EPT
v SlayerS_YuhiOh 
Trickster got his first taste of the upanddown matches last season, and barely managed to stay in Code S, winning 2-1 over San after losing to Keen. He is relatively untested versus zerg with just six games, the last being a loss to Losira in the GSTL March two months ago. Even more unknown is Yugioh's ZvP. He has only played one during the untelevised Code A tiebreakers from the very first season of Code S/A. He is just 3-7 in his past three matches, but half of those games were against July or MVP, so he definitely has experience with difficult opponents.
Game 1:
+ Show Spoiler [Game 1] +
Xel'Naga Caverns- Jjun clockwise
Yugioh gets speed first, expands. Trickster gets a fast stargate and three gateways. Yugioh sees the first voidray, cancels his roach warren and starts a lair to tech to hydralisks. Trickster expands and techs to... mothership?! Yugioh gets his spire, attacks with hydralisks, and takes his third. Trickster manages to hold the hydralisks with only gateway units out of five warp gates and a couple cannons before the mothership comes out.
Yugioh switches to mutalisks, and Trickster starts across the map with his mothership-supported gateway army. Yugioh is able to do a lot of damage with his mutalisks, killing a large portion of the probes at Trickster's main and natural, but back at home he loses his entire second and third bases to Trickster's attack. He can never seem to have enough detection and enough units at the same time. One suave vortex by Trickster nullifies all of Yugioh's units -and- detection, allowing Trickster to just walk up the main's ramp and end the game.
We might have just seen the first really stable mothership rush in the GSL. I'd like to see that same game play out without Yugioh's initial attack to see what the zerg's defense would look like.
Trickster wins
Yugioh gets speed first, expands. Trickster gets a fast stargate and three gateways. Yugioh sees the first voidray, cancels his roach warren and starts a lair to tech to hydralisks. Trickster expands and techs to... mothership?! Yugioh gets his spire, attacks with hydralisks, and takes his third. Trickster manages to hold the hydralisks with only gateway units out of five warp gates and a couple cannons before the mothership comes out.
Yugioh switches to mutalisks, and Trickster starts across the map with his mothership-supported gateway army. Yugioh is able to do a lot of damage with his mutalisks, killing a large portion of the probes at Trickster's main and natural, but back at home he loses his entire second and third bases to Trickster's attack. He can never seem to have enough detection and enough units at the same time. One suave vortex by Trickster nullifies all of Yugioh's units -and- detection, allowing Trickster to just walk up the main's ramp and end the game.
We might have just seen the first really stable mothership rush in the GSL. I'd like to see that same game play out without Yugioh's initial attack to see what the zerg's defense would look like.
Trickster wins
+ Show Spoiler [Game 2] +
Crossfire
Yugioh goes speed first, expands. Trickster goes for dark templar. Yugioh is obviously nervous from last game, as he builds two of each 'crawler before seeing any of Trickster's tech. Trickster expands. Yugioh goes for burrow roaches and attacks. Trickster somehow manages to get enough detection just from cannons and uses dark templar to defend. Yugioh finally retreats when Trickster gets his robotics facility up and running.
Yugioh seems a bit lost from here. He suicides all his roaches into Trickster's base for almost no damage. Both players expand, but Yugioh makes nothing but roaches for the rest of the game and easily falls to Trickster's stalkers and immortals.
Yugioh does not seem to have very good crisis management. His mind seems to start sticking in one gear when the going gets rough.
Trickster wins.
Yugioh goes speed first, expands. Trickster goes for dark templar. Yugioh is obviously nervous from last game, as he builds two of each 'crawler before seeing any of Trickster's tech. Trickster expands. Yugioh goes for burrow roaches and attacks. Trickster somehow manages to get enough detection just from cannons and uses dark templar to defend. Yugioh finally retreats when Trickster gets his robotics facility up and running.
Yugioh seems a bit lost from here. He suicides all his roaches into Trickster's base for almost no damage. Both players expand, but Yugioh makes nothing but roaches for the rest of the game and easily falls to Trickster's stalkers and immortals.
Yugioh does not seem to have very good crisis management. His mind seems to start sticking in one gear when the going gets rough.
Trickster wins.
+ Show Spoiler [Game 3] +
Nope, your eyes weren't tricking you- that was a mothership rush.
Match 10: TheBestfOu
v ZeNEXJJUN Ever since knocking Ret out of the third GSL Open, TheBest has gone just 6-19 and has not won a single best-of-X, proving the power of the Team Liquid curse. On top of that, TvT is his worse matchup at just a 25% winning rating. Jjun, on the other hand, has constantly been in people's minds since nearly all-killing SlayerS in the first GSTL and knocking Moonglade out of the first round of Code A. He has yet to go deep in a tournament, though, so he must be hoping for a victory against a weak opponent, even though TvT is his own worst match-up as well.
Game 1:
+ Show Spoiler [Game 1] +
Terminus RE - Jjun clockwise
Jjun goes for early banshees with cloak. TheBest 1-rax expands and settles into marine/tank/viking. Jjun sends three banshees to their death without doing much damage. Meanwhile Jjun expands starts marine/tank/medivac production. Both players get their second factories at roughly the same time.
The best is the first to expand, and adds on two more factories for siege tanks. Jjun switches over from medivac to viking production and manages to get a huge viking lead, which he uses to force an elevator attack into TheBest's main. TheBest responds with a counterattack that decimates both of Jjun's bases, leaving Jjun with a huge army inside TheBest's main, but only a handful of buildings on the map, while TheBest still has two fullly mining bases. Jjun gg's as soon as his desperation command center is discovered.
Pretty solid TvT from TheBest
TheBest wins
Jjun goes for early banshees with cloak. TheBest 1-rax expands and settles into marine/tank/viking. Jjun sends three banshees to their death without doing much damage. Meanwhile Jjun expands starts marine/tank/medivac production. Both players get their second factories at roughly the same time.
The best is the first to expand, and adds on two more factories for siege tanks. Jjun switches over from medivac to viking production and manages to get a huge viking lead, which he uses to force an elevator attack into TheBest's main. TheBest responds with a counterattack that decimates both of Jjun's bases, leaving Jjun with a huge army inside TheBest's main, but only a handful of buildings on the map, while TheBest still has two fullly mining bases. Jjun gg's as soon as his desperation command center is discovered.
Pretty solid TvT from TheBest
TheBest wins
+ Show Spoiler [Game 2] +
Bel'Shir Beach
Jjun 2-raxes, one proxied. TheBest easily gets a bunker up in time, prompting Jjun to expand and send the proxied barracks in to scout. It sees reactored hellions and an expansion on the way. Jjun gets back with plenty of time to defend against the hellions. Jjun transitions into marine/tank/medivac. TheBest gets more factories, blue flame, and starts tank/hellion production.
Jjun goes for another elevator attack, but is repelled. Jjun adds on more barracks to supplement his one-factory tanks with some bio. TheBest stays on two-factory tank and reactored hellions, adding reactored vikings into the mix. Jjun expands to his third as TheBest moves across the map. TheBest's superior tank count gives him a big advantage against Jjun's bio, and good siege timing wipes out his entire force
TheBest wins
Jjun 2-raxes, one proxied. TheBest easily gets a bunker up in time, prompting Jjun to expand and send the proxied barracks in to scout. It sees reactored hellions and an expansion on the way. Jjun gets back with plenty of time to defend against the hellions. Jjun transitions into marine/tank/medivac. TheBest gets more factories, blue flame, and starts tank/hellion production.
Jjun goes for another elevator attack, but is repelled. Jjun adds on more barracks to supplement his one-factory tanks with some bio. TheBest stays on two-factory tank and reactored hellions, adding reactored vikings into the mix. Jjun expands to his third as TheBest moves across the map. TheBest's superior tank count gives him a big advantage against Jjun's bio, and good siege timing wipes out his entire force
TheBest wins
+ Show Spoiler [Game 3] +
TheBest may not in fact be the worst anymore.
Match 11: SlayerS_Boxer
v MvP_Genius As of posting, the VOD for this match bizzarely goes to the MC v July Code S finals from March. :-(
Game 1:
+ Show Spoiler [Game 1] +
Why did you even click this?
+ Show Spoiler [Game 2] +
Dummy.
+ Show Spoiler [Game 3] +
There's nothing here!
Match 12: SlayerS_Min
v ST_July July has not played a ZvZ since qualifying for Code S in the first round of up-and-down matches. It's a good thing too, as he is just 3-6 and never seems to totally understand the match-up. This may be due to the fact that he is the only competent zerg on StarTale, and in fact is the only ST zerg in all of the GSL. Min is an up-and-coming player who has impressed many with his ultra-greedy style of Zerg. It will be interesting to see how hyper-aggression deals with high economy in a ZvZ, which is always the hardest match-up to predict.
Game 1:
+ Show Spoiler [Game 1] +
Crevasse - cross positions
Both players hatch first, July with gas and Min without. Min rushes to a few roaches, then a lair. July sees the roaches and gets a lair himself. Min gets a spire. July goes for double upgrades, roach speed, and a third. July just barely doesn't scout Min's spire, and so has no anti-air when mutalisks hit the field. When the dust settles, Min is doubling July's supply and is up three bases to two. Min patiently and safely plays out the game, but it is already essentially over.
Min wins
Both players hatch first, July with gas and Min without. Min rushes to a few roaches, then a lair. July sees the roaches and gets a lair himself. Min gets a spire. July goes for double upgrades, roach speed, and a third. July just barely doesn't scout Min's spire, and so has no anti-air when mutalisks hit the field. When the dust settles, Min is doubling July's supply and is up three bases to two. Min patiently and safely plays out the game, but it is already essentially over.
Min wins
+ Show Spoiler [Game 2] +
Terminus RE, Min clockwise
Both players hatch first, then get speed. July stops at 15 drones, gets a baneling nest, and starts pumping zerglings. The first attack fails when July's banelings hit a queen and a spine crawler. But, crazily, the second waves succeeds when three banelings kill 7,10, and 8 (4:50) zerglings a piece. Min gg's from a game he had all but won.
July wins
Both players hatch first, then get speed. July stops at 15 drones, gets a baneling nest, and starts pumping zerglings. The first attack fails when July's banelings hit a queen and a spine crawler. But, crazily, the second waves succeeds when three banelings kill 7,10, and 8 (4:50) zerglings a piece. Min gg's from a game he had all but won.
July wins
+ Show Spoiler [Game 3] +
Xel'Naga Caverns
Both players get speed first, then roach warrens. July expands, while Min seems content to one-base for a while. Min's first attack hits with perfect timing right as July's expansion finishes. Min expands as the battle begins, which goes in July's favor, but at the cost of a four drone deficit. July counterattacks, but is easily defended and left strictly behind on all counts. Min grinds out advantage after advantage with zergling attacks, and when the final battle comes is already up by thirty supply, and easily wins.
Min wins
Both players get speed first, then roach warrens. July expands, while Min seems content to one-base for a while. Min's first attack hits with perfect timing right as July's expansion finishes. Min expands as the battle begins, which goes in July's favor, but at the cost of a four drone deficit. July counterattacks, but is easily defended and left strictly behind on all counts. Min grinds out advantage after advantage with zergling attacks, and when the final battle comes is already up by thirty supply, and easily wins.
Min wins
