DH Masters Fall: Week 3 Preview/Recap (EU/NA/CN)

Europe
Serral undefeated in groups

North America
Neeb at the forefront

China
TIME wins again

Schedule and standings on Liquipedia

by Wax

Week two of DreamHack Masters Fall saw TIME winning his eighth straight Chinese championship, once again asserting his total dominance in the region. The European and North American regional also saw traditional powerhouses take the lead in the championship race, with Serral finishing the EU group stage with an undefeated 14-0 record, while Neeb nearly matched that feat with a 14-1 record in North America.

The DHM Fall regionals will conclude in week three with Europe and North America crowning their champions. The combined Season Finals including six players from the GSL will be held on September 9-12.

European Regional

Playoffs begin on Tuesday, Aug 10 3:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00).

Serral put Europe on notice during the group stages, putting up a sterling record of 7-0 series and 14-0 in maps. While the RO32 is hardly a perfect predictor for the playoffs, it certainly felt like we were seeing the consistently dominant Serral of old.

In an unexpected twist, only HeroMarine matched Serral’s 7-0 record (with an impressive 14-2 map score), his best performance yet in the European group stage. Looking to be in great form, and with a bracket draw that avoids both Reynor and Serral until the upper bracket final, this season is a fantastic opportunity for Big Gabe to grab his first top three (or higher) European finish in the EPT era.

On the other hand, Clem fans might have reason to be concerned about his placement in HeroMarine’s side of the bracket. The French Terran has yet to conclusively dispel the doubts about his TvT and TvP (losing to goblin’s Phoenixes in the group stage didn’t help), and the next few matches will be an important test. Who knows—even the resurgent MarineLorD could be a difficult challenge in his initial match.

Reynor also gave up a loss headed into the playoffs, losing 0-2 to ShoWTimE in the final week. While Reynor still clinched the #1 seed out of Group A due to his superior map score, one has to wonder if he’s not yet 100% locked in like he was during the Summer Season Finals. Of course, if Reynor is indeed playing at his best, he could easily rampage through all of the other title contenders and reclaim the European crown.

The playoff bracket is also quite intriguing due the missing players, as both Lambo and Elazer went out in the group stages (Elazer losing an excruciatingly close tiebreaker to PtitiDrogo on head-to-head record). With two of the most dangerous wildcards in the tournament gone—especially in Zerg vs Zerg—a textbook top four of Serral/Reynor/Clem/HeroMarine seems more likely than ever.

Still, this could also be an opportunity for someone new to break into the top four. ShoWTimE has had an unusually hard time since the switch from Blizzard’s WCS to ESL’s DreamHack Masters, but his overall skill level in online competition suggests he’s due for a top four finish at some point—remember, he beat Reynor 2-0 in the final week of groups. From the new guard, MaxPax could pose a threat to the established order. The young Danish Protoss looked out of his depth playing BO5’s in TSL7 and DHM: Summer, but now he has those experiences under his belt and seems to only have improved since. While one should be wary about expecting linear growth from a player, MaxPax, too, seems on pace for a breakthrough tournament.

The group stages also gave us a couple of surprise second place finishers, though one has to be a bit less optimistic about their chances against Europe’s elite. Vanya finally cashed in his hundreds of shoutouts from RotterdaM for a 6-1 record in Group C, earning his first ever appearance in the upper bracket. In Group D, the field seemed wide open for anyone to take the spot right below Serral, and MarineLorD ended up clinching it with a strong 6-1 performance. Of the two, MarineLorD does seem to have a better chance of shaking things up. He already defied expectations in 2020 by making a run to the top four, and this time around he could capitalize on Clem’s vulnerability in TvT.

North American Regional

Tournament begins on Tuesday, Aug 10 8:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00).

It was business as usual in the North American group stages, with Neeb (+13 map differential), Scarlett (+12), and Astrea (+11) locking in the top three group stage results without much incident. While Scarlett managed to beat Astrea 2-1 to secure first place in Group A, previous DHM tournaments have shown that this isn’t always an indicator of who will win in the playoffs. With Aligulac.com’s rating system having all three title contenders closely packed in the 2600’s, fans can look forward to another tight, three-way battle for the NA crown. It does seem like Scarlett will begin with a small advantage, however, as Astrea and Neeb have drawn a 1v1 off the bat.

Even North America has room for a few unexpected results in the margins. In Group B, we saw Namshar win the battle of part-timers and claim the #2 seed from his group. In Group A, MaSa, a pre-Astrea member of the North American triumvirate, fought his way back into the playoffs despite being retired. Given how tenuous retirement can be in the SC2 scene, perhaps this wasn’t really that much of a surprise. Given MaSa’s knack for being a big tournament player who can steal maps without much practice (proxy-Barracks playing a large role), he may have the best chance out of the entire NA field at causing an upset.

Chinese Regional: TIME Wins Again

TIME won his fifth straight DreamHack Masters China regional (and eight in the WCS/EPT lineage), maintaining his spot far above the rest of his national scene. As has often been the case, TIME showed a smidge of vulnerability in TvP early on, only to come back and dominate in the grand finals.

This time around it was MacSed who briefly threatened TIME, narrowly losing 2-3 in their semifinal clash. When allowed to establish a strong economy and stable infrastructure, the veteran Protoss was able to overpower TIME with swarms of Gateway units. But, ultimately, TIME proved to be far too strong in the clutch, smashing MacSed by 4-0 scoreline in their grand finals rematch with powerful early game attacks.

Once more, the only relevant question headed into the next Chinese regional seems to be “Who can beat TIME?”

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