MSL Recap Ro8: Hwasin vs Jaedong

By Sigrun

Across battlefields, across worlds, two monstrous entities eye each other warily. Creeping slowly toward each other while leaving ruins in their wake, it was only inevitable, inexorable, that they would clash.

Standing tall and proud, the Terran Commander Hwasin was a fearsome opponent. Boasting a 67.05% win rate against the Swarm, this naïve looking man with a boyish, almost feminine face was known throughout the sector as the Red Sniper. With perfect control and amazing timing, the Red Sniper had led his troops to countless victories over the Swarm.

On the other side, in a dark, secluded fortress volatile with hostile life, laid a Zerg Cerebrate. But this was no ordinary Cerebrate- this particular Cerebrate was well-known by its brethren and its enemies for cunning strategies and brilliant execution. Indeed, this Cerebrate was none other than Jaedong, the Legend Killer.

And finally, the time has arrived.

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Arena MSL 2008/ Round of 8/ Group A

(T)

Hwasin The Red Sniper versus (Z)

Jaedong The Legend Killer

1st Set Tiamat
2nd Set Colosseum
3rd Set Athena
4th Set Othello
5th Set Tiamat

(T)

Hwasin (0) Tiamat (0) (Z)

Jaedong

The two titans first meet head to head on the abandoned space station Tiamat. Hwasin finds himself at 5 o’ clock and Jaedong at 11 o’ clock. Jaedong sneakily controls his larvae and moves them towards the left side of the Hatchery, enabling his Drones to spawn closer to the mineral patches. Hwasin, however, is aware of Jaedong’s cheap tactics and goes with a later Barracks to catch up in economy. Jaedong plants a Hatchery at his natural and sends out a lone Drone to scout.

Entering Hwasin’s base, the Drone finds a nearly completed Barracks and begins to harass the SCV building it. The SCV however, is too preoccupied building and yells for one of his friends to help him fend off the Drone. Meanwhile, Jaedong has opted for a normal three Hatchery build as he now commands his Drone to harass the SCV beginning a Command Center. Hwasin quickly chases the pest off with a newly trained Marine.

A brave SCV attempts to scout the Zerg’s build, but is repelled by eight Zerglings at the ramp. Nearly killed, he scoots as quickly as he possibly can back to base. Dancing Zerglings threaten Hwasin’s newly completed Command Center, but a Bunker and two Marines quickly drive them off. In his main, Hwasin begins a conspicuously early Engineering Bay, while still pumping out of one Barracks. Meanwhile, Jaedong has planted an Evolution Chamber and then a Spire, possibly doing a Mutalisk harass into fast upgraded Ultralisk build.

Hwasin however, is prepared for this. With his Engineering Bay researching a fast weapon upgrade, he plants three more Barracks to begin training more Marines. With both sides quietly macroing, the air grows tenser, both commanders knowing that a battle might break out at any moment; Jaedong uses this time to sneak an expansion at 7. As Jaedong’s Spire completes and his Mutalisk start, Hwasin at this exact time decides to push out towards Jaedong’s natural. He sees three old neutral buildings on the way however, and decides to take one of them out as they are aesthetically unpleasing to him.

Little known fact: Hwasin demolishes old buildings as his part-time job

Jaedong, a lover of artifacts and history, comes by and tries to pick off the Marines with Mutalisk control, but is shocked when Hwasin’s upgraded Marines pick off two Mutalisk instead. After dancing his Mutalisk back and forth, the armies of Hwasin and Jaedong finally clash on a bridge near Jaedong’s expansion. Hwasin’s superior unit count and upgrades stomp over Jaedong’s small Mutaling army and he continues to destroy the Hatchery at 7. Hwasin then pops two Overlords on his way out and Jaedong concedes defeat.

Hwasin (1) Colosseum (0) (Z)

Jaedong

Taking the battle to the desert planet known as Colosseum, Jaedong spawns at 7 as Hwasin lands at 5. Down one, the Zerg Cerebrate knows that he must step up his strategy or he will again find himself staring at defeat. Both commanders open standard, with Jaedong planting a Hatchery at his top natural and Hwasin constructing a Barracks, then adding another soon after. Jaedong gasses early as Hwasin sends a SCV in the right direction toward the Zerg colony. Hwasin expands at the left natural and loses his scout soon after. Jaedong begins his Lair, and then later begins a Hydralisk Den. Hwasin however, cleverly blocks his choke with a Supply Depot and Barracks and hides the majority of his Marine force further in his base.

Jaedong, unable to get in and scout, sets up a Hatchery at his right natural. With amazing timing yet again, Hwasin pushes out right as Jaedong’s Lurker tech finishes and catches Jaedong’s Hydralisk beginning their metamorphosis into Lurkers. However, instead of taking out the Hatchery, Hwasin decides to blast away at one of the Lurker eggs, hoping that the death of one Lurker would be more advantageous. Right as the Lurkers finish, Jaedong surrounds the Marines with Zerglings and destroys the invading force.

Hwasin is not phased and moves out with another group of Marines and Medics, only to be repelled by an extremely well placed pair of stop Lurkers. Three Lurkers chase Hwasin back to his main and begin pounding on the Supply Depot and the Bunker behind it. As Hwasin is currently contained, Jaedong begins his tech to Hive while Hwasin continues to macro and throws up Missile Turrets for phantom Mutalisk. Hwasin starts teching to Science Vessels and adding more Barracks as Jaedong begins his Spire and his Defiler Mound starts shortly thereafter. After amassing three Siege Tanks to accompany his army, Hwasin begins his push- as he moves forward, his Science Vessel scoots to a stop literally next to a pair of scourge. However, these Scourge were born from a Larva with ADD and unfortunately, they inherited the disorder as they lose attention of Jaedong’s commands and do nothing.

Consume finishes right on time and Jaedong pushes Hwasin back with a well placed swarm. Hwasin goes around to Jaedong’s choke, but Jaedong pushes him back again with swarm until he is trapped at 6 between two Lurkers on a ramp and the rest of Jaedong’s forces. Hwasin tries to break out towards his base, but he loses many Marines and his Science Vessel in the attempt. In the meantime, Jaedong begins a new base at the bottom natural of 11 while Hwasin starts his third at the top natural of his base.

Hwasin moves toward Jaedong’s newly planted expansion and snipes a Defiler supporting the three Lurkers there. He chases the Lurkers and the Lurkers, finally realizing that perhaps mutating with more appendages isn’t such a good idea, get stuck in the corner and are killed. The expansion is cancelled and the Drone is killed as well. Hwasin moves out with yet another group of Marines and Medics, and this time splits his army into two. One heads towards Jaedong’s natural but is stopped by a few Lurkers and swarm. The other group clashes with five Lurkers and Hwasin displays some brilliant control as he takes them out, although he loses his army at the same time.

Before...

... and after

A drop is attempted at Jaedong’s right natural, but is taken out by two Scourge. The two armies clash again in the middle, with Jaedong getting off a good plague on a ball of Marines. Jaedong then sends a small group of Lurkerling to Hwasin’s choke and takes out a few Siege Tanks stationed there. Hwasin moves another group out to take out Jaedong’s most recent expansion yet again, and runs some of his Marines into the spines of Lurkers. After getting plagued, Hwasin decides to maneuver around into the expansion from the back, but the cunning Cerebrate predicted this and plants Lurkers there as well, killing a horde of Hwasin’s men who decided to walk instead of a-move.

Hwasin retreats and Jaedong sneaks Zerglings through the backdoor into Hwasin’s top natural, wreaking havoc there and clearing out the SCVs of the mineral party. The gas party SCVs are left alone though, due to the increasing tension in the political battle over Vespene gas. Jaedong takes this opportunity to expand to 11 as well, as an Ultralisk Cavern signifies that Ultralisks are about to storm the field. Jaedong engages Hwasin’s army near the Terran commander’s choke with a small group of Lurkerling and one defiler and forces him back. Hwasin pulls his Science Vessels back but at the same time fails to pull back a small portion of his Marines. Jaedong then takes this opportunity to plague right on the spot where Hwasin recalled all his men.

Ultralisks finally spawn and push Hwasin’s remaining army to his top natural, but Hwasin pushes back with a newly macroed army and repels the attack. At the same time, two Dropships head out towards Jaedong’s top left expansions, threatening to deal some major damage to the unprotected base. Hwasin’s army traverses through the middle of the field, but gets stopped by a swarm, a plague, and the rest of Jaedong’s Ultraling army. As Jaedong pushes back Hwasin again, Hwasin drops his Marines at the 11 right natural and the 11 main, killing the natural. The main is saved by four Lurkers and Hwasin is forced to pick up his forces, but the Dropships are destroyed by Scourge.

Hwasin again moves out with a newly created ball, but this time it is not big enough to roll over his opponent. Jaedong swarms in with Ultraling from two sides and flanks Hwasin and Hwasin, with nothing left, types out.

This is what happens when you let Jaedong get Ultralisk

Hwasin (1) Athena (1) (Z)

Jaedong

With both commanders now tied at one victory a piece, they set their eyes upon the vast jungle of Athena, where victory would tide the series in their favor.

Hwasin sets foot upon Athena at 1, while Jaedong touches down at 9.

Within the first few seconds, the death of a Zerg egg echoes in the distance, and a Spawning Pool begins to morph. Jaedong’s lust for victory is insatiable at this point, and the Cerebrate will do anything in his power to claim it- anything including the unstoppable 4 pool.

Vegeta, what does the scout say about its power level?

With an Overlord hanging around in the middle of the map to scout which direction Hwasin’s SCV will come from, Jaedong begins hatching Zerglings while Hwasin has yet to even begin his Barracks. With a scouting Drone, Jaedong confirms Hwasin’s position while Hwasin’s scouting SCV confirms that the Zerglings are on their way.

Jaedong harasses Hwasin’s SCV as it tries to build the Barracks faster- Hwasin plants a Bunker and another Barracks down by his Command Center but refuses to block his ramp with SCVs. Jaedong orders his Zerglings to attack and they begin shredding into the armor of helpless SCVs. A lone Marine in training finally pops out but Jaedong anticipates this and has his Zerglings surround the Barracks, killing the Marine before he can escape.

Left with only SCVs to defend against eight Zerglings, Hwasin has no choice but to admit defeat.

IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!!

Hwasin(1) Othello (2) (Z)

Jaedong

His back against the wall, the Terran commander was struggling to breathe, reeling from the brutal defeat he had just suffered. He had been in a situation like this before, against the Zerg Cerebrate they called The Maestro. And he had been defeated then. And now, once again, the outcome of the entire war rested upon one battle. Win, and he would surely carry his momentum into the final battle- but lose, and he would spiral down into the depths of despair, the cries of dying men echoing in his ears.

Gazing upon the twilight world of Othello, Hwasin lands at 10. Across the battlefield, Jaedong spawns at 1. Jaedong, sensing victory within his grasp, orders his mindless Overlord in the right direction towards Hwasin’s base. Both players open standard, with Jaedong taking his natural and Hwasin starting his Barracks after the Supply Depot. Hwasin sends out a SCV and sees the Overlord, and judging by the direction it is traveling, knows exactly where the Zerg colony lies. The Terran commander begins construction of a Command Center on the cliff overlooking his natural.

Meanwhile, Jaedong has set up a fast Extractor after his Spawning Pool, indicating a 2 Hatchery build. Zerglings repel the SCV after Hwasin scouts the fast Lair and he responds by adding two Barracks, bringing his Barracks count to three. As the Lair finishes, Jaedong begins a Spire and at the same time uses his Zerglings to harass the workers at Hwasin’s natural. After managing to snipe two Marines and losing two Zerglings, Jaedong lets his Zerglings rest just outside of Hwasin’s choke.

The Terran commander senses that now is the time to strike. He pushes out with a small group of Marines and two Medics and begins the treacherous hike over to the Zerg colony. Jaedong runs past this task force, attempting to pull them back, but Hwasin knows that this is a ploy to stall for time- he commands his men to continue marching.

The Zerg Cerebrate knows that the Terran forces are on their way. Quickly placing down a Creep Colony, he uses his newly hatched Mutalisk to delay the Marines but Hwasin has sent reinforcements with two Firebats and another Marine. Hwasin charges into the lone Sunken Colony, and Jaedong takes this opportunity to flank the army with Zerglings and Mutalisk. Knowing that the Mutalisk had failed him in the first battle, the cunning Cerebrate had cleverly modified part of the Mutalisk’s genes, which allowed for better handling and faster attack. With newfound control, Jaedong picks off the remains of the Marine and Medic force and makes his way to the Terran camp.

Hwasin was scared. For the first time in his illustrious career, he was scared. This Zerg Cerebrate was not natural, was not of this universe. It was nothing like the Zerg Cerebrates he had faced before. He was told that he would have an easy path over this particular Zerg. But they were wrong in every aspect. Panicking, he quickly mynards his SCVs away from his natural as Jaedong’s Mutalisk rain Glave Wurms down upon his second source of income.

Victory was almost in his grasp. Jaedong could almost taste victory- if he had taste buds he was sure he’d savor it. Taking a third base and a third gas at 5:30, Jaedong begins to pound away at the natural Command Center. It lifts off and slowly floats away and Jaedong pursues, but is repelled by a group of Marines and Medics atop Hwasin’s ramp. Jaedong continues to harass and keeps Hwasin bottled up in his base while Hwasin knows that he must quickly tech to Science Vessels to irradiate the dreaded Mutalisk ball. Jaedong senses that the end is near, and to be positive, sends his Mutalisk out in all directions to check for a hidden expansion.

After the Mutalisk leave the vicinity, the Terran commander is allowed a moment to catch his breath. He orders the Command Center back to the natural to increase his mineral reserves. But right as it lands, Jaedong returns with his Mutalisk force and once again begins harassment of the workers. Hwasin pulls his men to the natural and fends off the threat while simultaneously erecting Missile Turrets.

Mutalisk harass 2.0

With two control groups of Mutalisk, Jaedong barges into Hwasin’s main and decimates the three Missile Turrets stationed there. Hwasin attempts to defend his main and manages to repel the Mutalisk force at the loss of many Marines. Jaedong circumvents the remaining Marines still traveling up the ramp and begins his assault on Hwasin’s natural. The men there fight valiantly, but Jaedong shows the Terran force just how powerful a weapon upgrade for Mutalisk is. The Command Center falls, and Hwasin is back to square one.

He was falling, falling further and further into a bottomless pit as more and more of his men met their doom at the fiery blasts of the Zerg Mutalisk. His defenses are broken and his men are all silent- only the screams of the Zerg flyers fill the air now. Hwasin, The Red Sniper, can do nothing now but watch his Command Center burn, and with it, his hopes of victory.

Hwasin had no choice but to surrender.

The final gg

(T)

Hwasin (1) Final Score (3) (Z)

Jaedong

The Legend Killer, the Zerg Cerebrate, Jaedong let out a sigh and smiled to himself. People had doubted him, were certain he would crumble to the Red Sniper’s finesse. But he had showed them, proved to them and himself that there was no obstacle he could not overcome.

With his thirst for victory still unquenched, he turned his eyes toward a Protoss tribe not too far away in a distant sector- a Protoss tribe of warriors led by a Templar named Much.

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MSL Recap Ro8: Hwasin vs Jaedong

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