EPTWelcome, to another exciting CSL series, Monoceros division. This week, we have Imperial College taking on Manchester Metropolitan University, or MMU.
Game 1
Kazen the Terran from Imperial, and XiVol the Zerg from MMU kick the series off. Spawning cross map on Antiga Shipyard, both players opt for an early expand. Kazen strikes first with a squad of shielded marines, and forces a cancel on XiVol’s 3rd. Spinecrawlers block off the exit for the marines, who then create a new exit through the destructible rocks, emerging just in time to induce another hatch cancel, this time at the gold base. This would continue to be the theme of the game – XiVol trying to establish more than two mining bases, while Kazen just tearing the Zerg apart left and right with very well-timed drops. Eventually, XiVol goes straight for Ultralisks, but they turn out to be his doom rather than his salvation - the last desperate push by the Zerg is stopped cold by Kazen’s iron wall of tanks. Oh, and there’s another drop in XiVol’s main.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zQBFf.jpg)
You shall not pass!
+ Show Spoiler +
XiVol’s decision to stick with zerglings allowed Kazen to continually drop two places at once, doing significant damage and denying any attempt to expand. The Zerg was unable to put any pressure back on the Terran, who comfortably went up to three bases. XiVol had a spire, but didn’t make any Mutalisks, which could have helped mitigate Kazen’s persistent harassment. Kazen’s drops were flawless, slowly and methodically chipping away his enemy until he fell apart.
Game 2
eXeYazuac stepped up for MMU, to face off against Imperial’s Dragonite, for a PvP on Daybreak. Yazuac opens with a safe 3gate/robo, whereas Dragonite chronoboosts units out of his two gateways before boldly throwing down an expansion. MMU’s Protoss drops half a dozen zealots into Dragonite base, who promptly traps them with forcefields and tickles them while waiting for stalker reinforcements.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/KcFN0.jpg)
Tickle tickle!
Yazuac goes for Colossus, as Dragonite gets a Robotics Bay of his own – but only for warp prism speed, as he adds on a ton of gateways. As both players expand again, Dragonite baits his opponent’s army into the center of the map while dropping two immortals into the back and picking off the Colossus Den. Yazuac continues to press forward, but Dragonite just avoids engagement entirely and goes straight for the enemy base. What looks like the beginnings of a base trade quickly turns into Yazuac desperately pulling the majority of his forces back, traipsing back across the entire map while Dragonite wrecks havoc. Worse still, his forces arrive home piecemeal, and are destroyed as such.
+ Show Spoiler +
eXeYazuac kept forgetting to construct probes, putting him significantly behind in economy. Although his army would have won a direct fight against Dragonite’s Gateway army, he never got the chance to engage as such. Finally, the decision to pull his entire army back from the base trade sealed the deal.
Game 3
Down 2 - 0, MMU’s Zerg beanLing endeavours to bring them back into the series with an early baneling bust against Imperial’s Imposter on Shattered Temple. However, Imposter’s crisis management is impeccable – his marines find a corner and make the most of themselves; the bulk of SCV’s flee, while suiciding one at a time until no more banelings remain; and a tank pops out to clean up the speedling reinforcements while being repaired. As the dust settles, a lone banshee heads towards the Zerg base... and begins firing at the egg beneath the queen.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uGTS0.jpg)
Kill the cocoon.....oh wait.
Meanwhile, a second baneling bust fails spectacularly, killing a supply depot and nothing else. The lone banshee pulls back in shame, but soon returns with a second one, and successfully thins out half of beanLing’s drones. Not long afterwards, Imposter’s tank/marine force rolls over what little defences Zerg has, and beanLing calls the gg.
+ Show Spoiler +
A bit of a wacky game – the first baneling bust didn’t quite do enough damage, but the huge misplay on the banshee dragged the game out a few minutes longer than it needed to be. Imposter tried to click on the enemy queen, but it was right in the middle of its own attack animation, which involves it leaning forward and flattening itself slightly. The egg just peeked over the queen’s body, causing the banshee to consider the overlord cocoon of greater importance than then queen. However, beanLing was still woefully unprepared when the 2nd banshee hit, and threw up far too many sporecrawlers in his panic to stand any chance of surviving the subsequent tank push.
And there you have it – Imperial ending the series with a clean 3-0.
Stay frosty for next week’s CSL – this season’s final showdown, between Durham University and Imperial College! Imperial has only dropped a single series so far, but their next opponent has a perfect record, with no losses. Imperial needs a victory over Durham to secure first place in the league. Can the lads pull through? Find out next week, on… well, on this blog
