

After building up more tech, Stats went for a timing push with Immortals, Archons, and charge Zealots for an attack on the ground, but ByuL defended again and countered with Mutalisks. Stats went for a cheese opener with mass Gateways, but ByuL scouted for the perfect defense and countered with an early Spire. The final push came from Stats in his first aggressive take, he successfully traded his only mining base for the entirety of ByuL's army. ByuL opted to focus entirely on the macro game to ensure adaptability in the late game and Stats farmed up while waiting out the midgame in a defensive mode. ByuL countered with Speedlings and Banelings for economic damage while Stats transitioned into another Carrier-heavy strategy. Stats opened with Phoenixes and Adepts to overwhelm ByuL's defenses, but the Zerg player absolutely prepared accordingly. Stats 0:1 ByuL Game 2: Habitation Station Stats' impatience would end up costing him - instead of building more Carriers, he opted to fight into the Hydralisk army and lost most of his unit count for the game loss. Despite the dire situation, it was ByuL's decision to all-in on Hydralisks that forced a lengthy stalemate. He then transitioned into Carriers for the ultimate finish while ByuL played defense and catch-up to the macro deficit. Stats' Phoenix timings and control allowed him to dictate the pace and movement on the map as well as exploiting army sizes and relative economies to best advantage. Stats took advantage of the holes in ByuL's early strategies with a Stargate start for harassment and initiation. Even though the matchup seemed one-sided at the outset, it ended up going the full distance for an entertaining semifinal set. Stats was a player that outplays the opponent and typically crushed matches with his deep understanding of StarCraft II. He was a strong player with the power of creativity on his side in terms of builds and macro timings, but his understanding of fundamental strategy was lacking. ByuL entered his matchup against Stats with plenty of question marks. Stats was on the verge of claiming the title for the best Protoss in the world and ByuL was still inconsistent in tournament results.

On paper, Stats entered as a massive favorite over ByuL. Ultimately, Kim "Stats" Dae Yeob (Protoss) triumphed over Han "ByuL" Ji Won (Zerg), 3-2, in the quest for the $15,000 first prize. The second day of StarCraft II semifinals at IEM Gyeonggi featured another exhilarating five-game series. Stats goes the distance against ByuL in IEM Gyeonggi StarCraft II semifinals You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
