Set 1 : (T9) SJ.TerrOr vs (Z3) Cosy on Heartbreak Ridge

The opening game of the series featured a pretty classic TvZ on Heartbreak Ridge. Cosy opened with a twelve hatch into two-hatch muta against TerrOr's suprisingly standard one-rax FE into two-barracks academy. Cosy tried a bit of ling harass at TerrOr's natural, but was easily denied. TerrOr then decided to move out with his first group of MnM to hit a pre-muta timing. His SCV managed to delay the sunkens sufficiently, enabling him to break Cosy's natural. However, good muta micro allowed Cosy to clear up the forces without losing a single drone.

Meanwhile, TerrOr got turrets and five barracks up, making even Cosy's excellent micro harassment fairly inefficient. He moved out again once he reached a decent-sized army, but Cosy managed to clean it up again with good micro. By that time, TerrOr was making his first vessel and had six barracks while Cosy was only starting lurkers. The first irradiate destroyed Cosy's mutalisk flock, as he failed to properly split despite his 600 APM, meaning he had to gg out; 1-0

Set 2 : (P1) fuNny vs (P9) G5 on Tau Cross

The second set featured a PvP with old-timer fan favourite G5. Both players opened two-gate robo, but G5 went robo first against fuNny's observer first with earlier natural build. With his first reaver and shuttle, G5 decided to run to his opponent's natural, but the engagement led to an army trade. Using the cliff above the natural, G5 opted to deny fuNny's natural gas geyser. Both then took their third at the same time, but G5 caught fuNny out of position and forced a cancel, and then attacked the natural. fuNny came out on top, but G5's macro advantage enabled him to defend his third. After a bit of macro and some light harassment, the fourth bases were taken. A maxed-out G5 with a 50 supply lead engaged fuNny yet again toward his third, and this time overwhelmed him, bringing PaiN back to even score; 1-1

Set 3 : (P7) MOB vs (P10) ArCNeON on Eye of the Storm

Another PvP, this time on Eye of the Storm. After an excellent defense of a dangerous-looking two-gate, Arcneon decided to contain his opponent in his main. Mob transitioned into three-gate robo against Arcneon's two-gate robo, and used his dragoon advantage to break the contain and, in turn, moved to a position to contain his opponent. He even sniped the first shutlle and reaver, which, with his earlier natural expansion, gave him a definite advantage. Arcneon teched a lot, but his DTs did nothing. Once the third was taken, mob managed to run a DT to his opponent's third, killing every single probe there. From then on, it was a fairly standard macro game which was basically over after Arcneon decided to attack up a ramp into storm. Another huge engagement later, and SJ is in lead now; 2-1

Set 4 : (T11) TerranBoy vs (P5) nVerted on Polaris Rhapsody

In the fourth set, TeRRanBoy opened standard FD and scouted nverted's proxy robo at the outside nine o'clock. He countered it with a fast ebay and a starport, and the reaver and his two zealot companions only got a tank for their effort. With his hugely-delayed natural, nverted decided to get shuttle speed and a very early speedlot upgrade. Both took their third at their mineral-only expansion (at twelve and nine respectively), but while the Terran player played a standard and good macro game, Arcneon stayed on four gateways with very small probe saturation and a lot of tech. When the Terran army moved out and took his other mineral-only, he had about a 70 supply lead. Despite good storms the engagement wasn't close. The game then dragged on a little as TeRRanBoy took his time pushing his opponent, but nverted inevitably had to gg. SJ was now one set away from victory; 3-1

Set 5 : (T5) Napoleon vs (Z9) Assault on Outsider

Another TvZ, another two-hatch muta against one-rax FE, but this time, Napoleon went more defensive and decided to tech on three barracks. Assault's muta were also fairly ineffective, so he decided to take his third base at the twelve o'clock main and to tech to lurkers. Afterward, he got a Queen's Nest. However, Napoleon emerged with a firm tech advantage and when he moved out with his first vessel, Assault only had a few out-of-position lurkers to defend his natural. The timing was successful, and as his natural was falling and a dropship landed in his main, Assault had to gg, giving SJ a very convincing victory; 4-1

Set 1 (Z3) sas.Cute vs (T3) Dima Heartbreak Ridge

This match opened with a very surprising ZvT. Cute went with 4-hatch-before-gas, taking the eleven base as a hidden third. Dima didn't scout it, but some smart early pressure denied any advantage one could get from this early expansion; he ran his first mnm group behind the cliff at the natural and denied mining there until hydra came out, and forced a huge number of lings. Dima then attempted a pre-lurker sunken bust timing, but lurker finished in time and denied it. Dima then transitioned into two-fact-tanks, and moved out with his first vessel. This push killed the natural of Cute, and even though Cute managed some impressive defense, drop abuse and constant aggression from Dima solidified his advantage. sas was thus, surprisingly, down a game; 0-1

Set 2 (T10) Skzlime vs (P2) npoTBeHb Tau Cross

Second set was a much more straightforward TvP; a two-factory opening against 2-gate-DT, the push rolled the few goons of npotbeHb, so by the time DTs were out he had lost most of his probes and there were mines everywhere. A quick win to even the score; 1-1

Set 3 (P7) Dewalt vs (T11) mgdan Empire of the Sun

mgdan also chose a two-factory opening, but Dewalt had gone for one-gate reaver. Therefore, he defended the push rather easily, and could both take an expansion and counter harass with his reaver as soon as the first observer was out. The harass did a ton of damage, and Dewalt then kept on pummeling the entrance while expanding and teching. If the game lasted any longer, one could talk about a ten minute death animation. sas finally took the lead; 2-1

Set 4 (Z11) Zaraki vs (Z5) yoda Polaris Rhapsody

Zaraki got the worse end of the build order stick with his 12-pool against the beloved Russian commentator's 12-hatch. Nevertheless, yoda chose to put a sunken at the natural and tried to sneak in a few drones. He also chose to go for a ling break, but his timing was slightly off, meaning Zaraki already had five mutas out. Zaraki then capitalized on his larva-turned-into-mutalisk advantage and decisively won the next air battle. sas was then firmly in the lead, with its best two players still left to play; 3-1

Set 5 (Z5) Sziky vs (P1) Werdi Outsider

sas then unleashed the monster, and Sziky even had the pleasure to play ZvP on Outsider. He got the better opening, as werdi built two cannons against his overpool, canceling one at the last moment. This would be his demise, as Sziky decided to run his lings in, kill the cannon, and then scout werdi's two stargates. werdi's harass wasn't successful at all, solidifying Sziky's advantage, who built a solid hydra army which forced many cannons and enabled him to expand and tech to lurkers. werdi was then contained on two bases, and chose to all-in by trying to break out. When his attempt was unsuccessful, he typed out, giving sas a convincing victory; 4-1

Set 1 (P3) Sneazel vs (Z9) SaCred Heartbreak Ridge

Game started on Heartbreak Ridge with Polish Protoss at three o'clock and his opponent, iwL-SaCred at nine o'clock, representing the swarm. I have to say, I was excited to see the return of great Sneazel into the BW scene, but this game left me with a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Game started with standard openings from both players, Sneazel going for fast expansion while SaCred opting for overpool. However, Zerg had some dirty tricks up in his sleeve and upon making some initial scourges to stop the corsair harass, he went for 5 hatch hydra bust. Unfortunately for Sneazel, he over-made the number of his corsairs and thus, delaying his storm. SaCred, (un)knowingly, took advantage of this and attacked the natural of Sneazel just in right time before storm. Sneazel tried to hold off the attack with probes until the storm finished, but unfortunately it came too late which made him admit his defeat; 0-1

Set 2 (Z6) trutaCz vs (Z1) Fenito Tau Cross

Second game was a ZvZ on Tau Cross with Polish powerhouse trutaCz spawning at five-thirty o'clock and his opponent, Fenito at one o'clock. Both players went for 12 pool expand and scouted each other first, mirroring their build to the dot. After a short ling standoff, the time came for an air battle. trutaCz opted to make mutas, while Fenito went for initial scourges trying to snipe off trutaCz's mutas. However, with great micro, trutaCz came to an overwhelming number of mutas and Fenito tried one last all-in attack with his lings on trutaCz's natural. Seeing all of his units melt, Fenito had no other option but to type gg, thus allowing trutaCz to tie the series; 1-1

Set 3 (Z1) Pike vs (Z5) iwL-Ace Eye of the Storm

Game three was another ZvZ, this time on Eye of the Storm between Pike at one o'clock position and Hungarian Ace at five o'clock position. Same as the last game, both players went for go-to build in ZvZ, 12 pool into expand. Unlike last game though, this time around, both players were much more passive with their air units. After amassing units for a while, Pike finally got the courage and went to attack his opponent. This proved to be a mistake though, as Ace managed to get the upper hand due to his defender's advantage. Ace chased Pike's mutas around the map, but Pike managed to save just enough to retreat and scare Ace into attacking. However, Ace was in significant lead and just wanted to make his win a sure thing by bringing all of his overlords to Pike's natural and then attacked with all of his units. Even though overlords soaked up plenty of muta bounces, Ace managed to take the battle with his sheer number of mutas and thus winning the game; 1-2

Set 4 (Z11) Julia vs (Z5) Specter Polaris Rhapsody

Another ZvZ! Fourth game was on Polaris Rhapsody between Julia who was at eleven o'clock and Specter at five o'clock. Unlike last two ZvZs though, this game we saw Specter go an overpool, while Julia went, yep you guessed it, 12pool into expand. Upon seeing Julia expanding, Specter decided to go for fast lair while putting pressure on Julia's expand with his fast lings. He managed to sneak in his lings by going around the map and kill a bunch of drones of Julia. With another batch of lings, Specter managed to snipe off the hatchery at Julia's expansion while his spire was almost done. Seeing as Julia has not even started his spire, he decided to tap out and give win to the iwL; 1-3

Set 5 (P1) Bonyth vs (T5) Justice Outsider

Being 1-3 down, an all-Polish team NW was on the backfoot and needed to win three straight game to take home the victory. Fifth game was a PvT on Outsider between Bonyth who was at eleven o'clock and Russian Terran Justice at five o'clock. Game started as a very standard PvT with Bonyth putting on a pressure to Justice's wall, who was waiting on his tank to defend. After defending the initial pressure from Protoss, Justice decided it was a safe time to expand at his gass-less back natural. And Bonyth instead expanded to his natural expansion, while trying to harass Terran with his shuttle/reaver combination. The harass did some damage to Justice's tanks, but not terrible damage and from there the game became more stagnant. Both players took their second expansion and made a lot of units. But unfortunately for Justice, the Protoss player was sneakily making carriers at the back of his base and completely caught him by surprise. Terran desperately tried to make some panic goliaths, but it was too late and Bonyth managed to take a win for his team; 2-3

Set 6 (Z1) Predator vs (P11) Artanis Fighting Spirit

Game 6 started on the most popular map Fighting Spirit as ZvP between Predator as Zerg at one o'clock and Artanis as Protoss at eleven o'clock. Zerg went for a 12pool while Protoss went for a standard fast expansion. Predator took a fast third expansion at the natural of five o'clock base, setting up for a macro game. He then decided to do a ling runby, but with three canons and quick probe reaction from Artanis, lings all died a horrible death. Artanis took a long time to move out with his units, which Predator took an advantage of by containing him in his base with lurker field and hydras. However, he managed to break up the contain with mass units and was finally able to take his third expansion. Or so he thought. At this point, Predator was macroing happily off of four bases and just streamed units to the Protoss' natural, keeping him at bay. Artanis did an admirable defense and even managed to set up his third expansion, but losing his almost mined out natural expansion in return. Unfortunately, ultralisk and swarm combination proved to be too much, and after breaking the Protoss' defense, Predator secured another win for his team and tying up the series and thus, prompting an ace match; 3-3

Set 7 (Z11) trutaCz vs (Z5) iwL-Ace Neo Jade

In ace match we had a yet another ZvZ, this time on Neo Jade, between trutaCz who spawned at the eleven o'clock and Ace who was at the five o'clock. As we already learned by now, both players went for a 12pool into expand build. trutaCz decided to take an aggressive role in this game by sending his lings to the Ace's expansion. He managed to sneak in all of his lings into the Ace's base, but unfortunately did no damage while losing most of his lings. He wasn't taken aback by this as he just continued to make lings, while his spire was making. The game calmed down a bit now, as both players were waiting for their mutas to pop out. Once the mutas were on the field, trutaCz decided to take an aggressive role once again by sending his to the Ace's base. He tried to do some harass, but due to the good overlord position of Ace, he was unable to go through undetected and was forced to retreat. After some regrouping, trutaCz sent all of his units, lings and mutas alike, to Ace looking for some action. He did a very smart attack by sacrificing all of his lings at the natural expansion of Ace, while sending his mutas behind the back in the main base and killing almost all of the Ace's drones. Upon seeing this, Ace decided to go for a counter attack with all of his lings and muta/scourge army. And even though he did a considerable amount of damage by killing a lot of drones and even managing to snipe the spire of trutaCz, he still lost the air battle. With superior muta count, trutaCz went to finish off Ace and after microing perfectly against all the scourges that Ace threw at him, he managed to win the final game and take the victory to his home team, NW; 4-3





This clan war was not broadcasted, but there will still be replays posted at the later time where you can see how the games went.

Being a Terran player myself, I can safely say this isn’t a match I’m looking forward to. Both teams field a total of 2 Terrans combined, barring any random players or race pickers that I’m not aware of. NeMu has shown to have quite the strong TvZ, taking out now fellow teammate Bakuryu in the TLS Ro16. I hope he’ll get fielded and random Terran to show some more of his TvZ or TvP. PaiN looks to be the underdog this week as their players do not seem to fare well versus Zergs according to TLPD. While the Zerg heavy LRM has Bakuryu and TechnicS who share a combined record of 42-18 versus Protoss. Stats might not mean anything, but one thing’s for certain, look forward to lots of ZvP/ZvZ.

Prediction: LRM wins 4-1



Despite losing many of their best players, SJ showed last week that they’re not completely out of this in the beginning by taking out PaiN in convincing Terran OP fashion. They’ll be playing one of their toughest matches this entire round. NW sports an impressive Zerg lineup with the likes of SouthPark, Pike, ZZZero, Julia, Predator, (hell, all their Zergs), and last but not least, trutaCz. And last indeed, for if SJ wants to take a sure victory, they’ll need to take it in 6 games, lest they want to face the final boss, trutaCz.

Prediction: NW wins 4-2



It’s hard not to automatically think that sas would take this and just about every game in the future given their stacked lineup. They went into Week 1 fielding their all-star players and clearly showed that they were worth the hype, taking down FR 4-1 handily. iFU, not to be outdone, is also coming into Week 2 after a 4-0 sweep of Fox. Still, iFU will need to bring their A-game in order to take down the sas powerhouse.

Prediction: sas wins 4-1



Fox will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing Week 1 after losing 0-4 to iFU. Similarly, iWL took a narrow defeat by hands of NW in a ZvZ filled Week 1 for them with their Ace going down to the mighty trutaCz in the ace match. While both teams have a Protoss heavy lineup, iWL sent most of their Zergs in Week 1 and showed to have some great ZvZ taking down Pike and Julia. It will be a tough fight for both teams, but I have faith that iWL will fold under the might of Fox!

Prediction: Fox wins 4:3