Trying different things

KT_Flash and (P)

SKT_Rain. As Kespa players switched to StarCraft II, no player's arrival was more more anticipated than Flash's. As the undisputed best BW player, many looked to him to dominate, thereby proving the elephant theory true. However, shortly after the big migration commenced, it was not Flash but Rain who took the throne as king elephant. Immediately after the switch Rain began to dominate Proleague and then took the StarCraft world by storm by simultaneously going far in GSL, OSL, and WCS. To this day, Rain is arguably the most successful Kespa StarCraft II player. Flash, not to be outdone, has been improving at both a quick and steady pace. At the time this game was played, Flash had just placed second at the MLG Winter Championships and was riding on a tidal wave of hype. Flash and Rain would meet in an ace match in the first Proleague match of HotS, possibly one of the most anticipated ace matches of the season.

Flash, though not unfamiliar with cheese plays (especially at the beginning of his StarCraft II career), is mostly known for his standard macro play in TvP. His trademark style is relies on consistent pressure followed up by a timing attack, usually one that attempts to hit right as the Protoss player is in the middle of a tech switch. To this effect, his favorite opening is the 14CC, which he uses to gain an economic advantage, ensuring that his timings are always slightly stronger than what his Protoss opponents are used to. Unlike his Terran brethren, he does not focus on drops in the match-up, preferring instead to use them as mere threats so he can safe troops in preparation for his timings.

Rain's PvT, on the other hand, is perhaps the definition of solid macro play. Though Rain won't repeat builds as much as say Creator, a large majority of his openings will transition into some form of strong macro play. Rain will almost never all-in an opponent early in the game and you can be sure that all his builds are crisp and perfectly optimized. In short, he is the Protoss to copy. That being said, HotS has thrown many Protoss builds out the window, so he'll have to come up with a completely new set for the new expansion.

HotS</div></div>
<a name="1.1"></a><div class="h1left"><h1>Early Game</h1></div>
<div class="section">Both players went for their trademark openings, with Flash going 14CC against Rain's safe msc 1gate FE. While Flash's 3rax bio follow-up was very standard, Rain showed immediately how deeply HotS changed Protoss builds, going for a stargate and then a robo off a single gate, making only one sentry, one stalker and the msc for defense.

<div class="l_block clearfix"><h5>Protoss Build Order</h5>9 pylon
13 gate
14 gas (3 probes)
16 pylon
18 core
19 gas (3 probes)
21 warpgate
21 msc, cut probes
23 nexus
23 pylon
23 sentry, resume probes
28 stargte
29 stalker
33 robo
36 oracle
41 pylon

<h5>Notes</h5>Warp in a sentry as gas allows
Robo units: obs 3x, colossi
Natural gasses: 6.45, 6.50
Support Bay: 7.50
2 Extra Gates: 7.55
Double Forge: 8.40</div>

Flash opens with his favourite build

Rain's particular variation on Stargate play and specifically oracle usage is very different from what others have shown so far. Oracles are commonly used in PvT as a surprise unit, often proxied. Protoss players try to catch their opponents offguard or out of position and gain an insurmuntable worker lead in the early game, or use their exceptional dps in all-in busts, killing scv's and marines.

Rain on the other hand is the first protoss to use them it a light harassment unit in the early game, while showing how to make great usage of their abilities in the mid and lategame, for both drop defense and map awareness. Indeed, when the stargate completed Rain made just a single oracle, planning to harass scv's and scout Flash's build and timings while teching to a standard midgame composition behind the harassment.

As soon as the Oracle moved out Rain hallucinated a phoenix and used it to scout Flash's base. This achieves two goals: it checks how much defense is present at different locations in the Terran base (burrowed widow mines in particular), allowing Rain to choose the best location to harass, and it can potentially draw units out of position, leaving more openings for the real Stargate unit. Note that the hallucinated unit was a less threatening phoenix; using a fake oracle instead means that the Terran is more likely to move his marines in both mineral lines. Much like a banshee opening, this kind of stargate play still needs to do some damage to put the Protoss ahead, but it's by no means a cheesy or all-in strategy.

Just like a banshee

Rain's plan worked out very well, and he was able to kill 6 scv's while going up to 3gates, colossus tech and double forge. As is common in HotS early game, Rain cut a very high amount of units to set up his infrastructure, thanks to a combination of inherent safety provided by the msc, a probe scout being always present in front of Flash's base, and familiarty with Flash's style. Indeed, at the 8 minute mark he still only had 3 gateway units.</div>
<a name="1.2"></a><div class="h1left"><h1>Mid Game</h></div>
<div class="section">Rain kept using his one oracle extremely well throughout the midgame, and as Flash moved out with his medivac timing the oracle immediately went for the mineral line again, killing 4 marines and more scv's, while the first colossus completed. As a result, by the time Flash was across the map his army was incredibly small compared to Rain's and in no position to do any damage.

Flash's first timing is severly weakened

The double forge midgame is arguably the most popular PvT build currently, thanks to the HotS changes. Because Protoss players are forced to delay the third base a lot longer, they need to find alternative ways to set up a strong lategame, and investing heavily into upgrades is one of the best ways to do so. Additionally, the added defensive capabilities of the mothership core make it easier to defend when doing greedy builds.

Rain's particular variation on the double forge build in this game was designed to hold Flash's 3base pushes. Instead of trying to tech switch into storm and opening up a timing for the Terran to hit, he constantly made colossi (going up to 4 before the first engagement) and only got archons when the gas was available, even delaying his 3/3 to maximize his army strength. Anticipating Flash's timing, he played extremely safely and did everything in his power to stop Flash's attack; the obvious downside of this is that if the Terran instead decides to play passively, taking a 4th and switching into ghost tech, the protoss army will be weaker because of the worse upgrades and very late storm.

The most notable aspect of Rain's play however was his usage of the oracle in the midgame. Instead of using it in his main army or trying to harass further, he kept it active on its own on the map, using the Revelation ability to spot Flash's army. This proved extremely useful, as it prevented a doom drop from landing, spotted a group of vikings and later on allowed him to land a key storm. Also note it positioning: it was kept behind the main along the most common drop route to the main, where it can both spot and even contribute to the defense with its ground attack.

Effective drop defense

As standard, Rain went for blink before charge, to compliment better his Colossus heavy army and have an easier time defending eventual drops when he finally took a third base at the 13 minute mark. Thanks to the Revelation ability showing the location of the medivacs he was even able to move out and push Flash on his side of the map while starting the Nexus.</div>
<a name="1.3"></a><div class="h1left"><h1>Late Game</h1></div>
<div class="section">Flash went for his first push around 175 supply, and Rain geared up to stop it after using the oracle to spot the moveout. He moved his msc closer to his third, positioned his stalkers to poke the bio army and try to snipe a viking or medivac, and more importantly started a fifth colossus, while warping in exclusively zealot/archon. As the engagement happened, Rain's perfect positioning and all the small adjustments in his build payed off: he was left with one colossus barely alive, and a second colossus came back just in time to finally shut down Flash's push. His choice of using two timewarps instead of using a time warp and a nexus cannon was also key; while photon overcharge is very powerful in the early/midgame, later on timewarp is more effective in a straight up engagement.

Rain's perfect engagement results in a close hold

Flash traded extremely well but was unable to completely break Rain, who came out only slightly behind despite the loss of his tech units: his 3/3 was done and he had a very developed tech tree, but the Protoss army was too small to mount any attack. This was an incredibly close hold, and if Rain had tried to go for Storm any faster he would have lost the game.

A second push failed, and the Terran's position worsened considerably when a risky double drop was sniped by blink stalkers and his fourth got cancelled by a zealot warp-in. Rain was now finally able to move out and control the map.

Two medivacs get sniped while Rain kills a building CC

The finals moves of the game are a trademark of Rain's solid playstyle, utilizing zealot warpins to gain favourable postion on his opponents and punish their mistakes. As a group of chargelots moved to Flash's third, Flash's brief moment of indecision allowed the oracle to land a key revelation, which later resulted in a devastating storm landing on the bio army.

A devastating Storm lands on Flash's revealed army

During the final engagement, Flash's ghost and medivac count wasn't enough to deal with the 5 archons and several templar in the Protoss army, and zealot/archon warp-ins together with a couple of rallied colossi were enough to finally force a gg.

Flash can't stop Rain's gateway army

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<div id="TLStrategyfooter"><em>Brought to you by the TL Strategy Team</em>
Writer: Teoita
Graphics: wo1fwood, Pathy, and
Editors: monk</div></div>

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