GLaDe wasn’t faring so well in his group, after losing to Giacomo and xiaOt. “I wasn’t really feeling too confident going against Grubby, I felt like I was going to lose against him.”

The game begins in Turtle Rock in this round of play. “The map is certainly to my advantage for this matchup, since it favors Night Elf against Orc.” GlaDe explains.

Grubby and GlaDe opens the game with standard build orders. Grubby had a Blademaster with Grunts, not surprising for an Orc player; while GLaDe took the Demon Hunter with some Archers. “Both of us went creeping early in the game, not a lot of surprising moves, until I got my hero  to level 2.”

GlaDe explains the advantages he gained during the game. “I had a less common creep order than usual, so I think Grubby had a hard time trying to find where I was creeping.” Aside from this, it seems like GLaDe managed to push Grubby’s harassment back. “I kept attacking and mana burning his Blademaster, so he was forced to heal for some time, giving me a bit of an advantage.”

Despite the absence of complete confidence prior to the matchup, it looked as though GLaDe didn’t show any fear in his playing. He mentioned that he played surprisingly well, reserved mostly for times when players feel convinced that they can beat their opponents easily. “I felt like I micro’ed really well during the game, I didn’t lose any Archers, so that helped my early game immensely.”

Mid-game, it was all pretty standard between the two players. GLaDe picked up a Beastmaster for his second hero, while putting up Ancients of Wind for the tri-hero mass Talons strategy. As the underdog race in the matchup, Grubby is bound to build an army meant to counter this strategy – a Tauren Chieftain, Spirits Walkers and Raiders.

At one instance, Grubby managed to pin down GLaDe’s Demon Hunter between a row of trees, forcing GLaDe to teleport out to save his hero. A minute or so after, GlaDe returned the favor. “I managed to find the Tauren Chieftain creeping at the Goblin Merchant [in the 7 o’clock position].”

During this battle, the Blademaster came to help fight the battle, only to get stuck behind the building, unable to escape the creeps and units blocking his way. With very low HP left, Grubby had no choice but to teleport out with his whole army to save his Blademaster.

“I think I got lucky being able to attack Grubby with that creepjack. After that encounter, I think Grubby had little to no chance of winning the game.”

In the final moments of battle, it was obvious that GLaDe had the upper hand. Grubby retreated from GLaDe’s army as it seems as though he didn’t want to fight. GLaDe used Cyclone to isolate units and take them down, whittling down Grubby’s army before he reached his base.

At this point, GLaDe continued on to attack Grubby, taking down the buildings at the outskirts of his base. Grubby conceded and says GG, in a game that took less than 15 minutes.

GLaDe was obviously elated with his win, smiling wide after the game ended in his favor. “I just beat Grubby” he murmurs, basking in happiness tinged with disbelief. GLaDe mentioned that he’s not too confident to qualify for the bracket rounds as he lost two matches prior to Grubby. Nevertheless, GLaDe remains optimistic. “If I manage to win the next games, then I might have a chance of advancing.”

If not, at least GLaDe would return home to Australia proud of the thought he managed to defeat one of the most respected Warcraft III players in the world.