Game 1 – Dual Sight : Leenock decided that the best way to take care of MC's three-gate expand into Stargate was a random Hydra-ling timing, but his calculations were horribly off. Instead of catching his opponent off-guard with his mid-game aggression, he found MC was actually the side with greater firepower with his giant army of blink-Stalkers. Slow Hydras being what they are, Leenock was unable to escape from his unwise engagement, and gave up the lead to MC. MC collected his forces for an attack, and easily took down the outgunned Leenock.

Game 2 – Shakuras Plateau : After his two-base blink-Stalker pressure failed, it looked like a standard, slow macro-death for MC. However, Leenock played right into MC's hands, playing passive enough for MC to collect a death-ball of Colossi and Stalkers. Leenock went at this with Roach-Hydra, allowing MC to gleefully relive his glory days by crushing Zerg's silly ground army with his superior micro.

Game 3 – Daybreak : The game followed a similar pattern as game two, where some failed harassment (this time, an earlier +1 zealot attack followed by a DT drop) put MC economically behind. Once more, Leenock allowed MC to build up a death-ball, but this time he had Hive tech ready in time for the major engagement. This time, Brood Lords proved to be enough help for Leenock to carry the day, but only barely.

Game 4 – Tal'Darim Altar : Leenock went for a fast Nydus canal to facilitate a fast Hydra-ling rush against MC's fast expand (not an in-base Nydus, but one used to decrease the rush distance), but had the misfortune of being spotted by MC's Stargate units. This may have given MC the few seconds of extra preparation time he needed, because he was able to stop the assault with relative ease. After that two-base all-in was stopped, the rest of it was just a matter of going through the motions for MC, who gathered up an army and finished the series.

Perhaps this was not a huge surprise to some, who still thought Leenock had to prove himself against Protoss. What was more surprising was Leenock's insistence of going for ground army compositions, relying heavily on Roaches and Hydralisks. Leenock may have felt confident going for those units, but the way he clumped his units up and engaged in bad positions made him look like the countless Zergs MC had triumphed over during his GSL championship runs

Even people who haven't watched GSL should be familiar; MC has made a mockery of IdrA's ground armies on multiple occasions through superior micro, even though his American opponent was significantly up in army population. Leenock's macro was great, but his army and engagements were just outdated.

Defeating one of the hottest players on the planet is definitely a big step in MC's campaign to be re-elected as Protoss President, but it might be more symbolic than anything. Of course Leenock is a great player, but one can't say he played extremely well in the series. Still, anything that gets MC's confidence up can't be bad, especially now that he's facing what's probably a tougher challenge in DongRaeGu. MC got used and abused during their meeting at MLG, and during their game in the group stages of the Blizzard Cup, so I will have to be cautious about being optimistic for the time being. It will be interesting to see if MC can turn things around in so short a time.

As for Leenock, it appears that his rampage has been stopped for now. However, he's been the most rapidly improving player for the last few months, and now he will have nearly a month to practice and improve himself before the next Code S Tournament. Despite the loss here, I would have to cautiously predict a brighter future going forward for the Prince of War.

Game 1 – Crossfire : In my preview article for this series, I said Polt had to go the route MMA played against MVP at the GSL October Finals with builds to catch the best player in the world off guard. Polt tried just this, going for a proxy factory to lead into a Thor rush in the middle of map. Sadly, MVP knew something like this could happen, scouted it, and took a gigantic lead. With Polt's factory flying back to his main from the middle of the map, MVP stocked up on tanks. Polt couldn't catch up in tank numbers, and the game headed to an inevitable loss for Polt.

Game 2 – Daybreak : More of the same from Game 1, but this time going a bit longer. Polt tried to make it a more standard game, going for his pure bio play, but for the second straight game, MVP knew what was coming and countered with a full mech army. Polt's marines were caught out of position, MVP's hellions and tanks chased down the small force and drove Polt right up into his own base. After having his whole army destroyed by tanks and hellions, Polt tapped out, getting dismantled in both games.

Game 3 – Bel'Shir Beach : In this game, both players went for the same marine/tank-type armies. In the early parts of the game, it looked like MVP was going to seal this as an easy 3-0 victory with his brilliant banshee attacks, and move onto a rematch with MMA. Polt had a different idea and held strong, using his micro to the best of his abilities and catching MVP during an over extension of his army in the middle of the game. After getting the upper hand, Polt took over, winning the game when a gigantic tank volley killed almost twenty of MVP's SCV's. Polt was able to get momentum on his side and push it to a fourth set.

Game 4 – Calm Before the Storm : In one of the best TvT games I've ever seen, the two players went for what they are best at. MVP went for mech. Polt went for bio. What occurred was a back-and-forth slug fest that put both player's on their heels countless times. If MVP would try and choke Polt with one of his beefed up tank lines, Polt would gather a large number of troops in medivacs and drop when MVP's less mobile army couldn't get to him.

In the end, after thirty minutes of high class TvT action, Polt went for Battlecruisers. This decision was a risky one. If he could win the air war with his BC's, the tanks would be unprotected and the game would be automatically over. If MVP got a big enough viking count to combat the BC's, Polt would lose the air army, not have enough bio due to the money he had to put into the BC's and lose the game. Sadly for Polt, the latter happened, MVP gathering enough vikings to take down the BC's and winning the game in explosive fashion.

After being handed his Blizzard Cup spot due to being 5th in GSL points, a lot of people said that Polt didn't deserve it; that a player like Sen or Xigua would be a better choice than Polt who had just fallen out of Code S. In this Round of Six clash, we learned two things: MVP is still the best player in the world with the best mechanics, and Polt is still one of the best Terrans in the world. The final game showcased the best mech user in the world and one of, if not the best, bionic players in the world.

Artosis was right. When MVP plays mech at his best in a standard game, pure bio will not beat him. Polt put up a valiant last effort, but it just wasn't enough. MVP has all the cheat codes and wants another trophy. Can the high octane drop-style of MMA take down mech? We'll find out tonight.

Semi-Final Match One: oGs.MC vs MVPDongRaeGu

MLG Providence this year was a breakout tournament for Leenock, and with his back to back tournament finals appearances I don't think anybody expected him to get dropped the way he got dropped by MC. MC handled Leenock's aggression easily, tempering Leenock the first game with a patient 3-gate expand, mauling him the second with a maxxed 2-base Protoss ball, and busting Leenock's Nydus bust in the final game. MC was looking sharp, like the MC of olde, running what appeared to be riskless MC strategies and flawless MC muscle play. Even game three, which he lost, was a credit to MC - he tossed out a splattering of DTs and early zealot pressure to earn himself a few points for mixing it up while up 2-0. Despite trading a dozen zealots for a spinecrawler and three roaches early, he still managed to bore a hole in Leenock's front with blink stalkers, snipe all the broodlords and infestors, and look just about as if he was on the verge of winning anway.

But still, that series reminded me a lot of how PvZ was played in February... Forge FE into Tech into Timing into Blink Stalker/Colossus and micro and hope for the best. That style of PvZ was eventually figured out, as all timed midgame builds eventually are, and it ushered in an era where PvZ was almost all 2-base all-ins one way or the other, with a smattering of macro games and a win ratio heavily slanted towards the Swarm. MC seems to think that now is the time to bring it back, with sim city answers to Zergling counters, slightly improved upgrades and FE defenses and a few mix-ups here and there to keep the Zerg on their toes. Where are the Warp Prism and creative forcefield and drop tactics that we've been seeing from his housemate HerO? Where are the fast third bases and creative Zealot play? (well, as creative as you can get with Zealots...) I'm not 100% sure the MC we saw last night is very different from the fallen-from-grace MC of a few months ago.

But enough about Protoss. DongRaeGu, our resident Zerg of interest, has been on a ZvP up trend of late. Where Leenock prefers to 1-A and then control while the units are spreading (a painful thing to watch against MC's precision spacing and micro) DongRaeGu prefers flanks and multiple control groups. Where Leenock chose the stocky and inflexible Roach/Hydra balls of old to compose his composition, DongRaeGu prefers more mobile and flexible builds using Zerglings as a core or flanking reserve. Whereas Leenock always seemed a touch behind on upgrades, DongRaeGu has a penchant for staying ahead. Where Leenock brawls and trades with his army, DongRaeGu can stay patient and prepare or counterattack. Overall and especially against MC's style where minimizing damage is paramount, I think DRG is going to eek out a lot more edges against MC.

In their last meeting at MLG, MC took the fight to DRG with a pair of middle of the road 2-base all-ins - both failed and MC was out. In MC's games against Leenock, the oGs legend appeared composed and powerful, but he still seems to be running strategies from earlier in the year. On the other side of the coin, DongRaeGu has recently showcased a modern and prepared ZvP, where he can really utilize his mobility and flexibility as a mechanically sound, reactive player to his advantage. DRG's last meeting with MinChul he proved that he could meet and overcome the Boss Toss's time-worn timings, and I don't think that MC has the preptime to prepare new ones for this difficult matchup. My prediction? MC wins against mutas, loses to infestor/broodlord, defends an all-in and puts up a good rumble but ends up rumbling himself out with close-but-no-cigar timing attack.

Prediction: DRG 3 - 2 MC

Semi-Final Match Two: SlayerS_MMA vs IMMvp

After defeating Polt in an exciting four game series, the King of Terran and three-time GSL champion moves onto to face the other player he graced with a Blizzard Cup spot. The ace from Slayers, the only player to ever defeat MVP in a GSL final: MMA. In another battle of the the two highest ranked Terran in the world, these two will vie for a chance to take another grand stage at the Blizzard Cup Grand Final. Both have shown so far this tournament that they are the top of their games, MMA going 5-1 in the group stage (only losing to Polt before getting his revenge the next time they faced) and MVP being a stellar 6-2 after his victory over the TSL Terran in the Round of Six.

The last time these two faced in the GSL, MMA came out victorious in Anaheim, shocking many by finally being the player to defeat the unstoppable MVP in the finale of a GSL season. To win, MMA played the perfect series; he started off with two tricky strategies, catching the defending champion off guard, playing like his mentor Boxer and getting a quick 2-0 lead. MMA, playing directly like his name, came out swinging in the first ten seconds of the fight and startled the heavyweight champion with stiff jab to the cheek and then an uppercut to the chin before he even realized the bell had rung.

With MMA being up so convincingly in the series, MVP had to play catch-up. He tried his best, but MMA wouldn't let him get back. He ended it in five games and was able to capture his first crown. Now, only two months later, these two will face off once more to see who truly is the strongest Terran of 2011. Both had decent November seasons, MMA getting to the quarterfinals before losing to Oz in a five game series and MVP doing the same against Leenock in one of the greatest series in Starcraft 2 so far.

For MMA to win, he'll need to bring the strategies. He had an extra day to practice for MVP while his opponent had to practice for a much different opponent in Polt and now only has twenty-four hours to prepare for MMA. With that extra time, I expect MMA to have a special build up his sleeve for one of the first two games. It is imperative for the Slayers ace to get out of the gates early; if he loses the first game, he doesn't want to try playing comeback against the Game Genie Terran.

Looking at the two players, I would say that the better mechanics and game sense are definitely in the favor of MVP. He knows what to do at every corner and will punish you if he spots the tiniest weakness in your build. The strength that MMA can hold over MVP is that he has the build advantage. MVP does have great training partners in Happy and Yoda, but they don't match up when MMA has an arsenal of Terran practice partners to choose from: Boxer, Ganzi, Ryung, Clide, and Taeja. Who is your pick? With all that talent and brain power on his side, MMA will be able to get the optimal builds to use in this series.

If MMA wants to win, he needs to play risky. He will need to take chances. Last night Polt went for a Thor rush in the first game against MVP, got scouted, and lost instantly afterward. If these two play five straight standard games, I would say that MVP wins in three or four games. If MMA can play like he did at Blizzcon, doing strategies that will catch him off guard, he can win this series. He'll need to get inside the Terran King's head and put him on tilt like the October finals. If he can do that, he'll repeat what he did two months ago and get into the finals. If he can't, and MVP is able to see through the tricks and not let himself lose a game due to a unique strategy, I see him winning this series.

Who wants it more? MVP wants another trophy to add to his case of titles. MMA wants to prove that October wasn't a fluke and that he can take down MVP's mech play. If you enjoy TvT, this series is for you. Even if you don't, this series is for you. Two of the best players in the world battling it out for a chance at the finals on Saturday? Don't miss it or you're killing e-sports.

Prediction: MVP 3 - 1 MMA