Battle Report: Clash in the Colosseum

GSL Open Season 1: Grand Finals
Fruitdealer vs HopeTorture

Two players enter the smoke. When it parts, only one will remain...

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.

A terran hero and a zerg hero go to war; only one of them shall take the glory.

Set One: Delta Quadrant

Fruitdealer spawns at the 10 o'clock base, Rainbow spawns at the 4 o'clock. Fruitdealer's already taken an early lead; close positions would have enabled Rainbow to pull off a quick rush and would have shut down any attempts at a heavy macro style by the korean zerg.

Across in Rainbow's base, it's clear he wouldn't even dream of rushing. He's throwing down a barracks on 12, not 11, and isn't building up a marine army. Rainbow sets off on the same path as he did against CheckPrime in the Round of 16; tech, followed by expansions and then an offensive built on the backs of medivac harass.

Meanwhile, Fruitdealer isn't cutting any corners. He throws down a quick gas and takes his pool immediately afterwards. He sets up a safe opener to get zergling speed in case Rainbow is close by.

Fruitdealer isn't taking any chances against Rainbow's early game.

Rainbow gets his own first gas and manages to swing an scv in to Fruitdealer's base. He scouts everything just before fruitdealer's queen spawns and the scv is chased away by zerglings. Rainbow, armed with knowledge, throws a factory down at his ramp to complete a wall. As the scv gets out of range, a drone slips out of Fruitdealer's base to take the exposed expansion.

Rainbow sets off on the road to a passive mechanical style, but he doesn't know about Fruitdealer's bold expansion.

Fruitdealer is satisfied that he has duped his terran rival in to believing that he'll be taking a safe expansion later on, but in a moment of sensational juking by Rainbow's scv, he pulls back around and in to Fruitdealer's main, catching a glimpse of the expand in the process.

There's no secrets between Rainbow and Fruitdealer.

Safe in the knowledge that his opponent is playing greedy, Rainbow immediately starts a second command centre and produces a hellion. Fruitdealer prepares himself for the harass, however, making another queen which spreads creep to take itself down to the natural. Fruitdealer's early game map control is finally shut down as some expert micro from Rainbow gets the hellion out of his base and behind the minerals of his natural. He takes out enough of the zerglings guarding the base to force a full retreat back to Fruitdealer's main.

Both players go for bold tech choices. Rainbow starts tank production, limiting his map presence in the long haul, while Fruitdealer opens up his tech tree with a quick lair.

The secret to Fruitdealer's ZvT success, massive amounts of tech in the early-mid game.

Rainbow throws down a quick armoury - he's seen Fruitdealer's games in the Semi-finals and wants to be safe against any heavy muta play. A second factory starts up in his main base as his command centre morphs in to an orbital command. Fruitdealer's lair finishes and he immediately throws down a 7 minute Spire. Rainbow is ready at home with a thor.

Seven minutes is all it takes for Fruitdealer to take control of the skies.

Rainbow takes out the rocks and expands to his safe back-door expansion. He scans Fruitdealer's main and sees the spire being produced. Turrets go down everywhere and a second thor pops out. Rainbow is ready. But Fruitdealer sees the thors with lings on Rainbow's ramp, and when the spire finishes, only 3 mutalisks spawn. Instead, Fruitdealer grabs an infestation pit and takes an expansion at the 2 o'clock main, hidden from Rainbow.

It's exposed but Rainbow has no idea that it's there. The plan begins...

Rainbow builds turrets everywhere and gets stim pack for the small battalion of marines that he's produced to defend against mutas. But Fruitdealer's teching at home; building a baneling nest and a roach warren. Rainbow gets his first glimpse of mutas, but there are only three and they fly away as soon as his thor lets off a volley. Rainbow starts mass producing upgrades as the notion of a ground war becomes evident, but Fruitdealer goes back in to managing his economy; he expands to the last main base.

Everything's in place for Fruitdealer's Colosseum style of zerg.

Now, if Rainbow moves to engage either of Fruitdealer's two expansions, he'll leave himself exposed to attacks coming out of the other one. If he pushes down the middle of the map he'll be flanked on all sides. Fruitdealer enters Colosseum mode flawlessly.

As he takes his forward natural as a third, Rainbow tries to look for expansions by Fruitdealer with a marine, but it's shut down by zerglings controlling the watch-tower. Fruitdealer gets a quick Hive, preparing for his late game style. Suddenly, a marine breaks through the net and sees creep at the 2 o'clock. Rainbow knows.

He may just be a pile of ash, but right now he's the most useful pile of ash in Rainbow's army.

But the threat of a response by Rainbow doesn't deter Fruitdealer; he sets out to destroy the rocks at the 9 o'clock rich mineral expansion immediately. With four bases and another on the way, his economy is starting to really dig in, and he splashes out on some ground upgrades, indicating his hive tech of choice; Ultralisks.

Now it's Rainbow's turn to control the pace of the game, or so he thinks. He loads up a medivac with marines to attack the 2 o'clock, but before it even crosses the thresh-hold of his base, it's set upon by the three mutalisks of Fruitdealer. He focus fires the medivac and leaves a handful of marines stranded on a small plateau. The crowd goes wild.

Fruitdealer denies Rainbow's signature harass. His mutalisks remain vigilant.

In the mean time, Rainbow's been spilling tanks out of his base, and he's set up a siege line across the front. Using the end of his siege line as leverage, he takes out the debris at the 3 o'clock gold, and sends out a command centre to go up to four bases. Unbeknownst to him, Fruitdealer is marauding around the middle of the map with an army that could rival Noah's Ark; Ultralisks, Infestors, Roaches, Banelings and Zerglings.

Rainbow enters harassment mode, sending medivacs to the 2 and 8 o'clock bases. But Fruitdealer is ready. He has Spines, queens and even Ultralisks at each base and Rainbow has to back off. Fungals shut down both drops with minimal losses. A few residual marines kill 2 queens, but Fruitdealer has ended the harassment.

You think you get to harass Fruitdealer? How adorable.

But Rainbow isn't quite done yet; he pushes out in to the centre with his mechanical army and a contingent of marines. Fruitdealer has his forces stretched between bases and he has to cede the watchtower, retreating to the safety of his natural.

As lovely as Fruitdealer's rag-tag army is, it has to back off when Rainbow sieges the watchtower.

As he sieges up, Rainbow sends his marines to the 8 o'clock, stimming them in and focus-firing the hatchery. Fruitdealer immediately sends units to Rainbow's now unprotected third, giving chase to the marines with a zergling heavy army.

Rainbow's big play. With the tanks giving cover, the marines charge on the expansion.

However, the tanks can't protect the marines against the full fury of Fruitdealer's enormous army. Running through the cover of his own gold base, Fruitdealer catches up to the marines. Separated from the security of the tanks, they become quick prey for fungal growths. Held on the spot, a handful of baneling detonations destroys the army. The hatchery survives with minimal damage taken to the rest of Fruitdealer's forces.

Making good use of a Planetary Fortress and a rapidly assembled defensive squad, Rainbow holds the Ultralisk counter-attack and repulses Fruitdealer's forces. Without giving his zerg nemesis a chance to breath, Rainbow enters the 2 o'clock base with thors and tanks.

Wherever you go, Fruitdealer's Ultralisks are never far behind.

Rainbow gets caught on the ramp and ultralisks obliterate his mechanical army. Vikings land at the 8 o'clock to try to finish it off, but they get cleaned up by zerglings. Both of the side bases manage to stay alive. The Colosseum style triumphs as, with split forces, Rainbow can't defeat Fruitdealer's mobile army.

In a last ditch effort to take back control of the game, Rainbow pushes in to Fruitdealer's natural expansion with his remaining tanks. However, with a late siege, Fruitdealer manages to get on top of his tanks with Ultralisks and shuts down the aggression.

Without support units, the tanks shatter like glass.

In a heartbeat, Fruitdealer counter-attacks with even more Ultralisks, taking out the Planetary Fortress at Rainbow's Gold Expansion. Rainbow's slow mechanical army is still being rebuilt and there's nothing to help defend as the base is gutted and scvs flee in to the darkness, pursued by all kinds of zerg.

Planetaries alone can't save you from Fruitdealer.

Rainbow hasn't given up yet though. He sends a drop to the 8 o'clock base to try and kill the ailing expansion, but it's denied by zerglings again. He manages to scoop up some marines and converts it to a double drop at Fruitdealer's gold base. The zerg doesn't even bat an eye-lid and swings his ultralisk army around. He won't allow the game to be controlled by his opponent any more. Now it's his turn.

Rainbow is overwhelmed by Fruitdealer's enormous bust.

The army crushes through the defences that Rainbow has mustered. With his tank-count broken and his planetaries under fire, the front line of defence breaks and Fruitdealer enters the production line. Rainbow begins desperately evacuating scvs with his medivacs, but his drop is killed by banelings and his structures lie in ruins. As a familar trio of mutalisks flies in to vision of the evacuation dropships, Rainbow GGs.

Fruitdealer 1-0 Rainbow.

Fruitdealer takes the first set of the finals. Despite Rainbow managing to control the game, Fruitdealer was able to use a series of clever traps to lure Rainbow in to a style that suited the zerg. The Colosseum style employed by Fruitdealer rapidly overwhelmed the korean terran, and with impeccable defences at each of his expansions, Fruitdealer gains all the momentum, having gone in to the game staring down one of the maps which suited Rainbow the most.

To be continued...

Battle Report: Clash in the Colosseum

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