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United States15275 Posts
When we posted the Power Rank 2 days ago, our focus was on the incredible firepower KeSPA was sending. Their 4 representatives formed the top 4 of our list, each one a former champion or looking like a future champion right now. KT. Zest, JinAir.sOs, and CJ.herO[jOin] stood as the best protosses in the world and most people accepted on faith that they would be contending for the title. Like all things KT. Flash, his presence served as a source of delirious excitement and cautious skepticism. He was on one of the hottest streaks any progamer had ever experienced, and his rat-a-tat-tat takedown of the Korean elite suggested he would fit snugly into the weekend format.
As it turned out, the invaders were stepping on someone else’s turf. Foreign hopes and wandering Koreans, traditional enemies stretching back to the early MLG days, temporarily joined forces to fight the amicable menace. After 2 days in the rough-and-tumble arena, the KeSPA contingent came out looking very human. They went a combined 16-11 (59%) and lost one of their members to the Open Bracket. Every player seeded into the group stage will have to play the final elimination match in order to move on. It’s possible that only 1-2 (or none at all) will actually make it to the quarterfinals.
Overall it was one of the strangest starts we could have asked for. Expect more of the same tomorrow as the final matches of the group stage kick off Day 3. Liquid’Bunny faces Zest in Group A, yoeFW. Leenock gets a rematch against viOLet in Group B, TCM.First runs into sOs again for Group C, and MC gets to show off his clever anti-Flash strategies one last time in Group D.
Notes:
A Bastille Day, of sorts: So far IEM Toronto appears to be the best foreigner showing in a long time. Liquid’Bunny and Liquid’Snute successfully fought their way out of the Open Bracket to qualify for the group stages; if Bunny can pull off some magic against Zest he will be the second foreigner to reach the Ro8. While HuK was not as fortunate as his brethren, he managed to take down Leenock and Jaedong before perishing in the losers final. Acer.Scarlett did not go quietly into the night either, putting up a strong fight against ST.Life before falling to Flash with some flourish.
The Cold Grip of the North: Snute is praised as one of the best foreigners yet he is regularly described as a mere threat to Korean players. Judging from his games at Toronto he ought to be upgraded to Grave Danger, at least when it comes to ZvP. Utilizing his indefatigable swarm host + mass spore crawler defense, Snute overcame herO in 2 grueling series to advance to Stage 2. In the group stage he won the winners match against sOs without swarm hosts, breaking the Jin Air protoss with excellent timings and solid defense. Going into the quarterfinals, all remaining members of Aiur should be quaking at the thought of facing Snute.
You don't like swarmhosts? Deal with it.
The Other Asian Guys: To no one’s surprise, other Korean players besides KeSPA ones got out of the group stage. It was a bit startling to see them all get out in first place though. Liquid’TaeJa of the creaky wrists hardly looked worn-out today, vanquishing Zest and making short work of his teammate Bunny. YoDa proved his burgeoning worth to TCM with close victories against ROCCAT.HyuN and Leenock. Life maintained his scintillating form from Day 1, overcoming a traditional roadblock in Scarlett and manhandling MC in the winners match.
The Disappointment Continues: Once again, EG.Jaedong puts in a performance unworthy of his reputation. Fears that his miserable form would continue into Toronto were proven true as he dropped 0-2 to HuK in embarrassing fashion, including a loss to a 4 gate as he attempted to go 4 hatch before pool. Jaedong showed better games against Leenock but was unable to parlay them into a series win.
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United States97276 Posts
no mention about how the #1 player in the world got eliminated?
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Fiddler's Green42661 Posts
On August 30 2014 11:09 Shellshock wrote:
no mention about how the #1 player in the world got eliminated?
But Miniraiser wasnt playing
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United States97276 Posts
On August 30 2014 11:09 stuchiu wrote:Show nested quote +On August 30 2014 11:09 Shellshock wrote:
no mention about how the #1 player in the world got eliminated? But Miniraiser wasnt playing
Oh you got me there. But Hyun failed to cash in on some more juicy WCS points. His #1 seed could be in jeopardy
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France7248 Posts
is it on purpose you took the bracket without the players who will play deciders matches tomorrow? or did you manage to took a sshot for the 3 minutes it was missing them?
edit: lol, you updated the image 30sec before my post
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1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
On August 30 2014 11:28 Yhamm wrote:
is it on purpose you took the bracket without the players who will play deciders matches tomorrow? or did you manage to took a sshot for the 3 minutes it was missing them?
edit: lol, you updated the image 30sec before my post
too fast again
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United States15275 Posts
On August 30 2014 11:28 Yhamm wrote:
is it on purpose you took the bracket without the players who will play deciders matches tomorrow? or did you manage to took a sshot for the 3 minutes it was missing them?
edit: lol, you updated the image 30sec before my post
The article was floating in purgatory for ~20 minutes before posting. 
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A bit upset we wont have all 4 quarter finals tomorrow...I wanted to see Flash play more sets since I cant come in for Championship Sunday 
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You may want to re-screenshot the groups for the colours next to MC and Flash's names.
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France7248 Posts
On August 30 2014 11:34 LighT. wrote:A bit upset we wont have all 4 quarter finals tomorrow...I wanted to see Flash play more sets since I cant come in for Championship Sunday
they might play the 4 QF tomorrow if they have time (short games for example)
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MC hasn't been on SK for months. You might want to change that to prevent confusion.
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United States15275 Posts
On August 30 2014 11:49 invisigoat wrote:
MC hasn't been on SK for months. You might want to change that to prevent confusion.
Fixed.
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These games have been so freakin hype... Really loving IEM TORONTO!!
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This is the most interesting tournament of the year so far. Snute beating sos and hero twice is pretty damn amazing.
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Was hoping for some Life props. The "manhandling MC" part has appeased me
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Had a great time at IEM Toronto. Finally got Jaedong and Flash's autographs. Wish I could've met Scarlett too but we'll save that for next time.+ Show Spoiler + Life goal fulfilled.
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neobowman, can you PLEASE tell us what was Jaedong's reaction to you wearing that Hwaseung OZ jacket? I'm curious for nostalgic purposes.
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On August 30 2014 13:47 Xiphos wrote:
neobowman, can you PLEASE tell us what was Jaedong's reaction to you wearing that Hwaseung OZ jacket? I'm curious for nostalgic purposes.
XD. I'm not a translator but basically, he mentioned that it was a jacket from a long time ago. I told him that I'd been a fan for a while and he thanked me for supporting him. My memory's a tad smudged because I was freaking the fuck out that I was talking to Jaedong.
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Really sad I missed the games today. First week of school is not doing so well for my Starcraft viewing
Any recommended games?
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On August 30 2014 14:22 vult wrote:Really sad I missed the games today. First week of school is not doing so well for my Starcraft viewing Any recommended games?
MC vs Flash game 1
Snute vs herO game 3
Taeja vs Zest game 3
were the highlights today IMO.
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from the OP:
They went a combined 16-11 (59%) and lost one of their members to the Open Bracket. +
small nitpick - 16-11 is a winrate of 64%, not 59
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wow flash has an easy road to the finals.bo5 matches no zest or sos
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United States97276 Posts
On August 30 2014 14:47 Talaris wrote:from the OP: Show nested quote +They went a combined 16-11 (59%) and lost one of their members to the Open Bracket. + small nitpick - 16-11 is a winrate of 64%, not 59
16 wins out of 27 games is 59%
you did 16 out of 25
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On August 30 2014 15:28 lastride wrote:
wow flash has an easy road to the finals.bo5 matches no zest or sos
I'd wait, if he makes it out of the group, before I'd call his bracket easy.
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On August 30 2014 15:30 Shellshock wrote:Show nested quote +On August 30 2014 14:47 Talaris wrote:from the OP: They went a combined 16-11 (59%) and lost one of their members to the Open Bracket. + small nitpick - 16-11 is a winrate of 64%, not 59 16 wins out of 27 games is 59% you did 16 out of 25
woah, clearly 16+11 is 25 ...
...I need to get more free time on work, can't even add up 2 numbers anymore... >_<
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Russian Federation232 Posts
On August 30 2014 14:33 Thax wrote:Show nested quote +On August 30 2014 14:22 vult wrote:Really sad I missed the games today. First week of school is not doing so well for my Starcraft viewing Any recommended games? MC vs Flash game 1 Snute vs herO game 3 Taeja vs Zest game 3 were the highlights today IMO.
Snute vs herO game 1 of the first BO3 was the only one decent imo of the entire sets they played out of 6 games.
The other ones should be in the dictionary listed under the description of "boredom"
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Pakistan77 Posts
On August 30 2014 13:25 neobowman wrote:Had a great time at IEM Toronto. Finally got Jaedong and Flash's autographs. Wish I could've met Scarlett too but we'll save that for next time. + Show Spoiler + Life goal fulfilled.
WOW DUDE....
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On August 30 2014 16:30 meshfusion wrote:Show nested quote +On August 30 2014 14:33 Thax wrote:On August 30 2014 14:22 vult wrote:Really sad I missed the games today. First week of school is not doing so well for my Starcraft viewing Any recommended games? MC vs Flash game 1 Snute vs herO game 3 Taeja vs Zest game 3 were the highlights today IMO. Snute vs herO game 1 of the first BO3 was the only one decent imo of the entire sets they played out of 6 games. The other ones should be in the dictionary listed under the description of "boredom"
I'd throw another vote for MC vs Flash game 1
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Looking forward to seeing Flash vs MC again. Hopefully Flash can take it this time, but if anyone is going to knock Flash out of the tournament, I want it to be MC.
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Hopefully Flash will step up his play against MC today.
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Flash vs Mc games were all unconventional but the 1st was the best for sure.
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Flash shouldn't lose to MC this time around, hopefully he'll be expecting MC's ridiculously cheesy builds.
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On August 30 2014 13:25 neobowman wrote:Had a great time at IEM Toronto. Finally got Jaedong and Flash's autographs. Wish I could've met Scarlett too but we'll save that for next time. + Show Spoiler + Life goal fulfilled.
Wow man, I am jealous, sick jacket too!
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Snute beating herO twice and then sOs is a performance not seen since the 2012 Stephano, as much as I hate his style vs P I m forced to admit he's ultra competitive with it. And his muta/SH style vs T is just as beautiful and entertaining as his SH vs P is retarded and boring.
On the other end, Life's advancing effortlessly, with hardly anybody hyping him, wouldn't be surprised he if won the whole thing in the end.
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On August 30 2014 13:25 neobowman wrote:Had a great time at IEM Toronto. Finally got Jaedong and Flash's autographs. Wish I could've met Scarlett too but we'll save that for next time. + Show Spoiler + Life goal fulfilled.
I remember seeing you dude :D, I was waiting for the players with you most of the time
Awesome Oz jacket
Did ya manage to get sOs?
He's freakin hard to get a hold of
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On August 30 2014 19:29 Gwavajuice wrote:
Snute beating herO twice and then sOs is a performance not seen since the 2012 Stephano, as much as I hate his style vs P I m forced to admit he's ultra competitive with it. And his muta/SH style vs T is just as beautiful and entertaining as his SH vs P is retarded and boring.
On the other end, Life's advancing effortlessly, with hardly anybody hyping him, wouldn't be surprised he if won the whole thing in the end.
Too bad he changed his style to turtle SHs, he was the one saying how you can't turtle against P and how you have to play aggressively and constantly pushing with SHs, Static Defense, Queens and creep while doing run-bys with Lings. It was amazing to watch him play that way. I agree with you about ZvT, finally someone started to do this, some players were doing that in Beta and at the start of HotS but weren't quite successful.
He won 2-0 against sOs without single SH though. ^^
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What a crazy two days so far. This tournament is incredible. Hope it does some numbers this weekend that resemble this.
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Snutes herO and sOs-games will forever be remembered as THE foreigner performance imo. Stunning!
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Snute is the new Stephano.
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Canada8157 Posts
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4 hatch before pool? lols
Hoping for another win from Bunny today!!! \0/
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On August 30 2014 16:30 meshfusion wrote:Show nested quote +On August 30 2014 14:33 Thax wrote:On August 30 2014 14:22 vult wrote:Really sad I missed the games today. First week of school is not doing so well for my Starcraft viewing Any recommended games? MC vs Flash game 1 Snute vs herO game 3 Taeja vs Zest game 3 were the highlights today IMO. Snute vs herO game 1 of the first BO3 was the only one decent imo of the entire sets they played out of 6 games. The other ones should be in the dictionary listed under the description of "boredom"
People are overreacting a wee bit IMO. I haven't seen Snute's first series against herO, but of the five games over 2 matches he played yesterday only 1 involved swarmhosts and it was a brilliantly executed example with lots of action and multitasking involved for the first half before it settled down into a naillbiter of a chessgame. Some people are easily bored I guess. His gold base into bust for the first game against herO was pretty well executed too.
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The Hype is real!
I am hoping for Flash today though, simply because I want a third terran in the Ro8.
I am sowwy MC, pls forgive ;-;
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On August 30 2014 21:17 Salient wrote:
Snute is the new Stephano.
Smart and sexy.
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Unfortunately, my Flash vs. Snute dream has to happen in the Ro8 (if at all), but this is set to be an awesome tournament no matter what. My guess right now is that Life takes it, he looks unstoppable.
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4713 Posts
If you'd have told people a year ago that JD vs Flash wouldn't happen in a big tournament because JD would drop out first, no one would have believed you, damn.
Hoping to see all the KeSPA boys advance and then kick some serious ass. a Flash vs Life rematch final would also be quite awesome.
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On August 30 2014 19:40 LighT. wrote:Show nested quote +On August 30 2014 13:25 neobowman wrote:Had a great time at IEM Toronto. Finally got Jaedong and Flash's autographs. Wish I could've met Scarlett too but we'll save that for next time. + Show Spoiler + Life goal fulfilled. I remember seeing you dude :D, I was waiting for the players with you most of the time Awesome Oz jacket Did ya manage to get sOs? He's freakin hard to get a hold of
I did get SoS's I believe XD.
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that snute gif may be the best thing to hit the internet period
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EPT![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/b/b1/IEM_logo_2014.png){kind=logo}
IEM Season IX - Toronto![[image loading]](/staff/lichter/IEM/toronto2014/iemgrps.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/lichter/IEM/toronto2014/iembrckt.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/VIKODs2.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/waPduiC.jpg)
