EPTGame 1: (P)
Kal v. (T)
fOrGG on TiamatGame 2: (Z)
type-b[s.g] v. (P)HerO on ColosseumWinners: on Othello
Losers: on Othello
Tiebreak: on Athena
Preview:
Two monsters alongside two newcomers. Kal is the finalist of last season's MSL and has played for STX in every proleague round this season. ForGG is the protoss killer with an impressive 4-2 record in proleague and an 18-8 record vs protosses overall. On the otherhand; Hero, a familiar face in last season's proleague but has appeared just once this season is playing in his first starleague, similar to Type-B, who has never appeared in proleague and apart from survivor, has only played in the minor leagues.
1st Match:
Kal P11 vs fOrGG T5 on TiamatKal opens with two gate. Forgg cuts gas for an early cc after factory. Kal follows up with reaver but Forgg places his turrets perfectly to deny Kal of any opportunity for harass. Kal expos twice with 3rd expo at bottom left and macros.
After Forgg powers for awhile he suddenly lays down 7 barracks in his base to the surprise of everyone and begins pumping marines. Kal spots the stream of marines flowing down terran's ramp with a well-placed observer and responds by building more reavers.
Forgg pushes out with a monster army of at least 3 groups of marines and a couple of tanks. He pushes Kal back all the way to his natural while continuing to reinforce. After some absolutely amazing sequences Forgg manages to kill multiple reavers and destroy Kal's natural nexus. Everytime Kal kills the group of marines that are in front of his base another group follows up. Eventually Forgg pushes all the way into kal's main. Kal builds some dts but they failed to do any damage thus types out. Absolutely phenomenal macro and reinforcing by Forgg this game.
2nd Match
HerO P5 vs type-b[s.g] Z2 on ColosseumHero 1 gate forge expands however he couldn't harass with early zealots as Type-B pooled after overlord. Type-B techs fast with 3 hatch lair and builds a spire afte lair but doesn't build mutalisks.
Hero attacks with a zealot army which kills all of Type-B's zerglings and a couple hydras. Afterwards Type-B rebuilds and powers pure hydra/lurk. He uses the back entrance to toss' 3rd base and manages to kill the newly warped nexus. However despite the advantage Type-B does not expand again himself and keeps macroing on three bases.
Hero tries to expand at his 2nd natural again but Type-B attacks again to try to delay the attempt. However Type-B wastes too many units for nothing so after Hero successfully expands, he runs over Type-B with one attack. Type-B gg's
Winners Match
fOrGG T11 vs HerO P5 on OthelloHero opens with reaver harass while Forgg does standard fast expo. Hero doesn't get a lot of luck with his scarabs as none of them kill any mining scvs. Meanwhile Hero transitions to three gateway, two stargate carriers. But as soon as reavers stop harassing Forgg moves out for a timing push and expands at the same time. He manages to make it to right outside of toss' natural but by then two carriers are done and force forgg back.
Hero follows up with a counterattack, using carriers and a reaver to destroy terran's armory and numerous supply depots while expanding himself. Carriers continue to harass with great effect Forgg's natural and ground units. Forgg however steals an expo at 2 and uses the extra resources to build wraiths out of three starports. A group of wraiths kill a couple carriers and is enough to delay Hero's harass which gives terran valuable time to rebuild.
Hero finally discovers Forgg's secret expo and attacks it. Forgg counters by destroying Hero's 3rd expo which leaves him with only a new mineral only expo. Forgg with a resource advantage eventually kills Hero's last expo and expands himself. Hero gg's. Forgg moves on to the Round of 16.
Losers Match
Kal P5 vs type-b[s.g] Z1 on OthelloKal fast expands, Type-B goes 4 hatch lair hydra. Kal skips stargate and does a hard zealot speed rush. Type-B positions his hydras well thus Kal doesn't attack until he has templars with storm.
When Kal does attack, Type-B drops an army of hydra/lurk into Kal's main and also drops lurkers onto the cliff above Kal's natural. Both drops do significant worker damage. However Kal's attack manages to kill some drones and an evo chamber.
Kal defends for a long time while expanding and protects vs drops. Type-B drops several more times but ultimately fails to do any structural damage because of Kal's well placed cannons and storms. After sometime Kal counterdrops and manages to kill many of zerg's workers at three out of four bases. Eventually Kal rolls out with a giant army and casts several brilliant storms to kill off Type-B.
Final Match:
Kal P6 vs HerO P2 on AthenaKal opens 2 gate robo, Hero opens 1 gate range to 3 gate. Hero slows his gas mining down with an awfully placed pylon. They both expand, but Hero is able to stop Kal's attempt and keep him contained. Kal then proceeds to lose several reavers while trying to attack with them from ramp.
Hero mines from two bases to Kal's one for a long time. Until Kal drops two dts which arrive just before Kal's observers are out. They manage to kill a handful of probes and stop Hero's natural mining. Kal reinforces his dts with four zealots and try to destroy Hero's natural nexus but isn't able to.
Kal finally breaks out with speedlots and expands to his natural. After some rebuilding time for both players Hero comes out with a huge army. He stands outside of Kal's natural but Kal doesn't hesistate and initiates the attack. Somehow Kal wins the fight with some good storms, good reaver micro and mass speedlots. In the subsequent counterattack Kal manages to kill Hero's natural nexus but is forced back by dts. Kal, having a massive advantage now, sits back and expands. Hero tries in vain to harass with a dt drop but fails to do any damage. Kal eventually attacks with a big army, Hero fails to hold and gg's. Kal moves on to the Round of 16.
Afterthoughts:
Forgg backs up his recent results with two excellent games, he is 7-1 in his last 8 tvps. One of the new rising stars in progaming. The two newcomers played well. Hero held the advantage for long periods in both games but lapses in concentration ultimately cost him the win. Type-B shows promise but still needs experience. Kal proved his class with two victories displaying tact and excellent micro. Good luck to the winners in the next round.
