Time for the final hours of DreamHack Eizo Open Stockholm. In this recap of an article we go back to most compelling stories from Saturday but also follow their course into the future, including Swedes proudly fighting on home turf and two Koreans that have been threatened with extinction.
» Notable drop-outs
Having 128 players on one place means that many will fall before the second day begins. And indeed, many contenders' sense of immortality--or at least relative supremacy--was questioned and refuted in the Ro64 where most of the surprise happened.
Dignitas Bischu was of the ones to have extremely hard group, ending in the company of Morrow and Elfi. After all three took turns in beating unfortunate protoss player Xylia, they ended each having a 2-1 in matches. To their luck, the set score for Morrow and Elfi was in their advantage and that left Bischu out in a group that could have been anybody's.
Merz met his death in Group H after Slivko and Forsen zerged up the group. Victim to the very same situation was also Satiini who, together with Maddelisk, packed their gear after Group O was done with Ret and SortOf coming out as second and first.
Recent ONOG i2 champion Snute got the worse end of Group K at the expense of TLO and Mana. The German zerg who appeared to be in a dangerous slump for many consecutive months now seems to be getting his old form back and came out of the group after dropping just one map.
Naama and Fury also did not make it to the Ro32 seeing Socke and one of the tournament surprises Traveller come first and second in Group N. Packing his luggage for home is also Cloud. The Italian found himself amidst a see of Swedes and Runa and Lalush proved to be the best swimmers pushing the terran down to the elimination deeps.
» Our motherland we defend!
14 out of 32 players in Group Stage #3 carry the Swedish flag proudly and many of them made the evil tongues silent that this is all a result of a sheer number superiority.
Although Forsen, Cytoplasm, Naugrim, Runa, Lalush and viPro all deserve mentions for finishing with more or less unexpected results (including Naugrim beating Thorzain 2-0), there are but two vikings that stole the attention with their Ro64 performance.
SortOf--the zerg of Inferno eSports and known for nothing more than a few Playhem golds--is currently 10-2 in groups that had Lalush, Ret and Satiini. Although already losing his first game again Roll in Ro32 Group B, there is still time for him to redeem himself against Sjow and Morrow, undoubtedly two of Sweden's finest, and write a Cinderella story of his own.
Traveller is the other no-name that made it hither. Although having an auto-qualify two-man group with Puma in it, Traveller survived Group N, featuring Naama, Socke and Fury to end up in Ro32 Group D. His adventures are already over, unfortunately, as with two consecutive losses to the Russian duo LiveZerg and Titan, the Swedish zerg is out of the tournament.
» Koreans endangered
What started out as a tournament with very few Koreans might end up having even less by this afternoon.
In a GSL rematch, Naniwa met Genius in Ro32 Group H. Although hungry for revenge, Genius did not showcase that he is to give his absolutely best to get the victory. The Korean had overall very poor control of his army and although he managed to take one set off Naniwa, game three on Antiga Shipyard had an almost identical outcome to the decisive GSL game on Ohana. Genius went for a nexus but was put against the ropes as Naniwa launched a 1-base colossus all-in. Once again, Nani used zealots as a cushion for the immortal fire and kept his Colossus alive for the longest time possible, making Genius to tap out. Thus, if he wants to see the inside of the playoffs bracket, Genius will have to be flawless from now on but having Nerchio and Slivko in the same group shall not make his job any easier.
Notable international tournament monster Puma is also slowly cooking in a sauce of potential elimination. After losing 1-2 to Sase, Puma is currently playing Hyun in an extremely close series. Should Hyun win, he's likely to advance to the Ro16 while this is a do-or-die for Puma.
» The Ro32 itself
You heard much about the Ro32 but what is exactly the full picture? Wonder no longer:
DreamHack Group Stage #3 Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |  Seiplo Thorzain Socke LiveZerg Ret Sjow Jimpo Traveller Naugrim Roll Polt Titan Turuk Sortof Vipro CytoplasmGroup E | Group F | Group G | Group H | TLO MonsterSase Slivko Protosser Mana Puma Nerchio Morrow Runa Hyun Genius Lalush Elfi Forsen Naniwa |
There is an exciting last day of DreamHack ahead of us and you should take it as a personal obligation to sit down and follow all the stories in Stockholm. If you can't keep up with all the streams, however, just tune in to us for the best of DreamHack Eizo Open.
