It was game 5. The KHAN Protosses had just engineered a reversal of the 0-2 score, bringing it back to 2-2, and into the ace match. Stork had faced Zero in the match prior to this, and had brought the game home with some fantastic preempting of Zero's moves. Surely Zero had to be yearning for revenge after that tragic loss, and Stork, once again, stood in his way, between him and victory for his team.

Stork, this time, opted for a non-FE opening, instead going for 2 gate, a build that has been gaining popularity on Outsider. Be it his original plan, or in response to Zero's 12 hatch (at his mineral only) build, Stork added an assimilator early, and only sent a single zealot over to pressure. Netting a drone, and forcing lots of zerglings to be built, the zealot did significant damage, and left Zero behind in both tech and economy.

Something seemed odd though. Zero was not a shoddy Zerg player, and there was no reason for him to overreact with the zerglings, especially with his overlord keeping a close watch over Stork's main. However, as the observer cut over to Zero's main, it became clear - he was going to try to break Stork's ramp with a drone drill. Unfortunately, Zero abandoned his plans, his drones making an about turn mid-map.

The audience's disappointment was almost palpable, but the game saw action again when Stork moved out with a force of 4 zealots and a dragoon after expanding to his mineral only. Having previously built all those zerglings, this was a perfect opportunity for Zero. He baited Stork's units out, only showing a fraction of his army, and then sprung his trap. Stork managed to make it back to his ramp, but lost a number of zealots in the process, and Zero was able to sneak his lings into Stork's main anyway.



The lings did their dirty work, running circles around the slow zealots and sniping off helpless probes. Stork, in the meantime, was not idle, occupying himself by hunting overlords with his corsairs. The ling threat in his main was eventually cleared out, and Stork took his natural behind the cover of a couple of cannons. Some hydra pressure was largely unsuccessful, and Stork answered by tricking a dragoon through the minerals, to the Zerg mineral only, where it put the expansion out of commission.

Somehow though, something must've came over Stork. Picture this. He was at 3 bases to Zerg's 2. He knew exactly what Zero was doing thanks to his corsairs. All he had to do was tech up to templar, macro off 3 bases for a bit and then make a strong push out to win the game. Perhaps Stork didn't want to drag the game out. He was scared of Zero's templar sniping. Or maybe he erroneously thought he had the opportunity to end the game now. Whatever it was, Stork moved out with an army that comprised only zealots and dragoons, and hit Zero's nat. Needless to say, the hydras ate the army up, and Zero found himself in a better position than he was in before.



Stork may have had lost map control, but he expanded again anyway, hiding his nexus away in the top left, while adding reavers to his army. Zero knew he had to do some damage soon, or he'd be left pretty far behind. Some hold lurker shenanigans took out most of the shields of Stork's army, but Zero's drop harass was really the magic needed. Hitting all 4 of Stork's bases at the same time, lurkers and hydras delayed mining operations majorly due to Stork's lack of observers.



At this moment, it seemed any reasonable Protoss would take out the invaders and resume mining, but Stork was one step ahead. He had a plan, and he was going to follow it. Moving out with his huge dragoon army, now supported by reavers, Stork was going to bring the battle to Zero. Two of his nexuses had fallen under hydra/lurk fire, so this attack was do or die. Zero was observer sniping to buy some time, but Stork already had another observer on the way. As the armies clashed at Zero's nat, the defending sunkens fell quickly, and Zero was easily outgunned. Reinforcements sped down from Stork's main as Zero struggled to hold his ramp against a much larger Protoss army, but failed to do so.




His main fell along with the other mineral only expansion that he'd taken. Overlords salvaged whatever they could to a new base at the top right nat, but Stork simply reinforced his army again, and crushed Zero's defenses there, taking the game.

Another great game from Stork after the very impressive game 4. His clutch decision to go for the counterattack instead of clearing out Zero's drops was out of the world. He knew that Zero was just trying to buy time with the drops, and he refused to fall for Zero's ploy. What had previously seemed like fantastic play on Zero's part suddenly backfired on him when he found himself with insufficient units to defend against Stork's attack. Stork was just that one step ahead of him, and that won him the game.