This season has seen many an upset with teams having very little between them.
We shall see something similar today when the heavy weights CJ play against the ever present (imo underperforming) woonjin stars.
While I must say that woongjin makes a hell of a drink, until Flash switches from pocari sweat their drink just isn't good enough.
Predictions: Light[aLive] « Outlier »EffOrt This is a map that teams prefer to send zerg players. I would not be surprised if woonjin takes notice of this and sends out Light on this map. Hence I predict Light taking the first set with CJ sendign either Hydra or Effort. Even though Effort has shown some sparks of brilliance I don't know if he's still back to his stellar OSL winning form.
Leta« Ground Zero »Flying Flying has been showing us some sparks of brilliance with an amazing game against by.sun this season (forge block omg!). Albeit his pvt isn't that great so I see Leta taking this game.
Horang2« Sniper Ridge »free Haven't seen free out for a while but that's not to say he won't be sent out today. He used to be sent as woongjin's ace and I for one think he's wanting a win right now more than anyone!
hOn_sin « Electric Circuit »Hydra It's nice to see Woongjin developing its rookies and Hon Sin has shown us that he can go toe to toe with the best(i.e., beating Bisu in an amazing hyper aggressive game). I have faith in Hon Sin but at this stage of the game (being 2 down) I think CJ will send out Hydra. Hydra I'm pretty sure would make mince meat of our rookie hero. Sure, we see hon sin produce sparks of brilliance here and there but he has an uncanny knack of screwing things over for no reason! No doubt more experience will make him better but I see him as more of a great player of the future and a negatively loaded coin toss for now.
Movie« Jade »SoulKey I feel like this is more of a pvt map but woonjin out of options sends out soulkey or zero. This can go either way but soulkey in his last 10 games is 7:3 in the matchup so I'm giving soulkey the win!
On January 31 2012 19:50 aupstar wrote: Hype/Predictions updated....gosh wrote so much crap in so little time..lol
Thanks. Light vs Effort would be a great start. I don't think we'll see a PvP on Sniper Ridge, it'll be a first I think. Unless the CJ coach saw it coming, I wouldn't put past him I guess.
On January 31 2012 20:09 mnesthes wrote: However Zero decides that since Leta is as predictable as fuck he has hydras prepared for the imminent wraith harass
2 wraiths fly towards the natural, 1 drone dead. Hydra arrives and the wraiths move into the main airspace. Hydras force them to leave
Zero making lurkers. Control tower added to the starport, cloak is being researched
Ebay finished, turrets are being erected. 3 lurkers run down the ramp to find a wall, one lurker falls to wraith and marine fire. the other two move back and reburrow, now leta's wall is under attack
barracks is in the red from the lurker spikes, scvs race over to repair the burning building. Leta has blocked the backdoor path with a depot and ebay, meanwhile Zero is mining out his back mineral patch to gain access to leta's back door
scan goes off and the wraith squadron kills the lurkers. Wraiths now headed back to Zero's main, hydra down, 2 drones, 3 drones down, 4 drones, 5 drones. Wow cloaked wraiths getting numerous kills
Speedlords arrive to provide assistance to the hydras, cloaked wraiths score one overlord, but there are others. Hydras continue to defend the main.
another group of Hydras leave the main and head towards Leta's main, they attack the buildings at the ramp but there's a bunker and a siege tank. Hydras die at the ramp, a few lings are blown apart also. Hydras retreat for now
wraiths patrol around Zero's main, another hydra is sniped, 2 drones fall. more Hydras arrive and the wraiths leave
2nd CC in the making inside the main, more drones are being sniped by Leta's wraiths
Leta now making his 2nd and 3rd barracks. Tanks and marines move out into the natural where an scv makes a turret. Terran forces settle in as the CC floats over. 1 lurker falling to siege tank fire. Wraiths are being repaired
both are on 2 bases, no third yet for Zero science facility done, Leta on 4 rax
6th barracks coming online for Leta. Zero getting a 3rd hatchery inside his main
cloaked wraiths continue to patrol the area. Leta is doing a damn good job of keeping the hydra numbers down and sniping drones. Overlord dies to wraiths too! No detection, more drones dying. Zero is losing way too many units
ive always wondered why zergs refust to build at least 1 spore per base if terran goes wraith based. 175 (drone, creep, spore) will save 10-15 drones in the duration of a game
I have the conviction that 2 port wraith is the strongest opening in TvZ if the terran is able to micro his paper planes perfectly and has the multitasking ability to macro properly at the same time. It's insanely hard but wraiths have an incredible potential.
You would notice that Leta stops macroing when he is harassing. At the very end of the game he had 1K+ minerals. I don't know if any player will ever master this opening to the perfection.
On January 31 2012 20:21 Zona wrote: damn, lol at the video nanashin is showing
Leta completely dominated that.
Reminds me of sport in middle school.
I have the conviction that 2 port wraith is the strongest opening in TvZ if the terran is able to micro his paper planes perfectly and has the multitasking ability to macro properly at the same time. It's insanely hard but wraiths have an incredible potential.
You would notice that Leta stops macroing when he is harassing. At the very end of the game he had 1K+ minerals. I don't know if any player will ever master this opening to the perfection.
Yeah that opening is very strong. There's a FPVOD of another terran 2 porting someone on Colosseum in Show me the MSL, it's crazy how hard it is to execute. Leta's micro is near perfect though.
On January 31 2012 20:21 Biff The Understudy wrote: I have the conviction that 2 port wraith is the strongest opening in TvZ if the terran is able to micro his paper planes perfectly and has the multitasking ability to macro properly at the same time. It's insanely hard but wraiths have an incredible potential.
You would notice that Leta stops macroing when he is harassing. At the very end of the game he had 1K+ minerals. I don't know if any player will ever master this opening to the perfection.
But it's not a standard opening. You only have the illusion of it being a strong build because it's not used often yet when it is used Terran usually wins (and yeah, they decide to pull it off because their micro are good enough). If it had become a standard opening then Zergs would have dissected the shit out of it by now. Also, there are games where Zerg hits a specific timing while Terran is transitioning to kill 2port (Fantasy vs Zero on Aztec iirc).
I have the conviction that 2 port wraith is the strongest opening in TvZ if the terran is able to micro his paper planes perfectly and has the multitasking ability to macro properly at the same time. It's insanely hard but wraiths have an incredible potential.
You would notice that Leta stops macroing when he is harassing. At the very end of the game he had 1K+ minerals. I don't know if any player will ever master this opening to the perfection.
Yeah that opening is very strong. There's a FPVOD of another terran 2 porting someone on Colosseum in Show me the MSL, it's crazy how hard it is to execute. Leta's micro is near perfect though.
zero deserved to lose that game. he knew from the scouts and his overlord and constant harass that leta was favoring wraiths over tank transition, in fact he only parked his tank for defense, yet he refused to adjust to it. a few spores would have allowed him to transition well and punish leta's wraith based army...
On January 31 2012 20:21 Zona wrote: damn, lol at the video nanashin is showing
Leta completely dominated that.
Reminds me of sport in middle school.
I have the conviction that 2 port wraith is the strongest opening in TvZ if the terran is able to micro his paper planes perfectly and has the multitasking ability to macro properly at the same time. It's insanely hard but wraiths have an incredible potential.
You would notice that Leta stops macroing when he is harassing. At the very end of the game he had 1K+ minerals. I don't know if any player will ever master this opening to the perfection.
Yeah that opening is very strong. There's a FPVOD of another terran 2 porting someone on Colosseum in Show me the MSL, it's crazy how hard it is to execute. Leta's micro is near perfect though.
That was lomo vs kwanro
Yeah that's it ! Recommended viewing if anyone has missed it :D
what I hate now is that whenever I play, there is a nagging voice in my head to layout my base like horang2. and im fucking terran! in ladder, that just an apm and mapm (mental action per minute) drain lol.
On January 31 2012 20:21 Biff The Understudy wrote: I have the conviction that 2 port wraith is the strongest opening in TvZ if the terran is able to micro his paper planes perfectly and has the multitasking ability to macro properly at the same time. It's insanely hard but wraiths have an incredible potential.
You would notice that Leta stops macroing when he is harassing. At the very end of the game he had 1K+ minerals. I don't know if any player will ever master this opening to the perfection.
But it's not a standard opening. You only have the illusion of it being a strong build because it's not used often yet when it is used Terran usually wins (and yeah, they decide to pull it off because their micro are good enough). If it had become a standard opening then Zergs would have dissected the shit out of it by now. Also, there are games where Zerg hits a specific timing while Terran is transitioning to kill 2port (Fantasy vs Zero on Aztec iirc).
Well, Leta has been playing it for years in more than half his TvZ, and nobody ever found a timing or a major flaw in his opening.
Zerg can do very little against really well microed wraith. Wraith can stack, they have very high range, they can cloak. With that you can rape the shit out of any zerg at any time. Zerg has to invest a shit load to defend, because hydra don't stack, and that muta / scourges have massive problems with cloak.
The only problem with wraith is that they are fragile. But if you micro perfectly, you are supposed to take little to no damage. You take real damages when you make a mistake. Now the transition into mm push is deadly, because zerg never has time to have defilers out in time. At best he has lurkers, but then the terran has a factory and can just produce tanks.
Leta plays this opening like shit compared to what it could be by a perfect player. He is amazing, but their are so many flaws in his execution. It's just insanely hard. And yet, he wins most of the time. Imagine someone who would make no mistakes, who would harass at all time while macroing. It would kill anybody.
Yes! lings crush the cannon at Movie's nat - just 1 cannon but a bunch of speedlots are moving out - 5 of them, emergency evo placed to wall off 2 hydra behind the choke
cannon being rebuilt at the nat choke, scourge seea templar head out - 4 lings snipe it!
6 zealots move out but run into a bunch of hydra and back off 1 storm on hydra attacking the gateway in front of movie's nat choke - just on like 3 hydra though
On January 31 2012 20:44 Askalaphos wrote: why didn't movie defend his main against these two lurkes???
He had already lost about 20ish probes to those 4 lurkers, he wanted to kill SK and win. Since he was already hurting for observers if he brought them back he would not be able to attack anymore and with the econ disadvantage he did not think he would be able to recover.
On January 31 2012 20:47 legaton wrote: On of the best games of the season, even if Soulkey was behind, he really saw the weakness in Movie's army and build
Wait what, why Soulkey was behind ? Just seemed like a pretty stupid decision from movie to go for that base trade...
On January 31 2012 20:47 legaton wrote: On of the best games of the season, even if Soulkey was behind, he really saw the weakness in Movie's army and build
Wait what, why Soulkey was behind ? Just seemed like a pretty stupid decision from movie to go for that base trade...
Haha the whole game I was asking myself "You've got 1000 ways to dispose of those lurkers and chose the option of going all in but neglecting observers!?"
On January 31 2012 20:45 Fenrax wrote: Feel bad for Movie. He played a great game and lost to a clever but simple trick.
How did SK win that? I saw Movie's army raping SK's base, went for a sandwich, and Movie lost. How? How?
Well, before Movie moved his entire army out, SK dropped lurkers by both of Movie's mineral lines, stopping all mining, which Movie elected not to prioritize.
And as Movie attacked, SK focused on picking off observers.
On January 31 2012 20:47 legaton wrote: On of the best games of the season, even if Soulkey was behind, he really saw the weakness in Movie's army and build
Wait what, why Soulkey was behind ? Just seemed like a pretty stupid decision from movie to go for that base trade...
Soulkey's hydras didn't hurt at all Movie. I don't think he was trying to bust the natural, but even as a contain, it failed pretty badly. Zealot/goon/Hight templar + obs should beat pretty easilt a Hydra/lurker army, specially when you have & 30 spply advantage. Well, at least, that's my opinion.
On January 31 2012 20:45 Fenrax wrote: Feel bad for Movie. He played a great game and lost to a clever but simple trick.
How did SK win that? I saw Movie's army raping SK's base, went for a sandwich, and Movie lost. How? How?
SK had lurkers killing Movie's probes, Movie said "fuck them lurkers and them probes I'm going deep" then SK defended using Lurkers while sniping every single Obs Movie had.
On January 31 2012 20:47 legaton wrote: On of the best games of the season, even if Soulkey was behind, he really saw the weakness in Movie's army and build
Wait what, why Soulkey was behind ? Just seemed like a pretty stupid decision from movie to go for that base trade...
he had to do it after losing so many probes and mining time
On January 31 2012 20:47 legaton wrote: On of the best games of the season, even if Soulkey was behind, he really saw the weakness in Movie's army and build
Wait what, why Soulkey was behind ? Just seemed like a pretty stupid decision from movie to go for that base trade...
Soulkey's hydras didn't hurt at all Movie. I don't think he was trying to bust the natural, but even as a contain, it failed pretty badly. Zealot/goon/Hight templar + obs should beat pretty easilt a Hydra/lurker army, specially when you have & 30 spply advantage. Well, at least, that's my opinion.
He just made Hydras to pressure, he did not really need to do any damage from my understanding. As for the supply advantage, it did not seem out of the ordinary, especially with hard teching from zerg and pretty hardcore 2-basing from Movie. Anyway, my zvp understanding is bad.
On January 31 2012 20:47 legaton wrote: On of the best games of the season, even if Soulkey was behind, he really saw the weakness in Movie's army and build
Wait what, why Soulkey was behind ? Just seemed like a pretty stupid decision from movie to go for that base trade...
Soulkey invested 350 minerals and gas + 4 lurkers in harassing, that's the reason why Movies attack was so effective and looked so close
If movie had gone through people woulda screamed at soulkey for overcommiting to the harass, so I don't see what people are faulting movie for
On January 31 2012 20:47 legaton wrote: On of the best games of the season, even if Soulkey was behind, he really saw the weakness in Movie's army and build
Wait what, why Soulkey was behind ? Just seemed like a pretty stupid decision from movie to go for that base trade...
Soulkey invested 350 minerals and gas + 4 lurkers in harassing, that's the reason why Movies attack was so effective and looked so close
If movie had gone through people woulda screamed at soulkey for overcommiting to the harass, so I don't see what people are faulting movie for
It just eems like the riskier choice, and honestly I'm pretty sure SK defends that 80% of the time. Clearing the harass up does not seem that hard, busting through a zerg who only has to defend your one push just seems pretty.... ergh.
now mnm focus-firing on the hatch - lurkerling coming from behind in substantial numbers hon_sin controlling pretty well, cleaning up most of the lings while giving ground
2 vessels -> 2 irradiated lurkers mnmnf moving NW again, with 2 vultures also heading out to raid - and there's nothing at the 3rd except a morphing lurker...and drones
lurker morph cancelled back into a hydra to defend...
mnm bypassing lurkers, they unburrow and move north - into the mnm...1 explodes
... honsin gets two dropships of m&m into where's 3rd. kills all drones, but the base holds (lurkers on ramp prevent the outside force from joining up)
swarm + two lurkers at honsin's 3rd get the kills they were suppose to get 2 minutes ago
lol and where loses his main to a drop. ... lost all tech.
eraser at nat.
where desperately attacks with his last group of lurkers, forces 3rd to lift and gets some into honsin's 4th as well. where still has 2 "bases"... ok there goes his defiler mound and hive.
Good job CJ. Have EffOrt and Hydra on your team. Send Where. Kinda like what happened last game against KT. Send Leta? Naw Rush will do just fine. Somebody check the CJ bench and make sure it's not January in there.
On January 31 2012 21:19 yepenaxa wrote: honsin kid so happy! for sure he's gonna get an extra slice of cake later :D
So mean! He looked like he wanted to do some ceremony, and then he didn't know what do, probably from the lack of winning experience and went for the double V sign.
On January 31 2012 21:21 legaton wrote: Sin floats minerals as a boss, and donates as many drops as he can, but still, it was an impressive performance. Is he becoming better?
felt like Where was so flustered defending the aggression that he let sin pretty much take the whole map
Fact: hon_sin has 100% winrate and played the same number of games on Sniper Ridge as Flash does. Flash has defeated a high-profile Zerg and a rookie Protoss while hon_sin has defeated a high-profile Protoss and a rookie Zerg
cloaked wraiths still flying around skyhigh's main, another scan blown
time for double vulture ups for light?
he sieges on the cneter-NE bridges, wraiths check out the back nat and enter skyhigh's main again - raid the main mineral line again - skyhigh's goliaths are forwards
Skyhigh with a larger amount of sieged tanks in the low ground in his main clears out the sieged tanks on the back path
vulture in skyhigh's main? gets a few scvs
light's scv interrupts skyhigh's construction of his 3rd - goliaths coming to the rescue run into mines and die, vultures come to support light's attack, skyhigh cancels his 3rd
big vulture/tank/goliath attack on skyhigh's forces outside his nat!
On January 31 2012 21:46 Uldridge wrote: Skyhigh's never been a TvT wonderkid..
Yes he has oO Pretty unlucky BO for skyhigh, Light capitalized perfectly though. Edit : and while Skyhigh was sluping hard last year, his tvts against fanta and mind were a pretty good showing imho...
SH was 100% that wouldn't work, the game was pretty much over, he just wanted to 'give it a try', instead of simply gg-ing out, so that people wouldn't blame him for not putting up a fight.
On January 31 2012 21:50 BrosephBrostar wrote: I don't think I understand the decision to send out players like Where today and Rush last match.
Experience for the rookies themselves? I don't think any team would want to be like Team 8 who only has a consistent roster of 6 players or something. If it's anyone's fault then it's the bigger-named players' for letting the team down.
Weird. I almost closed the stream a few times. Such a bad game.
As I've been among the 3% to not recommend certain games last year (PvPs on Protoss plain urrgh), I just think I have weird taste. + Show Spoiler +
TvZ>TvT>ZvZ>ZvP>PvT>PvP yo
ZvT>ZvP>ZvZ>PvT>PvP>TvT we'd probably hate each other if we knew each other IRL :D
At least you place ZvZ higher than PvP :D And disagreeing with an Englishman is always a pleasure (no offense if you're from Scotland/Wales or something).
I used to regard ZvZ as the suckiest mirror MU but have recently decided that PvP is actually the one due to "hurling imbalanced shit at each other" - in idra's words unless it's Stats playing though.
On January 31 2012 21:50 BrosephBrostar wrote: I don't think I understand the decision to send out players like Where today and Rush last match.
Maybe they're confident enough with their play-off chances and they're taking this opportunity to give experience to the lesser players? They're now losing a lot so maybe not.
Well, that means more chances that KT ends up above everyone else .
On January 31 2012 21:50 BrosephBrostar wrote: I don't think I understand the decision to send out players like Where today and Rush last match.
Experience for the rookies themselves? I don't think any team would want to be like Team 8 who only has a consistent roster of 6 players or something. If it's anyone's fault then it's the bigger-named players' for letting the team down.
It seems like it would make more sense to send them out when they're ahead then rather than 1-1 with critical games left.
Either they were overconfident in their rookies to send them out right before and on match point like that or they somehow didn't want to win? Of course it's not like Woongjin would auto-lose against EHH but they could at least give them a run for their money.
Where vs hon_sin was entertaining, but playing Where instead of Hydra, Effort or horang2 didn't make any sense. Especially now when CJ needs more wins after already having dropped in the rankings.
On February 01 2012 03:04 reincremate wrote: Where vs hon_sin was entertaining, but playing Where instead of Hydra, Effort or horang2 didn't make any sense. Especially now when CJ needs more wins after already having dropped in the rankings.
Light's played more matches on Sniper Ridge than anybody else on Stars; did CJ intentionally give a game to a new player rather than wasting one of his top Z on Light? Why not send Horang2 there I'm not sure, but this is the only thing I can come up with: if Light gets his "free win" Stars has nobody good left (sorry free) and EffOrt/Hydra probably rip through to victory. With Light not coming out on Sniper Ridge, CJ coach played for the snipe the next game, and "won" - but sKyHigh lost.
It's a little odd, but I think in the category "questionable coaching decisions" it doesn't even register.
Weird. I almost closed the stream a few times. Such a bad game.
As I've been among the 3% to not recommend certain games last year (PvPs on Protoss plain urrgh), I just think I have weird taste. + Show Spoiler +
TvZ>TvT>ZvZ>ZvP>PvT>PvP yo
ZvT>ZvP>ZvZ>PvT>PvP>TvT we'd probably hate each other if we knew each other IRL :D
u bitches crazy
PvT>PvZ>TvZ>PvP>ZvZ>TvT.
FOR AIUR
TvZ>ZvP>TvP>ZvZ>PvP>TvT
TvZ owns PvT anyday. Seriously, it's the most dynamic and diverse matchup. Everything is possible in a TvZ.
for a person that is enjoying to watch the high level for several years but havnt played much .and dont have any affiliations with any race (people tend to like to see the race they are playing winning ) most terrans will say zvt most protoss will say pvt for me its zvt=zvp=pvt >tvt>zvz>pvp (and it took me a long time to appreciate tvt ....it used to be my least favorite)
I'd say in general PvZ > TvZ > TvT > PvT > PvP > ZvZ - but ZvZ and TvZ I think have much higher ceilings for good games than PvP and PvZ respectively. Even though I feel like the general entertainment value of PvZ and PvP is higher, the best TvZ are probably better than the best PvZ, and a really tense (or Hive) ZvZ is better than almost any PvP. But of course the whole point is entertainment, so any measure is really subjective to some degree. I'm not sure though why I've never really liked watching PvT. Maybe because Light and FBH are bad at it and they're pretty much my favorite Terrans?
Sin is a pretty aggressive terran, something that isnt seen as much these days. He attacks at unpredictable times.
I see him as an up-and-coming terran. Meanwhile, Zero does nothing but disappoint and indeed, all the other players who played today in both Stars and CJ, have proven their mediocrity.