EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/FcDOe7q.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/j6efSRP.png)
Game 1: 4/5 stars
Game 1 left no one disappointed (except
Ample fans). There couldn’t have been a more exciting opening to the series then a back and forth game on match point. by.hero went for the standard 12 hatch opening while Ample went for a rax expand. Things remained normal as two base spire tech was under way. In the process of taking a third base, 
by.hero scouted with his mutas that ample was pushing out with a small marine/medic army. With great micro, the mutas chipped away and destroyed the push.by.hero went for a 4th base at the mineral only in the 10 o’clock position and switched to lurker tech. Meanwhile Ample macros a bio mech force off his two bases. Ample’s army consisted of science vessels, tanks, and a few control groups of bio. Out in the open platform of match point, Ample found himself under siege with a wave of mutas in lurkers. However, great positioning and some foolish micro by by.hero cost the zerg his army. In a second wave attempt to squash Ample both players left the battle with injuries.
Ample then transitioned into aggressive multi harass bio drop play. It was succeeding really well. He took out the third and fourth of by.hero. Meanwhile a counter harass with lurkers removed Ample’s third and the terran income decreased dramatically. Killer slowly took back over the game and managed to scourge two dropship in the process. Ample tapped GG and lost game number 1.
Game 2: 3/5 stars
Game 2 begins on Neo Electric Circuit. By.hero spawned on the bottom right while Ample takes position at the bottom left. Ample opens up as if he is going for a rax expand meanwhile by,hero goes for a 12 pool. However ample pulls many svcs and heads out for a bunker rush. By.hero pulls drones to defend and attempt to hold off the Terran forces while his ling count grows. Unable to kill the scvs, a bunker does finish. The bunker rush was successful in the end as it kills of the hatchery before being sacrifice to two forced sunken colonies.
by.hero took immediately takes a hatchery at the mineral only next to his main and retakes his natural. Ample has his natural command center up and running too. Following up his expansion, Ample looks to continue down the bio tech path.
by.hero really has to struggle now to get economy going as Ample decides to pressure with a heavy marine/medic force. By.hero is forced to drop 6 sunken colonies at the front of his natural in response to the aggression. This type of move by Tis tough on the Zerg because Ample can choose not to engage and he’s already forced so many drones of the line.
Spire finishes up. by.hero must rely on mutas to out play the bio forces as Ample brings another control group to the front line. The mutas move out to harass the main and natural of Ample. With lack of preparedness, Ample brings his marines back until turrets could be finished off. It feels no matter how good by.hero’s muta micro is, that he won’t be able to harm Ample’s economy.
Sometimes when you are really behind as zerg the best thing to do is mass expand. With lurkers out, by.hero takes the 6th, 1, and 3 o’clock bases. However the sixth quickly falls to a pack of marines. As the game progress Ample shows how crippled by.hero’s economy truly was from the opening bunker rush as his bio mech roles over the natural and main. By.hero must type GG.
Game 3: 3/5
Enter the map Athena. Named after the god of wisdom, sure that’s what will be seen in this game. By.hero spawn’s at the 10 o’clock and Ample spawn at the 2 o’clock. This is definitely one of the weirder maps as far as spawn positions are concerned. Ample opens up normal, looking to rax expan. Meanwhile, by.hero goes for 9 pool speed. 6 zerglings get out very quickly and race to Amples main. Great ling micro on the ramp takes out the walling scvs and marines at the top. The main can barely be held as all marines keep getting killed off. After many attempts, Ample does finish off a bunker and by.hero has taken his natural with a macro hatchery also in the natural. Ample with a desperation move sends all scvs and marines to attack by.hero’s main. The bunker attack fails and Ample is forced to GG.
Game 4: 5/5
Here were are in the fourth game. Ample manages to rax expand and spare us a third consecutive game with a bunker rush. At the same time, by.hero opens with a 12 hatch. Ample makes a really cool move and send out maries to snipe scouting overlords. This tips off by.hero who must prepare for an assault on his main with several sunkens. The players engage and with pulled drones Ample was pushed back.
By.hero gets lurkers and mutas out on the map as the players enter the mid game. A bio mech push crosses the middle of fighting spirit and by.hero backstabs the natural. Ample was completely unprepared for this attack. The stalling allows by.hero to even further amass an army. Dark swarm after dark swarm continues as by.hero pushes his army towards the natural base of Ample.
Ample continues to play great in this game. Defending the aggression he starts attacking multiple locations as both players split the map with bases. The game is exploding with variety as the the late game ensues. Overlords drops, mech, cracklings, lurker harassment, siege lines. As the back and forth continues the shift starts to favor by.hero. Constant beatings on 3 locations proves too much for Ample to bear. As he loses the top left portion of the map ultralisk suddenly traverse to field. Seeing the next wave of attacking units Ample has no other option but to throw the white flag and GG.
Review:
by.Hero vs Ample showed us the full package of TvZs. It was a very entertaining series that Ample had an opportunity to take for himself. While it only went 4/5 games, it was a valiant effort for someone playing the SSL9 semifinalist and it will be a pleasure to see Ample continue to grow. As for by.hero, he proved that his ZvT is really solid and that he can go in a bo5 with a really solid Terran and come out on top. By.hero may have only placed third, but he definitely showed us he is a top tier player.
