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ThorZaIN

From Liquipedia StarCraft 2 Wiki
[e][h]Terran ThorZaIN
Player Information
Name:
Marcus Sebastian Eklöf
Nationality:
Born:
February 9, 1991 (age 33)
Race:
Alternate IDs:
Yakero, TFunk
Nicknames:
The Spoon Terran, The King in the North
Approx. Total Winnings:
$103,036
Years Active:
2010 - 2014,
2016
Links
Achievements
PokerStrategy.com TSL3 2012 DreamHack EIZO Open: Stockholm
All-Kills:
 × 1
History
2010-08-10 — 2010-11-03Online Kingdom
2010-11-03 — 2011-05-07Praetoriani
2011-05-07 — 2012-05-09mousesports
2012-05-09 — 2017-01-01Evil Geniuses
Recent Matches
ThorZaIN Terran Sweden
0:3
(vs)
Sweden Zerg SortOf
April 3, 2016 - 17:45 CEST  
EG Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
3:4
(vs)
PrimePrime Prime
July 13, 2015 - 20:00 EDT  
EG Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
0:4
(vs)
mYinsanitymYinsanity mYi
June 10, 2015 - 20:00 EDT  
EG Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
3:4
(vs)
ROOT GamingROOT Gaming ROOT
May 20, 2015 - 14:00 EDT  
EG Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
4:3
(vs)
Team AscensionTeam Ascension TAsc
April 18, 2015 - 14:00 EDT  


Marcus "ThorZaIN" Eklöf (born February 9, 1991) is a retired Swedish Terran player who last played for Evil Geniuses.

He is a former Warcraft III player.

While originally being a very obscure player who participated in only Nordic tournaments, ThorZaIN gained notable fame and prestige after defeating NaNiwa to win the TSL3.

ThorZaIN is known for his slow, methodical play. His nickname, the Spoon Terran, originated when South Korean netizens remarked that it was as if he was using a spoon to kill his opponent.

After researching everything in his epic game utilizing all units and upgrades culminating in a sky battle featuring Ravens and Battlecruisers against GuMiho, the nickname Scientist Terran was given to him by the casters.

Wings of Liberty[edit]

ThorZaIN played for Online Kingdom in the beginning of Wings of Liberty.[1] He did not make a big name for himself in the early stages of Wings of Liberty, only taking part in a few Nordic competitions. One reason for this might be due to ThorZaIN opting to continue his parallel Warcraft III career instead of fully devoting himself to StarCraft II. Nevertheless, the Swedish player managed to win the ESL Viking Cup #9 and continually ranked in the top 40 of the European ladder from late August through early November.[2][3][4][5][6]

On the 3rd of November 2010, ThorZaIN left his old team, Online Kingdom, to team up with the Dutch organization Praetoriani, signaling a definite switch to StarCraft II.[7][8]

Sign-on statement from ThorZaIN:[9]

"I will from today be a part of team Praetoriani. A newly founded team with some up and coming players. Some of you may know me from WC3 and some of you don't. I haven't really accomplished anything "big" in SC2 yet but that's mostly because I haven't really played any tournament except for the EPS.Nordic (Where I'm doing quite well). Instead I've been practising and improving. I feel that I'm doing great lately and therefore decided to try to get "more serious" with my team and therefore joining up with my old friend and managers from WC3. People who followed WC3 may know that Lloth can be a pain in the ass but one thing is certain: He takes good care of his players and gets things done. It will be a pleasure to once again play in his team."

Breakthrough on the European scene[edit]

Still a relatively discrete player, ThorZaIN managed to qualify for TeamLiquid StarLeague 3 through TeamSpeak TL Open 12. His first opponent in the event was the first champion of GSL, the South Korean Zerg progamer FruitDealer. Despite being the underdog of the match, ThorZaIN eventually defeated his adversary 2-0, showing great patience and good micromanagement. In the next round, he faced the reigning TSL champion (on StarCraft: Brood War), Tyler, and flawlessly knocked him out. He advanced to round of eight, where he was pitted against the heavily favoured MC, twice GSL winner. ThorZaIN soon led 2-0, but MC managed to tie up the series and came back at 2-2. The Swedish player finally earned his spot in the final four by winning the last game with a heavy use of Thors.

A few days after his victory against MC, ThorZaIN was recruited by mousesports, stating that he believed that the German team would become an even bigger name in the StarCraft II scene, and expressing his desire of being a part of it.[10]

Two days after he switched teams, ThorZaIN met Kas in the semifinals of TSL3, and despite TvT being ThorZaIN's worst match-up at the time, he was able to eliminate the Ukrainian player, therefore proceeding to the finals. His final adversary was his compatriot NaNiwa, who outmatched him during the first games, eventually leading the series 3-1. Nevertheless, ThorZaIN managed to win the three last games in a row in order to win the tournament.

Now regarded as one of the strongest European players, ThorZaIN made his first appearance in MLG two weeks after he became the TSL Champion, at MLG Columbus, as a signed-up player. He made his way through the open winner's bracket and eventually earned his spot in Championship Pool Play, where he defeated IdrA 2-0. His run in the championship bracket was however shortened by MC, in a rematch of the TSL3 quarterfinals. ThorZaIN lost 4-2, hence ending at the ninth place of the event, the furthest reaching player from the open bracket.

Global StarCraft II League[edit]

MLG had the right to grant three Code A spots to top competitors at MLG Columbus. ThorZaIN accepted that offer and participated in GSL August. He also participated in the 2011 Global StarCraft II Team League Season 1 as Mousesports' representative on the combined team F.United.[11] In Code A, his first match was up against YugiOh, who 2 - 1'd ThorZaIN and thus knocked him out of Code A.

However, in his GSTL debut - F.United against MVP in Week 7 of the Jupiter League (Group A) - he showed off his true skills by defeating three Korean opponents who were each playing as different races (NalZa/Won as Protoss, Random player GuineaPig spawning as Zerg and Noblesse as Terran) before finally losing to Genius. F.United still prevailed after NaNiwa beat Genius in the ace match, which meant that F.United became the first team to pull off a GSTL combined European (and Swedish) all-kill and also meant that ThorZaIN was the first European to be named the MVP of a GSTL match. In addition, ThorZaIN tweeted on August 31 that he would be staying at the SlayerS house instead of the WeMade FOX house until he leaves Korea on the 8th, since WMF would be ceasing their progaming operations.[12]

For the 2012 GSL Season 3 Code S, ThorZaIN was seeded in to the Ro32 Group C. ThorZaIN played in his group on June 13, 2012, along with KeeN, Squirtle, and GuMiho. ThorZaIN lost his first match against Squirtle by a score of 0-2 and fell in to the losers' match. In the losers' match, ThorZaIN defeated GuMiho by a score of 2-1 and advanced in to the final match for a chance at revenge against Squirtle. But misfortune once again found ThorZaIN as he lost to Squirtle again by a score of 0-2, and fell out of Code S in to the Ro32 of Code A with a total score of 1-2.

After ThorZaIN fell out of his Code S group, he fell in to Code A to face JYP. On July 17, 2012, ThorZaIN faced JYP to see who would advance to the Ro24 of Code A. He lost to JYP by a score of 1-2 and failed to advance to the next round.

ThorZaIN was initially placed into Group B of the Up and Down Matches of 2012 GSL Season 4. However, due to him wanting to focus on the WCS European Championship as well as other factors, ThorZaIN forfeited his matches.[13]

After Korea[edit]

ThorZaIN was invited to the Dreamhack Valencia Invitational, as announced on September 1.[14] He finished second, losing to DongRaeGu 2-3 in the finals.

ThorZaIN participated in NASL season 2 in the semi-open tournament. He played in the upper bracket -- after defeating a relatively unknown Australian player named Shuffle he would defeat MajOr 2-0, Chinese Zerg Uhen 2-0 and finally CatZ 2-1. His final match in the semi-open would be against Gatored (who had fought through the Loser's Bracket. As a result, their game would be a BO5, with the player in the winners' bracket starting with a 1-0 lead). ThorZaIN would win 2-1 with a final score of 3-2 to enter the Grand Finals at Ontario California. There he would sweep DeMusliM 3-0 in an exciting series and overcome his teammate MorroW 3-1 to enter the semifinals against EG's PuMa. ThorZaIN would ultimately lose 2-4, and would play against Sen in the third place match, where he lost 2-4 taking 4th place.

ThorZaIN running to his booth at the NASL Season 2 Finals.

In the mid of December, ThorZaIN was one of eight invites of StarCraft II Across The Galaxy. Taking the Ro16 and Ro8 without dropping maps against Eeel and White-Ra, he lost the first match on Metalopolis against the South Korean Protoss CranK in the Ro4. Coming back from 0-1, ThorZaIN went on to win the next two matches, advancing to the Finals, where he defeated Jim 3-0.

Due to his second place in MSI Pro Cup 4, ThorZaIN was invited to MSI Pro Cup 5 and seeded directly into the quarterfinals, where he once again faced off against White-Ra, emerging again victorious. After defeating Adelscott in the semifinals, ThorZaIN was set against Polt in the finals, where he lost 0-3. Polt and ThorZaIN continued to meet in the finals of MSI Pro Cup 6 and MSI Pro Cup 7 again, with Polt again triumphing over the Swedish Terran.

In February he participated in the MLG Winter Arena, qualifying in the European Qualifier with a third place, losing in the lower bracket against viOLet. After a win in the Ro16 against Sheth, ThorZaIN lost in the Ro16 against Leenock 1-2 and fell to the lower bracket, where he was eliminated by Grubby 1-2.

As of March, ThorZaIN was invited to the Iron Squid – Chapter I tournament, playing in Group B against Symbol, Mvp, IdrA and MC, as well as participating in the Red Bull LAN Orlando, an intense training weekend, where he is one of four spotlighted players.[15] After the Red Bull LAN, ThorZaIN participated in the MLG 2012 Winter Championship, where he was seeded into round 5 of the Open Bracket. After victories over NonY and BlinG, the Swedish Terran continued to Pool A, where he went with a 1-4 match score to the second round of the Championship Bracket, where he was eliminated by Golden.

In April 2012, ThorZaIN defeated Polt 3-1 in the grand finals of the Stockholm DreamHack Open. Throughout the entire tournament, he only lost one Bo3 in the second Group Stage to Naugrim and one map to Monster and Polt, with a map score of 21-4 overall. Due to a recent collaboration of MLG and Dreamhack, ThorZaIN also received a paid trip to MLG Spring Arena 2.[16]

On April 26, 2012, it was announced that ThorZaIN was invited to the TSL4 as number 1 seed to defend his title.[17] On the same day, ThorZaIN managed to finally win the MSI Pro Cup. After losing to KeeN 0-3 in MSI Pro Cup 8, he was once again seeded into directly into the Round of 8, where he won over the Russian Protoss TitaN 2-0, before defeating Nerchio 2-0 in the Ro4 and being the sixth time in the finals of the MSI Pro Cup, this time against viOLet. ThorZaIN managed to secure a 3-1 win as well as winning once again another seed into the quarterfinals of the next tournament.

Joining Evil Geniuses[edit]

On May 9, 2012, Evil Geniuses announced that ThorZaIN had joined the team.[18]

On July 28, 2012, ThorZaIN participated in the World Championship Series 2012 Sweden and ended up in 1st place after overcoming MorroW, Bischu, NaNiwa, Seiplo, and then SortOf in the finals with a score of 1-2, 2-1.

On February 18, 2012, ThorZaIN was invited to participate in the IPL Fight Club. His first opponent was HerO. His debut was cut short as he was knocked out in his very first match up by a score of 3-5, and was not able to dethrone HerO.

SK Planet Proleague[edit]

On December 4 with the announcement of the Unholy Alliance of EG-TL and their participation in the KeSPA SK Planet Proleague 2012-2013 tournament, Thorzain was listed as one of the participating members.[19] During Round 1 he played 4 excellent games for EG-TL, managing to take a win in his last game of the Round during Week 4 against Classic, being the first foreigner to win a Proleague game in 7 years.[20]

Playstyle[edit]

Thorzain has an almost unusually safe and methodical playstyle, owing to his self-confessed fear of counterattacks and base harassment. He largely prefers macro games and is an excellent decision maker, though this may stem from his safe plays - He will back off from a fight unless he's absolutely sure he can press his advantage. Base races are virtually non-existent in his match history and he only very rarely cheeses. Despite the overall slow pace of his play he does not play very defensively, simply preferring a safe, slow offensive push over a quick strike or drop play. A weak point of this style is that ThorZaIN allows his opponent to macro it up as well, sometimes leading to somewhat uneven situations. However, his scouting is decent and he has over time used more and more drop plays to bring his opponent off balance. Despite this, he rarely directly reacts to his opponent's build, instead preferring to push his advantage if ever so slowly with his own current build.

Trivia[edit]

  • Former top Human player in Warcraft III.
  • Played 50 games of StarCraft: Brood War, reaching D rank.[21]
  • Originally played Protoss in the beta, but decided to switch because he "lost every PvP". He chose Terran over Zerg for no particular reason.[22]
  • Featured in StarCraft's 15th Birthday video by Blizzard Entertainment
  • Nicknamed "Master Jane" for the corruption of his ID "mouzThorZaIN" as pronounced by the South Korean hype caster.[23]
  • Nicknamed "Spoon Murderer" or "Spoon Killer" in Korea for the slow methodical way he plays out his games.[24]
  • Went 13-4 in the first IPL Team Arena Challenge 1, the highest of any participant.
  • Does not like to be called ThorZain, as he says "IT SUX".[25]
  • Considers IdrA and NaNiwa two of the best foreigners.[26]
  • Considered by MMA to be the best foreigner.[27]
  • ThorZaIN is the only foreign Terran to win a premier tournament since Koreans started to participate in foreign competitions - TSL3 and DreamHack Open - Stockholm
  • Is also the only player to win a DreamHack StarCraft II tournament on home soil because of DreamHack Open - Stockholm.
  • After beating Classic in a Proleague match, ThorZaIN became the first foreigner to win a match in Proleague in 2748 days.[28] This allowed ThorZaIN to be eligible for the MVP award for the round, an award that he ended up winning in January 2013.[29]
  • Appeared with NaNiwa in a Team Liquid humorous promotional video ahead of their grand final at TSL3, which featured him beating NaNiwa in poker, checkers, chess, and even bingo and a Rubik's Cube race.[30]

Achievements[edit]

DatePlaceTierTournamentTeamResultPrize
2014-06-152ndMajorE-Sport SM 2013-2014E-Sport SM 2013-2014
Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
2 : 3$4,489.06
2014-01-242ndShowm. (Min.)ThorZaIN vs TaeJa ShowmatchThorZaIN vs TaeJa Showmatch
Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
2 : 3$1,000
2013-07-122ndMon. (Min.)Kaspersky Arena July 2013
Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
2 : 3$236
2013-06-182ndMajorE-Sport SM 2012-2013E-Sport SM 2012-2013
Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
1 : 3$4,653.10
2012-11-213rd - 4thMajor2012 IGN Pro Team League2012 IGN Pro Team League
Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
4 : 5
StarTaleStarTale
$285.71
2012-10-141stMajorASUS ROG The GD InvitationalASUS ROG The GD Invitational
Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
3 : 2$4,000
2012-07-281stMinor2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series: Sweden Nationals2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series: Sweden Nationals
Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
3 : 3$6,000
2012-06-171stMajorE-Sport SM 2011-2012E-Sport SM 2011-2012
Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
3 : 2$10,052.40
2012-06-022nd2v2 (Min.)HP Trophy1 : 4$621.42
2012-05-122ndMinorSCAN Invitational 5
Evil GeniusesEvil Geniuses
0 : 4$482.18
2012-04-261stMon. (Min.)MSI Pro Cup #9
mousesportsmousesports
3 : 1$922.56
2012-04-221stPremier2012 DreamHack EIZO Open: Stockholm2012 DreamHack EIZO Open: Stockholm
mousesportsmousesports
3 : 1$10,462.97
2012-04-043rdMajorThe Gathering 2012The Gathering 2012
mousesportsmousesports
3 : 1$1,721.28
2012-03-202ndMon. (Min.)MSI Pro Cup #8
mousesportsmousesports
0 : 3$266.07
2012-03-182ndPremierNorth American Star Team LeagueNorth American Star Team League
mousesportsmousesports
2 : 3
Team LiquidTeam Liquid
$750
2012-02-212ndMon. (Min.)MSI Pro Cup #7
mousesportsmousesports
1 : 3$266.47
2012-01-312ndMon. (Min.)MSI Pro Cup #6
mousesportsmousesports
0 : 3$261.81
2012-01-152ndMinorSHOUTcraft Invitational 4 - "Colin Smith"
mousesportsmousesports
$1,771
2011-12-222ndMajorIPL Team Arena ChallengeIPL Team Arena Challenge
mousesportsmousesports
3 : 5
Quantic Incredible MiracleQuantic Incredible Miracle
$600
2011-12-212ndMon. (Min.)MSI Pro Cup #5
mousesportsmousesports
0 : 3$260.89
2011-12-161stMinorStarcraft2 Across the GalaxyStarcraft2 Across the Galaxy
mousesportsmousesports
3 : 0$1,304.85
2011-12-044thPremierNorth American Star League Season 2North American Star League Season 2
mousesportsmousesports
2 : 4$8,000
2011-11-292ndMon. (Min.)MSI Pro Cup #4
mousesportsmousesports
1 : 3$266.66
2011-11-282ndPremierIGN ProLeague Season 3: Pool C (rematch)IGN ProLeague Season 3: Pool C (rematch)
mousesportsmousesports
1-1Grp S.$500
2011-09-221stMajorEvil Geniuses Master's Cup Series League VIEvil Geniuses Master's Cup Series League VI
mousesportsmousesports
3 : 1
Team EmpireTeam Empire
$1,666.67
2011-08-124thPremierIGN ProLeague Season 2 "Across the Atlantic"IGN ProLeague Season 2 "Across the Atlantic"
mousesportsmousesports
1 : 3$4,000
2011-08-073rdMajorEuropean Battle.net Invitational
mousesportsmousesports
1 : 2$3,000
2011-05-151stPremierPokerStrategy.com TSL3PokerStrategy.com TSL3
mousesportsmousesports
4 : 3$15,000
2011-02-051stWeek. (Min.)TeamSpeak TL Open #12
PraetorianiPraetoriani
3 : 1$100
2010-11-273rdMajorESL Pro Series Nordic Season 3ESL Pro Series Nordic Season 3
PraetorianiPraetoriani
2 : 1$662.05
Extended list of results
All-Kill Achievements
2011-12-22 All-KillIPL Team Arena Challenge 1

Gallery[edit]

Interviews[edit]

Matches & VODs[edit]

First Person View Match VODS[edit]

Statistics[edit]

Matchup Statistics

vs Protossvs Terranvs Zergvs RandomTotal
RecordWin%RecordWin%RecordWin%RecordWin%RecordWin%
as Terran247 - 17159.1 %140 - 13351.3 %220 - 21350.8 %4 - 180 %611 - 51854.1 %
as Random3 - 537.5 %0 - 0-0 - 0-0 - 0-3 - 537.5 %
Σ250 - 17658.7 %140 - 13351.3 %220 - 21350.8 %4 - 180 %614 - 52354 %

Earnings Statistics

1v1 Medal Statistics

TierTotal
Premier210025
Major223007
Minor4901014
Basic300003
Total111231229

References[edit]