Match Rating: 7/10
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Game 1 - Lost Temple
Close ground positions, NesTea at 9 and Sen at 12
Both players go hatch first, NesTea gets gas before pool, Sen does not
Speed researching for NesTea, baneling nest coming for Sen
Four banelings coming for Sen into the natural with zerglings
Long series of battles between zerglings and Sen's banelings
Sen gets a zergling advantage from the banelings, NesTea counters to Sen's base
Only four lings get in Sen's main but he ably kills them with drones
Sen's zerglings establish a position at NesTea's natural hatch and fight another series of battles against the speedlings
Finally the hatch falls after a long series of battles, but NesTea now has a lot of banelings
Sen pulls back to his natural, the NesTea's banelings kill most of Sen's zerglings
Sen fights off the remaining lings, but he doesn't see a few banelings morphing in his own main and they kill about half his drones
NesTea attacks with banelings into Sen's natural and kills all of Sen's zerglings
NesTea's drone advantage means he can stream speedlings and banelings into Sen's base, Sen doesn't have enough to defend his drones
Sen concedes
Sen almost won, but his zergling micro against the banelings wasn't nearly as sharp as NesTea's and that made the difference.
Game 2 - Scrap Station
Both players hatch first on 15, then gas before pool, identical builds so far though Sen is about two seconds ahead
Both players getting two queens and zergling speed now
NesTea getting a roach warren, Sen pumping zerglings
Much later roach warren for Sen
Sen's speedlings go to pressure but NesTea has five roaches at the choke
Sen hits the rocks and then when NesTea tries to respond he runs by into the main
Snipes a queen and a roach
NesTea sends his roaches through the rocks between bases
Sen sneaks some speedlings into the natural and kills a few drones
14 roaches and 42 zerglings for NesTea, 17 roaches for Sen to defend
NesTea's huge amount of speedlings get into Sen's main
The army of seedlings takes Sen's main hatch to half health, then attacks Sen's roaches
With reinforcements Sen manages to clean up NesTea's army
Sen counters to NesTea's natural and picks off drones as they withdraw
Large roach/ling battle fought at NesTea's natural, Sen wins, just barely
A round of zerglings from NesTea kills Sen's surviving roaches
With no queens, Sen doesn't have the larva to rebuild his army
Sen surrenders
Another extremely close game that was balanced on a knife-edge.
Commentary: I wasn't quite as impressed with Sen's first game as Artosis was...it seemed like Sen lost way too many zerglings to banelings. However, in the second game I didn't see anything wrong with Sen's play. Although they did somewhat different builds, there didn't seem to be any real build order advantage to either player in either game. Instead, NesTea won because he had slightly better tactical sense. In each game he and Sen had periods of dominance, and each time NesTea managed to convert his moments of ascendancy into a lasting advantage.
Close ground positions, NesTea at 9 and Sen at 12
Both players go hatch first, NesTea gets gas before pool, Sen does not
Speed researching for NesTea, baneling nest coming for Sen
Four banelings coming for Sen into the natural with zerglings
Long series of battles between zerglings and Sen's banelings
Sen gets a zergling advantage from the banelings, NesTea counters to Sen's base
Only four lings get in Sen's main but he ably kills them with drones
Sen's zerglings establish a position at NesTea's natural hatch and fight another series of battles against the speedlings
Finally the hatch falls after a long series of battles, but NesTea now has a lot of banelings
Sen pulls back to his natural, the NesTea's banelings kill most of Sen's zerglings
Sen fights off the remaining lings, but he doesn't see a few banelings morphing in his own main and they kill about half his drones
NesTea attacks with banelings into Sen's natural and kills all of Sen's zerglings
NesTea's drone advantage means he can stream speedlings and banelings into Sen's base, Sen doesn't have enough to defend his drones
Sen concedes
Sen almost won, but his zergling micro against the banelings wasn't nearly as sharp as NesTea's and that made the difference.
Game 2 - Scrap Station
Both players hatch first on 15, then gas before pool, identical builds so far though Sen is about two seconds ahead
Both players getting two queens and zergling speed now
NesTea getting a roach warren, Sen pumping zerglings
Much later roach warren for Sen
Sen's speedlings go to pressure but NesTea has five roaches at the choke
Sen hits the rocks and then when NesTea tries to respond he runs by into the main
Snipes a queen and a roach
NesTea sends his roaches through the rocks between bases
Sen sneaks some speedlings into the natural and kills a few drones
14 roaches and 42 zerglings for NesTea, 17 roaches for Sen to defend
NesTea's huge amount of speedlings get into Sen's main
The army of seedlings takes Sen's main hatch to half health, then attacks Sen's roaches
With reinforcements Sen manages to clean up NesTea's army
Sen counters to NesTea's natural and picks off drones as they withdraw
Large roach/ling battle fought at NesTea's natural, Sen wins, just barely
A round of zerglings from NesTea kills Sen's surviving roaches
With no queens, Sen doesn't have the larva to rebuild his army
Sen surrenders
Another extremely close game that was balanced on a knife-edge.
Commentary: I wasn't quite as impressed with Sen's first game as Artosis was...it seemed like Sen lost way too many zerglings to banelings. However, in the second game I didn't see anything wrong with Sen's play. Although they did somewhat different builds, there didn't seem to be any real build order advantage to either player in either game. Instead, NesTea won because he had slightly better tactical sense. In each game he and Sen had periods of dominance, and each time NesTea managed to convert his moments of ascendancy into a lasting advantage.
LittleBoy (T) vs MakaPrimeWE (T)
Match Rating: 5/10
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Game 1 - Delta Quadrant
Lower positions, LittleBoy at 7 and Maka at 4
Standard openings for both players, Maka getting a bunker
LittleBoy building his factory in a proxy location, probably to float to Maka's natural
LittleBoy also gets a bunker, then a starport, making a hellion from his factory in Maka's natural
Maka scouts it and partially walls off the ramp, then takes out the hellion with marines
LittleBoy floats his factory back, getting banshee and cloak
Maka getting two vikings, another banshee coming for LittleBoy
The banshee comes in but marines are ready, the vikings come down but it takes two scans to kill it
The second banshee arrives and this time Maka is out of scan energy
Many SCVs go down before Maka gets a turret up, the banshee withdraws just as its energy runs out
Maka has air superiority with four vikings, but he has a lot less SCVs from the banshee harassment
Maka now has a banshee and is researching cloak, LittleBoy gets his expansion going about a minute before Maka's
Maka moves out with his army and sieges up near LittleBoy's natural
LittleBoy's army is a fair amount larger, however, and he just walks down and kills Maka's army
Maka has to move his command center back, LittleBoy's army walks up into Maka's main and wrecks havoc
Maka cleans it up but LittleBoy has a huge SCV advantage now
LittleBoy attacks again, but his marines die and Maka's banshee then allows him to hold
Maka is sending more banshees for further harassment, but LittleBoy does a decent job holding them off
Maka moves his expansion command center to his back natural
Maka sends a dropship out with marines to LittleBoy's base
LittleBoy has a viking and cleans everything up easily
LittleBoy drops Maka's expansion with marines but gets repelled pretty easily
LittleBoy still at a substantial SCV and supply advantage
Two dropships load up with marauders and tanks and head toward the high ground
Despite Maka's sieged tanks, LittleBoy manages to get forces on the high ground and force Maka to move back
LittleBoy clearing the rocks at the gold, floats a command center there and transfers SCVs
Maka drops the gold base and forces LittleBoy to stop mining for about thirty seconds
Maka comes back and kills most of the SCVs at the gold
LittleBoy thinks about doing a massive drop on Maka but changes his mind
Maka tries to hit the gold base a third time but this time a viking catches it
LittleBoy seems to lose patience and just attacks into Maka's sieged tanks, gets crushed
Maka takes the gold and tries to take a fourth as well, but LittleBoy drops it and forces a cancel
LittleBoy takes his fourth, Maka drops it and LittleBoy's main at the same time
Maka double expands up the map, keeps trying to drop but LittleBoy defends pretty well
LittleBoy is maxed and banking a lot of resources, he attacks Maka's new bases but Maka wins the battle
Maka moves into LittleBoy's mining bases, now with a substantial lead
LittleBoy concedes
LittleBoy had the advantage for most of the game, but didn't seem to have the patience or subtlety to handle the positional game that TvT requires.
Game 2 - Xel'Naga Caverns
Standard openings for both players, gas into factory
Hellion and then starport for LittleBoy, Maka has a bunker and starport
Vikings again for Maka, banshee and cloak for LittleBoy
Maka sends his vikings to likely banshee approach paths, but they miss LittleBoy's first banshee
The banshee arrives but is driven off by the next to vikings, though two scans are required
Just like last game, the second banshee arrives and Maka doesn't have energy for more scans
Massive SCV carnage, 32 SCVs to 12 now
Maka moves out with two tanks and a handful of marines, then sieges up at one of the chokepoints outside LittleBoy's natural
Maka has a lot of vikings but otherwise is hugely outnumbered
LittleBoy attacks with his superior numbers and SCVs, but Maka takes most of LittleBoy's army out
Maka floats a command center to his natural, then changes his mind when he sees LittleBoy's forces approaching
LittleBoy setting up a command center near the gold, Maka sends a banshee to LittleBoy's base to harass
The banshee takes out lots of LittleBoy's SCVs, and now Maka has a significant SCV advantage
LittleBoy knows he's in trouble and sends his army up Maka's ramp
Maka wasn't sieged and takes a lot of damage, but he does hold in the end
LittleBoy surrenders
They did the same builds as the previous game, and Maka made the same mistake and ended up in the same disadvantage, but LittleBoy squandered his lead a different way this time.
Commentary: It's surprising to see Maka take huge damage from a pretty standard banshee build not just once but twice. After that, however, he was clearly the better player. LittleBoy looked good at times, but in truth his advantages were more from Maka's mistakes. LittleBoy seems promising but he has a lot to learn about how to properly play TvT.
Lower positions, LittleBoy at 7 and Maka at 4
Standard openings for both players, Maka getting a bunker
LittleBoy building his factory in a proxy location, probably to float to Maka's natural
LittleBoy also gets a bunker, then a starport, making a hellion from his factory in Maka's natural
Maka scouts it and partially walls off the ramp, then takes out the hellion with marines
LittleBoy floats his factory back, getting banshee and cloak
Maka getting two vikings, another banshee coming for LittleBoy
The banshee comes in but marines are ready, the vikings come down but it takes two scans to kill it
The second banshee arrives and this time Maka is out of scan energy
Many SCVs go down before Maka gets a turret up, the banshee withdraws just as its energy runs out
Maka has air superiority with four vikings, but he has a lot less SCVs from the banshee harassment
Maka now has a banshee and is researching cloak, LittleBoy gets his expansion going about a minute before Maka's
Maka moves out with his army and sieges up near LittleBoy's natural
LittleBoy's army is a fair amount larger, however, and he just walks down and kills Maka's army
Maka has to move his command center back, LittleBoy's army walks up into Maka's main and wrecks havoc
Maka cleans it up but LittleBoy has a huge SCV advantage now
LittleBoy attacks again, but his marines die and Maka's banshee then allows him to hold
Maka is sending more banshees for further harassment, but LittleBoy does a decent job holding them off
Maka moves his expansion command center to his back natural
Maka sends a dropship out with marines to LittleBoy's base
LittleBoy has a viking and cleans everything up easily
LittleBoy drops Maka's expansion with marines but gets repelled pretty easily
LittleBoy still at a substantial SCV and supply advantage
Two dropships load up with marauders and tanks and head toward the high ground
Despite Maka's sieged tanks, LittleBoy manages to get forces on the high ground and force Maka to move back
LittleBoy clearing the rocks at the gold, floats a command center there and transfers SCVs
Maka drops the gold base and forces LittleBoy to stop mining for about thirty seconds
Maka comes back and kills most of the SCVs at the gold
LittleBoy thinks about doing a massive drop on Maka but changes his mind
Maka tries to hit the gold base a third time but this time a viking catches it
LittleBoy seems to lose patience and just attacks into Maka's sieged tanks, gets crushed
Maka takes the gold and tries to take a fourth as well, but LittleBoy drops it and forces a cancel
LittleBoy takes his fourth, Maka drops it and LittleBoy's main at the same time
Maka double expands up the map, keeps trying to drop but LittleBoy defends pretty well
LittleBoy is maxed and banking a lot of resources, he attacks Maka's new bases but Maka wins the battle
Maka moves into LittleBoy's mining bases, now with a substantial lead
LittleBoy concedes
LittleBoy had the advantage for most of the game, but didn't seem to have the patience or subtlety to handle the positional game that TvT requires.
Game 2 - Xel'Naga Caverns
Standard openings for both players, gas into factory
Hellion and then starport for LittleBoy, Maka has a bunker and starport
Vikings again for Maka, banshee and cloak for LittleBoy
Maka sends his vikings to likely banshee approach paths, but they miss LittleBoy's first banshee
The banshee arrives but is driven off by the next to vikings, though two scans are required
Just like last game, the second banshee arrives and Maka doesn't have energy for more scans
Massive SCV carnage, 32 SCVs to 12 now
Maka moves out with two tanks and a handful of marines, then sieges up at one of the chokepoints outside LittleBoy's natural
Maka has a lot of vikings but otherwise is hugely outnumbered
LittleBoy attacks with his superior numbers and SCVs, but Maka takes most of LittleBoy's army out
Maka floats a command center to his natural, then changes his mind when he sees LittleBoy's forces approaching
LittleBoy setting up a command center near the gold, Maka sends a banshee to LittleBoy's base to harass
The banshee takes out lots of LittleBoy's SCVs, and now Maka has a significant SCV advantage
LittleBoy knows he's in trouble and sends his army up Maka's ramp
Maka wasn't sieged and takes a lot of damage, but he does hold in the end
LittleBoy surrenders
They did the same builds as the previous game, and Maka made the same mistake and ended up in the same disadvantage, but LittleBoy squandered his lead a different way this time.
Commentary: It's surprising to see Maka take huge damage from a pretty standard banshee build not just once but twice. After that, however, he was clearly the better player. LittleBoy looked good at times, but in truth his advantages were more from Maka's mistakes. LittleBoy seems promising but he has a lot to learn about how to properly play TvT.
GoldenfoU (Z) vs STGgoBooGie (P)
Match Rating: 4/10
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Game 1 - Steppes of War
Golden puts a hatchery near the upper watchtower, then gets an evolution chamber in his main
He cancels the evolution chamber and gets a pool instead. Interesting. Mistake?
Now with two hatches and a queen at the proxy hatch, he streams zerglings down to GgoBooGie's ramp
GgoBooGie has the top of his ramp walled off with a zealot
The zerglings attack the zealot and not the walling builds, a sentry comes out meanwhile
The queen arrives and forces the sentry back, the zealot dies but another zealot gets in position
Golden concedes
I know Zergs don't think they can win on Steppes of War, but that was an absurd rush.
Game 2 - Scrap Station
Pylon then gateway on the low ground for GgoBooGie, quick scout, gas, then pool for GgoBooGie
The early scout steals GgoBooGie's second gas
Speed researching for Golden, GgoBooGie uses four probes and a zealot to get his second gas
Golden expands, GgoBooGie gets a stargate
Void ray now for GgoBooGie while Golden gets a roach warren
No second void ray, gets a twilight council instead, meanwhile the void way arrives at Golden's main
It kills the queen there and then withdraws, blink researching for GgoBooGie, lair done for Golden
Hydralisk den and spore colony for Golden
Proxy pylon near Golden's natural, the stalkers enter and kill a few drones
Only a few hydras and a queen to defend against a dozen stalkers and a void ray
More hydras come but of course stalkers are warping in behind
Golden still holding, the stalkers are getting weak
Now the stalkers get a numerical advantage and kill the hatchery
The stalkers move into Golden's base, drones come out but you can't surround blink stalkers
Golden surrenders
Surprisingly easy victory for STGgoBooGie, his build was timed out very well.
Commentary: fOu has been impressing people in GSL 3, but this was not their finest hour. It's hard to say if the cheese on Steppes would have worked, but the execution by Golden was ruinous. In the second game he at least lost to a pretty clever build by GgoBooGie. Still, GgoBooGie has to be relieved he was able to advance so easily.
Golden puts a hatchery near the upper watchtower, then gets an evolution chamber in his main
He cancels the evolution chamber and gets a pool instead. Interesting. Mistake?
Now with two hatches and a queen at the proxy hatch, he streams zerglings down to GgoBooGie's ramp
GgoBooGie has the top of his ramp walled off with a zealot
The zerglings attack the zealot and not the walling builds, a sentry comes out meanwhile
The queen arrives and forces the sentry back, the zealot dies but another zealot gets in position
Golden concedes
I know Zergs don't think they can win on Steppes of War, but that was an absurd rush.
Game 2 - Scrap Station
Pylon then gateway on the low ground for GgoBooGie, quick scout, gas, then pool for GgoBooGie
The early scout steals GgoBooGie's second gas
Speed researching for Golden, GgoBooGie uses four probes and a zealot to get his second gas
Golden expands, GgoBooGie gets a stargate
Void ray now for GgoBooGie while Golden gets a roach warren
No second void ray, gets a twilight council instead, meanwhile the void way arrives at Golden's main
It kills the queen there and then withdraws, blink researching for GgoBooGie, lair done for Golden
Hydralisk den and spore colony for Golden
Proxy pylon near Golden's natural, the stalkers enter and kill a few drones
Only a few hydras and a queen to defend against a dozen stalkers and a void ray
More hydras come but of course stalkers are warping in behind
Golden still holding, the stalkers are getting weak
Now the stalkers get a numerical advantage and kill the hatchery
The stalkers move into Golden's base, drones come out but you can't surround blink stalkers
Golden surrenders
Surprisingly easy victory for STGgoBooGie, his build was timed out very well.
Commentary: fOu has been impressing people in GSL 3, but this was not their finest hour. It's hard to say if the cheese on Steppes would have worked, but the execution by Golden was ruinous. In the second game he at least lost to a pretty clever build by GgoBooGie. Still, GgoBooGie has to be relieved he was able to advance so easily.
NsPGenius (P) vs TSLRain (T)
Match Rating: 5/10
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Game 1 - Jungle Basin
Standard opening for Genius, Rain hides an SCV in Genius' natural
Second barracks in Genius's natural, so far Genius hasn't spotted it
Genius sends a probe to scout and spots the proxy barracks and the third one being built there
A stalker moves down and attacks the marine there
Rain's SCVs come with marines from his base and build a bunker beside the gateways
The bunker finishes and marines get inside, SCVs repair
Stalkers target the SCVs but the stalker count is dangerously low
Genius warps in a templar archives while fighting the marines with his stalkers
A second bunker gets up that's in range of the nexus
Genius just doesn't have enough stalkers to deal with this
Genius concedes
Good build by Rain. You know it's a good rush when your S Class opponent scouts it and it still works.
Game 2 - Metalopolis
Close air positions, Genius at 12, Rain at 3.
Standard opening for Genius, quick second gas for Rain
Quick robotics bay for Genius before his second gateway, starport coming for Rain
Sentries now for Genius, banshee coming for Rain but no cloak yet
Siege tank coming as well, Genius expands
More tanks and banshees for Rain, not using the banshees for harassment yet
The banshees poke now but withdraw as soon as stalkers arrive
Genius is teching to colossus, getting an immortal in the mean time
Raven now for Rain, then another banshee
First colossus is half done for Genius, siege mode researching for Rain
Rain moving out now with four tanks and a dozen marines, plus three banshees and a raven
Genius has an immortal, a colossus, and some sentires and stalkers
Sieges up underneath Genius' production buildings, kills the second colossus with tank fire
Genius tries to engage but there are enough siege tanks that they melt the stalkers escorting the colossus
Banshees kill the robotics just before a colossus finishes
Rain now building bunkers to complement his tanks
Banshees snipe stray stalkers and the tanks more into the natural
Genius tries one more time but he has no answer to the many sieged tanks
The tanks finally take down his expansion
Genius surrenders
Very good timing attack from Rain, Genius fought hard but couldn't solve it.
Commentary: Another very disappointing GSL for Genius. You can't say it was an undeserved victory, however. Rain came in with very carefully tuned build orders and executed them perfectly.
Standard opening for Genius, Rain hides an SCV in Genius' natural
Second barracks in Genius's natural, so far Genius hasn't spotted it
Genius sends a probe to scout and spots the proxy barracks and the third one being built there
A stalker moves down and attacks the marine there
Rain's SCVs come with marines from his base and build a bunker beside the gateways
The bunker finishes and marines get inside, SCVs repair
Stalkers target the SCVs but the stalker count is dangerously low
Genius warps in a templar archives while fighting the marines with his stalkers
A second bunker gets up that's in range of the nexus
Genius just doesn't have enough stalkers to deal with this
Genius concedes
Good build by Rain. You know it's a good rush when your S Class opponent scouts it and it still works.
Game 2 - Metalopolis
Close air positions, Genius at 12, Rain at 3.
Standard opening for Genius, quick second gas for Rain
Quick robotics bay for Genius before his second gateway, starport coming for Rain
Sentries now for Genius, banshee coming for Rain but no cloak yet
Siege tank coming as well, Genius expands
More tanks and banshees for Rain, not using the banshees for harassment yet
The banshees poke now but withdraw as soon as stalkers arrive
Genius is teching to colossus, getting an immortal in the mean time
Raven now for Rain, then another banshee
First colossus is half done for Genius, siege mode researching for Rain
Rain moving out now with four tanks and a dozen marines, plus three banshees and a raven
Genius has an immortal, a colossus, and some sentires and stalkers
Sieges up underneath Genius' production buildings, kills the second colossus with tank fire
Genius tries to engage but there are enough siege tanks that they melt the stalkers escorting the colossus
Banshees kill the robotics just before a colossus finishes
Rain now building bunkers to complement his tanks
Banshees snipe stray stalkers and the tanks more into the natural
Genius tries one more time but he has no answer to the many sieged tanks
The tanks finally take down his expansion
Genius surrenders
Very good timing attack from Rain, Genius fought hard but couldn't solve it.
Commentary: Another very disappointing GSL for Genius. You can't say it was an undeserved victory, however. Rain came in with very carefully tuned build orders and executed them perfectly.
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