[TSL] Finals, 3rd-4th Recap and Interviews Text by Heyoka Graphics by Kennigit

TSL3 on Liquipedia



TSL3 Grand Finals Recap

by Lovedrop & Heyoka



WOW



What else is there to say? The finalists brought their A game, and delivered us the closest, most tense series of the TSL. As with every other TSL finals, ThorZaIN found himself with his back against the wall and managed to rally to not only take it to the 7th game, but won the whole thing. A few all-ins, a few macro games, an amusing



Not to discredit Kas and HasuObs of course. Their playoff for the seed into TSL4 was also incredible, lasting 6 games with Kas edging out Hasu just barely. All in all, an amazing way to close out TSL.



Here we are with the interviews and recaps from last weekend.



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Battle Reports



< 2-4 > Empire.Kas

+ Show Spoiler [Show Games] + P5 mouz.HasuObs < Tal'Darim Altar > Empire.Kas T2



The match begins as Kas pressures with 2 marauders and a marine, expanding as his second barracks is constructing a reactor. Hasu has chosen 2 gateways before nexus, and after losing his first stalker is forced to pull several probes to defend. Kas continues to kill units as they spawn with rallied marauders, putting Hasu's expo significantly behind. Kas constructs an early engineering bay and starts weapons research while teching to medivacs.



As +1 attack finishes the Terran builds a second e-bay to begin double upgrades, and moves out while taking his third. Hasu builds a robo, support bay, and then a second robo and readies a probe to take his third as colossus production starts.



After waiting to hit 2-1, Kas goes for a familiar tactic and drops 2 medivacs worth of units in Hasu's main while using his main army to pressure the road towards Hasu's now warping third. Thanks to Hasu's colossus count hitting 5 from double robo so quickly, his repels the attack at the front with ease but isn't able to deal with the drop before losing his twilight counsel, forge, and several probes. As Hasu continues to amass a scary number of colossus, Kas keeps him trapped in his base with drop harass.



Hasu takes his fourth, and Kas makes a ghost academy and begins producing ghosts. A short while later he takes the upper left main, far away from any action. Hitting 3-1, Kas stims in for another assault on Hasu's third and is able to kill the nexus and most of the Protoss army before multiple colossus finally push him back.



Kas regroups his forces and goes in again, only to find that storm has finished for Hasu and has his army annihilated. Able to walk to the center of the map for the first time this game, Hasu claims a watchtower and retakes his third while also getting up a fifth base, meanwhile Kas does the same which keeps them even on mining. Kas splits up his army and attacks Hasu's third and fourth, losing both forces but taking down each nexus. He also sends 3 marauders over to the Protoss fifth and stops it from warping, finding himself in a situation where he has a vastly inferior army but is up several bases.



Hasu counter attacks but is stopped short at Kas natural, and from there not even clever DT play can stop the inevitable as Kas has 3 mining bases to Hasu's 1. [37:01]







P2 mouz.HasuObs < Xel'Naga Caverns > Empire.Kas T7



The game starts with 2 gateways from Hasu, and 2 barracks and a reactor from Kas. He rallies his troops to Hasu's natural and brings 4 SCVs with his initial marine-marauder force, setting up shop with 3 bunkers at the bottom of the Protoss ramp. Hasu readies himself with a third gateway and robo, attacking while the bunkers are constructing but only killing one.



Kas builds a command center, and gives up his contain willingly as it floats over to land at his natural, having delayed the Protoss expansion by over a minute. Firmly in the midgame, both players tech up - medivacs for Kas and colossus for Hasu. Kas annoys Hasu's army while he begins building his third CC, and once again delays Hasu's third by landing a his factory there.



Terran is able to take the gold and planetary up, while Hasu opts for the safety of the non-gold expansion. After switching from medivac to viking production, Kas launches an assault on the third of Hasu and is pushed back by colossus after eliminating much of the gateway units of Hasu. He takes his fourth base as he retreats.



Hasu researches storm, and adds supplements his army with high templar. Right after research is done, the army of Kas is on top of the cliff behind Hasu's third and stops mining until storm chases the bio units away. Kas then stims and runs into Hasu's natural, and then runs further into Hasu's main but is unable to kill much before being escaping with a few units in medivacs.



The armies once again clash behind the third of Hasu, while Hasu takes his fourth base in the middle of the right side of the map Kas kills much of his army, his third, and takes control of the center.



When Kas spots the right side base by flying a CC there to land, he swings his army around and takes care of it with ease and just as with game 1, Hasu's income dries up and he is overwhelmed. [32:15]







P2 mouz.HasuObs < Crossfire SE > Empire.Kas T7



Up 2-0, Kas starts the third game by expanding after a single marauder, while Hasu builds a gateways and robotics before adding a nexus. With little action, Kas techs to medivacs and begins bio upgrades while Hasu adds a robotics bay and starts on colossus production.



The first skirmishes come from a series of drops by Kas, none of which do any damage. After defending, Hasu moves to the center of the map and sieges up a position with his colossus just outside the natural of Kas. As he has just taken his third, Kas can't muster up the forces to fight back and has to GG when Hasu storms in. [16:33]







P9 mouz.HasuObs < Terminus RE > Empire.Kas T12



The third game opens with Hasu making 2 gateways from Hasu, and double barracks from Kas. Both players begin their expansion shortly after, looking to head into midgame safely and strongly. Kas feigns aggression with a few marauders while teching towards medivacs and upgrading from his engineering bay, while Hasu builds a forge and twilight counsel.



Hasu takes his third as Kas attempts to drop, but the medivac is sniped when stalkers find it before it can escape. As Hasu begins to research storm (skipping colossus), Kas takes his third and ensures he is not far behind economically. Kas decides to take a fourth base, and meanders into the center of the map to keep Hasu contained at his choke. After a scan that discovers Hasu has no colossus, Kas flies his vikings to the main of Hasu and lands them to harass while simultaniously dropping Hasu's third.



Kas continues to upgrade from 2 engineering bays, and begins to add in ghosts for emp the large Protoss ground force. The two armies dance around in the center for some time, Kas army is weakened after several storms and after Hasu traps them he eliminates the Terran force with ease. Hasu marches forward and tries to kill the planetary at Kas' third but is unable to take it down before being driven away, he too takes his fourth as he runs.



Both players take their fifth, and Kas engages guerilla-Terran mode by dropping multiple places at once and sneaking around the Protoss main army. Hasu finally adds in colossus, and starts to stop mining by placing stalkers behind the minerals lines where a planetary can't hit them.



Kas runs an entirely marauder force to the bottom of the map and snipes an expansion, and then when Hasu's army runs down to catch it he snipes a second nexus where Hasu's fourth is. Hasu is forced into retribution, and catches the scattered Terran legions as they run in various directions. When he charges forward the game ends as Kas finds himself unable to deal with the main army of Hasu. [32:03]







P2 mouz.HasuObs < Shakuras Plateau > Empire.Kas T7



Back to an even series, Hasu opens with 2 gateways before a nexus while Kas expands after a marauder. Kas goes for early +1 attack while working towards medivacs, and Hasu throws down a robo and its accompanying bay to start massing colossus. Kas begins making his third as +1 is nearing completion, and brings his army mid map to control when Hasu can take a third of his own.



The armies dance around in the center briefly, eventually running into eachother and trading. As Kas takes his fourth, he catches Hasu's army before it is strong enough to take him on and destroys the opposing third, retreating after the damage is done. The bread and butter Terran play, Kas drops the main and attacks Hasu's natural and is able to take out the expansion nexus in exchange for a handful of units.



Hasu sets up shop at both 12 o'clock and the base just below it, but not in time as the now 3-1 army of Kas is able to kill his army and end the game before they are up and fully running. [22:44]







P9 mouz.HasuObs < Metalopolis > Empire.Kas T6



Match point for Kas, the game begins with Terran taking both gasses at 17 supply, while Protoss make a nexus on 1 gateway after a few stalkers. As his double gas indicates, Kas ramps up to starport immediately and begins producing banshees and researching cloak, flying the first banshee over immediately to work on the probe line.



Stalkers chase it out, but only temporarily as cloak finishes before Hasu's robo is even 50% completed. After 14 kills, entirely probes, the first runs out of energy and is killed but a second has joined the fray and continues the worker slaughter. Managing to kill another 7 probes before the observer forces it away, Kas has a second orbital back home waiting to expand and secure a lead.



Knowing he is leagues ahead, Kas floats his second base to the gold and ramps up to 6 barracks and produces a raven. While simultaneously making units, Kas is able to take his natural and a fourth base and moves his army towards the Protoss natural. A stim and scan is all it takes from there, he takes the first engagement with ease and wins the honor of a seed for TSL4. [14:01]





The match begins as Kas pressures with 2 marauders and a marine, expanding as his second barracks is constructing a reactor. Hasu has chosen 2 gateways before nexus, and after losing his first stalker is forced to pull several probes to defend. Kas continues to kill units as they spawn with rallied marauders, putting Hasu's expo significantly behind. Kas constructs an early engineering bay and starts weapons research while teching to medivacs.As +1 attack finishes the Terran builds a second e-bay to begin double upgrades, and moves out while taking his third. Hasu builds a robo, support bay, and then a second robo and readies a probe to take his third as colossus production starts.After waiting to hit 2-1, Kas goes for a familiar tactic and drops 2 medivacs worth of units in Hasu's main while using his main army to pressure the road towards Hasu's now warping third. Thanks to Hasu's colossus count hitting 5 from double robo so quickly, his repels the attack at the front with ease but isn't able to deal with the drop before losing his twilight counsel, forge, and several probes. As Hasu continues to amass a scary number of colossus, Kas keeps him trapped in his base with drop harass.Hasu takes his fourth, and Kas makes a ghost academy and begins producing ghosts. A short while later he takes the upper left main, far away from any action. Hitting 3-1, Kas stims in for another assault on Hasu's third and is able to kill the nexus and most of the Protoss army before multiple colossus finally push him back.Kas regroups his forces and goes in again, only to find that storm has finished for Hasu and has his army annihilated. Able to walk to the center of the map for the first time this game, Hasu claims a watchtower and retakes his third while also getting up a fifth base, meanwhile Kas does the same which keeps them even on mining. Kas splits up his army and attacks Hasu's third and fourth, losing both forces but taking down each nexus. He also sends 3 marauders over to the Protoss fifth and stops it from warping, finding himself in a situation where he has a vastly inferior army but is up several bases.Hasu counter attacks but is stopped short at Kas natural, and from there not even clever DT play can stop the inevitable as Kas has 3 mining bases to Hasu's 1. [37:01]The game starts with 2 gateways from Hasu, and 2 barracks and a reactor from Kas. He rallies his troops to Hasu's natural and brings 4 SCVs with his initial marine-marauder force, setting up shop with 3 bunkers at the bottom of the Protoss ramp. Hasu readies himself with a third gateway and robo, attacking while the bunkers are constructing but only killing one.Kas builds a command center, and gives up his contain willingly as it floats over to land at his natural, having delayed the Protoss expansion by over a minute. Firmly in the midgame, both players tech up - medivacs for Kas and colossus for Hasu. Kas annoys Hasu's army while he begins building his third CC, and once again delays Hasu's third by landing a his factory there.Terran is able to take the gold and planetary up, while Hasu opts for the safety of the non-gold expansion. After switching from medivac to viking production, Kas launches an assault on the third of Hasu and is pushed back by colossus after eliminating much of the gateway units of Hasu. He takes his fourth base as he retreats.Hasu researches storm, and adds supplements his army with high templar. Right after research is done, the army of Kas is on top of the cliff behind Hasu's third and stops mining until storm chases the bio units away. Kas then stims and runs into Hasu's natural, and then runs further into Hasu's main but is unable to kill much before being escaping with a few units in medivacs.The armies once again clash behind the third of Hasu, while Hasu takes his fourth base in the middle of the right side of the map Kas kills much of his army, his third, and takes control of the center.When Kas spots the right side base by flying a CC there to land, he swings his army around and takes care of it with ease and just as with game 1, Hasu's income dries up and he is overwhelmed. [32:15]Up 2-0, Kas starts the third game by expanding after a single marauder, while Hasu builds a gateways and robotics before adding a nexus. With little action, Kas techs to medivacs and begins bio upgrades while Hasu adds a robotics bay and starts on colossus production.The first skirmishes come from a series of drops by Kas, none of which do any damage. After defending, Hasu moves to the center of the map and sieges up a position with his colossus just outside the natural of Kas. As he has just taken his third, Kas can't muster up the forces to fight back and has to GG when Hasu storms in. [16:33]The third game opens with Hasu making 2 gateways from Hasu, and double barracks from Kas. Both players begin their expansion shortly after, looking to head into midgame safely and strongly. Kas feigns aggression with a few marauders while teching towards medivacs and upgrading from his engineering bay, while Hasu builds a forge and twilight counsel.Hasu takes his third as Kas attempts to drop, but the medivac is sniped when stalkers find it before it can escape. As Hasu begins to research storm (skipping colossus), Kas takes his third and ensures he is not far behind economically. Kas decides to take a fourth base, and meanders into the center of the map to keep Hasu contained at his choke. After a scan that discovers Hasu has no colossus, Kas flies his vikings to the main of Hasu and lands them to harass while simultaniously dropping Hasu's third.Kas continues to upgrade from 2 engineering bays, and begins to add in ghosts for emp the large Protoss ground force. The two armies dance around in the center for some time, Kas army is weakened after several storms and after Hasu traps them he eliminates the Terran force with ease. Hasu marches forward and tries to kill the planetary at Kas' third but is unable to take it down before being driven away, he too takes his fourth as he runs.Both players take their fifth, and Kas engages guerilla-Terran mode by dropping multiple places at once and sneaking around the Protoss main army. Hasu finally adds in colossus, and starts to stop mining by placing stalkers behind the minerals lines where a planetary can't hit them.Kas runs an entirely marauder force to the bottom of the map and snipes an expansion, and then when Hasu's army runs down to catch it he snipes a second nexus where Hasu's fourth is. Hasu is forced into retribution, and catches the scattered Terran legions as they run in various directions. When he charges forward the game ends as Kas finds himself unable to deal with the main army of Hasu. [32:03]Back to an even series, Hasu opens with 2 gateways before a nexus while Kas expands after a marauder. Kas goes for early +1 attack while working towards medivacs, and Hasu throws down a robo and its accompanying bay to start massing colossus. Kas begins making his third as +1 is nearing completion, and brings his army mid map to control when Hasu can take a third of his own.The armies dance around in the center briefly, eventually running into eachother and trading. As Kas takes his fourth, he catches Hasu's army before it is strong enough to take him on and destroys the opposing third, retreating after the damage is done. The bread and butter Terran play, Kas drops the main and attacks Hasu's natural and is able to take out the expansion nexus in exchange for a handful of units.Hasu sets up shop at both 12 o'clock and the base just below it, but not in time as the now 3-1 army of Kas is able to kill his army and end the game before they are up and fully running. [22:44]Match point for Kas, the game begins with Terran taking both gasses at 17 supply, while Protoss make a nexus on 1 gateway after a few stalkers. As his double gas indicates, Kas ramps up to starport immediately and begins producing banshees and researching cloak, flying the first banshee over immediately to work on the probe line.Stalkers chase it out, but only temporarily as cloak finishes before Hasu's robo is even 50% completed. After 14 kills, entirely probes, the first runs out of energy and is killed but a second has joined the fray and continues the worker slaughter. Managing to kill another 7 probes before the observer forces it away, Kas has a second orbital back home waiting to expand and secure a lead.Knowing he is leagues ahead, Kas floats his second base to the gold and ramps up to 6 barracks and produces a raven. While simultaneously making units, Kas is able to take his natural and a fourth base and moves his army towards the Protoss natural. A stim and scan is all it takes from there, he takes the first engagement with ease and wins the honor of a seed for TSL4. [14:01]



< 3-4 > mouz.ThorZaIN

+ Show Spoiler [Show Games] +

+ Show Spoiler [Game 1: Metalopolis] +

P12 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Metalopolis > T6 mouz.ThorZaIN



Cross positions on Metalopolis gives NaNiwa the confidence to 1 gate expand behind his first stalker. NaNiwa’s scout catches the tech lab, but does not live long enough to see the marauder pop out. The tech lab eventually situates itself with a starport, while NaNiwa modestly adds 1 gateway and a robotics facility. A reactor on the barracks endlessly produces marines, and ThorZaIN gets ready for a strong 1/1/1 timing push with marines+tanks+banshees. ThorZaIN reveals his hand by attempting to harass with the banshee, scoring a mere 2 kills before it is chased away.





9 minutes in, ThorZaIN is ready to push out, bringing along 16 SCVs and holding on to a small food lead, 82-78.





It takes ThorZaIN a full minute to walk across the map and as soon as NaNiwa’s nexus comes into range, ThorZaIN sieges his tanks and begins to bunker up. The tank in front is just barely in range of the pylon in front of the nexus, and killing that pylon effectively supply blocks NaNiwa. NaNiwa is hesitant to engage, as thermal lance is more than halfway done and it would be wise to wait it out. NaNiwa can do nothing but stare as his nexus falls, plunging him even deeper into the red.





ThorZaIN eagerly moves up too far with one tank, and NaNiwa is quick to pick it off before the tank can siege. With 4 warpgates and a robo pumping colossi, NaNiwa is now leading in food, even though his probes are eating tank fire as they long distance mine down the ramp. After 2 rounds of zealot warp-ins, NaNiwa surges forward with three colossi to break the contain. The marines and SCVs clump up nicely for colossi fire, but NaNiwa can not break free. Back at home, ThorZaIN quietly expands.





Pushed back into his ramp, NaNiwa waits for an immortal to lead the charge and absorb tank fire before trying to reclaim his natural, this time pulling a handful of probes as well. Barely breaking free, NaNiwa knows it’s now or never, and moves southward along with all of his probes.





Probes make up a large portion of NaNiwa’s army, and several volleys of tank fire soon dissipate all of NaNiwa’s last ditch effort, and ThorZaIN takes the opening game of TSL3 grand finals. [18:58]





Cross positions on Metalopolis gives NaNiwa the confidence to 1 gate expand behind his first stalker. NaNiwa’s scout catches the tech lab, but does not live long enough to see the marauder pop out. The tech lab eventually situates itself with a starport, while NaNiwa modestly adds 1 gateway and a robotics facility. A reactor on the barracks endlessly produces marines, and ThorZaIN gets ready for a strong 1/1/1 timing push with marines+tanks+banshees. ThorZaIN reveals his hand by attempting to harass with the banshee, scoring a mere 2 kills before it is chased away.9 minutes in, ThorZaIN is ready to push out, bringing along 16 SCVs and holding on to a small food lead, 82-78.It takes ThorZaIN a full minute to walk across the map and as soon as NaNiwa’s nexus comes into range, ThorZaIN sieges his tanks and begins to bunker up. The tank in front is just barely in range of the pylon in front of the nexus, and killing that pylon effectively supply blocks NaNiwa. NaNiwa is hesitant to engage, as thermal lance is more than halfway done and it would be wise to wait it out. NaNiwa can do nothing but stare as his nexus falls, plunging him even deeper into the red.ThorZaIN eagerly moves up too far with one tank, and NaNiwa is quick to pick it off before the tank can siege. With 4 warpgates and a robo pumping colossi, NaNiwa is now leading in food, even though his probes are eating tank fire as they long distance mine down the ramp. After 2 rounds of zealot warp-ins, NaNiwa surges forward with three colossi to break the contain. The marines and SCVs clump up nicely for colossi fire, but NaNiwa can not break free. Back at home, ThorZaIN quietly expands.Pushed back into his ramp, NaNiwa waits for an immortal to lead the charge and absorb tank fire before trying to reclaim his natural, this time pulling a handful of probes as well. Barely breaking free, NaNiwa knows it’s now or never, and moves southward along with all of his probes.Probes make up a large portion of NaNiwa’s army, and several volleys of tank fire soon dissipate all of NaNiwa’s last ditch effort, and ThorZaIN takes the opening game of TSL3 grand finals. [18:58]

+ Show Spoiler [Game 2: Crevasse] +

P11 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Crevasse > T5 mouz.ThorZaIN



NaNiwa’s nexus and ThorZaIN’s CC both are thrown down on 15/16, as Crevasse boasts the longest rush distance, especially when the players are cross-map. ThorZaIN only feels safe to tech up after having three barracks’ worth of units, and surprisingly decides to go for two factories instead of starport. A few misplaced pylons delay NaNiwa’s observer, and ultimately, colossi tech. ThorZaIN pushes out with marine/tank, dragging along some SCVs to build bunkers/turrets.





NaNiwa catches the incoming force via Xel’Naga Tower. While landing perfect force fields atop the ramp, engaging sieged tanks would be too costly for NaNiwa, and the slow siege leapfrog eventually pushes him back. As soon as charge is done, NaNiwa attacks head-on, but the chargelots can not finish off all the tanks, and reinforcing marines arrive to send the rest of NaNiwa’s units back home.





ThorZaIN’s tanks are now outside of NaNiwa’s main, and bunkers slowly go up to hold fragile marines. NaNiwa’s army consists of purely zealot and colossi. Thanks to the tanks being so close together, colossi splash proves to be much more effective, and NaNiwa ends the battle with some forces leftover, leaving ThorZaIN empty-handed and frantically re-rallying his units.





ThorZaIN recently got his third up and running, and stations all his units there to defend. NaNiwa walks down the southern ramp and while his colossi can easily walk into the main from the cliffside, a single pesky viking forces him to turn the other way and go home. A few minutes later with even more colossi, NaNiwa takes the same route, this time with stalker support, to waltz into ThorZaIN’s backdoor expansion to roast some SCVs and have free reign into ThorZaIN’s main. After the CC burns down, NaNiwa makes his exit using the same path, but the vikings and tanks are in position, forcing NaNiwa to lose 3 colossi on the way out.





As ThorZaIN is first to take a third, NaNiwa is first to take a fourth. This coincides with ThorZaIN’s timing as he looks to push out. A mixture of biomech and vikings looks formidable for the Protoss deathball, but ThorZaIN only began to siege as their engagement begins. The chargelots soak up a majority of the damage regardless of the hellions, and the proximity really narrows tanks’s effectiveness. With his army gone, ThorZaIN taps out. [21:57]





NaNiwa’s nexus and ThorZaIN’s CC both are thrown down on 15/16, as Crevasse boasts the longest rush distance, especially when the players are cross-map. ThorZaIN only feels safe to tech up after having three barracks’ worth of units, and surprisingly decides to go for two factories instead of starport. A few misplaced pylons delay NaNiwa’s observer, and ultimately, colossi tech. ThorZaIN pushes out with marine/tank, dragging along some SCVs to build bunkers/turrets.NaNiwa catches the incoming force via Xel’Naga Tower. While landing perfect force fields atop the ramp, engaging sieged tanks would be too costly for NaNiwa, and the slow siege leapfrog eventually pushes him back. As soon as charge is done, NaNiwa attacks head-on, but the chargelots can not finish off all the tanks, and reinforcing marines arrive to send the rest of NaNiwa’s units back home.ThorZaIN’s tanks are now outside of NaNiwa’s main, and bunkers slowly go up to hold fragile marines. NaNiwa’s army consists of purely zealot and colossi. Thanks to the tanks being so close together, colossi splash proves to be much more effective, and NaNiwa ends the battle with some forces leftover, leaving ThorZaIN empty-handed and frantically re-rallying his units.ThorZaIN recently got his third up and running, and stations all his units there to defend. NaNiwa walks down the southern ramp and while his colossi can easily walk into the main from the cliffside, a single pesky viking forces him to turn the other way and go home. A few minutes later with even more colossi, NaNiwa takes the same route, this time with stalker support, to waltz into ThorZaIN’s backdoor expansion to roast some SCVs and have free reign into ThorZaIN’s main. After the CC burns down, NaNiwa makes his exit using the same path, but the vikings and tanks are in position, forcing NaNiwa to lose 3 colossi on the way out.As ThorZaIN is first to take a third, NaNiwa is first to take a fourth. This coincides with ThorZaIN’s timing as he looks to push out. A mixture of biomech and vikings looks formidable for the Protoss deathball, but ThorZaIN only began to siege as their engagement begins. The chargelots soak up a majority of the damage regardless of the hellions, and the proximity really narrows tanks’s effectiveness. With his army gone, ThorZaIN taps out. [21:57]

+ Show Spoiler [Game 3: Shakuras Plateau] +

P7 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Shakuras Plateau > T1 mouz.ThorZaIN



Both players again go for the fast expansion. With force fields and bunkers, neither is able to apply any sort of early aggression right away. ThorZaIN begins his infantry weapon upgrade surprisingly fast, just seconds after stim has started. NaNiwa heads towards colossus tech once again, as the robotics bay finish after two observers and now is making colossi nonstop. With medivacs finally ready to go, ThorZaIN pushes out, only to be trailed by the observer.





Halfway across the map, ThorZaIN runs into the colossus ball, and multiple sentries with full energy is a disaster for ThorZaIN, who hustles back immediately. NaNiwa uses this opportunity to get his third up without any opposition, grabbing charge and psionic storm along the way. Both armies play tug of war in the middle of the map, with vikings withering down colossus numbers. NaNiwa feedbacks all the ghosts and force field traps all of ThorZaIN’s marauders as they sat through multiple thunderstorms.





NaNiwa’s 3 immortals split 20 kills among them, picking up 1 more as ThorZaIN’s planetary fortess at the third falls. The fourth is not up just yet, so ThorZaIN is stuck on barely 1 mining base. Leaving just a few zealots to take care of the orbital, NaNiwa marches the rest of his army into ThorZaIN’s main.





ThorZaIN scans and EMPs a majority of the templars, but the nearly 100 food difference is too much for ThorZaIN to overcome. NaNiwa turns the tables, leading the series 2-1. [20:50]





Both players again go for the fast expansion. With force fields and bunkers, neither is able to apply any sort of early aggression right away. ThorZaIN begins his infantry weapon upgrade surprisingly fast, just seconds after stim has started. NaNiwa heads towards colossus tech once again, as the robotics bay finish after two observers and now is making colossi nonstop. With medivacs finally ready to go, ThorZaIN pushes out, only to be trailed by the observer.Halfway across the map, ThorZaIN runs into the colossus ball, and multiple sentries with full energy is a disaster for ThorZaIN, who hustles back immediately. NaNiwa uses this opportunity to get his third up without any opposition, grabbing charge and psionic storm along the way. Both armies play tug of war in the middle of the map, with vikings withering down colossus numbers. NaNiwa feedbacks all the ghosts and force field traps all of ThorZaIN’s marauders as they sat through multiple thunderstorms.NaNiwa’s 3 immortals split 20 kills among them, picking up 1 more as ThorZaIN’s planetary fortess at the third falls. The fourth is not up just yet, so ThorZaIN is stuck on barely 1 mining base. Leaving just a few zealots to take care of the orbital, NaNiwa marches the rest of his army into ThorZaIN’s main.ThorZaIN scans and EMPs a majority of the templars, but the nearly 100 food difference is too much for ThorZaIN to overcome. NaNiwa turns the tables, leading the series 2-1. [20:50]

+ Show Spoiler [Game 4: Terminus RE] +

P6 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Terminus RE > T3 mouz.ThorZaIN



As close as Terminus RE close can be, NaNiwa doesn’t settle for a quick expansion this time around, looking for some blink stalker play off of 4 warp gates. Taking 7 stalkers from the first round of warp-in, NaNiwa rushes through the frontal defense, looking for that high ground vision in order to blink in, but ThorZaIN denies his entrance into the main with a clutch supply depot raise.





No luck trying from that side, NaNiwa blinks below the bunker he has just taken out to circle around the mineral line. With pure marine, it is difficult for ThorZaIN to hold without a lot of casualties. Eventually, ThorZaIN is forced to lift his CC at the natural to avoid it burning down. NaNiwa doesn’t give up on that lone bunker at the front, but a bunker being mass repair is too much for the stalkers with slow firing rate.





ThorZaIN now has tanks on the way, and stim is almost done. ThorZaIN carelessly brings all his SCVs back to mine, and NaNiwa capitalizes by sniping the bunker. With each engagement, NaNiwa calmly micros his blink stalker to minimize losses. When there is only 2 tanks left at the natural, NaNiwa blinks forward to take them out, pushing ThorZaIN to face elimination. [12:20]





As close as Terminus RE close can be, NaNiwa doesn’t settle for a quick expansion this time around, looking for some blink stalker play off of 4 warp gates. Taking 7 stalkers from the first round of warp-in, NaNiwa rushes through the frontal defense, looking for that high ground vision in order to blink in, but ThorZaIN denies his entrance into the main with a clutch supply depot raise.No luck trying from that side, NaNiwa blinks below the bunker he has just taken out to circle around the mineral line. With pure marine, it is difficult for ThorZaIN to hold without a lot of casualties. Eventually, ThorZaIN is forced to lift his CC at the natural to avoid it burning down. NaNiwa doesn’t give up on that lone bunker at the front, but a bunker being mass repair is too much for the stalkers with slow firing rate.ThorZaIN now has tanks on the way, and stim is almost done. ThorZaIN carelessly brings all his SCVs back to mine, and NaNiwa capitalizes by sniping the bunker. With each engagement, NaNiwa calmly micros his blink stalker to minimize losses. When there is only 2 tanks left at the natural, NaNiwa blinks forward to take them out, pushing ThorZaIN to face elimination. [12:20]

+ Show Spoiler [Game 5: XelNaga Caverns] +

P1 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Xel'Naga Caverns > T7 mouz.ThorZaIN



As soon as NaNiwa’s probe leaves the base, ThorZaIN cancels his second barracks, leaving NaNiwa to think that it is still some sort of 2-3 barracks fast expand. NaNiwa blindly makes three more gateways, and the infamous 4gate is on the way. ThorZaIN bunkers up and walls off his entrance. NaNiwa puts a pylon on the low ground to be able to warp into ThorZaIN’s base, but the new 1.3.3 pylon change puts it in range of marines. ThorZaIN surrounds the zealots warping in instantly, leaving NaNiwa no choice but to retreat.





Having only three stalkers, NaNiwa expands and makes robotics facility. With siege mode almost done, ThorZaIN moves on as his first banshee finishes. Even though NaNiwa takes out all the SCVs, denying bunkers, he does not have enough units to deal with the sieged tanks. After the nexus has fallen, ThorZaIN creeps up slowly with bunkers. A stray marine catches NaNiwa trying to ferry his units out using a warp prism.





NaNiwa is able to bring all his units down below the ramp, but even circling around and attacks the siege line from the back does not help NaNiwa. NaNiwa takes what’s left of his army to go for a counterattack, and ThorZaIN pulls SCVs off the line to help fend off NaNiwa’s desperate attack.





Realizing that NaNiwa’s defense is weakened, ThorZaIN unsieges and walks in at the other end of the map, salvaging the game and bring the series back to 3-2. [15:18]





As soon as NaNiwa’s probe leaves the base, ThorZaIN cancels his second barracks, leaving NaNiwa to think that it is still some sort of 2-3 barracks fast expand. NaNiwa blindly makes three more gateways, and the infamous 4gate is on the way. ThorZaIN bunkers up and walls off his entrance. NaNiwa puts a pylon on the low ground to be able to warp into ThorZaIN’s base, but the new 1.3.3 pylon change puts it in range of marines. ThorZaIN surrounds the zealots warping in instantly, leaving NaNiwa no choice but to retreat.Having only three stalkers, NaNiwa expands and makes robotics facility. With siege mode almost done, ThorZaIN moves on as his first banshee finishes. Even though NaNiwa takes out all the SCVs, denying bunkers, he does not have enough units to deal with the sieged tanks. After the nexus has fallen, ThorZaIN creeps up slowly with bunkers. A stray marine catches NaNiwa trying to ferry his units out using a warp prism.NaNiwa is able to bring all his units down below the ramp, but even circling around and attacks the siege line from the back does not help NaNiwa. NaNiwa takes what’s left of his army to go for a counterattack, and ThorZaIN pulls SCVs off the line to help fend off NaNiwa’s desperate attack.Realizing that NaNiwa’s defense is weakened, ThorZaIN unsieges and walks in at the other end of the map, salvaging the game and bring the series back to 3-2. [15:18]

+ Show Spoiler [Game 6: Crossfire SE] +

P1 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Crossfire SE > T7 mouz.ThorZaIN



NaNiwa starts a stargate after his core finishes while ThorZaIN expands with two barracks. NaNiwa’s phoenixes are a nuisance, flying around and delaying ThorZaIN’s expansion. The phoenixes are able to pick off a SCVs and a MULE before turrets go up, but NaNiwa loses one as he flies over the marines at the natural. NaNiwa has 6 gates inside his main, and pushes out with 7 sentries, all having 100 or more energy. The SCVs are unable to reach the bunkers due to force fields, and NaNiwa destroys three before stopping for a second to warp in more units.





ThorZaIN is unable reinforce his army, and has to wait for the medivacs to come out to elevator his troops down to the low ground. NaNiwa’s second attack yields even more force fields, but somehow, as NaNiwa is plowing through bunkers/SCVs left and right, ThorZaIN still retains a huge worker lead and his army (with +1 weapons) does not seem to wither, comfortably pushing back NaNiwa for a second time.





With ghosts in his army, ThorZaIN moves up and lands two huge EMPs, draining all of the sentries energy and stims in for the kill, evening up the series and bringing it to a game 7. [17:39]





NaNiwa starts a stargate after his core finishes while ThorZaIN expands with two barracks. NaNiwa’s phoenixes are a nuisance, flying around and delaying ThorZaIN’s expansion. The phoenixes are able to pick off a SCVs and a MULE before turrets go up, but NaNiwa loses one as he flies over the marines at the natural. NaNiwa has 6 gates inside his main, and pushes out with 7 sentries, all having 100 or more energy. The SCVs are unable to reach the bunkers due to force fields, and NaNiwa destroys three before stopping for a second to warp in more units.ThorZaIN is unable reinforce his army, and has to wait for the medivacs to come out to elevator his troops down to the low ground. NaNiwa’s second attack yields even more force fields, but somehow, as NaNiwa is plowing through bunkers/SCVs left and right, ThorZaIN still retains a huge worker lead and his army (with +1 weapons) does not seem to wither, comfortably pushing back NaNiwa for a second time.With ghosts in his army, ThorZaIN moves up and lands two huge EMPs, draining all of the sentries energy and stims in for the kill, evening up the series and bringing it to a game 7. [17:39]

+ Show Spoiler [Game 7: TalDarim Altar] +

P7 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Tal'Darim Altar > T5 mouz.ThorZaIN



ThorZaIN’s reaper sneaks into NaNiwa’s base to pick off a sentry and a probe, seeing NaNiwa’s second nexus warping in the process. Both players add on additional buildings before teching up. ThorZaIN stops at three barracks while NaNiwa builds up colossus tech on two warp gates. With two colossi and a sentry-heavy army, NaNiwa moves out. The cliff climbing ability of the colossi denies ThorZaIN mining time at the natural, but an untiming connection issue forces our very own Chill to desert the game, leaving Day[9] to talk to himself for the rest of the game (an area of expertise to which he has no rivals). Even after the vikings have popped out, the ridiculous range of thermal lance continues to roast SCVs, bringing ThorZaIN down to 45 SCVs to NaNiwa’s 50.





Picking off every single supply depot near the ledge temporarily supply blocks ThorZaIN as well. NaNiwa parks all his units on the low ground next to the ledge, making it extremely easy for ThorZaIN to land huge EMPs without much effort.





NaNiwa begins to pull away with the food lead, as ThorZaIN needs to constantly make supply depots. NaNiwa swings his entire army to the front of ThorZaIN’s natural, and tries to overwhelm ThorZaIN with pure number. NaNiwa’s army is upgrade-less, with no twilight council in sight while ThorZaIN sits at 1/1. The SCVs soak up some zealot hits and as there are no more colossi, vikings land to deal additional DPS.





ThorZaIN holds the attack with less than dozen units remaining, but confidently pushes forward to the center of the map. Picking off some of NaNiwa’s fleeting units, ThorZaIN decides to pull back as he is met with more force fields below NaNiwa’s ramp. Checking to see if NaNiwa has any hidden bases, ThorZaIN breaths a sign of relief knowing that both their thirds are just started up right now. The Xel’Naga Tower becomes a strongly contested area, and ThorZaIN draws first blood, landing two EMPs on the clumps of NaNiwa’s army. ThorZaIN’s vikings pick off all but one colossus, but he’ll have to think twice before charging up into the natural.





The food count consistently stays within 5 of each other. While ThorZaIN has dual starport pumping out medivacs and vikings, he is only running on three barracks, compared to NaNiwa’s 8 gates. ThorZaIN catches NaNiwa out of position to stim in and snipe NaNiwa’s third.





Both armies skirt back and forth, with the colossi poking a few beams while EMPs rain down on NaNiwa’s sentry. NaNiwa moves his stalkers to the front to do some poking, but ThorZaIN stims his main army and a small group of reinforcement from the side to trigger the last battle of TSL3. ThorZaIN targets the sentries and zealots with EMP, clearing out most of them before they can get in contact with the main army, while 14 vikings single target down each colossi. The colossi spent too much time dodging vikings and was not able to participate in the fight 100% of the time, and as the last colossus fell, ThorZaIN pulls back from a 1-3 deficit to be crown TSL3 champion. [24:52]





ThorZaIN’s reaper sneaks into NaNiwa’s base to pick off a sentry and a probe, seeing NaNiwa’s second nexus warping in the process. Both players add on additional buildings before teching up. ThorZaIN stops at three barracks while NaNiwa builds up colossus tech on two warp gates. With two colossi and a sentry-heavy army, NaNiwa moves out. The cliff climbing ability of the colossi denies ThorZaIN mining time at the natural, but an untiming connection issue forces our very own Chill to desert the game, leaving Day[9] to talk to himself for the rest of the game (an area of expertise to which he has no rivals). Even after the vikings have popped out, the ridiculous range of thermal lance continues to roast SCVs, bringing ThorZaIN down to 45 SCVs to NaNiwa’s 50.Picking off every single supply depot near the ledge temporarily supply blocks ThorZaIN as well. NaNiwa parks all his units on the low ground next to the ledge, making it extremely easy for ThorZaIN to land huge EMPs without much effort.NaNiwa begins to pull away with the food lead, as ThorZaIN needs to constantly make supply depots. NaNiwa swings his entire army to the front of ThorZaIN’s natural, and tries to overwhelm ThorZaIN with pure number. NaNiwa’s army is upgrade-less, with no twilight council in sight while ThorZaIN sits at 1/1. The SCVs soak up some zealot hits and as there are no more colossi, vikings land to deal additional DPS.ThorZaIN holds the attack with less than dozen units remaining, but confidently pushes forward to the center of the map. Picking off some of NaNiwa’s fleeting units, ThorZaIN decides to pull back as he is met with more force fields below NaNiwa’s ramp. Checking to see if NaNiwa has any hidden bases, ThorZaIN breaths a sign of relief knowing that both their thirds are just started up right now. The Xel’Naga Tower becomes a strongly contested area, and ThorZaIN draws first blood, landing two EMPs on the clumps of NaNiwa’s army. ThorZaIN’s vikings pick off all but one colossus, but he’ll have to think twice before charging up into the natural.The food count consistently stays within 5 of each other. While ThorZaIN has dual starport pumping out medivacs and vikings, he is only running on three barracks, compared to NaNiwa’s 8 gates. ThorZaIN catches NaNiwa out of position to stim in and snipe NaNiwa’s third.Both armies skirt back and forth, with the colossi poking a few beams while EMPs rain down on NaNiwa’s sentry. NaNiwa moves his stalkers to the front to do some poking, but ThorZaIN stims his main army and a small group of reinforcement from the side to trigger the last battle of TSL3. ThorZaIN targets the sentries and zealots with EMP, clearing out most of them before they can get in contact with the main army, while 14 vikings single target down each colossi. The colossi spent too much time dodging vikings and was not able to participate in the fight 100% of the time, and as the last colossus fell, ThorZaIN pulls back from a 1-3 deficit to be crown TSL3 champion. [24:52]







mouz.HasuObs < 2-4 > Dignitas.NaNiwa < 3-4 >





Empire.Kas

Post-game Interview



Q: Congratulations on taking third place and getting a seed to the next TSL. How do you feel?



I am very glad, it is the best online tournament in Europe and to come out in 3rd place is a good result.



Q: The terran changes did not affect your MMM style of TvP play that much, while Protoss had their early attack options weakened. Did you feel any different going into this match after the patch?



I prepared some new timings, but after the patch there was not enough time to fully try them out. That is why i decided to play the reliable and tested style, going for macro games. I already have some ideas for post-patch, but I did not want to take the chance of using them in such an important game.



Q: In game one you focused more on upgrades than usual, eventually having 3/3 vs your opponent's 1/0. Was this a specific adjustment for Tal'Darim, or is this a style you want to play more in general?



After the first push, I had an advantage. I understood my opponent's plan pretty well, so I could play more freely. When my drop did well and stalled his upgrades, I was looking for a quick victory, but the map landscape did not leave me with a good position to do so.



Q: After winning three games with your signature MMM style, you finished the series with a banshee build on Metalopolis. Was it your original plan to do a macro strategy for games in a row and surprise your opponent with banshees? Or did you decide to go banshees on the spot, after scouting your opponent and seeing that it was close air positions on metal?



My initial plan was to fast expand, but since he had a quick scout I resorted to some long-term cunning. When an opponent sees that you don't have gas, he will automatically make some conclusions about your build, and will not prepare for banshees. That is why I decided to play some mind games with my opponent, and they succeeded.



Q: Though you've earned your seed to TSL4, you're famous as the king of online money tournaments. Do you plan to compete in TLOpen next season even though you don't need to qualify?﻿



I will do everything I can do remain in the best leagues as long as i can. I will also, as usual, do my best to play in every possible tournament and game..



Q: What do you think of the TSL finalists?



I will cheer for both, they are great players and I hope they will show us good games.



Q: Anything to say to your fans?



I'd also like to shout out to Team Empire and our sponsors Thermaltake eSports and Seagate, and to my fans who support me. Thanks all!



I am very glad, it is the best online tournament in Europe and to come out in 3rd place is a good result.I prepared some new timings, but after the patch there was not enough time to fully try them out. That is why i decided to play the reliable and tested style, going for macro games. I already have some ideas for post-patch, but I did not want to take the chance of using them in such an important game.After the first push, I had an advantage. I understood my opponent's plan pretty well, so I could play more freely. When my drop did well and stalled his upgrades, I was looking for a quick victory, but the map landscape did not leave me with a good position to do so.My initial plan was to fast expand, but since he had a quick scout I resorted to some long-term cunning. When an opponent sees that you don't have gas, he will automatically make some conclusions about your build, and will not prepare for banshees. That is why I decided to play some mind games with my opponent, and they succeeded.I will do everything I can do remain in the best leagues as long as i can. I will also, as usual, do my best to play in every possible tournament and game..I will cheer for both, they are great players and I hope they will show us good games.I'd also like to shout out to Team Empire and our sponsors Thermaltake eSports and Seagate, and to my fans who support me. Thanks all!





mouz.ThorZaiN

Post-game Interview



Q: I know you didn't get to see much of the city because of tournament preparations, but what did you think of NYC? Specifically, how was visiting New York, how was staying with Naniwa?



We spent 1 day at Manhattan for some sightseeing and such. It is a nice city, but as you said I didn’t get to experience very much of it. Queens (where we were staying) was much better than I expected it to be!



I expected Naniwa to be more arrogant than he was. He turned out to be a great guy.



Q: What is the TL office like and what do you think of Hot_Bid and R1CH?



The TL Office was great. We had our own rooms with our own computers, so we could have all the privacy we wanted and practice in peace. Overall it just felt very welcoming and we could feel almost at home. Hot_Bid and R1CH...well...Hot_Bid is the biggest troll alive. And rich is just a nice guy, seems to be really smart as well.



Q: You visited MLG offices too, how was that?



We didn’t spend too much time there. Just gave an interview and talked some with some of the staff. It was really messy though because they were moving their offices. I’m excited about the tournament though.



Q: Quite a few SC II fans came to the TSL after-party. Was it your first time meeting with so many fans at once? How was the experience?



I guess this ties with the StarsWar tournament in China that I played in WC3 in April 2010 for the amount of people approaching me as fans etc. But this was special because these guys were all here for me and Naniwa. It’s a nice feeling.



Q: After playing just MMM style + your thor build in previous rounds, you added tanks and banshees into your TvP for the finals. Were you trying to catch Naniwa off-guard?



Well they were strategies I had been using before the finals but just didn’t get to play them very much in my previous TvPs in the TSL. I think that tanks are OK against Protoss until they get charge. When they have charge they become useless in my opinion.



Q: On a related note, if the Thor build hadn't been nerfed through the patch, would you have used it? For more than one game?



I don’t know. Since it was nerfed, I didn’t really take it into consideration when I was deciding on what openings to play on the different maps. But I guess that we would have seen it at least once.



Q: After taking two wins in macro games, Naniwa went for a few all-in builds. Were you surprised with his change in strategy? Do you think it would have been tougher if he had just tried to play for long templar stage each time?



Well he won with one of those all-ins and lost with the other 1 base all-in. Then on the 6th map he did some 2 base all-in which didn’t work. I expected him to throw in some all-ins but not the types of all-ins he used against me.



Q: In the days up to the game, you had a chance to interact with Naniwa quite a bit. What do you think of Naniwa in general, not just as a player.?



As I already said before, I expected him to be more arrogant than he was. He has quite a reputation of being a bit bad mannered and such, but he turned out to be a nice guy. He LOVES sushi.



And as a player I think that he is the best player outside of Korea right now. I was a bit lucky with my win against him. I think nerves played a big role on his part, especially in the seventh game.



Q: You guys also had a lot of conversations in Swedish. Besides the occasional “colossus,” “marauder” and “imbalance,” we couldn't really figure out what you were saying. What were you guys talking about?



We were just talking about how bad mannered Hot_Bid is for not buying Naniwa more sushi...



Q: You teased hot_bid by saying you would go BattleCruisers on terminus, but lost to a four-gate blink rush before you could try. Were you really going to try it? Or were you just counter-trolling the troll-king?



Haha. It’s impossible to out-troll Hot_Bid. I actually had a plan involving BattleCruisers. The only problem is that I had to reach that part of the game.



Q: When you went 1-3 down, how were you feeling? What did you do to get back into the series?



I had basically given up after the 4th game, thinking there was no way for me to get back. I still stuck with my plan and now I’m happy that I did.



Q: Did you celebrate again after you returned to Sweden? Sure you had an American celebration right after, but surely there's some things you can only do at home?



Well I’ve been pretty damn jet lagged and very tired so I didn’t do much yet. But I celebrated some with my family so far.



Q: You're on break from your studies until this summer. What are your plans after that? Will you try to be a part-time student and part-time progamer, or will you delay your studies to focus on progaming?



We’ll see. I applied for a bunch of universities and depending on which I get accepted to and how good I am at SC2 at the time I will choose whether to go to school or delay it further.



Q: We saw that you would often go on the TL forums to see what people were saying about you. Did you go back and watch the TSL3 games to see what Day9 and Chill were saying?



No I didn’t really watch the VoDs. I mostly only watch stuff like that in real time but now since we were playing I couldn’t.



Q: You've had a few days to be famous. How's that working out so far?



Haha. I was pretty famous in WC3 already, but I guess I’m more famous now ^^. I’m getting spammed often on Battle.net now and it’s a bit annoying at times.



Q: You mentioned that you would go to Korea for Code-A if you were given a seed. If you had success and made it to Code-S, how long would you be willing to stay there afterwards?



No, I didn’t say I would go to Code-A if I was be given a seed. I don’t have any plans for GSL yet, but I guess maybe sometime in the future. I would like to become better before I would go to Korea, because if I would go there I would want to have a good chance at doing very well, and I don’t think I’m there yet.



We spent 1 day at Manhattan for some sightseeing and such. It is a nice city, but as you said I didn’t get to experience very much of it. Queens (where we were staying) was much better than I expected it to be!I expected Naniwa to be more arrogant than he was. He turned out to be a great guy.The TL Office was great. We had our own rooms with our own computers, so we could have all the privacy we wanted and practice in peace. Overall it just felt very welcoming and we could feel almost at home. Hot_Bid and R1CH...well...Hot_Bid is the biggest troll alive. And rich is just a nice guy, seems to be really smart as well.We didn’t spend too much time there. Just gave an interview and talked some with some of the staff. It was really messy though because they were moving their offices. I’m excited about the tournament though.I guess this ties with the StarsWar tournament in China that I played in WC3 in April 2010 for the amount of people approaching me as fans etc. But this was special because these guys were all here for me and Naniwa. It’s a nice feeling.Well they were strategies I had been using before the finals but just didn’t get to play them very much in my previous TvPs in the TSL. I think that tanks are OK against Protoss until they get charge. When they have charge they become useless in my opinion.I don’t know. Since it was nerfed, I didn’t really take it into consideration when I was deciding on what openings to play on the different maps. But I guess that we would have seen it at least once.Well he won with one of those all-ins and lost with the other 1 base all-in. Then on the 6th map he did some 2 base all-in which didn’t work. I expected him to throw in some all-ins but not the types of all-ins he used against me.As I already said before, I expected him to be more arrogant than he was. He has quite a reputation of being a bit bad mannered and such, but he turned out to be a nice guy. He LOVES sushi.And as a player I think that he is the best player outside of Korea right now. I was a bit lucky with my win against him. I think nerves played a big role on his part, especially in the seventh game.We were just talking about how bad mannered Hot_Bid is for not buying Naniwa more sushi...Haha. It’s impossible to out-troll Hot_Bid. I actually had a plan involving BattleCruisers. The only problem is that I had to reach that part of the game.I had basically given up after the 4th game, thinking there was no way for me to get back. I still stuck with my plan and now I’m happy that I did.Well I’ve been pretty damn jet lagged and very tired so I didn’t do much yet. But I celebrated some with my family so far.We’ll see. I applied for a bunch of universities and depending on which I get accepted to and how good I am at SC2 at the time I will choose whether to go to school or delay it further.No I didn’t really watch the VoDs. I mostly only watch stuff like that in real time but now since we were playing I couldn’t.Haha. I was pretty famous in WC3 already, but I guess I’m more famous now ^^. I’m getting spammed often on Battle.net now and it’s a bit annoying at times.No, I didn’t say I would go to Code-A if I was be given a seed. I don’t have any plans for GSL yet, but I guess maybe sometime in the future. I would like to become better before I would go to Korea, because if I would go there I would want to have a good chance at doing very well, and I don’t think I’m there yet.



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By signing up, you can also enter the TSL3 Raffle, where you can win a 5-night trip to South Korea for 2 people to watch StarCraft live in person and tour the oGs-Liquid house.



Discuss with other fans in the TSL3 Forum. What else is there to say? The finalists brought their A game, and delivered us the closest, most tense series of the TSL. As with, ThorZaIN found himself with his back against the wall and managed to rally to not only take it to the 7th game, but won the whole thing. A few all-ins, a few macro games, an amusing catchphrase , safe to say we covered all of our bases with this one.Not to discredit Kas and HasuObs of course. Their playoff for the seed into TSL4 was also incredible, lasting 6 games with Kas edging out Hasu just barely. All in all, an amazing way to close out TSL.Here we are with the interviews and recaps from last weekend. @RealHeyoka | DreamHack StarCrafty Man