EPT
Group A: Nada(t), Yellow(z), Chrh(t), Jinnam(z), IntoTheRain(p)
Group B: Kos(t), Reach(p), Boxer(t), Chojja(z), Sonic)Black(z)
The players are those who placed within 4th in the previous 4 KPGA leagues. They were placed according to their rankings, and also so that each group would have an even amount of each race. The 5 players in both groups will play a game a piece versus the other 4 players in their respective group. So each player will eventually play 4 games total, and when they're all done, the 2 top players from each group will go onto the next round. From there, the 1st place player from a group will play the 2nd place player from the other group in the semi-finals. And then the finals to show who's really best of the best. Already I think Nada will win, let's not count out 9 other ppl who can make top 4 in the KPGA.
Maps
Game 1: Nada vs Yellow on Sauron
Nada started at 1:00, and Yellow started at 5:00. Nada's build was 2 rax M&M's with a twist, going for an engineering bay and fast +1 attack before his academy. Yellow's build wasn't the predicted 3 hatch, but rather fast 2nd hatch below his ramp and then lair tech. Yellow expanded to his later, while his lair was going up.
Nada scanned to find a spire going up, and responded by making more barracks and starting a command center. When the mutas came out, Yellow attempted expanding to the 11:00 main, an out of the way spot. He made only 3 mutas, going for den and hive fairly quickly. Not making much else, he simply powered drones for a long time. Nada just massed after his expansion, walking his marines around with nothing t
o challenge them. He went to check on 7:00, but missed the 11:00 expansion.
The game tilted when Nada got a drop off on Yellow's nat. Due to a control mistake on Yellow's side, cost him a lot of drones and his spire. Nada then went out with the army he had been massing at his main. It wasn't very large for a 2 base terran army, but Yellow's continuous drone production left him short on units. He hurried to make lurker/ling that could buy him time. The late double evo and ultralisk cavern showed his initial plan was to try and go 3 gas ultralisks while keeping his gas use down. However, his timing was way off, and delayed more by the drop. All he had was drones and buildings.
Nada's tanks set up on the cliff above Yellow's nat and covered the marines while they tore apart whatever was below. Unfortunately for Yellow, his ultralisk cavern had just completed at his nat, and it was one of the first buildings to go. A dropship went and took down 11:00 as well, coincidentally where Yellow was rebuilding his ultralisk cavern.
Yellow managed to stick around longer, using his unupgraded ultras to attack Nada's nat, and saving up enough lurk/ling to kill off Nada's stuff before they got to his main. He also secured the 5:00 main.
Still, the game had been over for a while, and it was just being delayed. Almost as soon as his first army died, Nada went out with his 2nd. This one was more characteristic of Nada, having 12 + tanks and a whole lot of marines. This time around, nothing Yellow could scrounge together was able to even scratch it. GG yellow ;(
Nada defeated Yellow, and rather easily at that
Game 2: Reach vs Kos on Sauron
Kos at 11:00, and Reach at 7:00. Reach started off with one of his early pylons in the corner of his natural, leading people to suspect he may be going for a hidden reaver drop. He followed up with a robotics facility..... but after that came an observer. Get obs to enemy base ASAP, maybe -_-. Anyway, Reach went for very standard 2 gate goon/ob, while Kos went for 2 fact vults.
Eventually, it was Kos who tried to do something sneaky. He built a starport a little bit south and east of the center. While Reach's obs saw the 2 facts and vults, he was blind to the other half of Kos's strat. When the dropship was about ready, Kos sent his vultures out and around the dragoons roaming around. Meanwhile, Reach expanded to his natural, playing safely.
Kos's plan was to discreetly ferry up 8 vults into Reach's main. It probably would have worked, but Reach reached out with his map-hacking abilities. As the dropship from the hidden port made it's way to the right side of Reach's main, it passed above a probe that just so happened to be standing there for absolutely no reason. Kos tried to drop anyway, and killed about 5 probes before he was stopped.
It wasn't a complete loss on Kos's part, his vultures ran around causing much chaos, though not much damage. It gave him some breathing space to expand (though I don't think he would have had much trouble with it anyway) and match Reach. The factories started going up in Kos's main, while Reach sent probes out to take the bottom center expansion, and the 5:00 natural. Both players settled in for long term fighting.
After he had a fair amount of troops, Kos started pushing southwards. Very fast and aggressive too. A bit too fast for Reach. When Kos was about 80% there, Reach realized he'd never have enough stuff on ground to fight off Kos by the time he got there. He started on carrier tech at home, while pulling his ground troops around to try to counter Kos's natural.
What happened was Reach managed to do some minor damage to Kos's natural, while Kos razed Reach's main and nat to the ground. Kos went to kill whatever was left, and was very successful at that (surprise!).
Kos defeated Reach, with his awesome pushing ability
Game 3: Chrh vs Jinnam on Blade Storm
Chrh at 1:00, Jinnam at 7:00. Chrh gets the award for craziest build of the week. After going for 1 rax fast gas, which was promptly scouted out by a drone, he followed with an engineering bay for fast +1. And that wasn't the end, he took his SCVs off gas after mining 100, and went for quick expansion! At the mineral only expansion to the back of his base, of course. Though if he had expanded to the front of his base.... -_-;;
Jinnam exped quickly to his gas natural. Seeing Chrh's tech build, he plopped down a sunk and pumped drones like there was no tomorrow. His plan was 2 hatch lurk/ling.
After making the CC, Chrh went on to make M&Ms. Before the medics came out, Chrh decided to go out with his 10 or so lings for a poke. The usual stuff, making zerg stop drones and make defenses. Chrh was successful, in a sordid way. Jinnam made some defenses, but it wasn't sunken colonies. It came in the form of a bunch of speedlings. Chrh's marines were surrounded and quickly torn apart. And then Jinnam's lings ran on to Chrh's main.
Jinnam showed his mental powers, using telepathy to control his lings, instead of his mouse and keyboard. The lings went around, giving Chrh some severe headaches. Eventually firebats showed up in number and made the lings stop killing stuff. It was almost funny when the lurkers showed up, Chrh having gotten rid of his ling problem just a second before.
Anyway, there was nothing Chrh could do about the lurkers, being seriously low on everything but SCVs. Chrh conceded the game.
Jinnam defeated Chrh in a silly game
Game 4: Boxer vs Chojja on Plains to Hill D
Boxer started at 11:00, while Chojja started at 1:00. At such close spots, I hoped that Boxer would do something crazy, so I could write this report and go to bed already. To my dismay, he went for a regular 2 rax build. Chojja went 12 pool, and then 2nd hatch at the 3 way choke.
Boxer didn't disappoint, showing off his flashy tricks. In a cute maneuver, he walled Chojja in his own base with a barracks, while his marines attacked the 2nd hatchery without retaliation. Chojja gave up on his 2nd hatchery, canceling it while making a new hatchery in his main. Chojja tried some of his own shady maneuvers, sending a drone to make a hidden expansion at the 5:00 main.
Boxer showed his uncanny abilities, finding the 5:00 right after the hatchery completed. His marines made short work of it, while Chojja was still in his main waiting for his mutas to hatch. Chojja eventually did get his 2nd gas, taking his natural. Though at the time Boxer would have killed it if he found it, he missed it (or left it alone) while he took his own natural. Boxer went into perfect defense mode while his expansion started working, leaving Chojja with nothing to do with his mutas. Chojja made the switch the lurkers while retaking 5:00.
After he over-secured his main and exp, Boxer moved his troops out. 3 seconds after they were out, Boxer's stuff was already at Chojja's natural. Got to love those close spots on Plains to Hill. A tank sieged up under the zerg nat and forced the drones to run. Some comical scenes ensued, Boxer unsieging and running his troops back at the slightest hint of Chojja trying to hit his main or nat. The tank had to move a few times, but the hatchery fell in the end. And a dropship to 5:00 took care of the rest of Chojja's resource mining.
In a final battle, Chojja tried to sandwich Boxer's troops with his own muta/lurk/ling. Boxer shrugged it off like it was nothing, irradiating mutas perfectly and showing off his marine micro. He went on to Chojja's main, and it was GG for Chojja.
Boxer defeated Chojja in another silly game
