After three days of intensive group-stage battles, MaNa has been crowned Dreamhack Summer 2012 Champion. It was a dramatic day that saw the remaining Korean and Swedish players eliminated, leaving only two Ukrainians, a Frenchman and a Pole.
Whittling down sixteen exhausted players to find one champion was a long and painful process for all the losers. Advancing through from Ro16 to Ro8 was Stephano, Nerchio, HerO, MaNa, NaNiwa DIMAGA, SaSe and fraer.
In the first match, Stephano defeated Nerchio 2 - 0 giving him the push he needed to get through to the final four competitors. Following hot on his heels was MaNa, probably the most consistent player of Dreamhack Summer 2012, after defeating HerO, the last Korean player in the competition.
The Ukraine and Sweden went head-to head as DIMAGA finished NaNiwa two games to one and fraer took out SaSe. Host country Sweden's chances were now lost: two Ukrainians advanced into the semis.
In a dramatic 2 - 0 defeat, Protoss player MaNa bested Stephano, arguably the best ZvP player in the world, in the semi-finals leading Mana into the best of five finals.
After facing off in group stage 1, the two Ukrainians met once again in the second semi-final and indeed, the second ZvP match leading the victor to the final. DIMAGA started strong and took a 1 - 0 lead against the Protoss player. freyer adjusted his tactics and snuck across the map to finish DIMAGA in the second game and in game three, fraer reluctantly GG'd after being stretched out beyond his means.
Then, the final. DIMAGA vs. MaNa. The first game was quickly taken by the Protoss player. Game 2 saw DIMAGA push forward and attack with lings and banelings. He was looking strong until the Protoss' Zealots won MaNa the second game. Game three was all or nothing for DIMAGA in this best of five. In a last ditch effort, he pooled his resources, ran MaNa's economy into the ground and took the game by raining banelings from the sky. Game four saw both players start well, but MaNa built up an army enough to take out DIMAGA for the third and final time, winning him the title of Eizo Dreamhack Starcraft II Champion.
Before going into the match with DIMAGA, MaNa said, "After I beat Stephano, I felt like, why not win Dreamhack Summer?"
Why not indeed.
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