GSL 3 Round of 64: Day 3, Evening

LeenockfOu (Z) vs TSLClide (T)
Match Rating: 9/10

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Jungle Basin

Hatch first on 14 for Leenock, pool on 15

Clide poking with a marine and SCV, expanding at about 20

Four zerglings come out, Clide sends his marines back

Zergling speed for Leenock, factory for Clide

Two more barracks for Clide at the top of the ramp

More pressure with five marines, zerglings push them back

Two marines survive

Leenock getting lair and a baneling nest, Clide getting siege tanks

Double engineering bay for Clide, spire now for Leenock

Third hatchery at Leenock's natural

Leenock opts to take a third base, double evolution chamber as well

6 mutalisks move in and destroy the tech lab researching stim

Clide moves down his ramp with six siege tanks and lots of marines

Clide leaves the game! Yikes. Some sort of computer failure, presumably.

Esports is through the vehicle of technology, says Tasteless.

Game is replayed, players spawn in the same positions

Leenock goes hatch first on 13, Clide expands on 17

Clide sends five marines down to pressure

Zergling speed, then lair for Leenock, Clide's marines retreat without engaging

Clide researching siege mode

Zerglings poke Clide's rocks but a marine is there

Baneling nest coming for Leenock, double engineering bay again for Clide

Spire and baneling speed coming for Leenock

Leenock taking his third and getting mutalisks, very similar game to the previous one

Extra hatchery at Leenock's third again, zerglings hitting Clide's rocks but tank goes to defend

Mutalisks snipe the tank at the rocks, Clide sends marines to attack Leenock's third

Leenock kills the marines at his third but loses most of his drones

Clide expanding to the center expansion, tanks sieged and turrets built, planetary fortress constructing

Leenock goes around Clide's third and sends a huge number of zerglings up the ramp to his main

The zerglings and mutalisks converge at the natural, but there are two bunkers there

Leenock withdraws before Clide's army can return

Both players essentially maxed, Leenock takes two more expansions

Clide pushes down and kills Leenock's hatchery under siege tank cover, then withdraws

Skirmishing at Leenock's right sid eexpansion, tank sieged in range of the hatchery

The hatchery goes down, the banelings never manage to get through the siege tank fire to hit the marines

Greater spire coming for Leenock, has infestors out as well

Clide pushes down to Leenock's last mining base, siege tanks covering his marines

Clide's marine count eroded by the constant fighting, Clide builds turrets to compensate

Fungal growth allows banelings to kill a large group of marines

Leenock's hatchery is finally killed

Brood lords in the center of map forcing tanks to stay unsieged

Brood lords do a tremendous amount of damage but Clide snipes Leenock's hatchery

Clide has a thor out to attack the brood lords, loses most of his tanks but his marine count is good

Leenock no longer has any hatcheries, he has to concede

Really great game by both players in difficult circumstances due to the technical problems.

Game 2 - Lost Temple

Cross positions, Clide at 2 and Leenock at 8

Hatch first for Leenock, standard factory timing for Clide

Armory and starport coming for thor, so it looks like a thor drop

Leenock getting zergling speed, then lair

Hellion comes out for Clide, Leenock starts a spine crawler

Roach warren coming for Leenock, Clide sends four SCVs to Leenock's gold

Thor dropped on the high ground, four SCVs join it

Roaches target the repairing SCVs, Leenock researches burrow

Second thor dropped at the main, roaches force Clide to pick it up

Roaches manage to kill one of the thors but the hatchery is very low health

The last thor is down to 1 hp, but a mule is dropped to repair

The repaired thor kills the hatchery

Roaches counter to Clide's base, two thors and SCVs to defend

The roaches burrow and Clide starts to move one thor away

Leenock's roaches unburrow and break the wall in

Long series of fighting in Clide's base between roaches and tank/thor

Leenock's third is up and running

Clide's last thor dies, roaches then snipe the armory

Huge number of roaches in Clide's main, he doesn't have nearly enough to deal with it

Overlords drop all the roaches on the siege tank in the mineral line

Clide waits a while but finally concedes

Very good recovery by Leenock, but really a pretty disastrous error by Clide not to anticipate the counter.

Game 3 - Shakuras Plateau

Top positions, Clide at 1 and Leenock at 11

Hatch first for Leenock, Clide appears to be doing a one barracks fast expand

Clide floats his barracks to the natural choke, then builds a bunker there

Clide completes the walloff at his choke with an engineering bay. Leenock getting zergling speed.

Double factory for Clide, researching siege mode, Leenock starts his lair

Baneling nest starting for Leenock, Armory for Clide

Leenock takes his third, blue flame upgrade finishing for Clide

Clide moves out with seven hellions, Leenock walls in his natural choke

Clide diverts to the third and starts hitting it with hellions...mutas chase them off

The hellions turn around and return to the hatchery and hit it more, still alive

Returns again, kills the drones that transferred to the third, mutas finally clear them out

Leenock takes a fourth and starts his hive

More hellions attack Leenock's third but roaches and a spine crawler hold them off

Greater spire for Leenock, but Clide is coming through the rocks with many tanks, two thors, and infantry

Clide's army enters the main but brood lords are done

Roach/brood lord pushes back Clide's force, chases him back to Clide's base

Clide built a third but had to lift it when attacked by the brood lords

Leenock pulls back and Clide lands it again, covering it with vikings and siege tanks

Clide sieges up above Leenock's fourth and forces him to pull drones

Brood lords try to get in range of the tanks, but the vikings drive them back, kiting the corruptors

Leenock expands two more times

Clide tries to move into Leenock's main again and a massive battle begins

Leenock's corruptors destroy Clide's vikings, but siege tanks force Leenock's ground forces back

The corruptors and brood lords are now exposed to fire from the marines

Leenock has enough brood lords that even with no ground support they force the marines to retreat

The planetary fortress and turrets at Clide's third prevents Leenock from pursuing

Leenock's top center hatchery finally goes down, but he transfers drones to the other two

Clide moves his massive army clockwise back through his main, taking up position outside Leenock's expansion

Somehow the brood lords arrive first and take heavy losses from the vikings, but corruptors join

Clide pulls back, many more brood lords morphing for Leenock, he has about ten

Leenock moves through the middle of the map with a very large army

Clide drops Leenock's rear expansions

Leenock attacks Clide's command center at Leenock's old base with brood lords

Vikings move in but get fungaled, the command center gets destroyed

Clide sets up another expansion down in the lower right but has to clear out some zerglings

Large flock of mutalisks out for Leenock, Clide has switched more into marauders

The mutalisks attack one of Clide's expansions, Clide counterattacks instead of turning to fight

Siege tanks kill Leenock's hatchery, the mutalisks come back to Leenock's army

Thors mixed in with Clide's army keep the mutalisks at bay

Large group of vikings kills several brood lords

Large group of hydra/roach sneaks past Clide's army and attacks his expansion

Clide's army comes to attack them but gets fungal growthed

Clide cleans out the expeditionary force, but the brood lords are heading for Clide's northern bases

The vikings aren't with Clide's army, however, and they slice through the brood lords

Leenock switches to ultralisks...making twelve. Meanwhile Leenock snipes another of Clide's command centers

Leenock has many ultralisks but not a lot else, Clide making infantry to reinforce his tank/thor/viking army

Leenock sends zerglings and mutalisks to harass Clide's base, but Clide holds them off

Clide supply blocked, holding off mutalisks only by repairing a turret at his mining base

Clide's siege tanks dominating the center of the map and his vikings are too numerous for the mutalisks to handle

Clide's tanks move down to Leenock's lower center base, Leenock counterattacks Clide's planetary fortress

The fortress falls almost immediately, the ultralisks withdraw before Clide's army can reach them

Large battle in the middle of the map, Clide's tanks die but his infantry route the ultralisks

Leenock switching back to banelings to counter Clide's infantry

Zerglings and banelings attack Clide's last mining base and force it to lift

Leenock has four brood lords again, Clide has no vikings and not enough economy to replenish his armies

The armies clash again and this time Leenock has the numbers to crush Clide's forces

Clide surrenders

Commentary: I said this match might be the best of the round of 64, but I had no idea Leenock was capable of that level of play. That was the best set of games Clide has played at the GSL, but it still wasn't enough for him to win. Clide will be disappointed to go out in the round of 64 again, but at least he played to his potential.

oGsHyperdub (T) vs STMax (Z)
Match Rating: 6/10

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Blistering Sands

Hyperdub putting down two proxy barracks near the northwest watchtower, Max going hatch first

Hyperdub adds a third barracks, Max doesn't cancel his expansion

Max assembles a large group of drones, Hyperdub gets five marines and three SCVs for the attack

Hyperdub manages to finish a bunker but his marines are cut off from it by drones and zerglings

Hyperdub seems to have too many marines, however, though Max's queen is attacking the empty bunker

One marine gets in the bunker, queen is caught off creep and dies

Six marines at Max's natural facing about eight zerglings, needless to say that doesn't end well for Max

Max has to concede

Max learns what LiquidTLO already knew: Hyperdub isn't afraid to all-in cheese on the big stage

Game 2 - Scrap Station

Barracks at the low ground choke for Hyperdub, Max goes hatch first despite not seeing it

Command center on 20 for Hyperdub, then a bunker at the smoke near Max's base

Now Hyperdub makes another bunker, closer...a bunker push with a small number of marines right now

Max getting zergling speed, Hyperdub adding more barracks

Max gets a ton of zerglings and destroys the bunker and the marines inside, albeit with some losses

Hyperdub has walled off his main and natural with barracks, Max attacks the rocks

Hyperdub puts up a wall behind the rocks with a factory and engineering bay, has another factory in his main

Lair for Max, Hyperdub getting siege tanks, two armories, and blue flame

Max takes the gold base and tears down the rocks at the lower chokes in the southwest of the map

Hyperdub pushes out with about 15 marines and a few hellions, blue flame about to finish

Mass zergling for Max, also expanding to the Terran fourth

Max surrounds a group of marines but the blue flame hellions crush them

Hyperdub destroys the gold base with marines and hellions

Mass infestor coming from Max, his expansion at the Terran fourth remains unscouted

Mass ling/infestor army for Max moving around the map, tank/thor/hellion for Hyperdub

Huge group of hellions move out and get fungaled, mass zerglings attack them and all die except two

Max uses neural parasites on Hyperdub's thors, allowing his small group of roaches to obliterate Hyperdub's army

Max has another expansion up in his traditional third, Hyperdub probably still doesn't know about the real third

Six overlords load up with roaches and head for Hyperdub's main, Max also taking his traditional fourth

The roaches do tremendous damage in Hyperdub's main and force Hyperdub to pull back

Max getting hive and expanding to the island as well, has every possible expansion except the gold and Hyperdub's third, now compared to Hyperdub's two bases

Hyperdub takes his third, Max attacks with neural parasite and roaches but Max's tanks easily defeat it

Hyperdub sieges up at the central watchtower firing at Max's hatchery. Max breaking down the rocks between bases

The rocks go down but Hyperdub sieges up in time to repel them

Max's large roach force catches Hyperdub's tank army unsieged, destroys it entirely, then pulls back

Another big roach drop coming from Max, lucky scan spots the overlords as they fly over tyhe island

Max drops some of the roachs at Hyperdub's main, but the other overlords take the rest down to Hyperdub's natural

The orbital command at Hyperdub's natural falls as he fails to lift it

Another drop behind the minerals at Hyperdub's third does some damage, but it's a planetary so the command center is safe

Max switches into brood lords, but Hyperdub has anticipated this and gotten a huge number of vikings

Hyperdub takes out Max's hidden third, moves to take the gold base

Max manages to fungal Hyperdub's vikings, Hyperdub tries to attack but all his vikings go down

The brood lords are now essentially unopposed and destroy Hyperdub's entire army

The brood lords move to Hyperdub's planetary fortress and there's nothing to stop them

Hyperdub concedes

Just when Max's economy seemed to be slowing down, his fungal on the vikings cleared the field for his brood lords and gave him the victory.

Game 3 - Delta Quadrant

Lower positions, Max at 7 and Hyperdub at 4

Hatch first for Max, double barracks for Hyperdub

Max scouts it almost immediately but as usual doesn't cancel his expansion

Two marines and an SCV coming, Hyperdub walls him in with bunkers at the bottom of the ramp

Max gets a baneling nest instead, sends what zerglings he has to stop reinforcements

Max has banelings ready to destroy the bunkers, Hyperdub has stopped rallying his marines

Max counters his banelings to Hyperdub's ramp but doesn't attack, seems to be opting for a contain

Max sends his zerglings to clear the rocks at the gold, Hyperdub expanding to his back natural

Hyperdub creating bunkers, expecting an all-in probably, getting blue flame and siege mode

Max expanding to the gold, finally getting zergling speed

Max gets a nydus, but loses a ton of zerglings to two hellions since they don't have speed

The nydus completes at Hyperdub's natural, banelings and zerglings kill some marines and SCVs

Max getting a spire, Hyperdub getting an armory

Hyperdub moves out and contains Max in his main, then diverts to the gold and easily kills the nexus

Mutalisks come out and Hyperdub only has a few marines, they die quickly and the mutalisks are unopposed

Hellions kill all the drones anyway before the mutalisks manage to clean everything up

Max surrenders

Once again, Max's insistence on a high economy build order even after he scouted a high pressure opening from Hyperdub cost him the game.

Commentary: Once he actually reached the midgame, Max seemed like he was at least as good as Hyperdub, but he stubbornly went hatch first each game even though Hyperdub was ruthlessly exploiting it. Hyperdub is a good player, but he doesn't seem like he's improved to the same degree as some of the other prominent players.

OdinMvP (T) vs oGsMC (P)
Match Rating: 2/10

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Jungle Basin

Standard openings for both players

Odin builds his factory at the low ground and then lifts it, then proxies his starport near MC's rocks.

MC expands at 22, then gets a robotics, Odin gets a bunker and moves a small group of infantry into the center

Odin getting a banshee and cloak, MC getting two observers

Odin rallies his banshees with his army, not in MC's base

One banshee probes the main from the north, but stalkers and an observer repel it easily

Odin continuing to make banshees, finally expands to his natural

MC moves out, two banshees attack his natural, kill the two stalkers there defending

MC pushes up the ramp, force fields split the defending marines and make it an easy victory

Odin concedes

Odin looked, uh, not very good. Perhaps it was just nerves?

Game 2 - Shakuras Plateau

Cross positions, MC at 7 and Odin at 2

Standard openings from both players

Two barracks and tech lab for Odin, scouted by MC

Marauder and now reaper coming for Odin, reactor on other barracks

Stargate for MC, expansion for Odin

Reaper goes into the base and sees the stargate making a phoenix

MC scouts with a phoenix, then puts down an expansion

MC starts his robotics, still making phoenixes

Phoenix do some minor harassment, teching toward colossus

Odin gets a ghost academy and an armory, the phoenixes see them as they build

Odin is still not making vikings, moves out with marine/marauder/thor

MC has three colossus and a decent ground escort, moves out to engage

Force fields prevent the infantry from retreating from the zealots, Odin's army melts

MC's army reaches Odin's natural with four colossus and the remnants of their escort

In the ensuing battle, the support units for the colossus all die, but there's nothing left to stop the colossus anyway

Finally a viking comes out and forces the colossus to drop back to a proxy pylon where stalkers are warping in

MC goes back, kills the one viking with the stalkers, then obliterates the other defenders

Odin surrenders. MC comes out and points to his LiquidHuk sweatshirt.

Another easy victory for MC, really.

Commentary: It's a cruel world. Several top players have gone out in the round of 64 against unexpectedly strong opposition, and oGsMC meanwhile drew a player who clearly was in way over his head. That was kind of how I expect all teamless unknown players to play, but Odin was by far the least impressive so far. Apparently OdinMvP eliminated Huk but based on what we saw here...that's pretty hard to believe. Maybe Odin let his nerves get to him.

cOreZenith (P) vs STJuly (Z)
Match Rating: 4/10

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Shakuras Plateau

Pool first for July, then zergling speed, cOre with a standard opening

Hatch on 18 for July, scouted by cOre's probe

July's zerglings slip past what should have been a zealot wall-off and scout the main

While cOre tries to get those zerglings, July sends in more, but good force fields defuse the attack

cOre expands, July getting a spire

cOre getting twilight council, then a dark shrine

Zerglings catch sentries out in the open and kill several of them

Ten mutalisks out for July, dark shrine is finishing for cOre

No defense at the main when the mutalisks arrive, they kill many probes and then snipe sentries

Mutalisks finally withdraw from the stalkers, then move down to the natural which is even more undefended

July takes his third, dark templar tries to go into the natural but an overseer is there and it dies immediately

DT delays the drones from transferring to July's third

Mutalisks continue to harass cOre's main, no blink yet

DTs go through the rocks and enter the main, killed by a drone surround after some decent damage

July staying at 10 mutalisks and switching into roach

cOre's army is mainly stalkers with a few sentries and zealots supporting

His DT sees the size of July's roach army so his army stays at home

cOre moves out into the center of the map, sniping some overlords

Enormous roach army goes to meet them, cOre puts up some force fields and they all burrow

There's no observer, so the roaches easily move under the force fields and then slaughter the stalkers

cOre concedes

Pretty one-sided game. July looked substantially better than cOre, though he faces a much less favorable map in game 2.

Game 2 - Delta Quadrant

Right side positions, cOre at 2 and July at 5

Pool first for July, standard opening for cOre

Zergling speed for July, then pulls drones off gas

Expansion at about 22 for July

cOre getting a stargate in addition to the usual gateways, July getting a roach warren

cOre starts a void ray, July starts lair at about the same time

Three queens for July, two void rays moving out with a very small ground complement, third void ray on the way

Transfusion micro allows the queens to do enough damage to the void rays, they all die but more are made

Roaches and zerglings easily eliminate the ground forces, forcing the void rays to pull back

July starts a spire, cOre stops making void rays and expands to his back rocks

The two void rays left move back to July's base to try to harass, but three queens at each base means no dice

Zerglings kill the rocks at the gold despite void rays shooting at them

Mutalisks come out and destroy the two void rays

The mutalisks are repelled from cOre's expansion, but July expands to the gold base

July makes a few corruptors, gets roach upgrades

Mutalisks do some minor harassment, July expands to a fourth and switches to hydra

cOre is two bases down, he moves out with a large sentry/stalker army

July engages in the middle of the map, loses pretty badly, but of course his economy allows him to replace it

July making all roaches now, pushing the stalkers back to cOre's ramp

cOre surrenders

cOre didn't seem to have any kind of idea what to do after his void rays failed to do very much damage, and July made him pay.

Commentary: It's hard to tell how good July is since his opponent was grievously outmatched, but he disposed of him without breaking a sweat, and that counts for something. Since July had trouble qualifying for previous tournaments, it's easy to discount him, but as sSKS, NaDa, TOP, and many other players have proved, even the best sometimes lose in the qualifiers.