Match Rating: 6/10
Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)
Game 1 – Metalopolis – After spawning in close air positions, both players went hatch first at about 16 supply, then followed with a pool soon after. They diverged when Zenio got an immediate roach warren followed by speed, while NesTea went for zergling speed first and then got a spine crawler. With the game on a knife edge, Zenio lost an overlord to a queen at NesTea’s natural. NesTea started his roach warren while Zenio began building his first roaches. Somewhat surprisingly, Zenio opted to take a third, while NesTea sat back and made units. Zenio sacrificed an overlord to scout just as NesTea began his lair, and perhaps prompted by this, NesTea pushed out with a large number of speedlings supported by roaches. There was a huge battle at Zenio’s natural between roach/ling armies, but the lost overlords and the expansion meant Zenio was at a disadvantage. NesTea’s reinforcements finally turned the tide in his favor, and he pushed up into Zenio’s main. Although Zenio held in the end, he lost all the queens at his main and natural. Although NesTea never scouted the third base (had he done so, there was nothing to stop him from destroying it easily), by this point he was hugely ahead in supply and tech, having gotten a spire. His mutalisks arrived in Zenio’s base and with the queens dead there wasn’t any anti-air defense, winning the game.
Game 2 – Scrap Station – Despite the long rush distance both players went with extractor and pool instead of hatch first. Zenio went into banelings while NesTea put up what would eventually be five spine crawlers and went fast lair. Zenio started morphing banelings in NesTea’s natural, but luckily scouted with a single zergling and spotted the spine crawlers. He canceled the useless banelings and instead ran the speedlings through the spine crawlers, presumably expecting there to be little in the way of defense. In fact, NesTea had quite a few speedlings himself and chased them out without any damage done except for Zenio seeing the spire he was making. The spine crawlers got plenty of hits on both entry and exit, and NesTea chased the speedlings all the way back to Zenio’s base with his own. NesTea simply parked his speedlings there and forced Zenio to kill them at the cost of most of his speedlings. Meanwhile, NesTea expands as his mutas finish.
Zenio got infestors and burrow, sending them burrowed around the map to NesTea’s base. Meanwhile, NesTea’s mutalisks took down several overlords that were stuck vulnerable around the map. Zenio tried to expand and managed to do so despite muta harassment, but his infestors found an overseer waiting for them in NesTea’s natural, forcing them to turn around. Rather than get a huge number of mutas, NesTea switched to roaches and knocked down the rocks. Despite fungal growth on his mutas and roaches, NesTea just had too many units at this point and routed Zenio for a two game lead.
Game 3 – Xel’Naga Caverns – Zenio got an early pool at about 10 supply, plus a fast gas. NesTea went pool first at the standard timing. Zenio got a fast baneling nest while NesTea got a roach warren. Zenio’s build order was fast enough that his banelings morphed in NesTea’s natural when the roach warren was only half done. The result was an intense micro battle in NesTea’s main as he tried to use zerglings in pairs against the banelings but was somewhat stymied by the Zenio’s zergling escort. Meanwhile the banelings went to slip into the mineral line. With only two small gaps between his pool, extractor, and hatchery, NesTea cleverly blocked the banelings with a drone, but was a little late when they switched to the other gap. The banelings loose in his drone line resulted in devastating drone losses. About 4 drones survived the banelings, and more died to the speedlings that had escorted them. With only one drone left, plus two speedlings and four roaches, NesTea desperately countered to Zenio’s base while building drones.
Zenio didn’t have much to defend, and NesTea’s counter took out his queen and quite a few drones before he cleared it away with his lings. Although 7 drones survived for Zenio, he had been making units while NesTea had been making drones, which meant NesTea now had a one drone advantage. Zenio tried to run speedlings back into NesTea’s base, but with two roaches and excellent drone micro he destroyed them. Zenio tried to make two banelings in NesTea’s main but his roaches found them, forcing a cancel.
After both suffering heavy blows, each player now tried to play “normal”, but with both players needing roaches to defend possible all-in attacks, the fact NesTea already had a roach warren meant he could go straight to lair. Although they ended up at fairly even supply, NesTea had five mutalisks out by the time Zenio was starting his spire. Like in the previous game, instead of going straight to harass he sniped overlords, killing three and supply blocking Zenio. Zenio’s spire finished but although they had both expanded NesTea already was on four gas while Zenio hadn’t made the extractors yet. Zenio desperately tried to tech to infestors, but he was run over by NesTea’s mass mutalisks right as the first one came out, eliminating him from the tournament.
Commentary: No one rated NesTea after his poor performance in GSL 1, but here he is making the semifinals. Whether he is good enough against Terran to go further remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt he completely understands ZvZ. Zenio beat Idra with surprise build orders, but NesTea had an answer for everything he tried. Incredibly, NesTea hasn’t lost a game yet in the tournament.
Game 2 – Scrap Station – Despite the long rush distance both players went with extractor and pool instead of hatch first. Zenio went into banelings while NesTea put up what would eventually be five spine crawlers and went fast lair. Zenio started morphing banelings in NesTea’s natural, but luckily scouted with a single zergling and spotted the spine crawlers. He canceled the useless banelings and instead ran the speedlings through the spine crawlers, presumably expecting there to be little in the way of defense. In fact, NesTea had quite a few speedlings himself and chased them out without any damage done except for Zenio seeing the spire he was making. The spine crawlers got plenty of hits on both entry and exit, and NesTea chased the speedlings all the way back to Zenio’s base with his own. NesTea simply parked his speedlings there and forced Zenio to kill them at the cost of most of his speedlings. Meanwhile, NesTea expands as his mutas finish.
Zenio got infestors and burrow, sending them burrowed around the map to NesTea’s base. Meanwhile, NesTea’s mutalisks took down several overlords that were stuck vulnerable around the map. Zenio tried to expand and managed to do so despite muta harassment, but his infestors found an overseer waiting for them in NesTea’s natural, forcing them to turn around. Rather than get a huge number of mutas, NesTea switched to roaches and knocked down the rocks. Despite fungal growth on his mutas and roaches, NesTea just had too many units at this point and routed Zenio for a two game lead.
Game 3 – Xel’Naga Caverns – Zenio got an early pool at about 10 supply, plus a fast gas. NesTea went pool first at the standard timing. Zenio got a fast baneling nest while NesTea got a roach warren. Zenio’s build order was fast enough that his banelings morphed in NesTea’s natural when the roach warren was only half done. The result was an intense micro battle in NesTea’s main as he tried to use zerglings in pairs against the banelings but was somewhat stymied by the Zenio’s zergling escort. Meanwhile the banelings went to slip into the mineral line. With only two small gaps between his pool, extractor, and hatchery, NesTea cleverly blocked the banelings with a drone, but was a little late when they switched to the other gap. The banelings loose in his drone line resulted in devastating drone losses. About 4 drones survived the banelings, and more died to the speedlings that had escorted them. With only one drone left, plus two speedlings and four roaches, NesTea desperately countered to Zenio’s base while building drones.
Zenio didn’t have much to defend, and NesTea’s counter took out his queen and quite a few drones before he cleared it away with his lings. Although 7 drones survived for Zenio, he had been making units while NesTea had been making drones, which meant NesTea now had a one drone advantage. Zenio tried to run speedlings back into NesTea’s base, but with two roaches and excellent drone micro he destroyed them. Zenio tried to make two banelings in NesTea’s main but his roaches found them, forcing a cancel.
After both suffering heavy blows, each player now tried to play “normal”, but with both players needing roaches to defend possible all-in attacks, the fact NesTea already had a roach warren meant he could go straight to lair. Although they ended up at fairly even supply, NesTea had five mutalisks out by the time Zenio was starting his spire. Like in the previous game, instead of going straight to harass he sniped overlords, killing three and supply blocking Zenio. Zenio’s spire finished but although they had both expanded NesTea already was on four gas while Zenio hadn’t made the extractors yet. Zenio desperately tried to tech to infestors, but he was run over by NesTea’s mass mutalisks right as the first one came out, eliminating him from the tournament.
Commentary: No one rated NesTea after his poor performance in GSL 1, but here he is making the semifinals. Whether he is good enough against Terran to go further remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt he completely understands ZvZ. Zenio beat Idra with surprise build orders, but NesTea had an answer for everything he tried. Incredibly, NesTea hasn’t lost a game yet in the tournament.
oGsNaDa vs. SlayerSBoxeR
Match Rating: 7/10
Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)
Game 1 – Metalopolis – In cross positions, NaDa fast expands and then adds three more barracks while BoxeR goes 1-1-1 and gets a banshee and cloak. NaDa expands first, pumping an infantry army. NaDa killed the first banshee before cloak was finished, and used two scans to kill the second without taking very much damage. BoxeR got a third banshee, now trailing somewhat in supply. NaDa moved out with his marine marauder army (principally marine). BoxeR had a smaller number of marines and a tank, but he started his bunker too late. Despite being outnumbered, he somehow defeats NaDa’s army with the help of the SCVs from his natural. While doing so, his third banshee was racking up SCV kills in Nada’s base, meaning that despite the SCVs killed fighting NaDa’s army, NaDa only led 31 to 22 in SCV count.
NaDa tried again with a second wave of infantry, but now BoxeR had sieged tanks guarding his natural. NaDa moved back and began building tanks out of two factories. BoxeR, now with quite a few tanks, moved out with a small marine escort, swinging through the probable site of NaDa’s third and sieging up on the high ground above NaDa’s expansion. NaDa managed to win the ensuing tank duel and pushed him back, but BoxeR seiged his reinforcement wave of tanks and retreated into their cover, halting NaDa’s advance.
NaDa was now ahead in both supply and units, so he sieged his tanks on the low ground beside BoxeR’s main while he expanded to his third and the gold. Using a dropship, he elevatored infantry into BoxeR’s main as well, wrecking havoc amongst the production buildings. BoxeR somehow held this off, then countered to the gold, forcing a cancel. At this point, the two armies missed each other and went unmolested into each other’s naturals. The distance on Metalopolis meant it was too late to turn around, so the result was a base trade. Although NaDa was still in the lead, it was closer than expected, with BoxeR floating his starport away, landing it, and making a banshee that destroyed most of NaDa’s SCVs. With NaDa not mining and supply blocked, it was touch and go for a minute as he almost lost his last orbital command to a banshee, but he managed to repair it. BoxeR fought until he was down to a single cloaked banshee, but NaDa was able to scan, kill it, and win the game.
Game 2 – X’el Naga – Nada got a scout reaper and poked into BoxeR’s base, though it was killed almost immediately. NaDa ended up heading for cloak and a banshee while BoxeR got banshee without the cloak. NaDa scanned BoxeR’s starport as his banshee finished, saw the tech lab, and canceled cloak in favor of a raven. BoxeR makes a viking immediately after his banshee and it emerges to kill NaDa’s banshee soon after it arrived. BoxeR’s banshee kills a fair number of SCVs before NaDa managed to kill it. NaDa got his expansion up faster but BoxeR made another banshee and did more harassment before the NaDa got a viking out and put a stop to it. At a 10 supply disadvantage, NaDa pushed out with his tank/marine army. BoxeR repels this easily and there is a lot of jockeying for position in the middle of the map. NaDa ended up using a banshee, raven, and a viking as his air force, but BoxeR managed to snipe the viking with his own. When NaDa pulled back, BoxeR moved forward and suddenly took his entire army all the way around the back route to NaDa’s natural. NaDa had no spotting depots and had no idea this was happening. With NaDa’s army in the center of the map, BoxeR’s tank force sieged behind NaDa’s natural. NaDa rushed back, but had to lift his command center. With half BoxeR’s tanks sieged behind the grass, NaDa underestimated the size of the force and took heavy marine and tank losses attacking into the position. Meanwhile reinforcements from BoxeR sieged up at the entrance to the natural, trapping NaDa. “Two base checkmate,” Tasteless called it, noting how unusual it is in TvT. At a massive disadvantage now, NaDa pulled all his SCVs and slid every unit he had out of the trap and tried to move down toward BoxeR’s base. BoxeR saw this and attacked from two angles, destroying it easily to tie the series.
Game 3 – Shakuras Plateau – In close positions on Shakuras, neither player fast expanded and instead got factories. Nada went for blue flame hellions and a dropship while BoxeR got a banshee. NaDa sent the dropship with four hellions while making an armory. The dropship arrived before BoxeR’s followup viking was done, and the hellions inflicted massive damage against the marines and SCVs in BoxeR’s main. Meanwhile BoxeR’s banshee got a fair number of kills as well, but when BoxeR’s landed viking finally killed the last hellion NaDa had a 19 to 11 SCV lead. He built a turret in the center of his mineral line and sent two thors with SCVs to BoxeR’s base. Unfortunately for him, BoxeR positions his second banshee just outside its range and was still able to pick off SCVs. NaDa’s push of two thors, two blue flame hellions, and two siege tanks got up into BoxeR’s main, but he held it with tanks and SCVs. Meanwhile, his banshee managed to pick off almost all of NaDa’s SCVs. NaDa sent his reinforcing thor and two hellions in a final last gasp attack but BoxeR now had five tanks and held easily to take a one game lead in the series.
Game 4 – Delta Quadrant – Both players spawned on the left side of the map and did standard openings until NaDa got an early second gas…then hid a ghost academy in the back expansion! Coincidentally, BoxeR paused the game due to his screen unexpectedly freezing, but after a short break (and the requisite speech from Tasteless about e-sports being “driven through the vehicle of technology”) the game was able to resume. After not having done his trademark three marine SCV poke all series, BoxeR poked with two marines and an SCV. Seeing the reactor barracks making something and presumably thinking it was a reaper, he pulled out and went back, missing the chance to inflict damage during the long ghost build time. Nada got two ghosts while BoxeR got his usual banshee. Without cloak, the banshee was repelled easily by NaDa’s marines and ghosts and returned home. NaDa built a later banshee, but it was killed by the viking BoxeR made after his banshee. Both players expand, and NaDa pokes with four marauders, two marines, and two ghosts. BoxeR moved out to engage, but the marauders killed his tanks while the ghosts sniped the marines. BoxeR attacked with his natural’s SCVs to buy time, and also landed what were by now several vikings in NaDa’s base, losing all but one but doing some decent damage. NaDa moved tanks down to BoxeR’s natural at this point and set up a contain. BoxeR’s defense was strong, but NaDa made a nuke.
NaDa nuked BoxeR’s tank line and forced him back, but when he tried to push into the space, BoxeR rushed out with his marauders and destroyed the tanks as they tried to siege, following up with his unsieged tanks. NaDa managed to rebuild the containment line farther back and took advantage of his map control to expand to a third base on the other side of the map. For a while there was a stalemate. NaDa tried another nuke but didn’t gain very much ground. BoxeR switched to a mostly marauder escort for his tanks and, just as NaDa’s third base was getting completely up and running, smashed the contain. Now it was NaDa’s turn to have tanks sieged up just outside his natural. He sent his vikings to BoxeR’s base to try to get SCVs, but marauders easily defended. BoxeR then attacked NaDa’s natural from two angles with marauders and tanks, smashing the defense and carving a path through NaDa’s natural and into his main. Although NaDa pushed BoxeR’s surviving two tanks back out with a mass of SCVs, BoxeR sent four marauders to NaDa’s third to eliminate it and sent reinforcements to NaDa’s natural. NaDa had no choice but to concede the game and the series.
Commentary: In Starcraft 1 it was taken for granted that macro players beat micro players. NaDa is clearly a very good macro player, but BoxeR far outshone him in fine unit control. As he has throughout the tournament, BoxeR won almost every battle, even when the numbers seemed against him. Somewhat surprisingly, his multitasking seemed stronger than NaDa’s as well, using banshee harass during massive battles to negate NaDa’s economic advantage. Perhaps SC2 strategy will eventually be solidify to the point that macro players will reign supreme again, but right now it seems like micro players like BoxeR (not to mention his namesake Foxer) are the strongest.
NaDa tried again with a second wave of infantry, but now BoxeR had sieged tanks guarding his natural. NaDa moved back and began building tanks out of two factories. BoxeR, now with quite a few tanks, moved out with a small marine escort, swinging through the probable site of NaDa’s third and sieging up on the high ground above NaDa’s expansion. NaDa managed to win the ensuing tank duel and pushed him back, but BoxeR seiged his reinforcement wave of tanks and retreated into their cover, halting NaDa’s advance.
NaDa was now ahead in both supply and units, so he sieged his tanks on the low ground beside BoxeR’s main while he expanded to his third and the gold. Using a dropship, he elevatored infantry into BoxeR’s main as well, wrecking havoc amongst the production buildings. BoxeR somehow held this off, then countered to the gold, forcing a cancel. At this point, the two armies missed each other and went unmolested into each other’s naturals. The distance on Metalopolis meant it was too late to turn around, so the result was a base trade. Although NaDa was still in the lead, it was closer than expected, with BoxeR floating his starport away, landing it, and making a banshee that destroyed most of NaDa’s SCVs. With NaDa not mining and supply blocked, it was touch and go for a minute as he almost lost his last orbital command to a banshee, but he managed to repair it. BoxeR fought until he was down to a single cloaked banshee, but NaDa was able to scan, kill it, and win the game.
Game 2 – X’el Naga – Nada got a scout reaper and poked into BoxeR’s base, though it was killed almost immediately. NaDa ended up heading for cloak and a banshee while BoxeR got banshee without the cloak. NaDa scanned BoxeR’s starport as his banshee finished, saw the tech lab, and canceled cloak in favor of a raven. BoxeR makes a viking immediately after his banshee and it emerges to kill NaDa’s banshee soon after it arrived. BoxeR’s banshee kills a fair number of SCVs before NaDa managed to kill it. NaDa got his expansion up faster but BoxeR made another banshee and did more harassment before the NaDa got a viking out and put a stop to it. At a 10 supply disadvantage, NaDa pushed out with his tank/marine army. BoxeR repels this easily and there is a lot of jockeying for position in the middle of the map. NaDa ended up using a banshee, raven, and a viking as his air force, but BoxeR managed to snipe the viking with his own. When NaDa pulled back, BoxeR moved forward and suddenly took his entire army all the way around the back route to NaDa’s natural. NaDa had no spotting depots and had no idea this was happening. With NaDa’s army in the center of the map, BoxeR’s tank force sieged behind NaDa’s natural. NaDa rushed back, but had to lift his command center. With half BoxeR’s tanks sieged behind the grass, NaDa underestimated the size of the force and took heavy marine and tank losses attacking into the position. Meanwhile reinforcements from BoxeR sieged up at the entrance to the natural, trapping NaDa. “Two base checkmate,” Tasteless called it, noting how unusual it is in TvT. At a massive disadvantage now, NaDa pulled all his SCVs and slid every unit he had out of the trap and tried to move down toward BoxeR’s base. BoxeR saw this and attacked from two angles, destroying it easily to tie the series.
Game 3 – Shakuras Plateau – In close positions on Shakuras, neither player fast expanded and instead got factories. Nada went for blue flame hellions and a dropship while BoxeR got a banshee. NaDa sent the dropship with four hellions while making an armory. The dropship arrived before BoxeR’s followup viking was done, and the hellions inflicted massive damage against the marines and SCVs in BoxeR’s main. Meanwhile BoxeR’s banshee got a fair number of kills as well, but when BoxeR’s landed viking finally killed the last hellion NaDa had a 19 to 11 SCV lead. He built a turret in the center of his mineral line and sent two thors with SCVs to BoxeR’s base. Unfortunately for him, BoxeR positions his second banshee just outside its range and was still able to pick off SCVs. NaDa’s push of two thors, two blue flame hellions, and two siege tanks got up into BoxeR’s main, but he held it with tanks and SCVs. Meanwhile, his banshee managed to pick off almost all of NaDa’s SCVs. NaDa sent his reinforcing thor and two hellions in a final last gasp attack but BoxeR now had five tanks and held easily to take a one game lead in the series.
Game 4 – Delta Quadrant – Both players spawned on the left side of the map and did standard openings until NaDa got an early second gas…then hid a ghost academy in the back expansion! Coincidentally, BoxeR paused the game due to his screen unexpectedly freezing, but after a short break (and the requisite speech from Tasteless about e-sports being “driven through the vehicle of technology”) the game was able to resume. After not having done his trademark three marine SCV poke all series, BoxeR poked with two marines and an SCV. Seeing the reactor barracks making something and presumably thinking it was a reaper, he pulled out and went back, missing the chance to inflict damage during the long ghost build time. Nada got two ghosts while BoxeR got his usual banshee. Without cloak, the banshee was repelled easily by NaDa’s marines and ghosts and returned home. NaDa built a later banshee, but it was killed by the viking BoxeR made after his banshee. Both players expand, and NaDa pokes with four marauders, two marines, and two ghosts. BoxeR moved out to engage, but the marauders killed his tanks while the ghosts sniped the marines. BoxeR attacked with his natural’s SCVs to buy time, and also landed what were by now several vikings in NaDa’s base, losing all but one but doing some decent damage. NaDa moved tanks down to BoxeR’s natural at this point and set up a contain. BoxeR’s defense was strong, but NaDa made a nuke.
NaDa nuked BoxeR’s tank line and forced him back, but when he tried to push into the space, BoxeR rushed out with his marauders and destroyed the tanks as they tried to siege, following up with his unsieged tanks. NaDa managed to rebuild the containment line farther back and took advantage of his map control to expand to a third base on the other side of the map. For a while there was a stalemate. NaDa tried another nuke but didn’t gain very much ground. BoxeR switched to a mostly marauder escort for his tanks and, just as NaDa’s third base was getting completely up and running, smashed the contain. Now it was NaDa’s turn to have tanks sieged up just outside his natural. He sent his vikings to BoxeR’s base to try to get SCVs, but marauders easily defended. BoxeR then attacked NaDa’s natural from two angles with marauders and tanks, smashing the defense and carving a path through NaDa’s natural and into his main. Although NaDa pushed BoxeR’s surviving two tanks back out with a mass of SCVs, BoxeR sent four marauders to NaDa’s third to eliminate it and sent reinforcements to NaDa’s natural. NaDa had no choice but to concede the game and the series.
Commentary: In Starcraft 1 it was taken for granted that macro players beat micro players. NaDa is clearly a very good macro player, but BoxeR far outshone him in fine unit control. As he has throughout the tournament, BoxeR won almost every battle, even when the numbers seemed against him. Somewhat surprisingly, his multitasking seemed stronger than NaDa’s as well, using banshee harass during massive battles to negate NaDa’s economic advantage. Perhaps SC2 strategy will eventually be solidify to the point that macro players will reign supreme again, but right now it seems like micro players like BoxeR (not to mention his namesake Foxer) are the strongest.
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