EPTMLG Dallas Coverage
Daily Recaps
Day 1 Recap
Day 2 Recap
Photo Galleries
Day 1 Photos
Day 2 Photos
Day 3 Photos
Video Interviews
Video Interviews
Brackets and results at Liquipedia
The Times They Are a Changin'
When he arrived on the StarCraft: Brood War scene in 2007,
Flash was immediately hailed as a prodigy. At the tender age of fifteen, he was already crushing seasoned veterans of several years, and showing an innate talent for the game that seemed almost supernatural. The kid looked like he was destined to go places.Six years, four-hundred forty-one wins, three OnGameNet Starleague championships, three MBCGame StarCraft League championships, and one StarCraft sequel later, Flash arrived at MLG Dallas, looking to extend his legacy of dominance to not just another hemisphere, but to another game. Championships had eluded him in the ten months since KeSPA's official switch to Brood War's sequel, but steady growth saw him climb through the StarCraft II ranks and become one of its elite players. With the advent of Heart of the Swarm, Flash was poised to show everyone in the world exactly why he had been called "God" as Brood War player.
Unfortunately for Flash, he wasn't able to succeed at beginning his second golden age. He did, however, have the privilege of witnessing first hand, a very significant event.
At MLG Dallas, Flash saw the future.
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/MLG/winter2013/flashportrat.jpg)
Photo: silverfire
Life didn't cause much fanfare when he arrived, largely because it was hard to pinpoint when that exactly was. Was it when he started showing up regularly on other player's streams as a pesky but skilled ladder opponent? When he became a regular in the various weekly cups of the early SC2 scene? Or was it when he scored an all-kill against TeamLiquid in the GSTL, as a member of team ZeNEX? It will suffice to say that by June of 2012, there were a few hardcore fans who knew about the fifteen year old Life, and a few who even thought he might have a real future in pro-gaming. By the end of 2012, those few were more than just vindicated, as Life finished the year as the best StarCraft II player in the world. Life's potential "exploded" as the Koreans say it, and he won a Code S, MLG, and GSL Blizzard Cup in one of the most amazing six month runs in pro-gaming history. There was hardly a StarCraft II power who was spared Life's wrath, with Seed, TaeJa, MarineKing, Leenock, and Nestea all falling in his wake. Even Mvp, the reigning King of Wings and the greatest StarCraft II player to date, fell to Life at the end of a seven game final in the GSL. The 'prodigy' tag had to be attached to such a player, one who achieved so much at such a young age. With the advent of a new year and Heart of the Swarm, all eyes turned to Life and what more he might achieve.
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/a/a8/Metabolic_boost.gif)
Before their clash at MLG Dallas 2013, Flash had already faced Life twice before. The first time was at MLG's 2012 Dallas event, where Flash drew first blood by winning a 2 - 0 victory earlier on in the bracket. While some took this as a sign that Flash's will would be done in WoL as it had in BW, he had only succeeded in wounding Life's pride and waking a dangerous beast. When the two met further down in the bracket, Life showed no regard for his illustrious predecessor as he won in a crushing 4 - 0 sweep. The gulf between a highly skilled but still learning player, and the best player in the world was on full display.
The Wings of Liberty era would end without a rematch between the two, but on the eve of the transition to HotS, Blizzard would arrange for the two to meet again. Both players were invited to compete at the Heart of the Swarm Korea launch event, aptly picked to represent two past eras of StarCraft as it headed into yet another. Despite the match being held under the pretense of a friendly, the two players' competitiveness leaked through, and Flash showed that he had made massive strides towards recovering his earlier station. After an exhilarating match, Life came out the victor, but Flash won the pseudo-rematch – a resume-from-replay started from his point of choosing. To the younger prodigy who thought he was stronger, faster, and smarter, Flash had a message: Soon, he would be coming to set things straight.
A rematch at the finals of MLG Dallas 2013 was almost too good to be true. But then again, with 'too good' being more than appropriate to describe Flash and Life, maybe it wasn't so surprising after all. Besides a couple of tough games, Flash was barely troubled as he toppled Bly, Ret, PartinG, and Innovation with a combined record of 12 - 3 on his way to the final. Life had slightly more trouble, particularly against Terrans Polt and Last, but entered the finals with a slightly worse, 12 - 4 record.
The first game of the grand final saw Life open with some of his trademark aggression in a ten-pool build, but his gamble didn't pay off as Flash opted to for a decidedly un-risky expansion build. However, Flash couldn't keep Life's aggression away for long, and found himself taking a blow as Life went for an unexpected, off-beat zergling and baneling bust into the Terran third. That was the damage Life needed to do to put himself on good footing as he transitioned into the muta-ling-bane composition that had defined his success so far in SC II.
It was a style many thought to be considerably riskier in HotS, if not in danger of being obsoleted entirely due to the power of widow mines. And indeed, widow mines did look powerful later on in game two, when a fast marine-medivac-widow mine attack annihilated Life's defending zerglings and mutalisks to force the GG. But in game one, Life showed he didn't really give a damn about the new units, either 'defusing' them with zerglings, dragging them into Terran forces, or just tanking and healing their damage with mutalisks. While Flash's vaunted macro was on display, it didn't matter how many units he could produce as he fell to Life's muta-ling-bane like so many other Terrans before him.
Game three saw Life succeed with another one of his signature moves, as he went for a massive speedling and baneling attack off three bases, hitting at a timing many Terrans have found awkward to deal with. Flash did Life the favor of being caught hugely out of position, giving Life a surprisingly easy win and a 2 - 1 lead in the series.
However, Flash immediately followed with one of his own famous moves, going for a proxy two-barracks rush in game four. In typical Flash style, he placed the barracks at an extremely advance position just inches outside of the range of Life's scouting overlord. Despite it being an almost inevitable move from Flash in a multi-game series, Life was caught and forced to GG.
With the series tied 2 - 2, Life decided to keep things simple and go with something had already worked in a big zergling-speed baneling bust off three bases. With Flash having shown an inclination towards no tanks, and a lack of defensive widow mine coverage, it seemed like a tactic that could pay off. Amazingly, the attack worked almost as perfectly as one could realistic hope in a live game scenario, and Life barreled through Flash's defenses to cripple his economy. After transitioning to mutalisks, Life was able to easily take the win.
At championship point for Life, both players opted to go full macro game mode, with Daybreak offering the perfect backdrop for such a game. Once again it was up to Life to show that muta-ling-bane could work against a bio-based Terran army backed by widow mines, and actually able to drop against spire tech (unlike WoL) due to the new afterburner upgrade.
Life did indeed show that you can make muta-ling-bane work, but at the same time added the caveat that it probably only works for him and him alone. It meant staying on top of constant drops, using single lings to tank widow mines, splitting mutas after noticing mines were triggered, all the while taking care of the few dozen or so other tasks Zerg needs to take care of on a regular basis. It was a game where Flash truly gave it all he had, and Life just rolled with all of the punches and came out looking even stronger. An eventual transition to brood lords sealed the deal, and Flash had to concede one more 2 - 4 loss to the prodigy of the new generation.
At the end of it all, Life didn't seem to care particularly much about winning the tournament, picking up the trophy and glancing at it with a look that seemed to say "oh, I have this one already." The symbolism of the scenario, of new vs. old, KeSPA vs. eSF, seemed lost entirely lost on Life, whose motivation for winning seemed to be summed up as "because I can." Flash, who celebrated joyfully after winning his first major championship, might have been amused by the demeanor his successor. In any case, he can be assured that until the day that he should reclaim the title of best player in the world, it rests in good hands.
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/MLG/winter2013/kekitslife.jpg)
Photo: silverfire
Innovation continues quiet rise to elite status with 3rd place finish
While the spectacle of Life vs. Flash stole the headlines, STX's
INnoVation quietly worked his way to yet another top four finish, solidifying himself as one of the world's best Terran players. Soft spoken and humble, the artist formerly known as 'Bogus' had always been slightly off the mainstream radar, whether he was quietly carrying STX Soul in the Brood War Proleague or making an impressive GSL semi-final run.![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/MLG/winter2013/bogusyo.jpg)
Photo: silverfire
Up to the semi-finals, Innovation was the most impressive player of the tournament, going 3 - 0 in series and 9 - 0 on maps. After easily taking care of
EG.HuK.RC in the first round, he moved on to earn an amazing 3 - 0 victory against two time MLG champion FXOLeenock. Innovation's incredible multi-tasking against Leenock had many viewers saying medivacs were imbalanced, as Leenock lost despite defending against against drops as well as it seemed humanly possible. Innovation continued his path of destruction in the quarter-finals, taking down the original KeSPA standard-bearer in
SKT_Rain. While Rain didn't get completely picked apart by drops like other Protoss players in the MLG tournament, he was still out-muscled by Innovation's marines and marauders on the ground.It turned out that Flash was the only one who could stop Innovation, but not before Innovation put up an epic fight in a game that many called the best of the tournament (VOD). While the sheer size of the map Whirlwind had sometimes caused passive play from progamers in the past, it only served expand the scale of Flash and Innovation's epic battle as deadly drops criss-crossed the map. In the end, Flash proved to be the superior player, ending Innovation's run with a 3 - 1 victory in the series.
However, Innovation was able to regain some of his thunder to end his American excursion. Facing MC in the 3rd/4th place match, Innovation took a 2 - 1 victory to secure third place and a $3,000 prize money difference over MC. Game one saw Bogus thwart MC's blink-stalker aggression and take a victory. However, MC evened the score in game two, using a deadly oracle build that had toppled both Bomber and Mvp earlier in the tournament. MC looked to use his stargate play to finish the series in game three but Innovation anticipated his opponent's tactics intelligently, using defensive widow mines to thwart his opponent's attacks, With his opponent having wasted too many resources on stargate tech, it was all too easy for Innovation to run him over with infantry.
Though the Ro4 has consistently been a wall for Innovation in his short StarCraft II career, he will certainly be reaching finals soon if he can keep his current pace.
Protoss falls short as MC offers short term solution.
Although
SK_MC did end up finishing one spot lower than Innovation, he surely had a larger impact on the larger StarCraft II world. MLG Dallas had seen many notable Protoss players get torn apart Terrans and their newly buffed medivacs, with CreatorPrime losing to CMStorm_Polt, SKT_PartinG to KT_Flash, and SKT_Rain to STX_INnoVation – not to mention some even more one-sided Korean vs. non-Korean matches.MC offered a simple solution: Kill the Terrans before they can kill you. In order to achieve this result, MC did something few other Protosses in the tournament dared to do, and actually used the new HotS units. The oracle and its ability to disintegrate light-armor was key in MC's plans, as he opened stargate-first in several of his PvT games against illustrious players like Bomber and Mvp. Sometimes, the oracles were just able to slaughter defending marines straight up (with the help of a well placed time warp), and at others they were able to devastate an unguarded mineral line. Either way, it meant MC putting the pain on Terran early.
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/MLG/winter2013/oracleslol.jpg)
MC offers Protoss players a solution for the thirty-eighth time.
In particular, MC's two oracle into phoenix follow-up proved to be an absolutely devastating counter to a popular strategy where a Terran player would take a fast expand while also harassing with a medivac and widow mines. MC's phoenixes simply lifted the mines before they burrowed, while oracles wreaked havoc in undefended Terran mains.
With a 3 - 1 victory over Mvp and a 3 - 0 victory over Bomber, no one can doubt the effectiveness of MC's play in the short term. However, his strategy will surely have received the scrutiny of players everywhere, and we'll certainly see the PvT match-up change in the following few weeks. Yet, that might not worry MC, a player who has relied on early game tactics and all-ins ever since he first started playing StarCraft II. More than anyone else, MC realizes that knowing an all-in is coming, and actually being able to defend it, are two very different things.
Short Match Recaps
by Kollin, stuchiu, Waxangel, and ZealouslyQuarter-Finals
KT_Flash vs. ST_PartinG+ Show Spoiler [Match Recaps] +
Game One - Neo Planet S: Flash started the game standard with his reactor rax into CC and widow mines while Parting went for a fast nexus with an oracle follow-up. The oracle did no damage and Parting had to go home and switch to 2 forge colossus. Flash, now having the map control and superior army kept up the pressure by attacking the front and dropping the main, but Parting held off every attempt by Flash while sneaking in a 3rd and getting to storm. The pressure on PartinG only got worse as Flash kept getting higher in supply, but PartinG survived several attacks despite being down 50~60 supply for much of the game.
Parting made a DT shrine and used that to take back some map control and momentum. Parting attacked the 3rd of Flash while building a 4th, but Flash had stabilized and it became a battle for fourth bases as Parting and Flash tried to deny each other additional mining. Eventually, Flash got the upper hand as his economy was better for longer letting Flash get the better army advantage to finally take the game.
Game Two - Daybreak: Flash went for a macro build going for a rax into double cc. Parting just did a proxy oracle 3 gate bust to kill Flash.
Game Three – Akilon Wastes: With CC first having worked out badly for him previously, Flash elected to open 1rax reactor expand against Parting's gateway first. Parting immediately moved out onto the map, putting down a proxy pylon in the northwest part of the map, relatively close to Flash. The stargate followed up once again, and Parting elected to use his first oracle only for scouting while waiting for the second and a group of stalkers. His follow-up stalker/oracle attack was deflected with ease by Flash's marines, bunkers and mines. Behind in units and economy, Parting was forced to stay in his base as Flash moved out to take out his proxy stargate and pylons. Parting threw down templar archives and a dark shrine, but his sentries were caught out on the map and he promptly died to a bio push soon after.
Game 4 – Whirlwind SE: Deciding that proxy stargates weren't doing the job, Parting went for a nexus first whereas Flash opened 11/11 reaper. Parting pulled probes and managed to destroy the bunker without taking all too much damage, while Flash put down a proxy factory in Parting's third. Parting's mothership core ended up scouting it, and though Flash floated the building into the main and managed to get one widow mine out, he was forced to evacuate and go into macro mode. Parting went into colossi tech and Flash went for bio with double engineering bays, trying to deal damage with drops but being deflected without any success.
With both players up to 3 bases, Parting threw down more gates and got his storm research. Flash went for aggression on the third while simultaneously taking out a forge and the main nexus with drops before picking up and flying away without losing much. Parting tried to take out Flash's forces in the middle of the map, but Flash's forces were too well upgraded and another big drop in the main ended up dealing severe damage, leaving Parting with no options but to GG and surrender the series.
Flash 3 - 1 PartinG
STX_INnoVation vs. SKT_Rain+ Show Spoiler [Match Recaps] +
Game One - Cloud Kingdom: Both players opened with standard builds. Rain used a hallucinated oracles for a scout while Innovation did a marine widow mine runby. Rain was able to hold it off with a good robo timing. Innovation quickly got up to his bio medivac force and kept trying to harass Rain, and did a good job by picking off units including key colossus. Rain tried to go for DT tech, but just didn't have enough splash to stop the all out frontal attack.
Game Two - Whirlwind: Innovation started with a reaper opening while Rain did a proxy stargate. The stargate was successful as the oracle killed 12 scvs while Innovations widow mines only succeeded in killing a probe and doing some indirect damage. Even so, Innovation didn't look too far behind as both players got up to 3 base, with Rain opting for chargelot archon templar and Innovation getting a bio medivac 4 hellbat and 2 ghost composition. Innovation’s army was the perfect fit as it destroyed Rain’s army and took the game.
Game Three - Akilon Wastes: Rain decided to take the initiative this game by going for a 3 gate blink stalker build with robo and MSC. He did a large amount of damage as he killed depots, marines, and raxes while denying Innovation’s natural. Innovation forced him back slowly with siege tanks. After getting his natural back, Innovation went on the offensive with his bio tank medivac force with scvs to build bunkers. Rain had gone for DTs, so he had no splash damage to deal with the force and even though the DTs did massive economic damage by countering, he had no answer for Innovation’s army and died.
Innovation 3 - 0 Rain
ST_Life vs. STX_Last+ Show Spoiler [Match Recaps] +
Game One - Akilon Wastes: Last started with reaper bunker aggression, going triple orbitals and hellions behind it. Life was able to hold it off, but was behind economically. Life took the map with lings and killed the reaper hellions and did some harass. Life tried a ling/bane bust, but Last was able to split and deal with it fine. Last moved out with bio medivac widow mines and Life dealt badly with the army as he lost too much to the mines. This let Last hit a strong timing as Life was transitioning into brood lords, killing the Zerg main and fourth base. Down in supply, army, and tech, Life GG'd.
Game Four - Whirlwind: Last opened up with a very risky three factory blue flame hellion build, which was designed to brutalize Life's economy. However, Life being Life actually just did not care one little bit, and managed to kill upwards of 20 hellions with only speedlings, while losing around 20 drones of his own. Life then transitioned into swarm hosts to counter Last's mech, as both players powered forwards towards their ultimate armies. Life was doing standard Life-ish roach runbys, doing his best to shut down Last's economy. Things were looking good for the StarTale Zerg, but decided to take a poor engagement to defend his expansion closest to the pushing Terran. He lost several roaches and key swarm hosts, putting him behind. From there Last was able to keep pushing forward, and Life was unable to muster another army large enough to challenge it.
Life 3 - 2 Last
SK_MC vs. ST_Bomber+ Show Spoiler [Match Recaps] +
Game One - Newkirk City: Bomber opened with the marine CC widow mine build, and MC did a stargate expand. MC did some damage with phoenixes and used them with an oracle to kill all of the widow mines in Bomber’s mineral line. MC followed it up with a 2 base collosus gateway attack that did substantial damage. It was held off, but the damage was done so Bomber decided he should try to counter all-in. He tried to do a mass drop in the main and push in the natural, but both were crushed and MC took game 1.
Game Two - Star Station: Both players opened the same as the previous game, and MC once again succeeded in defending against the Turbovac™ widow mine harass with phoenixes, while doing heavy damage to Bomber's SCV line with oracles. MC teched up to storm and took a third base, while building up a healthy phoenix count to shut down any medivac drops. MC's lead just grew and grew, and Bomber was forced to all in with his SCV's in an attempt to break through the SK Protoss's high templars. It was a desperate last ditch effort and ultimately futile, as MC mopped up the remainders of Bomber's army with ease.
Game Three - Whirlwind: The final game of the series was as one-sided as the previous games. Bomber went CC first, and MC responded by killing several of Bomber's marines with oracles and then walking up Bomber's ramp with the follow up four gate attack.
MC 3 - 0 Bomber
Semi-Finals
KT_Flash vs. STX_INnoVation+ Show Spoiler [Match Recaps] +
Game One - Cloud Kingdom: Flash opted for a WoL build, proxy marauders. Innovation's more modern and up to date reapers were not enough to deal with it, and despite some cute micro he was forced out of a very quick game.
Game Two - Neo Planet S: Both players mirrored each other in openers, with a reactor expand into fast starport. Innovation chose to go for a hellion drop off the back of this, however Flash foresaw this and shut it down with vikings. Flash chose to go into a very hellion heavy mech strategy, while Innovation preferred bio. Both armies clashed outside Innovation's third, before the game settled down again into a normal midgame. Innovation kept the pressure up on Flash, utilizing the medivacs very potently, drawing Flash's army out of position before running in elsewhere to try and pick off tanks.
Innovation applied heavy pressure to both Flash's third and fourth at the same time, trying to stretch Flash's decision making and multitasking as much as possible. While it looked for a while that Flash had the advantage and could start an attack of his own, Innovation was relentless with his aggression and eventually Flash had too few tanks to securely hold his fourth. He was forced to give it up, and eventually Innovation's bio army broke through his last defensive siege line and evened the series up.
Game Three - Whirlwind: Flash opened with an extremely greedy build as he went CC first, then two more barracks, then another CC. Innovation with his reactor expand failed to punish it early on, however as soon as he caught whiff of what Flash was doing immediately elevatored his marines and hellions into Flash's main. Decent damage was done, but nothing game ending and both players took their thirds and transitioned into the mid game. Innovation slowly fell behind in supply, as his drops were cleaned up and his marine tank force caught out of position once or twice. With Flash's army encroaching upon his third, Innovation decided that the best response would be a doom drop into Flash's main. The KT Terran dawdled for a few moments, before deciding to give up a chunk of his main while going for a counter doom-drop of his own. After the drops were cleaned up on both sides, Innovation ended up having lost a little less less than Flash, though Flash's superior base count meant they were still fairly even.
The end game phase of the game saw Flash taking every base he could while occasionally doom dropping, while Innovation kept up constant aggression with his drops of his own. Despite Flash being ahead of Innovation in nearly every aspect, the game still went down to the wire as one big doom drop still had the power to swing the game. This ended up being the case, as simultaneous drops saw Flash losing his main, natural and all production facilities while Innovation literally lost all his buildings apart from one. It took a few minutes, but Flash eventually realized his remaining army was a lot bigger than Innovation's, and proceeded to kill it and take the game.
Game Four - Daybreak: Innovation opened with a fast one base widow mine drop, which was easily shut down by his opponent's reactor expand into 1-1-1 style attack. A follow up push from Flash did little damage, until Innovation flew a medivac loaded with his entire army into Flash's viking and marines, losing it without unloading anything. Flash only needed to push into Innovation's natural and kill all the SCV's to take the series in a rather anti-climactic final game.
Flash 3 - 1 Innovation
ST_Life vs. SK_MC+ Show Spoiler [Match Recaps] +
Game One - Cloud Kingdom: Life opened with a standard three hatch while MC opened with a forge FE. MC followed up with some stargate play, mixing in a single oracle with his phoenixes to do some minor damage to Life. MC tried to take his third quickly on the back of that, but had it almost immediately destroyed when Life struck with a hydralisk timing off of two bases. Life tried to continue to push into MC's natural, but was forced to retreat once MC got two colossi out. However, Life had been preparing to tech-switch into mutalisks in the meanwhile, and MC GG'd out after being caught with insufficient anti air defenses.
Game Two - Whirlwind: MC tried to go blind nexus first against a fast pool on a four player map and died a swift death.
Game Three - Akilon Wastes: MC went for a rare fast colossus build off of two bases, but couldn't get his crucial colossus out in time to stop Life's fast roach-ling aggression. While MC did manage to hold the attack off once he got two colossi out, he had taken too much damage and was left far behind. Life transitioned into mutalisks and stayed around 90 supply ahead of MC, eventually winning in a one-sided base trade when MC went for a hail mary attack.
Life 3 - 0 MC
3rd/4th place match:
SK_MC vs. STX_INnoVation+ Show Spoiler [Match Recaps] +
Game One - Cloud Kingdom: MC played aggressively against Innovation, going for blink stalkers which were followed by DT harassment. Innovation was able to defend without much trouble, and ran over MC with his superior army for the victory.
Game Two - Whirlwind: MC went for the fast oracle build that had worked so well for him thus far in the tournament. It proved to be up to the task again, as a big attack of gateway units supported by five oracles was enough to bust through Innovation's defenses and take the game.
Game Three - Daybreak: In game three, Innovation decided to play defensively with mines, anticipating MC's stargate aggression. This paid off big for Innovation, as he was able to shut down MC's oracle play and make his stargate tech useless. With that advantage, Innovation was able to power up on bio and smash through MC in a head on attack.
Innovation 2 - 1 MC
Grand Final:
ST_Life vs. KT_Flash+ Show Spoiler [Match Recaps] +
Game One - Neo Planet S: Life tried out a 10 pool against Flash, but didn't find any weaknesses to take advantage of as Flash just scouted and opened with a barracks first. Flash took an economic lead as both players transitioned into a standard game, but Life put himself back on more level terms with an off-beat ling-speedbane timing as Flash tried to secure his third base. From there Life transitioned to his favored muta-ling-bane style against Flash's widow mine supported bio. Life did a good job defending against Flash's drops, making sure he didn't take any serious damage. Over the course of multiple skirmishes Life came out slowly ahead, able to secure more and more bases while teching to ultralisks and vipers. With a massive, coordinated attack on all of Flash's remaining bases, Life finished Flash off and took game one.
Game Two - Whirlwind: Life opened with a 10 pool against Flash's wall-off CC first build, killing 3 SCVs before transitioning to a macro game. Flash was able to hit a good timing with bio, medivacs, and widow mines just as Life was transitioning to muta-ling-bane. Two critical widow mine hits during an important early battle turned the tide in Flash's favor, and he took a quick win.
Game Three - Akilon Flats: After some standard macro openers on both sides, Life decided to go for a ling-speedbane timing similar to the one that succeeded in game one. Everything fell in place for it to succeed, as Flash had no idea it was coming and was out of position. In addition Flash even flubbed his micro at a critical juncture, allowing banelings to do maximum damage. With zerglings running amok all around his expansions, Flash surrendered.GG.
Game Four - Newkirk City: Flash went for his trademark proxy two-rax, the build that helped him win championships since 2007. Life became the build's next victim, and he GG'd out after he failed to defend.
Game Five - Cloud Kingdom: Life decided there was no need to diverge from a winning formula, going yet again for his 1/1 ling-speedbane timing attack off three bases. Once again, it worked wonders for Life as he was able to put Flash severely behind economically. From there, Life continuously attacked with mutas, zerglings, and banelings until Flash was forced to surrender.
Game Six - Daybreak: Game six saw both players agreeing to play a macro game, with Life again going for his preferred muta-ling-bane composition while Flash went for his marine-marauder-medivac army with widow mine support. The momentum swung in Life's direction early, as Flash's first serious move out with MMM was defeated by Life's army. Flash tried to keep attacking up the middle while dropping simultaneously, but good defense from Life saw him pull more and more ahead. It looked like Flash had a chance going into the late game as he managed to secure four bases, but he wasn't able to prepare enough for Life's successful transition into brood lords. Flash struggled to fight against the brood lord task force Life assembled and GG'd out after his bases were demolished one by one.
Life 4 - 2 Flash.
