GSL Code-A Day 4 Roundup (with photos)

On to Crossfire for the first game of the day, with BanBans spawning at 1 whilst Brown spawns at the 7. Both players not portraying any tell-tale signs of cheesing and for the initial portion of the game, their builds are extremely standard and similar. Brown now going for a very early second gas, before the core finishes however BanBans is delayed in scouting it. Warpgate research now on the way for both players and BanBans still doesn’t see the second gas. Browns stalker pushes the probe out without ever scouting the second gas. Two more gateways coming out now for Brown as BanBans also has two coming down. BanBans catches two Stalkers trying to come up his ramp with a force-field, taking them out with zero losses. With stalkers and sentry positioned at the bottom of BanBans’s ramp, both players invest in Robotics Facilities, as well as a Twilight Council for BanBans’s as well. Blink now being researched for BanBans whilst Brown techs even further to the Robotics Bay. As BanBans begins to break down his back rocks, observer wars start in midfield and BanBans’s observer dies an early death.

BanBans begins to gain ground in front of Browns base at the same time as expanding to his natural behind the pressure. Slight mis-control from Brown’s observer gets it killed off, however Brown pushes BanBans’s forces with his Colossi. Brown now scouts the natural of BanBans however an engagement in front of Browns base sees a bad blink followed by a retreat, quickly proceeded by a great blink taking out 1 Colossus in quick fashion. Brown now pushes into the natural of BanBans, however a blink takes out another Colossus, followed shortly by a complete clean up by BanBans, forcing the gg from Brown.

Game two kicks off with BanBans spawning at 10 whilst Brown spawns in at 5. Both players start off with a very standard build and are both on level pegging with almost every unit and building. BanBans loses his probe to a Zealot shortly after by Brown throwing down a Forge and BanBans committing to 4gate. BanBans throws down the forward pylon and Brown starts to cannon up his main. A small engagement in the middle had Brown lose a zealot, forcing his stalker to retreat. BanBans is pushing in with his 4gate army however great forcefield placement traps all the zealots in which are dealt with extremely quickly. During all this Brown has thrown down a Stargate and begins Phoenix production. BanBans checks around his base to make sure nothing tricky is going on, then throws down a Robotics Facility in response to this unorthodox defensive strategy of Brown. Both players now attempting to expand to the back natural as well as BanBans throwing down a Robotics Bay.

With Phoenix still in production for Brown, harassment begins on the natural of BanBans, picking up a lot of probes, but BanBans actually has Void Rays in production as well. Brown continues to put on the pressure with Phoenix, killing off even more probes whilst dancing around BanBans Stalkers. Brown’s income now rocketing above BanBans, thermal lance is almost done for BanBans’s Colossi, however Brown has also begun Colossus production. Brown engages mid-field with his Phoenix, kills off BanBans’s Phoenix as well as a Sentry. Brown continues to poke, trying to take out the Colossi, however the cannons now take a tonne of damage, being picked off from range by BanBans’s Colossi. Brown under pressure pushes in with his Colossus/Stalker/Zealot/Phoenix mix and decimates BanBans’s army, taking the gg from BanBans pushing the series in to game 3.

On to the final game of the series, with BanBans spawning at 8 and Brown spawning at 2. Both players for the third time today opening with extremely similar and standard builds, however Brown does throw down that early gas once again. BanBans does scout the early 2nd gas this time though and both players begin Warpgate technology. BanBans commits to a 4gate but Brown is able to scout the extra gates. At the same time though Brown does look like he’s opting for a 3 stalker rush, but BanBans already has a proxy pylon in position. With each players Warpgate tech finished, BanBans throws down 3 pylons on the parameter of Browns base, Brown starts to throw down forcefields on his ramp but it’s not enough as inadequate micro sees him losing his sentries to Zealots. BanBans takes the gg off of Brown and makes it on to the Round of 16.

Back to Xel’Naga Caverns for the first round of Choya vs Keen, with Choya spawn at 8 and Keen spawns at 2. Keen decides to wall off at the top of his ramp, denying Choya the opportunity to to scout whilst Choya plays a very standard opener with a slightly early second gas. Keen opts for a 1 Barracks in to Expand while Choya begins to warp in proxy pylons to the west of Keens position. However despite the implied aggression, Choya decides to throw down a Nexus as his Stalkers get chased away by a healthy group of Marines. Keen spots the proxy pylons during which Choya threw down a Twilight Council, cancelled it due to an incoming scout, then re-built it once the scout was dead. With a Factory now in production, Choya begins to push up mid-field and a slight engagement between Stalkers and Marines sees one or two Marines die. Choya decides it’s time for the Dark Shrine, however Keen’s game sense is impeccable, throwing down a turret at the front just in time to spot Dark Templar. Even still, Dark Templar move in, kill one or two SCVs, then die a quick death after forcing the Scan. Choya now begins production of a Robotics Facility as well as Blink, tries to secure his 3rd but it is spotted by a Factory.

A huge engagement in the front of Choya’s natural gets force-fielded off and eventually cleaned up by a reinforcing Immortal, shortly followed by Keen sniping the the second expansion of Choya and secures his own Gold expansion. Templar Archives now goes down, as well as Ghosts now in production with mobius reactor as well. Psi Storm quickly starts along with an Armory for Keen. Moving out with a huge Marine/Marauder/Medivac force, Keen pushes his way in to the second expansion of Choya and forces the engagement, kiting a lot of Choya’s forces and even sniping from the high ground with Ghosts. Keen get’s the Nexus kill however is forced to retreat as Choya’s force is too strong. a Nuke now in production for Keen but gets a Medivac Drop intercepted in the main of Choya. The Protoss now tries to expand to the Gold and some amazing Feedback’s as well as Psi Storms do amazing to the Ghosts and MMM force near the Gold. Keen decides to push in with his main force whilst a Nuke lands on all the probes of Choyas 2nd expansion. Choya quickly ggs as the Nuke’s radiation fades into the distance.

Game two now, where we have Choya spawning at 9 and Keen spawning at 2. Choya opts for an extremely fast Nexus followed up by his first Gateway. Keen does expand the Expansion however he’s already dedicated himself to an early three Barracks play for some potentially massive early aggression. Keen opts for a super early offensive push, pulling half of his SCVs off the line, along with a massive amount of Marines. Choya pulls all his probes off the line to aid his Stalkers, however the Marines do terrible, terrible damage, backing the Stalkers in to a corner, whilst Keen even throws down a Bunker next to Choya’s gates. Keen forces the gg from Choya in dominant fashion, and the one to watch eliminates a Code-A favourite.

Not Needed

CoCa spawns at 7 on Xel’Naga Fortress whilst Squirtle spawns at the 3. Squirtle opens Nexus first however CoCa committed to a slightly early pool. With Speed on the way for Zerglings, a Forge gets thrown up very quickly by Squirtle as he scouts the complete Spawning Pool. However, CoCa decides not to be aggressive and throws down an Expansion of his own. As Squirtle begins to create an extremely entrenched position, CoCa is happy to drone heavily as well as throw down a 2nd expansion. Squirtle begins to add three more gateways while CoCa begins his Lair, as well as an Evolution Chamber and Roach Warren. As Roach production begins, Burrow also begins being researched as well as Glial Reconstitution. A Twilight Council gets thrown down as well as more Gateways, as Squirtle pushes to the middle, throwing Proxy Pylons down along the way. Squirtle’s army becomes separated near the natural of CoCa and a lot of Gateway units get obliterated, forcing Squirtle to retreat. Sensing the advantage, CoCa’s production tab explodes with Hydralisk Den, Spire, a Macro Hatchery and a tonne of upgrades.

A huge engagement occurs in the middle as Blink Stalkers crash in to Roaches and Hydras, Squirtle’s army seems to have the advantage, but CoCa’s reinforcing is too much and eventually pushes the very well micro-ed Stalkers back. Doubling Squirtles supply, CoCa pushes in to the Protosses natural and begins to crash wave after wave of Roach/Hydra against the defenses but Squirtle barely holds, behind which CoCa expands. After the brief retreat, CoCa re-masses and pushes in for the kill, and squeezes the gg from Squirtle.

Spawning on cross positions for Metalopolis, Squirtle starts at the 6 whilst CoCa spawns at 12. CoCa commits to the standard Speedling opening but at the same time Squirtle goes for the Nexus first once again. Squirtle begins to wall off the front of his natural and CoCa finally throws down his expansion, putting us in a very similar position to last game. Squirtle throws down a Proxy Stargate however a Zergling in the fog is dangerously close to scouting the Void Rays on their way, but the Zergling runs away without spotting anything. During this CoCa has expanded a second time, as well as committing to a Lair and Roach Warren. Two Void Rays begin their attack, focusing a Queen, charging the Void Rays, as a Phoenix comes to lift the second Queen which is killed in quick succession.

Desperately putting down Spore Crawlers as well as a Hydralisk Den, Squirtle throws down 5 more gateways as the Void Rays and Phoenix are pushed away by the first batch of Hydralisks. Squirtle begins to amass a Gatway force near the 3rd of CoCa, pushes in against a huge Roach/Hydra force with more on the way, and CoCa manages to defend with the aid of a Drone line, but saves the Hatchery. Squirtle tries to push in once again but the sheer number of Hydras is enough to prevent major damage being done, despite good force-field placement. Glial Reconstitution begins for Roaches, as CoCa’s Hydra/Roach/Zergling force starts to swell. CoCa pushes to the mid-field and engages Squirtle’s Gateway force, doing huge damage and pushing Squirtle back to his natural, snagging the second gg in very convincing fashion.

Not needed

Noblesse spawns at the 2 whilst Tassadar spawns at 8 for this TvP on Dual Sight. Noblesse kicks off the series with an inbase Barracks as well as a Proxy Barracks near the base of Tassadar, as Tassadar kicks us off with a standard Protoss opener. With bunker in production at the base of Tassadar’s ramp, Noblesse begins the early aggression and at the same time throws down the expansion. Tassadar invests in an early Robotics Facility as Noblesse tries to do some scouting with that Proxy Barracks, but it’s forced away with a Stalker. Twilight Council now on the way for Tassadar and a second attempt at the Barracks scout is able to see everything going on. With Blink on the way, Noblesse finishes up a Factory, using it to access the Starport as he throws it down almost immediately after. Tassadar uses an observer to Blink in to the main of Noblesse, taking out the Tech Lab that was researching Stim, then using the Blink to decimate the remaining forces of Noblesse, forcing the gg.

What could be the last match of the day, Noblesse spawns at the 7 while Tassadar spawns at 11. Both players open with very standard builds however an early second gas does go down for the Protoss. An early Factory for Noblesse gets thrown down, as well as a Starport as soon as it’s finished. Tassadar decides to expand whilst trying to apply some early pressure, but the Marines behind a supply depot wall-in prevents it. With Twilight Council on the way, Noblesse begins Banshee production as well as Tanks. Tassadar begins his Dark Shrine as the first Banshee does make it’s way over to Tassadar’s natural. Investing in Siege tech, Noblesse tries to bounce between Tassadar’s main and natural, the Banshee scouts the Dark Shrine, and two Dark Templar get picked off via a Scan in the front of Noblesse’s base. Noblesse begins to push out with a huge Marine/Tank/Banshee/Raven army accompanied by SCVs. Upon reaching Tassadar’s natural, Tassadar’s Zealots charge in only to be slaughtered upon a wall of marines and Tassadar quickly ggs.

Tieing the series up 1:1, Noblesse spawns at the 1 as Tassadar spawns at 3, making for close air positions on Metalopolis. Both players open very standard and Tassadar gets a very quick scout off, as well as placing a Pylon in his fog. Noblesse begins to build a Factory as it looks like he’ll be opening in a similar way to game 2. However Tassadar throws down a Stargate in his fog as Noblesse tries to complete his Supply Depot wall off at the top of his ramp. With the first Void Ray complete, a second begins production very quickly, as he moves his Gateway units to the front of Noblesse’s base. A Banshee moves across the canyon towards Tassadar’s base and notices the Stargate and Void Rays, and begins to kill probes. Tassadar’s 3 Void Rays move into Noblesse’s base only to be quickly dispatched by a dozen Marines accompanied by a Viking. Tassadar now throws down a Robotics Facility as well as begins production of Phoenix. However, Noblesse begins to push toward the base of Tassadar with a scary Tank/Marine force and sieges up near his ramp. The Phoenix fly in and try to pick up the Tanks but it’s too-little-too-late as Noblesse cleans up the defenses and secures his Round of 16 spot.

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