The Best Games of March 2014

by lichter

After our Best Games of January/February article was so well received, we've decided to continue with a March edition. We've selected a handful of the games for a special spotlight, and there's an even longer list of great games from March at the bottom of this post (or just click this link).

If you want to see the list of every great game since HotS was released, go and check out the Best Games/VODs of HoTS thread if you haven't already.

Note: Some of these games aren't so great as they are hilarious.

NightEnD vs Starbuck on DF Yeonsu - VOD

There is only one real shared experience between progamers and bronzies that play Zerg, and that's getting your natural getting cannon rushed by some dirty Protoss. Even after 3-years of practice, progamers are still getting sucker punched in big games. But if you had to choose a player to shamelessly cheese, why would you pick Starbuck?

A true mad scientist, Starbuck has a reputation for thinking of absurd strategies and making them work. In one of his games in the Ro32 against MMA, he proxied an infestation pit for surprise infested terrans, and it worked. Getting in an out of crazy situations is just what Starbuck does, and based on this game, he's probably mastered the art of beating cannon rushes. After getting locked in his base, he decided that there was only one path to victory: swarm hosts through an in base nydus. It's something that sounds like bronze-logic at first, yet ends up being so-crazy-it-acually-kinda-works.

Classic vs PartinG on Habitation Station - VOD

While The Great Book of Protoss Bullshit has some of the best Protoss strategies known to man, it forgot to include one of the most basic and most revered strategies in PvP, the unscouted proxy 2gate. You'd think that early probe scouting would be normal in PvP, but instead we end up seeing players gambling $100,000 on the assumption of "nah, he won't proxy."

Even teammates aren't exempt from this dastardly tactic. Not even attempting to hide his balls, Classic built his gateways right in the middle of PartinG's natural. Classic seemed assured a victory after PartinG failed to scout, but he couldn't have expected what actually happened. Displaying some of the best decision making and micro we've ever seen in early game PvP, PartinG found a way to turn the situation around and somehow come out with a victory.

Revival vs jjakji on Crux Heavy Rain - VOD

Look, we're going to ask you to trust us on this one. This is an hour-long mech vs. swarm host game. And it's actually really, really good.

Yes, Soulkey and Reality have caused irreparable damage to the reputation of mech vs. swarm hosts. However, it doesn't mean that it can't lead to great games in the hands of other players. DRG vs Flash was excellent. So was HyuN vs jjakji. We're going to go out on a limb here and say that this game, jjakji vs Revival from IEM, was even better. So please, give it a chance.

sOs vs jjakji on Alterzim Stronghold - VOD

Last month, we featured a memorable game between SuperNova and Stats that involved an atypical carrier transition to beat mech. It seemed like a one off strategy that relied heavily on your opponent not having many units that shoot up, and despite it being awesome, much of its hype involved the appearance of carriers than actual gameplay. It was unicorn sighting and SuperNoVa got gored while he was rubbing his eyes in disbelief. After that, everything went back to normal.

We like to imagine that sOs saw the game and told himself, "Stats has the best carrier build? Oh hell no," while performing wheelies on his computer chair made of 20 dollar bills. Meeting jjakji in the second round of IEM WC, sOs would pull out the most normal and most sensible carrier build we had ever seen on Alterzim Stronghold. sOs opened with an oracle and followed it up with phoenixes, using their mobility to keep jjakji on his side of the map similar to mutas. After taking 3 quick bases and a ninja fourth, sOs warped in a fleet beacon, and there was no way anyone thought that was for phoenix range. sOs went on to slowly amass an army of carriers, colossus, archons and templar, redefining what it means to "get Protossed."

Full List of March 2014 Games

March 1: WCS EU Ro32
Grubby vs Kas - VOD

March 6: Code S Ro16
Maru vs Dear - VOD - Paywall

March 7: WCS EU Ro32
NightEnD vs Starbuck - VOD

March 7: WCS EU Ro32
MMA vs Starbuck - VOD

March 9: SeatStory Cup 1
jjakji vs HyuN - VOD

March 12: Code S Ro16
Classic vs PartinG - VOD

March 14: IEM World Championship
herO[jOin] vs HyuN - VOD

March 14: IEM World Championship
Revival vs jjakji - VOD

March 14: IEM World Championship
HerO vs Dear - VOD

March 15: IEM World Championship
sOs vs jjakji - VOD

March 15: IEM World Championship
TaeJa vs Life - VOD

March 15: IEM World Championship
herO[jOin] vs San - VOD

Previous Articles

Best Games of January and February

Grand List Compiler: monk, lichter.
Photos: ESL