[STL1] Welcome the New Kings

Well ladies and gentlemen, after a long and arduous first season of STL, we have finally got our winners, LRM! They took down the Peruvian powerhouses of El Bunker to take the $600 first place prize pool. For the 3rd place match, iFu defeats Sas to take the bronze medal.

Let’s get into the reviews, and the other jazz to round out the first season of STL.






In game 1 we see two Protosses, sas.dsaqwe and iFU.Must, who are both being fielded on Overwatch just as they were in the semifinals. At 5 o’clock dsaqwe checks his main for any proxy before going across the map. Must’s scouting Probe throws down a manner Pylon in dsaqwe’s mineral line and rallies a Zealot. Dsaqwe responds with three Zealots, the first two killing the Pylon. Must’s Zealot arrives and manages to pick off three Probes before dsaqwe’s Zealot can get rid of this pest. Must has added a Nexus and then second Gateway before Dragoon range while dsaqwe is sending his three Zealot and first Goon to attack, adding a second and third Gateway. Dsaqwe’s forces his way up the ramp but Must micros his first two Goons well keeping them alive as well as taking no Probe damage. Dsaqwe has abandoned his aggression, cancelling his third Gateway during this attack and taking a Nexus. A Shuttle comes for Must followed by Reaver and Observer tech. Must pressures the opposite natural and the players trade Goons evenly before Must backs off, waiting for his Reaver to strengthen his composition. Dsaqwe is going for four Gateways with Observers.

As Must’s Reaver arrives the supplies are 65 to 55 in his favor. Dsaqwe snipes Must’s Reaver before the Shuttle picks it up but Must still has an eight to three Goon advantage. A crawl Reaver is on the way for dsaqwe as he uses his Probes at the natural with his Goons to help delay Must’s attack. He holds his natural but Must is now up 30 supply. As Must heads back home with his main force he drops one Reaver at dsaqwe’s natural but is only able to kill one Probe before returning home. At Must’s base we see a total of seven Gateways now with +1 weapons and Zealot speed being reseached. Dsaqwe is on four Gateways with Templar Archives. Dsaqwe’s army is positioning between his natural and third while Must’s Goon Reaver force is occupying the southern highground. Must takes advantage of dsaqwe’s position and runs twelve Speedlots through the bridge by dsaqwe’s natural and easily flanks dsaqwe’s Dragoons and Shuttleless Reavers. Emergency Dark Templar are making from all of dsaqwe’s Gateways but with Zealots killing off all of the Probes in both the main and natural dsaqwe ggs.

sas 0-1 iFU

Game 2 is a T v T, Skzlime vs spx on Tau Cross. Skzlime Vulture expands at 9 o’clock, with two Vultures before Machine Shop. He pressure with these Vultures and Marines but spx’s first Tank arrives at the choke in time. Spx is making a Starport with Control tower for some cloaked Wraiths to complement his Tanks. Skzlime is up to four Factories with mines and speed researched for Vultures. Three Tanks and some Marines begin poking out into the middle, but he may have overstepped his bounds. Skzlime sees this force with his mine fields and quickly runs five Vultures into spx’s main mineral line, getting a five or so SCVs kill before Wraiths and Tanks defend. Skzlime starts both an Academy and Armory back home. Spx’s first three wraiths make it to Skzlime’s main before any Goliaths are out and get seven SCV kills.

Skzlime’s third and spx’s second Command Center are both started at identical times. A Dropship from spx with two Tanks heads north. He drops the Tanks, delaying Skzlime’s third CC and then redrops on the natural cliff, blasting a handful of SCVs and denying mining there. With no efficient way to deal with this drop, Skzlime attacks the enemy natural instead with eight Vultures, four Goliaths, and one Tank. For a second time spx has neglible army defending home with most of his tanks making their way around the east side of the map and towards Skzlime’s third base. Vultures lay waste to spx’s economy before the army can return home. gg

sas 1-1 iFU

Destination hosts game 3, a P v Z between glow (12 o’clock) and Okmake (6 o’clock). Okmake’s 9 Pool six Lings can’t do any damage against two Cannons from glow. While moving his first Overlord back into position outside the Protoss natural, Okmake nearly loses it to the Cannons, it survives with seven HP. He then takes his third base at 8’clock and his gas. Three lings sit on each of the Protoss natural bridges blocking Probe scouting. We see standard Lair followed by Ling speed from Okmake. The first Zealot pokes the Zerglings allowing a Probe out to see the Zerg third base. Two Zealots head south and split, one to the third while the other runs into the main and kills one Drone. Okmake uses his leftover Zerglings to attack glow’s exposed natural Assimilator, which Zealots save just before it falls. Glow has started double Stargate, following with both +1 ground and air weapons upgrades.

Okmake has gone for Spire and five Hatcheries, soon getting Hydra and Overlord speed upgrades as well as starting +1 missile attack. Glow takes his third Nexus at 2 o’clock as Okmake is now using all of his Larva to produce Hydralisks. Scourge patrol the map while Hydras sit under Overlords at the Zerg natural and third, waiting for +1 missile to finish. With +1 nearing completion 40 Hydras stream towards the Protoss third. Four Cannons and one High Templar are ready in defense but the Hydras numbers are already too overwhelming. Okmake picks off one reinforcing High Templar while absorbing the storm from the other High Templar. The remaining 30 Hydras power through the Cannons and with some nice storm dodging the reinforcing Protoss army of Zealot High Templar is no match. gg

sas 1-2 iFU

Game 4 is v0rti vs eOnzErG on Colosseum, a T v Z. EOnzErG 12 Hatches and v0rti makes one Marine then Command Center after scouting. A third Hatch is down for eOnzErG and he makes four Zerglings. V0rti responds with a Bunker in his choke for safety. While eOnzErG’s Spire is morphing he takes the 11 o’clock natural as his third base. Keeping v0rti’s Medic Marine force occupied in the Terran main, eOnzErG researches Lurker aspect and +1 carapace, and adds a macro Hatchery in his main. The Mutas delay the Medic Marine attack while Lurkers are still in egg form at the Zerg third and main. EOnzErG cleans up the first Medic Marine force with Mutas, Lings, and Lurker when they try shooting down some Overlords hanging out at the 11 o’clock main. V0rti is on six Barracks with one Factory.

A Defiler Mound and Greater Spire (nine Mutas remain) are the Hive tech choices from eOnzErG. He burrows five Lurker in the middle of the map to make it harder on v0rti to push 11 o’clock. The Terran Engineering Bay has been idle for a bit now after +1 weapons finished. eOnzErG begins morphing Mutas into Guardian behind the Terran natural as well as establishing a Lurker Ling contain. V0rti has no efficient way to fight the Guardian so he lifts the Command Center and runs his SCVs away. Now Defiler with consume have arrived at the Zerg contain. EOnzErG swarms into the Terran main base with dark swarms and Lurkers. gg

sas 1-3 iFU

We have a Z v Z on Oxide between Zaraki (12 o’clock) and Pauline (6 o’clock) for Game 5. Both players 12 Hatch at their natural. Seeing no Zerglings coming from Pauline with his scouting Overlord, Zaraki feels comfortable going Lair first while Pauline goes speed first. His spire starts about 100 HP faster as a result. Zaraki is the first to show some aggression, sending his Zerglings across to take position outside Pauline’s natural. Pauline had prepared for such a situation by hiding two Lings out on the map, which runs into Zaraki’s main. Good awareness and Drone micro keep Pauline from getting any Drone kills.

Zaraki comes home with his Zergling force but not before Pauline traps and kills five or so Lings on the retreat. Muta production starts for Zaraki while Pauline opts for eight Scourge. Zaraki kills one of Pauline’s retreating Overlords supply blocking him. About half of Pauline’s Scourge land on Zaraki’s Mutas, but Zaraki still maintains the Muta advantage. Pauline’s loses another Overlord and Zaraki takes his second gas. Zaraki starts +1 attack for Mutas. This doesn’t come into play though, as Pauline gets his inferior Muta force caught in the middle of the map. Pauline attempts to split his mutas and harass Zaraki’s Drones with some, but there is simply not enough to stop Zaraki from taking control of Pauline’s natural with the bulk of his Muta force. gg from Pauline.

sas 2-3 iFU

Game 6 is a T v P, zimp vs ZerGgBoy on Outsider. Zimp opens FD with Starport and Z with 1 Gateway Goon range and Robotics Facility. Zimp pushes back the three Goons from his natural and lays mines. Z researches Shuttle Speed and gets Reaver tech. Vulture speed is finished and a four Vulture drop is headed towards the Protoss main while the natural Command Center is building. Z takes his backdoor 4 o’clock base. The drops comes and the Zimp mines up the ramp, killing two Dragoons. Z’s Observer pops out to help clean up the drop before taking any significant Probe damage. A speed Shuttle counter zooms into the Terran main, sending the SCVs running to the natural after killing off a handful of them. Another set of simultaneous drops comes, with a two Vulture one Tank drop at 4 o’clock killing off all the Probes and another Reaver in the Terran main doing big SCV damage.

Z moves out with five Dragoons and a Reaver to pressure the Terran natural. The Tank at 4 o’clock is sieging down the Nexus, which falls before Z can save it. There are only two Tanks at the Terran natural to defend the Protoss attack, and one is behind the mineral line unable to really help in the fight. Zimp pulls SCVs and Z drops the Reaver, targeting down about ten SCVs while the Dragoons soak up the Tank shots. Z now has a nice economic advantage, fully mining his main and gas natural while Zimp has lost most all of his SCVs. This is reflected in the 58 to 29 supply advantage for Protoss. Z puts up a third Nexus at the 12 o’clock natural as well as a Stargate in his main. Zimp is on two Factories and has three Tanks in his natural. A Fleet Beacon is started and another Shuttle and Reaver are produced by Z. Zimp’s third Command Center is building at the 11 o’clock mineral only. A fourth Nexus is dropped at 12 o’clock and Z is pumping two Stargate Carriers.

Twelve Goons shit at the Terran front containing any possible Vulture getting onto the map. Z flies his Shuttle and Reaver to 11 o’clock but zimp is prepared and only a few SCVs die before before the Shuttle and Reaver fall to Goliaths and a Tank. Zimp goes up to eight Factories and begins building a Dropship fleet. Four Carriers are out now and hover around the Terran natural. Zimp forces the Carriers back home to defend with a four Dropship Goliath and Tank drop in the Protoss main, but achieves little damage. Z furthers his advantage by taking a fifth and sixth base along the right side of the map and + air weapons is nearing completion. The Carriers again harass the Terran natural as zimp makes a fourth CC at 11 o’clock. Now with a full control group of Carriers and 20 or so Goons containing, Z attacks 11 o’clock with Carrier and Reaver. Zimp’s Goliath count has been whittled down too much to this point and nothing can stop the Carriers. gg

sas 2-4 iFU




Game 1: Terror vs Technics

First game opens up on Neo overwatch with Technics in the top left position going overpool while Terror in the bottom right opts for a wall at his natural with depot and barracks. Technics starts to chase around Terror’s scvs and goes 3 hatch lair, to which Terror responds with gas engineering bay, looking like he is going for +1 5rax build. However, Technics goes for lurkers first instead of spire while Terror gets his 5 raxes up and going. Technics takes his 3rd at the newly remade 3rd and adds a spire as well. Terror moves out with a group of marines, medics, and few firebats to clear scouting zerglings and starts to push across the map. Technics’ third gets scouted by terror and terror starts to move towards. A quick clash with terror’s units and Technics’s muta ball leaves both players a bit damaged, unable to really do much with it. Technics was quite sloppy with his mutas this game, losing 1 there and here for naught to trade, while still staying on lair tech for such a long time.

Terror dances in the middle of the map with a scary bio force while Technics was able to snipe Terror’s tank for free at his natural. Now the first vessel is out for Terror and Technics goes for a haywire suicide attack with his lurkers and lings, and gets nothing in return with it. Terror then proceeds to push hard across to Technics’ third. There was another engagement at the ramp outside the 3rd, where Technics holds the position with lurkers, forcing Terror to move back. Meanwhile, Technics has a lot of lurkers, and we see Terror going for a drop in the main base while pushing to the 3rd. Terror is able to snipe the spawning pool with this drop and nab a bunch of drone kills. Tecnics goes for a splinter attack at Terror’s forces at his 3rd, but Terror was able to defend that successfully and keeps sieging the 3rd. With no hive and no economy, Technics taps out, giving El Bunker the first win of the series.

Game 2: Castro vs Choosy

Game 2 on Tau Cross features Castro as Zerg at 5’clock while Choosy is Protoss at the 9’clock. Both players scout the wrong way, with Choosy going for pylon scout, while Castro goes for a 7pool. Lings gets out for Castro while Choosy pulls probes to hold the ling rush, of which Castro doesn’t go for. Castro takes his 3rd which gets promptly scouted by Choosy, who decides to sneak cannons at that 3rd. Lair now starts for Castro, while Choosy just now starts his gas. Castro loses his hatchery to cannons, putting him quite behind, even with the late tech from Choosy. Choosy starts his stargate while Castro’s spire is building. First corsair and defensive cannons comes out for Choosy, while Castro has mutas being produced and remakes his 3rd at the unused natural. Castro nabs cannon kills at the natural of Choosy, but is forced to pull back as his mutas gets quite damaged. Castro gets lurker tech going while Choosy still has yet to start his robo bay.

Choosy finds himself getting contained by Lurkers and is forced to pull back and gets Lurker contained (he now starts his robo). We see Choosy create a dark archon for possibly maelstorm action, which would definitely be sexy to watch. Castro double expands while Choosy goes up to 8 gates while on 2 bases. Maelstorm is used and all the mutas gets caught and dies. Now Choosy starts to breaks out of the contain and takes his 3rd. Choosy pushes across the map and Castro scrambles to remake his units. Choosy doesn’t press the issue and pulls back, while Castro’s 5 base economy starts to come online. Choosy goes for the attack at Castro’s original 3rd and kills Castro’s 5th, but loses his entire army to the flank attack of Castro. Castro kills Choosy’s shuttle with the scourges. Choosy gets 3 dts into Castro’s main and kills the spire and evo chamber. Choosy engages Castro’s army again and wrecks it. Choosy goes for the kill with an engagement outside Castro’s natural, to which Castro defends due to Choosy’s overextension. Choosy takes a 4th, while Castro’s cows now starts to roll out. Castro loses almost all of his morphing lurkers to Choosy’s reavers but loses his entire army again to Castro’s surrounds. Choosy taps out, giving El Bunker a 2-0

Game 3: Bonyth vs Dandy

we have a TvP on Destination with Dandy as the south side Terran and Bonyth as the north side Protoss. Bonyth sends out a super early probe and attempts to take the gas, but Dandy takes his gas in the nick of time, delaying his Barracks quite a bit

“You can’t out-cheese a Peruvian” L_Master, 2014

Bonyth continues to be annoying with his scouting probe and his first zealot is out as well. Dandy then decides not to wall and be greedy with his marine while Bonyth has his goon in the base. The dragoon dies while Bonyth’s second dragoon attacks the wall, but Dandy has a tank out. Bonyth expands while keeping the pressure out. Siege just finishes and Bonyth pulls back. Shuttle is up for Bonyth and 3 gateways as well while Bonyth starts reaver tech. Bonyth starts a stargate just now. Bonyth’s units moves across the map while bonyth transitions into 2 gate carriers. Bonyth dances around with his shuttle. Bonyth nets a tank kill before losing his shuttle and reavers. Dandy scouts around with his vultures, surprised to not see a 3rd yet. Dandy takes his 3rd at the narrow choke area and starts to create a defensive positon, while Bonyth builds up his carrier fleet. Bonyth suicides his ground army, and now starts to move out iwth his carriers. Carriers gets revealed and Dandy switches into goliaths production. Bonyth is able to keep Dandy’s goliath count low and starts to push into Dandy’s territory. Bonyth moves into the natural of Dandy, and with Dandy’s goliath count being too low, Bonyth takes the game for LRM

LRM 1 - 2 El Bunker

Game 4: Boy vs Bakuryu

Game 4 starts on Colosseum II with a TvZ. Bakuyru spawns in 10’clock and Boy spawns in the 2’clock. Bakuyru opens with a 12 hatch while Boy looks to play a 2 rax acad build. Bakuyru sneaks in 4 zerglings into Boy’s base, but loses it all. Spire goes up for bakuyru at the standard 3 hatch timing, while Boy is moving down the map with his marines. First 2 medics comes out for Boy and Bakuyru goes up to 3 sunkens now. Bakuyru’s first muta group comes out now, and starts dancing around Boy’s base, doing way more damage then expected while taking his 3rd at the far away place. Boy is being supply blocked for a long time now, Boy moves out to Bakuyru’s 3rd, but lurkers are already there to delfect it. Boy loses his force to hold lurker play, and Bakuyru moves in for the surround on Boy’s second attempt to push out.

Defiler mound is already out for Bakuyru, while Boy still is being contained by lurkers at the choke. Tanks siege up to force the lurkers back. Boy moves out to Bakuyru’s choke, but Bakuyru already has swarm to hold it off. Bakuyru continues to hold off Boy’s advances while Boy isn’t doing much to take a 3rd at all. Bakuyru already has a 4th base up, while Boy actually sneaks a 3d at the 5’clock natural, which Bakuyru doesnt know, but Ultras are already out for Bakuyru while Boy starts his mech transition. Boy loses a vessel to scourges. and Bakuyru has ultras attacking the now not hidden 3rd of Boy, forcing a lift. Soon after, Boy leaves the game without a GG, in the most random of way.

Xkcd’s notes: That was quite wierd.

LRM 2-2 El Bunker

Game 5: ZeTy vs Pike

We have a ZvZ on Oxide with ZeTy vs Pike; ZeTy in the top left, while Pike is in the bottomn right. ZeTy goes for a 12 hatch while Pike leads with a 12pool opening, going speed first against ZeTy’s lair first. Pike pokes around, but doesn’t really do much. the game dwindles on as both players start to build up their muta/scourge clouds. ZeTy gets +1 armor while Pike nets a bunch of overlord kills. ZeTy gets +1 attack while Pike now goes for the +1 armor. ZeTy eachs a bunch of scourges, but Pike doesn’t net much scourge kills. ZeTy finally goes for the attack at Pike’s attack but Pike with the defensive advantage was able to take that win and force ZeTy back. Pike with the overwhelming muta count takes the win for LRM

LRM 3 - 2 El Bunker

Game 6: Sziky vs Gundam

Last game of the series has Sziky against Gundam on Outsider. Sziky spawns at 5, while Gundam spawns at 9. Sziky goes for the overpool while Gundam goes forge 2xcannon nexus. Sziky gets an early gas before his 3rd hatchery, perhaps some cheese is in play. Gundam’s wall is actually quite shit as L_Master points out each gap in it while Sziky gets his 3rd at the other natural. Gundam gets a hidden 3rd nexus while Sziky’s spire starts building. Sziky’s scourges scouts sair reaver from Gundam. Hydras start knocking on the protoss’s wall and Sziky kills the first reaver and kills cannons and more stuff. Sziky keeps attacking into the natural and basically overruns Gundam, taking the win of the first season for LRM

LRM 4 - 2 El Bunker




What a season for STL. We have had a lot of good games, a lot of bad games, player dramas, team dramas, awesome staff members helping out, lazy staff members not helping out, but most of all, we finally got to the end of it all.

LRM takes it, with the peruvians surprising everyone in the foreign BW community by taking 2nd and iFu taking 3rd.

Now, since we are in what we can call “the off-season”, now what? Will we have a 2nd season? Will AoV be allowed to play again? Will Sziky now leave LRM now that his purpose has been fulfilled by the will of Game? Will iM’s roster problems continue to plague them? What more could happen? The world will never know.

We of the writers’ team would like to thank all that participated in the league, the STL admins that kept the league running, Teamliquid for still supporting foreign BW, iCCup for allowing the games to be played there, and most of all, alcohol for keeping the us sane during the times of insanity (which is really all the time)

If there is a 2nd season, we will definitely be back in full force to bring you crappy coverage and biased writings.

So long and thanks for all the Fish!


Sources:
VODS, Liquipedia
Writer team's source of inspiration
TLPD

Writers: Comradexkcd, GeckoXp, Traceurling, freaklingZerg, fearthequeen