2011 GSL January Code S Finals

For the first time there's two Terrans in the GSL finals, but MarineKingPrimeWE's style is so unique they are about as different as you can imagine a mirror matchup being. IMmvp carries the banner of standard play, perfected to a point that he's almost unbeatable, while MarineKing is peerless in microing marines in small or large numbers. Lately MarineKing has been switching up his builds, so his play isn't quite as predictable as it has been in the past, but still the strength of his game is infantry. Whoever wins this best of 7 match will clearly be the best Starcraft 2 player in the world.

IMmvp Terran #27 2010 Results: DNQ, ro32, ro16 GSL 4 Results: W TSLFruitDealer W oGsjookTo W oGsZenio W TheBestfOu W oGsHyperdub W choyafOu W TSLTrickster (3-0) W IMNesTea (3-1)	vs.	MarineKingPrimeWE Terran #5 2010 Results: DNQ, second place, ro8 GSL 4 Results: L TSLClide W SlayerSLegalMinD W SlayerSLegalMinD W LiquidJinro W STRainBOw W oGsNaDa (3-0) W LiquidJinro (3-1)
Maps: Scrap Station, Metalopolis, Xel'Naga Caverns, Blistering Sands, Shakuras Plateau, Lost Temple, Jungle Basin

IMmvp (T) vs. MarineKingPrimeWe (T)
Match Rating: 6/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Scrap Station

No gas fast expand for both players. MarineKing's command center slightly ahead of mvp's.

Two barracks for mvp, bunker and factory for MarineKing

MarineKing scouts with his original barracks

mvp pokes with his marines, sees the bunker, and attacks the rocks at the expansion

Starport and siege mode for MarineKing, factory for mvp

mvp breaks through the rocks just as MarineKing's first tank comes out. Siege mode just over half done.

MarineKing pulls his SCVs and delays until siege mode is done, then he pushes the marines out with siege tanks

Armory for MarineKing, stim for mvp

MarineKing lands two vikings in mvp's mineral line but loses them both after only doing a little damage

Blue flame and two more factories for MarineKing, two reactors and siege mode for mvp

mvp drops eight marines on the high ground above MarineKing's expansion, then stims and runs down

Two siege tanks are there and they kill all the marines in two volleys

mvp starts a command center at the gold base but MarineKing scouts it immediately

mvp moves and takes up a position at MarineKing's eventual third

MarineKing drops four blue flame hellions in mvp's base. mvp reacts quickly but loses a fair number of SCVs.

MarineKing moves downward and sieges up near mvp's forces. MarineKing has air superiority.

mvp brings up some vikings and gets the first volley off. MarineKing unsieges and attacks into mvp's position.

mvp has marines supporting his tanks and wins the battle decisively

MarineKing gets together a smaller army and marches downward

mvp has way too many tanks. He even lands vikings as he crushes MarineKing's army.

mvp now advances toward MarineKing's main, cutting through the few units left defending

MarineKing concedes

Scrap Station isn't really a good map for MarineKing's infantry style, so it wasn't a bad map to try something different on. Thing is, playing less than your A-game against IMmvp is a recipe for defeat.

Game 2 - Metalopolis

Cross positions, mvp at 3 and MarineKing at 9

No gas fast command center for both players...but MarineKing builds his in the smoke at the 12 o'clock main

Two more barracks for MarineKing, factory for mvp

mvp actually scouts the 12 o'clock main and looks in the smoke

mvp sends four marines but MarineKing floats it out and lands it at the gold in the center of the map

Marines skirmish outside mvp's base. MarineKing loses a few marines but then mvp has to retreat.

Both players getting starports. Stim for mvp, shields for MarineKing

MarineKing building a command center at his natural now.

Engineering bay for MarineKing. mvp sends a dropship full of marines toward MarineKing's main

mvp's troops force MarineKing to bring marines back to his main and meanwhile he hits the gold base, killing almost all the SCVs there

mvp gets tanks in range of the gold command center. MarineKing lifts it and retreats.

Meanwhile MarineKing counters to mvp's natural. mvp's returning army flanks him and wipes out MarineKing's army

mvp's army moves out again and heads around toward MarineKing's natural. Meanwhile he drops MarineKing's main as he attacks.

Unable to attack into mvp's siege tanks, MarineKing counters to his main

mvp anticipates this, blocking his ramp with SCVs and sieging tanks in his main

MarineKing picks up his army with dropships to avoid the ramp block but mvp spots it coming and gets marines in position to defend

MarineKing concedes

Clever move by MarineKing to hide the command center and an even better recovery after mvp scouted it. Despite that advantage, mvp's defense and harassment was just too much for MarineKing to handle.

Game 3 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Two barracks for mvp with the second at the far side of his natural, fast command center for MarineKing

mvp attacks with his initial marines but MarineKing uses a few SCVs and successively holds the initial attack

mvp gets two more barracks while MarineKing gets a factory and then starport

mvp's natural is up and running before MarineKing floats his command center into place

Two more barracks and shields for MarineKing, mvp moves out with about 14 marines

mvp has a few more marines, so MarineKing has to retreat, lifting the command center from his natural.

MarineKing sends SCVs to repair it but the orbital command is shot down just before they can get there.

MarineKing moves his army up to mvp's natural, then brings all his SCVs as well

mvp gets a good concave as they come into the natural. MarineKing has medivacs but mvp's superior numbers are still too much and his army melts.

MarineKing concedes

mvp is now one game away from the championship. MarineKing doesn't seem like he has any answers to mvp's play.

Game 4 - Blistering Sands

Gas into factory for mvp, gas into command center for MarineKing

Two more barracks for MarineKing, hellion and command center for mvp

mvp attacks with a few marines, an SCV, and a hellion. MarineKing has plenty of marines.

MarineKing easily shoots down the hellion and drives out the marines.

Siege mode for mvp, stim for MarineKing

Small skirmish in the middle of the map as a small group of marines and a marauder run into a larger force from mvp and get killed

MarineKing tries again with a larger group but mvp's tanks are sieged this time, crushing MarineKing's units

mvp moves tanks up to MarineKing's natural and sets up a contain

Some of MarineKing's units get marooned outside by the containing force.

mvp charges into MarineKing's natural, routing the marines and SCVs that try to defend.

MarineKing has to move his command center into his main, so he's down a base apart from his army losses

mvp pulls his army back to the center of the map

MarineKing moves to try to take out the rocks in the back of his main

mvp gets an even larger army and moves back into where MarineKing's natural was

He charges up the ramp and into MarineKing's main. MarineKing counters to mvp's main, but once again mvp is ready for it

mvp only has one siege tank and MarineKing takes it out immediately, but mvp's SCVs and marines manage to take out MarineKing's army anyway

MarineKing surrenders

Yet another crushing victory for mvp. This time both players played their "style" but again it was no contest.

Commentary: Right from the beginning, when MarineKing played differently from his usual style, it was clear that MarineKing thought mvp was the better player. This certainly turned out to be the case. mvp won using his standard marine/tank style and he won using MarineKing's infantry style. Not only did he not lose a game, he didn't even come close to losing. It's a shame the finals were so straightforward, but never has a GSL champion looked so dominant from start to finish.

2011 GSL January Up And Down Matches: Group H

Group H is the last group of the Up and Down Matches and fittingly it has been saved for oGsTOP, winner of the Code A tournament. Able to pick from the field of players in danger of relegation, TOP selected SlayerSLegalMinD and sanZenith as his opponents. LegalMinD is definitely not one of the better Code S players (despite having one of the cooler nicknames), but sanZenith is in a class by himself. san has yet to live down his GSL 2 game against MakaPrimeWE, widely considered the absolute worst performance in any 2010 GSL game. If TOP wins as expected against LegalMinD, that sets up an interesting PvP. sanZenith has the worse reputation but it's not clear he's actually that much worse than LegalMinD.

oGsTOP (Code A Challenger) Terran Code A T-#2 2010 Results: ro16, DNQ, DNQ GSL 4 Results: W STAce (2-1) W TSLAlive (2-0) W BanBansZenith (2-0) W sCfOu (2-1) W ZeNEXByun (4-3)

SlayerSLegalMinD (Code S 3rd Place) Protoss Code S T-#29 2010 Results: ro16, ro64, DNQ GSL 4 Results: W ZeNEXLiveForever L MarineKingPrimeWE L MarineKingPrimeWE

sanZenith (Code S 4th Place) Terran Code S T-#27 2010 Results: ro16, ro32, DNQ GSL 4 Results: L oGsInCa L oGsMC

oGsTOP (T) vs. SlayerSLegalMinD (P)
Match Rating: 4/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Delta Quadrant

Right positions, TOP at 2 and LegalMinD at 5

Standard openings for both players, though TOP puts his depots at the ramp leading to the back natural

Stargate for LegalMinD, starport for TOP

Void ray for LegalMinD, cloak and banshee for TOP

The first void ray arrives and shows itself harassing a depot.

TOP cloaks his banshee and drives off the Protoss ground units. LegalMinD starts a robotics.

The banshee follows the units all the way back and then runs out of energy. A phoenix kills it immediately.

Armory, then thor and viking for TOP

LegalMinD starts a nexus at his front natural

The phoenix tries to scout and harass but two vikings drive it off

Robotics bay and two gateways for LegalMinD, TOP getting a raven and clearing the rocks at his back natural

Second factory for TOP, LegalMinD still making void rays

Now LegalMinD gets an immortal from his robotics. TOP makes another banshee.

Second starport for TOP, who makes another banshee while his recently made one cloaks and moves into LegalMinD's natural

LegalMinD attacks into TOP's base with his void rays and gateway units. He lays down force fields, but TOP has a ton of thors with his marines.

LegalMinD's army melts. Meanwhile the banshee has killed 13 probes.

LegalMinD concedes

Not an impressive start for LegalMinD. If the initial banshee had gone straight to his main it could have been even worse.

Game 2 - Metalopolis

Close air positions, TOP at 6 and LegalMinD at 9

Hellion, blue flame, and starport for TOP. LegalMinD takes his natural at 34 supply

Robotics and forge for LegalMinD, raven for TOP

TOP's medivac moves three hellions into LegalMinD's base

The three hellions kill a few probes, then TOP picks them up as LegalMinD's units respond

TOP sends two more hellions around to LegalMinD's natural, then drops the original three again

LegalMinD suffers massive probe losses. He appears to actually take his probes and right click on a blue flame hellion...this is not a good move.

With twice as many workers, TOP just attacks off one base.

Marines, marauders, SCVs, and blue flame hellions move into LegalMinD's natural

Point defense drone from the raven helps with the stalkers. Sentries and zealots get slaughtered by the hellions and marauders.

A banshee arrives to help but the battle is really already over.

LegalMinD surrenders

Another easy win for oGsTOP.

Commentary: Under other circumstances you'd say TOP was lucky to face LegalMinD, but of course he earned his luck by winning Code A and then picking LegalMinD from the third place finishers. TOP moves on to Code S where he probably belongs. LegalMinD probably doesn't belong, but he can stay another month by defeating sanZenith.

Match 1 Loser vs. sanZenith (T)
Match Rating: 6/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Xel'Naga Caverns

sanZenith sends one of his initial probes and tries to sneak it to the bottom of LegalMinD's main. LegalMinD checks for it and sees it.

Four gates for LegalMinD, then a little later four gates for san

LegalMinD puts a proxy pylon at san's choke, but san moves out with a zealot and stalker, forcing a cancel

LegalMinD has to warp in farther away, then place a closer pylon on his way in

LegalMinD moves up the ramp and a micro battle ensues. san has only a single pylon powering his warp gates.

LegalMinD doesn't initially press that probe and later does not get a chance to hit it.

The battle goes back and forth but san pulls away in unit count.

LegalMinD finally withdraws, down in supply to san due to the failed rush.

Robotics for LegalMinD, stargate for san

Robotics support for LegalMinD, void ray for san

Immortal now for LegalMinD, whose observer reaches san's base and scouts the stargate making void rays.

LegalMinD makes a colossus anyway. san moves to attack.

san puts a proxy pylon and pokes up the ramp

LegalMinD force fields the ramp, but the two armies just skirmish

When the force fields are gone, san recollects his army. The colossus comes out.

LegalMinD actually attacks down his ramp at san. The void rays (three by now) kill the colossus easily.

Stalkers manage to take out only one of the void rays before LegalMinD runs out of units that can hit air.

LegalMinD concedes

san did a good job finding the pylon, delaying LegalMinD's rush just enough to survive. Not sure why LegalMinD would make a colossus after scouting the void rays. Surely what he needed was more stalkers at that point.

Game 2 - Scrap Station

Four warp gates for both players

LegalMinD puts a pylon behind the minerals at san's third

LegalMinD moves up to the smoke and warps in another pylon there

LegalMinD warps in a pylon right at the ramp and then attacks upward

After some back and forth, san's stalkers shoot down the nearest pylon

LegalMinD attacks and gets into the main. san actually pulls probes briefly but LegalMinD retreats

From there it is back and forth. LegalMinD has a brief window where he has more stalkers, but later the numbers equalize.

After still more inconclusive fighting, LegalMinD gets a sentry and uses guardian shield

Now LegalMinD has a decisive advantage, breaking the deadlock and killing all of san's stalkers

san concedes

Smart move by LegalMinD to get the sentry. san had more probes than he did so that was his last chance to make it work.

Game 3 - Steppes of War

Four warp gates for both players

LegalMinD puts a pylon above the rocks outside LegalMinD's natural

LegalMinD attacks up san's ramp. san never put a pylon at his ramp, so he has to fall back into his main and fight there.

After some suboptimal micro from both players, LegalMinD ends up at a disadvantage and withdraws

Twilight council for LegalMinD, robotics for san

Blink for LegalMinD, observer for san

Robotics bay starts for san, then canceled. He makes an immortal instead.

LegalMinD moves to san's ramp and attacks up the ramp. san puts a force field on the ramp, but LegalMinD doesn't blink up to the high ground, he just blinks hurt stalkers to the back.

LegalMinD settles into a contain.

Twilight council for san, stargate for LegalMinD

Void ray coming for LegalMinD.

Robotics for LegalMinD as the first void ray heads down toward san's base

san blinks his stalkers to the low ground and attacks the containing force

san has way more stalkers. He rolls back LegalMinD's stalkers, then blinks under the void rays and kills them.

LegalMinD surrenders

Decent game from san. He made less mistakes than LegalMinD, so you have to call it a deserved victory.

Commentary: After a tournament of making jokes about sanZenith, he escapes relegation and stays in Code S another month after scraping through a very tight match against LegalMinD. There wasn't much of a difference between the two players, but it was enough to send LegalMinD down to Code A.

2011 GSL January Up And Down Matches: Group G

In Group G the second place player in the Code A tournament, ZeNEXByun, goes against the two players he selected: LeenockfOu and ZeNEXLiveForever. Byun looked very impressive at times during his run through the Code A tournament, but he had trouble with early rushes and harassment. LeenockfOu has played some really good ZvT games in the past, most notably his epic ZvT against TSLClide in GSL 3. ZeNEXLiveForever, meanwhile, was a surprising semifinalist in GSL 1. Even in that much weaker tournament he was thought to have gotten farther than perhaps his skill strictly would lead you to expect. Since then LiveForever has been pretty much out of the picture, focusing on academics instead of practicing. Unfortunately, even he's completely recovered his former skills, everyone else has been getting better all this time. If LiveForever beats either of these players and stays in Code S it would be one of the biggest upsets in GSL history.

ZeNEXByun (Code A Challenger) Terran Code A T-#9 2010 Results: ro32, ro64, DNQ GSL 4 Results: W SlayerSGolden (2-0) W TSLKiller (2-0) W STJuly (2-0) W FOXLyn (2-1) L oGsTOP (3-4)

LeenockfOu (Code S 3rd Place) Zerg Code S #22 2010 Results: DNQ, ro16, ro16 GSL 4 Results: L STRainBOw L NsPGenius W anyproPrimeWE

ZeNEXLiveForever (Code S 4th Place) Terran Code S T-#11 2010 Results: ro4, DNQ, DNQ GSL 4 Results: L SlayerSLegalMinD L TSLClide

LeenockfOu (Z) vs. ZeNEXByun (T)
Match Rating: 9/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Delta Quadrant

Right positions, Leenock at 2 and Byun at 5

Pool first for Leenock, tech lab and reaper for Byun

Zergling speed for Leenock, who actually manages to kill an SCV building a depot to complete the wall-in

Command center now for Byun at his front natural, then a factory on the tech lab

Lair for Leenock, bunker at the front natural for Byun

Siege mode starts for Byun, infestation pit for Leenock

Byun scans and sees the infestation pit. Meanwhile he adds two more barracks.

Leenock takes his front natural much later than Byun

Starport and engineering bay for Byun as three infestors hatch for Leenock

Stim and reactors for Byun as well as a turret at his natural

Spire for Leenock, whose zerglings are taking out the rocks at the gold

Leenock gets a hatchery at the gold while making mutalisks

Baneling nest for Leenock, second factory for Byun

Byun moves out a group of infantry. They all get fungaled to death by the infestors.

Baneling speed for Leenock, Byun puts up more turrets with his army

Byun starts a command center at the gold between his bases and Leenock's. Lenock takes a fourth in the 10 o'clock main

Armory for Byun while Leenock continues to harass Byun's army with mutalisks, sniping stray tanks and marines

Leenock is up over 20 mutalisks and getting hive. Byun gets a planetary fortress at the gold.

Byun starts to move forward but his infantry gets fungaled, slowing him down

Byun finally gets his lead tanks in range of Leenock's front natural

Leenock counters with zerglings and mutalisks to Byun's natural, forcing Byun to move his army back

Greater spire coming for Leenock, who doesn't try to defend the natural

Leenock starts making vikings as the greater spire finishes

Harassing mutalisks move into Byun's main and take out his starport

Byun makes three barracks and two starports. Three brood lords are out for Leenock and three more are coming.

Vikings attack the brood lords but Leenock manages to snipe them

Byun drops marines in the 10 o'clock expansion, forcing Leenock to send zerglings and mutalisks all the way across the map to deal with them

While he's doing that, Byun sends marines forward and kills all the brood lords and infestors

The mutalisks return and kill the marines, then magic box the thors. Byun's tanks have to retreat.

Byun gets more marines and thors, then attacks again. Although mutalisks wear down this force as well, the mutalisks themselves take too many losses to be effective.

Now Leenock can't defend his gold base from Leenock's army.

After taking out the gold base, Byun moves on to the farther flung expansions, taking them out one at a time.

Leenock counters ineffectually to Byun's expansion, but it gets cleaned up easily

Leenock concedes

Interesting strategy from Leenock, but he couldn't make the infestors work, culminating in a catastrophic loss of attention when he send his mutalisks to the distant expansion when it wasn't strictly required.

Game 2 - Shakuras Plateau

Lower positions, Leenock at 8 and Byun at 4

Hatch first for Leenock, tech lab and reaper for Byun

Command center on 19 for Byun

Factory for Byun, zergling speed for Leenock

Two more barracks for Byun, lair for Leenock

Reaper speed researching for Byun, then siege mode

Spire starts for Leenock while Byun masses reapers

Byun attacks with five reapers while getting an armory at home

Two reapers are killed by zerglings when they get caught on terrain

Leenock starts a third hatch at the 10 o'clock main. Reapers scout it but zerglings get rid of them.

Four barracks for Byun, two thors being made right now. Mutalisks out for Leenock.

Stim and shields start for Byun, now making tanks from his factories while putting reactors on his barracks

Infestation pit for Leenock. His mutalisks clean up the last reapers.

Starport and a third command center for Byun, baneling nest and hive for Leenock

Byun takes down the rocks and moves down to the path between bases with five siege tanks, two thors, and plenty of infantry

Byun builds a turret near his main but creep prevents him from doing it closer

Leenock attacks with zerglings, an infestor, and his mutalisks. But the infestor doesn't have enough for a fungal. The zerglings and the infestor melt.

Greater spire and baneling speed coming for Leenock. The creep tumor in the middle of the map is gone. Byun waiting to land his command center.

Leenock counters to Byun's natural, easily breaking through the bunker with only one marine in it.

Zerglings kill a lot of SCVs, then force the orbital to lift. Mutalisks destroy it before Byun's army can return.

Byun tries to move up the ramp to Leenock's main but brood lords are out, slowing him down

Mutalisks try to defend the brood lords but get taken out by the thors, though most marines do fall

Byun reinforces with marines and continues the attack. Leenock tries to make ultralisks but two of the eggs are sniped.

While Byun destroys his main, Leenock counters again to Byun's main. His zerglings actually kill the orbital and Byun's main

Leenock has a spawning pool and ultralisk cavern at his other expansions. He also is remaking a spire there.

Byun's army now takes out Leenock's natural, but Leenock has three more bases whereas Byun has just a single mining base

Byun's army is weak now and gets taken out by zerglings and ultralisks

Byun drops marines at two of Leenock's expansions, destroying one of them, but Leenock eventually cleans it up.

Leenock still has a spire, so he switches to mutalisks

Byun sets up a siege position in the center of the map, preventing Leenock from rebuilding the expansion his drop destroyed

Leenock attacks with six ultralisks, some banelings, and mutalisks, crushing Byun's army

Byun concedes

Very fun game. Finally someone shows how to survive the ZvT cross map push on Shakuras: keep tech buildings in other places and just counter to the undefended base.

Game 3 - Lost Temple

Close ground positions, Byun at 3, Leenock at 6

Pool first for Leenock, Byun puts two barracks at the natural chokepoint

Zergling speed for Leenock, who manages to snipe the scouting SCV with his workers

Leenock takes his natural and then pushes with zerglings, killing Byun's marines and forcing him to complete the wall-off with a third barracks

Byun starts a command center at his natural, plus a bunker behind his barracks wall

Factory for Byun, evolution chamber for Leenock

Lair and a spine crawler for Leenock, starport, engineering bay, and siege mode for Byun

Infestation pit for Leenock in his natural within range of the cliff

A dropship moves out with a tank, two marines, and two SCVs

While the tank sieges on Leenock's high ground, the SCVs build turrets

Stim for Byun, Leenock takes a third at the 9 o'clock main and a fourth at that natural

Leenock's infestors spawn infested terrans on the high ground, killing everything

Hive coming for Leenock. Byun starts to hard push toward Leenock's main

Byun sends a dropship with marines to the high ground, but Leenock fungal growths it and then makes infested terrans to kill everything

Ultralisk cavern coming for Leenock, Byun's push is still pretty far away

5 ultralisks building now for Leenock while Byun takes out the rocks at the gold between the two players' mains

As the marines try to advance they get fungal growthed

Byun sends two dropships full of marines to Leenock's left side bases. Zerglings have to come and help.

Meanwhile Byun moves into Leenock's natural and destroys the hatchery there.

Leenock puts a nydus worm in Byun's main but only four ultralisks get through before SCVs kill it

Byun's tank force moves back and kills those ultralisks

Byun drops tanks on the high ground over Leenock's left side expansion

Leenock attacks down his ramp with ultralisks, smashing through the tanks at his natural

Marines and marauders rush back to protect Byun's gold base

Leenock surrenders

Well, Byun looked pretty good that whole game. If Leenock had executed his nydus a little faster and not lost the first one to SCVs he would have had a better chance, but Byun seemed more than capable of dealing with the ultralisk strategy.

Commentary: Leenock is definitely a Code S caliber player, so it bodes well for Byun that he was able to battle Leenock to a standstill and then win. It was a fairly close match, but Leenock is good. Ultimately I thought Leenock's ultralisk use was a little shaky: if you don't have overwhelming numbers of them then they have a hard time against late game Terran armies. Byun seemed to handle multitasking a lot better than in the Code A final against oGsTOP. Leenock is in a bit of trouble but luckily for him he can fall back on a match against ZeNEXLiveForever to stay in Code S.

Match 1 Loser vs. ZeNEXLiveForever (T)
Match Rating: 1/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Shakuras Plateau

Cross positions, Leenock at 2 and LiveForever at 8

Hatch first for Leenock, tech lab and reaper for LiveForever

The reaper kills the scouting drone and then heads out. Meanwhile LiveForever takes his natural and builds a factory at the tech lab.

The reaper runs into Leenock's natural, gets attacked by four zerglings, and gets killed trying to kite them

Zergling speed for Leenock, blue flame and a bunker at the natural for LiveForever

Two more barracks for LiveForever, lair for Leenock

Starport for LiveForever while his three hellions head for Leenock's natural

Leenock walls off his natural with evolution chambers right before the hellions arrive, killing them pretty easily, then cancels them

Siege mode, stim, and an engineering bay for LiveForever. Spire for Leenock.

Leenock takes a third and gets a baneling nest

LiveForever pushes out across the map with a couple tanks and marines

Speedlings slaughter everything as soon as it gets onto Leenock's creep

Armory for LiveForever, infestation pit for Leenock

LiveForever takes down the rocks behind his main. Meanwhile Leenock's mutalisks destroy the engineering bay and some supply depots on the other side of his main

LiveForever moves his army to the 5 o'clock main. Leenock snipes the medivacs with his mutalisks, then realizes he can just kill all the marines with his mutalisks as well and does so. Then he finishes off the tanks.

The mutalisks move into LiveForever's main and there's not much to defend. Leenock sends zerglings into LiveForever's natural and turns them all into banelings.

The banelings hatch and pursue LiveForever's SCVs across the map...not a typo, across the map...in a humiliating conclusion to the game.

LiveForever concedes.

OK, well then. I think if I'm LiveForever, I do a two barracks marine rush and send all my SCVs next game in the hopes that I can lose doing something...plausible.

Game 2 - Blistering Sands

Hatch first for Leenock, two barracks for LiveForever

LiveForever moves toward Leenock's natural with his initial marine and some SCVs

Leenock initially pulls drones, but seeing the bunker is placed at the chokepoint. With plenty of time to get a spine crawler up, there's no need to even fight.

LiveForever finishes the bunker and then pokes with six marines.

Zergling speed is half done for Leenock, LiveForever building a command center at his natural

LiveForever falls back and builds three more barracks. Zerglings destroy the bunker and kill the two marines left in it.

Lair for Leenock, stim and shields for LiveForever

Spire starting for Leenock as LiveForever moves out with four marauders and about fifteen marines.

Leenock has a couple spine crawlers and a baneling nest that's half done

Zerglings move in and attack the marines, but there's not even remotely enough

Leenock concedes

A little overconfidence from Leenock? Now he has a must-win on Jungle Basin. Hmm...

Game 3 - Jungle Basin

Hatch first for Leenock, command center on 17 for LiveForever

Zergling speed for Leenock, factory and two more barracks for LiveForever

Two zerglings poke LiveForever's ramp. A depot is down so they go inside and scout his whole base.

Lair for Leenock, another two barracks for LiveForever, bringing him up to six

Spire, evolution chamber, and finally a baneling nest for Leenock, stim and shields for LiveForever

An overseer scouts LiveForever's main and sees all the barracks. LiveForever moves out.

Leenock repositions his spine crawler and makes 7 banelings.

LiveForever moves up the ramp. Leenock waits for the banelings, then attacks.

LiveForever has marauders out in front and is able to shoot down the banelings on the way in.

That's pretty much it. LiveForever's infantry kills all of Leenock's drones, then destroys the main hatchery.

Leenock surrenders.

So...Leenock just got surprised by the exact same (very common) timing attack that he lost to in game 2. Losses don't get much more deserved than that.

Commentary: Shocking result. Leenock has played some fantastic games, including earlier tonight against ZeNEXByun. LiveForever played horribly in game 1, then did the same rush twice and somehow Leenock failed to react properly even the second time he saw it. Very, very disappointing outcome, since although Leenock is far from the best player in Code S he plays in entertaining games more consistently than anyone except perhaps LiquidJinro. Meanwhile, LiveForever will stay in Code S another month despite clearly being the worst player.

2011 GSL January Up And Down Matches: Group F

In Group F, Code A semifinalist sCfOu takes on GSL 1 champion TSLFruitDealer and MakaPrimeWE. These two are the biggest names in the Up and Down matches but they may not be the hardest opponents. FruitDealer can be dominating at times but also sometimes he's surprisingly vulnerable. In an earlier interview another player mentioned he didn't think FruitDealer practiced enough. Maybe that was a joke, but I could believe it based on FruitDealer's play since his glorious run through the original GSL. Of course, in GSL 3's round of 32 he eliminated sCfOu 2-1, so there's history there already.

Maka is another star whose play has been surprisingly uneven. One of the best Terrans in the beta, Maka's best results were in GSL 1, and frankly he has never really had a "quality win" on television. His various GSL victories were against undistinguished players. Today he's only got one chance to stay in Code S.

scfOu (Code A Challenger) Terran Code A T-#21 2010 Results: DNQ, DNQ, ro32 GSL 4 Results: W JSLZenith (2-0) W STGgoBooGie (2-1) W oGsCezanne (2-0) L oGsTOP (1-2)

TSLFruitDealer (Code S 3rd Place) Terran Code S #1 2010 Results: Champion, ro32, ro8 GSL 4 Results: L IMmvp L oGsZenio W oGsjookTo

MakaPrimeWE (Code S 4th Place) Terran Code S #10 2010 Results: ro8, ro32, ro16 GSL 4 Results: L TheBestfOu L IMNesTea

scfOu (T) vs. TSLFruitDealer (Z)
Match Rating: 6/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Blistering Sands

Hatch first for FruitDealer, two barracks for sC

The first marine and three SCVs go to FruitDealer's natural and starts a bunker at the choke

Spine crawler is two thirds done for FruitDealer

Zerglings kill the SCVs. While the bunker finishes so does the spine crawler

sC salvages and withdraws while building a command center at his natural

Two factories for sC, zergling speed for FruitDealer

Lair, baneling nest, and roach warren for FruitDealer

Hellions, blue flame, and stim for sC. Zerglings start working on the rocks at FruitDealer's gold

FruitDealer getting roaches and burrow. sC getting two more barracks and an engineering bay

Six hellions head out but have to fight roaches in the middle of the map

Four of them make it up FruitDealer's ramp, but more roaches hatch in the main as the hellions arrive, cleaning them up easily

FruitDealer already took out sC's back rocks, so he walks in with a large roach force escorted by a couple banelings

sC puts marines in a bunker, but the roaches just walk by and kill siege tanks and SCVs

sC drives them out, but FruitDealer just masses up another roach army and comes in a second time

After losing more tanks, sC pushes them out again

A third time FruitDealer marches in. This time sC baits him into the top part of the base where he gets hit by withering siege tank fire from the expansion

FruitDealer burrows two roaches in the back of sC's main

Meanwhile the gold is up and running for FruitDealer. He's switching to mutalisks and getting baneling speed.

FruitDealer's first gruop of mutalisks arrive at sC's natural and the turret isn't finished. Lots of SCV losses ensue.

FruitDealer takes a fourth base during this pressure.

sC moves out with five tanks, two dozen marines, and six marauders

FruitDealer had a baneling trap on the ramp but sC scans

FruitDealer lets him get almost all the way across the map, then attacks with zerglings, banelings, roaches, and mutalisks

It's a fairly close fight but FruitDealer comes out on top after heavy losses.

sC has to piece together another, inevitably smaller force. This time he hardly steps outside his base before FruitDealer crushes it with roaches and mutalisks.

sC concedes

Dominating play from FruitDealer. That felt like GSL 1 all over again.

Game 2 - Metalopolis

Close ground positions, sC at 9 and FruitDealer at 12

Gas then pool for FruitDealer, two barracks for sC

Zergling speed for FruitDealer.

sC pressures with his first marine and two SCVs but quickly pulls back

FruitDealer takes his natural, sC does as well

FruitDealer's zerglings feint and dart around sC's natural

Suddenly FruitDealer attacks and surrounds sC's marines, killing them easily

Plenty more marines get into sC's mineral line and kill SCVs

After taking huge damage, sC stabilizes

FruitDealer gets a baneling nest and attacks again

The banelings kill tons of marines and the zerglings clean up the rest

Even the bunker on the low ground gets destroyed before sC drives them away with marines again

FruitDealer gets some more banelings and attacks a third time

sC retreats quicker this time and though almost all his marines get hurt he repels the attack without taking as much damage

FruitDealer gets spine crawlers, sC gets stim

FruitDealer continues to harass sC's SCVs and gets a lair

sC starts a starport. FruitDealer's harassing zerglings force a cancel initially, though of course sC rebuilds it

FruitDealer getting a third base. sC moves out with an absolutely enormous marine/marauder army

sC sends marauders in first, then pre-spreads his enormous marine force behind them

FruitDealer attacks with a bunch of banelings but sC's spread marines shoot them down pretty easily

With about half his army still alive, sC pushes on

FruitDealer concedes

FruitDealer had the upper hand for a while thanks to his brilliant early surround, but each time he attacked he did less damage. If he'd stopped after the second one I think he would have been in much better shape. sC deserves a lot of credit for staying calm under that tremendous pressure and stabilizing.

Game 3 - Scrap Station

Hatch first for FruitDealer, two barracks for sC with the second hidden by the rocks leading to his natural

Roach warren coming for FruitDealer as the first marines and SCVs arrive

FruitDealer's initial zerglings kill a marine and an SCV

Two SCVs for sC start three bunkers at the bottom of FruitDealer's ramp. FruitDealer's queen destroys the one not being continued

FruitDealer doesn't have enough zerglings to deal with it. Both of the other bunkers finish and plenty of marines are in place.

Some roaches slip past and try to counter but sC builds some bunkers on his side.

Zergling speed and lair for FruitDealer, stim and another barracks for sC

Siege mode starts for sC

FruitDealer cleans up the two bunkers with zerglings and roaches, then starts a spire

Baneling nest for FruitDealer, starport for sC

FruitDealer takes out the rocks leading to the far expansion and then puts a hatchery there

Mutalisks now coming for FruitDealer. sC moves out with three tanks and some infantry.

As sC approaches mutalisks snipe two of his tanks

But sC sits in between the bases and waits for reinforcements, bringing in more tanks and marines

sC scans and sees FruitDealer's cluster of banelings, then sends marauders forward to bait them out

While his banelings get destroyed, FruitDealer attacks with roaches and gets cleaned out by the siege tanks

FruitDealer surrenders

Solid play from sC. This time he got the better of the early game battles, allowing him to run over FruitDealer in the mid-game with a very patient advance.

Commentary: This was certainly an upset, especially considering how strong FruitDealer looked in game 1, but he has only himself to blame. He had sC dead to rights in game 2 and let it slip away from him.

Match 1 Loser vs. MakaPrimeWE (T)
Match Rating: 2/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Shakuras Plateau

Lower positions, FruitDealer at 4 and Maka at 7

Hatch first for FruitDealer, factory for Maka

Starport and hellion for Maka, spine crawler for FruitDealer

Second starport for Maka, lair for FruitDealer

Zergling speed for FruitDealer, raven for Maka

Maka's hellions try to run up FruitDealer's ramp but he blocks them with zerglings and cleans them up easily

Spire for FruitDealer, who scouts the two starports with an overlord

Banshees coming now for Maka, more queens for FruitDealer

The first two banshees head over to FruitDealer's base with the raven

Mutalisks come out and they kill three banshees and a raven. Ouch.

The mutalisks move into Maka's main and sit over Maka's production buildings, killing marines and tanks as they come out

Maka concedes

Maka's strategy would worked if FruitDealer didn't have extra queens. And no mutalisks. I didn't say it was a good strategy. Artosis thinks the raven was supposed to use its point defense drone on hydralisks. If so...huh. Well, that didn't happen.

Game 2 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Hatch first for FruitDealer, command center on 16 for Maka

Maka pokes with a marine and SCV but immediately withdraws

Two more barracks for Maka, zergling speed for FruitDealer

Stim for Maka, lair for FruitDealer

Baneling nest and plenty of speedlings for FruitDealer

FruitDealer surrounds a small group of Maka's infantry that get too far from the natural

Maka tries to save them with more of his infantry. FruitDealer's zerglings dart in and surround some of them before they get back to the bunker.

At this point Maka doesn't have much left, so FruitDealer just surrounds the bunker with his zerglings

SCVs head up to repair but the bunker dies too quickly. Maka has to fall back to his ramp.

FruitDealer making a bunch of banelings just slightly out of Maka's vision

When the banelings hatch, FruitDealer attacks. Maka tries to interpose marauders but there's enough banelings it doesn't matter.

They smash through the wall-in at the top of the ramp and kill marines and SCVs in the main

With the wall-in gone, speedlings stream in to do further damage

Maka surrenders

If we hadn't just seen FruitDealer pull those lightning fast surrounds on sCfOu as well, I'd be more down on Maka for this game. Still, not a good way to go out.

Commentary: Pretty embarrassing performance for Maka. Probably he expected to be playing sC, not FruitDealer, but needless to say this was not the sort of performance we expect from someone of Maka's stature, or any Code S player for that matter. Maka leaves Code S with a whimper, not a bang.

2011 GSL January Up And Down Matches: Group E

Group E features Starcraft 1 champion STJuly going up against baneling ace ZeNEXKyrix and GSL 3 runner up TSLRain. STJuly's ZvZ didn't look particularly impressive earlier in the Code A tournament, but Kyrix hasn't had very much success since his run in GSL 2 and his subsequent win at the Gstars tournament. TSLRain has yet to prove he isn't a one tournament wonder.

STJuly (Code A Challenger) Zerg Code A T-#2 2010 Results: ro32, ro64, DNQ GSL 4 Results: W ZeNEXGuardian (2-0) W SlayerSYuGiOh (2-1) L ZeNEXByun (0-2)

ZeNEXKyrix (Code S 3rd Place) Terran Code S T-#16 2010 Results: DNQ, ro8, ro64 GSL 4 Results: L TSLTrickster W TSLRain L choyafOu

TSLRain (Code S 4th Place) Terran Code S #6 2010 Results: DNQ, ro32, second place GSL 4 Results: W choyafOu L ZeNEXKyrix L TSLTrickster

STJuly (Z) vs. ZeNEXKyrix (Z)
Match Rating: 6/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Delta Quadrant

Upper positions, July at 10 and Kyrix at 2

Both players get gas then pool

Zergling speed for Kyrix, roach warren for July

Kyrix takes his front natural at about 21 supply

Roach warren for Kyrix. Roaches are out for July.

Baneling nest for July, who is still on one base

July makes four banelings. Leaving one at the top of his ramp, he sends the other three with his roaches

They fight a large battle where July gets the initial upper hand with his superior numbers of roaches, but waves of reinforcing speedlings wear him down

July makes a few more banelings and fights a second battle in the middle of the map. Kyrix focuses the banelings with his roaches and then easily wins the battle.

Now July is contained at the top of his ramp, stuck on one base while Kyrix has two.

Kyrix adds more roaches and then marches up the ramp. July cleans it up but only after losing a queen and quite a bit of units.

Kyrix has twice as many drones so almost immediately he is marching up July's ramp again.

July barely cleans it up after losing most of his drones. Reinforcements arrive...

July concedes

July's one base roach/baneling got countered hard by Kyrix's speedling/roach composition. Not a game to quiet those who doubt July's ZvZ.

Game 2 - Blistering Sands

Hatch first for July, gas then pool for Kyrix

Zergling speed for Kyrix and then an expansion on 21 supply, roach warren for July

Kyrix attacks with a clump of speedlings, briefly surrounding July's initial roaches, then running by and harassing drones in July's main

Zergling speed coming for July. Both players are even in drones.

Kyrix attacks again and manages to get a surround, killing the few zerglings and several roaches

Now Kyrix puts up non-stop speedling pressure, constantly finding ways to surround lesser groups of July's units

July slowly loses more and more ground as the zergling torrent continues

Finally July is out of units and losing drones instead

July surrenders

This game it didn't appear that Kyrix's build order gave him a huge advantage. He just seemed to have superior micro with his speedlings.

Commentary: In the pre-match interview, July said he wanted to play Zerg, but Kyrix beat him pretty handily. No way to sugarcoat it. Kyrix looked good but he's probably not even in the top tier of ZvZ players.

Match 1 Loser vs. TSLRain (T)
Match Rating: 5/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Jungle Basin

Hatch first for July, two barracks for Rain

Rain builds two bunkers at the bottom of July's ramp

Zergling speed for July

With his first two bunkers finished, Rain sends three marines up the ramp and starts a third bunker

July already working on the rocks at the back of his natural

Rain's third bunker is out of range of his first two bunkers. Hmm.

After some fencing, July suddenly brings more zerglings from the group at the rocks and surrounds Rain's three marines

With those marines dead, there are still four in one of the bunkers at the bottom of the ramp

Rain brings in some more marines to reinforce and then wanders into July's base. Zerglings surround and kill them.

Meanwhile most of July's zerglings have left his natural and are going around the outside of the map toward Rain's main

Rain hasn't walled in. Interesting.

Seriously, the two barracks are there at the top of his ramp but there's no bunker, depot, or anything else completing it.

The zerglings stream into Rain's base. He brings all his SCVs and marines to try to defend.

It's way too many zerglings. First all the marines are killed, then the SCVs start dropping like flies.

Rain concedes

Yikes. That was...really bad by Rain. First with the poorly executed bunker rush, then the "oops I didn't wall in" defense of the inevitable speedling counter.

Game 2 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Gas then pool for July, two barracks for Rain

This time July patrols a drone at the bottom of his ramp

Zergling speed for July, bunker and command center on the low ground for Rain

Rain floats his barracks to the low ground as well, adding an engineering bay to make a wall from the ramp to the command center

Two factories for Rain, baneling nest for July

July gets banelings behind the grass at the natural, Rain getting hellions and blue flame

July moves into the natural and sends about half his banelings into the engineering bay. The other have hit marines and SCVs

July tries again but Rain holds with hellions and a new bunker

Rain has four hellions. July has lair and roach warren coming.

With the warren only half done, the four hellions go into the natural

July manages to pin three of them against the wall and kill them

Rain still has plenty more hellions. He gets three into July's main right as the first roaches come out.

July seemed to multitask better, fighting in both his main and his natural with roaches against the hellions

Baneling speed coming for July, siege mode finished for Rain

July marches into Rain's expansion with a large group of roaches and a few banelings

The roaches force the command center to lift, shoot down the engineering bay and bunker, and wipe out some of the tanks

Banelings kill the marines and SCVs there. Plenty of roaches left continue into the main and kill some more tanks before thors clean them up

July sends a wave of zerglings into the natural but with a hellion there they end up doing no damage

Spire coming for July, Rain adding barracks

July takes a third while Rain gets a hellion into his main for some brief harassment

Stim and shields for Rain, mutalisks for July

The mutalisks arrive in Rain's main and there are no turrets or thors defending the SCVs in the main.

After inflicting massive losses, the mutalisks move on to the natural where Rain's army is able to deflect them

Rain gets some kills with hellions but he is down 60 to 30 in workers

July takes out the rocks at his gold and lands a command center there

July's mutalisks attack the mules at the gold even though there's a thor there and he only has about seven

Starport for Rain, July getting roaches

July loads up a bunch of overlords with roaches and drops them all in Rain's main.

Rain fights it off and really doesn't take much damage. July taking a fourth and sending roaches toward Rain's natural

Rain has to lift his natural command center temporarily, then July pulls back again

July takes a fifth base. His hive is finished and a greater spire is coming.

Rain starts moving down the map. July attacks and uses neural parasite on Rain's siege tanks

When the smoke clears a thor and a few siege tanks are all that's left of either army.

July follows up with another attack, throwing away some zerglings but then crushing Rain's survivors with mutalisks

Now July gets four brood lords to go with his large mutalisk group

Rain has three vikings and they try to fight the brood lords. July's mutalisks force them to retreat but get hard by thors.

Rain manages to take out all but one of the brood lords and repel the rest of July's attack without every losing his gold command center.

July tries another drop but Rain built more turrets and has marines there as well

Rain mines out the gold but he has the only other expansion on the map

July gets some infestors on the high ground over Rain's only mining expansion and fungals all the SCVs

Meanwhile roaches attack Rain's natural, pushing ever farther

Rain surrenders

Sort of a wild, sloppy game but a fairly entertaining one. In the end, they both made mistakes but July was too much for Rain.

Commentary: Unless he gets better July is probably going to have some trouble in Code S, but he certainly looks like he represents a net improvement over having TSLRain there. Still, the days when July's ZvT could be even arguably labeled the best in the world are clearly gone.

2011 GSL January Up And Down Matches: Group D

In Group D, oGs team captain oGsCezanne takes on his teammate oGsEnsnare and fellow Zerg CheckPrimeWE. This is a really tough draw. Despite not advancing in the round of 32, Ensnare looked very good, losing tough games to IdrA and Jinro, who at least this month were top Code S players. As for Check, he's had some tough times lately, but he's a tremendously experienced Zerg. Beating him in ZvZ will be a tall order.

oGsCezanne (Code A Challenger) Zerg Code A T-#15 2010 Results: ro64, ro64, DNQ GSL 4 Results: W LiquidRet (2-1) W LonerPrimeWE (2-0) L scfOu (0-2)

oGsEnsnare (Code S 3rd Place) Terran Code S #8 2010 Results: ro4, ro16, DNQ GSL 4 Results: W CheckPrimeWE L EGIdrA L LiquidJinro

CheckPrimeWE (Code S 4th Place) Zerg Code S #18 2010 Results: ro16, ro16, ro32 GSL 4 Results: L oGsEnsnare W LiquidJinro L EGIdrA

oGsCezanne (Z) vs. oGsEnsnare (T)
Match Rating: 7/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Lost Temple

Close ground positions, Cezanne at 9 and Ensnare at 12

Hatch first for Cezanne, two barracks for Ensnare

Ensnare brings a marine and two SCVs to Cezanne's natural. Cezanne pulls six drones for defense.

Ensnare starts a bunker and kills a few drones as more marines arrive. Cezanne pulls more drones.

Cezanne's drones and then initial zerglings destroy the SCV building the bunker and clean everything up.

Ensnare adds two more barracks and builds a command center in his main

Stim and shields coming for Ensnare, who floats the command center to his natural

Zergling speed starts for Cezanne as Ensnare moves out with a few marauders and a dozen marines

Baneling nest starting for Cezanne as Ensnare arrives.

Stim finishes as Ensnare engages and Cezanne's zergling speed isn't even done

All the zerglings get killed, then all the drones at the natural. Very few losses to Ensnare.

Cezanne concedes

Reminds me of GSL 2, when two barracks builds were almost autowins against most Zerg players.

Game 2 - Scrap Station

Hatch first for Cezanne, Ensnare puts his barracks at the chokepoint and gets a quick tech lab

Reaper for Ensnare. He builds a bunker behind the minerals at Cezanne's natural but zerglings kill the SCV making it

A second reaper arrives and they move through Cezanne's base

At home, Ensnare getting stim, adding two barracks, and getting a command center. Cezanne getting zergling speed.

The two reapers pick off a couple drones at Cezanne's natural.

Speed finishes but the reapers abuse a ledge to kill a bunch of speedlings

Lair and baneling nest for Cezanne, factory and shields for Ensnare

Ensnare sends four marauders and six marines to Cezanne's natural

Cezanne gets a pretty good surround with zerglings and drones, cleaning it up without too many losses

Spire and evolution chamber for Cezanne, starport and extra barracks for Ensnare

Cezanne moves a large group of zerglings to Ensnare's chokepoint and makes a lot of banelings

Seeing the strength of Ensnare's defenses, Cezanne turns around and doesn't attack

Two dropships full of marines arrive at Cezanne's main but zerglings are ready for any marines that are dropped

Mutalisks are out now but not in large numbers yet. Cezanne taking the gold base.

Ensnare drops a few marines at the bottom of the map and forces a cancel. Cezanne takes his natural third instead.

Siege mode about finished for Ensnare, burrow coming for Cezanne

Baneling speed for Cezanne, third command center starting for Ensnare

Cezanne takes the gold base again while Ensnare's army sits protecting the future site of his third

Cezanne catches Ensnare's army near the watch tower and surrounds it with zerglings and mutalisks

All the marines and siege tanks die, as do many of the medivacs.

Cezanne harasses Ensnare's natural, though it's almost mined out. Ensnare devotes everything to defending his third.

Ensnare starts siege crawling past the watch tower.

Cezanne attacks into Ensnare's siege position, killing all the marines with the banelings that get through, then cleaning up the tanks with mutalisks

Ensnare drops the gold but Cezanne sends zerglings and deals with it.

Hive is done for Cezanne and greater spire is on the way.

Ensnare starts to slowly move toward the gold base, but meanwhile brood lords are coming

The brood lords slice through thors and tanks before a big battle is fought at Ensnare's third

Ensnare manages to mass up enough marines to stim under the brood lords and kill them without actually losing the planetary at his third

Cezanne switches into ultralisks, though Ensnare hasn't made very many vikings

Cezanne drops zerglings in Ensnare's main and takes out a number of buildings before marines clean it up

Cezanne attacks the army around the planetary with some ultralisks, banelings, etc. But there aren't that many ultralisks and Ensnare holds.

Cezanne gets more brood lords and moves back into the third base, this time using overlords loaded with banelings to escort the brood lords

The planetary fortress finally falls and with it the core of Ensnare's defense. Banelings punch in and run through Ensnare's territory

Ensnare concedes

Ensnare survived the initial switch to ultralisks by not making vikings, but he didn't survive the switch back to brood lords for the same reason. As always when a Terran loses a long game like this, you have to figure they let the Zerg through the mid-game without doing enough damage.

Game 3 - Blistering Sands

Hatch first for Cezanne, factory for Ensnare

Ensnare starts a bunker at Cezanne's chokepoint. Cezanne's drones arrive late and it finishes.

Two marines force Cezanne's initial spine crawler to cancel, but Ensnare doesn't press the issue, withdrawing and salvaging.

Zergling speed for Cezanne, starport and hellion for Ensnare

Banshee and two barracks for Ensnare

Lair starts for Cezanne right as the banshee finished. Ensnare walls his natural off with a factory and engineering bay.

Viking and stim now for Ensnare, macro hatch for Cezanne

Some minor harassment from the banshee at the natural while Cezanne gets a baneling nest and spire

Ensnare drops two dropships full of marines on the low ground underneath Cezanne's natural, then puts a few marines on the top to spot

The marines and banshee snipe the queen, then drive away the rest of the drones

Mutalisks arrive and kill the banshee but the marines are still a problem

Cezanne tries to cope with banelings but Ensnare never lets more than a few marines at any one time stay on the vulnerable high ground, leaving the rest safely below

Cezanne runs out of banelings before Ensnare runs out of marines, allowing Ensnare to destroy the natural hatchery

Cezanne surrenders

Really smart attack on the natural there by Ensnare.

Commentary: Cezanne got completely outplayed in the third game, but he won the second and lost the first to a straight forward two barracks rush. It's that game 1 that might end up haunting him if he can't find a way through against Check. Ensnare played well, as expected, but until game 3 he wasn't dominating...

Match 1 Loser vs. CheckPrimeWE (Z)
Match Rating: 4/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Shakuras Plateau

Cross positions, Cezanne at 7 and Check at 2

Cezanne goes pool first, Check goes hatch first

Zergling speed for Cezanne and then expansion on 24 supply

Baneling nest for Cezanne, roach warren for Check

Cezanne pokes Check's natural but the spine crawler and queens blocking the ramp prevent any damage

Cezanne makes some banelings and goes into Check's natural. Somehow he hits the hatchery instead of the drones. Sigh.

Roach warren finishing for Cezanne, zergling speed for Check

Check upgrading out of two evolution chambers, Cezanne only using one

Check sends a queen around the map sniping overlords

Lair coming for Cezanne. Check moving out with about 30 roaches.

Check pokes up the ramp but Cezanne has a good position at the top of the ramp. Check turns around and withdraws.

Hydralisk den for Cezanne, lair finishing for Check while he starts a third base.

Check getting hydralisk den as well. Cezanne takes a third.

The two armies max out and fight in the center of the map. It begins with Cezanne attacking Check's army along with two spine crawlers.

Cezanne pulls back and Check pursues, winning a huge battle of attrition.

Check uproots his spine crawlers and relocates them onto the creep at Cezanne's natural as he attacks

Check has just enough of a numerical advantage to win this second battle, leaving Cezanne's natural wide open

Cezanne concedes

Unfortunately for Cezanne he never did any damage with his banelings the entire game. That might have been the entire difference between victory and defeat.

Game 2 - Metalopolis

Cross positions, Cezanne at 12 and Check at 6

Very early pool for Check, hatch first for Cezanne

Baneling nest as well for Check. His zerglings run into Cezanne's main.

Check makes two banelings on the low ground and brings them in behind his zerglings

One baneling kills all of Cezanne's zerglings, the other hits the drones. That's that.

Cezanne surrenders.

Well-executed by Check. Cezanne was in a tough spot but he's got to do better against those banelings.

Commentary: I was worried about Check since he's had trouble against the best players, but he handled Cezanne, a pretty good player, without too much difficulty. I'm sure Cezanne will be disappointed, but he had a really bad draw. There's a huge difference, in my opinion, between oGsEnsnare and, say, TSLRain. Still, I'm glad we'll be seeing Ensnare and Check in Code S next season.

2011 GSL January Up And Down Matches: Group C

In Group C, FOXMoon takes on two Code S Protoss players from Prime, HongUnPrimeWE and anyproPrimeWE. Moon, of course, is one of the most famous Warcraft 3 players of all time, but so far he's a very mediocre Starcraft 2 Zerg. HongUn had some great results in 2010, but so far this year he's struggled to find his form. Artosis has been talking up anypro, apparently because of what some people said in interviews, but he's never shown anything much in his televised games and was a player I thought had a good chance of being relegated out of Code A. Will FOXMoon take advantage?

FOXMoon (Code A Challenger) Zerg Code A T-#21 2010 Results: DNQ, DNQ, ro32 GSL 4 Results: W BitByBitPrimeWE (2-1) W STAugust (2-0) L FOXLyn (0-2)

HongUnPrimeWE (Code S 3rd Place) Protoss Code S #7 2010 Results: ro8, ro64, ro4 GSL 4 Results: W oGsTheWinD L oGsHyperdub L oGsHyperdub

anyproPrimeWE (Code S 4th Place) Protoss Code S T-#29 2010 Results: ro16, DNQ, ro64 GSL 4 Results: L NsPGenius L STRainBOw L LeenockfOu

FOXMoon (Z) vs. HongUnPrimeWE (P)
Match Rating: 6/10
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Game 1 - Shakuras Plateau

Upper positions, Moon at 2 and HongUn at 10

Pool and then gas for Moon, nexus first for HongUn at 15 supply

Forge now for HongUn, zergling speed for Moon

HongUn puts a pylon at Moon's natural but zerglings clean it up pretty quickly. He gets the hatch at his natural at 23 supply

Moon takes a third, then starts a lair

HongUn adds three more gates and a twilight council, Moon gets a roach warren and evolution chamber

Hydralisk den for Moon, blink and two more gateways for HongUn

HongUn moves into the center of the map with 17 stalkers, sniping overlords

Moon attacks with zergling/roach, catching the stalkers off guard. When HongUn tries to blink away, half of them get cut off

The roaches easily kill the stranded stalkers. Moon getting burrow and still making mass roach.

HongUn moves his stalkers across the top of the map. Moon starts some spine crawlers but they aren't ready yet.

The stalkers enter Moon's main but the roaches drive them back.

HongUn has a nexus warping in at the top center. Moon getting a fourth and a fifth hatch.

Spire coming for Moon, infestors already out. Colossus and thermal lance coming for HongUn

After a lot of back and forth, HongUn moves into Moon's main with several colossus and a ton of stalkers

Moon's hydra/roach army fights but there aren't enough corruptors to deal with the colossus

Eventually Moon manages to neural parasite all the colossus for a while, but there's enough stalkers he still gets run over

HongUn's victorious army destroys the various tech buildings in Moon's main

Moon concedes

This seems to be a theme lately for Zerg players on Shakuras Plateau: get an advantage, but then lose the game instantly because the enemy focuses their whole attack on the Zerg main and takes out the tech structures.

Game 2 - Scrap Station

Pylon and gateway on the low ground for HongUn, pool first for Moon

HongUn's probe doesn't quite manage to block Moon's natural hatch in time.

Moon then gets zergling speed. HongUn gets a stargate in his main

Twilight council and a void ray for HongUn as well. Roach warren for Moon.

Lair and an evolution chamber for Moon, blink coming for HongUn while the void ray starts harassing overlords

HongUn attacks with 9 stalkers and the void ray. Moon has four queens and a bunch of roaches to defend.

There's a long, tense set of skirmishing above Moon's natural

Eventually HongUn seems to loose patience and lets the void ray get caught by Moon's queens.

Meanwhile the roaches rout the stalkers, forcing the few survivors to flee back to HongUn's main

HongUn has a nexus finishing at his expansion, a forge, and a robotics coming

Hydralisk den, spire, third base, and burrow all coming for Moon while he sends roaches to HongUn's natural

After poking the chokepoint, the roaches remove the rocks leading to the natural

Now the roaches bounce back to the front and destroy the cybernetics core

Robotics bay for HongUn, who has added a few immortals to his army. Moon going hydra/roach

Moon takes a fourth base and starts getting corruptors. HongUn still getting immortals.

Infestation pit for Moon (originally two, in fact, but he noticed and canceled one).

HongUn tries to move across the bottom of the map with his army but Moon has built lots of spine crawlers throughout the area

Moon steadily gives ground but he easily replaces all his losses. HongUn's army dwindles and finally is gone.

HongUn concedes

Moon countered HongUn's void ray / blink stalker pressure without breaking a sweat. After that HongUn couldn't find a way back into the game.

Game 3 - Blistering Sands

Moon goes pool then gas, HongUn puts his pylon and gateway on the low ground at the natural chokepoint

Zergling speed for Moon, who then takes his natural with only the slightest delay from the probe

Twilight council and then dark shrine for HongUn. Evolution chamber for Moon.

Moon tries to scout HongUn's base with an overlord and doesn't see anything

He gets a spore crawler at his natural plus a few spine crawlers.

The first DT arrives while the main group of zerglings aren't around. It walks past the spore crawler and into the main

Moon tries to build another spore crawler in his main but the DT kills it

Now there's nothing Moon can do to save his main. More DTs arrive with some zealots and destroy everything.

Moon takes the gold base instead.

HongUn tries to attack the natural and it gets crushed by zerglings

A DT tries to kill a relocating spore crawler, but a queen transfuses it and then zerglings kill it

Zerglings and overseers move around the map killing DTs

In the center of the map, stalkers blink around zerglings and kill them

Meanwhile a DT starts killing drones at the gold base, forcing Moon to pull the rest

HongUn's stalkers move into the main and fight a long battle with Moon's forces

Eventually Moon's roach army is ground under by more and more stalkers

Moon surrenders

Strange game. Moon paid the price for his late lair despite trying to hedge his bets with the spore crawler.

Commentary: Something a sloppy series of matches. Moon played well in stretches but made fatal mistakes in games 1 and 3. HongUn made his share of missteps as well and is fortunate to be let off the hook.

Match 1 Loser vs. anyproPrimeWE (P)
Match Rating: 3/10
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Game 1 - Steppes of War

Pool then gas for Moon, standard opening for anypro

Zergling speed for Moon, who then takes his natural with no interference

anypro going four warp gates off one gas

Moon gets three spine crawlers at his natural

anypro moves out with a four stalkers and seven zealots. Moon's spotter zerglings see it

anypro pushes in and attacks but Moon's three queens, three spine crawlers, and loose units hold without losing anything

Moon rotates one spine crawler that is almost dead to the back of the position

For reasons known only to himself, Moon decides to reposition all his spine crawlers. anypro attacks and crushes him.

Moon concedes

Bizarre decision by Moon, who looked to have the better of the battle until he took all his static defenses out of the picture at once.

Game 2 - Metalopolis

Cross positions, Moon at 12 and anypro at 6

Moon goes gas then pool, anypro puts a pylon on the low ground and scouts, then goes nexus before forge.

Zergling speed and then baneling nest for Moon

anypro puts a third cannon at his natural while Moon makes banelings nearby

The banelings move in but anypro has a few sentries out, so force fields protect anypro easily

anypro gets two stargates. Moon getting a roach warren and a lair.

Void ray and phoenix for anypro, hydralisk den and burrow for Moon

Robotics for anypro, who sends two void rays to force Moon's nascent third base to cancel

anypro moves into Moon's natural with about eight void rays plus some sentries and zealots

Moon has some hydralisks and roaches but not nearly enough to stop so many void rays

Moon surrenders

Ugly game. Moon seemed to panic after anypro went nexus first. He couldn't have planned that slow, tame baneling bust...right?

Commentary: Moon still looks very much like a Code A player to me. Both of his games against anypro were excruciating. anypro didn't display any particular skill, he just played standard Protoss and let Moon make mistakes.