Full results and standings @ Liquipedia

Table of Contents

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Elly the ESPORTS Elephant

For the seeming lack of urgency the divisional system causes, it does have one significant advantage. Just look at the line-up headed towards the NASL grand finals should the current rankings hold: HerO, DeMusliM, HuK, MaNa, IdrA, MorroW, Strelok, Ret, DIMAGA, and Puma. That's a veritable all-star line-up of players, and we've got the nothing-left-to-chance eight man round robin to thank for it.

It is a bit of a shame to lose the excitement of single and double elimination tournaments early on, but it's a worthwhile sacrifice to make to reduce variance and make sure that only the very best players make it to the live finals. And besides, we're getting the best of both worlds here, as the Open Tournament goes forward...

Division Review: Week Three & Four

By: TeamLiquid Writers

Division One - Results @ Liquipedia
by JimLloyd

+ Show Spoiler [Spoiler-free match ratings] +

Week 3 Map Order: Metalopolis - Antiga Shipyard - Terminus SE

Liquid`HerO vs.imba.FXO.LoWeLy VOD
Game One -

4/5
Game Two -

2/5
Game Three -

2/5

EG.DeMusliM vs. Tt.White-Ra VOD
Game One -

4/5
Game Two -

4/5
Game Three -

2/5

CoL.CrunCher vs. Liquid`Sheth VOD
Game One -

2/5
Game Two -

2/5
Game Three -

3/5

Week 4 Map Order: Tal’Darim Altar - Metalopolis - Antiga Shipyard

GoSuViBE vs. imba.FXO.LoWeLy - VOD
Game One -

3/5
Game Two -

2/5
Game Three -

2/5

IMFenix vs. CoL.CrunCher VOD
Game One -

2/5
Game Two -

3/5
Game Three -

2/5

I’m really enjoying the post-match interviews. Not only do you get to learn a little bit about the players (ViBe snowboards! Or at least he wants to give viewers the impression that he does), but it’s interesting to see what the players have to say about the games in which they just played. It’s a little window into how they think about the game, to see if what they found important was the same as what you, the viewer, did. Some of it’s pretty absurd, too, such as this quote from DeMusliM’s interview after his victory over White-Ra:
- “I saw his natural going down, and I saw a Probe transfer going over to the third, and that immediately made me know that I have to push with four Medivacs as the other two are twenty percent done, and then I’ll hit a timing just before Storm’s done.”
Is this for real? Is this how pros are? I mean: does DeMusliM really think, “Okay, I blocked his natural and he expanded to his third; now he’s getting his natural up, so if I push when I’ve built four Medivacs, I’ll arrive before he’s done researching Storm?” Obviously the fact that he arrived ten seconds before Storm finished was a particularly dramatic bit of luck, but the level of complexity at that game state is staggering. To be able to process that as it’s happening is so far beyond my experience with Starcraft, I honestly just had to sit and think about that for a while. If I was in that situation, where I just saw my Protoss opponent take his natural after expanding to a third, my first thought would probably be: “do I have enough Orbital Command energy for another supply drop since I’m capped again?” Starcraft pros are simply amazing.
With the good comes the bad. DeMusliM, why did you have to no-show against HerO?!?!?!

I was so excited to cover Division One for weeks two and three; I’d get to write about DeMusliM vs. White-Ra and then vs. HerO. After seeing him run through his opposition -- including a phenomenal victory against White-Ra -- the match against HerO was going to be the highlight of my two weeks (NASL-related). And then . . . nothing. Alas. DeMusliM did take to the Facebook to explain the miscommunication, and he can’t really be faulted for handing HerO a walkover. Through a long season like this, there are bound to be some no-shows.
As one of the Season Two qualifiers, rather than invitees, and Lowely’s really shown some good games. He beat White-Ra in an entertaining series two weeks ago and then played a strange two games against HerO as well. Game One, in particular, I think is worth watching if you have the time.

It was sort of slow-moving and defied a conventional narrative (e.g., Player X takes a lead, Player Y comes back!), but it had quite a few great moments (and some less-than-great ones). Slow Zealots tried to kill Infestor / Spine Crawler, for example, and LoWeLy’s first Brood Lord attack was a clinic on how not to control them. But HerO made some great attacks utilizing the cliffs on Metalopolis, and did a Storm drop on LoWeLy’s third mineral line. And the end of the game was exciting, with HerO sacrificing his sixth, fourth, and third bases while (i) destroying LoWeLy’s entire main with some Zealots, and (ii) slowly massing up enough Stalkers and Archons to kill LoWeLy’s Broodlord / Infestor ball. HerO’s patience in waiting to build up enough army while he was losing all his bases to that army was fantastic, and it shows why he’s famous for his PvZ.
Despite being heavily nerfed in the most recent patch, ViBe has really shown some ZvZ chops in NASL Season Two. He knocked off both the Zergs in his division -- Sheth and LoWeLy -- and showed facility with both the early game Zergling / Baneling portion of ZvZ (which I enjoy watching) and the giant-Roach-army midgame portion (which I find awful). He lost to CrunCher in part due to the “Sentry block the main ramp” strategy, but I’m excited to see what ViBe can do against other non-Zerg opponents going forward.
Anti 1-1-1 Watch! DeMusliM vs. White-Ra, and no 1-1-1s. Great games, in fact; go watch ‘em. Fenix vs. CrunCher, and none there, either (though Game 2 was a Marine / SCV all-in). Could we be at the end of the 1-1-1 era?
A brief note on Gretorp and TheGunrun. During the HerO / LoWeLy match, they went into an extended discussion about how wonderful their shared home state of New Jersey is, and how the people there are so intelligent and capable. Sometimes casters like to conduct themselves casually and crack jokes, and I usually appreciate that, but if eSports is going to be taken seriously, I don’t see how something like this can continue. For all the talk about how great New Jerseyans are, G&G failed to mention how physically attractive everyone from New Jersey is; an oversight like that is tremendously unprofessional and I hope I don’t have to sit through something like that again.

Division Two - Results @ Liquipedia
by shindigs

+ Show Spoiler [Spoiler-free match ratings] +

Week 3 Map Order: Terminus SE - Dual Sight - Bel'shir Beach

EG.HuK vs. aTn.ClouD - VOD
Game One -

2/5
Game Two -

2/5
Game Three -

2/5

FnaticMSI.Rain vs. Liquid`Haypro - VOD
Game One -

4/5
Game Two -

4/5
Game Three -

2/5

aTn.DarKFoRcE vs. imba.FXO.BRAT_OK - VOD
Game One -

3/5
Game Two -

2/5
Game Three -

2/5

EG.Axslav vs. mouz.MaNa - VOD
Game One -

3/5
Game Two -

3/5
Game Three -

2/5

Week 4 Map Order: Metalopolis - Antiga Shipyard - Terminus SE

EG.HuK vs.Liquid`Haypro - VOD
Game One -

3/5
Game Two -

3/5
Game Three -

2/5

FnaticMSI.Rain vs. imba.FXO.BRAT_OK - VOD
Game One -

4/5
Game Two -

3/5
Game Three -

2/5

aTn.DarKFoRcE vs. mouz.MaNa - VOD
Game One -

2/5
Game Two -

2/5
Game Three -

2/5

aTn.ClouD vs.EG.Axslav - VOD
Game One -

2/5
Game Two -

3/5
Game Three -

3/5

EG.Axslav showcased some new intriguing PvP play in his first set against mouzMana in week two. It’s refreshing to see Protoss players experimenting more and more in their mirror matchup, and Axslav’s robo to Stargate for Phoenix production caught his European opponent off guard allowed him to decimate the Colossus count. I wish it would have worked out for Axslav, since Mana still managed to conjure up a win despite extremely heavy losses. Perhaps Axslav hasn't worked all the kinks out of his strategy yet, but it was still very nice to see something new.
Despite an abysmal 0-4 record, Haypro’s games provided the most entertainment factor in his group. The actual games are not as once sided as the box score would suggest. His series against Rain showed that he could go toe-to-toe with Fnatic’s Terran ace, with top-notch Muta-Baneling control that made his opponent work hard for his win. Haypro’s series against HuK also brought entertainment value to division 2, with Haypro's exceptional multitasking with his main army and Baneling drops almost being enough to take down his former teammate.
Rain was one of the other more entertaining players of the past two weeks, with a exciting series against Haypro in Week 2 and a showcase of Battlecruisers and tight drop control in Week 3 in his series against BratOK. Division 2 stayed quietly standard for the most part, and Rain is one of the reasons to at least keep an eye on the group as he slowly tries to take the second playoff spot away from MaNa.
I'll be honest, the last two week's games were a bit dull on the whole. I've tried to highlight the games that are worth viewing here, but for the most part the scores reflected the actual content of the games very closely. Haypro is my only pick for the player in this group with a bad record but great games. Even if division two doesn't deliver in terms of individual games, watching Rain and MaNa fight over the second playoff spot should still be an interesting story to follow.

Division Three - Results @ Liquipedia
by WaxAngel

+ Show Spoiler [Spoiler-free match ratings] +

Week 3 Map Order: Terminus - Dual Sight - Bel'Shir Beach

GoSuHwangSin vs. aTn.Socke - VOD
Game One:

1.5/5
Game Two:

2.5/5
Game Three:

2/5

mouz.MorroW vs. Tt.SoftBall - VOD
Game One:

3/5
Game Two:

2.5/5
Game Three:

1.5/5

Liquid`Jinro vs. dignitas.SjoW - VOD
Game One:

3.5/5
Game Two:

4.5/5
Game Three:

4/5

RGNKiWiKaKi vs. EG.IdrA - VOD
Game One:

3/5
Game Two:

2.5/5
Game Three:

2/5

Week 4 Map Order: Antiga Shiypard - Terminus - Dual Sight

GoSuHwangSin vs. mouz.MorroW - VOD
Game One:

2/5
Game Two:

2/5
Game Three:

1/5

Liquid`Jinro vs. RGNKiWiKaKi - VOD
Game One:

3.5/5
Game Two:

2.5/5
Game Three:

4/5

aTn.Socke vs. EG.IdrA - VOD
Game One:

2/5
Game Two:

3/5
Game Three:

2/5

I never really understood the hate the mech-meta received in TvT. Sure, at its worst it was a game-long standoff where nothing happened. But it also allowed almost every possible build to be viable, due to the weird circular rock-paper-scissor relationships that exist in TvT. Sjow and Jinro showed exactly how bizarre yet fascinating TvT could be. I don't quite fully grasp how mass-Viking can be a good strategy, but apparently top Swedish Terrans agree that it's pretty damn good. The Viking centric strategies made for some highly entertaining game styles rarely seen outside of Korea, and it almost felt like a shame that the 1.4.0 patch has made it difficult to see this kind of play again.
Morrow showed a pretty incredible disregard for scouting out his opponent beforehand, getting crushed 2-0 by Hwangsin. According to Idra, Hwangsin is a terrible player who can only all-in. Now, it's your own opinion as to whether or not the first part is true, but no one can deny the fact that Hwangsin is one of the most skilled Protoss all-in'ers in the scene. So when Morrow died straight up to two consecutive Gateway all-in rushes, I was pretty much tearing my hair out. Doesn't the Korean flag next to someone's name warrant a little bit more information gathering? Anyway, it's either a significant scouting lapse, or maybe Hwangsin's all-ins are just that good?
I wanted to write something nice about Socke here, but I couldn't really come up with so many good ideas (he's 3-1 in his group, beating some very good opponents). Though he is so consistently solid, the problem is that Socke suffers from some horribly bad luck in never having played a memorable game against a famous player that was seen by many viewers. Regardless of what we think of their present skill, we're still gonna remember Rain for his epic win against Boxer at MLG, or Cruncher for knocking Idra out of TSL3. Socke just hasn't had that kind of luck in his career, and I can't help but feel bad that he hasn't had a great showcase match so more people will learn how good he is.

Division Four - Results @ Liquipedia
by confusedcrib

+ Show Spoiler +

Week Three Map Order: Terminus SE - Dual Sight - Bel'shir Beach

GamaniaSen vs. mOOnGLaDe - VOD

Game One:

2/5
Game Two:

3/5
Game Three:

3/5

IMBA.FXO.Strelok vs. ~~aTn.~~FnaticMSI.NightEnD - VOD

Game One:

4/5
Game Two:

4/5
Game Three:

3/5

Dignitas.SeleCT vs. Liquid'Ret - VOD

Game One:

2/5
Game Two:

2/5
Game Three:

4/5

Week 4 Map Order: Metalopolis - Antiga Shipyard - Terminus SE

(P)

QxGiNkA vs. (Z)

mOOnGLaDe - VOD

Game One:

4/5
Game Two:

3/5
Game Three:

3/5

GAMANIASen vs. (P)

FnaticMSI.NightEnD - VOD

Game One:

4/5
Game Two:

3/5
Game Three:

3/5

IMBA.FXO.Strelok vs. (Z)

Liquid`Ret - VOD

Game One:

4/5
Game Two:

3/5
Game Three:

2/5

EG.iNcontroL vs. (T)

dignitas.SeleCT - VOD

Game One:

2/5
Game Two:

2/5
Game Three:

2/5

Sen's straight up ZvZ is outstanding. In his first game against MoonGlade, he almost won despite having to cancel a proxy hatch first build. MoonGlade gave a solid performance, but Sen managed to make handling intense double-ling micro while making macro decisions look easy. Sen makes the right decisions 99% of the time, which allows him to be hugely successful without being the flashiest player.
Strelok had some very innovative openings, but weak late game play. In two of his games against NightEnd, his early game gambits caught NightEnd off guard and did some nice damage. Despite dealing early game damage, Strelok's games were much closer than they should have been. Strelok also had some great harassment, but he definitely had the tendency to over-commit to it after the early phases of the game. Strelok's late game just doesn't really impress so far, but he provided a lot of early game fun.
Select's TvZ against Ret was very cool. Games one and two were just decided by the success or failure of two rax rushes, but game three really let Ret shine. If there's one player who will make drones even when it looks like anyone else would die, it is Ret. Ret's play in game three was awesome, with perfect handling of Select's insanely aggressive play and using a devastating counter attack to easily take the game. Select has used an entertaining aggressive style against all his Zerg opponents so far, so it will be fun to see how his games against MoonGlade go.
I guess Strelok sort of went 1-1-1, but it was so European and weird; not just "okay got my mariners, got my tanks, got my banshees, time to win." I guess since there was a Barracks, Factory, and Starport involved, we'll chalk this one up, too.
Although the result of Select beating iNcontroL isn't surprising at all on paper, iNcontroL was not in as bad shape as he was a month ago. He had Select on the ropes in game one, with a small micro mistake being the major reason for his loss. In game two, he only lost because of base trade scenario due to lack of scouting, but otherwise could have easily taken the game. The wins were never unattainable for iNcontroL, and I'm looking forward to seeing a complete return to form at MLG Orlando or Providence.

Division Five - Results @ Liquipedia
by zarepath

+ Show Spoiler [Spoiler-free match ratings] +

Week 3 Map Order: Bel'Shir Beach - Shattered Temple - Xel'Naga Caverns

FXOqxc vs Liquid`TLO - VOD
Game One -

2/5
Game Two -

3/5
Game Three -

1/5

Liquid`Tyler vs mouz.HasuObs- VOD
Game One -

1/5
Game Two -

2/5
Game Three -

3/5

Virus.MoMaN vs FnaticMSI.TT1 - VOD
Game One -

3/5
Game Two -

2/5
Game Three -

3/5

Week 4 Map Order: Dual Sight - Bel'Shir Beach - Shattered Temple

FXOqxc vs DIMAGA - VOD
Game One -

3/5
Game Two -

3/5
Game Three -

4/5

Liquid`Tyler vs PuMa - VOD
Game One -

2/5
Game Two -

1/5
Game Three -

3/5

HasuObs vs FnaticMSI.TT1 - VOD
Game One -

2/5
Game Two -

2/5
Game Three -

3/5

TLO vs MoMaN - VOD
Game One -

2/5
Game Two -

2/5
Game Three -

3/5

Gretorp solo-casted the qxc/TLO match, and he did a good job of filling space the whole time, but in a way, listening to Gretorp talk was a lot like watching Ret play: too much droning. In game two, it started getting confusing as to which Terran player he was even talking about. Without co-caster correction, there were a lot of mistakes in the commentary and it became exhausting to follow. You could really feel the difference in the other matches, where Gretorp had thegunrun and LzGamer by his side.
On another Gretorp-related topic, he was oddly surprised with TLO's Thor build considering that TLO used the exact same build against Puma in last week's games. The Thor timing push caught qxc with his bandana down in game one, but as qxc reflected in his interview, TLO just did the same thing three times and it was easy to adapt. For such an innovative player, and for a match-up with such a wide breadth of possible units and strategies, I was hoping to see some more of that trademark TLO creative spin.
Tyler was straight rolled by a four-gate against Hasuobs, and it was a little disappointing to hear the commentators basically excuse Tyler's loss as a poor rock-paper-scissors guess. First of all, we all need to quit blindly defending Tyler's play. I'm sick of hearing the whole Nony/Tyler history everywhere I turn and hypothetical scenarios thrown at me where Tyler plays like a gosu. The games are being played in the present, and there's not much room for reminiscing and theory-crafting. Whoever loses deserves the loss, and whoever wins deserves that win. Hasuobs played a great PvP, and while the match-up certainly has its issues, let's not rob the winners of their deserved praise by calling their victories coin-flips.
Tyler did showcase some sweet post-1.4 play in his first game against Puma. He opened into quick warp-prism harass with two immortals and a quick prism speed upgrade. The early harass strategy showed potential: whereas Puma would normally be able to shatter the glass chandelier with ease, the added shields allowed Tyler to escape... except that Puma anticipated the warp prism's escape route and parked his infantry in a perfect intercept position. But Tyler was able to pull it back yet again with great reaction time, and send it the long way to safety.

Except that Puma anticipated that, too, with three marines at the outer left edge of Dual Sight, just enough to finally finish off the warp prism.
Moman needs to become a verb. Anytime you see nonsensical hyper-aggressive play with a French accent, you say, "Oh, he just got momanned!" Zerg players tend to lean to the latter member of the Army-Drones larva balance duo, and it's refreshing to see a player who so recklessly pursues the former. His one win against TLO was an aggressive roach rush. It's interesting to note, however, that the only game that the Anti-Ret won against TT1 was the game in which he was passive and defensive, whereas in the two games he lost, he was very aggressive. In short: Moman momanned himself.

Featured Game

By: Emythrel

It is time once more for Game of the Week. This week I finally get to cover one of my favourite players, the best player from my home country of England.... yes that's right, DeMusliM! In week three the formidable White-Ra took on DeMusliM in a great series that saw some new and interesting builds for the TvP match-up.

DeMusliM vs. WhiteRa Game Two – Antiga Shipyard.

Our players spawned at the 8:00 (WhiteRa) and 2:00 (DeMusliM) positions. Both players elected to go for fast expansion builds, DeMusliM going gasless CC while White-Ra took his Nexus off one Gateway. DeMusliM then dropped a third CC inside his main almost immediately as he pumped Marines from 1 rax. White-Ra focused on his economy as well, chronoing out Probes by the bucketload to be ahead by almost twenty harvesters at the nine minute mark.

DeMusliM decided to stick to a bio/medivac force with heavy upgrades from two Engineering Bays. Meanwhile, White-Ra decided to go for Warp Prism harass, forcing DeMusliM to build a Viking and dealt a small amount of economy damage. In the end, DeMusliM emerged mostly unscathed.

The game quieted down as DeMusliM finally flew his OC over to his third at around the twelve minute mark in the game. White-Ra tried more Warp Prism harassment, but DeMusliM shuts it down hard, killing the Warp Prism and trapping the Zealots at his third. It was not a huge loss for White-Ra, however, as he had been building up his army had a good mix of Zealots, Stalkers and Colossi as well as having Templar tech on the way.

The first large engagement finally happened just as the timer rolled past fifteen minutes. DeMusliM moved out to the center of the map and was greeted by a huge Protoss Deathball. He immediately retreated his army back to his natural to allow himself better positioning and WhiteRa obliged by chasing him in. The big clash commenced as Zealots charged forward in to the bio ball. The engagement favored DeMusliM as he had both the bigger army and the better upgrades, sitting at 2/2 while WhiteRa had only 2 armour.

The battle quickly turned in the Terran's favour, and once the tanking Zealots fell the Stalkers and Colossi soon followed. With the Protoss army defeated, DeMusliM pushed to take control of the center of the map. Even so, DeMusliM had taken his fair share of losses as well, and had to work to fend off the next round of Zealot reinforcements coming to contest the center. DeMusliM used some excellent micro in this engagement, dropping his Vikings to the ground to waste the Zealot's charges, before putting them back in to flight mode and allowing his bio ball to go to work.

After that battle concluded, the supply favoured DeMusliM by around forty, but White-Ra had a slightly better economy and production. On the other hand, DeMusliM had mostly caught up in the harvester count and he had a significant upgrade advantage with 3/3 on the way for his bio and +1 weapons for his Vikings while White-Ra was still on zero attack upgrades. Despite having had had Templar tech for some time, White-Ra had skipped over Psionic Storm upgrade in favor of Archons.

DeMuslim pushed into the Protoss third but the production from White-Ra proved to be too much, repelling the attack with minimal losses. However, at the same time, Vikings were landing in the Protoss main and took down a decent amount of Probes before being forced to lift. The balance of power proved to be precarious, as another small engagement in the middle of the map saw DeMusliM's supply lead turn in to a deficit as the Archons blasted Medivacs out of the sky. Unfazed, DeMusliM added Ghosts to his army while ramping up his production capabilities with a ton more Rax and backed up into a more defensive position.

As White-Ra planted his fifth base, he moved to attack the DeMusliM's fourth. DeMusliM tried to even the score with a marine drop at White-Ra's fourth but had his harassment deflected. However, with a single Marine chipping away at the White-Ra's warping fifth, DeMusliM managed to draw the entire Protoss army into the bottom right hand corner of the map, a cul-de-sac into which the Terran army was rapidly pursuing. A great EMP pushed the Protoss army even further into the corner, but there was nowhere to run for White-Ra. DeMusliM kept pushing hard and with great EMPs and better upgrades, ripped through the trapped Protoss army with barely a loss. When the engagement ended, the supplies stood at 193 to 108 in favour of the Terran.

DeMusliM immediately headed for the third base of White-Ra, extending the lead with another victorious battle that took down the Protoss base. DeMusliM continued to storm his way through White-Ra's bases, ripping through the natural and the main. White-Ra tried a counter-attack directly in to the Terran main, but it was only delaying defeat. The counter attack was cleared up by newly spawned forces, and White-Ra was forced to GG as the Terran army arrived at his last mining base.

A rather short write-up for what was actually a pretty epic game, which was due to a quiet first fifteen minutes that suddenly exploded into crazy action. This is definitely one of the best games of the season so far. Also, the first game was just as good, so it also comes highly recommended.