EPT![[image loading]](http://nesc2league.com/wp-content/themes/twentyten/images/headers/path.jpg)
So the first New England SC2 League Qualifier is done! It was an interesting tournament considering we only had fourteen computers to work with and two laptops while twenty six people showed up. Three people were no shows, so there were some walk overs. One person had a very good reason for not being there though. fRod’s car was totaled by a snow plow. Don’t worry all, he wasn’t in it haha. In any case, the tournament started off at 1 Pm with six of the first round match ups going first. When they were done, the next six started. Then the rest of the winner’s first round went and the first round in the B Bracket. The computers were all juggled around until everyone got their chance to play. Surprisingly, it went a lot smoother then I thought it would.
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{People waiting for their turn at the computer}
As the Bracket shows, there really were a lot of match ups at this tournament. Drogith casted as much as he could, but being that his computer was having it’s own personal issues, he didn’t get to start casting until around the second round of the A Bracket. That may not seem like it was a long wait but with all the juggling of computers, it was a while.
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{Drogith’s set up on the second floor of G2}
Something strange happened while there too. It turns out, there is a creepier in the Dover area. When I went into G2, I forgot to lock my car. When I went back out to my car later on, I found a rose on my front seat. According to DamnCats, there is an axe murderer waiting around the parking lot and next time I go to G2, he’s going to kill me o_o
![[image loading]](http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/dragon_fang/dragon_fang0911/dragon_fang091100115/5970718-a-guy-wearing-a-gas-mask-is-holding-a-wilting-rose-isolated-against-a-white-background.jpg)
{Possibly what the guy looks like. If you see him, run}
Anyways, to the part that most of you were looking forward too, the actual match ups. Some people got automatic wins being that other people didn’t show up. So they moved on quickly. In the first round, many matches went 2 and 0, knocking many people to the B Bracket. NoMoreHero, Dimiotrix, Tupac, Consuskev, Logo, Bitters, BronzeKnee, GoneBabyGnda, Oso, and Kelsin all moved on in the winners Bracket.
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{Changing out players}
mBombz, Muzzy, and tGensulitor all moved on in the A Bracket by the walk overs. In the first round of the B Bracket, Critta, Wildhydro, and andrae moved on with Barney and powpow getting the walk over from the same people who couldn’t show.
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{Some of the random people from the tournament, not yet starting}
In the second round of the A Bracket, Hp played his first match in the tournament against NoMoreHero, going 2-0. Dimiotrix went 2-0 against Tupac. tGensulitor played his first real match in the tournament against Consuskev, winning 2-0. Bitters went up against Logo, with Logo winning 2-0. RyanNova AKA coL.Ryan played his first match against BronzeKnee, going 2-0 also. GoneBabyGnda went against Muzzy, winning 2-0. Then it was DamnCats versus mBombz, with DamnCats going 2-0 too. And finally, it was Oso versus Kelsin with Oso winning, 2-0. The B Bracket had similar results of 2-0 with BronzeKnee, Muzzy, mBombz, Kelsin, Timon, Tupac, and Consuskev moving on. In the Bitters versus andrae, the PvT went 2-1, Bitters.
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{Bitters Playing}
For the third round of the A Bracket, Hp went up against Dimiotrix, winning 2-0 again. tGensulitor took a win off of Logo in the set up, but Logo took it all with his two wins. In Ryan’s second match up, he went 2-0 with GoneBabyGnda. DamnCats went 2-0 also against Oso, bringing DamnCats further in the tournament then in any tournament he has played at yet. Here is where the A Bracket took a long break, letting the B Bracket catch up.
{DamnCats warming up for his next match.}
BronzeKnee moved steadily through the B Bracket going 2-1 against Muzzy and Dimiotrix. He met the end of his run when he went up against tGensulitor, losing 1-2. Timon followed BronzeKnee, also moving on into the fifth round of the B Bracket, winning against Tupac and GoneBabyGnda, both again, 2-1 wins. Timon Lost to Oso like BronzeKnee, 1-2. Bitters took his win against Consuskev with a 2-0 win but when he went up against Oso, Bitters supplied blocked himself causing a 0-2 loss. Kelsin also moved on into the fourth round of the B Bracket, winning against mBombz but losing against the terran, tGensulitor, both matches being 2-0.
{Ryan getting trolled by some random player while he warms up, waiting for his next match}
Now the two Brackets were caught up and it was time for the A Bracket to start playing again. The first match was Hp and Logo. I talked to Logo about his games with Hp after.
“The first game against Hp, after scoring some kills and putting him on roaches, I got pretty greedy with my droning and it cost me, so I felt pretty silly about that. I figured with his earlier hatchery secured he'd want to drone up so I could do the same.” Logo continues, “The second game, I had a better read on his style and wanted to skip the banelings early on and play a longer, more economical game, to try and punish his early aggression. It almost worked, but in the big battle I miss clicked and set my lings on my own hatchery. So rather than keeping the eco advantage I had, I fell to an even position. From there it was just a matter of holding out until I could spot an opening. That was eventually getting nydus worms, which I regret not doing a little earlier, and infestors. It almost worked and the attack on the 3rd almost evened the game, but I got a little over zealous by dropping a 2nd nydus giving me a split army. I sniped some mis-rallied infestors, but still didn't have enough of a positioning advantage or good enough infestor use to withstand his push in.”
Hp moved on with a 2-0 win. Ryan also went on with a 2-0 win against DamnCats to meet Hp. This meant that in the B Bracket, DamnCats would go up against tGensulitor and Logo would go up against Oso.
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{Random player with the sexy SC2 headset}
In DamnCats’ match against tGen, we saw tGen’s TvZ strategy. tGen won the match against DamnCats 2-0 by doing a mass marine and scv push against the Zerg in close positions. After the match was over, I talked to DamnCats. He said,
“In the first game against tGen, it was my 16 hatch versus his marine/scv, all in close positions. What are you going to do? In the second game, I really should have built a spinecrawler, Haha”
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{DamnCats Playing}
At the same time that this match was going on, Logo was going up against Oso in a ZvZ. I was able to talk to Logo again after his match.
“My games vs Oso were relatively short. The first game I opened 14gas/14pool into a strong baneling/ling bust and it cracked his defenses for the wins. The 2nd game I opened a fast hatchery into lings as he went for 1 base roach and got his ramp blocked. I transitioned into roach using the superior economy to hold off his initial push, then followed up with roach infestor. Our roach numbers were relatively even for the first big battle after his initial push, but my infestors gave my superior positioning and the extra damage to tilt the game into my favor. A follow up push ended the game.”
Logo moved on with a 2-0 win.
The next four match ups were all casted and will be available later on for watching as will most of the replay’s from the tournament. But here is the summary of the last four.
{Video of tGen playing on his laptop}
To find out who would win fourth place, Logo and tGensulitor went head to head for the second time in this tournament. The first time the two played in the tournament, tGen won, 2-1 in the ZvT. tGen won again, but it was a 2-0 win, using the same strategy as he did with DamnCats.
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{Logo}
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{tGensulitor}
After this match up, it was time for the long awaited, hpTheGreat versus RyanNova.
Both gamers had the same amount of wins and both were undefeated so far. The ZvP was a match up that even had some of the observers stressed out and nervous. Ryan pulled out some strategies that he knew were unexpected and Hp was not prepared. Ryan opted for a 3-gate nexus to a 6gate push, while Hp opened up ling/burrow roach. Ryan pushed at the 9 minute mark and proceeded to infinitely-force field Hp’s ramp, cutting his reinforcements in half, and won through constant warp ins, winning the first match. Ryan won the second match with Hp too. I talked to Ryan after the match.
” In game two, I went for a 5-gate all in, figuring the huge map meant his superior macro would surpass mine in the late game. He opened ling/roach again, but I pushed before burrow, got off a few repetitious force fields on his ramp, and won with warp ins again”
When it was done, Hp went out for a quick cigarette before his match up against tGen. I guess SC2 is the same as sex, after a rough round, you need a good smoke.
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{Great Bird’s Eye View of the downstairs}
When Hp was ready, it was time for his ZvT against tGen. Everyone was anxious to see who would win, most betting on HP to take it. People on the stream and at the LAN were saying Hp would take it, 3-0. Boy, were they wrong. In a set that had people on the edge of their seats, tGen took the 3-1 win, with his tired and true strategy. Hp had to settle with his third place win and tGen had to go up against Ryan.
When I talked to Hp about how he played, he had this to say:
I am dissapointed with my performance at last night's tournament, however I am happy to finish in the top 3 and qualify for the finals. My current weakness is my early game and I was punished for it last night. Congrats to Ryan and tGen on qualifying, very well played.
It was the first time we saw tGen go against a toss player. We were all restless to see how Ryan would react to tGen’s scv strategy. Rocking his pig tails during the first match, Ryan defended against tGen’s heavy 3rax marine/marauder push with a 4gate, countered and killed a lot of scvs. tGen then went to do a marine, marauder, and scv all in push on Ryan’s expo, which he defended with probes and 4gate defense. In the game two, tGen went for same strategy, but ryan opened up 1gate voidray pressure. tGen saw that, added ghost and went for big bio push, killing Ryan’s expo, but Ryan was able to beat tGen’s bioball with colossus and gateway units. It only took one last push to win. It was finally time for the last match. tGen went for same strategy for the third time. Once again Ryan defended with a 4gate and countered with Dark Templars, containing tGen while Ryan was getting an expo and high templar. tGen continued his 1base play with marauder, marine, ghost, and thor, after Ryan finally grabbed a second expo. By then Ryan was on his third base though and just crushed him. As Drogith said, “Psi storms ftw.” By the time the matches were over, Ryan had a Fan Club already set up.
I was able to talk to tGen after the tournament. He told me
I feel really guilty about all the terran vs zerg games I won
with 2 barracks all-in play, it's pretty cheesy, but I knew it would help me
advance. I also feel like by the time I was playing ryan I had become extremely
tired and had lost the ability to micro and macro properly.
with 2 barracks all-in play, it's pretty cheesy, but I knew it would help me
advance. I also feel like by the time I was playing ryan I had become extremely
tired and had lost the ability to micro and macro properly.
In the end, it was RyanNova AKA coL.Ryan as the undefeated first place winner, tGensulitor as the second place winner, and hpTheGreat as the third place winner.
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{Ryan showing his winnings}
When the tournament was over, I talked to Ryan, and true to the professional gamer tradition, he was very political with his quote.
“It felt great to win my first substantial tournament under the name complexity. Props to Drogith and Katrina for running a great day, and it was a blast meeting everyone from the region! Hope to see everyone again soon!"
The tournament was a complete success. People hung out and had fun. A lot of people ended up finding a bunch of new people to practice against. Thank you to all who showed up to the tournament and congratulations to the winners. The next qualifiers won’t be posted until Monday/Tuesday but I hope to see just as many people there. Just a final quick shout out to the sponsors of the League. Thank you Megahertz Computers for hosting our website and thank you Mana energy potion for sending us the freebie energy powder and drinks :D
One last thing before I finish this, My favorite quote of the night by mBombz.
“See? Shit does happen in New Hampshire!”
Hehe… As always, GL&HF! ^_^
