Welcome to the WCS 2015 Season 1 maps analysis! As with previous seasons, Blizzard replaced 4 of the current maps with 3 of their own, and a community made one. Uncannily, Blizzard has removed 2 of the 4 newest maps from the previous season in favor of modernized ones, seemingly from feedback from the community, even replacing Foxtrot’s stay with Overgrowth’s.

The general theme for this season is larger and more unique maps compared to what we have seen before. Most maps are back to limited spawns, as 3 of the 4 new maps feature just 2 spawn positions. In-base natural expansions similar to those of Alterzim Stronghold and Nimbus are used heavily, so taking a second base will be very easy for all races. However, all maps appear to have very far or wide open third bases. Despite these similarities, each map has its own unique quirks and features.







The only community made map introduced into the new season, this map is the smallest of the new additions, being slightly larger than Daybreak. It has a rush distance of 62 from main to main, and 44 from natural to natural, making it a moderately sized rush map.

The standout feature on this map is the backdoor rocks into the main base, à la Blistering Sands. With a generous 2000 health, these rocks will likely only play out in the latter stages of the game, so players should feel safe in the early game about a back door attack. As always, keeping vision of the rocks with a pylon, supply depot, or overlord is advised, just in case.

Taking a third on this map will be problematic. The candidates are the base adjacent to the natural, or the base behind the rocks into the main base. The former is very distant from the natural itself, and it also has three different paths leading into it, further complicating its defense; the latter isn't much closer and forces the defender to position awkwardly to defend all three bases at the same time. While defending you can either hold an open space covering both the natural and the third, or shuffle between the two through a one forcefield sized ramp to defend the third. Needless to say, taking the first among the two options also opens up another attack path into the main base, so defenses should be setup accordingly. Bases after the third will be hard to maintain as well, considering how far apart everything is.

Generally speaking, this is a wide open map with large ramps and big gaps in between areas, along with many counterattack paths.


Terran players will be looking to build up an army before seizing any third base; there are many attack paths that can harass the third, and with the backdoor rocks into the main, going up to three bases quickly may be too difficult. Sensor towers can play a key role here with giving a large amount of vision along the paths towards the third bases, giving you time to re-position your army as necessary.

Protoss will want to either commit to a 2 base all-in, or try to get some early damage done to the enemy’s economy and take a third off the back of this. Either third base is very awkward becuse since ground to ground distance is fairly large. In situations where Protoss decides to take a third against Zerg, it is difficult to hold any kind of roach/hydra/ling aggression that is likely to come. Finally, abandon any hope of taking a fourth, the distances in between bases become too large at this point to reasonably hold any multi-pronged attacks.

In ZvT the backdoor rocks alone make this a 2 base roach timing map. It is also decent for standard muta/ling/bling, although there is little airspace to work with for mutas. In ZvP this is likely to be a heavy two base map for Protoss, as there are viable attack paths both to the main (through rocks), down the ramp towards the natural, and up the ramp towards the third. Swarm hosts could be very strong in longer games.





Probably the most unique map out of the lot, Secret Spring is a two player map with a size similar to Nimbus, and a straightforward path to your opponent with a rush distance of 48 seconds from main to main. At first glance, taking a third on this map looks nearly impossible. However, only one of three attack paths are immediately available, and the last one can be sealed easily by killing the rock tower. The tower has a measly 500 hit points, and upon destruction blocks the middle path with rocks that have 2000 hit points, which can grant valuable time against any incoming attack.

The other two paths are also initially sealed by rocks that have 2000 hit points each, and with these (extremely narrow) paths being the only way to access the other side of the map, drop heavy games are to be expected. Control over the attack paths will be crucial, and keeping vision and information on your opponent will be key to maintaining your ability to expand.

The only small ramp in this map is the one that leads into the main base; all the others are extremely large, and trying a wall off is almost pointless. This map also features an in-base natural, so fast expanding will be easy. It seems the difficulty on the map comes with establishing the third base, but with difficult ground access to the other side of the map, this may no't be as big of a problem. Of greater concern is the later mid game, once the rocks are down; this is when drops as well as ground attacks both become viable options for the attacker.


This looks like a great Terran map; in TvZ knocking down the rocks should enable players to do whatever they want, as long as they keep good vision. TvP could be extremely problematic with so many proxy locations and high ground warp in spots, and the huge main base could be good for blink stalkers to hit where bunkers are not. TvT will probably be drop heavy since the three paths are so choked and a siege line can easily defend them, so having vision of these paths will shut down almost any ground push.

For Protoss, again, this will be an extremely hard map to take a third on. There are a lot of proxy locations for PvT, and warp ins from the high ground down can circumvent the rocks issue, but holding onto three bases against continuous drops looks to be almost impossible.

In ZvZ, this map is very tough in the early game because of the distance from the main hatchery to the ramp. This distance makes gasless unplayable and makes 1 base zergling/baneling aggression difficult to hold. In the later stages of the game, swarm hosts and roach wars will dominate. In ZvT, creep spread is difficult to start because you have to spread it down the main ramp, and any roach/ling/baneling aggression is terrible due to the same ramp. While the map isn't necessarily bad for Zergs in the mid and late game, the disadvantageous early game might help the other two races considerably. In ZvP the in-base natural favors greedy openings into 2 base all in from Protoss. Because no real viable two base Zerg styles exist, Zerg is forced to play 3 base and do their best to defend the 2 base pushes.





Vaani Research Station is the more standard map out of the new ones, and in fact it's extremely similar to Habitation Station flipped 90 degrees. With only a few minor changes to the layout of the map, everything about this map screams Habitation Station (it even has gold bases!). This map also features yet again the in-base natural, and a third not far from the main, which should make it relatively easy to hold. Compared to its spiritual predecessor, the gold base is much harder to take and defend.

There is a single watchtower to the middle right of the map which covers the entire ground area between gold bases. Control of this not only secures your gold base, but also limits the opponent to a narrow passage on the left side of the map.

The air space on this map is quite limited, and often not enough to skirt around out of sight. The main and natural base in particular have little room around them. Overall, this map is rather wide open with many attack paths leading into each base, so keeping good map vision will be crucial, especially during the later stages of the game, in order to hold off any counterattacks or pushes.



This is the most standard map, so going up to three bases as Terran shouldn't be a problem. Floating to the gold doesn't seem to be viable, as it takes roughly 15 more seconds to land a CC from the main. Saving the gold for a fourth or fifth base should be considered due to how far away it is from blue mineral expansions and how prone it is to counter attacks. Drop play on the in-base expansion could play a key role in pulling your opponent out of position and creating an opening elsewhere on the map.

As Protoss, much of the same will apply as Terran such as harassing the main base or natural with a zealot drop, and attacking the front of their third base with the bulk of your army. With such a large and open battlefield, try to utilize the ground to get a concave on your opponent giving you a favorable engagement. A nice wall-off at the third can prevent runbys behind the mineral line.

As for Zerg, this is an extremely good swarm host map. Such a flat map is perfect for spreading creep and general swarm host harassment; also, the layout of the third, fourth and fifth base suits this style very well. The gold base should be saved for later when full creep spread on your half of the map is established, since ground to ground distance from gold to natural base can be difficult to deal with if the opponent uses medivac or warp prism drops to their full potential. It will be somewhat hard to bust any Terran or Protoss when they establish three bases, so just play for the late game.





The last map of the new bunch, Inferno Pools is one of the largest 1v1 ladder map ever created for ladder. It has the standard natural base outside of your main, but the third base is quite far from the natural. When taking the third you have the option of taking a gold base or a regular mineral base.

Both of these have risks: the pocket third has a large ramp leading into it from the opposite end of your base, and defending this could run the risk of opening up your natural to an attack. On the other hand, the gold base is more choked, but it has high ground right behind the mineral line, posing obvious drawbacks. The gold base is also very close to your opponent in horizontal spawn positions and far from your main base, making drops in vertical spawn positions more powerful.

This map also the re-introduces island bases to the ladder map pool, which can be taken as a third if your tech allows. Generally speaking, we expect primarily Terrans to be using the islands in all matchups, and perhaps Protoss in PvZ. The island base is generally weak to air play so if you do take it prepare not only for drops, but banshees and mutalisks as well.

There are two watchtowers in the middle of the map, but they only cover a small amount of vision. This allows armies to move around the sides of the map and across the ridge above each gold base unscouted. As a result, maintaining control over these watch towers does not benefit the controlling player as much as on some other maps. Taking bases after the third should be easier than the third itself with an established army and more tech.


Being one of the largest 1v1 map ever, this will suck for Terran. Huge distance from your base to the enemy, rally times will hurt attacks a lot. One thing going for T is the island base that could be taken as a potential third, considering how far away the other third bases are. This should be a drop heavy map for T, instead of trying to finish the game with a rally push, try to finish it with picking your opponent apart.

Protoss will be looking to open with phoenix PvZ, since you can’t really go for any kind of fast third build. Defending three bases is almost always going to be next to impossible; this will lead to lots of two base all-ins, along with some gimmicky mind-games such as making a warp prism and taking the island as a third.

It looks to be a heavily Zerg favored map in the ZvT and ZvP match ups in cross positions, however both vertical and horizontal spawns put the Zerg in a awkward situations. Horizontal spawns become hard due to the distance between the naturals. In vertical positions, following the standard “expand away from your opponent” concept, your third will be the gold and your fourth becomes the other base's natural, which is a very long distance to cover even for fast Zerg units. ZvZ will be quite coin flippy due to the 4 spawns; the distance from the main ramp to the natural hatch makes it near impossible to play a gasless style.

• Standard single gas MsC expand.
  
• 22 2nd gas (3x probe in geyser).
  
• Units off gateway: stalker, Sentry.
  
• 28 stargate; oracle as soon as this finishes, followed by a single phoenix vs factory openers.
  
• 32 robotics facility; 3x obs as soon as it completes.
  
• 100% robo and 200 gas: robotics bay.
  
• @ 300 minerals, 2nd/3rd gateway.
  
• Colossus as soon as you can afford it, start 3rd base while it's building.
  
• Begin phoenix production after starting the 3rd nexus.

Maps with a far away third such Expedition Lost make blink stalker/colossus play pretty difficult and is generally only playable after successful pressure in the early game; in other situations, holding a third base with this style is usually next to impossible.

Phoenix/Colossus builds, on the other hand, can negate most terrain disadvantages the map might offer. It’s pretty easy to defend 3 bases with said composition, because drops are less of a threat and this army is particularly powerful in the midgame, at the cost of a weaker lategame due to worse upgrades and delayed Templar tech. Thankfully, the 3rd base being far away also opens up aggressive possibilities for the Protoss: the Terran has to commit on the open ground to defend his 3rd if it’s being pressured, which can be exploited by an aggressive style such as this. This build aims to open with an oracle, then get a fast colossus and a fast 3rd base while gearing up for a three base timing in the midgame.

Any early game pressure by the Terran have to be defended with a stalker, a sentry, photon overcharge and the oracle; you will invest most of your early game resources into stargate and robo tech. With correct execution, these 3 units should be enough to defend any kind of attack; if necessary use the Oracle defensively rather than offensively. Note that you will also skip on forge upgrades and focus on army units for your mid-game push. Add up to 3 observers for scouting and map vision; anything less than 3 helps you tech even faster. After defending any early game pressure, get 2 more gateways and begin Colossus production. Colossi are the main damage dealers with this style; chronoboosting them non stop is absolutely vital.

You should start a 3rd nexus as soon as the first colossus is out; this is faster than a more standard and less aggressive single forge blink/colossus build, but it should still be defendable with good execution. After starting the 3rd, begin non-stop phoenix production. This fast third and the extra income it brings is what empowers the midgame attack, along with a minor probe cut: you only need about 14 probes at your 3rd nexus mining minerals, and none on gas. Add extra gates and start +1 weapons as you can afford it, without sacrificing any unit production. The exact timing isn’t set in stone, as it depends heavily on how your opponent is playing. A good army to aim for is about 4-5 colossi, 10 phoenixes, along with whatever gateway support you can afford, but this is a decision that changes from game to game. As soon as you are close to this benchmark, head straight for the Terran's third and try to end the game before your opponent gets a significant ghost count and/or 2/2 upgrades.

• 1Rax FE opener: 12 barracks, 15 orbital command, 15 marine, 16 command center.
  
• Non stop marine production off your first rax.
  
• 18 depot.
  
• 21 command center.
  
• Double gas following 3rd CC.
  
• 2nd/3rd barracks as money allows.
  
• @ 5 marines tech lab on first barracks and start stim.
  
• 4M follow up.

This build is meant to be used only on Secret Spring, where taking down the rocks effectively splits the map in two, allowing you to play much greedier than normal. It's essentially a 4M build that skips hellions in favour of a ridicolously fast 3rd CC, resulting in a much faster max and more powerful 1/1 and 2/2 pushes.

The basic opener is a 1rax CC with constant marine production, necessary to break down the rocks in the middle of the map, into a 3rd CC with extra raxes. Because you won't ever have hellions on the map, scouting with hidden scv's or marines and scans becomes mandatory to spot cheese and all-ins in time and prepare accordingly. It's paramount to keep one marine or scv on the other side of the base before you break the rocks, in order to have a solid initial read of the Zerg when scouting his build. Keep a marine in between the two rock towers as well to keep vision of the Zerg side of the rocks, this should warn of any incoming pressure. Note that opening 15 CC isn't possible with this style, as you won't have enough marines early on to break the rocks.

The greedy early game leads into a much harder hitting 1/1 medivac timing at 11:30, and to a much earlier infrastructure setup in your base: all 8 barracks will be completed by 11:30, with 2/2 upgrades on the way. Once your mid game army kicks in, you should be able to batter down your zerg opponent with well timed drops and attacks.

• 10 depot.
  
• 12 rax, make 2 marines, a reactor, then continuous marine production until the extra factories are ready.
  
• 16 gas.
  
• 17 orbital command.
  
• @100 gas: fact. Off the factory: widow mine 2x, tech lab, tanks.
  
• 20 command center.
  
• @100% fact: starport, second gas. Off the starport: medivac, tech lab, raven, banshee, move to a reactor and begin viking production.
  
• 3rd CC as soon as the medivac is done and your drop is on the way.
  
• 4th CC as soon as you can afford it at the island expansion. Use an scv in a medivac to build it directly on the island.
  
• 2 extra factories and 2 armories as soon as you can afford it. You want 2 factories with tech labs and one with a reactor.

During the last Proleague playoffs, Bbyong surprised players and spectators alike by using the same TvP mech build three times in a row on the same map (Outboxer), showing an unsual confidence in a style of play that is generally considered not viable. Despite being able to easily surprise and beat Classic, the duo of PartinG and Rain showed better preparation and were able to take back-to-back wins against him. Nevertheless, it was clear that BByong and the CJ Entus coaching staff strongly believed in the potential of the style.

With the new map pool, this style could see a resurgence, as Inferno Pools is somewhat similar to Outboxer; particularly thanks to a very accessible island expansion and long rush distance, which should make up for a more exposed third.

As you can see from the build order, the basic idea is to open with a mine drop for safety, scouting and harassment, followed by a Raven to deny any observers from flying in your base, hiding your true intentions. While pressuring with your first medivac make sure to not lose marines needlesly. Opening 1-1-1 with 4 CC's leaves you with very few units, and until your extra factories kick in later on in the game, marines, along with some tank and medivac support, are your only defense. Do not hesitate in delaying the your 3rd base if necessary; estabilishing economy and then infractructure is an extremely fragile phase of the game. As you float the 3rd CC in place, build bunkers for your marines.

With some luck, your opponent will assume you are going bio and opt for a colossus-stalker build with a delayed 3rd base, an extremely poor choice against a mech player. This will buy enough time to set up a powerful 4base economy, including one island, along with 3 factories and a starport pumping mech units.

Brought to you by the TL Strategy Team
Writers: Jer99, Zeromus, Thaniri, Moosegills, Zeth, Whitewing
Graphics: v1
Editor: NovemberstOrm, Teoita