The May 3rd-4th weekend saw three champions crowned on three different continents as EG.Jaedong, Liquid`Snute, and yoeFW.San emerged victorious in Lone Star Clash 3, the TakeTV ULTRA Invitational, and the TeSL Super League Season 3. The three tournaments wrapped up a flurry activity before the start of WCS Premier League Season 2.
Following a slow start to the year, Jaedong picked up his first championship of 2014 with a 4-2 win over CMStorm_Polt at Lone Star Clash 3. The Texas event saw Jaedong defeat StatePrime and AX.Heart in the group stages, followed by EG.Stephano, viOLet and finally Polt in the bracket stages. Jaedong was awarded $7,500 for taking first place, alongside 300 WCS points to place him at 11th in the overall standings.
The semi-retired EG.Stephano provided the tournament with an curious secondary storyline, as he displayed his unusual fondness for swarm hosts in a 140 minute ZvZ victory against ROOT.Petraeus. Though diminished from his prime, Stephano still showed impressive skill, managing to take Jaedong all five games before losing in their quarterfinal series.
Liquid`Snute won his third championship at TakeTV's Krefeld house, defeating Roccat.HyuN 4-2 to win the TakeTV ULTRA Invitational. The victory closely mirrored Snute's victory at SeatStory Cup, where Snute defeated HyuN by the same 4-2 scoreline in the finals. Snute won $3,000 for his first place finish.
Besides Snute's finals victory, the ULTRA Invitational was notable for the strong performance of European players against Koreans. Third place finisher XMG.Socke eliminated both Ai.Patience and MC from the tournament, while fourth place finisher Liquid`TLO eliminated Ai.Revenge and YoDa.
yoeFW.San continued to reign supreme in Taiwan's TeSL Super League, winning the Season 3 championship with a 4-0 victory over HKA.Sen in the grand finals. The Season 3 victory gave San his second consecutive Super League title after winning Season 2 in January, where he also defeated Sen in the finals. San earned 70,000 New Taiwan Dollars for first place (approximately $2,300) as well as 300 WCS points to place him at 3rd place in the standings.
Combined with his win in 2012-2013 Proleague Season 2, San has now won three total championships in TeSL tournaments, all with victories over Sen in the finals.
The Snute vs First games at TakeTV really impressed me, never thought much of First but those games changed my mind about him. Very played and fun to watch games.
Congrats to Jaedong! Taking out polt as well? I remember when he lost 4-0 to him last year in one of those disappointing finals. Great to hear that he's making progress in his vT :D Also, congrats to Snute and San!
I mostly watched the Lone Star Classic. It was a great tournament with a great lineup.
Got to see State and White-Ra play for the first time in a long time, Huk and Stephano played better than expected imo, and the quarterfinals with viOLet, Jaedong, Polt and Bomber couldn't have been any better. Great all-around tournament. The only bummer was that their "5 minute breaks" always ended up being half at least half an hour...
On May 05 2014 15:59 Shuffleblade wrote: The Snute vs First games at TakeTV really impressed me, never thought much of First but those games changed my mind about him. Very played and fun to watch games.
also, Congrats to Snute, San and Jaedong =D
Never thought much of First?? Really? He's played some incredible games in the past, my favorite being a PvP against Rain when he was at the height of his powers.. Day9 did a great daily about it also.
Its just a matter of time before Snute will take a major championship. His zvz is stellar, and in his games against First he showcased that he by all means can keep up with relentless korean pressure and multitasking. Coach Park wasnt lying when he sad that Snute will become the best foreigner.
As long as he avoids ZvT in WCS he has a great shot at taking it down!
On May 05 2014 21:53 Soke wrote: I think it says a lot that the retired Stephano STILL displayed JaeDong's biggest challenge.
it seemed like a matchup problem, i was worried he would lose because stephano knew how to get to his zvz SHs and stephano is probably the best at it. But his mutalisk tech switches and his own (and superior!) version of SH play got him through!
On May 05 2014 23:11 SniXSniPe wrote: Had Bomber defeated Polt, I'm really feeling he would have crushed Jaedong in the finals.
That game 5 between Polt and Bomber was very sad
Next season is Terran's turn to get favored with the maps... I hope there are some left :/
Either Zerg is favored as well or Protoss is. Since HotS even the Mech turtle maps aren't super Terran favored anymore. Maybe 2 Islands near the main !
lol, never suspected that there were 3 major tournaments going on for the weekend
And even now when I read the title - I was like - ahh, k, group stage done, well done for the players.. And then when I started reading was - w.t.f. - 3 tourneys done ?, already ?
I saw TakeTV had like 7k viewers at a time, but not knowing German, so though - this must be some showmatch
======================================================================================= Well regardless of the spoilers - reccomend me a couple of good series, as watching the finals ATM..
Snute is on fire at Take's place. He has a good shot of winning HSC9 too!
On May 06 2014 00:20 SoniC_eu wrote: Raise your dongers for the JD :D Im really excited that Snute won over Hyun. He is turning into the foreign hope, more and more
Idk I've considered him one of, if not, the best foreigner for quite a while now.
LoneStarClash, I actually tuned out every time I saw Stephano going SH... but the crowd there was hilarious for their "SH Love". Always happy to see the Tyrant taking championships!
Déjà vu @ TakeTV ULTRA Invitational, congrats to the Snutalisk.
On May 05 2014 21:53 Soke wrote: I think it says a lot that the retired Stephano STILL displayed JaeDong's biggest challenge.
it seemed like a matchup problem, i was worried he would lose because stephano knew how to get to his zvz SHs and stephano is probably the best at it. But his mutalisk tech switches and his own (and superior!) version of SH play got him through!
you have gas?
2k
you fun?
YOU
FUN?
I think Stephano is playing really well though, the one Swarm Host game he was very aggressive and did very well, and in the other game he won, he just outplayed JaeDong. With all this said, taking JvZ to all 5 games as a foreigner is very much so an accomplishment, and he still was JaeDong's biggest challenge in the tournament, Stephano is just playing very well atm.
I don't think anyone has superior SH to Stephano, when Stephano get's SH, you lose. :D
On May 05 2014 21:53 Soke wrote: I think it says a lot that the retired Stephano STILL displayed JaeDong's biggest challenge.
it seemed like a matchup problem, i was worried he would lose because stephano knew how to get to his zvz SHs and stephano is probably the best at it. But his mutalisk tech switches and his own (and superior!) version of SH play got him through!
you have gas?
2k
you fun?
YOU
FUN?
there were plenty of cool chats during the tournament. Also the 2hr zvz wasn't fun to watch, but what went through the players mind and what we saw on chat....
On May 05 2014 21:53 Soke wrote: I think it says a lot that the retired Stephano STILL displayed JaeDong's biggest challenge.
it seemed like a matchup problem, i was worried he would lose because stephano knew how to get to his zvz SHs and stephano is probably the best at it. But his mutalisk tech switches and his own (and superior!) version of SH play got him through!
you have gas?
2k
you fun?
YOU
FUN?
I think Stephano is playing really well though, the one Swarm Host game he was very aggressive and did very well, and in the other game he won, he just outplayed JaeDong. With all this said, taking JvZ to all 5 games as a foreigner is very much so an accomplishment, and he still was JaeDong's biggest challenge in the tournament, Stephano is just playing very well atm.
I don't think anyone has superior SH to Stephano, when Stephano get's SH, you lose. :D
Stephano's SH play is the definition of passive play wtf, its how he beat JD that game and yes his SH is superior but i definitely prefer the way Jaedong used it, almost makes me believe SH might have a place in zvz
On May 05 2014 21:20 Telon Petrides wrote: Congrats to the winners, but I am sad no terran winners for the last 6 months. The maps are really huge right now.
EPT
EG.Jaedong, 
yoeFW.San emerged victorious in Lone Star Clash 3, the TakeTV ULTRA Invitational, and the TeSL Super League Season 3. The three tournaments wrapped up a flurry activity before the start of WCS Premier League Season 2.
CMStorm_Polt at Lone Star Clash 3. The Texas event saw Jaedong defeat StatePrime and AX.Heart in the group stages, followed by EG.Stephano, viOLet and finally Polt in the bracket stages. Jaedong was awarded $7,500 for taking first place, alongside 300 WCS points to place him at 11th in the overall standings.![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/funtimesattaketv.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/sanwinsagain.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmyuEmzCQAAXO2a.jpg)
lets hope it's the start of something even bigger
