EPT
Game 1: NaDa (t) 41-23 vs Iloveoov (t) 28-21 on Balhae’s Dream
Two monsters of the terran genre hooked up for an island battle. Iloveoov (12-11 vs T) had already succumbed to the winners curse, but was trying to stay out of the dubious 0-3 category, while at the same time trying to slow the wrecking train that is NaDa (9-5 vs T).
The command centers landed on the eastern half of the map, with NaDa at one and oov at five. Both players grabbed their geysers quickly, and then float their barracks west away from each other. Both players went for virtually the same build, goliaths, dropships with an academy for scan tech. The action opened up with oov’s first gol laden ships trying to shoot down Nada’s floating barracks in the middle of the map. In a questionable move, Nada decided to save his rax rather than countering in oov’s undefended base.
Oov was content to chill in his base, massing tanks to go with his few goliaths, while taking his natural and expanding to the seven o’clock main as well. Nada flew over seven oclock, and the crowed ooo’ed as it appeared he would find oov’s completely undefended and functioning expansion, but inexplicably he turned and continued flying his ships, missing the CC by a single point of sight. Instead, he decides to tank oov’s natural, and begins to ferry his troops up onto to the mainland. However, his force turned to dust under oov’s boot as a new army magically appeared in his base (I’m totally serious, his new nick should be the voodoo terran). Why was this a NEW army? Well because oov had another army consisting of a division of tanks with massive goliath support pounding Nada’s natural from below.
Oov continued to pump gol/tank while throwing down a CC at the seven natural and another in the center expansion. Looking to put his Frankenstein boot on Nada’s throat, he began to ferry his units up into Nada’s main. Kid Canine had the answer though, as his drops ships dealt a double blow, killing the intruding force as well as dropping the seven o’clock expansion and dealing scv death. This lull allowed Nada to retake his natural expansion as well as the minerals at twelve o’clock.
His break from oov’s juggernaut was short-lived however, as oov bullied his way up the map yet again. A million (no lie) tanks pounded Nada’s expo yet again, but in a charge worthy of the Light Brigade, Nada’s ships swooped in and destroyed the entire force. Every last scrap of iron. With my jaw on the floor, Nada again managed to fend oov off, as the machine turned his economy into high gear and sent a constant stream of metal north. Nada tried to make a stab at the middle expansion to slow oov down, but he had no choice but to return and defend at twelve o’clock. One last attempt by Nada looked good as he dropped both 7 and oov’s near done natural, but the number’s game was simply overwhelming, and oov defended both prongs while countering himself. With the destruction of 12, Nada typed GG.
Oov > Nada
Wow. A real tour de force by oov as he played like a monster and repeatedly stomped Nada. However, Nada DID have a couple good chances in this game. Had he countered with his first two ships he would have cleaved oov’s scv, and had he got a glimpse of seven early on, oov would have been unable to stop a slaughter. Missing those opportunities allowed oov to turn on his macro, and in that, there is no equal.
Game 2: Doggi (t) 20-30 vs Yellow 79-49 (z) on Alchemist
Although this looked like a mismatch on paper, Doggi was looking to ensure AT LEAST a tie-break for a play-off spot, and would be playing inspired tvz on this day. Yellow on the other hand had already reached the next round… was there an inkling in his mind to throw the game? Doing so would put Boxer into the precarious position of having to beat both Max and Doggi without losing. Nahh… Yellow wouldn’t do that… right?
Anyways, Doggi (9-13 vs Z) started in the top left, while Yellow (41-26 vs T) spawned at three. Yellow quickly expanded, and then dropped a third hatchery at his ramp while putting up a spire. Doggi set up a containment with a dozen MM and promptly expanded south to nine o’clock. With the marines still chillin’ in front of Yellow’s base, the zerg master was free to raid the terran main, destroying a near completed factory as well as a depot and some scv. With seemingly no troops, it appeared that Doggi was going to be shoved rudely aside, especially when Yellow expanded again to one and added lurkers to his arsenal.
Doggi did have a plan however, and on the strength of his two gas, Doggi went for a triple port build, and six cloaked wraiths quickly winged to the sky. Yellow’s lurkers had been trekking around the south of the map, but the wraiths cut them off and quickly splattered them as they tried to scurry home. Yellow switched things up with defilers, and in a masterful stroke broke into Doggi’s main with a swarm while at the same time plaguing Doggi’s huge wraith fleet. He was unable to penetrate further as his defilers were irradiated, however Doggi could not advance with his MM/tank/vessel army that he had been massing from his expo. Yellow tried to follow up on his northern offensive with a massive 7 lord drop on Doggi’s nine o’clock position, but Doggi hit the insert key and intercepted it with his repaired wraiths.
Could Doggi do it? Could he finish off the best zerg player on earth? Wel he had a god sized lead which got a lot bigger after blasting apart the hatchery at one. Like water falling downhill, there was no stopping Doggi as ultralisks fell before his blazing guns. With one last drop in the works, Yellow began tearing up Doggi’s expansions at seven and nine, but he had no answer for the main army that gutted his main and then finished off his natural. GG
Doggi > Yellow
Doggi looked shaky early on, but he switched up his tech just in time to prevent lurker death. After that, with some fortuitous timing, Doggi stopped Yellow’s attacks cold and then massed until his army was unstoppable. The pressure is now on Boxer to finish off Max and set up a three way tie-break between Doggi, Yellow, and himself.
Game 3: Reach (p) 59-48 vs SaferZerg (z) 16-11 on Neo Guillotine
I have heard rumblings about my reporting being somewhat biased towards Reach, and that I should try to be more impartial. I apologize for this, and will try to curb my enthusiasm for him from now on.
The greatest StarCraft player on the earth today (23-28 vs Z) warped in at five, while SaferZerg (4-3 vs P) spawned across the map at eleven. Safer went for a safe twelve pool build while scouting the map, while Odin himself used his brilliant intellect and cunning to start with a forge-first build which quickly led to a fast nexus. It looked as if the game would boil down to a race between Reach’s sairs and Safer’s mutalisks, but in reality there was no competition. Saferzerg was forced to switch to lurkers while the Gifted One’s air power dominated the skies.
While Safer looked to contain with his new lurkers, Reach simply shrugged off his opponents mild attempts at resistance as his dt artfully ninja sliced the drones at Safer’s expansion. Bordering on contempt for this pathetic display of zerg offense, Reach broke out of his main with a zeal/goon/temp army, decimating his opponent’s lurkers and expanding two more times. With only one expansion, Safer was unable to keep up with the protoss macro game, and with every breath Reach gave life to new legions of armies willing to do his bidding. As Safer huddled in the corner of the map, mounting no offense and trying to avoid detection, Reach launched his Spartans relentlessly, raining blue fire down upon the confused and frightened zerg. With the blood running in torrents, Safer quickly taped out in the face of the onslaught, took one look at the face of God, and ran from the MegaWeb studio to find solace in the company of lesser mortals.
Reach simply got up, made all the girls swoon with a single smile, and then got into his cloud car and headed back to the heavens for fine wine and peeled grapes.
Reach > SaferZerg
Unfortunately, this does not change things for my Mudang hero. However, he will ultimately extract revenge upon all those who attempt to sully his name.
Game 4: Goodfriend (t) 14-7 vs GoRush (z) 25-17 on Neo Guillotine
Goodfriend (3-0 vs Z) has been on a role lately, and it didn’t stop today. Starting at one, he went for a quick academy against GoRush (10-11 vs T) who spawned at five. GoRush blocked his choke with a hatchery while expanding, but when GF knocked on the door with 6 rines, 2 bats, and 2 medics, GoRush only had two sunken colonies. The bats flambéed the zergling defense while the marines blasted apart the sinken colonies. With a stream of MM reinforcements on the way, GoRush was forced to try and defend with drones. We all know how that goes, and Goodfriend sweeps his group.
Goodfriend > GoRush
GoRush simply mistimed and underestimated the attack by GoodFriend. For his part, all it took was some cute micro and a keen mind to sow up his third straight OSL game.
OCL update
Group E
XellOs > TheWind on Neo Guillotine
Stork[gm] > ShinHwa[Name] on Neo Guillotine
Winners' Final: Stork[gm] > XellOs on Requiem
Losers' game: TheWind > ShinHwa[Name] on Alchemist
Losers' Final: XellOs > TheWind on Dream of Balhae
Stork[gm] qualified into OCL playoffs
XellOs qualified into the Duel League
There is only one more week left in the group stage for the OCL, and then the playoffs will begin.
