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This was 1 of my 3 submissions for the Team Liquid writers appeal (for lack of a better term), I decided to post it now instead of later as the longer time that passes since the match the less people will care about the awesomeness that ensued. The other submissions are not match reviews and can therefore be posted at anytime should TL want me to. In the mean time, you guys can decide whether this was any good. Will add pictures as soon as I get the opportunity to rewatch the match and take screenshots. Any criticisms of my writing would be greatly appreciated.
The following review of the Boxer vs Zenio games will have spoilers. Go watch the games, they were awesome. You have been warned. Why are you still reading this?
Boxer vs Zenio NASL match
The Players
SlayerSBoxer Versus oGsZenio
Maps
Game 1: Backwater Gulch
Game 2: Tal'darim Altar LE
Game 3: MLG Metalopolis
Anywho, as always, I was very excited for this match up. Despite being a Toss at heart, TvZ is one of the most exciting matchups to watch, and any game that Boxer plays in will have me glued to the screen with my fanboy hat on. At first glance, I thought it might disappoint. An early pool with drones added to the rush only to arrive at Boxer’s base to find it walled in. This left Zenio to immediately GG which left Incontrol wondering whether anything that he hypes can possibly turn out the way he hopes. On the plus side, this was perhaps the funniest moment that he and Gretorp have had on screen so far. The Thumbs Down dance has yet to become a meme, but I have hope. What interested me about this game was Zenio’s thought process; he expected some sort of strangely positioned barracks from Boxer, which in turn would have allowed him to waltz right in and win an easy game. Boxer however was predictably unpredictable by doing the predictable, thus thwarting the oGs player.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/yCNie.jpg)
iNcontrol's thoughts on that game.
Luckily game 2 was just what the casters had hoped for; some superb creativity from the Emperor, and some absolutely brilliant, focused, reliable play from Zenio.
Here is a peek at some of the abuse boxer was pulling off on the old version of Tal'darim, don't click the spoiler if you want to see it in the game (which despite the fact I keep telling you to you still haven't done):
+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/6jQiO.jpg) Boxer will stop at nothing to abuse map design to its fullest.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/Ai1rq.jpg)
With zerglings streaming in at all angles, there is only so much the tanks can do to hold.
In game 3 Boxer played a cocky two racks opening, in full view of Zenio’s overlord, which prompted Zenio to reraise by opening Hatch first. After the short micro battle, as soon as the marines pulled back to avoid falling prey to the morphing spine crawler, Zenio cancelled it, and went back to droning. The mind games of these players never stopped raising eyebrows. First Boxer opened exactly as Zenio had hoped he would have done in the first game, and then he continued on that route despite letting the zerg see it, only for Zenio to unflinchingly continue his economic opening, planning on defending the pressure using only drones. Then finally, having defended it with only minor damage, he canceled the spine, predicting that Boxer was pulling back entirely. Zenio has definitely got the minerals. The game continued to ramp up, with it ending in a very tense and then brutal (for one of the players) push. I haven’t seen one player’s food count plummet so drastically since before the patch to the archon toilet, but I have to admit, the suspense was killing me.
I am adding another spoiler tag here, just in case you still haven't watched it.
(Can you hear the frustration in my fingers as I type that? I can.)
+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/zqb1b.jpg) A small step for Boxer's marines. A giant leap for green goo.
Good game to both players, and I can’t wait to watch more from them.
I would like to end with a shoutout to how amazing the NASL is, you guys get a bad rap, but that is because we can’t stand to see anything but perfection. I can’t wait for the years ahead when people talk of you two the way people talk of tastosis now, the quintessential duo of casters who make the NASL what it will become. Keep it up!
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/e0rJD.jpg)
Gretorp would like to let you know, that he is sorry sir.
Edits: Adding photos and a few structural changes. I had great fun hearing the caster's go "ah-ah-Ah-AAh" each time i paused/unpaused in trying to get that second to last image.
Thanks to the NASL and Liquipedia for the images, although the fact that zenio's image wasn't to the same scale as Boxers one made me cry :D
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I applaud your effort and respect the guts it takes to put your stuff out there. However, you have several typos, a number of run-on sentences, and a lot of incorrect/inconsistent use of punctuation – all of which make your work somewhat difficult to read. Anyway, keep working at it and best of luck to you.
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Fair enough, i have reread it a couple of times, but i shall do so again shortly. Am currently writing an essay for my degree however, so i should probably finish that first. We all know how hard it is to detect errors in one's own writing.
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Could you put pictures in your review? It will be a lot better than just wall of text 
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I'm working on it now, thanks for the support
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where can the games be watched?
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The games can be watched here if you have subscribed to the NASL. If you haven't then you should. The original purpose of this thread was to help persuade people to sign up and see what have been some of my favourite games of starcraft 2 that have been played so far.
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Pictures have now been uploaded, enjoy guys. I hope you enjoy reading this as i enjoyed posting it. Even if i don't get the place i might do more of these anyway if they are appreciated.
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I think Zenio 7pooled because of the map tbh. iNcontroL was surprised because as a Protoss, all of the maps are good for him
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On May 04 2011 20:19 Surili wrote:
Pictures have now been uploaded, enjoy guys. I hope you enjoy reading this as i enjoyed posting it. Even if i don't get the place i might do more of these anyway if they are appreciated.
Very nicely done man, dont listen to the people who complain about typos's. You succeeded in getting your message across and that's all that matters!
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Thanks very much Means a lot to me. That said i still can't find the typos, so maybe you could point them out to me?
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On May 04 2011 20:48 oncearunner wrote:Show nested quote +On May 04 2011 20:19 Surili wrote:
Pictures have now been uploaded, enjoy guys. I hope you enjoy reading this as i enjoyed posting it. Even if i don't get the place i might do more of these anyway if they are appreciated. Very nicely done man, dont listen to the people who complain about typos's. You succeeded in getting your message across and that's all that matters!
Actually, no.
When you're writing an application for a writing position, EVERYTHING matters. Typos are pretty high on this list.
Typos make something look unprofessional, which the OP wants to avoid.
That aside, I thought it was well-written - in fact I think this was better written than some of the recent TL recaps.
So, on the whole, well done. =)
(Also, if it helps, one typo is located in the sentence "Here is a peak of some of the abuse boxer was pulling off on the old version of Tal'darim,")
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On May 04 2011 20:58 Sarang wrote:Show nested quote +On May 04 2011 20:48 oncearunner wrote:On May 04 2011 20:19 Surili wrote:
Pictures have now been uploaded, enjoy guys. I hope you enjoy reading this as i enjoyed posting it. Even if i don't get the place i might do more of these anyway if they are appreciated. Very nicely done man, dont listen to the people who complain about typos's. You succeeded in getting your message across and that's all that matters! Actually, no. When you're writing an application for a writing position, EVERYTHING matters. Typos are pretty high on this list. Typos make something look unprofessional, which the OP wants to avoid. That aside, I thought it was well-written - in fact I think this was better written than some of the recent TL recaps. So, on the whole, well done. =) (Also, if it helps, one typo is located in the sentence "Here is a peak of some of the abuse boxer was pulling off on the old version of Tal'darim,")
I agree entirely, i would like to avoid any typos at all. I think it is very important. I have changed peek now
Any others you see would be greatly appreciated. If i were to get the position i would obviously be very important to iron those out.
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This left Zenio to immediately GG left Incontrol wondering
In my opinion should be one of the two:
This left Zenio to immediately GG. This left.....
This left Zenio to immediately GG, which in return left.......
And again:
Zenio has definitely got the minerals
Zenio has definitely mined more minerals.
(disregard above if you're saying he can afford to cancel it? which makes little to no sense because he had to have the minerals to start it, but if you did, be more clear on your thoughts(aka write down why you think this))
Or even better!
Zenio has pulled ahead with the minerals gained.
Anyway, apart from those little minor things, very well written article. I don't tune into the NASL due to their production flaws, but this definitely gave a lot of information, as well as nice timed screenshots.
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I've really got to consider the NASL subscription. This is a great start. I hope to see more NASL reviews in this style and with the sweet choice of pics from the cast.
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On May 04 2011 21:07 MonkSEA wrote:
This left Zenio to immediately GG left Incontrol wondering
In my opinion should be one of the two:
This left Zenio to immediately GG. This left.....
This left Zenio to immediately GG, which in return left.......
And again:
Zenio has definitely got the minerals
Zenio has definitely mined more minerals.
(disregard above if you're saying he can afford to cancel it? which makes little to no sense because he had to have the minerals to start it, but if you did, be more clear on your thoughts(aka write down why you think this))
Or even better!
Zenio has pulled ahead with the minerals gained.
Anyway, apart from those little minor things, very well written article. I don't tune into the NASL due to their production flaws, but this definitely gave a lot of information, as well as nice timed screenshots.
It is actually a pun in reference to the film Snatch in which having the minerals means being willing to show that you have what it takes to follow through with a bluff.
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I enjoyed reading your post and found it interesting enough to make me go watch the matches. Good job promoting the community and on a personal note i didn't find reading the post difficult at all, your choice of words in the written medium does not lead me to believe that i have misinterpreted the idea which you where trying to convey.
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Hey,
I really enjoyed reading your recap. If your looking for advices, I let here my suggestion :
* I had trouble understanding the organisation of your recap. I was kinda surprised no to find anything about game 3, and therefore I didn't understand that you were gonna treat the third one only. I think you should kinda use some sort of spatial organisation to explain this.
* Maybe you could format your text a little ? I think adding titles could also help. And puting more space between images and text, maybe center and reduce the images ?
* Hehe I was awaiting some kind of general conclusions about why the games were so good contrarely to other TvZ too :D but I couldn't find any  .
Hope I might help !
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On May 04 2011 21:20 HonorZ wrote:
I really enjoyed reading your recap. If your looking for advices, I let here my suggestion :
* I had trouble understanding the organisation of your recap. I was kinda surprised no to find anything about game 3, and therefore I didn't understand that you were gonna treat the third one only. I think you should kinda use some sort of spatial organisation to explain this.
Thanks, but i actually don't understand what you mean at all, all three games were written about, could you clarify?
On May 04 2011 21:20 HonorZ wrote:
* Maybe you could format your text a little ? I think adding titles could also help. And puting more space between images and text, maybe center and reduce the images ?
Titles might well be a good idea, i'll keep that in mind for next time. as well as reducing the images if necessary. I did try to cut the images so that it was easy to see what i was trying to convey, but i'll make sure to make it as clear as possible.
On May 04 2011 21:20 HonorZ wrote:* Hehe I was awaiting some kind of general conclusions about why the games were so good contrarely to other TvZ too :D but I couldn't find any . Hope I might help !
That as another good point, which i'll keep in mind. I am trying to avoid rewriting any large parts of this as i would like to keep it in more or less the same state that i sent it off to the submissions people in. I will try to remember this for next time however, which i promise will be better!
That said, the review was meant to be about 70% hype and 30% analysis, as one of my other submissions were much more analytical. Still, i did need to say exactly why this one was so good.
Surili.
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Oh man, this review would be fantastic if it had just a tad bit more formatting.this review of the GSL Open Season 1 Grand Finals is the standard of nigh-excellence to me.
Noted that it is still only Group Play and not the Grand Finals in the NASL, but Zenio and the Emperor certainly deserve that measure of perfection, no? A few more tweaks and I think this article is well on its way there.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/2/24/Boxergstar.png)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/qhATZ.png)
