Game 1: Crossing Field
Flash spawned at 10 in red while hero got 4 in purple. Flash sent his 5th scv out immediately, sending it to the top right corner of the map for a proxy 8 rax. Almost a guaranteed loss vs 9 pool but, I guess Flash felt like he could recover from a game 1 loss with straight up play if he had to. And if it worked it would demoralize the hell out of his opponent.


hero for his part dropped a 12 hat at his front natural, the worst possible opening. Flash scouted the morphing hatchery and then backed his scv without being seen. hero added a second hatchery at his rear natural before pool, discovering a bunker at his front too late.


hero cancelled his natural at the last second but, could do nothing to delay Flash pushing up the ramp into his main with his pool not finished by the time Flash's factory was already underway. Flash didn't seem to realize his good fortune and was defending against a 12 hat 11 pool, adding a bunker to contain hero while hero pulled all his drones to keep the marines back.


Eventually, Flash realized that hero's pool wasn't done and moved his marines behind hero's main mineral line, neatly getting out of range of the sunken on the way and stopping all mining.


He had kinda messed up here. There is absolutely no reason why he could not have simply killed hero with his marines against drones before the pool finished. But I guess had he tried it and failed then I'd be calling him names right now. Flash didn't need to kill hero's drones to win, his starport was almost started while hero didn't have any workers mining.

A bunker behind the mineral line ended hero's hopes of mining in his main base, while his rear natural wasn't yet complete. hero didn't have control of his mineral line, couldn't mine, and couldn't afford the zerglings to retake his mineral line.


Instead of doing a suicidal attack on the bunker with the only six zerglings he could afford, hero sent them out to cut off Flash's marine reinforcements. Unfortunately, Flash wasn't doing marine reinforcements and as hero scouted the factory, he knew that his slow lings would all die to a single micro-ed vulture. The zerglings retreated back to hold the ramp while his surviving drones started mining at the rear natural.

Even with uphill misses and no vision of the zerglings, Flash's single vulture slowly broke his way up the ramp.


hero desperately rushed towards two hat hydra off one mining base but, he lost his ramp far too early to save his drones from the two vultures which made their way into his natural.


The confined territory of the natural let hero trap and kill the two vultures but, by then Flash's first wraith had already killed one overlord and was working on a second while a vulture laid mines beneath his ramp. hero found himself supply blocked, still mining on one base with a bunker behind his mineral line, contained at a ramp, and facing a minefield he couldn't see. Oh, and Flash had over twice his supply and was taking his own rear natural.

hero's one base two hat mass hydras finally broke the bunker, releasing a second mineral line for him to mine.


hero then cleaned the mines out from his front natural, allowing Flash to hit his back natural with four cloaked wraiths.


hero was able to push them out of the natural with hydra escorting slow overlords, only for them to run into the main and kill the drones there. hero's hydra went to save his main and the wraiths promptly killed the natural overlord and returned to killing natural drones. hero's hydra went to save them and two more overlords were killed elsewhere. Finally, Flash pushed out and their two armies clashed.


GG

editorial: 8 rax vs 12 hat 14 hat 13 pool boys. Flash later said in his interview that he was planning to end the game with a nuke but didn't want to risk it. This was basically unwinnable for hero and at no point did anything he do change that.

Game 2: Gold Rush
Flash spawned at 12 in brown while hero got 9 in teal. Flash opened 9 depot 11 rax walling at his natural while hero went for a 12 hat expo 13 pool 14 extractor. Flash followed his rax with a quick gas into factory with a natural command center following after just one marine.

hero threw down an early sunken at his natural, grabbed a quick hydra den and started his lair, all on two hat. The economic damage was mitigated by his decision not to build any zerglings, and a third hatchery followed at his natural, narrowing the route to his ramp. At 4:30, hero and Flash both had around twenty workers by my count, a pretty good position for Zerg, while Flash's 1-1-1 build had yet to do any damage to anything.

hero pumped out a round of hydralisks as Flash's first wraith arrived, deflecting it completely and then counter pushing at a critical timing. Flash had a vulture with no mines, a wraith with no cloak, a wall with no tanks, and just two marines. He had every tech and no units, with hero hitting an amazing timing.


hero's hydralisks arrived a second before the bunker completed but, targeted the vulture, rather than the marines or the scv making the bunker. The vulture fell to two volleys but, in that time the two marines made it inside the bunker, forcing hero's hydralisks back as Flash's first tank moved onto the wall. Flash had overextended, but only by a single second, the window closing in the time it took for hero to realize that it existed at all.

hero dropped a fourth hat at the 11 island expansion, and a fifth hat in his main, staying on lair and powering hard on three bases. Meanwhile, Flash converted his early tech into a super early, super small, late game TvZ composition. His first medics were accompanied by greater numbers of science vessels and tanks. He didn't have much, but what he had could do one hell of a slow push. And the slow push immediately started, heading across the top to 11.


hero realized too late that he hadn't killed the assimilators and committed to engaging Flash's army in a narrow window. The tanks adopted a deep formation with overlapping fire while the science vessels irradiated two lurkers before the fight even started, killing a few zerglings caught in the area of effect and forcing a premature engagement from hero.


Great marine splitting pulled the lurker fire away from the larger group of marines and it looked like Flash would be able to clean it up. But hero's next attempt to push him out was surprisingly close fought. It was super scrappy so here's a really long gif:


If I'm not mistaken, Flash quickly shift queued attacks on each lurker in turn, keeping his tank fire on the large units where they had no damage modifiers and avoiding any friendly splash. hero actually had the stuff to push Flash back, which totally caught me off guard because who the hell pushes back tanks, vessels, and mnm attacking from a single direction in close terrain. Great little fight.

A handful more marines flowed in and, without a critical mass of units to counterattack, could resist small groups of zerg units forever without taking losses. Flash pushed through to the high ground behind hero's natural and ended the game.


GG

editorial: Flash's build was really ambitious and hero's counter build was near perfect, hitting a fantastic timing on Flash but not quite being able to capitalize upon it. However, I really did not care for hero's 11 expansion. Flash put a tank defending the assimilators really early. I'd like to condemn hero for not getting units up there in time to kill the assimilators but, honestly I just don't think it would have been possible either way. He was always going to have to defend that base with lair tech and five hat, and it was always going to be very difficult. But, in the counterfactual game where the assimilators were destroyed, hero's five hat army would have been devastating in the middle of the map. Flash's only edge was attacking down a narrow front with a late game composition. He built himself that edge though, there was no luck involved. Flash did what he needed to win.

Game 3: Gladiator
Flash spawned at 7 in green while hero got 5 in purple. hero went for an 11 drone scout 12 hat expo, scouting Flash's natural first but not going down the ramp to find him. This actually made sense once I saw his build though, instead of risking a second hat before pool he kept his options open, going to 13 drones and scouting for a CC first. After identifying that there was no FE from Flash, hero dropped a 13 pool. Had he scouted into the 7 main, he would have seen everything 1/3 of the time and seen no FE (with ovi) 1/3 of the time. By scouting just the natural, he saw no FE 3/3 of the time, but forfeited any further intel.

Flash, for his part, went for 11 rax 19 CC, and was immediately scouted doing it by hero. hero immediately dropped his own third at the 3 high ground which Flash immediately scouted. hero mixed it up by pumping out a dozen speedlings early, hoping to meta Flash because hero knows that Flash knows that hero knows that hero can't do damage so maybe Flash will mess up and not make enough defense or push out with too many marines too early. Flash sent out a second scout scv and immediately scouted everything because he's Flash and that's just what happens. He drops a bunker at his natural and adds a depot to create a narrow choke.


Flash pushed out early with his mnm, denying a repeatedly threatened backstab with scv block pulls but, not making it to hero's base before sunkens finished. But, with only two rax at home, Flash was only ever trying to keep hero honest, forcing sunkens with no intent to actually bust through. Meanwhile, hero was rushing to hive, fast three base lair with den into lurker queen's nest, delaying spire until the hive started. hero's plan was to get his win condition, three gas and hive, as soon as possible with the fewest units possible.

hero lay a hold lurker trap for Flash on the high ground between their bases and Flash immediately scanned it, forcing an unburrow and retreat.


Flash got his army to hero's natural and started to siege down the sunkens, while also adding a dropship of mnm to attack on a second vector while his main army chewed through the front. hero opted for a muta switch, shutting down the drop before it began by guaranteeing immediate and overwhelming counterattack to any small group of marines hitting a base. The mutas picked off both tanks before Flash's army was able to make it into hero's natural and the push was over for now.


Flash broke through the clump of cracklings and lurkers that had been placed to delay reinforcements, although not without taking some losses that hero would be happy with, and reinforced his push with a new vessel and tank. The last of the five sunken colonies defending the natural was destroyed and Flash wanted to make his move, only for a newly produced defiler to consume an overlord and throw down a dark swarm. Held by the narrowest of windows.


A hold is a hold though and Flash's repeated pushes had achieved nothing. hero had hive, defilers, three gas, and a greater spire on the way. He was where he wanted to be. Flash flew a CC to the third base at 9 and began another CC at the 11 main. hero immediately scouted and stopped 11 while five guardians morphed at 9 and started to attack it. Flash's remaining bio and vessels easily cleaned up the guardians while his mech switch started to cover the map with mines. A new attempt at a fourth base at 11 resumed for Flash while hero's expansion attempt at the 3 natural got shut down. Advantage Flash.


Behind on bases, with no map control, and mines all over the map, hero opted for a drop. The overlords immediately passed floating buildings and went into the expecting arms of Flash.


Flash preemptively scanned to get vision for his wall of turrets and it looked like hero's drop was going to achieve absolutely nothing.


However, hero pulled a really cool move with a wave of scourge pulling turret fire with their fast movement speed, allowing the overlords to complete their drop, despite Flash having a prepared defense.


The drop punched far above its cost, getting a handful of tanks, a lot of depots and turrets, and most importantly, a lot of attention. Late game TvZ is very multitasking intensive. hero successfully lit a lot of fires for Flash to fight and in doing so increased the effectiveness of everything else he attempted. A second drop with just four overlords followed before Flash was able to rebuild his turret line and fortify his main. With no anti air to face them, they split up and dropped upon multiple tanks, doing little damage but successfully getting lurkers burrowed under swarm in a few places.


Flash's map control dissolved without a trace, the stream of vultures laying mines on the map coming to an end while the remaining mnm fortified his expansions at 9 and 11. This allowed hero to safely establish 6 and the 1 main for himself without contest while his own army retook the map. The drops had been cleaned up but, the entire rhythm of the match had dramatically changed. hero, while still fifty supply down, could land punches on Flash and expect none in return.

Three such punches landed in quick success, a crackling attack hitting 9, pulling Flash's army out, while another small drop, consisting of just two defilers, three lurkers and some cracklings, lit more fires in the main with lurkers under swarm. And hero's main punch, a crackling army accompanied by a few lurkers, smashed into the 11 main.



hero was sixty supply down but, when you have lurkers under swarm already on the Terran target, there's more to the game than supply counts. Flash defended 11 but, by then cracklings were already all over 9.


The vultures were able to clean up 9 but, by then another group of cracklings were at 11. A stream of cracklings intercepted Flash's relieving army and Flash was forced to lift his CC due to the growing tide of the Zerg economy. hero had been playing his own game from the moment the first drop hit and had used it to build a formidable economic advantage built on five decently saturated bases all mining at once with the hatcheries to spend that money. As cracklings overwhelmed 9 and 11 simultaneously, Flash GG'd, not waiting for the inevitable death by ultra.

GG

editorial: This was a really, really cool game. Some sweet moves early by both players, and some very cool timings. I liked their cat and mouse with speedlings and lurkers, and I really liked hero's delayed spire defiler rush, Flash's tank timing push to execute that defiler rush, and hero's muta switch to kill the tanks, delaying the push until defilers. Two players at the absolute pinnacle of their game, reading each other perfectly and each trying to one up the other in strategy. But despite hero's best efforts, he was behind when Flash killed his fourth. Behind by a good amount. And Flash's main had a wall of turrets, pre-sieged tanks, spider mines, and vessels. hero's first drop was a pivotal moment, the scourge sacrifice to draw fire, followed by the small multipronged thrusts that sheltered his double expansion, it was all perfect. For five solid minutes, hero kept Flash on the back foot from a huge supply deficit, a constant string of "you may have the bigger army but let's see you deal with this handful of units in the worst possible place for you". Absolutely textbook. When it's time to write the textbook for ZvT, this is what should be in it.

Game 4: Fighting Spirit
Flash spawned at 1 in brown while hero got 7 in teal. hero opted for a 12 scout 12 hat 11 pool 13 hat and tried for a 12 extractor but, was blocked while Flash went 9 depot 11 rax 17 depot 18 CC. Flash blocked hero's gas with an extractor but, hero took his natural gas in response. Flash went for a quick ebay +1 and intensively scouted hero with his scv while hero played an incredibly standard two base three hat lair opener, following his lair with spire and den.

Flash transitioned into five rax for a +1 stim timing push while hero tried to start his third at the 11 main, sending two hydralisks to block the ramp with their eggs. hero continued to drone, using a very small gang of speedlings to delay, threaten backstab, and otherwise harass Flash's first few mnm as they pushed out. It was a very small group of mnm, the product of his first rax pumping one marine after another, and his first two medics, but Flash scanned hero delaying his sunkens and rushed across the map.


hero had relied upon an empty threat of a speedling envelopment to keep Flash at bay, and was punished for it.

Muta cleaned up the first push eventually but, it was a scrappy group of six muta, not the 9 hero would have comfortably pushed given the chance, and one died in the first fight. The remaining five tried to pick off small bands of reinforcing mnm but, soon found their numbers whittled down to three. When fighting medics, you either have enough mutalisks, in which case the victory is quick and overwhelming, or you do not, in which case the failure is ugly.



Flash's five rax stream of mnm made it to the 11 ramp and started to work on the egg. A second lurker hatched further back and provided covering fire for the blocking lurker to finish, back, and burrow. As more muta arrived, 11 was secured.


hero had no map control and his 11 expansion hadn't even been started but, at least he controlled the expansion site. He started the 11 expansion and his queen's nest.

hero's army wasn't able to achieve anything with map control, Flash convoying his reinforcements out in large units to join the previous push towards 11. A small unit of mnm pushed towards hero's main, pulling muta to respond, and as hero got out of position, Flash stimmed up into the two lurkers on the ramp. A third lurker would have made the ramp safe, and hero started a hydralisk with his first larva when his 11 hatchery finished and immediately morphed it into a lurker, but the attack hit 10 seconds too early.


hero's new lurker lacked a ramp and was picked off while the mutalisks were helpless against the stream of +1 mnm coming from the 5 rax.


hero's strong position, a third gas with lurkers on the ramp, scourge against dropships, and a fast hive, all crumbled into dust. hero tried to add a nydus but, the base was already lost before it could complete.

hero was left with hive tech but, just two gas to fuel it. He made a hail mary play for the 5 main expansion but, it was immediately capped. He added another expansion at 9 which was successfully taken but, Flash was already switching into mech with mines keeping hero in his base. The science vessels killed a string of lurkers without response from hero who could only replace them to keep the bio at bay. However, he did successfully stop Flash from killing the 9 expansion, three more lurkers coming through a new nydus at the last second.


It did not really matter at this point though. Flash had taken his own expansion at 3 and had the 5 main starting, in addition to having over twice hero's supply. The game had been won at 11. This was both players simply putting on a show for the audience. hero attempted to take 6 but, Flash simultaneously destroyed 6 and 9; 6 with bio and 9 with a tank siege from the low ground, forcing hero to GG.

GG

editorial: decent game by both. hero played a standard game in a standard way and was just broken at a critical timing taking his third. These things happen when you're playing Flash, and when they do, there is no chance of recovery. Another great execution of 5 rax +1, but what were we really expecting from Flash. Of course, he executed it well. Game 3 showed that hero can win when the stars align, but it didn't happen this game. When you cut everything as finely as hero has to then sometimes it'll tip into the chasm.