Group H - The Foreign Legion
oGsEnsnare, CheckPrime, LiquidJinro, EGIdrA
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Match 1: oGsEnsnare v CheckPrime
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Shakuras Plateau, cross positions
Ensnare walls in at the bottom of his ramp. Check hatches first. Ensnare one barracks expands. Ensnare kills a few drones with some bunker pressure, but quickly salvages it. Ensnare techs up to starport for medivacs and starts +1 weapons. Check gets zergling speed and +1 melee. Ensnare adds on two more barracks and gets stim. Check gets an in-base third hatch, a lair, a baneling nest, and +2 melee. Ensnare uses drops to detonate a lot of banelings as he builds up a big marine/tank army. Check expands, starts +3 melee, and builds his spire.
Ensnare moves against Check's third through the bottom rocks. Check loses a lot of zerglings to sieged tanks in the defense, and eventually loses the base as well. Ensnare takes his third at the 6-o'clock expansion. Check gets his infestation pit and then takes his interior third. Ensnare takes his fourth at the horizontal main. Both players continue upgrade their units like crazy. Check keeps running xlings into sieged tanks, trying to retake his lateral third, which eventually puts him down by more than sixty food. After losing his interior third, Check taps out.
Check played this game very strangely. He built so many zerglings for so long, maybe feeling locked into them after investing so much in melee upgrades. But Ensnare quickly caught up in upgrades on both his infantry and his vehicles. The best thing about Ensnares play, I think, was his expansion pattern: expanding counter-clockwise through the rocks towards his cross-map opponent. Once Ensnare took the main vertical from Check with tanks, Check was going to have a really tough time taking a forth no matter what. Also, all the way up until he took his fifth base, Ensnare only had two fronts to worry about, and had the high ground advantage with sieged tanks almost the entire time.
Instead of throwing xlings at sieged tanks, Check really should have used his speedlings and mutalisks to counter-attack to Ensnare's natural, since by the time Ensnare had started his his fifth, the fronts were so so far apart it would have been very hard for Ensnare to defend in time.
Ensnare wins.
Ensnare 1-0
Jinro 0-0
Idra 0-0
Check 0-1
Fixed. Thanks Amestir.
Ensnare walls in at the bottom of his ramp. Check hatches first. Ensnare one barracks expands. Ensnare kills a few drones with some bunker pressure, but quickly salvages it. Ensnare techs up to starport for medivacs and starts +1 weapons. Check gets zergling speed and +1 melee. Ensnare adds on two more barracks and gets stim. Check gets an in-base third hatch, a lair, a baneling nest, and +2 melee. Ensnare uses drops to detonate a lot of banelings as he builds up a big marine/tank army. Check expands, starts +3 melee, and builds his spire.
Ensnare moves against Check's third through the bottom rocks. Check loses a lot of zerglings to sieged tanks in the defense, and eventually loses the base as well. Ensnare takes his third at the 6-o'clock expansion. Check gets his infestation pit and then takes his interior third. Ensnare takes his fourth at the horizontal main. Both players continue upgrade their units like crazy. Check keeps running xlings into sieged tanks, trying to retake his lateral third, which eventually puts him down by more than sixty food. After losing his interior third, Check taps out.
Check played this game very strangely. He built so many zerglings for so long, maybe feeling locked into them after investing so much in melee upgrades. But Ensnare quickly caught up in upgrades on both his infantry and his vehicles. The best thing about Ensnares play, I think, was his expansion pattern: expanding counter-clockwise through the rocks towards his cross-map opponent. Once Ensnare took the main vertical from Check with tanks, Check was going to have a really tough time taking a forth no matter what. Also, all the way up until he took his fifth base, Ensnare only had two fronts to worry about, and had the high ground advantage with sieged tanks almost the entire time.
Instead of throwing xlings at sieged tanks, Check really should have used his speedlings and mutalisks to counter-attack to Ensnare's natural, since by the time Ensnare had started his his fifth, the fronts were so so far apart it would have been very hard for Ensnare to defend in time.
Ensnare wins.
Ensnare 1-0
Jinro 0-0
Idra 0-0
Check 0-1
Fixed. Thanks Amestir.
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Jungle Basin
Idra goes for early speedlings. Jinro gets two barracks. Both players expand. Jinro gets two more barracks, a factory, and a starport. Idra gets his lair. Jinro starts dressing his barracks with three reactors and a tech lab for stim. Idra gets an in-base third hatch and a spire. Jinro gets an armory for a thor. Idra expands to his third. Jinro gets +1/+1 for his infantry and siege for his tanks. Jinro expands to his side of the mesa. Idra expands to the other lateral expansion as his forth, but Jinro forces him to cancel it. Idra expands instead to his own side of the mesa, but it is canceled again.
At this point Idra has a huge muta flock of about thirty. A huge confrontation in the middle of the map goes in mostly Idra's favor as a lot of tanks get taken out, but Idra loses a lot of mutalisks as well. However, during the battle Jinro snuck some marines into Idra's third, completely stripping it of drones! Idra gets his infestation pit and a hive. Jinro tries to set-up a contain outside Idra's third, but it gets pushed back. The armies keep trading fairly equally, but Idra's reinforcements get less and less threatening as he is stuck on three bases with his third largely unsaturated. Idra goes for a last ditch attack on Jinro's main, and when it doesn't work, he gg's.
A huge win for Jinro. This game really showed the troubles zerg has against terran on Jungle Basin. When both players had three bases, the only two expansions left on the map were just so close to Jinro's main army. Jinro did a perfect job in exploiting this and keeping his economy equal with Idra's, and then above it once he killed the drones at the zerg third.
Jinro wins.
Jinro 1-0
Ensnare 1-0
Idra 0-1
Check 0-1
Idra goes for early speedlings. Jinro gets two barracks. Both players expand. Jinro gets two more barracks, a factory, and a starport. Idra gets his lair. Jinro starts dressing his barracks with three reactors and a tech lab for stim. Idra gets an in-base third hatch and a spire. Jinro gets an armory for a thor. Idra expands to his third. Jinro gets +1/+1 for his infantry and siege for his tanks. Jinro expands to his side of the mesa. Idra expands to the other lateral expansion as his forth, but Jinro forces him to cancel it. Idra expands instead to his own side of the mesa, but it is canceled again.
At this point Idra has a huge muta flock of about thirty. A huge confrontation in the middle of the map goes in mostly Idra's favor as a lot of tanks get taken out, but Idra loses a lot of mutalisks as well. However, during the battle Jinro snuck some marines into Idra's third, completely stripping it of drones! Idra gets his infestation pit and a hive. Jinro tries to set-up a contain outside Idra's third, but it gets pushed back. The armies keep trading fairly equally, but Idra's reinforcements get less and less threatening as he is stuck on three bases with his third largely unsaturated. Idra goes for a last ditch attack on Jinro's main, and when it doesn't work, he gg's.
A huge win for Jinro. This game really showed the troubles zerg has against terran on Jungle Basin. When both players had three bases, the only two expansions left on the map were just so close to Jinro's main army. Jinro did a perfect job in exploiting this and keeping his economy equal with Idra's, and then above it once he killed the drones at the zerg third.
Jinro wins.
Jinro 1-0
Ensnare 1-0
Idra 0-1
Check 0-1
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oGsEnsnare v EGIdra
Xel'Naga Caverns
Idra hatches first. Ensnare gets a very fast refinery into reactored hellions. But Idra gets roaches out with plenty of time. Ensnare starts a command center, switches his reactor back onto his barracks, starts building tanks, and adds on two more barracks. Ensnare interestingly pre-ignites his hellions. Idra gets a lair and glialy reconstitutes his roaches. Idra morphs a baneling nest, a spire, an in-base forth, and expands to his third. Ensnare gets shields/stim, +1 weapons, and a very late starport for medivacs . Idra takes his forth as gets +2 air attack and +1 ground armor. Ensnare attacks Idra's third with marine/marauder/tanks, but loses everything very quickly. Both players expand to their golds, putting Idra up five bases to three. Idra gets his hive, +3 melee, +2 air armor, and a greater spire. Idra takes his sixth; Ensnare takes his forth and manages to kill Idra's sixth, putting them on somewhat equal economical footing for the first time since the early game. Idra loses a few brood lords to vikings, which keeps Ensnare in the game for a while. Idra initiates a huge battle, after which Idra has banked so much money that he instantly remaxes with nineteen ultralisks, which allows him to smash through Ensnare's army and bases.
Idra played this game exactly how he liked, with perfect patience and strategy- keeping so economically ahead of his opponent that he couldn't help but win. Also, Ensare's lack of medivacs early seemed to really hurt him.
Idra wins
Jinro 1-0
Idra 1-1
Ensnare 1-1
Check 0-1
Xel'Naga Caverns
Idra hatches first. Ensnare gets a very fast refinery into reactored hellions. But Idra gets roaches out with plenty of time. Ensnare starts a command center, switches his reactor back onto his barracks, starts building tanks, and adds on two more barracks. Ensnare interestingly pre-ignites his hellions. Idra gets a lair and glialy reconstitutes his roaches. Idra morphs a baneling nest, a spire, an in-base forth, and expands to his third. Ensnare gets shields/stim, +1 weapons, and a very late starport for medivacs . Idra takes his forth as gets +2 air attack and +1 ground armor. Ensnare attacks Idra's third with marine/marauder/tanks, but loses everything very quickly. Both players expand to their golds, putting Idra up five bases to three. Idra gets his hive, +3 melee, +2 air armor, and a greater spire. Idra takes his sixth; Ensnare takes his forth and manages to kill Idra's sixth, putting them on somewhat equal economical footing for the first time since the early game. Idra loses a few brood lords to vikings, which keeps Ensnare in the game for a while. Idra initiates a huge battle, after which Idra has banked so much money that he instantly remaxes with nineteen ultralisks, which allows him to smash through Ensnare's army and bases.
Idra played this game exactly how he liked, with perfect patience and strategy- keeping so economically ahead of his opponent that he couldn't help but win. Also, Ensare's lack of medivacs early seemed to really hurt him.
Idra wins
Jinro 1-0
Idra 1-1
Ensnare 1-1
Check 0-1
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LiquidJinro v CheckPrime.WE
Jungle Basin
Check hatches first. Jinro gets an early hellion and does a fair amount of damage with his first push, killing a queen in Check's main. Jinro techs to banshee and adds on two barracks. But Jinro fudged his wall and check gets eight zerglings into Jinro's mineral line! By the time the zerglings are repelled, Check is doubling Jinro's worker count. Check uses his lead to get a lair, a spire, a baneling nest, and an in-base third hatchery. Jinro gets an armory and starts a thor. Check expands to both lateral expansions and researches drops. Jinro kills one of Check's expansions. Jinro tries to expand to his mesa, but his army gets caught out of position and so retreats after heavy loses. And again, with Check dropping baneling bombs all over Jinro's marines this time. Jinro finally manages to establish himself on the high ground of the mesa and expands there. So does Check. Check attacks Jinro's mesa expansion; it goes very well for him as he uses the baneling bombs to destroy all the scvs repairing the planetary fortress. From there Jinro makes one final attempt to retake the mesa and, being completely mined out of his two bases, gg's when it fails.
Jinro never seemed to recover from that failed wall-in. Check got ahead and then just kept Jinro contained on two-bases for the rest of the game, sending the group into a four-way tie with two mirror matches for the breakers.
Check wins
Jinro 1-1
Idra 1-1
Ensnare 1-1
Check 1-1
Jungle Basin
Check hatches first. Jinro gets an early hellion and does a fair amount of damage with his first push, killing a queen in Check's main. Jinro techs to banshee and adds on two barracks. But Jinro fudged his wall and check gets eight zerglings into Jinro's mineral line! By the time the zerglings are repelled, Check is doubling Jinro's worker count. Check uses his lead to get a lair, a spire, a baneling nest, and an in-base third hatchery. Jinro gets an armory and starts a thor. Check expands to both lateral expansions and researches drops. Jinro kills one of Check's expansions. Jinro tries to expand to his mesa, but his army gets caught out of position and so retreats after heavy loses. And again, with Check dropping baneling bombs all over Jinro's marines this time. Jinro finally manages to establish himself on the high ground of the mesa and expands there. So does Check. Check attacks Jinro's mesa expansion; it goes very well for him as he uses the baneling bombs to destroy all the scvs repairing the planetary fortress. From there Jinro makes one final attempt to retake the mesa and, being completely mined out of his two bases, gg's when it fails.
Jinro never seemed to recover from that failed wall-in. Check got ahead and then just kept Jinro contained on two-bases for the rest of the game, sending the group into a four-way tie with two mirror matches for the breakers.
Check wins
Jinro 1-1
Idra 1-1
Ensnare 1-1
Check 1-1
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LiquidJinro v oGsEnsnare
Lost Temple, close by air positions
Ensnare goes for an early reaper that is denied any scouting. Both players quickly tech up to starport. Jinro for a blue flame hellion drop, which does a does nice damage thanks to Jinro's micro. Both players build a command center and start siege mode for their tanks. Jinro researches a pretty delayed cloak for his banshees. A drop by Ensnare puts him up by fourteen scvs. A cloaked banshee in response from Jinro doesn't do enough damage to catch him up. Ensnare expands to his gold. But a blueflame hellion drop from Jinro does terrible damage at Ensnare's natural and puts Jinro back ahead worker count! Jinro expands to his own gold as both players start massing marine/tank/viking.
Ensnare runs into Jinro's army and loses quite a lot. Both players start elevatoring into each others bases but are both eventually repelled. Both players take their forths and set up to take their respective second mains. Both players take their fifths and islands, perfectly splitting the entire map. Jinro takes a chunk out of Ensnare's army and makes a move on Ensnare's main. Ensnare takes advantage of Jinro's split attention to attack his fifth. Both players' multitasking abilities are really put to the test as the entire minor diagonal of the map becomes the front line. At 37:30, Ensnare seems to have made too many scvs- he has 91 harvesters despite also having six orbital commands. Jinro only has 64 workers, and yet the two players' incomes are essentially identical. Jinro banks 4000 gas while having only 500 minerals. Ensnare banks 6000 minerals while having only 1000 gas. Jinro makes a fusion core after taking control of the air with vikings.
A huge battle outside Jinro's main leaves him way ahead when two viking armies engage on the ground. Battlecruisers hit the field for Jinro as both players start to mine out their bases. Drops, viking jumping, tank hopping- the map turns into a giant chess board with neither player making significant positional net advantage for very long. But eventually Ensnare only has mules at his island for mining, while Jinro has two fully-operational bases. Ensnare eventually calls uncle as Jinro starts to gorilla his way across the map with a much bigger army.
There isn't much else to say about this game. Both players played very well and pushed each others' mental stamina to the absolute limits.
Jinro wins, advances
Jinro 2-1
Idra 1-1
Check 1-1
Ensnare 1-2
Lost Temple, close by air positions
Ensnare goes for an early reaper that is denied any scouting. Both players quickly tech up to starport. Jinro for a blue flame hellion drop, which does a does nice damage thanks to Jinro's micro. Both players build a command center and start siege mode for their tanks. Jinro researches a pretty delayed cloak for his banshees. A drop by Ensnare puts him up by fourteen scvs. A cloaked banshee in response from Jinro doesn't do enough damage to catch him up. Ensnare expands to his gold. But a blueflame hellion drop from Jinro does terrible damage at Ensnare's natural and puts Jinro back ahead worker count! Jinro expands to his own gold as both players start massing marine/tank/viking.
Ensnare runs into Jinro's army and loses quite a lot. Both players start elevatoring into each others bases but are both eventually repelled. Both players take their forths and set up to take their respective second mains. Both players take their fifths and islands, perfectly splitting the entire map. Jinro takes a chunk out of Ensnare's army and makes a move on Ensnare's main. Ensnare takes advantage of Jinro's split attention to attack his fifth. Both players' multitasking abilities are really put to the test as the entire minor diagonal of the map becomes the front line. At 37:30, Ensnare seems to have made too many scvs- he has 91 harvesters despite also having six orbital commands. Jinro only has 64 workers, and yet the two players' incomes are essentially identical. Jinro banks 4000 gas while having only 500 minerals. Ensnare banks 6000 minerals while having only 1000 gas. Jinro makes a fusion core after taking control of the air with vikings.
A huge battle outside Jinro's main leaves him way ahead when two viking armies engage on the ground. Battlecruisers hit the field for Jinro as both players start to mine out their bases. Drops, viking jumping, tank hopping- the map turns into a giant chess board with neither player making significant positional net advantage for very long. But eventually Ensnare only has mules at his island for mining, while Jinro has two fully-operational bases. Ensnare eventually calls uncle as Jinro starts to gorilla his way across the map with a much bigger army.
There isn't much else to say about this game. Both players played very well and pushed each others' mental stamina to the absolute limits.
Jinro wins, advances
Jinro 2-1
Idra 1-1
Check 1-1
Ensnare 1-2
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CheckPrime.WE v EGIdra
Jungle Basin
Check goes for quick zergling speed. Idra scouts it and hatches first. Idra gets a roach warren. Check expands and gets a baneling nest, but cancels the nest when he sees roaches. Idra starts a lair and +1 missile attacks. Check gets a lair of his own. Both players get roach speed. Check gets a spire. Idra gets hydras, +2 missile attack, and hydra range. Check expands to his side's lateral third. Check's mutalisks snipe a queen, but Idra kills Check's third in response. The game gets stuck in a brief loop as the two armies run around the mesa a couple times as Check's roach only army has to run from Idra's roach-hydra. On the second time around, Idra attacks into Check's main, winning him the game.
Idra's strategy simply had Check's beat, especially after Check ran his mutalisks into Idra's hydras. Having a better composition, Idra was able to macro and position his way to victory-just how he likes it.
Idra wins, advances
Jinro 2-1
Idra 2-1
Ensnare 1-2
Check 1-2
Jungle Basin
Check goes for quick zergling speed. Idra scouts it and hatches first. Idra gets a roach warren. Check expands and gets a baneling nest, but cancels the nest when he sees roaches. Idra starts a lair and +1 missile attacks. Check gets a lair of his own. Both players get roach speed. Check gets a spire. Idra gets hydras, +2 missile attack, and hydra range. Check expands to his side's lateral third. Check's mutalisks snipe a queen, but Idra kills Check's third in response. The game gets stuck in a brief loop as the two armies run around the mesa a couple times as Check's roach only army has to run from Idra's roach-hydra. On the second time around, Idra attacks into Check's main, winning him the game.
Idra's strategy simply had Check's beat, especially after Check ran his mutalisks into Idra's hydras. Having a better composition, Idra was able to macro and position his way to victory-just how he likes it.
Idra wins, advances
Jinro 2-1
Idra 2-1
Ensnare 1-2
Check 1-2
Group H Results:
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Final seeding:
1. LiquidJinro 2-1
2. EGIdra 2-1
3. oGsEnsnare 1-2
4. CheckPrime.WE 1-2
This was far and away the most evenly match group of the round of 32, and the best day of Code S play. Every single game was dynamic and entertaining, but all for their own reasons. It was also a huge triumph for the foreign Star Craft 2 scene as the two non-Korean competitors showed extremely strong play as they secured their advancement to the next round.
1. LiquidJinro 2-1
2. EGIdra 2-1
3. oGsEnsnare 1-2
4. CheckPrime.WE 1-2
This was far and away the most evenly match group of the round of 32, and the best day of Code S play. Every single game was dynamic and entertaining, but all for their own reasons. It was also a huge triumph for the foreign Star Craft 2 scene as the two non-Korean competitors showed extremely strong play as they secured their advancement to the next round.
Some RO32 Statistics:
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Final Records:
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Not that useful, but just in case:
Advances:
IMMvp 3-0
NsPGenius 3-0
IMNestea 2-0
SlayerSBoxer 2-0
TSL_Clide 2-0
oGsMC 2-0
TheBestfOu 2-1
EGIdrA 2-1
LiquidJinro 2-1
oGsZenio 2-1
oGsHyperdub 2-1
oGsNaDa 2-1
ST_RainBOw 2-1
TSL_Trickster 2-1
ChoyafOu 2-1
MarineKingPrime.WE 2-1
To the relegation matches:
PoltPrime.WE 1-2
TSL_FruitDealer 1-2
HongUnPrime.WE 1-2
NeNEXKyrix 1-2
SlayerS_LegalMind 1-2
oGsInCa 1-2
CheckPrime.WE 1-2
oGsEnsnare 1-2
TSL_Rain 1-2
LeenockfOu 1-2
MakaPrime.WE 0-2
oGsTheWind 0-2
ZeNEXLiveForever 0-2
sanZenith 0-2
oGsJookto 0-3
AnyproPrime.WE 0-3
Team stats:
Team, players through-players out, games won-games lost
IM 2-0, 5-0
fOu 2-1, 5-4
SlayerS 1-1, 3-2
oGs 4-4, 10-11
TSL 2-2, 6-5
ZeNEX 1-3, 4-6
Prime.WE 1-5, 5-12
EG 1-0, 2-1
Liquid 1-0, 2-1
ST 1-0, 2-1
I'm 1 off on the games played :-/ If someone spots the error, let me know.
And by previous success:
Past Champions: 2-1, 6-2
Past finalists: 4-2, 11-6
Past semifinalists: 6-5, 17-14
Past quarterfinalists: 11-7, 30-24
And lastly I was interested in how the "GomTV-style group play would work." A breakdown of the three situations goes:
Winners win: 2 (B,E)
Losers win: 2 (D,H)
Both: 4(A,C,F,G)
I guess this is essentially what I would expect, since the groups were randomly selected. I worked some numbers on this, and found that it's actually not a great system for random groups (For instance, consider a group with one excellent player, and three lesser players of roughly equal skill. The player who gets paired against the top player in the first round has a pretty terrible chance of getting out of the group compared to the other two), but I never really felt like any players were robbed, so that was a relief. Also, the system is actually really good for well-seeded groups, so I would expect to see a lot more 3-0, 2-1, 1-2, 0-3 groups in the future as the seeding settles down a bit.