Our Crank saga continues! As GN’s rising star, we watched as Crank played back-to-back matches against Taeja and then HerO; his stamina was clearly draining as he continued to climb the ranks, and with only one major match away from killing Group A’s HerO, it was Crank’s game to lose.

Follow Crank's progress in our two previous posts, found here and here.

Crank in full combat mode!

This Extended Series started with HerO up by two wins already (2-0), making for a razor’s edge match; two wins from HerO would mean a match win, meanwhile, Crank would have to fight his way through the full series.

After Crank’s exciting match versus Revival earlier in the night, we’ve been closely watching his journey progress as he scales MLG Raleigh 2012’s ladders and fights for the top. His match following the Revival battle was one that had us nervous for Crank’s continued viability as a top competitor: Taeja – the Korean we predicted would take first – was destined to play an extended series versus the methodical Protoss we’ve come to love.

Crank (P) started 2-1 in this Extended Series match, but Taeja (T) is a powerful competitor and we knew he’d put up a masterful fight.

As we continue our coverage of MLG’s professional StarCraft 2 gaming tournament from yesterday, we’ve had an eventful Saturday at MLG, watching as HuK and Marine King Prime fell into the loser’s bracket, seeing Stephano joke with Violet on stream, and witnessing multiple misplays that resulted in friendly-fire (queens and hatcheries are two of note).

Looking to see some of your favorite StarCraft 2 pro players in all their RL glory? Check out our photo gallery (it's being updated each night!) from MLG Raleigh 2012 below.

You can also read our recent write-up of the exciting Grubby vs. Rain match; additionally, follow our Top8 picks and see how we faired at the end of the event!

Here's that gallery...

In what was one of the first gripping StarCraft 2 pro matches of the night at MLG Raleigh 2012, Grubby (pictured right) and Rain (pictured left) duked it out in a back-and-forth Protoss vs. Zerg slugfest for three maps. The two traded blows a few times, fought hard to lay waste to the opposition's expansions, and made enough small misplays to make the match anyone's win.

This is why StarCraft 2 has such high entertainment value in the e-Sports world: its high-energy tendencies lends it to being naturally engrossing for even non-SC players (though being familiar with the game is certainly recommended).

Let's boil down what happened in the match between Grubby (P) v. Rain (T) and talk about what made it so fun.