EPT
Game 1 : Midas vs July on Arkanoid
These aren't new school, and while July may still cling to the most accomplished zerg ever and not only the only zerg to win an OSL, but one of the elite few players to win _two_, recent history has him in a slump. Ialso belive Midas have won all the recent encounters. I'm expecting him to win this one as well.
July, or "God of war", his not unfitting nickname, opens strong by going early pool and make a few lings to tear down a ton of neutral buildings scattered across the desert. Midas is meanwhile busy getting wraiths in the air, and is caught with his pants down when July's group of lings knocks down the neutral-building front door. Things look a bit ugly for Midas, but a lone vulture gets the job done and Midas goes about his gameplan without further interruption. Half a group of wraiths makes July's life hell, and most of the early game is Midas killing drones, overlords and scourge with wraiths. The guy is no Xellos or Boxer, but he sure gets the job done. July is left on the defensive untill he can break Midas' air domination.
When July finally clears the air and finds the small break needed to get some hydra/lurker onto the field Midas is ready with 3 running bases and a mass of tanks with gol support. Finding his ground forces largely obsolete July now takes to the skies and gets a mass of mutas to possibly swing the tide in his favor. Also looking to get a hive for additional power, but the time is up as Midas' mechanical army is leaving the terran base. July, knowing that a headon fight will mean disaster, tries to go for the elimination race and runs his mainly muta-based army into the terran main. While he looks to have the upper hand at first, a never-ending stream of new goliaths from Midas' numerous production facilities slowly dwindles his army away to nothing. With his main bases wiped from the sand and no army to his name, July surrenders to Midas - again.
Midas > July
Game 2 : Chojja vs Juhyun(z) on Tau Cross
Not quite sure what the newcomer was expected to do vs a zvz monster as experienced as Chojja. Chojja has been considered top3 zvz for many years now, and is riding a current high with high finishes in both the OSL and the last few MSLs.
Everything went pretty standard as far a zvz goes, Chojja going hat in main first, a rather safe build considereing the map size. Both players went for an expansion early, but as spires neared completation the ling hordes set out to test the waters. JuHyun had a nice idea with hiding a few lings, but failed to take advantage of the open house and instead lost his expansion hat, leaving Chojja in the driver's seat.
Juhyun kept his calm, and leaving expansions a business for later, tried to harass Chojja's two bases as best he could. Chojja, not to be unsettled, went about securing his advantage with spores and more workers. Now I don't need to tell you that facing Cho on equal terms is hell, but with only 1 gas vs two it is damn near impossible. Not for this rookie, apperantly. Juhyun played this one beautifully, keeping his temporary air advantage as long as possible and counting every ling killed. Placed his mutas perfectly between Cho's bases and the giving his lings free hits on the poorly defended main, eventually forcing Chojja to abandon it. From there on it was a simple matter of defeating an eventual allin, and Juhyun could break open the champagne. Left Cho shaking his head in disbelif.
juHyun > Chojja
Game 3 : Shine(t) vs GoodFriend on Sin Peaks of Baekdu
Would the rookie night continue? Shine is an exciting new terran player from the Sparkyz team, and many was eager to see him on the big stage. Gf, hate him or love him, is hard to fight tvt, with his general solid play and splashes of brilliance.
No surprises early on, GF(@1) opened a solid 1 fac expansion build, while Shine started out a bit more adventurous with a proxy factory aimed to damage GF's main from below. Worked like a charm, and soon tanks were raining fire and death on GF's mineral line. Fortunately for GF his expansion were already running strong, but he was unable to clear the assault before a single wraith could help out his tanks.
Meanwhile Shine had his own expansion running and factories massing, making his early gamble a worthy one. unfortunately inexperience make him take a few key scv losses early on, giving GF room to mount a key offensive in a bad spot for out OGN hero. Not to be outdone, Shine launched a series of lethal strikes, doing important damage to GF's natural and new expansions. GF, sensing things going the wrong way, tried to steam the wave with a small attack at the key new resource node Shine was setting up, but was brutally stopped and now even pushed back at his own base entrance.
As more and more dropships came into play the tide of war still seemed to flow Shine's way, despite a few unjustified losses. A strong tank line still limited GF's ground movements, and his dropships seemed to be just the right places at every turn, pinning GF down and depleting his war machine everywhere. As Shine's tanks moved into striking distance of GF's base, the KTF player typed out.
Shine > GoodFriend
Game 4 : Jju(z) vs TheRock(p) Arcadia 2
Some have the nerve to call TheRock one of the best PvZ players in progaming. I disagree. His strong, straight up play is just not strong enough to deal with the best of zergs today. Against jju? If he can hold the early 3 hat pressure, I'll give him a fighting chance. Jju is all about early pressure and then fading out ZvP.
The game opens rather quiet, with both players taking a fast expansion and defending it. TheRock seems to be going for a low macro high tech build, with both a stargate and a citadel warping in his main, and relying mainly on cannons for defense. Jju, trying to end things quickly, quickly gathers a mass of lings and hydras, and tries an attack at the protoss natural. TheRock is well prepared, and things slow down to protoss sair harass and zerg tech and power phase.
While Jju is busy getting lurkers, ling grades and more bases, TheRock is massing cannons and a single dt. This dt takes down a morphing hatchery and then does nothing, forcing Rock to change his gameplan. Goons and templars are the units of choice, and Rock sets about the task at hand: breaking Jju's lurker/ling contain. A million dead lings, a nice fresh goon soup and a few storms later it is done. Rock, now free to roam the map, goes straight for the zerg economy. Jju, with 4 running bases, solves his problems by throwing a million cracklings at the protoss forces, thus keeping his bases for now.
Rock did secure a new base, but despite fortifying it with a mass of cannons and most of his army finds it under attack from defiler-supported lings. He keeps the base together, but Jju launches his masterplan: a deouble attack aimed at the 12 base and the protoss main. Rock can't decide where to go, and ends up losing his expansion and most of his dry main. Jju now turns it up another notch and sends lines of lings, lurkers and the occational ultra to knock down the protoss defenses. Rock is still hanging in there, but he is only defending. No tricks up his sleeve this game. TheRock does every trick in the book, but after holding out for what must have been close to 10 minutes of neverending attack, finally admits defeat and types out.
Jju > TheRock
Game 5 : Nada vs Light[Alive](t) on Arcadia II
Another rookie, another veteran. No matter the result, its great to see Nada back. Not quite as dominating, but no doubt getting there soon.
Looks like the rookie is in for a beating. Light(@11) does a quick expansion to get that early advantage, but failed to consider nada's classic 2 double factory buil, giving Nada just the right tools to put pressure on Light's expansion right from the go. A fierce battle involving workers, vultures, marines, tanks and goliaths have Light with few workers, no army and no expansion money for quite some time. Nada has meanwhile established his own natural and set up a mean right outside Light's walls. Even gives his factories a short break to expand twice more. The badly timed gamble has Light sneaking a small attack of his own, halting Nada's natural for a second before Light finally clears his own and gets around to the real playing.
After a mere minute of buildup and expanding Nada sets out again, forcing his way thru a small containment from Light and taking the fighting right to his foe. Light, with not enough forces ready, defends his natural, giving Nada the window to kill two expansions for the one he gives up. Things are a real mess right now, with both players dropping everywhere while manouvering their armies on the mainland. Nada seems to be coming out better, being just a little ahead on every turn, and winning most of the small battles. Yet neither player seems to gain a definite money advantage, and soon finds themselves reduced to few resource nodes. The experienced Nada handles this very well, and strikes where it hurts the most every time, eventually forcing Light to concede.
Nada > Light[Alive
Game 6 : iris vs Cloud on Sin Peaks of Baekdu
Iris is my pick for this match. Cloud might be the giant killer, but Iris is no giant, he just trains with one every day. And the number of tvt's are getting to me. I'm hoping for a rush game.
Thanks Iris! Iris opens something like 8 rax right in Cloud's natural and pressures with marines right away. Cloud sends a few workers to deal with the offensive, but realises his mistake when Iris masterfully manouvers his marines to kill all of them while adding to his numbers. Cloud is in trouble now, and sends more workers, only have them killed again. When he finally clears his base his economy is in ruins and iris has dual factories working at home.
....and this is where the VOD found on our tracker ends. Good or bad, nobody can come back from that disadvantage, and Iris went on to win the game a few minutes later.
That's all folks. Mana will be back with his much better reports in only a day or two, and I'll get a few hours sleep before my flight leaves for fabulous Monza, Italy. See you all soon~~
-tkwl
looks like there were some good games even though i hate watching tvt
Take me to Monza!
