My last night's dream - an MLG battle report.

11:45 PM. I slip into bed and roll over on my side. I often think of and recap my day as I go to bed, but right now, I feel tired. No such thing today. I close my eyes, and quickly fall asleep.

An undefined amount of time passes. I can only see blurry, but things start to shape up. I am sitting in front of a computer.
I am logged into my BattleNet account MouzThorZaIN. Countdown is ticking. The only other player in the lobby is my opponent. His ID is oGsMC. Things are starting to make sense now. I know what to do.

I spawn on the bottom left side of Shakuras Plateau. After building an SCV and sending my workers to mine, i quickly type in 'hf'. My initial BO consists of a standard 12rax 13gas. With my SCV scout, I check the hidden space in between the left natural expansions. I know he likes to do funky stuff, but not this time around, apparantly. His scouting probe arrives and is greeted by my first marine. It tries to sneak away, but I still catch it behind my mineral line. My scouting worker spots 1 gateway, a cybernetics core and 2 assimilators in the top right corner. So, at 20 supply, I start to build a Command Center at my natural.

A stalker is chasing back my scout, but I have a bunker finished right in time on top of my ramp. He doesn't attack, that's fine with me. In the meantime, my stimpack upgrade is on the way, along with 2 more barracks. I slide my workers over to my expansion, send the reaper that just finished training to the bottom right, build an engineering bay and a factory, and check the lower side of my ramp with an SCV, which sees nothing. He's probably opting for an expansion, too. I take all 4 vespene geysirs while my reaper hops onto his natural cliff, spots his Nexus, and hops back down. I know he is good, so a turret and a second bunker will be thrown down at my ramp. My SCV on the low ground sees a probe. Unloading marines out of the bunker, I manage to kill it before it can see on top of my ramp. I feel like I am on top of things. I can beat him. Him, the best player in the world. The Kratoss, two time GSL champion. I beat him before, I can do it again.

Probe awareness.

My factory is done and now building a reactor, right next to the starport that is being constructed. stimpack is done. Combat shield, concussive shells and infantry weapons +1 are on the way. I can do this. I swap the starport with the factory and my medivac production starts. The reaper, I should make use of him again. Hop up, see 2 assimilators, 3 stalkers, oops, get out of there again. I'm adding a hellion and 2 vikings while I build my Ghost Academy. He usually plays with sentries, I need to disable them. I move out with my first small force and take out a lonely stalker in the center of the map. My hellion is sent forward onto his ramp but is being blocked by 2 forcefields. I knew it, ha. That's 100 less energy for you, right there. But I can still drop the hellion onto your high ground. It's quick, so I race away from your stalkers, through your base, and can see 6 gateways, a chrono-boosted forge, a robo and a Twilight Council. Surely that's not everything you have. I scan your natural and there are your sentries and your Dark Shrine. Knew it.

My minerals are getting high, so I get a 4th and 5th rax, shortly after a 6th, and another Command Center in my base. My +1 bio armor is halfway done, so I build an armory and another engineering bay. That way I can continue with level 2 upgrades simultaneously without any delay. I calldown supplies on 2 of my depots, which will serve me better in the long run than MULEs. The donkeys will help me get minerals quicker, but a supply calldown effectively gives me 200 more minerals to work with. The reaper in the bottom right is being killed. Going for a third, aren't you? My hellion scout confirms it. The 3rd command center is landed at the expansion at the Xel'Naga tower. I have a pretty strong 1/1 bio army guarding it at the tower. And with my ghosts, I can EMP your sneaky DT that skirts around here. Scanning your ramp, I can see you moving out, so I will try to catch you on the move. There you are, at the top Xel'Naga tower. You blink away right after I stim. Don't you think you can drain my Medivac energy for nothing. I'm coming for you with my ghosts. One single EMP drains all your stalker's shields, and your zealots are in the back. Another EMP catches your zealots and sentries, haha, beautiful! Your forcefields don't do anything. You send more units in, but I snipe them. Your Sentries are gone and all you can do now is blink onto your ramp with your Stalkers. Good thing, this means that I just turn around and tear down your third base. I feel superior to you, I've got you where I want you, and I know I must be in the lead.

Can I end it right now? I don't know, so I scan your natural. Thank god, because your High Templar's would probably rip my ball of MMMs apart. I'm ahead, so I get more ahead. A 4th Command Center is going up and I am researching cloak for my ghosts. For all of them who are being trained in 5 of my barracks. Watcha wanna do against a ThorZaIN that's pumping 5 ghosts at once, boy, huh? I got this, even tho a hellion scouts you re-expanding to your third. My bioball is huge already, and it has 2/2 upgrades. I clear the rocks to my 4th, and can see your army in the open center, perfect! A small micro battle ends up good for me, landing a few EMPs on your Stalkers and taking out a Templar. Stimming my army, I go in. Dodging storms. Still, you manage to make me retreat, I guess speedzealots are imba, but my macro is superior with my 9th Barracks and 5th CC on the way. My 4th base has landed while ghosts and marauders continue to rally in to the Xel'Naga tower. With 9 ghosts leading another attack, I scan your third. Your archons and templars are getting headaches from my EMPs, I should offer you an Aspirin after this game, but I can't break through, so I scan your natural ramp and move there. You are smart, you try to sandwich me from both your expansions, but I have more marauders coming in, flanking your flank. Your units are gone, and as my forces move up to your third base, i read the magic line:

A moment of satisfaction.

Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here? What am I doing? I realize: I am MouzThorZaIN. I am at MLG Columbus. I am here to play StarCraft 2. I am smashing nerd's faces. It's what I do.

I don't remember what happened after my win, I don't remember joining another game, all that I can see is the loading screen for next map. It displays Tal'Darim Altar, along with my name, MouzThorZaIN, and my opponent's, oGsMC. I'm in the zone. Spawning in the top left, 12rax 13gas is my build of choice, once again. My SCV scouts him in the bottom left. After a tech lab and a Marauder, I build my CC on 21 Supply. Another barracks, a refinery, a third rax. Time is slipping away, it's 5:30, better build a bunker at my expansion. Getting my SCV back into his base, I see 2 sentries, an expansion and 3 gateways. I continue with an engineering bay for upgrades, a factory, a second bunker and get all 4 refineries, just like last game, when it worked so well. My upgrades are running and I build a starport which I will switch to a reactor from the factory. Forgot about proxy pylon aggression, I better send an SCV into all edges and corners of my side of the map, but, luckily, I don't find anything. My first turret is going up, you are not getting any DTs into my base. I am ready for you.

Considered to be safe against multiple types of shenanigans.

That blurry thing in my base is an observer, I just take it out with 4 marines and a scan. I'm on top of things, I can feel it, you are going down. Once my first medivacs are ready, I charge out, once again chasing your stalker, but this time it gets away. Well, can't have anything. I get vision on your high ground with my air units and your sentry-heavy army walks in from the side; I don't want to engage something like this just yet, my ghost academy is not finished yet, so my army gets out of there again, but I control the tower. Booya. My scouting hellion is quick and avoids your sentries, i can see more gateways. 2 more scans reveal it: 6 gates, chrono-boosted forge, robo, twilight council. Is this a carbon copy of last game? If I win, I'd gladly take it this way. I feel confident, using my armory into double-ebay timing again and building a third Command Center. The first ghosts are on the way, splendid. While taking out an observer at the Xel'Naga tower, a huge speedlot/blinkstalker army jumps on me, I have to retreat to my bunkers. Wow, what happened, I thought I have this!

Being chased back into your own base is not the best thing, but this map gives me options. My third CC flies to the top central expansion to become a PF, and I have a marine at the upper tower to spot any incoming units. Scanning his ramp reveals a very caster-heavy force of high templars and sentries. His stalkers are missing, so if I can land some good EMPs, the tide could change. I move to his ramp and can land 3 snipes and EMPs on HTs without taking any hits. I get vision on the high ground and can take out one of his assimilators, great. My 4th CC and my 8th barracks are under construction. I got this. Queuing 2 supply depots, my attention shifts away from my army for 2 seconds, only for me to notice afterwards that my MMM army is eating two giant Psi storms. Just why did I let my army stand directly below his ramp while not watching? His army chases me back once again into my bunkers.

One moment of building supply depots.

Still, I think I am quite healthy, with 3/3 upgrades on the way, building ghosts nonstop and starting a sneaky expansion at the 3 o'clock position. The XN tower reveals the Protoss army marching forward to my upper expansion that has just been scouted by a zealot. I sneak up from behind and manage to get rid of 5 of his high templars, which triggers him to turn around and engage me, but with a lot of EMPs, and exchanging a lot of units, he has to retreat. I feel like I can catch him off guard now, but then again, he also found my sneaky expansion. I find the stalkers in front of his base, and with one EMP, they are taking significant damage from my forces. Chargelots are swarming in, but they go down quickly, thanks to EMP, yet again. Rather worryingly, 2 colossi are now shooting laserbeams at my forces, so I quickly need to build some vikings. Constantly EMPing the enemy forces, they retreat, and I chase after them, just to be greeted by another 2 colossi shortly after. My macro is perfect, units constantly rallying in, but I start to panic, colossi! Can I overcome that? I am becoming nervous now.

Another freshly constructed sneaky expansion at the top right has been spotted. Things are getting hectic now. I shoot down the rocks at my usual third base while dropping with 2 medivacs into his natural. They are being caught by feedbacks, damnit! What can I do now? A huge Protoss army is walking towards my base, this is looking grim. He is going around to my third, I'm getting ready to defend, but he hesitates. Quick, I am macroing up, but will it be enough? Finally, he goes in, and I decide that this is where I will make my last stand. EMPs and storms are being exchanged everywhere, but I have not enough vikings to stand a change against his colossi. With a 'gg wp', I quit the game.

MC-force - wp.

I have just been defeated. The score is 1:1. One to one between myself and the mighty Min Chul. Usually, this is the breaking point, this is the point where he excels, where he wins, the most clutch player of them all. No one on this planet would stand a chance against him. Except for me, I know am the one who can do it, right here, right now. Concentrate, focus.

Once again, the map is loading up, it is Typhon Peaks and my base spawns in the bottom right. I scout him cross positions and my 2 marines catch his scouting probe on the low ground. He tries to prod with a stalker, but a bunker on top of the ramp makes it a useless effort. My 1/1/1 build is done and my first banshee is on the way, but I leave cloak out of the equation. 2 phoenixes scout my base and my banshee, damn. They are trying to get behind my mineral line, but I have enough marines to prevent that. It is 8:30 into the game, what do I do now? 1 viking, 1 banshee, 1 medivac, 20 marines, 3 tanks, and I decide to move out with 12 SCV alongside my army.

His Phoenixes scout this, but I take control of the Xel'Naga towers and march towards his base. My army is cut in half by forcefields in front of his expansion, but my sieged up tanks can do a ton of damage safely from there. While his expansion goes down, I take my own natural.

Only ThorZaIN's tanks win against Immortals.

I know I am dramatically ahead now. I can smell the victory, can feel the success, can foresee the crowd cheering for me. All MC now has left are 4 Phoenixes and whatever he can warp in on his high ground. My tanks are sieged below his ramp while my marines are pressing into his base. On top of the ramp pops a forcefield, his new units push the marines to the cliff and the Phoenixes are lifting up my siege tanks. I lose every unit I have over there and I believe an incredible amount of sic will come out of my mouth every second now. I need to sooth myself, need to calm down, make myself aware that I have an expansion and he does not, need to build a bunker and hold his push that is surely coming. Just as the Protoss arrives, I siege up a new tank and pull 8 SCV to repair the bunker that is about to finish within the next 5 seconds. That already is enough to make him pull back. Victory, oh, so close, but it all is undecided once again.

A new banshee spots him reexpanding and manages to get 6 probe kills before it goes down. I add more barracks and research the Pre-Igniter upgrade for my hellions, which I plan to drop into his mineral line. While my bio-upgrade routine kicks in, I add some turrets to my mineral lines because I don't want to lose to anything stupid. My drop was supposed to come in from the top right, and on it's way it spots another expansion in the top center. Suffice to say, no probe survived, yet afterwards his phoenixes clean up with the drop. From the moment of his counterpush on, my macro was splendid, so I decide to move out with my MMM-Tank force that will have all the bio-upgrades and +1 attack, while I take my third. A DT snaps some of my units on the way, so I have to use my only scan available, and still I feel invincible. Everything is so clear to me, I have a deadly small force at my hands and I feel confident like no one else. I charge in and my army gets split in half before I can react and siege up my tanks. But I have the upgrades, which will turn out to be his demise. 5 medivacs are healing my bioarmy while he is warping in units onto the battleground. His army gets crushed by the brute force of Terran projectiles, and right when his new DTs join the battle, a new scan is ready for me. This is it, it must be! The natural expansion goes down a second time, and a lone Hellion kills the few probes he has at his top expansion. Right as I want to finish the job, new DTs start to rip apart my main force - I need to wait for another scan and have to retreat again. This will surely trigger him to transfer his probes back to his third, so I send another 2 hellions over there - Bingo, 8 kills! Finally, two more scans are ready, and my army starts the final assault, moving up the ramp, taking out the rest of the army in his base and the DTs with a scan, leaving the Protoss no other choice: gg! oGsMC has left the game.

Looking at the screen, which simply shows a Victory sign, I am in complete disbelief. 2:1, I have done it, I beat Jang Min Chul, the mastermind, the god protoss. oGsMC is eliminated from the tournament and I move on to the Round of 8 to face Moon from WeMade FOX. I embrace the glory, and I can take this whole tournament down. Who is going to defeat me on this day, if not even MC is able to? Around me, the aura of the slayer of Koreans, the Nemesis of GSL champions, MouzThorZaIN.

He who decides who gets to hold his hammer.

I look around, people smiling, clapping, cheering at me, taking pictures and videos of their new hero. But then someone says a word, 'handicap'. He says 'Handicap match', and, suddenly, I am not feeling so well anymore. Tumbling, I am barely able to stay up on my feet. Almost in an instant, everything gets dark and fades away, but I can still hear someone saying one thing: 'Extended s...'

Covered in sweat, I wake up. 'Extended series!', I tell myself, 'What a nightmare'.

My last night's dream - an MLG battle report.

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