The Korean duo completes the Round of 4 line-up in spite of the heavy foreign resistance. MMA and Zenio will go against each other after defeating Feast and Naniwa, respectively.
Although both Koreans ended up triumphant, each one of them started his series with a loss. As Zenio faced Naniwa on Dual Sight, the Zerg opened with a 1-base roach attack that destroyed Nani's natural. Eager to throw that advantage away, Zenio got avaricious and tried to run up the ramp. A simple wall-off cost him half his roaches and he had to give the first set to Naniwa.
That was all the success that Naniwa scored in this series however. Zenio was quick to score two in a row and gain a lead after what someone might consider unorthodox opening of hydra rush into expansion (Shakuras Plateau) and again a hydra opening into mutalisks (Tal'Darim Altar). The Altar set was particularly interesting as Zenio's seemingly chaotic play always hit the bleeding wounds of Naniwa by sniping important tech and eventually forcing a base race. And as it is widely known - you just don't base race against mutalisks. Game four was another all-in by Zenio but this time it was adorned with success as the baneling bust completely dominated the Swedish base for the 3-1.
Similar to his compatriot, MMA was also in for a treat by who was regarded as the ultimate IEM Kiev underdog. Having eliminated HerO in the group stage, the Belgian protoss entered the series with confidence and was quick to show it. His early stalker aggression into expand hurt the terran much more than it was supposed to and ultimately MMA was forced into a marine/tank all-in. Despite reacting shakily to it at first, Feast did manage to get his stuff together and extort a GG out of MMA.
MMA's comeback began on Tal'Darim Altar with the Korean faking a 1/1/1 build to go for a quick expand and crush the 1-base stalkers from Feast. Following that up on Metalopolis, MMA displayed his incredible defensive skills as he was under protoss battering for a long, long time, making the caster praise the play of Feast throughout this tournament and in this series in particular. The series was closed on Shattered Temple with MMA downrightly displaying his superiority to advance to the semi-finals.
With the other semi-final being Kas vs Dimaga, it means that we will have a Korea vs Ukraine grand final in Kiev. An appropriate closing theme for the event indeed.
