EPT
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Thanks to Loveletter for the sweet banner
Well, the GOM MSL wrapped up on Saturday, with a rare and exciting PvZ final. It is nice to see a protoss player in the late stages of a tournament, something OGN definately does not have going for them. Bisu has proved to be the real deal this season while sAviOr is simply his usual self.
I would like to take this space to thank everyone who has helped make this season fun to follow. Everyone making awesome opening posts, you kick ass. Jkillashark has kept everyone in the loop with his results and standings thread, which you can find in the articles section along with all of the other recaps for the league in BW history.
Cadical, rinizim, haji, Kennigit, and everyone else who uploaded VOD's and translated interviews, thanks for all of your hard work. I may have the red letters, but this is certainly a team job.
Lastly, a big thanks goes to Red_Dragon who showed up in my PM box with reports. I knew this season I could not write reports for this league, and had settled on uploading video. He took the initiative and filled a need. A
to you sir.Without further ado, here are the videos and reports of the finals.
The finals lay before us! Bisu and Savior are fighting to decide the 10th MSL starleague winner. This is Saviors FIFTH final in a row (won three), an impressive achievement. For the young MBC protoss player this is first appearance in the final. We all can hope inexperience will not play big role here. There are no calculations it is all or nothing here, winner takes all. Maestro holds awesome 83,9% zvp record (26-5), while Bisus pvz record is mediocre 50% (4-4). Once again by stats Bisu is fighting clear favorite, but remember what he did to rA.
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HERE WE GO
Game One: Longinus II
Bisu @ 11 placed first pylon below natural, signaling possible 14 nexus strategy. Luckily the first probe discovered zerg base @ 7, so Bisu was able to scout standard 12 hatch, 12 pool start by Savior. Seeing no aggressive opening from the zerg, protoss warped 14 nexus before forge. In response to double expo Savior also took mineral only. With scouting probe Bisu was able to see when Savior took gas and started lair.
As expected after fast nexus strategy, Bisu began to tech hard. Core into stargate later fallowed by citadel of adun and templars archives. Savior expands once again this time to middle right double gas expo. Bisus scouting probe was still alive and he saw hydra den being made. First corsair was used to kill defenseless overlords and to scout across zerg base. Fast corsairs quickly killed two overlords. In response Savior made spire. In addition to corsairs Bisu mixed dark templars.
With now three corsairs protoss player was able to kill overlord placed on natural expo and sneaked dt in zerg main. Savior moved all the drones from main so dt scored only one drone kill. However, dt successfully killed spire before overlords and hydras came to rescue. Dark templars were kept being made, and sent across map. One dt with support of corsairs harassed double gas expo. Savior executed attack on protoss newly warped mineral only expo with a force of lurks and lings. Bisu macroed off 4 gateways and had ground army, but he couldn’t defend expo right away because he lacked observers. When observers finally came, protoss forces failed to clear unwelcome guests before nexus was down.
Savior`s mutas cleared dt who harassed double gas expo. Bisu had one dt cleverly hid in zerg main waiting the right moment to use it. Protoss commander attacks Savior`s natural with about 8 zeals, one dragoon and archon. Corsairs were roaming the map, and cleared any overlords they could see. Because of that Savior didn’t see attack coming and was caught with pants down. Zerg troops were misplaced, and Savior had to morph late sunkens. While microing attacking force, Bisu showed some of his great speed and sent secret dt in Saviors main to attack drones, and morphed nexus at min only. Only two drones were killed but Savior had to use mutas (who helped defend at natural) to kill dark templar who aimed to take down pool. That helped Bisu a lot.
Bisu successfully killed all the lurkers and sunkens at entrance but Savior was able to defend with mutas and zerglings. However, with door to zergs base now opened, reinforcements were on the way. Savior was very low on units, and he had no drones mining at main. Army of 5 zeals entered zergs natural so Savior had to use drones to defend. While keeping pressure on opponent, Bisu expanded to middle left double gas expo. Protoss player now macroed from six gateways and it was only a matter of time before Savior gives up. Bisu razed Saviors double gas expo and newly rebuild spire with scary zeal/ht/archon army.
As final attempt Savior desperately attacked protoss min only with everything he had. Savior quickly killed few cannons defending expo but had to retreat due to superior army from protoss main. Having accomplished nothing Savior GG`s.
Bisu > Savior 1-0
Game Two: Reverse Temple
Similar like in first game Bisu @ 6 aimed for fast expo and sent scouting probe toward zerg @ 2 on the first try. This time Bisu was able to delay hatchery at zerg natural quite a bit with nice probe harass, Savior even had to expand at mineral only first. Bisu once again safely fast expanded. With awesome probe micro protoss player kept scouting probe alive for very long in Saviors main. Savior even decided to morph lair at mineral only expo. First zealot quickly scouted lair.
Bisu warped stargate and was making corsairs. Zerg player this time morphed spire first, and Bisu added robo support bay. Again, corsairs killed few overlords before Savior had hydras available. As robo support warped in Bisu had began to produce reavers. With first mutas Savior tried to damage Bisus eco so he went to protoss main. Nexus was well defended with cannons, one dragoon and corsairs so savior couldn’t do much. Savior takes 12 natural and throws down two more hatcheries.
Savior had about 12 mutas. Protoss quickly switched to mass gateways while still producing corsairs and reavers. Protoss player goes out with 9 corsairs, 3 goons and two zealots, engages minor battle killing few zerglings and retreats. Bisu warped nexus at min only just before he goes out with large corsair, dragoon, zeal army and two reavers in shuttle. Having many hatcheries Saviors macro was also scary; his army consisted mainly of hydras and zerglings supported by mutas.
Bisu attacks Saviors min only. Zerg player flanked with hydras/zerglings from one side and mutas/hydras from other side. Maestro kills all of the protoss ground army, but corsairs killed all of the mutas. As Bisu saw mass hydra army he now had high templars for defense. Zerg forces attack protoss mineral only as in the same time Bisu drops one dt in Saviors main with shuttle. Single dt killed 13 drones at main and destroyed pool. Once again, Bisu is late with observer tech so he lost nexus at mineral only. Despite that protoss macro looked sick. Bisu goes for zerg mineral only again with well mixed army (zeals/goons/ht/reavers). Zerg player had very big army himself, and for the moment it looked like Savior will clear threat with no problem (especially after about 12 lurkers morphed).
Savior quickly burrowed lurkers all together so Bisu was able to kill most of them with BEAUTIFUL storms. Protoss master constantly reinforced from main and pushed harder. Savior had prepared flank one more time and tried to save lair but Bisu superbly microed reavers and troops. Mineral expo failed to protoss army. Despite having many expos Saviors macro couldn’t match Bisu. Protoss player enters Saviors natural taking down evo chambers, sunkens and few defending units. With no units left to defend Savior GG`s
Bisu > Savior 2-0
Game Three: BlitzX
With two games behind and Bisu on the other side who caught momentum, Savior has been in very bad situation. It was usual for Savior to be the one who always plays mind games dominating opponent but now he is in reverse situation. By the look on Saviors face I could see confused man with broken spirit. Lets see how he handles the pressure in do or die game.
Maestro @ 2 used 12 hatch, 12 expo build while Bisu @ 11 opened with fast nexus once again. Savior didn’t take his natural first; instead he went for second gas expo. Bisu again harassed well with scouting probe he even build pylon so Savior couldn’t expo to natural. Zerg used first zerglings to kill pylon and to block entrance to main. With one zealot Bisu managed to kill one drone at Saviors second expo and forced Savior to take drones off mining for a few seconds. Bisu quickly climbed to stargate into citadel of adun and templar archives. Maestro relied on spire first one more time.
First corsair was used to scout. Bisu saw spire so he warped cannons around main and expo nexus. Savior took bottom right expo, as Bisu warped third and fourth gateway. Again Savior gave his best to micro mutas and tried to damage Bisu. Despite Saviors best effort he couldn’t touch well defended protoss base. Bisu macroed off gateways and used 5 corsairs to scout Savior and killed few overlords while doing so. Protoss player takes one more expo.
Bisu decides to attack Saviors second natural with zealots and corsairs. Maestro used quite a few scourges hoping to kill corsairs but no luck. Zeals now reached Saviors expo; Maestro used lurkers to defend, as Bisu had no observers. It doesn’t matter, protoss player forced Savior to pull off drones, brave sons of Aiur ignored lurkers and arrived to zerg first natural ignoring sunken line there and went straight to main. Bisu had to fight minor hydra forces on the way; zerg player used drones to defend, as he had almost no units. In the same time corsairs are wasting nearby overlords. Two zealots made it to the zerg main killing drones.
Savior used last mutas to defend drones at main but they were intercepted by corsairs and killed. Savior cleared main with one hydralisk. The two dark templars were on the way to zerg natural. Protoss corsairs sniped all overlords in that area. DTs killed two sunkens defending natural. Savior switched to mass hydra and clears natural of dark templars. Bisu strikes again second zerg natural with mass zeals killing overlords on the way with corsairs. Savior defends once again with mass hydra army.
At the same time Bisu unloaded from shuttle 4 dark templars in defenseless Saviors main. Savior had to pull off all the drones, dts successfully killed lair and spawning pool. The look on Saviors face told us everything he knew it was over. Before Savior admitted complete defeat he showed weird hydra dance like he was trying to say OMG I don’t care.
Bisu > Savior 3-0
Surprisingly, it was protoss player who first managed to completely outplay Savior and destroy him 3-0. I have never seen Savior being so hopeless and confused. Bisu was the one who pressured first, attacked first and predicted all the moves and countered. Protoss master showed great thinking, speed and multitasking using all kind of distraction and tricks. Nal_rA was the only protoss player ever who won MSL (by beating monster NaDa 3-0). Bisu joins him now. All hail Bisu the tenth MSL champion!
Red_Dragon
Cheers,
Mani
