[Kim Chang Sun’s “This&That”]
(When your prepared build goes awry…) “Tears of the Moon”

2009-05-11 16:16



▶ 2009-05-06 Shinhan Proleague 08-09 4th Round
◆ Air Force vs WeMade 3set on Heartbreak Ridge, Park Jung Suk (Reach) vs Lee Yoon Yeol (Nada)

Hello, this is the OGN Proleague commentator Kim Chang Sun.



◆ The representatives of WeMade and Air Force: Nada and Reach.


First, Hearbreak Ridge is shaped like a pinwheel and has 6 ridges. It’s the perfect terrain to slow down a terran push. Although the base entrance is narrow, because it isn’t ramped, from the terran’s perspective, TvP is very tough. In this very same week of proleague, Song Byung Goo (Stork) beat Yum Bo Sung (Sea), so the map score was 4-0 in favor of protoss. (T/N: Since then, two terrans have won so the current map score is 4-2.)

First, let’s take a look at what the terran needs to be concerned with in the early game against protoss.

1. An early probe could get sent out and make proxy gates inside their base.
2. Center gates (Kim Taek Yong (Bisu) and Song Byung Goo have already shown this play).
3. Gas steal.
4. If a terran goes double command, there is the possibility of a cannon rush.
5. Because of 1-4, the terran must send out a quick SCV.

Regardless of what the protoss does, the terran has to worry about a lot of different situations.

Once you reach the mid game, the terran has 4 main concerns.

1. Will a reaver or DT drop arrive?
2. If the shuttle doesn’t come, is the protoss getting a quick 3rd or teching up to a fast arbiter?
3. When the terran moves out, will he be able to move out quickly with all the ridges?
4. Other than the nat, the terran requires another gas expansion. When attempting to secure it, how effectively can he defend it?

Of course, there are other concerns for the terran, but whenever the protoss just matches the terran’s build or does an unexpected build, it appears as though the matches end up being very one-sided. With a little scouting luck and star sense, since the protoss has so many options the protoss tends to have an advantage from the start.


◆ Lee Yoon Yeol builds many turrets in preparation for the protoss shuttles.

In this game, Lee Yoon Yeol was worried about mid-game concern 1, and after he thought Park Jung Suk was going for a shuttle, he built a lot of turrets to prepare for it. When Lee Yoon Yeol first saw the arbiter, he said that he already thought he had lost. To put it frankly, his prepared build went awry and because he wasn’t able to predict Park Jung Suk’s build, the match had already been decided.

Lee Yoon Yeol started at 9:00, and wanted to go for a standard management based 1 fact CC build. Park Jung Suk started with a 1 gate into observer build, but he built his 2nd pylon in the 1:00 alley, which made the terran unsure. If you rewatch the VOD, you can see that Lee Yoon Yeol scouting all over the map with SCV and marine in the early game.


◆ Protoss victory

The location of the 2nd pylon plus the delayed 3rd nexus tricked Lee Yoon Yeol into believing that a shuttle drop was coming. Since Park Jung Suk was able to deceive Lee Yoon Yeol, his fast arbiter strategy worked, and he was able to abuse protoss mobility.

I hope a terran can find a build that has a very good win rate against protoss, other than something like turreting around the perimeter of your base and going for a bachnic timing rush.

Unlike on Battle Royale where terrans mostly gave up trying to fight zergs, terrans are consistently being sent out on Heartbreak Ridge, which means that there must be a reason. Terrans will need a lot of star sense and quick reaction times though.

Finally, I would like to thank Lee Yoon Yeol and WeMade coach Kim Yang Joong for discussing the mind games and strategies with me. I wish the best of luck for WeMade!

-OGN Proleague Commentator Kim Chang Sun