Dreamhack Winter: A Finals to Remember

I sat down groggily in front of my computer at 5pm Sunday night, in a house filled with relatives probably wondering if I had just walked past them, or if it was some other fat guy in his pajamas. I clicked on the Dreamhack tournament link with hesitation, I had long since given up converting time zones from Jönköping time to Eastern, and had no idea how far along the tournament was. Clicking that single link was the best decision I've made this month, as I happened to be tuning in just in time for some of the best Starcraft I've ever seen. If you manage to excuse all of the bad puns involving HerO, this finals was the most thrilling ride since NASL's season one. Puma is an amazing player to have in the finals of a major tournament, win or lose he always displays jaw-dropping play, and once I saw that his opposite was HerO, I was elated. I knew that HerO getting into the finals was a possibility by the end of day two, but it still seemed unreal that Liquid's Protoss hope had finally gotten the shot at fame that he has long deserved.

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Here it is, the Beautiful City of I Have No Idea How to Pronounce it

Puma vs. HerO was an intense rivalry before the two had even faced each other. As the leading Korean players on their predominantly foreign teams, their rivalry was a natural one. Up until MLG Providence, HerO had had the worst time trying to overcome Puma, it was just something that he seemed incapable of doing. No matter how close he had gotten in the past, no matter how hopeful things looked, he just could not pull off a victory. Then finally, at Providence, sitting in a small corner of the Pro Circuit area, surrounded by Liquid and EG's biggest fans, all struggling to get a glimpse of their screens in absolute silence, something amazing happened. HerO finally managed to best Puma in a tournament; game three was extremely tense, involving hidden thirds, blink micro, and miss rallied warp prisms. HerO had managed to come out on top of Puma only by the psi-blade edge of a single zealot warp in.

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HerO Won at Providence by About Six of These Little Guys

With the victory over Puma at Providence, hopes were high for HerO going up against Puma in in the DreamHack finals, but if you underrate Puma for one second, he will not just win, but devastate you with near-perfect unit control. Before I get to the finals that had me running my desktop all over the house Thanksgiving weekend, desperately looking for an open TV to plug into, let's take a look at HerO's path to the finals. TeamLiquid was ecstatic on day one when HerO managed to make it out of his group after losing only a single game (but still winning the match) to Seiplo, who would later knock Huk out of the tournament.

In the second stage of group play, things got scary as HerO had to take on two tournament favorites, DongRaeGu and Sen, and deal with elfi's unpredictable PvP; with HerO's world renown PvZ there was still hope, albeit much less than on day one. HerO managed a solid victory over elfi, but hopes dwindled after a defeat by DongRaeGu; HerO came back, however, taking out Sen 2:0, and making it to the bracket stage of the event.

In the bracket stage, things looked hopeful, yet melancholy for TeamLiquid, as it became clear that HerO's first round would be against our very own Sheth. Sheth had taken solid wins over Stephano, Cloud, and MoMaN in the tournament, and his PvZ was looking good... but not good enough to take down HerO. Sheth had suffered narrow defeats at the capable hands of ToD and Naniwa, making HerO the favorite for the match. Things were looking even worse after that round for HerO, as even if he bested Sheth, he would likely have to take down Huk, Ret, and then have a rematch against DongRaeGu (who had 2:0'd him earlier) if he wanted to take the tournament.

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Even Though This is an MLG Photo, I'm Pretty Sure it was how These Two Looked
Photo from MLG Providence TL News

Thankfully for Hero, the tournament didn't play out that way, as Huk got 2:0'd by Seiplo and Puma managed to conquer DongRaeGu in what I can only assume was (I unfortunately missed it) an amazing series. After that, a HerO – Puma finals became the clear outcome, as HerO's PvZ was favored by most over Ret's, and Puma's TvP over NightEnd's.

After first grieving over Ret becoming yet another peg in a long line of Liquid team kills, it was time to cheer HerO on, and hope that he could once again overcome his rivalry in Puma. The finals became one of the most intense series I've ever watched; I felt emotionally involved at every turn in an unprecedented way. Puma and HerO both have incredible micro/timing oriented PvT's, impeccable unit control, creative openings, and it helps that they are both the top Korean members of rival teams.

So, why were the games so good? I immediately knew that the series was going to be one to remember when Puma rallied his marines to the top of his ramp, not afraid to turn what normally is a free poke for protoss, into a potentially deadly one. HerO then kited the marines across the map with his first stalker, racking up over 4 kills in the process. Using some great scouting information, HerO decided to execute a brutally fast colossus rush while holding off Puma's huge marine push with only four stalkers. The colossus came out barely in time, focusing down the marines in a beautiful hold. HerO then showed off his boldness by pushing back across the map with only two zealots, a stalker, a sentry and his colossus.

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Counter Attacking with This Force is One of the Ballsiest Things I've Ever Seen

HerO looked to be in a winning position, warping zealots in Puma's main while pressuring Puma's front with his colossus. In professional level Starcraft, rarely does a game pull a complete u-turn, but Puma made a miracle hold with a brilliant marauder flank on HerO's army, and suddenly a crushing victory turned into a crushing defeat. After this first game, I was tied to my seat, no amount of pleading was going to yank me away from my computer to spend time with my visiting family.

Games two through five left my blood boiling as I was sitting, still in pajamas, on the edge of my seat, asking my extended family if they wanted to come see “the coolest thing ever.” As I yelled at my computer screen in game three “OH MY GOD IS HE REALLY DOING THIS?!” I couldn't help but feel that I was perpetuating a gamer stereotype.

Puma was down 3 to 1, and had had his strongest build, the 1/1/1 crushed by HerO in game three. I got the opportunity to see Puma's 1/1/1 in person at Orlando, and it is even more scary in person than it looks on stream. Game five was beginning to look like a formality, as HerO had convincingly won the last three games, and his win looked to be within arms reach. Again, things turned out quite differently than expected.

Game Five was nail-bitingly close, and was back and forth in a way that pro level games so rarely are. After Puma pulled off such an inspiring victory in that game, all of my assumptions were back up in the air, as it seemed that HerO's win was no longer even close to a guarantee. Puma executed a smart four barracks cheese in game six, and suddenly everything was down to the wire, one final game to decide the outcome of a series that had pulled on my emotional heartstrings in every single way.

The final game lived up to the rest of the series, producing an absolutely epic back and forth game. When the proxy nexus' were thrown down, I shot out of my seat, and as Puma finally gg'd, I kicked back my chair, slamming it into the wall, and ran through my father's house yelling, scaring not just my Dad, but the majority of my extended my family. At first I was embarrassed, but then I realized that no, this is E-sports, and at that moment I was one of thousands of screaming fans, all rooting for the same little cutey pie.

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GG HerO, You Earned it
Photo from TL DreamHack News

Dreamhack Winter: A Finals to Remember

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