EPT
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Coming less than two days after the release of the 5.0.13 patch, Group A of the RO8 gave us five TvP matches that hinted at how the match-up might be played in the post-patch environment.
herO was the big winner on the day, taking out ByuN (2-1) and Maru (2-0) to advance to the semifinals in first place. It was his best GSL performance since his 2023 slump, with his strong all-around play signaling a return to championship-contender form in domestic competitions.
Second place went to Maru, who had to rely on two victories against Classic to advance. Classic simply couldn't get his preferred strategy of Phoenix-Colossus into fast Fleet Beacon to work against Maru, who either won with incisive early/mid-game timings or by simply overpowering Classic with mass Vikings in the late-game.
While Classic couldn't overcome Maru, he proved he had good reason to be confident in his Tempest-Carrier play in the losers' match against ByuN. Unlike Maru, ByuN couldn't find an answer to the Protoss deathball, and was forced to bow out of the group in last place.
Code S will resume on Thursday, Apr 04 9:30am GMT (GMT+00:00) with Stats, SHIN, Cure, and GuMiho playing in Group B of the RO8.
Recommended Games
Initial Match #1: Maru vs Classic - Game 1 (VOD): While this game was basically a slow snowball win by Maru, it did contain one incredible high point where Maru somehow managed to nuke the entirety of Classic's army. It's worth checking out for that moment alone.
Initial Match #2: herO vs ByuN - Game 2 (VOD): This match followed the 'traditional' PvT archetype from many eras, with the Protoss player narrowly holding off wave after wave of Terran attacks before his economic advantage finally kicks in. Overall, it wasn't the best night for back and forth matches, but this one is my top pick in terms of entertainment value.
Match Recaps
Initial Match #1: Maru 2 - 1 Classic
Game 1 - Alcyone (Maru win): Maru opened with an economy focused build, going up to three CC's fairly early on. Meanwhile, Classic went Robo-Stargate, looking to play his favored Phoenix-Colossus into fast Fleet Beacon strategy. Maru got in a bit of damage with a Marine-Cyclone poke despite his greedy start, setting himself up nicely to face Classic in a passive macro build-up.
Classic assembled a deathball of Tempests, Carriers, and assorted ground units in support, and Maru matched him mass Vikings attached to a relatively small ground force. Maru's movements in the Viking-Ghost vs Tempest-Templar range battles were far more precise, allowing him to pick off numerous Protoss air units while building a line of offensive Turrets near the enemy expansions. It soon became clear that Maru was just going to slowly chip Classic to death with his Viking micro, but a casual tactical Nuke hastened what would have been a slow death animation for Classic. Somehow, Classic failed to notice a nuke targeting his entire army, leading to an instant loss of 70 supply and a GG.
Game 2 - Oceanborn (Classic win): Maru went for a Rax-Factory-CC strategy this time around, looking to pressure Classic and his predictable Phoenix-Colossus openers. However, neither Maru's early Cyclone timing nor his follow-up attack with Ravens succeeded at significantly slowing Classic down, putting the Protoss in a great economic position headed into the mid-game.
Perhaps shaken by the previous game, Classic decided to play a mass Colossus-Zealot-Stalker style this time around. A major offensive at Maru's third base succeeded at inflicting heavy SCV losses at the cost of all of Classic's Colossus, opening up a brief window for Maru to counterattack. Having a big advantage in terms of base count, Classic shrewdly opted to just basetrade with Maru, knowing he would come out on top due to his superior economy and infrastructure.
Game 3 - Ghost River (Maru win): Game three followed a similar pattern from the previous map, with Maru looking to poke holes in Classic's Phoenix-Colossus defense. This time, Maru eventually found the opening he was looking for, with a delayed Mine-drop + Liberator taking out a handful of Probes. Maru compounded his lead once he had Medivacs and stim, sneaking a big drop into Classic's natural to further reduce the probe count.
With those early/mid-game advantages in hand, Maru proceeded to max out and charge in with 2/2 infantry to seal the series.
Initial Match #2: herO 2 - 1 ByuN
Game 1 - Alcyone (ByuN win): Like Maru, ByuN started his series with a focus on economy, going up quickly to 3 CC's. Meanwhile, herO opened Stargate into Twilight Council, aiming for a fast Chargelot + High Templar timing.
ByuN's situation looked precarious as he sent out two Medivacs full of infantry as herO prepared his assault, but the situation worked out perfectly for him. He managed to stall herO's troops at his ramp, while on the other side of the map his infantry quickly tore through the Pylons powering Warpgates. This let ByuN come out way ahead in the semi-basetrade, and herO surrendered once his frontal attack sputtered out.
Game 2 - Ghost River (herO win): ByuN changed things up radically in game two, delaying his third base and Stargate to go for a fast Marine-Marauder-Cyclone attack. This paid off for ByuN as he exploited herO's eco-focused Blink build, killing off ten Probes and delaying the Protoss third.
Both players belatedly took their thirds and went into a macro game, with the situation seeming to favor the Terran side. ByuN was keen on keeping the initiative, constantly threatening herO with continued attacks. However, thanks to great defensive micro from herO and some poor scouting from ByuN, herO managed to just barely hold the line at his third base while continuing to take new expansions elsewhere on the map. Gradually, ByuN's situation changed from having the advantage to being on a timer, needing to deal a massive blow before the Protoss economy got completely out of control. Unfortunately for ByuN, he would never find that one winning fight, and he ended up having to GG out after a desperate basetrade.
Game 3 - Oceanborn (herO win): ByuN threw another different early-game look at herO, this time going for a Marine drop + 3 Hellion combo. The distraction of the drop allowed his Hellions to slip through herO's wall, netting him 7 Probe kills. However, herO more than repaid the favor with this Blink-Stalker counterattack, and ultimately put himself in a good position to play out a standard macro game.
herO used his aggressive reputation and the threat of YOLO Chargelot-Templar strike to keep ByuN in an unusually defensive stance, all the while freely taking expansions and preparing a mass Carrier switch. A calculated tradeoff of Zealots for Carriers went off with barely a hitch, with ByuN's attack coming far too late to exploit the supply tied up in building units. ByuN's Marauder-heavy force was rendered largely ineffective by the arrival of Carriers, and herO marched to victory with his high-tech army.
Winners' Match: herO 2 - 0 Maru
Game 1 - Site Delta (herO win): Maru started off with a single proxy-Barracks for some light Bunker-Reaper harass at herO's natural, which herO responded to by going for a proxy-Gateway of his own in Maru's natural. Intentional or not, this counter-cheese worked out to have perfect timing. herO's 6-Stalkers hit just as Maru's follow-up Mine-drop was halfway across the map, giving him a huge advantage in the ensuing semi-basetrade.
herO's Mine-drop defense wasn't perfect, but it didn't matter as he did far more damage on the opposite end of the map with his Stalkers. Maru did his best to play a turtle game from that point, but the situation was too far gone for him to turn it around.
Game 2 - Ghost River (herO win): Both players had a more macro-centric outlook to start, with Maru macroing off of some light 2-Mine-Drop harassment while herO opened defensive Blink. herO followed up with fast Storm and Chargelots, delaying Maru's third base with a frontal attack but otherwise looking to play a longer game.
As in his previous series against ByuN, herO played a great macro snowball game from there on out, keeping Maru pinned back while freely taking expansions. The threat of Maru's famed turtle style loomed, but herO prevented Maru from fully digging in by constantly taking effective trades. In the end, herO's economy and production got to the point that even Maru couldn't handle it, and he conceded first place in the group to herO.
Losers' Match: Classic 2 - 0 ByuN
Game 1 - Alcyone (Classic win): Classic went with his trusty Phoenix-Colossus gameplan, while ByuN went all-out on pre-Stim harassment with Marine drops, Cyclones, Liberators, a Marine-Tank push, and Cloaked Banshees all sent out to try and inflict any kind of damage. However, Classic held off all these attacks without too much trouble, setting himself up to tech to Carriers in peace.
ByuN tried his best to play catch-up from that point, but his failed early investments made it a doomed endeavor. He was unable to keep the Carrier deathball from coming together, and some ill-advised skirmishes prevented him from reaching a Viking count needed to really threaten the capital ships and restrict their movements. ByuN never found a way to handle the main Carrier force in a head-on engagement and eventually had to GG out.
Game 2 - Oceanborn (Classic win): Playing his fifth PvT of the night, ByuN repeated an opener for the first time and went for the same Marine-drop + 3 Hellion combo from his game against herO on Oceanborn. However, he was unable to do any significant damage against a well-prepared Classic, and his follow-up attacks also failed to seriously slow Classic down. Not one to veer from a winning formula, Classic once again looked to tech quickly to Carrier-Tempest off of a Phoenix-Colossus defense. ByuN had another chance to deal major damage with a 2-Raven timing once his stim upgrade completed, but once again he failed to break through the Protoss defensive line.
ByuN was still in a reasonable economic situation after all those failed attacks, and had one more chance to show he could handle Classic's Carrier deathball. However, things went terribly awry when it came time to clash with the main Protoss force, as he found himself without Orbital energy just as a Mothership arrived on the battlefield. Predictably, the battle went horribly for ByuN (although he probably would have lost even with detection), and Classic moved forth to victory.
Decider Match:Maru 2 - 0 Classic
Game 1 - Alcyone (Maru win): Classic opted to play an Oracle-first variant of his Phoenix-Colossus openers in this game, while Maru decided to get aggressive early by pairing a 2-Mine drop with a frontal Marine-Cyclone push. However, Classic's Adept-scouting allowed him to deduce this kind of aggression perfectly, and he calmly kept his Oracle hidden until all the Terran troops were on the wrong side of the map. This allowed Classic to defend easily back at home while also netting 8 uncontested SCV kills.
Put in a difficult situation, Maru decided to risk it all on a two-base all-in before Classic could accumulate too many Tempests and Carriers. Maru found a window to strike just before the first two Tempests arrived on the battlefield, successfully killing both the Protoss third and fourth to take the lead.
From there, Maru played out a similar late-game style to his initial series with Classic, going for mass Vikings to supplement a smaller bio force. On the other hand, Classic made the curious adjustment of skipping Carriers entirely to go for mass Tempests. Unfortunately for Classic, this did not help him win the air-range dance against Vikings, and he GG'd out after getting crushed in a frontal battle.
Game 2 - Oceanborn (Maru win): Maru saved his best counter to Classic's predictable plays for last, going for a 2-Tank + Liberator all-in with 8 SCV's in tow. Classic didn't help his situation by taking a very dubious fight against the Tanks lodged between his third and natural, leading to a quick defeat.
