Battle Report : SlayerS

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I'm writing this because i might apply for the writing staff, but i'm not sure i'll do it since english is not my native language and by doing this i noticed how time consuming writing can surprisingly be. Anyways this is a good exercise to improve my english, especially my writing.
Since i'm a ToD and a BoxeR fan, and supposing i'm not the only one in here, i figured out that maybe some of you missed the game and could enjoy a detailled battle report, so here it is.
Also if by any chance you have good skills in english, i will be grateful if you notice me on what i could improve on my writing, and of course constructive criticism is always appreciated.

- Gigabyte StarsWar 6 Ro32 -
Apr 24, 2011 TLPD
(T)

BoxeR(kor) vs (P)

ToD(fra)

An anticipated match between two players that doesn't need to be introduced. In one corner, (T)

Lim Yo Hwan, the emperor himself, in the other corner stands (P)

Yoan Merlot, a very acomplished Warcraft3 progamer.
Although the games are played online, the top 4 players will be invited to China where ToD has a hudge fan base. He has shown strong wins before this match and if he want to have a chance to go compete in China again, he must overcome Boxer, who, despite droping out of Code A a few days before this match, still the favorite to win the series.

So, are we dealing with a stellar (T)

BoxeR today or will (P)

ToD add another shiny scalp to his collection ?

- Game 1 - Xel'Naga Caverns

The terran player spawns at the top position of the Xel'Naga Cavern, sadly for him his game id is not `SlayerS_BoxeR` but the fancy name of VAxunyouYHY, but whatever, you can recognize Boxer's play without seeing his ID.
Things are going much butter at the bottom position for the protoss player, not only he has his id perfectly written, but he also wears the color of the organising country : a deep communist Red.

Both players are going for macro oriented openings, (T)

BoxeR with a Reactored Barack Expand while (P)

ToD does a risky 1 Gate Expand. Builds such as the 1 Barack gaseless expansion for Terran were not common at all in these days, most terran building several Baracks before expanding at this stage of the metagame, and expanding off of one gate can be an instant loose against an agressive Terran opening, especially on a map such as Xel'Naga Cavern.

(T)

BoxeR adds a second Barack before starting his second command center, while (P)

ToD goes straight into robo before adding two more gates.

(T)

BoxeR's infantry force chills at the bottom of the choke around an Empty bunker for a while, and is ordered to go knock at the doors of the enemy. (P)

ToD has very few units at this time and this atack can be deadly as he is spread very thin between the fast expansion and the fast teching.

Luckily for the protoss player, (T)

BoxeR waits 30 seconds at the bottom of the choke, between the main and the natural, not wanting to engage into a forcefield. Thanks to the mere existence of the sentry in the game, (P)

ToD can have a crucial suplementary round of warp in, and had almost enougth time to allow him to get his first Immortal done. However he can't stay there forever otherwise the terran army is going to gun down his second Nexus.

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Always arrive a little time ahead when you are planning to make a manly battle.

Patience can be a good skill to have as a solider, it was not the case here.

It's time, note the nice engagement of ToD whereas BoxeR's infantry could have used a slightly better concave.

The battle is close but sadly for the infantry one marine has some hate against an extractor

Here you can see an immortal and some stalker enjoy a nice terran blood bath.

ToD wins the battle with fashion, but things are not that bad for (T)

BoxeR since he used the push to secure his natural. He is going heavy on the Barracks units, albeit both armies are growing at the same rate, (P)

ToD has a tremendous tech advantage, indeed, when he started the colossi production, the factory was barely finished for the Terran player.

At the twelve minute mark the players are dead even in supply, they both sit at their respective base. They are upgrading their armies, gearing up for taking their third base.
(T)

BoxeR makes the move first and puts a PF where it belongs on Xel'Naga Cavern, at the gold base. He keeps adding an amasing amount of Baracks, establishing a solid infrastructure for the late game. (P)

ToD opts for a more secured expansion at the bottom of the map. At the 18 minutes mark, supply counts are getting very close to Max and the tech threes are starting to unveil their wonders as the twillight council and Ghost Academy are upgrading.

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A TvP Ball

A PvR Ball

BoxeR takes the initiative again, brings his marauder ball allong with a lot vikings and few Ghost, engaging the colossus/gateway composition of (P)

ToD at the bottom gold expansion, where (P)

ToD was trying to take his fourth.

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Despite not being the finest Starcraft2 action, two balls running into each other always provide plenty of nice visual effect.

After the battle, the protoss is left with much more units, but the colossus count has been reseted, even if all the vikings had to die for that purpose.
During the battle, (T)

BoxeR's thing was going on in a place. (T)

BoxeR's thing : Smart and unpredictable play. The place : at the same time a secret and a tremendously famous road, you know it, the (R)

Tasteless secret hallway.
Not only he did took his fourth base while pushing, he also built 2 Orbital Comands in the hallway. The emperor has a plan, this plan : endless stream of Barracks units, supported by M.U.L.E.™. Even if building a lot of orbitals command center in the late game is popular amongst terrans, it was something never really showcased in a competitive game when the match was aired.

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That's what i'm talking about.

ToD is not a fool, and he's not missing the opportunity to capitalize on the battle he just won. He harasses the fourth of (T)

BoxeR, thanks to a proxy pylon on the high ground. (T)

BoxeR decides to take the damage on his fourth and forces the cancel on his opponant gold base again. He does it at the cost of a couple medivacs and some marauders, and has to fall back.

22 minutes Into the game, ToD has a sizeable supply advantage and strikes the planetary on the gold.

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Smells bad for the emperor

3 minutes later the game is over, as if the french Progamer had not a sufficient advantage while he was pushing for the win, he was taking a fifth base whereas the korean Legend had any base mining anymore. (T)

BoxeR is forced to GG.

Game Rating : 2/5
Honestly the game was pretty boring, we didnt saw even a single drop from BoxeR. ToD played perfectly, but the deathball style is not the sexiest thing to watch. He took big risks in the early game, expanding and teching at the same time and managed to get away with it.

- Game 2 - The Shattered Temple

BoxeR, being down 0-1, has to make something happen in this game, even if he had showcased nice games lately, he is lacking in the results departement, going down in the first round of this tournament would be another disapointement for his numerous fans.
The players spawns crossposition, the vertical one, Blue Terran on the left, Red Protoss on the right. They are doing the exact same build orders they did in the first set :

BoxeR's opening
*12 Barracks
*13 Gaz
*Reactor after the first marine
*Another Barracks
*Starts Building the command center before the second barracks is finished

ToD's opening
*Gate and Gaz at standard time
*Nexus after first gate
*Robo before adding two more gateways

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Nobody's looking for a "early strategic play"

The terran infantry is out at the 7min mark again, the infantry poster itself at the gate of the Protoss territory, but this time (T)

BoxeR doesn't see an opportunity for an attack and head home.

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A group of disapointed Marines and Marauders, on their way home they couldn't stop wondering what kind of action they could have had if they tried. Next time they meet Protosses there will probably be Colossus with them, and poor Marines couldn't stop thinking about that to.

This time

BoxeR's build is smoother, he has a reactored starport up and running when the colossus production begins. Like the previous game, players are evenly growing in supply, but this time (P)

ToD is gonna take his third base (at the bottom of the map) way before the emperor.

(T)

BoxeR is waking up and finally doing a drop in the main of tod, to bad for him it's poorly placed, the protoss army is near the dropping location and he has to leave before he can do any damage.

Because he's late on his thrid, and he's aware of it thanks to his floating factory, (T)

BoxeR takes his third base on the gold location, but also build a quick fourth base at the top of the map.
He had a drop going for the third of ToD but he sees the observer on his way, unload some marine, scan and snipe the protoss voyeur and pull back his forces, knowing that a scouted drop is worthless.

At 17 minutes, the players are maxed again, following the same tech path. The bionic army of Boxer has 2/2 upgrades, his vikings got the firt atack upgrades but just like in the first game, ToD is quickly catching up with two chronoboosted forge and his chargelots are standing at 2-1 upgrades while he is upgrading Psionic Storm for his templars.

It's time for some ball bouncing, the result is the same that we had on the first set : vikings and colossi are nowhere to be seen anymore and ToD has a slight supply advantage. Both player are replenishing their armies quickly and 8 marauders dropped in the third of ToD are going wild, killing probes and pylons left and right.

ToD responds by pushing straight into BoxeR's base, but BoxeR is pumping eleven marauders at a time and he manages to hold on.
On ToD's side the drop gets finally cleaned after heavy casualities on the economy.
BoxeR presses his advantage by taking a fifth base at the top natural expansion.

Now ToD has an harder time to replenish his army than BoxeR. The terran is looking for the anihilation of the protoss's gold base, and sends all his force in the battle. He manages to take it down but with colossi and storms facing him, the terran army is crushed and ToD takes a good supply lead.

ToD smells a familiar perfume of victory and goes for the terran gold base. A new engagement takes place in the middle, resulting on the destruction of the terran's gold base. ToD has now scouted the fifth base of BoxeR and attacks it, in the meantime BoxeR manages to force a cancel on ToD's fifth at the bottom natural expansion.

Boxer is feeling more and more the weight of ToD's supply advantage and is struggling to catch up after loosing two mining bases. Another skirmish takes place in the center area, the deathball breaks into BoxeR's base, ToD just have to much and BoxeR can't handle it, the protoss unit are now picking all units poping out of the barracks in BoxeR's main. This time again, BoxeR is forced to GG

Game Rating : 2,5/5
A slightly more entertaining game, boxer had a nice econ advantage but he loss to much when killing ToD's gold base. ToD smell the perfume of blood and pushed his advantage at the right moment.

Battle Report : SlayerS_BoxeR vs ToD

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Ongoing

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