On Saturday, Nov. 1 the Road to BlizzCon came to a stunning conclusion with several upsets, unique strategies, and fierce neck-and-neck series. From Life's impressive counter-attacks to Taeja's ability to play strong macro games against the world's best Zerg player, we're going to take a look at how the final eight players managed to eke out victories against their opponents and get one step closer to claiming the $100,000 grand prize.

Bomber vs. Jaedong

Many expected Bomber to sweep Jaedong in the first series of the day, however Jaedong's strong roach-baneling pushes allowed him to secure a 2-1 lead. In game 4, however, Bomber bust out a powerful double proxy barracks against Jaedong and was able to come out on top in both game 4 and 5, securing his spot at BlizzCon. Here's how the readers predicted the match-up:

In an interview after his games, Bomber said that he hadn't seen much of Jaedong's previous games, and that it was a tough series. He attributed his decision to go proxy double barracks in game 4 because he hadn't used the build at all this year, and wanted to bring it out at least once during BlizzCon. As Catallena was his choice of a map in game 4, he decided to go for it, knowing that Jaedong would probably not expect it.

As Terran vs. Terran is Bomber's best match-up and he's on a ten-win streak, Bomber is confident against MMA, though he is worried that he has revealed too many of his builds. Should he get to the finals of BlizzCon, Bomber said that the only person he wouldn't want to see is soO, as he isn't that confident in his TvZ match-up (looks like he got what he wanted, though he may end up facing against Life).

StarDust vs. MMA

StarDust is caught out of position and loses three colossi in game 4.

Although StarDust was able to win the first game, he began to slowly crumble against MMA's confident play style, losing the next three games. The fans voted heavily in MMA's favor, a prediction that turned out to be right.

Although MMA has a 60 percent win rate against Terran, he'll have to practice hard to gain an edge over Bomber, who demonstrated his TvT prowess by beating both Polt and Heart to become the season 3 WCS North America champion.

MC vs. herO

MC's last-ditch effort to break through herO's natural.

In a closer-than-expected series, MC put up a good fight against herO, but a failed dark templar rush in Game 5 cost him his tournament life, sending herO to the round of eight.

While relatively unknown last year, herO rose to prominence this year by winning two IEMs and placing second in the KeSPA Cup and IEM Katowice (where he lost the chance to gain a BlizzCon's worth of prize money to sOs).

Polt vs. Classic

Classic bringing back the colossus drop.

In one of the most exciting series of the day, Classic managed to squeeze out a victory against Polt and exacting his revenge after losing 3-2 to Polt at IEM Cologne VIII earlier this year. Although being behind 0-2, Polt was able to to claw his way back into the series by unveiling a hellbat-tank build that hasn't been seen since the early days of Heart of the Swarm.

Are hellbat bio pushes back?

Polt was favored to win the series, however he ultimately to Classic's relentless warp prism harass and solid defense. While Polt accepts the defeat as his own, it was overheard that Polt's practice computer did not work properly and that it took too long to get him a replacement, preventing him from having the warm-up he would have liked.

Classic will go on to face herO in the quarter-finals, a PvP series that is bound to be explosive.

San vs. jjakji

By and large the most one-sided series of the day, San was able to crush jjakji in the first two games and maintained a significant lead all throughout the third game, which ended up being a drawn out 48-minute game. San looked untouchable throughout the entire series, but something tells me he'll have to practice hard in order to keep his momentum going in the round of eight.

Zest vs. Life

Zest claws back in game 3 with a near-unbeatable army composition.

Quite possibly one of the biggest upsets of the entire year, Life was able to break through Zest with non-stop aggression that consisted of zergling run-byes, roach timings, and skilled defense.

Life had a strong beginning in 2014 with a quarter-finals finish in the GSL as well as a DreamHack Open: Bucharest championship, but soon after produced mediocre results throughout the rest of the year (a performance Apollo attributes to Life having a girlfriend). The fan predictions certainly reflect that, as not only has Zest beaten life 3-1 at the most recent Intel Extreme Masters but Zest has also had one of the most successful years out of any StarCraft player with a first place finishes in GSL Code S, GSL Global Finals, and the KeSPA Cup.

In the introduction videos, Life acknowledged Zest as the better player, but goes on to say that with enough preparation, he should be able to beat him, and beat him he did. Life will go on to play against San on Friday, a match-up he should feel comfortable playing considering his performance against Zest.

soO vs. Taeja

After his impressive dismantling of soO in a fast-paced, back-and-forth series, Taeja became the only non-GSL player to beat a GSL player in the Road to BlizzCon. Considered by many to be the best Zerg player in the world, soO was the fan-favorite to beat out Taeja, who has hinted at retirement after citing longstanding wrist pain:

Should Taeja retire after this year, nothing would make the prospect sweeter than bringing home a BlizzCon championship. After watching Taeja's performance against one of the better Zergs out there, he certainly has the confidence to go deep into the tournament—though the competition will be fierce.

INnoVation vs. HyuN

Recouping his former 2013 glory, INnoVation looked as indomitable against HyuN as he did against soO during last season's GSL finals. HyuN, who fell to Heart in the last season's WCS America quarter-finals, hasn't been able to quite figure out his ZvT—a fact demonstrated by almost consistently trailing against INnoVation. For most fans, the prediction for this match-up was a no-brainer:

INnoVation will go up to meet Taeja on Friday, a series that is likely to see the return of the many TvT builds we saw during the semi- and grand-finals of WCS America Season 3.

Looking Ahead

With four Terrans, three Protosses, and a single Zerg left in the tournament, the battle for the championship continues this coming Friday. Considering the absolutely stellar level of play we saw during the round of 16, the upcoming round of eight holds a lot of promise for StarCraft 2 fans.

While Blizzard has been quiet regarding the next expansion, many believe they will announce the next StarCraft 2 expansion, Legacy of the Void, which would make for a delicious cherry on top of an already-delicious cake.