EPTGame 1
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Game 1: Cross positions on Shakuras Plateau
Foxer builds two barracks at the top of his expansion's ramp and scouts Nestea's early expand. Boxer attacks with three marines and about ten of his scvs. Nestea pulls to drones to help some newly spawned zerglings fight it off. The initial rush fails, but only seven drones survive to Nestea's eight scvs plus mules, which actually gives Foxer an economic advantage. Foxer attacks with eight marines, the rest of his scvs, and gives Nestea his first game loss in the entire tournament.
Very crisp, well-executed rush. It seems like it would beat hatch-first every time.
Foxer builds two barracks at the top of his expansion's ramp and scouts Nestea's early expand. Boxer attacks with three marines and about ten of his scvs. Nestea pulls to drones to help some newly spawned zerglings fight it off. The initial rush fails, but only seven drones survive to Nestea's eight scvs plus mules, which actually gives Foxer an economic advantage. Foxer attacks with eight marines, the rest of his scvs, and gives Nestea his first game loss in the entire tournament.
Very crisp, well-executed rush. It seems like it would beat hatch-first every time.
Game 2
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Game 2: Close air positions on Lost Temple
Nestea bravely gets a hatchery first again, but is safe because Foxer gets a refinery, which leads to a quick factory, followed by a starport and armory. Meanwhile, Nestea gets a lair, spots Foxer's tech, and starts a spire. A medivac drops a thor on Nestea's expansion, and then another in the main. Both thors manage to snag a queen and stop all mining at the expansion. Five mutas come out for nestea, which try to counter-attack Foxer's main, but another thor chases them off. The thors join forces to kill the expansion hatchery, and one even gets more than thirty kills before dying to zerglings and and mutalisks. Foxer expands.
After finally chasing away the thors, Nestea immediately double expands to his natural and the close main. He also quickly techs up to banelings and roachs as stim and combat shields start for Foxer. The roaches come out just in time to fend off a thor marine push by Foxer. There is a big confrontation in the middle as Foxer moves towards Nestea's third. Nestea sucides about eight banelings into a thor, and is easily pushed out. Foxer reinforces his army with a bunch of marauders and attacks, taking out a lot of units, but is eventually repelled. A big ol' drop kills Nestea's third, and Foxer expands to his gold. Foxer eventually goes up by about seventy supply, and drives a big bio ball into the heart of Nestea.
A very back and forth game. Nestea's micro seemed pretty lacking, but what really won Foxer the gamer was twice taking out an expansion and then expanding himself, giving him a base lead for a significant chunk of the game.
Nestea bravely gets a hatchery first again, but is safe because Foxer gets a refinery, which leads to a quick factory, followed by a starport and armory. Meanwhile, Nestea gets a lair, spots Foxer's tech, and starts a spire. A medivac drops a thor on Nestea's expansion, and then another in the main. Both thors manage to snag a queen and stop all mining at the expansion. Five mutas come out for nestea, which try to counter-attack Foxer's main, but another thor chases them off. The thors join forces to kill the expansion hatchery, and one even gets more than thirty kills before dying to zerglings and and mutalisks. Foxer expands.
After finally chasing away the thors, Nestea immediately double expands to his natural and the close main. He also quickly techs up to banelings and roachs as stim and combat shields start for Foxer. The roaches come out just in time to fend off a thor marine push by Foxer. There is a big confrontation in the middle as Foxer moves towards Nestea's third. Nestea sucides about eight banelings into a thor, and is easily pushed out. Foxer reinforces his army with a bunch of marauders and attacks, taking out a lot of units, but is eventually repelled. A big ol' drop kills Nestea's third, and Foxer expands to his gold. Foxer eventually goes up by about seventy supply, and drives a big bio ball into the heart of Nestea.
A very back and forth game. Nestea's micro seemed pretty lacking, but what really won Foxer the gamer was twice taking out an expansion and then expanding himself, giving him a base lead for a significant chunk of the game.
Game 3
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Game 3: Scrap station
Nestea builds an early expansion at his protected base... and Boxer builds a command center to float over to the island! Foxer follows up by getting both of his gasses, and then two engineering bays, a factory and a starport. Nestea upgrades to lair,and finds the island expansion. He decides to get a nydus worm to attack. A viking just barely doesn't kill an overlord in time to prevent sight for the nydus worm. As Nestea attacks the expansion, he takes the gold and builds a baneling nest and roach warren. The nydus attack doesn't take out the island expansion, but disrupts mining for at least a little bit.
When Foxer's +1/+1 upgrades finish, he tries a largely ineffective drop into the main of Nestea. After seeing he can't do much damage, he starts building a whopping four barracks- and an armory and his stim/combat shield upgrades. Nestea cleverly puts a nydus worm full of banelings and roaches into Foxer's unoccupied natural. A huge amount of banelings and roaches smash through the front, killing everything there.
Pretty creative plays by both players. The fact that Foxer built four barracks and then four reactors meant he just didn't have have enough stuff to fend off the attack at that moment.
Nestea builds an early expansion at his protected base... and Boxer builds a command center to float over to the island! Foxer follows up by getting both of his gasses, and then two engineering bays, a factory and a starport. Nestea upgrades to lair,and finds the island expansion. He decides to get a nydus worm to attack. A viking just barely doesn't kill an overlord in time to prevent sight for the nydus worm. As Nestea attacks the expansion, he takes the gold and builds a baneling nest and roach warren. The nydus attack doesn't take out the island expansion, but disrupts mining for at least a little bit.
When Foxer's +1/+1 upgrades finish, he tries a largely ineffective drop into the main of Nestea. After seeing he can't do much damage, he starts building a whopping four barracks- and an armory and his stim/combat shield upgrades. Nestea cleverly puts a nydus worm full of banelings and roaches into Foxer's unoccupied natural. A huge amount of banelings and roaches smash through the front, killing everything there.
Pretty creative plays by both players. The fact that Foxer built four barracks and then four reactors meant he just didn't have have enough stuff to fend off the attack at that moment.
Game 4
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Game 4: Jungle Basin
Nestea gets his hatchery at 14, and Foxer makes a proxy barracks on the middle mesa. Nestea just barely misses scouting it. Nestea somehow knows to make ten zerglings and a spine crawler before the marines even get in his base. Foxer sees it and retreats behind double bunkers at the bottom of the ramp to the main. Foxer expands to his natural as he tries to sneak though Nestea's main into the natural. Nestea has the perfect amount of zerglings to hold it off. He then decides to break down his own backdoor rocks to be able to circumvent the bunkers at the bottom of the ramp. Some more marines try to come in, but speed finishes, so they are taken out.
As Foxer floats his proxy barracks back to his main, the two players are dead even in workers (exluding mules). Four barracks finish again right as a bunch of banelings morph at the bottom of the ramp. Foxer manages to throw down a bunch of buildings to help absorb baneling damage, but they get in again. Foxer shows off his lovely micro, except at the very last baneling which takes out a big group of scvs. Speedlings continue to stream across the map into Foxer's base, and overrun both the main and the natural.
Nestea showed supernatural game sense when he made so many defenses in reponse to an unscouted proxy barracks. He also, again, had perfect timing when he attacked almost exactly as a large number of unit-producing structured has just finished
Nestea gets his hatchery at 14, and Foxer makes a proxy barracks on the middle mesa. Nestea just barely misses scouting it. Nestea somehow knows to make ten zerglings and a spine crawler before the marines even get in his base. Foxer sees it and retreats behind double bunkers at the bottom of the ramp to the main. Foxer expands to his natural as he tries to sneak though Nestea's main into the natural. Nestea has the perfect amount of zerglings to hold it off. He then decides to break down his own backdoor rocks to be able to circumvent the bunkers at the bottom of the ramp. Some more marines try to come in, but speed finishes, so they are taken out.
As Foxer floats his proxy barracks back to his main, the two players are dead even in workers (exluding mules). Four barracks finish again right as a bunch of banelings morph at the bottom of the ramp. Foxer manages to throw down a bunch of buildings to help absorb baneling damage, but they get in again. Foxer shows off his lovely micro, except at the very last baneling which takes out a big group of scvs. Speedlings continue to stream across the map into Foxer's base, and overrun both the main and the natural.
Nestea showed supernatural game sense when he made so many defenses in reponse to an unscouted proxy barracks. He also, again, had perfect timing when he attacked almost exactly as a large number of unit-producing structured has just finished
Game 5
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Game 5: Steppes of War
Foxer builds two barracks at the top of his natural's ramp. Nestea gets his spawning pool before his hatchery the first time this match, followed by an unscouted roach warren. Enough zerglings come out to defend against the marine push, but Foxer walls Nestea in with bunkers. Early roaches have an easy time breaking the bunkers, but Nestea makes an odd mistake when he allows one of them to be salvaged. Nestea pushes across the map to find that Foxer has walled in with very sturdy buildings, so he cancels his baneling nest, and instead decides to expand to his natural.
A ton of marines come across the map and almost manage to take out Nestea's natural. Foxer makes a factory with a tech lab that starts researching seige mode. As Foxer makes another factory, Foxer starts pushing across the valley with bunkers and siege tanks. Nestea counterattacks with a lot of roaches and banelings, as he had been making mostly units this entire time. Foxer has to pull scvs to fend it off, but the siege tanks do more than enough damage.
Foxer makes a super patient, super solid bunker push across the map with six siege tanks and a sizable clump of marines. When the tanks get below the natural's cliff, siege up, and gain vision via marines, Nestea has to gg out.
Foxer builds two barracks at the top of his natural's ramp. Nestea gets his spawning pool before his hatchery the first time this match, followed by an unscouted roach warren. Enough zerglings come out to defend against the marine push, but Foxer walls Nestea in with bunkers. Early roaches have an easy time breaking the bunkers, but Nestea makes an odd mistake when he allows one of them to be salvaged. Nestea pushes across the map to find that Foxer has walled in with very sturdy buildings, so he cancels his baneling nest, and instead decides to expand to his natural.
A ton of marines come across the map and almost manage to take out Nestea's natural. Foxer makes a factory with a tech lab that starts researching seige mode. As Foxer makes another factory, Foxer starts pushing across the valley with bunkers and siege tanks. Nestea counterattacks with a lot of roaches and banelings, as he had been making mostly units this entire time. Foxer has to pull scvs to fend it off, but the siege tanks do more than enough damage.
Foxer makes a super patient, super solid bunker push across the map with six siege tanks and a sizable clump of marines. When the tanks get below the natural's cliff, siege up, and gain vision via marines, Nestea has to gg out.
Game 6
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Game 6: Xel'naga Caverns
Nestea gets his usual hatchery as Foxer makes just a single barracks in his own base. Foxer also expands, then makes a couple more barracks. Nestea spots it, and responds by fully saturating both bases very quickly. A handful of marines come down to see what's going on. They start wailing away at a building baneling nest, and almost take it out before it finishes. A bunch of zerglings finish just in time to save it though. The marines and marauders sent down to reinforce the doomed marines quickly get picked off one by one as speed finishes. Foxer does a great job fending off all the zerglings and banelings that make it to his base with what he has, but at this point Nestea just starts churning out only speedlings with his huge economy, and Foxer can't hold it off forever. Nestea even takes a third as he is destoying his opponent.
I'm not sure what Foxer's game plan was here. He didn't really seem to know what to do after a quick expansion.
Nestea gets his usual hatchery as Foxer makes just a single barracks in his own base. Foxer also expands, then makes a couple more barracks. Nestea spots it, and responds by fully saturating both bases very quickly. A handful of marines come down to see what's going on. They start wailing away at a building baneling nest, and almost take it out before it finishes. A bunch of zerglings finish just in time to save it though. The marines and marauders sent down to reinforce the doomed marines quickly get picked off one by one as speed finishes. Foxer does a great job fending off all the zerglings and banelings that make it to his base with what he has, but at this point Nestea just starts churning out only speedlings with his huge economy, and Foxer can't hold it off forever. Nestea even takes a third as he is destoying his opponent.
I'm not sure what Foxer's game plan was here. He didn't really seem to know what to do after a quick expansion.
Game 7
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Game 7: Metalopolis, close postions.
The game starts out as a mirror of the first game, with an early expansion by one player, and two barracks by the other. And in fact, a bunch of the scvs come over with marines. Nestea pulls all but three drones to distract the marines as the zerglings are starting to hatch. When the zerglings come out, the drone cloud is in a perfect position and, along with the zerglings, surround the entire force of Foxer! Foxer responds by attacking again with six marines and all but three scvs, leaving essentially only mules mining. But by the time they get there, a spine crawler has finished. That holds off the marines long enough for twenty zerglings to come out, which easily destroy all of Foxer's forward units. They then attack into the base and kill everything else. Foxer stays in the game with his hands over his eyes in his booth for a bit until he finally leaves the game. But players are extremely emotional in their booths as the cameras cut away to get ready for the interviews.
A much better defense this game than in the first. Nestea showed a great ability to adapt to Foxer's play style this match, and seemed to really have his number for the last 5 games. A lot of people will be unhappy with the games were short and repetitive. Foxer showed off a lot of fancy moves this tournament, but none of them were fancy enough to take out Nestea.
The game starts out as a mirror of the first game, with an early expansion by one player, and two barracks by the other. And in fact, a bunch of the scvs come over with marines. Nestea pulls all but three drones to distract the marines as the zerglings are starting to hatch. When the zerglings come out, the drone cloud is in a perfect position and, along with the zerglings, surround the entire force of Foxer! Foxer responds by attacking again with six marines and all but three scvs, leaving essentially only mules mining. But by the time they get there, a spine crawler has finished. That holds off the marines long enough for twenty zerglings to come out, which easily destroy all of Foxer's forward units. They then attack into the base and kill everything else. Foxer stays in the game with his hands over his eyes in his booth for a bit until he finally leaves the game. But players are extremely emotional in their booths as the cameras cut away to get ready for the interviews.
A much better defense this game than in the first. Nestea showed a great ability to adapt to Foxer's play style this match, and seemed to really have his number for the last 5 games. A lot of people will be unhappy with the games were short and repetitive. Foxer showed off a lot of fancy moves this tournament, but none of them were fancy enough to take out Nestea.
