DHM Summer: Nice & Probe win TW & OCE regionals

The first two regional champions of the 2021/22 ESL Pro Tour have been crowned!

Nice won his third consecutive title in the Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Japan region, narrowly taking down Has by a 4-3 scoreline in the grand finals. It was also Nice’s third straight time defeating Has in the regional finals, solidifying his further position as the new regional king.

The series was not so cheesy by Has’ standards—the early game aggression that occurred was rather par for the course in PvP. Ultimately, this played into Nice’s hands, who had previously credited his practice with players like Zoun and Zest for helping him improve his macro play in PvP. Nice closed the series out by toppling Has in a pair of macro games on the final two maps, looking confident and composed in late-game scenarios. Has showed some of his personal flair by trying to make aggressive transitions to Carriers, but Nice used his ground forces to easily crush Has before his Carriers could reach critical mass.

In contrast with Taiwan, the Oceania/Asia regionals saw the championship change hands for the fifth straight season (combined EPT/WCS records). Regional stalwart Probe came out on top this time around, bouncing back from a group stage elimination in the 2020 Winter regional.

Probe drew a favorable match-up against Seither—a strong local competitor and former OCE champion who Probe happens to have an extremely favorable head-to-head record against. While Seither’s two-base Tank push allowed him to take the opening map of the finals, Probe grew wise to Seither’s aggressive approach in subsequent games to take a comfortable 4-1 victory.

Both Nice and Probe have qualified for the DHM Summer Season Finals as their regions’ representatives. DHM Summer continues in week two with the continuation of the European group stage, the beginning of the North American group stage, the conclusion of the Latin American playoffs, and the entirety of the Chinese regional.