[GOM] Some Ro16 Charm

CJ Entus sAviOr vs Lecaf OZ ForGG Game 1 @ Andromeda

Deep in the spiral of a slump that has lasted a year, Savior was eager to prove the naysayers wrong and show that he still has the stuff to compete at the top level. With his appearance in the top 16 of this tournament, he looked well on the road to do that. Meanwhile ForGG has been manhandling any player which comes his way. The question on everyone’s mind as the two combatants stared each other down was whether Savior would overcome this impressive obstacle. The two started out on Andromeda and ForGG (Orange at 5) took a leaf out of Flash’s book and opened with an 8rax at his choke followed up by a wall. Savior decides to play standard with a 12 hatch and is force to use his drones to defend against 2 rines. The marines succumb to drone spit and after killing a few drones and ForGG is forced to call off the rush.

Both players enter a standard midgame with Savior quickly taking his mineral only and adding spire tech while ForGG expanding to his natural. The stage was set for a long macro war and ForGG readied his upgrades to give him that early edge. Savior has his trademark mutalisks enter ForGG’s main right on time and swarms of marines collect near the mineral formations to defend against the aerial threat. And just like that we saw a glimpse of the former champion, as his mutalisks danced their hearts out; killing a number of marines and giving Savior a small advantage. With the small victory in the main of ForGG, Savior decided to expand and enter Hive tech – omitting his Hydralisk Den.

This expansion did not go unseen for long, as one of ForGGs SCVs wandered into range of the hatchery. Seizing the moment, the Terran army marched across to the realm of the Swarm only to find that it was secured with 5 sunken colonies. Instead of pursuing the suicide missing of assaulting Saviors main, ForGG commanded his troops to attack 11, where two peaceful drones are happily mining away without a care in the world. Knowing that his time was running out, Savior used his mutalisks to pick of marines and slow the advance of ForGG’s ball while teching to guardians.

ForGG’s units prepared to assault 11 but were rapidly surrounded by beautifully microd Mutalisks and Zerglings, completely nullifying the threat. ForGG, however, was not taken back and marched out with a newly constructed army featuring tanks and vessels. However, with some elegant control, Savior scourged the lone Vessel of ForGGs; but despite the setback ForGG marched onwards. The tank line assumed their positions and begun the siege of Saviors base while Savior prepared Guardians for defense. With guardians defending Savior’s main, ForGG knew he couldn’t pass and backs off while dispatching a small group of mnms who head to 11.

ForGGs small squadron commenced its attack on 11 and within moments Savior has a swarm up and rapes the poor squad of Marines with Zerglings. Frustrated by being unable to dent Saviors economy, ForGG decided to siege above Savior’s mineral only expansion and get some Drone kills to stall him. This threat is quickly nulled by a fleet of guardians; which are floating about everywhere preventing ForGG from being overly aggressive. In true Zerg fashion, Savior planted his Ultralisk cavern announcing that he was now ready to tackle ForGG head on.

The army of ForGG marched on 11 once again only to be covered in plague. Once immersed in red goo, the Guadrians overhead had no trouble picking the army to shreds. ForGG attempted to expand to 1, but was quickly denied by Savior. Meanwhile Savior’s guardians begin to fall to Irradiates, signaling that the Vessel cloud is getting out of control. Savior is quick to rectify the situation by taking out roughly half of ForGG’s fleet. Savior completes his expansions at 3 and 9,

By now it is clear that ForGG is desperate to catch up to Savior, but after trying to push out only yield in his army being decimated by Ultra/Ling he turns to the faithful dropship. Two dropships unload their contents in Saviors main and destroys all of Savior’s tech. ForGG has kept up the macro and pushes through Savior’s army and natural with his army. Simultaneously, ForGG cliffs Savior’s 11 natural and attacks 9 and he slowly claws back into this game. Shortly ForGG runs out of minerals and is forced to distance mine from 3 while starting a CC there. ForGG pushes through with some mnm at 11 and kills the natural and is eventually stopped by lings. Another drop in Savior’s main kills off what was left before being killed.

Savior knows there is one thing keeping ForGG in this game, the 3 o’clock expansion, and sends all his troops at the command center. With a simple lift command, Savior’s plan is foiled, and ForGG comes in and clears up the zerg mess. Savior expands to the top right but is desperately low on drones and is forced to make some. ForGG sends his ball across the map to 11, 9 and 1 and kills off the 11 natural and 1 but some scrappy defense saves 9. ForGG’s incredibly macro keeps his army afloat with fresh troops, and these troops defend 3 while the remainder of ForGG’s army push into 11 and kill the main. As a wall of d-matrix’d marines walk over Savior’s last remaining forces, this writer sits back and thinks to himself – now that’s a game of Starcraft.

CJ Entus sAviOr vs Lecaf OZ ForGG Game 2 @ Othello

By some miracle, it appears that Savior has regained some of his lost form. It seems almost barbaric to ask the players to game again, but alas, they must to determine a champion between them. So the players collect themselves once again and prepare to entertain the eager crowd. Savior (White at 10) returns once again to the tried and true three hatch build that he pioneered in his prime. ForGG (Brown at 1) repeats his build from game one (8rax). With the inevitable bunker being started in Savior’s natural, it becomes a clash of micro between the players. However, ForGG does not feel he is up to the challenge of fighting 8 drones and backs off.

Savior instantly sends off his first 6 Zerglings to pressure ForGG, but they can’t do anything useful so wall on Savior’s ramp. ForGG starts the obligatory CC in his base and sends off an SCV to gain more information from Savior. Despite not being able to get inside Savior’s main, the SCV is able to prevent Savior from placing a creep colony down by hovering around the drone set to build it. Both players build up their forces a bit more, then ForGG decides to move out. Savior instantly adds more sunkens and prepares to counter with his swarm of zerglings. Unfortunately for Savior, ForGG left behind 2 firebats and a medic which keep Savior’s lings away. A drone sneaks out of Saviors base and expands at 7 and Savior begins making mutalisks.

Savior takes a leaf out of Kwanro’s book and attempts to rush into ForGG’s main but the attack gets squashed pretty quickly by ForGG’s mnm force. ForGG is quick to get on the offensive after Savior’s attempt, and heads off towards 7 with the intent on butchering the inhabitants. However, Savior intercepts them perfectly with Mutalisks and zerglings and takes out the raiding party. Savior’s first lurker hatches from its egg and add instants protection to 7. However, ForGG storms recklessly up the ramp where the lurker is burrowed and decimates it, the mutalisks and the poor helpless drones that occupy the base. Very shortly afterwards, ForGG blasts the Hatchery into oblivion.

ForGG’s macro has kicked in and has a monster army compared to Savior’s. Savior’s Hive and defiler mound finish and he hurriedly builds defilers. ForGG moves out and Savior attempts to flank his forces, and gets squashed like a bug on a windshield. As Savior sits in his base waiting for his defilers, ForGG annihilates all of Savior’s expansion attempts and expands to his third base. Savior tries to shut down this base, but like everything else he’s done in the past year; he fails. As the last few zerg forces run suicide missions through minefields, it becomes apparent to Savior that his time is up, and taps out after an uninspiring game.

forGG 2-0 sAviOr.

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STX Soul Shuttle (YoonJong) vs. KTF MagicNs Violet Game 1 @ Andromeda

Both of these players have been hyped as the ‘next big protoss star’ by their respective teams. Violet is here after trashing Reach – proving that his PvP is unquestionably strong. While Shuttle is here by beating everybody’s favorite Perfect Terran, Xellos. Nevertheless, the two have a reputation in this matchup, but only one can walk away victorious. Violet (Orange at 5) opens standardly and scouts across the map to 11 after his first gateway. Shuttle (Purple at 1) also scouts after gateway to 11, but idles his probe on the ramp once he finds the base is empty. Violet tries to get up the ramp, but obviously can’t, and assumes that Shuttle has spawned at 11. Violet sends off his first zealot to harass the empty 11, while Shuttle has two zealots walling his ramp.

Shuttle scouts Violet and notes that he has already started range while Violet is disappointed in his “harass” at 11. Shuttle expands to his mineral only, as per normal, while Violet opts to have the security of a Robotics facility before taking his mineral only. The typical obs sniping war begins between the two, with Violet getting an early kill. Strangely, Shuttle moves out with an inferior army and attempts to break Violet, only to find that Violet is more than secure and kills a few dragoons and an observer before Shuttle retreats.

Both players build reavers and prepare for reaver harass. Violet decides to halt mining at Shuttle’s mineral only first – and uses his dragoons and his shuttle to attack the probes from the low ground. Violet, with the support of a brand new reaver, assaults Shuttle – who has two reavers. With some brilliant Reaver control, Shuttle is able to defend against Violet. Both players expand again, and take their time building up. After a while, Shuttle moves out and harasses Violet’s mineral only using his Dragoons and his Shuttle. Violet is not satisfied, and engages with Shuttle’s army – both players lose their reavers but Shuttle’s superior unit wins the battle. However, he still decides to retreat when goons from the high ground shoot down on him.

After a brief moment of rebuilding, Shuttle and Violet engage once again with Shuttle emerging as the victor thanks to some brilliant positioning. Shuttle decides its time to include templar tech into his army and starts an archives. Violet pushes out with a new reaver but cannot engage the huge army of Shuttle’s. Shuttle is restless, and attacks Violet at his natural which allows Violet’s two reavers to kill off a huge number of Zealots giving Violet the larger army. Shuttle drops high and dark templars at Violet’s natural and kills off a handful of probes. Violet pushes out, forcing Shuttle to retreat to his natural. Violet charges into Shuttles natural for some bizarre reason and gets decimated by superior tech and unit count.

Shuttle tries some Dark Templar harass by dropping a DT in Violet’s main – but it is killed by a cannon. Violet moves out and splits his army in two and perfectly flanks Shuttles larger army and actually wins the fight. However while Violet was busy fighting, Shuttle storm drops him and kills in excess of 20 probes making the army sacrifice worth it. With a clear economic advantage to Shuttle, it is only a matter of time before he musters up enough troops and crushes Violet, cruising to victory in the first set.

STX Soul Shuttle (YoonJong) vs. KTF MagicNs Violet Game 2 @ Othello

Well it wasn’t a perfect PvP, but both Protoss’ looked sharp in that last game. With everything on the line for Violet, he really needed to up his game and defeat his adversary. Violet (red at 10) opens completely standard against Shuttle (purple at 11); who is doing the exact same thing. Both players deny scouting and tech towards reavers. Violet musters up an army and moves across to attack Shuttle. Violet drops his reaver in the min line of Shuttle but can only get one kill before being forced to retreat. Both players return to a passive game and take their naturals.

Shuttle pushes out with two reavers and engages Violet – Violet loses everything but two goons, while Shuttle loses everything except his two reavers. Once Shuttles reinforcements arrive, he attacks Violet and manages to kill his new reaver, at the price of losing his shuttle. As more and more reinforcements pile into the natural; and Violet sacrificing a lot to kill the reavers, the game looks bleak for Violet. After some goon vs probe action; Shuttle retreats and gathers up his forces for a final push. Once Shuttle gets two reavers he is off again, and pushes hard into Violet’s natural and decimates everything. Violet is forced to concede the game, and the series.

Shuttle 2-0 Violet

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Lecaf OZ n.Die_Jaedong vs Samsung KHAN Dream.t)Jangbi Game 1 @ Andromeda

These two players last met in the Seoul e-Sports festival final; which ended 2-1 in favor of Jaedong. Both players have come along way since then; especially Jaedong. The question on everyone’s mind is will Jaedong destroy Jangbi again? Jangbi (Purple at 7) opts for the standard fast expansion and scouts Jaedong immediately. Meanwhile Jaedong (blue at 11) plays hatchery first; and even manages to plant his hatchery while the probe is harassing him. Jangbi responds appropriately with Nexus into gate, then cannon. Jaedong’s first four lings are out and kill the scouting probe of Jangbi then makes a few more lings.

Jaedong sends out a drone to expand while Jangbi does the standard Sair/Reaver. Jaedong, being the master that he is, reads Jangbi perfectly and masses up a small army of hydralisks. And before Jangbi knows what hit him, his lone cannon is broken by 12 hydralisks. All the probes in Jangbi’s base can’t save him now as more hydralisks pour into his base – and Jangbi loses against Jaedong’s simple hydra rush, how disappointing.

Lecaf OZ n.Die_Jaedong vs Samsung KHAN Dream.t)Jangbi Game 2 @ Othello

After Jaedong made Jangbi look like some C- scrub, the question seemed answered; yes Jaedong was going to demolish Jangbi in humiliating fashion. So as game 2 opened up, no one had faith in Jangbi for pulling a miracle. Jaedong (brown at 1) opens with 9pool speed to for fast pressure against FE, while Jangbi (purple at 10) pylons in his main; signaling that he has no intension of fast expanding. Jangbi plays the only reasonable one base opening, and goes 1 gate tech. Jaedong simply sends his Zerglings across to Jangbi and runs straight up his ramp and begins picking off probes – abysmal defense from Jangbi.

Jaedong expands as his speed upgrade finishes, and the last few Zerglings are picked off by a lone dragoon. Jangbi then starts a Robo, demonstrating his intent on using reavers. As he loads up his shuttle, Jaedong doesn’t have his Spire ready yet; and morphs a sunken colony in his main to ward off the reaver. However, as soon as mutalisks emerge the game turns completely in favor of Jaedong – and Mutalisks and Zerglings clear up the reaver problem, then go on to pillage Jangbi’s main. Jangbi, once again, is humiliated.

Jaedong 2-0 JangBi. The answer to the question is: Yes, Jaedong destroyed Jangbi again.

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Lecaf OZ Lomo[fOu] vs Samsung KHAN oDin[gm] Game 1 @ Andromeda

There’s been a lot of buzz around Lomo lately, notably for his impressive TvT skills as shown in the MSL. He is also one of the many Lecaf players flooding the leagues. Unlike his companion, ForGG, he plays a slightly more aggressive game which typically makes for refreshing games. Odin on the other hand, is a strong zerg in his own right, but has really come as far as his skill can take him; or so everyone thinks. Lomo (teal at 1) opens non-standard with a double rax and begins pumping marines. Odin (yellow at 5) opens with 9pool speed which rush immediately to Lomo – dodging the SCV on the way.

Lomo has no idea that the lings are coming and when they rush up to him he calmly blocks them with his barracks and a supply depo – very nice. Odin expands and techs straight to lair while Lomo already has a strong army of mnm out heading towards Odin. Odin is completely unprepared, and doesn’t even have two sunkens ready. Lomo is free to rampage around and decimates everything. Odin, hangs his head in shame, and concedes the game.

Lecaf OZ Lomo[fOu] vs Samsung KHAN oDin[gm] Game 2 @ Othello

After the worst game of the night, Odin really needed to make an impression to stake a claim for “competent zerg”. Lomo (blue at 5) set out to make sure that didn’t happen by making a proxy barracks. Odin plays standard, opening with a 12 hatch and is caught completely off guard by Lomo’s proxy. Lomo walls off his natural, and starts a bunker in Odin’s natural. Odin completely overreacts and sends about all his drones to defend against 2 scvs and 2 marines. Odin loses a number of drones and a lot of mining time but manages to fend of the rush. Lomo follows up his rush with an expansion of his own.

Odin quickly techs off 2hatch to Mutalisks, but Lomo already has an engineering bay ready for turrets. Lomo pushes with a handful of marines to force Odin to create some sunkens to defend himself. Lomo techs up further, getting his factory, and adds his Turret’s just in time for Odin’s mutalisks. While the mutalisks don’t do much damage, they so force Lomo to go home with his army – temporarily delaying the inevitable push. Odin showcases some good micro, and picks off some stuff in Lomo’s main – which makes Lomo build many more turrets for defense. Despite building more turrets than needed, Lomo still has a commanding lead.

Odin continues to mass Mutalisk and showcase his fantastic micro. Lomo has Vessels out – which means the ultimate anti-mutalisk ability has now entered the game; irradiate. Odin falls to pieces against the irradiate; letting all of his mutalisks lose lots of health. Lomo seizes this moment to move out, seeing as his main is riddled with turrets. Odin moves right in with a counter – killing all of the Turrets. An irradiate kills a handful of Mutalisks and Lomo comes home to defend.

Odin has his third online, but its all too late. Lomo moves out with a monster army and heads towards Odin’s main. Odin attempts to shutdown the force with his mutalisks; but gets hopelessly crushed by a hoard of marine fire. Odin is forced to tap out against the Lecaf monster.

Lomo[fOu] 2-0 oDin[gm]

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