EPT
v ZeNEXByun Game 1:
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Lost Temple, close positions
Both players expand after their first barracks and get both gases. Byun does a little bit annoying damage with his first couple of marines, but quickly backs off. Both players tech up to starport and start building up a marine/tank/viking army. Both players get a second factory off two bases. Top builds a third command center, but loses a huge viking war, going down to 4-0 in the viking count. At first this foils an attempt to expand to the mutually close island, but Top's ninja command center actually gets through and lands. Five scvs unload and immediately make missile turrets.
Byun uses his superior viking count to siege up beneath Top's cliff, taking out three barracks before Top can push Byun's vikings away with his own. Knowing that Byun doesn't have vision, Top creeps forward with his own tanks, but Byun scans at just the right time in just the right place, killing almost all of Top's tanks before they can siege!
The damage Byun has done to Top's army and production facilities put Byun up by fifty food. Byun strengthens his contain outside Top's natural with turrets. Byun takes a third and a forth base. Byun very skillfully takes out Top's island expansion with sieged tanks and dropped marines. Top makes one last effort to break out of his base, and gg's when it fails.
Very solid TvT from Byun. I don't think he made a single tactical mistake the entire game, and even had a couple moments of maphack-like game sense with his scans. Top played well too, but didn't control his units quite well enough to win. His best unit control might have actually been with his command center when he snuck it to the island.
Byun wins, 1-0
Both players expand after their first barracks and get both gases. Byun does a little bit annoying damage with his first couple of marines, but quickly backs off. Both players tech up to starport and start building up a marine/tank/viking army. Both players get a second factory off two bases. Top builds a third command center, but loses a huge viking war, going down to 4-0 in the viking count. At first this foils an attempt to expand to the mutually close island, but Top's ninja command center actually gets through and lands. Five scvs unload and immediately make missile turrets.
Byun uses his superior viking count to siege up beneath Top's cliff, taking out three barracks before Top can push Byun's vikings away with his own. Knowing that Byun doesn't have vision, Top creeps forward with his own tanks, but Byun scans at just the right time in just the right place, killing almost all of Top's tanks before they can siege!
The damage Byun has done to Top's army and production facilities put Byun up by fifty food. Byun strengthens his contain outside Top's natural with turrets. Byun takes a third and a forth base. Byun very skillfully takes out Top's island expansion with sieged tanks and dropped marines. Top makes one last effort to break out of his base, and gg's when it fails.
Very solid TvT from Byun. I don't think he made a single tactical mistake the entire game, and even had a couple moments of maphack-like game sense with his scans. Top played well too, but didn't control his units quite well enough to win. His best unit control might have actually been with his command center when he snuck it to the island.
Byun wins, 1-0
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Metalopolis, close positions
Byun expands after his first barracks. Top quickly techs to tanks with siege and proxies his second barracks at the close gold. Byun techs to starport and starts getting tanks and vikings. Top pushes with three tanks and a dozen or so marines well before Byun's siege-mode finishes. Top easily takes Byun's natural, and actually uses the proxied barracks to spot the high ground of his opponent's base. Siege mode finishes for Byun, but he only has two tanks to Top's four by this point. A nice scan lets Top kill both of Byun's tanks, and Byun concedes quickly thereafter.
A nice, smooth build by Top that really punished Byun's expansion and tech. It will definitely make Byun think twice about early-expanding and teching at the same time.
Top wins, 1-1
Byun expands after his first barracks. Top quickly techs to tanks with siege and proxies his second barracks at the close gold. Byun techs to starport and starts getting tanks and vikings. Top pushes with three tanks and a dozen or so marines well before Byun's siege-mode finishes. Top easily takes Byun's natural, and actually uses the proxied barracks to spot the high ground of his opponent's base. Siege mode finishes for Byun, but he only has two tanks to Top's four by this point. A nice scan lets Top kill both of Byun's tanks, and Byun concedes quickly thereafter.
A nice, smooth build by Top that really punished Byun's expansion and tech. It will definitely make Byun think twice about early-expanding and teching at the same time.
Top wins, 1-1
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Steppes of War
Byun goes for a command center after his first barracks, then gets a factory and a reactor on his barracks. Top gets a barracks, a reactor, then four more barracks! Top attacks at six minutes with twelve marines and a bunch of scvs. Once he destroys Byun's bunker, Byun essentially has nothing left to defend. By the seven-minute mark, Top has an insane twenty marines and Byun leaves the game.
That was a lot marines. Top has shown is the past two games that he has some pretty effective and technical builds up his sleeve that can win quite quickly.
Top wins, 2-1
Byun goes for a command center after his first barracks, then gets a factory and a reactor on his barracks. Top gets a barracks, a reactor, then four more barracks! Top attacks at six minutes with twelve marines and a bunch of scvs. Once he destroys Byun's bunker, Byun essentially has nothing left to defend. By the seven-minute mark, Top has an insane twenty marines and Byun leaves the game.
That was a lot marines. Top has shown is the past two games that he has some pretty effective and technical builds up his sleeve that can win quite quickly.
Top wins, 2-1
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Delta Quadrant, Top clockwise
Both players rush for cloaked banshees. Both players scan what their opponents are doing. Top immediately gets a raven- Byun gets a turret. Top 's banshee kills a depot, forces a scan, and lives. Byun gets a raven. Both players expand and transition to marine/tank/viking. Byun is the first to get a second factory. Top get shields/stim to Byun's stim/+1 attack. Byun wins the first air battle with a good PDD from his raven, but Top just counterattacks and takes out a fair amount of units at Byun's natural. He is repelled, but only after Byun pulls most of his scvs from his natural. Top gets his second factory. Top tries to control the middle of the map, but Byun keeps catching him out of position. After whittling down Top's army for a bit, Byun moves against Top's natural; Top has to pull most of his scvs to defend it. He loses a lot of workers, but Byun is left with no siege tanks, so Top is free to counter attack, and does similar damage. Both players take their golds as their mains mine out.
Top goes for a sixteen-marine drop, but loses everything with minimal damage. Byun baits Top into a siege line with his marines at Top's gold, killing a lot of his tanks. But when he moves to take the high ground above the gold base, Byun loses many of his own tanks to a good scan by Top. As Byun tries to retake the high ground over Top's gold, Top counterattacks. Top backs off. Byun goes in for the kill of Top's gold, and his perfect tank positioning decimates Top's army. Top gg's.
A long, tense, well-played TvT on both sides. Byun has a great sense of tank positioning. His MO seems to be sieging up at an advantageous position and baiting his opponent into his siege lines with his marines. I think what gave him the advantage this game was that he kept his medivacs alive and on high-energy the entire game, which, along with +1 infantry weapons, made his marines more robust and effective than Top's, allowing him to push it units into slightly better positions.
Byun wins, 2-2
Both players rush for cloaked banshees. Both players scan what their opponents are doing. Top immediately gets a raven- Byun gets a turret. Top 's banshee kills a depot, forces a scan, and lives. Byun gets a raven. Both players expand and transition to marine/tank/viking. Byun is the first to get a second factory. Top get shields/stim to Byun's stim/+1 attack. Byun wins the first air battle with a good PDD from his raven, but Top just counterattacks and takes out a fair amount of units at Byun's natural. He is repelled, but only after Byun pulls most of his scvs from his natural. Top gets his second factory. Top tries to control the middle of the map, but Byun keeps catching him out of position. After whittling down Top's army for a bit, Byun moves against Top's natural; Top has to pull most of his scvs to defend it. He loses a lot of workers, but Byun is left with no siege tanks, so Top is free to counter attack, and does similar damage. Both players take their golds as their mains mine out.
Top goes for a sixteen-marine drop, but loses everything with minimal damage. Byun baits Top into a siege line with his marines at Top's gold, killing a lot of his tanks. But when he moves to take the high ground above the gold base, Byun loses many of his own tanks to a good scan by Top. As Byun tries to retake the high ground over Top's gold, Top counterattacks. Top backs off. Byun goes in for the kill of Top's gold, and his perfect tank positioning decimates Top's army. Top gg's.
A long, tense, well-played TvT on both sides. Byun has a great sense of tank positioning. His MO seems to be sieging up at an advantageous position and baiting his opponent into his siege lines with his marines. I think what gave him the advantage this game was that he kept his medivacs alive and on high-energy the entire game, which, along with +1 infantry weapons, made his marines more robust and effective than Top's, allowing him to push it units into slightly better positions.
Byun wins, 2-2
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Xel'Naga Caverns
Byun expands after a barracks, then gets a reactor and two more barracks. Top expands after a quick reaper that gets good scouting done, but doesn't do much damage. Byun ends up with three barracks (TTR) and a factory. Top gets four barracks (TRRRx). Both players finish shields/stim at around the same time. Byun gets +1/+1 and starts medivac production much earlier than Top. Otherwise, both players end up in essentially the same place, going bio with a lot of barracks and a starport for medivacs.
Just as both players max off of two bases, +2/+2 is starting for Top and finishing for Byun. Top also interestingly researches siege mode before getting any tanks. Top starts a command center. Byun takes his own gold... and kills Top's command center as it's floating to the gold! Byun start going for tanks, but Top's earlier tanks allow him to push back into the center and start to retake his gold. +3/+3 finishes for Byun, and once his gold really kicks in he is able to get a bigger army and attack in for the win.
Byun shows he is just as good at controlling bio as he is marine/tank/viking, pulling him to within one game of being the Code A champion.
Byun wins, 3-2.
Byun expands after a barracks, then gets a reactor and two more barracks. Top expands after a quick reaper that gets good scouting done, but doesn't do much damage. Byun ends up with three barracks (TTR) and a factory. Top gets four barracks (TRRRx). Both players finish shields/stim at around the same time. Byun gets +1/+1 and starts medivac production much earlier than Top. Otherwise, both players end up in essentially the same place, going bio with a lot of barracks and a starport for medivacs.
Just as both players max off of two bases, +2/+2 is starting for Top and finishing for Byun. Top also interestingly researches siege mode before getting any tanks. Top starts a command center. Byun takes his own gold... and kills Top's command center as it's floating to the gold! Byun start going for tanks, but Top's earlier tanks allow him to push back into the center and start to retake his gold. +3/+3 finishes for Byun, and once his gold really kicks in he is able to get a bigger army and attack in for the win.
Byun shows he is just as good at controlling bio as he is marine/tank/viking, pulling him to within one game of being the Code A champion.
Byun wins, 3-2.
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Scrap Station
Byun barracks-expands. Top techs to starport for a two-prong marine drop/hellion harass at both the main and the natural. It does a lot of damage. Top follows it up with cloaked banshees that do a fair amount of damage as well. By the time Top expands, though he has been on one base for so long that he is ahead, but not by a huge amount.
Top builds four more barracks and adds on reactors. Continued banshee harass and drops from Top get him in a significant worker lead as he takes his third. Byun starts to get either frustrated or desperate: he pushes through the middle of the map right into one of Top's siege lines. Top ends up sixty or so supply ahead as he takes the gold as his fourth. As Top slowly tightens the noose, Byun has to gg.
I think this is going to be the strategy that Top will really develop as he gets better: annoying harassment into strong macro. Byun seemed to be completely shut down by Top's early game shenanigans, which put him behind for the rest of the game.
Top wins, 3-3
Byun barracks-expands. Top techs to starport for a two-prong marine drop/hellion harass at both the main and the natural. It does a lot of damage. Top follows it up with cloaked banshees that do a fair amount of damage as well. By the time Top expands, though he has been on one base for so long that he is ahead, but not by a huge amount.
Top builds four more barracks and adds on reactors. Continued banshee harass and drops from Top get him in a significant worker lead as he takes his third. Byun starts to get either frustrated or desperate: he pushes through the middle of the map right into one of Top's siege lines. Top ends up sixty or so supply ahead as he takes the gold as his fourth. As Top slowly tightens the noose, Byun has to gg.
I think this is going to be the strategy that Top will really develop as he gets better: annoying harassment into strong macro. Byun seemed to be completely shut down by Top's early game shenanigans, which put him behind for the rest of the game.
Top wins, 3-3
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Shakuras Plateau, close positions
Byun goes for his usual one-barracks expand, putting a quick reactor on his barracks. Top goes for a pre-ignited hellion drop. Byun scans Top's tech structures perfectly. But Top drops three hellions and five marines into Byun's base anyways and kills a huge amount of scvs when Byun's forces get distracted by the marines, leaving Top's hellions to get him a 30-20 scv lead.
Top expands and follows up with cloaked banshees. He then goes for a banshee harass along with another blue-flame hellion drop, putting him up by twenty scvs. Top gets a third at the vertical natural. Top's economy is so far ahead of his opponent's at this point that he just macros up a big army and attacks. Byun helps out a little bit by pulling his army back to his rocks, but it does not make that much of a difference as Top has way more units. Byun concedes.
Another game in which Top's early pressure gets him far enough ahead to win the game. It's interesting that Top is so good at both micro in small groups and macro, but seems to be lacking in large-scale army management, which is exactly what Byun is best at. In his interview Top says that he thinks he is every bit as good as Mvp, MarineKing, and Jinro, the three terrans in the semifinals of Code S. He will have to work on his large army control, though, if he really wants to reach those high echelons of terran play.
Byun seemed to lack crises-management skills in this game, often looking flustered by Top's early, well-controlled pressure. He needs to work on that if he want to succeed, because, even in Code S, games are often decided in the first ten minutes.
Top wins 4-3, is a the first Code A champion!
Byun goes for his usual one-barracks expand, putting a quick reactor on his barracks. Top goes for a pre-ignited hellion drop. Byun scans Top's tech structures perfectly. But Top drops three hellions and five marines into Byun's base anyways and kills a huge amount of scvs when Byun's forces get distracted by the marines, leaving Top's hellions to get him a 30-20 scv lead.
Top expands and follows up with cloaked banshees. He then goes for a banshee harass along with another blue-flame hellion drop, putting him up by twenty scvs. Top gets a third at the vertical natural. Top's economy is so far ahead of his opponent's at this point that he just macros up a big army and attacks. Byun helps out a little bit by pulling his army back to his rocks, but it does not make that much of a difference as Top has way more units. Byun concedes.
Another game in which Top's early pressure gets him far enough ahead to win the game. It's interesting that Top is so good at both micro in small groups and macro, but seems to be lacking in large-scale army management, which is exactly what Byun is best at. In his interview Top says that he thinks he is every bit as good as Mvp, MarineKing, and Jinro, the three terrans in the semifinals of Code S. He will have to work on his large army control, though, if he really wants to reach those high echelons of terran play.
Byun seemed to lack crises-management skills in this game, often looking flustered by Top's early, well-controlled pressure. He needs to work on that if he want to succeed, because, even in Code S, games are often decided in the first ten minutes.
Top wins 4-3, is a the first Code A champion!
Results:
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oGsTOP 4:3 ZeNEXByun
This was a great match to end the Code A tournament. Especially after the 8-0 quarterfinals, I was starting to wonder whether the skill disparity in Code A is so high that we would never get good matches. But the fact all three of the last match went the distance convinced me otherwise. This match was one of the closest and hardest fought matches of all of the GSL so far, with a 17:45 average game length over a full best of seven, a wide varieties of strategies employed, and only a single scv/marine all-in. I really look forward to, hopefully, seeing how well these players do in the big leagues of Code S.
This was a great match to end the Code A tournament. Especially after the 8-0 quarterfinals, I was starting to wonder whether the skill disparity in Code A is so high that we would never get good matches. But the fact all three of the last match went the distance convinced me otherwise. This match was one of the closest and hardest fought matches of all of the GSL so far, with a 17:45 average game length over a full best of seven, a wide varieties of strategies employed, and only a single scv/marine all-in. I really look forward to, hopefully, seeing how well these players do in the big leagues of Code S.
Group-picking ceremony:
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In the group-picking ceremony, Top fakes picking FruitDealer for his group for a while, but ends up clumsily picking SlayerS_LegalMinD and sanZenith with shaky hands. Byun proudly picks LeenockfOu as his 3rd seed and shows it off to the audience. He then picks ZeNEXLiveForever, his teammate, as his 4th seed! Very interesting choices for our second-place player.
I think Top should pretty easily advance to Code S in his groud, with LegalMind getting through as well. We Haven't seen too much of Top's TvP, but he 2-0'd BanBans, and he says he is very confidant in it.
I am a little bit worried about Byun, though. Considering how poorly he handled strong early game aggression, I feel like Leenock may be a favorite in that match. Byun is almost certainly a better player than his teammate LiveForever, but it always seems like crazy things can happen during team kills as psychology often plays such a big role. Hopefully he can pull through, though, because I really want to see him pitted against some of the Code S terrans.
I think Top should pretty easily advance to Code S in his groud, with LegalMind getting through as well. We Haven't seen too much of Top's TvP, but he 2-0'd BanBans, and he says he is very confidant in it.
I am a little bit worried about Byun, though. Considering how poorly he handled strong early game aggression, I feel like Leenock may be a favorite in that match. Byun is almost certainly a better player than his teammate LiveForever, but it always seems like crazy things can happen during team kills as psychology often plays such a big role. Hopefully he can pull through, though, because I really want to see him pitted against some of the Code S terrans.
