Continue reading PSISTORM At Dreamhack Montreal – Day 2 : Triumph →

This weekend, the last stop of the 4 WCS stops takes place in Montreal. With 100 000USD and 11 000 WCS points on the line, it is the last chance to get points and clinch that BlizzCon seed.

With this being the last chance, all our players went all out and will congregate in mass to the event. We will have TEN players compete in the event who will be joined by a couple community members and staff.

Competing this weekend, we have : TRUE, JonSnow, jheffe, Silky, PiLiPiLi, Zanster, PengWin, UpATree, DisK & Poizon.

We will also have Magitek, Temp0, Team Owner KJ Freeedom & Writer & Photographer Frostbite.

This will be our largest gathering in a long time, we have nearly all our professional roster present and a few of our academy members present. So expect a massive amount of pictures and content on our twitter : @psistormgaming. A few days after the event we will also publish a vlog/documentary of the event giving you an inside look into what a tournament means to our players and staff!

We hope to see you there!

Guess who is going to #dreamhack #montreal ? This guy. Who else is going? see u guys there! https://t.co/X2Ux5rh9zy pic.twitter.com/rEaZ2B7sQ0

— KJ ƑℝΞΞΞƊ☢Ɱ G ♒ (@KarlJayG) August 31, 2017

In the past week or so, we had GuMiho play in GSL, Zanster play in 2017 WCS Montreal – Europe Open Qualifier.

In Korea, our GSL Season 2 Champion picked INnoVation and was placed in Group A with Solar and aLive. The first series started out well, with GuMiho beating INnoVation in a close TvT series. Highlights include GuMi stealing one of his opponents build, which seemed to work out pretty well. His next match was up against the Zerg player Solar. Despite being the favorite, GuMiho was unable to defeat the Splyce Zerg and fell in a quick 0-2. This sent him to the losers match where he had to face INnoVation once again. He lost the first map on Ascension to Aiur, despite a decent doom drop into his opponents base, he was unable to deal enough damage while also losing his tank count. After defending, INnoVation simply leap-frogged his tanks until GuMiho GG’d out. On the second map, Odyssey, GuMiho was able to create an early advantage with some cyclone harass, this continued until starport tech which gave him the opportunity to jump into his opponents base, disrupting his mining and dividing his attention, all the while he expanded and prepared the death push. INnoVation’s forces were spread too thin and he was unable to defend his natural from a flood of marines. 1-1. On the final map, Whirlwind, it started out all even, with little to no early game shenanigans. Going into standard tank-marine vs. tank-marine, INnoVation decided to produce more vikings and gain air control, with this advantage, he was able to find a better position for his own tanks and slowly picked off Gumiho’s. Losing slowly in tank count, he was unable to keep up in supply and slowly died off, forcing a GG and ending his Season 3 run.

We had another busy weekend with players competing on two different continents. We had GuMiho compete in IEM Shanghai while TRUE, PiLiPiLi, JonSnow and PengWin played at Cheeseadelphia 5.

At Shanghai, GuMiho was placed in Group B with iAsonu, Stats and Rogue. He first faced the Zerg Rogue, despite losing the first map on Odyssey, he was able to take the second map on Ascension to Aiur. Being only one map away to advance to the winners match, Rogue was somehow able to create some advantages and took the map and the series. Knocked down to the losers match, he faced the Chinese Zerg iAsonu, being on his opponents home turf, GuMiho was unable to break the zergs defenses and strategies and lost the series 0-2. Having flown from Germany straight to China, we do understand that GuMiho might not have been playing at his best, but this is still an upset and a disappointing result. We hope he will take these two or so weeks before GSL to rest up and come back in top shape. GGs!

Back in America, all 4 of our players playing at Cheese were able to make it to the Ro16 without any problems. Collectively, they lost 9 maps (PengWin contributing 6 of those losses) and won 31, with TRUE not dropping a single one. In the Ro16, we had the amazing luck of PiLiPiLi facing off against PengWin, while JonSnow played Cuddlebear and TRUE played omgabanana. JonSnow won 3-0 versus his Terran opponent, PiLi showed no mercy towards his manager and 3-0’d him and TRUE 3-0 his Protoss adversary. In the Quarterfinals, JonSnow defeated Bails 3-0, PiLiPiLi dispatched PandaBearMe 3-0 and TRUE took out Semper 3-1 in closer-than-they-looked games.

In Semi-finals, JonSnow faced off against the formidable MaSa, up until this point, he only dropped a single map against Suppy in the previous round. Despite great effort and some close moments, JonSnow was unable to overcome the Canadian-Korean Terran and lost the series 0-3. Meanwhile, TRUE and PiLiPiLi had to face off after cleaning up their sides of the brackets. PiLiPiLi started off strong taking the win on Odyssey, but then TRUE decided there was no time for fun and games and took the next three maps in quick succession, taking the series 3-1 and moving on to face MaSa in the finals.

In the Bo7 series, TRUE had a tough opponent ahead of him, to reach the finals, MaSa went 15W-1L in maps while TRUE only went 15W-2L. These two players were the obvious heavy hitters of the tournament and their series should be an interesting one. Well that’s not what happened. MaSa completely dominated TRUE and took the series 4-0. Somehow, someway, the Canadian-Korean Terran simply knew how to deal with TRUE in every single aspect, not a single timing or a all-in worked. Despite the shut-out score, the series was not as one-sided as one would think, TRUE did have moments where it seemed he could take a map, but MaSa always found a way to crawl back in it. With PSISTORM taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th at Cheeseadelphia 5, it was still a successful event for us, even without the win. GG’s!

We are glad our players enjoyed their weekend at Cheese, they even had a very welcoming AirBnB host

Our airbnb host just left us a 12 pack. Weow. pic.twitter.com/yeyVefxAAh

— Stefan Mott (@psiPengWin) July 28, 2017

Starting the 20th up until the 23rd, we had players compete in tournaments on two continents. We had Zanster and GuMiho play in Krefeld, Germany at HomeStoryCup XV, while PengWin, PiLiPiLi, TRUE, jheffe and Sugar played in Atlanta, USA at Dreamhack Atlanta BYOC.

In Germany, Zanster was placed in a group with Snute, HeRoMaRinE and Mythic. Unfortunately, he lost to HeRoMaRinE 0-3 in the first series, won 3-0 vs. Mythic and was finally 0-3’d by HeRoMaRinE once again, ending his tournament run. Meanwhile, GuMiho was placed in a group with Dns, Lambo and the last second replacement RotterdaM. He first played against Rotti and quickly went 3-0 against him. He then faced DnS and took the series in a convincing 3-0.

In the second group stage, GuMiho was placed in Group D with uThermal, PtitDrogo and TLO. First off against TLO, Gumi took the series in a clean 3-0. Next up against PtitDrogo, he seemed untouchable and went 3-0 once again. Moving on to the Playoffs, GuMiho faced off against Zest, this time, the Korean Protoss showed us Gods can bleed. Zest took the first game on Sequencer in some quick action. Seemingly angering him, our Korean Terran took the next two maps, Proxima Station and Abyssal reef with some proxies and some drops. Unfortunately, on the next two maps, Ascension to Aiur and Odyssey, Zest won them both, with some proxy stargates and some cheeky Protoss play.

With GuMiho out, all our players have been knocked out of HSC, it was a fun 4 days of Starcraft, not without its high jinks.

Super sorry @PsiZanster i shot him with a nerfgun ????? Fuck my life ??? #onlyathomestorycup pic.twitter.com/pk6bMrYk70

— Dennis Gehlen (@TaKeSeN) July 20, 2017

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On the other side of the pond, we had TRUE, PiLipiLi, jheffe, Sugar and PengWin compete in the Dreamhack Atlanta BYOC.

In the open bracket portion of the tournament, jheffe was able to claw through the loser’s rounds and qualified to the second day going 7-2 in matches losing only to Honeybear.

Sugar, on his end, went 7-5 through the losers’s and winner’s bracket, knocking out PengWin, but ultimately getting knocked out by jheffe. His last chance was the 8th seed match where he faced the Zerg Tambi. In a clean series, he took it 2-0 and advanced to the second day.

TRUE and PiLiPiLi qualified to the second day, having won the Road to Atlanta qualifiers put on by BasetradeTV with help from Dreamhack ad Blizzard. Sugar played MaSa who seemed unstoppable taking him out 2-0. jheffe had the unfortunate luck to play TRUE and was defeated 2-0. PiLiPiLi played SirRobin whom he defeated 2-0. In the semifinals, TRUE played PiLiPiLi, in a good series that seemed closer than it was, our Korean Zerg took out fellow teammate 2-0 and advanced to the finals. TRUE faced MaSa in a best-of-five series to take home 2 025 USD and all the bragging rights. Despite great effort, MaSa was too strong, taking the series 3-0, he won the tournament without losing a single map.

TRUE finished 2nd, PiLiPiLi 3rd-4th, Sugar and jheffe 5th-8th and PengWin 9th-16th. Overall, not bad results.

We even had co-owner JD visit and mingle with our players.

The legendary @PiLiPiLi96 eagerly awaiting his bracket #DHATL17 #Starcraft2 @psistormgaming pic.twitter.com/S12KFAX8TZ

— JD 'Archnog' (@archnog) July 22, 2017

Earlier today, the first day of Dreamhack Valencia was played out. In the first of three Group Stages to be played out, we had Zanster and Strange battling it out in Group G. They were somehow placed together along with the Polish Protoss Indy and the German Protoss ReiGn.

As expected, they both advanced, with Zanster going 4-0 in the group, while Strange went 4-3. Zanster’s run started off with a 2-0 over ReiGn, followed by a 2-0 over teammate Strange. Meanwhile, Strange went 2-1 against Indy, lost 0-2 vs Zanster and finished it off with a 2-0 over Indy.

In the 2nd Group Stage, Strange was seeded into Group B with Cloudy, Denver and ShoWTimE. His first opponent was the dangerous German Protoss ShoWTimE. While losing the first map, he was able to bounce back and take it 2-1 in an upset. Next up he faced off against Cloudy, despite great games, he lost the series 1-2. He then had to face Denver, hot off a 2-0 versus ShoWTimE. In the opening game, Strange was able to play his type of map and took the win. On the second map, all was looking well, until he overextended in the middle of the map and lost his small but substantial lead. He was unable to keep hold of the flow and lost. On the deciding map, a failed all-in left him behind economically and he was unable to keep up with the Zerg’s army, forcing him to tap out. With this, he was eliminated from Valencia with a great showing.

Meanwhile, Zanster was placed in Group G with Optimus, Majestic and SouLeer. Playing at his best, Zanster went 2-0 over SouLeer and kept the momentum going 2-0 versus the Dutch Terran Optimus. Without dropping a map in the first two group stages, Anton powered ahead to the Ro.32 aka Group Stage 3.

In this third Group Stage, Zanster was joined by TRUE and JonSnow who were seeded directly there by placing 3rd and 4th respectively in the NA Online Qualifiers.

Zanster was set in Group B along with Serral, Nice and Arctur. His first series went well, with a 2-0 over Nice, despite what some would say. In a close ZvZ, Zanster lost to the Finish Serral seeding him to face off against Arctur. Opening the series with a win on Sequencer, Zanster started the series off strong, but was unable to keep up the momentum in Game 2, his opponent was simply too much on Proxima Station. On the last map, Anton was able to eek out the win and advances to the Ro.16 and Day 2.

Next up, we had JonSnow in Group F along with Cloudy, Lambo and Elazer. His first series was versus Cloudy, whom he was able to dispatch in a quick 2-0. His next opponent, Elazer, proved to be a much harder opponent, he lost the series 0-2 despite great lurker positioning. Finally, he had to face off against Cloudy once again in the Loser’s match. This time, Cloudy seemed to have his number, with clever timing attacks, our King of the North fell 0-2 against the onslaught of Protoss. Although he has been eliminated from the tournament, we believe he showed great games and this can only be stepping stone to better results.

Finally, we have TRUE in Group G with Probe, Harstem and Optimus. Everything started off with a 2-1 against the Dutch Terran Optimus. In a back and forth series, TRUE was able to take the win 2-1 and was matched up against the Australian Protoss Probe in the winners series. Somehow, Someway, Probe was able to beat TRUE with his weird foreign play from down-under 2-0, forcing our Zerg into the Losers match against Harstem. Despite the upset from the previous series, our Zerg had no mercy for the other Dutch of the group and defeated Harstem 2-0 in a very quick series. Completing his journey to Day 2 and the Ro.16.

For tomorrow’s games, we have TRUE and Zanster to carry on the torch from their fallen teammates. TRUE will face off against the French Protoss player PtitDrogo while Zanster will play his match against SpeCIal aka Major. Both tough matches, but we believe in our boys!

Don’t miss our players action at approximately 13:35 CEST for TRUE vs. PtitDrogo and around 21:05 CEST for Zanster vs. SpeCIal.

Catch it all here -> https://www.twitch.tv/starcraft/ <-