'Typhoon Zerg' Lee Young-han has advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since Season 14.
Known more for his powerful all-in strategies and deep bag of builds than macro play, Lee advanced in first place by defeating Jang Yoon-chul in the series—taking Game 1 with flawless macro play and Game 2 with his signature all-in build. After the match, Lee shared his thoughts on taking first place: "Honestly, I find it amazing as well. I've rarely won games through late-game macro play. I came in today with as light a mindset as possible, and I think it worked well."
Choosing a macro battle against Jang Yoon-chul, currently considered the top Protoss player, was quite unexpected. Regarding this, Lee said, "In a Bo3, I thought it might be worth trying a macro fight in the first game, and it went better than expected. Macro play is something you can win if you just execute your own game plan well, and since it was against Protoss, I decided to give it a shot. Winning Game 1 felt like breaking through a major hurdle."
Having advanced as the top player from Group D in the Round of 16, Lee Young-han will face one of the second-place finishers: Yoo Young-jin, Lee Jae-dong, or Kim Min-chul. He remarked, "Lee Jae-dong and Yoo Young-jin look like tough matchups, but I’ve never faced Kim Min-chul in the ASL, so playing him this time would be fun." He concluded the interview by saying, "Chairman Ma Ye-jun of Mabeomdae came in person to cheer for me. I wanted to put on a good performance, so I'm glad I won. I'm really grateful to the MB Dae crew for all their support, and thanks as well to Suchul and Changwoo who helped support me."
