Pony Express Issue 119: Apr. 19 - Apr. 26, 2010

I'm sure there's people who actually tried it too LOL

Well, the VOD for the following one isn't up yet, but when it does come up, I HIGHLY recommend:



It was just beautiful play from the winner, demonstrating clean control, and it's hard to find a true fault from either player, it's just that the winner played that well with a great strategy.

This one also doesn't have a VOD, but it's also really, really good. If you want to watch a close game with great play from both players, this is the game to watch.



Anyway, onto a game that actually does have a VOD out, and that is:



We have Jaedong starting out as the Orange Zerg at bottom right, while Hydra spawns as the White Zerg at top left.

Both players opt to build a 12 Hatch at their natural, so they start off on equal footing for now. Play continues with an 11 Pool, then 10 Gas as is the standard, then three Drones. Although Odd Eye is only a 2 player map, it has such a long rush distance between naturals so a 12 Hatch is safe against all but a 9 Pool Speed.

However already from the first gas, the two players already show a build order divergence. JD opted to go Lair first...



while Hydra opted to get speed first.



This choice in strategy is most likely a result of the natural layout of the Odd Eye 2, so it's hard for JD to cover either the choke, or both his mineral line and ramp. In order to try to get a better choke area to stop Hydra's lings, JD moves his lings to this ramp:



But Hydra has 8 Zerglings to JD's 6, so once Speed finishes, Hydra is thus able to run in with speedlings and snipe a Drone.



Both players took their natural gas at the same time, so both players should have around the same gas count to work with. The only key difference will be Spire timings, but Hydra may be able to force JD to either delay his Spire or pump lings instead of Mutas if he can put enough pressure on JD with his lings.

At this point though, JD has gotten speed for his lings, so Hydras early speed advantage is nullified, and both players start dancing around each other in the middle until Hydra decides to move in.

The Zergling forces engage,



but Hydra soon pulls back since he was both at a Zergling disadvantage and he tried to sneak two lings into Jaedong's base during that engagement, trying to pick off a few Drones.



However, JD spots it with 4 lings and picks Hydra's lings off before they can do any damage.

Meanwhile, the ling battle in the middle is relatively even on both sides,



though reinforcements from Hydra force JD to pull back to his natural, though he is clearly in no danger of losing the game right here.

The Spire finishes for Jaedong, and his Mutas start hatching. Immediately he goes Overlord hunting, though Hydra has quite a few Mutas of his own.




Hydra is able to find one of JD's Overlords and take it out, so JD remains supply blocked for now. However, JD takes this opportunity to attack, as he believes that he has superior ling count to break through with his lings, even if his Mutas suffer some damage in the process.



During the fight, JD is able to squeak out a small victory as two lings enter Hydra's base and snipe a Drone.



However, Hydra made the choice to chase after the two lings instead of chasing after JD's Mutalisks, losing him both some free hits on JD's Mutas (he had Scourge chasing JD's Mutas), and an Overlord.




JD passes right by two of Hydra's Overlords as he retreats, but Hydra opted to fly straight for JD's main once he got some Scourge out. During the last battle, Hydra pulled Drones off of his natural gas for awhile, so that means that JD clearly has the gas advantage in this match.

Relative Mutalisk and Scourge counts:




However, misfortune befalls Hydra as JD's Mutas get the first hit on Hydra's Muta pack, which is a crucial advantage for JD.



However, JD both flubs a bit with his Mutalisk micro, letting more Scourge hit his Mutas than were necessary, and he's was probably capped by the Overlord loss a while earlier, so his Mutalisk count isn't as high. Regardless, JD doesn't lose that badly, as Hydra is left with 3 damaged Mutas vs JD's 1 damaged Mutas.

Hydra knows he has the Mutalisk advantage at this point, so he advances forward and tries to pick off some Overlords. JD realizes that he definitely doesn't have the Mutalisk count to stop Hydra from picking off one of his Overlords, so he lets one go,



but once Hydra advances right into JD's natural with his Mutas, JD decides to strike.



JD has superior Scourge count as compared to Hydra's Scourge count, and he was able to cleanly pick off Hydra's two Scourge, so he comes out slightly ahead in that battle. The power of Scourge against small numbers of Mutalisks is maintained!



The game could easily still swing either way at this point, knowing how fickle Mutalisk battles can be, but JD takes the initiative by picking off one of Hydra's Mutas with a rogue pair of Scourge. At the same time, JD moves out to pick off one of Hydra's Overlords, but Hydra with the random pair of Scourge snipes one of JD's Mutas, thus evening the score.

Once again the Mutalisk flocks dance around the middle of the map, but as Hydra moves in to pick off one of JD's Mutas, JD chases Hydra back to his base, picking off some Scourge in the process.

During this entire affair, JD picks off one of Hydra's Overlords and, sensing that the time is nigh as Hydra can't build reinforcements, goes on the offensive!





Undoubtedly JD is able to get a clear advantage early on in the Mutalisk fight thanks to his Scourge advantage, but as Hydra's Scourge pops, it's clear that the fight can still go either way.



However, thanks to Hydra's mismicro, only 2 Scourge land, another 2 Scourge snipes one of JD's Scourge, and the rest are killed. JD, with more and more reinforcements incoming, destroys the last of Hydra's Mutas,



and Hydra, realizing that he's been outmatched, taps out. GG.



The eyes... They're back....



Overview: Really high level ZvZ here, and great play by Hydra, who really came out with a strong showing here. However, JD had more consistent Mutalisk micro, and with even more elegant Scourge control, demonstrates the art of ZvZ Mutalisk battles. The state of his ZvZ is still a far cry from his peak crazy ZvZ skills that more or less consistently raped Zergs left and right last year, but it's definitely starting to show consistency in his micro, which is crucial in maintaining a good ZvZ win record.

PS – I realize that I forgot to link the VODs in my previous reports, so I'm sorry for that :X