EPT
Anyways, we here at TL love the MSL, and the lack of coverage has really been out of our control. Tonight though, hopefully we can play some catchup.
For a great, up to date summary, check out this thread by jkillashark. It covers the format, maps, and standings of the MSL so far. Click Me.
Today I headed to the COEX mall in downtown Seoul for another day of BW watching. The OGN games and the MBC games are both filmed in the same mall, but in different studios. With the help of some English speaking manner Koreans I found my way to the studio and was treated to a couple rounds of team play for an event I was not familiar with. After a trip to the PC bang to beat up on rel a bit, I was back in time for tonights games.
Game 1: Boxer vs Chojja on 815
Easily the most popular professional gamer in the world today, the sounds of cheering fans preceded the Emperor into the playing area. Followed by ChoJJa, Boxer did me a great favour by choosing the computer that I was standing behind which allowed me to watch his FP view.
He was very particular about his set up, having the techies adjust the hight of his moniter several times. His warm up game featured him trouncing a Z (LT 12/3). When the count down began, it was showtime.
Boxer opened at 7, and promptly went to work on a depot at his choke. His apm was monstrous from the start, cementing my opinion that spam may be useless at the beginning, but morphs into useful clicks later in the game.
Upon completing the depot, Boxer put down a CC and then a Barracks in quick sucession. He had yet to scout, and when he did so he went over to 5, across to 11, and then over to 1 where he ran into a wall of sunkens.
His build was working perfectly though. After taking his natural in record speed, (and with only 2 rines made), he set to work on a massive MM project which eventually built into 6 barracks. His initial defense was against a few mutalisks, but for the most part he was free to do as he pleased. Bad idea.
Skipping ahead, his two ports soon finished. With only one gas, two ports seemed to be a questionable idea. Then two dropships popped out, quickly followed by two more. With 4 dships in the air, boxer turned on his scanners and scouted the zerg bases at 12, 3, and 11. His scans all game were perfectly timed, catching the Zerg as he started his early hive, and again when he began his greater spire. There were no mysteries for Boxer.
With the middle free of lurkers, Boxer moved his huge MM army out towards the zerg base. Using his new dropships, he ferried his forces up and around the massive zerg sunken line. ChoJJa was no where to be seen, and then the blitz came.
Marines ripped up the Zerg natural totally unopposed, while two dropships took out both 12 and 3 at the same time. In the blink of an eye, a three pronged attack had gutted ChoJJa. His guardians were at 12 and failed to save the hatch, so they were essentially useless units.
ChoJJa eventually tried to stop Boxer from taking 5, but Boxer had the answer with wraiths, and in under 15 minutes he was walking off-stage being chased by a throng of girls.
ChoJJa < Boxer
It was surgical. He never waivered for a minute, and he cut ChoJJa in two. He really is the most popular gamer in Korea, as he was hounded by fans and cheered for a long time. After his game the crowd thinned significantly.
Game 2: IPX vs Reach on Arcadia
Probably second only to Boxer, is Reach. The crowd was already buzzing after a popular outcome in game 1, and when reach hit the stage it once again became animated. For this game I switched sides and IPX sat down in front of me. Here is what I saw:
Arcadia is 2-0 for PvZ, with 2 expansions behind a choke it was made for a fast forge. IPX didn't see it until his first lings were out, but he already had a hatchery at each of his expansions as well. For those people who have never played on LAN, the muta control that can be exhibited is surreal. When IPX got his mutalisks out, 9 of them flew as one. A tight bunch of death. IPX managed to overpower the few cannons and lone sair that Reach had for defense, and one of Reach's expansions fell. The second was saved though, and IPX was unable to press his advantage.
Reach was using his large resource pool to build up a reaver/sair army, while IPX promptly took the rest of the map. After every battle, win or lose, another hatchery went down on the map somewhere. If ever one died, it was simply replaced somewhere else. 300 minerals became very cheap to a player who was soon mining from 8 places.
IPX showed smoe nice moves by burrowing drones that were in danger, and creating hydra pit traps, groups of burrowed hydras that popped up as reaver/sair passed over to pick off a loaded shuttle. He always had tabs on where Reach was with his army.
The main focal point of the match became the battle over 3 oclock, where Reach was trying to maintain his resource flow. IPX mixed up his attacks, using hydra drops, queens, defilers, and assorted air units. With Reach on the defensive, zerg expansions spread to every corner of the map, and he began sandbox starcraft. At the end, it was an Ultra/Lurker/Defiler/Guard/Dev army that won it.
IPX > Reach
Reach's build was good, but he was put on the defensive too much after his initial Reaver/Sair army could not do enough damage. IPX showed some great use of spells, and definately showed that burrow is worthwhile for many situations. It was interesting that after the game, while waiting for his cue to leave, IPX booted up the Boxer/ChoJJa rep to watch.
Game 3: rA vs Stork on The Eye
I got lucky again this game, and after a brief hesitation rA sat down in front of me. Just as the game began, Rekrul showed up and we made a friendly wager. He backed the flower toss, while I put my 10,000 on the new blood of Stork.
Was I ever sorry I had. rA opened with goons and an observer, the perfect counter to the dt he saw with his first obs/crowd hack. From that point on, he took out his scalpel and started carving.
His first reavers took out two of the HT at Storks choke, a big blow for the gas poor Samsung player. While Stork tried to expand, rA ferried his forces into his opponents main. His reavers and goons caused massive havoc as he took his natural and boosted up to 6 gateways.
Stork repeatedly tried to attack, but his efforts were always undercut by rA. One time it was dt's assasinating HT's in the middle of the map, the next it was another reaver drop that eliminated a cannon and 30 probes, allowing two dt to finish off Stork's main nexus. Needless to say, it was soon gg.
rA > Stork
rA is probably the smartest player around. His building placement is beautiful, his timing is perfect, and his sense of where and when to attack is without equal. The very little things such as spreading his reavers a storm and a half apart and shuttle micro bought him this game, as it has in so many others. I can't say enough good things about him.
Unfortunately, I could not stay for game 4, but Midas beat Yooi as most of you liquibeters expected.
I had a good time watching the games. It was definately an all star cast today. I will write up a seperate post after this week with more details about the live environment.
Cheers,
Manifesto7.
![[image loading]](http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/mariolegosu/manirek.jpg)
