GSL Code-A Ro16 Day 1 Round Up (with photos)

MMA opens up proceedings for today, spawning at 6 while HyperDub spawns at the 1. Both players open in mirrored fashion however MMA goes for a rather early tech lab on the Barracks while HyperDub commits to a Factory. With a Reaper now in production for MMA, HyperDub grabs a second gas and a very early Ghost Academy. MMA begins to build a Command Center whilst jumping up in to the base of HyperDub, scouting the Factory but not the Ghost Academy. HyberDub surprises everyone by going for an extremely quick Nuke, pulls a few SCVs off the line and moves towards MMA with Hellions and Ghosts. A Nuke falls on the entrance of MMA but does virtually zero damage, shortly followed by a quick clean up of the assault by MMA.

Both players begin to invest in Starports, however HyperDub attempts to bust the front of MMA again with around 9 Hellions, doing quite a bit of damage but MMA keeps his composure and pushes it out. While expanding, Hyperdub begins Banshee production as well as Cloak in order to continue the harass. However, a prospective drop of MMA actually flies straight past the Banshee so both forms of harass are scouted for either player. HyperDub has very little to defend against the drop of MMA while HyperDubs Banshee harass is pushed away by a handful of Marines in the main. MMA continues the harass by bringing over a second drop ship full of Marines, sealing the deal with a GG from HyperDub, as his economy was crippled beyond repair.

On to Crevasse now and we have MMA spawning at 2 while HyperDub spawns at 10. MMA opens with a slightly hidden “Maka” Barracks finally leading in to a Factory while HyperDub goes for a quick Command Center. Finally MMA builds a very quick Starport, all these buildings in hidden position, and HyperDub is yet to scout anything. HyperDub goes for a Factory while MMA attempts to catch up in economy by throwing down a Command Center. The first Banshee of MMA flies in to the natural of HyperDub and begins to start picking off SCVs, as well as a few Marines with good micro. A Viking finally comes out for HyperDub, pushing away the Banshee however the damage has been done as MMA now has the economy advantage.

Both players begin Tank production as well as Siege tech and Stim. MMA invests in a second Command Center and moves back in with his Banshee, grabbing a few more Marine kills in the main of HyperDub. With an Armory on the way for HyperDub and a Sensor Tower in production for Both, MMA starts to break down the rocks near his opponents base to secure some ground. HyperDub flies his third in to position while throwing down 5 more Barracks, as the tussle for position in mid-field continues in the typical TvT Siege Mode fashion. MMA throws down more Starports and claims the high-ground above HyperDubs natural with Tanks, making for a tricky spot for HyperDub.

MMA begins to Shell the entrenched position of HyperDub, however HyperDub’s frustration shows, as he moves his entire force towards MMA’s position and is decimated by already Sieged tanks, also taking out two Medivacs full of Marines to cause insult to injury. HyperDub is forced to GG after a poor call of judgement and MMA advances to the round of 8.

Not Needed

Nuts spawns at the 2 while Bomber ends up spawning at the the 7. Nuts opens up very standard, finally adding 2 more Gateways while Bomber opens for a quick Starport in to Banshee play. Bomber also goes for Cloak, and with no Robotics Facility, Nuts could be in a bad position as he begins to expand and only just now throws down a Forge. With a Raven in production, Bomber’s first Banshee moves in and starts to work on the Probes, however a Photon Cannon does eventually warp in after the Banshee accumulates 15 kills.

In a great economical lead, Bomber begins Tank production as well as Siege Tech. Bomber begins to move across the map with Tanks/Marines/Raven, as well as pulling half of his SCVs for the assault. Bomber throws down a Point Defense Drone in the front of the natural Nexus and begins shelling the position with Siege. Nuts attempts to push in on the position with nicely placed Force-Fields, however it’s not enough as Bomber’s force is just ridiculously overpowering. Nuts GGs shortly after.

Nuts spawns at 7 on Crossfire while Bomber spawns at the 1. Both players open standard as Nuts scouts the normal gas timing from Terran. A second Barracks gets thrown down but Nuts’ scout actually notices it during the retreat. Bomber goes for an early Concussive push, hoping to do a little damage early game however a nicely placed Force-Field denies the initial attempt. Bomber tries again but another great Force-Field separates Bomber’s units, sacrificing a Marauder in the process. Bomber falls back while throwing down a Command Center.

With Nexus now on the way for Nuts, he begins to push out across mid-field with a pretty sizable Gateway force, tries to push Bomber’s ramp, but is forced away by a heavy Biological composition. Nuts invests in a Forge, while Bomber begins Medivac production. However Nuts is containing Bomber well with a small Gateway force, allowing him to gain a slight economic advantage whilst his natural is active. Twilight Council now on the way for Nuts, Bomber drops in the natural of Nuts with 8 Marauders, taking out a few SCVs but he is pushed away by the large Gateway force of Protoss. Picking up his Marauders again, he moves in to the main of Nuts, trying to take out even more Probes.

Nuts now commits to a Dark Shrine while Bomber goes for the Ghost Academy. A huge drop for Bomber is placed in Nuts natural, killing off a lot of Probes, however the drop is once again forced away by a huge Gateway force. A single Dark Templar begins to move toward the main of Bomber but it’s efforts are in vain, as a well placed Missile Turret and Bio force take it out effectively. Another huge drop occurs in the main of Nuts, doing a little damage but, yet again, it’s forced to lift back off due to an overwhelming army.

Nuts invests in a Robotics Facility and Robotics Bay as well as an expansion, as Bomber starts to mix some Ghosts in to his heavy Biological composition. Nuts starts to build Colossus, however Bomber starts to gain ground in mid-field with a very scary force after securing his 2nd expansion. A huge engagement occurs near Nuts’ 2nd expansion, and even though good Force-Fields get thrown down, the Ghosts land some great EMPs, and the sheer surface area Biological units encompass is just so that all his units can attack in the small chokes, while Nuts’ force is unable to get a good concave. Nuts GGs shortly after.

Not Needed

On to Terminus RE after the short break and we have the young Creator spawning at 1, while Ryung spawns at 9. Creator goes for an extremely fast Nexus first on this huge map while Ryung opens rather standard. Ryung ends up going for a 1 Barracks in to Command Center while Creator puts up his Cybernetics Core and both players scout the others expansion. Creator tries to put on a little pressure with 2 Stalkers however a huge amount of Marines will push those back confidently. With a Forge and Engineering Bay now going down, Ryung is content bunkering up at the front of his base while investing in a Factory.

A Twilight Council as well as 3 more Gateways begin production, as Ryung begins to move out across the map with a small Marine/Marauder force. Creator throws down a Dark Shrine as well as begins Blink research, however Ryung has a well placed Missile Turret in front of his natural. Creator throws down a Robotics Facility while both players try to secure their third base. Two Dark Templar walk in to the base and natural of Ryung without struggle to start attacking the SCVs of Ryung, however Ryung staging his own drop in the back of Creators base is pushed away with relative ease.

Creator throws down a Templar Archive and begins researching Psi Storm straight away. A Warp Prism finishes production and moves toward Ryung’s base, however a floating Factory spots it and Ryung pushes it away very quickly. Creator now tries to secure a 3rd expansion, as a Ghost Academy goes down for Ryung and now both players maxed, begin to move around mid-field to find good position. Creator charges in to Ryungs force, throwing down relatively poor force-fields, however good storms, and forces Ryung to fall back to the natural. Creator though pursues the issue, and even though the majority of the Zealots die, some great Psi Storms as well as Immortal fire crush through the forces of Ryung. Creator moves in to the natural of Ryung with an extremely potent force, and is forced to GG as Ryung just has nothing to contend with the Protoss.

Creator ends up spawning at the 3 while Ryung spawns at 9 for cross positions. Both players opening very standard once again while Ryung goes for an early tech lab for some Concussive Shell pressure. Ryung behind this will be going for a Command Center while Creator decides to go for a 1 Gateway in to Robotics Facility. With more Barracks in production, Ryung manages to scout the early Robotics Facility and decides to not pressure with Marauders, as Creator goes to secure his natural.

Creator throws down a rather fast Robotics Bay which does get scouted, as Ryung begins to move out once again with a Marine/Marauder force, as well as throwing down a Starport. Ryung manages to sneak a Reaper in to the base of Creator as Colossi production continues, using the Reaper to scout around, shortly followed by a drop in the back of Creators main, picking up and retreating after killing a few Gateway units. With Viking production well under way, Ryung throws down a second Command Center however Creator begins to move in the the natural of Ryung, doing huge amounts of damage to his Biological units. The sheer number of Vikings takes out the majority of the Colossi and the Marauders however are able to clean up the push pretty well, forcing the retreat.

Creator behind this tries to expand to the Gold, while Ryung secures the northern standard expansion. However Creator cancels his expansion to go for the kill right now, warping in more units to reinforce his existing army. Throwing up a guardian sheild, Creator pushes in to the natural of Ryung once again, however Ryungs defense is too much for Creator to handle, shortly followed by a GG from Creator.

Creator ends up spawning at 5 while Ryung spawns at the 2 for this ace match. Ryung begins by walling in his main while Creator opens very standard. Ryung shortly after goes for a fast Command Center followed by some quick bunker defense, as Warpgate tech begins for our Protoss player. An SCV hiding in the bushes near the natural of Creator scouts the natural of the Protoss going up, and in a small fit of mis-micro, a Stalker goes down to some Marines needlessly. Ryung secures mid-field with a dozen Marines while a Forge completes for Creator and a Factory begins for the Terran.

With a Twilight Council on the way, Ryung gets yet another Stalker kill as Concussive Shells kick in, allowing Ryung to cause further pressure. Creator now commits to Zealot Charge while throwing down more Gateways, as Ryung begins Medivac production as well. Ryung begins to gear up for a double Medivac drop, as Creator moves across the map with his entire force. Throwing up Guardian Shield, Creator pushes in with a tonne of Charge Zealots, however a huge drop in the main of Creator shuts down all mining while Ryung is forced to pull SCVs to help defend the huge assault on his natural and main. Ryungs drop still persists in the main of Creator and the Protoss is unable to reinforce in time to defend due to Pylons being sniped. Ryung is eventually forced to fall back by Probes however a second drop at the natural pushes in, finishing off Creator who has very little forces, taking the GG to claim the best of 3 in the name of SlayerS.

On to the most anticipated series of the night, BoxeR spawns at the 9 while aLive spawns at the 3. Both players open rather standard however BoxeR goes for a proxy Factory to follow it up, along with both players going for a quick second gas. aLive also goes for an early Factory, and BoxeR ends up quickly throwing down a quick Starport. A scout for aLive almost catches the Starport proxy but misses it just by the skin of his teeth. At the same time though BoxeR destroys his own second gas in order to confuse his opponent if he scans, since he’s already started Cloak production. Both players Banshees end up reaching their opponents bases at almost the exact same time, as BoxeR focuses SCVs while aLive focuses a supply depot. A Raven for aLive will deny Cloaked harass from doing much damage, as both players now go for Siege tanks as well as siege tech.

During all that, BoxeR did secure his natural, but a huge force for aLive pushes in to the natural of BoxeR, doing huge amounts of damage to the army and expansion of BoxeR. Auto-turrets end up littering the floor of BoxeR’s main, as the Emperor attempts to fly his Command Center away with zero SCVs left, and BoxeR GGs quickly to the one base strategy of aLive.

aLive ends up spawning at the 6 while BoxeR spawns at the 12, making for cross positions on this huge GSL map. Our blue Terran aLive goes for gas first while BoxeR opens standard. A very quick Factory for aLive shows the tell-tale signs of a fast Banshee build, as BoxeR gears up to take his natural very fast with a 1 Barracks expand. aLive now sends a single Banshee as well as a Hellion across the map at the same time as starting a Command Center. BoxeR on the other hand also has a Starport in play now and a Viking pushes the Banshee away, killing it finally after a short chase in to space.

Both players now begin Tank and Siege tech production once again, and aLive secures his natural quite a bit of time after BoxeR’s was up and running. BoxeR tries to stage a drop in the back of aLive’s base, however it is unsuccessful, only saving the Medivac and three Marines. Both players begin the strategic positioning dance in mid-field with Tanks, however a drop by aLive does occur in the back of BoxeR’s base, only to be cleaned up by a well positioned Tank and Marines. aLive pushes in to the natural of BoxeR after evading BoxeR’s mid-field force, however the force of aLive get’s sandwiched by SCV’s and the rest of the Emperors forces. During the clean up though, BoxeR lost almost 20 SCVs, leaving aLive vastly ahead in economy.

After that engagement, both players begin vying for position in mid-field, trying to duke one-another out, however aLive has air dominance with Vikings. Both players attempt to secure his second expansion as the standard TvT tussle continues in the middle of the map. aLive begins to throw up two Sensor Towers and a Huge Marine engagement in the middle sees a few of BoxeRs units cleaned up, quickly proceeded by a second engagement where BoxeR get’s the Siege advantage, destroying a lot of aLive’s forces which are forced to retreat.

BoxeR slowly sieges his way closer and closer to aLives natural as aLive tries to stage a drop in the second expansion of BoxeR, however it’s cleaned up quickly by a Tank. aLive attempts a double Medivac drop but it’s denied, as BoxeR tries to take a 3rd expansion whilst still tussling for position in the mid. aLive stims his Marines and pushes in, killing a lot of BoxeRs Tanks, doing considerable damage to his forces as aLive also secures a 3rd expansion. BoxeR tries to drop in the 3rd expo of aLive, killing a few SCVs but aLive cleans the drop up eventually.

BoxeR slightly out of position in mid, gets surrounded by the forces of aLive, and BoxeR falls 60 supply short of aLive’s army. A Huge drop and push in by aLive attempts to take out a lot of BoxeRs main base infrastructure, and in a desperate push, BoxeR sieges too late and gets cleaned up by Stimmed Marines. BoxeR ever the mannered player GGs and walks over to congratulate aLive for the final game of the night.

Not needed