GSL 3 Round of 32 Day 2

NewDawn (Z) vs BitByBitPrimeWE (T)
Match Rating: 4/10
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Game 1 - Steppes of War

Wall-in at the bottom of the ramp by BitByBit, 10 hatch, 10 pool for NewDawn

Second barracks in the main for BitByBit

Two barracks wall-in on the bottom of NewDawn's ramp

Zerglings out quickly thanks to the early hatch and take out the bunkers and marines with a little drone help

Zerglings counter to BitByBit but of course he's walled in

BitByBit adds two more barracks, spine crawler for NewDawn

All the SCVs and marines head out to the Zerg base, two more spine crawlers coming

Way too many marines for NewDawn to possibly hold them off, they kill the spine crawlers easily

NewDawn concedes

The interesting build order from NewDawn allowed him to hold off the initial wave, but with his low drone count there was no stopping the second one

Game 2 - Shakuras Plateau

Top positions, NewDawn at 2 and BitByBit at 10

Standard opening for BitByBit, NewDawn goes hatch first at 15

Early double gas into two port banshee by BitByBit, lair and spine crawler for NewDawn

Hellion gets into BitByBit's main, a scouting overlord spots the two starports

Spire starts for NewDawn, two banshees on the way to NewDawn's expansion

Three queens are out and kill one of the banshees, the other goes to the main

The queens relocate and kill it there

No more banshees for BitByBit, he's switching to vikings

The vikings start picking off overlords, mutalisks are out

Zergling speed starts for NewDawn, yes, it's that late

Three mutas are out and go scouting, but the vikings pick off one of them

NewDawn switching to roaches rather than mass up mutalisks

BitByBit gets two more banshees and two dropships to go with a small marine/marauder clump

SCVs join BitByBit's army as it enters NewDawn's base

The SCVs tank damage from the roaches while the marines cut through zerglings and mutalisks

Vikings land as well to join the fight

BitByBit wins the battle and kills most of NewDawn's drones before reinforcements manage to finish off his army

NewDawn tries to rebuild a defense, but BitByBit sends another ten SCVs with a second wave of marines

BitByBit's army arrives while NewDawn is repositioning spine crawlers and rolls over the defenses

NewDawn surrenders

Despite crushing BitByBit's attempted banshee harassment, NewDawn's build order simply was not safe against a one base infantry attack

Commentary: Pretty disappointing match, frankly. BitByBit hasn't looked impressive in either of his matches. It's one thing for him to beat HayprO with a newly popularized rush, but somehow NewDawn didn't seem ready for one base infantry play after seeing the round of 64.

TSLFruitDealer (Z) vs sCfOu (T)
Match Rating: 6/10
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Game 1 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Hatch first on 15 for FruitDealer, two barracks for sC

The first marine comes with three SCVs to attack, two of the SCVs make bunkers

Drones attack the marine while FruitDealer's initial zerglings attack the bunkers

The drones kill the initial marine with a surround and the zerglings clear the bunkers

The marines retreat

sC builds a command center at his natural as well as two more barracks

FruitDealer takes a third base

sC moves out with fifteen marines and three SCVs, sniping overlords as he goes

Speed isn't done, baneling nest just finished, but the marines are in FruitDealer's natural

No banelings yet for FruitDealer, the marines do enormous damage before finally being cleaned up

sC builds a bunker just in case, but it's 27 SCVs to 18 drones

FruitDealer morphs about ten banelings, escorted with 10 speedlings

The banelings attack and destroy one of the bunkers, plenty of marines, but the speedlings have to retreat

Three full bunkers for sC, three zerglings for FruitDealer, though he shifts and produces 18 zerglings

Stim and shields coming for sC, no tech for FruitDealer

FruitDealer clears the rocks at the gold and takes it, upgrading out of an evolution chamber but there's no othe rtech

sC sends his marine/marauder army to FruitDealer's third and kills it, but FruitDealer evacuates all the drones before thhey arrive

FruitDealer morphs some banelings and attacks sC's army while he apparently is not watching...all the marines die

Zerglings surround the marauders and kill them easily, drones from the fallen third have moved to FruitDealer's gold

Dropship moves out counterclockwise but FruitDealer spots it, another dropship with marines going the other way

sC's main army moves up toward the gold

The gold gets destroyed but banelings obliterate sC's army

Drops in FruitDealer's main and natural force him to pull back much of his forces, sniping the baneling nest

A drop at the gold forces FruitDealer to cancel his replacement hatchery

Just too many dropships around the map for FruitDealer to deal with

Mutalisks out for FruitDealer picking off medivacs, but inattention allows half of them to be killed by marines

sC floats a command center to his gold base, FruitDealer tries to take a third yet again

Mutas and marines go around the Terran army and do some minor damage in the main base

Desperate harassment from mutalisks at sC's gold and expansion, but he's down by 50 supply

sC finally gets his army out to FruitDealer's third and kills it easily, then moves into the expansion

FruitDealer counters and destroys the planetary expansion out of spite, then concedes

FruitDealer's build order couldn't cope with sC's two barracks rush, and although sC could have ended the game sooner with more aggression his conservative approach still earned him a dominating victory

Game 2 - Steppes of War

FruitDealer sends two drones to sC's base and harasses the SCV building the barracks

sC pulls SCVs to fend them off, FruitDealer gets a second hatchery in the left center expansion

Two barracks build for sC, marines poke toward FruitDealer's base but pull back

Roach warren out for FruitDealer, no queen yet

sC expands to his natural, pokes and spots the first few roaches, then puts a bunker in front of his natural

FruitDealer getting speed and does a round of drones

sC sitting back and making bunkers, FruitDealer takes a third at sC's gold base

An SCV scouts FruitDealer's second base, sC getting siege mode

FruitDealer getting lair, morphing banelings

sC begins a bunker push under siege tank cover, FruitDealer getting a spire

sC tries to go up to FruitDealer's gold base but zerglings hold them off

Zerglings slip in behind the push and try to snipe tanks but fail

Some mutalisks come out and snipe two tanks near the gold

sC moves up into the gold but banelings and mutalisks crush it

Now there are no marines, the mutalisks start rampaging through the many tanks sieged up in the middle of the map

One, two, three, four tanks are killed, still nothing to stop the mutalisks

sC concedes

Wild build order from FruitDealer, but it was his calm and composed defense of the tank/bunker push that won him the game

Game 3 - Delta Quadrant

Cross positions, FruitDealer at 7 and sC at 2

Hatch on 14 for FruitDealer, double barracks for sC

The first marine heads to the watch tower with two SCVs, waits and is joined by another marine

Four marines and two SCVs now heading into FruitDealer's natural

More marines come, but FruitDealer brings lings and a number of drones and kills all but one of them, albeit paying a high price to do so

Command center built for sC, marines clearing the rocks at the back natural

Zerglings hit the rocks at FruitDealer's gold base, zergling speed finally starts

Baneling nest for FruitDealer, stim for sC

FruitDealer takes the gold base, sC getting shields

Lair starts for FruitDealer

sC moves out with a large infantry army, FruitDealer morphing twenty banelings

Massive battle in the center of the map, sC's marine micro is good but there are so many banelings sC's army is crushed

FruitDealer clears the rocks at another gold base, starts baneling speed

sC moves out with marauders, marines, and SCVs, but burrowed banelings kill the marines

More banelings kill the SCVs and then zerglings swarm the surviving marauders

sC surrenders

For someone relying on pure infantry against mid-game Zerg, sC's marine micro wasn't sharp enough. Full credit to FruitDealer for picking the right corners to cut.

Commentary: FruitDealer won GSL 1 by cutting corners and skimping on units at carefully chosen points in games. Foxer made him pay for it in GSL 2. He did it yet again today and sC couldn't find the weak points. Admittedly this may have been a reaction to the maps, but against better players FruitDealer will have to use safer strategies. sC wasn't horrible but he clearly isn't a top tier Terran at the moment.

LiquidRet (Z) vs TheBestfOu (T)
Match Rating: 6/10
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Game 1 - Metalopolis

Cross positions, Ret at 9 and TheBest at 3.

Hatch first for Ret on 15, one barracks expansion for TheBest

Factory now for TheBest, zergling speed for Ret

Three factories for TheBest, lair for Ret

Hellions and blue flame for TheBest, baneling nest now for Ret, then spire

Ret scouts the factories with an overlord and makes a roach warren

Five blue flame hellions on the way to Ret's base, only queens to defend for Ret

Ret spreads his drones and puts them on hold position, then cleans up the hellions

A second wave comes in but roaches are out and they do almost nothing

Third base is up and running for Ret, thor out for TheBest

Ret takes a fourth base, then starts hive

TheBest sends an SCV, probably to expand, but Ret is dropping creep at every expansion

TheBest starts to move out with four thors, about seven tanks, and SCVs

Greater spire and drop research under way for Ret

Ret thinks about countering but siege tanks are there to defend

The roaches move in and sandwich TheBest's army

Many tanks die, but three are left plus several thors and some marines, but brood lords are out

Thors under attack from brood lords are bottlenecked at the ramp

Queens transfuse the brood lords as TheBest tries to attack the brood lords

In the resulting battle only two brood lords survive but Ret makes more near his third

TheBest is at a supply deficit and almost his entire army is tanks now, still on two bases

Brood lord / roach army for Ret, not many vikings for TheBest

Three vikings are escorting TheBest's army now but corruptors repel them

TheBest tries to land a command center at the gold but there's creep there

Ret expanding again, brood lords moving into the gold base

Vikings try to attack the brood lords but corruptors kill them

Roach drop in TheBest's main at the production facilities forcing TheBest to move his army back

Roaches move into the gold and forces the command center to lift, 200 to 100 supply now for Ret

TheBest tries to move out again and roaches surround the army

"Vikings not very good against roaches!" Tactical advice from Artosis as the army melts

TheBest concedes

I think Ret's macro and unit composition was enough to earn a victory, but TheBest didn't help his cause with his disastrous attempts to attack the brood lords up Ret's ramp

Game 2 - Steppes of War

Hatch first on 14 for Ret, standard opening from TheBest

Ret steals the gas and patrols a drone at the bottom of his ramp

A marine comes down and harasses the drone, forces drones to come off and fight

TheBest even starts a depot, though of course Ret doesn't let it finish

TheBest finally gets his second gas, has a hellion out

Ret has a spine crawler at his natural, starport up for TheBest making a dropship

Baneling nest for Ret, TheBest moves out with marines, hellions, and a medivac

Ret morphs four banelings and attacks down the ramp, killing some marines, but others are picked up

After some heavy drone losses, Ret forces TheBest to retreat

50 to 43 supply lead for TheBest but he's only on one base and only has a three worker lead

Two port banshees, blue flame research, and hellion drop coming from TheBest

TheBest shows the hellions and moves the dropship around to encourage roaches

Three banshees out and heading for Ret's base

The banshees kill two queens before Ret can transfuse

Ret concedes

Good build by TheBest that took my advice (one game too late) to put the pressure on Ret and not allow his macro to take off

Game 3 - Jungle Basin

Hatch first on 15 for Ret, standard opening for TheBest

Roach warren for Ret, quick starport for TheBest and a reactor on his factory

Concussive shells upgrading for TheBest, two hellions on the way as well

Lair coming for Ret

The Best moves out with marauder/hellion, Ret makes a spine crawler at his ramp

Queens shoot down the medivac but the hellions and marauders move into his main

Ret target fires the hellions while making a huge round of zerglings

The speedlings clean up the army, but a viking is killing overlords since the queens are dead

Finally the viking is driven out after killing five overlord

Ret making several spine crawlers and teching to lair, stim being researched by TheBest

TheBest still on one base, hellions poke but pull back from the spine crawlers

Spire on the way as well as banelings, TheBest moves out

Dropship puts the hellions in the expansion and attacks the front with his marauder/marine

The two spine crawlers take a heavy toll on TheBest's units before going down

Drones move out to help against the last few marauders

Reinforcements come in and in a long, running battle wear down Ret's supply count

Ret surrenders

A valiant effort from Ret but the combination of build order and micro from TheBest was too much on these maps.

Commentary: In a macro game Ret seemed like he was the better player, although not like a large margin. The map lineup was unforgiving for Ret's style, but it took some creative builds and long micro battles before TheBest actually scraped out the wins. I was especially impressed by the viking to kill overlords after the queens died...this was the first time I'd seen that little move. Without it Ret would probably have held off the rush in game 3.

HongUnPrimeWE (P) vs JSLZenith (T)
Match Rating: 4/10
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Game 1 - Lost Temple

Close air positions, HongUn at 9 and JSL at 6

Standard opening for HongUn, tech lab and then scouting reaper for JSL

Second barracks as well for JSL, expansion at about 21 for HongUn

Scout reaper is killed by JSL, command center started in the main for JSL

Bunker at the expansion choke for JSL, three gate robotics for HongUn

Stim and a factory for JSL, a fourth gateway for HongUn

Robotics support bay for HongUn, starport coming for JSL

Thermal lance for HongUn, JSL clears the destructible rocks

JSL getting a second starport after seeing the colossus

HongUn's army is at his natural but JSL drops two dropships worth of marauders

Kills several pylons, supply blocking HongUn, then retreats just as HongUn's army arrives

HongUn starts to move out but JSL drops his main again, forcing the colossus to come back

HongUn's army moves down to JSL's choke but there are about 10 vikings out for JSL

Not a lot of ground units to help the vikings, HongUn moves into JSL's main

JSL tries to drop HongUn again but HongUn has a few zealots and stalkers there to clean it up

JSL lands his vikings but he simply doesn't have enough ground units to stop the stalkers

JSL concedes

Although HongUn went colossus he had plenty of stalkers with them, and in retrospect JSL made too many vikings and not enough infantry.

Game 2 - Delta Quadrant

Cross positions, HongUn at 10 and JSL at 7

Standard opening from HongUn, two barracks and scout reaper for JSL

Stargate for HongUn, scouted by the reaper as it makes a phoenix

HongUn starts working on the rocks at his back natural, command center up for JSL

JSL floating to his front expansion, builds a turret in his mineral line

Two phoenixes arrive but one of them dies to marines and a turret

Ghost academy and sheilds for JSL, three phoenixes harassing now

One of the phoenixes dies as they try to continue harassing

Fleet beacon for HongUn, who said in interviews he wanted to make carriers in the GSL

JSL moves about a dozen marines and a few marauders to the front

A second reaper scouts and spots a second stargate, JSL getting a nuke

Carriers on the way for HongUn, air weapons upgrade

JSL getting cloak and vikings

Two carriers out, many vikings coming for JSL

JSL nukes the front of the ramp, forcing HongUn to pull back

JSL's army moves up, gets brutally force fielded, then flanked by carriers

The stalkers and carriers annihilate JSL's army

HongUn's army moves to JSL's natural and rolls over the few reinforcements there

JSL surrenders

HongUn delivered on his promise to build carriers and, er, they looked pretty good. JSL had a lot of vikings but it didn't seem to matter.

Commentary: This was one of my four games to watch in the round of 32, but it didn't quite play out like I expected. JSL looked nothing like a player capable of beating Nada and Kyrix, but perhaps TvP is his weakest matchup. Game 1 was entirely forgettable and game 2 almost was as well, but HongUn saved the day by going two base carrier.