EPT
Anyway, this week it was Joyo (P), now in a title-defending position against his young challenger from Germany, CopeTheUnknown (T). I've prepared quite a mix of maps here to maybe see a variety of nice TvPs, however the combatants decided otherwise - 4:0 with Joyo keeping his title through a series of rather quick matches. With one exception, but everything in it's time...
Game 1: Cope (T) vs Joyo (P) on The Lost Temple.
A 12-3on LT, oh well. As these games "mostly" go, this one was no exception. Cope (3) tried to fight his way through for a headstart right away with a bamboo-rush, however Joyo (12) anticipated it all pretty much, and after countering the initial push did probably the one and only really working strategy for these positions: exp to the island, exp to 9, Reavers -> Carriers. However there was no need for any of the later, since Joyo pretty much managed to wipe out all of Cope's coloured population before pressing the "I" even once.
Game 2: Cope (Z) vs Joyo (P) on Another Day.
Alas, my curiosity for a TvP on this map was not to be fulfilled this time, as Cope didn't prove to be strong enough to fight the voice in his head (...come my child... and embrace the glory that is your birthright...). Joyo (1) however did not despair that he's been dragged into a matchup not "quite" of his liking (Cope switching the race in the last moment :o), and has taken it rather calmly with a 2-gate standard hard-rush onto Cope's (11) natural. The game itself went rather simple, really. The rush kills off the Hatchery at the natural, Joyo withdraws, makes a force of upgraded Zealots, Archons, DTs and kills Cope. And that's about it. Well, maybe not this simple, but it's quite fitting - Joyo even had a DA with him to cast a maelstrom right before Cope's leave, but that's about all the interesting moments in th
e game :o.
Game 3: Cope (T) vs Joyo (P) on Nostalgia v2.1.
Ah, here comes the good one. Only one like this however, sadly -_-. Cope (7) opens with an odd, almost-bamboo-looking vulture-harrass, which manages to make a dent in Joyo's (2) defenses right away, and delays the Protoss natural. Cope takes the time to take his own nat, and soon proceeds to sneak his way around the middle constructions and to Joyo's newly established expansion at 3. Slowly, yes, however even tho Joyo takes the granted time to make a sizeable Goon-Zealot counterforce of his own he kinda messes things up and his 16-18 Zealots die for almost nothing. Obviously, this means the end of the expansion at 3, but Joyo's quick to open up another two at 12 and 11. Cope taking it slow again, seemingly expecting a charge from the Protoss side of the map any minute. But here comes the funny part - Joyo's keeping his enormous Zealot force at his natural only waiting for his Arbiter's energy to charge up. And as Cope is busy tricking his way with vultures into 12, Joyo accepts no fights at his natural, but recalls some 26-28 Zealots into the Terran's main. Joyo's natural and main slowly die in the process, but by this time he's already starting to get Carriers. And here Cope has to face the grave truth - he's scattered all around the map while Joyo keeps growing his Carrier-fist stronger and stronger, harrassing with Zeals all over the place in the meantime. Cope takes a desperate move to try and kill off Joyo's "last" buildings (or so he thought), knowing little of the 11's main, right above his base. Some skirmishes take place in various corners of the map until Joyo manages to concentrate all his flyers onto the last terran base, and that's gg then.
Game 4: Cope (T) vs Joyo (P) on Sin Gaema Gowon.
Joyo (11) opts for Reavers, while Cope (7) goes bamboo again. Things seemed to go rather fine and in favour of the blitzing Germans actually, with Cope managing to get all the way into Joyo's base with Tanks and a few Vultures, however the lone damaged Reaver proved to be of harder steel than it might have seemed at first, and managed to cripple the offense eventually. The trench-war obviously not in Cope's original plans, escalated into quite a drawback as the CC being built at the natural was denied by another Reaver of Joyo's, costing Cope the 450 minerals it took to attempt it. Things go korean from this point - Joyo taking his natural and putting on pressure after pressure on the Terran forces, until Cope concedes eventually.
Overall I'd say Cope seemed nervous in this one, I've noticed he made some basic mistakes on the whole scale of the games - missing supplies, expandig carelessly - had he built his CC inside his base the last game, who knows how things might have turned? Anyway, watch Game 3 - the rest is for the archives.
That's it for today, next time it's Hellghost, from Brazil, taking onto the reigning champion Joyo. I'm quite curious about the matchups we'll see myself, and it also means I'll have some hard time selecting the maps for this one -_-;
Liquibet is now up, go and vote.
-Mynock
) TT.Tomson put up a better fight TvP...HG will do better for sure.
