MyCube OGN Starleague - Week 3 RESULTS!!!

play's like 8-4 for P, but no one seriously considers it a Protoss map. Chojja claims he lost about half his practice sessions v Reach on it which isn't bad considering how well Reach is playing again these days, but still not at all comforting knowing you're facing the reigning MBC Game Starleague Champion. Cho also says that it gets harder for Z the longer the game drags on v P on the map. On the other hand, quick games are a different story. It's been rumored for a while that a straight-up 9 pool hardcore ling rush would be almost impossible for P to stop on Guillotine - there's nothing like a ramp or a narrow choke point for P to take advantage of that early in the game.

Chojja, like any Zerg worth his mettle, has known about this strat option for a while and practiced it v Reach - with mixed results. Cho's conclusion was that the success of the 9 pool would "depend on THE KIND of 2 gate opening the toss opponent showed." Not all 2 gates are created equal, it seems. As for Nal_rA, he is the pioneer of the toss strat created specifically to counter the 9 pool rush on Guillotine: forward forge-cannon-gate build to block off the single forward entrance to the main/natural. It would be close, but, according to Nal_rA, it could be timed to stop the 9 pool no matter how fast the Zerg player hauls ass.

Anyway, the two put their repective strats to the test today. Almost like a choreographed show-fight on WWE, Cho (@5) went right to 9 pool and Nal_rA (@7) opened with his patented forward forge-cannon-gate build. It was a race now. RTS meets F1. And it was CLOSE. But, in the end, Nal_rA seemed to win by a hair with his 2nd cannon warping in just as Cho's group of 6 lings were arriving just inside the view range of the cannons. Cho could have tried to run the cannon gauntlet, but he's a safe player at heart and he prolly figured the gains to be had from getting through maybe 2, 3 or even 4 lings were disproportionate to the risks involved.

Cho backed off and went to mass hydra mode while trying to make up for the early low-econ by sauroning like mad at his natural + the 4 and 2. Nal_rA, on the other hand, seemed to be on cruise-control after weathering that initial storm. You could see he was playing with supreme confidence. Nothing timid or cautious about his play at all. It was like he knew he had Cho right where he wanted him.

The match lasted like 25 mins, but the true turning point in the game came soon after the 9 pool had failed. Nal_rA warped in gates and started touring all of Cho's expos with a dozen upgraded zealots. He wasted sunken defenses here and there while disrupting drone econ. He then seemed to commit to a frontal on Cho's main - where Cho had patiently hidden a massive gaggle of hydras waiting in ambush. Kang seemed to take the bait and his zealots charged head-on into Cho's main, but he reacted and withdrew so quickly from the oncoming hydras it was almost like he knew they were there to begin with. Anyway, the hydras seemed to outnumber the zealots almost 2-1 and the zealots wisely turn and run. The hydras give chase to the retreating intruders and follow them all the way to Kang's 8 expo. Things don't look very good for Nal_rA at all now cuz we see that these zeals are his main offensive units. If he loses 'em, he's toast. And it looks like they're gonna get caught and roasted alive by the hydras.

But, Nal_rA ain't the Sun God for nothing. Just as the hydras arrive at the 8, Nal_rA suddenly turns his zeals and executes one of the most perfect zealot encirclements I've ever seen done on live TV. The zealots wrapped around the hydras and just shredded them into nothing. Just mind-numbingly perfect control by Ra. Even more impressive given it was done against a hardcore micro freak like Chojja. I mean, we're talking Hannibal and the Battle of Cannae all over again. Except, maybe, if Hannibal were alive, he'd be taking some lessons.

After that, Nal_rA expoed all alongside his side of the map (even putting up a cannon/expo at the 1 to stop/delay Cho's upward expansions along Cho's side of the map) and started touring with upgraded goon/lot/obs/temp/archons, creaming everything Cho threw his way. Cho desperately switched from mass hydra/lurkers to adrenaling/ultras, but by that time his main had already been razed, Nal_rA's forces were super superior and Cho was just treading water to save some face.

Holy shit. Nal_rA manhandles Chojja in a way I've never ever seen any Protoss do. Ladies and gentlemen of the world, I can now officially, unabashedly and unequivocally declare: RA IS FOR FUCKING REAL!

Bow down mortals before the awesome power of Ra!!!


3) Joyo (P) ("Do Jin-gwang") < Boxer (T) ("Lim Yo-hwan") - Paradoxxx

Imagine you are a Terran player. You are exhausted as hell. You are drenched in sweat, your body's starting to ache and your mouse fingers starting to numb with fatigue. You just wanna give up and go home. Any other Terran player would have given up long ago - with no shame at all. You've been battling your socks off just to survive for the past 30 mins. Nothing you've tried has worked. You took your best shot with a 8 dropship mass gol drop - but it didn't faze the other guy a bit. Your opponent is Protoss. He's been pummeling your defenses ever since your failed attack. He's not taking it easy either. He brought with him everything but his mom's kicthen sink. Legions of goons and up-graded zealots, wave after wave of carriers, and even arbiters - always in TWOS. You think maybe the other guy must be pissed off at you or something.

You've put up a fight, but you can feel the game slowly slipping away. He's already dropped on your main. Half of it's smashed into ruins. Most of your rows of neatly placed factories are smouldering spots on the ground. You had the foresight to expo twice - but both of them are out of commission now (damn carriers) and the SCVs are milling about with nothing to do and so much time on their blow torches that they may decide to organize a labor union. You have no offensive capability to speak of. You used to have a LOT - but all your gols got wasted whittling down the opponent's rampaging forces. Not that it matters any: you have yet to mount a single succesdsful offensive. You have only a few vultures, gols, a couple of tanks and a few dropships left. The other guy's still got a shopping mall full of zealots, goons and high temps at his main and min expo. He even has a couple of carriers. Oh, almost forgot: he also has a new gas expo up @5. You have 132 min left in the bank - with nothing more coming down the pipe.

The fans on your side of the seats are dead quiet now. They had been so raucous before. Now, they might as well have been attending a wake - YOUR wake. You can even see a few of them praying silently for a sudden power outage. And the OGN commenators can almost be heard saying to each other "any minute now - GG."

This was the nightmare scenario facing Boxer (@7) today in his TvP battle v the T/P switch hitter Joyo (@1). And I just don't have the energy right now to put what happened next into words that would do things proper justice. Lim came back and won it. He smiled at his fans and pumped his fist in the air in triumph as the crowd went berserk and the OGN guys were trying to hold back crying noises. He came back from that. I don't fuckin' know how, but he did. I mean, I can tell you how he did it (he god-microed his last remaining forces, using every last one of them to take out the 5 gas expo and the last remaining flying Protoss units - including the shuttle. Joyo didn't have enough $ left to make another shuttle. His forces were stuck on his main.), but I can't tell you HOW HE DID IT. Joyo made some awful mistakes and his micro was crap, but there's still no sane explanation for what happened. How does Lim do this? How does he keep making these comebacks again and again?

Go ask Lim. Or go ask Muhhamed Ali. Or Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, the New York Yankees or Man U. Go ask any world class champion how they keep winning and winning while making the other guy look like a patsy.

Just don't fuckin' ask me cuz I ain't got the energy right now. Not to sound sexual or anything, but holy crap Boxer takes my breath away.


4) Junwi (Z) ("Bak Gyung-rak") < Kingdom (P) ("Bak Yong-wook") - Nostalgia

Junwi was the smart choice to take this match for several blaring reasons. Junwi came into this match flush from an amazing ZvZ victory over )is(Side last week on Paradoxxx: Bak is very obviously on his game these days, let the world beware. It's ZvP - 'nuff said there. OGN commentator Eum also reports that, despite his notoriety as a ZvT specialist, many people in-the-know consider Junwi's ZvP to be even STRONGER (if that's even possible...). But, here's the real killer stat: Junwi went 2-0 v Kingdom in the WCG 2002 Korea prelims last year. But, that was last year, you say? Well, Junwi also went 2-0 v Kingdom in the WCG 2003 Korea prelims THIS year. But, WCG is a little different you say? Well, Kingdom had lost virtually ALL of his practice encounters v Junwi while the two were on the same HanbitStars team: Kingdom's a complete flake v Junwi no matter what. People should have had the sense to Liquibet on Junwi, you say? I hear ya. That's what I did.

Aw, fuck me. Not only did everyone in the world believe Kingdom didn't stand a credible chance - it also appears Kingdom felt the same way, too. And that's why he WON. Kingdom (@7) opens with an absolutely suicidal naked forward 2 gate build right in the middle of the friggin' map for all the world to see. Go figure Junwi's (@2) scouting drones somehow MISS IT altogether - until it's too late. The hardcore zealot rush does in Junwi in under 8 mins. wtf.

Kingdom knows he can't win v Junwi in an open firefight, so he goes for broke and ends up making the sun rise from the West. Not a very impressive win for Kingdom, but, hey, I'm sure he'll take it.