The Iron Squid tournament concluded with four top-tier Koreans taking eachother on for a 25,000$ prize pool. These four went through some very stacked group and playoff stages to get to the live stage here in Paris. With the underdog Dong Hyun 'Symbol' Kang taking on Seong Won 'MMA' Mun in the Grand Finals. Both players advance into the Grand Finals by winning close mirror matchups in TvT and ZvZ. MMA clinched a spot in the Grand Finals winning 3-2 over his Terran opponent Lee-Seok 'aLive' Han.

This opponent in the Grand Finals, Symbol, took on Jae-Duck 'NesTea' Lim in his Semi-finals match. Symbol being the underdog and surprise of this tournament he showed some great decision making, constantly being under pressure by NesTea but fending it off perfectly and showing why he deserves this. He took down the Korean Zerg 3-1 to claim his spot in the Grand Finals versus MMA. With over twelve thousand dollars on the line, both players went all out to show the fully stacked 2500-seat Grand Rex audiance a tense series that they would remember. Here is how this BO7 went down.

Match #1: Seong Won 'MMA' Mun versus Dong Hyun 'Symbol' Kang

Game 1:

The Grand Final started on Bel'shir Beach. MMA started off with a quick gas opener and getting a tech lab on his Barracks. It looked like a standard reactor hellion build which helps Terran do early harassment and keep map control and deny creep spread versus Zergs. This was not the case as MMA wanted to show he ment business head on, rallying all his SCVs across the map he went for a marauder/hellion all-in. Symbol scouted it just in time and began building spine crawlers at his natural expansion, but it was already too late as the stimmed Marauders and Hellions annihilated the Zerglings and Drones from Symbol, forcing a quick ending to game one.

MMA 1 - 0 Symbol



Game 2:

Game 2 started on Daybreak with both players opting for a more passive early game, focusing heavily on economy. With both players on three bases quickly, MMA went for a big Bio army. His opponent went for a Ling/Baneling/Mutalisk army composition. With MMA known for his multi-tasking he shut down any mutalisk harassment with very few losses. MMA moved his army out for his own counter-attack. Wearing down Symbol bit by bit, MMA took out several expansions and a Spawning Pool using his amazing micro to maximize his army cost. He delivered the final blow by killing Symbol's remaining Infestors and Zerglings. With no army left for Symbol, he was forced to tap out.

MMA 2 - 0 Symbol



Game 3:

Cloud Kingdom was the third map. With Symbol being down by 2 games, he needed this win to get back into the series. Both players opened standard, MMA went for a Marine/Marauder/Siege tank composition. Unlike last game he used his gas for Siege Tanks instead of upgrades on his Bio army. This proved to be a bad choice with Symbol getting a good upgrade advantage over his opponent. MMA tried to turn the tides with some Medivac drops all around the map but Symbol showed some great army control fending off every attack. With Symbol being up 80 supply, he went in for the kill and claimed his first win of the series.

MMA 2 - 1 Symbol



Game 4:

Game four really showed why these two players deserved to be here. The map, Calm Before the Storm, is one of the largest maps in the rotation. With an easily accessible expansion this map is known for some of the longest macro games. After both players went for quick expansions, the midgame turned into a standstill with both players poking eachother but not forcing any major damage.

In the late game, Symbol showed us some amazing positioning, forcing MMA to walk over his burrowed Baneling landmines and losing tons of Bio units. However, MMA dealt his own damage by taking Symbol's fourth base out multiple times. With both player trading armies, Symbol had no economy left to reinforce his weakening army. MMA took the supply lead and Symbol simply couldn't keep up and surrendered.

MMA 3 - 1 Symbol



Game 5:

With his tournament life on the line in game five on Metropolis, Symbol opted for a risky build especially with one game away from losing. Going for a Roach/Banelings attack which needed to do some serious damage. Luckily for him, MMA went his own risky economic strategy with three Command Centers. Using his Banelings to bust through MMA's defences, he killed over 30 SCvs in the process. Due to this succesful attack, Symbol was allowed to Drone up during his engagements and transitioned into a Mutalisks/Zergling army composition that continued doing damage to the weakened MMA as he tried to recover. Desperately trying to get back in the game, MMA pulled all his SCVs for a final hold but it proved to be insufficient.

MMA 3 - 2 Symbol



Game 6:

The final map of the series would be Antiga Shipyard. MMA was eager to end his opponent and went for a proxy two Barracks build. Strangely enough, Symbol did scout this with his Drone but still felt confident enough to hold it by going Hatchery first. MMA used his Marines to its fullest potential constantly keeping the drones of Symbol busy whilst his SCVs were trying to make Bunkers. Symbol overproduced Zerglings to stop MMA's attacks and suffered a significant economic disadvantage.

Attempting to get back into the game, Symbol went for a counter-attack with Zerglings and Banelings. This proved unsuccesful as MMA had a good wall-in at his natural expansion and suffered no losses. With Symbol being behind on tech, MMA's counter- attack with Marines and Medivacs proved to be deadly as he steamrolled his way into Symbol's base. Using his famed multi-tasking to drop in Symbol's main while micro-ing his Marines in the front lines. Symbol did get some Infestors out but it was already too late as they lacked the energy for Fungals which allowed MMA’s bio to run unchecked. Doing everything to stop the inevitable, Symbol simply didn't have enough. With the crowd cheering his name, MMA became the Iron Squid Champion.

MMA 4 - 2 Symbol



Third Place

IM's NesTea finished in third place, who made a huge comeback after being down 1-2 and with luck on his side claiming the win 3-2. NesTea was down by 60 Supply in the final game. Luckily for him, aLive didn't capitalize on his huge supply lead and let NesTea get back into the game. With a very nice Ultralisk flank on aLive's Marine based army, NesTea claimed the final game and third place.




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