The game started off with MMA building a Barracks in his natural, which was not entirely a proxy but still would take a while for his opponent to spot. DRG went for the usual 15-Hatch and then scouts a Refinery and the Barracks. The game suffered some lag at this point, but nothing too severe. MMA then went on to build a Factory with Reactor for the SlayerS signature Hellion harass. As the Hellions rushed forth, MMA built a Starport for good measure.

With Hellions and a Marauder threatening DRG's natural, DRG had to do something fast. The Zerg defended against the harassment and then pushed with a Zergling-Baneling-Roach composition. MMA lifted his second Command Center to safety and revealed Banshees. The flyers did some good damage against DRG's force, but the Roaches were too much at that point. They got into MMA's main base and killed some SCVs. MMA was able to defend with Hellions for the Lings and Banshees for the Roaches.

MMA counterattacks with 3 cloaked Banshees.

Once the Zerg attack was taken out, MMA moved in immediately with a Banshee counterattack. DRG had anticipated an air attack and positioned three Queens at the natural. However, the defense lacked Spore Crawlers, so MMA cloaked his Banshees to take out the Queens and Drones at the natural before moving into the Zerg main. MMA then sent in Marines to finish the job. DRG puts down the GG and MMA won the first game.

For this macro-oriented map, MMA went for an early Command Center and DRG did the same with a 15-Hatch. The game was still lagging, much to the Korean audience's chagrin, but nothing too bad for the rest of the series. MMA went for a Factory with Reactor again as he took his natural with the finished Command Center. Anticipating another Hellion harassment, DRG built an Evolution Chamber next to his Hatchery in his natural to prevent it. He then built a Baneling Nest and a macro Hatchery alongside the Spine Crawlers.

MMA then pushed with his Hellions, but was faced with a prepared Zerg defense, including the Evolution Chamber. He transitioned to dropping on DRG's main, but the Medivac was seen by Zerglings that were breaking the destructible rocks on the third. As MMA went back and forth with the drops, he sent in a Marine-Tank army to siege his opponent. He built Bunkers to contain DRG, but the Zerg rushed in to destroy them and discourage MMA from continuing. The Terran retained a good portion of his army, save for a stray Siege Tank that gets taken out by Mutalisks in the middle of the map.

DRG then sought his own offensive with Mutalisks as he took his third base. The Mutalisks moved around the map, gaining map control and taking out Missile Turrets along the way. MMA built a ninja expansion at the 3-o-clock position, but it got spotted by the Mutalisks. DRG went on to destroy that Planetary Fortress with his Ling-Bling-Muta army. As he exited the now-destroyed expansion, MMA was there waiting for him with Marines and Tanks. The Banelings were poised to take a good number of Marines with them, but MMA's displayed impressive micro with clutch Marine splits to minimize the damage. All that remained from that force were the Mutalisks.

As MMA took out that force, he continues his drops and keeps DRG on the edge. MMA takes his third base after breaking the rocks with Marines and comes up with Thors to counter the Mutalisks. DRG goes for a push and tries to take out MMA's third, but MMA defends easily enough. MMA piles up the upgrades and builds up his army as DRG goes for more engagements. MMA keeps up with the drops, but DRG keeps things hectic enough for the Terran to lose a full Medivac to Mutalisks. MMA's army is starting to get scary with more Thors to deal with the pesky Zerg flyers.

DRG took a fourth base as he had the supply lead, 175 to 149. However, MMA climbed up the supply count to get it almost even as he took a fourth base and kept up with the drops. DRG tried to take out MMA's fourth base, but MMA sent in Marines and saved it, indicating that the Mutalisks were not fully upgraded yet. At this point, DRG made a Greater Spire and started making Brood Lords, as well as Infestors for support.

5 Broodlords smash a Terran contingent.

The Zerg pushed forth with a very scary-looking army with Brood Lords and chased after a retreating Terran Army. But in a display of sheer tactical brilliance, MMA picked up his Siege Tanks with his Medivacs and dropped them at the back of DRG's army, taking out the Infestors. DRG's supply count dropped rapidly as MMA killed off everything else beautifully to take his second consecutive victory of the series in style.

With a decisive lead, MMA started the game with another hidden Barracks to throw DRG off for a while. The Zerg finds it though, but to no consequence for the Terran as he builds a Factory quickly next to the Barracks for Reactor Hellions. As the Hellions came out, MMA goes for the push and zooms right into DRG's main base past the two Queens that were guarding the choke point. MMA proceeded to give DRG something to really worry about as he kept them alive and moving around for significant damage.

MMA's Hellions reach DRG's mineral line at his main base.

MMA then follows up with a well-timed all-in with Marauders and SCVs to give DRG his third loss. MMA shows excellent decision making and tactical awareness through the first three games. Only something short of a miracle can keep DRG in the series at the point.

DRG looked distraught before the fourth game as he discussed with the MVP coach, having such a steep mountain to climb in order to catch up. MMA was only one game away from his second GSL win, but this set started a rally back and made this one of the best series ever played in SC2.

MMA opened with a hidden Command Center, then a Barracks beside it. DRG may have read it as something akin to a proxy Barracks rush due to not finding the hidden buildings near the usual locations. As the Command Center had been converted to an Orbital Command, MMA takes the natural expansion, which has a Bunker already built as a DRG scout drone spots it. MMA then moved on to his usual 2-Rax with Tech Labs and Factory with Reactor.

Hellions came out to play in DRG's base and did the usual running circles around DRG's defenses. As more units came out for MMA, DRG had Spine Crawlers and a Queen to defend the front against the Terran force. As MMA tried to address the defense, DRG went for a counterattack with Lings in a show of defiance. The Hellions went back to defend against it and DRG takes a third and transitions to Infestors, which was a good choice of tech against MMA's build.

DRG strikes MMA's natural expansion with a huge Zergling-Infestor army. 

MMA builds a Starport and pushed forth with a bio army, but got hit by Baneling mines. He retreats and tries to consolidate his forces, but then gets hit by a Ling-Infestor opposition at his natural. MMA did take out a big chunk of that force. DRG did stay calm and went for another more successful engagement, using Fungals and Infested Terrans to destroy MMA's Engineering Bays before 2-2 upgrades were finished.

After that skirmish, DRG took his third and makes Ultralisks to deal with the Terran bio. Once he got enough Ultras, DRG moves in for the kill and wins his first game in the series with superior upgrades. The first step to his uphill climb had been taken.

Perhaps the previous set was just a setback for MMA, so he can just readjust and stop DRG from rallying back. MMA went for his usual hidden Barracks to kick things off, then a fast expand into a Factory-Reactor. Meanwhile, DRG built a Roach Warren then a Baneling Nest to counter most of MMA's unit composition. He then took the initiative and attacked with basic Ling-Bling-Roach, which MMA was able to hold off adequately. As this happened, DRG got Lair tech and started churning out Mutalisks.

MMA started striking back with harassment, using Vikings to take out Overlords and Mutas. DRG started massing up the Mutas to kill drops and go for a Ling-Bling-Muta composition. With such an army, DRG went up to MMA's third and destroys it, prompting a GG from the Terran player. The series was now at 3-2.

 
Mutalisks from DRG finish off the fifth game.

By this time, DRG was no long at a position of inferiority as he just displayed a good amount of resiliency in the face of adversity. MMA must have realized that he needed to change things up in order to prevent DRG from taking the advantage away from him, especially now that he had momentum on his side. That must have been why MMA started this game with a Barracks with Tech Lab for Reaper harass. He did not go straight to Factory immediately, but went for the fast expand and a third Command Center in this macro map. Once he had established those bases, then he made a Factory with Reactor.

 
DRG's Roach army pin down MMA's attack force.

DRG chose to get a quick Evolution Chamber for those crucial upgrades with his Roaches, and MMA had the same thing in mind with double Engineering Bay. Then DRG took the Overlord drop upgrade for what was most likely Baneling drops to come. He then got his third base and MMA started to move out with Marines and Siege Tanks. DRG holds it off well enough and goes for a counterattack with Roaches and Zerglings. He proceeded to break the blockade at the backdoor of his opponent's third and went in to find Siege Tanks deployed there. As MMA defends against this onslaught, DRG drops Banelings on top of MMA's army to eliminate most of the defending forces. The Zerg then attacked the main base and ties the series up 3-3. The finals of the Blizzard Cup goes on to the seventh game.

The final map gives Terran some advantage as it's good for drops, but it's a macro map that does see Zerg thrive as well. With both players tied for a final confrontation to determine the winner of the Blizzard Cup, tension was very much in the air for this set. DRG had banished the doubt from earlier and MMA's advantage was gone. Everything came down to the seventh game, the last in a tournament final for the year 2011. Hold on because this is a pretty long game.

Both players started the game relatively the same way as they did in the previous one as MMA went for harass play with Reapers and Hellions, then into an expansion. DRG was prepared with Spine Crawlers and Queens at the front of his natural. MMA went on to build a Starport as he kept up with the Hellion harass, then built a Starport, which gets scouted by an Overlord. DRG takes his third and proceeds to spawn Mutalisks, ready to catch any stray Medivacs. The drops came soon enough, but were forced to turn around when Overlords spotted them coming in. MMA was able to do something with one of his drops though by delaying DRG's fourth base.

MMA's drop play continued as he then made Thors to take care of the Mutas and took his third base. As he went on to push after DRG went in to take out MMA's Engineering Bay, DRG kills off the Thors with Banelings. MMA just got more Thors while DRG switched to Hive tech off 4-base. MMA scans DRG's Greater Spire later on and went in to push, not willing to wait for Brood Lords to pop up. MMA denied DRG's fifth base with this force, but DRG was already spawning Infestors and Ultralisks to deal with the mostly bio army. He engages and takes the supply lead by killing MMA's Thors.

The Terran player keeps himself afloat by taking a fourth, but DRG kept up with the aggression, attacking MMA's fourth, then second bases with Ultralisks. The fourth base was taken out and MMA had to build another Command Center to replace it.  By this time, DRG had acquired Brood Lords to deal with MMA's mech units. However, as he engaged MMA's force, he had no Corruptors to counter MMA's Vikings, which made short work of the Brood Lords. Arguably, this was the tipping point for DRG and gave MMA the supply lead.

Broodlords from DRG seemed to have secured a victory.

Defeating that huge Zerg push, MMA brought the ante up and went for multi-pronged drops and frontal attacks all over DRG's infrastructure and DRG came up with more Brood Lords and Corruptors to keep up. The supply count went back and forth as both players took turns with the initiative. MMA then builds a Ghost Academy in preparation for Nukes and EMPs for the Infestors. DRG then goes in for another big push for MMA's main base, where his unit production facilities are. MMA counters by taking out one of DRG's expansions on the other side of the map and was able to hold against DRG's grand attempt to victory. MMA thwarts DRG's forces and the Zerg finally GG's out to put this exciting series to a close, 4-3 in favor of MMA.