Battle Report: The Strike-Back

GSL Open Season 1: Grand Finals
Fruitdealer vs HopeTorture

Preface:

The first GSL Open Season was hallmarked by the story of Fruitdealer, who overcame the difficulties that zerg players at the time had been having to make it to the finals. There he fought against HopeTorture, formerly InToTheRainbow, in a climactic best of seven to determine the first GSL champion of Starcraft 2. This series of battle reports will look back on the first true championship finals of Starcraft 2.

Previous Reports:
Set One: Delta Quadrant
Set Two: Lost Temple
Set Three: Kulas Ravine

Fruitdealer leads 3-0, but Rainbow will keep fighting until his last breath...

Set Four: Desert Oasis

Fruitdealer spawns at the 7 o'clock position; Rainbow in the 1 o'clock. The maps which favour Terran the most have gone now, and Rainbow is at a deficit. If he wants to win, he needs to dig in his heels here and make a comeback. With a long rush distance by ground and close bases by air, the map favours Rainbow's drop-heavy style, but at the same time he looks to be at the mercy of mutalisks.

Rainbow opts for a barracks at his ramp with no gas. His opponent goes for a hatch first after checking meticulously for any proxies. With no gas up and only one barracks, it becomes clear that Rainbow is going for a 1 rax expand, but Fruitdealer has a drone in position to block the command centre from going down. After some back and forth with his SCVs, Rainbow gets the expansion started at his natural.

Rainbow begins with a gambit.

Rainbow walls his natural choke with a barracks and tech lab as both players take gas and build up their economies. Rainbow takes two more barracks at his natural, while Fruitdealer uses his gas to get zergling speed and chase out Rainbow's SCV scout. As soon as the worker is gone, Fruitdealer begins working on a fast lair.

No intel for you, Mr SCV!

As Fruitdealer spreads creep to connect his bases, Rainbow gets a pair of reactors and researching stimpack, preparing a small marine force at his natural. With his army building up, it looks as though he is looking to push soon.

The first members of a marine army gather in Rainbow's base.

Fruitdealer, as if by magic, immediately throws down a baneling nest in his main base. Rainbow is preparing to counter quick mutalisks flawlessly, but Fruitdealer is already sidestepping the korean Terran's plans.

Either Fruitdealer plays with maphacks or he's a serious badass.

Not satisfied with using banelings and creep spread to counter the marine push, Fruitdealer spews creep out of an overlord on the far right side of the map and builds an infestation pit under it, where Rainbow won't be likely to find it.

There's only one thing scarier than infestors; secret infestors.

Rainbow pushes out with his small marine force, killing a handful of overeager zerglings and pushing on to Fruitdealer's side of the map. Fruitdealer, however, is ready, and banelings are already morphing in at his base.

The marines push out, unaware of the horrors that await them.

The marines arrive at the natural of Fruitdealer and begin assaulting the base, taking advantage of the fact that spine crawlers are not yet morphed to bring some pain down on Rainbow's opponent. However, before they have a chance to really damage Fruitdealer's economy, a wave of banelings finishing morphing and liquidates the marine squadron.

Fruitdealer utilising high level "rally" micro.

The attack is completely shut down, but Rainbow isn't finished yet. He adapts, throwing down a starport and constructing a thor from a factory at his natural. Fruitdealer, pleased by his temporary advantage, sends out a drone to acquire the rich mineral expansion.

Fruitdealer; aficionado of gold bases.

Fruitdealer sends his zerglings out to take centre map control as he throws down a Hydralisk den and morphs in 10 infestors. His terran rival begins a transition in to a mechanical army as he starts churning out siege tanks.

For once, Rainbow is one step ahead. Fruitdealer's hydras won't stand up to heavy tank fire.

Rainbow pulls his mechanical army out on to the map, posturing at the watchtower. Meanwhile, Fruitdealer is working on overlord speed and rallying together an army of hydra, infestor, zergling. He starts work on the overlord drop upgrade as Rainbow builds an expansion at the rich mineral location behind his entrenched position at the watchtower. But Fruitdealer's forgotten something...

An immense drop by Rainbow!

With no mutalisks to shut him down, Rainbow enters his element, landing a massive drop in the back of fruitdealer's main. Infestors come in to shut the drop down, fungalling the marines and deploying infested terrans, but due to mismanagement, Fruitdealer loses a pair of infestors. The drop is shut down, but at the cost of a number of drones.

With his distraction at work, Rainbow storms in to the centre of the map with his tank-heavy army. Desperate attempts using fungal to slow the push by Fruitdealer delay the attack, but don't dent the powerful force moving across the map.

As he arrives at Fruitdealer's creep, Rainbow engages a Hydralisk squadron.

Despite small skirmishing forces attacking, Rainbow manages to set up a strong position just outside of Fruitdealer's realm of influence. Sending another drop in to Fruitdealer's main, Rainbow hopes to force back the zerg swarm.

With tank support from below, the marines scale the cliffs.

Fruitdealer is ready, however, and with a clutch fungal growth from the low ground, he shuts down the drop and maintains his position on the map. Rainbow retreats the marines to his forward position and in the mean time begins pulling reinforcements across the map to join his main army. Fruitdealer takes the opportunity to grab a hidden expansion at the top of the map.

The gauntlet is thrown; Fruitdealer prepares to besiege the terran main.

Fruitdealer; unwilling to wait for the mechanical army to slowly move in and attack him, sends a mass of overlords towards Rainbow's main, filled with zerglings. With Rainbow's army in the centre of the map, there is nothing to defend the main. Rainbow attempts to push in to the gold with a small bio force, but a handful of quick fungals from Fruitdealer's infestors kill the attack immediately.

The drop of Fruitdealer arrives at Rainbow's base and begins causing havoc. SCVs flee to the natural expansion and the command centre is forced to lift, but zerglings tear apart the base and begin flowing in to the natural where Rainbow's production is waiting, undefended. In the chaos, Fruitdealer uses another overlord to drop banelings on the tanks at Rainbow's forward position.

Death rains from the skies...

At this point, Rainbow has no hope other than crushing Fruitdealer in a direct push. There's no going back, and he begins his assault on Fruitdealer's gold base. Fruitdealer, confident and ready to close out the series, pushes in to Rainbow with his army. However, digging in his heels, Rainbow repels the hydralisk force and is able to keep his hopes alive.

The turning point; fleeing hydras are shelled by Rainbow's tanks.

Rainbow calls down a flotilla of MULEs to repair his mechanical forces and obliterates the rich mineral expansion of Fruitdealer. Drones disperse in to the wilderness, heading off to the hidden base of Fruitdealer. As Rainbow repositions just outside the natural, things aren't going so well back at home; his production is being torn apart by zerglings.

A handful of units attempt to keep the production alive.

While Rainbow begins to gather a small amount of units back at his production, Fruitdealer prepares for the prospect of an elimination race, building an enormous number of spine crawlers at his hidden base.

"Spine City" as Artosis dubbed it.

Rainbow, now stationed at the natural choke of Fruitdealer, begins lifting marines in to the zerg player's main base, preparing for an assault on the Lair. Fruitdealer, not yet willing to surrender the position, launches off another zergling attack, dropping on the marines with banelings.

Fruitdealer tries yet again to destroy the army of Rainbow.

With Thor support and heavy tank fire on the zerglings, Rainbow once again holds the push. Fruitdealer can feel how close Rainbow is getting to him now and sends out drones in overlords to acquire both island expansions. Rainbow finally enters the natural expansion of his zerg opponent, with a stream of units flowing across the map from auxiliary production at his gold base. Suddenly, another massive ling attack by Fruitdealer assaults the mech-ball.

Zerglings everywhere; is this the end for Rainbow?

Just in the nick of time, the cavalry arrives in the form of reinforcing marines, which clean up the zerglings and help to destroy Fruitdealer's natural. The terran army mobilises and enters the main base, setting up and shelling the exposed tech structures.

Fruitdealer's main base is under siege.

Fruitdealer enters emergency evacuation mode, scooping up drones in his overlords and flying them out to his expansions across the map. His infestors attempt to fungal the forces of Rainbow, but heavy firepower from the tanks finishes them off, leaving Fruitdealer with just a handful of troops across the map.

Nowhere is safe! Rainbow drops the islands.

Despite the crisis, Fruitdealer manages to stablise. Rebuilding tech structures at his hidden base, he prevents an expansion attempt by Rainbow and shuts down a small force as it attempts to move towards his last hatchery.

He may have beaten the terran force, but now Rainbow knows his location.

Fruitdealer makes one last ditch attempt to stay in the game, moving across the map with an army of Hydras. However, they get intercepted as Rainbow pulls all of his forces to assault the last hatchery of Fruitdealer. With nothing left to defend him, Fruitdealer GGs.

Fruitdealer 3-1 Rainbow.

Finally, Rainbow manages to find a chip in the armour of what seemed like an unbeatable opponent. Now he has a win under his belt and renewed vigour. Everything is set for him to begin what could be the greatest comeback of all time. Whilst it looked as if Fruitdealer was going to destroy him in the middle of the map, Rainbow managed to pull back, and with the momentum of this victory behind him, it's time to see if the strike-back can truly begin...

To be continued...

Battle Report: The Strike-Back

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