GSL 2 Round of 16: Day 2

NesTea vs. oGsTheWinD
Match Rating: 7/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Blistering Sands – NesTea went hatch first while TheWinD got fast banelings. NesTea survived the initial zergling/baneling rush, but afterward TheWinD took down the destructible rocks with zerglings and exploited the fact that NesTea’s roaches were too slow to adequately defend both entrances to the main. However, TheWinD never landed a knockout blow. He severely damaged the expansion hatchery–but never killed it. He took out some drones with zerglings and banelings–but not more than a few. His best move, sneaking two banelings into NesTea’s base, was defended by a razor-thin margin by NesTea. Still, TheWinD expanded behind his pressure and seemed to be headed towards a win with an advantage of several drones. NesTea was effectively on one base since he could never protect drones at his natural, so he played like it, suddenly massing units and then pushing out. Although TheWinD had switched to roaches, he wasn’t ready for the attack. TheWinD’s 11 roaches and 2 banelings fought NesTea’s 11 roaches and about 20 speedlings outside TheWinD’s natural. NesTea controlled his speedlings carefully, didn’t lose too many to the banelings, and then overcame TheWinD’s defenses even though he had a longer reinforcement distance to secure the come from behind win.

Game 2 – Delta Quadrant – TheWinD did the same fast baneling opening he used in game 1, but in close positions NesTea’s overlord was able to scout it. NesTea went one base speedling into roach with a spine crawler to hold off the initial pressure. His strategy scouted and prepared for, TheWinD wisely only made two banelings and otherwise stuck with speedlings, though he did waste the two banelings in a futile effort to sneak past NesTea’s spine crawler and queen. Although TheWinD got a roach warren, he stuck with speedlings and got a drone advantage, but NesTea once again shifted to unit production and moved out. With mainly speedlings and perhaps two roaches or so to defend, TheWinD was unable to hold off the attack and got eliminated.

Commentary: The players seemed about even mechanically, but NesTea had a far superior sense of timing (not surprising given his SC1 experience). He won both games by exploiting narrow timing windows despite falling behind. Often that sort of game isn’t very exciting to watch, but I felt game 1 was the most exciting ZvZ game yet in either GSL.

Foxer vs. TSLSangHo
Match Rating: 6/10

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Game 1 – Delta Quadrant – True to his reputation as an aggressive player, Foxer went two barracks, proxying his second at his gold expansion. Sang Ho didn’t scout it, but he went sentry after zealot and followed with three more sentries while getting a fast robotics. When Foxer’s rush arrived, he force fielded the ramp twice, but his third force field was misplaced, allowing Foxer to get marines, marauders, and several SCVs into Sang Ho’s main. Although Sang Ho did he best to defend, Foxer had concussive shells for his marauders and was able to snipe the immortals that were Sang Ho’s last chance, forcing him to concede.

Game 2 – X’el Naga Caverns – Foxer opened with marine-only fast expand, building it on the low ground at about 20 supply. Although Sang Ho didn’t make four sentries this time, his conservative three gate robotics build fell behind economically. Foxer moved out and traded armies right before SangHo’s colossus were ready. With both armies having to be rebuilt, Foxer’s advantage in economy and production facilities sent him way ahead. After adding Vikings and a few dropships, he pushed forward again and by this time was up 130 to 99 in supply. Attacking from both directions into Sang Ho’s natural, Sang Ho was only able to force field one side, and even that wasn’t a complete wall. Vikings and marauders made short work of two of Sang Ho’s three collosus while the few accompanying gateway units melted as well. When Sang Ho didn’t immediately concede Foxer was confident enough to build about ten barracks in the middle of the map.

Commentary: Sang Ho will be disappointed to have lost the first game on such a basic mistake, but the fake BoxeR looked a class above even in the second game. Foxer’s reputation as a fearsome ladder player seems well-earned. Although he’s aggressive, he does it without going all-in, and he clearly has a very good sense of the timings in TvZ and TvP.

NEXGenius vs. oGsInCa
Match Rating: 6/10

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Game 1 – Lost Temple – Both players had fairly similar build orders, with a normal expansion timing into collosus. The difference was InCa played it safe early by getting two gateways before his cybernetics core, then took a risk in the mid-game by expanding a little earlier and rushing to collosus without making many units. Genius didn’t scout InCa’s faster collosus and ended up getting rolled over by InCa’s superior collosus numbers in the first engagement.

Game 2 – Metalopolis – In cross positions, Genius did a blink stalker rush while InCa used a very similar build to the previous game. Apparently Genius beat WhiteRa with the same strategy in the same positions on Metalopolis at Blizzcon, but even though according to Artosis WhiteRa only barely lost, InCa never had a chance. InCa’s only hope of defending Genius’ push in the early mid-game was force fields, and Genius’ stalkers blinked past them easily and swept away the few defending zealots and stalkers. With no units around them, the immortals were focused down as they emerged from the robitics facility, ending any hope for InCa to hold.

Game 3 – X’el Naga Caverns – Once again both players did similar builds, going straight to blink, but InCa added a dark shrine while Genius just pumped stalkers out of three gates. Genius’ stalker force ambushed InCa’s fewer stalkers out in the middle of the map and destroyed them. For some reason InCa tried to wall off his ramp with gateways even though Genius’ stalkers had blinked during the battle (perhaps InCa wasn’t looking at the right time). Needless to say, Genius blinked past the gateways and killed InCa’s units just as the first DTs came out. Genius had no detection, and with one DT in his base while another attacked his army, he looked like he might be in trouble despite having completely destroyed InCa’s army. Genius lived up to his name and created a hidden robotics in the upper left while running his probes to the lower right and letting the DTs kill them there. Meanwhile he let the other DTs chase his stalkers until the observer was out, then brought his remaining stalkers there and killed the DTs pursuing them. From there, he killed the rest of InCa’s probes and got to work on his buildings. With only one DT left hacking on one of Genius’ pylons compared to Genius’ six stalkers with the observer, InCa had to concede.

Commentary: Like the Idra/oGsZenio games, this mirror matchup was almost entirely dictated by build orders in the first two games. In game 3 however whereas InCa uselessly walled in against blink stalkers, Genius calmly hid a robotics to defeat the DTs, so in the end the winner was decided by Genius’ quick thinking. Genius is now the only Protoss left in the tournament, but as arguably the best Protoss in the world right now he’s a worthy flagbearer.

Loner vs. SlayerSBoxeR
Match Rating: 7/10

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Game 1 – Metalopolis – Loner decided to pressure with marines and a hellion while BoxeR simply made reactored marines. Although Loner had the better composition, BoxeR won the micro battle at his ramp, destroying the hellion and routing Loner’s marines. Only slightly behind, Loner used his first medivac to drop marines and a marauder in BoxeR’s base, but it arrived just as two vikings came out of BoxeR’s starport. BoxeR also had a sieged tank covering his mineral line, so Loner was forced to drop on the tank. He killed it, but at the cost of the dropship and rest of his force, which was cleaned up by the vikings when they landed. Boxer then countered by sending his vikings to Loner’s base, landing, and picking off SCVs and units. Between this damage and an earlier expansion, BoxeR had a sizable economic advantage in addition to a stronger army. He immediatly began a slow siege tank push that started near BoxeR’s base and pushed all the way to Loner’s natural, ending the game.

Game 2 – Steppes of War – Boxer poked with three marines and an SCV but Loner held it fairly easily. He countered with marines and a single hellion, just like in game 1, and just like in game 1, BoxeR defeated it decisively, this time using three SCVs to block the hellion from getting up the ramp. Although Loner didn’t try a drop this time, he still got the medivac first and found himself at a disadvantage to BoxeR’s vikings. Using the vikings to snipe the medivac and then provide vision for his tanks, Boxer once again slowly pushed down the map and once again Loner couldn’t find a way to stop it.

Commentary: Apparently this SlayerSBoxeR guy knows a thing or two about playing Terran. While that’s not surprising, I expected the transition to SC2 to take longer for him, but he looks like the best TvT player in the tournament. Against Loner, who among his other accomplishments came in second at Blizzcon, BoxeR won every battle and ruthlessly exploited advantages whenever he got them. Ironically, the only Terran who has impressed me as much is the fake BoxeR. SlayerSBoxeR vs. oGsNada in the quarterfinals is surely going to be the most anticipated game in Starcraft 2 history.

GSL 2 Round of 16: Day 1

KyrixZenith vs. oGsEnsnare
Match Rating: 8/10

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Game 1 – Delta Quadrant – Contrary to his reputation as a rusher, Kyrix opened hatch first.  Ensnare put a bunker at Kyrix’s expansion, just as the edge of vision range.  Kyrix pulled six drones to help stop the bunker and, with support from the eventual zerglings, kill the initial marines.  Still fairly even, Kyrix tried a baneling bust.  Ensnare actually left his depot down, let the banelings in, then raised it, preventing reinforcements.  The banelings did a fair amount of damage, but siege tanks cleaned them up and the zerglings who came in with them.  Kyrix was able to take a third base safely, but Ensnare was safe behind his tanks while he recovered and finally took a third.  Kyrix tried to take his gold base as a fourth, but Ensnare chose that time to move in with a large tank, marine, and marauder force.  The resulting fighting in the center of the map wasn’t decisive, but Kyrix no longer had enough map control to protect his third and lost it to a small force from Ensnare.  After that, Ensnare broke Kyrix down without too much difficulty.

Game 2 – Blistering Sands – Kyrix opened hatch first into two base mutalisks.  After an initial skirmish with zerglings took out one of Ensnare’s first siege tanks, he used his mutas to take out the destructible rocks.  But instead of streamling zerglings through, he sat back in the middle of the map and expanded to Ensnare’s side.  The vulnerability of his main made Ensnare feel he had to play passive, and Kyrix had taken a fourth base before he ever seriously probed the middle of the map.  Although Kyrix’s macro wasn’t overwhelming, after the ensuing battles in the middle of the map Kyrix was able to replace his units much faster.  Ensnare won some minor victories like killing drones at the fourth, but he never was able to safely get a third base until he was almost mined out and resorted to desperate measures.  Despite his efforts, Kyrix moved in before the planetary fortress was finished, and Ensnare had to cancel and lift it.  The game went on for another few minutes but Kyrix’s victory was inevitable.

Game 3 – Steppes of War – This time rather than hatch first, Kyrix went one hatch muta with a very late expansion.  Ensnare seemed to expect banelings and moved out at what he must have thought was a good timing.  Kyrix didn’t haven early enough units to stop him and fell back all the way to his main, but then the mutas arrived and there weren’t enough marines to stop them.  Rather than try to build up a critical mass of mutas, Kyrix was aggressive with them, forcing the Terran to defend and tech to thors while he eventually got a third base.  Ensnare pushed out with a thor plus some marines and seemed like he might roll over Kyrix’s small numbers of mutalisks and zerglings, but Kyrix brought drones to surround the thor, preventing repair and eventually killing it.  After that Kyrix’s economy kicked in and he slowly pushed farther and farther in on Ensnare’s natural with mutalisks and banelings.  Eventually he had to lift the command center, but it was sniped by mutas anyway, and Ensnare was eliminated.

Commentary: Artosis was very critical of Kyrix’s play in the round of 64, mistaking Kyrix’s unusual play for weakness, but Kyrix has shown there’s a method to his madness.  He’s aggressive but not to the point he sacrifices economy.  Instead he accepts a narrower and sometimes slower tech route than typical Zerg players in favor of putting constant pressure.  The fact he uses the resulting map control to expand rather than go for the kill shows he understands his strategy.  His macro seems a few notches below the top tier of Zerg players, but it won’t matter until his opponents do a better job coping with his pressure.  Ensnare, one of the best Terran players since the beginning of the beta, never seemed to have a good handle on what Kyrix was doing, even in the game he won.

CheckPrime vs StHopeTorture
Match Rating: 4/10

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Game 1 - Steppes of War - Perhaps feeling this map favored the Terran too much to play straight up, Check did a 6 pool rush.  Although HopeTorture didn’t wall in, his defense was flawless, and he was able to delay with his SCVs while using mules to fund enough marines to drive out Check’s attack.  HopeTorture’s marine counter looked like it would win, but Check was able to survive, albeit still at a significant disadvantage.  Check expanded and tried to transition into roaches, but HopeTorture scouted it and then easily crushed Check’s expansion.  Check fought on but HopeTorture was clearly too good to lose once he was that far ahead.

Game 2 – Scrap Station - Check did the usual quick hatchery, but HopeTorture went mass viking.  First he killed two overlords, forcing the rest to move back into Check’s base.  Then he brought two dropships with hellions, marauders, and marines to the Zerg expansion.  Those, plus the landed vikings, were so intimidating that Check didn’t dare engage, letting the natural die.  HopeTorturer sent them into the main just before the mutas came out and while he lost his army, he took the Spire with him.  Check tried to counter with the mutas to HopeTorture’s main but there were more marines and vikings to drive them out.  HopeTorture then dropped them in Check’s main, killing Check’s base with the infantry while his vikings cleared what few mutas were left, forcing Check to concede.

Commentary: A surprisingly easy victory for HopeTorture.  Check was probably the underdog, but he seemed desperate in game 1, while in game 2 HopeTorture essentially had a strategic victory.  Check had no answer for the mass viking play.  It’s too bad that Check, one of the most prominent Korean Zergs, still hasn’t really shown his true quality in either GSL.

Leenock vs. oGsNada
Match Rating: 6/10

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Game 1 – Delta Quadrant – Leenock 6 pools but unlike Check he sends all his drones with it.  Nada was going two barracks but he canceled the second one when he saw the rush coming.  From there Leenock played it perfectly and Nada made a critical error with his barracks rally, allowing his marine to be separated from his SCVs.  Although he managed to build a bunker, his marine died just before entering it.  Because all the drones had come and most died tanking damage, there was a small chance of a tie, but Leenock realized this and moved his last drone out of Nada’s base while his zerglings finished off Nada’s forces.

Game 2 – Shakuras Plateau – Leenock played standard this time while Nada went hellions into thors.  Leenock went mass muta, but while he forced Nada to build a lot of turrets, he didn’t do nearly enough economic damage.  Nada actually expanded base for base with Leenock all the way up to four bases.  Leenock finally moved in and destroyed an expansion with his mutas, but Nada countered to Leenock’s natural with his army.  His marines and thors defeated Leenock’s almost entirely muta-based army with a few thors to spare, ending the game.  Definitely showed that against an expanding Terran, it isn’t enough for Zerg to just mass up mutas.  Without economic damage thor/marine/hellion is too strong for muta/baneling to handle.

Game 3 – X’el Naga Caverns – Nada opened with a single banshee scout, then settled down into tank/marine.  Leenock went fast infestors and tried to rush to hive tech and (presumably) ultralisks while double expanding.  Fruit Dealer in the last GSL would double expand and force Terrans to pick an expansion to kill, but Nada ignored the expansions and went straight for Leenock’s natural, much like in the previous game.   Leenock tried to mass banelings, but he wasted an infestor in the middle of the map and Nada expertly spread his marines.  Without fungal growth holding his marines, Nada rolled over Leenock’s defenses easily to win the series.

Commentary: Leenock wasn’t as good as Nada and he knew it.  In light of this, his rush on the first map and his attempts in the following games to reach army compositions–mass muta, ultras–that conventional wisdom says are powerful for zerg make a lot of sense.  In the end Nada had both better macro, better army compositions, and better timing.  A lot of people assumed Nada wouldn’t have enough practice in SC2 to be as good as the top tier of players, but so far Nada looks extremely dangerous in a tournament where many Terrans have had difficulties.

EGIdra vs. oGsZenio
Match Rating: 5/10

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Game 1 – Delta Quadrant – Both players did passive openings, going to roach tech for defense instead of the aggressive speedling or baneling play that characterized GSL 2′s earlier ZvZ.  Idra used roaches to get the expansion in his base while Zenio went mass overseer to do a rolling contaminate of Idra’s hatchery.  From there he tried to break Idra with superior roach numbers.  While Idra defended ably, he moved out to take a third base too early and got rolled over by a second attack just before infestors came out.  Zenio’s strategy cleverly neutralized Idra’s strength, his fearsome macro, without being unsafe.

Game 2 – Blistering Sands – Zenio got early zerglings to deny scouting, then showed roaches at his ramp.  With Idra expecting pure roach, Zenio added a couple banelings and attacked.  The mismatch was such that Idra conceded before the battle was even over.

Commentary: Probably the most strategy-heavy games in GSL 2 so far.  In the interview afterward, Zenio said he didn’t think he could beat Idra in a straight up game, hence his “cute” strategies.  Maybe, but strategy is a big part of the game, especially in ZvZ which seems much more poorly understood than the rest of the game’s matchups.  Idra lost in GSL 1 to better strategies as well, but in his round of 32 games with oGsGon is was clear that he learned from his mistakes.  If he shores up his ZvZ, he’ll be a really strong contender in GSL 3, because his ZvT already looks nearly invincible.

Under Construction

You could probably consider this blog to be in “beta” until the end of GSL 2.  Bear with me while I figure out the best format for everything.