EPT
This hadn't been a good tournament for me. In the group stage, I realized my group had a Master League player, a Diamond League player, myself (Diamond League) and a Gold League player. Only 2 of us could advance, and the Master League player was almost certainly going to be one of those two. Assuming we all beat the gold leaguer (a fair assumption), the only game that wasn't obviously predictable was also the one that determined who got to go on to the bracket stage: Me versus the other diamond leaguer, KeepSeven.
Match
It's TvT. Close air MLG Shattered Temple. My strongest MU on my favorite map. We both open the same way, with an unusual fast stim timing attack-- as I exit my base he is at the front of my natural. Neither of us have stim yet, since we were planning to begin the attack about 10 seconds later when stim finished. He was just a little early to the party, and I had the defender's advantage of an extra marauder. Without concussive shell or stim, there's nothing I can do to chase him as he retreats. I press forward to the xel naga tower. There's a minor battle, but he has slightly less bio and is forced to retreat. We both stimmed once for that.
At this point, I briefly stop all gas mining to crank out my CC very quickly, then put everyone back on gas and so I can make a factory. I lay down an engineering bay so I can get upgrades and turrets. It's at this point that I fly my scout rax over (hero scout rax is always heroic). I get a full scout, and spot his buildings-- instead of fast tanks, my nefarious opponent is rushing BANSHEE.
Green glowing tech lab. CLOAK. The first banshee flies out past my barracks. There isn't much time left, if he started that on time.
An icy stalactite of fear breaks through my gamersense shell. Am I going to lose to banshee in a live LAN tournament? What if this is it? Am I just some noob diamond leaguer with 500 bonus pool who doesn't belong here?
NO.
My anti-cloak instincts come through, at first like a cart of bricks drawn by a 3-legged mule through a muddy swamp, but it gains momentum and it all comes back as I recover from the momentary shock. retreat my army from the xel naga tower... leave a marine. Turret in the main... lower depots for marine mobility. Don't mule yet, turret's not up. Marines on a separate control group, marauders at the front... I lose a scouting supply depot to his harass, along with 2 scvs at my nat since I started the turret there late. He loses 2 banshees. The kiting is weak in this one. My marines have now stimmed twice, but combat shields is finished.
Crisis over.
Scouting rax is injured. "I'm giving her all I can, but she cannae take any more!" shouts the imaginary rax pilot, who will end up going down with his ship as I order it back into his base for a final act of heroism. He scouts the reverse swap to tech lab Fact just as the marines destroy him. I haven't started my factory yet... and I pulled gas scvs when I maynarded. Catching up in tanks won't be easy. With my first tank and my bio force, I push out the to the xel naga tower. My adversary now has a couple of vikings flying around, so I'll need to cling to this position if I want to be able to shoot at his tanks without scanning. He tries to siege up closer, but can't edge into my tank range. He's up about 6 tanks to 2.
He unsieges and backs off.
But wait! He's still within Line of Sight, and he's unsieged! In a split second, it is decided-- these marauders and twice-stimmed marines have a chance at glory, a chance to become legendary, and they take it like patriotism in the South, or like ambien in NY, or like charge in DC. I grab together just the injured, veteran soldiers of my army-- I can't risk any more than that-- and make a dive for the tanks.
Stim #3. Marines down to 25 health. Marauders are hurting, too. Stutter step, catch those tanks. Even unsieged, Tanks deal considerable DPS to marauders, and he has some marines in the area as well. By the time he reacts and stims, 3 tanks are down. I start to retreat, but realize the first tank has but a sliver of health. I turn and fire one last volley on the way out. I lost most of my bio, but I'm no longer behind in tanks.
The game progresses with tank buildup on each side. I cling to the center of the map, abusing the xel naga tower as much as possible, picking off a couple more tanks and some bio. It's a minor lead, and minor leads mean little in a matchup with as much defender's advantage as TvT. If I nurture it, though, and treat it well, I might be able to grow this minor lead into a major lead, and this major lead into a victory. As long as I don't get derped by hellions or something--
Minimap: red dots. I look. 2 medivacs flying into my main. Dicks.
He flies right over my "anti-derp" (dropship? more like derpship. I refused to be derped by a drop) turret in the corner of my base, forced either turn around or continue deeper into the base before unloading. He goes deeper and both medivacs are now over my anti-banshee turret. He drops 6 marines before both medivacs are dead. He stims and kills a few workers before my forces that spawn at home clean the drop up.
I'm feeling confident now. Really confident. I expoed earlier than him, equalized in tanks, and he just derped a drop. I even got a minor lead through some tank micro. Time to lay down a 3rd.
I wonder what his army looks like? I scan.
It looks like 8 unsieged tanks, in FRONT of his randomly scattered bio army.
Oh my god. I can win this! QUICK ENTIRE ARMY A-MOVE INTO HIS TANK LINE! FOR VICTORY!
He sees me coming when I'm about 12 away, sieges up (finishes when i'm like 6 away), and his first volley hits as my tanks are trying to deal unsieged dps to stimmed marines. He crushes me easily. If I had moved to be like 10 away then sieged up, I probably could have won outright, but I got greedy-- and paid the price for not keeping my cool in a TvT. I rush out a hero banshee to pick off most his tanks as he goes for my nat, but it's too little too late-- his reinforcements crush me.
Aftermath
The rest of the group stage is basically written in stone. The Master player crushes the gold, and the other terran. I crush the gold with ease (10 pool zergling all-in without speed? on cross position shattered? seriously?). I try to cheese the Master player, feeling that I can't beat him, and my cheese is weak and poorly executed. He fends it off with excellent forcefields.
The Diamond player loses in the Ro16, and the Master player goes on to get 3rd place.
