EPT
TeamLiquid.net KT-KTF Premiere League Games of the Week, Week Four
Rage (Kim Hwang Joong) v [Red]Nada (Lee Yoon Yeol) on Arizona
Rage was still waiting for his first win of the tournament coming into this week four clash with reigning champion Nada. Rage (protoss at two) opted for standard ranged dragoons into robo opening against Nada's two factories. Siege mode saw off a somewhat threatening attack on the terran wall and after securing his perimeter Nada decided on a fast attack on Rage's recently warped natural expansion, laying down mines and sieging within in range of the nexus. However, as a shuttle-load of zealots glided slowly over his tanks he decided to pull back, taking his own natural in the process.
Rage cleared the minefield near his natural and was warping in his Citadel of Adun as Nada climbed to six factories and prepared to push out again. As Nada moved up the map with his larger army and sieged at right centre, Rage charged the terran position, although his efforts were thwarted by inefficient zealot bombing and he was forced to pull back. Nada was expanding again to seven, Rage to 12.
The protoss forces made a second charge and this time the dropping zeals sucked mines in to detonate a number of the tanks as his frontal zealot and dragoon force laid waste to much of the terran army. Despite this not inconsiderable success, Rage did not feel able to break through and pulled back a second time. At his 12 expo he was warping a stargate, followed later by a fleet beacon.
Nada sent a raiding force of vultures through the protoss lines to cause some damage at the alien natural and main. However, he may have left himself short of support at his own defensive line as Rage charged forward for a third time and achieved an overwhelming victory. His zeals surrounded the terran tanks, with his dragoons dealing death in all directions as Nada's defensive position was completely broken. The protoss forces moved forward to take advantage, with more zealots on their way from Rage's main. However, at this point Rage may have made a critical error. Nada's natural was at his mercy and he could undoubtedly have obliterated it with his dragoons. He chose instead to try for it all and attempt to break into the terran main. Here Nada rallied brilliantly, pulling the SCVs from his natural and making good use of the reinforcements emerging from his nearby factories to finally neutralise the assault.
Rage did, however, divert some forces to attack Nada's new expo at low centre, forcing it to lift. Shortly after he assaulted another new terran expansion, at seven, getting some SCVs with a single zealot as Nada seemed not realise what was happening, then forcing it to lift with a larger attacking group. Rage himself had a new expo at high centre and was working on a new nexus at 10 as his first carrier finally arrived on the scene.
Vulture attacks at the high centre expo netted a significant number of probes, despite fire from defending dragoons and as Nada launched a devastating attack on Rage's new expo at 10 it suddenly became apparent that the protoss economy was being squeezed while Nada was being fuelled by the revitalised natural Rage had had the option of destroying so simply earlier in the game. Nada had also re-established the six expansion and had a new one at nine.
As Rage tried to attack the nine expo with his single carrier, Nada reacted with a well-executed three goliath drop to destroy the single capital ship. The protoss army now seemed stretched, whereas Nada had, as Nada does, constructed a large force of tanks and vultures seemingly from nowhere and launched them against the high centre expansion, Rage's only remaining source of minerals. The protoss forces crumbled before the power of Nada's siege tanks, the high centre expansion fell and Rage, deprived of resources finally quit a game it had at one point looked like he was going to win.
Rage appeared to make a terrible blunder by not siezing the opportunity to destroy Nada's natural and he failed to commit himself to building a carrier force after investing the resources in a stargate and fleet beacon. A case of so near yet so far for the still winless protoss pro.
July Zerg (Park Seong Joon) v Xellos (Seo Ji Hoon) on Arizona
Xellos (terran at eight) walled in with a single barracks while July (zerg at 11) opted for a standard early expansion build. With his opponent working in secret behind a barrier, July sacrificed an overlord to take a look at Xellos' build, catching sight of a second rax and an academy going up in the terran base, although Xellos started work on a third barracks almost immediately after July's scout was destroyed. July morphed in his lair and chose his tech path by starting work on a spire.
As Xellos' first force of marines, medics and firebats moved out of his base, July responded with three then four sunken colonies at his choke as the terran infantry held position near the zerg natural. Xellos weighed up his options and sent his army forward, attacking the sunkens head on. For a second it looked like he might have caught the swarm unprepared but July was busily morphing in more sunkens as his original defences were felled in the process of whittling down the terran attack force. At the same time the first flight of mutas swooped into battle, picking off marines as they tried to take down the forest of colonies. As it became clear that he was not going to break through, Xellos pulled back the remnants of his infantry. The remaining soldiers withdrew to the newly-completed terran natural, pursued by the swarm, forcing Xellos to lift his new command centre and withdraw it into his main. Inside the terran base, Xellos was erecting a fourth barracks.
Having secured his base, July was expanding to three and to twelve while at the same time morphing a hive. Xellos eventually re-established his own expansion although effective muta harassment by July took down two supply depots in the terran main.
At the zerg natural July had now moved up to seven sunkens and the reason was apparent. In his main he was awaiting the slow arrival of a greater spire. The MBC Game audience gasped as he morphed in yet more sunkens, now up to 11, later rising to 13 then an incredible 15.
As July waited for his new flight of guardians to finish morphing Xellos already had a fleet of wraiths emerging from two starports. When the guardians finally attacked, with muta support, the wraiths were waiting. Xellos and July matched wits in a micro duel, trying to pick off their opponent's air units, a battle from which the terran player emerged the victor. His marines had also taken down a zerg expansion on the opposite side of the map and his forces were massing to attack the deathtrap of static defence at the zerg choke. Xellos probed the zerg natural but quickly pulled back as his marines were mown down by the incredible array of sunkens. He waited for the arrival of siege mode for his single tank but as soon as the tank started to fire at the sunkens July caught Xellos sleeping and picked it off with a small flight of mutas.
Xellos now had a new expansion at low left centre, fending off muta harass while at the same time counterattacking a new zerg expo at five. July had a woefully low unit count, was relying on static defence to hold of his terran opponent at his natural and could no longer defend his expansions as he was slowly squeezed by his opponent. On top of that he inexplicably sent his lone flight of mutalisks through a hail of marine fire, losing them all.
Xellos was now preparing for the final push into the zerg base, with tanks, masses of infantry and wraiths for air support. In the zerg main, July played his final card, sending ultras and lings at the terran army as it finally surged foward and started levelling the forest of sunken colonies. The ultra-ling force was utterly liquified by withering marine fire and July finally gave in and left the game.
IntotheRainbow (Kim Seong Jae) v Nal_Ra (Kang Min) on Arizona
The ever-unpredictable Ra had the crowd gasping and the Ongamenet commentators spluttering in amazement as he caused utter chaos in Rainbow's main from the very start of this short but engrossing and highly eccentric game. Ra (protoss at five) warped in not one, not two, not even three... but five manner pylons to disrupt his opponent's mineral collection.
Rainbow (protoss at 11) went with the flow, gas rushing Ra and warping a single manner pylon himself. As soon as his first zealots emerged Ra sent them into his opponent's main, constantly harassing and distracting Rainbow as the befuddled SKT1 player tried to clear his main of enemy structures. By the time Rainbow had finally cleared his main of all Ra's pylons and zeals he was severely undermanned with regard to probes and struggling to catch up to Ra's basically undisturbed economy.
Ra moved up to three gates and robo and sent his army to the enemy choke. He held at the entrance, with both players teching to reaver, then charged in. Rainbow rallied his meagre amount of probes to hold the choke, forcing Ra to retreat momentarily.
However, as reinforcements arrived from his own main Ra sent his army once more unto the breach and moved into the enemy main, finishing the game.
Other games:
ArtofHan (Han Oong Nyeol) v [Oops]Reach (Park Jeong Seok) on Nostalgia
A masterpiece in miniature from Reach as he swept aside the challenge of KTF teammate Han. Reach (protoss at one) went for double gate ranged dragoons while Han (terran at eleven) opted for a one factory early expansion build. Reach spirited a probe round to the nine position, warping in a pylon, proxy robotics facility and support bay. He moved a dragoon round to the site then headed straight towards the terran main with his reaver/dragoon-laden shuttle. As the shuttle swooped towards the terran mineral line and deposited its deadly cargo, Reach destroyed one tank but the SCVs fled. The protoss pro redropped his reaver at the terran natural, causing chaos once more as the miners rushed to escape a pursuing scarab. Despite having not destroyed any SCVs with his reaver, Reach did not take his foot off the accelerator for a moment, charging into the terran expansion with zealots and dragoons and switching his reaver back into the terran main as his forces overwhelmed the bewildered Han's base. By the time the terran defenders managed to destroy the reaver Reach's zealots and dragoons had destroyed the terran expansion, breached the main ramp and were preparing to lay waste to the terran base, forcing Han to concede.
Kingdom (Park Yong Ook) v Chojja (Jo Yong Ho) on Arizona
An exciting and unorthodox encounter. Kingdom (protoss at two) opened with two gate zeals and late assimilator while Chojja (zerg at five) went pool first followed by an attempted expansion. Kingdom was waiting and his force of five early zealots surrounded the morphing hatch. Chojja waited and waited, declined to cancel the hatch and finally decided to swarm the invaders with his zerglings... too late. The hatch finished morphing but was immediately destroyed. Chojja counterattacked but could not break through the protoss choke. Just moments later, however, Kingdom moved his zealots down towards the zerg main and Chojja sent his circling lings into the protoss main and threatened the undefended nexus, which was saved by a warping cannon. Simultaneously in the zerg main Kingdom's own offensive had forced Chojja to sacrifice three drones for sunkens, leaving his economy seriously weakened. There was no let up in the action as Chojja surprised the protoss with a direct assault, taking down the cannon defences and threatening the nexus again, leaving it smoking as microed probes twisted and swerved to buy the toss army time to bring up reinforcements. Chojja morphed his lair and then a spire, with Kingdom bringing in two stargates. Chojja was trying to make a secret expo at six but Kingdom discovered it immediately and warped in two cannons as it was morphing, quickly destroying it. When Kingdom's first fleet of corsairs took control of the skies over the zerg main, destroying scourge an scaring away mutas, Chojja realised there was no hope and bowed out.
Terato (Park Jeong Kil) v Boxer (Lim Yo Hwan) on Luna
Having got on the scoreboard last week with a curious win over Xellos, Terato was gunning for another famous terran this week in the shape of last time's beaten finalist, Boxer. Boxer (terran at 11) opted to use the rax - two depot - factory wall he essayed last week against Rage, starting his expansion before erecting a second factory. Terato opted for the orthodox two gate dragoons. His first force of dragoons found Boxer establishing his natural with two tanks and a bunker but instead of retreating he attacked it immediately, microing his dragoons efficiently to take down the tanks then focussing fire on the bunker. Boxer was forced to retreat his command centre back to his main plateau before re-establishing his expo later. Both sides were content to mass armies following this early skirmish, with the lone contact being Terato's aborted high templar drop at Boxer's natural. The deciding moment came as Boxer tried to push out into the centre of the map with massed tanks and vultures, sieging as the protoss army moved to engage. The confrontation was a disaster for the terran, as massed dragoons and zealots swarmed all over the opposing forces, with zealots coming from front and rear. At the same time Terato masterfully dropped high templar out of a swooping shuttle and engulfed the line of tanks in a total of three devastating psionic storms. Clusters of tanks exploded as the terran army disintegrated before Boxer's eyes. Terato immediately moved to attack the terran natural and main, ending the game.
GoRush (Park Tae Min) v GoodFriend (Lee Byeong Min) on Nostalgia
Attempting to build on his win over Oov last week, GoRush (zerg at one) expoed early while his opponent, GoodFriend (terran at 11), also coming off an impressive victory, built the standard two barracks. GoRush experienced success early with lurkers, using lurker hold to take out an entire platoon of marines. However, GoodFriend set back the zerg economy seriously by dropping and destroying a zerg expo at seven. The terran absorbed everything the swarm threw at him, neutralising a potentially dangerous four overlord drop at his main. GoRush teched to hive but squandered a major opportunity with ineffective darkswarm placement as he attempted to beat back a gradually powering terran army. GoodFriend's relatively undisturbed progress began to tell and he moved across teh map and felled the zerg natural, with his opponent waiting for a greater spire to finish morphing. GoRush's small flight of guardians was easily dealt with by GoodFriend, who then shut down the rest of the zerg economy and forced his opponent to quit.
Cloud (Cha Jae Ook) v TheMarine (Kim Jeong Min) on Luna
Cloud was looking to continue his progress in the league against TheMarine but blew the attempt within minutes. Cloud opted for early vultures while stretching his economy with an armoury, a starport and and expo. TheMarine went straight for tanks and goliaths and started his own expo. Cloud foolishly gave up his first force of vults for the sake of destroying the single SCV constructing TheMarine's new command centre and TheMarine, sensing an opportunity, immediately went on the attack. He worked his way through the minefield left by Cloud's vultures and headed towards the enemy natural. As he approached the expo, the camera zeroed in on a whole line of SCVs heading down from TheMarine's base to support the assault. With SCV cover TheMarine's attack force destroyed first two tanks then a third. Cloud rallied his own SCVs to help defend but it was too late.
Yellow (Hong Kin Ho) v Sync (Byeon Kil Seop) on Requiem
Yellow (zerg at nine) early expoed against Sync's two barracks build. The unbeaten zerg teched quickly to lair and followed that with a spire, with Sync (terran at six) putting up a factory and an academy. Sync tried to make an early push at Yellow's natural with the help of early siege, one tank and a group of marines and medics threatening to sweep aside Yellow's array of sunkens and force the quick win. However, Yellow's instincts were unerring as instead of defending his base with his first flight of mutas, he sent them straight at the terran main, causing havoc in the undefended mineral line and bringing the previously attacking marines scurrying back to defend. Yellow morphed a hydra den while keeping his opponent occupied with muta harass and starting a hive. Yellow continued to pick off SCVs at the terran main as Sync looked bewildered by Yellow's superb harassment. With his economy grinding to a halt, Sync realised time was running out and tried to attack. Yellow rapidly morphed new sunkens as his static defences were blasted by the attacking terran force but once again time was on his side as his first lurkers arrived and decimated the invading marines. One final muta attack at the terran main, taking down more SCVs and the comsat, persuaded Sync to quit and saw Yello retain his unbeaten record.
Mumyung (Seong Hak Seung) v Iloveoov (Choi Yeon Seong) on Nostalgia
Iloveoov (terran at seven) went for standard two barracks build, while Mumyung (zerg at 11) morphed an early expo followed by lair. Mumyung made a failed a attempt to break through Oov's ramp with his first sizable force of zerglings but the terran was saved by medic backup. Mumyung chose a spire first for tech and expoed to the one o'clock position, an expansion discovered immediately by a roaming SCV. Mumyung harassed the terran main and the new natural expansion while quickly teching up to his hive and morphing a hydralisk den. Defilers soon followed, while Oov erected two startports. Disaster struck for the zerg forces as Oov's wraiths picked off Mumyung's two defilers with his uncontested wraiths. Oov followed this success by taking down the zerg expansion at one and expanding to five himself. With new defilers at his disposal and a new expo at 12, Mumyung broke through the double roadway leading to the terran natural using three dark swarms and tried to take down the command centre. However, the swarms finally disappeared and the attackers were dealt with by the reinforced terrans. Oov immediately struck back with a killing blow, zeroing in on the zerg expansion at the top of the map and forcing Mumyung to quit.
And the TeamLiquid.net Player of the Week award for week four goes to:
The irrepressible Nal_Ra, for the second time this season. Having lost two games in a row even Ra's fans may have forgiven him for opting for a conservative and solid game plan to try to secure a much-needed win. However, that just is not Kang Min's style as he once again left the Ongamenet audience and commentators almost speechless with a veritable forest of manner pylons in his unusual victory over a confused IntotheRainbow.
Standings after week four:
Group A:
Yellow 4 - 0
Cloud 2 - 2
Goodfriend 2 - 2
GoRush 2 - 2
Iloveoov 2 - 2
Mumyung 2 - 2
Nal_Ra 2 - 2
Sync 2 - 2
TheMarine 2 - 2
IntotheRainbow 1 - 3
Group B:
[Oops]Reach 3 - 1
[Red]Nada 3 - 1
Xellos 3 - 1
Chojja 2 - 2
July Zerg 2 - 2
Kingdom 2 - 2
Terato 2 - 2
ArtofHan 1 - 3
Boxer 1 - 3
Rage 0 - 4
good to see the oldschool zergmaster back in his former self ^^ His ZvT seems deadlier than ever 
:p
