EPT
Casy vs Zergman
Game 1 – 815
Zergman started in the lower left main with a fast expansion hatch to his natural while Casy, in the lower right main, used a fast gas build with quick e-bay and academy upgrades. Zergman teched up to lurker while Casy built almost every building and add-on available to the Terran army.
Casy built his factory close to the edge of his main and floated it to his natural with the clear intention to build tanks to try and rush the Zerg sunken wall…or did he?
Casy’s factory was not flashing and instead a pair of dropships emerged from his main, full of infantry. He dropped the Zerg main and with some Boxer-esque micro was able to kill the protecting sunken, a large number of lings, a couple hydras and lurks, the hydralisk den, the pool, Zergman’s self-esteem, the evolution chamber, some drones…it was messy. Zergman pushed some lurks up the small ramp using the stacked drone method, which was cute, but he was late and had already lost a ton.
Once the action was over Casy sent out reinforcements to attack Zergman’s natural. Tanks were firing on the sunkens protecting it while yet another drop killed Zergman’s expansion at the top left and another drop to his main reinforced the surviving MnM from Casy’s first drop.
Everything melted. The end.
Casy > Zergman
Zergman built a sunken at his main and minimized sunken building at his natural but it was clear that he didn’t expect such a strong drop. This game was reminiscent of Boxer’s raping of Chojja on this map not too long ago and it seemed like Casy used a very similar build as well. In any event, Casy made winning TvZ on 815 look as easy as all the Zergs in our forums say it is. Pure rape.
Game 2 – Peaks of Baekdu
Zergman pooled first at his 1 o’clock main and Casy raxed first at his 7 o’clock main. Casy built up some MMF and plowed over Zerg forces throughout the middle of the map. Zergman had a sunken wall built up at his natural but for some reason found it necessary to lose individual lurker after lurker in the center of the map to stop Casy from getting to where he got…well, by stop I meant slow down. Casy walked through it all and killed the Zerg expansion in the upper left hand corner of the map. He proceeded to fight his way into the Zerg main via the ramp at the back behind the mineral line, but it was too ambitious a venture and he lost what remained of his initial attack force.
Disappointed with the impressive but not nearly invincible enough performance of his infantry, Casy expanded to his natural and began an SK Terran build. (Infantry, dual port vessel) Similarly, Zergman was getting upgrades going with his duel evo chambers and was attempting to get his new expansion in the right of center of the map to be productive.
For the time being Casy was content to allow Zergman to mine there and sat back to build up his army. Zerg man kept vessel numbers low with well executed ling/scourge raids on Casy’s main army in the center of the map, but in the end was unable to protect his center expansion when Casy decided to attack.
Both players were now mining from a corner expansion, their natural and main. Zergman built up a wall 9 sunkens strong, but it wasn’t enough to hold back the obscene amount of MnM the Casy threw at it. There seemed to be infantry everywhere very suddenly, and Zergman was steam rolled.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/ManaBlue/Shinhan_OSL_Week_7/Casy_vs_Zergman.png)
Casy says: "Sunkens ain't no thang!"
Casy > Zergman
Casy was able to stay even with his Zerg opponent for expansions which resulted in seemingly endless MnM armies that needed little support from anything else. Zergman has had some great performances lately so it was disappointing to see him go down twice so easily, but Casy had the bar up pretty high. Map imbalance debating aside, Casy’s game was strong, particularly in MnM vs lurker/ling battles in the early game. He created decisive advantages early on and took his attacking opportunities well. Good on him.
Off Casy goes to the semi-finals!
ShinHwa[name] vs Yellow
Game 1 – 815
Yellow took the upper left hand main and ShinHwa took the lower right, which created the maximum amount of distance possible between the two players on this map. The game began as all true mirror match-ups do, with both players using the same BO: fast gas into lair for a quick spire. Yellow created some drama by breaking ShinHwa’s ramp with a ling attack, but it was fought off with reinforcements without any damage being done.
In the early muta battles, ShinHwa came out on top by a large margin of 4 mutas mainly due to the fact that Yellow brought the fight to his opponent’s main, making it easier for ShinHwa to reinforce his army. This defecit grew into a game breaker when ShinHwa counter attacked after gathering a few more mutas. He had a superiorly sized army, which made the final attack very easy on him.
ShinHwa > Yellow
Yellow had a faster spire and an immediately large air army right from the get go, but the large distance between the mains favoured ShinHwa’s defensive approach to Yellow’s aggressive approach. Yellow fought all the early battles with a deficit of a couple larva worth of freshly hatched units, which snowballs quickly at this level of play.
Game 2 – Peaks of Baekdu
Yellow got the top main and ShinHwa got the bottom with both players using similar fast lair builds, though Yellow took his gas slightly earlier. There was a very early micro battle due to Yellow’s insistence on minimizing his zergling numbers. He built sunkens instead and ShinHwa attempted to sunk rush his opponent out of range Yellow’s initial sunken. However, with 2 lings and some stylish micro Yellow was able to kill ShinHwa’s drone despite having fewer lings by delivering the final blow with a drone. With that smooth play under his belt, Yellow was feeling strong, but a big attack was about to come.
ShinHwa went into full 2 hatch ling mode and stormed Yellow with over a control group of lings. With a tiny group of his own lings along with his drones and 2 sunkens, Yellow was able to deflect ShinHwa’s attack entirely save a few dead drones. He also got the first Muta’s out and took to the skies early, killing some overlords and lings around the map.
Although he had a somewhat temporary lead in units, Yellow did not rush in. He surveyed the map and collected Muta’s. ShinHwa took this opportunity to build an air army of his own and expand to one of the left of center gas expos. After some scraps in the air, Yellow’s initially marginal lead began to snowball. He was able to catch ShinHwa with his Muta/Scourge army split up for a moment and that was enough for him to take the game.
Yellow > ShinHwa
I feel like I have no business reporting on half the ZvZs I watch. Yellow never really had a unit advantage despite his early success, but he was still able to win muta battles directly after inexplicably losing other battles. I guess he just knows what he’s doing with the Mutas.
Game 3 – Rush Hour
ShinHwa (3 o’clock) 12 hatched in base just like his opponent Yellow (7 o’clock). They both built up large ling groups and teched up to spire while attempting to build expansion hatches at their respective naturals. ShinHwa was aggressive and poked at Yellow’s nat, but in the end they just ended up trading lings and mutas, though many of the kills came from very dramatic waves of scourge.
Yellow did a god job of maximizing his larva use by concentrating on scourge and lings. He was able to neutralize ShinHwa’s mutas while out numbering him on the ground. It paid off when he was able to take down his opponent’s nat hatch, allowing his to baby sit ShinHwa’s ramp.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/ManaBlue/Shinhan_OSL_Week_7/Yellow_vs_ShinHwa.png)
ShinHwa was a man on the run the entire game.
Yellow then changed his focus. With his nat gas up and running he was able to get some decent muta numbers up and fought through the meagre scourge defence at ShinHwa’s main.
Yellow > ShinHwa
Yellow played a very conservative game. His scourge worked well enough for him in the air to allow him to maximize his ling numbers. After ShinHwa’s nat fell it was basically over.
The Storm Zerg makes his way to the semi-finals!
Chojja vs Iris
Game 1 – 815
Chojja (7) started out with a 3 hatch build with one at his nat and the other at a new main at 5 o’clock. Iris (11) pursued a fast e-bay and academy upgrade build. Chojja sunked up at his nat and new main but was caught off guard when Iris took to the skies with a dropship of infantry. Iris abused the positioning of Chojja’s sunkens and killed the hatch at the Zerg natural by staying just out of range. Iris then dropped the 5 o’clock main and killed some drones, a sunk, a lurker and the extractor while also halting mining. The wily Terran topped it all off by expanding to the 9 o’clock island.
Chojja looked hurt but refused to go down without a fight. He had some success killing a full dropship with scourge and used some more to keep Terran reinforcements from protecting the island as he dropped it with some hydraling.
In the mean time, Iris had been pursuing an interesting build. He was going 2 fact tank! On 815!???!?! Well he waltzed 4 tanks and some infantry down to Chojja’s natural and levelled it easily, but what came next was more interesting. He walked up the small ramp with his infantry and seiged the tanks against the low ground wall as most Terrans do on this map. But after killing everything within his tanks limited range, he picked them up with dropships and placed them in Chojja’s main. With the power of 4 tanks he was able to raze the main as well.
Chojja was now confined only to his expansion at the 5 o’clock main. He made some lame drop attempts at Iris’ main and held out at his new main for a while before admitting defeat.
Iris > Chojja
Iris played a pretty cool game. I haven’t seen a 2 fact tank build with dropship escorting like that before. It was a strong build that not only allowed him to attack with fast and large tank numbers, but also defend his main well from drop attempts.
Game 2 – Peaks of Baekdu
Iris got the upper main and Chojja got the bottom. Chojja decided to play his famous one-base style and went for an early lair while his opponent 2 raxed and built a bunker to defend against the early lings. Chojja’s first 3 lurkers appeared early and Iris concentrated on protecting the high ground above his mineral line by keeping infantry close by. Chojja took the opportunity to expand to the bottom right corner of the map and get a second gas.
Iris took a small group of MMF down to deal with the expansion and Chojja immediately jumped in, running lurk/ling in through the main ramp of the Terran main and burrowing 3 other lurkers on the high ground above the mineral line. Chojja was now firing down at the Terran mineral line and Iris still had not finished his factory. In addition, Chojja had gotten sunkens up in time to protect his expansion in the bottom right.
Chojja then switched to spire tech and had mutas paroozing the Terran main, picking off rines and SCVs liberally. After being bullied around in his own base for a while Iris gave in before Chojja could put the finishing touch on him.
Chojja > Iris
Chojja had impeccable game sense and was able to waltz in on a Terran that spent too much time building bunkers and not enough time keeping his units in the right place.
Game 3 – Rush Hour
Iris (3) started out with a very standard depot/rax opening and Chojja (7), well... he... 5 POOLED!!!! Chojja killed Iris’ scouting SCV on the way to the Terran main as the crowd roared with excitement. Iris’ building placement was poor and he was forced to lift his rax after building only one marine. He successfully protected his bunker, however, and repaired a depot as it was attacked with Chojja’s remaining lings. As Iris fought to clear out the mess and minimize Chojja’s harassment, Chojja had been massing some drones and expanded to his natural. This game was actually going to last longer than 5 minutes off of a 5 pool opening!
Chojja laid down a third hatch in his main and started a sunken at his natural, but Iris was quick to retaliate. He brought out all of his marines and attacked the Zerg natural. A battle of epic proportions ensued. Chojja traded every ling he had for every marine and firebat that Iris had. The battle actually ended very poetically with the last ling and bat dying simultaneously.
Chojja built up another ling army and Iris pumped out some more firebats and medics... that’s right, no marines. He patrolled them around and stopped Chojja’s expansion attempt in the upper left main. He then suicided them into some hold lurkers that Chojja, very lamely, set up near his new expansion at the left of center gas expo.
Iris now had an impressively large MnM/tank army which he brought out to hunt expansions exactly when Chojja brought in a huge doom drop to his main. Iris’ base was in ruins and his only chance at saving the game for himself was to run over his opponent quickly with his current army. Chojja had an incredible amount of hydra/lurk, however, and the outcome of the final battle was evident before it even happened.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/ManaBlue/Shinhan_OSL_Week_7/Chojja_vs_Iris.png)
You never would've guessed a guy with that many hydras during mid game opened with a 5 pool!
Chojja > Iris
Chojja showed some incredible macro chops in the late stages of this game. He suddenly had hydralisks out the wazoo and crushed Iris. Keep in mind as well that he started the game with a 5 pool. An action packed and entertaining game, to say the least.
The Gnome Zerg makes his way to the semi-finals!
Jju vs Yellow[name]
Game 1 – Rush Hour
Yellow[name] (3) 9 pooled while Jju (11) 12 pooled. The build difference didn’t seem to matter much. Jr. didn’t do damage early with his lings, but later snuck a pair into Jju’s base and got a couple drone kills, so it all balanced out. The two Zerg players traded some scourge with each other and poked around with mutas, but in the end they were both content to hang back at their respective naturals and expand to get a second gas.
Jr. was the aggressor in the first muta battle which occurred at Jju’s natural. Jju came out on top due to his superior scourge use, but Jr. intelligently separated his remaining mutas as they retreated to minimize the damage of his loss. This didn’t change the fact that Jju had the advantage in the next battle. He traded muta/scourge in Jr’s main and reinforced as he attacked the natural with lings.
Jju’s next attack ended the game easily. Jr. only had a couple of damaged mutas left to defend with.
Jju > Yellow[name]
Pretty standard ZvZ. Jju apparently has magic mutalisks.
Game 2 – Peaks of Baekdu
Jr. got the top main and 11 pooled while Jju, at the bottom main, um... well... he... 4 POOLED!!! He sent a drone over to Jr’s main and started an offensive creep colony while his lings ran to attack. Jr, realizing how unacceptably slow his lings were going to be, brought out some drones to dance with Jju’s lings and buy some time. It didn’t work very well though. Jju protected his sunken very easily and killed all of Jr’s drones before the kid even had a ling hatched. GG.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/ManaBlue/Shinhan_OSL_Week_7/Jju_vs_Jr.png)
Yellow[name] goes out in one of the quickest and most embarrassing ways possible.
Jju > Yellow[name]
Jju’s BO seemed to make a lot of sense. Since Peaks is a small 2 player map, a 4 pool is not as extreme a choice as it normally would be. Jr. on the other hand had a slow pool and obviously didn’t think that Jju had the balls to go all in early... He, of course, was incorrect.
Jju makes his way to the semi-finals!
These results leave us with the following best of five semi-final matches:
Casy vs Yellow
Jju vs Chojja
Reports on these games coming soon!
Again, I apologise for the lateness of these reports. There has been quite the overload of games in this OSL and it has proven to be much harder to cover than originally anticipated. If nothing else I can offer that the reports for the finals will be done promptly, and while they are still current and news worthy. But before that, the reports on the semis will be coming up next. As long as someone is reading these, I’ll be writing them.
