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TeamLiquid.net KT-KTF Premiere League Games of the Week for Week Two
IntotheRainbow (Kim Seong Jae) v Iloveoov (Choi Yeon Seong) on Luna
Week two saved the best for last as the final game of two days of play saw teammates Rainbow and Oov clash on Luna. Rainbow (protoss at 11) declined the popular protoss early zealot harassment in favour of a one gate, cybernetics core, robotics facility and range build. Two probes held position at their ramp to block any scouting SCV. In the terran base an SCV slowly but surely put together a single factory.
With no second factory yet in sight, Oov (at five) sent a force of four marines up towards the protoss main. Seeing a single dragoon guarding the ramp they attacked but a second dragoon forced them to retreat, at least temporarily. As a tank and vulture arrived to lend metal support to the offensive, the marines launched towards the protoss main again. The protoss dragoons were forced to pull back as the terran vulture attempted to catch them with carefully placed mines and the rines and tank peppered them with fire. For a fleeting moment it looked like Oov may force his way in and gain an early advantage but a third dragoon arrived and with the help of Rainbow's first observer, his small army was able to neutralise the terran attack.
Oov now had a second factory while Rainbow had a support bay and was waiting for a shuttle and reaver to be constructed to launch offensive operations. In the meantime he took his natural, with a new command centre being constructed on the edge of the terran main.
A single shuttle glided across the moonscape towards the terran main as Rainbow probed for a weakness in the terran position but was forced to retreat, with tanks and turrets waiting. Oov now made a fateful decision, starting work on two more barracks as he signalled he was intending to mass up marines and medics rather than metal.
As the terran army tried to secure its new expansion the protoss forces struck hard. Rainbow's increasing force of dragoons marched forward as his shuttle dropped a single reaver off next to a cluster of tanks at the top of the terran ramp, in an all-out attempt to take down the terran expansion before it was properly established. When the smoke cleared the dragoons, reaver, shuttle and a whole host of tanks had been destroyed but the expansion held.
Rainbow had a new shuttle waiting and his first dark templar boarded and headed for the terran base. His army rapidly reinforced, Oov moved out towards the centre while Rainbow dropped two dark into the terran main behind. As his dragoons fell back before a the advancing terran army of marines, medics and tanks, the invisible assassins caused chaos at home base, felling turrets and forcing Oov to use multiple scans to keep them from slicing up his miners.
Oov's main army reached the protoss natural, pursuing fleeing dragoons and high templar, but his forces were being whittled away as the escaping templar engulfed it in storm even as they moved back to the safety of the protoss main. The terran tanks went into siege mode within range of the protoss natural and Rainbow struck back, charging out of his main with zealots, dark, high templar and an archon. A cluster of three tanks was engulfed in blue lightning and the terran attack force quickly disappeared. In the terran main Oov finally managed to track and take down the final dark templar.
As he expanded again to 12, Rainbow launched a three templar storm drop, actually dropping them off on the terran main plateau but storming the miners at the neighbouring natural, making an archon and picking it up to pick off one or two more SCVs by dropping it in the natural mineral line.
Oov's entire game appeared to have been thrown off course by Rainbow's refusal to allow him to wait and mass and, realising that he was falling behind his protoss opponent, he surged out towards the centre with a new army. Rainbow was waiting for him and thundered into the terran army as it set up a defensive position in the middle of the map. As his troops attacked, Rainbow's high templar laid down psionic storms from all directions, marines decimated by blue lightning and collections of tanks exploding in the face of the onslaught. His entire army destroyed and the alien forces in command of the map, a shellshocked Iloveoov saw no hope and typed out.
Premiere League Record: IntotheRainbow 1 - 1 Iloveoov 1 - 1
Yellow (Hong Jin Ho) v Nal_Ra (Kang Min) on Arizona
Both players came into week two on the back of impressive wins, over Boxer and Nada respectively. Yellow (zerg at 11) opted for a pool-first followed by extractor and later expansion build, while in the protoss territory the fertile mind of Nal_Ra (protoss at five) was putting an expansionist plan into action. Ra went for a forge first, with a cannon at the choke next to his natural expansion and another in his mineral line. He made another cannon at his choke then a gateway.
Yellow's first force of zerglings scurried past the cannons, circling the natural mineral line to rapidly get out of range, and took a look at the toss main, opting not to challenge the single cannon sitting amongst the protss probes. As Ra carried out his plan, Yellow morphed his lair and started a spire. Ra put phase two of his plan into action by warping in a nexus at his well-protected natural, with Yellow expanding again to eight. As the OGN cameras cut to the six position they focussed on a surprising development, with Ra cannoning up another mineral line in preparation for a fast second expo.
Ra now had a stargate at his natural and was warping in a second and adding more cannons and a third nexus at six, while Yellow had muta and scourge in the air and was morphing a hydralisk den.
Ra's corsairs were roaming the map searching for overlords to pick off but in the zerg base Yellow was hatching hydralisks, which rapidly headed down across the map towards the protoss base. Incredibly, Ra had still not built even a single ground unit and the hydralisks shrugged off cannon fire and forced their way into the natural. Cannon after cannon fell to the spitting lisks and the zerg had all the essential protoss structures at their mercy. With Ra powerless to react, Yellow did not miss a beat and headed into the toss main. Ra tried to add to the group of cannons now protecting his starting nexus but Yellow showed no mercy, zeroing in on the single pylon powering the defences and depriving the cannons of psi. His infrastructure in ruins and his base at the mercy of the swarm, Ra left the game.
Ra hatched a plan. Yellow hatched hydralisks. Hydralisks >> Plan.
Premiere League Record: Yellow 2 - 0 Nal_Ra 1 - 1
Sync (Byeon Kil Seop) v TheMarine (Kim Jeong Min) on Nostalgia
Former OSL champion Sync has been in a rich vein of form recently, scoring impressive wins over JulyZerg and Iloveoov, and will have been supremely confident coming into this week two clash with TheMarine. Both players constructed two factories to start off, with Sync (terran at 11) adding two machine shops immediately with double upgrades while TheMarine (terran at five) only constructed one and rolled out a quick vulture.
TheMarine moved up to Sync's double roadway entrance with his first tank and vultures and mined the area, while at the other end of the roadway Sync's own vulture squadron was doing the same. Sync's vultures then darted out over the plateau on the right side of his base and headed down to TheMarine's own double road, setting down a few mines there before withdrawing. Building up his army, TheMarine tried to force his way through to the other end of the roadway near Sync's base with tank and vultures and the area was engulfed in a microed vulture battle, ending with Sync holding onto the entrance and immediately starting a command centre at his nearby natural, TheMarine following suit shortly after.
While Sync was now climbing to six factories, TheMarine was still working with only four and powered by his superior infratructure Sync started to push forward with tanks for support. TheMarine brought up reinforcements to try to secure the shaky semi-containment he had been holding onto since he approached Sync's position early game. Expanding his position, Sync started a new expansion at 12, which immediately came under attack from a small enemy detachment. His only defending tank destroyed, Sync threw his vultures in amongst the tank force and laid down a spider mine. In the chaos of the battle the mine popped out of the ground immediately and locked on to nearby enemy units, detonating and taking a tank and a flock of TheMarine's vultures with it, utterly neutralising the assault and allowing Sync to secure the new expo.
A new starport and armoury were now in operation in Sync's base, while at the six position TheMarine had erected a new command centre to try to keep up with his opponent's expanding economy. Now however, the shape of the game had changed, with Sync's forces suddenly mobile thanks to the arrival of dropships on the scene. He quickly dropped two tanks behind the six mineral line, forcing SCVs to run for cover. As TheMarine's vultures arrived on the scene he was knocked sideways by more mine madness. Instead of picking off the sieged tanks TheMarine laid down a mine and watched in shock as it detonated before his vultures could retreat to safety, sending everything around it up in smoke.
As TheMarine became increasingly concerned about his position he tried to expand yet again to three but Sync now seemed to be everywhere on the map at the same time. He dropped two tanks at six for a second time and two ships ferried in tanks and goliaths to three, with SCVs being picked off as they fled. At the same time he was moving out into the centre, overwhelming his confused opponent with his army. As his new command centre at three went up in smoke TheMarine scanned his opponent's position. Realising the game was effectively over he typed out, giving the suddenly unbeatable Sync yet another win.
A patiently and perfectly executed win from Sync, who never seemed troubled by TheMarine's efforts.
Premiere League Record: Sync 2 - 0 TheMarine 1 - 1
Other Games
[Oops]Reach (Park Jeong Seok) v Chojja (Jo Hong Ho) on Requiem
Reach (protoss at six) opted one gate, assimilator, cybernetics core and stargate, against Chojja's pool-first and extractor build. As Chojja (zerg at 12) morphed in his lair and a hydralisk den Reach suddenly seemed went up to three gates and startd pumping out dragoons, warped in a forge and started to cannon his ramp against possible lurker approach. However, Chojja's masterstroke quickly became apparent. Two lurkers had crawled to the very edge of the cliff near Reach's main and suddenly disappeared inside an overlord. Chojja had gone for fast transport upgrade and the slow-moving detector slothfully ferried the two lurkers into the protoss main, with no cannon for detection and no robotics facility. As the lurkers set to work destroying the protoss main Reach's probes fled to his natural mineral line and started warping in a new nexus. It merely delayed the inevitable and when Chojja's first hydralisks arrived Reach left.
Premiere League Record: [Oops]Reach 1 - 1 Chojja 2 - 0
ArtofHan (Han Oong Nyeol) v Xellos (Seo Ji Hoon) on Requiem
Both players won in week one, both have strong reputations in this match-up and both opted for double factory vulture and tanks. Despite his first tank wandering into a mine and being destroyed, Xellos (terran at 12) seemed to have the early advantage with a more sizable force of vultures but the game tilted first this way then that until Han (terran at six) expanded. Xellos fought his way down the map to within range of the new command centre with goliaths and vultures even as he safely expoed himself. As Xellos's tanks arrived at the scene, Han was forced to lift his command centre and moved it to the neighbouring mineral site. Having seized the advantage, Xellos went to the air with dropships, with Han following suit. Both players attempted to score a decisive hit with multiple drops landing all over the map. However, when the smoke finally cleared, Xellos still had more units, still had more minerals and he was still undefeated.
Premiere League Record: ArtofHan 1 - 1 Xellos 2 - 0
Kingdom (Park Yong Ook) v Boxer (Lim Yo Hwan) on Luna
Kingdom (protoss at five) continued his Luna strategy of one gate early zealot attack followed quickly by cybernetics core. In his main, Boxer (terran at seven) erected a barracks and refinery and started work on his first factory but seemed strangely surprised when Kingdom's zealot arrived and the terran main descended into chaos, with Boxer microing isolated marines to try to destroy the invaders as the protoss destroyed valuable SCVs. After the early confusion was finally ended by Boxer's first vulture the game settled down, with Kingdom staying one base ahead of his terran opponent and causing minor damage with a reaver drop. As Boxer tried to expand his perimeter it became clear that Kingdom had been badly outmacroing the terran and utterly overwhelmed his shellshocked army before assaulting the terran natural. Carriers were on the way, while a desperate Boxer was constructing barracks all over his base and massing marines. As he tried to move out again his second army was decimated by zealots and dragoons with air support from capital ships, ending the game.
Premiere League Record: Kingdom 1 - 1 Boxer 0 - 2
JulyZerg (Park Seong Joon) v Rage (Kim Hwan Joong) on Arizona
Sly Rage (protoss at three) attempted to cannon rush the early zerg expo and July (zerg at nine) only just saved it, and possibly the game, with two rapidly morphed sunken colonies. After that early scare it was all one way traffic. July managed to take down Rage's assimilator with an early force of lings and Rage was always struggling for vespene as July teched to mutalisks. As Rage tried to hold things together with archons, July's mutas picked them off and took down high templar as they emerged from the protoss gateways. July massed and assaulted the protoss cannon defences, ending all resistance.
Premiere League Record: JulyZerg 1 - 1 Rage 0 - 2
GoodFriend (Lee Byeong Min) v Mumyung (Seong Hak Seung) on Nostalgia
GoodFriend (terran at five) opted for a standard two barracks opening, with Mumyung (zerg at 11) putting down an early second hatchery at his natural. Mumyung progressed quickly to lair and den then started morphing in a relatively early hive, while GoodFriend was operating with only marines and medics for most of the early part of the game. By the time GoodFriend produced his first tanks and science vessels Mumyung already had defilers and an extremely healthy economy, occupying swathes of map untroubled. As the first ultralisks started rampaging across the landscape it became obvious that GoodFriend was on the slippery slope to defeat. He tried to expand at the bottom of the map but Mumyung used his superior economy to macro his opponent out of the game, attacking the new expos and forcing GoodFriend to quit.
An impressive game from the seemingly improving Mumyung but he was allowed to have his own way the whole game by a curiously reticent GoodFriend, a player seemingly lacking in confidence.
Premiere League Record: GoodFriend 0 - 2 Mumyung 1 - 1
GoRush (Park Tae Min) v Cloud (Cha Jae Ook) on Arizona
A game, perhaps, of missed opportunities for GoRush, as he looked to secure his second win. GoRush (zerg at 11) expoed early and teched to lurker, while Cloud went for one barracks followed by a factory and starport. GoRush assaulted Cloud's blocking barracks with zerglings and his early group of hydralisks and destroyed it but was forced to retreat as Cloud was saved by the timely completion of siege mode upgrade. As GoRush teched to lurker, Cloud was building up a significant but not overpowering force of tanks, which he camped at high centre. GoRush was trying to tech to hive but it looked for a while as though he had the necessary forces to break the terran position and put him on the back foot. However, he missed his chance, waiting too long for hive tech as Cloud advanced towards the zerg expos. When GoRush finally hatched the defiler he had been awaiting cloud promptly irradiated it and moved forward to attack the zerg natural. GoRush finally attempted to catch the terran army in a pincer but it was far too late and Cloud rolled into the zerg main.
Premiere League Record: GoRush 1 - 1 Cloud 1 - 1
[Red]Nada (Lee Yoon Yeol) v Terato (Park Jeong Kil) on Arizona
A straightforward win for Nada. Nada (terran at two) opened with two factories, while Terato (protoss at 11) went for double-gate ranged dragoons. Nada followed a familiar strategy. First he secured his expansion, then rapidly climbed up to six factories and marched across the map with a typically forbidding force of vultures and tanks, obliterating everything in his path as Terato and the audience pondered the fact that he never at any stage had anything like the number of units need to stop the Nada surge.
Premiere League Record: [Red]Nada 1 - 1 Terato 0 - 2
And the TeamLiquid.net KT-KTF Player of the Week award goes to:
For the second week in succession a protoss pro, this time in the shape of IntotheRainbow. Rainbow knocked over the ever-fearsome Iloveoov, never letting the terran juggernaut gain any momentum, and at the same time giving a masterclass in the use of psionic storm.
