And here we are, a few games away from the conclusion of the first ever HotS MLG. As the air heats up, Flash prepares to go against Life in a revenge match from Fall Championship.

MLG Winter coverage


[Quarterfinals] Terran dominant in day 3's opening matches
As Championship Sunday was given start, the red stream harbored Flash and PartinG, a match-up rich on renown and even richer on hype.

After long minutes of constant pressure and living through Parting's surgical storms, Flash managed to take the first set but his victory was far from an easy one. PartinG's secret third base allowed him to live long into the series and make plays around the map that actually stopped Flash's production on a couple of occasions but in the end it wasn't enough. Flash was up 1-0.

A build order loss for the Terran equalized the scales as Flash's triple CC opening was hard-countered by stalker/oracle 1-base all-in. PartinG tried to repeat that Stalker aggression on Akilon Flats as well but got his army cornered and slaughtered, his pressure thus nullified. That onset a series of even more troubles for the Protoss: with the map control back in his hands, Flash was allowed to execute some slight Medivac harassment as well as surround and delete Parting's entire sentry count, a loss that the Protoss immediately acknowledged by tapping out. The Medi-drop nightmare continued in the final map as well and as Flash took down two of PartinG's nexi within seconds, the lights went out for the 2012 World Champion.

In total contrast to the Flash/PartinG series, the face-off between Innovation and Rain was short and brutal, with Innovation coming ahead 3-0. With that win, Innovation is, thus far, the best performing player in the tournament stats-wise, not dropping a single set. Attention thus now turns to his forthcoming match against Flash in anticipation to see if the Ultimate Weapon will be the first one to make Innovation type GG.

[Quarterfinals] History repeats itself: MC vs Bomber and Life vs Last

While some of the units being utilized have changed in Heart of the Swarm, some of the stories have not. MC showed a dominating performance against Bomber in a 3-0 that was so convincing and solid, that it was reminiscent of an MC back in 2010 who completely dominated the same match-up. As he just took out MVP in the ro16, he looks very confident and solid at all points in the game.

Utilizing stargate openers in all 3 games, MC was able to shut down Bomber’s new TvP openers by denying any quick drop play with phoenixes while harassing and damaging Bomber’s economy with oracles. The phoenixes were able to be utilized throughout the mid-game and shut down any additional drop play while the oracles threatened more worker harassment, and MC was able to get his tech choice up and running (colossus or high templar). MC said “you can’t beat my oracles” the day before, and he lived up to his words. MC crushes it 3:0

Then there was Life vs Last, and this series is one worth going back into the VODs, even if you watched it live. All five games had very strong performances from both players, but one very important point stuck out. Last seemed to be behind in two of the games played, but through incredible use and control of his army, was able to shock the commentators and the audience by pulling out wins. This is something that wasn’t seen much in the ends of Wings of Liberty, so it’s very refreshing to see in Starcraft 2 once again. It’s reminiscent of an MKP who impressed everyone worldwide with his marine splits against a heavy baneling composition.

Favoring hellion-heavy builds, Last was able to always do some damage to Life when entering the mid-game. However, Life was able to have another very strong performance, and it came through in the best way in the climax. Last had once again utilized a hellion-heavy build, and was able to take out a decent amount of workers and left Life crippled. However, Life committed to roach counter-aggression and was able to even up the workers lost tab to 30 all.



Life knew that Last’s “Last Stand” would once again be to utilize a very strong push to take the series. He moved out with the hellbat/tank composition that he had used to take the win in game 3, and Life created a huge swell of mutalisks. With no anti-air, Last’s force at Life’s third was cleaned up and Life was able to finish the victory strongly. Life takes the series 3:2.

[Semifinals] God against God


A couple of explosive series led up to the star-laden MLG grand final, starting with the all-KeSPA face-off between Innovation and Flash. Innovation came in packing the impressive 9-0 score but a God is not easily defeated.

Using a proxy marauder rush, Flash quickly took game one but suffered a loss immediately thereafter as he found himself outplayed and outpositioned by Innovation on Planet S. The intensity of the series grew even higher as the two players spawned on Whirlwind for set three and ended up playing arguably the most insane TvT in the tournament. Forty minutes of Medi-drops, Tank-sniping, worker raids massive skirmishes and base-racing later, Flash extorted a GG out of Innovation.

Continuing to be the aggressor, Flash stormed the last set on Daybreak and hit Innovation like a sledgehammer. Sniping a Medivac full of units was all Flash needed. With a 3-1, the BroodWar bonjwa made it to his first SC2 grand final.

Proving that you don't need HotS units to win at StarCraft 2, Life took flawless deletion to MC's face, utilizing a combination of mutalisk play, 6-pool and hatchery-tech roach/ling aggression to steal a 3-0 from the Boss Toss.

With those results, we enter a grand final between Flash and Life. The youngster took home the previous encounter between the two at the last MLG 4-2 so this is revenge time for the KT Terran. $25,000 are lined up for the winner but much more is on the line. For Flash, this would be the first championship in SC2 while Life is looking forward to be the second player after MKP to win two MLG golds in a row.

Photos by: Team Liquid