EPT
Game One: Iloveoov (Choi Yeon Seong) v Zeus (Jeon Tae Gyu) on Nostalgia
The history of Starcraft is replete with astonishing ingenuity, nailbiting finishes and a fair share of good (and bad) fortune deciding games in the most unusual fashion. Few compare, however, to Oov's astounding victory over Zeus in game one. One firebat, just one firebat was all that stood between Zeus and victory, yet it was Oov who came away from the opening weekend with the crucial one game advantage. Could the second game possibly compare?
Iloveoov (terran at seven o'clock) unsurprisingly decided to forgo the double barracks that brought him victory in last week's breathtaking suicide scramble in favour of a more standard wall-in and factory opening. Zeus (protoss at five), still smarting from last week's events, went for the jugular from the very outset. He opted for double gateway ranged dragoons but was very quick off the mark with one zealot and one goon applying expertly controlled early pressure to Oov's wall. Oov matched his protoss nemesis with intricate marine and SCV micro, changing the target of his repair time and again to maintain his wall and his small defensive force. By the time the terrans' first tank forced a temporary retreat Zeus was already warping in his Citadel of Adun yet still finding the resources to send dragoons towards the terran base. A second dragoon arrived and Zeus resumed his assault. Both players were shifting their forces trying to keep their units positioned but it was Zeus who made the early breakthrough, destroying Oov's tank. A third dragoon arrived at the frontline and Zeus demolished a supply depot as Oov defended furiously with his SCVs. Zeus could not deliver the killing blow as two new tanks forced him back. Oov was hanging on despite Zeus' determined assault but there was a new threat on the way, with dark templars en route to the terran base.
With his dark templars on the prowl, Zeus decided to expand to the one o'clock position. Just in time, with the cloaked assassins at his doorstep Oov erected a turret for detection and managed to hold off the threat. Nevertheless there was no let-up from Zeus who was coming at Oov from all directions with every weapon in the protoss arsenal. Just as Oov took his natural and was preparing to consolidate his defensive position a devastating reaver drop destroyed a gaggle of fleeing SCVs in his main. Confusion reigned in the terran ranks as the reaver was picked up and dropped at the back of the terran natural. Disruptive rather than destructive, the drop left the terran SCVs not knowing which way to run to escape the protoss robot.
Zeus now expanded again to 12 as Oov at last was able to break out of his prison with a small group of vultures, lightly harassing the new 12 o'clock expo. Zeus had stargates warping in and carriers on the way as Oov finally managed to drag together a sizable force of tanks and vultures for a lightning push towards the protoss base. As Zeus expanded yet again to 11 the OGN team showed an obviously worried and frantic Oov, his mouth hanging open, fingers flying across the keyboard as he strived to hold off defeat. Fortune smiled on him briefly as pushed out towards the protoss main, catching a collection of Zeus' probes on their way to one of his new expansions.
For a moment, just for one moment, it looked as if Oov may be about to achieve the impossible. However, the sight of his tanks sitting at the foot of the protoss ramp proved to be nothing more than a chimera as Zeus struck hard and fast with his carriers. Oov's small number of goliaths were obliterated and as his tanks turned and fled Oov realised all hope was lost and succumbed to his first defeat of this Starleague.
A tour de force from Zeus who showed his complete mastery of this match-up and was in charge of the game from start to finish.
Iloveoov 1 - 1 Zeus
Game Two: July Zerg (Park Seong Joon) v Xellos (Seo Ji Hoon) on Namja Iyagi
On the subject of first defeats, July Zerg went down to his first loss of this Starleague last week to the Perfect Terran. Both players had very strong records against their current opponent's race, while the map was narrowly favouring zerg 9-7.
July Zerg (zerg at 10 o'clock), the final representative of the swarm in the Starleague, scored early points against Xellos (terran at four) as his scouting drone destroyed one of the terran SCVs right inside the terran main. Xellos replied by obliterating a slow-moving overlord caught out in the open and almost destroyed a second before it managed to lazily flee out of range of the marines' guns. July Zerg went 12-hatch to lair and hydralisk den. Xellos opted for the usual double barracks and academy.
As Xellos' first force of marines, medics and firebats advanced out of his main it was scouted by some roaming zerglings and July Zerg reacted quickly with three sunkens at his expansion. As his soldiers approached the zerg base Xellos blundered. Trying to dart his stimmed forces past the sunkens and onto the relatively undefended main plateau they unexpectedly encountered two hydralisks holding position at the top of the ramp. The marines and firebats found themselves unable to get out of range of the ravaging sunkens and were killed for no gain at all for the terran army.
July Zerg now had lurkers and was morphing his spire in preparation for scourge. Xellos had expanded to his natural which quickly came under attack from July Zerg's burrowers although Xellos scanned and neutralised them. With more lurkers on the way, Xellos acted to break up a possible containment but found himself under attack from the back. Six lurkers cliffed at the rear of his expo brought the terran refinery crashing down. July Zerg was expanding again to the 12 position. With hordes of lurkers roaming Namja Iyagi Xellos started work on a science facility as the swarm saw a newly morphed queen's nest and a hive on the way. Still looking as though he was suffering for his early mistake, Xellos was playing catch up and by the time his first science vessel made any real attempt at mobility a realistic possibility for the terran forces, his opponent had hive tech available and a greater spire on the way.
As Xellos at last looked to advance determinedly towards the alien base his army ran into a gigantic lurker and zergling force with devastating guardian support. A frustrated Xellos was back in his box again and July Zerg began picking off the SCVs at the terran natural with his guardians operating from over the lefthand cliff. As the terrans looked to wraith support to finally end the guardians' destructive reign, July Zerg turned the screw even further. With his hive-tech zerg production in full swing and a new expansion at seven, ultralisks were roaring out of their cavern. A mass assault from zerglings and ultras on the terran natural spelled the beginning of the end for the Perfect Terran. He managed to hold off the first wave and launched a desparation counterattack on the new zerg expansion at the one o'clock position but his fall was inevitable as a perfectly timed pincer movement involving zerglings, lurkers and ultralisks finished off the terran natural.
July Zerg never looked in real danger and snuffed out every terran advance.
July Zerg 1 - 1 Xellos
Game Three: Silent_Control (Na Do Hyeon) v Kingdom (Park Yong Ook) on Mercury
Kingdom was unbeaten in the tournament and looked unbeatable, destroying everything in his path coming into this potentially match-clinching game against Silent_Control. In the opening game he had thoroughly outplayed his seemingly mystified terran opponent, with Control acting like a rabbit caught in headlights as the Kingdom juggernaut bore down on him. Mercury had been strongly favouring protoss until Control himself took out IntotheRainbow to secure a quarterfinal place.
Kingdom (protoss at three o'clock) opened with double gate ranged dragoons, while Silent_Control (terran at 6) opted for a one factory, one starport build, hoping to cripple the seemingly relentless Kingdom with an early drop. Everything appeared normal as Kingdom used two dragoons to pressure the terran wall early game. However, as the OGN cameras switched back to view Kingdom's main there was a big surprise in store. Kingdom was warping in an early stargate and was showing no sign of the expected robotics facility.
Oblivious to the unusual goings on in the protoss base Control made his first move, a dropship winging its way towards the protoss mineral line. Kingdom followed his usual script by catching sight of the ship on its way in and using his dragoons to destroy the ship as well as the helpless tank and vulture which dropped down to destruction. With any mistake spelling potential disaster for Kingdom's opponents at present, the protoss player pushed up against the terran wall again, breaking it open and obliterating two tanks, forcing frantic SCV defence until a new tank could arrive to repel borders.
Kingdom now revealed the purpose of his stargate as the audience and OGN announcers and, I would imagine, most television viewers, reacted with surprise at the sight of two scouts gliding across the Mercury landscape and attempting to harass the terran base.
By now Control was eyeing his natural expansion but he still had protoss forces sitting on his doorstep. He tried a vulture drop, which proved ineffective, and again tried to move out to his natural. Bizarrely, the bulk of Kingdom's force was still made up of dragoons and his two scouts and he attempted to use this unorthodox army to crucially delay the terran expansion, harassing SCV's as they tried to put up turrets and strangely sacrificing dragoons for a small number of tanks to keep the terran from breaking out. As Control struggled to secure his expansion, Kingom took the expos at one and the three expo near his main. Control was sweating profusely and looked uncomfortable and sluggish as he struggled to avoid elimination.
Nevertheless, Kingdom had sacrificed a significant number of units and the gains were unclear. Seemingly seized by sudden determination, Control shrugged off further dragoon assaults and secured his expansion and when he struck out at Kingdom the fall was hard and fast. Control's growing force of tanks, goliaths and vultures broke out and headed for the protoss base. It suddenly became obvious that despite having been apparently in command, Kingdom's position was perilous. Control closed in on a protoss army that was almost completely devoid of speedlots. Frantically reinforcing his forces Kingdom destroyed a few tanks but was being inexorably pushed back towards his three o'clock expansion. Control carried on advancing, pressing against the depleted protoss forces who were powerless to save the expo at three.
It looked as though Kingdom was doomed but emerging dark templars saved him as he caught the terrans without available detection and forced the tanks to retreat. However, the now ascendent Control took everything in his stride and headed straight for the nexus at one. From seemingly being in control of this game, Kingdom's position now appeared lost and a confused and comical event persuaded him to quit. As battle was joined between the protoss and terran forces a single spider mine was lured straight into a collection of probes fleeing the destruction at three. An unknown number went up in smoke. With Silent_Control taking another expansion at the nexus at one o'clock about to fall Kingdom typed GG.
Questionable strategy and some inexplicable decisions from Kingdom, as well as a well-timed and well-executed attack from Silent_Control, mean this one is, perhaps a little unexpectedly, going to a deciding game. The Devil Toss looked shattered after losing his unbeaten record. It is all to play for next week. Mercury, at one point favouring protoss 4-0, is now turning into a toss graveyard.
Silent_Control 1 - 1 Kingdom
Game Four: [Red]Nada (Lee Yoon Yeol) v [Oops]Reach (Park Jeong Seok) on Requiem
Despite claiming he was lacking confidence, and not looking his usual invincible self in the group stage, Nada had appeared relatively untroubled in his win over Reach last week on Mercury. Reach's play was curiously lightweight, with ineffective reaver play and little resistance to Nada's game-winning assault. Would it prove to be different on Requiem?
While Reach (protoss at three o'clock) opted for double gate and cybernetics core, Nada (terran at nine) was preparing another surprise for the audience as, following Oov's lead last week, he made two barracks, with no wall and no factory. Reach was quickly aware of what was going on as he had two, yes two, probes roaming around inside the terran main. The double probe recon force even managed to destroy one of Nada's SCVs. Reach prodded at the terran base with a single zealot but was forced to retreat and Nada started work on his academy. Reach came back with a stronger force of three zealots, which threatened the terran base. With seven marines providing terran defence, both players microed their small forces momentarily without opting for an all-out clash. Reach eventually attacked and chipped away at the marine force, bringing SCVs rushing to provide support and secure the terran base.
Having temporarily repelled the protoss attack, Nada went for broke. Marines, with a gaggle of SCVs for support and screening, headed out of the terran base and towards the enemy main. There was to be no repeat of last week's spectacular Requiem conclusion, however. Reach used his zealots and dragoons to force the makeshift terran army to flee. With his strategy in ruins, Nada was now desperate. Firebats attempted to send the protoss forces up in flames but Reach targeted them effectively, extinguishing the threat and surging into the terran main. He was forced to wait for more zealot support but the end was near for Nada, with the protoss dragoons a dire presence in his base. He tried desperation defence with his SCVs but this time it proved hopeless as Reach, as expected, efficiently microed his dragoons and began laying waste to the terran units and buildings.
If Nada was envisaging a repeat of last week's Oov victory over Zeus he was to be sorely disappointed. Reach, unlike the slightly unfortunate Jeon Tae Gyu, was always fully aware of where his opponent's forces were and what they were doing and was able to neutralise Nada's strategy with relative ease.
[Red]Nada 1 - 1 [Oops]Reach
The last two unbeaten records in this Starleague are no more. It is a full programme of games on Friday evening, when all four semifinalists in the Gillette OGN Starleague will be decided.
bye nada
