GSTL Finals Battle Report and Analysis

YoDa opens 1 rax FE while Alicia grabs double gas at the standard timing. YoDa interestingly grabs double gas before adding more barracks, indicating potential mech play, or at least some kind of tech. Alicia ops for a fast proxy stargate, very powerful against the risky tech build of YoDa. Alicia follows up with two more gateways, preparing for a "standard" 3 warp gate void ray attack/semi all in. Alicia uses his initial units to try and bait as many marine kills as he can before the void ray is out. The void forces a cancel on Yoda's starport but there are a lot of marines for YoDa. With a clutch warped in zealot by Alicia the marines cannot micro against the void ray and the zealot, and through high ground warp ins, and better micro, Alicia does a powerful one base play against YoDa's greedy fast expo and easily takes the win.

With YoDa's particular build combined with high ground warp in on that particular map, this first game was a really a build order loss; however, perfect control on the marines combined with the two bunkers finishing faster may have helped. This just shows how risky it is to one rax FE and tech immediatley, without doing the much more common barracks spam. This is a rather popular one base play against terran and Alicia executed it well if you want to be THAT GUY on the ladder. Terrans should learn not to tech so quickly after a 1 rax FE unless they want to take a huge risk. A good player to watch do a 1 rax FE if you want to make it work is Drewbie, he often 1 rax FE and will spam down 3 or 4 more barracks and constantly pump marines, and I've even seen him hold a 4 gate with this fast expo.

Losira fakes a hatch first to the natural brilliantly while sneaking what would normally be his third base while Alicia is pre occupied. In the mean time Alicia gets an extremely fast nexus before forge. Losira opens with his favorite hatch > gas > pool that he seems to want to do against every race. Losira immediately begins Zergling speed while Alicia builds a single cannon at his front. Both players continue focusing entirely on economy for the time being.


Losira gets an extremely fast baneling nest and at this point it is obvious that he is going to attempt to bust Alicia's forge fast expand, but will it work? Alicia begins a stargate, as a single air unit will hold the rush. The zealot manages to spot that quite a few zerglings have been made and so Alicia chronos two sentries and builds two more cannons and holds the attempted baneling bust with well placed forcefields. Losira does manage to run some zerglings past the sentries and cannons to spot a void ray come out and begins two more queens.


In the mean time Losira has been constantly pumping drones, realizing that his bust attempt has failed. Losira begins a lair, an evo chamber, and a roach warren and manages to hold off the initial air rush but he begins losing many queens as double stargate phoenixes come up and overwhelm the queen count. Losira in panic mode throws down "SOO MANY SPORE CRAWLERS" and manages to hold after losing so many queens. ALicia's phoenix's stay active and have control over most of Losira's base. Alicia is now up to 4 warpgates and two stargates and is constantly sniping out the queens. Losira sneaks a third base at the same time as Alicia gets a third and pushes out with a void ray, phoenix, stalker, sentry force. Losira's roach burrow finishes just in time to save a few roaches but not quite enough to hold the attack. Losira is forced to gg out as charged void rays and stalkers continue to rip apart his base.

Alicia had one of the best possible reactions to Losira's baneling bust as possible. The zealot managed to scout the high zergling count and Alicia very calmly chronos out sentries and begins two more cannons to stop it. It is difficult to tell whether the scout was lucky or something Alicia always does, but either way, if you are protoss and scout a Zerg attempting a baneling bust, you now know how to stop it. As for our boy IMneverLosira, his attempted hold on the attack was remarkable considering how active his opponent was phoenixs, he just demonstrated the importance of going roach burrow against a non robo build, as it almost actually kept him in the game. This is a tough game to analyze from the Zerg perspective as I think Losira would have been able to hold it if it wasn't for the failed baneling bust. But protoss' should learn from this how to hold a baneling bust on a FE and also how to punish the Zerg (while being safe) for doing it.

NesTea hatch firsts at the high yield gas expansion then pools, but doesn't get gas first like Losira does, instead he prefers more drones by delaying the gas. Alicia again gets double gas at the standard time, and NesTea sneaks a fast third base at his natural! The crowd goes wild! If Nestea can hold any early attacks he will be very far ahead. And it looks like Alicia is going for a 4 warp gate, perhaps feeling something in the air. Nestea's overlord does barely spot a proxy pylon; however, the 4 warp gate is already underway as nestea simply does not have enough to defend despite pumping as many zerglings as he can. He is forced to pull drones. Force field stops Nestea's reinforcement lings from the main but at this point the game is really over as Nestea throws what little he has left at Alicia and is forced to gg.

Well, this one is obvious. Nestea went for an extremely risky double expand eco build against the textbook rushiest rush build that there is. Had Nestea held or even been close to holding, this match would have been revolutionary in PvZ but as it stands now, just another reason not to double expand in ZvP.

Both players are doing mirror builds that are looking like 4 gates but Alicia is a little ahead. YongHwa skips the zealot and gets a fast second gateway to do the three stalker rush which has the goal of sniping the proxy pylon in order to defend against a 4 warp gate. Since YongHwa is indeed doing the three stalker rush, it all comes down to killing Alicia's proxy pylon to hold the 4 warp gate. YongHwa manages to snipe the pylon while building a 3rd warp gate. A second pylon does get up for Alicia and YongHwa is forced to retreat while Alicia grabs a second gas and both players resume probe production. Both now get twilight councils up presumably for blink and are extremely even, with YongHwa barely ahead in unit counts. Both players begin blink at the same timing and at this point the only difference between them is having 3 gates for Yonghwa vs. the 4 gates of Alicia. Alicia has a slight unit advantage and uses this to force Yonghwa back up his ramp. As the blink attack is initiated by Alicia, Yonghwa has a slight unit advantage of two stalkers and a sentry, this battle will come down to almost pure micro. Alicia blinks all of his stalkers up the ramp and sustains huge losses from the Zealots of YongHwa. Zealots have huge dps over stalkers once they can reach them, and thanks to that critical miss read from Alicia, Alicia loses his army extremely cost inefficiently and is forced to gg.

While Alicia was slightly behind in the unit count, it really came down to the epic fail blink into YongHwa's main, wherein Alicia sustained huge hits from his opponent's zealots. The important things that can be learned from this game are how to stop a 4 gate through the three stalker rush and the importance in PvP of micro and judging your opponent's strength. PvP can be decided entirely though one small micro mistake, as it was in this game.

Xel'Naga fortress, a new map, how exciting! Golden opens gas pool for the fastest possible Zergling speed and leaves one drone mining gas for the eventual lair tech while YH grabs both of his gases and appears to be going for a standard 3 gate expand. Golden uses a more common technique recently to force a drone scout into the base Golden by phasing the drone through the zealot blocking the wall and is able to scout 2 more gateways being made, indicating the standard 3 gate expand from YH.

Golden sees and harass' the expansion of YH with some zerglings while building three spine crawlers and a roach warren. Golden gets more stalkers than usual and chooses to attack golden with his high sentry count. This attack seems to have caught Golden off guard as he does not have any roaches; however, the spine crawlers prove to be enough to hold the push and YH is forced to retreat, losing some expensive sentries in the process. Golden takes advantage of his ling count to scout and destroy proxy pylons while getting an extremely fast spire. YH adds on a fourth gate but has not committed to any tech path as of yet as Golden continues to drone up waiting for the spire to finish. YH is going for another push, but is simply "shark moding" (wherein the Protoss player fakes attacks through army movement, forcing Zerg to make more units instead of drones) Golden very intelligently attempts to make YH pay for his shark mode by counter attacking with zerglings; however, YH left a zealot behind and the counterattack proves unsuccessful. Golden begins pumping mutalisks and zerglings but out of nowhere YH has a huge stalker sentry count (the exact counter to muta ling) and is able to walk over Golden forcing a gg.

YH's agression managed to pay off in a huge way this match, as the best counter to muta-ling builds is just by going and killing the zerg before he gets enough mutalisks up. The lack of roaches was probably what indicated to YH the muta-ling play and why he decided to attack with sentry stalker when he did. Protoss' should learn from this game how to scout and punish mutalisk openings while Zergs should be more aware of the risks involved when opening mutalisks without roaches to help defend these types of pushes.

The game starts out with connection errors for Ryung (yay b.net) and the game is forced to restart. Now the players are cross positions rather than close air, potentially changing history as we know it. YH gets his second gas at standard time while terran stays on one and begins a tech lab on his barracks when the probe is chased out. Ryung appears to be going for the 1 rax maurader/concussive shell pressure/expand. YH gets a fast robotics and follows up with a second gateway.

Terran gets a reaper out after the second maurader (getting more popular as it is a great way to scout) and adds on two more barracks as the command center is finishing. At this point terran is ahead quite a bit with his expansion timing. The reaper barely gets past two sentries and is able to completely scout what YH is up to. YH scouts the expansion from Ryung with his observer and adds on a third gateway and a robo bay after expanding himself. Upon seeing terran feign a move out he gets an immortal but then seeing the pressure not coming, cancels and opts for an observer. At this point both players are equal in probes, which at first seems equal; however, it is important to remember that protoss should be ahead in probe count due to each races macro mechanics. Both players are doing the most standard play imaginable as Ryung gets a reactor starport and YH get's collossus with range. But then! - YH adds on two starports which Ryung immediately scans and decides to push upon seeing them.

The push was just a great distraction as two medivacs land in YH's base and attempt to snipe the colossus; however, they fail in their mission. YH gets too greedy and careless with his colossus though and end up getting sniped by marauders that Ryung left outside YH's base. That attack was pretty even as even though Ryung lost the double drop, he was able to snipe the two colossus.

Holy phoenix batman! - as YH begins to get up the "golden" phoenix colossus composition. Neither player is opting to get a third quite yet, sensing how close the game is. YH is able to scout the eventual third base from Ryung and responds by getting his third as well. Terran at this point is up 20 SCVs and it is debatable at this point if this is hurting his army size more than helping his economy. YH's phoenixes continue to harass while it appears that Ryung is going for a marauder, Viking, ghost composition as his counter to phoenix colossus. Both players are equal in upgrades as YH gets a second forge, this game is very close. Both players even start their fourths at similar times while the phoenixes continue to harass, this harass forces YH to lose a few too many Phoenixes though. A dark shrine is made for YH as +3 infantry and +2 air weapons are started for Ryung. Both players prepare for the inevitable engagement as Yonghwa attacks. The Vikings are able to wipe the colossus with much of Ryung's army surviving while YH only has phoenix's left. YH attempts to warp in DTs but at this point Ryung has many scans build up. With nothing but phoenix's left, YH is forced to "gg yo" Beautiful play from Ryung against this popular and often declared unbeatable army composition of YH.

If you want to learn how to play a standard TvP watch this match. Terran does the great counter to these protoss air/colossus builds and gets just enough Vikings to wipe the colossus, knowing that without them his ground army will be able to overrun protoss'. Protoss' best response may have been to get high temps up, but admittedly I do not have enough experience going phoenix collossus to truly offer advice as to how protoss can make it work against a high enough viking count.

Can Ryung prove himself against the TvT beast Mvp? Mvp opts not to get his gas indicating a fast expand while Ryung gets his gas. Ryung pulls his guys out of gas and gets his command center slightly later then Mvp upon scouting Mvp's fast expo but is able to get a fast reactor on his barracks and a faster factory than Mvp. Mvp gets a money scan and sees the fast expo as well as tech of his opponent. Ryung begins siege tank production while Mvp gets a very fast raven, worrying about cloaked banshees. Ryung prepares a push with a medivac, 8 marines, and a tank. Ryung goes for a drop but is pushed out and Mvp's siege mode nears completion as Ryung's hasn't been started yet.

Ryung begins stim and siege mode while attempting to soft contain Mvp. Mvp is able to use his air superiority to snipe a medvac and force Ryung to retreat. Both players go defensive mode, grab their thirds. The only difference between both players at this point is +1 infantry weapons for Ryung, and the fact that he is getting marauders while Mvp is preferring pure marine. Ryung decides to push into Mvps siege line and it works temporarily due to how spread out Mvp was but Ryung is forced to retreat while Mvp fends out a drop at his third. At this point Mvp is up a base but behind on SCVs, but this also means that Mvp's army is slightly larger. Both players control their halves of the map as Mvp decides to push to a more forward position against Ryung. Ryung continues to try and counter attack Mvp but is thwarted both times. In the mean time, with Mvp's marines distracted by counter attacks, Ryung is able to push down and kill Mvp's forward position.

Mvp carelessly loses some marines but not too much damage is done as Ryung is trying to slow push forward. It is worth noting a slight upgrade advantage in favor of Ryung but Mvp undoubtedly has air control and decides to go for battlecurisers. Ryung then makes a horrible mistake and attacks into Mvp's tank line RIGHT before +2 +2 infantry finishes. At this point Mvp is ahead in the ground and in the air, not to mention how any marines Ryung lost due to the poor planning of his push. The BattleCruisers come out with yamato cannon and win the game for Mvp. Poor Ryung seems really shaken by the loss

Both players played a great standard TvT, with positioning wars and counter attacks. Mvp demonstrated what to do with air superiority. This match demonstrated the situation that can occur when one player gives up the air battle, which hasn't been demonstrated in a long time. It is important to remember in your TvTs about this possible late game scenario.

Interestingly SlayerS chooses another terran to go against Mvp. Mvp again opts for a one rax fast expand as does his opponent. Ganzi adds on two more barracks and grabs both gases while Mvp stays mineral and gets 5 barracks up compared to the three of Ganzi. Mvp still has not gotten his gas and continues to pump marines while Ganzi gets his factory and barracks with a tech lab. A great scan from Ganzi scouts the 5 raxes and he builds two bunkers as a response. Mvp sensing that his attack may not work gets his double gas. SCVs are pulled by Ganzi and Mvp is forced out after accruing quite a few SCV kills and is now up 11 SCVs. Mvp's attack continues, heading up his opponents ramp and killing more SCVs as a siege tank comes out. It is now 15 SCVs against 38 from Mvp and the pressure is continuing while Mvp get's a third gas and starts his factory. Mvp is now doubling his opponent's SCVs but now that Ganzi has siege mode attacks will be more risky for Mvp. Mvp prepares to grab the gold base as Ganzi pulls all of his SCVs, deciding that he is too far behind to win without all inning. Mvp pulls his SCVs as well and plays a positioning war with Ganzi as Ganzi attacks in. Mvp buys time for stim to complete and begins his two pronged attack and crushes Ganzi's all in. Ganzi has more marines on the way but Mvp easily crushes it and holds the all in, forcing a gg from Ganzi.

This game demonstrated two things, an aggressive build for micro intensive terrans who dislike siege tank positioning wars, as well as the danger of not scouting soon enough in TvT or blindly getting some bunkers. Had Ganzi seen the barracks account, 2 or three bunkers would have crushed the pure marines of MVP. If you're a terran who wants to take some risk in TvT, this is worth trying. And this match is an important reminder not to assume your opponents build in TvT as many players do

Another new map! Yeehaw! Both MMA and Mvp grab their gas, Mvp switching up his play from the last two games where he one rax expanded. MMA gets a scouting reaper and Mvp opts to spend his 50 gas on a reactor and both players expand off of one barracks. MMA is opting for an extremely fast stim as both players are equal in barracks count and their expansions finish at the same time.

MMA sneaks the gold base as a third while Mvp moves across the map with his marines. Mvp engages MMA but MMA easily holds by pulling a few SCVs. Mvp get's his factory while MMA's hidden third completes. Both players have stim and Mvp is aggressive in trying to punish the hidden third that he manages to scout. MMA manages to float to the standard third base.

MMA appears to be going for a tankless style as he adds on more barracks and goes double engineering bay. Mvp begins his third much after MMA but does have siege tanks up, and it appears that MMA is going pure marine for the time being. Mvp is doing some smart counter attacking and manages to even up the SCV count. Mvp begins to siege up the third base of MMA and MMA fails to break past the three siege tanks of Mvp. As the marine count increases, Mvp is forced to retreat his soft contain and is out of position for what appears to be a counter attack by MMA. MMA pulls back as Mvp gets back in position, and it is still unclear if MMA's tankless, mobile style will pay off, but he does eventually begin getting siege tanks up himself. MMA has a slight economic lead due to the faster third.

Mvp manages to pick off MMA's tanks with some good micro as MMA uses his mobility to feign counter attacks and protect his third base, now up at the other gold. MMA keeps choosing his engagements carefully, taking tanks as when can get them. When Mvp sees that MMA's third is up at the other gold base, Mvp decides to attack as MMA goes for a base trade.

Mvp tries and split his forces but doesn't have enough in either location and loses his third base. Mvp's tanks are caught out of position and are completely killed off by MMA's mobile force. MMA now has a tank and marine advantage and begins shelling Mvp's main while using marines to shut down his third. Mvp has very little economy left and long distance mines from his third base before floating his natural over. Mvp does some good counter attacking but is seriously behind economically. MMA goes to siege up Mvp's third, further delaying mining time and forcing Mvp's income to zero. MMA continues to check for weaknesses in Mvp's defense and does a mass drop in Mvp's main. His marines have higher upgrades and are able to do serious damage before Mvp's tanks can get back into the main to defend. MMA continues to abuse positioning, bouncing between Mvp's third and his main. Eventually Mvp is caught out of position, overwhelmed, and forced to gg.

This match proved to be an epic conclusion to the GSTL as both players played very well. MMA made a very difficult strategy look easy. Any high level Terran can tell you that the bio style of TvT requires being extremely careful about positioning and high APM to abuse mobility. MMA used that mobility to great advantage by just punishing any tiny mistake that MVP made. The key moment in the game was when MVP tried to split his forces to defend the counter attack. MMA was able to use his mobile force to punish this move. The main thing to learn from this was how to use a mobile army to your advantage, but this game should be watched regardless of your interest in the matchup.