Arguably the greatest player in the long history of StarCraft: Brood War has made his biggest mark to date on StarCraft 2, and opposing players may now be wary of what is to come.
Lee “Flash” Young Ho emerged victorious at IEM Toronto with a convincing finals victory on Sunday, defeating Joo “Zest” Sung Wook four games to one in a best-of-seven series. The championship represents the first premier tournament victory in Lee’s relatively brief StarCraft 2 career.
The win also serves as another notch in the belt of the generally underrepresented Terran race. The summer season has been particularly good to Terran players, with other top names such as Choi “Polt” Seong Hun, Patrick “Bunny” Brix, and Yun “Taeja” Young Seo also claiming Terran victories against top competition.
The competition in Toronto was especially stiff. During the group stage, Lee was bested by Korean countryman Jang “MC” Min Chul during their first encounter. But when the two players met again to determine who would move on to the playoff bracket, it was Lee who came out on top.
The quarterfinals were the most hazardous round of the playoffs for Lee, who faced off against the sole international challenger in the playoff bracket, Jens “Snute” Aasgaard. The Norwegian was able to take Lee to a fifth and final game in their best-of-three series before falling to the player nicknamed “The Ultimate Weapon.”
While Aasgaard was the only international player to make the playoffs, others from outside Korea did have good showings at the event.
Brix managed to qualify for the group stage by winning through a play-in bracket just as Aasgaard did. Chris “Huk” Loranger nearly joined them after picking up consecutive victories over Korean professionals Lee “Leenock” Dong Nyoung and Lee Jae Dong, but it ultimately wasn’t to be.
This was the second event of the ninth Intel Extreme Masters season. The first, held in July in Shenzhen, China, was won by Yun “Taeja” Young Seo.
