The Dark Horse who defies expectations against one of the ladder's best players seeking redemption for his failings in brood war. Will it be inauguration or downpour? This is GSL Open Season Three; this is MC vs Rain!

Previous Reports:
Fruitdealer vs Rainbow
Set One: Delta Quadrant
Set Two: Lost Temple
Set Three: Kulas Ravine
Set Four: Desert Oasis
Set Five: Scrap Station
FoxeR vs NesTea
Set One: Shakuras Plateau
Set Two: Lost Temple
Set Three: Scrap Station
Set Four: Jungle Basin
Set Five:Steppes of War
Set Six: Xel'Naga Caverns
Set Seven: Metalopolis
MC vs Rain
Set One: Delta Quadrant
Set Two: Lost Temple
Set Three: Xel'Naga Caverns

Even this song is longer than game four...

Set Four: Steppes of War

MC spawns in the 7 o'clock position; Rain spawns cross map in the 1 o'clock position. The spawn locations on this map are famously short, so if Rain wants to pull out another aggressive build it may do well here, especially given that the main and natural are both easily cliffed by tanks from the low ground. However, with a short distance it'll be even easier for MC to scout any gosu mindgames, so we're unlikely to see the dominance Rain brought in game three. All in all, a mixed bag for this set.

But even as we ponder what Rain has planned for this set...

...MC has other plans.

MC goes for a gateway rush, with a pylon on 7 and gateway on 8. Not only is it a great use of the map, it's exactly what he needs at this point in the series. After a big loss in a longer game where he was playing right into Rain's plans, he regains the tempo by forcing Rain to follow his game plan and react to him. However, if it doesn't pay off, Rain can tie up the series to make the finals a straight-up best of 3. Also, he scouts the pylon with an scv before the gateway even starts.

Follow that probe!

Rain sends out two SCVs to try to kill the probe so that it can't put down any more buildings. In the meantime, he's made a depot and he's getting a barracks at the normal timing. Unfortunately, that means that the first zealot will be out before his first marine.

The micro battle has begun.

The zealot spawns around the same time that the barracks finishes, and Rain surprises everyone by going for a gas, as well as a bunker on one end of his mineral line. He starts a marine and rallies it straight to the bunker as MC queues up a second zealot. Meanwhile, Rain is still microing his SCVs and manages to kill MC's probe before the zealot takes them out. MC is on point and sends over another probe to join the fight.

The bunker is finished, but Rain still has no firepower.

With the bunker zoning the zealot away from the left-hand side of Rain's base, MC begins to harass with his zealot on the right, forcing the SCVs to stop mining and backing off when the marine gets close. A second zealot finishes and joins up with the first, forcing Rain to keep his marine close to the bunker. After two marines are finished, Rain gets a tech lab for his barracks.

The tech lab is a tactical gamble. If he can stall and keep his forces alive, it means that he can get out units that are better suited to dealing with the threat. Reapers can kite infinitely and easily against the zealots, while marauders will be essential if MC goes for stalkers. However, that comes at a price; Rain needs to shut down his production while the tech lab builds, meaning that MC will quickly gain an advantage in units. Rain thinks it's worth it to make that call.

Meanwhile, Rain manages to micro his SCVs enough that he can keep most of them alive, albeit with very red health. A third zealot spawns and goes in to flank the marines before they can get back to the bunker. Rain dodges and manages to catch the zealot with his workers.

Never doubt the micro of TSLRain!

Unfortunately, the SCVs that wrap around are low on health and MC swings in with the other zealots for a raid, trading four SCVs for the zealot. Moments later, another zealot spawns to compensate. Finally the tech lab is finished and Rain can start making units, but he makes a marauder and he has no gas for concussive shells, so it won't be great against the zealots of MC.

MC swoops in for another assault.

The zealots zip back in, prompted by the now functional barracks. After the raid, Rain has lost loads of SCVs and is now down to 5 against MC's 16 probes. Back at home, he's got his cybernetics core up and running and has started warpgate. All this means one thing; it's time for the stalkers to arrive.

This marauder just isn't fast enough to save the SCVs.

A lot of the zealots have traded off now to secure more SCV kills, but Rain has no economy to hold on for much longer. The stalker spawns and using the cover of the last zealots as protection, it snipes Rain's bruised marines and leaves him with a marauder and a handful of marines.

Stalker vs Marauder - whoever wins, he's called MC.

The final battle kicks off between a badly beaten up marauder and MC's stalker. By now the protoss is ahead in every way and he has more units on the way to finish off the last of Rain's economy. Rain salvages his bunker in order to start a new marauder, but his first one is losing the battle. MC secures the kill, and with it, the game.

GG! MC 3-1 Rain!

And it's back to dominance on the back of excellent micro and strategy. MC put on the pressure from the start and denied Rain the breathing room to get up any solution to the aggression. Rain lost the momentum from his first in in the series, so he has an even steeper hill to climb if he wants to take the tournament, because MC is now on championship point. Can Rain recapture the glory of game three or will MC close out the series with the style that he brings to everything he does? To Be Continued...