EPT
ByuN, 
soO, INnoVation and 
Classic against a pair of veteran Zergs as well as Hurricane and Super who were looking for their first big break in individual leagues.The first match pitted ByuN against Super. The Team Expert Terran killed nine probes with mine drops early in game one. Super responded with phoenixes, oracles and charge. After catching ByuN's bio/mine army in the middle of the map, he rode a superior economy and timely transition into colossi to victory.
ByuN's cyclone/marine push killed Super's third, but the Protoss player weathered the subsequent aggression and got up to three bases. ByuN kept the pressure on, though, eventually assembling an army Super's gateway based force couldn't handle.
ByuN's hellions killed eleven probes in game three, but Super battled back, eventually reaching four bases, albeit at an army disadvantage. All that changed in a single fight where Super lost his colossi, but ByuN lost everything. Super reloaded before attacking to take a 2-1 lead.
Super sucessfully defended ByuN's hellions this time, but widow mines enabled ByuN to enter the mid game even on bases. He never took his foot off the gas after that, eventually evening the series with a prolonged push on Super's third.
Game five was all Super. He stomped an early tank push, picked all the right fights and maneuvered himself onto five bases with ByuN on three. ByuN's bio/liberator combo on two fronts threatened to undo Super's advantage, but Super held firm to become the first semifinalist.
The next match was a ZvZ. After a bout of ling/bane aggression, soO and
Curious teched into roaches with soO in the worker lead. Curious moved into mutas, but never got a high enough count to prevent soO from knocking him down to single digit drones with a roach timing.Down 1-0, Curious appeared to have broken soO at his third, but soO's reinforcing roaches saved the day and bought him a 20 supply lead. soO simply gathered his forces and launched a lethal attack that put him one away from the good.
soO's attack on Curious' third, the first real action of the game, proved to be a misstep. Curious drove him all the way back, where his superior roach count proved too much to overcome.
Both players went for early pools on Whirlwind, but soO canceled Curious’ faster expansion while taking one of his own. soO built a double digit worker lead before marching across the map with an unstoppable roach army, setting up a semifinal showdown with Super.
Hurricane started off the third series of the day by pressuring INnoVation's natural with Stalkers. INnoVation rebuffed the attack, however, before setting up a prolonged siege on Hurricane's with bio/mine that eventually overran Hurricane's army.
Game two was much the same story. Hurricane went for an oddball gold base into sg into gold base build, but INnoVation was having none of it, ending the game with a decisive bio push.
Needing a win, Hurricane's adepts and oracles put him ahead 20 workers, but this simply prompted INnoVation to go for a two base attack once again. Hurricane pushed it back initially, but couldn't hold firm against the reinforcing mines, liberators and bio. Up 40 workers, but behind on army, Hurricane eventually tapped out, sending INnoVation through without dropping a map.
Game one of the final series saw Classic defend expertly on three bases. When he finally moved out with archons and immortals, he triggered a base trade.
Leenock’s eight brood lord formed a motley crew that barely dealt with Classic's trio of tempests.Up a game, Leenock paired queen drops with zergling runbys, but found little damage with either. Classic powered up and killed Leenock's fourth while taking his own. Leenock’s counterattack was delayed by a warp prism and when they finally fought, Classic had more than enough.
Game three played out similarly to the first, except this time the players reached late game armies on more stable footing. Fast forward 20 minutes and both players are barely mining. Meanwhile, in the middle of the map, a scattering of corruptors are wiping out the final tempests while a single ultralisk watches from below.
Facing elimination, Classic relied on a heroic defense against ling/bane/hydra at his fourth while simultaneously warping in zealots in Leenock’s main to send the series to the ace match.
The hard fought series came to a sudden end as Leenock's roach/ravager attack off 18 workers unpowered Classic's robo, opening the door for the rest of his army. Unable to produce units, Classic had no choice but to cede the game and match, concluding the nearly five hour day and making Leenock the fourth semifinalist of VSL Season 2.
