At Intel Extreme Masters, the best players in the world have gathered to see who really is the top player. However, as myMYM.com's Frank 'Mirhi' Fields explains, it really has been a tale of two days for the players in Chengdu.

If there was ever a tournament where players had a hang over from day to day, IEM is it.

Day 1 was a brilliant display of skill all the way around.

Tournament favorite Sky came out firing, quickly showing the finesse and brilliance of his macro. He opened by defeating his teammate  TeD, and then winning a very close match with  Grubby - He looked very strong. Meanwhile, Grubby opened with a pretty convincing 2-1 win over  HoT and after losing to Sky, needed to defeat TeD to stay in contention for group lead. He showed his resilience and defeated TeD. Much to Grubby's surprise, HoT managed to take down Sky 2-0, giving Grubby the Group A win.

Moon - Looked Invincible Day 1

In Group B,  Infi and  Moon came out on an absolute tear, each dominating their opponents 2-0.  Lyn and  Fly100% not only looked vulnerable, but at times, they looked completely inept and outclassed as Infi's macro and Moon's micro were the undoing of the Orc players. When the clash of the titans occured, Moon looked just as dominant over Infi - As well as Infi was playing, Moon was even greater. Moon's 6-0 in this group stage is the most spectacular display of skill I have ever seen. If Moon is playing like that, no one in the world can beat him. 

In Day 1, the world's best player looked invincible. Truly, Moon and Infi looked like the best players going into Day 2.

Oh, what a tale of two days it is.

I am still trying to figure out what Infi was trying to do against TeD. In all honestly, it looked like Infi was playing with one hand. His macro was awful, his micro was lazy, his strat was flawed, and he tried the exact same strategy both games and lost in under 7 minutes each time. I was half convinced he let TeD win - that is how one sided these games were. He went from looking like the second best player in the world, to a Level 20 Azeroth ladder player. I was absolutely astounded.

On the other side of the bracket, Lyn and Sky's games were equally disheartening, coming to a climax where Sky played just as terribly as Infi had previously, but still managed to win his match. The deciding game against Lyn came on Twisted Meadows where Sky got a Tome of Experience from the Goblin lab to hit a fast level 3 and began a tower rush against Lyn's level 2 Farseer. Sky microed horribly, macroed even worse, played overall sub-optimally, but still won the game. I am not sure what happened to Lyn this tournament, but he did not look like the same Lyn we saw in 2008.

Grubby's game versus TeD is almost not worth mentioning, but Grubby once again showed great resilience against him to win 2-0. He countered TeD's famous UD v Orc push strategies extremely skillfully and advanced to play Sky, another matchup where he would need patience and versitility.

As brilliant as Moon played on Day 1, and as horrible as Sky had played against Lyn, the roles were reversed for their match in the upper bracket semi-finals. Moon looked uncomfortable, unsure of himself, and Sky looked like he had a master plan, in control. Most notably in the Melting Valley game, Moon looked outclassed - his micro was slow and lazy, and his macro was inefficient while Sky ripped him apart. Was this really Moon playing? The Moon who dominated Day 1? He looked like a completely different player. As it stood it set up the all time classic rivalry of Sky versus Grubby.

This match would prove to be the only high quality match of the day, and perhaps the highest quality so far in the tournament.

Grubby - Most Consistent on Day

Sky started off doing a Mountain King fast expansion strategy which started to go well, until Grubby started to tower push it. Shortly thereafter when Sky realized his expansion was doomed to fall, he went and towered Grubby's main, and the push actually worked. Grubby ended up losing his Shadow Hunter too many times, and eventually he lost his Blademaster at a very bad time, ending the game.

On Twisted Meadows, Sky went for his patented delayed tower rush, while Grubby went standard Farseer Orc. When Sky went to tower, Grubby was ready for it, already having 2 finished watch towers at his base and he bought Pitlord. Having seen both of these events, Sky backed off before he started the push and teched. A long macro fest of a game ended with Sky really outclassing Grubby. Grubby's mixed army of Raiders, Walkers, Bats and Wyverns lost to Sky's Tri hero and Gryphon Dragonhawk army.

As confident as Grubby had been, he is now relegated to the lower bracket.

Sky - The Worlds Top Player?

The playquality has been up and down, and while it looked like players had caught hot streaks during the group stage, here in Day 2, it has been a rocky road. The most consistent player of the day was actually Grubby, but Sky just caught fire at the right time to clintch a spot in the Grand Final, the 2nd grand final in as many weeks for the world's best Human player.

Banner photo taken by ESL.