EPTTable of Contents
Group B, Week One
Intro
MVP vs FXO
Match Results
HoSeo vs Prime
Match Results
SlayerS vs oGs
Match Preview
StarTale vs IM
Match Preview
Check out the GSTL on Liquipedia
Heating Up
The GSTL has turned into an interesting machine. The GSL prides itself on being the place for the highest level games, the arena in which each build is most intricately timed out and each unit delicately placed. The team league, however, has become a place where the opposite ideal is often true, instead becoming a coliseum where crazy things go down.
In the past weeks we have been subject to cheeses gone fantastically wrong, units being controlled in less-than-optimal ways, entire armies walking in aimless directions. We have seen game after game play out normally, only to take a drastic turn for the weird when suddenly each side is in a frantic race to eliminate one another.
Sloppy Starcraft is often the best Starcraft, a quality which the GSTL has had in spades as the early rounds play out. Time and time again the game state has been flipped on its head from unexpected choices. Repeatedly we have seen the success of barely known members of the bottom of the roster, as if spinning the world we know backwards.
The GSL can keep its claim to be the home of the best, the GSTL is where the most fun happens.
Most Valuable
FXOpen
Game One – Keen vs Sting –
![[image loading]](/blogs/images/blackstar.gif)
+ Show Spoiler +
ESV Cloud Kingdom
The match opens with remarks from the commentators mentioning that PvT winrates over the last few weeks in GSTL have been remarkably Protoss-favored, perhaps signaling time for another known Terran to fall.
The game plays out in standard fashion, Keen expands after 1 rax and then adds 3 more, Tear expands off a gateway and then builds a robotics. Tear begins researching charge, and teching to high templars. Just before his first set of medivacs, Keen splits his army in two and wanders the map. When he discovers a pylon and begins attacking, Tear moves his entire ball over to the handful of marine-marauder, which opens up his main for the rest of Keen's army to waltz straight into the Protoss main and take out the counsel before charge was done.
Tear then brings his army back to deal with the annoyance, which means his natural is open for Keen to kill most of the probes in Tear's natural with his other half. From there the game is over, but it takes one more engagement for Keen to overpower Tear's army directly and force a GG.
Winner: MvP_Keen
Most Valuable (1 – 0) FXOpen
The match opens with remarks from the commentators mentioning that PvT winrates over the last few weeks in GSTL have been remarkably Protoss-favored, perhaps signaling time for another known Terran to fall.
The game plays out in standard fashion, Keen expands after 1 rax and then adds 3 more, Tear expands off a gateway and then builds a robotics. Tear begins researching charge, and teching to high templars. Just before his first set of medivacs, Keen splits his army in two and wanders the map. When he discovers a pylon and begins attacking, Tear moves his entire ball over to the handful of marine-marauder, which opens up his main for the rest of Keen's army to waltz straight into the Protoss main and take out the counsel before charge was done.
Tear then brings his army back to deal with the annoyance, which means his natural is open for Keen to kill most of the probes in Tear's natural with his other half. From there the game is over, but it takes one more engagement for Keen to overpower Tear's army directly and force a GG.
Winner: MvP_Keen
Most Valuable (1 – 0) FXOpen
Game Two –
+ Show Spoiler +
MvP_Keen vs FXO_Choya – Calm Before the Storm
Game 2 starts as with every other PvT in GSTL with 1 rax/gate expands despite the map being Calm Before the Storm. Keen deviates slightly from there, making two factories and adding a tech lab and reactor and cuts SCVs while Choya adds 2 gates and a robotics.
Keen pushes out with a handful of hellions, 3 tanks, and a small supporting cast of workers and heads to Choya's base. He sets up outside the natural and begins his siege, while Choya tries to buy time with forcefields at his ramp. He runs out of energy, and the game looks all but over as Keen runs into his base and starts the leap-frog towards his main tech. On the way he kills the robotics after a single colossus is finished, and gets a small number of probes with his hellions in the back base.
Choya pulls all his probes for what seems to be an il-fated last ditch effort, but thanks to smart targeting and good micro he pulls it out and stops the attack. As the game settles down for a few moments, he builds a dark shrine and attempts to remake his robotics and pylons.
Keen decides he hasn't had enough and pulls about half of his remaining SCVs to go for the throat. He arrives at Choya's natural right as the first round of DTs are warped in, killing the first immediately. Going in for the main a second time, Choya sends in the second DT to discover that Keen is completely out of scans. It cleans up the tanks easily and Choya is not only back from the dead, but in a position to win.
He runs his stalkers and newly produced colossus to Keen's main and after a small struggle to kill 2 seiged-up tanks on the high ground Keen taps out.
Winner: FXO_Choya.
Most Valuable (1 – 1) FXOpen
Game 2 starts as with every other PvT in GSTL with 1 rax/gate expands despite the map being Calm Before the Storm. Keen deviates slightly from there, making two factories and adding a tech lab and reactor and cuts SCVs while Choya adds 2 gates and a robotics.
Keen pushes out with a handful of hellions, 3 tanks, and a small supporting cast of workers and heads to Choya's base. He sets up outside the natural and begins his siege, while Choya tries to buy time with forcefields at his ramp. He runs out of energy, and the game looks all but over as Keen runs into his base and starts the leap-frog towards his main tech. On the way he kills the robotics after a single colossus is finished, and gets a small number of probes with his hellions in the back base.
Choya pulls all his probes for what seems to be an il-fated last ditch effort, but thanks to smart targeting and good micro he pulls it out and stops the attack. As the game settles down for a few moments, he builds a dark shrine and attempts to remake his robotics and pylons.
Keen decides he hasn't had enough and pulls about half of his remaining SCVs to go for the throat. He arrives at Choya's natural right as the first round of DTs are warped in, killing the first immediately. Going in for the main a second time, Choya sends in the second DT to discover that Keen is completely out of scans. It cleans up the tanks easily and Choya is not only back from the dead, but in a position to win.
He runs his stalkers and newly produced colossus to Keen's main and after a small struggle to kill 2 seiged-up tanks on the high ground Keen taps out.
Winner: FXO_Choya.
Most Valuable (1 – 1) FXOpen
Game Three –
+ Show Spoiler +
MvP_Monster vs FXO_Choya – Metropolis
Metropolis PvZ is becoming a situation where it takes having seen only 1 of them to know how they all play out. This game is no different, as Choya forge-fast-expands and Monster takes his natural and third quickly. Choya adds a robotics, a bunch of gates, and makes a warp prism then uses chrono to pump out immortals. Monster gets burrow immediately at lair and starts morphing as many roaches as he can.
When Choya moves out and positions his attack, Monster runs 6 roaches into his nat and begins attacking the cannons, eventually destroying them but unable to push in when an immortal comes out of the robotics. Meanwhile in the center Choya begins to attack, but Monster successfully baits forcefields several times without losing any significant portion of his army. When he finally does choose his time to attack, Choya doesn't have the sentry energy necessary to fend it off and after a small struggle at the natural Choya GGs.
Winner: MvP_Monster.
Most Valuable (2 – 1) FXOpen
Metropolis PvZ is becoming a situation where it takes having seen only 1 of them to know how they all play out. This game is no different, as Choya forge-fast-expands and Monster takes his natural and third quickly. Choya adds a robotics, a bunch of gates, and makes a warp prism then uses chrono to pump out immortals. Monster gets burrow immediately at lair and starts morphing as many roaches as he can.
When Choya moves out and positions his attack, Monster runs 6 roaches into his nat and begins attacking the cannons, eventually destroying them but unable to push in when an immortal comes out of the robotics. Meanwhile in the center Choya begins to attack, but Monster successfully baits forcefields several times without losing any significant portion of his army. When he finally does choose his time to attack, Choya doesn't have the sentry energy necessary to fend it off and after a small struggle at the natural Choya GGs.
Winner: MvP_Monster.
Most Valuable (2 – 1) FXOpen
Game Four –
+ Show Spoiler +
MvP_Monster vs FXO_Leenock – Entombed Valley
The game begins with both players choosing hatchery first, and building lings and banelings from there. There is a small stand-off at Monster's natural when Leenock builds a few more lings but nothing comes of it and both go home to start on their tech. Monster chooses a roach warren, while Leenock begins his lair and takes all his gasses to look towards spire.
Adding a compliment of spines to keep himself safe during the transition, Leenock continues to drone and builds a small baneling force to while waiting for his spire to finish. Monster readies for a huge attack with roaches and a large numer of banelings. This attack ends up being the focal point of the game, as Monster is unable to break through and do any damage while Leenock's mutas are born immediately before it.
Losing map control, from that point on the game was Leenock's to lose as he charges forward and kills Monster's third. Monster tries to stay safe with hydras and looks to build infestors, but the game never reaches that point as Leenock simply kills him with banelings and mutalisks.
Winner: FXO_Leenock.
Most Valuable (2 – 2) FXOpen
The game begins with both players choosing hatchery first, and building lings and banelings from there. There is a small stand-off at Monster's natural when Leenock builds a few more lings but nothing comes of it and both go home to start on their tech. Monster chooses a roach warren, while Leenock begins his lair and takes all his gasses to look towards spire.
Adding a compliment of spines to keep himself safe during the transition, Leenock continues to drone and builds a small baneling force to while waiting for his spire to finish. Monster readies for a huge attack with roaches and a large numer of banelings. This attack ends up being the focal point of the game, as Monster is unable to break through and do any damage while Leenock's mutas are born immediately before it.
Losing map control, from that point on the game was Leenock's to lose as he charges forward and kills Monster's third. Monster tries to stay safe with hydras and looks to build infestors, but the game never reaches that point as Leenock simply kills him with banelings and mutalisks.
Winner: FXO_Leenock.
Most Valuable (2 – 2) FXOpen
Game Five –
+ Show Spoiler +
MvP_Finale vs FXO_Leenock – Daybreak
The game opens standard, with forge-fast-expand from Finale. and a quick double expand from Leenock. Finale chooses to build a stargate here and make a void ray, and Leenock responds by building more queens while teching to infestors, and expanding to both a 4th and a 5th.
Finale attacks both of them at the same time while taking his own third, killing one with a small zealot force and being pushed back at the other when queens and a fungal kill his air units. As Finale builds up an army, Leenocks plays the counter attack game, probing and prodding at Finale's third and natural but not doing much damage outside of distressing the army and hitting a few workers.
The game enters a midgame where the players dance around the center, with both of them adding in their late-game units including a mothership and broodlords. Finale starts a 4th during this time, and the first wave of broodlords push it back and destroy it at the mothership trods along to meet up with his main colossus-stalker force.
As finale falls back, they engage and a vortex hits the broodlords immediately upon hitting 100 energy, killing them quickly when it ends. They continue to fight for position in the center, and Leenock is given time to build his army back up, this time to max out with a largely anti-vortex army of broodlord, baneline, infestor.
Finale is able to stop the attack of this first army quickly by target firing the banelings, and buys time for his second mothership to finish and enter the fray. They engage in a large clash again, and once more the vortex hits 100 energy at the critical moment in battle, catching all the broodlords inside and quickly cleaning them up.
From here Finale begins pushing into Leenock's base as the situation becomes 5 base vs 5, but when he blinks into broodlords morphing in the center it is all but over. Leenock has to GG and leave when the remaining parts of his army are killed and he is facing down multiple colossus and stalkers.
Winner: MvP_Finale.
Most Valuable (3 – 2) FXOpen
The game opens standard, with forge-fast-expand from Finale. and a quick double expand from Leenock. Finale chooses to build a stargate here and make a void ray, and Leenock responds by building more queens while teching to infestors, and expanding to both a 4th and a 5th.
Finale attacks both of them at the same time while taking his own third, killing one with a small zealot force and being pushed back at the other when queens and a fungal kill his air units. As Finale builds up an army, Leenocks plays the counter attack game, probing and prodding at Finale's third and natural but not doing much damage outside of distressing the army and hitting a few workers.
The game enters a midgame where the players dance around the center, with both of them adding in their late-game units including a mothership and broodlords. Finale starts a 4th during this time, and the first wave of broodlords push it back and destroy it at the mothership trods along to meet up with his main colossus-stalker force.
As finale falls back, they engage and a vortex hits the broodlords immediately upon hitting 100 energy, killing them quickly when it ends. They continue to fight for position in the center, and Leenock is given time to build his army back up, this time to max out with a largely anti-vortex army of broodlord, baneline, infestor.
Finale is able to stop the attack of this first army quickly by target firing the banelings, and buys time for his second mothership to finish and enter the fray. They engage in a large clash again, and once more the vortex hits 100 energy at the critical moment in battle, catching all the broodlords inside and quickly cleaning them up.
From here Finale begins pushing into Leenock's base as the situation becomes 5 base vs 5, but when he blinks into broodlords morphing in the center it is all but over. Leenock has to GG and leave when the remaining parts of his army are killed and he is facing down multiple colossus and stalkers.
Winner: MvP_Finale.
Most Valuable (3 – 2) FXOpen
Game Six –
+ Show Spoiler +
MvP_Finale vs FXO_z – Dual Sight
The PvP opens with slightly different builds, two gas 3 gateway from Finale and 1 gas 2 gateway from Oz. Oz warps in a nexus as he moves out to put some small pressure on Finale, but the MVP player sees it and forces Oz to retreat and then cancel. Staying on one base, both players make a robotics and Finale continues by adding a support bay while Oz opts for a twilight counsel. Finale goes on to take his natural as the first colossus comes out.
While waiting for blink and his warp prism Oz takes a nexus. After blink finishes, he blinks into Finale's main and fakes a retreat, staying on the cliff instead while drawing out the army of Finale by attacking in the natural. He successfully kills a handful of probes and blinks out, prompting Finale to pull all of his probes and all-in.
Finale has 3 colossus at this point and a rather scary army, and Oz can't dream of attacking it directly. He makes the smart decision and they go to a base trade. Unlike most base trades however, each player has enough money to rebuild a nexus and they do so, Finale at what was once Oz's natural and Oz in Finale's old main. Finale has the much stronger army and sits at home to rebuild, while Oz attempts some harrass with blink and his warp prism.
This goes on for quite some time, as they both rebuild their tech and get enough pylons to start producing units again. Finale decides to try DT tech, after killing Oz's last observer in a minor scuffl. Meanwhile Oz is forced to take a natural (Finale's original) because he has mined out the main. The DT s head straight for Oz's newly finished natural, and begin focusing it while Oz frantically chrono's out an observer.
Through some clever targeting of his own zealots with colossus for the splash damage, and some forcefields, Oz buys just enough time to save the nexus with only a few hitpoints of health. The trigger Finale to once again all-in with all of his probes, and he easily takes down the nexus but retreats after walking into Oz's main, despite having the stronger army.
As he runs home Oz catches 2 of his colossus out of position and snipes them with a blink, and the game looks as if it may go to an even state once again. Oz forces an engagement immediately after, but the immortals of Finale prove to be too much for his primarily-stalker army and he is wiped out.
Winner: MvP_Finale
Most Valuable (4 – 2) FXOpen
The PvP opens with slightly different builds, two gas 3 gateway from Finale and 1 gas 2 gateway from Oz. Oz warps in a nexus as he moves out to put some small pressure on Finale, but the MVP player sees it and forces Oz to retreat and then cancel. Staying on one base, both players make a robotics and Finale continues by adding a support bay while Oz opts for a twilight counsel. Finale goes on to take his natural as the first colossus comes out.
While waiting for blink and his warp prism Oz takes a nexus. After blink finishes, he blinks into Finale's main and fakes a retreat, staying on the cliff instead while drawing out the army of Finale by attacking in the natural. He successfully kills a handful of probes and blinks out, prompting Finale to pull all of his probes and all-in.
Finale has 3 colossus at this point and a rather scary army, and Oz can't dream of attacking it directly. He makes the smart decision and they go to a base trade. Unlike most base trades however, each player has enough money to rebuild a nexus and they do so, Finale at what was once Oz's natural and Oz in Finale's old main. Finale has the much stronger army and sits at home to rebuild, while Oz attempts some harrass with blink and his warp prism.
This goes on for quite some time, as they both rebuild their tech and get enough pylons to start producing units again. Finale decides to try DT tech, after killing Oz's last observer in a minor scuffl. Meanwhile Oz is forced to take a natural (Finale's original) because he has mined out the main. The DT s head straight for Oz's newly finished natural, and begin focusing it while Oz frantically chrono's out an observer.
Through some clever targeting of his own zealots with colossus for the splash damage, and some forcefields, Oz buys just enough time to save the nexus with only a few hitpoints of health. The trigger Finale to once again all-in with all of his probes, and he easily takes down the nexus but retreats after walking into Oz's main, despite having the stronger army.
As he runs home Oz catches 2 of his colossus out of position and snipes them with a blink, and the game looks as if it may go to an even state once again. Oz forces an engagement immediately after, but the immortals of Finale prove to be too much for his primarily-stalker army and he is wiped out.
Winner: MvP_Finale
Most Valuable (4 – 2) FXOpen
Game Seven –
+ Show Spoiler +
MvP_Finale vs FXO_GuMiHo – Bel'Shire Beach Winter
GuMiHo begins his first match of this series with 2 barracks, not pressuring and getting an expansion at his natural shortly thereafter. Finale starts with what seems to be a normal 1-gate expand, but as the scouting SCV from GuMiHo is out of sight he adds 3 gateways and prepares to attack with a pylon on the lowground, leading into GuMiHo's base.
GuMiHo only builds a single bunker, which Finale chooses to simlpy walk around when he sees it. Warping in units in the back thanks to his forward pylon, it's a quick job to cleanup from here and take down the remaining player for FXO.
Most Valuable (5 – 2) FXOpen
GuMiHo begins his first match of this series with 2 barracks, not pressuring and getting an expansion at his natural shortly thereafter. Finale starts with what seems to be a normal 1-gate expand, but as the scouting SCV from GuMiHo is out of sight he adds 3 gateways and prepares to attack with a pylon on the lowground, leading into GuMiHo's base.
GuMiHo only builds a single bunker, which Finale chooses to simlpy walk around when he sees it. Warping in units in the back thanks to his forward pylon, it's a quick job to cleanup from here and take down the remaining player for FXO.
Most Valuable (5 – 2) FXOpen
Game Eight –
+ Show Spoiler +
Most Valuable won 5 – 2.
Game Nine –
+ Show Spoiler +
Most Valuable won 5 – 2.
Overall results
+ Show Spoiler +
Keen > Tear
Keen < Choya
Monster > Choya
Monster < Leenock
Finale > Leenock
Finale > Oz
Finale > GuMiHo
Most Valuable 5 – 2 FXOpen
Keen < Choya
Monster > Choya
Monster < Leenock
Finale > Leenock
Finale > Oz
Finale > GuMiHo
Most Valuable 5 – 2 FXOpen
Team Prime
NS HoSeo
Game One – ClassicPrime vs NSH_San –
+ Show Spoiler +
Metropolis
The match begins with an amusing fake by San when he plans a pylon at the bottom of Classic's ramp in a place where a cannon rush might occur. Classic's response was less than optimal, pulling all his probes to fight the pylon despite seeing in the main that San had a gateway and not a forge.
The game itself opens with San making 2 gates followed by a nexus, whereas Classic lays down an early twilight counsel and constructs a dark shrine with the help of a proxy pylon at the bottom of the map. When his DTs are warped in, San easily repels them as his first observer is already waiting. Classic tries to make a nexus, but is slowed down when San makes a warp prism and warps in sentries to Classic's main mineral line, killing a few probes.
Already far ahead, San retaliates with his own dark shrine and when he warps in dark templars to Classic's detection-less main Classic has no choice but to try a last ditch attack, which fails.
Winner: NSH_San.
Prime (0 – 1) NS HoSeo.
The match begins with an amusing fake by San when he plans a pylon at the bottom of Classic's ramp in a place where a cannon rush might occur. Classic's response was less than optimal, pulling all his probes to fight the pylon despite seeing in the main that San had a gateway and not a forge.
The game itself opens with San making 2 gates followed by a nexus, whereas Classic lays down an early twilight counsel and constructs a dark shrine with the help of a proxy pylon at the bottom of the map. When his DTs are warped in, San easily repels them as his first observer is already waiting. Classic tries to make a nexus, but is slowed down when San makes a warp prism and warps in sentries to Classic's main mineral line, killing a few probes.
Already far ahead, San retaliates with his own dark shrine and when he warps in dark templars to Classic's detection-less main Classic has no choice but to try a last ditch attack, which fails.
Winner: NSH_San.
Prime (0 – 1) NS HoSeo.
Game Two –
+ Show Spoiler +
BBoongBBoongPrime vs NSH_San – Daybreak
The match opens with forge-fast-expand for the Protoss and pool first into a quick double-expand from the Zerg. San picks his first spot to attack to be the familiar 4-gate +1 timing, assaulting the third with zealots where he kills some drones but is driven back rather quickly by a force of roaches. He ramps up to 7 gates and attacks again, this time taking out the third while BBoongBBoong (something blindly) chooses to defend with hydra-roach instead of starting infestor tech. San kills the third as well as the majority of his opponent's drones, but is stopped when the roach numbers get too high.
Fortunately for him, during his assault on the third BboongBBoong canceled his spire while he was warping in a support bay, and researching extended thermal lance. When his second colossus is done and range completes, he pushes in and easily crushes the hydras awaiting him to take the game.
Winner: NSH_San.
Prime (0 – 2) NS Hoseo.
The match opens with forge-fast-expand for the Protoss and pool first into a quick double-expand from the Zerg. San picks his first spot to attack to be the familiar 4-gate +1 timing, assaulting the third with zealots where he kills some drones but is driven back rather quickly by a force of roaches. He ramps up to 7 gates and attacks again, this time taking out the third while BBoongBBoong (something blindly) chooses to defend with hydra-roach instead of starting infestor tech. San kills the third as well as the majority of his opponent's drones, but is stopped when the roach numbers get too high.
Fortunately for him, during his assault on the third BboongBBoong canceled his spire while he was warping in a support bay, and researching extended thermal lance. When his second colossus is done and range completes, he pushes in and easily crushes the hydras awaiting him to take the game.
Winner: NSH_San.
Prime (0 – 2) NS Hoseo.
Game Three –
+ Show Spoiler +
MarineKingPrime vs NSH_San – Dual Sight
MarineKing opens the match in a way he has done so many times before, with 1 barracks expand into gasless 4 rax. San meanwhile opens a safe 1 gate nexus, and decides to go straight to the dark shrine from there.
As it warps in, MarineKing attacks with his first 12 marines and attempts to bunker in front of San's natural. San holds the attack, but not before losing all of his workers there as well as what tiny pieces of an army he has. Warping in DTs at a forward pylon he attempts to run into MarineKing's base, only to be stopped by a scan and a turret.
Both players build up tech from here, and when MarineKing has another army and 2 medivacs he simply moves out and kills San.
Winner: MarineKingPrime.
Prime (1 – 2) NS HoSeo.
MarineKing opens the match in a way he has done so many times before, with 1 barracks expand into gasless 4 rax. San meanwhile opens a safe 1 gate nexus, and decides to go straight to the dark shrine from there.
As it warps in, MarineKing attacks with his first 12 marines and attempts to bunker in front of San's natural. San holds the attack, but not before losing all of his workers there as well as what tiny pieces of an army he has. Warping in DTs at a forward pylon he attempts to run into MarineKing's base, only to be stopped by a scan and a turret.
Both players build up tech from here, and when MarineKing has another army and 2 medivacs he simply moves out and kills San.
Winner: MarineKingPrime.
Prime (1 – 2) NS HoSeo.
Game Four –
+ Show Spoiler +
MarineKingPrime vs NSH_Jjakji – ESV Cloud Kingdom
The battle of the team's aces is to be held on ESV Cloud Kingdom, home of the Space Shark. The build order pairings are normal, rax-expand for Jjakji while MarineKing takes both his gasses and begins teching to a factory. MarineKing then makes a starport just outside of Jjakji's main, and adds a tech lab which promptly researches cloak.
MarineKing's first 2 banshees are successful, killing 12-13 SCVs between them, while his third is needlessly wasted when a raven appears to kill it. Both players march out to the center with their armies after some build up – and somehow totally miss each other in the center of the map – arriving at one-another's base uncontested. The game naturally enters a base-trade scenario from here.
Jjakji is quicker to assess the situation and moves his orbitals away quickly, but MarineKing has a much larger army in addition to combat shields and medivacs, while Jjakji has a slightly larger tank count. After the bases are relocated, MarineKing marches straight into Jjakji's tanks and is able to narrowly kill them thanks to the medivac. Jjakji is gone.
Winner: MarineKingPrime.
Prime (2 – 2) NS HoSeo.
The battle of the team's aces is to be held on ESV Cloud Kingdom, home of the Space Shark. The build order pairings are normal, rax-expand for Jjakji while MarineKing takes both his gasses and begins teching to a factory. MarineKing then makes a starport just outside of Jjakji's main, and adds a tech lab which promptly researches cloak.
MarineKing's first 2 banshees are successful, killing 12-13 SCVs between them, while his third is needlessly wasted when a raven appears to kill it. Both players march out to the center with their armies after some build up – and somehow totally miss each other in the center of the map – arriving at one-another's base uncontested. The game naturally enters a base-trade scenario from here.
Jjakji is quicker to assess the situation and moves his orbitals away quickly, but MarineKing has a much larger army in addition to combat shields and medivacs, while Jjakji has a slightly larger tank count. After the bases are relocated, MarineKing marches straight into Jjakji's tanks and is able to narrowly kill them thanks to the medivac. Jjakji is gone.
Winner: MarineKingPrime.
Prime (2 – 2) NS HoSeo.
Game Five –
+ Show Spoiler +
MarineKingPrime vs NSH_Seal – Bel'Shire Beach Winter
MarineKing opens with another atypical MarineKing build, 2 rax with one slightly outside his base. He constructs a bunker at Seal's base and when Seal assumes it is a fake bunker he shows up with a marine force that out-numbers the defending drones. A minor slaughter ensues, and Seal loses something like half his drones before MarineKing is driven back.
From there winning is trivial, MarineKing waits for stim to finish and gather his first set of medivacs and simply pushes in to kill Seal before he has a single baneling.
Winner: MarineKingPrime.
Prime (3 – 2) NS HoSeo.
MarineKing opens with another atypical MarineKing build, 2 rax with one slightly outside his base. He constructs a bunker at Seal's base and when Seal assumes it is a fake bunker he shows up with a marine force that out-numbers the defending drones. A minor slaughter ensues, and Seal loses something like half his drones before MarineKing is driven back.
From there winning is trivial, MarineKing waits for stim to finish and gather his first set of medivacs and simply pushes in to kill Seal before he has a single baneling.
Winner: MarineKingPrime.
Prime (3 – 2) NS HoSeo.
Game Six –
+ Show Spoiler +
MarineKingPrime vs NSH_Sage – Antiga Shipyard
The game started with a nexus first from Sage, while MarineKing did a rax-expand. Sage gets an unusually fast forge and begins researching armor upgrades immediately, while MarineKing transitions into a delayed banshee with cloak. When cloak finishes, MarineKing finds out Sage has no cannon in his natural and runs between the main and nat, killing probes and picking off units before an observer arrives much later.
Sage is slowed down, but continues to research armor upgrades and heads towards storm while MarineKing finishes 1-1 and his marine upgrades. When MarineKing marches across the map he catches a few Protoss units unescorted and kills them, and as he seiges up in the natural the Protoss army simply melts to his marine-tank force.
Winner: MarineKingPrime.
Prime (4 – 2) NS HoSeo.
The game started with a nexus first from Sage, while MarineKing did a rax-expand. Sage gets an unusually fast forge and begins researching armor upgrades immediately, while MarineKing transitions into a delayed banshee with cloak. When cloak finishes, MarineKing finds out Sage has no cannon in his natural and runs between the main and nat, killing probes and picking off units before an observer arrives much later.
Sage is slowed down, but continues to research armor upgrades and heads towards storm while MarineKing finishes 1-1 and his marine upgrades. When MarineKing marches across the map he catches a few Protoss units unescorted and kills them, and as he seiges up in the natural the Protoss army simply melts to his marine-tank force.
Winner: MarineKingPrime.
Prime (4 – 2) NS HoSeo.
Game Seven –
+ Show Spoiler +
MarineKingPrime vs NSH_Tassadar – Entombed Valley
In what is to be the strangest game of the night, MarineKing opens with an aggressive tripple barracks, while his opponent takes double gas and proxies a stargate. When MarineKing gets ready to move out with his marine-heavy force, he discovers the forward pylon of Tassadar and changes his plan, killing it and retreating back to his natural. He looks to defend and take the lead by making a command center.
Tassadar meanwhile amasses a force regardless, and his attack into MarineKing's bunkered natural is as il-fated as one would expect. From here MarineKing builds a lot of stuff, including ghosts with cloak, medivacs, and a nuke, while Tassadar takes his natural and prays that MarineKing falls asleep.
MarineKing attacks into Tassadar's base in a battle that is surprisingly even, given the circumstances, but he lands a nuke directly on the mineral line of Tassadar's main and the game is over.
MarineKing moves on to be the second player to perform an all-kill in the 2012 GSTL Season 1.
Winner: MarineKingPrime.
Prime (5 – 2) NS HoSeo.
In what is to be the strangest game of the night, MarineKing opens with an aggressive tripple barracks, while his opponent takes double gas and proxies a stargate. When MarineKing gets ready to move out with his marine-heavy force, he discovers the forward pylon of Tassadar and changes his plan, killing it and retreating back to his natural. He looks to defend and take the lead by making a command center.
Tassadar meanwhile amasses a force regardless, and his attack into MarineKing's bunkered natural is as il-fated as one would expect. From here MarineKing builds a lot of stuff, including ghosts with cloak, medivacs, and a nuke, while Tassadar takes his natural and prays that MarineKing falls asleep.
MarineKing attacks into Tassadar's base in a battle that is surprisingly even, given the circumstances, but he lands a nuke directly on the mineral line of Tassadar's main and the game is over.
MarineKing moves on to be the second player to perform an all-kill in the 2012 GSTL Season 1.
Winner: MarineKingPrime.
Prime (5 – 2) NS HoSeo.
Game Eight –
+ Show Spoiler +
Prime won 5 – 2
Game Nine –
+ Show Spoiler +
Prime won 5 – 2
Overall results
+ Show Spoiler +
Classic < San
BBoongBBoong < San
MarineKing > San
MarineKing > Jjakji
MarineKing > Seal
MarineKing > Sage
MarineKing > Tassadar
Prime 5 – 2 NS HoSeo
BBoongBBoong < San
MarineKing > San
MarineKing > Jjakji
MarineKing > Seal
MarineKing > Sage
MarineKing > Tassadar
Prime 5 – 2 NS HoSeo
Group A Ro8
by Heyoka
![[image loading]](/tlpd/images/teams/96.jpg)
![[image loading]](/tlpd/images/teams/63.jpg)
SlayerS
Old Generations is a group of gamers who have, at one time or another, been strong but are currently sitting below their (real or imagined in fOrGG's case) peak. The TOP, Ensnare, TheStC trio are still putting up wins but with less certainty than they did a year ago. Even their ace SuperNoVa looked slow and inconsistent in Sao Paulo, despite coming within a few games of winning the tournament.
The Fin hype-machine has all but stopped, reduced to a cold mess from the fiery discussion it was a month ago. InCa, freshly dropped from Code-S, has yet to show if he still has the strength he did during his GSL Finals run last summer. Interesting the TeamLiquid component of oGs-TL might prove to be a vital part, with Zenio looking to take the spot of top Zerg in the Old Generations roster.
SlayerS, meanwhile, is on the upswing. Whether it be through motivation from their dull performance in the team league last fall or the winter drawing them back inside to practice, players in the SlayerS house seem to be motivated and working as a unit again. MMA is playing well and is actually stepping into the booth this time, and Boxer's most recent dip into Code-S shows he still has the mental fortitude to develop complex game plans.
Their Zerg roster is eternally short, but with CoCa reportdly back in the house and YuGiOh getting a taste of Code-S perhaps they can work some magic, though his most recent showing against Virus doesn't inspire great confidence.
As a whole SlayerS has the depth to take on oGs, and from the looks of it they are heading back in the direction that once made them a championship winning team. Ryung getting his best matchup in the opening set is also a small push in the right direction, which can, at times, be all that is necessary in the winner-stays format.
SlayerS 5 – 3 Old Generations
Group B Ro8
by Heyoka
![[image loading]](/tlpd/images/teams/74.jpg)
![[image loading]](/tlpd/images/teams/89.jpg)
Incredible Miracle is still now, and probably will be for a while, the scariest team when looking at straight numbers alone. Mvp and NesTea side-by-side have the ability to strike fears deep into any team's roster by presence and trophy case alone, despite not even seeing much playtime in the previous season.
Fortunately for StarTale, both the multiple-time GSL champions are busy in New York this weekend competing for MLG, in addition to LosirA. And, to be fair, even if they were in the lineup none of them has looked as incredible this year with all three dropping to a lower league. Additionally their previous GSTL workhorse, Happy, has been downgraded from his once glorious Code-S-Terran status to a less than notable Code-A spot.
On the other side StarTale is coming off a Bomber all-kill where he showed the power that made him one of the hottest players of last spring. PartinG, despite his eventual massacre at the hands of DongRaeGu in GSL, looked ready enough in the individual league to make an appearance in the team lineup. Curious has been an essential piece of the team even before his GSL success, and assuming his performance from a month ago in Code-S is an indication he should be in well enough form to string up a few kills.
Their second-round squad of Squirtle, Virus, AcE, and Sound aren't likely to change the world with their play, with each of them showing less-than-inspired play in various Code-A (or HomeStory Cup) matches. However, they simply have more of them than IM, a factory which can be all too important in the best-of-9 format this GSTL employs. Going through cannon fodder is a very likely scenario in this match and should it come to that, StarTale enjoys a slight advantage.
StarTale 5 – 4 Incredible Miracle
Writer: Heyoka.
Graphics: Pathy.
Editor: Heyoka.
