EPT
BomberBomber vs PartinG: A Closer Look
by SC2 John
Red Bull Battegrounds NYC set the stage for SC2 titans such as Bomber, Scarlett, PartinG, sOs, and MC to go head-to-head in an exceptionally well-rounded tournament. Some of the most memorable games of HotS were produced from this raging maelstrom of world-class talent. Perhaps one of the best games of the tournament was Bomber vs. PartinG on Frost. In a ridiculous tornado of constant aggression, marauder kiting, endless storms, hellbat drops, and several SCV pulls, Bomber and PartinG sparred both strategically and tactically and managed to produce one of the most interesting games we've yet seen in HotS.
In the evolving metagame, Bomber and PartinG breached new frontiers with this game: PartinG opened oracle into a macro game while Bomber went with a hellbat/marauder composition rarely seen since the days of mass hellbat drops. The result was not only a series of brilliant and complex strategic interactions but also an explosive, back-and-forth slugfest between two players with some of the best unit control in SC2.
PULL THE BOYS! ....Part 1.
StarTale Bomber vs SKT1 Parting Group A, Set 1, Match 3 on Frost. From Red Bull Battle Grounds New York 2013
In the evolving metagame, Bomber and PartinG breached new frontiers with this game: PartinG opened oracle into a macro game while Bomber went with a hellbat/marauder composition rarely seen since the days of mass hellbat drops. The result was not only a series of brilliant and complex strategic interactions but also an explosive, back-and-forth slugfest between two players with some of the best unit control in SC2.
PULL THE BOYS! ....Part 1.
StarTale Bomber vs SKT1 Parting Group A, Set 1, Match 3 on Frost. From Red Bull Battle Grounds New York 2013 Openings (0:00-7:00)
Bomber – CC First into 3rax
Staying true to form, Bomber opened with a CC first on the low ground followed by three barracks, a single gas, and a very late SCV scout. Bomber focuses on marine production and using positioning to fend off early attacks.
The possible early threats on a map like Frost are:
- Oracle openings
- Blink all-ins
- Warpgate attacks
- Warp prism all-ins (very unlikely)
The reason these types of pressures are good on Frost is primarily because of its size: large map size means that early scouting is limited and travel distance is huge, but an air opening or a warpgate opening ignores terrain and allows the pressure to hit rather quickly as well as get scouting information. Also, the main base has a very wide cliff vulnerable to blink. With minimal scouting, Bomber deals with these timings by doing a simple rearrangement of his units. At 5:30, Bomber pulls his initial six marines back to his main mineral line to defend against any kind of oracle pressure and/or MSC harassment while continuing to rally his marines to his main ramp. When he reaches another six, he places them in his natural mineral line, still continuing to rally to his main ramp. Bomber delays his bunker until 5:30, assuming an early stalker/zealot poke won't be coming on such a large map; as a result, his bunker finishes promptly at 6:30, just in time for a reasonably-timed warpgate attack, which Bomber can pull of his units and SCVs to defend. If he senses no frontal pressure, he will keep his marines in his mineral lines until medivacs come out. Before moving out, Bomber builds a missile turret in each mineral line to prevent the oracle from counterattacking.
PartinG – 13 gate/17 nexus into Proxy Oracle
PartinG, much like Bomber, opts for a very economic play by skipping gas and core in favor of a faster nexus. Although this delays PartinG's initial tech some, it gives him a much stronger economy and a better two-base setup. To followup, PartinG proxies a stargate on Bomber's side of the map. A proxy stargate makes sense on Frost because the large map size prevents it from being easily scouted. He also does a small poke with his initial stalker to check his opponent's natural and keep an eye out for early aggression.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/KInoBjs.png)
PartinG uses his stalker and a probe at the watch tower to create a line of vision for safety in the early game.
Behind this, PartinG throws down a twilight council and a forge to set up his mid game, relying primarily on his forward stalkers, oracle, and proxy pylons for map vision and scouting instead of observers. This particular style that relies on the oracle scouting and revelation to spot the terran army has only very recently come into style, originating with sOs. The first macro oracle builds were pioneered by SKT1's Rain, who used a single oracle to poke around and scout while going double forge and colossus behind it; however, as terrans began to defend oracles better and figured out timings to exploit this greedy opening, stargate in PvT began to go out of style. However, with the recent patch, oracles can now outrun stim marines and stay alive much longer, allowing for better scouting and continual revelation on the terran army. The new survivability of the oracles allows players to skip observers (and often times a robotics facility entirely) to comfortably get their splash and upgrades. This also makes a stargate opening transition into templar builds much more smoothly. This oracle opening is very APM-intensive and requires a lot of multi-tasking and focus compared to more passive colossus openings; however, the potential to hit strong mid game timings may attract more professional players to favor it in the future.
Preparing The Mid Game (7:00-11:00)
Bomber – 3CC and SCV Pulls
Bomber adds a third CC at at the unusual time of 8:00 to prepare a super economy for the mid game. This early third CC gives Bomber a great economy advantage to maximize his production later in the game. However, the downside to going for this earlier third is that the 10:00 medivac pressure timing is sacrificed and protoss has more freedom to take their own third early. While this early third doesn't necessarily mean Bomber is planning on doing an SCV pull, it creates an ideal environment for an SCV pull if Bomber identifies a weakness in his opponent. Most SCV pulls work by creating the strongest possible economy and infrastructure and then relying on MULEs to fuel continual unit production once all the SCVs are dead. 3CC commonly leads directly into an SCV pulls by providing an economic edge against any safer, more conservative protoss build and allowing the terran just enough time to get the proper unit counter to protoss's tech – ghosts to counter templar or vikings to counter colossus – before hitting a powerful timing. Upon finishing at 10:30, Bomber immediately lifts his third CC and floats it to his third base to establish his economy. At this point, his goal is to power his economy, upgrades, and production as much as possible then rely on the power of the MULE later to sustain his continual aggression.
Bomber doesn't scout his opponent's main base this game, but the oracle implies that templar are on the way; this is because templar play transitions more smoothly and naturally out of stargate compared to colossus tech. In addition to his knowledge of PartinG's style, Bomber can brilliantly assume templar tech after seeing the oracle. Most players counter the protoss tech by going either ghosts or vikings in addition to MMM, but Bomber chooses a more unique solution: hellbat/marauder. Bomber uses hellbat/marauder primarily as a hard counter to templar builds because:
- Hellbats and marauders supported by medivacs can tank a ton of damage from storms;
- Once the hellbat numbers get high enough, they decimate the large masses of zealots primarily accompanying templar;
- Hellbat/marauder can continually trade until protoss is out of "big guns" (i.e. storms, archons, and immortals).
Bomber's choice to open with a ton of marines into hellbat/marauder gives him an incredibly powerful army going into the mid game. Along with the SCV pull and powerful economy Bomber has created with his triple orbital build, this creates a near-unstoppable army for a templar player to deal with.
PartinG – Two-Base Templar
After opening with his initial oracle and securing only a single SCV kill, PartinG begins phoenix production, going up to a total of three. Each phoenix weakens the protoss army going into the mid game; not only is it diverting gas and minerals away from upgrades and splash damage, but it is also spending money on units that cannot contribute much in direct engagements. With this in mind, PartinG has specific purposes for these phoenixes:
- Get more map vision and scouting ability;
- Deal with drops more easily;
- Pick off retreating medivacs.
Behind this, PartinG goes for a single forge and charge while teching to templar. Single forge builds often go hand in hand with templar builds; with storm as the primary damage dealer, attack upgrades are not necessary and gas saved on upgrades can be better spent on more templar. Double forge builds, however, are still quite commonly used in conjunction with templar builds in order to hit powerful 2-2 zealot/archon timings.
PartinG uses his oracle to constantly scout and keep tabs on his opponent's army.
Upon scouting the third CC, PartinG opts to play more passively and researches storm before any templar while taking a third of his own. However, in an interesting turn of events, PartinG gears up for a big chargelot/storm attack with seven gateways despite taking his third and attempting to tech behind his push. It seems that PartinG identified a specific attack timing -- based on his early storm +2 armor finishing -- to shut down a greedy terran player going 3CC. This could also be a response to scouting the third CC late and attempting to interrupt the terran economy to catch up. It's important to note that zealot/storm attacks are very delicate and must trade well or suffer horribly to the counterswing push..
Aggression (12:00 - 18:30)
PartinG – Zealot/Templar Assault on the Third
While securing a third of his own, PartinG cuts probes and prepares for a hammer-blow attack on the third base of Bomber. Right before +2 armor finishes, PartinG begins a warp prism and moves out with a large group of zealots and four high-energy templar. Meanwhile, his complete vision surrounding Bomber's base allows him to spot any kind of drops and protect him from counterattacks.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3oKOB2A.png)
PartinG uses a combination of pylons, his stargate units, and the watchtower to spot all the airspace around Bomber's base.
Unfortunately for PartinG, his fragile zealot/storm attack deals almost no damage while losing his entire army. In a spectacular display of control, Bomber pulls his SCVs to the south while pulling his units up the ramp and doing an immaculate unit spread. During this fight, blue flame also finishes and the power of the hellbats begins to shine through. PartinG runs clumps of zealots into packs of hellbats and throws away tons of army supply in a disastrous turn of events instead of playing more patiently at the bottom of Bomber's ramp. PartinG does manage to land two huge storms, but the hellbat/marauder force stands strong and rolls over PartinG's push, leaving the protoss player at a fifty supply deficit. Sensing PartinG's weakness, Bomber pulls his SCVs for a knockout blow.
Knowing this doom push is coming, PartinG throws down an extra four gateways in a desperation attempt and begins production of immortals and archons. At this point, the only hope for PartinG is to delay Bomber's push to get enough immortals and archons on the field.
Bomber – Hellbat/Marauder SCV Pull(s)
After defending PartinG's push, Bomber pulls nearly twenty SCVs in a single file line of doom. Bomber's goal in this push is to exhaust PartinG's storms first, then allowing the power of hellbat/marauder to punch a hole through the rest of PartinG's army. Knowing his only chance is to delay Bomber's push until he can get enough "heavy hitters", PartinG chooses the choke point on the natural ramp to make his stand. PartinG manages to hold his natural ramp in an outstanding display of skill with a time warp and multiple storms for almost a minute before finally losing too much. With all the storms exhausted, Bomber moves up the ramp and kills off all of the zealots and moves in for the kill with a small group of marauders and a handful of hellbats.
PartinG is able to hold this ramp effectively despite being massively behind.
As a last stand, PartinG pulls his probes to defend, buying just enough time to get an extra immortal and another warpin of zealots and allowing PartinG to finally push back Bomber's dwindling marauder army. In a situation with almost no income but an abnormally high gas bank, PartinG begins to warp in primarily archons. Bomber maintains a constant barrage of units rallied across the map while PartinG just barely manages to cling to life. However, with each engagement, PartinG is slowly building up his archon and immortal count and slowly gaining an edge.
Bomber pulls SCVs a second time in an attempt to finally end the game, only to run into a total of four archons and multiple storms. PartinG's excellent control and allows him to continually preserve his archons and start to pull ahead. Unable to close out the game now even in economy, Bomber suddenly finds himself in a situation where he might actually lose the game.
Changing Tactics (18:30-end game)
Bomber – Abandoning Frontal Pushes and Dropping
When the archon count gets too high, Bomber realizes he can no longer engage the protoss army directly with equal forces and is forced to change tactics. Bomber identifies his advantage with a more mobile army and begins to drop in multiple places and slowly pick apart PartinG's economy. This is also a good tactic due to PartinG's lack of vision; with no observers or air units, PartinG has no way to spot the drops coming in.
Hellbat drops revisited.
After killing off almost all of PartinG's probes, Bomber is finally able to break the third with a handful of marauders. Bomber marches for victory on the natural in a much more careful manner than before. PartinG, down to twenty army supply and almost no income, is unable to pull off the miracle win and is forced to tap out. GG.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XxDmIeB.png)
