Game 1: Circuit Breaker
These two have little history to build on prior to this match. During the KeSPA era, they had a grand total of one game between them. It makes me curious as to how they prepared and how the games will actually go down during the real thing.

So the game started and well, let's just say SoulkKy wasted no time getting me acquainted with the good ol' fashioned surprise hydra bust in your face strategy. BeSt opened with a standard gateway-first. SoulKey opened with a pool-first build. BeSt was quite successful early with only a pairing of a zealot and probe forcing almost a control group of zerglings. But as the game unfolded, we saw that those zerglings served a higher purpose.


Hydras and zerglings quickly massed outside the protoss sim-city and chipped away at the zealots before finally tearing the cannons down. It was a quick win for SoulKey, which added mental pressure on BeSt as they head to the Playground.

Game 2: Outsider
With the more favorable map ending up on the loss column, BeSt faces an impending 2-0 hole in what is described as SoulKey's playground. BeSt began with a 2-gateway opening while Soulkey started with a 2-base setup and then transitioned to a 3-base after it was clear that there wasn't going to be any aggression after the first invading zealot.

SoulKey opted for hydras and sized up the force that was protecting his building natural. The mass of cannon and dragoon fire prevented him from doing much damage hence the decision to take a fourth base over at the other unoccupied main base spot. Since by that time, BeSt had two bases and pulling three. SoulKey added lurkers and upgraded drop, and began the slow and painful procedure to take BeSt's bones out from his body one by one... Or so I thought.

BeSt was well-prepared for it. He added observers and rid his natural and second base of harassing lurkers and then after that, started to move out. The formidable-looking force that moved out of BeSt's natural was not the typical protoss composition in PvZ. No, he didn't want to play the standard zealot-HT-dragoon-archon game. Maybe Outsider got to his head. Instead he went for power dragoons with reavers and headed steadily towards SoulKey's exposed third base.

SoulKey tried to erode the massive push. But no matter how much he threw he couldn't stop the tsunami of dragoons and a single reaver as they stomped all over the lurker line defending his open third. He was quite successful at sniping observers, which bought him some time but the weight was so heavy that he lost much of the support the lurkers needed to hold the line. When his third fell, he had exhausted all his forces which gave BeSt a nice path to sacking the nearby natural prompting a quick GG. The score stands at 1-1.


Game 3: Camelot
And now for the new map. With BeSt tying the series in what I'd consider an upset, it feels like anything can happen now. SoulKey did 4-hatch before lair which naturally meant he only had a choice of hydras and speedlings for pressure. BeSt started the game as he did the in the first two games; single zealot aggression.

BeSt was constantly moving his zealots around his entrance probably to keep SoulKey on his heels. And Soulkey was ever watchful. When the zealots moved out too far, several lings seized the opportunity and almost made BeSt pay. But due to his great reaction time he only lost the two cannons which wasn't much compared to the chaos those speedlings could have done.

When BeSt added HTs to his mix, he continued the pattern of continuous movement. The larger force and the threat of storms meant he was able to venture out farther than when he had only slowlots. Watching the game again, this probably scared SoulKey into over-producing hydras as a quick stopgap. This played into BeSt's strategy as the observer revealed a total of eight gateways. When a pack of dragoons joined the army, BeSt sent them out as quickly as possible in order to catch the zerg defenses unprepared.

SoulKey would have benefitted a lot from a muta switch given that BeSt cut corsair production for his attack. But with imperfect information prevented better judgement and that was a major factor that doomed SoulKey in the next sequence.


Game 4: Andromeda
Now at the fourth game, BeSt's 3-1 victory over ex-ZvP god Hero last season loomed large. However this game woudl not be the final game where BeSt disposes of another zerg player. Instead, this was the story of the Three Blind Zealots. Now I know what you're thinking; "hold on, this is StarCraft, not some nursery rhyme, give me my recap." Well, let me at least tell the story. Once there were three zealots standing atop a ramp. When zerglings came and asked to come in, the zealots refused to budge. But when the zerglings knocked and started to dance around, the zealots got annoyed and rushed down the ramp. But in their haste, they left a little opening and the zerglings rush in.


The zerglings weren't really devastating but they were a real handful. BeSt had to pull zealots that would have otherwise been used to block the ramp; which led to even more lings coming in. On the other hand, SoulKey was really getting into it this game. With BeSt getting three bases in quick succession, SoulKey had a lot of room to breath and get his plan out there. He was able to easily parry a small patrol from BeSt, added lurkers and a third gas expansion. From there, he harassed the exposed mineral only from below the cliff area. He then quickly realized that the natural expo (that was the third base) was really vulnerable and can be broken down even with a relatively small force of hydras and lurkers. After a few careful steps and micromanagement, SoulKey was able to force a fifth game.


Game 5: Circuit Breaker
In what was the most important game of their season so far, one player messed up. As if the previous game was a foreshadowing, BeSt once again failed to properly defend his chokepoint. In the previous game, it was more mismicromamangement but in this game, it was poor planning and timing. But unlike the last game, the zerglings were nowhere near as effective.


SoulKey started massing hydras in the midgame after a late lair and almost threatened BeSt with a late hydra bust. Luckily, storm was available at the right time. Now it was beginning to look like the game on Camelot except here BeSt decided to get an earlier expansion. SoulKey also changed his scheme. He noticed the lack of corsair presence in the map and added mutas. The mutas started hunting for HTs right away and although they managed to find a few HTs plus a stray shuttle, there was just a little too many HTs in the way. Before the unupgraded dragoons even got shots off, storms utterly sqaushed the first wave of hydras sent to tear down BeSt's mineral only expo.


After such a blow, SoulKey took a minute to regroup and used used his mutas to probe the mineral lines, raid them and kill as many probes. Then when he thought he had enough hydras, SoulKey once again stormed the mineral only. The mutas were effective but BeSt was still able to get off two storms. But that didn't matter much. His dragoons were still unupgraded and most of them are running around like headless chickens at the back leaving a few to exchange fire with masses of hydras left after the storms died down. An unfair sight yes, but StarCraft isn't played in a vacuum. SoulKey outplayed BeSt really good and he prevailed.


Soulkey moved on to the semifinals!