EPT
![[image loading]](http://liquipedia.net/commons/images/f/f6/GSL_Super_Tournament_Logo_2017.png){kind=logo}
After three days of games, only
Classic, Dark, herO, and Stats remained to contend for the GSL Super Tournament championship. Semifinals recap
Match 1:
Classic 1 – 3 
DarkGame 1: Classic opened the series with a proxy stargate on Acid Plant. A diligent scout from Dark saw him take minimal initial damage. Classic’s follow up was a massive gateway attack off two bases, but Dark got enough roaches and queens in time to hold. A deadly counterattack followed soon after.
Game 2: It was Dark who chose to be the aggressor on Neon Violet Square, with a proxy hatchery into ravager bust. Classic quickly lost control of the natural and, despite a valiant last stand in his main, could not hold on.
Game 3: Backwater didn’t see much action for most of the early game. Classic, after opening with a standard stargate into archon drop, began pressuring Dark with zealots at the fourth base and the prism in the main. He cancelled Dark's attempted fourth base repeatedly and found himself taking his own even earlier then the Zerg. Dark tried for a counterattack with hydras and lurkers, but had his army destroyed by storms. Nowhere near close to hive, Dark played his last card—a big mutalisk switch. Unfortunately for him, Classic was already beginning his sky transition and already had three stargates up. Dark found some good harassment and added in corruptors, but it was only a matter of time before Classic's vastly superior army won him the game once he had stabilized enough to attack.
Game 4: Classic decided to gamble his tournament life on a 2-base charge all-in on Eastwatch. Unfortunately for him, Dark, despite never scouting the build, opened with a 2-base lair build for roach speed. Classic's attack was easily deflected and the Protoss found himself on two bases, with a subpar probe count and only then resumed gas mining. Dark built up a little longer before dealing the killing blow with a roach/ravager attack.
Match 2:
herO 1 – 3 StatsGame 1: Neon Violet Square saw both players sit back until the midgame. Stats chose to go for robotics tech and immortals while herO opted for blink. Despite some good moves herO’s tech didn’t pay off, allowing Stats to amass and push across the map with immortals and archons and zealots. Stats hit the main with a warp prism and the third with his main army, spreading herO a bit too thin and taking the first game.
Game 2: Both players decided to open with the currently popular 4gate build. Stats had the better army movements and was able to catch herO’s units and pylons to control the map. With his momentum, Stats contained herO while expanding behind it. Forced to act, herO got his army trapped by forcefields and conceded.
Game 3: Both Protoss decided to return to the more technical midgame on Eastwatch. herO was the first to put on some pressure, catching a few of Stats’ units outside the natural ramp. Smelling blood, herO switched gears into a mass glaive attack that was too strong for Stats to handle.
Game 4: Both players opened with stargate tech on Acid Plant. Despite taking some damage from herO's oracle, Stats steadily returned the favor with his phoenix. herO got blink and desperately tried to keep up with the harass, but kept bleeding more units. In desperation herO turned to a dark shrine but had his DTs caught out of position by the phoenix. Stats then pushed across the map to take the series.
Grand Finals recap
Dark 3 – 4 StatsGame 1: Dark chose to go for a roach ravager composition and attempted to pressure Stats’ fourth base on Neon Violet Square after standard openings from both with not much action. Stats' patient defense with psionic storm let him defend his fourth base with barely any losses. Once he maxed out, with a mothership added to his army, there was nothing Dark's dated roach/ravager army could do to stop him.
Game 2: Acid Plant saw both players forgo aggression in favor of economy. Stats tried to hit Dark with a zealot/archon attack, but Dark was expertly prepared, denying the Protoss a foothold in his main and deflecting any attacks on his third. Now ahead in supply, Dark counterattacked Stats for a quick win.
Game 3: Things heated up on Backwater as Dark decided to go for a proxy hatchery ravager rush. Despite scouting it, Stats was unable to prevent the slow crawl of queens, spores and ravagers from smashing down his walls and hitting his natural, so he decided to put Dark all-in by destroying his economy with oracles. Stats had to use his own probes in the defense though, and even they were not enough to help him defeat Dark's army. When the dust settled, a single ravager was left to decide the game in Dark's favor.
Game 4: The game on Catalyst normalized after some early expansion-blocking shenanigans from both players. Stats once again did an archon drop while expanding, but Dark not only denied the third but also completely deflected the pressure. While Stats was busy microing Dark went for the throat, busting into the natural of Stats with banelings and dealing crippling economic damage, forcing Stats to tap out.
Game 5: Despite light harass on Blackpink, both players were mostly free to macro up to their lategame compositions. Stats was the first to try and push out with archons, immortals and high templar, but didn't get much done with it. A drop from Stats delayed the Zerg long enough for him to complete his carrier transition, allowing him to win the crucial engagement. He forced the GG from Dark soon after.
Game 6: Stats again fell back on his archon drop opening on Eastwatch. Things looked similar to the second game, with the drop doing little damage and Dark cancelling the Protoss third with a ling flood. Stats decided to try an attack, but a snipe of two immortals in the middle of the map forced him to retreat. All the momentum was on Dark's side, but he threw it away by bashing his head against Stats' defensive wall with ling/bane attacks, getting progressively worse trades against storms, until Stats' army was too big and strong to contest. With no real answer to Stats’ deathball, still sitting on lair tech himself, Dark tapped out at 190 supply.
Game 7: With everything on the line, Darkness Sanctuary began relatively calmly, with only light harass coming from Stats. He then attempted a double archon drop to decide his tournament fate. Despite doing good damage, Stats was not able to finish Dark off and had to retreat. At home, he was taking his fourth base and producing probes. Dark tried to mix it up via some burrowed roach tactics but, despite reducing Stats’ worker numbers to 48, he wasn’t able to force the Protoss back across the map. Stats, with an army of templar, immortals and archons, kept trading with Dark, cost efficiently whittling down the army. Dark attempted a surprise muta switch but it wasn't enough to hold on and he was forced to concede the GSL Super Tournament to Stats.
