Baby spawned in red at 11 on Eye of the Storm while Flash got blue at 1. Both opened depot rax cc, Flash placing the cc at his natural while Baby placed it just inside his choke and floated it out later. They continued to mirror each other nearly perfectly as they added two factories, Baby somehow taking a small supply advantage but not of any real significance. Their plans began to diverge when Flash added a quick second gas for the armoury and tank route, while Baby added a quick third factory to pump out many speed upgraded vultures. Flash scouted Baby's strategy and pulled his pricier mech army back to wall off his choke against the threat of vultures. Flash's large units obviously couldn't easily be killed by the concussive damage of a few vultures, but Baby was only using this threat as a screen to expand to 9, hoping to use mines and the threat of a vulture counter-attack to delay until he could build enough defending tanks.

Unfortunately for Baby, Flash built comsats early and was able to safely push the vultures back while scanning for mines, and attack at a very dangerous time for Baby. Although Baby was setting up his own tank army on his big ramp, Flash's push came sooner than Baby had planned and almost broke through. Baby was forced to pull SCVs to help defend, and any hope of mining the 9:00 expansion soon was lost.

Both players set up long tank lines facing off against each other, Flash covering the foot of Baby's wide ramp while Baby perched on top. With Baby somewhat contained, Flash took his own third at 3 while Baby flew his third cc from 9 all the way to 12. Baby attempted to slowly extend his control from the top of his ramp to Flash's cliff in order to secure 12:00, but Flash was quick mobilize his tanks near this expansion attempt. As Flash turned his attention to 12:00, Baby smashed his way out the front, taking heavy damage from the sieged tanks but breaking the contain. However shortly afterwards Flash used a dropship to help break the siege tank defenses at 12, and was able to push up within range of several minerals to severely limiting Baby's mining.

With the contain broken Baby was able to play to his strengths, starting with a vulture drop at 3:00. Flash attempted to double expand at 4 and 5 but Baby's units appeared out of nowhere to counter. Tanks and vultures took the position above the bottom-right wide ramp and shut down Flash's hopes of taking the resources at that corner. While Flash played a standard game with increasing numbers of dropships while Baby tried to minimize his resource disadvantage by focusing entirely on units and using his incredible multitasking and anticipation abilities to make sure they were always at the right place. While was Baby preventing the 4:00 and 5:00 expansions, Flash also stopped Baby's expansion at 9:00 with a drop, and then dropped Baby's other base at 12:00 when Baby moved his forces to defend 9:00.

Despite Baby's excellent multitasking his army was not as mobile as Flash with his dropships, and was forced to give up the 12:00 base while half of his army still in the bottom right. With the 12 base taken, Flash began to ferry units over the wall into Baby's main and there was little Baby could do about it. Despite being on three bases each, Baby having secured 9 and lost 12, Baby lacked the mobility to deal with Flash's drops. Baby held the line in his main, unable to clean up the drop but still limiting Flash's tanks to killing a few buildings in the corner of his main. Knowing that Baby was occupied, Flash tried to pull ahead in resources by expanding to the 7 main and 12 . Baby's defense was stretched across the entire map, and although he wasn't that far ahead in supply, Flash dropships let him focus his firepower on Baby's scattered forces. Flash went around cleaning up Baby's army in isolated battles, gaining a significant supply advantage.

Even though he had been dealt a severe blow by mass dropships, Baby used his own few dropships to vulture harass on several fronts, hitting 9 and 12 as cover for an expansion at 5. However, Flash immediately scanned it and was able to destroy it while Baby's counterattack at 7 failed. Baby put in a valiant effort but the difference in mobility led to easy pickings for Flash which was leading to a significant army difference. Eventually Flash was able to simply drop on top of Baby's entire army as it headed to 7. They traded armies and although Baby won with a few units left due to some very well placed mines, Flash simply flew in his next wave and cleaned it up.

The huge disadvantage didn't discourage Baby, and he refused to give up as he continued to sneak vultures into expansions, somehow killing so many scvs that he pulled Flash's supply down on par with his. Although Baby only had one mining expansion at 9 compared to Flash's two, Baby was not in terrible shape. His next wave of tanks besieged 12 and forced it to lift, but Flash pulled off his usual move of landing his CC two inches away to continue mining from a distance. Flash tried to take another expansion at 5, but again the vultures appeared, Baby no longer even using dropships, just making it happen somehow. As Flash moved to expand, Baby took 7 and 8.

Tired of having been dragged to this point, Flash collected his dropships for a decisive blow. The dropships flew across the top of the map and forced Baby to mass his army in his main in defense. Seeing that Baby dropping in the main would be suicide, Flash simply flew over Baby's main and down the left side of the map and wiped out Baby's last source of resources at 8:00. Baby's army was big enough to deal with this, but they were a map's distance away in his main. Although Baby's army moved down slowly to clean up the drop, the damage was done and Flash pulled away in supply. Shortly afterwards, another drop, this time in Baby's main, ended the game. GG.

This was a very nice game, as far as TvT goes. Definitely a good watch if, like me, you're a Baby fanboy simply because he shows off his multitasking against the best. Baby constantly moves his units around, creating opportunities for himself where they wouldn't otherwise exist. Against an opponent with maphack it'd be suicide to send a few lone tanks meandering around, but Baby has the foresight to know that a few well placed units advance can pay off big in the future. Ultimately lategame TvT is a dropship game and Flash is a master of it, he stuck to his game plan and he won. What is worth seeing is the moments where Flash's dropships are struggling to keep up with Baby's theoretically less mobile ground based army.

Game of the Week
Kwark's Player Ratings
Flash: 5 of 5
Baby: 5 of 5

WaxAngel's Match Rating: 4 of 5
Although there was no real back and forth in this game as Flash constantly held the advantage, this TvT was played at an incredibly high level and very fast pace.

Movie spawned in purple at 1 while Pure got blue at 7 on Match Point. The openings were standard, although Pure was able to get an excellent manner pylon on Movie to very good effect. Besides that, the players mirrored perfectly, one gate expanding before robo with just a zealot, a dragoon and range. They deviated when Movie gambled Pure would go for some kind of early break without robo and went for dts, while Pure played safe and standard. Neither had been able to check the other's FE so both were playing cautiously, simply reacting to their blindness in different ways.

Pure went for a reaver, then observer, then shuttle with a solid wall blocking the entrance to his natural to stay safe against dts. Neither really gained any clear advantage from their build deviations as powerful tech transitions were available to both: reaver harass for Pure and speedlots and templar tech for Movie. While Pure theoretically would have been able to grab a quick third with his observer to detect the DT, he did not have the scouting knowledge to do so blindly.

In a very strange move, Movie opted for a fast dark archon, something all of us theorycrafters have considered as a transition for failed dts against reavers, with the conclusion that it's impractical because it takes forever to build up 150 energy and you need a miracle mind control to make it worth it. Pure took his third and Movie pushed out as it finished, hoping to catch it at its most vulnerable stage while taking his own expansion. However Pure had simultaneously gone for a two shuttle reaver+dt drop in Movie's main and took out the cannons and the handful of defending units. The DTs and reaver took down the main nexus and a lot of probes, and began to destroy all the buildings in Movie's main.

Movie's attack came close to breaking Pure but he simply had no reinforcements to follow up with, having his income halved and losing gateways as well. Pure continued to pump units while Movie could not keep up. A minute later Movie was overrun. GG.

In many ways this was just bad timing, it wasn't that Movie didn't have observers, he had them with his army which had just crossed the map and was poised to attack Pure. There was no way he could have aborted and pulled back to save his main. That said, an attack the moment an expansion finishes is extremely predictable so a more generous newswriter might suggest that Pure used his shuttles at that moment anticipating Movie's attack. Movie had a counterexpansion on the way and wouldn't be at much of a disadvantage if he just defended and waited but there is no way he could have known that. Doing the 'right' thing according to the textbook can often be the worst thing simply because the opponent has also read that book. There again, maybe Pure got lucky. He isn't exactly known for his strategic genius, we just don't know. What we do know is that darchons don't work midgame PvP and Movie's lack of a miracle mind control (darchon happens to be right where the shuttle is when it's vulnerable) left him behind.

Kwark's Player Ratings
Pure: 3 of 5
Movie: 2 of 5

WaxAngel's Match Rating: 2 of 5
A passive PvP that ended in a flurry due to series of key decisions. Par for the course, but no impressive play from either player.

Zero got red at 12 while effort got white at 4 on Great Barrier Reef. Zero went for 12 hatch, 11 pool, 10 gas while effort went overpool gas. Effort's first lings were able to get into Zero's base and managed to kill a drone although they inflicted no real damage. The price of making lings early was a delayed lair, and despite getting gas much faster than Zero, effort's lair was went up at roughly the same time. Effort took his own natural as he harassed with his early lings, and added a quick sunken to hold it against the mass lings that Zero's second hatchery would enable.

Zero tried to break effort's natural but changed his mind and backed out with the sunken on 1/3 health although personally I think he could have broken in. In any case, effort subsequently secured his natural with a wide concave of lings, keeping it safe. Both players transitioned to mutalisks in roughly equal shape, both with two hatcheries, two gas and even supply counts.

Their muta clashed in the middle with effort getting the better of the exchange, as Zero ran into a few stray scourge. He tried to follow this up with an attack with both mutalisks and zerglings but found his zerglings soundly defeated despite the mutalisk fight going roughly even. This left Zero at a slight disadvantage in mutalisks but with a dozen more zerglings and a five supply advantage. However he continued to micro poorly against scourge and sent all his zerglings to die attacking a sunken underneath effort's mutalisk flock without any air support.

Zero continued to micro badly against scourge, and without zerglings to threaten a counter-attack, effort just moved in with mutalisks and took finished him off. GG.

A solid game by effort and a very bad game by Zero. While I understand mutalisk micro isn't easy that doesn't stop me expecting that progamers get it right. Zero didn't get it right so I've got to say he played badly and deserved to lose. You simply have to be able to micro mutalisks vs scourge, effort could and Zero couldn't.

Kwark's Player Ratings
Effort: Slightly better than 2
Zero: 2 of 5

WaxAngel's Match Rating: 1 of 5
Slightly sloppy ZvZ that ended because of a momentary micro mistake.

Kal spawned in blue at 11 while fOrGG got brown at 7 on Fighting Spirit. Both players began with standard openings, fOrGG walling in with depots and rax while Kal made a quick zealot to block his ramp. Neither player could scout the other, and Kal took the opportunity to do his usual fast robotics facility before dragoon strategy as he used against Flash last week. fOrGG went for a standard siege expand with a line of turrets around the edge of his base while Kal cut many dragoons so he could squeeze out enough gas to follow his fast robo with a dual tech of reavers and dts. Ka's first shuttle came with a reaver and two zealots, but fOrGG's e-bay obscured turret almost killed it before it pulled back.

Kal proceeded to shuttle reaver micro at fOrGG's natural, finding a turret free zone and using a zealot to draw tank fire so the reaver could take shots at the SCVs. In the meanwhile, his second shuttle suicided into fOrGG's base from the top, dropping two DTs in the process. Without mines, and turrets built only around the perimeter of his base, fOrGG was forced to run all of his SCVs from his main base as the Dark Templars moved in. DTs arrived quickly by ground from Kal's base, and combined with the reaver were easily able to kill off the defenses at fOrGG's natural and forced him to lift.

Eventually fOrGG completed a chain of turrets to gain detection in his main and finally started mining again. But Kal had already expanded during his very succesful harassment, and was thirty population ahead. Kal continued to pile on the misery, dropping two reavers in fOrGG's main to kill a large amount of SCVs. fOrGG tried to retake his natural, but only succeeded in losing all his tanks to dragoons and reavers. fOrGG realized that the situation was hopeless, and GG'd out.

A nice build but although the reaver was really fast fOrGG should have taken less damage from it. Kal has been using this build every PvT on Fighting Spirit for a while now. It's fairly simple, a fast zealot so they don't know you're robo rushing into harassment. One look at the fast zealot should give it away by now. Still, the added dt drop was a nice touch and fOrGG can be forgiven for not seeing that coming. If he had done better against the reaver he'd have had more luck vs the dts. A nice build executed extremely well by Kal. He's beginning to look like a credible threat this OSL.

Kwark's Player Ratings
Kal: 4 of 5
fOrGG: 2 of 5

WaxAngel's Match Rating: 3.5 of 5
One-sided game, but Kal's execution of this harassment heavy build was very good.