StarCraft II has been under siege lately from games like Dota 2 and League of Legends in a fight for popularity. It’s dwarfed by those games in total players at this point, but as an eSport (and as a game) StarCraft II still has life left in it, and will likely get a boost when the standalone expansion, Legacy of the Void, is released later this year. This past weekend was witness to that, as the best players of StarCraft II faced off at the Intel Extreme Masters Taipei event.
Yesterday was the Grand Finals, a series that went down in epic fashion in a classic Terran vs. Zerg finale. Life (Zerg) was the favorite going into the event, and won the first match convincingly. Maru (Terran) fought back, and turned the series around, putting himself up 3-1, and was poised to win the best-of-seven series. But Life wasn’t about to quit. He won games five and six with the energy and fight of an underdog, with some of the best use of Zerglings this side of Brood War. In game seven Maru went with a risky play of an early third command center, but it was ultimately it was too much to be able to defend against Life’s constant onslaught of Zerglings.
Life won game seven, securing him the championship, and placing him in the elite company of CJ_herO, the only other player to have won multiple Intel Extreme Masters titles.
If you’ve been out of the StarCraft II loop for a while, or if you’re new to eSports, watching these two masters is truly a treat, and a great introduction to the world of competitive gaming. Check out the VOD of the match below.
About the author
