NesTea vs 
HongUnGame 1 @ Dual Sight. HongUn opened with a fast expand into stargate while NesTea chose an even stronger macro build, taking a fast third hatch and delaying his extractors so he can drone more aggressively.
While wandering around the map with his initial void ray, HongUn added a second stargate and began mass production of phoenixes and soon NesTea was under heavy pressure. The phoenixes harassed him mercilessly and the GSL champion lost more than 20 drones in the process but managed to sustain a healthy economy nonetheless due to his opening of choice. NesTea in turn tried to hurt HongUn by sending roaches for a counter attack but all he accomplished was to draw the phoenixes back - not a small victory, though, considering the damage they were doing. That gave NesTea enough time to get up his defenses and tech to hydralisks.
A stronger push from HongUn came near the 14th minute as he approached NesTea's natural with all his phoenixes and stalkers, the latter now with blink. But that wouldn't be at all successful as zerg's defenses proved unbreakable and the protoss had to retreat in order to save his army. Not for long, however, as a strong counter push by NesTea ended the game via overwhelming hydralisk count.
Game 2 @ Metalopolis. NesTea got a fast third once again after his pool/gas opening and HongUn chose for a second time the fast nexus into stargate (though only one this time) opening. NesTea was quick in queening and creep spreading and defended his third against the void ray without any trouble and transitioned into spire, baneling nest and infestation pit.
Strangely enough, the spire would not come into any use. NesTea stayed on baneling/speedling/infestor composition throughout the entire game, constantly tormenting HongUn's third with swift attacks and slippery ling run-byes. The protoss attempted to implement archons and storm into his army to mitigate baneling damage but NesTea's macro was unmatched, now streaming units out of five bases. Seeing that he cannot stop the constant flow of zerg forces, HongUn gg-ed for the second time.
Game 3 @ Crossfire. HongUn forwent the stargate play this time and stepped on heavy ground, going for +1 blink rush. NesTea, on the other hand, relied strongly on spine crawlers at both his natural and third, knowing that it will be a good defense against the protoss aggression.
As the upgrades finished for HongUn, he moved down to zerg's third but instead of defending it, NesTea chose to sacrifice it and counter the protoss natural and trading it for his own base in the process. That put HongUn in a heavily unfavored situation - he was down to a single base and his army was stranded in the middle of the map, caught in between the unending roach reinforcements. Nestea even managed to get a spire up and as he showed his mutalisks flying over his roaches, HongUn surrender the series, dropping out with a 0-3 score.
Losira vs 
ByunGame 1 @ Crossfire. Losira chose a very sneaky and unorthodox play, going for a hidden gold base and sprinting straight to roaches, skipping any queens along the way. Unfortunately for him, the drone transfer got spotted but the roaches were up just in time to pressure Byun and grant temporary safety for the base to get saturated.
As the roaches broke the fragile depot wall, Byun had to put his banshee tech into defending his base and despite dealing huge amounts of damage, a lot of SCVs were lost, putting Losira in almost unreachable lead.
But Byun showed spectacular levels of perseverance, managing to draw the game into its later stages by using careful pushes and abusing the tight chokes of Crossfire, where tons of lings and banelings met their doom. However, Byun still had troubles securing a third and had to float his main CC to sustain some steady income.
Losira abused this one and only flow in Byun's position and swarmed him with maxed banes and mutas, not allowing the terran to catch a single breath.
Game 2 @ Xel'Naga Fortress. Surprisingly, Byun did not go for his signature macro play and instead rushed to double rax and threw down a bunker at Zerg's natural. He sent few more SCVs to reinforce the attack and ultimately managed to take down the hatchery but paying for that with all his units.
By droning actively throughout the final stages of the rush, however, Losira had the economy necessary to re-expand and secure a nice macro set-up to lead him into the mid-game. He and Byun traded some mutalisk and medivac harasses but at the end it was Losira's opportunistic reaction that decided the game.
Seeing that the terran has laid siege just in front of his third, Losira ran around the sensor tower with his massive muta/baneling/speedling army and attacked Byun's natural. The Zenex player tried to rush back but his marines stepped on brilliantly placed landmines. Even though Byun managed to repel the attack, it was impossible for him to stay alive on just one mining base. The score was now 0-2.
Game 3 @ Tal'Darim Altar. Altar was the map where Losira made Byun pay for his bunker rush in game 2. Seeing that the terran had gone for fast CC, Losira started cutting drones and immediately switched into baneling nest right after his pool finished. Moments later, all hell broke loose into Byun's base, his SCVs hunted by banelings and the constant stream of lings that kept flooding in through the crack in the wall. A perfectly microed hero hellion popped out and killed double digit count of units but that only delayed Byun's certain elimination. Losira advanced to the grand final to meet his master - NesTea.
| Code S July Semi Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NesTea 3:0 HongUn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NesTea | > | HongUn | @ Dual Sight | |||||||||||||||||||||
| NesTea | > | HongUn | @ Metalopolis | |||||||||||||||||||||
| NesTea | > | HongUn | @ Crossfire | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Losira 3:0 Byun | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Losira | > | Byun | @ Crossfire | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Losira | > | Byun | @ Xel'Naga Fortress | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Losira | > | Byun | @ Tal'Darim Altar | |||||||||||||||||||||
