EPTSPOTV Starleague 2015 Season 1
Ro8 Day 2:
Dear vs Life
Dream vs Super
Brackets and standings on Liquipedia
Starcraft II Starleague
Upstarts and Champions
by Brindled
The Quarterfinals began in earnest with rather underwhelming bouts, which made for a rather hasty day. With only 6 players remaining in arguably the year's most racially balanced tournament thus far, one must begin to question this assertion. After the utter trouncing of 2 out of 3 remaining Zerg players in the Naver Starcraft II Starleague by players of the other races, only one remains: Life. Will he be able to rally what remains of the Zerg race in the tournament to push through to the semi-finals? Or will The Swarm's presence in the NSSL be snuffed out of existence?
Clash of Champions
Life versus Dear will not be a David and Goliath story. Both players have won championship titles in the past (albeit one has done so many more times than the other). This match may arguably be the most interesting one in the tournament thus far, after Maru versus Leenock, because of both players' champion statuses. However, it has been about 2 years since Dear has won his last finals and hasn't quite found his way into winning another. Life finds himself the lone Zerg left in a tournament where many may expect him to perish, a situation that he is not unused to from Blizzcon 2014 and which might even make him stronger. Dear's track record so far in the NSSL has been a series of 2-0 shut-outs against the likes of GuMiho and MyuNgSiK, and a solid 3-1 defeat of Patience. This may bode well for Dear at first glance, but this also means that Dear has not squared off against a Zerg player in this tournament to measure his performance level against Life. Don't count him completely out though, as he once was a champion; Dear clearly does know how to play to win. Unfortunately Life, on the other hand, is a more recent multi-championship winner who has been playing only Protoss and Terran players throughout the NSSL. Life may have to worry about perishing in this tournament, but it will not be from his match with Dear. It would actually be more prudent of him to worry about Super, should he make it through his series with Dream into the Semi-Finals.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BOS7P1A.jpg)
"No my Dear, you are the least of my worries at this point."
Potential Upstarts?
Speaking of Dream and Super, we can only judge them based on their performances recently. They do not have the history nor the consistency that Dear and Life have with their Starcraft pro careers, but everyone can start somewhere. While Dream's claim to fame comes from finishing 2nd at IEM Katowice in 2013, and Super's from winning the most weirdly named tournament in the world. Not being in the spotlight for as long as the other two players remaining players in the quarterfinals means they have had ample time to prepare without virtually any intel on themselves for their opponents to study.
Unfortunately, they face each other, negating any advantage that this might give either of them. With Super's solid defeat of FanTaSy back in January when he was an unknown unknown, and consistent wins against Terrans since then, Super most likely has this one in the bag. However, counting out Dream at this point will be foolish. Defeating Maru in the group stage was no easy feat to accomplish.
Predictions:
I predict that Life will easily defeat Dear 3-0. All of the players that Dear has faced up until this point in the NSSL have not even been close to the caliber of player that Life is. Predicting Super versus Dream is slightly more difficult. Although Dream found it within himself to defeat Maru, once, it does not speak to his abilities in TvP. I find myself much more confident in the PvT abilities of Super recently, so I must give the victory to him.
Dear 0-3 Life
Dream 1-3 Super
Life and Super advance to the Semifinals.
