DH Masters: Last Chance 2021 Preview

By Stifle

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Introduction

DreamHack Masters returns with more StarCraft 2 action! Players such as Serral, Rouge, Trap, Parting, TY and Clem are duking it out for $57,000 USD and 1,370 EPT points.

Group A

TY: Frankly TY is probably the favorite to make it out of this group first, winning TWO gsl’s last year along with a ro4 in season 2 and a RO4 in super tournament to round out 2020 I don’t see any reason for TY to slow down now. Another key point to this puzzle is that TY is one of the strongest players when it comes to prepping for special opponents or making his own builds. I also wanna note with maru out TY holds the title as far and away the TvT master.

Clem: While Clem is still relatively hot off his win of EU winter showing both superb TvZ & TvP. His exit from TSL in the ro32 had some heads scratching. It has been known for a while clem struggles at TvT, but losing to Byun 2-3 definitely puts up some real concerns up on if he has a chance vs someone of TY’s caliber. I would expect a solid 2nd place from Clem, anymore is a surprise anything less is a large disappointment.

Zest: It’s time to address the elephant in the room, Zest is and has been slumping now for a while. outside of 1 round of 8 appearance last year Zest has looked okay at best? But if you are a Zest fan this is nothing new as he historically has been a very streaky player. As one of the great innovators of protoss optimizing and popularizing the meta changing glave adept. Then later the more recent 2-3 Stargate void ray openers. Unfortunately though this slump has no signs of ending 3rd place is about where I expect him at his current form.

RagnaroK: RagnaroK feels to me to be the hardest one to call for this group and why I left him for last. On one hand he has shown flashes of potential to be the next great korean zerg at events like KoB or one of my personal favorite

. But also has fallen short many times over the years. While RagnaroK stealing a series vs Clem or TY throughout the groups is not counted out of the picture I wouldn’t hold my breath on it.

Predictions

TY 2-1 RagnaroK
Clem 2-0 Zest
TY 2-1 Clem
Zest 2-1 RagnaroK
Clem 2-1 Zest

Group B

Rogue: The first ex Jin-Air to be mentioned in this article, Rogue is one of the hardest players to predict in Starcraft 2. One day he can Win a GSL then the next day scrub out in the round of 32. The fate of this group hangs in the balance of if Rogue shows up.📷

Trap: The second ex Jin-Air player to be mentioned and not any less scary then Rogue. Trap has been on a tear lately. 2 Dreamhack second places 3 Ro8 in a row in the GSL and a win in Super tournament just a few months ago. I would argue that Trap is for sure in contention with Stats for best toss on earth on a day to day basis.

Parting: There’s no doubt Parting is a community favorite with his stream that regularly pulls in 1000s of viewers. But Partings tournament play will sometimes leave something to be desired, ranging from RO4 at his best to stuck in the RO16. He loves playing starcraft his way, which is on a razor's edge, whether it’s cannon rushes to soul train he is very creative and has a shot vs anyone.

Byun: Another fan favorite Byun the micro god himself, since returning from the military he’s put up middling results, showing up well with a 3rd place at TSL but on the flipside he has also been battling wrist injuries so it’s hard to tell. Overall I would put him below Maru & TY currently and tied with Inno / Cure.

Predictions

Rogue 1:2 Byun

Trap 2-1 Parting

Trap 2-0 Byun

Rogue 1-2 Parting

Byun 2-1 Parting

Group C

Reynor: Relatively still the new kid on the block Reynor made a huge splash onto the scene in 2018 and has not looked back since. He also peaked on alugac at first just a few months ago, definitely one of the strongest players Europe has to offer Reynor is a force to be reckoned with.

InnoVation: The machine while no longer in his prime some might say, he is still a top contender even after all these years. 2 ro8’s and a ro4 last season in the GSL proving all his doubters wrong and while he was not able to go all the way, still got good results.

HeRoMaRinE: Heromarine has a lot of similar attributes to someone like InnoVation, While maybe not reaching the height of someone like Reynor or Clem. Heromarine is dominant in the ESL EU weeklys and is similar to what InnoVation is for the Korean scene. If I see a new player take off a macro game from Inno or Heromarine in their respective regions I think to myself “Ok this player has the necessary macro game to make a shot” as both players are known for their consistency over the years.

Bunny: has always kinda been stuck in the RO32 of the GSL with not much meaningful breakthroughs during his entire career. While not a objectively bad player he just seems to lack the 6th sense a player like Maru or TY have.

Predictions
Reynor 2-0 Bunny
Innovation 2-1 Heromarine
Reynor 2-1 Innovation
Bunny 1-2 Heromarine
Innovation 1-2 Heromarine

Group D

Serral: One of the dominant forces in EU Serral while facing more opposition then he ever has in the past is still a Top 5 player in the world at all times.

Stats: is known for is controlling passive style of protoss being able to deflect anything you send at him then crush you in the late game. While maybe not as fun to watch as someone like Parting in the minds of some Stats has been a perennial top protoss for as long as I can remember watching starcraft.

Solar: A consistent ro16 zerg while I think Solar is a good player he is going to need to bring his A game to this stacked group if he wants to make it out. If he is able to cheese out Stats and then do some other magic I could see him getting out at 2nd in the group however unlikely.

ShoWTime: Is the top protoss hailing from Europe, he has some similarities to Stats in his playstyle usually preferring macro games. He can also allin if it is needed, along with taking off a series from serral recently I wouldn’t count him out just yet.

Predictions

Serral 1-2 ShoWTime

Stats 2-0 Solar
Stats 2-1 ShoWtime
Serral 1-2 Solar

Solar 1-2 Showtime

Little bit about me:

First off I wanna say thanks a lot for reading this far it's honestly really appreciated. I was inspired to do this write up when I saw TL was recruiting writers. I thought about applying but since this is my first time doing this kinda thing I don't think it is worth it and I didn't have another article to submit with this one anyways but I still wanted to try my hand at making something. Feedback on how to improve my writing is welcome 🙂 have a nice day!