EPT
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We're already into April and just beginning Qualifier #2 here at the Collegiate Starleague, but we're not about to forget all the madness that was March just yet! In case you didn't see Qualifier #1 and want to catch up on what went down, your Ro8 and Ro4 recaps are right here!
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Ro8 Broadcast Recaps
by Jon Sargent
UCD vs. Twin Cities
We start the night off with a TvT between UC Davis’s Tbeezy (T) and Twin Cities’ enigmatik (T) on Newkirk Precinct. Both players open with reapers, factories, and then eventually expand without either suffering much damage. Tbeezy’s widow mine medivac harass causes a bit of a hiccup for enigmatik, as both players opt for bio-tank compositions. Tbeezy continues to maintain the economic lead he gathered from his mid-game harassment; he continues to disrupt enigmatik’s economy while maintaining a significant supply lead. A few key widow mines and drops go very well for Tbeezy, allowing him to double his opponents supply and easily a-move to victory.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Q4Z3hom.jpg)
Watch the VOD here!
The loveable Spanishiwa (Z) steps in to play a ZvP on Star Station against Ssok (P). Ssok opts for a very fast Mothership Core and Stalker off one base, while Spanishiwa goes for the very traditional gasless double expand. Upon noticing the lack of a fast expansion from Ssok, Spanishiwa immediately cancels his third base and starts spine crawlers. This turns out to be quite fortunate, as Ssok is planning on 4-gating the Zerg player. Ssosk sees the massive amount of defenses and starts a Nexus, but his failed 4gate has set his economy very far behind. Ssok now attempts an immortal sentry all-in, which Spanishiwa is able to easily deflect with a huge hydra-ling army. Ssok is forced to GG a few minutes later on as Spanishiwa’s 18 mutalisks hatch.
A 2v2 on Overwatch follows, with Speece (T) and larvafern (Z) representing UC Davis and Xenonn (T) and Ziem (P) representing Twin Cities. UC Davis defends well against the early pressure from Twin Cities, and Speece’s widow mines cripple Ziem’s economy early on. UC Davis maintains their economic lead and eventually rolls over the Twin Cities team with a huge bio-roach-hydra composition to seal the set 3-0 for UC Davis.
Watch the VOD here!
Results: 3-0 UC Davis
OSU vs. SJSU
The set begins with a TvZ on Newkirk Precinct between OSU’s TripleOSeven (T) and SJSU’s VaPox (Z). Seven goes for a command center first into hellions, followed by yet another command center, while Vapox opens with a hatch first with 4 quick queens and a relatively early third base. VaPox builds a large amount of static defenses to defend against drops, and Seven composes an army of medivacs, marauders, marines, and widow mines as the game approaches the 12 minute mark. VaPox’s macro is lacking as Seven’s army obliterates the VaPox's roach-hydra army after an uneventful macro game to secure an easy victory.
Watch the VOD here!
Next is a TvP between OSU’s IIIIdelF (T) and SJSU’s RunnerMeep (P) on Akilon Flats. A quick expand is IIIIdelF’s opener of choice, while Meep proxies a Stargate in the northeast corner of the map. The early oracles fail to do any damage, and while the follow up warp gate attack forces IIIIdelF to lift his command center and lose a few SCVs, he still maintains a significant economic and tech lead against Meep. Refusing to expand, Meep continues to harass IIIIdelF with warp gate units and oracles, but each attack is less and less successful. Meep attempts to expand at the 12 minute mark, but the second his nexus finishes he is overrun by a stimmed ball of MMM. IIIIdelF’s solid defense gains another victory for OSU.
Watch the VOD here!
The set continues with a 2v2 on Overwatch between SJSU’s Hatefiend (Z) and kentofighter (P) and OSU’s Scylla (T) and Kipi (Z). SJSU attempts baneling bust in combination with an early warp gate attack against OSU’s early expansions, but the attack is easily repelled. A swift counter attack from Scylla and Kipi prompts a quick GG from SJSU, finishing the set 3-0 for OSU.
Watch the VOD here!
Results: 3-0 OSU
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UC Berkeley vs. UC Los Angeles
by Michael Rea
Our first game of the series pits UC Berkeley's TwentyOneJ (T) against UCLA’s Night(Z) on Newkirk Precinct. TwentyOneJ opens with reaper/bunker harassment, while Night counter with an expansion with zergling/banelings to defend. TwentyOneJ goes right for some heavy hellion play, demonstrating great map control and forcing Night to tech into roaches. Successful zergling harassment causes TwentyOneJ some lost mining time, but the Berkeley Terran comes back with a well-executed double medivac/marine drop. Night answers with a roach/zergling push, and ultimately steals the game for UCLA in a base race finish.
Watch the VOD here!
One the heels of an exciting game one, none other than UC Berkeley's own Suppy (Z) faces off ytsejam (Z) from UCLA on Akilon Wastes. Highlighted by almost exact expansion timings, unit composition, and micro, this tense game seemed it could go either way. Initial poking with zerglings on both sides led to a showdown between mutalisks, with Suppy coming out ahead and forcing a GG from ytsejam.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/cA3Vgqc.jpg)
Watch the VOD here!
Our 2v2 matchup on Overwatch put UC Berkeley's Sky (P) and Sunshine (Z) against UCLA’s Drakegari (T) and Bryan (Z). A relatively short game, with both teams opting for mostly Wings of Liberty units. Smart engagements and excellent macro follow ups allow UC Berkeley to dominate UCLA and come out with their second win.
Watch the VOD here!
In the final game of the set, we see Fan (T) from UC Berkeley square off against Smagic (Z) of UCLA on Star Station. Fan finds success in the now-popular reaper opening; highlighting solid micro while following it up with a heavy barracks build. Smagic holds off well, eventually going for a late Spire. Despite having some good engagements and solid defending, Fan proved to be too much for Smagic, pulling UC Berkeley 3-1 above Los Angeles for the series win.
Watch the VOD here!
Results: 3-1 UC Berkeley
UMCP vs. NAU
Watch this set on Twitch!
In our first matchup of the second set, Northern Arizona brings Barcode (Z) against College Park's Aidan (T) on Newkirk Precinct. Another reaper/bunker opening from our Terran player, but it doesn't produce the same results, as Barcode does a nice drone pull-off and destroys the bunker. Aidan expands behind it and goes right for the widow mines, spreading them out in hopes to deny any additional hatcheries as long as possible. Barcode techs into a roach/mutalisk composition, while Aiden goes for a marine/tank heavy build. Aiden goes on the offensive, eventually forcing Barcode to go for ultralisks. Excellent widow mine play spells the end of the ultras and the end of Barcode for Maryland's first win.
This second matchup on Aikilon Wastes sees RKB (Z) represent Maryland and Deadleaf (T) for Arizona. Both sides start the matchup with a macro-emphasis, with RKB getting three hatcheries by the six minute mark and Deadleaf opting for three command centers. The Arizona Terran goes for some early hellion/widow mine play, while our College Park Zerg builds a roach/hydralisk combo. Solid early engagements lead to some fantastic nydus canal plays, with Deadleaf responding with a drop of his own. In a last ditch effort, RKB brings out the ultralisks and vipers, but it just isn't quite enough to hold off Deadleaf; giving Arizona its' first win of the set.
In our second 2v2 of the night, NAU brings out Hex (P) and Coldflame (T) against UMCP's Barcode (P) and HappyNun (T). Barcode tries to catch Arizona off-guard with a simultaneous drop and oracle push. NAU responds with a heavy marine count, coupled with zealots and colossi. Both teams stay on one base for quite some time, finally feeling comfortable to expand around the 12-minute mark. In the end, a bio/mech and sky-toss composition prove to be too much for NAU to handle.
We find ourselves on Star Station for our last match, pitting UMCP's YYZ (T) against NAU's abSxLegend (T) for a nice TvT fight. asbSxLegend opens up with some reaper harrassment, followed by a drop into YYZ's main. YYZ sends a sizeable marine/tank force and slowly inches up towards abSxLegend's natural. With some good viking use, UMCP forces NAU to throw everything he has toward the siege tank line, and ultimately concedes, giving UMCP the series 3-1.
Results: 3-1 UMCP
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Ro4 Broadcast Recaps
by Nick Dawes
University of California, Davis (UCD) vs Ohio State University (OSU)
The Round of 4 started with UC Davis sending out Kai “BoBoTheBear” Yu (P) against Ohio State's Isaac “Isaac” Smith (Z). Both players opened with fast-expand builds, Smith taking a fast third hatch vs Yu's forge fast expand. Yu followed up with an immortal sentry push with a mothership core at Smith's third, and Smith counter-attacked with roach ling. The counter prompted Yu to recall, ending the base-trade scenario, but Yu was left on the back foot. He played defensively and stabilized, but during an engagement at Smith's fourth Yu's mscore got sniped, canceling a recall. Smith was able to push from there and kill off Yu, giving Ohio State the first win of the evening.
VOD – BoBoTheBear v Isaac
Up next was Michael “Spanishiwa” Yabut (Z) against Jacob “Kipi” Kipi (Z). Yabut opened 15 pool 16 hatch, while Kipi went 15 hatch 15 pool. Kipi planted a baneling nest and roach warren, where Spanishiwa opted for just ling bane. When Kipi did a roach ling push, 5 spines at Yabut's natural choke held Kipi off. With no follow-up planned, Kipi gg'd, tying the series 1-1.
VOD – Spanishiwa v Kipi
In the 2v2 we saw Erik “Speece” Speece Eric “larvafern” Zhao from UC Davis(TZ) and Jimmy “Scylla” Kang and Michael “VaPox” Gord for Ohio State(TZ). All four players opted for fast expands. But Davis followed up with baneling hellion while OSU chose marine baneling. OSU held Davis's ling bane hellion push. Meanwhile, Speece dropped widow mines in Gord's main, snagging 10 drone kills. Kang responded with a double drop, barely made it into Zhao's base between static defenses, but failed to do much damage. Speece set up a bio mech contain outside OSU's natural, and barely held when OSU tried to break out. While OSU was weak from their attempt at breaking the contain, Zhao's roach hydra army marched up for a counter-push, and OSU tapped out.
VOD – Speece & larvafern v Scylla v VaPox
In the final game Davis fielded Tim “Tbeezy” Gandionco (T) against Ohio State's Andy “Klimczak” Klimczak (Z) on Akilon. Gandionco opened proxy 8-8-8 against Klimczak's 15 hatch. Klimczak defended the reaper, bunker pressure, and a small marine, reaper, hellion followup push at his third. But Gandionco's subsequent marine, tank push was on the way shortly thereafter. Klimczak killed off the tanks, but the marine ball survived. At the same time, Gandionco dropped into Klimczak's main and third. Klimczak's third fell while the Terran's fourth landed. Gandionco doom dropped into Klimczak's main just as the ultras came out. Klimczak cleaned up the drop, but Gandionco was already up 110 supply, and Klimczak was overwhelmed, forcing the gg. UC Davis took the victory, 3-1.
"VOD – Tbeezy v Klimczak":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMMitbW-IfY&list=PLLRX8sGPrliFvadmK8gAW68EccvPrfVPn&index=19
Results: 3-1 UC Davis
University of California, Berkeley (Cal) vs University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP)
Game 1 was a TvZ on Daybreak between UMCP's Dylan “yyz” Hernandez and Cal's Conan “Suppy” Liu. Hernandez opened 1rax FE into triple CC, with a reactor factory for widow mines. He also got fast double ebays. Liu had excellent overlord coverage, and flew one through Hernandez's main, spotting all the tech and the 3CC opener. When Liu saw how greedy Hernandez's play was he set up a strong roach push. Hernandez tried to defend with half-a-dozen widow mines and a bunker but 16+ roaches overran the depot wall and broke into the Terran main. Liu took the win when Hernandez was unable to repel the roaches.
VOD – Suppy v yyz
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zm4J9we.jpg)
Next was a TvT on Star Station between UMCP's Aidan “Aidan” Hwang and Fan “Fan” Yang from Cal. Yang opened with a proxy 8-8-8 in the middle of the map, followed by a second proxy rax in Aidan's fourth. He proceeded to harass Hwang's base with reapers. Hwang got supply blocked when one of the depots on his wall exploded, forcing a supply drop on the other depot in the wall. Yang managed to kill that depot as well, knocking Aidan down to the 19 supply cap. Hwang tried a desperate marine push to bully the reapers away, but while most of Yang's reapers retreated, two new ones flew into Hwang's main, killing workers while Yang held the marine push with a bunker and some slick reaper micro at his ramp. Hwang holds on until the last moment to gg with only 2 supply depots, a rax, and CC remaining.
VOD – Aidan v Fan
Sunshine & Sky vs Happynun & Barcode – In the 2v2 Cal sent out Luke “Sunshine” Lalor (Z) and Richard “Sky” Xue (T) to face Thomas “Happynun” Wyderko and the elusive “Barcode” (P) from UMCP. Barcode opened quick oracles while Cal expanded. UMCP tried to simultaneously drop and use an oracle to harass Sky, but Sky defended with some nice stutter step micro. Cal tried to push UMCP's natural with Roach, but were deflected. When UMCP pushed across the map with tanks and a colossus, Cal could not engage in a direct fight. However, Sky landed a nice drop while UMCP's army moved to Cal's side of the map. In the chaos of the drop harass Cal caught UMCP's colossus and tanks out of position and wiped them out, temporarily ceding map control back to Cal. Even though UMCP killed off Sky's third with a tank/colossus composition, Sunshine's blinding clouds blanketed UMCP's army allowing the bio, roach, hydra force of Cal to march in and kill off UMCP's army.
VOD – Sunshine & Sky v Happynun & Barcode
Results: 3-0 UC Berkeley
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Now that you know UC Davis and Berkeley are going into the finals for this tournament, make sure you're following the current qualifiers round to see who will be joining them! As always, you can see our broadcasts Tuesday-Thurdsday nights on twitch.tv/cstarleague!
