time they had previously faced each other.[17] This time, the fifteen years old Zerg player crushed TaeJa, inflicting him a severe 3-0 defeat and pursuing his path on the royal road. During the series, TaeJa melted a massive build order lead in game two by lowering a Supply Depot as his opponent's Zerglings arrived on his base.[18]

At DreamHack Winter 2012 TaeJa had a blistering run through the tournament, only to fall second to team mate HerO. He dominated his group 5-0, dropping only 2 maps against Snute, fraer, TheStC, elfi and Stephano. In the quarterfinals he faced ThorZaIN, which he won in a close 3-2. Advancing to the semifinals, he faced Nerchio, whom he easily crushed 3-0. In the finals he faced HerO, which is the only timebut MMA was not the monster he used to be and TaeJa swept him up with a solid 3-0 win. In the Grand Finals in California, TaeJa had to face HerO in a rematch from DreamHack Winter 2012. Before this match, they had both won the same amount of series this year against each other, with HerO of course taking the most recent just weeks before. This Round of 8 match would be the tiebreaker, and HerO once again seemingly destroyed TaeJa. Every move TaeJa made was perfectly countered and HerO often had a build order advantage if not straight up win in all the games. TaeJa lost 0-3 and lost his chance of winning the tournament. HerO went on to win the tournament in dominating fashion.

On December