EPT.04
IEM Season 6 Ends the Way it Began, with MC facing PuMa in the finals
The sixth season of Intel Extreme Masters began in August of 2011, where EG.PuMa and oGs.MC faced off in the finals of Global Challenge Cologne. At that time, the two players were coming off another finals meeting in July, when they faced off in the NASL Season One Grand Finals. A then-unknown PuMa scored a 4 - 3 victory over Protoss superstar MC, and catapulted himself from anonymity into the spotlight, and from the cash-struck Team SCV Life onto the wealthy Evil Geniuses.
It was a highly anticipated duel, coming on the heels of a series so epic, it single-handedly salvaged a disastrous first season for NASL. However, the rematch was hardly worth talking about. PuMA looked even more powerful than before, and dominated MC in a 3 – 0 shut out. It signaled the beginning of a lengthy summer slump for MC, who would only fully recover his elite Protoss reputation in 2012.
In this third battle, revenge isn't the only thing on the line for the newly minted SK_MC – he'll be looking to stop the bleeding as well. PuMa has cost MC his pride, his title as the most dominant international tournament player, and taken away $28,200 in potential earnings. Though MC might not even the score with a win here, he can stop PuMa from furthering his reputation as the Presidential kryptonite. Furthermore, he doesn't need PuMa texting him ever so often, saying "thanks for the $50,000."
As for PuMa, even a silver medal would solidify his reputation as the most consistent and accomplished international circuit player in the history of Starcraft II. Though he yearns for success in his homeland as well, the money and prestige to be earned abroad should keep him more than content. Behind PuMa's humble and soft-spoken exterior is a fierce and cunning competitor, and come Saturday, it will be up to MC to make sure there is not another shut-out in a German final.
The Feast is over, but leave room for dessert
Mill.Feast continued his winning ways in the quarter-finals, defeating Complexity's Killer to book a place in the semi-finals. However, Feast's tournament run ended in the semi-finals, where MC's overall class and veteran wiles were too much overcome. In a prime example, Feast was unable to make the most of his 4-gate against MC's offensive 3-gate, and the Boss Toss' calm and collected management of a dangerous situation showed the gulf between a multiple tournament champion, and very promising but still developing player.
However, in his single victory against MC, Feast showed where his potential could take him. He fought MC to a standstill in a pure micro battle between blink stalkers, and won the game with a chargelot and archon timing while MC went for Colossi. Though Feast's World Championship might have ended in the semi-finals, fans of foreigners will have plenty to look forward to in the future.
It's not completely over for Feast. He stated a desire to get revenge on SlayerS_MMA for defeating him at IEM Kiev, and he will get his chance. The two will face off tomorrow in the 3rd/4th place match, and there is a tantalizing chance of a foreigner upset. Feast's PvT has been his most impressive match-up – even defeating PuMa in a recent clan war between Millenium and Evil Geniuses. Though it's nothing to laugh at, MMA's TvP has always been seen as trailing far behind his monstrous, best-in-the-world TvZ. Feast has got his wish, now he just has to make good on it.
The streak ends
MMA had gone 13 – 0 in four days, before he finally ran into PuMa in the semi-finals. A dominating 3 – 0 victory over Liquid`Zenio in the quarter-finals seemed to solidify his status as the favorite to win the tournament, and a similarly one-sided victory in his first game against PuMa seemed to all but seal the deal.
However, PuMa was unfazed by the early loss, and came back to win the series 3 – 1, winning three consecutive games. His vaunted 1/1/1 played a part, winning him one game straight-up, and setting up a mind-game in the fourth and deciding game. PuMa appeared to be very much on MMA's level in the match-up, suggesting that the only real weakness that remains in his game is a questionable TvZ.
Update Log
+ Show Spoiler [Past Updates] +
15:33 GMT (+00:00): It's the IEM Cologne, and NASL Season 1 Rematch! PuMa vs MC! ...tomorrow.
15:32 GMT (+00:00): MC 3 - 1 Feast. MC keeps piling on the pressure, and Feast cracks. GG!
15:30 GMT (+00:00): Feast going for a blink stalker build, while MC goes 3-gate. Feast botches his force-fields, and looks to be in a lot of danger.
15:27 GMT (+00:00): Game Four, Entombed Valley. Feast @ top left, MC @ bottom right.
15:24 GMT (+00:00): Feast 1 - 2 MC. Feast hits a precise timing with chargelots and archons while MC has just two colossi, taking the game.
15:23 GMT (+00:00): Strategies diverge as both players build up. Colossi from MC, chargelots and archons for Feast.
15:19 GMT (+00:00): Very close blink stalker battle, but it ends up being fairly equal in the end. Both players expand afterwards.
15:17 GMT (+00:00): Feast gets robo, MC gets blink, everything's equal.
15:16 GMT (+00:00): Blink stalkers build for Feast, MC going for a robo build.
15:12 GMT (+00:00): Game Three, Antiga Shipyard. Feast @ 9, MC @ 3.
15:10 GMT (+00:00): MC 2 - 0 Feast. Feast can't break the pylon walls, cannons complete, GG.
15:09 GMT (+00:00): Forge first from MC. Double pylon wall-off behind Feast's mineral line.
15:08 GMT (+00:00): Game Two, Daybreak. MC @ right, Feast @ left.
15:06 GMT (+00:00): MC 1 - 0 Feast. Last ditch attack, but nothing Feast can really do.
15:00 GMT (+00:00): Feast following with DTs + gateway unit attack at MC's newly finished natural, but MC already has obs. MC puts the attack down with ease, and looks to have an insurmountable lead.
14:59 GMT (+00:00): Both players went aggressive with their builds, but somehow MC managed to come out ahead with just 3 gate by splitting his warp-ins between his offensive pylon and main base more appropriately.
14:57 GMT (+00:00): 4 gate for Feast, 3 gate 2 gas for MC.
14:54 GMT (+00:00): Feast vs MC Game One. Cloud Kingdom, Feast @ bottom, MC @ top.
14:34 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 3 - 1 MMA. MMA gets the UGLY end of a trade, as he gets attacked by PuMa's main force while he has two medivacs worth of marines out harassing. His drop does okay damage, while PuMa's army just kills everything.
14:30 GMT (+00:00): PuMa just expands, and both players start building up marine-tank.
14:30 GMT (+00:00): PuMa opening banshees, MMA going expand into starport.
14:26 GMT (+00:00): Game Four. Entombed Valley. PuMa @ bottom right, MMA @ top left.
14:24 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 2 - 1 MMA. PuMa wins with a 1/1/1. Man, I'm kinda shocked I haven't had to say that all tournament.
14:23 GMT (+00:00): Surprise! PuMa is 1/1/1'ing after killing a few SCVs. Having gone for a CC, MMA can't seem to hold this off.
14:22 GMT (+00:00): Banshees on both sides. However, PuMa scanned MMA's starport, while MMA didn't see PuMa's.
14:17 GMT (+00:00): Game Three. Antiga Shipyard, MMA @ 6, PuMa @ 12.
14:14 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 1 - 1 MMA. And it's enough to end the game! MMA expanded too greedily with not enough troops/tech.
14:13 GMT (+00:00): PuMa keeps abusing his better tech, attacking with stim/shield marines and siege tanks while MMA only has stim marines and no siege.
14:12 GMT (+00:00): PuMa hits a nice double medivac, stim marine drop before MMA has stim. He forces MMA to pull SCVs in defense, and kills a nice number of marines and SCVs.
14:09 GMT (+00:00): Banshee exp from PuMa, rax-CC into starport for MMA. Prety much a wash in terms of who came out ahead, as PuMa kills a couple of SCVs.
14:04 GMT (+00:00): Game Two, Daybreak. MMA @ right, PuMa @ left.
14:02 GMT (+00:00): MMA 1 - 0 PuMa. MMA sees no reason to stop pushing when he has the troop advantage. He keeps advancing, killing more and more of PuMa's forces until he GG's.
14:01 GMT (+00:00): MMA hurts PuMa bad again, as he kills a bunch of his forces at a battle for a tower. He uses his 30 supply advantage to crush PuMa's tank position at the other tower, and goes up ahead forty supply.
13:59 GMT (+00:00): With both players going up to three bases, PuMa botches a marine-tank engagement and instantly goes down 15 or so supply.
13:55 GMT (+00:00): PuMa kills two cloak banshees without taking much damage at all. Marine-tank follow-ups for both it appears.
13:51 GMT (+00:00): Reaper exp from PuMa, cloak banshee exp from MMA as they start on close air spots. Good reaper deny forces PuMa to burn a scan.
13:49 GMT (+00:00): PuMa vs MMA, Game One: Metropolis. PuMa @ 6, MMA @ 3.
13:45 GMT (+00:00): Is it just me, or did Grubby seem a bit proud?
13:22 GMT (+00:00): Feast 3 - 2 Killer. After taking a nice probe lead with some blink stalker tactics, Feast builds up and crushes Killer in the major engagement to make it to the semi-finals!
13:16 GMT (+00:00): Blink, robo, and stalkers on both sides.
13:13 GMT (+00:00): Game Five, Shakuras Plateau. Killer @ top left, Feast @ top right.
13:08 GMT (+00:00): With both players going for blink stalkers, Feast loses a horrible engagement before blink is done on either side. This gives Killer a massive stalker advantage once blink does complete, allowing him to win the game.
13:03 GMT (+00:00): Game Four, ESV Cloud Kingdom. Killer @ bottom, Feast @ top.
13:00 GMT (+00:00): Feast 2 - 1 Killer. Feast's immortals hit the right stuff, Killer's don't. GG!
12:56 GMT (+00:00): Looking way behind after getting several stalkers trapped and killed by Killer, Feast turns the tables by catching two completely isolated immortals off guard and killing them off.
12:53 GMT (+00:00): Blink stalker + obs from feast, 4 gate robo from Killer. Sick trap from Killer, pretending there's a weak spot in his base to get Feast to blink up into a corner, and then annihilating it with immortals and stalkers.
12:47 GMT (+00:00): Game Three, Antiga Shipyard. Killer @ 3, Feast @ 9.
12:46 GMT (+00:00): Killer 1 - 1 Feast. Killer wins the blink-stalker vs blink-stalker war and takes the game.
12:43 GMT (+00:00): Killer gets blink and finally gets to move down from his ramp. Both players still on one base, though.
12:39 GMT (+00:00): Killer impressively holds off the blink stalker attack, and then Feast's DT follow-up. All the while, he sends his phoenixes over to Feast's base to kill the occasional probe.
12:34 GMT (+00:00): Killer looks to repay the debt with his own stargate build, while Feast goes for a blink build.
12:31 GMT (+00:00): Game Two, Metropolis. Feast @ 3, Killer @ 6.
12:29 GMT (+00:00): Feast 1 - 0 Killer. Feast masses an army and finishes Killer off, making him pay for the fast expansion and wasted stalkers.
12:25 GMT (+00:00): Early pressure held off by Feast. Killer transitions into a fast nexus while getting robo. Feast picks up some free stalkers that lingered too close outside his base, and has a big supply advantage. He could kill him now..?
12:23 GMT (+00:00): 3 gate pressure from Killer, phoenix build from Feast.
12:21 GMT (+00:00): Killer vs Feast starts. Daybreak: Killer @ left, Feast @ right.
12:01 GMT (+00:00): MMA 3 - 0 Zenio. Just sick, sick multi-tasking and aggression from MMA to take the series.
11:58 GMT (+00:00): MMA starts dropping, and everything goes to hell for Zenio. He can't keep up with MMA's speed, and just starts losing stuff everywhere.
11:55 GMT (+00:00): Speak of the devil, MMA does a double drop to distract Zenio, then just kills off Zenio's fourth with his main army.
11:54 GMT (+00:00): Zenio goes into the mid-late game in the best position he's been all series, having plenty of drones, four bases, and not much damage taken from MMA. MMA is just quietly building up on three bases.
11:51 GMT (+00:00): Passive build up for both players, with Zenio going ling-festor this game.
11:44 GMT (+00:00): Game Three, Entombed Valley. MMA @ bottom right, Zenio @ top left.
11:41 GMT (+00:00): MMA 2 - 0 Zenio. Zenio did well to backstab and mass expand everywhere to try and get back in the game, but he just couldn't keep up with MMA's incredibly aggressive and chaotic tactics.
11:35 GMT (+00:00): One good backstab into MMA's base buys Zenio some time, but MMA is still ahead on econ and upgrades.
11:33 GMT (+00:00): MMA crushes some banes and roaches that venture off creep, and looks to be even further ahead.
11:31 GMT (+00:00): Zenio fakes taking a third to draw hellions and banshee harassment, while roaches and lings go around to damage MMA's natural. However, MMA manages to pull back in time to not take too much damage. All in all, both players on three bases (as Zenio's 'bait' hatchery survived), but Zenio has too few drones.
11:29 GMT (+00:00): Similar banshee triple orbital open from MMA, while Zenio goes for a roach-bane all-in.
11:25 GMT (+00:00): Game Two. Cloud Kingdom - Zenio @ top, MMA @ bottom.
11:22 GMT (+00:00): MMA 1 - 0 Zenio. Losing his brood lord core hurt Zenio too much. MMA is able to hit Zenio all over, and finally brings him down.
11:19 GMT (+00:00): One fight against unprotected brood lords swings the game in MMA's favor, as Zenio loses a lot of his expensive units.
11:17 GMT (+00:00): Crazy split army tactics from MMA make it hard to tell who's ahead. Zenio's broodlord-infestor army looks strong in a head on fight, but MMA exploits the immobility to constantly take down Zenio's bases while Zenio keeps rebuilding them. At the same time, Zenio even manages to take down MMA's central base while all of MMA's army is busy elsewhere on the map.
11:14 GMT (+00:00): MMA manages to kill one of Zenio's bases, but Zenio is still on four total bases as he starts morphing brood lords. MMA has control of a center base.
11:12 GMT (+00:00): Zenio starts taking multiple bases on the map, as MMA moves out with a scary marine-tank-thor force and secures the middle. The double ebay is really starting to come into play for MMA, compared to Zenio's single evo.
11:10 GMT (+00:00): Complicated sequence of events as MMA drops and kills Zenio's hidden base, while also moving out into the center of the map. Zenio counters and does damage to MMA's SCVs as he tries to take his third base, while he uses lings and banes to ward off MMA's center push and hold his third base.
11:07 GMT (+00:00): MMA is unable to do damage with his banshees, while Zenio takes a hidden third. He also takes his regular third base, potentially giving him four fast bases as he goes for mutas.
11:04 GMT (+00:00): FE vs FE, while MMA transitions into cloak banshees into a fast third.
11:01 GMT (+00:00): Game One, Antiga Shipyard. MMA @ 6, Zenio @ 12. IdrA AND DIMAGA casting o_O
10:43 GMT (+00:00): Zenio vs MMA next. IdrA: "We're going to watch MMA destroy Zenio, and we're going to complain the entire time."
10:41 GMT (+00:00): MC 3 - 0 viOLet. 1/1 gateway all-in from MC after forge FE. Immaculate force fields, Zerg units die, GG. According to IdrA: "This is just disgusting."
10:33 GMT (+00:00): G3: Daybreak. MC @ right, viOLet @ left.
10:31 GMT (+00:00): MC 2 - 0 viOLet. Brutal storms make short work of viOLet's already outmatched army, and MC takes the game.
10:29 GMT (+00:00): viOLet tries a two prong attack with ling-roach-infestor on both MC's natural and third, but just ends up losing his army in two parts without doing any damage. MC is now on the counter-attack.
10:27 GMT (+00:00): MC takes his third with fast TEMPLARS, interestingly enough. viOLet taking his fourth, but still on mostly lair stuff.
10:24 GMT (+00:00): Pretty standard stuff, forge FE vs three hatch. Standard stargate poking from MC, but not much damage done.
10:18 GMT (+00:00): Game Two, Cloud Kingdom. viOLet @ south, MC @ north.
10:14 GMT (+00:00): MC 1 - 0 viOLet. viOLet has nothing to stop the +2 blink stalkers, and just straight up dies. His total lack of defense makes you suspect he pretty much just gambled on "not all-in by MC" and blindly droned up, willing to die if he guessed wrong.
10:13 GMT (+00:00): A bit painful for viOLet, as he had only lings to defend the 4-gate +1 pressure for a while. Wasn't able to drone up, lost a queen, and now it will be harder to stop MC's +2 blink stalker follow-up.
10:11 GMT (+00:00): Forge FE vs triple hatch, standard stuff. +1, 4-gate pressure as well...
10:06 GMT (+00:00): Violet vs MC Begins! IdrA and Apollo casting! G1 Metropolis - MC @ 12, viOLet @ 6.
09:49 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 3 - 2. Having lost his third once, JYP could only be at a disadvantage in the next deathball fight. PuMa was a few dozen supply ahead when the two players clashed again, and PuMa took the game.
09:42 GMT (+00:00): After a long build up, the game deciding battle occurs as PuMa attacks into JYP's third base. It's a tense battle, but some good EMPs and colossi snipes from PuMa allow him to just barely emerge victorious and take down JYP's third.
09:36 GMT (+00:00): Mostly unremarkable two base vs two base build up so far.
09:32 GMT (+00:00): Game Five. ESV Cloud Kingdom. PuMa @ south, JYP @ north.
09:26 GMT (+00:00): JYP 2 - 2 PuMa. JYP rolls straight through PuMa's natural and main, taking the game.
09:24 GMT (+00:00): Sacrificing that army really hurt PuMa, as JYP has a ridiculous deathball built up. Four colossi, six archons, a bunch of templars. JYP continues to roll, taking down PuMa's third base as well. Meanwhile, JYP retakes his fourth, and looks to have a commanding lead, with the advantage in both army and economy.
09:23 GMT (+00:00): PuMa sacrifices an army to take down JYP's fourth base. However, the sacrifice leaves him without an army to defend his own fourth, and JYP just takes it down easily.
09:19 GMT (+00:00): PuMa initiates the first deathball fight, but it doesn't exactly go as cleanly as he hoped. He sacrifices a lot of vikings to kill only a single colossus or so. The end result is pretty much an equal trade on both sides, with both players stabilizing at 130 pop or so. In the meanwhile, both players have taken fourth bases. PuMa has the center, JYP has the 12:00 base.
09:16 GMT (+00:00): Deathballs on both sides, still no real fights at the 16:00 mark.
09:12 GMT (+00:00): Both players just building up, while JYP stays unaware of the triple orbital until he finally gets obs into PuMa's base around the 10:00 mark.
09:09 GMT (+00:00): PuMa going triple orbital off one rax o_O. JYP doing a regular FE, and he will be behind if he can't make PuMa pay for this risk.
09:06 GMT (+00:00): Game Four. Antiga Shipyard. JYP @ north, Puma @ south.
09:03 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 2 - 1 JYP. JYP finally takes his third, but only gets to mine from it for a little bit, before PuMa's massive bioball walks in and annihilates his base and his army.
08:59 GMT (+00:00): Ow, losing those sentries hurt. PuMa was able to easily take his own third, and deny JYP's third as well, as JYP can't dare to fight PuMa in the open. It might take some time, but it looks like JYP is rolling towards a loss.
08:55 GMT (+00:00): Some over optimistic gateway pressure goes wrong for JYP, as PuMa already has stim. He kills all of JYP's sentries as JYP tries to back off from his pressure.
08:54 GMT (+00:00): Normal FE opens for both players on Daybreak so far.
08:49 GMT (+00:00): Game Three. Daybreak. PuMa @ left, JYP @ right.
08:47 GMT (+00:00): JYP 1 - 1 PuMa. JYP crushed the marine-tank attack with so much left over, he was able to counter attack and directly win the game.
08:47 GMT (+00:00): Indeed, it was the two base "1/1/1" attack for PuMa. However, JYP bought time beautifully, got a ton of speed zealots, and just CRUSHED the attack.
08:43 GMT (+00:00): Actually, with PuMa getting fast siege tanks and combat shields as well, maybe there's a no-stim, marine-tank-banshee push in the works? Yup, there's a raven...
08:42 GMT (+00:00): FE into cloaked banshees for PuMa, FE into 3 gate robo for JYP. Fairly standard stuff so far.
08:38 GMT (+00:00): Game Two. Entombed Valley. PuMa @ bottom right, JYP @ top left. KAS, DIMAGA, and IdrA seen chatting and watching the games ~_~
08:36 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 1 - 0 JYP. Everything goes as planned for PuMa, as JYP doesn't have enough to defend the one base attack.
08:33 GMT (+00:00): Fast expand for JYP, and a 2-rax expand faked into a one base marine-marauder-medivac push for PuMa. JYP looks completely unaware of the one base all-in coming.
08:27 GMT (+00:00): Game One. Tal'Darim Altar, JYP @ bottom left, PuMa @ top right.
08:27 GMT (+00:00): Damn, no Grubby for PuMa vs JYP. But, we get European accent duo :O
08:15 GMT (+00:00): First up: PuMa vs JYP. Here's a fun stat! PuMa is 112 - 39 TvP (74.17%). JYP is 19 - 36 (34.54%). I think I know who's gonna win...
07:49 GMT (+00:00): So, if nothing changed, IdrA should be casting Zerg games, and Grubby will be casting Protoss games. Is this the real life?
07:38 GMT (+00:00): Chill'
15:32 GMT (+00:00): MC 3 - 1 Feast. MC keeps piling on the pressure, and Feast cracks. GG!
15:30 GMT (+00:00): Feast going for a blink stalker build, while MC goes 3-gate. Feast botches his force-fields, and looks to be in a lot of danger.
15:27 GMT (+00:00): Game Four, Entombed Valley. Feast @ top left, MC @ bottom right.
15:24 GMT (+00:00): Feast 1 - 2 MC. Feast hits a precise timing with chargelots and archons while MC has just two colossi, taking the game.
15:23 GMT (+00:00): Strategies diverge as both players build up. Colossi from MC, chargelots and archons for Feast.
15:19 GMT (+00:00): Very close blink stalker battle, but it ends up being fairly equal in the end. Both players expand afterwards.
15:17 GMT (+00:00): Feast gets robo, MC gets blink, everything's equal.
15:16 GMT (+00:00): Blink stalkers build for Feast, MC going for a robo build.
15:12 GMT (+00:00): Game Three, Antiga Shipyard. Feast @ 9, MC @ 3.
15:10 GMT (+00:00): MC 2 - 0 Feast. Feast can't break the pylon walls, cannons complete, GG.
15:09 GMT (+00:00): Forge first from MC. Double pylon wall-off behind Feast's mineral line.
15:08 GMT (+00:00): Game Two, Daybreak. MC @ right, Feast @ left.
15:06 GMT (+00:00): MC 1 - 0 Feast. Last ditch attack, but nothing Feast can really do.
15:00 GMT (+00:00): Feast following with DTs + gateway unit attack at MC's newly finished natural, but MC already has obs. MC puts the attack down with ease, and looks to have an insurmountable lead.
14:59 GMT (+00:00): Both players went aggressive with their builds, but somehow MC managed to come out ahead with just 3 gate by splitting his warp-ins between his offensive pylon and main base more appropriately.
14:57 GMT (+00:00): 4 gate for Feast, 3 gate 2 gas for MC.
14:54 GMT (+00:00): Feast vs MC Game One. Cloud Kingdom, Feast @ bottom, MC @ top.
14:34 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 3 - 1 MMA. MMA gets the UGLY end of a trade, as he gets attacked by PuMa's main force while he has two medivacs worth of marines out harassing. His drop does okay damage, while PuMa's army just kills everything.
14:30 GMT (+00:00): PuMa just expands, and both players start building up marine-tank.
14:30 GMT (+00:00): PuMa opening banshees, MMA going expand into starport.
14:26 GMT (+00:00): Game Four. Entombed Valley. PuMa @ bottom right, MMA @ top left.
14:24 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 2 - 1 MMA. PuMa wins with a 1/1/1. Man, I'm kinda shocked I haven't had to say that all tournament.
14:23 GMT (+00:00): Surprise! PuMa is 1/1/1'ing after killing a few SCVs. Having gone for a CC, MMA can't seem to hold this off.
14:22 GMT (+00:00): Banshees on both sides. However, PuMa scanned MMA's starport, while MMA didn't see PuMa's.
14:17 GMT (+00:00): Game Three. Antiga Shipyard, MMA @ 6, PuMa @ 12.
14:14 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 1 - 1 MMA. And it's enough to end the game! MMA expanded too greedily with not enough troops/tech.
14:13 GMT (+00:00): PuMa keeps abusing his better tech, attacking with stim/shield marines and siege tanks while MMA only has stim marines and no siege.
14:12 GMT (+00:00): PuMa hits a nice double medivac, stim marine drop before MMA has stim. He forces MMA to pull SCVs in defense, and kills a nice number of marines and SCVs.
14:09 GMT (+00:00): Banshee exp from PuMa, rax-CC into starport for MMA. Prety much a wash in terms of who came out ahead, as PuMa kills a couple of SCVs.
14:04 GMT (+00:00): Game Two, Daybreak. MMA @ right, PuMa @ left.
14:02 GMT (+00:00): MMA 1 - 0 PuMa. MMA sees no reason to stop pushing when he has the troop advantage. He keeps advancing, killing more and more of PuMa's forces until he GG's.
14:01 GMT (+00:00): MMA hurts PuMa bad again, as he kills a bunch of his forces at a battle for a tower. He uses his 30 supply advantage to crush PuMa's tank position at the other tower, and goes up ahead forty supply.
13:59 GMT (+00:00): With both players going up to three bases, PuMa botches a marine-tank engagement and instantly goes down 15 or so supply.
13:55 GMT (+00:00): PuMa kills two cloak banshees without taking much damage at all. Marine-tank follow-ups for both it appears.
13:51 GMT (+00:00): Reaper exp from PuMa, cloak banshee exp from MMA as they start on close air spots. Good reaper deny forces PuMa to burn a scan.
13:49 GMT (+00:00): PuMa vs MMA, Game One: Metropolis. PuMa @ 6, MMA @ 3.
13:45 GMT (+00:00): Is it just me, or did Grubby seem a bit proud?
13:22 GMT (+00:00): Feast 3 - 2 Killer. After taking a nice probe lead with some blink stalker tactics, Feast builds up and crushes Killer in the major engagement to make it to the semi-finals!
13:16 GMT (+00:00): Blink, robo, and stalkers on both sides.
13:13 GMT (+00:00): Game Five, Shakuras Plateau. Killer @ top left, Feast @ top right.
13:08 GMT (+00:00): With both players going for blink stalkers, Feast loses a horrible engagement before blink is done on either side. This gives Killer a massive stalker advantage once blink does complete, allowing him to win the game.
13:03 GMT (+00:00): Game Four, ESV Cloud Kingdom. Killer @ bottom, Feast @ top.
13:00 GMT (+00:00): Feast 2 - 1 Killer. Feast's immortals hit the right stuff, Killer's don't. GG!
12:56 GMT (+00:00): Looking way behind after getting several stalkers trapped and killed by Killer, Feast turns the tables by catching two completely isolated immortals off guard and killing them off.
12:53 GMT (+00:00): Blink stalker + obs from feast, 4 gate robo from Killer. Sick trap from Killer, pretending there's a weak spot in his base to get Feast to blink up into a corner, and then annihilating it with immortals and stalkers.
12:47 GMT (+00:00): Game Three, Antiga Shipyard. Killer @ 3, Feast @ 9.
12:46 GMT (+00:00): Killer 1 - 1 Feast. Killer wins the blink-stalker vs blink-stalker war and takes the game.
12:43 GMT (+00:00): Killer gets blink and finally gets to move down from his ramp. Both players still on one base, though.
12:39 GMT (+00:00): Killer impressively holds off the blink stalker attack, and then Feast's DT follow-up. All the while, he sends his phoenixes over to Feast's base to kill the occasional probe.
12:34 GMT (+00:00): Killer looks to repay the debt with his own stargate build, while Feast goes for a blink build.
12:31 GMT (+00:00): Game Two, Metropolis. Feast @ 3, Killer @ 6.
12:29 GMT (+00:00): Feast 1 - 0 Killer. Feast masses an army and finishes Killer off, making him pay for the fast expansion and wasted stalkers.
12:25 GMT (+00:00): Early pressure held off by Feast. Killer transitions into a fast nexus while getting robo. Feast picks up some free stalkers that lingered too close outside his base, and has a big supply advantage. He could kill him now..?
12:23 GMT (+00:00): 3 gate pressure from Killer, phoenix build from Feast.
12:21 GMT (+00:00): Killer vs Feast starts. Daybreak: Killer @ left, Feast @ right.
12:01 GMT (+00:00): MMA 3 - 0 Zenio. Just sick, sick multi-tasking and aggression from MMA to take the series.
11:58 GMT (+00:00): MMA starts dropping, and everything goes to hell for Zenio. He can't keep up with MMA's speed, and just starts losing stuff everywhere.
11:55 GMT (+00:00): Speak of the devil, MMA does a double drop to distract Zenio, then just kills off Zenio's fourth with his main army.
11:54 GMT (+00:00): Zenio goes into the mid-late game in the best position he's been all series, having plenty of drones, four bases, and not much damage taken from MMA. MMA is just quietly building up on three bases.
11:51 GMT (+00:00): Passive build up for both players, with Zenio going ling-festor this game.
11:44 GMT (+00:00): Game Three, Entombed Valley. MMA @ bottom right, Zenio @ top left.
11:41 GMT (+00:00): MMA 2 - 0 Zenio. Zenio did well to backstab and mass expand everywhere to try and get back in the game, but he just couldn't keep up with MMA's incredibly aggressive and chaotic tactics.
11:35 GMT (+00:00): One good backstab into MMA's base buys Zenio some time, but MMA is still ahead on econ and upgrades.
11:33 GMT (+00:00): MMA crushes some banes and roaches that venture off creep, and looks to be even further ahead.
11:31 GMT (+00:00): Zenio fakes taking a third to draw hellions and banshee harassment, while roaches and lings go around to damage MMA's natural. However, MMA manages to pull back in time to not take too much damage. All in all, both players on three bases (as Zenio's 'bait' hatchery survived), but Zenio has too few drones.
11:29 GMT (+00:00): Similar banshee triple orbital open from MMA, while Zenio goes for a roach-bane all-in.
11:25 GMT (+00:00): Game Two. Cloud Kingdom - Zenio @ top, MMA @ bottom.
11:22 GMT (+00:00): MMA 1 - 0 Zenio. Losing his brood lord core hurt Zenio too much. MMA is able to hit Zenio all over, and finally brings him down.
11:19 GMT (+00:00): One fight against unprotected brood lords swings the game in MMA's favor, as Zenio loses a lot of his expensive units.
11:17 GMT (+00:00): Crazy split army tactics from MMA make it hard to tell who's ahead. Zenio's broodlord-infestor army looks strong in a head on fight, but MMA exploits the immobility to constantly take down Zenio's bases while Zenio keeps rebuilding them. At the same time, Zenio even manages to take down MMA's central base while all of MMA's army is busy elsewhere on the map.
11:14 GMT (+00:00): MMA manages to kill one of Zenio's bases, but Zenio is still on four total bases as he starts morphing brood lords. MMA has control of a center base.
11:12 GMT (+00:00): Zenio starts taking multiple bases on the map, as MMA moves out with a scary marine-tank-thor force and secures the middle. The double ebay is really starting to come into play for MMA, compared to Zenio's single evo.
11:10 GMT (+00:00): Complicated sequence of events as MMA drops and kills Zenio's hidden base, while also moving out into the center of the map. Zenio counters and does damage to MMA's SCVs as he tries to take his third base, while he uses lings and banes to ward off MMA's center push and hold his third base.
11:07 GMT (+00:00): MMA is unable to do damage with his banshees, while Zenio takes a hidden third. He also takes his regular third base, potentially giving him four fast bases as he goes for mutas.
11:04 GMT (+00:00): FE vs FE, while MMA transitions into cloak banshees into a fast third.
11:01 GMT (+00:00): Game One, Antiga Shipyard. MMA @ 6, Zenio @ 12. IdrA AND DIMAGA casting o_O
10:43 GMT (+00:00): Zenio vs MMA next. IdrA: "We're going to watch MMA destroy Zenio, and we're going to complain the entire time."
10:41 GMT (+00:00): MC 3 - 0 viOLet. 1/1 gateway all-in from MC after forge FE. Immaculate force fields, Zerg units die, GG. According to IdrA: "This is just disgusting."
10:33 GMT (+00:00): G3: Daybreak. MC @ right, viOLet @ left.
10:31 GMT (+00:00): MC 2 - 0 viOLet. Brutal storms make short work of viOLet's already outmatched army, and MC takes the game.
10:29 GMT (+00:00): viOLet tries a two prong attack with ling-roach-infestor on both MC's natural and third, but just ends up losing his army in two parts without doing any damage. MC is now on the counter-attack.
10:27 GMT (+00:00): MC takes his third with fast TEMPLARS, interestingly enough. viOLet taking his fourth, but still on mostly lair stuff.
10:24 GMT (+00:00): Pretty standard stuff, forge FE vs three hatch. Standard stargate poking from MC, but not much damage done.
10:18 GMT (+00:00): Game Two, Cloud Kingdom. viOLet @ south, MC @ north.
10:14 GMT (+00:00): MC 1 - 0 viOLet. viOLet has nothing to stop the +2 blink stalkers, and just straight up dies. His total lack of defense makes you suspect he pretty much just gambled on "not all-in by MC" and blindly droned up, willing to die if he guessed wrong.
10:13 GMT (+00:00): A bit painful for viOLet, as he had only lings to defend the 4-gate +1 pressure for a while. Wasn't able to drone up, lost a queen, and now it will be harder to stop MC's +2 blink stalker follow-up.
10:11 GMT (+00:00): Forge FE vs triple hatch, standard stuff. +1, 4-gate pressure as well...
10:06 GMT (+00:00): Violet vs MC Begins! IdrA and Apollo casting! G1 Metropolis - MC @ 12, viOLet @ 6.
09:49 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 3 - 2. Having lost his third once, JYP could only be at a disadvantage in the next deathball fight. PuMa was a few dozen supply ahead when the two players clashed again, and PuMa took the game.
09:42 GMT (+00:00): After a long build up, the game deciding battle occurs as PuMa attacks into JYP's third base. It's a tense battle, but some good EMPs and colossi snipes from PuMa allow him to just barely emerge victorious and take down JYP's third.
09:36 GMT (+00:00): Mostly unremarkable two base vs two base build up so far.
09:32 GMT (+00:00): Game Five. ESV Cloud Kingdom. PuMa @ south, JYP @ north.
09:26 GMT (+00:00): JYP 2 - 2 PuMa. JYP rolls straight through PuMa's natural and main, taking the game.
09:24 GMT (+00:00): Sacrificing that army really hurt PuMa, as JYP has a ridiculous deathball built up. Four colossi, six archons, a bunch of templars. JYP continues to roll, taking down PuMa's third base as well. Meanwhile, JYP retakes his fourth, and looks to have a commanding lead, with the advantage in both army and economy.
09:23 GMT (+00:00): PuMa sacrifices an army to take down JYP's fourth base. However, the sacrifice leaves him without an army to defend his own fourth, and JYP just takes it down easily.
09:19 GMT (+00:00): PuMa initiates the first deathball fight, but it doesn't exactly go as cleanly as he hoped. He sacrifices a lot of vikings to kill only a single colossus or so. The end result is pretty much an equal trade on both sides, with both players stabilizing at 130 pop or so. In the meanwhile, both players have taken fourth bases. PuMa has the center, JYP has the 12:00 base.
09:16 GMT (+00:00): Deathballs on both sides, still no real fights at the 16:00 mark.
09:12 GMT (+00:00): Both players just building up, while JYP stays unaware of the triple orbital until he finally gets obs into PuMa's base around the 10:00 mark.
09:09 GMT (+00:00): PuMa going triple orbital off one rax o_O. JYP doing a regular FE, and he will be behind if he can't make PuMa pay for this risk.
09:06 GMT (+00:00): Game Four. Antiga Shipyard. JYP @ north, Puma @ south.
09:03 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 2 - 1 JYP. JYP finally takes his third, but only gets to mine from it for a little bit, before PuMa's massive bioball walks in and annihilates his base and his army.
08:59 GMT (+00:00): Ow, losing those sentries hurt. PuMa was able to easily take his own third, and deny JYP's third as well, as JYP can't dare to fight PuMa in the open. It might take some time, but it looks like JYP is rolling towards a loss.
08:55 GMT (+00:00): Some over optimistic gateway pressure goes wrong for JYP, as PuMa already has stim. He kills all of JYP's sentries as JYP tries to back off from his pressure.
08:54 GMT (+00:00): Normal FE opens for both players on Daybreak so far.
08:49 GMT (+00:00): Game Three. Daybreak. PuMa @ left, JYP @ right.
08:47 GMT (+00:00): JYP 1 - 1 PuMa. JYP crushed the marine-tank attack with so much left over, he was able to counter attack and directly win the game.
08:47 GMT (+00:00): Indeed, it was the two base "1/1/1" attack for PuMa. However, JYP bought time beautifully, got a ton of speed zealots, and just CRUSHED the attack.
08:43 GMT (+00:00): Actually, with PuMa getting fast siege tanks and combat shields as well, maybe there's a no-stim, marine-tank-banshee push in the works? Yup, there's a raven...
08:42 GMT (+00:00): FE into cloaked banshees for PuMa, FE into 3 gate robo for JYP. Fairly standard stuff so far.
08:38 GMT (+00:00): Game Two. Entombed Valley. PuMa @ bottom right, JYP @ top left. KAS, DIMAGA, and IdrA seen chatting and watching the games ~_~
08:36 GMT (+00:00): PuMa 1 - 0 JYP. Everything goes as planned for PuMa, as JYP doesn't have enough to defend the one base attack.
08:33 GMT (+00:00): Fast expand for JYP, and a 2-rax expand faked into a one base marine-marauder-medivac push for PuMa. JYP looks completely unaware of the one base all-in coming.
08:27 GMT (+00:00): Game One. Tal'Darim Altar, JYP @ bottom left, PuMa @ top right.
08:27 GMT (+00:00): Damn, no Grubby for PuMa vs JYP. But, we get European accent duo :O
08:15 GMT (+00:00): First up: PuMa vs JYP. Here's a fun stat! PuMa is 112 - 39 TvP (74.17%). JYP is 19 - 36 (34.54%). I think I know who's gonna win...
07:49 GMT (+00:00): So, if nothing changed, IdrA should be casting Zerg games, and Grubby will be casting Protoss games. Is this the real life?
07:38 GMT (+00:00): Chill'
.Ro4
Round of 4
Results:
SlayerS_MMA vs EG.PuMa
- Game One: Metropolis. PuMa @ 6, MMA @ 3. After both players went up to three bases with marine-tank based armies, PuMa engaged MMA poorly in two spots and went behind thirty or supply. MMA just pushed this troop advantage, advancing and killing PuMa's positions and forcing the GG.
- Game Two: Daybreak. MMA @ right, PuMa @ left. PuMa hit important tech points before MMA, dropping with stim while MMA had plain marines, and attacking the front with stim/shield marines and siege tanks while MMA still had only stim and no tanks. This allowed him to fight some very cost efficient battles, winning him the game.
- Game Three: Antiga Shipyard, MMA @ 6, PuMa @ 12. PuMa wins with a 1/1/1. Teehee.
- Game Four: Entombed Valley. PuMa @ bottom right, MMA @ top left. After both players built up respectable armies on two bases, MMA took the worse end of an army mix-up. He was attacked by PuMa's main force while he was busy dropping with two medivacs. PuMa's army tore through MMA's base, while MMA's drop only did a medium amount of damage.
- MMA 1 - 3 PuMa
SK_MC vs Mill.Feast- Game One: Cloud Kingdom, Feast @ bottom, MC @ top. MC somehow came out ahead with an aggressive 3 gate against an aggressive 4 gate from Feast, by simply deciding when and where to warp-in units much better than Feast. He was then able to secure his natural while getting observers, which countered Feast's observer follow-up perfectly.
- Game Two: MC wins with a cannon rush behind Feast's main minerals, with great pylon blocks.
- Game Three: Antiga Shipyard. Feast @ 9, MC @ 3. Blink/robo opens for both players showed that they were closely matched in blink micro, and both players decided to just retreat and take expansions.
With two bases, MC decided to go up to colossi, while Feast tried to hit an archon + chargelots timing. Feast hit at the precise window where MC was weak, taking the game. - Game Four: Entombed Valley. Feast @ top left, MC @ bottom right. Feast messes up his defense while rushing to blink, and MC wins with his 3-gate pressure build.
- MC 3 - 1 Feast
.Ro8
Round of 8
- Game One: Tal'Darim Altar, JYP @ bottom left, PuMa @ top right. PuMa faked a regular reactor & tech lab 2-rax pressure into expansion (whew, what a long name for a strategy), while he was actually going for a one base marine-medivac-marauder attack. JYP was completely fooled, and was caught with two bases and not nearly enough troops when PuMa attacked.
- Game Two: Entombed Valley. PuMa @ bottom right, JYP @ top left. PuMa went for the FE into marine/tank open he and MMA have been using a lot lately. It's a build that lets you do a delayed "1/1/1" style push, or just take three fast bases as your tanks give you strong defense. PuMa opted for the two-base push version, but JYP reacted to it perfectly. He bought time, and got a huge army of chargelots and immortals that crushed the push extremely easily. He then counter-attacked and won the game.
- Game Three: Daybreak. PuMa @ left, JYP @ right. After standing FE openings, JYP went for some ill-advised gateway unit aggression. PuMa had stim upgrade by then, and was able to kill off a huge amount of vital sentries. This allowed him to take his third base with ease, while also preventing JYP from taking his own third base.
PuMa rode this resource and army advantage to an easy victory, massing a superior army and completely destroying JYP's army a few minutes later. - Game Four: Game Four. Antiga Shipyard. JYP @ north, Puma @ south. The two players took three bases a piece and built up, without a major engagement until sixteen minutes into the game. The first deathball vs deathball fight ended up as a wash, and the players took their fourth bases and continued with the macro game.
After PuMa built up another army, he decided to try and go for JYP's fourth base. He ended up cornering himself while taking down the nexus, and ended up having to sacrifice his army to kill JYP's fourth. This ended up being a bad sacrifice for PuMa, as JYP's deathball was simply able to counter-attack and kill PuMA's fourth and third. JYP's deathball only got stronger while PuMa found himself unable to catch up. A massive clump of archons, colossi, and templars rolled through PuMa's bases as JYP took the game. - Game Five: ESV Cloud Kingdom. PuMa @ south, JYP @ north. After a lengthy period of passive building up, PuMa won the first engagement at JYP's third base and took the expansion down. That was the game deciding moment, as the resource advantage snowballed from there, and PuMa was able to win easily in the final battle.
- JYP 2 - 3 PuMa
SK_MC vs 
Empire|viOLet- Game One: Metropolis - MC @ 12, viOLet @ 6. MC's +1 zealot pressure after fast expanding did a fair bit of damage, and then he followed up with a +2 blink stalker all-in for a remarkably easy win. viOLet had barely any defenses at all, and died without a fuss.
- Game Two: Cloud Kingdom. viOLet @ south, MC @ north. MC just played safe and slow, going up to three bases and making a templar assisted gateway army. viOLet tried to do a double prong attack, but just ended up donating his army to MC on two fronts. MC was able to simply counter-attack and win easily.
- Game Three: Daybreak. MC @ right, viOLet @ left. Textbook 1/1 gateway all-in after forge FE from MC, with perfect force-fields to win the game.
- MC 3 - 0 viOLet
SlayerS_MMA vs Liquid`Zenio- Game One: Antiga Shipyard. MMA @ 6, Zenio @ 12. Intense back and forth game with MMA abusing brood lord immobility the best as possible, while Zenio controlled his army quite well, too. It came down to a single mistake from Zenio, where he engaged marines with brood lords, without enough infestor support.
- Game Two: Cloud Kingdom - Zenio @ top, MMA @ bottom. Zenio's roach-ling bust didn't do quite enough damage, and he played behind for most of the game. Nonetheless, good use of backstabs, and good reaction time to deal with MMA's harassment got him somewhat back into the game. However, MMA just had too much of a lead to begin with, and he eventually overwhelmed Zenio with relentless aggression.
- Game Three: Entombed Valley. MMA @ bottom right, Zenio @ top left. Zenio had the best start yet, able to get his drone count up and even get four bases fairly safely. However, once the drops started for MMA, everything crumbled for Zenio. He couldn't keep up with MMA's multitasking, and just lost too many things across the map.
- MMA 3 - 0 Zenio
coL.Killer vs Mill.Feast- Game One: Feast's one base phoenix-stalker attack was enough to bring down Killer's 3 gate blink into expansion.
- Game Two: Metropolis, Feast @ 3, Killer @ 6.Feast was aggressive, using blink stalkers and then DTs to try to break Killer. However, Killer defended well with his phoenix build, and also killed quite a few of Feast's probes as well. Once he caught up with his own blink tech, he won the stalker war and took the game.
- Game Three: Antiga Shipyard. Killer @ 3, Feast @ 9. Killer used from good anticipation to trap and kill several of Feast's blink stalkers, but made the mistake of later allowing his immortals to get isolated and sniped as well. Feast won the major stalker-immortal engagement with better micro.
- Game Four: Cloud Kingdom, Killer @ bottom, Feast @ top. With both players going blink stalkers, Feast got into nasty pre-blink engagement where he lost a huge amount of stalkers. Killer attacked once blink was done to win the game.
- Game Five: Shakuras Plateau. Killer @ top left, Feast @ top right. With both players doing blink + observer builds, Feast got the advantage in probes with better use of blink tactics. He then went on to micro better in the huge immortal and stalker engagement, winning the game.
- Killer 2 - 3 Feast
Too bad I am at work and have to do it with the website coverage 
Still be enjoying this tournament a lot, and I can watch the finals tomorrow :D :D
