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Photo: DreamHack
The ultimate tournament favorite is ousted from DreamHack Summer by the Swedish underdog, who is now among the top four and awaits the winner of the last quarter final.
Jaedong blanks Lucifron in opening quarter finals
By scoring 2-0, EG's "Tyrant" was the first to advance to DreamHack Summer's semi-finals after meeting the one labeled the best Terran in Europe, Lucifron of team Mousesports.
StarCraft fans will remember Jaedong's elimination by a foreign hand the last time he visited Sweden for DH Stockholm and the legendary player was almost on the same path today. In both games, Lucifron took the early initiative and went on the aggression, opening with faster bio upgrades and constant bio/mine pressure on Akilon Wastes and switching it up to hellbat drops on Whirlwind in desire to crush Jaedong before the Zerg economy could explode.
Put on the defensive, Jaedong had to make clutch saves to keep his tournament life. The Tyrant had chosen ling/baneling mix as his early and mid-game composition and used it to the most perfect cost-effectiveness, holding Lucifron back to catch up on upgrades or economy (wherever he was behind) while using mutalisks to raid and terrorize the Terran bases. Finding Jaedong unbreakable on every front, Lucifron admitted defeat twice in a row and said goodbye to the rest of the competition.
Taeja wins the Liquid team-kill: "I am 99% certain I can win against Life"
Despite showing top form throughout the tournament by dropping just one series and ending the life of IM powerhouse Squirtle, TLO couldn't get past his own team-mate and arguably the finest player on Liquid, Taeja. In a standard TvZ series on Star Station followed by a successful double proxy rax bunker rush on Planet S, the former DreamHack champion secured a semi-final spot for himself and moved on to meet EG's Jaedong but not before addressing the threat of tournament favorite Life, who was about to play on stage in the next match:
"I feel very confident in my TvZ", said Taeja in the post-match interveiw "and should I meet Life in the grand final I am a 99% I can defeat him."
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Sjow with the upset of the year, 2-1's Life
DreamHack has often had its upsets and after two matches with more or less expected outcomes, something was bound the happen. Only not many would even dare to suggest that would come with game three between Sjow and Life.
Unsurpisingly, the Zerg prodigy stormed the opening of the series like the powerhouse he is and took game one without much resistance from the Swedish underdog. Little did Life know that that would be the one and only success he would see in this match-up.
A strong showing by the Swede equaled the score on Bel'Shir beach and sent the audience into mad screams - only two people had taken games off Life this tournament and with the convincing TvZ he had to face from Sjow, the ultimate champion of 2012 was looking elimination in the eyes.
And elimination he faced as the two spawned on Star Station for a heart-stopping tug-of-war. Exploiting his faster upgrades, Sjow took the early upper hand and shoved Life deep into his half of the map, only to be pushed back by the otherworldy persistance and defense management of the Zerg. Although the tables were now turned, Sjow was able to stablizie his production, accumulate large enough marine army and counter-jab StarTale's ace to snatch the 2-1 upset.
"I want to change my previous statement," Sjow told InControl after the match. "If I am to play a Zerg and not a Protoss, I might be able to win."
Sjow's next opponent will come from the third quarter final match between StarDust and HyuN, starting soon.
