Code S: Finals Recap
By: Waxangel
In a battle between two Korean Zergs in Las Vegas, one seemed almost like the hometown hero from the raucous support he received from the largely American crowd. But in the end, it was the less heralded player who emerged as the final Code S champion of 2012. After two Code S campaigns that ended in the Ro32, MVP Sniper made sure the third time was the charm as he toppled TSL_HyuN in the finals.
The series started out with HyuN taking a shocking quick victory, his one base all-in defeating a more mid-game oriented start from Sniper. However, the MVP Zerg refused to be shaken by the early setback, and slugged it out with HyuN in several roach-infestor wars. Surprisingly, mutalisks came into play in just one of the games - a side effect of the mindgames during interviews after the semi-final matches.
Though most of the games proved to be one sided, the seventh set was one worthy of a grand final. The momentum shifted several times, as both players showed some degree of nervousness in a game with the highest of stakes. In the end, Hyun committed the error of several runner-ups of the past: missing a hidden expansion. Backed by a superior economy and superior composure, Sniper came through and clinched the final Code S title of 2012.
Game One – Antiga Shipyard
+ Show Spoiler +
HyuN went for a one base ling-bane all-in, while Sniper went for the worst thing he could have possibly done by going for hatch-gas-pool. While Sniper made a valiant attempt to survive against lings and banes with essentially nothing, he couldn't prevent the outcome that had been decided by the build orders in the first few minutes of the game.
HyuN 1 – 0 Sniper
HyuN 1 – 0 Sniper
Game Two – Bel'shir Vestige
+ Show Spoiler +
Both players opened up by taking their naturals quickly to start, and allowed each other to take their third bases relatively quickly as well, skipping any overly aggressive ling-bane tactics. With three bases a piece, HyuN's plan was to poke with roaches at 1/1, while Sniper went up more quickly to infestors.
Sniper had infestors in time to stop HyuN's aggression, and the two players played passively as they built up for a later engagement. After hitting 2/0 upgrades, Sniper attacked with a maxed-out roach-infestor army, exploiting a crucial timing where HyuN was trying to add hydralisks to his army. HyuN found himself horribly outgunned, and he was forced to GG out as his armies were overrun.
HyuN 1 – 1 Sniper
Sniper had infestors in time to stop HyuN's aggression, and the two players played passively as they built up for a later engagement. After hitting 2/0 upgrades, Sniper attacked with a maxed-out roach-infestor army, exploiting a crucial timing where HyuN was trying to add hydralisks to his army. HyuN found himself horribly outgunned, and he was forced to GG out as his armies were overrun.
HyuN 1 – 1 Sniper
Game Three – Abyssal City
+ Show Spoiler +
Like the previous game, both players opened up by taking their naturals quickly, but this time around HyuN decided he would follow up with some early aggression. With speed researched and a baneling nest up, HyuN hit with a speculative ling-bane attack. Sniper already had defensive banelings ready when HyuN attacked, and it ended up doing a small though not insignificant amount of damage.
As he attacked, HyuN droned up and went up to lair, but it was a move that Sniper was anticipating. Instead of teching and droning after defending the attack, Sniper instead went for a quick roach warren and built up for a big roach-bane attack before lair. Though HyuN had started roach production before Sniper attacked, he was still caught off guard, and was forced to sacrifice a significant number of drones in defense. After that, Sniper decided to play out his economic advantage as slowly as possible, taking a third base, teching up, and winning several minutes later with a big roach-infestor attack.
HyuN 1 – 2 Sniper
As he attacked, HyuN droned up and went up to lair, but it was a move that Sniper was anticipating. Instead of teching and droning after defending the attack, Sniper instead went for a quick roach warren and built up for a big roach-bane attack before lair. Though HyuN had started roach production before Sniper attacked, he was still caught off guard, and was forced to sacrifice a significant number of drones in defense. After that, Sniper decided to play out his economic advantage as slowly as possible, taking a third base, teching up, and winning several minutes later with a big roach-infestor attack.
HyuN 1 – 2 Sniper
Game Four – Entombed Valley
+ Show Spoiler +
Despite a pool-hatch vs. hatch-pool difference, the game opened up as expected on Entombed Valley with both players taking their naturals safely. Subsequent speedling tactics saw both players force cancels on each other's thirds temporarily, but otherwise they went up to lair tech and roaches without incident.
The game ending sequence came as Sniper attempted to poke with his roaches while teching up to infestors, which turned out to be a poor move when HyuN's speedlings surrounded Sniper's forces and tied them in place as roaches melted them into green puddles. HyuN immediately went on the counter-attack with mass roaches, at which point Sniper could only fungal a few times in futility before being forced to GG out.
HyuN 2 – 2 Sniper
The game ending sequence came as Sniper attempted to poke with his roaches while teching up to infestors, which turned out to be a poor move when HyuN's speedlings surrounded Sniper's forces and tied them in place as roaches melted them into green puddles. HyuN immediately went on the counter-attack with mass roaches, at which point Sniper could only fungal a few times in futility before being forced to GG out.
HyuN 2 – 2 Sniper
Game Five – Whirlwind
+ Show Spoiler +
The trend of greedy starts continued on Whirlwind, with fast expansions taken once more on both sides. Though there was a little prodding and poking with ling-bane, no player really took a significant advantage and the game progressed to the middle phases.
HyuN made the first serious aggressive move by forcing a cancel on Sniper's fast third hatch with some roaches, but it was a momentary roadblock before both players took three bases and started to max-out on roach-infestor. A couple of large clashes in the center proved to be inconclusive, with both players left with similar size armies after bloody fighting. However, in the third and deciding engagement of the game, HyuN managed to force a fight in an ideal position, with his line of roaches protecting hydralisks at the back. Sniper was crushed in the field, and surrendered the game as HyuN charged into his natural.
HyuN 3 – 2 Sniper
HyuN made the first serious aggressive move by forcing a cancel on Sniper's fast third hatch with some roaches, but it was a momentary roadblock before both players took three bases and started to max-out on roach-infestor. A couple of large clashes in the center proved to be inconclusive, with both players left with similar size armies after bloody fighting. However, in the third and deciding engagement of the game, HyuN managed to force a fight in an ideal position, with his line of roaches protecting hydralisks at the back. Sniper was crushed in the field, and surrendered the game as HyuN charged into his natural.
HyuN 3 – 2 Sniper
Game Six – Daybreak
+ Show Spoiler +
The fast expansion into roach-infestor pattern saw a break, as Sniper opted to go for mutalisks for the first time in the series, whereas HyuN delayed his lair to take a faster third base. In ended up evening out, as Sniper just took his third under cover of mutalisks, and made up for any economic loss by forcing many spore colonies to be built. Eventually the game progressed to the usual roach-infestor mid game phase.
As HyuN sought to mix in hydralisks into his army and secure a fourth base, Sniper managed to force a beautiful engagement with some zergling misdirection. Responding to Zergling harass forced HyuN's main army into an awkward formation, and his infestors found themselves at the front of the line as Sniper's main army engaged. The battle turned into a rout for HyuN, and he GG'd to send the series to a final set.
HyuN 3 – 3 Sniper
As HyuN sought to mix in hydralisks into his army and secure a fourth base, Sniper managed to force a beautiful engagement with some zergling misdirection. Responding to Zergling harass forced HyuN's main army into an awkward formation, and his infestors found themselves at the front of the line as Sniper's main army engaged. The battle turned into a rout for HyuN, and he GG'd to send the series to a final set.
HyuN 3 – 3 Sniper
Game Seven – Cloud Kingdom
+ Show Spoiler +
After a restart due to a hardware malfunction (the two players used the exact same builds in the regame anyway), the two finalists built to another three base vs three base roach-infestor war.
The mid-game took several twists and turns, with Sniper taking the advantage first after initiating on HyuN with some good fungals. That was followed by some good burrow infestor harassment on HyuN's mineral lines, leaving HyuN in a difficult spot. However, HyuN managed to take a near perfect engagement at 200/200, taking a sizable army lead while also razing an important mining base.
Unfortunately, HyuN fell back onto his old habits of becoming overconfident, as he continued to charge up into Sniper's base, all the while unaware that Sniper had taken one of the corner bases in secret. Freshly hatched roaches allowed Sniper to clean up HyuN's over extended forces, while his economic advantage allowed him to grow stronger by the second.
HyuN eventually realized that the situation was starting to become dire for himself, and tried to catch up by taking more bases of his own. However, it was too late for HyuN as Sniper had already retaken the lead. Using multi-prong burrowed infestor harassed, Sniper drew HyuN out of position, and then crushed him in one, championship clinching battle.
HyuN 3 – 4 Sniper
The mid-game took several twists and turns, with Sniper taking the advantage first after initiating on HyuN with some good fungals. That was followed by some good burrow infestor harassment on HyuN's mineral lines, leaving HyuN in a difficult spot. However, HyuN managed to take a near perfect engagement at 200/200, taking a sizable army lead while also razing an important mining base.
Unfortunately, HyuN fell back onto his old habits of becoming overconfident, as he continued to charge up into Sniper's base, all the while unaware that Sniper had taken one of the corner bases in secret. Freshly hatched roaches allowed Sniper to clean up HyuN's over extended forces, while his economic advantage allowed him to grow stronger by the second.
HyuN eventually realized that the situation was starting to become dire for himself, and tried to catch up by taking more bases of his own. However, it was too late for HyuN as Sniper had already retaken the lead. Using multi-prong burrowed infestor harassed, Sniper drew HyuN out of position, and then crushed him in one, championship clinching battle.
HyuN 3 – 4 Sniper
Writers: Waxangel.
Graphics and Art: Meko.
Editors: Waxangel.