EPT
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Did anyone see this coming? Group B got off to a shocking start on day 1 as
Creator jumped ahead to first place with a 2-0 record while Maru fell to last place by going 0-2. Creator's great start makes it a near lock that he'll make the RO6 playoffs, and also guarantee his best ever Code S finish by doing so. On the other hand, Maru fans don't have to despair just yet, as a 2-2 record in week two could see him survive to reach the playoffs as well.Meanwhile,
DongRaeGu, Dark, and herO ended up perfectly tied with 1-1 match records and 3-3 map scores, leaving their destinies wide open as they await day 2 of Group B.Overall, the night was full of thrilling games and close matches, with every single series going the full three games. Despite his 0-2 record, Maru was still impressive in his own way—his hellacious, never-say-die defensive performance against Dark on Roughneck was noteworthy despite ending in a loss. Almost as if he was inspired by Maru, Dark later showed a similar level of superhuman tenacity against herO on the same map, though he also had to GG out in the end.
The second half of Group B will be played on Thursday, Apr 21 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00). The next Code S match day on Monday, Apr 18 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00) features the second half of Group A, with Rogue, RagnaroK, Ryung, ByuN, and Trap set to play.
Match Recaps
Match #1: Dark [2 - 1] Maru
Game 1 - Golden Wall: Game one saw Dark smash Maru's mid-game bio push and then pummel Maru into submission with relentless attacks, a result that may have influenced Maru's hyper-defensive play on the next two maps.
Maru started with a Command Center-first build, taking his backdoor expansion while going for a 2-1-1 follow-up. As for Dark, he played for a regular 3-Hatch macro build along the north side of the map, looking to go for Ravager-Ling-Bane play in the mid-game. Maru's initial 2-Medivac drop did a surprising amount of damage, despite it stopping in the middle of the map to hunt some Overlords. It seemed like Dark made a wrong guess or read on where Maru was headed, as the Marines landed in his main and killed off quite a few Queens and Lings before being chased off.
After establishing his third and building up his infrastructure, Maru moved out with a big force of Bio and Tanks in the mid-game. Dark had continued with his plan to build a Ling-Bane-Ravager army, but also added a fast Hive to squeeze out two Vipers. These Vipers proved to be key in defending against what could have been a deadly attack—they actually swung the battle heavily in Dark's favor so that he came out with a crushing victory.
Dark stayed active after winning that battle and quickly turned the tables on Maru with counterattacks. He had the foresight to mine out his backdoor mineral wall, giving him access to the southern side of the map. A series of two-pronged North/South attacks with Ling-Bane put the hurt on Maru, inflicting significant economic damage.
Maru's famed defensive prowess let him hold out against continued North/South attacks from Dark, but he was still taking damage while Dark freely swallowed up the rest of the map. Even Maru couldn't hold out for too long against Dark's massive resource advantage before being forced to GG out.
Game 2 - Hardwire: Game two saw Maru get an early lead after surviving a series of Nydus attacks from Dark, but he still dragged it out to the late-game to secure victory in the phase where he felt most comfortable.
Maru got away with yet another CC-first build to start, but this time he played a greedy follow-up with a fast third base while also getting fast tech. It seemed like he might have walked straight into Dark's hands, as there was a deadly Nydus-Queen-Ling attack being prepared on the other side of the map.
Maru had started mass Marine production just before the Nydus opened up, so he was able to barely survive the attack by sacrificing a ton of SCV's as meat shields. Dark could have come out ahead if he had transitioned into macro, but he committed himself to trying to finish Maru off by launching another wave of Nydus attacks with Queen-Ravager. Maru held off this second assault with far less trouble and came out with a significant lead as a result.
Game 1 seemed to have convinced Maru to not even bother with any mid-game attacks, and he used his advantage to just set up his favored late-gamer hyper-turtle scenario without any risk. He may have played things out a bit too passively, as this allowed Dark to take a large number of bases and at least attempt to challenge Maru for control of the remaining two neutral expansions in the center of the map.
Still, the ending sequence made it seem like Maru wasn't very worried about this at all. As Dark picked away at Maru's bases on one side of the map with Brood Lords, Maru simply ignored them and sent his main Ghost-Thor force to attack Dark on the opposite side of the map. Dark made the decision to keep pressing with Brood Lords while trying to hold the Ghost-Thor force off with mass Banelings and Vipers, but it ended up being a disaster. The Ghost-Thor army survived with few casualties, and the Ghosts then returned to snipe down the Brood Lords. With his Swarm broken and Thors hammering his bases, Dark GG'd out.
Game 3 - Roughneck: This game started out looking like it would be a one-sided stomp for Dark, but Maru's ridiculous defensive skills allowed him to drag it out to a surprisingly close finish (though Dark was probably never going to lose).
Maru opened with a CC-first build yet again, following up with the same fast tech and third CC as in the previous game. Once more, Maru didn't have any intention of being aggressive in the mid-game, turtling up for the late-game instead. As for Dark, this time around he followed Maru into a macro game, expanding and Droning up liberally.
Rather than go directly for heavy Hive-unit production, Dark opted to go for mass Hydra-Bane with Vipers for a mid-game attack. This force hit just before the defenses at Maru's fourth base were totally set, and he took out the expansion Command Center and a significant number of SCV's before being repulsed. Having put Maru on the backfoot, Dark continued to batter Maru with continued attacks, swapping out Hydralisks for an Ultra-Ling-Bane swarm.
Dark would probably have ended any other Terran after just a few waves of attacks, but Maru's uncanny turtling ability let him survive for a ridiculously long time. Despite only mining from five and a half bases all game, he managed to trade so well that he almost outlasted Dark who was mining out the other 8.5 expansions on Roughneck. However, Maru just couldn't get over the final hump and capitulated at around the 30 minute mark. As ridiculous as it sounds, it's plausible that if he had taken just one half more base and made it 6 bases to 8, he could have won.
Match #2: Creator [2 - 1] DongRaeGu
Game 1 - Hardwire: DRG took game one thanks to fantastic scouting that let him nullify all of Creator's plans before they ever got off the ground, giving him a comfortable path to victory.
Creator opened with a Robo-first Disruptor drop build, only to have it scouted out by an errant Zergling scout that got by the Protoss wall. He forged ahead with some mostly ineffectual Disruptor drops, taking his third base and prepping an abrupt transition to 2-Stargate play back at home. However, DongRaeGu's timely Overseer scout caught the warping Stargates extremely early, giving him ample time to prepare. Even worse for Creator, he lost his Prism with 2 Disruptors in a moment of inattentiveness, which left DRG to Drone up without facing any pressure at all.
DongRaeGu's scouting meant he basically played the early-mid game out without facing any real threats, and he was able to tech up to mass Mutalisk-Corruptor for free. Creator tried to belatedly transition into a Stalker-based army after giving up on Stargate play, but GG'd out after being completely blind-sided by the Spire units arriving in his main.
Game 2 - Roughneck: Creator showed us that mass Void Ray play is still very much valid in certain scenarios—especially when they force Zerg to overproduce Corruptors at the cost of everything else.
Creator opened up with a 2-Stargate build, which quickly transitioned into a 3-Stargate Void Rays with Disruptors to defend on the ground. DongRaeGu Droned up but stayed on Lair tech for a while, massing Queens and Corruptors while rapidly laying down a Creep highway down the center of the map. This set up a peculiar 'late Queen-walk,' with Queens, Corruptors, and Spore Crawlers arriving at the Protoss doorstep around the 10 minute mark. However, there didn't really seem to be much of a point to this, as Creator had more than enough Disruptors to stop any attack. Thus, DRG was left stalled at Creator's doorstep.
The bigger problem for DRG was that it seemed like he had massed Corruptors under the assumption that Creator would be transitioning to Carriers, when Creator had just gone mass Voids instead. The game ended up in a place where Creator was basically able to A-move DRG with mass Void Rays supported by just a minimal number of Disruptor/Archon/Immortal on the ground. While DongRaeGu was eventually able to spam out enough Corruptors to kill all the Void Rays, that left him with no choice but to GG out against Creator's fully ground-transitioned Protoss force.
Game 3 - Glittering Ashes: Creator opened with Stargate play again, but this time it was simply for Oracle harass while playing a throwback Stalker-Colossus macro game (like fashion, this retro strategy is becoming a standard once more). DongRaeGu responded with the typical Ravager-Ling-Bane composition against this kind of Protoss force, but his army control proved to be very lacking. His flank against the Stalker-Colossus deathball came through two narrow corridors, which allowed Creator to get up some high-impact Force Fields. Rather than pull back, DongRaeGu shoved his forces straight into the meatgrinder and GG'd out shortly after.
Match #3: Dark [1 - 2 ] herO
Game 1 - Berlingrad: Dark pulled out a fast proxy-Hatchery to start, placing it just outside of vision of the Protoss wall. Sending a Drone to fake a Hatchery helped Dark mask his build even further, and herO ended up being caught completely off guard by the proxy-Spine Crawlers at the Hatchery. herO scrambled to try and defend with an Immortal but GG'd out after his Robotics was depowered by the Crawlers.
Game 2 - Roughneck: Dark did his best Maru cosplay in game two, dragging out a lost game for over thirty minutes before GG'ing out.
Dark decided to go for the exact same proxy-Hatch cheese, but this time herO sensed something was amiss and opened with two-Gateways instead of expanding. A Probe scout quickly confirmed the proxy-Hatchery, which herO started to tear down with Zealots.
Dark was forced to give up on his cheese and expand back at home, while herO expanded himself after taking down the proxy-Hatchery. All this worked out quite nicely in herO's favor, as he was able to apply heavy pressure with Adepts and Oracles while Dark tried to macro up from behind. herO ended up in a fantastic situation where he had equal bases and workers as the Zerg, and set about trying to bludgeon Dark to death with mass Gateway units.
In a rather amusing twist, Dark was put in Maru's position from their earlier bout on Roughneck, tenaciously defending against an opponent who was taking every other expansion on the map. herO transitioned to Skytoss after realizing he couldn't break Dark with just mass Gateway units, but still couldn't crack Dark's defenses thanks to the Zerg's tremendous spellcaster use.
While it never seemed that Maru could really come back against Dark, there were a few moments where it looked like Dark might actually pull off a miracle against herO. One such moment was a brilliant mass Fungal + Bile combo which swatted the Skytoss fleet out of the air. But each time, the resource advantage for herO erased Dark's glimmer of hope, and he eventually GG'd out after 33 minutes of play.
Game 3 - Hardwire: There were no proxy-Hatchery tricks from Dark this time as he went for a normal 3-Hatch start. Instead, it was herO's turn to get tricky: after opening with Disruptor drop harassment, herO faked taking a third base and transitioning into macro play. However, his real plan was to cut Probe production and go for a big Blink-Stalker + Disruptor all-in at just before the 7 minute mark. herO's all-in worked beautifully, catching Dark during his transition to Mutalisks and forcing a GG.
Match #4: Creator [2 - 1] Maru
Game 1 - Glittering Ashes: Maru attempted a single proxy-Barracks to start, only to be quickly found out by a scouting Probe. Creator sent out two more Probes to destroy the building SCV, which put Maru between a rock and a hard place. Construction was too far along to cancel the proxy and start a new Barracks at his main, but he could only complete the proxy Barracks if he sent 2 or more SCVs to complete it.
Maru went for a middle-of-the-road response that only made his situation worse: he sent out only a single extra SCV to try and finish construction, while also starting a backup Barracks in his main. Probes simply killed the second SCV as well, and Maru was forced to belatedly cancel his proxy-Barracks while having already spent significant time with dead minerals locked up in it.
Creator followed by going for a proxy-2 Gate right outside Maru's main, which easily finished off a Terran whose production and economy had been crippled from the start.
Game 2 - Berlingrad: Maru opened with a fast tech build off one base, prompting Creator to go for defensive Phoenixes in response. However, Maru wasn't actually looking to harass, as he just expanded after Factory while going for defensive Cyclones and Tanks. After adding a Raven and some Medivacs for support, Maru moved out for an early Tank push to threaten Creator's third base.
Creator tried to snipe off the Maru's key Raven with Phoenixes as the Terran force crossed the map, but a micro mistake saw him focus-fire on a Medivac instead, costing him all of his Phoenixes. That brutal error from Creator let Maru raze the Protoss third with ease as he took his own third base back at home. This early economic deficit was too much for Creator to overcome, and Maru snowballed his way to an easy victory from there.
Game 3 - Hardwire: Maru opened with fast tech as he did in game two, but this time tried to follow-up with a Mine drop attempt. However, that never got off the ground, as Creator struck even faster with a couple of Stalkers and two Void Rays from a proxy-Stargate. Maru was forced to deploy his Mines on defense, but they were defused and destroyed by Creator's good Adept micro. Although Creator was forced to back off once a Cyclone and Viking came out, he was still in an advantageous position as he had completely stymied Maru's early game without committing too hard to his Stalker-Void Ray pressure.
While Creator looked to macro up from that position, Maru opted to stay on two bases and prepare a big, two-base Marine-Tank all-in with SCV's in tow. A very close battle ensued outside the Protoss natural, with Creator just barely surviving to force the GG from Maru.
Match #5: DongRaeGu [2 - 1] herO
Game 1 - Hardwire: The first few minutes of the game were relatively peaceful, with herO opening Oracles into Blink-Stalkers while DongRaeGu went for standard macro play. The maestro of Stalker all-ins opted to hold back on his aggression initially, seemingly taking the long view by securing a fourth base and continuing to Probe up.
However, this was just a brief respite as herO prepared to flood DRG with Zealot and Stalkers from mass Gateways. When he was ready, he launched a disorienting two-prong attack where he blinked his Stalkers up into Zerg main while Chargelots attacked DRG's fourth base by ground. This off-kilter timing caught DongRaeGu off-guard, and he hastily tried to split his Roach-Ravager-Ling to defend on both fronts. However, this was a futile effort as he was outnumbered at both locations, and he was forced to concede the game.
Game 2 - Roughneck: herO opened with a peculiar 2-Stargate Void Ray variant, getting a fast Fleet Beacon to rush out the Flux Vanes upgrade. His intent was to slide his Void Rays across the edge of the map and into the Zerg main at an unusually quick timing, but good Overseer scouting and Zergling spotting from DongRaeGu allowed him to nullify this attempt. On the other hand, herO had no clue that DongRaeGu was going up to Spire tech, and could only watch helplessly when Mutalisks appeared to knock his Void Rays out of the sky.
Having taken a significant lead, DongRaeGu looked to go on the offensive himself, gearing up to attack with a swarm of Corruptors, Mutas, Roaches, and Queens. While he couldn't finish herO off, he did manage to destroy the Protoss fourth while establishing more control over the map. This pattern continued for a while, with DRG keeping herO holed up on three bases while he solidified his own lead. Three bases gave herO the resources to attempt a few desperation attacks, and he actually managed to trade well against DRG a couple of times. However, the overall resource disparity was too great for herO to have a real chance (without DongRaeGu taking a monumentally bad fight), and he surrendered after running out of steam.
Game 3 - Blackburn: herO went back to an Oracle opener for game three, and again went into Blink-Stalker tech afterward. The rest of his follow-up was very similar to game one as well, taking a fourth base (at the gold) and adding mass Gateways for a big Stalker-Zealot offensive in the mid-game.
It seemed very unwise for herO to show DRG such a similar strategy, as the Zerg response was very different from game one. DRG stayed at a lower Drone count and rushed out Hydras to establish a much sturdier Roach-Hydra defense, which let him easily deny herO's first few pokes and leap ahead in supply.
herO continued to be active with his army movements, and managed to bait DRG's troops out of position while sending his Stalkers in to snipe down DRG's fourth base. This briefly left herO with a significantly better economy than DRG, but he still faced a huge army supply deficit. DRG knew he couldn't give herO any time to make up this gap and quickly went on the offensive with a giant Roach-Ravager-Hydralisk army. Stuck producing mostly Gateway units with very little splash support, herO could only resist briefly before being forced to GG out.
