EPT
IEM: A Dramatic Day Two
Just two days into the event with the quarterfinals yet to be played, the 2014 IEM World Championship is already one of the most memorable tournaments of the year. Thrilling games and stunning comebacks abounded, but it was NaNiwa's abrupt forfeiture that stole the show and made March 14, 2014 a day to go down in esports history.
[A]NaNiwa's disinterest in StarCraft 2 was well known before the tournament, and few expected the Swedish Protoss player to put up more than token resistance against TvP specialist 
CMStorm_Polt in their Ro16 match. However, things quickly took a dramatic turn once Polt scouted out Naniwa's proxy-gateway all-in in game one (VOD). Complaints about soundproofing lead to a quick GG from NaNiwa, and eventually resulted in a sudden, mid-series forfeiture (details here). The internet was soon abuzz with discussion over NaNiwa's action, and the shadow of his forfeiture lingered over the rest of the proceedings.NaNiwa was not the only player to be the subject of scrutiny.
Liquid`TaeJa, who had shocked many with his IdrA-esque, early surrender timings at February's ASUS ROG Winter, continued to be afflicted by the same mental malaise when he faced mYi's StarDust. TaeJa quickly went down 0-2 in the series (VODs]), abruptly surrendering out of games where StarDust had gained a marginal advantage. A 0-3 loss would have put TaeJa at the center of a fiasco to rival NaNiwa's, but he managed to recover his senses in time to score a 3-2 comeback.![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/iem/wc2014/ro16bracket_2.png)
Despite featuring two bizarre incidents, day two of IEM was book-ended by series that were notable for the exciting StarCraft 2 that was played.
Roccat.HyuN very nearly scored a massive upset over CJ_herO in the opening series of the day as his greed and mass units threatened to overwhelm the two-time IEM championship. However, HyuN blew a chance to close the series out 3-1 when he made the mistake of giving combat to herO in a game where continued backstab attempts would surely have won him the game. Instead, herO was able to use his excellent blink micro to destroy HyuN's overconfident army and tie up the series 2-2. herO's blink micro shined again in the fifth and final set, as his two base blink-stalker all-in was too much for HyuN to overcome.The final series of the day,
CMStorm_Revival vs. mYi.jjakji, gave day two a perfect ending. Coming into the tournament as one of its most shrouded participants, Revival pulled ahead to a 2-1 lead with strong muta-ling play. One game away from elimination, jjakji decided to put his faith in his mechanic Terran style on Heavy Rain. What ensued was a game that was extremely reminiscent of the excellent game played between HyuN and jjakji weeks earlier at SeatStory Cup, a game where jjakji's mech fell apart after fighting for eighty grueling minutes. In a much shorter game that saw Revival lose nearly two hundred mutalisks, jjakji flipped the script and outlasted his opponent.That win only tied the series 2-2, and jjakji found himself needing one more miracle to advance. Revival's great muta-ling play was too much for jjakji yet again in game five, and he looked to be cruising toward a quarterfinal berth as his huge pack of mutalisks controlled the map. However, the game instantly turned around when Revival flew his mutalisks straight into jjakji's widow mine trap, losing dozens of supply in an instant. Revival was unable to recover from the sudden loss of his army and was forced to surrender a painstaking GG to jjakji.
Day two of IEM also featured several high level Protoss vs. Protoss series which were unfortunately overshadowed by both the in-game and out-of-game drama of the other series. The results from the series were mostly unsurprising, as the players with the better recent form advanced. San defeated MC, Dear took out HerO, and sOs eliminated Oz to reach the quarterfinals.
The IEM World Championship will continue on day three, beginning with the final match of the Ro16 in Life vs. Rogue (which was delayed due to schedule overrun). Afterward, the entire quarter and semifinal brackets will be played out, leaving only the grand finals to be played on Sunday.
