TY defeated PartinG 4-2 in the first Code S semifinal, earning a return to the grand finals for his first time since the autumn of 2018. PartinG, despite having won a shocking 3-2 upset over Maru in the previous round, was unable to overcome TY's early-game gambits in what ended up being a relatively fast and one-sided series.
TY set the tone for the series with a Proxy-Barracks, Concussive Shells Marauder cheese in game one. Though PartinG cautiously Probe-scouted the landscape of Ever Dream for a proxy build, TY's clever (or lucky?) Barracks placement prevented it from being spotted. PartinG was caught completely off-guard, and the game was effectively over once the first two Marauders destroyed the first Stalker. Follow-up Marines and Marauders quickly forced the GG out of PartinG before the 3:30 mark.
Game two saw the battlefield move to Golden Wall, where TY looked to take advantage of the "please drop here" nook in the main base, just as he had against Dark in the previous round. By walling off his main and showing PartinG nothing but a handful of Marines, TY forced PartinG to prepare for an early frontal attack. That allowed TY's fast Hellion-drop to sneak into the Protoss main, where they were able to roast a crippling number of Probes (PartinG's poor Probe evacuation micro exacerbated the damage). TY easily fended off PartinG's desperation DT drop, and then rolled out with his main army for his second win.
TY changed up his opener yet again in game three on Simulacrum, this time proxying a single Barracks to apply some light Reaper pressure. PartinG chased the Reaper off with ease, and immediately sent a Zealot and Stalker to counter-attack TY. Perhaps not expecting his opponent to return fire so quickly, TY was caught with an in-construction Command Center on the low-ground and just a couple of Reapers in defense. PartinG forced TY to cancel the CC, giving him what seemed to be a commanding lead in the early game.
However, PartinG had erred by forgetting to start his Warp Gate research at the proper timing, and was suddenly left in the same position as TY had been: in possession of a low-ground expansion but with no units to defend it. TY's counter-counter-attack of six Hellions and his leftover Reapers gleefully ignored the defenders and massacred PartinG's Probes, prompting another quick GG.
TY looked to close the series out in a 4-0 sweep on Eternal Empire, bringing yet another aggressive opener to the table. This time, he cranked Marines out of a Reactor-Barracks, using the Marines as a distraction for the Hellion drop behind it. The Hellions found their mark yet again, roasting twelve Probes before evacuating.
However, unlike the game on Golden Wall, PartinG had gone for 4-Gate Blink instead of DT drop, and thus finally got a chance to use his signature build. TY found himself in a Maru-like predicament—he had done Probe damage, and he knew that he just had to defend against the incoming Blink-Stalker pressure to win. But, just like Maru, simply knowing what was coming wasn't enough to save TY. PartinG showed off his one-of-a-kind Blink-Stalker micro, surgically picking off Marines, punishing mispositioned Tanks, and preserving his red-HP units. Each round of Stalker warp-ins saw the Terran forces grow weaker while the Protoss snowball rolled out of control, forcing TY to concede and give PartinG his first win of the series.
PartinG looked to build more momentum toward a comeback in game five on Zen, opening with a Proxy 2-Gate against a hidden-Barracks Reaper opener from TY. While it looked as though PartinG had a chance to do some early damage, TY was able to hold off a Stalker and Zealot with ease. On the other end of the map, PartinG finally defended one of TY's drops without taking severe damage (a Mine drop this time around), making it seem like the two players would actually be headed to their first 'normal' game of the series.
Instead, the game took an unusual mid-game twist. As it neared time to take his third base, TY's Marines and Marauders moved out far too recklessly against PartinG's containment force of Blink-Stalkers. Against PartinG's Blink-micro, this ended up being a one-sided army donation. When PartinG picked off a Medivac full of Marines soon after, he sniffed out an opportunity to end the game. With his Psionic Storm upgrade complete, PartinG rallied his forces for an attack on TY's third. This turned out to be the exact window of opportunity PartinG was looking for, as he crushed the weakened Terran army to force a second GG out of TY.
Had losing two consecutive games gotten to TY's head? He made a major change to his strategic doctrine in game six, going for his first first flat-out, defense-only, macro build on Nightshade. PartinG tried to poke around with Blink Stalkers, but couldn't get much done against the dedicated defenses. He followed TY into the mid-game, gearing up to attack at a later window.
That attack came at around the ten minute mark, with PartinG having assembled a large force of Zealots and Stalkers supported by a handful of Colossi and Archons. Unfortunately for PartinG, he botched his two-sided attack into TY's third base, with the two halves of his army attacking and being defeated separately. This gave TY some precious breathing room as he continued to roll out his defensive game-plan. Instead of the standard mech composition he had shown in previous rounds, he went for a "bio-mech" comp with a large number of Tanks to support a Marine-Marauder-Ghost army. The mindset, though, was very mech-like: he was going to be passive, expand slowly, and make the Protoss come to him.
On PartinG's end, he responded by taking eight bases, increasing his production facilities, and going for heavy harassment with Zealots and Blink-Dark Templars. However, TY was more than ready for PartinG to test his defenses, and deployed his forces accordingly. Thanks to his liberally placed Sensor Towers and Planetary Fortresses, as well as his ability to quickly reposition on defense, TY was able to sit back and let PartinG impale himself on the entrenched Terran lines (this error from PartinG was particularly brutal). While it became very apparent that PartinG was bleeding himself dry with wasteful attacks, TY was in no particular hurry to end the game. He continued to drop Nukes in Protoss territory, entice PartinG into suicidal attacks, and slowly take more bases. Only when victory seemed 100% assured did TY march across the halfway mark on the map, forcing the final GG out of PartinG and clinching a 4-2 victory.
Code S will continue on Saturday, May 30 4:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) with INnoVation vs Cure in the second semifinal match.
So many big mistakes from PartinG that series. By “big” mistakes, I’m not even talking about the normal mistakes a pro will make in the course of a game. Not researching warp gate. Not walling off when the opponent was going to counter. Sending only half the army to attack on a timing attack that depended on all the units attacking at the same time. Arguably, these are the type of mistakes players make at lower leagues, not at the very top pro level.
Also, I want to say that PartinG’s aggressive stalker style was never really countered by Maru or by Ty (except when Ty cheesed him, preventing PartinG from getting to the point of mass stalkers). In game 3, PartinG would have won had he researched warp gate and walled off. In game 6, PartinG would also have won had he sent his whole army in, not just 1/2 his army. It would be 4-2 PartinG and not the other way around if PartinG didn’t make those mistakes. There was no counter to PartinG’s aggressive stalker style and if this becomes the new meta for PvsT, I don’t see how a top Terran can counter this.
On May 28 2020 09:23 kajtarp wrote: I hope TY lifts up the trophy. It's now or never...
He has a pretty good shot, but TvT is the worst matchup for the kind of cheesy shenanigans that TY relied on to get past Dark and Parting. And of course, your opponent can always do it right back. There may or may not be a mental factor in TY's head as well–he has 2 GSL silvers already and number 3 would start putting him in soO territory.
Also, Inno's TvT has looked extremely strong as of late–his recent record is significantly better than TY's–and he's seemingly abandoned his former hesitation about embracing cheesy shenanigans of his own. Refer to double proxy BC.
On May 28 2020 09:35 xelnaga_empire wrote: So many big mistakes from PartinG that series. By “big” mistakes, I’m not even talking about the normal mistakes a pro will make in the course of a game. Not researching warp gate. Not walling off when the opponent was going to counter. Sending only half the army to attack on a timing attack that depended on all the units attacking at the same time. Arguably, these are the type of mistakes players make at lower leagues, not at the very top pro level.
Also, I want to say that PartinG’s aggressive stalker style was never really countered by Maru or by Ty (except when Ty cheesed him, preventing PartinG from getting to the point of mass stalkers). In game 3, PartinG would have won had he researched warp gate and walled off. In game 6, PartinG would also have won had he sent his whole army in, not just 1/2 his army. It would be 4-2 PartinG and not the other way around if PartinG didn’t make those mistakes. There was no counter to PartinG’s aggressive stalker style and if this becomes the new meta for PvsT, I don’t see how a top Terran can counter this.
It does seem extremely potent, requires really vigilant defence but also is extremely difficult to read. You can diverge from constantly warping in stalkers and going for the kill, to an initial poke while expanding or teching behind it.
Parting does execute this style on an insane level, so there is that ‘just play like Maru’ element to it. Don’t think recent win rates reflect it but I’d still consider Trap a better standard PvT player, probably the best out there currently but I couldn’t see him pulling off what Parting can in terms of this hyper aggressive style with pristine micro.
People are talking how weak protoss is currently, but I think this game shows how protoss top players are not as skillful as some of top other race players. On the last macro game, Parting was literally taking bases left and right while pressuring. At almost all points, he was up at least one base on TY. If Parting didn't suicide his clump of units (see the footage), or just keep shoving down blink DT/chargelots to melt, he would have easily won. Losing 44 DTs in a game and expecting to win is insane
On May 28 2020 09:35 xelnaga_empire wrote: So many big mistakes from PartinG that series. By “big” mistakes, I’m not even talking about the normal mistakes a pro will make in the course of a game. Not researching warp gate. Not walling off when the opponent was going to counter. Sending only half the army to attack on a timing attack that depended on all the units attacking at the same time. Arguably, these are the type of mistakes players make at lower leagues, not at the very top pro level.
Also, I want to say that PartinG’s aggressive stalker style was never really countered by Maru or by Ty (except when Ty cheesed him, preventing PartinG from getting to the point of mass stalkers). In game 3, PartinG would have won had he researched warp gate and walled off. In game 6, PartinG would also have won had he sent his whole army in, not just 1/2 his army. It would be 4-2 PartinG and not the other way around if PartinG didn’t make those mistakes. There was no counter to PartinG’s aggressive stalker style and if this becomes the new meta for PvsT, I don’t see how a top Terran can counter this.
No counter? What? The 1st time Maru played against it he allowed an obs to literally plant itself right over the ramp of his main base giving Parting virtually total vision the entire game and sloppily let siege tanks be picked off instead of positioning them farther back. Then Parting did the exact same thing (Artosis and Tasteless were saying this is pretty much dejavu) Maru played much smarter about denying the obs and stuff and he won.
So 1) Its really silly to say there's no counter its just strong 2) Maru actually did counter it
This was embarrassing, I don't think I've ever seen that many mistakes from a pro of that caliber. Half the army not attacking or attacking rocks, the way he responded to hellion drops etc..Poor Parting, he really didn't look confident.
As fun as the series was, the most 'deserving' player won. TY is a far more complete player.
Aside from his excellent blink-stalker micro and good timing attacks, Parting was simply outclassed in terms of raw mechanics (botched attack in G6), and mental strength (WG research). I know people have a soft spot for Big Boy and his antics, but there's no denying that he's a rather one-dimensional player i.e. reliant on timing attacks (blink stalker now, soul-train in the past). But doesn't he deserve trophies anyway considering MC's similar playstyle and more successes? I guess MC had the extra mental strength, and slightly lucky to peak before the 'elephants' came marching in. The best KeSPA analogy would be Hero. They're not at the level of sOs nor Classic (similar tricky players but a bigger bag of tricks).
TY has been grinding since BW - more than 10 years? He's the 'original' Terran prodigy (now outshone by Maru). He's had mental blocks in the past (getting reverse-swept), and managed to hold on by sheer grit yesterday.
I hope TY goes on to win the tourney (as much as I'm cheering for the robot as well).
This series was so painful to watch. Brilliant game plan by TY and excellent execution. Parting got mind-gamed too hard and was shaken up and made lots of errors on his part.
I can't believe people in chat/comments are complaining about balance... still. After 10 years... I don't think most Protoss players can execute Parting's level of micro. Just look at other top Protoss players like Zest, Trap and Stats who all don't play this style.
Not to mention this Blink play can get hard countered by a concussive-shell Maurader 2 rax push just like how Maru and TY were able to do. Before Blink research completes, you hit with 2/3 Mauraders plus Marines and SCVs. Protoss can't counter that unless early scouted, plus at least 2 shield batteries and quick probe pull.
On May 28 2020 12:34 MoonyD wrote: This series was so painful to watch. Brilliant game plan by TY and excellent execution. Parting got mind-gamed too hard and was shaken up and made lots of errors on his part.
I can't believe people in chat/comments are complaining about balance... still. After 10 years... I don't think most Protoss players can execute Parting's level of micro. Just look at other top Protoss players like Zest, Trap and Stats who all don't play this style.
Not to mention this Blink play can get hard countered by a concussive-shell Maurader 2 rax push just like how Maru and TY were able to do. Before Blink research completes, you hit with 2/3 Mauraders plus Marines and SCVs. Protoss can't counter that unless early scouted, plus at least 2 shield batteries and quick probe pull.
An unscouted proxy-rax cannot be considered a hard-counter to a blink play. By that logic, unscouted proxy cheese is the counter to every build out there.
Parting's blink-stalker timing attack looks pretty strong. Even if the attack doesn't kill Terran, Protoss can macro safely behind to build an advantage for the late game (like G6). Dismantled Maru, and won games off TY. So strong that it probably forced them to pull of cheesy openings to delay or disrupt the timing.
I'm somewhat surprised Terran doesn't have a better counter (aside from cheesy openings). Mix some marauders in? Defensive widow mines instead of tanks (mines can also be used for offensive drops easily)?
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/GSL/2020_21/codes1/bracket4.png)
jk
