Road to BlizzCon #2 - SKT.Dream - WCS 2015 Text by TL.net ESPORTS Graphics by shiroiusagi, dravernor Story

Player Spotlight

Analysis The Road to Blizzcon - Ch II - Dream







Chapter II The View from the Bottom by Destructicon







Dream, the young general of SKT's army, paced furiously back and forth in front of his army. Gruesome images of revenge and punishment danced in his mind. He tried to calm down but found it difficult. Every time he tried, his thoughts raced back to SKT's castle. He remembered how the incessant screeching of alarms had interrupted his training, how he had raced to the medical ward to find all the members of SKT, reappearing one by one, delirious and barely able to stand. He had been the last one remaining, so he had had to put each and every one of them in reanimation chambers.



Dream's attention shifted to the mountainous horizon. He scanned the skies but could not spot anything that appeared dangerous, which did little to quell the building unease in his chest. He started fidgeting with his trusty rifle, flicking the bayonet's point before his mind returned to SKT's headquarters, to the first words his mentor spoke before Dream had to drag him to life support.



It was one of Dream's first days at SKT. He had just finished a grueling training sequence and had left the simulator to salute his mentor. He was greeted by an unwavering gaze.



"Not bad, right?" Dream inquired, eager to please.



"It was good. You're making progress."



"Awesome. Will you spar with me now?"



"Unfortunately, I'm unable to. Rebellion has broken across the land and the old king has fallen. The houses are vying for power. Now is the time to strike and gain glory for SKT." INnoVation may as well have beaten his breast in exaltation.



Dream realized that this was a good opportunity to display the development of his skills, asking, "Then bring me along with you? I can't wait to test my mettle in a real battle!"



INnoVation understood Dream's excitement, but he answered with a calm yet decisive voice, "No, you aren't ready yet."



Shocked, the young man challenged, "Why?! I did great back there!"



"Because you're still impulsive and reckless," the elder continued with no audible change in his tone, "You sent your troops into enemy territory without scanning ahead. You could have walked straight into an ambush."



Dream was exasperated. "But I won the battle!" he replied, desperation in his eyes.



"Irrelevant. You put your army in too much danger. We can't risk real troops like that."



Dream's face flushed red with fury, and he burst spouting, "You've never seen me as anything but a kid! Why did you even bring me here in the first place?!"



An unexpected flicker of surprise mixed with frustration shot across INnoVation's face. It was the first time he had ever shown any kind of emotion in front of Dream, and it took a microsecond before he could compose himself again. He approached his apprentice and walked into his personal space, jarring the young man. A hand's length separated their faces. In the student's eyes was intensity and passion; in the master's was a piercing chill and emptiness. INnoVation's gaze pierced through Dream and pushed his spirit back, his entire body tensing in response.



The mentor then spoke, saying, "I keep you from battle because of what I have seen, but you remain with SKT for the same reasons. Despite your inexperience and impetuousness, I see immense potential. You will not be ready for battle until you temper that steel."



INnoVation's steady voice reverberated throughout dream, extinguishing the flames of Dream's anger. He had realized that his teacher was right, but the intensity and desire to prove himself remained. "What should I do then?"



"Continue training diligently. Analyze yourself and hone your craft. We will spar when I return and we'll see what you will have learned. But for now I must depart," INnoVation answered, "Goodbye and good luck."



Goodbye and good luck. One day he'd be the one saying those words to trainees, he thought.



Dream turned his attention away from his memories and back to the skies. He had grown weary of waiting and ordered his comms officer to administer a scan of the area, and soon they caught a glimpse of something coming. Anticipation bred frenzy.



He imagined the bold words he would say to challenge Life and the strategies he would use to defeat him. He imagined how he would ruin KT and how we would become the leader of the terran council. He imagined walking into Spostalea and slaying Maru's forces. He imagined sitting on the throne of his new capital, scepter in hand. He would finally gain the respect and recognition that had eluded him for so long.



The skies parted and there was his quarry, sitting atop a flying creature. He launched a signal flare to beckon Life to him, and the zerg complied. There would be no ambush; Dream desired a confrontation. The KT zerg descended yet remained willfully above the terran commander. Life's steed blocked the sun.



"What are you searching for so far from home, little fledgling?" Life's mockery flew by Dream without notice.



"A fight," the young terran quipped.



"Don't you know who I am?"



"I know who you are," Dream answered, "and that's why I'm here for you. I could have shot you down just now, but that wouldn't have been very interesting. I'm Dream. I want a fight. And I want that scepter."



Life raised an eyebrow. "So you're that Dream kid. I'm afraid you don't understand what you're asking for. Nevertheless, if this is what you want," Life waved the scepter, scattering the light behind him, "I don't think you could even entertain me."



Dream's excitement turned into irritation, "Are you afraid, great King? I didn't expect royalty to cower so low."



"Cower, you say," Life was amused by Dream's feeble attempts to rattle him, "When my swarm is done you'll understand the meaning of the word."



The afternoon sun filled Life's eyes as he began to concentrate. A vicious wind swept through the valley coordinated by his outstretched hands. Soon the ground shook from the footsteps of countless crawling creatures and the drift of a mantle of burrowed beasts. Not long after, only Life's eyes remained illuminated as a flock of mutalisks blotted out the sun.









Dream jumped back into his seat, the cockpit closing around him. He fired a single prodding shot, measuring his opponent's reactions. The missile was quickly intercepted by a mutalisk, sweeping in to take the brunt of the strike. It fell to the ground dead in a rain of red. "Not bad." Dream whispered, now smiling. He fired again.



A full barrage of missiles shot from the Thor's air batteries, a dozen streaks of bright red thundering toward the Zerg. Again, more mutalisks swept in, burying the missiles in a veritable cloud of flapping wings and lashing claws, but the missiles were too many and too fast. Through the flock emerged a single missile, on an unbroken trajectory toward the enemy. Life saw it coming well ahead of time, and with a dissatisfied grunt he stepped off the back of his overlord and into the air. More mutalisks appeared, grabbing him by his outstretched arms to deliver him safely to the ground.



With their master safely out of range, the cloud of flying monstrosities withdrew. Dream let out a ragged breath, sweat already gathering in beads on his brow, and watched the second onslaught. A tide of zerglings, dashing forward in such a way that they seemed to almost fly, washing across the plain. And bigger things still, ultralisks rising thirty times their height at their flanks. Every last one headed for him. Directly below the Terran, a handful of mines dug deep into the ground, forming a first line of defense. The Thor stepped in behind them, propulsion systems at full thrust. Then he was still, and waited for the first strike.



He had expected caution, prodding attacks to find the holes in his defenses. But the zerglings came on, their furious dash unbroken and unhindered, and the widow mines fired in all their number. They detonated in blinding flashes of fire, shockwaves rippling through the swarm.



Dream's eyes narrowed behind the thick glass. Before him, and closing quickly, the zerglings flock was nearly undiminished. A handful lay behind in broken husks, each taking the brunt of a single explosion.



"As good as they say," Dream grinned, then clenched his teeth. I will have to be better.



Dream had studied the opponent, paid great attention to his tendencies, to his strategy. A lone ultralisk closed on his Thor, unmindful of the gauss rifle fire that bounced off its chitinous armor. The ground cracked and crumbled underfoot as the beast and the machine collided head-on. Two shots hit the behemoth in its screeching face and sent it reeling back, massive jaws still snapping. Thrusters fired, and the Thor carried high into the air on plumes of smoke. The ultralisk, wounded and confused in its resumed charge forward, turned just in time to see the mech drop down behind it, firing anew. One scythe slashed through the Thor's left side, metal tearing and bulks of wiring spitting clouds of hissing sparks. The Thor fired a final pair of shots, and the ultralisk fell in gory heaps to the ground, crushing a good dozen zerglings underneath. Javelin missiles met the distant cloud of mutalisks, but Dream could not see the outcome through the thick layer of red running down the cockpit window.



SHUTDOWN IMMINENT



"Oh shit," Dream fumbled for the controls, smashing the control panel with sweaty fingers. "Uh. Oh"



TOTAL MALFUNCTION



A bright-green tide had appeared on the rise, rolling down with sizzling abandon. Banelings, in untold number. Riflefire caught some of them on the rocky descent, explosions of acidic green sprouting from wounded monsters.



EJECT NOW?



"YES!" Dream yelled, the first tastes of worry bitter in his throat. "Yes, eject!"



And he was flying, power suit rattling in the air, rifle gripped tightly in one hand. He hit the ground hard, rolling, and saw that his foe had also plummeted to the ground and now lay dizzy in a puddle of death. They were both quick on their feet, quick to rise, quick to find their positions. More banelings rolled in as Life retreated, flanked by zerglings and a lone mutalisk sailing above, flapping madly.



The mines fired again. This time, the chaos was complete. Dream staggered back, dual shockwaves pounding across his chest. Zerglings died in burning swathes, burst forward ripped in half or flew high into the air on pillars of fire. The air carried the stench of burning flesh, and Dream's mouth tasted of blood.



Yet somehow he advanced. Rifles pushed the zerglings back, forced them to desperately rally around their master. The last of the banelings exploded, most of them well out of range. The mutalisk fell, a sad winged skeleton crashing through the ground just beside its weakened master. But there was no sign of fear on Life's face, no worry to concede that he was falling back. The zerglings gathered anew, pushed forward. Were pushed back.



The two men closed on each other, surrounded by carnage and devastation. The once quiet valley was littered with craters, filled with smoke and oozing acid. Dream stumbled to his knees and staggered upright by willpower alone. One agonizing step, then another. Another.



"You can't beat me," Life said, but his voice was weak. He stifled a cough, wobbling, eyes unfocused. "You can't..."



Dream's fist smashed across his cheek, and the Zerg fell. Had he possessed an ounce of strength more, Dream would have been surprised. Life did not look as if he would rise.



"I... can."



The Terran reached for the scepter, abandoned a mere step away from the unconscious king. Just... a few.... His fingers closed around the hilt, just for a second, and then all was dark.







The sun shone brightly upon the majestic peaks of Browder Valley. A gentle breeze crisscrossed the lazy mountains as all manner of weird and wonderful creatures played upon its slopes. A beautiful sense of peace and harmony tinged the air, but everyone knew it would not last much longer. The valley was famous as a strategic pass between the continent's two largest cities, making it a vital point of contention in every war ever waged. Landslides were common and the labyrinth of stone had interred many a warrior beneath it.Dream, the young general of SKT's army, paced furiously back and forth in front of his army. Gruesome images of revenge and punishment danced in his mind. He tried to calm down but found it difficult. Every time he tried, his thoughts raced back to SKT's castle. He remembered how the incessant screeching of alarms had interrupted his training, how he had raced to the medical ward to find all the members of SKT, reappearing one by one, delirious and barely able to stand. He had been the last one remaining, so he had had to put each and every one of them in reanimation chambers.Dream's attention shifted to the mountainous horizon. He scanned the skies but could not spot anything that appeared dangerous, which did little to quell the building unease in his chest. He started fidgeting with his trusty rifle, flicking the bayonet's point before his mind returned to SKT's headquarters, to the first words his mentor spoke before Dream had to drag him to life support.It was one of Dream's first days at SKT. He had just finished a grueling training sequence and had left the simulator to salute his mentor. He was greeted by an unwavering gaze."Not bad, right?" Dream inquired, eager to please."It was good. You're making progress.""Awesome. Will you spar with me now?""Unfortunately, I'm unable to. Rebellion has broken across the land and the old king has fallen. The houses are vying for power. Now is the time to strike and gain glory for SKT." INnoVation may as well have beaten his breast in exaltation.Dream realized that this was a good opportunity to display the development of his skills, asking, "Then bring me along with you? I can't wait to test my mettle in a real battle!"INnoVation understood Dream's excitement, but he answered with a calm yet decisive voice, "No, you aren't ready yet."Shocked, the young man challenged, "Why?! I did great back there!""Because you're still impulsive and reckless," the elder continued with no audible change in his tone, "You sent your troops into enemy territory without scanning ahead. You could have walked straight into an ambush."Dream was exasperated. "But I won the battle!" he replied, desperation in his eyes."Irrelevant. You put your army in too much danger. We can't risk real troops like that."Dream's face flushed red with fury, and he burst spouting, "You've never seen me as anything but a kid! Why did you even bring me here in the first place?!"An unexpected flicker of surprise mixed with frustration shot across INnoVation's face. It was the first time he had ever shown any kind of emotion in front of Dream, and it took a microsecond before he could compose himself again. He approached his apprentice and walked into his personal space, jarring the young man. A hand's length separated their faces. In the student's eyes was intensity and passion; in the master's was a piercing chill and emptiness. INnoVation's gaze pierced through Dream and pushed his spirit back, his entire body tensing in response.The mentor then spoke, saying, "I keep you from battle because of what I have seen, but you remain with SKT for the same reasons. Despite your inexperience and impetuousness, I see immense potential. You will not be ready for battle until you temper that steel."INnoVation's steady voice reverberated throughout dream, extinguishing the flames of Dream's anger. He had realized that his teacher was right, but the intensity and desire to prove himself remained. "What should I do then?""Continue training diligently. Analyze yourself and hone your craft. We will spar when I return and we'll see what you will have learned. But for now I must depart," INnoVation answered, "Goodbye and good luck."One day he'd be the one saying those words to trainees, he thought.Dream turned his attention away from his memories and back to the skies. He had grown weary of waiting and ordered his comms officer to administer a scan of the area, and soon they caught a glimpse of something coming. Anticipation bred frenzy.He imagined the bold words he would say to challenge Life and the strategies he would use to defeat him. He imagined how he would ruin KT and how we would become the leader of the terran council. He imagined walking into Spostalea and slaying Maru's forces. He imagined sitting on the throne of his new capital, scepter in hand. He would finally gain the respect and recognition that had eluded him for so long.The skies parted and there was his quarry, sitting atop a flying creature. He launched a signal flare to beckon Life to him, and the zerg complied. There would be no ambush; Dream desired a confrontation. The KT zerg descended yet remained willfully above the terran commander. Life's steed blocked the sun."What are you searching for so far from home, little fledgling?" Life's mockery flew by Dream without notice."A fight," the young terran quipped."Don't you know who I am?""I know who you are," Dream answered, "and that's why I'm here for you. I could have shot you down just now, but that wouldn't have been very interesting. I'm Dream. I want a fight. And I want that scepter."Life raised an eyebrow. "So you're that Dream kid. I'm afraid you don't understand what you're asking for. Nevertheless, if this is what you want," Life waved the scepter, scattering the light behind him, "I don't think you could even entertain me."Dream's excitement turned into irritation, "Are you afraid, great King? I didn't expect royalty to cower so low.""Cower, you say," Life was amused by Dream's feeble attempts to rattle him, "When my swarm is done you'll understand the meaning of the word."The afternoon sun filled Life's eyes as he began to concentrate. A vicious wind swept through the valley coordinated by his outstretched hands. Soon the ground shook from the footsteps of countless crawling creatures and the drift of a mantle of burrowed beasts. Not long after, only Life's eyes remained illuminated as a flock of mutalisks blotted out the sun.Dream jumped back into his seat, the cockpit closing around him. He fired a single prodding shot, measuring his opponent's reactions. The missile was quickly intercepted by a mutalisk, sweeping in to take the brunt of the strike. It fell to the ground dead in a rain of red. "Not bad." Dream whispered, now smiling. He fired again.A full barrage of missiles shot from the Thor's air batteries, a dozen streaks of bright red thundering toward the Zerg. Again, more mutalisks swept in, burying the missiles in a veritable cloud of flapping wings and lashing claws, but the missiles were too many and too fast. Through the flock emerged a single missile, on an unbroken trajectory toward the enemy. Life saw it coming well ahead of time, and with a dissatisfied grunt he stepped off the back of his overlord and into the air. More mutalisks appeared, grabbing him by his outstretched arms to deliver him safely to the ground.With their master safely out of range, the cloud of flying monstrosities withdrew. Dream let out a ragged breath, sweat already gathering in beads on his brow, and watched the second onslaught. A tide of zerglings, dashing forward in such a way that they seemed to almost fly, washing across the plain. And bigger things still, ultralisks rising thirty times their height at their flanks. Every last one headed for him. Directly below the Terran, a handful of mines dug deep into the ground, forming a first line of defense. The Thor stepped in behind them, propulsion systems at full thrust. Then he was still, and waited for the first strike.He had expected caution, prodding attacks to find the holes in his defenses. But the zerglings came on, their furious dash unbroken and unhindered, and the widow mines fired in all their number. They detonated in blinding flashes of fire, shockwaves rippling through the swarm.Dream's eyes narrowed behind the thick glass. Before him, and closing quickly, the zerglings flock was nearly undiminished. A handful lay behind in broken husks, each taking the brunt of a single explosion."As good as they say," Dream grinned, then clenched his teeth.Dream had studied the opponent, paid great attention to his tendencies, to his strategy. A lone ultralisk closed on his Thor, unmindful of the gauss rifle fire that bounced off its chitinous armor. The ground cracked and crumbled underfoot as the beast and the machine collided head-on. Two shots hit the behemoth in its screeching face and sent it reeling back, massive jaws still snapping. Thrusters fired, and the Thor carried high into the air on plumes of smoke. The ultralisk, wounded and confused in its resumed charge forward, turned just in time to see the mech drop down behind it, firing anew. One scythe slashed through the Thor's left side, metal tearing and bulks of wiring spitting clouds of hissing sparks. The Thor fired a final pair of shots, and the ultralisk fell in gory heaps to the ground, crushing a good dozen zerglings underneath. Javelin missiles met the distant cloud of mutalisks, but Dream could not see the outcome through the thick layer of red running down the cockpit window."Oh shit," Dream fumbled for the controls, smashing the control panel with sweaty fingers. "Uh. Oh"A bright-green tide had appeared on the rise, rolling down with sizzling abandon. Banelings, in untold number. Riflefire caught some of them on the rocky descent, explosions of acidic green sprouting from wounded monsters."YES!" Dream yelled, the first tastes of worry bitter in his throat. "Yes, eject!"And he was flying, power suit rattling in the air, rifle gripped tightly in one hand. He hit the ground hard, rolling, and saw that his foe had also plummeted to the ground and now lay dizzy in a puddle of death. They were both quick on their feet, quick to rise, quick to find their positions. More banelings rolled in as Life retreated, flanked by zerglings and a lone mutalisk sailing above, flapping madly.The mines fired again. This time, the chaos was complete. Dream staggered back, dual shockwaves pounding across his chest. Zerglings died in burning swathes, burst forward ripped in half or flew high into the air on pillars of fire. The air carried the stench of burning flesh, and Dream's mouth tasted of blood.Yet somehow he advanced. Rifles pushed the zerglings back, forced them to desperately rally around their master. The last of the banelings exploded, most of them well out of range. The mutalisk fell, a sad winged skeleton crashing through the ground just beside its weakened master. But there was no sign of fear on Life's face, no worry to concede that he was falling back. The zerglings gathered anew, pushed forward. Were pushed back.The two men closed on each other, surrounded by carnage and devastation. The once quiet valley was littered with craters, filled with smoke and oozing acid. Dream stumbled to his knees and staggered upright by willpower alone. One agonizing step, then another. Another."You can't beat me," Life said, but his voice was weak. He stifled a cough, wobbling, eyes unfocused. "You can't..."Dream's fist smashed across his cheek, and the Zerg fell. Had he possessed an ounce of strength more, Dream would have been surprised. Life did not look as if he would rise."I... can."The Terran reached for the scepter, abandoned a mere step away from the unconscious king.. His fingers closed around the hilt, just for a second, and then all was dark.



Stats are from Aligulac.com





Even with his transfer to one of Starcraft 2’s pre-eminent teams in SK Telecom T1 in September 2014, little was expected of Dream this year. Despite being one of the longest serving players in the game’s history at this point—making his debut in GSL August way back in 2011—the 18 year old terran had found it hard to establish himself as a consistent staple of the scene. Plenty of moments from his past hinted at the potential within—knocking Rain out of Code A in 2012, one month after the protoss’ triumphant OSL run for example, or the sprawling chaos of his game against Scarlett in the ATC—but a runners up medal at IEM Katowice in 2013 had been the sole demonstration of consistency amongst a sea of Code A mediocrity.



That all changed with his SSL run in Season 1 at the start of the year. His 4-3 victory over Life was an eye-opener—not only did he beat the reigning world champion and consensus best player in the world, he did it while elevating the matchup to new heights in a series that will likely go down as one of the best in the game’s history. Unfortunately, few of those platitudes can be applied to his performance in the final—a 4-1 thrashing from Maru. Still, his performances the following season fully underlined the fact that Dream was here to stay. Another otherworldly display against Life in the quarterfinals was followed by a dominant 4-0 victory over herO—a player previously famed for his PvT prowess—as Dream stomped his way to a second consecutive SSL final. Just as before though, he underperformed considerably when the pressure was on, and had to watch as his teammate Classic became the second SSL champion. Early exits from both leagues in Season 3 led to an uninspiring end to an impressive year as Dream’s results began to tail off. However, as a final coda to the Starcraft year, he was matched against his nemesis Maru in the Proleague Grand Finals. In a gruelling 40 minute marathon, Dream’s mech ultimately triumphed over Maru’s bio, setting SKT on the path to a 4-2 victory over Jin Air.



WCS Points:





Top 5 Games







1. Dream vs Solar, SSL 2014 Season 1 - Catallena

We’ve seen Dream turn on the heat at random before—an excellent series against PartinG at IEM Katowice back in 2013; his famous battle against Scarlett in the ATC—so seeing him dismantle Solar here didn’t necessarily herald the year that’s ensued. But, looking back, the hallmarks of his play are all here: the thor micro; the multitasking; and above all the seemingly effortless splits.









2. Dream vs Life, SSL 2015 Season 1 - Merry Go Round

Before 2015, we’d always thought of Dream as a player capable of turning the dial up to 11 for a game or two, but never one capable of challenging consistently over a season or a year. That all changed this year, mostly due to this game, which allowed Dream to turn the series’ momentum on its head and win a Bo7 against the best player in the world. We’ve seen plenty of holds against baneling busts before, but never like this—battling to split every marine, squeezing every last shot of damage from his crippled army, and keeping it up for what seemed like an eternity. It’s undoubtedly one of the greatest displays in TvZ that we’ve ever been treated to. The rest of the series was pretty great as well (especially the decider on Deadwing), but this one was special.









3. Dream vs Life, SSL 2015 Season 2 - Overgrowth

There’s been a dichotomy to Dream’s TvZ in 2015. He’s given us a selection of games to add to the list of all-time greats, but his win rate in the matchup for the year is a mere 45%. That’s in part down to the knife edge he dances on—the fragility of his style is also the quality that makes it so engrossing to watch. To play like Dream demands perfection, and when it comes off like in this second SSL series against Life, there’s nothing quite like it in Starcraft.









4. Dream vs herO, SSL 2015 Season 2 - Cactus Valley

Going into his second consecutive SSL semifinal, few truly expected Dream to win. herO’s PvT play over the past few years has been consistently excellent, while Dream’s 0-4 exit in GSL the previous night (including an 0-2 defeat to herO) hardly inspired confidence. His 4-0 here then was a staggering display of intent. In particular, the final game on Cactus Valley underlined his strengths: using his multitasking ability to poke at herO’s defences before collapsing in on the weakest point once the CJ protoss made his mistake.







5. Dream vs Maru, SPL 2015 Grand Finals - Echo

TvT has been a bit one-note for most of the past two years. Widow mine drops, medivac harass, and hellion runbys all contribute to an ever escalating arms race, with players trying more and more to end the game as quickly as possible. It’s therefore even more enjoyable nowadays when players enter the mid and late games in the matchup, and the game is allowed time to open up. Maru’s shown time and again recently that breaking a mech composition with bio isn’t his forte, and this game only seemed to provide further evidence of that as Dream established a solid lead in the mid game. Thor drops changed all that though, and the multitasking of both players were pushed to the very limit as the game spiraled towards a chaotic conclusion in a wonderful send-off to the Proleague season.



Even with his transfer to one of Starcraft 2’s pre-eminent teams in SK Telecom T1 in September 2014, little was expected of Dream this year. Despite being one of the longest serving players in the game’s history at this point—making his debut in GSL August way back in 2011—the 18 year old terran had found it hard to establish himself as a consistent staple of the scene. Plenty of moments from his past hinted at the potential within—knocking Rain out of Code A in 2012, one month after the protoss’ triumphant OSL run for example, or the sprawling chaos of his game against Scarlett in the ATC—but a runners up medal at IEM Katowice in 2013 had been the sole demonstration of consistency amongst a sea of Code A mediocrity.That all changed with his SSL run in Season 1 at the start of the year. His 4-3 victory over Life was an eye-opener—not only did he beat the reigning world champion and consensus best player in the world, he did it while elevating the matchup to new heights in a series that will likely go down as one of the best in the game’s history. Unfortunately, few of those platitudes can be applied to his performance in the final—a 4-1 thrashing from Maru. Still, his performances the following season fully underlined the fact that Dream was here to stay. Another otherworldly display against Life in the quarterfinals was followed by a dominant 4-0 victory over herO—a player previously famed for his PvT prowess—as Dream stomped his way to a second consecutive SSL final. Just as before though, he underperformed considerably when the pressure was on, and had to watch as his teammate Classic became the second SSL champion. Early exits from both leagues in Season 3 led to an uninspiring end to an impressive year as Dream’s results began to tail off. However, as a final coda to the Starcraft year, he was matched against his nemesis Maru in the Proleague Grand Finals. In a gruelling 40 minute marathon, Dream’s mech ultimately triumphed over Maru’s bio, setting SKT on the path to a 4-2 victory over Jin Air.We’ve seen Dream turn on the heat at random before—an excellent series against PartinG at IEM Katowice back in 2013; his famous battle against Scarlett in the ATC—so seeing him dismantle Solar here didn’t necessarily herald the year that’s ensued. But, looking back, the hallmarks of his play are all here: the thor micro; the multitasking; and above all the seemingly effortless splits.Before 2015, we’d always thought of Dream as a player capable of turning the dial up to 11 for a game or two, but never one capable of challenging consistently over a season or a year. That all changed this year, mostly due to this game, which allowed Dream to turn the series’ momentum on its head and win a Bo7 against the best player in the world. We’ve seen plenty of holds against baneling busts before, but never like this—battling to split every marine, squeezing every last shot of damage from his crippled army, and keeping it up for what seemed like an eternity. It’s undoubtedly one of the greatest displays in TvZ that we’ve ever been treated to. The rest of the series was pretty great as well (especially the decider on Deadwing), but this one was special.There’s been a dichotomy to Dream’s TvZ in 2015. He’s given us a selection of games to add to the list of all-time greats, but his win rate in the matchup for the year is a mere 45%. That’s in part down to the knife edge he dances on—the fragility of his style is also the quality that makes it so engrossing to watch. To play like Dreamperfection, and when it comes off like in this second SSL series against Life, there’s nothing quite like it in Starcraft.Going into his second consecutive SSL semifinal, few truly expected Dream to win. herO’s PvT play over the past few years has been consistently excellent, while Dream’s 0-4 exit in GSL the previous night (including an 0-2 defeat to herO) hardly inspired confidence. His 4-0 here then was a staggering display of intent. In particular, the final game on Cactus Valley underlined his strengths: using his multitasking ability to poke at herO’s defences before collapsing in on the weakest point once the CJ protoss made his mistake.TvT has been a bit one-note for most of the past two years. Widow mine drops, medivac harass, and hellion runbys all contribute to an ever escalating arms race, with players trying more and more to end the game as quickly as possible. It’s therefore even more enjoyable nowadays when players enter the mid and late games in the matchup, and the game is allowed time to open up. Maru’s shown time and again recently that breaking a mech composition with bio isn’t his forte, and this game only seemed to provide further evidence of that as Dream established a solid lead in the mid game. Thor drops changed all that though, and the multitasking of both players were pushed to the very limit as the game spiraled towards a chaotic conclusion in a wonderful send-off to the Proleague season.

Dream vs Life

SSL 2015 S1 Semifinals - Mary Go Round LE

by: Jer



Going into the first season of 2015’s S2SL, Life was the undisputed best player in the world. After toppling every contender at BlizzCon, followed by a 4-3 victory over Maru at IEM Taipei, everything pointed to an easy Life victory against the young terran player Dream. What happened next in this series only a madman could predict: Dream outplayed Life at his own game. A series filled with battery, blood and bruises developed, and it climaxed in the sixth game. Dropping three games in a row, Dream had to win the next two games to continue onto the finals or be eliminated.



The game opened up similarly to the previous games: CC first vs. hatch first. Thus far in this series, Dream had opened up with a CC first in all but one game, and had a record of 2-2 with it. This time however, Life sensed that Dream would be going for a CC first, and decided to take action against it. With an overlord bait, Life was able to pull the marines out from Dreams natural, and then send some zerglings into it. Now, Dream was in a bit of a sticky situation. His two options were to pull a lot of SCVs and his two marines and fight the zerglings in his natural, or to sacrifice the natural and keep everything secure in the main base. He chose the latter and abandoned his natural base, giving Life full map control.







This move from Life essentially forced Dream into retaliating with his own aggression. Much like the other games in this series, Dream decided to go for a hellbat timing, and behind this would start up his bio upgrades and establish his third base. After his aggression, Life started a two base mutalisk build, and planned to deal some more damage to Dream. This plan was delayed however by the hellbat push that Dream executed. Perhaps not expecting it, Life was forced to pull all of his drones out of the natural base to keep them alive while the mutalisks were being built, and while killing only two drones in total, Dream was able to delay the mutalisk push long enough to set up turrets and his infrastructure, and delay a considerable amount of mining time. After all was said and done, Dream retook the economy advantage his a seven worker lead, and also had his upgrades started before Life.







Coincidentally, this also prompted Life to form a rebuttal with his own aggression. Now behind in economy and tech, the only advantage Life had at this point was army. And boy, did he have a huge advantage in it. After the hellbat push, Dream invested into five turrets, bunkers throughout his main base, bio upgrades, and more infrastructure. This left almost zero resources for actual army, and a simple muta/ling push was enough to force Dream to abandon his natural base yet again. But life did not stop here; he smelled blood. Life proceeded to morph a massive amount of banelings right outside of the natural of Dream. Confidently, Dream tried to retake his natural only for Life to attack with his swarm, demolishing the already fragile terran army. Life overran everything Dream had; the wall was broken, the natural base destroyed, and the SCVs forced off the line to defend. As a consolation prize, Dream was able to focus fire down the flock of mutalisks, but at a huge cost.







Again, Dream thought the aggression was over, and retook his natural. Yet again, Life was gearing up for a follow up attack, and this time Dream had only scraps of an army to work with. Dream had saturated his natural base with a full line of SCVs, and this time he could not evacuate all of them like he had before. The banelings rolled in, the marines and SCVs melted, and Life took a massive lead in both army and economy. 24 SCVs were killed this time, and Dream was yet again stuck in his main base.



What can you do when you only have eight marines, two hellbats and two medivacs against a large clump of banelings and zerglings right outside of your base? You drop of course! As uncanny a decision as this was for Dream, it worked out. This move left only two marines, two hellbats and a medivac in Dreams base, while Life had roughly ten banelings and forty zerglings just outside. In a miraculous stroke of luck for Dream, Life pulled everything back, even after scouting the forces Dream had at home. This was highly unlike Life, and had he gone for the final bust, it would have crushed whatever Dream had left. Not only did the terran go for the riskiest drop of all time with his tournament on the line, but he also started his second set of upgrades for his bio units behind this. Dream was all in for the macro game, and these were the first two steps into clawing his way back into the game.







As expected, Dream's drop did next to nothing to Life, who had already decided to pull everything back in anticipation of drops. What it did accomplish though was to give Dream the opportunity to finally establish his natural base, and for good. His relatively high SCV count all game long had been of no use, and finally getting a second base was crucial to increase his income and put those extra SCVs to work. His second set of upgrades were well underway, while Life had only his first set producing. Even though he was finally on two bases, Life had already set up three of his own, and yet again stopped worker production at 55 to build another army. Life’s next plan was to hit a 1/1 timing with a gigantic ling/bane army with some complimentary mutalisks. All larvae was invested into lings, and from lings into banelings. Life held against single medivac drops, and set across the map to finally put down the resistant terran. At the start of the engagement, the numbers were: 100 lings, 36 banelings and 10 mutalisks for Life against 47 marines, 7 medivacs, 4 hellbats and 4 widow mines. Everything in this fight pointed towards a terran massacre, and Life had the numbers to back it up.







And then it happened. The godliest splitting of units that has ever happened in a professional game of Starcraft was pulled off. What was suppose to be an impossible fight for Dream ended up being one of the most impressive displays of skill ever. Dream was just barely able to hang on with all of his medivacs intact and a handful of marines. The upgrade advantage, combined with the medivac healing, was enough to keep his reinforcing marines alive and push back the reinforcing zerglings from Life. Another round of banelings had just finished morphing, but this did not deter Dream. Another display of godlike marine splitting was enough to hold this latest attack from Life, and Dream was finally able to hold onto enough marines and medivacs to push Life back for good.



Dream had finally taken back the army lead, and with a full set of upgrades ahead of Life, was able to defend all fronts from any pressure. Mutalisks tried to fly in and deal damage, but Dream was well aware of the threat and shooed them away. A zergling runby was easily defended by AFK marines in the natural as the upgrade lead was just too much for the lings, and Dream pushed across the map. The first attack was barely deflected, but after barely clinging on, a second wave of bio had made its way across the map. Dream started assaulting the third base of Life and split his way to victory.



Click to watch the game

Going into the first season of 2015’s S2SL, Life was the undisputed best player in the world. After toppling every contender at BlizzCon, followed by a 4-3 victory over Maru at IEM Taipei, everything pointed to an easy Life victory against the young terran player Dream. What happened next in this series only a madman could predict: Dream outplayed Life at his own game. A series filled with battery, blood and bruises developed, and it climaxed in the sixth game. Dropping three games in a row, Dream had to win the next two games to continue onto the finals or be eliminated.The game opened up similarly to the previous games: CC first vs. hatch first. Thus far in this series, Dream had opened up with a CC first in all but one game, and had a record of 2-2 with it. This time however, Life sensed that Dream would be going for a CC first, and decided to take action against it. With an overlord bait, Life was able to pull the marines out from Dreams natural, and then send some zerglings into it. Now, Dream was in a bit of a sticky situation. His two options were to pull a lot of SCVs and his two marines and fight the zerglings in his natural, or to sacrifice the natural and keep everything secure in the main base. He chose the latter and abandoned his natural base, giving Life full map control.This move from Life essentially forced Dream into retaliating with his own aggression. Much like the other games in this series, Dream decided to go for a hellbat timing, and behind this would start up his bio upgrades and establish his third base. After his aggression, Life started a two base mutalisk build, and planned to deal some more damage to Dream. This plan was delayed however by the hellbat push that Dream executed. Perhaps not expecting it, Life was forced to pull all of his drones out of the natural base to keep them alive while the mutalisks were being built, and while killing only two drones in total, Dream was able to delay the mutalisk push long enough to set up turrets and his infrastructure, and delay a considerable amount of mining time. After all was said and done, Dream retook the economy advantage his a seven worker lead, and also had his upgrades started before Life.Coincidentally, this also prompted Life to form a rebuttal with his own aggression. Now behind in economy and tech, the only advantage Life had at this point was army. And boy, did he have a huge advantage in it. After the hellbat push, Dream invested into five turrets, bunkers throughout his main base, bio upgrades, and more infrastructure. This left almost zero resources for actual army, and a simple muta/ling push was enough to force Dream to abandon his natural base yet again. But life did not stop here; he smelled blood. Life proceeded to morph a massive amount of banelings right outside of the natural of Dream. Confidently, Dream tried to retake his natural only for Life to attack with his swarm, demolishing the already fragile terran army. Life overran everything Dream had; the wall was broken, the natural base destroyed, and the SCVs forced off the line to defend. As a consolation prize, Dream was able to focus fire down the flock of mutalisks, but at a huge cost.Again, Dream thought the aggression was over, and retook his natural. Yet again, Life was gearing up for a follow up attack, and this time Dream had only scraps of an army to work with. Dream had saturated his natural base with a full line of SCVs, and this time he could not evacuate all of them like he had before. The banelings rolled in, the marines and SCVs melted, and Life took a massive lead in both army and economy. 24 SCVs were killed this time, and Dream was yet again stuck in his main base.What can you do when you only have eight marines, two hellbats and two medivacs against a large clump of banelings and zerglings right outside of your base? You drop of course! As uncanny a decision as this was for Dream, it worked out. This move left only two marines, two hellbats and a medivac in Dreams base, while Life had roughly ten banelings and forty zerglings just outside. In a miraculous stroke of luck for Dream, Life pulledback, even after scouting the forces Dream had at home. This was highly unlike Life, and had he gone for the final bust, it would have crushed whatever Dream had left. Not only did the terran go for the riskiest drop of all time with his tournament on the line, but he also started his second set of upgrades for his bio units behind this. Dream was all in for the macro game, and these were the first two steps into clawing his way back into the game.As expected, Dream's drop did next to nothing to Life, who had already decided to pull everything back in anticipation of drops. What it did accomplish though was to give Dream the opportunity toestablish his natural base, and for good. His relatively high SCV count all game long had been of no use, and finally getting a second base was crucial to increase his income and put those extra SCVs to work. His second set of upgrades were well underway, while Life had only his first set producing. Even though he was finally on two bases, Life had already set up three of his own, and yet again stopped worker production at 55 to build another army. Life’s next plan was to hit a 1/1 timing with a gigantic ling/bane army with some complimentary mutalisks. All larvae was invested into lings, and from lings into banelings. Life held against single medivac drops, and set across the map to finally put down the resistant terran. At the start of the engagement, the numbers were: 100 lings, 36 banelings and 10 mutalisks for Life against 47 marines, 7 medivacs, 4 hellbats and 4 widow mines. Everything in this fight pointed towards a terran massacre, and Life had the numbers to back it up.And then it happened. The godliest splitting of units that has ever happened in a professional game of Starcraft was pulled off. What was suppose to be an impossible fight for Dream ended up being one of the most impressive displays of skill ever. Dream was just barely able to hang on with all of his medivacs intact and a handful of marines. The upgrade advantage, combined with the medivac healing, was enough to keep his reinforcing marines alive and push back the reinforcing zerglings from Life. Another round of banelings had just finished morphing, but this did not deter Dream. Another display of godlike marine splitting was enough to hold this latest attack from Life, and Dream was finally able to hold onto enough marines and medivacs to push Life back for good.Dream had finally taken back the army lead, and with a full set of upgrades ahead of Life, was able to defend all fronts from any pressure. Mutalisks tried to fly in and deal damage, but Dream was well aware of the threat and shooed them away. A zergling runby was easily defended by AFK marines in the natural as the upgrade lead was just too much for the lings, and Dream pushed across the map. The first attack was barely deflected, but after barely clinging on, a second wave of bio had made its way across the map. Dream started assaulting the third base of Life and split his way to victory.











