SCI 4 recaps

Map: Metalopolis
Standings: DarKFoRcE 0-0 Stephano

DarKFoRcE went for a 14-pool with speed, as Stephano started morphing in his Hatchery before getting his Pool. Stephano produced 6 Zerglings himself, and pushed it back, as DarKFoRcE expanded behind this. Both players got themselves Baneling Nests, with DarKFoRcE managing to scout Stephano's Baneling Nest, and also killing off a Drone with the 2 Speedlings he used to scout.

Stephano went around the initial scouting Overlord, only showing his army to DarKFoRcE when he had no other choice. An exchange ensued, with both players losing Speedlings & Banelings as well as Drones when DarKFoRcE did the same thing with a Speedling runby into the main of Stephano.

Both players then transitioned into Roaches, and DarKFoRcE managed to kill off Stephano's third Hatchery. DarKFoRcE transitioned into Infestors, moving his Roaches into the third as well as the natural Stephano once again, but Stepaho managed to push it back, killing off a lot of Roaches in the process.

Stephano continued to push towards the natural of DarKFoRcE, and having the numeral advantage, managed to secure the first win in this series after some rounds of Acidic spitting by the Roaches of both sides.

Map: Antiga Shipyard
Standings: DarKFoRcE 0-1 Stephano

Both players opened up with the same builds as last game, with DarKFoRcE going 14-Pool with Extractor, and Stephano building a 15-Hatch followed-up by a Spawning Pool. The players also spawned the exact same amount of Zerglings when their Pools finished. When DarKFoRcE got Speed for his Zerglings, he went into Stepahno's main, and saw the Baneling Nest, pulling back shortly thereafter.

DarKFoRcE then started morphing some Banelings and moved into the natural of Stephano, but it didn't do any significant economic damage, although it managed to kill off some Speedlings. After this was pushed back, Stephano managing to kill some morphing Banelings in the process, moved into the natural of DarKFoRcE, but he got trapped and a lot of Lings got killed off. His third was also forced to get cancelled, since DarKFoRcE came in with a lot of Speedlings.

Both players then macro'ed up, getting their Roaches out, as DarKFoRcE got himself an Infestation Pit. Stephano then started morphing in his macro Hatchery, getting a lot of Roaches in the process, eventually moving out. An engagement ensued, which DarKFoRcE got the better end of thanks to Fungal Growths. Stephano, however, managed to rebuild his army, and forced the other army away from his bases. He also managed to kill off the fourth base of DarKFoRcE.

DarKFoRcE managed to push Stephano back, but Stephano did a Ling run-by into the third & natural, killing off a lot of Drones, as DarKFoRcE pushed into Stephano's natural, killing off a lot of Stephano's army, eventually forcing the GG, and now we're up 1-1

Map: Shakuras Plateau
Standings: DarKFoRcE 1-1 Stephano

The beginning was exactly the same as the previous games, with the only difference being Stephano getting 4 Zerglings instead of 6. After pushing back the initial push of DarKFoRcE, Stephano started building his Roach Warren, but thanks to his Speedlings, DarKFoRcE managed to scout this out, and cancelled his Baneling Nest in favor of building a Roach Warren of his own.

Both players then got their respective third expansions up, with DarKFoRcE getting himself his Infestation Pit. Stephano also took a fourth base in the top-left of the map, getting an Infestation Pit of his own when it finished. Stephano then went for a 2-pronged attack into the third & natural of DarKFoRcE, but that failed thanks to the Fungal Growth the Infestors did.

Stephano did a Roach run-by into the main of DarKFoRcE, and even though he lost a ton of Roaches, he managed to snipe off a TON of tech building, such as the Roach Warren & Infestation Pit. DarKFoRcE went for a counter-attack, but Stephano managed to hold it off with the help of Spine Crawlers & Fungals. After this engagement, Stephano pushed into the natural of DarKFoRcE, killing off the opposing force & making DarKFoRcE surrender.

Stephano taking this series 2-1, and the next series will be DarKFoRcE vs ThorZaIN.

Map: Tal'Darim Altar
Standings: ThorZaIN 0-0 DarKFoRcE

Since both of the players here having lost their first series, they needed to win this if they were to have any chance of advancing. The players spawned cross-map, with DarKFoRcE doing a quick expansion as ThorZaIN went for a 1-Rax into expand, getting his Factory as his Command Center finished up, eventually getting Double Hellions, as well as getting a third CC & another Barracks.

Both players then transitioned into some passive playing as both players continued to build up their armies & worker counts, with DarKFoRcE getting himself a Roach warren & starting to morph his Lair as well as getting a Spire later. ThorZaIN then started getting some Siege Tanks, as well as landing his third. ThorZaIN scouted out DarKFoRcE's third, which forced him to spawn a lot of Speedlings, eventually killing off all of the Hellions, but ThorZaIN managed to do some great damage to the Zergling numbers thanks to some great positioning.

DarKFoRcE attempted to do some Mutalisk harass, but that was thwarted thanks to some Missile Turrets. ThorZaIN then started building 2 more Command Centers. As ThorZaIN attempted a drop at DarKFoRcE's fourth, but that was denied, as a flock of Mutalisks flew into the fourth, doing some economic damage before flying off without even losing one Mutalisk. DarKFoRcE went on to get a Greater Spire as well as a Nydus Network.

ThorZaIN continued to build more Command Centers, but DarKFoRcE managed to snipe off one of them with the help of Intestors. The Mutalisks managed to take out a couple of Ghosts & Siege Tanks, as ThorZaIN transitioned into getting himself more airborn units, preparing for the Brood Lord switch. The Brood Lords managed to kill off the Planetary at the fourth expansion of ThorZaIN, and then pulled back.

DarKFoRcE then pushed with his Brood Lords & Infestors through the middle, killing off a lot of ThorZaIN's army, and even though almost all of his Infestors got EMP'd, his army was just too strong, and he kept pushing until the Ghosts came in with snipes en masse, killing off a ton of Brood Lords. He then proceeded to do a contain at the natural of the bottom-left base, where he killed off quite a lot of Brood Lords thanks to his Vikings.

Some Infestors attempted to drop some Infested Terrans at ThorZaIN's fourth, but the Planetary Fortress managed to deny that. DarKFoRcE then did a ling run-by at the Terran natural and third, doing damage to the Supply Depot & SCV numbers, forcing ThorZaIN to pull his Vikings back, which allowed DarKFoRcE to move his Brood Lords out from the bottom base, but he got pushed back again but the Ghosts.

ThorZaIN managed to kill off some Hatcheries, coming out with the supply advantage. After landing a great Seeker Missile which killed off a lot of Brood Lords, ThorZain killed off DarKFoRcE's last base at the bottom of the map. This put the Zerg player at quite an awkward position, with nearly no resources, and ThorZain started his slow push and DarKFoRcE GG'ed out after this game, which took nearly one whole hour!

Map: Daybreak
Standings: ThorZaIN 1-0 DarKFoRcE

The start of the game was pretty similar to last game, with DarKFoRcE going Hatch before pool, and ThorZain getting himself 2 Barracks & a Factory along with his expansion, getting double Hellions and quite an early Starport. A macro Hatchery went down as well as an evolution chamber, as ThorZaIN expanded a third time to which DarKFoRcE responded with some 2-base Spire play.

DarKFoRcE hatched a ton of Speedlings & Banelings until his Spire finished. ThorZaIN managed to kill off quite a bit of Mutalisks, and picked up his Marines when the Ling/Baneling force reached his army. DarKFoRcE attempted to do a Baneling Bust, but that didn't work out, even though the Mutalisks managed to kill off a Siege Tank. ThorZaIN then pushed oout with his army as DarKFoRcE threw away his Speedlings & Mutas against the Supply Depot wall, and after losing even more units, he had no choice but to surrender, making ThorZaIN win this series 2-0!

ThorZaIN won 2-0

Map: Antiga Shipyard
Standings: DarKFoRcE 0-0 NightEnD

NightEnD opened up with a Forge-Fast Expand, as DarKFoRcE went for a Pool before Hatchery. Due to lag issues, I came back a while later to watch the third hatchery get scouted out by the Protoss player, placing down a pretty early Twilight Council in response. The 4 additional Gateways were scouted out by a sacrificial Overlord, but not the Robotics Facility & Twilight Council. DarKFoRcE got his Roach Warren up shortly thereafter.

After this, I went for some food, so I don't know what happened, Sorry

I came back to see an engagement in the middle, where DarKFoRcE's Roaches got totally obliterated by Storms, Immortals & Colossi, and with NightEnD killing off the Zerg fourth. The rest of the game was basically NightEnD crushing DarKFoRcE, effectively making him not able to advance any longer

Map: Daybreak
Standings: DarKFoRcE 0-1 NightEnD

The players opened up quite similarly to last game, with NightEnD doing a FFE, and DarKFoRcE doing a Pool-before-Hatch build, getting his Zerglings out before placing down his Hatchery. He then took his third, as two Zealots & a Stalker moved out to allow a Probe to build a Proxy Pylon, which DarKFoRcE scouted out pretty darn early. However, the push got easily repelled by Lings & Roaches as well as some Spine Crawlers.

DarKFoRcE tech'ed up to Spire as well as a Hydralisk Den, as NightEnD moved out to attempt a push towards the Zerg third after killing off a lot of Creep Tumors, and his army got sandwiched by numerous Roaches & Hydras, but he managed to survive the engagement, although DarKFoRcE had quite a large supply lead. NightEnD, attempting to expand to his third & teching up to Colossi, as some Zerglings forced the cancellation of the third.

Both players then continued to be passive, as NightEnD illed off the fourth, but DarKFoRcE forced the third to cancel once again. The two armies then clashed, but they pulled back, and some more passivity ensued, as NightEnD got his third up. The armies then clashed, as the Colossi fell, and DarKFoRcE got a ton more Roaches, putting in a dominant supply lead. The Zerg swarm took its sweet time, but eventually, the Protoss force got annihilated, and the players are now 1-1, with the decisive third game coming up!

Map: Tal'Darim Altar
Standings: DarKFoRcE 1-1 NightEnD

The player spawned cross-map, as DarKFoRcE went for quite an early extractor while NightEnD opened up with a FFE once again. Our Zerg player went for a pretty fast third Hatchery after sort-of tricking NightEnD into thinking some sort of early aggression was coming up. The sacrificial Overlord saw 4 Sentries, an indicator of a safe play.

DarKFoRcE then got himself some roaches, as Blink & +1 Weapons were researched. NightEnD eventually scouted out the third Hatchery, as an Infestation Pit, and a little bit later a Spire as well as a fast Hive, went down. Now, as the Protoss player finally understood what had been going on, he decided to get his fourth Nexus up. NightEnD then, anticipating the Brood Lord switch, got himself a Stargate, getting himself a Fleet Beacon & Mothership later, as DarKFoRcE placed down a Spine fortification in front of his hatching Brood Lords.

DarKFoRcE got himself a Nydus Network as NightEnD started warping his third Nexus in. A Nydus Nexus went down at the third expansion, but that was quickly denied by the Protoss forces, and NightEnD took himself a fifth expansion, where a Nydus Worm was placed down, as well as in the main, but both of them got killed off pretty quickly.

DarKFoRcE managed to take control of the Mothership with the help of a Neural Parasite, using the Vortex on the Protoss Forces, but NightEnD's army came out alive in the end. Both players then continued building their respective armies up, as some Lings killed off the Cannons at the Protoss fifth, but didn't manage to do a lot of damage to the Nexus.

NightEnD then warped in 15 DT's, but they weren't able to do any significant damage, as another Nydus Worm came down. 2 DT's managed to take out a Hatchery, as the two armies clashed in the middle, where DarKFoRcE came out slightly on top. The Zerg army then moved towards the fifth base of NightEnD, eventually taking it out, but the Brood Lords got taken out by Blink Stalkers.

Later on, another Hatchery was taken out as NightEnD started taking the supply lead. The Protoss army moved towards one of the last mining bases, eventually taking out. Another Neural Parasite on the Mothership managed to pull off another vortex on the Protoss army, with this one working out a lot better for DarKFoRcE.

The armies clashed outside the fifth of NightEnD once again, with the Zerg Army coming out on Top with the help of Tansfuses on the Brood Lords, forcing the Protoss army to pull back, eventually getting annihilated and making NightEnD call the GG, and DarKFoRcE took this series 2-1 after an amazing game 3!

Stephano won 2-1

ThorZaIN defeated Stephano's early Ultralisk-switch on Shakuras Plataea, destroying him after, ensuring his advancement and destroying any hopes of NightEnD advancing.

Map: Antiga Shipyard
Standings: ThorZaIN 1-0 Stephano

ThorZaIN went for a 1-Barracks into expansion with gas on 15, whereas Stephano went for a Hatchery before Pool. ThorZaIN then went for double Hellions on his Factory, as Stephano scouted out his early Command Center. The response to this was a quick Lair by our Zerg player, building an early Spire, which would effectively deny Hellion harass. This wasn't too big a deal, since ThorZaIN only built 6 Hellions before switching over to Siege Tank production.

Stephano also went ahead & got himself a Baneling nest, as he did some Mutalisk harass, killing off quite a bit of Marines & SCV's in the process. He also took his third in the process. A little bit of passivity ensued, with Stephano doing some additional Mutalisk harass every here and there as well as getting himself a grand total of 5 bases.

As ThorZaIN attempted to take his fourth, Stephano morphed 54 Banelings, steamrolling the Siege Tanks, putting ThorZaIN further behind. Some Marines attempted to take out the fourth Hatchery, but that was denied by Zerglings & Infestors. Another task force of Marines went into the fifth, taking out every Mutalisk that was there.

2 Medivacs filled with Marines did a drop at Stephano's fifth, but that wasn't effective, only killing a few units where he could've taken out a hatchery. A big engagement in the middle ended up with both sides losing quite a bit of units. Both players then quickly remaxed, but the army of Stephano had much better army placement, and Stephano eventually went on to win the game with superior numbers.

Map: Daybreak
Standings: ThorZaIN 1-1 Stephano

ThorZaIN went for a proxy Rax, something which didn't help him out versus NightEnD. Stephano, anticipating something to be wrong, asked him whether he wanted to proxy, a question he got answered by the Bunker going down at his natural, forcing him to pull Drones off mining to deny this. ThorZaIN then went for some Hellions into Cloaked Banshees, but Stephano managed to scout that out. This made our Terran player cancel Cloak, and started getting Marauders from his Barracks.

Stephano, knowing that nothing was mined from the natural of ThorZaIN thanks to some great Overlord placement, and started morphing his Baneling Nest & getting himself tons of Queens & Zerglings. The Queens, Lings & Banelings denied any success of the push with the help of some great transfuses. Stephano went on to break down the Supply Depots at the Ramp of ThorZaIN and killing off a bit of SCV's.

A TON of Banelings were morphed, and Stephano went on to win this interesting, but very unorthodox.

ThorZaIN (2nd seed) & Stephano(1st seed)

Grubby won 2-1

I have NO idea what happened since I was taking a shower during the first 10 minutes of the game, but it seems like Socke won this one on Tal'Darim Altar after some intense actions featuring Warp Prisms, DT's, Colossi, Proxy Pylons & Storm Drops as well as Socke delaying his win terribly.

Map: Shakuras Plateau
Standings Socke 1-0 ClouD

ClouD opened up with a 1-Barracks into expansion, with Socke doing the Protoss version of it: the 1-Gateway expand. A Robotics Facility was placed down in the bottom-left as ClouD got Reactors on both of his Barracks as well as getting himself some Siege Tanks. SockE started researching Blink pretty early as well as getting himself a total of 5 Gateways.

Socke blinked into the natural of ClouD, but ClouD killed off most of the Stalkers, and went on to push for the Protoss Base, and started to destroy it. Meanwhile, a Base-Race ensued where the CC's of ClouD were destroyed. Socke, knowing he could not win a straight-up Base-Race, got himself a DT, which helped him kill off a lot of ClouD's army, as well as placing a nexus in the bottom-right to prevent himself from getting revealed. ClouD started building a Raven after the DT started slashing away at his army, but it didn't come out fast enough, and Socke took this game to win this series 2-0.

Socke won 2-0

Map: Terminus SE
Standings: Grubby 0-0 ClouD

ClouD opened up with a 1-Rax expand, as Grubby started with what looked like a 1-Gateway into expand, but getting himself 3 additional Gateways as soon as he got a Stalker out, which became the (in)famous 4-Gate. However, ClouD managed to repair the Bunker, but the second round of Warp-ins took it down, and Grubby proceeded to set up a Stalker contain outside of the ramp of ClouD.

With a nicely-timed scan, the Protoss natural expansion was scouted out, and Grubby managed to save his army with the help of a greatly-placed Force-Field. Grubby, satisfied with what the damage he managed to do, pulled his army back to his Natural. A Templar Archives was placed down, eventually getting Psionic Storms, having 5 ready when the Terran army arrived. Thanks to some great force-fields & storms, ClouD's Marines & Marauders got completely decimated.

ClouD got himself a Ghost Academy as well as getting his third after taking down the destructible rocks there, as Zealot Speed finished up. Grubby then got himself double Robotics Facilities as he started building his fourth expansion, making his way up to Colossi. ClouD managed to scout out the Facilities, and cancelled his Medivac production in favor of getting himself some Vikings.

Grubby maxed out, and when he hit +3 Weapon & Armor upgrade, ClouD got himself his fourth, actually managing to close the gap between the two by quite a bit. As some cloaked Ghosts led the way for the Terran army, the two armies clashed with Grubby's Colossi falling quickly to the 10 Vikings of ClouD. But in the end, the Protoss army was toos trong, and ClouD was forced to back off.

Grubby just kept re-building his army, and after an engagement where his Colossi got a great angle and a lot of kills, ClouD had no choice but to GG out.

Map: Antiga Shipyard
Standings: Grubby 1-0 ClouD

Grubby started this game by placing down his Nexus before his expansion, and as ClouD saw this, he responded by placing down a Command Center at his natural, as well as building a third one in his main. Grubby then sacrificed one Stalker to see what was going on in the main of ClouD, and started getting a Robotics Facility accompanied by a Bay, so he could get himself some Colossi.

ClouD set up a line of Bunkers at his third ramp, as Grubby started to push break down the rocks at the back of Cloud's third, hiding his Colossi until the last possible second, but even though Grubby used some great Force-Fields, both of the Colossi as well as a lot of the Protoss army. Both players then took it easy, and continued to build their armies up.

ClouD broke down the back rocks of Grubby's third, and the Colossi came in at an horrible angle, and even though his Zealots & Stalkers had some great positioning, the sheer numbers of the Terran army were just much for Grubby, who called the GG.

Map: Dual Sight
Standings: Grubby 1-1 ClouD

ClouD blocked off Grubby's natural with the use of an Engineering Bay. He used the momentum he got through this to get his expansion down before Grubby could, but instead of expanding, a proxy Pylon was placed at the would-be third of ClouD, and started moving towards his natural. However, ClouD was more than prepared for this, having put two Marauders in a Bunker at his ramp.

As the Robotics Facility finished up, ClouD then moved down the ramp, and even though Grubby didn't manage to deny any kills of his units, he killed off a good bit of the Terran army by almost cutting it in half with the help of a Force-Field before pulling back to his base. After scouting out nearly everything in Grubby's base with his scouting Factory, it looked like ClouD would move out towards the Protoss third, but moved back.

As soon as the Templar Archives finished up, Grubby warped in 4 High Templars & started researched storm, ClouD moved in, and Grubby's Zealots were in the back of his army, so they didn't do nearly as well as he had hoped, and ClouD even cancelled the warp-in of about 4 Zealots by killing off a Pylon. Unfortunately for Grubby, this happened seconds before +2 attack & armor as well as Zealot speed were finished.

Grubby then proceeded to do some minor harass at ClouD's third, but he was quickly repelled, and the Terran army punished him for this by destroying his third once again. ClouD then proceeded to kill off the whole Protoss force, and took this series 2-1 after being behind 0-1, and making everybody's matches against Ret the deciding factor of who advances through this group.