Everyone who missed last night's grand final of Dreamhack Valencia actually missed a great and exciting series.
Especially when keeping in mind that finals often end up being somewhat anti-climatic, so it was extra nice to see a tense final series that didn't disappoint.
The final was a BO5 between the two korean terrans ForGG and TaeJa.
ForGG snatched the first two sets, but then TaeJa made an impressive comeback and tied up the score to 2-2
The fifth and deciding set was on Metropolis.
They both went up to two bases rather quickly with ForGG setting up for some mech play and TaeJa doing a hellion into bio build.
TaeJa sneaked a couple of hellions into the mineral line of ForGG's natural, right as ForGG had moved a bit out on the map. He killed some SCVs but not a whole lot.
Around the 10-minute mark ForGG did a nice tank/marine/viking push where he sieged up below TaeJa's main and then used his vikings to gain vision of the high ground. With this he was able to take out some of TaeJa's add-ons and force TaeJa's to move some of his production buildings. He also killed a good amount of TaeJa's units but couldn't push further as TaeJa also had sieged up tanks.
TaeJa eventually got stim and some more tanks and ForGG was forced to retreat while taking some losses on the retreat. While TaeJa pushed ForGG back he could safely take his third base.
A few minutes later though, ForGG once again pushed with a big viking/tank force. This time he couldn't get all the way to TaeJa's base and for a while their tanks battled in the center with ForGG having the vision advantage with his vikings but TaeJa on the other hand having a big bio force that constantly tried to catch ForGG's tanks unsieged.
While this was going on ForGG tried to take his own third.
ForGG moved back and sieged up between his natural and third and this caused TaeJa to try and use his mobility and sneak around from the north and snipe ForGG's third. TaeJa did manage to kill some SCVs and a few tanks that were unsieged but eventually ForGG pushed him up in a corner and took out the part of TaeJa's force that had been invested in the attack. Luckily for TaeJa, being the agressor had allowed him to take a fourth base as well so he was up one base.
ForGG decided to do a big push with his mech force as he was at max supply and once again TaeJa used his mobility advantage and this time was able to take out ForGG's third, but not without taking some heavy losses.
But at this point TaeJa was on 4 bases and ForGG only on two so all TaeJa needed to do was defend. ForGG had part of his army outside TaeJa's natural trying to get in while also moving around on the map with his hellions. Once again there were a lot of hellion vs. tank engagements in this set, as it was actually the case of the entire series.
I've never actually seen hellions take on tanks so many times and actually win as I did in this series.
ForGG could not really break TaeJa or move in and take out any of his bases as TaeJa had sieged up tanks in all the right places. At the same time TaeJa used small parts of his bio force to prevent ForGG from expanding again and therefore TaeJa kept being up two bases.
Eventually ForGG was forced to try a push that was never going to work as it happened completely on TaeJa's conditions and after that attack ForGG was down 40 supply and two bases so he GG'd and TaeJa claimed the victory and the championship.
All in all a fantastic tournament with norwegian zerg TarGa probably being the biggest positive surprise and the koreans once again being somewhat dominating.
Next stop on the Dreamhack tour is Bucharest, which will occur in the end of October.
We can't wait.
Especially when keeping in mind that finals often end up being somewhat anti-climatic, so it was extra nice to see a tense final series that didn't disappoint.
The final was a BO5 between the two korean terrans ForGG and TaeJa.
ForGG snatched the first two sets, but then TaeJa made an impressive comeback and tied up the score to 2-2
The fifth and deciding set was on Metropolis.
They both went up to two bases rather quickly with ForGG setting up for some mech play and TaeJa doing a hellion into bio build.
TaeJa sneaked a couple of hellions into the mineral line of ForGG's natural, right as ForGG had moved a bit out on the map. He killed some SCVs but not a whole lot.
Around the 10-minute mark ForGG did a nice tank/marine/viking push where he sieged up below TaeJa's main and then used his vikings to gain vision of the high ground. With this he was able to take out some of TaeJa's add-ons and force TaeJa's to move some of his production buildings. He also killed a good amount of TaeJa's units but couldn't push further as TaeJa also had sieged up tanks.
TaeJa eventually got stim and some more tanks and ForGG was forced to retreat while taking some losses on the retreat. While TaeJa pushed ForGG back he could safely take his third base.
A few minutes later though, ForGG once again pushed with a big viking/tank force. This time he couldn't get all the way to TaeJa's base and for a while their tanks battled in the center with ForGG having the vision advantage with his vikings but TaeJa on the other hand having a big bio force that constantly tried to catch ForGG's tanks unsieged.
While this was going on ForGG tried to take his own third.
ForGG moved back and sieged up between his natural and third and this caused TaeJa to try and use his mobility and sneak around from the north and snipe ForGG's third. TaeJa did manage to kill some SCVs and a few tanks that were unsieged but eventually ForGG pushed him up in a corner and took out the part of TaeJa's force that had been invested in the attack. Luckily for TaeJa, being the agressor had allowed him to take a fourth base as well so he was up one base.
ForGG decided to do a big push with his mech force as he was at max supply and once again TaeJa used his mobility advantage and this time was able to take out ForGG's third, but not without taking some heavy losses.
But at this point TaeJa was on 4 bases and ForGG only on two so all TaeJa needed to do was defend. ForGG had part of his army outside TaeJa's natural trying to get in while also moving around on the map with his hellions. Once again there were a lot of hellion vs. tank engagements in this set, as it was actually the case of the entire series.
I've never actually seen hellions take on tanks so many times and actually win as I did in this series.
ForGG could not really break TaeJa or move in and take out any of his bases as TaeJa had sieged up tanks in all the right places. At the same time TaeJa used small parts of his bio force to prevent ForGG from expanding again and therefore TaeJa kept being up two bases.
Eventually ForGG was forced to try a push that was never going to work as it happened completely on TaeJa's conditions and after that attack ForGG was down 40 supply and two bases so he GG'd and TaeJa claimed the victory and the championship.
TaeJa vs. ForGG = 3 - 2
All in all a fantastic tournament with norwegian zerg TarGa probably being the biggest positive surprise and the koreans once again being somewhat dominating.
Next stop on the Dreamhack tour is Bucharest, which will occur in the end of October.
We can't wait.
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| TLO showing some manlove and hugging teammate TaeJa after his victory |
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| TaeJa celebrating by pouring champagne on a big crowd of cheering nerds |
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