HerO proved to be a too tough of an opponent for the Evil Genuises player PuMa. The score 2-1 disguises the series as a close one, but the overall picture demonstrated HerO's superiority.
HeRO started out with a very solid play on Antiga Shipyard, going from fast expansion into a charge zealot, archon, sentry high templar army, while PuMa went for a barracks play with occasional drops. It wasn't until the 15-minute mark that the players' bulky armies with high upgrades really clashed. And HerO seemed to control the pace of the game. He smartly shifted to colossi after having noticed the ghosts that were thrown in to the mix. HerO eventually went for a big attack, right when PuMa had thought to establish the gold expansion. With his solid force, HerO ripped the Terran army into shreds.
"HerO outclassing PuMa in this game," said Artosis at the end-game buzzer. "HerO has acended to another level in this tournament." The highly thought of caster mentioned how HerO's quick Nexus might have thrown PuMa off guard.
PuMa then took a rather quick and decisive victory on Shakuras Plateau with a nice two-base barracks timing attack followed up by siege tanks. HerO's Nexus first clearly did not give him the upper hand against the EG player's offensive push.
"I think HerO misread PuMa thinking he'd drop, but instead he pushed," says Tasteless mentioning how HerO's blink was researched instead of charge.
To close the series off, the players landed on Metalopolis. HerO went once again for a fast expand while PuMa performed a strong three-barracks play which should normally hard counter HerO's play. But with exceptional micro, HerO fended off the marine and bunker-aided push to come back in the game to then take control of the tempo stick and go into offensive overdrive. PuMa's hidden third base at the top right did not help as he was crushed by HerO's overwhelming gateway units.
"This is his third of fourth MLG, he's gonna get there. Don't be surprised if he next year takes some big titles," said James "Kennigit" Lampkin, TeamLiquid manager in a post-game interview on the MLG stream.
HerO's next game in the championship bracket will be against the Swedish Terran SjoW. PuMa will be waiting in the lower bracket where he will play the winner of Losira and two Open Losers players.
