EPT
herO looked poised to further distance himself from the field, while 
TY and Classic prepared to meet only a few hours after their dust-up in the GSL winners' match.Dear applied constant pressure throughout his series with herO. A failed attack on herO's third set herO up for a counterattack that took the game. Game two ended quickly. Dear utilized a proxy robo attack off one base that punished herO's quick expansion and stargate. Games three and four played out similarly. herO teched and expanded faster, but Dear was unrelenting. His larger army overwhelmed herO's more advanced forces on both occasions. The 3-1 victory was Dear's second of the stage, but also herO's first loss, loosening the ROOT Protoss' stranglehold on SSL Challenge.TY got off to a great start against Classic. He won game one by beating Classic's late game army after losing to it twice during GSL. He won the second when things snowballed in his favor after he cleaned up Classic’s army at his third. Classic looked doomed when his pylon rush failed in game three, but adepts came to his rescue. Both players opened passively on Newkirk Precinct, but, just as he had in GSL, Classic put his gateway army to great use against bio/mine. With the series tied 2-2, the players turned to Daybreak. TY’s oracle defense was nearly impenetrable, but rather than go into the late game, he decided on a two base attack. He managed to siege Classic’s third, but the Protoss turned his adepts around, shaded in and demolished TY’s army to complete the reverse sweep.
Game one of the third series looked to be heading for the lategame, but when
ByuN committed to an attack on Ryung's natural, Ryung went for a doom drop that achieved nothing, putting him a game down. ByuN canceled a command center with a pair of reapers to start the second game and never looked back. Ryung got on the board in game three when he exploited ByuN's greater economic focus with a larger bio/tank army off two bases. The final game came to a puzzling end as Ryung decided to pool reapers with his proxy three rax. By the time he attacked, ByuN had multiple cyclones and easily held. The defense earned ByuN his third win, giving him the match 3-1.
