Dreamhack Masters EU Qualifiers - Championing the European Triumvirate

Anybody who has paid any attention to the European Starcraft 2 scene over the last few years knows their names. Serral, Clem and Reynor have consistently been the best Starcraft 2 players in Europe. And with the Dreamhack Masters in Atlanta coming up, these 3 were surely going to qualify as the top 4 in the European qualifier. But apart from that there was money, EPT points and of course most importantly, prestige to play for. So which one these 3 greats would be able to be the greatest of them all in this particular tournament?

The Italian Stallion

Reynor was having a great time up in the winners bracket all the way through to the finals. First he swept the floor with GunGFuBanDa in only 3 short games where he was in total control. For his second matchup, he was facing HeroMarine who also got destroyed by the Italian Stallion, but the German terran did manage to find a crack in his armor as HeroMarine took at least 1 map in the series. Now only Serral stood between Reynor and the grand finals, and while it took him a strenuous BO5 going to the full 5 maps, Reynor ended up taking out Serral, securing himself a spot in the grand finals.

Taking the long way

Clem on the other hand needed to take the long way to the grand finals. After being taken down by Serral in his first game in the upper bracket, the young Frenchman made it his mission to sweep up all his competition in the lower bracket. He took out Lambo, eliminated MaxPax, defeated HeroMarine and crushed Showtime, only to earn his spot for a rematch with Serral in the lower bracket finals. A rematch he was clearly prepared for, as this time he focused way more on Widow Mines as opposed to Tanks, a strategy he employed in his previous series against Serral. Serral was caught off guard by this more aggressive style of Clem and lost the first 2 maps quickly, however in game 3 he found an answer by going for a quick 1-1 Roach Ravager all in, something the Clem simply couldn't deal with without enough tanks. Clem came back in the 4 map though with some amazing Hellion harass that made sure Serral could never get a proper economy up, and won the game.

The final stretch

Going into the series against Reynor, it looked like Clem was completely outclassed, as Reynor took care of his Terran opponent quickly and decisively during the first 2 maps of the series. This granted Reynor a 3-0 advantage as he was already 1 map up due to his upper bracket advantage. Clem turned out to have nerves of steel however, as he made Reynor trip up with excellent Ghost control on Data-C, allowing Clem to take the 3rd map of the series. Doing this, the Terran established his own momentum in the series and eventually forced it to a final game as he equalized the match 3-3. In the final game, Clem out multitasked his opponent, taking the map from Reynor, completing the reverse all kill and taking the number 1 spot in the European Qualifiers for the Dreamhack Masters in Atlanta.

Image Source: ESL