Photo: Esports France
The Romanian edition of DreamHack is down to its final players as Acer Innovation moves on to play Liquid Taeja in the Bo5 grand final.
Having entered the quarter finals as the best represented race in terms of numbers and with players like Innovation, MMA and Taeja, it was expected for the Terran race to do well in the second playoffs round. The tone for the victorious hymn was set by Innovation who made short work of the only remaining foreigner Elfi and disposed of him with a quick 2-0.
What followed was a dramatic TvT series between ForGG and Innovation's teammate MMA. Known for his previously unmatched TvT win rate, ForGG entered the series as the favorite but MMA took this as a chance to show that he truly is on the way to recovering his 2011 form. Allowing ForGG the luxury of winning only one single game, MMA sandwiched him with victories in games one and three to move on to semi finals where he would meet his Acer team-mate.
Down in the bottom half of the bracket, the tendency of Protosses losing PvT continued as Taeja was merciless against sOs. Otherwise known for his creative build orders, sOs could do literally nothing to the Liquid ace and took a 0-2 exit from Bucharest, allowing Terrans to take three of the four semi final spots.
Life was the last player to oppose the possibility of a complete Terran dominance in the semi finals. Losing the first game of his series against Supernova certainly hinted that the ultimate champion of 2012 and the last Zerg in the tournament might follow the Protoss race into exctinction but as he warmed up, the StarTale prodigy was reunited with his true competitive self. Utilizing a series of zergling counter attacks and a very mobile playstyle, Life was able to circumvent the frontal firepower of Supernova's 4M and eventually snatch a 2-1 combeback.
A short trash talk preceeded the first semi final of DreamHack Bucharest before Innovation and MMA would dive into a team-kill match-up. Riding the momentum of his TvT victory over Taeja, MMA opened strong and took a convincing game on Whirlwind to set the pace and have the audience doubt Innovation's chance of winning this series, especially playing his worst match-up.
The majority of game two went in MMA's favor as well as the ex-SlayerS prince pressured Innovation on his side of the map, sieged up on difficult to conquer positions and started denying Innovation expansions. This hegemony of MMA's continued right to the point where an unfavorable engagement cost him the majority of his tanks, allowing Innovation to turn the 11-to-3 tank ratio into a counter-sweeping move that tied the series.
Not wanting to take his chances at another macro game, Innovation went for the early kill on Planet S. A bunker/tank push was initiated starting right in front of MMA's article and soon the multiple GSL champion felt the choking grasp around his neck. Innovation had done it, advancing to his first final on foreign ground.
In the second semi-final, the last remaining Zerg in Life met Liquid's ace Taeja in a ZvT that proved shorter than people probably anticipated. Life opened Star Station with a proxy hatcher at Taeja's natural but the Terran had little to no trouble disposing of the cheese and channel his momentum into a mid game 4M victory.
Game two saw Life attempting a 2-base roach/baneling all-in. That set up a nail-biting situation with Taeja holding by the skin of his teeth, his widow mines becoming the star of the show. Later on, a pair of hellions would futher aid his cause, scouting the spire transition of Life and giving him enough time to turret up. The latter completely denied all possibilies of a comeback Life had in this game and GG was soon called, having Taeja advance to the grand final to meet Innovation.
