Many a foreigner fell after the first day of DreamHack Bucharest, too many some might say. While not entirely surprising considering the massive stacking of Korean talent – so massive, actually, that not even players like Flash or Symbol could make it out – it was certainly a let-down. With just two representatives in the playoffs and facing opponents like StarDust and Life, the foreign world entered the round of sixteen with miniscule chances of success, at best.
Finland’s Elfi was the first foreign player given the honor to try and beat the odds. Paired with Summer champion StarDust in a PvP was certainly to Fin’s liking considering his favoring towards the match-up but the Korean would not let Elfi have it easy. Displaying patient defense in game one against Elfi’s colossus rocketed StarDust to a 1-0 lead.
To western audience’s exuberance, however, Elfi did not give up and after the Whirlwind set the game was tied and the two Protosses were to give their very best on Bel’Shir Vestige or taste elimination. Similarly to game one, StarDust took the early lead after repelling Elfi’s all-inish attack, leaving the Finnish player with no other choice but to make a second attempt at breaking the Korean. In a desperate move, Elfi pulled a hefty number of probes, lined them up with his archons and marched against StarDust’s superior colossi, immortal and zealot numbers, an attack which at the time seemed as comical as it was impossible.
It would be Elfi that would get the last laugh, however, as a critical time warp gave his army an insurmountable advantage. Unable to repositions his colossi, StarDust became quick victim to Elfi’s splash fire and had to GG out, awarding a quarter final spot to the disbelieving Fin.
Elfi’s success would be the only one that Protoss players would see in the round of 16 for a long time as the race was introduced to the rapid gunfire of the Terrans. On Nathanias’ stream, MMA went against Avenge to sweep him with very much the standard TvP play, allowing the Protoss to take just a single game on Whirlwind by the power of his colossus ball.
Equally brutal death suffered Liquid’s Protoss ace HerO paired with Acer’s Innovation in a match-up delayed for a couple of hours due to both players taking part in the SC2L finals last night. Eager to get some personal revenge for his team’s loss in the aforementioned league, Innovation opened the two sets with early bio pressure into a huge swelling of firepower that left HerO in ruins and sent another Protoss out of the tournament.
Meanwhile on the main stream, Millenium’s ForGG went against the weird style of Quantic’s Hyun to secure a hat-trick for his race after the first half of Ro16 matches. Skipping mutalisks altogether and going for high-mobility ling/baneling swarms with roach dressing, HyuN was able to surprise ForGG enough to win Akilon Wastes but the Terran was quick on the recovery. Understanding that HyuN’s playstyle runs out of steam as the game goes on and as the medivac count exponentially increases without the risk of dying to anti air, ForGG implemented a dose of defensiveness into his usually aggressive style and kept on safely pressuring HyuN, downing his baneling numbers as best as he can. Through textbook splitting of his marines and unstopping production of marauders, ForGG was further able to mitigate the explosion damage and after two more games secured his spot in the quarter finals.
HyuN would not be the only Zerg falling today and by the end of the Ro16, three more would fall in all three match-ups. It was Liquid’s Taeja who picked up where ForGG left off and in two quick games played on the MLG stream landed on a 7-0 in series as he ousted YuGiOh, making sure that there is at least one Liquid player in the quarter finals.
What came as a bigger surprise was the elimination of one particular Zerg that has always performed well on DreamHack grounds. After a three-game series against sOs, EG’s own Jaedong said goodbye to the tournament after a series of questionable decisions.
Not that it was a horrible series for Jaedong all the way. Game one went to him after sOs suffered a loss at the hands of the signature mass muta switch that forced a base race nearly won by the Zerg. Game two, however, saw Jaedong making an almost amateur mistake, insisting to stay maxed on roaches against sOs’ passive and carefully maneuvered colossus death ball. With the score tied, Jaedong attempted a baneling bust on Planet S but with that decision ending up a failure as well, the Tyrant soon saw himself tapping out in the face of sOs’ gateway counter push.
??
The last two Ro16 matches came to answer two questions: Will Terran players secure five of the quarter final spots and will there be a second foreigner in the top eight.
Supernova was kind enough to answer question number one in speed. Following the stylistic trends set by Innovation and MMA, the Azubu Terran commanded his infantry to trample Alicia with a flawless 2-0, continuing his strong showing from day one.
Supernova’s opponent-to-be came from the very last Ro16 match between Zerg prodigy Life and the second foreigner in the tournament, Acer’s Nerchio, the two entangled in a hectic mirror match. Playing on Star Station as the first map, Life exacted unrelenting pressure onto Nerchio, almost reaching the point where the Pole would break. A second of pause, however, allowed Nerchio to dramatically sway the momentum in his favor and drown the Korean in a deadly roach concave which gave him the series lead.
Down one game, Life was playing for his survival and being put in a perfect ling/baneling/mutalisk mirror was exactly what he wanted. Capitalizing on his superior mechanics, Life was able to apply pressure onto Nerchio’s economy and eventually secure a gas advantage which solved the muta war in his favor.
Bel’Shir Vestige was selected as the third and final map and it was not long before the first build deviations happened. Choosing to go for an earlier baneling nest, Nerchio was able to surprise Life and almost break his static defenses with a huge well of units but by the power of his queens the Korean survived by the skin of his teeth.
Still with an advantage, Nerchio had infinite possibilities ahead of him but while the caster duo was wondering about his transition, the Pole went for the weirdest one. Putting double evo chambers and starting +1/+1 opened a huge timing window which Life did not fail to exploit. As the swell of roaches and zerglings flooded his natural, Nerchio realized he had given the game away.
