Photo: ESL
IEM Shenzhen is headed towards intense semi-final action as one of the matches will see DreamHack Summer champion Rdu going against the runner up of the same tournament Amaz.
After a rocky day one, IEM Shenzhen's production quality saw a tangible improvement to deliver solid quarter final action with just a pinch of upsets.
Following the group stage results, IEM Shenzhen's top eight became a Asia-dominated player pool. Three Hong Kong representatives led by Priest expert Amaz, a Taiwanese and a Chinese player stood against the handful of westerners in StrifeCro, MaSsan and Rdu, ready to prove their scene is no less worthy of a big championship.
The playoffs started strong for Asia as Taiwan's Azeri 3-0'd #1 North American player and Cloud 9 member StrifeCro out of the tournament. Running an aggressive Bloodlust/Windfury Shaman, Azeri stomped through Strife's Druid, Rogue and Warlock and delivered the biggest upset of the tournament since Gnimsh's 0-2 elimination in the group stage.
Quarter final number two proved just why Hong Kong player Jeanno was able to win the group of death yesterday. After losing to compatriot Jackychan in a Druid versus Warlock match-up, Jeanno brought out his miracle Rogue and performed a 3-1 comeback to move on and face Azeri in the semi finals.
What was expected to be the highlight of this round became a one-sided affair as Numericable M-House Cup champion Amaz blanked TSM's MaSan on the back of his mix-style Druid, closing it all with a string of bullseye Ragnaros blasts. The Liquid member is now two wins away from getting his second major championship title after taking the €3,000 in Marseille at the end of June.
He'll be facing a very tough opponent, however, as his semi final match will meet him once again with Romanian star Rdu. Last time, Rdu took a decisive 3-0 beating to Amaz at the DreamHack Summer grand finals and has been in constant race with the Hong Kong player for the first place in the GosuRankings. At the moment of this article, the two are tied at 1,246 points, sharing the top spot and tomorrow's face-off is about to break this equilibrium. Rdu comes off of a tough series against local player XiaSoul which went to the last fifth game and the last cards before going to Romanian player's favor.
