Korea's Season 3 champion Dear of team SouL is the first finalist for the Season 3 finals in Toronto, Canada. Dear eliminated the last Terran in the tournament Maru 3-1 and will wait for Soulkey and Trap to determine who his opponent will be.
Solid Protoss play couple with early aggression easily put Dear up by a pair and on a match point. Aiming to crush Prime's youngster for a flawless 3-0, Dear opted to punish Maru's quick CC with an MSC/stalker rush. Despite the many SCVs lost, however, Maru did manage to stabilize and win it in the mid game on the back of marauder/mine composition which blasted Dear to pieces.
Gaining some momentum from this last victory, Maru made for one great show on Bel'Shir Vestige. The Prime ace was everywhere, doing raids to snipe nexuses or important tech or initiating puncturing medivac drops to hold Dear on his side of the map. The tempo was great for Maru overall, but Dear's defense would impress even the seasoned caster duo of Mr. Bitter and Rotterdam. Splitting his army perfectly and always having feedback and storms ready, Dear did not allow for any lethal damage to be sustained. Around the 20th minute mark, he was sitting on four bases and pushing up Maru's ramp, a task that went relatively unopposed for the lack of ghosts in Terran's army. Having no way to efficiently burn through the archon meat shield, Maru tapped out, making Dear the first Season 3 finalist.
