed to stabilize and the two went into some nice late-game engagements but the StarTale player showed that he has both patience and skills and managed to take the game for his team and proceed to obliterate Nuclear for the 4-0 win.
| Prime 1:4 TSL | |||
| HongUn | < | Trickster | @ Shakuras Plateau |
| Polt | > | Trickster | @ Lost Temple |
| Polt | < | Alive | @ Metalopolis |
 Check | < | Alive | @ Tal'Darim Altar |
| MarineKing | < | Alive | @ Scrap Station |
The second match of the day began much more interesting with alternating victories between the two teams. TSL captain sSKS opened with an on-the-edge victory versus HongUn on Shakuras by demonstrating some immaculate Colossus macro and despite the highly risky Nexus he decided to throw down. Fortunately, the sSKS managed to hold on for long enough to close the window of opportunity and eventually win.
Trickster's fairy tale ended quickly, however, after he lost to PoltPrime, who then proceeded to lose a game to TSL_Alive who would turn out to be the biggest nail in Prime's coffin. Showing a stunningly solid play against the only Zerg of the day - CheckPrime - Alive went into set 5 against MarineKing, the ace player of Prime. After a hectic Scrap Station showdown that almost ended with another of those base trades that MKP loves so much, Alive managed to claim the set and the match for his team, sending it to the semi-finals.
Today, February 8th, we witnessed two more astounding sets. IM faced oGs in what was probably the most anticipated face-off of the Ro8 and SLAYERS met Zenex, which turned out to be a clash to remember.
| oGs 1:4 IM | |||
| Ensnare | < | Seed | @ Shakuras Plateau |
| Top | < | Seed | @ Metalopolis |
| Hyperdub | < | Seed | @ Lost Temple |
| MC | > | Seed | @ Scrap Station |
| MC | < | Mvp | @ Xel'Naga Caverns |
Those games raised one important and surprising question: "Who the hell is Seed and where did he come from?!" The previously unknown Protoss managed to manhandle three of oGs's top Terran players without any significant trouble, showing us a great variety of aggressive strategies from standard 4-Gate stalkers to the weird Void Ray/Immortal/Sentry/Zealot mix in the games on Metalopolis. GSL 3 champion MC had to be put in the booth to stop the rampaging Protoss and even he faced great difficulties after being cheesed with a proxy 2-gate. However, he succeeded to take a point for his team but then the Terran monster and top Korean player MVP stepped in and delivered the last stroke, bringing oGs to their knees by just trampling over MC with some nice Marauder control.
| Zenex 4:3 Slayers | |||
| HyeJoon | > | Boxer | @ Shakuras Plateau |
| HyeJoon | > | Soul | @ Lost Temple |
| HyeJoon | > | Alicia | @ Tal'Darim Altar |
| HyeJoon | < | Jjob | @ Crossfire |
| Puzzle | < | Jjob | @ Xel'Naga Caverns |
| Byun | < | Jjob | @ Metalopolis |
| ON | > | Jjob | @ Terminus RE |
Things picked up great for Zenex with HyeJoon defeating The Emperor himself in a somewhat impressive TvT on Shakuras. Boxer, who was probably hoping to have some sure wins from the start, had to pass the ball to Soul and Alicia who also fell victims to HyeJoon's solid play. With 3-0 it seemed over for Slayers but then Jjob came to get their pride back. He managed to stop HeyJoon's streak and later defeated Code A runner up Byun in a dynamic back-and-forth TvT on Metalopolis. However, it seemed that in the end he just did not have enough endurance to make the most epic comeback and was defeated by ON, who won set 7 and sent Zenex to the semis.
The round of 4 will be broadcasted tomorrow, 10:00 CET with the following teams struggling for a place in the grand finals:
| GSTL Semi Finals | ||
| StarTale [ST] | vs | Team SCV Life [TSL] |
| Incredible Miracle [IM] | vs | Zenex |
Do not forget to tune in and enjoy because we do have some sick games ahead of us.
