GomTV4 MSL Group D&E

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Group D
Game 1 - (T)

XellOs vs

JangBi - Zodiac
Game 2 - (T)

Hwasin vs

firebathero - Katrina
Winners - Blue Storm
Losers - Blue Storm
Final - Loki II

Results
+ Show Spoiler +

Game 1 -

XellOs < JangBi - Zodiac
Game 2 - (T)

Hwasin < Firebathero - Katrina
Winners - JangBi > (T)

firebathero - Blue Storm
Losers - (T)

XellOs < Hwasin - Blue Storm
Final - (T)

firebathero < Hwasin - Loki II

Game 1 -

XellOs vs

JangBi - Zodiac

A fairly entertaining match. Jangbi takes a huge advantage with his no gate double build, and controls the game from the start. XellOs plays a bit awkwardly, attempting to take his middle expo a tad too quickly and allowing the CC to die from Janbi's well placed attack. The game seemed to fall quickly for Jangbi until Arbiters came into play. The game suddenly looked a lot like Jangbi vs Shudder during the survivor league as Jangbi slowly began to throw away his lead with failed recalls while XellOs takes more expos and amass a large tank/vulture army.

But if there's one lesson Jangbi learned from his game vs Shudder, it's that when things fail, you switch techs. Playing like the true teammate of Stork, Jangbi quickly switches to carrier. XellOs's counter attack leads spectators to hope for a comeback, but Jangbi successfully lands a cruicial recall in XellOs's expansion while trading in his own, and creates a nice carrier army to finish off XellOs's defenseless tanks.

Jangbi: "Finally!"

Game 2 -

Hwasin vs

firebathero - Katrina

Though it is fairly known by now about how I feel about FBH, I will give it some effort to remain unbiased here.

As far as TvT games go, this was a nice game. FBH takes a nice lead with excellent tank placement that prevented Hwasin from mining at his center expo, but Hwasin soon flips the game by taking another starting base and successfully useing his dropship advantage to kill FBH's more spread out expansions. Soon the game seems to be in favor for Hwasin as he continues to gain more points with his successful drops, and it seemed like the finishing touch as the screen showed starports with add-ons going up for Hwasin.

Then came the blow. FBH fires back with a huge drop in Hwasin's main, luring the freshly made battle-cruisers to defend. As the battle ships approach a jaw-dropping scene occured. 4~5 dropships fly in out of no where and unload a sea of goliaths right beneath the battlecruisers. Missiles cover the screen and as the dust clears, Hwasin has lost almost all of his battlecruiser fleet and tanks. Fueled by his success, FBH cleans out Hwasin's base while reclaiming the expansions at 6, and soon delivers another mass drop at Hwasin's newly started base at 1, taking over the starports and effectively knocking Hwasin down.

Even I gotta admit, this was pretty cool

Winners -

JangBi vs

firebathero - Blue Storm

Many have wondered how Jangbi advanced from this group with a 2-0. But I am not surprised. Janbi has been hailed as a strong player for KHAN, often compared to Stork. His PvT skills offer proof of that. Jangbi opens with a gas rush in which FBH replies to with a 1 rax academy build. FBH soon attacks with a small mnm force and forces Jangbi to pull off probes to defend. The game seemed to be tipped for FBH as he successfully trades his mnm army for a good chunk of Jangbi's probes.

Personally I believe FBH could have won that with a scan-rush (same thing but with SCVs), but he refused to gay cheese a fellow teammate, which ultimately caused his downfall. The game is nothing particularily special after the initial rush. Jangbi fights back with goon/zeal/reaver while he expands and FBH attempts to break Jangbi before the motherships are airborn. Jangbi uses some excellent fighting tactics to trade in his army with FBH, successfully protecting his expansions and adds carriers into the mix. With carriers/goons and plenty of resource to boot, Jangbi takes the game.

Yes, your eyes are fine

Losers -

XellOs vs

Hwasin - Blue Storm

XellOs has been creating much buzz with his recent show of killer-instincts. Many were hoping this would be his return to the top. But if XellOs wants to do that, he has to stop messing up so badly. First he opens with an proxy 8 rax that gets detected and denied. Then he opens with 1 fac double while Hwasin does the same except adds a single starport. XellOs is caught with his pants down as a couple of wraiths flies in and takes kill after kill. XellOs's desparate vulture counter is slaughtered by tanks, and the game just gets worst and worst. Eventually Hwasin finishes off XellOs, and the two wraiths that Hwasin sent in to hunt SCVs took nearly 40 SCV kills.

The finishing blow

Final -

firebathero vs (T)

Hwasin - Loki II

Hwasin enters this game looking for revenge. The game plays out like a regular TvT, with FBH taking the lead once again. Using dropships more effectively than Hwasin, FBH successfully prevents Hwasin from taking additional expos while taking up half the map. But Hwasin soon pulls yet another comeback. Evading a frontal confrontation, Hwasin attacks FBH's spread out expansions while trading in his own expansion. FBH plays along and attempts to break open Hwasin's nat, forcing Hwasin to meet him face to face. Hwasin, after clearing out more of FBH's expos comes home and defends FBH, turning the game around.

What seemed like a sure win for FBH suddenly seemed not so hot for the dancing man, as Hwasin squeezed him dry. A last ditch attempt to take an expansion falls short to Hwasin's overwhelming army, and FBH allows himself to be eliminated from the MSL.

Only one shall remain

Overall Analysis:
A truly enjoyable final game, despite being a TvT. XellOs falls victim to what seems to be a recurring trend of seeds bowing out early... though that could partially be because of CJ's preparations for the Playoffs. Meanwhile Jangbi proves to be a powerful PvT advocate. But much has yet to be tested of the little man, and with the super stars falling out left and right, this may be his perfect chance to do just that.

MSL Ro32 Group E
January 15th, 2008

Group E
Game 1 - (T)

Memory vs

UpMagiC - Katrina
Game 2 - (T)

fOrGG vs

Luxury - Blue Storm
Winners - Loki II
Losers - Loki II
Final - Zodiac

Results
+ Show Spoiler +

Game 1 -

Memory < UpMagiC - Katrina
Game 2 - fOrGG > (Z)

Luxury - Blue Storm
Winners - UpMagiC > (T)

fOrGG - Loki II
Losers - (T)

Memory < Luxury - Loki II
Final - (T)

fOrGG < Luxury - Zodiac

Game 1 -

Memory vs

UpMagiC - Katrina

I really enjoy UpMagiC play. Out of all the "neo-boxer!" hypes, UpMagic is without a doubt the closest one who mirrors BoxeR. While this game may not have anything particularily special, it still shows some entertaining moments. UpMagiC simply out plays Memory with tanks and wraiths. By the end of the game UpMagiC has built a total of 9 starports. Memory's last ditch attempt to fight back with valkyries prove pointless, as he adds yet another loss to his horrid TvT record.

Resistance is futile

Game 2 -

fOrGG vs

Luxury - Blue Storm

There is not much to say about this game except that ForGG did very well despite the shaky beginning. His initial vulture harrass seemed to be pointless as speedlings trap them, but a second pair did what the first could not: get some drone kills. Following up with 2 port wraiths, ForGG hits where it hurts, and as Luxury's desperate muta counter is met by mnm, ForGG takes the game.

Cat and mouse

Winners -

UpMagiC vs (T)

fOrGG - Loki II

Honestly, there's just so many games I've watched this week that it's really difficult to remember all of them. This game wasn't very special. ForGG and Up both played very well, each gaining a lead at some point or another. But Up's expansion at 11 goes unnoticed, allowing him to gain the advantage he needed to tip the game in his favor. As intercepts most of ForGG's loaded dropships with reactions like a cat, Up advances to the single elimination tournament.

Only 1 dropship survived this ambush

Losers -

Memory vs

Luxury - Loki II

Crazy Zerg. That is the name given to the strategy Luxury used, the strategy that is becoming increasingly popular in gas-heavy maps such as Loki and Katrina. Luxury's execution of the strategy was beautiful. Much better than Savior or ZerO's attempt that got them both eliminated this MSL. Memory's inability to save his vessels early on really cost him a lot, and his inability to prevent Luxury from taking a 4th gas gave Luxury the clutch.

With his initial muta harrass killing an engineering bay, Luxury was able to stay level with the upgrades (even though he lost an evo himself), his vessel hunting play allowed him to mass ultralisks, and an incredibly well coordinated flank really gave him the clutch. This new style of zerg has recently intrigued me greatly. Huge props to Luxury.

Take notes, Savior

Final -

fOrGG vs

Luxury - Zodiac

It is glaringly clear that ForGG came unprepared for a 5th game. Compared to his successful play in game 1 against Luxury, this was exactly the opposite, and more. Both players open similarily, ForGG opening with factory and Lux opening with 2 hatch muta. Luxury decides to play it safe and sunkens early while droning up, while ForGG decides that using the same strat twice is too risky, and takes a CC. Except he forgot one thing: 2 hatch muta is pretty damn fast.

By the time Luxury's first 6 mutalisks arrive at ForGG's base, ForGG had 3 unfinished turrets, 6 marines with no stim or range and two medics for defense. Combine that with Luxury's muta micro, and you just know a massacre is unavoidable. Predictably, Luxury rips ForGG apart, and what could have been a gripping final game ended in a very anti-climatic way.

Might as well put firebats for defense, they'd be just as useless against Luxury's mutas

Overall Analysis:
Yet another seed eliminated 2-0! Although, considering that fact that it's Memory, it's not TOO surprising. Meanwhile Luxury is showing better results than his brother, who's eliminated from MSL + Show Spoiler [Wed OSL spoiler] +

and is 0-1 in OSL.

Hwasin, who gained some fans and anti-fans from his interview, eliminates FBH as he promised and advances to the Ro16.

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