CSL Preseason Showmatch Recaps!

Gearing up for the Azubu Collegiate Championships starting this weekend, the CSL brought you two days of pregame action last week, pitting the University of North Texas against UT Arlington on day one, and UC San Diego against UC Irvine on day two. Weren't there to see the action? Fear not, for your wordsmiths of recapping, Chris Bizzell and Ian O'Connor are here to help you get hyped for what is in store this coming season!

For archived VODs of the event, go here: http://www.twitch.tv/cstarleague/videos

UNT vs UTA

By Chris Bizzell

Game one started out on Ohana with a Protoss vs Terran. Vogue chose to create a fast expansion while Renewal decided to go with a more aggressive build. Renewal attempted to put on some bunker pressure, but Vogue was able to shut that down with relative ease. Feeling a hellion drop incoming, Vogue placed a pylon below his base to spot for such an occurrence.

Even though the drop was spotted, renewal managed to sneak in another way and kill off a total of 10 probes. After a failed at a zealot drop himself, Vogue was soon met with a very powerful two base 1/1/1 push. Patiently waiting for charge and a few other colossi to finish, Vogue pulled his units as far into his natural expansion as he could get. After building up the correct army to shut down the push, Vogue pounced and crushed renewal’s army.

Slowly, Vogue was able to get further and further ahead with a combination of zealot and Dark Templar harassment until he finally pushed with his main army and crush renewal’s third base. Upon realizing how terribly his infrastructure was destroyed, Renewal made a last ditch effort at a counter-attack. However, Vogue had already rebuilt his army and easily crushed Renewal’s army, giving UNT a 1-0 lead.

Game two was a Zerg vs Zerg on Daybreak. Both started out with a very standard hatchery at 15 drones into a spawning pool shortly after. However, Sonata took a much earlier gas than Skippitydoo, giving him a much quicker speed boost to his zerglings and baneling nest. After both players had droned up for quite a while, Skippitydoo finally chose his tech path of the spire. Soon afterward, Sonata threw down his infestation pit while pressuring Skippitydoo’s third base with zerglings and banelings. This caused Skippitydoo’s mutalisks to have to be kept back defending while Sonata prepared for their eventual arrival.

While his mutalisks gave him a great amount of map control, Skippitydoo was unable to do the damage he needed to do with them and eventually fell to Sonata’s push with roaches and infestors. Skippitydoo’s “gg friend” soon gave UNT a 2-0 lead in the series.

In game three UTA pulled out all of the swiss and cheddar they had. The Protoss and Terrran vs Terran and Zerg matchup on Citadel of Gaia Oobios began by cannon rushing the opponent’s Zerg player, Maken. While trying to fend off the rush, UNT’s team lost a far too much mining time and far too many units. UTA’s Terran, Willy, followed his partner’s aggression with a banshee rush. This crippled UNT even more, causing them to be easy bested by a final push by UTA, bringing the score to 2-1 int UNT’s favor.

Game four went by very quickly. In this Protoss vs Terran on Metropolis, Soma went for a very fast expansion while Kitty pulled out a sneaky four gateway blink observer build. In the end, Soma was unable to defend Kitty’s aggression and was forced to “gg”, tying up the series 2-2.
Game five was played between Cwall and Binski on GSL Whirlwind. After they both expanded very quickly, Binksi went for a hellion-banshee build as Cwall tried to go for a very upgrade-heavy, three base style. After crippling cwall’s economy with harassment from both his hellions and his cloaked banshees, Binski went on to play a very standard mech style. Cwall tried to cling on to hope, but with 27 of his workers killed by the end of the game, he was unable to catch back up in workers and still produced enough of an army to hold off Binksi’s maxed mech army as it slowly pushed across the map. Binksi easily took the game and, with it, a 3-2 lead over UTA.

Entombed Valley was the home of the sixth game, a Terran vs Zerg between smaug and Osiris. Much like the fifth game, the Terran went for a hellion-banshee harassment style and the Zerg went for a very queen heavy three base double upgrade build. However, smaug was much more successful with his harassment, killing 65 drones with that alone by the end of the game.

In the end, much like Cwall, fell to his opponents giant mech push as the end, tying up the series 3-3 and sending the series to an ace match.

The final ace match was played between Binksi and Kitty on Cloud Kingdom. Binksi surprised Kitty with a cloaked banshee build, killing eight probes in total, as well as two sentries.

He then transitioned into standard bio play while his opponent went for Templar tech. Binski took a commanding lead as he took out Kitty’s third base when Kitty was out of position and his army was split in half. Binksi hit his EMP’s perfectly in the final engagement, taking out all of the Protoss shields and easily wiping out Kitties army. Soon after Kitty called “gg” with a finally tally of 35 of his workers killed by Binski, giving UNT the win over UTA 4-3.

UCSD vs. UCI

By Ian O'Connor

It’s a battle of the Bear Republic with UC San Diego facing off against UC Irvine in the second of our preseason show matches. Which state will come out the champion of this Southern California showdown?

Game 1: UCSD reverie (Blue Z) vs UCI Hyung (Red Z) [DayBreak]

The game begins with standard Speedling/Baneling openings, but the match starts to kick into high gear when reverie pressue’s Hyung’s third base with an impressive Ling and Baneling army. Hyung holds off the offense with a well-timed round of roaches, but not without sustaining a substantial economic blow. Hyung launches a counter-offensive with his batch of Roaches, but reverie’s newly hatched Mutalisks team well with the Zerglings and Spine Crawlers that UCSD’s Zerg player had defending his base. His base held, reverie harassed Hyung’s economy once more, dealing noticeable damage with his flock of Mutalisks. Hyung attempted to amass an army throughout this constant pressure, but reverie’s harassments bought him enough time to amass a sizeable army of Roaches and Infestors that swept through Hyung’s defenses. Game 1 goes to UCSD!

Game 2: UCSD skit (Red Z) vs UCI monkiSAGA (Blue T) [Whirlwind]

This time around, it was UCI’s turn to keep UCSD on their feet. monkiSAGA took advantage of skit’s early third base by hitting hard with a Hellion/Banshee attack. Making the best of his economic lead, monkiSaga gathered himself a sizeable army of Tanks and Marines to combat the Zerglings, Infestors, and Ultralisks that skit was trying to use to cover the deficit he faced. Though the Ultralisks put an impressive dent in the army of monkiSAGA, the Terran player was able to remass his fighting force and station outside of skit’s base. In a game-changing moment of decision making, monkiSAGA snuck a Ghost into the vicinity of skit’s army. Upon hearing “Nuclear launch detected,” skit’s army found itself moving into a massive tank line. At the end of a well fought battle, UCI found themselves tied in the series, 1-1.

Game 3: UCSD LGTop (Red P) and ShakeSAGA (Red T) vs UCI swagstylo (Blue Z) and MehhT (Blue T) [Citadel of Gaia]

In an uncharacteristically relaxed 2v2, both teams focused mainly on their macro for the beginning and mid-game phases. ShakeSAGA gathered up an impressive Marine/Tank force while his teammate LGTop focused on getting his Robo units out. Through a series of concentrated attacks, UCSD dismantled several bases of the UCI team. Cool under fire, swagstylo and MehhT focused on getting the armies they wanted despite the pressure that was applied to them. With the UCSD players closing in on their central hub, swagstylo’s Brood Lord and Infestor force teamed up with the Viking/Bio team of MehhT to hold off the oncoming assault. For a moment, neither side seemed as if it would give, but the Protoss/Terran combination proved to be too much. UCSD claimed victory in game 3.

Game 4: UCSD Sovereign (Red T) vs UCI POlar (Blue T) [Entombed Valley]

Finding themselves down 2-1, POlar of UCI makes a bold move in this TvT, taking his third base where Sovereign’s fifth base would normally go. Running the risk of being scouted at any moment, POlar did his best to make use of the advantage he now held. As Sovereign built up his Bio/Tank army, POlar put his economic advantage into a massive tank army. UCSD’s red Terran sieged up outside of POlar’s natural, prepared to launch his attack. As the first Medivacs dropped their cargo onto the high-ground cliff, the red Marines found themselves on the wrong end of 15 siege tanks and a handful of Hellions. With the attack held off, POlar made his move down to the base of Sovereign. Carefully pushing with his Siege Tanks and a few Turrets, POlar tied up the series at 2-2.

Game 5: UCSD OneBaseKing (Blue T) vs UCI kokonutz (Red P) [Cloud Kingdom]

kokonutz lays it all on the line in this PvT. A pylon is dropped near the third of OneBaseKing, which is quickly followed by a Robotics Facility and a fourth Gateway. OBK finds himself with only a handful of Marines and his SCVs as a couple of Stalkers are dropped directly into his main base. Through a series of successful multitasking decisions, OneBaseKing finds himself in a fairly sound position against the aggressive Protoss player. With this last of his wave cleaned out, kokonutz resigned, leaving UCSD up 3-2.

Game 6: UCSD JomboZeus (Blue T) vs UCI KarneEspada (Red Z) [Ohana Means Family]

Pressure on the third was the name of the game once more in this game. JomboZeus managed to find a sweet spot outside of the vision of the building Hatchery, dropping a Bunker and loading Marines in to deal significant damage to the structure. Once the Bunker had been dealt with, KarneEspada found himself pulling drones to escape the incoming Hellions. A Zergling and Baneling force gets the better of a large pack of the Hellions, and KarneEspada finds himself safe for the moment. The red Zerg player begins his tech toward Infestor, and UCSD’s Terran player finds himself prepared to launch another assault. Having sent in his remaining Hellions to draw KarneEspada’s defense away, JomboZeus drops the third with a pack of Marines. Stimming in, the Marines make short work of several Drones, and Extractor, and begin dealing chunks of damage to the previously hurt Hatchery. Soon realizing the position he was in, KarneEspada’s defenses return to ward off the drop. Infestors hatch in KarneEspada’s main base, ready to defend against the incoming wave of Bio and Tanks that JomboZeus has sent to follow up his harassment. Despite an admirably placed Fungal Growth, the Terran forces are just too much to handle. UC San Diego clinches the series, 4-2.

Remember, Round 1 of the Azubu Collegiate Champions begins THIS WEEK, November 3-4. Check back during the week for more information here on Teamliquid.net and at cstarleague.com!

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