After an unhinged PvP series, Pomi came out as the sixth quarter finalist at IEM Kiev. The Russian underdog placed second behind MMA, who topped the group 3-0.
As the first batch of group stages for today approached its end, Group C stood at a curious situation. Having won his first two series, MMA was sure to advance to the quarter finals but that was not the case with the remaining three contenders.
HasuObs was in the most difficult situation being down 1-4 in sets compared to Pomi's and Targa's more balanced but he could still cause some turmoil if he was to pull of some flawless victory in his last match: Pomi, who opened with an early win against Targa, could still be eliminated from the tournament if the Norwegian zerg managed to defeat MMA. And if the latter scenario stood highly improbable hours ago, it became a much more possible scenario as Targa took the 1-0 lead against the Korean. Pomi could not know that but a loss versus HasuObs would mean his tournament life.
The first two games were a classic robo tech (Pomi) against blink stalkers (HasuObs) and mistakes by both players in each set brought the series to a 1-1 tie. The outcome would have to been determined on Shakuras with Pomi once again opening with robo and HasuObs choosing to go for a simple 4-gate, but having to cancel his plans and transition to an expansion after his hiding probe got found.
In the long run, the game reached the immortal vs blink vista after all. A blink into Pomi's main triggered a counter push by the Russian and a base race was under way. It was then when all sorts of crazy things happened in a span of a couple of short minutes: HasuObs refused to go for a base trade, despite having a ninja base at the bottom right; Pomi was too scared to move out although the supply advantage was hugely in his favor; HasuObs teched to DT, only to be scouted by a probe; the Russian would not react at all - TLO and Apollo suggested that Pomi actually thought that to be a pylon; the now warped in DTs glided underneath an enemy observer and even got shot a few times by stalkers - still no reaction by Pomi.
This confusing stalemate would eventually end with Pomi doing a massive blink into Hasu's main and forcing a "gg wp". The Russian would advance to the quarter finals together with the Korea terran ace.
