[GSTL] “Comeback” – Team League Finals

(T) SlayerS_Ryung (2) vs (P) MVPGenius (8)
Map: Xel’Naga Caverns
Game 1 begins with Genius get his second gas right after starting his core while Ryung opts for a reactor on his first rax along with a second rax after his OC finishes. Genius’ probe heads down to Ryung’s third expansion and drops a proxy pylon in the center out of sight range from the high ground. Ryung pressures around the center of map with his sizable bio army as he starts an inbase CC. Meanwhile, Genius gets his second VR and prepares for a push, having sneaked in a second pylon behind the minerals at Ryung’s natural, but just as he’s about to attack, Ryung finds and destroys the pylon causing Genius to pull his forces back. Instead of committing to a push Genius pressures around Ryung’s base as he expands and also begins a twilight council. Ryung decides to attack right as combat shields finishes, but Genius’ sentries had the whole game to build up energy. Ryung gets his army trapped by force fields and doesn’t manage to take out any of the void rays.




The twilight council finishes and Genius begins charge and starts his Templar Archives pumping primarily zealots in preparation for his HTs. Ryung decides to take the gold base while pressuring Genius’ third. Genius warps in his first HTs and turns them into archons as storm is being researched. Ryung gets a few ghosts with enough energy for emp and stims into the third of Genius to try and snipe the nexus, but Genius’ army is there just as Ryung takes out the defending cannon and he retreats through a hole in the force fields while EMPing many of the sentries and HTs.

Ryung continues to positions his army around Genius’ third again and this time uses a single marine to bait the Protoss army in range of his Ghosts on the high ground, depleting all the energy on his HT’s before sending his whole army in again. But there are so many zealots and without energy the archons tank Ryung’s retreating army as the stalkers and void ray pick off the fleet of Medivacs. Without any healing, the rest of Ryung’s army quickly vaporizes. Knowing the game is over Genius proceeds to construct 2 Nexi in Ryung’s natural. GG.

(Z) SlayerS_Min vs (P) MVPGenius
Map: Terminus RE
Genius opens forge expand at 3 O’clock while Min (12 O’clock) gets his pool first. Min uses his early zerglings to deny mining at the completed expansion while getting his second and third. Min drones heavily, getting to around 40 drones before starting Lair and a roach warren. Genius adds 3 gateways and a twilight council.

With lair tech, Min gets roach speed, tunneling claws and burrow as he pumps only roaches behind his 3 base economy. Using creep drop, Min delays Genius’ third base. Genius gets hallucination to scout, but Min is already moving out with his 40 Roach army and positions his overlords to create a creep highway. Tunneling claws finishes and without any mobile detection Min’s roaches burrow under the defensive force fields without consequence, popping up beneath Genius’ sentry stalker army. Blink finishes and Genius does his best to make his units as efficient as possible, but Min’s macro doesn’t let up and constant roach reinforcements arrive. Against a superior economy, Genius’s reserves dry up and GGs, tying up the series.

(Z) SlayerS_Min (5) vs (T) MVP_Keen (1)
Map: Crevasse
Min opens Hatch into pool while Keen stays on one base, getting his second gas before his factory. Min’s overlord finds Keen’s base, but is barely taken out by the initial 2 marines. But it creates an opening for a scouting drone to see the early gas, factory, and reactor. Min quickly drops down a roach warren and blocks his ramp with roaches against the hellion harass. The pressure isn’t over though as Keen uses the quick gas to get cloaked banshees. However, Min is already preemptively building spore crawlers before his first banshee arrives. Keen uses the banshee to force the roaches to give up the ramp and hellions pour into the base, setting fire to several drones in Min’s inside natural.

Keen expands behind the pressure while Min gets his spire to end the banshee harassment. But Keen will have Thors and turrets ready by the time the mutas arrive, preventing them from dealing serious damage. A marine, thor, banshee push arrives and Min is just barely able to take it out, but loses all his queens in the process. Keen attacks again with a thor marine drop in the zerg’s natural, but a large roach army forces a retreat, but with roach speed, and mutas returning to base, Min chases the retreating army, picking off the rallied reinforcements piecemeal.

Min chases the remnants of the army back into Keen’s base but a SCVs repairing a single Thor thwarts the counter push completely. Min attempts a second attack with a baneling bust, but Keen splits his marines near-perfectly and takes very few casualties. Both players expand and build up for another attack. Min gets infestor tech, which Keen switches to tanks and marines. The two armies meet at the halfway point and Min’s infestors get huge fungals over all of Keen’s marines, but his own infestors block out the banelings in the back and most of Keen’s men survive in the red while Min loses his entire army. Reinforcements try to stop the assault on the third, but there are just too many tanks and thors for the roaches to handle. Min GG’s out and team MVP takes the lead again.

(P) SlayerS_Frozen (7) vs (T) MVP_Keen (11)
Map: Tal’Darim Altar
Keen goes for a 1 rax expand while Frozen gets his second assimilators before his core finishes. Keen suspiciously searches for any proxy pylons. Frozen gets a fast Twilight Council and then throws down two more gateways. Using his stalkers Frozen drives Keen’s marine centric army back to his natural. Keen responds by throwing down 2 more bunkers. Frozen then starts a pylon on the edge of Keen’s third expansion that overlooks low ground that leads into the Keen’s main base. Frozen blinks his stalker army twice and gets in the main and takes out the key tech lab, stopping stim and preventing Keen from getting more marauders.




Frozen blinks back and then attacks the empty bunkers at the front. Eventually Frozen has enough stalkers to bum rush the fortified front and out damage the repairing SCVs. Blink maintains the large stalker count for a very long time as Keen loses his army. GG, the series is tied again.

(P) SlayerS_Frozen (10) vs (Z) MVP_viOlet (4)
Map: Bel’Shir Beach
viOlet opens speedling expand while Frozen gets both of his gas before his core. Frozen starts warping in a stargate, but viOlet’s drone hadn’t left the base yet and scouts it and viOlet begins producing a huge amount of lings to attempt a bust. The lings break into the base and takes out all the ground units, Frozen is forced to drop down a lot of pylons to maintain the wall-in, but he holds and forces the lings back. Having failed to kill Frozen, viOlet is severly behind in tech and loses his expansion to two void rays and several phoenixes that pick up all of his queens. viOlet is only alive due to having covered his base in spore crawlers. Frozen pulls back just as the hydralisks pop out.

Frozen contains viOlet in his main as he techs to colossus to end the game. Frozen pulls back his forces and viOlet retakes his expansion for the third time, but lose his army to Frozen. He tries to delay the inevitable with spine and spore crawlers, but in the end he GGs and SlayerS takes the lead.

(P) SlayerS_Frozen (7) vs (R) MVP_GuineaPig (3)
Map: Xel’Naga Fortress
GuineaPig spawns as Zerg and opens with speedling expand. Frozen begins the same way as last game, getting both of his gas before his core. He follows up his void ray with several phoenixes, but only manages to take out a single queen before pulling back and expanding. Frozen begins switching to robo-tech while harassing. GuineaPig begins getting roach/hydra and drop tech. Frozen’s Phoenixes scout around the base but misses GuineaPig’s army moving out. Frozen is completely out of position when GuineaPig’s army drops in and instantly loses his first colossus which was hanging in the back. With so many queens transfusing, Frozen’s army isn’t enough to stop the aggression and after losing his third colossus he taps out. GG and we are even again.

(T) SlayerSGanZI (1) vs (R) MVP_GuineaPig (7)
Map: Crossfire
GuineaPig spawns as Zerg and goes gets his hatchery first. GanZI, goes for a reaper opening and fakes a bunker rush at the front. GanZI’s one reaper pressures the front while teching to blue-flame hellions, but doesn’t enter GuineaPig’s base where two lings were waiting for him to jump up. After successfully denying several creep tumors, he runs around and hops into the main from behind while his blue-flame hellions charge into the front getting a lot of drone and zergling kills. By the time his hellion harass ends, he has a marine tank army pushing out with siege completed to check for GuineaPig’s third. Meanwhile GuineaPig’s spire is finished and mutas are about to come out and Frozen is already building a lot of turrets around preventing any harass.

GanZI’s army pressures the front, denying tumors, but staying off the creep. He again moves out to check for GuineaPig’s third and this time takes it out, but loses a huge chunk of his marines to baneling mines.




GanZI elevates half of his remaining army to the main while keeping his tanks on the low ground and GuineaPig uses this as a chance to strike, sending a two pronged attack, and barely manages to take it out, but loses most of his mutalisks. At the same time GanZI drops GuineaPigs natural and without an army to defend, he takes out the queen and several drones. Again GuineaPig holds barely, but isn’t given a second to rest as GanZI has already macroed up a brand new army and marches straight down the center and without an anything but a few banelings, GuineaPig GGs.

Things are getting dire. Team MVP is just a loss away from losing to SlayerS. They've sent many of their finest to fight, but they still have one last ace in the hole. Everyone knows it. They call upon the man who has saved them from defeat in the past, DongRaeGu, MVP's final weapon takes the stand.

(T) SlayerS_GanZI (2) vs (Z) MVP_DongRaeGu (8)
Map: Dual Sight
GanZI opens gas first and begins his Barracks in the expansion below his main outside of the scouting paths. DongRaeGu goes for hatch first. Immediately after completing the Barracks, he begins on a factor and a reactor. Reactored hellions attack DongRaeGu’s expansion, but the the zerg player pulls his drones and blocks the ramps with a queen as the spine crawler finishes and GanZI is unable to do any significant damage.



GanZI follows up with banshee harass, but is met with two queens and is only able to take out a couple drones. In the meantime, GanZI also preps for an all-in using half of his SCVs, tanks, marines, and hellions, but the overlord outside his base might have scouted as DongRaeGu immediately begins pumping nonstop lings until the push arrives. With 4 queens and countless zerglings, DongRaeGu gets a complete surround on the entire army and stomps the all-in attempt with minimal losses.

GanZI is severely behind and loses his proxy factor and barracks to speedlings and then gets baneling busted at his main where he loses all his workers. He attempts one last push, but the army of DongRaeGu is too strong and with so many queens with transfuses, GanZI’s four banshees are blown out the sky. A single mule falls from the sky to raise the white flag. GG and we go to the Ace Match!

It's the final match folks and through the series the lead has been taken and lost over and over. Both teams have shown that they deserve to be here fighting for the grand prize. And so it all rests on the Ace match. In the final game of the night and the best game of the night, Team SlayerS calls upon their own ultimate weapon, the golden sniper of legends. Two legend killers, whose pasts are decorated with the kills of some of SC2's best players face each other in a game that you won't forget!

(T) SlayerS_MMA (8) vs (Z) MVP_DongRaeGu (2)
Map: Metalopolis
MMA and DongRaeGu (DRG) spawn at cross positions. MMA begins with a reaper opening while DRG gets his hatchery first. MMA’s first reaper moves across the map and he starts on a second reaper. MMA scouts a little and pulls back to wait for his second before trying to get into DRG’s main again while starting his CC and 2 more Rax. The reapers manage to take out
two more drones before retreating as ling speed is about to finish. DRG takes map control and takes his third.



MMA’s expansion gets up and he secures his area while getting stim and medivacs. DRG continues to keep MMA’s army in check as his third finishes and he reaches an 11 worker lead on MMA. MMA pushes out on the map and traps a group of zerglings left unattended.



DRG was out of an army at that point, but MMA hesitates to go into the zerg’s third and instead loads up his 2 new medivacs to drop DRG’s main. However the zerglings and banelings are waiting for him and MMA drops single marines to bait as many of the banelings as he can. He drops the rest of the army on the low ground and loses them to an army of zerglings and map control swings back to DRG. The zerglings move to MMA’s natural to try to counterattack, but MMA is barely prepared to stop it and DRG backs off.

MMA pushes out again with a small force of marines and a medivac, but the zerglings return in force and go for the lightly defended natural, taking out two of MMA’s siege tanks.



MMA is able to prevent the lings from slipping into his main while also attempting a drop in DRG’s third. DRG repels the drop while prowling the map in search of MMA’s inevitable third base. His lings find the base as it’s about to be set up, but MMA’s marines are able to clean up the zerglings and land his Orbital.



MMA has a task force positioned above the ramp overlooking DRG’s fourth and is able to trade well with the lings and blings defending the morphing hatchery, showing remarkable micro as he picks off the banelings before retreating via medivac only to be taken out by mutalisks.



DRG positions his mutaling army to attack MMA’s third and forces the workers to retreat as his army chases the mutas away.



DRG maneuvers his mutas around and goes straight for the now exposed natural as stimmed marines try to catch them. The Mutas take out some of the marines, but are mainly on the retreat. Meanwhile MMA drops another task force above DRG’s fourth, but there are too many defending units at the moment so he waits.




DRG hits 200 supply while MMA is supply blocked at 137 food.



DRG moves his lings across the right side of the map to the upper gold base and morphs half so many banelings.



But MMA has a single marine scouting and he spots the dangerous army causing him to siege up his forcing DRG to retreat. Seeing that the army of DRG is out of position, he sends that task force into the fourth base and is met with little resistance. He stops mining and kills the queen there before a sea of lings ends the harassment.

MMA’s army consisting of tanks, marines, and medivacs move down the left side of the map in a column. He sieges up right when he scans the army, knowing that getting caught unsieged will mean game over.



DRG is still maxed and with his entire army in once place charges. Lings, banes, and mutas collide with the column of siege tanks and retreating marines. The tanks focus down the banes as they close in and the marines at the back split wildly, avoiding the few banes that get past and while losing all but one tank, he forces the mutalisks to retreat.





MMA’s army of marines charges forward to take out DRG’s fourth while also dropping in the natural drawing the mutas even further away to facilitate his tactical retreat, leaving DRG’s fifth to complete knowing his window of opportunity was about to close.









MMA repositions his army on the right side of the map to take out the creep tumors there and then there is a PAUSE!




But luckily you are reading this and we can chronoboost past this part.

MMA pulls his forces away after taking out the creep. He moves his army to the left side again and splits his army twice to drop both the 6 o’clock main base and DRG’s main while also pressuring his main army down the center left side of the map.



DRG is forced to split off his army twice, sending the lings and blings to 6 o’clock while his mutas take care of the main, but in the process, he forgets his Infestors and leaves them wide open for the marines to attack.



Despite using his fungals to slow the marines down, stim allows him to catch up with all the infestors just outside the 6 o’clock natural. At the same time the marine task force takes out DRG’s fifth base before being wiped out and DRG immediately turns his ling baneling army around to chase the main army of MMA. But the tanks are already sieged up and he pulls back to wait for his mutas.



With a better position on the army this time, DRG launches another attack on the main army and complete smashes MMA’s force.





However only his mutas survive and MMA has a smaller army already pushing out along the same path on the center left. The mutas retreat and DRG regroups with a small force of lings and banes to charge into the marine tank army once again in the exact same position and takes out the tanks, re-securing his fourth base.



MMA completes a CC and floats to the gold base and immediately begins fortifying with a Planetary and turrets.



MMA does another double drop on the fifth and main again, but is chased away again. But MMA doubles back at the fifth and catches the hatchery just as the defending forces move out, but the mutas return in time to save the hatchery.



Another drop also occurs in the main and MMA sees the greater spire morphing for DRG.



MMA loads half his main army in the medivacs and drops it on the high ground for the fifth base right as DRG moves up the left side.



DRG kills the low ground army, but the DPS of the 3/2 marines are too much despite being fungaled and DRG instead heads to take on the gold base.



The tanks at the gold are not sieged when DRG arrives, but they form a wall-off for the marines behind them, protecting them from the banelings and the mutas are forced to retreat after the ground army is taken out.



Meanwhile at the fifth base, MMA’s high ground army takes out the hatchery and moves his tanks closer to hit the fourth base, but just as he moves up, DRG charges the unsieged tanks. MMA runs his marines until the tanks deal with the banelings before taking on the flock of muta, destroying all but three of them, but at that same time, four broodlords are completed and MMA picks up and retreats.



The supply counts have reversed and now MMA is in the lead. MMA positions his army around the map, forcing DRG to react to double drops while he buys time to get his vikings out. MMA’s fourth is completing and the mutas find it and begin attacking, giving MMA the opportunity to push out down the left side again.



MMA stays at the edge of the creep and elevates some of his forces up to take out the fifth again. Meanwhile, drops at the main distract the returning muta flock, there is so many things happening everywhere.






DRG gets fungals on top the vikings and uses the chance to charge his army forward.



DRG lands more good fungals covering all of the marines and most of them are taken out, creating a window for the lings and banelings to rush the undefended tank line.




But nothing is shooting the vikings and the broodlords are all taken out.




More marines and tanks arrive and push down ward toward the fourth base, but at the same time mutas and infestors arrive and another perfect fungal catches all the marines as they stim.



The remaining vikings barely hold off the mutas until the next wave of marines turn the tide. DRG has a lot of gas, but not enough minerals and can’t rebuild his army in time. With only his fourth left, its impending destruction, and the rain of mules, DRG types GG and SlayerS has won the GSTL once again!







MMA wins it again for Team SlayerS, coming from a 67 food deficit to take down the undefeated DongRaeGu, the hero of MVP in the most epic game ever. MMA has showed us the effectiveness of constant multi-dropping in keeping your opponent off-balanced and out of position the entire game. While DRG had the larger army for most of the game, MMA was in control of the pace. He made DRG choose between money and technology without ever sacrificing the integrity of his army. MMA was constantly asking the questions and DRG was struggling to give him the answers and that paved the way for MMA’s comeback.

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, go and watch this right now. For myself this game blew my mind. If you know what I have been posting about recently, you’ll know that I’ve been criticizing certain aspects of SC2. But leave it to the pros to show us that this is what eSports is all about.

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Fun fact: I had no idea until writing this that that’s what the Mule’s picture looked like...

Day9 was also there...+ Show Spoiler +