EPT
Game 1: Jju vs Yellow[arnc] (formally of [name] clan) on Longinus
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/PringlesMSL2/game1.JPG)
Yellow[arnc] had advanced from his initial group, going 2-0 over his teammate BiFrost and then besting IPX in a game on Blitz played poorly by the maestro. His opponent was Jju, who has come in second in his group, beating both Midas and Chojja. Jju held a 2-0 record over Yarnc, so he must have been confident heading into the days match.
Yarnc started at 11 with the white zerg, as Jju spawned at 3 with manly purple. Both players scouted the wrong way with their initial lords, and both laid a pool/gas before their second hatchery. The two ling forces passed each other in the middle, and raided each other's bases. Yarnc got the best of the engagements, getting his spire up much earlier than Jju. His drone count was slightly higher as well, and he kept his lings patrolling outside the Samsung zerg's base.
Jju is no fool though. Knowing he was slightly behind, he sacrificed drones for lings and broke out, raiding Yarnc's mainline and killing drones. Both players were running on very low economies, and when yarnc countered with his own lings both players had less than three drone. Jju seemed to be recovering faster, and while he had a single mutalisk, there were a couple scourge waiting for an interception. Jju and his pet muta flew all over the map to avoid the tailing scourge, and he also had two lings pestering Yarnc's spire. Finally his mutalisk died, probably from exhaustion, but he had rebuilt enough to actually expand to his natural.
Both players had come back from the brink of destruction, the question was, who was going to make the best of it. Yarnc decided against more air in favour of lings to take down Jju's expo hatch, while dropping a second hatch in his main. Jju however, stuck with the air route, and when his next two mutalisks hatched, he sent them to the white zerg's base and scattered the drones again. Yarnc tried to counter with his remaining units, but was unable to make a dent.
Jju > Yellow[arnc]
So, Jju advances to the winner's bo3, while Yellow[arnc] will face the loser of rA and Xellos... that match.. NEXT.
Game 2: Nal_rA vs Xellos on Arcadia 2
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/PringlesMSL2/game3.JPG)
Xellos looks to be back in good form these days. He finished first in his group that also had NaDa and Kingdom. However, he also holds a 2:6 record against rA, something he was obviously looking to improve on. As for the dreamer, he was given entrance to the next round via Boxer's exit and a wildcard playoff, beating NaDa for the spot.
And let’s get to the action. The players were at cross positions, rA at 7 and Xellos at 1, and rA opened with a Nexus after pylon. Xellos scouted it quickly, and started a CC of his own after the first factory. He mined up the path between bases as rA dropped more gates and a robotics facility. With mines everywhere, Xellos ensured he would have a couple moments of peace and quiet while he built four more factories. rA massed off his early economy, took his other inhouse expansion, and waited for his observers to take flight.
Back in the terran base, Mr. Happy also took his other expansion, and then moved his army south to seige up behind the protoss gas expo. Xellos pushed forward, using the wall to his advantage, while rA countered at the terran main. A group of goons forced Xellos to retreat his vultures, and he dealt with the counter nicely, although many of his scv got stuck in the ramp. rA turned his attention to the wall of metal outside his base, broke the artillery, but was promptly forced back by another wave.
Xellos kept the pressure up, and from this point on his blockade was unbreakable against rA's best attempts. Xellos slowly pushed forward, and after losing ground inch by inch, rA typed gg. Next stage will be Xellos vs Jju and rA vs Yellow[arnc], all bo3.
Xellos > Nal_rA
Game 3: Kingdom vs Silver on Arcadia 2
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/PringlesMSL2/game2.JPG)
Kingdom advanced second in his group behind Xellos, while Silver advanced as the first seed in his group after the Boxer withdraw.
Silver's nickname in the MSL is MVP, but he has a ways to go before he really earns that distinction. Winning today would be a step in the right direction, but Kingdom is a tough toss, and Arcadia has proven to be a p map vs zerg (7-4). The game started with cross positions, Kingdom at 1 and Silver at 7. Kingdom sent his 5th probe to the middle of the map, and constructed two proxy gateways as Silver dropped a 12hatchery by his choke. The result was a forgone conclusion. Zealots poured in from the gates, forcing a hatchery cancellation. As Silver scrambled to sunk his main, it was already too late, and the game was over in scant minutes.
Kingdom > Silver
Kingdom took advantage of the passive build orders being used on this map recently, and placed his gates in the perfect position.
Game 4: Daezang vs Savior on Peaks
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/PringlesMSL2/game4.JPG)
After placing second in his group, Savior was matched up against Daezang, the surprise winner of group C (beating out Midas, Jju, and ChoJJa). Daezang is probably not too happy about the situation, but he has proved to be a tough opponent lately, 6-0 on MBC. However, Savior is 17-4 vs P, so... yeah.
Savior opened at the top with Daezang on the bottom. A twelve pool from Savior was found quickly, and the zerg dropped a second hatchery in his main base. Daezang was teching quickly, delaying the early lings with his first zealots, but he was unable to stop Savior from getting a peak inside his main. As the zerg player teched to their lair level, Daezang had blockaded himself in, hiding his four gate speedlot strategy. Exiting out the side ramp, Daezang caught Savior with a single sunken, and 10 speedlots were all over his expo. With four gates rallied to the front, IPX was hard-pressed to fight off the tide.
He finally stopped the first wave, but the second wave of twelve speedlots continued to smash at the zerg defenses. Savior was very low on drones, and was spending all his money on lings, despite having three hatcheries and a lair. However, with another failed wave of speedlots, the tide began to turn as the protoss pressure slowly fizzled out. Unbelievably, Savior had managed to halt the enslaught, and with pure mass speedlings and new sunks, he was in a much better position to defend. One last failed volley from Daezang led him to type GG, and Savior handed him his first MBC defeat withough killing a bulding.
Savior > Daezang.
The next round of games should be these matchups, all best of three:
Group A Loser's (bo3) Set: YellOw[ArnC] vs Nal_rA
Group A Winner's (bo3) Set: XellOs vs JJu
Group B Loser's (bo3) Set: Daezang vs Silver
Group B Winner's (bo3) Set: Savior vs Kingdom O_O, gg here.
Tonights THUMBS UP goes to Jju for his nice head under pressure, playing a tension packed low-eco zvz vs Yellow[arnc]. Those kinds of zvz with few drones are the most fun to watch.
Tonights THUMBS DOWN goes to Saviors earring. I dont like it.
Tonights RECOMMENDED GAME is Savior vs Daezang. The whole world included Jesus thought Savior was dead, but he somehow pulled it out.
Of course, if you want to see any of these games yourself, learn how to use torrents, and access TL's own torrent service. There is a button on the navigation bar.
Cheers,
Manifesto7
. And damn that earring is gay indeed :/. Ah well, maybe he is, cant blame him then :p.
NNOOOO....NAL RA!!!
