EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY/KAOSL.jpg)
The Prelims
- By DoctorHelvetica
Twenty-four players qualified from the OSL Offline Qualifier to face seeded players in the Round of 36. While many TLers were pulling for IdrA, he sadly failed to qualify after facing HyuN in a difficult series.
Group A)
HoGiLGroup B)
GuemChiGroup C)
KillerGroup D)
LetaGroup E)
fOrGGGroup F)
LomoGroup G)
FrOzenGroup H)
LuxuryGroup I)
FireFistGroup J)
BisuGroup K)
LightGroup L)
MVPGroup M)
KalGroup N)
HydraGroup O)
by.heroGroup P)
SpecialGroup Q)
PianOGroup R)
ModestyGroup S)
BaByGroup T)
ReallyGroup U)
HyuNGroup V)
hyvaaGroup W)
815Group X)
PerfectManBisu finally qualified for the OSL this time around, after making it out of his group with ease. He will face Modesty in Group H in a Best out of 3. The winner of that match will meet go.go. Bisu's PvT is far better than go.go's TvP and he should win his group with ease. Bisu fans have been through a lot in the OSL, hopefully Bisu won't let down his fans this time around.
Some other names to watch out for from the qualifiers: Light, Leta, KaL, and fOrGG. The three terrans have been doing quite well in the Winners League; even fOrGG showed a triumphant return to form with his 3 kill against eSTRO. Light has been ripping it up for MBC and Leta has been doing the same for Hite. KaL is just on fire, he advanced from his Round of 36 group in dominant fashion and has showcased a strong new PvT ability.
The Round of 36 is going to be one interesting ride, a lot of great players and new faces will be tested against the seeds from the last Round of 16. While the seeds are incredibly strong, upsets do happen. The Korean Air OSL is just beginning to take off.
Group A - Recap
Game 1 Kal vs MVP.
Fast dt drop into arbiter map control, mass expansion, recall ownage.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY-pj2kHoeo&feature=player_embedded
Kal spawned in white at 12 on Great Barrier Reef while MVP got yellow at 5. MVP opened wallin standard while Kal opened standard 13 core zealot. Kal opted for a late scout, showing he planned to use the same build regardless of scouting info, probably because anything but FE is unlikely. MVP scouted the wrong way and had his scouting scv denied while Kal rushed to dts. MVP proceeded to head for a fast cc while Kal opted for just two dragoons without range and spent the rest of his gas rushing for a powerful dt drop with 2 gateways.
MVP had a turret with a tank by it next to his main cc in typical anti reaver placement but Kal dropped the dts at the edge of the base and then used the empty shuttle to fake a reaver and lure the unsieged tanks away. This allowed the 2 dts to take down the turret and forced MVP to turret creep from a turret at his natural. However, despite significant disruption to mining and a half dozen lost scvs MVP took no real damage. His natural was already up so the scvs maynarded away while Kal was still on 1 base because of the cost of the rush. MVP's timings were thrown by delayed factories and destroyed machine shops but Kal was not about to threaten him before those could be replaced. Despite Kal microing his dts competently and getting about as much use out of them as he could MVP quickly got control of the situation and added some comsats.
Meanwhile Kal had taken his expansion and was transitioning into dragoons, speedlots and fast arbiters. With 4 gateways and observers his army was dangerous but the pressure on his 2 gas forced him to rely on lowtech while waiting for arbs. MVP attempted to quickly take his mineral only 3rd below his main's cliff but Kal delayed it competently with dragoons. A retaliatory vult harass was cleaned up with only a few probe losses. Kal also took his 3rd, the mineral only behind his natural, and added more gateways, macroing up for massive map control. MVP refused to contest the map, instead taking the 3 expansion, again under his main cliff while Kal replied by taking his own mineral only, somehow playing 2 gas arbiters but managing to macro up 160 supply vs 100. On a minor note, his first shuttle was still alive and spent the entire game this far zeal bombing tanks with an extremely high success rate. Each time he did it he gained 50 minerals and 100 gas in damage and zeals appearing from the skies took kills wherever MVP wasn't looking. Not really a big impact but over the game it added up and Kal kept doing it.
The inevitable recall came, and into a base with absolutely no minefield. Given MVP had see the arbiters that was pretty weak. Once the tank reinforcements arrived MVP regained his main but the supplies were still 150 to 100 and Kal was expanding again to 11 while MVP couldn't even think about pushing out.
Kal's next recall was at 6 but there was no base there and the sim city at the natural meant Kal's army was actually trapped behind zealot tight walls and mown down by tanks. However the target of MVP's late starport and science facility did present themselves and were taken down with MVP somheow not yet having a vessel. Dragoons shuttled behind the mineral line at 3 continued to show how annoying the shuttle could be and despite the massive failure of his second recall Kal was still very much ahead in supply. Kal's third recall went onto mines and killed two tanks and then he let his arbiter suicide itself into turrets. MVP replied by dropping tanks behind the mineral lines at 2 and 10 but then ran his dropship into cannons.
The next recall at 3 wiped out the expansion before MVP had time to properly reinforce it from the last and although Kal's mining was disrupted by the tanks he took the main at 9. MVP finally made a push on the map, starting to cross the big bridge towards Kal's main but despite Kal's army coming in at an ugly angle in this battle but he had so much shit (and a few units coming in from behind) that it doesn't matter that he only has one arbiter. MVP lost his entire push and his tank count and although he was taking 6 his main, natural and third were near mined out. MVP continued to try and delay Kal with drop harass but with cannons at every base it did no real damage before being cleaned up. Kal recalled 6 and covered the goliaths and scvs in psi storm before running his army into MVP's nat. Simultaneously another recall hit the main, both unchallenged by MVP.
GG.
The dt drop opening was competently handled by both sides. MVP blocked it without suffering any game ending damage and Kal controlled it well enough to get the expansion and economy he needed. However MVP's play was ultimately too passive to cope with arbiters and map control. He attempted to just dominate 4 bases from main cliff which works if you are great at stopping arbiters. Had the first recall been blocked more smoothly then MVP could have responded with an overwhelming push. However it was not. MVP failed at the execution of his plan and after the first recall did a decent amount of damage Kal just avalanched out of control.
Kal spawned in white at 12 on Great Barrier Reef while MVP got yellow at 5. MVP opened wallin standard while Kal opened standard 13 core zealot. Kal opted for a late scout, showing he planned to use the same build regardless of scouting info, probably because anything but FE is unlikely. MVP scouted the wrong way and had his scouting scv denied while Kal rushed to dts. MVP proceeded to head for a fast cc while Kal opted for just two dragoons without range and spent the rest of his gas rushing for a powerful dt drop with 2 gateways.
MVP had a turret with a tank by it next to his main cc in typical anti reaver placement but Kal dropped the dts at the edge of the base and then used the empty shuttle to fake a reaver and lure the unsieged tanks away. This allowed the 2 dts to take down the turret and forced MVP to turret creep from a turret at his natural. However, despite significant disruption to mining and a half dozen lost scvs MVP took no real damage. His natural was already up so the scvs maynarded away while Kal was still on 1 base because of the cost of the rush. MVP's timings were thrown by delayed factories and destroyed machine shops but Kal was not about to threaten him before those could be replaced. Despite Kal microing his dts competently and getting about as much use out of them as he could MVP quickly got control of the situation and added some comsats.
Meanwhile Kal had taken his expansion and was transitioning into dragoons, speedlots and fast arbiters. With 4 gateways and observers his army was dangerous but the pressure on his 2 gas forced him to rely on lowtech while waiting for arbs. MVP attempted to quickly take his mineral only 3rd below his main's cliff but Kal delayed it competently with dragoons. A retaliatory vult harass was cleaned up with only a few probe losses. Kal also took his 3rd, the mineral only behind his natural, and added more gateways, macroing up for massive map control. MVP refused to contest the map, instead taking the 3 expansion, again under his main cliff while Kal replied by taking his own mineral only, somehow playing 2 gas arbiters but managing to macro up 160 supply vs 100. On a minor note, his first shuttle was still alive and spent the entire game this far zeal bombing tanks with an extremely high success rate. Each time he did it he gained 50 minerals and 100 gas in damage and zeals appearing from the skies took kills wherever MVP wasn't looking. Not really a big impact but over the game it added up and Kal kept doing it.
The inevitable recall came, and into a base with absolutely no minefield. Given MVP had see the arbiters that was pretty weak. Once the tank reinforcements arrived MVP regained his main but the supplies were still 150 to 100 and Kal was expanding again to 11 while MVP couldn't even think about pushing out.
Kal's next recall was at 6 but there was no base there and the sim city at the natural meant Kal's army was actually trapped behind zealot tight walls and mown down by tanks. However the target of MVP's late starport and science facility did present themselves and were taken down with MVP somheow not yet having a vessel. Dragoons shuttled behind the mineral line at 3 continued to show how annoying the shuttle could be and despite the massive failure of his second recall Kal was still very much ahead in supply. Kal's third recall went onto mines and killed two tanks and then he let his arbiter suicide itself into turrets. MVP replied by dropping tanks behind the mineral lines at 2 and 10 but then ran his dropship into cannons.
The next recall at 3 wiped out the expansion before MVP had time to properly reinforce it from the last and although Kal's mining was disrupted by the tanks he took the main at 9. MVP finally made a push on the map, starting to cross the big bridge towards Kal's main but despite Kal's army coming in at an ugly angle in this battle but he had so much shit (and a few units coming in from behind) that it doesn't matter that he only has one arbiter. MVP lost his entire push and his tank count and although he was taking 6 his main, natural and third were near mined out. MVP continued to try and delay Kal with drop harass but with cannons at every base it did no real damage before being cleaned up. Kal recalled 6 and covered the goliaths and scvs in psi storm before running his army into MVP's nat. Simultaneously another recall hit the main, both unchallenged by MVP.
GG.
The dt drop opening was competently handled by both sides. MVP blocked it without suffering any game ending damage and Kal controlled it well enough to get the expansion and economy he needed. However MVP's play was ultimately too passive to cope with arbiters and map control. He attempted to just dominate 4 bases from main cliff which works if you are great at stopping arbiters. Had the first recall been blocked more smoothly then MVP could have responded with an overwhelming push. However it was not. MVP failed at the execution of his plan and after the first recall did a decent amount of damage Kal just avalanched out of control.
Game 2, Kal vs MVP.
12 nex gets killed, vultures own a lot of probes and then a load of tanks own pure dragoons.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihz4BWp-qw0&feature=player_embedded
Kal got purple at 11 on Fighting Spirit while MVP got orange at 7. Kal went 12 nexus while MVP scouted the wrong way so the game was pretty much over. MVP scouted across the map to scout Kal 2nd and then attacked with a load of scvs, marines and a vulture. Microwars time. The bunker went down and the zealot retreated to the ramp and the probes ran. However with 8 scvs committed to the rush MVP had lost a lot of mining time while Kal didn't lose a single probe. 2 scvs stayed at the bunker and the bunker itself, along with the marines which have no value after the early game, represented significant value. Kal broke out with mass units off a fast second gateway without range and crushed the bunker without a single loss. Sacrificing a zealot to clear mines he retook his expansion at the same time as MVP took his own, keeping an economic advantage despite the loss of his first nexus. The delayed range allowed a faster robo and although it left his army weak in the early game he knew MVP planned to FE immediately after killing the nexus so it didn't matter. Normally a 12 nex significantly limits gas spending because the assimilator is delayed and the surge of minerals off of 2 base call for dragoon range, robo and mass dragoons at once. However by delaying range until it was actually required, much later than it would be in a standard game, Kal avoided this issue.
Kal messed around with a shuttle trying to stop mining and force turrets but it was empty. MVP played safe but falls behind in the macro wars as Kal laid down 4 gateways. Kal attempted to take his 3rd at 12 while reaver harassing but he was unable to penetrate MVP's base and retreated with his reaver intact. Meanwhile a 4 vulture drop in his main killed a number of probes and completely stopped mining for some time giving MVP a short term economic advantage, although he was still a base behind.
MVP pushed out into the map and Kal attempted to attack him with mass dragoons and reaver/shuttle micro but failed, reducing the hp of a lot of tanks with his reaver but killing only one or two for an entire group of dragoons. As he did this MVP sneakily sent a few vultures into his natural, not an attack but rather an exploitation of multitasking. Kal was in a micro intensive situation and couldn't have really seen or stopped the vultures while MVP simply had to send them on the minimap and then forget about them. Even if they were blocked they would pay for themself in lost dragoons as Kal struggled to deal with every situation. They killed a lot of probes and cost Kal yet more mining time.
Kal had lost his shuttle, his reaver and much of his army. He simply lacked any of the PvT firepower and his pure zealots and dragoons attacking from a single angle could not damage MVP's tanks and vultures as they pushed into his natural.
GG
Kal got purple at 11 on Fighting Spirit while MVP got orange at 7. Kal went 12 nexus while MVP scouted the wrong way so the game was pretty much over. MVP scouted across the map to scout Kal 2nd and then attacked with a load of scvs, marines and a vulture. Microwars time. The bunker went down and the zealot retreated to the ramp and the probes ran. However with 8 scvs committed to the rush MVP had lost a lot of mining time while Kal didn't lose a single probe. 2 scvs stayed at the bunker and the bunker itself, along with the marines which have no value after the early game, represented significant value. Kal broke out with mass units off a fast second gateway without range and crushed the bunker without a single loss. Sacrificing a zealot to clear mines he retook his expansion at the same time as MVP took his own, keeping an economic advantage despite the loss of his first nexus. The delayed range allowed a faster robo and although it left his army weak in the early game he knew MVP planned to FE immediately after killing the nexus so it didn't matter. Normally a 12 nex significantly limits gas spending because the assimilator is delayed and the surge of minerals off of 2 base call for dragoon range, robo and mass dragoons at once. However by delaying range until it was actually required, much later than it would be in a standard game, Kal avoided this issue.
Kal messed around with a shuttle trying to stop mining and force turrets but it was empty. MVP played safe but falls behind in the macro wars as Kal laid down 4 gateways. Kal attempted to take his 3rd at 12 while reaver harassing but he was unable to penetrate MVP's base and retreated with his reaver intact. Meanwhile a 4 vulture drop in his main killed a number of probes and completely stopped mining for some time giving MVP a short term economic advantage, although he was still a base behind.
MVP pushed out into the map and Kal attempted to attack him with mass dragoons and reaver/shuttle micro but failed, reducing the hp of a lot of tanks with his reaver but killing only one or two for an entire group of dragoons. As he did this MVP sneakily sent a few vultures into his natural, not an attack but rather an exploitation of multitasking. Kal was in a micro intensive situation and couldn't have really seen or stopped the vultures while MVP simply had to send them on the minimap and then forget about them. Even if they were blocked they would pay for themself in lost dragoons as Kal struggled to deal with every situation. They killed a lot of probes and cost Kal yet more mining time.
Kal had lost his shuttle, his reaver and much of his army. He simply lacked any of the PvT firepower and his pure zealots and dragoons attacking from a single angle could not damage MVP's tanks and vultures as they pushed into his natural.
GG
Game 3, Kal vs MVP.
MVP does a stupid Longinus wall FE and Kal does a very standard mass dragoon Longinus win.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfMOA16Jkx0&feature=player_embedded
Kal 11, MVP 7 on Eye of the Storm. Kal opened standard while MVP went for a wall at his natural, longinus style. Kal opted for the zealot pylon wall at the choke of the main that Movie showed us in the previous finals while MVP denied scouting with a fast marine. MVP rushed his second command centre with a bunker in front of his wall to delay the dragoons. Kal counterd with fast dragoon range, a second gateway and taking a probe off gas. Clearly he's used to this situation and had a prepared counter.
MVP was completely blind at this point and knew he could be fighting anything while Kal knew exactly what he is fighting. As he took his own expansion Kal broke into the bunker (which had only 2 marines in it and was largely a bluff) and smashed it. Scvs were pulled to defend but were too late and were forced to try and hold the wall without any support against 5 dragoons and a zealot. Their ridiculous 60hp limited the losses but MVP still lost an awful lot of scvs and yet more mining time. Eventually he got a tank to try and defend his wall but as his scvs started to return to mining Kal burst in and broke the wall, microing in to attack the tank with move fire micro.
Pure dragoon with move fire micro broke in again and despite inefficient losses (10 dragoons vs 2 tanks) managed to kill the tanks and stop MVP mining for much longer. Defending with pure scvs wasn't sustainable and when a reaver arrived seconds later it was over.
GG.
Kal 11, MVP 7 on Eye of the Storm. Kal opened standard while MVP went for a wall at his natural, longinus style. Kal opted for the zealot pylon wall at the choke of the main that Movie showed us in the previous finals while MVP denied scouting with a fast marine. MVP rushed his second command centre with a bunker in front of his wall to delay the dragoons. Kal counterd with fast dragoon range, a second gateway and taking a probe off gas. Clearly he's used to this situation and had a prepared counter.
MVP was completely blind at this point and knew he could be fighting anything while Kal knew exactly what he is fighting. As he took his own expansion Kal broke into the bunker (which had only 2 marines in it and was largely a bluff) and smashed it. Scvs were pulled to defend but were too late and were forced to try and hold the wall without any support against 5 dragoons and a zealot. Their ridiculous 60hp limited the losses but MVP still lost an awful lot of scvs and yet more mining time. Eventually he got a tank to try and defend his wall but as his scvs started to return to mining Kal burst in and broke the wall, microing in to attack the tank with move fire micro.
Pure dragoon with move fire micro broke in again and despite inefficient losses (10 dragoons vs 2 tanks) managed to kill the tanks and stop MVP mining for much longer. Defending with pure scvs wasn't sustainable and when a reaver arrived seconds later it was over.
GG.
Game 1, Kal vs type-b.
Kal wipes out all the drones with dt and storm drops. type-b did some decent counterattacks but had no eco.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf5hkS7n_fw&feature=player_embedded
Kal at 9 and Type-b at 12 on Great Barrier Reef. Kal went standard FE and scouted type-b first while type-b went overpool speed. Kal got a drone down to 4hp but couldn't close the deal, although he did force the lings to chase his probe to play safe. This allowed him to 13 nex 13 cannon with a later 14 cannon 14 gateway. That involved significant probe cutting but it should be remembered that whenever a zerg makes zerglings he is drone cutting. A side effect of the probe cutting is that you don't need a fast second pylon because you don't get blocked before the nexus comes into play (another bonus of nexus before cannon) and that also saves some extra minerals for a third cannon which Kal made. This left him safe against most early zergling plays but unfortunately he was blind, having lost his first probe to the speedlings and not placed a second on the map.
That is a pretty huge mistake when facing a speedling opening because it doesn't cost much and zerg just has so many options with that gas. The cost of defending against the options zerg has (massling, 2 hat hydra, 3 hat hydra, 2 hat muta, 2 hat lurker etc) is far, far greater than the cost of sending out and hiding an early second probe. Kal was forced to make zealots and a 4th cannon at the front (still no cannons on a mineral line) while type-b went for standard 3 hat spire with his 3rd at the natural at 5. Kal scouted this with his corsair but no damage can be done against the 5 hatchery, hydra den, evo chamber simcity. Despite type-b having sufficient scourge to hold air control Kal manages to snipe the only overlord at 5 and inflicted a lot of damage with a dt without losing a corsair. He hit and ran, killing half a dozen lings, a few drones and stopping mining for some time. As type-b teched to lurkers in his natural Kal pushed out with a group of speedlots towards 5 but hold lurkers got there just seconds before and punish him. Type-b's timing was flawless, Kal stringing attacks together fluidly and type-b keeping up, if only barely.
Kal suicided his zealots running through at 5 but delays a possible expansion there. He followed it up with a fast dt drop in the main of type-b, his corsair count having slowly risen all game to 7, more than enough to suppress the overlords and pick off the lair. As the drones fled to his natural Kal's shuttle flips back round and picks up 2 ht, killing every drone in the natural which was doubly saturated from the main. With his army untouched but having lost his tech and economy type-b attempted a drop, a last ditch attempt to do some damage before Kal stabilised the situation and overwhelmed him. The drop, which hit both main and natural simultaneously with lurkers, killed a lot of probes but was quickly cleaned up while Kal took a mineral only third base at 9.
Continuing with drop play type-b hit the back of Kal's natural with a lurker drop, then crept lurkers to the edge of the min only and dropped 2 more lurkers into cannons at the main. However Kal had macroed up an army and simply overran 5 while cannons defended his bases. Type-b gave up and GGed.
Man that was a game of smooth transitions. Kal's attacks strung together so smoothly. He even had 2 ht in the middle of the map ready to be picked up by the shuttle to hit the natural right after the dts hit the main. Type-b kept up with him for a while but it was really good.
Kal at 9 and Type-b at 12 on Great Barrier Reef. Kal went standard FE and scouted type-b first while type-b went overpool speed. Kal got a drone down to 4hp but couldn't close the deal, although he did force the lings to chase his probe to play safe. This allowed him to 13 nex 13 cannon with a later 14 cannon 14 gateway. That involved significant probe cutting but it should be remembered that whenever a zerg makes zerglings he is drone cutting. A side effect of the probe cutting is that you don't need a fast second pylon because you don't get blocked before the nexus comes into play (another bonus of nexus before cannon) and that also saves some extra minerals for a third cannon which Kal made. This left him safe against most early zergling plays but unfortunately he was blind, having lost his first probe to the speedlings and not placed a second on the map.
That is a pretty huge mistake when facing a speedling opening because it doesn't cost much and zerg just has so many options with that gas. The cost of defending against the options zerg has (massling, 2 hat hydra, 3 hat hydra, 2 hat muta, 2 hat lurker etc) is far, far greater than the cost of sending out and hiding an early second probe. Kal was forced to make zealots and a 4th cannon at the front (still no cannons on a mineral line) while type-b went for standard 3 hat spire with his 3rd at the natural at 5. Kal scouted this with his corsair but no damage can be done against the 5 hatchery, hydra den, evo chamber simcity. Despite type-b having sufficient scourge to hold air control Kal manages to snipe the only overlord at 5 and inflicted a lot of damage with a dt without losing a corsair. He hit and ran, killing half a dozen lings, a few drones and stopping mining for some time. As type-b teched to lurkers in his natural Kal pushed out with a group of speedlots towards 5 but hold lurkers got there just seconds before and punish him. Type-b's timing was flawless, Kal stringing attacks together fluidly and type-b keeping up, if only barely.
Kal suicided his zealots running through at 5 but delays a possible expansion there. He followed it up with a fast dt drop in the main of type-b, his corsair count having slowly risen all game to 7, more than enough to suppress the overlords and pick off the lair. As the drones fled to his natural Kal's shuttle flips back round and picks up 2 ht, killing every drone in the natural which was doubly saturated from the main. With his army untouched but having lost his tech and economy type-b attempted a drop, a last ditch attempt to do some damage before Kal stabilised the situation and overwhelmed him. The drop, which hit both main and natural simultaneously with lurkers, killed a lot of probes but was quickly cleaned up while Kal took a mineral only third base at 9.
Continuing with drop play type-b hit the back of Kal's natural with a lurker drop, then crept lurkers to the edge of the min only and dropped 2 more lurkers into cannons at the main. However Kal had macroed up an army and simply overran 5 while cannons defended his bases. Type-b gave up and GGed.
Man that was a game of smooth transitions. Kal's attacks strung together so smoothly. He even had 2 ht in the middle of the map ready to be picked up by the shuttle to hit the natural right after the dts hit the main. Type-b kept up with him for a while but it was really good.
Game 2, Kal vs type-b.
type-b goes neo-sauron to stop Kal expanding and hold a loose contain. Turns into a great macro game but type-b holds his expansions and wins.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DIxMFWs-Bw&feature=player_embedded
Kal 7, type-b 5. Kal scouted with just one probe and is punished by third scout against 12 hat 11 pool. However being an idiot he goes forge nexus blind, autoloss against 9 pool openings. This is pretty much inexcusable. If you're going to gamble with scouting you take the bonus minerals when lucky and have to play safer than you'd like if unlucky. That's the trade. If you're going to just blind counter you might as well not scout. -_- And people cheer for this guy.
Anyway, type-b goes 12 hat 11 pool 13 hat at 3 into speed with only 4 lings to chase the probe back. A very economic build. Kal reacts by just making 1 cannon (very late) and then going straight to core. Type-b then makes a fast hydra den and puts lings on his ramp. Kal continued to push his luck opting for zealots instead of cannons so he can transition into a +1 speedlot rush but type-b for some reason forgets where his rally points are and lets his hydralisks walk right into the probe, giving Kal time to cannon up. The cannons can't save his exposed gateway though and that falls without loss. Kal's standard stargate citadel opening fails to scout any useful information (hydra at the front, hatcheries at the back) or kill any overlords and a pair of hydralisks at maximum range slowly bring down the forge. Kal suicided zealots to buy time for +1 to finish, completing seconds before the forge dies. Although the 3 hat hydra failed (because type-b kept the probe back then moved the hydralisks forwards) it was not allin and he smoothly transitioned into 5 hat lair without any problems. The high drone count which was a legacy from the 12 11 13 opening left him in reasonable economic shape compared to hydra cheeses from less economic openings. Although having his hydra scouted wasn't ideal type-b correctly recognised that he'd messed up the hydra rush and didn't get very committed. Kal stayed in his main teching up the full tech tree, heading for observers and storing up templar energy while type-b got lurkers quickly and set up an effective lurker ling contain at his bridge. Kal attempted to set up a 3rd but a few lurkers supported by overlords with scourge gave a clear message that this would not be tolerated. Instead Kal's dragoons sniped at the contain and a few extremely well placed storms decimated the zerglings and lurkers that moved in to block him. As dragoons and ht scrapped over the bridge a group of zealots headed out the north route at 9 to hit type-b's 6th hatchery at the natural at 1. Type-b saved the hatchery with 10hp and excellent drone drilling on the zealots (repeatedly blocking attacks) while scourge killed every observer and stopped Kal winning the battle for his bridges.
Type-b anticipated that Kal would attempt an expansion during the battle and shut it down with a single lurker, exploiting the lack of observers. Kal was unable to defend it and a few more units moved in to finish the kill. However in the mean time he suicided 2 more zealots to take the hatchery kill at 2. Type-b's macro was really kicking in by this point, having repeatedly killed 9 and having kept his contain stable, if not always solid while Kal's macro was getting exhausted by having his 3rd shut down twice and staying on 2 bases for so long. Kal eventually got his third up, just before his main and natural burned out.
However type-b was still on lair tech and Kal was getting excellent value with shuttle harass, despite just using zealots and often running into scourge (never more than 1 scourge hit per shuttle :S).
With his main and natural mined out and a very solid lurker ling hydralisk scourge contain at his bridges Kal attempted to creep out into the map with 4 reavers and a vast army, aiming for a single massive push to do enough damage to get him back into the game. With only one mining base against 6 he needed to win with this attack. Several times type-b attempted to snipe observers and shuttles with scourge and hydralisks and several times he failed, each time losing several control groups of units. However, despite only breaking even in the attrition with roughly three times the income of Kal, type-b held the line, exhausting the energy of the high templar by sheer number of losses even when he couldn't kill them. Type-b's hive completed and he added defilers to the mix, swarm no defence against storm or scarabs but buying time. Every battle in which type-b fought with only 33% efficiency was a victory for him with zerglings having a relative cost lower than scarabs. Eventually the line broke and Kal's army got into the map but not with map control, simply no longer contained. Kal attempted to take the top left natural while harassing and shutting down the attempted crackling gank on the warping nexus. However type-b had been given a minutes breathing space without many losses to build up his army and with a string of plagues and darkswarms overran Kal and retook map control, shutting down top left.
GG
Kal 7, type-b 5. Kal scouted with just one probe and is punished by third scout against 12 hat 11 pool. However being an idiot he goes forge nexus blind, autoloss against 9 pool openings. This is pretty much inexcusable. If you're going to gamble with scouting you take the bonus minerals when lucky and have to play safer than you'd like if unlucky. That's the trade. If you're going to just blind counter you might as well not scout. -_- And people cheer for this guy.
Anyway, type-b goes 12 hat 11 pool 13 hat at 3 into speed with only 4 lings to chase the probe back. A very economic build. Kal reacts by just making 1 cannon (very late) and then going straight to core. Type-b then makes a fast hydra den and puts lings on his ramp. Kal continued to push his luck opting for zealots instead of cannons so he can transition into a +1 speedlot rush but type-b for some reason forgets where his rally points are and lets his hydralisks walk right into the probe, giving Kal time to cannon up. The cannons can't save his exposed gateway though and that falls without loss. Kal's standard stargate citadel opening fails to scout any useful information (hydra at the front, hatcheries at the back) or kill any overlords and a pair of hydralisks at maximum range slowly bring down the forge. Kal suicided zealots to buy time for +1 to finish, completing seconds before the forge dies. Although the 3 hat hydra failed (because type-b kept the probe back then moved the hydralisks forwards) it was not allin and he smoothly transitioned into 5 hat lair without any problems. The high drone count which was a legacy from the 12 11 13 opening left him in reasonable economic shape compared to hydra cheeses from less economic openings. Although having his hydra scouted wasn't ideal type-b correctly recognised that he'd messed up the hydra rush and didn't get very committed. Kal stayed in his main teching up the full tech tree, heading for observers and storing up templar energy while type-b got lurkers quickly and set up an effective lurker ling contain at his bridge. Kal attempted to set up a 3rd but a few lurkers supported by overlords with scourge gave a clear message that this would not be tolerated. Instead Kal's dragoons sniped at the contain and a few extremely well placed storms decimated the zerglings and lurkers that moved in to block him. As dragoons and ht scrapped over the bridge a group of zealots headed out the north route at 9 to hit type-b's 6th hatchery at the natural at 1. Type-b saved the hatchery with 10hp and excellent drone drilling on the zealots (repeatedly blocking attacks) while scourge killed every observer and stopped Kal winning the battle for his bridges.
Type-b anticipated that Kal would attempt an expansion during the battle and shut it down with a single lurker, exploiting the lack of observers. Kal was unable to defend it and a few more units moved in to finish the kill. However in the mean time he suicided 2 more zealots to take the hatchery kill at 2. Type-b's macro was really kicking in by this point, having repeatedly killed 9 and having kept his contain stable, if not always solid while Kal's macro was getting exhausted by having his 3rd shut down twice and staying on 2 bases for so long. Kal eventually got his third up, just before his main and natural burned out.
However type-b was still on lair tech and Kal was getting excellent value with shuttle harass, despite just using zealots and often running into scourge (never more than 1 scourge hit per shuttle :S).
With his main and natural mined out and a very solid lurker ling hydralisk scourge contain at his bridges Kal attempted to creep out into the map with 4 reavers and a vast army, aiming for a single massive push to do enough damage to get him back into the game. With only one mining base against 6 he needed to win with this attack. Several times type-b attempted to snipe observers and shuttles with scourge and hydralisks and several times he failed, each time losing several control groups of units. However, despite only breaking even in the attrition with roughly three times the income of Kal, type-b held the line, exhausting the energy of the high templar by sheer number of losses even when he couldn't kill them. Type-b's hive completed and he added defilers to the mix, swarm no defence against storm or scarabs but buying time. Every battle in which type-b fought with only 33% efficiency was a victory for him with zerglings having a relative cost lower than scarabs. Eventually the line broke and Kal's army got into the map but not with map control, simply no longer contained. Kal attempted to take the top left natural while harassing and shutting down the attempted crackling gank on the warping nexus. However type-b had been given a minutes breathing space without many losses to build up his army and with a string of plagues and darkswarms overran Kal and retook map control, shutting down top left.
GG
Game 3, Kal vs type-b.
Kal opts for strong 2 base play like game 2 but type-b exhausts himself trying to keep Kal on 2 bases and fails.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P2EN2jQyf4&feature=player_embedded
type-b gets red at 1 while Kal gets orange at 7 on Eye of the Storm. Kal opens standard FE while type-b opts for a 12 11 opening. Unlike game 2 Kal decides he'll actually scout rather than just guess, perhaps his coach had a few words with him about safe play and winning by skill and not getting knocked out of the OSLs for the sake of 60 more minerals. So standard double scout to find the zerg on second scout and 14 nex, squeezing out an extra probe for the cross positions.
type-b sent a drone quickly to the 3rd expansion at 12 while another headed to the natural at 4. He then took 3, just to be illogical. Kal quickly teched up making just 1 cannon against 8 zerglings but maintaining constant awareness of where the zerglings were and making 2 zealots to be safe. His fast stargate, citadel and +1 put him in a decent position. type-b played as standard as can be with a 3 hat spire, 5 hat hydra den, a build that I have no need nor inclination to explain. Skipping the cannon worked out well for Kal as his first corsair got there in time to scout and kill an overlord, retreating a second before the scourge hatched.
Kal pushed out with +1 speedlots the way you do, boring and predictable but perfectly timed and well executed. They pushed towards 3 and type-b's sunkens arrived just in time to discourage Kal. It was possible that Kal could have broken it as hydra had only just begun to hatch and had not yet built up a critical mass but the attack would have eventually been overwhelmed by the disparity in production facilities and Kal chose to play it safe.
Kal's speedlots continued to wander the map scouting continually as Kal chose not to continue building corsairs. However the growing army of hydralisks gave chase and Kal eventually gave up and sent most of the zealots home, suiciding 2 to reveal type-b's mutalisk switch and lair. Meanwhile Kal was building up energy on 4 ht and both players were playing as standard and boring as possible. Kal's timings and 2 corsairs into ht switch and so forth all correct within his scouting information while 3 hatch spire scourge 5 hatch hydra then later a muta sniping squad being just about as boring and predictable as a zerg can play. The choice to remain on lair and 3 bases was a good choice against a 2 base protoss which has the power to smash an overstretched zerg but lacks the economy to besiege a camping zerg. Kal showed no inclination of taking a 3rd but eventually he'd mine out his main and natural.
The mutalisks attempted to harass and took a fairly good storm in exchange for a dragoon kill while type-b made a 6th hatchery at his 3rd, refusing to take a 4th and give Kal an easy target to smash. Eventually Kal pushed out, a group of 6 corsairs appearing from their hiding place where Kal had been keeping them and driving back the mutalisks aiming for a templar snipe. Scourge moved in but Kal's corsairs nimbly escaped over dragoons and cannons, wiping the scourge out without loss. Type-b tried the mutalisk snipe a second time and the damaged mutalisks only managed to kill a single ht before the entire group were wiped out. Despite his failure to kill the high templar type-b decided the time was right to engage Kal head on anyway, pushing in with a massive army of hydralisks, zerglings and lurkers. The storms went down and despite excellent macro on type-b's part the battle was not profitable for him. It was by no means one sided, Kal's army took significant losses, his dragoon and corsair heavy army lacking the ht count to keep throwing down storms beyond the high energy charged up for several minutes before. However the battle did leave Kal with 9 taken and secure with no contain in his part of the map.
type-b sent his entire army into the cannons at 9 and unwilling to risk his army into the lurkers placed to intercept him Kal simply took 6 while sending a dark templar into 3, the area having been already cleared of overlords by the corsairs. type-b's destruction of 9 paid a heavy price from the cannons on the high ground and the dark templar scored 16 kills before it was eliminated, type-b having lost his army but gained no ground economically. Realising Kal had 6 (and was mined out in his main and natural), type-b launched one last attack to break it but was blocked by the defensive army and waiting storms in the narrow chokes. With 6 secure and type-b's army destroyed Kal took the offence and type-b GGed out.
type-b's plan this game was correct. He understood that he simply needed to let the 2 base burn itself out without overextending himself or allowing Kal to get a 3rd and he did that well. Kal's massive army never saw a zerg base all game because type-b never gave it the opportunity or the target. However type-b was wasteful with his units and the terrain on Eye of the Storm makes cannons and storm extremely powerful. Where a drop of 2 lurkers would have sufficed to shut 9 down type-b paid his entire army and then when faced with the new expansion at 6 he simply lacked the units to shut it down. A nice game in which both players demonstrated textbook examples of their respective builds and type-b's better strategic play was blocked by Kal's better tactical play.
type-b gets red at 1 while Kal gets orange at 7 on Eye of the Storm. Kal opens standard FE while type-b opts for a 12 11 opening. Unlike game 2 Kal decides he'll actually scout rather than just guess, perhaps his coach had a few words with him about safe play and winning by skill and not getting knocked out of the OSLs for the sake of 60 more minerals. So standard double scout to find the zerg on second scout and 14 nex, squeezing out an extra probe for the cross positions.
type-b sent a drone quickly to the 3rd expansion at 12 while another headed to the natural at 4. He then took 3, just to be illogical. Kal quickly teched up making just 1 cannon against 8 zerglings but maintaining constant awareness of where the zerglings were and making 2 zealots to be safe. His fast stargate, citadel and +1 put him in a decent position. type-b played as standard as can be with a 3 hat spire, 5 hat hydra den, a build that I have no need nor inclination to explain. Skipping the cannon worked out well for Kal as his first corsair got there in time to scout and kill an overlord, retreating a second before the scourge hatched.
Kal pushed out with +1 speedlots the way you do, boring and predictable but perfectly timed and well executed. They pushed towards 3 and type-b's sunkens arrived just in time to discourage Kal. It was possible that Kal could have broken it as hydra had only just begun to hatch and had not yet built up a critical mass but the attack would have eventually been overwhelmed by the disparity in production facilities and Kal chose to play it safe.
Kal's speedlots continued to wander the map scouting continually as Kal chose not to continue building corsairs. However the growing army of hydralisks gave chase and Kal eventually gave up and sent most of the zealots home, suiciding 2 to reveal type-b's mutalisk switch and lair. Meanwhile Kal was building up energy on 4 ht and both players were playing as standard and boring as possible. Kal's timings and 2 corsairs into ht switch and so forth all correct within his scouting information while 3 hatch spire scourge 5 hatch hydra then later a muta sniping squad being just about as boring and predictable as a zerg can play. The choice to remain on lair and 3 bases was a good choice against a 2 base protoss which has the power to smash an overstretched zerg but lacks the economy to besiege a camping zerg. Kal showed no inclination of taking a 3rd but eventually he'd mine out his main and natural.
The mutalisks attempted to harass and took a fairly good storm in exchange for a dragoon kill while type-b made a 6th hatchery at his 3rd, refusing to take a 4th and give Kal an easy target to smash. Eventually Kal pushed out, a group of 6 corsairs appearing from their hiding place where Kal had been keeping them and driving back the mutalisks aiming for a templar snipe. Scourge moved in but Kal's corsairs nimbly escaped over dragoons and cannons, wiping the scourge out without loss. Type-b tried the mutalisk snipe a second time and the damaged mutalisks only managed to kill a single ht before the entire group were wiped out. Despite his failure to kill the high templar type-b decided the time was right to engage Kal head on anyway, pushing in with a massive army of hydralisks, zerglings and lurkers. The storms went down and despite excellent macro on type-b's part the battle was not profitable for him. It was by no means one sided, Kal's army took significant losses, his dragoon and corsair heavy army lacking the ht count to keep throwing down storms beyond the high energy charged up for several minutes before. However the battle did leave Kal with 9 taken and secure with no contain in his part of the map.
type-b sent his entire army into the cannons at 9 and unwilling to risk his army into the lurkers placed to intercept him Kal simply took 6 while sending a dark templar into 3, the area having been already cleared of overlords by the corsairs. type-b's destruction of 9 paid a heavy price from the cannons on the high ground and the dark templar scored 16 kills before it was eliminated, type-b having lost his army but gained no ground economically. Realising Kal had 6 (and was mined out in his main and natural), type-b launched one last attack to break it but was blocked by the defensive army and waiting storms in the narrow chokes. With 6 secure and type-b's army destroyed Kal took the offence and type-b GGed out.
type-b's plan this game was correct. He understood that he simply needed to let the 2 base burn itself out without overextending himself or allowing Kal to get a 3rd and he did that well. Kal's massive army never saw a zerg base all game because type-b never gave it the opportunity or the target. However type-b was wasteful with his units and the terrain on Eye of the Storm makes cannons and storm extremely powerful. Where a drop of 2 lurkers would have sufficed to shut 9 down type-b paid his entire army and then when faced with the new expansion at 6 he simply lacked the units to shut it down. A nice game in which both players demonstrated textbook examples of their respective builds and type-b's better strategic play was blocked by Kal's better tactical play.
Recommended vod: Kal vs type-b game 2 on Fighting Spirit. Very action packed neo-sauron. Although for textbook play Kal vs type-b game 3 on Eye of the Storm was extremely standard while also high level play.
Group B - Recap
Game 1, Hogil vs Lomo.
2 base allin from terran with a great dropship switch to apply crucial pressure at the key moment when swarm usually buys time.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w6-xT_e14I&feature=player_embedded
Hogil got purple zerg at 3, Lomo got orange terran at 12 on Great Barrier Reef. Hogil opened 12 hat with 9 scout to check for forward rax and scouted correctly, effectively harassing the scv on the barracks. Hogils build got a bit weird at this point. He went 12 hat 12 gas 12 pool, taking advantage of the late scouting terran to attempt to represent a normal 12 11 while secretly having 100 extra gas to mess with timings. Lomo scouted the unfinished pool just in time to see what was up. In an attempt to be pimp Lomo tried to rush a marine and scv to the natural minerals and drill a marine through to shut down mining there. But he failed and was blocked by drones. Meanwhile Hogil rushed to lair the moment his pool was done.
Both players went for economic play, Hogil making just 4 lings and massing drones while Lomo expanded off one rax and then added a second and gas. By going for a second rax instead of a faster ebay Lomo delayed his +1 but got a small group of mnm out to fast pressure Lomo. Lomo sent 2 drones up to 11 and drilled one across into the island gas expansion at 10, the returning second drone getting scouted and killed by mnm. However despite seeing a random drone coming back from 11 Lomo gave no indication of being suspicious. The mutalisk harass went reasonably well, opening with 4 marine kills and 2 scvs kills for no losses. Not significant in the game but as long as he didn't lose mutalisks Hogil was in decent shape. Lomo was a bit stingy with turrets in his main which Hogil punished by killing one and another marine, still for no mutalisk losses. In the meantime Hogil took his mineral only at 6, still behind his sunken wall.
By not losing any mutalisks he was able to head to a fast hive defended purely by a sunken wall, mutalisks and an island expansion. Although Hogil accidentally ran his mutalisks into mnm they were still in good shape and as Lomo pushed out Hogil was able to kill a few scvs before returning to defend. He had sufficient mutalisks to pick off all the tanks in Lomo's push and although they took a lot of damage the delay gave Hogils defilers time to complete.
Lomo was still on 2 bases at this point and his first push had completely missed its timing because it lost the tanks, despite the mnm core being untouched. He believed Hogil to also be on 2 gas because the 10 expansion was unscouted although it now had a nydus so was safe. In an interesting metagame fest Hogil made guardians to attack Lomo's natural but Lomo already had wraiths but Hogil already had devourers but Lomo already had cloak but Hogil already had an overlord. In the short weeks since Flash's wraith switch started raping guardians we've already seen a counter to a counter to a counter to a counter and it just makes me warm inside. Anyway, the wraiths just killed the overlord and cloaked rendering the entire affair somewhat pointless.
Lomo finally took an expansion at his mineral only but his massive army was still helpless to attack anywhere. He finally scouted the expansion at 10 but it was both well saturated and covered in base defences by now. Lomo attempted some drop play but did no damage and lost a few wraiths for his trouble. With his main and natural mined out he realised that now was the absolute apex of his power and that every second from now on Hogil would be outmining him with 4 saturated bases to a single 6 mineral mineral only. He irradiated a defiler and threw everything he had at the sunken line while pumping dropships and loading them up for an attack on the main. The sunken line almost broke, despite being 9 sunkens and 2 guardians but a few well placed swarms from a fresh defiler saved it at the last moment.
The drop managed to successfully snipe the defiler mound and ultralisk cavern although doing so sacrificed marines. While the zerglings were in the main Lomo ran his remaining mnm from the sunken break under the swarms and finished off the sunkens in an excellent move, breaking into the natural. Fortunately for Hogil he had 2 defilers left and was able to swarm all over the remaining mnm and just about clean it up in a desperate battle. Despite only having 2 defilers and no defiler mound Lomo had traded science vessels for dropships for this massive push and had no way of shutting them down.
Firebats came to try and do the damage under swarm but they were overwhelmed as the 2 remaining guardians and mass zerglings held the line. Lomo sent another army at the natural, irradiating the guardians but failing to break through the swarm while 2 more dropships hit the main base. One of them went down to scourge after unloading half its contents but the other emptied fully. The drop destroyed a lot of the tech in the main while Lomo took the distraction and broke into the natural, ultralisks finally arriving to clean up the main. Lomo was only capable of doing this because he'd built up a 2k stockpile through bad macro but that was dwindling down to 800 by this point. Hogil just needed to weather the storm in decent shape until Lomo ran out of resources. Lomo's army at Hogils natural pushed into the mineral only and killed the ultralisk cavern and the drones before ultralisks arrived to finish it off. Meanwhile Lomo expanded to 9 and 1 and attempted a drop on 10 which failed.
With Hogil's front stabilised and Lomo's bank exhausted both players had a moment to relax. Hogil still had the base advantage but half his tech was destroyed and his drone count was devastated. Meanwhile Lomo had spent everything he'd built up all game, both in minerals and units attempting to overwhelm Hogil and was attempting to recover through an undefended expansion at 9. Hogil scouted 9 quickly with an overlord and understanding this threat to his economic advantage immediately moved to shut it down. Two very wounded ultralisks were taken down by the reinforcing mnm but not before earning their price in science vessels. Hogil attempted a push at the mineral only but his ultralisks were countered by a growing tank count and despite killing a lot of mnm he was forced to retreat.
Hogil scouted 1 and dropped it, disrupting mining temporarily. Then Lomo dropped Hogils main while Hogil dropped Lomo's key expansion at 9, both players doing damage before being cleaned up. However with 9 established Lomo had gotten another expansion to fund his production and was building up a considerable tank count. With a low drone count and under constant pressure from drops Hogil GGed out.
Lomo's build here was 2 base allin. Hogil countered that correctly by presenting a single front in sunkens and expanding to a faraway island at 10. Lomo attempted to break it with a siege timing push but by sniping the pair of tanks Hogil shut that down smoothly. However the choice to make just one science vessel then dropships was very good by Lomo. As he burned out his main and natural he had just one timing to break through sunkens, zerglings and swarm and by using dropships he managed it. If he had traded irradiate for defilers then Hogil would have lost a lot of defilers but he would have held the line. By dropping and killing the defiler mound Lomo dealt with the problem at the source. Hogil played correctly but Lomo's unorthadox choice to forfeit science vessels for mobility and mass marines won him the game.
GG
Hogil got purple zerg at 3, Lomo got orange terran at 12 on Great Barrier Reef. Hogil opened 12 hat with 9 scout to check for forward rax and scouted correctly, effectively harassing the scv on the barracks. Hogils build got a bit weird at this point. He went 12 hat 12 gas 12 pool, taking advantage of the late scouting terran to attempt to represent a normal 12 11 while secretly having 100 extra gas to mess with timings. Lomo scouted the unfinished pool just in time to see what was up. In an attempt to be pimp Lomo tried to rush a marine and scv to the natural minerals and drill a marine through to shut down mining there. But he failed and was blocked by drones. Meanwhile Hogil rushed to lair the moment his pool was done.
Both players went for economic play, Hogil making just 4 lings and massing drones while Lomo expanded off one rax and then added a second and gas. By going for a second rax instead of a faster ebay Lomo delayed his +1 but got a small group of mnm out to fast pressure Lomo. Lomo sent 2 drones up to 11 and drilled one across into the island gas expansion at 10, the returning second drone getting scouted and killed by mnm. However despite seeing a random drone coming back from 11 Lomo gave no indication of being suspicious. The mutalisk harass went reasonably well, opening with 4 marine kills and 2 scvs kills for no losses. Not significant in the game but as long as he didn't lose mutalisks Hogil was in decent shape. Lomo was a bit stingy with turrets in his main which Hogil punished by killing one and another marine, still for no mutalisk losses. In the meantime Hogil took his mineral only at 6, still behind his sunken wall.
By not losing any mutalisks he was able to head to a fast hive defended purely by a sunken wall, mutalisks and an island expansion. Although Hogil accidentally ran his mutalisks into mnm they were still in good shape and as Lomo pushed out Hogil was able to kill a few scvs before returning to defend. He had sufficient mutalisks to pick off all the tanks in Lomo's push and although they took a lot of damage the delay gave Hogils defilers time to complete.
Lomo was still on 2 bases at this point and his first push had completely missed its timing because it lost the tanks, despite the mnm core being untouched. He believed Hogil to also be on 2 gas because the 10 expansion was unscouted although it now had a nydus so was safe. In an interesting metagame fest Hogil made guardians to attack Lomo's natural but Lomo already had wraiths but Hogil already had devourers but Lomo already had cloak but Hogil already had an overlord. In the short weeks since Flash's wraith switch started raping guardians we've already seen a counter to a counter to a counter to a counter and it just makes me warm inside. Anyway, the wraiths just killed the overlord and cloaked rendering the entire affair somewhat pointless.
Lomo finally took an expansion at his mineral only but his massive army was still helpless to attack anywhere. He finally scouted the expansion at 10 but it was both well saturated and covered in base defences by now. Lomo attempted some drop play but did no damage and lost a few wraiths for his trouble. With his main and natural mined out he realised that now was the absolute apex of his power and that every second from now on Hogil would be outmining him with 4 saturated bases to a single 6 mineral mineral only. He irradiated a defiler and threw everything he had at the sunken line while pumping dropships and loading them up for an attack on the main. The sunken line almost broke, despite being 9 sunkens and 2 guardians but a few well placed swarms from a fresh defiler saved it at the last moment.
The drop managed to successfully snipe the defiler mound and ultralisk cavern although doing so sacrificed marines. While the zerglings were in the main Lomo ran his remaining mnm from the sunken break under the swarms and finished off the sunkens in an excellent move, breaking into the natural. Fortunately for Hogil he had 2 defilers left and was able to swarm all over the remaining mnm and just about clean it up in a desperate battle. Despite only having 2 defilers and no defiler mound Lomo had traded science vessels for dropships for this massive push and had no way of shutting them down.
Firebats came to try and do the damage under swarm but they were overwhelmed as the 2 remaining guardians and mass zerglings held the line. Lomo sent another army at the natural, irradiating the guardians but failing to break through the swarm while 2 more dropships hit the main base. One of them went down to scourge after unloading half its contents but the other emptied fully. The drop destroyed a lot of the tech in the main while Lomo took the distraction and broke into the natural, ultralisks finally arriving to clean up the main. Lomo was only capable of doing this because he'd built up a 2k stockpile through bad macro but that was dwindling down to 800 by this point. Hogil just needed to weather the storm in decent shape until Lomo ran out of resources. Lomo's army at Hogils natural pushed into the mineral only and killed the ultralisk cavern and the drones before ultralisks arrived to finish it off. Meanwhile Lomo expanded to 9 and 1 and attempted a drop on 10 which failed.
With Hogil's front stabilised and Lomo's bank exhausted both players had a moment to relax. Hogil still had the base advantage but half his tech was destroyed and his drone count was devastated. Meanwhile Lomo had spent everything he'd built up all game, both in minerals and units attempting to overwhelm Hogil and was attempting to recover through an undefended expansion at 9. Hogil scouted 9 quickly with an overlord and understanding this threat to his economic advantage immediately moved to shut it down. Two very wounded ultralisks were taken down by the reinforcing mnm but not before earning their price in science vessels. Hogil attempted a push at the mineral only but his ultralisks were countered by a growing tank count and despite killing a lot of mnm he was forced to retreat.
Hogil scouted 1 and dropped it, disrupting mining temporarily. Then Lomo dropped Hogils main while Hogil dropped Lomo's key expansion at 9, both players doing damage before being cleaned up. However with 9 established Lomo had gotten another expansion to fund his production and was building up a considerable tank count. With a low drone count and under constant pressure from drops Hogil GGed out.
Lomo's build here was 2 base allin. Hogil countered that correctly by presenting a single front in sunkens and expanding to a faraway island at 10. Lomo attempted to break it with a siege timing push but by sniping the pair of tanks Hogil shut that down smoothly. However the choice to make just one science vessel then dropships was very good by Lomo. As he burned out his main and natural he had just one timing to break through sunkens, zerglings and swarm and by using dropships he managed it. If he had traded irradiate for defilers then Hogil would have lost a lot of defilers but he would have held the line. By dropping and killing the defiler mound Lomo dealt with the problem at the source. Hogil played correctly but Lomo's unorthadox choice to forfeit science vessels for mobility and mass marines won him the game.
GG
Game 2, Hogil vs Lomo.
Lomo tries a lot of drops but Hogil blocks them all and takes half the map. He controls really badly but half the map is a lot of ultralisks.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD4nW-guCYM&feature=player_embedded
Lomo got blue at 7 on Fighting Spirit while Hogil spawned at 5 in teal. Lomo opened 1 rax while Hogil 12 hat 11 pool. Both players scouted correctly and played normally, Lomo opting for a fast cc and Hogil adding a 3rd hatchery in base. Unlike game 1 Lomo opts for a fast ebay to rush +1 in time for muta. This means he doesn't have the fast group of mnm to pressure Hogil with but he will find muta easier to deal with. Hogil double techs to spire and hydra den with the hydra den too late for any kind of lurk rush. At the same time he sends a drone up to 1 to take a 3rd gas. Lomo attempted some early pressure but the lurkers finished in time to block it (although too late to hold position own the mnm). With his 4 rax low tech early pressure, early +1 build (designed to smash muta openings) blocked by lurkers Lomo found himself with a lot of mnm but nowhere to use them.
Hogil established a lurker position in the middle of the map, not because he had any intention or ability to pressure but rather to give him a long way to fall back and delay the push. For the same reason he established forward sunkens right up to the bridge. Lomo attempted the exact same push as in the game before, a lot of mnm and 2 tanks pushing into the front. However with the defiler mound not yet completed he attempted to create a timing window by attack moving into sunkens and lurkers. If sieged and forced to slowly draw back Hogil's defences would have time to hold for defilers but Lomo hoped they could be broken from the front. Unfortunately for him they could not with reinforcing lurkers arriving in considerable numbers to block it and force Lomo to retreat. Aware of how he lost last game Hogil established anti drop scourge and zerglings while sniping Lomo's first vessel and blocking a push with swarm.
Hogil was in a really good position this game with defiler/lurker/ling easily blocking the terran army wherever it tried to get anything going and expanding again to the natural at 1. Lomo made a tentative push towards 1 but swarms went down and it cost him a few mnm and another vessel for almost no zerg losses. Giving up on inflicting any kind of damage Lomo switched to dropships and expanded to 9. Unfortunately for him Hogil was going for overkill in dropship protection with a wall of overlords, scourge, lings and even a defiler waiting on the cliff but Lomo scanned and decided to find an easier way in. It should be noted that by losing his first 2 vessels and doing a dropship switch Lomo's vessel count was dangerously low. He attempted to supplement this defensive weakness with mines (which smash lurkers and defilers and lings) but do not give him any additional aggressive strength. Going dropships handicapped his offensive capabilities and if they did no damage he was behind.
Lomo saw an opening and attempted a drop. Hogil reacted quickly, downing the first dropship half empty and finishing the second one off after the drop but his first swarm was misplaced. The marines backed out of it and by the time the second swarm covered them and trapped them in a corner the zerglings were all dead. Despite having the forces to block the drop a misplaced swarm and poorly controlled zerglings had not allowed the pieces to come together. More swarms in the main were avoided and the zerglings again ran out of the swarm and got killed seconds before the next swarm that would cover them arrived. Although the drop was cleaned up and the dropships killed Hogil lost an evolution chamber and a lot of drones, far more than he should have.
Lomo attempted to tank push towards the 1 natural but again the defilers, completely unhindered by vessels, swarmed over lurkers and blocked it. He tried the same push towards Hogils natural at 5 with the same outcome, the only difference being a misclick that saw a group of marines run back into lurker spines and die. Finally Lomo got vessels with sufficient energy to irradiate and made another push towards 1, killing the defiler that had blocked him the last two times although not before he swarmed and blocked him a third time. Lurkers and defilers moving in from 5 punished Lomo, killing two tanks, a few mnm and plaguing the rest. Lomo attempted some more dropship play with two fresh dropships at 6 but a full 12 scourge on the cliff, as well as a defiler, convinced him otherwise. The dropships headed for the 1 main but there was already a sunken, a lurker and a row of scouting lings there. Ultralisks reinforced seconds later and only the dropships made it out
Hogil took a 5th gas at 3 right under the nose of Lomo's army but ultralisks and lurkers arrived seconds later to deny Lomo any chance of destroying it. As Lomo's army retreated scourge followed picking off 2 dropships and 2 science vessels and leaving Lomo with just 3 science vessels. With so few science vessels he had no chance of breaking through a defiler lurker defence and with no dropships he had no chance of going round it. When the zerg defence covers 5 gas this is problematic for a terran. Lomo expanded to the 10 natural and tried to split the map while Hogil delayed it with ultralisks but ended up getting covered in irradiate. Hogil responded by expanding to 6 and the pressure at the bottom of the map so soon after Lomo's expansion at 10 meant the few units at 6 actually swarmed right up to Lomo's bridge. Hogil attempted to poke a few units in at 10 again but again they were just irradiated and wasted. Meanwhile Lomo attempted to block 6 and lost the units he sent there. Hogil gathered his forces for another big push at 10 and Lomo's army retreated across the map to hold it, leaving behind his entire vessel clump for a second too long. A flock of scourge exhausted itself killing 6 of the 9 vessels doing massive damage despite the loss of his army into sieged tanks at 10.
Lomo attempted to go into drop play again, this time at 6 but Hogil had got the hang of this by now and took down 2 fully laden dropships with scourge. One thing to note here is how good Hogil's map vision is at all times. He has overlords, scourge and zerglings everywhere all the time. The random zerglings on the map are always dying and always being replaced so he is simply never surprised. Against a player like Lomo that constant awareness of exactly what is going on is extremely profitable in blocked dropship play.
Lomo made a massive tank push at the 1 natural while Hogil responded by dropping the 11 main with the ultralisks chasing the scvs into the undefended natural, disabling both. Lomo irradiated the only defiler at 1 and pushed into the natural, running through the swarm and killing the hatchery from behind the minerals. However as he did so Hogil's reinforcements wiped out his undefended tanks, zerglings massacreing a tank count he'd been building up all game. Although he'd reduced Hogil from 6 gas bases to 5 he'd done so at the expense of his ability to bring down ultralisks. Lomo simultaneously dropped 6 and 3, disrupting mining in both but not inflicting any real damage because of the waiting units.
Hogil wasted a few more ultralisks into tanks and Lomo seized the initiative and pushed across the map again. Hogil then hit him simultaneously with a drop at 11 and a second later (when he was pulling the scvs away) a massive plague on the mnm. Irradiated ultralisks went through them like a hot knife through butter while mining at both 10 and 11 was completely stopped. By this point Hogil was on equal supply with the terran but continued his tradition of throwing unit away by sending another 6 ultralisks into tanks without swarm support and then plaguing the ultralisks. He then walled the ramp to 9 with a defiler and sent an ultralisk up it, letting it die to a few marines as it's AI went crazy at the betrayal.
Ultimately Hogil's laughably poor control was not sufficient to lose him the advantage 6 gas ultralisks gave him. Despite plaguing ultralisks some more Lomo lost control of the top left of the map and was overrun.
GG
This game was a story of strong strategic play with a clear awareness of Lomo's preferred style of dropships over vessels and odd timing pushes. Hogil knew what he was dealing with and adapted his style strongly and deliberately to counter Lomo. His control was very lacking but his plan was good and he did what he needed to do to make it work. If Lomo had gone for more vessels earlier he could perhaps have broken 1 but Hogil gambled that Lomo would opt for mobility over irradiate and he was correct.
Lomo got blue at 7 on Fighting Spirit while Hogil spawned at 5 in teal. Lomo opened 1 rax while Hogil 12 hat 11 pool. Both players scouted correctly and played normally, Lomo opting for a fast cc and Hogil adding a 3rd hatchery in base. Unlike game 1 Lomo opts for a fast ebay to rush +1 in time for muta. This means he doesn't have the fast group of mnm to pressure Hogil with but he will find muta easier to deal with. Hogil double techs to spire and hydra den with the hydra den too late for any kind of lurk rush. At the same time he sends a drone up to 1 to take a 3rd gas. Lomo attempted some early pressure but the lurkers finished in time to block it (although too late to hold position own the mnm). With his 4 rax low tech early pressure, early +1 build (designed to smash muta openings) blocked by lurkers Lomo found himself with a lot of mnm but nowhere to use them.
Hogil established a lurker position in the middle of the map, not because he had any intention or ability to pressure but rather to give him a long way to fall back and delay the push. For the same reason he established forward sunkens right up to the bridge. Lomo attempted the exact same push as in the game before, a lot of mnm and 2 tanks pushing into the front. However with the defiler mound not yet completed he attempted to create a timing window by attack moving into sunkens and lurkers. If sieged and forced to slowly draw back Hogil's defences would have time to hold for defilers but Lomo hoped they could be broken from the front. Unfortunately for him they could not with reinforcing lurkers arriving in considerable numbers to block it and force Lomo to retreat. Aware of how he lost last game Hogil established anti drop scourge and zerglings while sniping Lomo's first vessel and blocking a push with swarm.
Hogil was in a really good position this game with defiler/lurker/ling easily blocking the terran army wherever it tried to get anything going and expanding again to the natural at 1. Lomo made a tentative push towards 1 but swarms went down and it cost him a few mnm and another vessel for almost no zerg losses. Giving up on inflicting any kind of damage Lomo switched to dropships and expanded to 9. Unfortunately for him Hogil was going for overkill in dropship protection with a wall of overlords, scourge, lings and even a defiler waiting on the cliff but Lomo scanned and decided to find an easier way in. It should be noted that by losing his first 2 vessels and doing a dropship switch Lomo's vessel count was dangerously low. He attempted to supplement this defensive weakness with mines (which smash lurkers and defilers and lings) but do not give him any additional aggressive strength. Going dropships handicapped his offensive capabilities and if they did no damage he was behind.
Lomo saw an opening and attempted a drop. Hogil reacted quickly, downing the first dropship half empty and finishing the second one off after the drop but his first swarm was misplaced. The marines backed out of it and by the time the second swarm covered them and trapped them in a corner the zerglings were all dead. Despite having the forces to block the drop a misplaced swarm and poorly controlled zerglings had not allowed the pieces to come together. More swarms in the main were avoided and the zerglings again ran out of the swarm and got killed seconds before the next swarm that would cover them arrived. Although the drop was cleaned up and the dropships killed Hogil lost an evolution chamber and a lot of drones, far more than he should have.
Lomo attempted to tank push towards the 1 natural but again the defilers, completely unhindered by vessels, swarmed over lurkers and blocked it. He tried the same push towards Hogils natural at 5 with the same outcome, the only difference being a misclick that saw a group of marines run back into lurker spines and die. Finally Lomo got vessels with sufficient energy to irradiate and made another push towards 1, killing the defiler that had blocked him the last two times although not before he swarmed and blocked him a third time. Lurkers and defilers moving in from 5 punished Lomo, killing two tanks, a few mnm and plaguing the rest. Lomo attempted some more dropship play with two fresh dropships at 6 but a full 12 scourge on the cliff, as well as a defiler, convinced him otherwise. The dropships headed for the 1 main but there was already a sunken, a lurker and a row of scouting lings there. Ultralisks reinforced seconds later and only the dropships made it out
Hogil took a 5th gas at 3 right under the nose of Lomo's army but ultralisks and lurkers arrived seconds later to deny Lomo any chance of destroying it. As Lomo's army retreated scourge followed picking off 2 dropships and 2 science vessels and leaving Lomo with just 3 science vessels. With so few science vessels he had no chance of breaking through a defiler lurker defence and with no dropships he had no chance of going round it. When the zerg defence covers 5 gas this is problematic for a terran. Lomo expanded to the 10 natural and tried to split the map while Hogil delayed it with ultralisks but ended up getting covered in irradiate. Hogil responded by expanding to 6 and the pressure at the bottom of the map so soon after Lomo's expansion at 10 meant the few units at 6 actually swarmed right up to Lomo's bridge. Hogil attempted to poke a few units in at 10 again but again they were just irradiated and wasted. Meanwhile Lomo attempted to block 6 and lost the units he sent there. Hogil gathered his forces for another big push at 10 and Lomo's army retreated across the map to hold it, leaving behind his entire vessel clump for a second too long. A flock of scourge exhausted itself killing 6 of the 9 vessels doing massive damage despite the loss of his army into sieged tanks at 10.
Lomo attempted to go into drop play again, this time at 6 but Hogil had got the hang of this by now and took down 2 fully laden dropships with scourge. One thing to note here is how good Hogil's map vision is at all times. He has overlords, scourge and zerglings everywhere all the time. The random zerglings on the map are always dying and always being replaced so he is simply never surprised. Against a player like Lomo that constant awareness of exactly what is going on is extremely profitable in blocked dropship play.
Lomo made a massive tank push at the 1 natural while Hogil responded by dropping the 11 main with the ultralisks chasing the scvs into the undefended natural, disabling both. Lomo irradiated the only defiler at 1 and pushed into the natural, running through the swarm and killing the hatchery from behind the minerals. However as he did so Hogil's reinforcements wiped out his undefended tanks, zerglings massacreing a tank count he'd been building up all game. Although he'd reduced Hogil from 6 gas bases to 5 he'd done so at the expense of his ability to bring down ultralisks. Lomo simultaneously dropped 6 and 3, disrupting mining in both but not inflicting any real damage because of the waiting units.
Hogil wasted a few more ultralisks into tanks and Lomo seized the initiative and pushed across the map again. Hogil then hit him simultaneously with a drop at 11 and a second later (when he was pulling the scvs away) a massive plague on the mnm. Irradiated ultralisks went through them like a hot knife through butter while mining at both 10 and 11 was completely stopped. By this point Hogil was on equal supply with the terran but continued his tradition of throwing unit away by sending another 6 ultralisks into tanks without swarm support and then plaguing the ultralisks. He then walled the ramp to 9 with a defiler and sent an ultralisk up it, letting it die to a few marines as it's AI went crazy at the betrayal.
Ultimately Hogil's laughably poor control was not sufficient to lose him the advantage 6 gas ultralisks gave him. Despite plaguing ultralisks some more Lomo lost control of the top left of the map and was overrun.
GG
This game was a story of strong strategic play with a clear awareness of Lomo's preferred style of dropships over vessels and odd timing pushes. Hogil knew what he was dealing with and adapted his style strongly and deliberately to counter Lomo. His control was very lacking but his plan was good and he did what he needed to do to make it work. If Lomo had gone for more vessels earlier he could perhaps have broken 1 but Hogil gambled that Lomo would opt for mobility over irradiate and he was correct.
Game 3, Hogil vs Lomo.
Lomo tries dropship play again and Hogil blocks it again. Then Lomo finds himself overstretched and is dismantled by drops everywhere.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vmk7VeIacM&feature=player_embedded
Lomo got purple at 1 on Eye of the Storm and opted for a 13 cc because T is imba and doesn't know the meaning of hypocrisy. Meanwhile Hogil got red at 7 and opened 12 11 13, a macro opening. This is the ideal opening for Lomo who can get his macro going on faster than normal without any threat and in cross positions. Hogil powerdroned while getting his gas and going for lair, allowing Lomo to not even bother with a bunker and simply create a narrow choke with a depot and academy. As in game 2 Hogil opted to go both spire and hydralisk den along with a lot of drones and a fast second gas. Again, as in game 2, he expanded to another main, this time at 5. Unfortunately for Hogil cross positions means every expansion on the map is closer to Lomo and Lomo scouted 5 immediately. Hogil sent 2 hydralisks but they didn't make it there in time and he was forced to cancel the hatchery or lose it to the vast amount of mnm 13 cc gives. Hogil then took the main at 11, this time with lurkers there in time to defend it.
Lomo instead went straight for Hogil's natural, breaking up the wide ramp but being blocked by the sunkens and fresh lurkers. The game became a macro game as Lomo contained Hogil but couldn't attack and Hogil had all the bases he wanted. Lomo rushed a dropship out to bypass the lurkers in the choke at 11 but Hogil sent 2 scourge to patrol directly on its course a few seconds before in a demonstration that not only does he understand Lomo's style but he's aware of all the timings of it. The dropship only got 2 marines out and then succeeded only in killing a single zergling. By this point Hogil's hive was done and a tank push at 11 found itself facing everything Hogil had out of the nydus, losing 2 tanks as zerglings trapped them in lurker spines. Again the delayed science vessel in favour of a dropship punished Lomo as Hogil took the 10 natural and defended it with a trio of lurkers under swarm, the defiler ignoring the single science vessel.
Meanwhile Lomo expanded to 3, considerably earlier than he took a third in the previous two games, perhaps understanding that Hogil wasn't going to lose to a single massive push, even with dropships.
Lomo sent 3 more full dropships at Hogil, this time at his main where 6 scourge and a few zerglings waited on the wall. Meanwhile Hogil attempted to disrupt 3 with 3 lurkers and a defiler to swarm but was easily shut down by well placed mines. Lomo scanned the wall and simply went round the scourge, Hogil not noticing until too late. The dropships started to ferry units over the wall, bypassing the sunkens as Hogil attempted to contain the situation with swarm and plague. The battle was relatively scrappy with a lot of wasted units and late swarms but Hogil managed to block it without any tech losses and without too many lost drones. Lomo continued to try and drop his way in but as the drops continued Hogil got increasingly on top of the situation and Lomo was forced to attack the 10 nat instead while expanding to the 5 main. A defiler and some zerglings came through the nydus and shut it down while scourge on the science vessels punished Lomo for his repeated inattention when retreating.
Lomo tried another drop, this time with 2 dropships at the 11 main but despite Hogil again allowing the dropships to simply run past the scourge the drop was blocked by waiting zerglings for very few losses. Hogil replied with a drop of his own, a plague on the supply depots and a few zerglings and lurkers to finish them off. At 100 minerals each for depots the drop killed the equivalent of 2 control groups of marines. A simultaneous pair of drops shut down the mining at both 4 and 5 and despite Lomo having a massive army capable of defeating Hogil in any open battle he couldn't rival the mobility of overlords and nydus for hitting him at the top right then bottom right at the same time. Hogil exercised map control through constant drops, slowly whittling down the terran army without any big battles, the destruction of depots hindering Lomo's ability to rebuild. Then he simply overwhelmed the front with ultralisks.
GG
As in game 2, the commitment to using dropships where normally a massive cloud of vessels would be preferred helped Hogil more than it hurt him. Dropships are dangerous but they are also easily blocked. The inability of Lomo to cope with swarmed lurkers allowed Hogil to establish four well saturated bases from which he could pressure on many fronts without fear of counterattack. The drop play was extremely good, stopping Lomo from being able to make the tank transition he wished to by wiping out the depots and never allowing Lomo to really get the bottom right expansions going.
Lomo got purple at 1 on Eye of the Storm and opted for a 13 cc because T is imba and doesn't know the meaning of hypocrisy. Meanwhile Hogil got red at 7 and opened 12 11 13, a macro opening. This is the ideal opening for Lomo who can get his macro going on faster than normal without any threat and in cross positions. Hogil powerdroned while getting his gas and going for lair, allowing Lomo to not even bother with a bunker and simply create a narrow choke with a depot and academy. As in game 2 Hogil opted to go both spire and hydralisk den along with a lot of drones and a fast second gas. Again, as in game 2, he expanded to another main, this time at 5. Unfortunately for Hogil cross positions means every expansion on the map is closer to Lomo and Lomo scouted 5 immediately. Hogil sent 2 hydralisks but they didn't make it there in time and he was forced to cancel the hatchery or lose it to the vast amount of mnm 13 cc gives. Hogil then took the main at 11, this time with lurkers there in time to defend it.
Lomo instead went straight for Hogil's natural, breaking up the wide ramp but being blocked by the sunkens and fresh lurkers. The game became a macro game as Lomo contained Hogil but couldn't attack and Hogil had all the bases he wanted. Lomo rushed a dropship out to bypass the lurkers in the choke at 11 but Hogil sent 2 scourge to patrol directly on its course a few seconds before in a demonstration that not only does he understand Lomo's style but he's aware of all the timings of it. The dropship only got 2 marines out and then succeeded only in killing a single zergling. By this point Hogil's hive was done and a tank push at 11 found itself facing everything Hogil had out of the nydus, losing 2 tanks as zerglings trapped them in lurker spines. Again the delayed science vessel in favour of a dropship punished Lomo as Hogil took the 10 natural and defended it with a trio of lurkers under swarm, the defiler ignoring the single science vessel.
Meanwhile Lomo expanded to 3, considerably earlier than he took a third in the previous two games, perhaps understanding that Hogil wasn't going to lose to a single massive push, even with dropships.
Lomo sent 3 more full dropships at Hogil, this time at his main where 6 scourge and a few zerglings waited on the wall. Meanwhile Hogil attempted to disrupt 3 with 3 lurkers and a defiler to swarm but was easily shut down by well placed mines. Lomo scanned the wall and simply went round the scourge, Hogil not noticing until too late. The dropships started to ferry units over the wall, bypassing the sunkens as Hogil attempted to contain the situation with swarm and plague. The battle was relatively scrappy with a lot of wasted units and late swarms but Hogil managed to block it without any tech losses and without too many lost drones. Lomo continued to try and drop his way in but as the drops continued Hogil got increasingly on top of the situation and Lomo was forced to attack the 10 nat instead while expanding to the 5 main. A defiler and some zerglings came through the nydus and shut it down while scourge on the science vessels punished Lomo for his repeated inattention when retreating.
Lomo tried another drop, this time with 2 dropships at the 11 main but despite Hogil again allowing the dropships to simply run past the scourge the drop was blocked by waiting zerglings for very few losses. Hogil replied with a drop of his own, a plague on the supply depots and a few zerglings and lurkers to finish them off. At 100 minerals each for depots the drop killed the equivalent of 2 control groups of marines. A simultaneous pair of drops shut down the mining at both 4 and 5 and despite Lomo having a massive army capable of defeating Hogil in any open battle he couldn't rival the mobility of overlords and nydus for hitting him at the top right then bottom right at the same time. Hogil exercised map control through constant drops, slowly whittling down the terran army without any big battles, the destruction of depots hindering Lomo's ability to rebuild. Then he simply overwhelmed the front with ultralisks.
GG
As in game 2, the commitment to using dropships where normally a massive cloud of vessels would be preferred helped Hogil more than it hurt him. Dropships are dangerous but they are also easily blocked. The inability of Lomo to cope with swarmed lurkers allowed Hogil to establish four well saturated bases from which he could pressure on many fronts without fear of counterattack. The drop play was extremely good, stopping Lomo from being able to make the tank transition he wished to by wiping out the depots and never allowing Lomo to really get the bottom right expansions going.
Game 1, Stork vs Hogil.
Hogil 5 pools and Stork micros like a boss then wins.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PenNxWYGZs4&feature=player_embedded
Hogil got teal at 9 while Stork got yellow at 12 on Great Barrier Reef. Hogil 5 pooled which is always fun, especially for me doing recaps because those 25 minute games take ages to recap. So I want Hogil to win and then 5 pool again. Anyway, Stork goes for FE and scouts the wrong way which is good. Hogil drones up to 6 and then lings in a standard economic 5 pool opening using the gas trick to get another 2 lings out. Stork is forced to abandon his nat in favour of cannons on his min line and Hogil is terrible at starcraft. He allows 2 probes on the ramp to slow his zerglings for 2 seconds without even killing them simply because he wasn't watching. Stork then does some sick, sick drilling to hold his main pylon with pretty much no losses. Hogil powers up and expands and, feeling cute, Stork drills his scout probe across the minerals at Hogil's nat to cannon rush it. Hogil eventually drills a zergling over to block at which point Stork drills his probe back.
Stork's amusingly perfect play succeeds in changing my allegiance, he is playing this so beautifully. With 3 zealots Stork FEs and attempts to push into Hogil's main, both for scouting and to force lings. Hogil blocks it competently but it actually does a respectable amount of damage. Hogil squeezes out a few fast hydralisks but Stork is a long way ahead economically and knows it. He masses pure units and cannons, content to play 2 base vs 2 base against 3 hat hydra. Hogil attempts some pressure but can only trade hydralisks for cannons on a fairly even basis, unable to break in. Then zealot speed finishes and most the hydralisks die. Stork continues to defend because he can take a mineral only behind his nat and Hogil takes his mineral only going to 4 hat hydra but not making any more drones, still completely allin. Hogil tries one last hydra push and Stork's high templar paint the ground red.
GG
Beautiful play by Stork. Abandoning the natural and going for a main hold was ballsy, especially when a main cannon still wouldn't be in time. The pylon is very vulnerable when you do that but Stork somehow managed to defend the pylon despite it not being in the mineral line with some weird, but very good, probe drills.
Hogil got teal at 9 while Stork got yellow at 12 on Great Barrier Reef. Hogil 5 pooled which is always fun, especially for me doing recaps because those 25 minute games take ages to recap. So I want Hogil to win and then 5 pool again. Anyway, Stork goes for FE and scouts the wrong way which is good. Hogil drones up to 6 and then lings in a standard economic 5 pool opening using the gas trick to get another 2 lings out. Stork is forced to abandon his nat in favour of cannons on his min line and Hogil is terrible at starcraft. He allows 2 probes on the ramp to slow his zerglings for 2 seconds without even killing them simply because he wasn't watching. Stork then does some sick, sick drilling to hold his main pylon with pretty much no losses. Hogil powers up and expands and, feeling cute, Stork drills his scout probe across the minerals at Hogil's nat to cannon rush it. Hogil eventually drills a zergling over to block at which point Stork drills his probe back.
Stork's amusingly perfect play succeeds in changing my allegiance, he is playing this so beautifully. With 3 zealots Stork FEs and attempts to push into Hogil's main, both for scouting and to force lings. Hogil blocks it competently but it actually does a respectable amount of damage. Hogil squeezes out a few fast hydralisks but Stork is a long way ahead economically and knows it. He masses pure units and cannons, content to play 2 base vs 2 base against 3 hat hydra. Hogil attempts some pressure but can only trade hydralisks for cannons on a fairly even basis, unable to break in. Then zealot speed finishes and most the hydralisks die. Stork continues to defend because he can take a mineral only behind his nat and Hogil takes his mineral only going to 4 hat hydra but not making any more drones, still completely allin. Hogil tries one last hydra push and Stork's high templar paint the ground red.
GG
Beautiful play by Stork. Abandoning the natural and going for a main hold was ballsy, especially when a main cannon still wouldn't be in time. The pylon is very vulnerable when you do that but Stork somehow managed to defend the pylon despite it not being in the mineral line with some weird, but very good, probe drills.
Game 2, Stork vs Hogil.
Failed reaversair into an epic defence of the protoss third into a death ball.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6F7KvBZUcQ&feature=player_embedded
Game 2 on Fighting Spirit, Hogil gets teal again in 5 while Stork gets blue in 11. Both players open standarder than standard, Hogil scouting across the map and going 12 11 while Stork opens FE with double scout. Hogil opts for a 3rd hat at 6 and powerdrones. Hogil suicides a ling for scouting info while Stork does the same with a zealot, scouting the 4 hat lair instead of the standard 3 hat lair 5 hat more commonly seen.
Stork's dragoons tracks down a stray overlord at 12 and nets a free kill that puts Hogil into the red and messes with his build. Hogil opts for a fast hydralisk den as is standard with 4 hat lair builds before going for a spire. Stork's corsairs manage a few overlord kills without loss despite the hydralisks and he continues to pump more and more corsairs while getting a robo and support bay. A quick drop of 2 zealots and a dragoon (literally all the units he had) snipes the spire although Stork's base is dangerously underdefended with only 2 cannons and 2 zealots as well as the reaver.
Stork's corsair reaver is ballsier than a massive pair of balls and manages to run into hydralisks several times, each time extricating itself without loss. However with hydralisks everywhere there is no prospect of actually doing damage and Stork just prepares to take 12 while transitioning into normal play with an archives and mass gateways.
Hogil tries to shut down 12 but one look at the reavers convinces him it won't be happening. Massing up his army for a push at the natural Hogil manages to get hit by pretty much every storm and scarab there is while only gaining ground as Stork's army falls back to let him advance. Another large army of hydralisks pushes up into 12 from the centre and is stopped only by carefully aimed scarabs (Stork aims them personally for maximum impact) and the rapid speedshuttle reinforcement of 2 reavers. But despite a lot of hydralisks and lurkers all over the place Stork is able to rapidly redeploy reavers all over his front to keep it strong. Although he loses the gateway and forge from his natural wall he holds it. Stork attempts a drop in Hogil's main but an overlord sees it and it is shut down.
Meanwhile Hogil has taken 7 but at 4 gas bases to 3 is still economically behind the Protoss. Stork has a massive army of dragoons, zealots, reavers and a few ht while Hogil has hydralisks, lurkers and a group of mutalisks. The mutalisks take down 3 ht, as they do, but despite having no storms in his army Stork just doesn't care. With 4 reavers and several groups of dragoons he just attack moves into everything. Stork is able to squat on Hogil's rally point with a load of dragoons and reavers and just mows down the zerg as quickly as they are produced.
GG
The reaversair failed but the expansion to 12 was very bold and Stork proved he had the multitasking and control to justify his ambition, if only just. Hogil took a lot of damage trying to take down 12 and only just failed. But he did fail, and he also failed to stop the reaver count rising. Stork built up reavers all game and then got his hands on a lot of minerals. The minerals quickly became a vast amount of lowtech protoss meatshield and the reavers sat in the middle of it laughing.
Game 2 on Fighting Spirit, Hogil gets teal again in 5 while Stork gets blue in 11. Both players open standarder than standard, Hogil scouting across the map and going 12 11 while Stork opens FE with double scout. Hogil opts for a 3rd hat at 6 and powerdrones. Hogil suicides a ling for scouting info while Stork does the same with a zealot, scouting the 4 hat lair instead of the standard 3 hat lair 5 hat more commonly seen.
Stork's dragoons tracks down a stray overlord at 12 and nets a free kill that puts Hogil into the red and messes with his build. Hogil opts for a fast hydralisk den as is standard with 4 hat lair builds before going for a spire. Stork's corsairs manage a few overlord kills without loss despite the hydralisks and he continues to pump more and more corsairs while getting a robo and support bay. A quick drop of 2 zealots and a dragoon (literally all the units he had) snipes the spire although Stork's base is dangerously underdefended with only 2 cannons and 2 zealots as well as the reaver.
Stork's corsair reaver is ballsier than a massive pair of balls and manages to run into hydralisks several times, each time extricating itself without loss. However with hydralisks everywhere there is no prospect of actually doing damage and Stork just prepares to take 12 while transitioning into normal play with an archives and mass gateways.
Hogil tries to shut down 12 but one look at the reavers convinces him it won't be happening. Massing up his army for a push at the natural Hogil manages to get hit by pretty much every storm and scarab there is while only gaining ground as Stork's army falls back to let him advance. Another large army of hydralisks pushes up into 12 from the centre and is stopped only by carefully aimed scarabs (Stork aims them personally for maximum impact) and the rapid speedshuttle reinforcement of 2 reavers. But despite a lot of hydralisks and lurkers all over the place Stork is able to rapidly redeploy reavers all over his front to keep it strong. Although he loses the gateway and forge from his natural wall he holds it. Stork attempts a drop in Hogil's main but an overlord sees it and it is shut down.
Meanwhile Hogil has taken 7 but at 4 gas bases to 3 is still economically behind the Protoss. Stork has a massive army of dragoons, zealots, reavers and a few ht while Hogil has hydralisks, lurkers and a group of mutalisks. The mutalisks take down 3 ht, as they do, but despite having no storms in his army Stork just doesn't care. With 4 reavers and several groups of dragoons he just attack moves into everything. Stork is able to squat on Hogil's rally point with a load of dragoons and reavers and just mows down the zerg as quickly as they are produced.
GG
The reaversair failed but the expansion to 12 was very bold and Stork proved he had the multitasking and control to justify his ambition, if only just. Hogil took a lot of damage trying to take down 12 and only just failed. But he did fail, and he also failed to stop the reaver count rising. Stork built up reavers all game and then got his hands on a lot of minerals. The minerals quickly became a vast amount of lowtech protoss meatshield and the reavers sat in the middle of it laughing.
Recommended game is probably Lomo vs Hogil game 1. Their second game was scrappy as fuck and game 3 was kinda one sided. If you don't have standards watch game 2 because more stuff happens but game 1 was a nice game.
Group C - Preview
- By DoctorHelvetica
Group C
Game 1:Really vs 815
Game 2:Kwanro vs Winner of Game 1
Map Order: Great Barrier Reef, Fighting Spirit, Eye of the Storm
Game 1:
Really vs 815Game 2:
Kwanro vs Winner of Game 1Map Order: Great Barrier Reef, Fighting Spirit, Eye of the Storm
Group C is one of the more interesting groups in the OSL Round of 36. Both Kwanro and Really have been playing monstrous roles in their respective teams. Really has brought eSTRO near the top of the Proleague rankings and has become what the team truly needed: a strong ace. Kwanro has been tearing up the individual leagues since he grabbed a silver in the Avalon MSL, showing strong performance in the Proleague as well.
Really hasn't shown his TvZ too much recently, rather he has been the bane of every Terran and Protoss player in the Proleague. Although he might be getting better overall results than either 815 or Kwanro, his TvZ skill will really be put to the test. 815 isn't a player who should be ignored, although his specialty is ZvZ. If Really somehow managed to lose his match against 815, the KT Rolster Zerg may actually have a decent chance of taking down Kwanro. Upsets do happen.
![[image loading]](/staff/DoctorHelvetica/KoreanAirOSL1/510653103_TCWW9M.jpg)
eSTRO's rising star
Fighting Spirit may be a difficult map for Really as Zerg has a pretty easy time taking and holding their 4th gas. Really is a player who is very comfortable in late-game situations, something that Kwanro isn't known for. Kwanro's aggressive play is very at odds with Really's defensive macro style. Seeing how a game between the two of them will turn out is an exciting possibility. Even if 815 punches through, expect an intense and high-level ZvZ between two great players in the match-up.
Group D - Preview
- By DoctorHelvetica
Game 1:
GuemChi vs KillerGame 2:
Hwasin vs Winner of Game 1Map Order: Great Barrier Reef, Fighting Spirit, Eye of the Storm
What a group. GuemChi has been absolutely dominating the Winners League, 3-killing and all-killing teams without breaking a sweat. Killer has been trying to secure something of an ace position within Hwaseung although it hasn't really worked out. Killer has shown occasionally impressive play, but mostly bitter and sad failures.
GuemChi is definitely the favorite in this group, Hwasin's TvP has never been quite near the level of his TvZ and GuemChi simply has more momentum right now. GuemChi is a promising Protoss player and this might be his chance to really show his stuff in the OSL.
Thanks to DoctorHevetica for the Previews and the Prelims recap
