Recap - GSL 2012 Season 2 Finals

[An intense short game kicks this best of seven off. Squirtle opened up with an unconventional 1-Gate expand against MVP's Hellion drop. Squirtle follows through with 3 additional Gateways on his natural plus a proxy Pylon on MVP's second expansion location. The Game Genie Terran moves out very quickly to pressure and to drop on Squirtle's base. The Startale player sees it coming but is unable to stop it as Hellions continue a pincer attack on his expansion that drives all of his units to the main base where Marines and Medivacs are already causing chaos. Squirtle tries a failed counter attack with a handful of Stalkers which gets surrounded and killed by mineral-walking SCVS. Squirtle is forced to GG at 8:07 in this very quick game.

Reaction:
MVP was committed to this build and I feel that he was because he wanted to use the first game to test the water; like how Huk used a 4-Gate build against Moon in Game 1 of the Dreamhack Summer 2011 Finals. It was a calculated way to play because he'll know how Squirtle is handling the overall pressure of being in the finals, plus his morale wouldn't take a very significant hit if he lost since this game was just a test for Squirtle.

Score: MVP takes a 1-0 lead.

The game starts off slowly with MVP going for a quick second CC in his base while Squirtle goes for a quick Robo build. The first action of the game appears when MVP tries a timing attack on Squirtle's expansion with his Bio with +1 attack, Concussive Shells and Combat Shield, but he backs off as he figures out that he can't break Squirtle yet. MVP makes a huge blunder a few minutes later as he tries to do a massive drop on the Startale player's expansion which gets swatted away, and MVP runs home with a huge loss.

Squirtle pushes MVP's army in the middle of the map home with his Ranged Colossi, Blink Stalker and Hallucinated Void Rays. It was a good exchange for Squirtle, but he overcommits as he tries to force the issue. Unchecked Cloaked Ghosts deal massive damage to Squirtle's army as he pushes to MVP's expansion, which eventually forces him to turn back. Moments later, MVP successfully defends Squirtle's massive Blink Stalker army push with a ton of Marauders and Medivacs. He knows he's ahead and MVP annihilates Squirtle on his 4th base a few minutes later. He sees a small Colossi count, and Squirtle's Blink micro wasn't enough to stop MVP's massive Marine/Marauder/Medivac army. Squirtle GGs and surrenders a 2-0 lead to MVP.

Reaction:
It was a back and forth game, but MVP displays his in-game sense and experience on this game. He was pushed back to his base but knows that Squirtle overcommitted and he punishes him for it.

Score: MVP now holds a 2-0 lead.

In this map which produces great macro games, both players went for a quick fast expand. MVP eventually adds 3 more Barracks and Squirtle goes for 3 more Gateways. Now with 4 Gateways and a proxy pylon outside MVP's expansion, Squirtle decided to poke in with a lot of units. MVP moved out before Squirtle's attack on his expansion but ended up dealing more damage than his opponent. His small Marine force killed a lot of Probes and some Stalkers and Pylons, and he avoided severe loses by running his units and flying his CC back to his main base. Now behind, Squirtle decides to contain MVP to his base to try and catch up, but MVP outmaneuvers him by floating his Command Center to the 3 o' clock position. Thinking that they are on even footing, Squirtle goes for Blink Stalkers. MVP held on a large supply lead before picking Squirtle apart with multipronged attacks using drops and attacks on different locations. The player from Startale wasn't able to stop any of the attacks and suffered great loses, forcing him to surrender.

Reaction:
Again, MVP's experience makes him shine. What occurred in the early game was very similar to what happened in the first game, both of them choosing to attack really early, but MVP's execution and decision-making was just way better. He ran back to his main and dealt a lot of damage to Squirtle. But the pebble which created the gigantic snowball that ran Squirtle flat was the fact that MVP floated his CC down to get an economical edge. He disguised this perfectly by making another CC in his base to float down to his natural expansion, faking Squirtle into thinking that they are even. The secret expansion was hidden to Squirtle the entire time.

Score: MVP only needs one more win to take the title home, as he is up 3-0.

Both players opened with fast expansion builds. MVP follows through with a Siege Tank based build while Squirtle gets more Gateways and builds a Robo. Mid-game, MVP tries to contain Squirtle and drops on multiple fronts. The drops did a little damage and Squirtle crushes MVP's contain using Chargelots, Immortals and Storms. On fairly even supply count, MVP tries to do damage by dropping units on Squirtle's bases multiple times, all to no avail.

As the game comes to a close, MVP's fifth base gets sniped by a gigantic Protoss death ball. He tries to counter by engaging Squirtle's army in the middle of the map, but gets crushed in the engagement. Knowing he is ahead, Squirtle presses his lead by walking to MVP's third base. With a large army wrecking havoc to his expansion, MVP is forced to GG as he in unable to muster a force that will stop Squirtle's death ball.

Reaction:
MVP's blunder was spreading himself too thin during his early contain. He tried to drop on multiple locations during this, so his small army trying to hold the contain wasn't able to deal with Squirtle's heavily upgraded army. After suffering an early loss, he wasn't able to do any significant damage to Squirtle as his drops can't do any damage. Squirtle just sat down and was patient; he moved out when his death ball was intact and he rolled MVP over easily.

Score: Squirtle finally gets on the board, 1-3.

The players spawn on crossed spots and both of them go for quick expansion builds. Squirtle goes to a Robo plus Blink build while MVP goes for a quick third base. The first significant engagement happens near MVP's third. MVP pushes back Squirtle's army which is composed of a large Colossi/Stalker/Sentry army using a heavy Bio army with Medivacs and Vikings. It was a fair exchange for both players but Squirtle's Colossi count is reset to zero. Both players try to poke on their opponent's bases but there were no significant engagements as both players hit max supply.

Entering the late game, both take the battle to the air as MVP goes for Battlecruisers and Squirtle calls on a Mothership. Squirtle uses this to summon a large army on MVP's base, but it is swatted by MVP's BCs and Bio army. Squirtle is in a large supply deficit but remaxes his army quickly thanks to his big bank. He then tries to be creative by recalling another army to MVP's isolated expansion on the floating island. It left nothing standing but it created a problem for him, as his army was stuck. MVP takes advantage by pushing forward bit by bit. Squirtle then transitions to mass Void Rays in hopes of taking down MVP's large Battlecruiser count.

The battle that decided the game finally happened. A huge engagement happens in the middle of the map. MVP's mass BCs get crushed with an Archon toilet. As his Battlecruisers got out of the Vortex, Storms, Feedback and Archon AOE damage decimates the BCs. MVP has nothing left and Squirtle moves down with a large army now backed up with mass Void Rays. With no more bank and no army, MVP is forced to surrender.

Reaction:
My face and my brain just melted with all the action and tension from this game. Best game of the GSL so far!

Score: Squirtle gets another win, but is still down 2-3.

Both players open once again with regular builds. MVP goes for a 1-Rax expansion and Squirtle respects the map and goes for a slightly delayed expansion. MVP transitions to a 3-Tank build and his opponent mixes it up by going for a quick Chargelot tech, instead of Blink that he has been favoring. Squirtle then goes up to 7 Gateways to create a Chargelot/Archon composition which heavily counters MVP's Bio and Tank build.

MVP moves to Squirtle's 2nd expansion to contain him. Squirtle engages the contain incorrectly with only a handful of his units which got crushed. He pushes MVP back with a huge warp-in round but overextends, as MVP's Bio reinforcements flood down and pushes his army back. IM's ace takes a huge supply lead and successfully takes out Squirtle's 3rd base.

MVP pushes the contain to Squirtle's 2nd base with Tanks and Bunkers. Squirtle does his best to hold it off using Storms and Colossi. MVP continues to push but loses a chunk of his army after every poke, and his 50-supply lead is now gone.

Squirtle successfully sneaks Zealots and Archons to his opponent's main which signals MVP to stop his contain and move forward. MVP's failed pokes made him lose too much units. His push was weak and was quickly dispatched by the Protoss death ball, and there were still Zealots rampaging on his production facilities, forcing him to GG.

Reaction:
It's hard to imagine MVP losing a game after holding a 50-supply lead but he continued to poke and prod on Squirtle's expansion many times, all of which were easily dispatched. It might be the pressure of Squirtle coming back in the series, but MVP lost this game more than Squirtle winning it.

Score: Squirtle gets a second wind, and brings the series to game 7. 3-3.

It has been a normal opening by both players throughout the last 6 games, but MVP brings the cheese with a proxy 11/11-Rax build. Squirtle almost sees it with his initial scouting probe as he goes for 2 quick gas.

Squirtle sees multiple SCVs coming out and now has an idea of what's going on. Little skirmishes happen under Squirtle's ramp and he loses a small amount of probes in the battle. MVP tries to build a bunker near the Protoss' production facilities which is stopped at the last possible second. Squirtle successfully destroys the Bunker that nearly finished and also pushes MVP back.

Squirtle sees the proxy Barracks and sent his Gateway units to attack it. He loses his units to a pincer attack by Marines and he gets pushed back to his base. MVP calls on all his SCVs and leaves MULEs to mine. MVP now has a significant Marine count backed up by SCVs. Absolute chaos engulfs Squirtle's base as both players micro their heart out to eke out an advantage. MVP successfully completes a Bunker besides the Protoss' production facilities. A probe ravages the Terran's mineral line but things are looking bleak for Squirtle as Marines continue to fortify the Bunker on his base. With everything coming out of the Gateway dying instantaneously to camped Marines, Squirtle is forced to forfeit the game as all his buildings fall including his Nexus.

Reaction:
MVP has balls of steel and a brain of a genius. He was decided on which build to use for this map which required guts to pull off. It was brilliant as well as the map was a favored map for his opponent. He was about to fail with his all-in, but Squirtle dropped the ball when he decided to attack the Barracks in the middle of the map without knowing where MVP's units are, which ultimately pincered his units causing most of them to die.

Congratulations to MVP as he secured his fourth title and wins 4-3. Squirtle came an inch close from stealing the trophy away from him but he didn't back down from the challenge.

"There are things in life that you deserve, but it won't just be handed down to you. Sometimes, you have to take it for yourself."

- Coach Carter

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