With the number one ranked player in the world Jae Yoon "sAviOr[gm]" Ma awaiting his opponent, the two Korean professional gamers IriS[gm] and Nal_rA were preparing to play in their match to determine who would advance to the grand finals.

Game 1 on Longinus:

IriS starting at the 6 o clock position and Nal_rA spawning at the 3 o clock, both of these gamers were about to begin what would become one of the most exciting series of the whole event. At first, IriS’s build looked fairly standard up until he built a hidden factory to the far right side of his base which he would later float out of his main.

Nal_rA, seeing only one factory decides to build two gateways in an attempt to overpower his opponent early with dragoons. With early pressure from three goons, Nal_rA was able to kill his opponent’s first tank. With only spider mines defending, Nal_rA makes a poor decision to play too aggressive and ends up losing most of his force.

IriS decides that now he needs to make his move, he sends several vultures to the protoss with hopes of using his spider mines effectively to win the game. IriS begins to harass Nal_rA and with some incredible micro, he is able to destroy just about all of the protoss force. With only probes left to defend, Nal_rA types GG and they move onto the next map Reverse Temple.

Game 2 on Reverse Temple:

IriS spawns at the 6 o clock position and Nal_rA at the 3 o clock. IriS chooses to open up with a fairly standard build. His opponent also opens up with a fairly standard build, starting off with one gateway and upgrading dragoon range.

The terran goes on the offensive by sending several marines, one tank, and one vulture. This attack is not very effective and the terran is pushed back to his base. While back at the protoss base, Nal_rA is building a shuttle and reaver. Deciding now would be a good time to try to damage the terran economy, Nal_rA sends his reaver right to the mineral line of IriS. This reaver is able to kill several scvs and tanks. Shortly after IriS fended off the attack, Nal_rA attacks the natural of IriS with several dragoons. While it looks like the game is over, IriS is able to hold off the attack with only tanks and scvs.

Now the macro game begins, both players decided to expand and quickly build up their forces. Once IriS felt like his army was ready, he began to slowly push up to the protoss base. His constant vulture harass is able to take out several zealots, dragoons, and probes. Nal_rA realizes that he cannot wait any longer and attacks the heavily defended terran base. Surprisingly, Nal_rA is able to break through the defenses of IriS. When it seems like this could be the end of the game, IriS still is some how able hold off the attack with only a minimal amount of units.

Trying his hardest to get back into the game, IriS continues to harass Nal_rA with several vultures. However, this just was not enough and IriS types GG.

Game 3 on Blitz X:

The third and final game of the series put IriS at the 2 o clock position and Nal_rA at 10 o clock. IriS chose to open up the match with one factory and an early expansion. However, his opponent decided to play rather unorthodox by building a second nexus before a gateway. The commentator Nick “Tasteless” Plott humorously states, “There is nothing that turns me on more than a fast nexus”. This comment received quite a few laughs from the crowd.

Luckily, this strategy paid off and he was able to build a shuttle and reaver with hopes of hurting his opponent’s economy. He would need to buy as much time as possible with the reaver so that he could begin production of carriers.

Shortly after the carriers begin production, IriS goes on the offensive with several tanks and vultures. The protoss ground force was pushed back up until the carriers had arrived. Seeing the carriers, IriS begins to quickly mass produce goliaths for anti-air support. With only a few carriers, IriS pushes up to Nal_rA’s natural with a large force of tanks and goliaths. Nal_rA attacks from all sides with his ground forces with his carriers slightly behind to finish off the fight.

Nal_rA now takes the offensive with a large mixture of carriers, dragoons, and zealots. IriS could simply not defend against this massive force. IriS hesitantly types GG and Nal_rA advances to the grand finals to face off against sAviOr.