Team Liquid Exhibition Match #4

1-0 ElkY

ElkY 5 - Rekrul 7 on BladeStorm

ElkY caught a break by getting close spots on a map generally considered advantageous to Protoss. He developed with a similar order to before, except getting an extra Tank and Vulture before building his Command Center. Rekrul came out with a perfectly normal order consisting of fast Dragoons and fast Observers; he must have lost confidence in his Reaver usage abilities :-). Rekrul expanded to his natural a little after when ElkY did, and started building Gateways to match ElkY's growing number of factories. ElkY started to push out with Vultures and Tanks, and Rekrul did a much better job than last game of battling the onslaught. Unfortunately for him, though, he couldn't manage to fully quell the push and only succeeded in stalling long enough to take his mineral expansion behind him. ElkY took his mineral expansion as well in stride and continued moving aggressively and methodically at Rekrul's natural, which went down like a cheerleader on homecoming. The rest of Rekrul shortly followed suit.

2-0 ElkY

ElkY 1 - Rekrul 5 on Forbidden Zone

ElkY opened with two Factories and then a Starport, making two Vultures in his main base and then floating both Factories below to the mainland. Rekrul developed rather conservative as well, getting the stuff of PvT to the middle so he could expand at his natural. Disaster struck another blow into the already diminishing confidence of Mister Dantastic when a Dropship full of four Vultures flew the long way to Rekrul's main and found it completely devoid of military units with a Protoss Shuttle nowhere in sight. ElkY destroyed every Probe in Rekrul's base but one, which found sanctuary from the grenades inside a Shuttle, while Rekrul slowly stopped the harassing units. Out of options and behind on economy, Rekrul blitzed the Terran forces in the mainland and succeeded and pushing ElkY completely off the middle, even forcing him to float his Factories back up to his island. A sign of hope, but Rekrul still lost many units and was hurting quite badly. ElkY calmly pushed his way down to secure his expansion, then swiftly produced Vultures and Tanks and pushed his way to the Protoss natural. Rekrul wasn't quite ready to deal with fighting yet and he fell once again victim to the Frenchman's wrath. Who ever gave ElkY the name Desperate Terran? Doesn't seem very fitting at all, as he seems to be TEARIN' it up.

3-0 ElkY

ElkY 1 - Rekrul 11 on Gaema Gowon

Rekrul once again opened with his flavor of the Observer Rush while ElkY added a little jazz to his usual fare by making four Marines instead of two, then getting a third Factory for a one base push instead of his two Factory then CC order he sported in games one and two. He juked and jived a little bit with Vultures while pushing cautiously from base to base while Rekrul fended off the Vultures without much sweat and took his natural. Seeing the Dragoons in front, protecting the building Nexus, ElkY began another festive round of Vulture harassing by running behind, through the second natural, and into Rekrul's main, whereupon he netted a good amount of Probe kills. He continued pushing until he was about a half screen away from laying siege upon the right side of the expansion Nexus while doing an amazing job keeping Rekrul on his toes in dealing with Vultures from left and below. Using a Shuttle, a few Zealots, and his force of Dragoons, Rekrul managed to end the push and force ElkY to siege up around his own natural to protect his building Command Center. Things were looking up for the Cincinatti Kid.

ElkY wasn't deterred, though, and kept shaking his Vultures around like J-Lo's Booty. Rekrul stood fast, developing his units and preparing to deal with the imminent Terran onslaught which had hitherto defeated him so. ElkY began another cautious push into the space between the two bases and Rekrul moved his forces into flanking position in stride. The game ended rather abrubtly, though, when, as Rekrul directed his entire force towards the bottom middle in order to charge the Terran forces from an optimal position, ElkY's Vultures charged into the naked Protoss encampment like sperm into a uterus, penetrating everything in sight. Disheartened by his quick misfortune and without an economy, Rekrul prematurely conceded.

4-0 ElkY

ElkY 6 - Rekrul 3 on Lost Temple

ElkY repeated his seemingly favorite build order by making two Factories, then a Command Center (when he had two Tanks, this time) without walling in while Rekrul took no risks and brought another Observer Rush to the table. Rekrul expected ElkY's actions fully and conservatively made a second Gateway, then a Nexus soon after at his natural. ElkY kept his Vulture harassment mojo in full swing, high on the last game's victory, making a few more Vultures and less Tanks (with Mines and Speed before Siege, rather than just Mines) compared to the usual. He threw up a third Factory and then a Starport as his floating Barracks mischeviously landed on the cliff overlooking Rekrul's thriving expansion. Rekrul methodically developed his unit count off one expansion, preparing to deal with the deadly push he remembered all too well from both the first and second games. ElkY began to make Marines and Medics from his landed Barracks, adding Stim-Packs from his Academy and then a pair of Tanks via Dropship. As Rekrul's mineral expansion between 3:00 and 12:00 came online (and a Vulture from the ever-persistant ElkY killed a freshly transfered Probe or two and retreated to the empty 12:00 main), the cliffed Tanks sieged and started to wreak havoc below. Rekrul started production of a Shuttle in his Robotics Facility, but panic set in and he charged the Terran camp. He fortunately caught ElkY off-guard, with many Tanks gathered in front of the expansion's Command Center and unsieged, but only succeeded in trading the majority of his units for the majority of ElkY's and only dented the Frenchman's Economy. Rekrul had finished a Nexus at 12:00's natural during this time, but his DT filled Shuttle planning to save his 3:00 cliff caught sight of the Marine and Medic entrenchment and surrendered the territory. ElkY didn't slow down and charged the mineral expansion with Vultures while dropping two more Tanks on the 12:00 natural cliff and Rekrul, with a quicksand economy and far too few units, surrendered the match.

5-0 ElkY

ElkY 11 - Rekrul 5 on Bladestorm

Rekrul seemed to give up all hope on his original gameplan when an extremely early Probe left the 5:00 base and started a Pylon outside his natural. Two Gateways followed before the tenth Probe was built and Rekrul searched for the appropriate base to set his rally point. ElkY proceeded as normal, building Marines without walling in and starting his Factory. Unfortunately for him he did not see Rekrul's sinister plan in time to block his ramp with SCVs and the stream of Zealots had free reign to bring pain upon his main. ElkY combatted with excellent Marine micro and absolutely no regard for the lives of his SCVs as he desperately (finally!) tried to finish building his Factory and keep the Zealot threat under control. Obviously panicked from his performance in the previous five games, Rekrul was not able to remain calm and did not do the most impressive job of building Probes or keeping his Zealot number advantageous, but he continued to keep pressure up with Zealots and began building a Photon Cannon in ElkY's mineral expansion. The full depths of his evil mind showed it's face when a second and third Photon Cannon started to warp on ElkY's main, behind the SCV line, under protection of the near-finished Flower Tower below. Not willing to let his undefeated streak go so easy, ElkY charged the Photons when they reached ~90% with his SCVs and managed to kill them, bringing his SCV count down to about seven. Assisted by a newly built Vulture and some serious determination, he finally secured his base and set out with a couple Vultures to see what could be done.

Once his momentum started to sputter out, Rekrul built a pair of Photon Cannons by his Gateways (which, be it by coincidence or foresight, were in good position for a long term game; the Gateways blocked a good amount of a chokepoint into his base and the Photons protecting would save him from dying immediately to Vultures), an Assimilator, and then a Cybernetics Core. Knowing ElkY would utilize Vultures as soon as possible, he built a Robotics Facility right after his Core finished, seeking the Observers that would allow him to be aggressive once more. He started to build Dragoons out of his two Gateways and waited. ElkY, on the other hand, developed his economy back to a workable level, built a second Factory, and then a Command Center, all in short order. Expecting a Protoss attack, he prepared accordingly with Sieged Tanks and a small amount of Vultures. Rekrul's plan was just that, but he managed to retreat quick enough to keep from forfeiting the game. Rekrul took his natural expansion to catch up, while ElkY increased his Factory count to four, then took his mineral expansion behind him. Still trying his darndest (and not as behind as it may sound, especially considering the map), Rekrul also expanded to the safe minerals and built Gateways up the wazoo. ElkY pushed his units across the map, aggressively but not too aggressively, and Rekrul flexed his fingers and tensed his jaw and prepared to rumble in the blue jungle once more. The Protoss forces blitzed the Terran entrenchment, but due to clever positioning around the middle doodad, they were easily dispelled. ElkY continued moving towards Rekrul's natural and took an unnecessary expansion at 1:00 and Rekrul surrendered the game.

6-0 ElkY

ElkY 12 - Rekrul 6 on Lost Temple

It was match point for ElkY, and Rekrul had requested a recess to regain his hopes and confidence. I imagine his heart skipped a beat when he drew the un-loved 6:00 position, then skipped another when he located ElkY at the much-loved 12:00. In spite of this he proceeded confidently with a Gateway, Cybernetics Core, Robotics Facility, Observatory, then a faster-than-usual Nexus before his second Gateway. ElkY developed in his usual style with two Factories with Spider Mines and then a fast Command Center, unknowing of Rekrul's risky behavior until it was too late to deal with. Both players developed their protection facilities as their economies grew, Rekrul adding Gateways and ElkY adding a third Factory and then a Starport. Learning his lesson from the last Lost Temple game, Rekrul built a Shuttle and dropped rudimentary forces on his cliff in time to catch a handful of Marines preparing to repeat their past deeds. ElkY flew a pair of Tanks to the Protoss main shortly after, whereupon they met with a handful of Dragoons and their own destruction. Gaining momentum and surely confidence, Rekrul moved to take his mineral expansion and fought off the Vultures attempting to harass, only losing a couple of Zealots. ElkY had the same plan in mind as he pushed down to secure his mineral expansion and then audaciously starting a Command Center both there and at the 3:00 main.

Rekrul attempted some tom-foolery of his own by dropping a payload of Zealots in ElkY's main SCV line (utilizing his trademark Slow-as-Shit-Shuttles), but a gang of Vultures quickly showed up to defend. Rekrul efficiently saved half his force and flew home (at three kilometers per hour) while sending a Probe to start a Nexus at the 9:00 expansion (escorted by a perfectly appropriate Dragoon, which dispatched a scouting Marine which would have most surely caused quite a bit of distress if the Probe had headed into the scary foreign base alone). ElkY, who seemed to be confusing himself with NTT, dropped an SCV off at the top left island and started a Command Center (in addition to starting a Command Center at the mineral expansion to the left of 12:00!), then loaded two Tanks into a Dropship and headed for 9:00's natural. He dropped the Tanks off on the cliff overlooking the building Nexus and a platoon of defensive Dragoons and sieged up, then blitzed the chokepoint with a slightly-more-than-token group of Vultures to mine everything he could.

Trumpets sounded and the Cavalry of four completely-and-utterly-unexpected-Shuttles-with-the-Speed-Upgrade valiantly flew from Rekrul's main to save the day up above while the now unsupported Vultures ran away. ElkY canceled his half-finished and, in his mind, certainly doomed Command Center at top left (or maybe the game hit it's theoretical limit of Command Centers for one player to have at working bases simultaneously) as Rekrul's Shuttles full of Zealots charged toward the Terran main (taking a route just out of sight of the island expansion). While causing some annoyance, the forces were fairly easily dispatched by a large number of Vultures and a couple Tanks. Rekrul tried to keep the momentum alive by sending a quad squad of Dragoons to the left mineral expansion, but they only succeeded in bringing the Command Center to yellow before they were dispatched.

Knowing his window was quickly closing, Rekrul moved a force of Zealots, Dragoons, and an Archon or two towards the entry to the 3:00 base. Killing the Tanks set up there to defend, a small amount of his forces charged up to kill Tanks sieged around the mineral expansion while a couple others battled the SCVs that were mining the 3:00 natural. As Rekrul's forces began to dissipate, a fresh group reinforced the others to continue the love and watch The Cavalry fly overhead. The Cavalry, in this case, was a pair of Shuttles filled with Zealots that flew over the fighting at the 3:00 natural, over the 3:00 main, and were finally dropped down in the SCV line of the 12:00 natural (which, if you may not remember, was ElkY's first expansion and the only expansion normal people would have at this point). A decent amount of SCVs died in the drop at 12:00's natural, and Rekrul continued the onslaught at 3:00 with even more reinforcements, charging up the ramp towards the main while a couple units still hacked away at the mining natural expansion.

Realizing he was in a fix, ElkY sent a group of four Tanks and a lone Vulture to the 9:00 expansion, sieging up, destroying the Nexus, and walking back home in what seemed like an instant. He finally gathered the forces and ended the fighting at 3:00, after losing all the mining SCVs at both the natural and main in addition to all the buildings in the main (including the Command Center and a very important pair of Armories which were half done with vehicular 1-1). Just as the last Zealot was sent back to Aiur from the 3:00 chokepoint a pair of Shuttles unloaded Zealots on the 12:00 mineral expansion. The Zealots succeeded in killing a good amount of SCVs and the Command Center mining there, and in drawing ElkY's attention away from 3:00's chokepoint, where yet *another* group of units charged. Since he was still dealing with the remainder of Zealots at the 12:00 mineral, ElkY lost more units than he should have to the forces at 3:00's chokepoint, but Rekrul was lacking in numbers to keep the love flowing. The game finally had a state of peace.

ElkY had the top left island mining full blast, a new pair of Armories working on 1-1 (but not even a fourth done), the 12:00 natural with a small amount of SCVs, the 3:00 mineral full blast, the 3:00 natural full blast, and a Command Center floating to land at the 3:00 main with a good amount of SCVs already mining there. He was sitting at 182 Supply, had a Command Center ready to float from around the middle of the map (hello NTT?) back to the 12:00 mineral, had about 1000/650 in resources, and seven Factories (three of which with Machine Shops). Rekrul, on the other hand, had mining bases at 6:00's natural and mineral, and 9:00's main and natural, 138 Supply, with his ground units upgraded with +2 Attack and +1 Shield, two Forges halfway done upgrading each of those upgrades once more over, eleven Gateways, a twelfth building, and a Stargate that had just began production of Rekrul's famous Arbiters. I think I also saw a partridge in there, and perhaps a pear tree as well. And Waldo.

Rekrul used a single Shuttle, swifter than ever, to harass sieged Tanks protecting the 3:00 chokepoint, to prepare for a small attack at his favorite target of the day. The main units were dispatched fairly easy by ElkY's reinforcing units, but quite a bit of damage was dealt by the Shuttle and it's travelers, killing unprotected Sieged Tanks and a few SCVs before meeting their ultimate demise in a dastardly Missile Turret. Disaster struck for our favorite friend when ElkY constructed a buttload of Turrets over the 9:00 cliff and added a couple Dropships full of Tanks to attack the innocent Probes below (including the newly built Nexus at the 9:00 mineral expansion). Rekrul sent another large force of units at the 3:00 bases but was ultimately unsuccessful at doing anything but trading military for military.

Rekrul attempted recalling a group of units at 3:00, but achieved the same results as the attack before (except netting a few SCVs in the crossfire), and moved to regroup with his Arbiter in the lower middle. At this time ElkY put up a handful of turrets around the bottom right island, to protect the Command Center building there, and started construction of his ever-so-famous Nuclear Missiles. Rekrul charged up the middle with an Arbiter and many units, aiming for the 12:00 mineral expansion, which met with little resistance. He sent a good amount of his units into the Terran main, aiming to stunt ElkY's production, and reinforced his charge by brilliantly recalling a group of units from 9:00's Gateway's rally point (where a Nuclear Missile was moments from landing on them!_ onto Tanks around the 3:00 mineral expansion Command Center. As ElkY's Factories burned to the ground, a second Arbiter recalled a group of Zealots onto the 9:00 cliff to clear it of Terran forces and allow Rekrul to resume mining below. Undeterred by the recent turn of events, ElkY constructed many Factories at his 3:00 base and dropped a psychological Nuclear Missile on the 9:00 production facilities. He also finished off the units destroying his main base, saving his Starport, one Armory (his 3-3 upgrades were near done, so he was now 3-2) Science Facility, Academy, and some Supply Depots.

Seeing a large group of Probes distance mining with the Nuking Ghost from seconds earlier, ElkY dropped a pair of Goliaths and a Siege Tank on the 9:00 ramp, supported with an equal force walked in from below. Taking some worker losses, Rekrul ended the attack with a recalled group of Zealots and some bloodthirsty Probes. Despite his decently sized military (comprised of an unusual amount of Archons and some Zealots), Rekrul was out of money and desperately trying to gather enough minerals for a Nexus by mining 9:00's natural from afar. ElkY unnecessarily took re-took the 12:00 mineral expansion (his mineral count exceeded five digits and he had almost enough gas to match) and gathered units in the middle for a final charge. Although futile at this point, Rekrul attacked the top left island successfully seconds before ElkY attacked Rekrul's remaining forces at 9:00 with a mixture of Goliaths, Tanks, Vultures, and the occasional Ghost. As a Nuclear Missile rained down upon the burning Gateways at 9:00, Rekrul surrendered one last time.

7-0 ElkY.

* Elky's 5th/final opponent will be none other than Smuft. Will the Conniving Canadian be able to defend the honor of Liquibition from the nuking bastard or get trounced like the others? Stay tuned. *