TaeJa takes second DreamHack title with a spotless run in the Round of 16
by stuchiu
The Summer of Liquid`TaeJa 2013 continued as the Liquid ace continued his championship winning world tour in Bucharest. Just one day after a clutch performance in the finals of SC2L that ensured his team's victory over Acer, he one-upped himself on Sunday by cruising through his Ro16 bracket at DH Bucharest without dropping even a single map. He capped off a brilliant tournament by defeating Acer.INnoVation—a player he had taken down in the SC2L finals as well—by a one-sided scoreline of 3 - 0 in the grand finals.
TaeJa's Path (check out full brackets on Liquipedia!)
Group Stage 2 2 - 0 vs. Basterd 2 - 1 vs. SjoW 2 - 1 vs. Welmu
TaeJa put on an especially impressive performance in the grand finals, looking as if he had put the practice time he gained after the WCS Season Finals to very good use. The first game was a demonstration of how to beat mech with bio, a match reminiscent of TaeJa and INnoVation's epic clash at the WCS Season 2 Finals. However, this time it was solely the Taeja show, with Innovation left no breathing room to stage a comeback. TaeJa's bio outmaneuvered Innovation's mech forces, and INnoVation was suffocated as TaeJa took half the map. The Liquid Terran then transitioned into Sky Terran, to which INnoVation reacted cleverly with widow mines. While the mines defeated the air fleet, Taeja's bio forces were able to easily clean up INnoVation's weakened ground force and take the game.
The series moved onto Neo Planet S for game two, where TaeJa took his second win by goading INnoVation into a poor base trade. Finally, to close it out, TaeJa showed he was perfectly fine playing mech vs. bio as well. Although his gas first opening was punished by Innovation's cc first build, TaeJa was able to take the game long and build up a powerful mech composition. TaeJa held firm against INnoVation's attempts to disorient him, and marched to victory with a frontal attack after maxing out.
With the 3 - 0 victory, Taeja became the second member of Team Liquid and second player ever to win two StarCraft 2 championships at DreamHack. It was also his third championship of the year, after HomeStoryCup 7 and ASUS ROG Summer.
Leessang woes, the Finnish phenom, and the other stories of DH
KeSPA players like Flash and sOs would normally be bound to domestic competition, but the end of the Proleague season seemed to entice them to give the European tournament a shot. And while eSF are usually strapped for cash, there was an unusual amount of expenditure for DH Bucharest as Life, Symbol, Avenge, sC, SuperNova and Hurricane joined the tournament.
Combine those players with the usual suspects from foreign teams such as TaeJa, HerO, ForGG, Jaedong, INnoVation and many more, Bucharest ended up having a roster that challenged Code S for sheer quality.
Leessang Woes
KT_Flash didn't inspire much fear at the Code S Group Selection, with several players expressing their desire to play against him. At DreamHack, we got to see exactly why.
Flash began the tournament by losing in a shock upset to Roccat.DIMAGA, whose well prepared mass ling-bane-OVERSEER style caught Flash off guard and allowed him to win a one-sided 2 - 0 victory. While Flash managed to advance from his group despite the loss, the Brood War legend suffered even more embarrassment in the next group stage. In a group together with AX.Ryung, Acer.MMA, and ROOT.YugiOh, Flash suffered losses against MMA and YuGiOh to be eliminated from the tournament in the Ro32.
Things didn't go that much better for Flash's old rival EG.Jaedong, who came into the tournament on the back of four second place finishes (the last one at the WCS Season 2 Finals). Unfortunately for Jaedong, he made no progress toward breaking his Kong curse, getting eliminated in the Ro16 by a fellow WCS runner-up player in Woongjin_sOs.
Elfi the Finnish Phenom
So, who was the top placing foreigner at this terrifyingly Korean tournament? Why, it was none other than the Finnish Protoss Ence.elfi, who finished the tournament in sixth place. Though rarely a championship contender in European competition, Elfi's affinity for cats, talent at PvP, and penchant for creating upsets gave him a unique cult following.
Elfi had a most elfi-esque run at Bucharest, getting by Oz and TLO in the Ro32, and then defeating the DH: Summer champion StarDust in the Ro16. While elfi was predictably mauled by INnoVation in the quarter-finals, he scored yet another elfi-upset by defeating ForGG in the placement matches. Elfi even had a chance to secure a seed at DreamHack Winter as he headed into a showdown for 5th place against sOs. However, his vaunted PvP failed him at the most crucial hurdle, and he fell to sixth place after a 0 - 2 loss. Even though Elfi won't be headed to DreamHack Winter, he still gets enjoy being able to say he finished higher at a tournament than Jaedong and Flash.
Shoutouts: Other Notable Performances
Acer.Nerchio: Nerchio was the second highest placing foreigner of the tournament, reaching the Ro16 before getting eliminated 2 - 1 by Life. Word has it that he is actually pretty well-mannered IRL, even shaking Stardust's hand. How shocking!.
Ence.Serral: The 15 year old Zerg from Finland impressed everyone by giving Code S player Azubu.SuperNova a fight he'll certainly remember. Their second game on Whirlwind may have been the best of the tournament.
ROOT.YugiOh: "Street cred" probably isn't a word we should be using in StarCraft 2, but if any player has it, it's YuGiOh. He's the player with a ghetto version of the "Nestea" award for playing in eleven consecutive Code A tournaments. He's the player who successfully made it into WCS Korea's Premier League, despite ROOT Gaming giving him an opportunity to flee to WCS America. And now, he's also the player who eliminated Flash from DreamHack Bucharest.
Roccat.DIMAGA: He beat Flash, but lost to Harstem and White to be eliminated from his group anyway. A greater travesty than elfi defeating TaeJa but still getting eliminated from DH: Summer.
David Kim: We had 5/5/6 racial distribution in both the Ro16 of Code S AND DreamHack Bucharest. Blizzard should take care that his smugness doesn't grow too large, or it might start distorting time-space around Irvine, CA.
On September 16 2013 15:44 lichter wrote: YugiOh > Flash, discuss (no one wants to discuss this with me )
never expected this result >< Wonder what Flash's mental state is like after those losses today.
Good writeup. Still seemed really odd to see Flash and Jaedong losing so early in DH. Maybe Flash just needs more time. Innovation should learn how to TvT though lol
On September 16 2013 15:44 lichter wrote: YugiOh > Flash, discuss (no one wants to discuss this with me )
never expected this result >< Wonder what Flash's mental state is like after those losses today.
Good writeup. Still seemed really odd to see Flash and Jaedong losing so early in DH. Maybe Flash just needs more time. Innovation should learn how to TvT though lol
Jaedong has grown leaps and bounds in the past few months. Flash seems to have stagnated, though he still has Code S to prove us wrong. But if he still gets bumped off in Ro16... eventually we're going to run out of excuses for him.
On September 16 2013 16:06 iEatWoofers wrote: Ah the David Kim remark made me laugh good stuff!
And I guess it's well known that Nerchio can be BM but it still kinda surprised me...
The thing about Nerchio is, he doesn't get angry when he loses (he won the game in the screen shot), he just gets angry at people that don't scout and play the same thing all the time without reacting. He has no respect for them and will troll and bm them for their play. That's also what ticked him off with ForGG, doesn't mean he hates the person and he is nice IRL. Pretty similiar to Idra actually, without the trolling.
Also, I'm pretty happy with MMA performance. After what we've seen of him during the WCS and the past few months, that was such a relief to see him place high at a tournament !
Fun fact Innovation now has more second place finishes than first place finishes in SC2. Just gotta turn up that consistency notch a little higher and one day you too can be Taeja, the plunderer of foreign tournaments.
Taeja is now a six time champion of premier foreign tournaments, beating out the record for all other players including Mvp(4 gsl + 5 foreign).
On September 16 2013 15:44 lichter wrote: YugiOh > Flash, discuss (no one wants to discuss this with me )
Was the first time Flash has played outside Korea since the beginning of the year? I think he just wasn't prepared for what he was about to step into again. Im sure he will show us a much better showing of his current level in his group in WCS KR.
Trip would of done him good though, got to see some good games and play vs a variety of players
On September 16 2013 15:44 lichter wrote: YugiOh > Flash, discuss (no one wants to discuss this with me )
never expected this result >< Wonder what Flash's mental state is like after those losses today.
Good writeup. Still seemed really odd to see Flash and Jaedong losing so early in DH. Maybe Flash just needs more time. Innovation should learn how to TvT though lol
I reckon it was the long flight, he did say in a recent interview he didnt like them. That said, as a champion I dont think he will be taking the losses to well, anyways theres still GSL code S Ro16 :D.
Agreed on the Innovation and TvT :D but man, Taeja imba
On September 16 2013 15:44 lichter wrote: YugiOh > Flash, discuss (no one wants to discuss this with me )
Was the first time Flash has played outside Korea since the beginning of the year? I think he just wasn't prepared for what he was about to step into again. Im sure he will show us a much better showing of his current level in his group in WCS KR.
Trip would of done him good though, got to see some good games and play vs a variety of players
No, Flash played in MLG Dallas in March and reached the finals where to lost to Life 4-2
Taeja is so brillant ! The amazing thing about his games it was nearly perfect play versus all his opponent from the ro16. He deflected the allins of life and sOS with very smart play and awesome micro.
The defense vs life Bling roach allin was just amazing with the medivac micro.
Taeja is looking god. Maybe the best player atm.
I would love to see a DRG vs Taeja final at blizzcon!
Nerchio seems to be a little Trash-Talk-Kid, BUT He was the 1st of Team Acer that congratulated Team Liquid to their victory in SC2L-Finals, when all those good mannerd Koreans (Innovation and MMA) stood still there and couldn't believe they lost the Final. Whatever, i just wanna point out, that I personally don't have Problems with some flames or his Trash Talk, as long as the one has the guts to congratulate someone who beat him!
Great writeup, but if you are going to mention Serral you really should have mentioned that game 2 vs Jaedong. Not only did he play really well, but he managed to beat JD in a 30 minute macro muta game.
On September 16 2013 17:20 Vapaach wrote: Great writeup, but if you are going to mention Serral you really should have mentioned that game 2 vs Jaedong. Not only did he play really well, but he managed to beat JD in a 30 minute macro muta game.
I think its better to mention the game vs SuperNoVa , while he lost it, he played a lot better there. Jaedong was dead and 20 mutas behind and Serral nearly managed to blow it, so while taking a map in a macro game is nice, his game vs SuperNoVa was more impressive
On September 16 2013 18:18 dextrin303 wrote: Damn Innovation has really fallen
I don't think that Inno has fallen that much, he still reached the final, and his TvT had always been his weakness. If he manage to fix his TvT then he can be quite unstoppable
David Kim: We had 5/5/6 racial distribution in both the Ro16 of Code S AND DreamHack Bucharest. Blizzard should take care that his smugness doesn't grow too large, or it might start distorting time-space around Irvine, CA.
Hahaha :D Great article for a great tournament. Too bad for Flash and Jaedong, but hey, shit happens, I still believe in them. And good job, Blizzard, we have nice balance and the games are pretty exciting. Now I'll run away before Kim's smugness catches me!
I was there live and it was an awesome experience, I strongly recommend going to a tournament, any tournament you can, at least once in your life, and if you are a player sign up and compete for the experience. It was a very memorable couple of days, especially the moment when Taeja won and the crowd roared and everyone stood up to clap, you could feel the energy in the room.
I definitely shall treasure these moments fondly. Esports rocking and Taeja fighting!
David Kim: We had 5/5/6 racial distribution in both the Ro16 of Code S AND DreamHack Bucharest. Blizzard should take care that his smugness doesn't grow too large, or it might start distorting time-space around Irvine, CA.
If anyone check the race destribution from the tournament, will see that and the previous round where the only points in the whole tournament there was race equity... This is totally nitpicking and completly stupid.
(Wiki)2013 DreamHack Open/Bucharest
round of 96: 35 Protoss 20 Terran 37 Zerg round of 64: 22 Protoss 16 Terran 26 Zerg round of 32: 12 Protoss 11 Terran 9 Zerg round of 16: 6 Protoss 5 Terran 5 Zerg round of 8: 2 Protoss 5 Terran 1 Zerg round of 4: 0 Protoss 3 Terran 1 Zerg round of 2: 0 Protoss 2 Terran 0 Zerg
Looking at the numbers it's pretty easy to see that after 4 rounds of tournament Protoss had lost 29 out of 35, Terran 15 out of 20 and Zerg 32 out of 37, so unless David Kim thinks Terran Players are just better then everyone else than that comment is just stupid and obviously not a very well tought response.
On September 16 2013 19:40 Batiste wrote: Still no Toss in finals, what a surprise
WCS EU Season 2 Finals - 3 month ago won by Protoss Dreamhack Open Summer - 3 month ago won by Protoss WCS AM Season 1 Finals - 4 month ago won by Protoss
What do you expect? Protoss to win everything? Also about being in final
ASUS ROG Summer 2013 - 1 month ago (saN as runner-up) IEM Season VIII Shanghai - 2 month ago (Oz as runner-up)
On September 16 2013 19:42 Bazik wrote: David Kim: We had 5/5/6 racial distribution in both the Ro16 of Code S AND DreamHack Bucharest. Blizzard should take care that his smugness doesn't grow too large, or it might start distorting time-space around Irvine, CA.
If anyone check the race destribution from the tournament, will see that and the previous round where the only points in the whole tournament there was race equity... This is totally nitpicking and completly stupid.
(Wiki)2013 DreamHack Open/Bucharest
round of 96: 35 Protoss 20 Terran 37 Zerg round of 64: 22 Protoss 16 Terran 26 Zerg round of 32: 12 Protoss 11 Terran 9 Zerg round of 16: 6 Protoss 5 Terran 5 Zerg round of 8: 2 Protoss 5 Terran 1 Zerg round of 4: 0 Protoss 3 Terran 1 Zerg round of 2: 0 Protoss 2 Terran 0 Zerg
Looking at the numbers it's pretty easy to see that after 4 rounds of tournament Protoss had lost 29 out of 35, Terran 15 out of 20 and Zerg 32 out of 37, so unless David Kim thinks Terran Players are just better then everyone else than that comment is just stupid and obviously not a very well tought response.
Besides it already being mentioned, the Terran line up was very good compared to the players that are outstanding against Terran. In addition 10 Terrans were already seeded in the group stage 2 plus the fact that if you have more players to begin with, you obviously are going to lose more players. Terran had the least players but the highest percentage of quality players compared to Protoss and Zerg. You can go look up Group Stage 1 and tell me how many Protoss already died there that you have never head of compared to Terrans.
On September 16 2013 19:42 Bazik wrote: David Kim: We had 5/5/6 racial distribution in both the Ro16 of Code S AND DreamHack Bucharest. Blizzard should take care that his smugness doesn't grow too large, or it might start distorting time-space around Irvine, CA.
If anyone check the race destribution from the tournament, will see that and the previous round where the only points in the whole tournament there was race equity... This is totally nitpicking and completly stupid.
(Wiki)2013 DreamHack Open/Bucharest
round of 96: 35 Protoss 20 Terran 37 Zerg round of 64: 22 Protoss 16 Terran 26 Zerg round of 32: 12 Protoss 11 Terran 9 Zerg round of 16: 6 Protoss 5 Terran 5 Zerg round of 8: 2 Protoss 5 Terran 1 Zerg round of 4: 0 Protoss 3 Terran 1 Zerg round of 2: 0 Protoss 2 Terran 0 Zerg
Looking at the numbers it's pretty easy to see that after 4 rounds of tournament Protoss had lost 29 out of 35, Terran 15 out of 20 and Zerg 32 out of 37, so unless David Kim thinks Terran Players are just better then everyone else than that comment is just stupid and obviously not a very well tought response.
Besides it already being mentioned, the Terran line up was very good compared to the players that are outstanding against Terran. In addition 10 Terrans were already seeded in the group stage 2 plus the fact that if you have more players to begin with, you obviously are going to lose more players. Terran had the least players but the highest percentage of quality players compared to Protoss and Zerg. You can go look up Group Stage 1 and tell me how many Protoss already died there that you have never head of compared to Terrans.
Well the only way that holds up is if we assume that there are less Terrans playing professionally hence less Terrans at DreamHack but they are overall more skilled hence better win rates over other pros.
Either that or the stars alligned to create this situation where the good Protoss's and the good Zergs didn't attend the tournament...
Or the outrageous possibility that there's a problem with the game.
On September 16 2013 19:42 Bazik wrote: David Kim: We had 5/5/6 racial distribution in both the Ro16 of Code S AND DreamHack Bucharest. Blizzard should take care that his smugness doesn't grow too large, or it might start distorting time-space around Irvine, CA.
If anyone check the race destribution from the tournament, will see that and the previous round where the only points in the whole tournament there was race equity... This is totally nitpicking and completly stupid.
(Wiki)2013 DreamHack Open/Bucharest
round of 96: 35 Protoss 20 Terran 37 Zerg round of 64: 22 Protoss 16 Terran 26 Zerg round of 32: 12 Protoss 11 Terran 9 Zerg round of 16: 6 Protoss 5 Terran 5 Zerg round of 8: 2 Protoss 5 Terran 1 Zerg round of 4: 0 Protoss 3 Terran 1 Zerg round of 2: 0 Protoss 2 Terran 0 Zerg
Looking at the numbers it's pretty easy to see that after 4 rounds of tournament Protoss had lost 29 out of 35, Terran 15 out of 20 and Zerg 32 out of 37, so unless David Kim thinks Terran Players are just better then everyone else than that comment is just stupid and obviously not a very well tought response.
Besides it already being mentioned, the Terran line up was very good compared to the players that are outstanding against Terran. In addition 10 Terrans were already seeded in the group stage 2 plus the fact that if you have more players to begin with, you obviously are going to lose more players. Terran had the least players but the highest percentage of quality players compared to Protoss and Zerg. You can go look up Group Stage 1 and tell me how many Protoss already died there that you have never head of compared to Terrans.
Well the only way that holds up is if we assume that there are less Terrans playing professionally hence less Terrans at DreamHack but they are overall more skilled hence better win rates over other pros.
Either that or the stars alligned to create this situation where the good Protoss's and the good Zergs didn't attend the tournament...
Or the outrageous possibility that there's a problem with the game.
Or the outrageous possibility that coincidence, bracket luck, or just pure luck aligned in such a way that terran had the most percentage of players advancing throughout the event.
Seriously stop spoiling and slandering the awesomeness of the event with pointless balance or design accusations, please go to one of the many balance related threats and qq in there.
In my eyes this was an awesome event, it had a lot of awesome story lines and it should be remembered for what it was, just an all around fantastic tournament.
On September 16 2013 19:42 Bazik wrote: David Kim: We had 5/5/6 racial distribution in both the Ro16 of Code S AND DreamHack Bucharest. Blizzard should take care that his smugness doesn't grow too large, or it might start distorting time-space around Irvine, CA.
If anyone check the race destribution from the tournament, will see that and the previous round where the only points in the whole tournament there was race equity... This is totally nitpicking and completly stupid.
(Wiki)2013 DreamHack Open/Bucharest
round of 96: 35 Protoss 20 Terran 37 Zerg round of 64: 22 Protoss 16 Terran 26 Zerg round of 32: 12 Protoss 11 Terran 9 Zerg round of 16: 6 Protoss 5 Terran 5 Zerg round of 8: 2 Protoss 5 Terran 1 Zerg round of 4: 0 Protoss 3 Terran 1 Zerg round of 2: 0 Protoss 2 Terran 0 Zerg
Looking at the numbers it's pretty easy to see that after 4 rounds of tournament Protoss had lost 29 out of 35, Terran 15 out of 20 and Zerg 32 out of 37, so unless David Kim thinks Terran Players are just better then everyone else than that comment is just stupid and obviously not a very well tought response.
Besides it already being mentioned, the Terran line up was very good compared to the players that are outstanding against Terran. In addition 10 Terrans were already seeded in the group stage 2 plus the fact that if you have more players to begin with, you obviously are going to lose more players. Terran had the least players but the highest percentage of quality players compared to Protoss and Zerg. You can go look up Group Stage 1 and tell me how many Protoss already died there that you have never head of compared to Terrans.
Well the only way that holds up is if we assume that there are less Terrans playing professionally hence less Terrans at DreamHack but they are overall more skilled hence better win rates over other pros.
Either that or the stars alligned to create this situation where the good Protoss's and the good Zergs didn't attend the tournament...
Or the outrageous possibility that there's a problem with the game.
In fact most people agree the players that are insanely good vs Terran were not present. PartinG, Squirtle, First, Rain, SoulKey, hyvaa, soO, DRG... while we had the best TvZ, best TvP present for Terran.
Year ago i was a bit angry how old bw players flamed how kespa pros are going to shit on everyone, now im almost sad that they are not doing so good and how many of them retire.
On September 16 2013 15:44 lichter wrote: YugiOh > Flash, discuss (no one wants to discuss this with me )
never expected this result >< Wonder what Flash's mental state is like after those losses today.
Good writeup. Still seemed really odd to see Flash and Jaedong losing so early in DH. Maybe Flash just needs more time. Innovation should learn how to TvT though lol
Well Jaedong did well in the tournament, he just got a tough matchup in the ro16 against sOs. Surely he can't be blamed for losing that.
i was beyond impressed with MMA's TvT. overall minus some thrown games and a few mistakes against opponents smart enough to capitalize on them he's really shown good form in-game.
I know that Liquid got Taeja when he was already pretty big, but still, the kid seems to be really "ours" and it's great to see his success. If he keeps this going, can we finally see a Liquid player completely dominate? He never got really big in GSL, but now that he has shown that he can easily beat almost anyone, who is there to stop him?
Yeah it's good to see old shinning glory of sc2 coming back: DRG and MMA look quite good nowadays, we just need a MC come back and we will have some awesomeness in all 3 races!
On September 16 2013 21:13 opisska wrote: "Ghetto version of Nestea award" made my day.
I know that Liquid got Taeja when he was already pretty big, but still, the kid seems to be really "ours" and it's great to see his success. If he keeps this going, can we finally see a Liquid player completely dominate? He never got really big in GSL, but now that he has shown that he can easily beat almost anyone, who is there to stop him?
He has multiple top 4 and top 8 finishes and showed amazing games in those runs, how is he not big in GSL?
On September 16 2013 15:44 lichter wrote: YugiOh > Flash, discuss (no one wants to discuss this with me )
never expected this result >< Wonder what Flash's mental state is like after those losses today.
Good writeup. Still seemed really odd to see Flash and Jaedong losing so early in DH. Maybe Flash just needs more time. Innovation should learn how to TvT though lol
Well Jaedong did well in the tournament, he just got a tough matchup in the ro16 against sOs. Surely he can't be blamed for losing that.
But if u look at how he crushed Rain and MC and First in WCS S2 finals......its not impressive. GL to Jaedong hopefully he can be more robust
On September 16 2013 21:06 theseraph wrote: i was beyond impressed with MMA's TvT. overall minus some thrown games and a few mistakes against opponents smart enough to capitalize on them he's really shown good form in-game.
I was also impressed by his performance. g2 vs inno was very close. I hope he can make a real comeback and win some tournaments again!
On September 16 2013 21:06 theseraph wrote: i was beyond impressed with MMA's TvT. overall minus some thrown games and a few mistakes against opponents smart enough to capitalize on them he's really shown good form in-game.
I was also impressed by his performance. g2 vs inno was very close. I hope he can make a real comeback and win some tournaments again!
MMA looked fantastic, really glad to see him performing well again.
On September 16 2013 21:06 theseraph wrote: i was beyond impressed with MMA's TvT. overall minus some thrown games and a few mistakes against opponents smart enough to capitalize on them he's really shown good form in-game.
I was also impressed by his performance. g2 vs inno was very close. I hope he can make a real comeback and win some tournaments again!
MMA looked fantastic, really glad to see him performing well again.
Agreed. MMA should have had game two vs innovation. I think he was actually playing better overall and his playstyle vs that of TaeJa would have been epic.
On September 16 2013 21:13 opisska wrote: "Ghetto version of Nestea award" made my day.
I know that Liquid got Taeja when he was already pretty big, but still, the kid seems to be really "ours" and it's great to see his success. If he keeps this going, can we finally see a Liquid player completely dominate? He never got really big in GSL, but now that he has shown that he can easily beat almost anyone, who is there to stop him?
He has multiple top 4 and top 8 finishes and showed amazing games in those runs, how is he not big in GSL?
Lol, I didn't think he was ever top 4, my bad! I knew about the Ro8s, but after so many GSLs, there are so many people who got that far. Still, he didn't even get to the finals - while his play recently makes me think that he could do that very well now. Playing in WCS AM doesn't help this quest either, but I have high hopes at Blizzcon.
On September 16 2013 15:44 lichter wrote: YugiOh > Flash, discuss (no one wants to discuss this with me )
never expected this result >< Wonder what Flash's mental state is like after those losses today.
Good writeup. Still seemed really odd to see Flash and Jaedong losing so early in DH. Maybe Flash just needs more time. Innovation should learn how to TvT though lol
Jaedong has grown leaps and bounds in the past few months. Flash seems to have stagnated, though he still has Code S to prove us wrong. But if he still gets bumped off in Ro16... eventually we're going to run out of excuses for him.
yes, of course he has improved greatly. Hope Flash can get to RO8 and win this WCS KR.
On September 16 2013 15:44 lichter wrote: YugiOh > Flash, discuss (no one wants to discuss this with me )
never expected this result >< Wonder what Flash's mental state is like after those losses today.
Good writeup. Still seemed really odd to see Flash and Jaedong losing so early in DH. Maybe Flash just needs more time. Innovation should learn how to TvT though lol
I reckon it was the long flight, he did say in a recent interview he didnt like them. That said, as a champion I dont think he will be taking the losses to well, anyways theres still GSL code S Ro16 :D.
Agreed on the Innovation and TvT :D but man, Taeja imba
yes exactly. He was pissed after he got knocked out first in the group of death by Parting and Innovation way back so wonder if he's even more pissed now. Hope he takes it easy and just practices and wins more!
On September 16 2013 15:44 lichter wrote: YugiOh > Flash, discuss (no one wants to discuss this with me )
never expected this result >< Wonder what Flash's mental state is like after those losses today.
Good writeup. Still seemed really odd to see Flash and Jaedong losing so early in DH. Maybe Flash just needs more time. Innovation should learn how to TvT though lol
Well Jaedong did well in the tournament, he just got a tough matchup in the ro16 against sOs. Surely he can't be blamed for losing that.
ya, but he defeated stronger P opponents in his WCS finals season 2 run such as Rain and First so losing to sos still seems a bit out of the blue.
I was kinda sad that mma couldn't get past innovation in the semi finals, especially with how well his tvt was that tournament. Game 2 was his to win but he slipped up and innovation rode the momentum swing to a victory in games 3.
On another note I'm getting really tired of listening to people saying that Innovation is slumping.
I think people expect way too much out of guys like Jaedong and Flash. Good luck trying to find someone who will dominant this scene for a year or two. TaeJa has summer down. Only question left for Team Liquid is will HerO prove his worth at DH Winter again? I'm not going to say the three words you would expect next. I just made you think it though.
On September 16 2013 23:42 EAGER-beaver wrote: I was kinda sad that mma couldn't get past innovation in the semi finals, especially with how well his tvt was that tournament. Game 2 was his to win but he slipped up and innovation rode the momentum swing to a victory in games 3.
On another note I'm getting really tired of listening to people saying that Innovation is slumping.
I'm so sad that MMA didn't make it to the finals. I think he could've put up a better fight against Taeja too. Oh well, hopefully he makes it to the WCS Season 3 finals.
You can't negate, Terran is and was, overally, the race that has something more than the other two races. Just in the second half of WoL, zergs have something more. Toss always had something less, maybe cause of the PvP match up, that is too random, at the highest level.
I don't think Taeja is better than Hero, is the race that is more solid considering the three match-up, there is no doubt about it, but Taeja deserves his trophy beating 9-0 all races in the finals, Taeja is atm one of the best players with the best race, he played so well, so he won.
Blizzard should not to balance only the % of pvt, pvz and tvz, but also to improve the gameplay and strategy in all 9 match up, but in 3 years, they never did anything to this direction, just some patch/nerf and 5 more units in HotS, that is not enough.
I was pretty impressed with MMA this tournament. 6-0ing perhaps the hardest Ro32 group, defeating ForGG's TvT, and then playing extremely well in the first 2 games against INnoVation.
EPT
Liquid`TaeJa 2013 continued as the Liquid ace continued his championship winning world tour in Bucharest. Just one day after a clutch performance in the finals of SC2L that ensured his team's victory over Acer, he one-upped himself on Sunday by cruising through his Ro16 bracket at DH Bucharest without dropping even a single map. He capped off a brilliant tournament by defeating 
sOs would normally be bound to domestic competition, but the end of the Proleague season seemed to entice them to give the European tournament a shot. And while eSF are usually strapped for cash, there was an unusual amount of expenditure for DH Bucharest as 
Life, 
Basterd![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/dreamhack/bucharest2013/stupidseperating.png)
)
![[image loading]](http://www.ultraimg.com/images/UM3Qi.gif)
good stuff!
GG TaeJa!
