BWMN Forever

Well it's been a long time since 2006 ended, bwm has been a warzone of conflicting ideas as to what kind of map should represent Broodwarmaps.net as the map(s) of the year. Now these maps are not necessarily the best of bwm from 2006, but they are certainly good maps which represent the hard work of bwm, maps which have recieved popularity already in the starcraft community.

I'm sorry if these maps don't reflect your choice, we had to go both by the votes and by our comments, trying to pick a map that had something different in it without ruining gameplay, hopefully we made good decisions.

For the Four Player Map of the Year of Broodwarmaps.net, the votes decided Nazca!

GRC-Deathlink, also known as DeA[Light], made quite a commotion when he uploaded this map. It was almost unanimously voted motw. What's so nice about this map? First off it's different from everyother map in that the middle is highground the mains/nat/mineral only are all lowground. The map has a nice flow with three large ramps coming from the lowground into the highground, wheras in many maps with low mains it is considered p>t, DeA tries to correct this with three large ramps after the nat.
The map's thread
The map itself
Obs for the map

For the Two Player Map of the Year of Broodwarmaps.net, there wasn't much feedback, so a choice had to made for a map that no one had said anything bad about. Another previous MOTW, Undying Lands!

Longtime member NastyMarine posted this unorthodox map and recieved MOTW. Undying Lands features a nat you could take within your main if you were to ommit gas. This nat also forms a wall, there are some extra blocks which keep you from leaving your main, you have to mine out atleast one 32 mineral block to leave. Once you get into your nat there's a large cliff to the side which you can use for all sorts of flanking. At the edge of your main is an expo which could be used to rain hell on you, then in the middle of the map on either sides of the small river are nice open plains for war. Offering something new while not being so radical, Undying Lands takes a place in bwm's 2006 MOTY.
The map's thread
The map itself
Obs version for the map

An unargued position, a revolutionary map, one which claimed the first MOTW in this year, Experimental Map of the Year goes to Avatar!
LostTampon probably made more noise with this map than the other two maps combined; he unleashed upon the bwm mapping world the concept of spells in maps, in the already nice and different map which features a gasless nat and another nat with gas which is walled in by neutrals he uses permamently placed disruption webs! It's pretty hard to fully imagine all the strategic possibilities of having spells in maps, this map gave mappers here a nice jolt into the future of mapping.
The map's revolutionary thread
The revolutionary map itself
The revolutionary map's obs version

Congratulations to DeA, NastyMarine, and LostTampon for their achievements in mapping, worthy of being called Maps of the Year! We hope the rest of the starcraft community can appreciate these maps we reveal to them!

This took forever to post, it was literally months into 2007 before it was posted because the map that actually won the popular vote had horrible gameplay, and was voted on by a collection of people who are hated by everyone else on the site and don't really contribute to the site except to complain about everything. The two player map was hard to choose. There wasn't really an outstanding map for either the four player map or two player map, but Nasty pushed to just get the competition over with, and post his map and nazca. I personally didn't care for Nazca too much, but felt it was a good candidate anyway because it was better than the shithole of a map that won the popular vote (albeit voted on not by active/participant mappers/members), and because the gaming community already knew it well, it was in Avaton, wgt, and iccup. Avatar was the obvious choice for the experimental map. Avatar was just simply brilliant. Strategically it really makes players think. It offers different but fairly basic gameplay, and is conceptually very unique. I don't really like Undying Lands, but I didn't really like any other map in particular at all for that. There was basically no activity in the thread about (2)moty anyway.

By NastyMarine

A very historical competition for BroodWarMaps.net ends today. Our first Map of the Month has ended with (2)Angband 3600 ft. 1.2 by our very own Nightmarjoo!

The concept of the map complicates gameplay in relation to most maps here at BWMN. With the only passage to each main being very small (approximately two grids wide), it makes players lean towards using island based play to fight their opponents which brings a different type of play out of players. The expos are very interesting as well. Many of the mineral lines are spread so that some of the gas nodes are unavailable until one or more minerals are mined out completely changing player's availability to gas dependent units.

This is very nice for him as it is his first map he has ever had in the spotlight here at BWMN. Congratulations to you!

Map thread

Map Download

Observer Version

Every month, when a MOTM has been made, we will also be posting the closest map to winning. (2)Jericho by LostTampon deserves just as much spotlight. It too promotes island gameplay in it's own way. It's set-up is simple without the use of spell sprites. The map's horizontal position's is it's best feature experimental wise, allowing intense micro battles but still the dwebs allow the time to expo and spread to other parts of the map - simply unique.

Map thread

Map Download

Again Congratulations to Nightmarjoo with grabbing the first MotM here ever.

It was interesting that both maps ended up being semi island maps. Jericho and Angband 3600ft 1.2 were both played in Avaton, and both had decent replays from it. The vote was really close in this competition, it literally came down to NastyMarine to make the decision on which map was the winner. Jericho plays more closely like normal semi island maps I think. My map was setup to play either like an island map or a ground map, similarly to arkanoid I guess, with heavy elements favouring more island play. The map was one of my better ones at that time, if not my best. I think it's not terrible, but just too complicated and messy. It could use editing, but I don't really see the point in working on it, since few people actually liked it, and it's an island map which no one will play anyway. In my opinion now, Jericho was the better choice, over Angband 3600 ft. 1.2.

A second successful run at the Map of the Month, and with a conclusion to the school year and a portal into the next summer, I give you our Map of the Month second winner, by old time member and mapper, flothefreak, Dreamcatcher!
So what makes this map a good motm winner? First of all it features the excellent execution only a long time mapper like flo can accomplish in a map. With a 10 mineral main and 8 mineral nat, you'd think the map would be some heavy duty macro through and through, except that the rest of the expos are both not immediately right after the nat, they are on the sides, and they also are all fairly vulnerable. Flo gives players a strong stable start, including 2 neutral protoss temples to tighten the nat some, however there are two side entrances to the nat, one blocked by 2000 hp of a neutral, the other by 16 minerals. The 16 mineral one, the easier of the two arguably to get past, goes into the nat, but the other path leads behind the nat into the main. A 700 hp neutral tightens the choke behind the nat, which leads to a clearing which leads to the neutral block and also to the main's choke. This unique main/nat layout will certainly spice up early game tactics as well as make later in the game more interesting. With four of the map's expos being easily cliffed or harassed, and the other two fairly in the open, the map will certainly not be dull to play. Having survived the gauntlet of Gosugamers' Nasty-hosted Avaton, and recieved many of your votes, Dreamcatcher is surely the best choice for this month. Congratulations flothefreak, may you continue to augment bwm's database with your maps for eternity

Spam Dreamcatcher's thread with comments and replays here
Download the map to stare at it, edit and claim as your own, or just to play it here
And if your friends all want to see this gosu map in action, grab the observer version here

Second place for this month's competition goes to a tie between Spiritforge by the old mapper Travin and Arden's pimpage of lnept's map Scopelense.

Spiritforge
Thread
Download

Scopelense
Thread
Download

Apparently observer versions are a thing of the past, currently there exists none for Spiritforge nor for scopelense, perhaps someone wants to ammend this so I can take out this ridiculous statement?

Last but not necessarily least, I want to acknowledge as an honourary mention, Nastymarine's Lexington, which actually recieved the most votes, but is still under construction by Nasty, who hopefully will perfect this almost amazing map for a future competition

Lexington's under-construction thread
Lexington's under-construction map Perhaps download it and edit it to perfection yourself for LazyMarine

So again, congratulations to flothefreak for his one of numerous competition winning accomplishments here at bwm. Here's hoping you'll remain bwm's one and only nazi forever, as no one could ever take your place.

Dreamcatcher was ok I guess. It looked ok in Avaton. I think at a higher level though it would have more awkward gameplay, that the eccentric qualities of the map would end up hurting balance, such as the long main2nat distance. Lexington could've turned out nice if Nasty had ever worked on it, but he never did. This version actually was pretty bad gameplay-wise. The nats were gigantically open, and the rest of the map was tight and unflankable. Spiritforge was interesting, but pretty old, and I dunno how good gameplay could've been on it. Scopelense was just, lol. The "pimped" version was much better than the original, but it still had really weird gameplay.

The year's more than half over already, and we have our third Map of the Month Competition come to a close!
Here we have a relatively new mapper, Testbug, and his map (3)Moon's Tear, aka Metapod! With a record high vote count, this map certainly impressed many mappers here at bwm.


So, what makes Moon's Tear a map worthy of the MOTM title? Although its layout of having a mineral only natural, and expo with gas as backdoor is by no means unique, the rest of the expo layout certainly is. The map features a very wide middle to compensate for the turtletasticness of having a nat and backdoor. Having the nat have no gas further hurts turtling, making the map less macroish. The middle boasts neutral blocked expos with gas, making the middle useful and creating hotspots between the players, but since the neutral is so hp heavy, it will take a while to open the expo for use, again keeping down the macro tendencies. A little ways behind these center expos are important islands also between the players. These islands feature two geysers, making them important places to fight over, as two geysers can easily turn the tide in a game. With important key locations to fight over all over the map, and boasting of the great decoration styles Testbug is known for, the Moon must be crying in joy for having this map MOTM. Congratulations, Testbug!
The map's comment thread, where you can spam comments or upload and download replays, is here
Download the map here and the obs version here

The second place, runner up map, is Mirage II by flothefreak, which features a unique attempt at balancing island maps, involving a neutral dark templar!
This map's original version won MOTW a long time ago (in a galaxy far far away), so this is definitely worth checking out.

Comment Thread
Map Download
Observer Version

And the third place, honourable mention map, is Aiko[11]Blue's Triceratops, which has a very unique but balance-questionable layout.

Comment Thread
Map
Obs

So congratulations, Testbug, and better luck next time flo.

Moon Tear in comparison is one of Testbug's weakest maps, but it was still nice at the time. I don't think gameplay will work out as nicely as I said it would. I think it's basically a turtle/macro map. The islands help counter this, but eh I dunno. Triceratops was some crazy mapdori map by a one-time-poster. Mirage II was kind of messy, and its original version was a horrible attempt at balancing air maps. You basically had no minerals the whole game, and like 3k gas -_- 2gate sairs was ridiculous zvp. Mirage II experimented with a neutral dt first, and replaced that with these neutral mines. I haven't the faintest clue as to why, but whatever.

By NastyMarine
I'm only going to indulge you fellow BWMNers with short summaries of the next three maps that i am presenting to you all.

I'll start off with MOTM 7 with (2)Silver Flush by Crackling, Testbug, and flothefreak! Now this map still has a few ramp blends that need to be addressed but never the less, the map does play nicely and those blends do not affect gameplay.

The map not only has a great and fun layout, but it is executed with great precision. The concept is 'peaks of baekduish' and 'Fantasy-like' which is complex to the eye at first but easily learned. Congratulations to Crackling, Testbug, flothefreak for making a great map for the community.

Thread
Map
Obs

MOTM 8 is taken again but the co-author of (2)IronFlush, Testbug, with (3)EndlessFields. This map is definently awesome by concept and execution which is something many of us are happy see at BWMN.

Map

Although the tile blends are not all perfect, I wouldn't expect them to be with a concept and design like this. The layout is very nice though fairly basic; almost longinus like besides the backdoor at the nats and different natural elevations. Congratz to Testbug on another MOTM!

MOTM 9 is a sexy island map ProTosS4EveR named (4)Erebos. The execution is magnificent and the flow is very nice as well as far as ground units go on this map.

The map features 4 creep colonies where Zergs can use the creep to expand/move it's forces (the nydus canal). The rest of the map is very basic and would fit well into any four player map. Great expansion placement and terrain variety in this map as well. Congratulations to ProTosS4EveR!

Thread
Map
Obs


The reason I didn't post this motm, and why three were posted all at once, was because of a couple reasons. First, Silver Flush is seriously a joke of a map. You can read my big thread analyzing why I think it's so bad in the map's thread. It seriously just has BAD gameplay, and I was very very against posting the map as MOTM. Erebos got 0 games, 0 testing. It was just a pretty map. Erebos was just a huge macro island map probably with horrible balance and awful gameplay, but who knows since no one played it. Endless Fields was almost the same thing, but it was atleast interesting. It's kind of awkward in a lot of places though, but it was playable.

Here's the Map Of The Month for October!

That screenshot was taken at 3:26 pm EST November 3rd 2007. There is a tie between (3)Paranoid Android and (2)Sound Barrier. Now, people could change their votes to any outcome, but I think the two maps would remain pretty close in vote. There were a lot of maps this motm, so I don't think it'll hurt to post 4 maps instead of 2 or 3 or whatever

In no particular order, flothefreak's remake of Radix's Sound Barrier, and Testbug's Paranoid Android for three players are our first place-tied maps!

Here is our own fuhrer's great execution of Radix's concept, Sound Barrier! This map is quite unique in its approach to a 2 player map. In the center of this map lies an 'S' of neutral buildings dividing the two players from one another. This 'S' is mostly made up of 2000 hp PsiDisruptors, with two power generators in the center of the 'S', and in 4 other locations a single power generator. These power generators complete the wall, but are easily removed. At a first glance, this map might look like it will play like an island map at first, just like Arkanoid. I assure you, the map is no more an island map than my mother is! The power generators will fall easily allowing for any kind of early game strategy you can think of, and the psi disruptors will fall not long after (if players choose to open them). The 'S' tightens the middle considerably, but the rest of the map is quite open, sporting strategically placed chokes as any good map might. There are expos all over the map, ensuring games lasting as long as you need. The map might seem quite macroish at a glance, but inability to scout initially can create a myriad of possibilities strategically to keep players on their toes. In addition to that, a cliff overlooking the nat also can create great harassment opportunities.
This map is definitely worth playing: with its great execution of a unique concept, the map finds itself amidst the other great maps in motw and motm!
Spam its thread here, grab the map here and its observer version here. Congratulations long-time-mapper flo for snagging another Map of The Something win!

Here we have Testbug's Paranoid Android for three players! Testbug is known throughout bwm as the (3)map-maker, he is just, good at making 3 player maps, which is no small feat. Testbug making an epic 3player map which wins motm isn't anything new now, but what is new is how he did it. Who'd have thought to take a well-known two player wcg map, Paranoid Android, and remaking it for three players?
At a first glance, it looks nothing like PA, except that it's twilight! But look closer! Testbug took PA's expo layout and redid it on a larger map for three players. The effect is great: even with the same expo layout, and several of PA's concepts such as the backdoor path from the nat through the min only, the gameplay is completely different. The backdoor should keep players trying to 100% macro their way through this seemingly macro map on their toes. Small bridges provide paths to the other players, just as in PA. Instead of a larger bridge to complement the smaller one, testbug uses a piece of land, ideal for the many battles and skirmishes the map will boast. These bridges create great strategic chokes, and can buy time to make the difference in a game. With PA's expo layout, great execution of a three player map, and testbug's magical decoration, this map is surely worth playing. You know the map must be good when it ties with a map of Flothefreak!
Spam its thread here, grab the map itself here, and add its observer version to your utility belt in this link (bet you thought I'd say "here" again!)

Here's our second place for MOTM, Flothefreak's FrostyFortress! This map at one point was in first place, so you know it's got to be good as well. What kind of map can compete with that of flo and testbug? Another map of flo's!
First time you look at this map, you might wonder, what the hell is so special about this map? It's just another macro map, only on 128x64, with short distances, a very intelligently placed expo layout, great execution and design... oh, that's what's great about it! This map has a macro-map's expo layout, and a micro-map's design all put together. The distances are so short, that you're guaranteed to have a lot of back-and-forth action. It's easy to reinforce your army, but also easy for your enemy to increase his army's size quickly at the same time. Make a mistake, retreat, or be pushed back, and the enemy is at your door step! The distances create a need to micro your army well: every unit can make the difference from winning or losing the battle, and you can't just lose a battle, go home and turtle to max again. Try turtling, and you give your enemy a lot of money. Blindly waste units, and your enemy crosses the map in five seconds to get to you. Once he's near you, your nearby production has him pushed back again. Every skirmish could gain or lose an expo. This map encourages fierce combat with its macro and micro aspect.
The map may not be perfect, but its great and exciting gameplay makes it well worth playing, and well worth the nearly prestigious second place for MOTM!
Spam its thread, download the map and the observer version.



Here is Protoss4ever's Rise of Teosomething! The map features a unique concept with great looks! Similar to the korean map, Nemesis, this map features mains which are in the corners, but not against the edge of the map, they're towards the middle a bit, and with their nats behind them, against the edge of the map where the main might normally be. These nats are much larger than in Nemesis, and have two entrances which don't lead to/from the mains, which are blocked by two neutral xel naga temples each. The expos outside of the main and nat are positioned in the compass directions (NSWE) against the edge of the map. They are between each player, so they are 'neutral' expos, not clearly owned by any one player. This makes them great to fight over, encouraging agressive gameplay instead of boring mass to max and go macro gameplay. You can't just take the expos in your corner, because the map has a neat expo layout. The map's expo layout almost reminds me of Dalhia of Jungle, but the mains are in the corners and the expos in compass directions.
This map looks great, and has a unique concept with decent execution, easily getting this MOTM's third place.
Thread Map Obs Version

(3)pa was bad imo. The concept just doesn't work in a three player map. The map could've been a lot better, but the author was lazy and never worked on it. (2)Sound Barrier is seriously a good map though. It's unique, solid, and plays great from what I've seen. I really like it and think it's strategically very sound. It wins 2 player map of the year. Often, whichever map I like the best gets replays, large comments, and feedback, resulting in it winning. Rise of Teotiuhacan (sp) is really bad gameplaywise. It's just awkward in every possibly way, and racially imbalanced somewhat too. It's just a really pretty map (protoss4ever is very good at decoration), which is why it won. Most bwm mappers vote based on map visuals rather than gameplay.

by Lancet
This MOTM was a race between 3 maps, Seven Sins by Tesbug, Frosty Fortress by Flo and Morris Plains by Nasty. At several times during the voting the switching of votes placed one ahead of the other. These 3 were clearly the top maps and the admins picked MOTM among them. Ladies and gentleman, this is a historic occasion for Broodwarmaps, we present to you our first ever 7 player MOTM, Seven Sins!



Seven Sins is a 128x128 seven player map intended for FFA or team play. It is not intended for 1 vs 1 games as it has the potential for positional imbalances although it is still fun to play then as a challenge. Each position is quite different with unique advantages and vulnerabilities to exploit: high ground mains, low ground mains, in-base nats, nats with two chokes, mains with 2 chokes, island expos, expos with 2 chokes, expos with entrances blocked by neutrals, you name it, and all made with Testbug's characteristic artistic flair. This map was exciting enough to be chosen by the folks of PsiStorm.eu as the map to be played on their "Fun Night". Congratulations testbug, but be careful, winning MOTM can become addictive!

Read the map thread here, obtain the map here.

The second place goes to Frosty Fortress made by Flothefreak.

This map that had already won second place in the past MOTM still has enough "oomph" to put up a fight. As has been remarked before this is a 128x64 map that blends a macro-map expo layout with a micro-map design. Do not be misled by the 6 gas expos and 2 minonlies into thinking you can "take it easy" here, the short main to main distance makes the margin for error very small creating intense battles that test your skill at micromanaging units. There is some concern that the map may have some degree of race imbalance but the map concept and its execution make the second of our top 3.

Read the map thread here, obtain the map here, and obs here.

And last but not least, the third place goes to Morris Plains by Nastymarine.

This beautifully laid out map has low ground mains connected to a high ground gas nat from which two ramps, left and right, lead down to the battlefield. One is a large wide open ramp, which promotes a "ramp-to-ramp" gameplay that will proceed in a diagonal fashion across the wide middle. The other is a small ramp blocked by low-value minerals. The "unblocking" of this smaller ramp has the potential to dramatically change the flow of the battle as a player can gain quick access to the "other" side of the battlefield allowing vertical gameplay or, alternatively, a foe can gain quick access to the opponent's main. The two high-ground side corridors lend themselves to "circle-and -attack-from-the-rear" strategies and also make the expo down from the larger ramp more vulnerable. This map received third place due to some balance concerns but it was the map that at the end received the most votes so it ended clearly as the most popular among our voters.

Read the map thread here, obtain the map here, and obs here.

And that is all. Congratulations Testbug, Flo and Nasty and also thanks to everyone else who participated and voted in this competition!

Seven Sins is weird but interesting. It played reasonably well in the replays I watched, so I didn't make a fuss over it winning, but I didn't post it I personally don't like Morris Plains much. Nastymarine insists it's a solid map and made it a permament map in the Avaton Tournament to replace Nazca, but I've yet to see a single replay. It felt weird and awkward when I played it. It's fairly simple though but conceptually not really interesting or unique. Nasty is one of the most stuborn individuals I know, and we have always had differing mapping opinions. He refuses to listen to "theory crafting" and demands replay proof, and then when you provide such evidence he dismisses it, so his maps are never updated. When I first played Frosty Fortress I really liked it and pushed it a bit. It was like a normal macro map, except the short distances resulted in some real exciting back and forth play. The more I looked into it the more I thought it was probably racially imbalanced at a higher level though, and it would simply not die. Flo posted it in motm a dozen times, and it kept winning like 2nd and 3rd place, so I came to hate the map.

The month and year ends and here we have our 12th MOTM for 2007. This MOTM is a tag-team map, in fact with the very same tag-team as before: Crackling and Testbug. However, the tables are turned for this map, and it is Testbug's very unique map which is given a make-over by Crackling into the solid, playable, and very standard map you see before you now, Shakras!

The map is fairly simple with mains in the corners, regular 9 block main, gas expo nat, min only, then another expo with gas. However the execution of this familiar theme is unique. The mains are on lowground with the nats on highground, something rarely seen in maps like Requiem or Reverse LT. The mineral only is on the main layer of the middle of the map, are large lowground plain which encircles a large highground plateau with ramps for easy mobile-access, like the middle of longinus. The mineral only expo is close to the nat, but is certainly not a "free" expansion site. Past the mineral onlys are highground plateau expos, lead-to by 2 seperate large ramps, one larger than the other.
The smooth expo layout of the map is fairly standard and supportive of the common macro-oriented play. The expo layout favours a push or creeping style expansion, taking one base at a time as you head towards your opponent, but fluidly allows players to pick one expo over another. While perhaps not the most exciting and strategically oriented expo layout ever, it certainly is player-friendly, and makes scouting quite imperative, with expos so easy to "hide" in.
A smooth transition from open to tight exists in this map, with the open not being too large, and the tight not being too constricting. Many chokes and ramps allow for strategic play without disrupting unit movement in any manner. Your armies can easily march around, with players flanking eachother and cornering eachother, without getting lost in space.
With a very for-the-player expo layout, large but not vacuous mains which allow players to comfortably fit their buildings in the space without feeling as though they have to be master architects to fit everything and still have room to breathe but without making the players feel agoraphobic, and a familiar but still unique execution of the map's placement and altitude variation, Crackling and Testbug's Shakras is a great map, well worthy of the title: Map of the Month.
Spam the map's thread here.
Grab the map itself to pwn your pals here, and observe and be observed on the map's observer version here.

Almost all of the votes this month went either toward Shakras, or Ptar's Lost Soul.

This older map of ptar's was one of ptar's early small-big-hit maps. The map itself might be described as being fairly standard and "macroish", but the map's unique size and proportions keep it from being "just another map". The map has a lowground main, standard lowground nat, not far from the nat lies a lowgruond mineral only, and a riskier but with-gas-expo on the map's large middle highground plateau, and farther from the linear action lies a lowground expo with gas.
The expo layout is comfortable and easy to grasp for players. There are a lot of expos, especially for a small, 2 player map, but Ptar counters this with fewer mineral blocks at each expo, and with many blocks modified with lower values. The main features 8 blocks, the other expos have 6 blocks each.
Though the map's size limits it somewhat, the lower monetary value of the expos, and the spread between the map's gas along with a fairly open middle allow players to feel comfortable and not terribly cramped as they try to macro their way through a smaller, more micro oriented map.
Spam its thread here, download it here, and get the obs version here.

The two maps tied for third have relatively few votes each; if you combine the two third place maps' votes the resulting sum is still less than both second and first place maps; in the past we have had some very close third place maps. The maps were Titanwing/Moebius' Orpheus, and flothefreak's Frosty Fortress, a map I am so god-damned tired of seeing it'll drive me insane if I see it again, a map which has failed to get MOTM but managed its way into the top three a fourth of a dozen times, and you can read about it in recent MOTM threads below this one.



Also to note: 2007 is over, Happy New Years Broodwarmaps.net! I hope 2008 brings sc some great maps before sc2 comes out (whenever that may be (cough ghost cough)).
With the holidays ending, I hope the site will see some more activity, it's been a little slow as of late. Hopefully we'll see many new great maps, and a lot of testing of maps by various people. Remember to bring your friends to op bwmn to test maps. I've seen basically no one in the channel through the bot since I started hosting the bot again.

With the year having ended, the 12th MOTM doesn't quite conclude the year, but MOTY does. Please bring your votes to the (2)MOTY, (4)MOTY, and Experimental(E)MOTY. You'll find these competitions near MOTM in the lower right side of the site's page.

...Next time on Newsposts with Nightmarjoo: Nightmarjoo meets the paragraph break! (just kidding -.-).

Happy New Years/2008!
Congratulations to Crackling/Testbug and Ptar.

I don't like Lost Soul at all. I think it has bad gameplay, is likely racially impaired, and could use edits, but ptar is lazy. I liked Shakras a lot. It's kind of awkward feeling in places, but overall I thought it's a solid map. I showed it first to yello-ant for iccup maps, but he didn't like it, and picked Faoi over it, which surprised me a lot.

by Lancet
The year 2007 ended a little while ago and the time has arrived to post the map of the year (MOTY) winners!

With 43 points our mappers have selected the map "Shakras" by the Crackling and Testbug team as (4)MOTY!.

This map is a rather good application of the rotational symetry approach to mapmaking. The map's periphery in essence is made up of a counter clockwise arrangement of a repeating unit made up of a low ground main connected to a high ground nat and a distant hill overlooking the next player's main. The nat and the hill are connected to the adjacent central low-ground by 1 and 2 large ramps, respectively. Interestingly the available gas in the map is present only in these 3 elements (the main, the nat and the hill), while the mineral-only expos are between the nat and the hill. As has been remarked before by Nightmarjoo this expo arrangement favours a "push or creeping style expansion, taking one base at a time as you head towards your opponent". The center of the map is a plateau connected by 8 large ramps to a circle of low lying land that surrounds it allowing for unhindered movements of large amounts of units. All in all the map is "gamer friendly" favoring a "macroish" style of gameplay.

Read the map thread here, obtain the map here, and obs here.

You may also want to check out the map that finished in second place with 35 points, ProTosS4EveR's "Rise of Teotihucan", which features a rather unusual main and nat layout.

Our next category is the (2)MOTY, which is won with 35 points by flothefreak's rendition of a map concept by Radix, we are talking about the map "Sound Barrier".

This is a 128x96 map with a total of 8 gas, which would promote a macroish style of gamepaly if it weren't for one particular detail. The salient feature of this map is an "S" shape arrangement of neutral buildings that slithers through the center tightening up the map. One consequence of this is that you will not be able to scout your opponent early in the game creating the first major challenge for players in this map. But not all the neutrals are equal. While most of them are 2000 hp psi disrupters, 4 of them are 800 hp power generators strategically placed next to the nats and in the center of the map. Selective disruption of the generators will create portals for attacking units early in the game so don't think you can safely expo with impunity, this is NOT an island map! As the game progresses, further clearing away of neutrals can change gameplay dramatically as it opens up the center of the map. One last feature worth mentioning is a hill behind the nats that can generate many interesting situations with regards to the possibilities of drops and air to ground attacks. To sum it up, and interesting and challenging map that will promote creative gameplay.

Read the map thread here, obtain the map here, and obs here.

You may also want to check the map that finished second place with 28 points, "Silver Flush" by the Crackling, Tesbug and Flothefreak team. This map features very complex terrain and numerous attacking possibilities.

And finally in the experimental category, the EMOTY with 29 points goes to the map "Mirage II" by Flothefreak.

This map is an air map, but it seeks to address zerg's common complaint that they are weaker on air maps in a very original way. The map provides an in-base gas expo with the starting location blocked by neutral mines. Since zerg has early detection with overlords this means it will have an edge over protoss and terran which will have to build cannons and turrets to be able to detect and clear the mines for expoing. Apart from this feature the low lying ground of the map contains a whopping 10 gas expos with their corresponding minerals, plenty of resources to keep you going for a long time assuming you survive the transitions from high to low ground!

Read the map thread here, obtain the map here, and obs here.

And that is all, congratulations to Crackling, Tesbug, Flo and Radix and thanks to all of you that voted.

Not much to say here. I liked Shakras and Sound Barrier so I pushed them, and they won. I didn't care about the experimental competition, I don't recall there being any map there which I liked so I didn't care about the winner.

By Lancet
Well, he's done it again!

Of the past 7 MOTM Tesbug has won 3 by himself, shared first place with another map in one and won 2 more as part of teams with either Crackling or Crackling and Flo. In this MOTM Testbug's "reign of terror" continues with his map "Odyssey".

This visually stunning map is a 2vs2 player map where each main has access to 2 low ground gas-expo/nats, one with an exit to the high center through a wide ramp and the other being landlocked on sunken ground. The twist is that these two expos are right next to the expos of the adjacent mains with the mineral lines almost "kissing" each other. So while one expo is on the sunken ground the adjoinig expo is on higher ground. The idea is that in 2/3 of the match-ups you will be able to have an expo right next to that of your partner's and be able to support each other without zerg's creep interfering with the warping or building of your partner if he's Protoss or Terran, respectively. If on the other hand the partners end up across from each other, well, shit happens. The gameplay then will be micro oriented as taking a nat will be a risky endeavor although each main has an additional expo in front of it with a mineral block that the players can take once they have air transport capacity plus there are minonlies in the center.

This is not to say that the map is perfect. As of this post it still remains untested and several posters in the map thread have raised concerns about the possible predominance of Terran by virtue of the long range of siege tanks as well as the uneven space of the E/W vs the N/S mains. However, just out of sheer "brilliance" and "sexyness" our mappers have selected it as the winner with 33 points.

Read the map thread here, obtain the map here.

The second place goes to a map that had previosly attained third place in MOTM-10, and was played in one of the Avaton tournaments. It's the map Rise of Teotihuacan by ProTosS4EveR who must have been inspired by the ancient God Quetzalcoatl to make this map as it has all the underpinnings of a place of worship and sacrificial slaughter!



It has what I guess we will call 4 "corner" mains but displaced towards the center which, of course, means shorter main-to-main distances. However, this also leaves a large amount of space behind the main where the gas nat resides easily reachable by a back door and sheltered by the hulk of the main's landmass in front of it. But alas, all is not peaches and cream. This nat area has several vulnerabilities. It is connected to the rest of the map by two lateral chokes on the edges of the mains that are blocked by Xel-Naga temples and in addition to this it has high ground right behind it.

So, although players can still engage in the good old "ramp to ramp" attacks they have the option of destroying a neutral and invading their enemy's nat from the side or dropping behind the nat or both! Adding to this is the fact that the other gas expos in the map are relatively far away from the main's entrances in the N/S/E and W positions between the XelNaga temples on the borders of the map. This assures the map won't just turn into a macro-fest and will give rise to many interesting battles.

Our mappers gave this map 25 points qualifying it for 2nd place.

Read the map thread here. Obtain the map here, and obs here.

And last but most definitely not least and trailing just 3 points behind "The Rise of Teotihuacan" the third place goes to the lavishly decorated map "Hillfire" by our very own Reichfuehrer flothefreak who authored it under the pseudonym "JustGuess". Needless to say the author's name was irrelevant as his mapmaking talents shone right through!

A salient feature of the map like the name indicates is the hill next to the nat. It is connected to the nat by a backdoor and to a gas-expo just off the center of the map by a ramp blocked by a protoss temple. A fight for the control of this very important strategic point can literally set the hill "on fire"! The high-ground center which contains 2 gas expos is surrounded by two dirt-mud semicircle corridors with 1 minonly each as well as 2 low ground to high jungle transitions toward the center on each that can lend themselves to interesting ambush and roundabout gameplay. The corridors connect to the gas expo that leads to the hill next to the nat by two bridges. All in all a map with many interesting strategic possibilities.

Read the map thread here. Obtain the map here, and obs here.


Congratulations to Testbug, ProTosS4EveR and Flo and thanks to all of you that participated and voted in this competition.

There's a reason I didn't post this one either. When I looked into Oddyssey I found it to be quite annoying and awkward. I have no idea if it plays well because I'm not a 2v2 player. It won because it's pretty. Rise of teosomething is bad gameplay-wise, it's just pretty. Hillfire played badly also when I tested it. It's just pretty.

by Lancet
The winner of this MOTM-2/2008 is the Nightmarjoo-Testbug team who score with the elegant map "Faoi" that is also representing us at the ICCUP event.

In this map we see the application of the rotational symetry concept with the repeating unit being a high ground main leading to a low ground nat at the end of a dirt corridor which is connected by two ramps to a high ground center. This corridor with its two ramps is one of the salient strategical features of this map that clearly separate it from your classic "linear" map where you move towards your opponent's base while setting rally points further along the way. Here an army may set on the move up one of the ramps just to find halfway to the opponent's base that the enemy's army has descended down the other ramp and is proceeding to ransack their nat! Scouting this area and even placing sentries here may be crucial when you play this map. Resource wise the map has 8 gas in the mains & nats which means that, at least by land, the third gas for the players is a long way away unless you count the extra two gas in the islands close to the 3 and 9 positions. There is some dispute as to the effect on map balance of these two islands as they are not equidistant from the bases, but they do have a mineral block. Finally there is a minonly between the two ramps but having the central high ground just behind it, it is quite vulnerable. All in all this is a simple but challenging map that was made having fluent gameplay in mind and should generate some fun games.

Read the map thread here, obtain the map here, and obs here.

The second place goes the map "Double Edge" by a mapper that is no stranger to MOTM or even EMOTY for that matter, we are talking about Lost Tampon.

This map is again another example of rotational symmetry with high-ground mains that have two chokes, one leading to the low-ground wide center of the map and another at right angles leading to a low ground gas-nat. The interesting twist here is that this gas-nat is connected to a second gas expo by a small hill with two ramps blocked by minerals (100 and 75 value) and this second gas expo is connected to the center of the map by two bridges. Although the value of the mineral blocks seems too high to make it practical for attacking units to gain access to this small hill by land, it is nevertheless an area that not only can be used for drops but that also can serve to allow (or impede) air access to a hill behind the gas-nat and to the main itself. Because of this it will be probably a good idea for the defending player to clear the minerals to control this vital high ground. Apart from this feature, the wide center, 12 gas and 4 minonlies just outside the mains should favor macro play. This map actually ended one point ahead of Faoi but due to uncertainties about the nature of gameplay (no replays) it ends up in the number two position.

Read the map thread here, obtain the map here.

And the third place goes to the map Scratch 0.93 which is the twentieth map contributed to this database by LML.

This is a 128x96 two-player map with a high ground main and a low ground nat which opens to a dirt corridor that runs parallel to the main to the opposite side of the map. A high ground center joins the ends of the corridor through wide ramps and to the middle through a smaller vertical ramp. This setup allows for a lot of interconnection, you can get to a given place in the map through several routes. Therefore control of the high ground behind a particular ramp will not necessarily block the mobility of your opponent. The central landmass features a very vulnerable gas expo and minonly at the foot of the large ramps plus a small minonly adjacent to the mains. Although both the main and nat are relatively safe and defendable, taking your third gas here will be risky unless you control the area around the expo. However, there are also two corner-island gas expos that can serve this function. This is a pretty straightforward and stylish map that should provide some fun games.

Read the map thread here, obtain the map here.

And that is all, congratulations to Nightmarjoo, Testbug, LostTampon and LML and thanks to the rest of you that participated and voted.

Double edge is kind of weird, I dunno. Scratch was LML's best map, but I thought it could use some more work. It's fairly solid and simple though. I dunno, I liked Faoi a lot initially, but the more I play it the more I don't like it. It might just be that I'm too used to python, and that despite some purposeful similarities, Faoi is dynamically different from python. When you run back and retreat, and go down the ramps which are your only real chokes in the middle, you lose vision because it's lowground, putting your enemy on highground. You're fucked. I started working on inverted Faoi, thinking that that might help it. I don't know if I'll continue it.

Time for the third MOTM for 2008! We've had a good year so far as far as mapping has gone. We've had an influx of new mappers, and our old mappers have been getting better.


Speaking of old mappers getting better, this month's MOTM winner goes to Ptar, who has been around here for a while now. Ptar has certainly come a long way; specializing in smaller maps (smaller than 128x128), most of his maps are either 96x96, 128x96, or 96x128, he has focused on making relatively standard maps into different small layouts for two players.

Visually stylish, conceptually standard, strategically brilliant, overall a unique but comfortable map: I give you Ptar's (2)Square!
This map is fairly standard, but isn't a clone of any map. You have a standard main, then nat, but your nat is also on the highground, giving it defensive properties and advantages. One disadvantage of 2 player maps is direct main2main path, and an often linear feel. The highground nat offsets the direct path somewhat by giving players an easier time defending their nat.
This won't result in turtling gameplay, because the direct path alone encourages more aggressive play, and the third base being fairly easy to take makes it difficult for a player to survive while staying in his nat.
The area just outside the nat is narrow, making contains difficult to setup, and allowing the multiple paths of the map really take in to effect, creating an ease for flanking and for general unit movement, which might otherwise have been hampered by the map's size.

The small map avoids linearity through making use of every inch of the map, which larger maps are often unable to do, and by creating many useful paths. You are not stuck taking one path, you have the option to take other paths, and these paths aren't just there to give a second path, but also exist with its own gas expo, making it important.
Past the nat is your third base, a min only with a large area. The large area just past the min only, on the highground, allows for plenty of room for fighting. The middle itself is not very open, as it is constrained by the map's size, so this min only area creates for additional battlefield space, and creates physical conditions which force the players to think more strategically about their battle decisions (the altitude differences).
Despite the large area past the min only, the area immediately around the mineral only expo is small enough to make it comfortably defensible, but open enough to allow comfortable unit movement and flanking.

In the map's corner, behind the min only area is a small tight gas expo. Its tightness makes it quite defensible, but the very open area in front of it (the area past the min only) makes it more difficult to defend the base, as does the altitude advantage of attackers, and the two viable paths into that large area make turtling a less viable option.

In the map's lowground middle, next to both mains are gas expos. They are critical strategic locations, as they are closer to the player than the corner gas expo, but are the most open expo in the map. Three paths, two being very large and open, lead to this expo. This expo is fundamental to the map, because all of the other expansions can be taken with a single push in a single direction. That expo layout alone is comfortable for most players, but can easily lead to turtletastic, static gameplay. This expo, being outside of that linear push, then helps create a more balanced pathing orientation for the map. It punishes the defensive player, rewards the aggressive player, and makes the alternate paths even more useful and meaningful to the map.

The mains' formations' position, having its back facing the rest of the map, is a fairly nonstandard concept. In most maps, the main formations are incredibly well-protected, giving stability to the map. In this map, the sl's formation is incredibly vulnerable to virtually all forms of harass. On many maps, that feature could lead to instability, but in this map, the general defensive quality of the other expos offsets this, and sustains stability in the map. Specifically, the difficulty of harassing the nat offsets the ease of harassing the main from behind.


I likely sound incredibly incoherent in analyzing this map. The greatest thing about this map is what makes it so difficult to give any final word on. The map simply has strategical balance. It's open here, tight there, but the open place isn't too open, and the tight place isn't too tight, it's a macro map but not a turtle map, it rewards the aggressive player but helps the defensive player, etc. For every feature, there exists an equal and opposite counterfeature in this map. I think Sir Isaac Newton made this map or something -.-

Play the map, I reccomend it. It's a nice and simple map, and allows all forms of standard gameplay. It isn't one thing or another, it's all things, but in a simple and standard form, preventing the concept from being overwhelming.

Spam the map's thread here, download the map here, and there apparently is no obs version currently. Perhaps ptar or another mapper will make an obs version, and I'll update this post to include it.



In a very close second place, I give you the map that was neck and neck with Square for most of the competitiion: LostTampon's (4)Prophecy!

LostTampon is a great mapper who has been around here for a long time now. His brilliance created the 2006 Experimental Map of the Year, (4)Avatar. This map is no exception of LostTampon's mapping genius.

If you've played any popular map in the last eight or so years, you'll know that in most maps, you have a natural expansion just past the main's choke, where the minerals are against a cliff or edge, and are usually pretty out of the way, and defensible by land, however somewhat open to harass by air, or maybe from an overseeing cliff. Well, in this map, you have a standard main with the nat just past the main's choke, but instead of the minerals being out of the way against the edge of the nat, the nat's minerals face the path that leads out of the main, with the gas placed where you might expect the minerals to be.

The unique placement of the nat's minerals forces the nat choke to be larger than usual, which would normally make it less defensible. This also means that a zerg hatchery's creep cannot defend the nat's choke with sunks, not without waiting for the creep to extend all the way, then increasing the creep with an initial creep colony, then creating the defensive sunken colonies with the new creep, which is slow and is not a viable method of defending yourself given a competent opponent for both zvp and zvt, but especially zvt, and even somewhat in zvz. However, LostTampon gets past this difficulty by placing a neutral sunk just past the nat, which creates enough creep to be useful for defense. However, not only does this allow zerg to defend himself, it also allows zerg to offensively use sunks, should the opponent not destroy the creep colony in time.
Minerals close off the choke somewhat, making the large choke manageable. You can remove the minerals if you need, or offensively remove your opponent's minerals to open their choke for attack. If you leave a mineral on the creep, it prevents the creep under it from going away, even if the creep colony is destroyed. This further allows offensive sunking, as well as allows zerg to make a defensive sunk should his opponent manage to kill his neutral creep colony before z has time to use the creep.


The map doesn't stick with just one unique feature, past the nat is a third expo like normal, except the expo is neither a min only or a gas expo. It's a semi island expo. The minerals go from cliff edge to cliff edge, enclosing an area where the geyser is. You can mine the minerals from both in the island and outside of the island, but you must be inside the expo to mine the gas. The expo works as an island, but you can choose to mine just the minerals if you want. A cliff overlooks this expo, allowing easy harass, to offset the short distance from nat to this expo, and the normal defensive properties islands have, also making static defense less effective, in general making the expo more vulnerable, which is manageable because of its close proximity to the nat.

Outside of the main, nat, and the semi island expo, the only other expo in the map is a clump of minerals in the very center. Because of the shape of this clump, and the lack of any singular choke or direction to defend, I don't know how viable an option it is to mine this under normal circumstances, but given the general lack of money (compared to most currently popular maps), it certainly could make the difference in a game.

The map's middle is open and very comfortable to fight in, with the middle being tighter, making it a strategic choke, as well as pushing more fighting to the sides of the middle.

The map is fairly solid, with some "experimental" features, which do effect gameplay. The map probably made it in second place over first place, because of its more different gameplay. However, it isn't terribly different, and is easy to adapt to.

Spam the map's thread here, download the map here, and get the map's obs version here



In last and least place (least place in MOTM is still good of course), we have protoss4ever's Tepolzolan! I say least, but in all honestly, Tepolsomething was actually not that far behind the other two in votes for most of this competition.
Protoss4ever has been around for a fair time, and has had some good contributions to the site, including getting his map Shine into the iccup mappack, and winning 2007's September MOTM.

Visually incredible, conceptually innovative, and easy for gameplay, I give you Protoss4ever's (4)Tepolzan!

The map has a lot of standard features: a standard general layout and fairly standard expo layout. The min only is a little farther from the nat than in a lot of modern maps, but it's still fairly close, and defensible. The nat has a cliff, the min only has a walled-off pit it can be cliffed from, so the map definitely has some features making harass easy. The 4th base is in the top middle, and bottom middle part of the map, and has 2 2500-gas geysers. It is fairly open, and a very strategic feature thanks to its double geysers.

Many maps have rotational symmetry to increase distances, but this map has simple x and y symmetry. It creates fairly direct pathing, especially between vertically opposite bases, however the openness and non-linear expo layout counters this.

The map's middle is very unique: Most maps have a symmetrical middle, or just a big open area, but this map has a non-symmetrical middle, like that of Un'Goro Crater. This creates a more natural feel to the map, and can make battles feel unique as they have to worry about different obstacles and buildability (fuck that's a sweet made-up word).

So what do we have so far? The map has a standard main, nat, and min only. The nat and min only are both cliffable, but that's nothing special. The 12/6 expos have double gas, and by being in between the players makes it a nice neutral expo to fight over, but still nothing terribly unique. The middle is undoubtedly unique and can make gameplay interesting without greatly effecting it. Visually the map is stunning, but these days great visuals is nothing special, given that flothefreak, testbug, protoss4ever, crackling, ptar, and many other active members can create this level of stylish beauty.

So, from just this, the map is good, unique even, but not special right? Wrong! The map's biggest and most unique feature sits in the middle of each main, and only exists for one minute and fifteen seconds! Right below each starting location are ten stacked and way-too-close-to-the-sl (fastest map style) minerals. Most importantly, they are hallucinated! The ten minerals you can mine very quickly for a fast boost in minerals will VANISH after a minute and fifteen seconds! What does this do? It speeds games up! It radically alters timing! The biggest complaint about fastest-style minerals is that there's "no strategy involved", that you just mass and attack: the structure of the map often makes no difference, which removes a lot of strategy, you just make buildings, units and attack. These minerals fucking dissapear, leaving you with 8 100% normal minerals to mine! Imagine what all you can do with that 75 seconds of fastest minerals! You can rush your opponent, you can expo and set yourself up for a longer macro-oriented game, you can pick from a much larger variety of openings, you have a LOT of freedom of what to do! This feature completely changes the gameplay. But once the minerals are gone, the rest of the game will play just the way you would on any other map, only adapting to the different layout, and given a start you give yourself.

Editor's note: In hindsite I (Nightmarjoo) feel that this map deserved first place for MOTM, but I never looked into the map carefully because Crackling never had me play it, until I was writing up this analysis. The map really is unique. The concept mirrors the breakthrough LostTampon gave us with Avatar, with spells in maps.

Spam the map's thread here, download it here, and grab its obs version here




So here we are with three fantastic maps, with the first two being very close in votes, and the third place map being pretty close behind the other two in votes. Crackling's Insomnia wasn't too much behind in fourth place either. We got a lot of votes this motm, showing decent site activity and participation. The maps here really are getting freaking good. Everyone is getting better, the average map quality, concept, and execution has gone up so much. I feel as though we're really coming close to the site's older userbase, where mappers like Starparty, trcc, Antares, Nastymarine, noname, Travin, LGI, Flothefreak and others were constantly making new and outstanding maps. Mappers who might in the past have been laughed out of the thread, Morrow, LML, Lancet, and others, have really gotten better, and are making decent and even good maps. Forum and map comment activity has dropped a lot imo, but the mapping quality has gone up a lot. This site is really doing well, thanks also not just to the great, active, always improving, and often even helpful members and mappers, but to of course Panschk, who despite being fairly inactive still updates the site, improving it, and working on the new site Mapcraft.net for Starcraft II's release. C'mon guys, we don't even have a lot of flaming anymore, applaud eachother and yourselves, for making this site really kickass.

Congratulations to Ptar, LostTampon, and Protoss4ever! And anyone who made it this far reading without having their eyes bug out of their head, fall asleep, have a seizure, etc.

Square is ok, it needed some edits though, but ptar is lazy and never worked on it again. I like tepolzan, but it's still fairly basic and simple. I don't like Prophecy at all. It just feels to me very awkward. Crackling liked the map a lot though. He's B- zerg and a decent mapper.

It's only two months late (which is like early for bwm), but here's April's Map of the Month! With his name on 3 other MOTMs, he's no newbie, Crackling is our MOTM winner, with his map (2)Whoosh!

This map is certainly original, and will give you something most maps can't: unique gameplay (omg!)! The map starts out different than most maps pretty quickly with its almost double nat layout. You have a normal nat on the site of the main, but in front of the main is a backdoor mineral only nat, or rather a front door nat, with its own mineral blocked entrance! This tight entrance is easily blocked off, even once the mineral block has been removed, but you can't and probably won't want, to leave it blocked forever as the game goes to lategame, as its a critical and crucial lead into the secondary map path, allowing players to seize more mobility than the map ostensibly offers!

Off in corners of the map, very close to the nat itself is a 3rd gas expo, easily defended on a wide bridge. The expo is very defensible, given its tightness and close proximity to the nat, ensuring games will last into lategame.

At 12 and 6 o'clock of the map, is another gas expo. This expo is also fairly defensible, it has a wide raised jungle ramp by which the expo can be defended. The expo contrarily to the corner gas expos, is much more spacious, making it more vulnerable to drops and forms of harass. Interestingly also, these two expansions are about the same distance from both players. This means, they basically function like neutral expos. Except for the direction the ramp faces, and perhaps the mineral formation position, nothing distinguishes either expo as "belonging" to a player. The expos then are also reasonably far away. The map's overall spareness of money, on top of easily allowing players into a lategame scenario, allows for intense back and forth action in fighting over these two strategically critical expos.

The map's fairly awkward shape allows for less cohesive gameplay, more random and ergo exciting gameplay. Players won't be as easily able to perfectly predict and counter their opponents, because the shape of the map, the position and size of the paths, and the even path setup allow for players to quickly move around the map. The map's great mobility helps to counter what might otherwise be a big macro-turtle fest, which could arise given the few expos, and relatively easy money the corner base and front-door nat offer. A player will likely have a hard time both turtling or containing their opponent thanks to the easily accessible multiple paths.

With a unique concept, an expo layout similar but critically different expo layout than bluestorm, an interesting structure and path system, and beautiful decoration, Crackling threw together otherwise standard elements to create this work of art here, which recieves a well deserved MOTM award! Congratulations Crackling!

Spam the map's thread here, download the map here, and there doesn't appear to be an obsever version at the moment. Would someone other than me like to make obs version?



In a really close 2nd place, literally with only three points seperating Crackling's map and this map (discounting ptar and crackling's self votes, and old granny in a wheel chair's ostensibly fake vote), comes Testbug's (3)Frostmourne! Testbug, with his name unbelievably on EIGHT MOTMs, is by no means a stranger to this site, however he might a stranger to second place

Testbug strikes again with another incredibly executed three player map! The map is fairly standard and simple, but its absolutely great execution is what separates it from being just another map. The map ostensibly has a bunch of "free" expansions, with there being two mineral only expos just in front of a gas expo, all just in front of the nat itself, and all which to some extent defend eachother. However, the spaciousness of the areas outside of the expos and of the chokes ensures that the expos really won't defend eachother until/unless you have taken and secured them all, which is much easier said than done given the nature of the map.

With the middle being very wide open and mostly buildable, all three races can easily move and weave their armies throughout the map, making the danger of a massive attack very imminent. The relatively high money count of the map only makes massing such large armies easier, with the middle ensuring attacking is easy. We then have here, a map with ostensibly easy money, where it's easy to attack, and turtling is difficult, an oxymoron? Perhaps, but Testbug has pulled it off!

The nearest 3rd base has minerals only, making it worth-while to take due to its close proximity and ability to defend or leap-frog to the other nearby expansions, but makes it not a huge economic boost, and with it being very vulnerable by being in the open, expounded by the nearest unfriendly choke being wider spread than a french prostitute's legs, players will have a hard time turtling in it, making moving on to another expo critical.

Players then have two choices of expansions. More linearly placed is another mineral only, however it again lacks gas, is even more vulnerable from being in the open, is farther from the player's nat, and even has fewer minerals than any other expo in the map. Perhaps easier to push to, the expo only really defends the path to the nat, which the player likely has already maintained secure and defensible, leaving the large choke still posing threats of attacks or counter-attacks.
The other expansion option is the third gas expo. Much more defensible, it sports a nice normal sized ramp for a choke. More importantly, you can defend it from the highground by moving up above the ramp, to finally defend that huge choke, which shouldn't be too much of a feat given you probably have three bases atleast by this point. By building up and massing units here, you could end up leaving the other, tighter path open and/or vulerable, which leads to your nat and min only, and if accessed could be used to flank you. This is fairly unlikely as your nat itself defends this path, but it's still a possible threat you have to consider, else you leave it open for your opponent to exploit.

So then by this point, you have 3gases, your main and nat are probably petering out, where do you go? Thankfully, the map isn't a 2 player map, nor is it linear. The real excitement occurs in this map upon reaching lategame. The map is a three player map, leaving all of those expos I just mentioned open to take, on the other side of the map, equally far from you and your opponent! Strategically once the game reaches lategame, these expos become absolutely critical and pressing to secure and attack, to fight over. You then are left with the choice of, which expo do I take there first!? You could say, obvious choice, the main! But the mains in this map are pretty big, leaving your main and the second main you try to take very vulnerable to any kind of drop. These large mains also facilitate hidden tech or proxies, throughout the game. With the main being a little iffy on security due to its shape and size, you might move on to the nat, but then it's also vulnerable to attack from anything dropped into or produced by the main. The other expos are mineral only, making them strategically less important, with the last expo being that gas expo. The best choice of expo depends on your position and your opponent's, as the mainbase and 3rd gas could both be either the farthest by air and land or the closest, giving the map interesting positional variety.

By lategame in the map, you have a huge selection of options. The expo layout and its strategical nature keeps gameplay exciting, the middle being buildable and so large, allows players to mobilize and position their armies again and again, allowing fighting to be very back and forth, with whoever can position their army the best likely being the victor.

The map has a lot of nice elements, its structure, layout, and its multitude of strategic options ensures it should play nicely during all times of the game, in any matchup! It gives each matchup a nice set of pros and cons to work past, such as the expo layout, sizes and distances. For example, the fact that map is so open might suggest p>t, but its "easy" money and buildability help terran a lot, but then the map's favouring of mobility keeps protoss capable of being strong, giving both players a good chance of winning as the game goes on. In zvt and zvp the expo layout gives players a lot of choice in where they want to expo next, where to move your army, and how to position your army.

The map is great, but the thing that separates it from (2)Whoosh (besides 3 points) is that it has a less unique concept. The map is fairly standard conceptually, whereas Whoosh gambles more with some more experimental gameplay.

Spam the map's thread here, download the map and smash your buddies on it here, and I'd give you the observer version, but apparently people are incapable of making them anymore, as the map currently lacks one.




In third place comes the Crackling/Testbug team again, with (4)Maelstrom, previously known as Burning Love, and Burning Penis (chlamidia?).

This map is fairly basic, with a more or less normal, but spread out, expo layout and general structure. The thing that makes this map interesting, on top of its baekdu-esque hilly choke layout, is in the multitude of "neutral" expansions, ensuring that players will have to fight over expos a lot, as opposed to the normal grabbing expos and massing tactics most modern maps favour. Also, the islands at 3 and 9 feature double gas, making them exceptionally strategically important.

Spam the map's thread here, download the map here, and again, there's no observer version -_-

Congratulations Crackling, Testbug, and er, Crackling and Testbug!

This competition took two months to conclude because we had basically a tie in the vote, and because Crackling said he didn't like Whoosh and thought it had bad gameplay. We were reluctant to post a map its author disliked. I liked it more than Frostmourne though, and thought Frostmourne could use an edit. Despite making it sound so good in my analysis, I think Frostmourne has bad gameplay, I think my explanation for why I think it's bad is in its thread on tie site if you want to see. I know it's in the MOTM 4 thread in the main forum (on the right side of the site). I really don't like Maelstrom. It's simple and standard, but its expo position basically makes harass impossible, making it a boring macro/turtle fest of a map.