Welcome back! I hope you are all well and ready for another exciting season of NASL. The Korean boycott was certainly an unfortunate set back, but the first few weeks showed that the NASL will be delivering some great Starcraft nonetheless. From week one, we bring you game one of Sen vs. SeleCT, featuring two prodigiously skilled players who duked it out in an early match that would certainly have severe ranking implications in the future.

Both players have the potential to win this group, and a loss for either would have been an immediate and mortal blow to their campaign. With only two players from each division guaranteed a spot in the finals, an early loss could be the difference between an all expenses paid trip to California or a fight to the death in the play-offs.

So without further gilding the lily, let's go into the game.



The game began with Sen spawning at the 6 o'clock position while SeleCT began at across the map at 12. Sen elected to open with a fifteen-Hatch while SeleCT went for a standard twelve-Rax thirteen-Gas build, following up with the obligatory Bunker rush at Sen's natural. Sen parried the move fairly well, ending the pressure with a single worker lost on either side. SeleCT continued into a quick reactor Factory, but any plan of going for a tech heavy build was thwarted by Sen's gas steal.

SeleCT then made an uncharacteristic blunder as he lifted off his Rax for the add-on swap with Zerglings clearly in sight, almost letting a squad of Zerglings into his base. Luckily for SeleCT, Sen was only pressuring with a small group of Zerglings, that decided that discretion was the better part of valour and fled at the sight of three Marines (had Sen been counting on this mistake from SeleCT, he would have sent eighteen Zerglings to end the game).



SeleCT, in the meanwhile, begun building his CC for a standard Hellion expansion build, while Sen elected to drone hard with delayed tech. The game fell in to a slow pace as both players began to move towards the mid-game, Sen putting down a macro Hatchery and starting to work on the rocks at his gold while SeleCT landed his OC at his natural and ramped up Marine and Medivac production.

With two Medivacs out and Stim nearly finished, SeleCT moved out; obviously looking to use his ridiculous APM for some serious drop harass. The first drop into Sen's main seemed to be doomed to failure as the Marines got themselves surrounded by Drones on one side and a huge group of Zerglings on the other but SeleCT managed to slip his troops away just in time. Sen took a decent amount of Drone and ling losses before a few Roaches hatched and forced SeleCT to pick up his remaining force and retreat.

Both players geared up to take their gold expansions while furthering their tech. SeleCT began to add Siege Tanks to his composition, while Sen started his Spire. The drop harass continued as SeleCT tried to hit both the gold and main of his opponent, but Sen's multi-tasking and troop placement was more than up to the job and he deflected the harassment with relative ease. However, persistence paid off for SeleCT, who used a diversionary drop at the gold base to kill three Overlords in Sen's main, supply blocking him just before he began Mutalisk production.



SeleCT got his third expansion up and running at the gold and secured it with a PF while continuing to keep Sen on his toes with the threat of Medivac drops. Not long after, SeleCT decided it was time to move out with his main army and began to move his siege line towards the Xel'Naga Tower. Possessing the supply lead and a strong army of Ling/Bling/Muta with a smattering of Roaches, Sen challenged SeleCT for control of the middle. Though SeleCT's positioning was near perfect, Sen's forces proved to be too much, wiping the tanks out of the middle and forcing the surviving marines to retreat back to the natural.

It seemed like SeleCT had fallen behind after that engagement, but his multi-tasking and aggressive nature kept him afloat. During the battle, he was hitting both the Zerg natural and main with drops, and caused significant damage at the natural. While Sen's victorious forces in the middle were unable to press their advantage against the PF-defended gold base, SeleCT's forces at Sen's natural moved to the main and continued to cause trouble.



Sen finally got an army back to his main to defend against the drop but not before his Spire was lost. As both players looked to take their fourth bases, it seemed like the game would stabilize for period. However, SeleCT attempted another push through the center with his Marine/Tank force, taking aim at the Zerg's gold expansion. However, Sen has macroed up a very effective force and swatted the attack away, destroying the Tanks and forcing the Marines to flee in a repeat of the first engagement.



Just as SeleCT had come out ahead after losing the first engagement because of drops, he drew Sen's attention with a drop in the main for long enough to kill off the fourth base at the 3 o'clock natural. Select still had the supply lead, and once more to positioned his forces around the Xel'Naga tower, and as before, a perfectly executed attack by Sen drove the marines back as the Roaches cleaned up the tanks with relative. The game slowed down for a moment as both players macroed up and contemplated their next moves.

Sen desperately needed to get a fourth base up and running, and tried to take the 3 o'clock base again, but SeleCT sent in a small group of Marines and forced the cancel. In the meanwhile, SeleCT was safely taking his corner expansion. This resource advantage seemed to be what SeleCT needed to finally find some success in the center of the map. The fourth big engagement in the center saw both sides trade units, but Sen was forced out of the center as Mutas were left against Marines.



Another drop found its way into the Zerg main as SeleCT moved his main force towards the gold base once more. Another insanely effective attack from Sen cleaned it up despite his Banelings not finding their mark and Sen chases SeleCT all the way back to his natural. And as usual, SeleCT dropped the main during the attack, taking out the Spire once more. This hold bought Sen the time to finally secure his fourth base, but both his main and natural were already mined out, and his gold was rapidly running out of minerals. Despite his constant losses in the center, SeleCT's superior economy allowed him to create a sixth and final force. At last, Sen found himself unable to match SeleCT's army, and GG'd out after losing in the game's last battle.



Another great TvZ between two of the match-ups finest. SeleCT's constant aggression and drop harass is truly wondrous to behold and Sen's defense and clutch control is always an honour to watch. VOD's are free for Week 1 of NASL Season 2. So if you haven't already, watch this game!

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Week Two's Game of the Week comes from division five, and it was not just hands down the best game of the week, but a candidate for game of the entire season.. ZvP has been getting better and better for a while now and this game has everything, and I do mean everything. Dimaga showed why he is feared by even the Koreans and HasuObs plays a stunning game once again.




The players spawned at cross map positions; HasuObs at 3 o'clock and Dimaga at 9 o'clock. Dimaga elected for a Spawning Pool first build while HasuObs decided on two-gas before Cybernetics Core strategy, going on to fast Stargate. The first Void Ray popped out and was immediately scouted by a Zergling darting in towards HasuObs natural. Extra Queens and Spore Crawlers were immediately thrown down while HasuObs took advantage of Dimaga's defensive posture and took his natural expansion.

The lone Void Ray found its way to the Zerg main and due to poor Spore placement, managed to get four Drone kills before the Queen could drive it away. Meanwhile, noticing no Hydralisk Den, HasuObs built up up a small flock of Phoenixes to assist his Void Ray. These forces caught Dimaga off guard when he expanded to his gold base at around the 10 minute mark, killing the two defending Queens and barely killing the Hatchery before Spore Crawlers could take root.


Despite losing the Hatchery, Dimaga took some small revenge with a huge fungal that trapped and killed some of the Phoenix force. With the early harassment tactics over, both players went into infrastructure building mode, allowing each other to tech and expand as they split the map in two. Dimaga quickly took every base on the upper left half of the map, consolidating his position with Spine Crawlers while heading towards Brood Lord tech. HasuObs also took expansions freely, putting together a death-ball of Zealots and Stalkers supported by Colossi and High Templars.

Having maxed out, HasuObs went on the offensive. He struck Dimaga at an opportune time, catching him with a vastly superior ground army just as he started morphing Brood Lords. HasuObs engaged as the morph was about 50% complete, using a huge blink under the morphing Broodlords to kill several before they could complete. Dimaga tried to move in with his Infestors but they were quickly dispatched by great feedbacks, only managing to drop out a few Infested Terrans before dying.

The Brood Lords finally finished morphing, but by that time there were only three left. However, Dimaga had whittled down HasuObs' force enough so that 112 fresh Zerglings were enough to clean up what was left of the Protoss army.



With faster reinforcements, it was Dimaga's turn to attack. He made his way into the Protoss natural, but a huge warp in of Zealots managed to thwart the attack. Another Roach-Ling attack into the 6 o'clock natural was more successful, with HasuObs forced to cancel his warping fifth base. Despite this setback, HasuObs still managed to put together a powerful army and once again tried to threaten Dimaga's gold base. More Brood Lords, Lings and level three melee upgrades finished for the Dimaga just as HasuObs pushed forward. The Broodlords fell to a huge blink once more, but some great use of fungals and Infested Terrans together with cracklings managed to hold the fort, leaving both players at around 120 supply a piece.

During the attack, HasuObs got his fifth base up and running and put himself on near even economy with Dimaga. Both players headed towards max supply as the game settled down somewhat, with the entire tech tree and massive amounts of resources available to both sides.



Seeing the eighteen Broodlords for Dimaga, HasuObs started working on Carriers and a MOTHERSHIP along with their respective air upgrades. As the Broodlords began to lay siege the Protoss main, HasuObs counter-blinked into the undefended Zerg main to snipe the Hive and force Dimaga's air force to return. However, the trade turned out to be nowhere near worth it for HasuObs as he was unable to evacuate his army in time, leading to their annihilation at the hands of the returning Brood Lords.



This left HasuObs without an army during his transition to Carriers, allowing Dimaga's Brood Lords to take out all of the buildings at the 6 o'clock position before the Mothership and Carriers were able to defend. HasuObs found himself on 4 bases and almost mined out, but with a nice 7k in the bank. Having put together an army of Carriers, Stalkers,Templars, and a Mothership, HasuObs moved out.

A huge engagement ensued, with Hasuobs using a great vortex to catch all the Zerg Corruptors and isolate the vulnerable Brood Lords. Though the Mothership finally fell to the Corruptors after they emerged from the vortex, HasuObs had already taken care of the Brood Lords by then. Carriers with Stalker support were just too strong, and they cleaned up the remaining half of Dimaga's air force.



Unfortunately for HasuObs, Dimaga's economy was too much to handle. Dimaga morphed in another sixteen Corruptors, four Infestors and around thirty Roaches and cleaned up the Protoss army while HasuObs was still trying to re-establish bases at the 6 o'clock position. The supplies stood at 188 for Zerg and 97 for Protoss as both players emptied their savings. HasuObs had barely gotten his 5th and 6th bases back up and running when Dimaga broke out the Ultralisks.



The final engagement was swift and decisive. After a hard fought game, HasuObs was forced to GG.