EPT
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MSL Ro8 Match B
25th October 2007
Match B - Savior vs. Free
Game 1 - Python
Game 2 - Blue Storm
Game 3 - Loki II
Game 4 - Zodiac
Game 5 - Python
Results
+ Show Spoiler +
Match B - Savior 3 - 1 Free
Game 1 - Savior > Free on Python
Game 2 - Savior > Free on Blue Storm
Game 3 - Savior < Free on Loki II
Game 4 - Savior > Free on Zodiac
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Game 1 - Savior > Free on Python
Game 2 - Savior > Free on Blue Storm
Game 3 - Savior < Free on Loki II
Game 4 - Savior > Free on Zodiac
Thursday’s match was quite an intriguing match to watch. I found it difficult to easily pick out a winner. Less than a year ago I would have easily voted Savior without giving it a second thought, but his performance over the last few months was less than impressive. But his recent triumph over Stork only last week showed that savior still had his senses in tact. Perhaps not as stable as once before, but it’s definitely there. Free one the other hand, is a rising protoss who seems highly confident of his PvZ skills, despite results.
Game 1 - Savior vs. Free on Python
This game showed insane timing sense on Savior’s part. Free decides to play a little different on this map, opening with a 1 gate corsair build. Savior responds with a 2 hatch hydralisk rush build, opting to pressure Free while protecting his own overlords. Free decides on a 3 gate speed zealot counter, nearly catching Savior off guard. But Savior’s calculations were perfect as he morphed lurkers in time, even having the leisure of morphing a hydralisk away from the battle, and sneaking it into Free’s base unharmed.
Savior easily dismantles any form of detection with his hydralisks as his lurkers forces Free’s units back. Savior’s answer to free’s 1 gate build was indeed, perfectly played.
Game 2 - Savior vs. Free on Blue Storm
Blue Storm is said to be toss favored. Perhaps this is why Savior decided on an all-in build. The minute Free’s scouting probe is surrounded and scrapped, all of savior’s larva’s, which were crawling aimlessly, immediately morphs at once. Seconds later zerglings race down the map, positioning themselves away from free’s vision as a small group prevents any additional scouting. With only 2 photon cannons and a couple of zealots for defense, Free’s natural turned into a wasteland.
Here’s a lesson Free would like to give to all Protoss gamers: Never stop scouting.
Game 3 - Savior vs. Free on Loki II
The map is Loki II. Both players open with a regular expo and double expo build. Savior makes the first move as mutalisks take flight, to which Free answers with corsairs and cannons. The balance of the game seems to teeter back and forth as both introduce different units with each passing second, until Free unleashes himself. With reavers, templars, zealots, goons, sairs as his mixed force, Free takes the offensive. Savior decides to try another route and attack Free’s base, but fails to do any critical damage while Free delivers a critical blow to Savior’s expansion.
Drops and cracklings fly around the map, Savior desperately trying to level the field again, but Free finally proves why he remains confident in his skill, and receives each blow with a powerful blow of his own. Savior’s forces slowly wither away, and as Free adds Arbiters into his unit mix, Savior admits defeat.
Game 4 - Savior vs. Free on Zodiac
Encouraged from the triumph of his last battle, Free opens with a forge build, while Savior answers with a double expo. But this time Savior has a different plan. Taking 2 more additions expansions, Savior stretches his creep to the far corners of the map, while teching to spire once again. Free answers with corsairs like the previous game, but is unaware of Savior’s greedy fingers taking expansions left and right.
Instead of switching techs, savior sticks with one unit, the mutalisk. With 4 gases, Savior’s mutalisks number reach a critical mass quickly, forcing free to gather archons and corsairs. When Free moves out, he’s certain his archons and corsairs are more than enough for the mutalisks, but what he does not expect is the city of sunken colonies waiting for him at each expansion. Using sunkens to aim at archons while the mutalisks sweep away the zealots, Savior denies Free’s attacks again and again, while using the massing mutalisk forces to destroy Free’s bases one by one, avoiding the floor-bound archons, leaving a trail of destruction in his path.
In the end, Free’s failure to prevent Savior’s expansions or do any real damage while sustaining all sorts of damage to mutalisks cost Free the game, set, and the ticket to MSL’s top 4.
Overall Analysis:
I’m happy that Savior won. After his embarrassing loss at WCG 2007, he really needed something to prove that he’s still a man with frightening ZvP. On the other hand, the series against Stork and Free has proven one thing: Savior is still having trouble against the Bisu build.
Taking a closer look at his games vs. Stork, notice that Game 1 had Stork in the lead by a large margin, until a lucky scourge hunted down a shuttle containing 2 reavers. With no splash defense, Savior plays his final card, the hydra wave, and barely steals the game. Game 3 consists of dual gate rush answered by a 1 hatch muta build. Game 2, however, taken by Stork, shows an excellent performace of reaver/sair to reaver/sair/zeal and later templars, which Savior falls to.
His games against Free follow a similar pattern. Game 1 was a 1 gate build vs. 2 hatch hydra. Game 2 was a 3 hatch zergling rush. Game 3 was a regular macro vs. macro game, which Savior lost, and Game 4 was a mass muta build. Notice a trend?
On a positive note, Savior never plays the same card twice. All 4 games today had a different theme. Hydra timing rush, zerglings timing rush, macro intense style, and muta heavy style. Showing multiple different forms of play forces his opponents to rethink things when preparing for a match against Savior. The downside is that now players will not allow themselves to be caught off guard.
As for Free, I am somewhat disappointed. Game 1 I will give props to Savior for playing flawlessly. Game 2 however, I believe was Free's fault for not even attempting to scout a second time. It is cruicial for the Protoss to see the zerg's larva, and what it morphs into. Of course one could argue savior's speedlings would have prevented scouting anyways, but you never know. He coudl have atleast tried. Game 3 showed perfection, while Game 4 showed a sloppy reaction to an unorthodox strategy. Perhaps bit more heavy use of corsair/dt would have helped Free kill the expansions while defending with archons. It seems to me that Free was just not playing up to his capabilities.
