EPT
Group A: NaDa vs TT on Peaks
There hasn’t been too much golden mouse talk this season, but two candidates are still in the hunt. The first is NaDa, who has really resurrected his career after his huge sponsorship deal and some personal matters relegated him to off-air status. His opponent was Ever)TT(, notable for his off the map builds and remarkable ability to lose games that he should win. A protoss GoodFriend you could say.
With only two starting positions, it was going to be easy for NaDa (top) to check TT’s build early. Was it early enough? Well, although TT sent his 5th probe up to start a proxy gate close to the terran natural, NaDa had created a nice two depot/rax block, which allowed him to stop any heavy damage. However, he had his gas stolen in the mean time and was going to be set back as TT rapidly built a core and citadel in his main.
As TT’s first goon started hitting the terran wall, NaDa’s academy troops burst out from behind, and showed beautiful micro by blasting away the protoss army and killing the proxy without losing a troop. Fortifying his natural with more mm and a turret, NaDa started his expo firmly out ahead of TT. Defending well against some dt shenanigans, the tornado terran whipped up a firestorm of mech while upgrading from two armouries. TT expanded across the bottom of the map, and did a good job of halting NaDa’s first big push with some storming and shuttle techniques.
The focus of the terran attack was the expansion at 4 o’clock, and with rallied reinforcements, he was able to shut it down. Also, NaDa’s own expansions had hardly been touched by protoss forces. With the upgrades getting scary at 2/2, TT was just feeding troops into a threshing machine by the end of the game. After numerous expansions fell, TT resigned as he lost his final gateways.
NaDa 2:1 TT, NaDa advances to the quarter finals.
Group B: JulyZerg vs ZergMan on Tau Cross
Another Golden Mouse candidate in July has also not been performing as well as expected lately. After limping out of the group stage, he had something to prove against ZergMan, who has seemed to be unstoppable in ZvZ lately.
ZergMan started at 5 with the teal zerg, while JulyZerg spawned at 10 with brown. Zergman expanded at 12 followed by a pool and gas, while July reversed that for a 12 pool, 11 gas followed by a natural hatchery. Both players teched to a lair straight away, and while July attempted a ling raid, it was easily repelled.
The turning point of the game came after another ling raid by July. ZergMan managed to engage the first mutalisks from July in a firefight, and crept up behind him with scourge, giving him the advantage. After a bit of nice muta micro to kill some scourge, ZergMan chased drones with his mutas while sending waves of lings to July’s natural. Unable to defend against either, July tapped GG.
Zergman 2:1 July, Zergman to the quarterfinals.
Group C: GoodFriend vs Bisu on Arcadia 2
Bisu has been thrilling everyone lately, while GoodFriend has just been, well, GoodFriend. Regardless though, GF continues to find himself in positions to win, it is only up to him to take advantage of those situations.
Bisu warped in at 5, across the map from GF, who was at 11. Bisu started brazenly, opting for a nexus at 14 followed by a gate/core/gate. GF saw all, and promptly put together an early attack force that got as far as his choke. Speaking of choking, although Bisu had pulled off a giant lead to start the game, he decided to attack GF head on as the KTF terran gathered forces at his entrance. It didn’t go so well, and the out of position protoss army allowed GF to mine up the center of the map.
Now facing a Terran blockade just outside his naturals, Bisu attempted to break out, but found most of his dragoons firing at a floating building rather than the tanks which were devastating his army. Numerous times Bisu sent waves of troops against the terran metal, but the results of a 3 base terran vs 2 base protoss were a foregone conclusion. GF moves on to the final 8, while Bisu only has EttterStyle’s love missives to console him now.
GF 2:1 Bisu
Group D: Shine vs Rock on Arkanoid
With one protoss hopeful out of the picture, the consistent Rock was ready to take on the new face of Shine[Name] on Arkanoid, and keep the legend alive.
The players started at the top of the map, with Rock on the left and Shine on the right. Both players started command buildings next to the larvae sacs at their naturals, with Shine having slightly bigger balls by doing it twice. He focused mainly on defending his large land area with turrets and some MM, as Rock went straight for carriers after scouting the terran build.
As Shine’s macro kicked into gear with six factories, he started goliath production in preparation for the carriers and put together a 4 ship drop of tanks and MM. This was blocked perfectly by Rock, but Shine came again, this time with 6 ships. With the help of a reaver and more well placed goons, Shine was foiled at every turn as he lost shiploads of units for the third time. By the time he finally made landfall in the protoss base, there were enough carriers to end the threat. He did manage to kill Rock’s expansions; however it meant he had nothing at home to defend with. As carriers floated around the terran base, Shine’s harassment became less potent as he continually lost ships and undefended expo’s. Finally, Rock’s air force reached a critical stage, and he went all in, crushing the remaining terran defenses.
Rock 2:1 Shine, Rock goes to the round of 8, Shine goes to the Dual League.
Group E: GGPlay vs Anytime on Peaks
The last protoss player to play was former champion Anytime, who was looking to handle GGPlay and find himself with a clear line to the finals. GGPlay has been doing well lately, and despite losing the first game of the series came roaring back in the second.
Zerg spawned on the bottom and pooled first, while Anytime started a fast expansion build. GGPlay dropped his second hatchery in his main and a third one at his expansion as his lings came into play, forcing Anytime to send more money. Anytime almost lost it early with the first lings, but a second cannon warped in just in time allowed him to fend off the attack.
As Anytime built up his infrastructure of mass gates, templars, and a stargate, GGPlay expanded two more times in hopes of keeping ahead in marco. The first of those attempts was stopped by an early group of speedlots, and Anytime rampaged through the map, sacrificing all of them to cause havoc amongst his enemies ranks. As GGPlay spawned lurkers, it seemed nothing could stop the waves of +1 zealots that came tearing across the map. From what seemed to be an advantageous position, the zerg player suddenly found himself without a natural expansion, and facing a three base protoss player.
GGPlay tried to retake some map control with some hydra/ling flanking on Anytime, but it seemed that at every encounter the protoss army came out ahead. Finally his economy simply could not keep up with Anytime’s and he found himself defending his last expansion. With a shake of his head, he tapped out, ending his OSL run.
Anytime 2:1 GGPlay
Group F: Sea[Shield] vs GoRush on Tau Cross
The last game of the evening featured a veteran SKT1 Zerg player against a rising start in Sea[Shield]. Boxer himself selected Sea as the terran player to watch for in the next year or two, and this game was a great measuring stick of how long people would have to wait to see it happen.
Sea started in the corner at 1, while GoRush found himself down at 5. Both players scouted each other correctly, and expanded quickly to their naturals. GoRush also took the ever popular 12 expansion while his spire and den were both up. He pushed out quickly with lurkers in order to secure his mineral only, and with nice micro pushed the three rax Sea back to his home.
With a fast hive coming, Sea was looking pretty out played by the ten minute mark. He had two factories, double ups, and had stopped the twelve expo with a tank, but it didn’t feel as if he was executing his gameplan as maybe he had wished. As he sent his army to deal with 12, GoRush countered with 15 lurkers and countless lings, forcing him to retreat. By the time he had finished dealing with that attack, defilers were out, and he was really being pressed. Great spell casting by GoRush allowed him to shut down Sea’s mineral only and bottle him up yet again in his natural. Having lost all of his MM, he tapped GG as scourge took out his vessels and more lurker/ling poured forth. A dismantling by GoRush.
GoRush 2:1 Sea[Shield]
Recommended VOD: I would check out GoRush vs Sea, just to see how a really really good zerg can quickly and efficiently destroy a FE money hungry terran. It is like a video textbook.
So after Friday’s games, things cleared up considerably in the OSL picture. Here is what the matchup’s for the quarterfinals (bo3 series) look like:
NaDa vs Zergman: ZergMan has shown real skill in getting through Zerg opponents, but he will have to step it up. NaDa won the last encounter between these two in the group stage.
GoodFriend vs Rock: Rock needs this series to show he is a real contender and not a protoss Mumyung. He has been very consistent but never spectacular in his career. By facing GF, he has been facing almost exclusively terran opponents in this OSL.
Anytime vs GoRush: This one is going to be wild. Anytime crushed GGPlay today with a no mercy build. In fact, that is what I will call him from now on, the “no mercy protoss”. He showed great timing and willingness to mix it up fast and furiously. About GoRush, I feel exactly the same way. This will be the #1 series to watch.
Iris vs Midas: Anytime/GoRush gets my nod over this battle, but only just. Midas was projected as the next SKT1 Terran winner, and has been a favorite from day one. However, these two have some history. They used to play for the same team, and Iris mangled Midas in practice games. Recognized league wide as the best TvT player around right now, Iris has the chance to put a serious dent in Midas’ title hopes.
