EPTGame 5 of Rain/Nestea and Game 4 of Fruit/HongUn since they both get pretty tense.
IMNestea
v TSL_Rain 
Game 1
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Game 1: Lost Temple, close by air
Nestea gets a hatchery first- Rain immediately techs up to a starport for a tank drop. Nestea gets a lair and a spire before any other tech structures. Rain does not in fact drop, but instead pressures with a tank, a medivac, four marines and a bunker. Once he takes out a spine crawler, though, and reinforces with a second tank, he does ferry them up to the cliff. But when the first half-dozen mutalisks come out they kill everything easily. All-in-all Nestea lost just a spine crawler and some zerglings to two tanks, some marines and a medivac, putting Nestea up by about thirty food.
Nestea expands to his gold, and then takes a forth. Nestea starts massing banelings and mutalisks. Rain gets an armory for thors, stimpacks, and +1 attack for infantry. Nestea gets an infestation pit. Rain expands to his natural then moves out across the map just as his marine upgrades finish with twenty marines, four tanks, and a thor. Nestea accidentally flies his mutalisks over the marines and thor, losing a few and weakening many more. He seems to panic a little bit, and just attack moves his banelings and mutalisks into the army, losing everything. Rain's push makes it to Nestea's natural, where he drops a tank and some marines on the ledge. There are seven or eight of overlords hanging out there, so Nestea gets supply capped. The late ledge drop kills a bunch of drones and the infestation pit before it gets repelled by mutalisks. Rain pulls back and expands to his gold.
Both players go into serious macro mode, each sticking to the army compositions they've had all game. But off four bases, and with very good muta harass, Nestea starts to rocket ahead in supply. By the time the final battle comes, Nestea must have around fifty banelings and twenty mutalisks against sixty marines and five or six tanks. Nestea is able to roll through Rain's army and win the game.
Both players seemed to make at least one significant mistake this game. What ended up wining Nestea the game, though, was the fact that his mutalisk harass was able to take out both of Rain's factories and a few siege tanks, which allowed Nestea to mass banelings for the win. Also, Rain handled the midgame fairly poorly, allowing the mutalisks to do so much damage, and then pushing out before his expansion really had time to let him catch up. One other interesting thing was that Nestea never remade his infestation pit, and never made any other tech structures aside from what allowed him to go muta/xling. This seems to go against the trend of seriously teching up in the midgame for insurance against some sort of crazy tech switch by the opponent. He either felt that he much more disadvantaged than he actually was and so had to spend every cent on units, or was extremely confident that muta/xling could win the game.
Nestea 1-0
Nestea gets a hatchery first- Rain immediately techs up to a starport for a tank drop. Nestea gets a lair and a spire before any other tech structures. Rain does not in fact drop, but instead pressures with a tank, a medivac, four marines and a bunker. Once he takes out a spine crawler, though, and reinforces with a second tank, he does ferry them up to the cliff. But when the first half-dozen mutalisks come out they kill everything easily. All-in-all Nestea lost just a spine crawler and some zerglings to two tanks, some marines and a medivac, putting Nestea up by about thirty food.
Nestea expands to his gold, and then takes a forth. Nestea starts massing banelings and mutalisks. Rain gets an armory for thors, stimpacks, and +1 attack for infantry. Nestea gets an infestation pit. Rain expands to his natural then moves out across the map just as his marine upgrades finish with twenty marines, four tanks, and a thor. Nestea accidentally flies his mutalisks over the marines and thor, losing a few and weakening many more. He seems to panic a little bit, and just attack moves his banelings and mutalisks into the army, losing everything. Rain's push makes it to Nestea's natural, where he drops a tank and some marines on the ledge. There are seven or eight of overlords hanging out there, so Nestea gets supply capped. The late ledge drop kills a bunch of drones and the infestation pit before it gets repelled by mutalisks. Rain pulls back and expands to his gold.
Both players go into serious macro mode, each sticking to the army compositions they've had all game. But off four bases, and with very good muta harass, Nestea starts to rocket ahead in supply. By the time the final battle comes, Nestea must have around fifty banelings and twenty mutalisks against sixty marines and five or six tanks. Nestea is able to roll through Rain's army and win the game.
Both players seemed to make at least one significant mistake this game. What ended up wining Nestea the game, though, was the fact that his mutalisk harass was able to take out both of Rain's factories and a few siege tanks, which allowed Nestea to mass banelings for the win. Also, Rain handled the midgame fairly poorly, allowing the mutalisks to do so much damage, and then pushing out before his expansion really had time to let him catch up. One other interesting thing was that Nestea never remade his infestation pit, and never made any other tech structures aside from what allowed him to go muta/xling. This seems to go against the trend of seriously teching up in the midgame for insurance against some sort of crazy tech switch by the opponent. He either felt that he much more disadvantaged than he actually was and so had to spend every cent on units, or was extremely confident that muta/xling could win the game.
Nestea 1-0
Game 2
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Game 2: Steppes of War
Nestea hatches first. Rain goes two barracks and brings most of his scvs. Rain wins.
Yep.
Rain 1-1
Nestea hatches first. Rain goes two barracks and brings most of his scvs. Rain wins.
Yep.
Rain 1-1
Game 3
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Game 3: Shakuras Plateau, cross positions
Nestea morphs a hatchery before his spawning pool. Rain gets an early tech lab and immediately researches stimpacks. Soon after he starts another command center and three more barracks. Nestea takes his lateral third at an early 6'30''. Speedlings catch an exploratory force of eight marines and kill them all. Nestea's counterattack breaks through Rain's ad hoc wall-off and makes it into Rain's natural and then his main just as a bunch of reactors finish. Nestea smells blood and makes twenty more zerglings, a baneling nest, and starts upgrading +1 melee as zerglings kill a lot of scvs. Good micro saves Rain from the first onslaught of banelings and zerglings. Nestea starts his lair and Rain gets his factory at he starts to move out into the middle of the map.
A strange confrontation takes place in the middle of the map after a little bit of dancing. Zerglings and slow banelings try to make a marine sandwich, but the marines come out on top, killing a lot of xlings. But even though Rain killed more resources worth of units, the fact that both armies essentially neutralize gives Nestea the time to get a spire, a bunch of mutalisks with an attack upgrade, and a forth base at the vertical main. Rain pushes through the rocks from his main to Nestea's new base with a bunch of marines and some siege tanks. Nestea begins harassing Rain's natural to buy himself some time to reinforce. Neither player wants to fully engage, so Rain just plants his army between the bases and floats a command center to that 12-o'clock expansion.
Nestea attacks Rain's natural with banelings, which kill all the scvs. Rain attacks Nestea's forth, but Nestea is fine just sacking it, and taking his interior third instead. After harassing Rain's third a bit, Nestea has tripled Rain's worker count. As Nestea slowly starts to overrun Rain's bases, Rain concedes to the inevitable.
Nestea showed the power of hitting a mega-raxing terran right when all the add-ons complete. Rain never really was able to recover from being overrun, since it allowed Nestea to get so far ahead in economy.
Nestea 2-1
Nestea morphs a hatchery before his spawning pool. Rain gets an early tech lab and immediately researches stimpacks. Soon after he starts another command center and three more barracks. Nestea takes his lateral third at an early 6'30''. Speedlings catch an exploratory force of eight marines and kill them all. Nestea's counterattack breaks through Rain's ad hoc wall-off and makes it into Rain's natural and then his main just as a bunch of reactors finish. Nestea smells blood and makes twenty more zerglings, a baneling nest, and starts upgrading +1 melee as zerglings kill a lot of scvs. Good micro saves Rain from the first onslaught of banelings and zerglings. Nestea starts his lair and Rain gets his factory at he starts to move out into the middle of the map.
A strange confrontation takes place in the middle of the map after a little bit of dancing. Zerglings and slow banelings try to make a marine sandwich, but the marines come out on top, killing a lot of xlings. But even though Rain killed more resources worth of units, the fact that both armies essentially neutralize gives Nestea the time to get a spire, a bunch of mutalisks with an attack upgrade, and a forth base at the vertical main. Rain pushes through the rocks from his main to Nestea's new base with a bunch of marines and some siege tanks. Nestea begins harassing Rain's natural to buy himself some time to reinforce. Neither player wants to fully engage, so Rain just plants his army between the bases and floats a command center to that 12-o'clock expansion.
Nestea attacks Rain's natural with banelings, which kill all the scvs. Rain attacks Nestea's forth, but Nestea is fine just sacking it, and taking his interior third instead. After harassing Rain's third a bit, Nestea has tripled Rain's worker count. As Nestea slowly starts to overrun Rain's bases, Rain concedes to the inevitable.
Nestea showed the power of hitting a mega-raxing terran right when all the add-ons complete. Rain never really was able to recover from being overrun, since it allowed Nestea to get so far ahead in economy.
Nestea 2-1
Game 4
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Game 4: Blistering Sands
Nestea again hatches first. Rain gets two early barracks, and then two more. Rain attacks at 6' with all his marines and all but two scvs. It wins.
Double yep.
Rain 2-2
Nestea again hatches first. Rain gets two early barracks, and then two more. Rain attacks at 6' with all his marines and all but two scvs. It wins.
Double yep.
Rain 2-2
Game 5
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Game 5: Xel'Naga Caverns
Rain opens with two early barracks, and Nestea again gets his hatchery first. Rain starts a bunker push against Nestea' s natural. Nestea gets a spine crawler up, but fails to kill the repairing scv, and so loses his queen, spine crawler, and his hatchery. Nestea retreats to his base and starts massing zerglings. Rain decides to just fortify outside Nestea's base, since there are a lot of zerglings out on the field. Nestea runs his zerglings around the bunkers to catch any reinforcements, but Rain moves into the base and destroys a morphing roach warren. Nestea runs his zerglings back to kill the intrusive marines. Meanwhile Rain expands and sells his bunkers at Nestea's front. Nestea tries again to get a hatchery up at his natural. Rain brings his barracks count up to seven and builds three bunkers at his natural.
Rain begins stimpacks and +1 weapons. Nestea gets his baneling nest and starts pumping banelings. As stim finishes Rain pushes out with a lot of marines and a few marauders mixed in. Nestea forces THREE stims, which allows him to hold with a much smaller force of xlings. Rain techs up to siege tanks and gets all the rest of his infantry upgrades. Rain keeps up the aggression and, after a bunch of banelings explode on a siege tank, is able to force Nestea out of the game.
So in the entire match, Nestea never made anything besides mutalisks, zerglings, and banelings. It really seemed like his strategy revolved around being left alone in the early stages of the game. When he was, he won, but when he was attacked early, he lost. It's hard to see why he wouldn't anticipate marine all-ins and two/four barracks play when it's what we've seen all tournament. And if he did anticipate them, he obviously was not prepared enough to defend them. On the other hand, Rain obviously knew what to do, and did it just fine.
Rain wins 3-2
Rain opens with two early barracks, and Nestea again gets his hatchery first. Rain starts a bunker push against Nestea' s natural. Nestea gets a spine crawler up, but fails to kill the repairing scv, and so loses his queen, spine crawler, and his hatchery. Nestea retreats to his base and starts massing zerglings. Rain decides to just fortify outside Nestea's base, since there are a lot of zerglings out on the field. Nestea runs his zerglings around the bunkers to catch any reinforcements, but Rain moves into the base and destroys a morphing roach warren. Nestea runs his zerglings back to kill the intrusive marines. Meanwhile Rain expands and sells his bunkers at Nestea's front. Nestea tries again to get a hatchery up at his natural. Rain brings his barracks count up to seven and builds three bunkers at his natural.
Rain begins stimpacks and +1 weapons. Nestea gets his baneling nest and starts pumping banelings. As stim finishes Rain pushes out with a lot of marines and a few marauders mixed in. Nestea forces THREE stims, which allows him to hold with a much smaller force of xlings. Rain techs up to siege tanks and gets all the rest of his infantry upgrades. Rain keeps up the aggression and, after a bunch of banelings explode on a siege tank, is able to force Nestea out of the game.
So in the entire match, Nestea never made anything besides mutalisks, zerglings, and banelings. It really seemed like his strategy revolved around being left alone in the early stages of the game. When he was, he won, but when he was attacked early, he lost. It's hard to see why he wouldn't anticipate marine all-ins and two/four barracks play when it's what we've seen all tournament. And if he did anticipate them, he obviously was not prepared enough to defend them. On the other hand, Rain obviously knew what to do, and did it just fine.
Rain wins 3-2
HongUnPrime
v TSL_FruitDealer Game 1
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Game 1: Steppes of War
HongUn gets his forge first and walls Fruit in with pylons and a cannon. Luckily Fruit got his spawning pool first. He then gets an in-base hatchery near the top of his ramp. As Fruit positions a spine to take out the contain, HongUn hides two starports at Fruit's third. Fruit eventually scouts one of the starports, cancels a roach warren, and builds a hyrdalisk den. When HongUn gets to Fruit's base with three void rays, Fruit already has ten hydralisks which easily defend. Fruit sends all his hydras to take out the pylon powering the stargates. HongUn uses this opportunity to force a cancel on a building hatchery at Fruit's natural. Meanwhile HongUn builds four gateways. FruitDealer is again forced to cancel a hatchery because he had again sent all his hydralisks to the stargates. HongUn pushes out with a four-gate army, but it is repelled. HongUn tries to expand, but Fruit just counterattacks and wins.
Fruit responded well to all three aggressions by HongUn. HongUn just really didn't want to play a standard first game. But if FruitDealer hadn't scouted those stargates, it could have ended very differently. Also, "The Three Aggressions of HongUnPrime" sounds like an amazing trilogy of futuristic steam-punk samurai movies.
FruitDealer 1-0
HongUn gets his forge first and walls Fruit in with pylons and a cannon. Luckily Fruit got his spawning pool first. He then gets an in-base hatchery near the top of his ramp. As Fruit positions a spine to take out the contain, HongUn hides two starports at Fruit's third. Fruit eventually scouts one of the starports, cancels a roach warren, and builds a hyrdalisk den. When HongUn gets to Fruit's base with three void rays, Fruit already has ten hydralisks which easily defend. Fruit sends all his hydras to take out the pylon powering the stargates. HongUn uses this opportunity to force a cancel on a building hatchery at Fruit's natural. Meanwhile HongUn builds four gateways. FruitDealer is again forced to cancel a hatchery because he had again sent all his hydralisks to the stargates. HongUn pushes out with a four-gate army, but it is repelled. HongUn tries to expand, but Fruit just counterattacks and wins.
Fruit responded well to all three aggressions by HongUn. HongUn just really didn't want to play a standard first game. But if FruitDealer hadn't scouted those stargates, it could have ended very differently. Also, "The Three Aggressions of HongUnPrime" sounds like an amazing trilogy of futuristic steam-punk samurai movies.
FruitDealer 1-0
Game 2
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Game 2: Scrap Station
HongUn forge expands. Fruit goes for speedlings then expands. Fruit gets a baneling nest as HongUn starts building up his gateway count. Fruit baneling busts through the wall-off gets into the main, but all the zerglings die to zealots. HongUn calmly rebuilds his wall-off, walls off his rocks, and builds a twilight council for blink. As HongUn pushes through the middle rocks with a giant stalker force, Fruit desperately tries to slow the protoss down with zerglings so that burrow can finish. It does. Fruit burrows ten banelings at his shared choke, and explodes them right as HongUn's forces are over them. It does a lot of damage, but Fruit immediately gg's since there were just too many units left over.
FruitDealer had a plan, executed it unscouted and unharassed, but it wasn't very effective. Hongun expanded, made a bunch of units, and won.
HongUn 1-1
HongUn forge expands. Fruit goes for speedlings then expands. Fruit gets a baneling nest as HongUn starts building up his gateway count. Fruit baneling busts through the wall-off gets into the main, but all the zerglings die to zealots. HongUn calmly rebuilds his wall-off, walls off his rocks, and builds a twilight council for blink. As HongUn pushes through the middle rocks with a giant stalker force, Fruit desperately tries to slow the protoss down with zerglings so that burrow can finish. It does. Fruit burrows ten banelings at his shared choke, and explodes them right as HongUn's forces are over them. It does a lot of damage, but Fruit immediately gg's since there were just too many units left over.
FruitDealer had a plan, executed it unscouted and unharassed, but it wasn't very effective. Hongun expanded, made a bunch of units, and won.
HongUn 1-1
Game 3
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Game 3: Shakuras Plateau, horizontal positions.
Hongun forge expands again, FruitDealer gets an early roach warren as he starts to break through the rocks that separate the mains. Fruit makes a baneling nest, but never has to use it, as the roaches and zerglings break through the last set of rocks, before any cannons get up, and immediately overrun the base.
This time FruitDealer did a perfect job in punishing a forge expansion.
FruitDealer 2-1
Hongun forge expands again, FruitDealer gets an early roach warren as he starts to break through the rocks that separate the mains. Fruit makes a baneling nest, but never has to use it, as the roaches and zerglings break through the last set of rocks, before any cannons get up, and immediately overrun the base.
This time FruitDealer did a perfect job in punishing a forge expansion.
FruitDealer 2-1
Game 4:
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Game 4: Lost Temple, close by air
HongUn walls Fruit in with two pylons and a cannon, then expands. Fruit responds with a roach warren and a lair. HongUn slips through the wall-in with a probe and scouts everything. Fruit cancels the lair and busts out with roaches. HongUn gets a stargate in his base, then another. FruitDealer goes to break the wall-off a cybercore, a gateway, and four cannons with roaches and zerglings. A hilarious, Yakety-Sax style fight happens as HongUn walls off over and over and over again and zerglings kill/cancel more and more buildings. The void ray that came out just before the battle eventually kills all the zerglings, but not before exactly four zerglings get through. HongUn counterattacks with his void rays; FruitDealer misses a few transfuses, and has to concede.
HongUn manages to force a fifth game with his infinite pylons in a very strange game.
HongUn 2-2
HongUn walls Fruit in with two pylons and a cannon, then expands. Fruit responds with a roach warren and a lair. HongUn slips through the wall-in with a probe and scouts everything. Fruit cancels the lair and busts out with roaches. HongUn gets a stargate in his base, then another. FruitDealer goes to break the wall-off a cybercore, a gateway, and four cannons with roaches and zerglings. A hilarious, Yakety-Sax style fight happens as HongUn walls off over and over and over again and zerglings kill/cancel more and more buildings. The void ray that came out just before the battle eventually kills all the zerglings, but not before exactly four zerglings get through. HongUn counterattacks with his void rays; FruitDealer misses a few transfuses, and has to concede.
HongUn manages to force a fifth game with his infinite pylons in a very strange game.
HongUn 2-2
Game 5
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Game 5: Blistering Sands
Hongun gets his gateway first for the first time this match, and quickly techs up to a twilight council with two gas. Meanwhile Fruit gets his usual spawning pool into hatchery. HongUn gets a dark shrine and attacks with three dark templar. Fruit tries to wall off his ramp with zerglings as he sees the incoming blurs. But the templar plow through them and destroy a spore crawler just as it finishes morphing, removing he last zerg and the last former champion from the tournament.
Straight up DT rush for the win.
HongUn wins 3-2
Hongun gets his gateway first for the first time this match, and quickly techs up to a twilight council with two gas. Meanwhile Fruit gets his usual spawning pool into hatchery. HongUn gets a dark shrine and attacks with three dark templar. Fruit tries to wall off his ramp with zerglings as he sees the incoming blurs. But the templar plow through them and destroy a spore crawler just as it finishes morphing, removing he last zerg and the last former champion from the tournament.
Straight up DT rush for the win.
HongUn wins 3-2
