EPT
Game One on Parallel Lines 3
Some games are decided by supreme micro, some by imaginative strategies executed with skill and finesse. And some games are influenced more than anything else by positioning. It could be that this was one such game. Kingdom (protoss at 11) declined the popular Parallel Lines double nexus build in favour of gate and cybernetics core, indicating he was intending an early attack to force an early decision. Iloveoov (terran at 10), meanwhile, went by the book, quickly starting a second command centre at the eight position. As Kingdom revealed his strategy to the avidly waiting audience, rapidly warping citadel, robo and templar archives signalling dark drop, Oov was throwing up two factories as his floating barracks drifted slowly up to immediately find the protoss base.
His barracks providing vital vision of Kingdom's archives, Oov quickly added two comsat stations, giving him an immediate surplus of scan energy. Two dark templar emerged from their gateways and boarded the waiting shuttle, which ferried them towards the terran main for a silent strike. With a bay on the way Kingdom knew he had to make his drops count and seriously set back his terran opponent in order to make up for the protoss' inferior economy . First he tried to go for one of the terran factories but Oov was waiting, with two scans and three vults assassinating the assassins. Two more dark arrived, with a dragoon for visible support, but the threat was quickly snuffed out by mines, vultures and - newly rumbling out of the terran factories - goliaths, which also managed to bag the protoss shuttle.
Ever more desperate to dent the terran set-up, Kingdom sent two more dark at Oov's expo and two at the main but Oov was immOovable and his goliaths and rallying SCVs were equal to the threat. Oov was in the ascendancy and now had a wraith, tracking incoming passenger flights as they approached the terran perimeter. The wraith's first catch of the day was, predictably, a protoss shuttle, but Kingdom, who was at last starting his expansion at 12, managed to drop three dark out before it was blasted out of the air.
Oov had increased his factory count to four, and with the protoss attacks running out of whatever steam they had had, he finally went on the offensive, dropping goliaths in the protoss main, with Kingdom barely able to defend as his own attack force of four dark tried to complicate the situation in the terran base across the divide. Scan and goliaths ensured there was little damage to the terran infrastructure.
Oov now went for Kingdom's throat. A seven goliath sacrifice drop at the protoss expansion saw the nexus destroyed before defending dragoons could decimate the invaders. As the smoke cleared four doom-laden dropships swooped into the protoss main, with their cargo of metal in the shape of goliaths signalling the end of the game for Kingdom.
Iloveoov 1 - 0 Kingdom
Game Two on Detonation-F
Looking to get back in the match on Detonation after being blown apart in game one, Kingdom (at seven) started warping in a gateway near his centre mineral barrier, quickly followed by a core, and breached the first barrier with a probe. Iloveoov (at one) decided to reblock the breach with a supply depot but Kingdom tracked the SCV with three probes and destroyed it before breaking through once again and reaching the second mineral barrier with three probes and one dragoon, quickly depleting one of the mineral blocks and gaining access to the terran sector.
Meanwhile, Oov had been throwing up two factories and as Kingdom's early attack force of three dragoons approached he forced the invaders to hold position with his first tank. Oov then made his first mistake of the finals, lifting his barracks and trying to wipe out the nearby dragoons with a quick spider mine placement, failing miserably and allowing the dragoons into his base. The dragoons made short work of Oov's single tank and moved into range of the mineral line. Oov rallied his SCVs to defend and with the help of new vultures, destroyed the protoss force at the cost of a few miners and disruption to his main.
Greater threats were gathering in the protoss base, however, with the arrival of Kingdom's robotics facility and a quickly warping support bay. Oov was climbing to four factories. Kingdom had erected a three-pylon barrier at the three position but it was breached by Oov's first aggressive forces as they moved down the map.
The game was decided in an instant. As Kingdom's reaver-laden shuttle glided north across the Detonation landscape it was spotted by Oov's roaming vultures. The shuttle swept into the terran main as Oov's SCVs fled for their lives towards the centre of the map. But instead of trying to secure his perimeter, Oov went for broke with an all-out attack, hoping to catch Kingdom by surprise. Engaging the protoss defenders, his army barely survived the battle and depleted by the time it hit the alien main. Kingdom was defending furiously with his meagre force of dragoons against the snapping vulture attack force trying to trap them with mines.
As realisation dawned that he simply did not have the forces on the ground to force the win, Oov sent his SCVs back to resume mining.
But the Devil Toss was waiting. He swooped into the undefended terran main and redeposited his reaver. Oov had no army and, knowing he would soon have no SCVs either, conceded the second game.
Iloveoov 1 - 1 Kingdom
Game Three on Luna_MBC Game
Kingdom (at 11) was hoping to find his opponent quickly in order to launch an early attack on Luna and sent his scouting probe diagnally across the landscape, coming up empty and sending it the wrong way a second time towards the seven corner. Iloveoov was sitting undiscovered and undisturbed at the two o'clock position until Kingdom's first zealot arrived, followed quickly by a second. Oov held off the early threats with a vulture and three marines then threw up his second factory as Kingdom reevaluated his strategy and went for dragoon range and a robotics facility.
As Kingdom started warping in his robotics support bay, Oov advanced with vultures, tanks and marines. Kingdom had three dragoons for defence and was warping in a new gateway. Kingdom's shuttle picked up his first reaver and headed towards the terran main. As in the second game of the match, the shuttle was spotted. And as with the second game of the match, Oov eschewed defence and decided to ignore the reaver and attack. The reaver dropped from the shuttle and sent SCV's fleeing to safety but the situation was perilous in the protoss main, with tanks and vultures locked in combat with defending dragoons and rallying probes. Kingdom was forced to bring his reaver back to help hold his game together and a second reaver arrived to secure his main and hold off the attack.
In the terran base, meanwhile, Oov had returned his much-reduced SCV collective to work on the mineral line. Oov gave no consideration to retreat or consolidation, throwing vultures at the protoss defences. Kingdom's dragoons defended impassively as his reaver dropped back into the terran main and knocked Oov out of game three.
A strange replay of game two, with Oov thinking of nothing but attack and neglecting any defence of his mineral line.
Iloveoov 1 - 2 Kingdom
Game Four on Into the Darkness
The match was there for the taking for the Devil Toss as game four opened on Into the Darkness. Kingdom (at the two o'clock position) opened with a two gate ranged dragoons build and launched an early attack on the terran enclave at the seven o'clock position. Two dragoons engaged four defending marines until the first siege tank rolled off the the terran two-factory production line and forced them back.
Sly Kingdom now had a proxy robotics facility at nine and seemed determined to launch yet another reaver raid on the scarab-shocked Oov. Oov made his first foray out of his main with three tanks, three marines and vultures, forcing the protoss dragoons to retreat. Kingdom had now warped in a robotics support bay at his main and his first reaver-laden shuttle floated menacingly into the terran base. This time there was to be no sudden decimation of the terran miners. Kingdom destroyed one tank but decided discretion was the better part of valour and retreated his shuttle as Oov threw up to turrets for defence.
By this time Oov had discovered the proxy robo and attacked it with vultures but retreated them in the face of reaver fire. After Oov took his natural Kingdom swooped in again with his shuttle for a suicide drop, sacrificing his reaver and shuttle to obliterate a host of mining SCVs. Having retarded the terran economy, and with his own economy flowing strongly, Kingdom moved his dragoon horde out of his base, clearing out the mines on the way to the terran main as he harassed the terran main base with a new reaver and shuttle.
Oov suddenly jerked back to life and surged across the map with a sizable force of vultures and tanks. A shaken Kingdom saw his dragoon horde decimated and suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Oov was at the second protoss expo and Kingdom's game was tottering. The protoss army put up stubborn defence but was overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers as a giant flock of vultures took down the nexus. Despite the setback, Kingdom held the line outside his main and natural and counterattacked in devastating fashion with a second reaver drop at the terran natural, decimating confused and cowering SCVs.
It was the defining moment of the game. The enemy at the gates, Oov was crashing into the protoss main. But with mineral collection at his natural basically at zero and his main perilously undefended from possible reaver assault, his economy was vulnerable and Kingdom had the chance to cut off the supply of reinforcements to the terran army... and did not take it. Unaware that the terran main was vulnerable to a drop and preoccupied with defending his own base, the opportunity disappeared into the darkness.
Oov was now inside the protoss perimeter and not even Kingdom's two reavers could hold back the terran army. Oov transferred his SCVs from his main to his natural, attacked Kingdom's proxy robo and closed out the game, levelling the match.
Iloveoov 2 - 2 Kingdom
Game Five on Parallel Lines 3
A strange feeling of deja vu was inescapable as one watched this game to decide the Spris MBC Starleague Champion. In their second game on Parallel Lines 3 both players opted identical strategies. Kingdom (at the 11 o'clock position) went for gate and core instead of a second nexus and quickly started climbing the tech tree towards dark templar and shuttles. Oov (at four) constructed a second command centre but unlike in the first game his floating barracks set off in the wrong direction and there was no opportunity to recon the protoss base. Nevertheless, Oov threw up an academy and two comsats in anticipation of a repeat performance from his opponent.
Two dark templar arrived and boarded the waiting shuttle, which promptly set off towards the wrong main and turned past Oov's now approaching floating barracks. The templar dropped out of their transport ship to disaster, destroyed by scan and goliaths. Two more dark were ferried across the canyon from the protoss main and succumbed to a tank and goliath assault while a third templar headed into the terran expansion and managed to cut down a number of SCVs.
Despite this limited success it was painfully obvious that game five was going the same way as game one.
As Kingdom took his natural he found Oov's barracks there, a lone firebat being recruited to attack the protoss pylon. In a last throw of the dice Kingdom sent his new shuttle at the terran base... and headed straight into a storm of goliath missiles, utterly obliterated. Realising that his plans were in ruin and a devastating terran counter was imminent, Kingdom conceded the game and the match.
Iloveoov 3 - 2 Kingdom
And so, Iloveoov continues his supremacy in the MBC Starleague with an incredible third consecutive title. Kingdom showed once again that he is a player of the absolute highest calibre, pushing Oov to the limit. It was a story of missed opportunities and inexplicable stubbornness for the Devil Toss. He had a chance to knock Oov sideways in the potentially deciding fourth game but could not take advantage, while his decision to go with the strategy which failed him so disastrously in the opening game cost him dear. Still, nothing can be taken away from Oov, who remains indomitable by anyone who does not go by the ID July Zerg. The monster terran showed his human side, breaking down after the game, before rallying to collect his honours.
Congratulations to Iloveoov, Spris MBC Game Starleague Champion 2004.
, nobody can defeat iloveoo , but july 
