One week down, one to go. TSL finished two semifinal matches this past weekend, giving us our final matches and bringing us that much closer to crowning the Pokerstrategy.com TSL3 champion. The games were awesome, perhaps "awesome to the max", with particular awesomeness being displayed in the games between Kas and Thorzain.
As you may have seen, our two finalists have arrived in NYC to begin their road to the live finals on Sunday. They have a short trip ahead of them and just a few days until our live final games on Sunday, so read on to see what they did last weekend and find out whats in store for next!
Battle Reports
Empire.Kas < 1-4 > mouz.ThorZaIN
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T7 Empire.Kas < Shakuras Plateau > mouz.ThorZaIN T1
Both of our European Terrans build their first marine and then attach a tech lab, with Kas choosing a reaper with ThorZaIN opting for a marauder instead. ThorZaIN heads over to Kas’ main with one of each tier 1 barracks unit, expanding and adding on additional barracks behind it. Kas is forced to pull SCVs, and ThorZaIN snaps three SCV necks and with his last breath, the marauder sees Kas’ cloaked banshee on the way. The banshee does little to no economic damage to ThorZaIN, but it does prevent him from moving out and putting pressure on Kas’s newly expansion. ThorZaIN’s marine picks off the SCV building Kas’s third command center, and delays it just enough for his third to go up first.
Kas has been repeatedly swinging his whole army between bases, leaving his main undefended and vulnerable to ThorZaIN’s octodrop. ThorZaIN picks up his army next to the bottom Xel’Naga Tower and unloads them on the high ground, and while Kas responds the minute the red blips show up on his sensor tower, what’s left of the drop makes life for Kas much more difficult by picking off important add-ons. Kas attempts to counter drop but runs into a line of turrets at ThorZaIN’s up and running fourth base.
Down 50 supply and a base, Kas is breaking down the northern rocks for a backdoor entrance into ThorZaIN’s main. At the same time, ThorZaIN had loaded up four medivacs full of units head in the same direction, and they are picked off, instantly evening the supply. However, ThorZaIN is reassured that there would be little forces in the front of Kas’s base, and attacks in with the rest of his army sitting in the middle of the map. While neither player are particularly cost effective with their attacks, Kas is stopped dead in his tracks as ThorZaIN sieges his own tanks in the main, but on the other side of the map, ThorZaIN has free reign on each of Kas’s expansions. ThorZaIN’s defensive units chase after Kas through the top passageway, and ThorZaIN stims in with marines in the middle, pincering Kas and forcing him to tap out. [23:48]
T7 Empire.Kas < Crossfire SE > mouz.ThorZaIN T1
Kas only grabs his gas after he has thrown down a command center, while ThorZaIN slowly techs up to the familiar 1/1/1, pausing only to build his own command center. ThorZaIN pushes out as his first medivac is done, and losing the Xel’Naga Tower triggers Kas to bunker up his natural. Kas tries to pick off ThorZaIN’s oncoming stream of marines, but ThorZaIN does a quick turn around with his main army to clear out any nuisance in the back. Stim and siege mode both will finish first for ThorZaIN, and Kas is put in a small contain.
While distracting Kas with a backdoor octodrop, ThorZaIN builds turrets north of Kas’ main, and expands to 11 o’ clock. When Kas has grabbed air dominance with vikings, ThorZaIN pulls back to the bottom Xel’Naga Tower, nullifying all advantage given by Kas’ vikings. Kas tries to flank ThorZaIN’s main army, but a scan reveals his intentions and with no defenses at the Ukrainian's front, ThorZaIN storms in to take a two game lead. [18:31]
T6 Empire.Kas < Metalopolis > mouz.ThorZaIN T8
Kas picks up 4 kills from his initial reaper, keeping ThorZaIN inside his base and preventing Kas’ FE from being discovered. ThorZaIN makes a CC of his own and Kas’ reaper just barely misses the factory/starport combo at the bottom of ThorZaIN’s base. ThorZaIN’s cloakless banshee does minimal damage, and now ThorZaIN’s expansion is way behind. Kas capitalizes on this blunder by putting down his third seconds after ThorZaIN lands the CC at his natural. Kas surges forward with almost double the amount of marines. Staying low on tech allows Kas to grab his marine upgrades much faster, and with stim kicking in mid-battle, Kas clears out ThorZaIN’s mineral line afterwards.
Both players trade an octodrop. Neither does any damage, but they serve as a potential threat, driving the need to construct lines of turrets on both ends. Kas almost picks off a CC floating to the 3rd, but the timely response of ThorZaIN prevents disaster. Kas and ThorZaIN demonstrate to the viewers why this was a mirror match-up, as both players load up 4 medivacs simultaneously and head towards each other’s main. However, a Kas scan prompted ThorZaIN to change his mind, and by unloading his units earlier, ThorZaIN was able to pick off most of Kas’s drop. Both players bring the remnants of their armies to the middle, and a siege stand-off ensues.
Kas circles around the other lane to try and deal damage to ThorZaIN’s third, and ThorZaIN over-commits to his defense. Kas smells the weakness in ThorZaIN’s front line and breaks through with 2/2 marines, not letting his macro slip as he takes a 30 supply lead. Kas’s army cruises into ThorZaIN’s natural, and a siege below the ramp disables any reinforcing units to help out, leaving nothing but ThorZaIN’s generous compliment to his competitor as he exits game 3. [19:59]
T6 Empire.Kas < Terminus RE > mouz.ThorZaIN T3
Kas had already suspected ThorZaIN of doing a strong harass upon seeing the starport with his reaper, but a hero scan hellions lined up alongside the starport for an eventual deadly drop. ThorZaIN circles around and drops the three hellions in the main instead, but does a pitiful job at slowing down Kas’s economy, trading all of his hellions for 2 SCVs and 3 marines. Knowing that he is behind, ThorZaIN slyly grabs a quick third, as it is his best bet to overtake Kas in supply. Rather than taking the third that neighbors ThorZaIN, Kas sneaks a CC atop the 11 o’clock expansion.
Kas’s slow saturation of his third allows ThorZaIN’s macro off of three bases kick in, pulling ahead in both army and SCV count. While Kas is slowly inching forward to prevent ThorZaIN from grabbing additional bases, 4 medivacs full of marines are tearing through his backdoor and natural expansion. Unable to pull back in time, Kas resigns without hesitation. [19:47]
T5 Empire.Kas < Crevasse > mouz.ThorZaIN T11
Both players go gas-less for quick CC, with Kas adding on barracks before grabbing gas and ThorZaIN the contrary. While ThorZaIN is clumping a mass of marines in the middle, Kas is producing units out of three barracks, thus ending up with more marines but without their essential upgrades. Although Kas has already saturated his third before ThorZaIN’s CC is even done, it is ThorZaIN who is ahead in worker count. Kas’s octodrop is cleaned up promptly without difficulty for ThorZaIN. Kas consistently stays a base ahead of ThorZaIN, and while ThorZaIN doubles up on his drop play, it too does not damage the economy of Kas much.
Both players are sitting on a low number of tanks, and are just simply clashing heads with pure marines. Kas engages with a more favorable marine count, but a nice arc and +2/+2 allows ThorZaIN to come out victorious. Winning the battle does not allow ThorZaIN to move forward however, as a planetary fortress melts through the remaining marines and tanks. Kas recollects his army and shuts down ThorZaIN’s second advancement, pushing ThorZaIN all the way back to his own fourth, forcing the liftoff. Kas greedily tries to finish off the CC, but is unable, and the overextension cost him a decent amount of marines.
ThorZaIN’s superior upgrades allow him to break the contain and push Kas back but this time he wisely chooses to stay put instead of recklessly charging forward. ThorZaIN puts a single tank next to the Xel’Naga Tower, putting Kas’s fourth under siege. Kas swings around the map, breaking down rocks in order to snipe ThorZaIN’s fourth, but is met behind the debris by a larger army of ThorZaIN. Kas streams forward to break ThorZaIN’s middle containment. Coming out with a few marines left over, ThorZaIN picks them up to drop on top of Kas’s tanks, but Kas responds swiftly and unsieges to avoid catastrophic friendly fire.
ThorZaIN loads up for a doom drop with three medivacs full of marines, unloading in the main to cut off Kas’s reinforcements. Kas pulls back too many troops to defend, and it is the opportune moment for ThorZaIN to claim that ticket to New York City. SCV meatshields shatter upon tank shell impacts but they are necessary sacrifices, as their deaths allow ThorZaIN’s marines and tanks to deal their DPS without taking damage. The break left ThorZaIN losing in food count, but in prime sieged position to take down Kas’s fourth. Kas counterattacks from the northern path, but his time spent breaking down the debris allowed ThorZaIN to properly erect a solid defensive wall of tanks.
ThorZaIN runs Kas in circles sieging both the fourth and the sixth base at the near bottom, and eventually is able to stop mining at both bases. With all his mining bases under siege or being tear apart, Kas’s last ditch effort to break the middle goes down in vain, and ThorZaIN grabs his passport and carries Kas’s warm encouragement on to our TSL3 finals. [27:49]
Both of our European Terrans build their first marine and then attach a tech lab, with Kas choosing a reaper with ThorZaIN opting for a marauder instead. ThorZaIN heads over to Kas’ main with one of each tier 1 barracks unit, expanding and adding on additional barracks behind it. Kas is forced to pull SCVs, and ThorZaIN snaps three SCV necks and with his last breath, the marauder sees Kas’ cloaked banshee on the way. The banshee does little to no economic damage to ThorZaIN, but it does prevent him from moving out and putting pressure on Kas’s newly expansion. ThorZaIN’s marine picks off the SCV building Kas’s third command center, and delays it just enough for his third to go up first.
Kas has been repeatedly swinging his whole army between bases, leaving his main undefended and vulnerable to ThorZaIN’s octodrop. ThorZaIN picks up his army next to the bottom Xel’Naga Tower and unloads them on the high ground, and while Kas responds the minute the red blips show up on his sensor tower, what’s left of the drop makes life for Kas much more difficult by picking off important add-ons. Kas attempts to counter drop but runs into a line of turrets at ThorZaIN’s up and running fourth base.
Down 50 supply and a base, Kas is breaking down the northern rocks for a backdoor entrance into ThorZaIN’s main. At the same time, ThorZaIN had loaded up four medivacs full of units head in the same direction, and they are picked off, instantly evening the supply. However, ThorZaIN is reassured that there would be little forces in the front of Kas’s base, and attacks in with the rest of his army sitting in the middle of the map. While neither player are particularly cost effective with their attacks, Kas is stopped dead in his tracks as ThorZaIN sieges his own tanks in the main, but on the other side of the map, ThorZaIN has free reign on each of Kas’s expansions. ThorZaIN’s defensive units chase after Kas through the top passageway, and ThorZaIN stims in with marines in the middle, pincering Kas and forcing him to tap out. [23:48]
T7 Empire.Kas < Crossfire SE > mouz.ThorZaIN T1
Kas only grabs his gas after he has thrown down a command center, while ThorZaIN slowly techs up to the familiar 1/1/1, pausing only to build his own command center. ThorZaIN pushes out as his first medivac is done, and losing the Xel’Naga Tower triggers Kas to bunker up his natural. Kas tries to pick off ThorZaIN’s oncoming stream of marines, but ThorZaIN does a quick turn around with his main army to clear out any nuisance in the back. Stim and siege mode both will finish first for ThorZaIN, and Kas is put in a small contain.
While distracting Kas with a backdoor octodrop, ThorZaIN builds turrets north of Kas’ main, and expands to 11 o’ clock. When Kas has grabbed air dominance with vikings, ThorZaIN pulls back to the bottom Xel’Naga Tower, nullifying all advantage given by Kas’ vikings. Kas tries to flank ThorZaIN’s main army, but a scan reveals his intentions and with no defenses at the Ukrainian's front, ThorZaIN storms in to take a two game lead. [18:31]
T6 Empire.Kas < Metalopolis > mouz.ThorZaIN T8
Kas picks up 4 kills from his initial reaper, keeping ThorZaIN inside his base and preventing Kas’ FE from being discovered. ThorZaIN makes a CC of his own and Kas’ reaper just barely misses the factory/starport combo at the bottom of ThorZaIN’s base. ThorZaIN’s cloakless banshee does minimal damage, and now ThorZaIN’s expansion is way behind. Kas capitalizes on this blunder by putting down his third seconds after ThorZaIN lands the CC at his natural. Kas surges forward with almost double the amount of marines. Staying low on tech allows Kas to grab his marine upgrades much faster, and with stim kicking in mid-battle, Kas clears out ThorZaIN’s mineral line afterwards.
Both players trade an octodrop. Neither does any damage, but they serve as a potential threat, driving the need to construct lines of turrets on both ends. Kas almost picks off a CC floating to the 3rd, but the timely response of ThorZaIN prevents disaster. Kas and ThorZaIN demonstrate to the viewers why this was a mirror match-up, as both players load up 4 medivacs simultaneously and head towards each other’s main. However, a Kas scan prompted ThorZaIN to change his mind, and by unloading his units earlier, ThorZaIN was able to pick off most of Kas’s drop. Both players bring the remnants of their armies to the middle, and a siege stand-off ensues.
Kas circles around the other lane to try and deal damage to ThorZaIN’s third, and ThorZaIN over-commits to his defense. Kas smells the weakness in ThorZaIN’s front line and breaks through with 2/2 marines, not letting his macro slip as he takes a 30 supply lead. Kas’s army cruises into ThorZaIN’s natural, and a siege below the ramp disables any reinforcing units to help out, leaving nothing but ThorZaIN’s generous compliment to his competitor as he exits game 3. [19:59]
T6 Empire.Kas < Terminus RE > mouz.ThorZaIN T3
Kas had already suspected ThorZaIN of doing a strong harass upon seeing the starport with his reaper, but a hero scan hellions lined up alongside the starport for an eventual deadly drop. ThorZaIN circles around and drops the three hellions in the main instead, but does a pitiful job at slowing down Kas’s economy, trading all of his hellions for 2 SCVs and 3 marines. Knowing that he is behind, ThorZaIN slyly grabs a quick third, as it is his best bet to overtake Kas in supply. Rather than taking the third that neighbors ThorZaIN, Kas sneaks a CC atop the 11 o’clock expansion.
Kas’s slow saturation of his third allows ThorZaIN’s macro off of three bases kick in, pulling ahead in both army and SCV count. While Kas is slowly inching forward to prevent ThorZaIN from grabbing additional bases, 4 medivacs full of marines are tearing through his backdoor and natural expansion. Unable to pull back in time, Kas resigns without hesitation. [19:47]
T5 Empire.Kas < Crevasse > mouz.ThorZaIN T11
Both players go gas-less for quick CC, with Kas adding on barracks before grabbing gas and ThorZaIN the contrary. While ThorZaIN is clumping a mass of marines in the middle, Kas is producing units out of three barracks, thus ending up with more marines but without their essential upgrades. Although Kas has already saturated his third before ThorZaIN’s CC is even done, it is ThorZaIN who is ahead in worker count. Kas’s octodrop is cleaned up promptly without difficulty for ThorZaIN. Kas consistently stays a base ahead of ThorZaIN, and while ThorZaIN doubles up on his drop play, it too does not damage the economy of Kas much.
Both players are sitting on a low number of tanks, and are just simply clashing heads with pure marines. Kas engages with a more favorable marine count, but a nice arc and +2/+2 allows ThorZaIN to come out victorious. Winning the battle does not allow ThorZaIN to move forward however, as a planetary fortress melts through the remaining marines and tanks. Kas recollects his army and shuts down ThorZaIN’s second advancement, pushing ThorZaIN all the way back to his own fourth, forcing the liftoff. Kas greedily tries to finish off the CC, but is unable, and the overextension cost him a decent amount of marines.
ThorZaIN’s superior upgrades allow him to break the contain and push Kas back but this time he wisely chooses to stay put instead of recklessly charging forward. ThorZaIN puts a single tank next to the Xel’Naga Tower, putting Kas’s fourth under siege. Kas swings around the map, breaking down rocks in order to snipe ThorZaIN’s fourth, but is met behind the debris by a larger army of ThorZaIN. Kas streams forward to break ThorZaIN’s middle containment. Coming out with a few marines left over, ThorZaIN picks them up to drop on top of Kas’s tanks, but Kas responds swiftly and unsieges to avoid catastrophic friendly fire.
ThorZaIN loads up for a doom drop with three medivacs full of marines, unloading in the main to cut off Kas’s reinforcements. Kas pulls back too many troops to defend, and it is the opportune moment for ThorZaIN to claim that ticket to New York City. SCV meatshields shatter upon tank shell impacts but they are necessary sacrifices, as their deaths allow ThorZaIN’s marines and tanks to deal their DPS without taking damage. The break left ThorZaIN losing in food count, but in prime sieged position to take down Kas’s fourth. Kas counterattacks from the northern path, but his time spent breaking down the debris allowed ThorZaIN to properly erect a solid defensive wall of tanks.
ThorZaIN runs Kas in circles sieging both the fourth and the sixth base at the near bottom, and eventually is able to stop mining at both bases. With all his mining bases under siege or being tear apart, Kas’s last ditch effort to break the middle goes down in vain, and ThorZaIN grabs his passport and carries Kas’s warm encouragement on to our TSL3 finals. [27:49]
Dignitas.NaNiwa < 4-1 > mouz.HasuObs
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P9 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Terminus RE > mouz.HasuObs P12
HasuObs begins the series by making 3 gateways and a robotics facility, while Naniwa chooses a blink build, making his Twilight Council after 2 gateways before adding a third gateway. As soon as blink researched finishes, Naniwa moves out with his force of stalkers and picks off a stray unit of HasuObs.
When he arrives at Hasu's main, the first immortal is ready and Nani finds himself unable to get over forcefields that protect the ramp. When a second immortal shows himself, Naniwa is forced to retreat temporarily. Naniwa adds a robotics facility back at home while keeping Hasu stuck in his base, Hasu meanwhile starts to produce colossus.
Naniwa adds a slew of zealots to his arsenal and busts out the charge upgrade. When he spots that Hasu is warping in a nexus at his natural expansion, he readies an attack and rallies his units. The ensuing engagement is a bit of a hit and run with Naniwa attempting to flank HasuObs, but finds himself unable to do so as Hasu hugs the wall. The game is over when Hasu crushes the opposing army with few losses. [15:54]
P6 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Metalopolis > mouz.HasuObs P12
Game 2 opens in a more traditional manner: Naniwa makes 4 gates and chronos his warpgate research, while HasuObs chooses to use his chrono on stalkers from 2 gates, adding the third shortly thereafter.
When Naniwa's army comes bellowing, Hasu blocks his ramp by making 2 gateways at the top. It buys some time, but not enough and Hasu finds himself short of units as Naniwa's army attacks. He micros well for several minutes before being forced to tap out. [8:41]
P7 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Shakuras Plateau > mouz.HasuObs P2
Naniwa decides to repeat his build, and open game 3 with a 4 gate as well. HasuObs has other plans, however, making a forge after core and placing cannons in front of his natural. 4 cannons appears to not be enough. Naniwa charges in with a handful of stalkers/zealots and kills the smaller army of HasuObs, then simply walks around the cannons and into Hasu's main.
Hasu pushes back death with a cannon in his main, aggressive probe defense, and a spare stalker here and there but he loses about half his workers in the process. Naniwa pulls the same trick at the front a second time, killing Hasu's ground forces while ignoring the cannons and then walking into the main. When he is able to kill the pylon powering the cannons Hasu recognizes the game is over and sends a GG. [10:47]
P2 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Xel'Naga Caverns > mouz.HasuObs P7
Nani decides to shake things up in the fourth game, sending his first probe to the bottom of the map to build a pylon in Hasu's natural. He then uses that pylon to build a gateway at 9 supply, using his chronoboost on a zealot as soon as it is finished.
Hasu is forced to chrono a zealot as well, in addition to building a forge and a cannon near his nexus. The first 3 zealots do very little damage, Nani kills a pair of probes before being chased out by opposing zealots. HasuObs builds a pylon just outside Nani's main ramp and begins to cannon, while Naniwa adds 4 gateways.
Naniwa kills the cannon outside his base before it is finished, and when his first round of units warp in and walk to the main base of Hasu, Hasu calls GG. [7:51]
P5 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Crevasse > mouz.HasuObs P2
HasuObs finally decides to take a page from Naniwa's book, and opens the potential match point game with a 4 gate. Maybe unfortunately for him, Naniwa chooses to do the same. The first skirmish sees Hasu comes out slightly on top, and be ever so thinly ahead in the important stalker count.
As things die down, Hasu ventures outside his base to and succeeds in killing one of Naniwa's proxy pylons while adding a robotics facility. It turns into a mistake when Nani catches him out of position and gets several stalkers for free.
Now ahead in the stalker count, Nani continues to put on pressure by killing the front rocks and widening the choke to Hasu's main. When Naniwa marches into the main of HasuObs not even a freshly build immortal can stop him, and the series goes to Naniwa. [10:23]
HasuObs begins the series by making 3 gateways and a robotics facility, while Naniwa chooses a blink build, making his Twilight Council after 2 gateways before adding a third gateway. As soon as blink researched finishes, Naniwa moves out with his force of stalkers and picks off a stray unit of HasuObs.
When he arrives at Hasu's main, the first immortal is ready and Nani finds himself unable to get over forcefields that protect the ramp. When a second immortal shows himself, Naniwa is forced to retreat temporarily. Naniwa adds a robotics facility back at home while keeping Hasu stuck in his base, Hasu meanwhile starts to produce colossus.
Naniwa adds a slew of zealots to his arsenal and busts out the charge upgrade. When he spots that Hasu is warping in a nexus at his natural expansion, he readies an attack and rallies his units. The ensuing engagement is a bit of a hit and run with Naniwa attempting to flank HasuObs, but finds himself unable to do so as Hasu hugs the wall. The game is over when Hasu crushes the opposing army with few losses. [15:54]
P6 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Metalopolis > mouz.HasuObs P12
Game 2 opens in a more traditional manner: Naniwa makes 4 gates and chronos his warpgate research, while HasuObs chooses to use his chrono on stalkers from 2 gates, adding the third shortly thereafter.
When Naniwa's army comes bellowing, Hasu blocks his ramp by making 2 gateways at the top. It buys some time, but not enough and Hasu finds himself short of units as Naniwa's army attacks. He micros well for several minutes before being forced to tap out. [8:41]
P7 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Shakuras Plateau > mouz.HasuObs P2
Naniwa decides to repeat his build, and open game 3 with a 4 gate as well. HasuObs has other plans, however, making a forge after core and placing cannons in front of his natural. 4 cannons appears to not be enough. Naniwa charges in with a handful of stalkers/zealots and kills the smaller army of HasuObs, then simply walks around the cannons and into Hasu's main.
Hasu pushes back death with a cannon in his main, aggressive probe defense, and a spare stalker here and there but he loses about half his workers in the process. Naniwa pulls the same trick at the front a second time, killing Hasu's ground forces while ignoring the cannons and then walking into the main. When he is able to kill the pylon powering the cannons Hasu recognizes the game is over and sends a GG. [10:47]
P2 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Xel'Naga Caverns > mouz.HasuObs P7
Nani decides to shake things up in the fourth game, sending his first probe to the bottom of the map to build a pylon in Hasu's natural. He then uses that pylon to build a gateway at 9 supply, using his chronoboost on a zealot as soon as it is finished.
Hasu is forced to chrono a zealot as well, in addition to building a forge and a cannon near his nexus. The first 3 zealots do very little damage, Nani kills a pair of probes before being chased out by opposing zealots. HasuObs builds a pylon just outside Nani's main ramp and begins to cannon, while Naniwa adds 4 gateways.
Naniwa kills the cannon outside his base before it is finished, and when his first round of units warp in and walk to the main base of Hasu, Hasu calls GG. [7:51]
P5 Dignitas.NaNiwa < Crevasse > mouz.HasuObs P2
HasuObs finally decides to take a page from Naniwa's book, and opens the potential match point game with a 4 gate. Maybe unfortunately for him, Naniwa chooses to do the same. The first skirmish sees Hasu comes out slightly on top, and be ever so thinly ahead in the important stalker count.
As things die down, Hasu ventures outside his base to and succeeds in killing one of Naniwa's proxy pylons while adding a robotics facility. It turns into a mistake when Nani catches him out of position and gets several stalkers for free.
Now ahead in the stalker count, Nani continues to put on pressure by killing the front rocks and widening the choke to Hasu's main. When Naniwa marches into the main of HasuObs not even a freshly build immortal can stop him, and the series goes to Naniwa. [10:23]
mouz.ThorZaiN
Post-game Interview
Post-game Interview
Q: Congratulations! What did you do right after you win?
At first I didn't realize that when I won that game I won the entire series (I knew it before the game but when I won I just reacted as if it was a normal ladder game). After a few seconds I realized what had just happened. I went to the living room to tell my mother and sister that I'm going to USA in 1 week. This may sound a bit lame but then I went back to my room and shed a tear or two of joy. :D
Now I'm just sipping my coke, enjoying life. :D
Q: Kas was considered one of the best TvT players and your TvT was your weakest matchup. How much did you practice?
To be honest I didn't practice very much for this match due to a lot of other stuff I had to do. But the practice I did do was extremely effective. I found several big flaws in my TvT play and now I feel comfortable in the match up.
Q: How many games did you play?
Maybe 6-7 games a day versus real persons and 4-5 versus no one just to optimize build orders and check timings.
Compared to the maybe 15-20 and 8-10 games respectively I did for previous 3 rounds, on average.
Lets talk about the games a little. Game 1 you did some damage with a unique little 1 marine 1 marauder 1 reaper opening, and then slowly took the lead by defending against banshees.
I was expecting him to do the build he did against NaDa on the same map. 1 marine, 1 reaper, and then no more units for 75 in-game seconds. My little push would have done a lot of damage then, and still get my expansion up at the same time. I did however still do damage to him but my multitasking was lacking a bit and his reaper delayed my expansion by quite some time.
From there on it turned into one of the fun TvTs without camping and just running around a lot and dropping.
Q: In game 1 you were quite ahead but lost 4 dropships at 12:00 when his army was there. What went through your mind then?
I still thought that I was ahead but I realized what a mistake I just did. I counterattacked and knew that he would have problems getting up the choke in my main.
Q: In game 2, you opened banshee and secured a nice position with drops. A lot of fans say Kas' strength is his macro and game sense, were you scared at all to play a macro game against him? What was your strategy heading into game 2 (and the series)?
My 2nd game I wanted to do a new build I've been experimenting with that gets an expansion 20 seconds after a 1 rax tech lab expand but I still get a fast 1-1-1 and the capability of a lot of fast units after I've thrown down my expand. I expected it to work well vs him.
However he did a 0 gas expand that I didn't expect him to do on such a small map. It still worked out great though.
Q: You lost game 3 on Metalopolis, which was a bit back and forth. What happened? Do you usually get nervous or change your mindset after losses or wins? Do you feel that being up 2-0 helped you a lot?
I had a really bad start, with his reaper just barely surviving and then me having to wait a while for more marines. That made me not have enough marines to stop his stim push a bit later and that cost me a lot of scvs.
From there on I needed to take risks to come back but I wasn't able to. I was behind in upgrades as well.
Q: Do you usually get nervous or change your mindset after losses or wins?
I try not to, that's why I needed pauses between the games to refocus. I'm always nervous before the games, but I don't think it hurts me, it makes me more focused.
But I have to go pee between every game basically. :D
Q: Game 4 on Terminus had interesting positions. Would you rather be in those positions or where Kas was (relative to you)?
I would rather have been where he was relative to me. I fucked up in the start and thought I was dead, but he took a really really late third vs my fast third. I went into defensive mode and was able to push out a bit because he didn't siege up by my Xel'Naga tower.
Q: Game 5 was quite an epic game, you went for fast upgrades but slower bases while Kas went for more bases early on. It was quite back and forth, both of you taking the lead, but you slowly came out on top. What were your thoughts during the game?
I was expecting Kas to go very marine heavy, so I decided to really out-upgrade him. I didn't know that he took so fast bases though so I was a bit surprised by that. I thought I had the game a lot of times and that I had lost it at others.
In the end I managed to get the most favourable positions and could see his attacks from the Xel'Naga Towers and manage to win.
Q: Your next opponent is a Protoss, either Naniwa or HasuObs, what are your thoughts on these two? Do you have a preference about who to play?
I still feel great against protoss and I feel that I have reasonable chances against both. I think that Naniwa is the better player but just by a bit. I feel HasuObs is a bit like me in this tournament; A player that has been the underdog in every game he has played but still wins them all rather convincingly. So I don't know what to expect.
I think that the general consensus is that Naniwa is the better player but just by a bit.
Q: Do you have any last words (thanks to practice partners) or shoutouts to your fans?
Thanks to my team Praetoriani for super support, thanks to aU.Fury (norwegian Fury), Predy, SjoW, merz and Servyoa for the practice. Thanks to Team Liquid for giving me this opportunity, you don't know how much this tournament has meant and still means for me.
Q: You play a fellow Swede, Naniwa, in the finals. What are your thoughts about him? You will meet him in New York.
I'm proud to have two swedes in the final of such a prestigious tournament. Naniwa is a great player, and I think we know each other's styles somewhat decently, which makes the preparation a bit tricky.
I haven't really spoken to him IRL yet but I hope we will get along. I just hope he doesn't get too mad should I beat him. ^^
dignitas.NaNiwa
Post-game Interview
Post-game Interview
Q: Congratulations! How do you feel? What did you do after winning?
I feel fucking great, easily one of the best days of my life. I threw my hands in the air and shouted like I do after every big win. :D
Q: You are on quite a roll lately. Do you feel your motivation is still high to win events? Are you scared you'll become complacent after getting to so many finals?
I felt a bit down after I won MLG Dallas, but after a while I got tired of the MLG trophy to be honest, I like it and its a important part of my life but to be honest I really want to become the first bonjwa after some consideration. I want to show the world what I'm made off and prove to myself that I'm the best around.
Regarding complacency, I will always do my best to reassure my spot at the top, I will never take it for granted. I only feel more and more hungry after each big win, and I hope to surpass MC soon in winnings.
Q: How hard did you practice for this series?
I practiced a lot for the series but only used one of the builds I practiced (game 1) and the rest I just felt that I could out-micro HasuObs and take it for sure, strategies were not needed. I have a very weak understanding of PvP and for sure I will try to practice it more in the future. I also think the patch will help a lot.
Q: Let's talk about the games a little. You did a very fast blink / charge rush in game 1, but your positioning was off during the main attack. What happened?
To be honest I took a big gamble, I was sure he would try to attack me with his army and I just wanted to swiftly repel it but that was not the case, instead he chose to camp which only left me with one option - to attack. I think overall my gameplan was bad because its so hard to read PvP.
Q: In game 2 you just 4-gated and Hasu couldn't defend. Do you feel that you must 4-gate in PvP and chrono your warpgate research to win? Is there no other way in the current state pre-patch? specifically, is there no other way to play safely?
No, you can play like I did in game 1, but as I said my game understanding in the late game is very weak, with all the different tech paths and responses. I think if I chose robo instead of blink in that game I could for sure take it to a normal game every time every map except for perhaps Tal'Darim.
Q: In game 4 you went for a proxy but only built 1 gate. It was a smart mind game play, explain it.
When you play a best of 7 and you just beat your opponent with four gate twice, he will start to lose focus on some things, and you have to keep them wary off things like proxy gateways. One gate is certainly not all-in but a big investment, I saw that he scouted at around 12-13 so I knew I would get some guaranteed damage. I just did it to throw him off while he was already struggling in his mind.
Q: In game 3 he went for a forge cannon play, have you played against this before?
Never, I was taken by surprise but I quickly saw the weakness and acted on it. I think it was kind of a mistake on his side to not block it better. I simply took advantage of his mistake.
Q: The last game both of you went 4 gate but Hasu chose to get a robo and his immortal was not in time. How do you prefer to transition out of 4 gate?
If you do the 4 gate like I did, there is no safe transition. Its for sure all-in. I went for the most all-in type of 4 gate of all, not even bothering to play catch-up because the chances to win then are very slim. I was quite sure he would choose a tech path after a while because no one else I've seen has done what I did.
Q: Your opponent in the finals is going to be ThorZaIN, your fellow Swedish player. He has not won major tournaments yet, but he is rising in fame due to his big wins in TSL. What are your thoughts on him?
I have always known thorzain is a very good player, But he can't perform his utmost at LAN I think. It will be very exciting to play him no matter how it goes. I am very pleased with an all-Swedish final. ^_^
Q: Yes, he seems to be a player that does better when there is preparation and time between the matches, and that might be why he is doing well at TSL. How is your PvT lately?
Well, I rarely lose TvP but Kas / Thorzain are the people I find best in Europe at it. I think my TvP is topnotch, but with all the tournaments I have going on he might have the better end of it. He can examine how I play every tour with a million replays while I barely have anything of him except for vs Tyler & MC.
Q: Are you excited to go to New York City? Have you ever been there before?
I am actually extremely excited, my last visit to the US (Dallas) was obviously a blast. I am hoping to get an equal or even better experience going there . I've never been there!
Q: Any last words for practice partners or fans?
Big shoutouts to my team and teammates, shoutouts to teamliquid for hosting such a wonderful tournament. it has been an amazing journey, Thanks a lot to Bling / Sase / adel / Elfi who helped me practice and a huge shoutout to my fans thanks for giving me a extremely nice experience at MLG Dallas, I hope to show better games in the final than I did in this PvP.
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