GSL 3: Final

oGsMC (P) vs TSLRain (T)
Match Rating: 6/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Delta Quadrant

Cross positions, Rain at 7 and MC at 2

Standard openings for both players

Reactor on barracks for Rain, seen by the scouting probe

Bunker behind the wall-in for Rain, stargate for MC

Factory with tech lab making a siege tank for Rain, second barracks coming as well

Void ray almost out for MC, his forces moving to the bottom of Rain's ramp

Rain's second barracks also has a reactor

The void ray arrives and shoots down the reactor on the wall in barracks, then the supply depot

Robotics out for MC, no further void rays. He pulls his units back to his main while Rain rebuilds his reactor

Viking coming for Rain, phoenix for MC. MC also taking down the rocks at his back natural

Nexus at the back natural, MC moves out to the center of the map again

Rain has two vikings, four tanks, some marines and a medivac

MC making immortals from his robotics, scouting with a phoenix but repelled by vikings without seeing much

Rain moves out with his army, MC falls back to his ramp

Rain builds a bunker at MC's front natural and sieges up

Three phoenixes now for MC, still making immortals as well

Rain sieges a tank on the ramp, pushing MC farther back

MC tries to move in but falls back in the face of heavy damage

Only one viking left and four phoenixes trying to pick it off

Rain sieges in range of the stargate, phoenixes pick off reinforcements

MC moves in with a large zealot force with phoenixes picking up the tanks

MC takes a huge amount of losses from tanks and marines, but with some reinforcing stalkers he manages to take out Rain's army

Now Rain has a large supply and economic disadvantage, seems hopeless

Rain moves out with two tanks and some marines only to get run over in the center of the map

Rain concedes

Finger wag to the camera from MC

Rain's attack looked strong, but it was just too slow. MC's extra base was up too long and let him mass up enough to break it.

Game 2 - Lost Temple

Close ground positions...but Rain requests a pause

Sound error, apparently. The game has to be restarted.

Close air positions now, MC at 12 and Rain at 2

Artosis not in the game, but thankfully he insists on the production tab being on. Artosis isn't the only one who wants the production tab, guys.

Anyway, standard openings. Factory and barracks reactor for Rain similar to the previous game.

Stargate and second gateway again for MC.

Starport for Rain this time, however. Void ray coming for MC.

Medivac coming from the starport. The void ray arrives but is spotted early by a marine

Using some stalkers to cover his void ray, MC snipes the reactor and supply depot like last game

Finally a viking arrives and MC withdraws

Robotics making an observer and then immortal for MC, four gateways as well

Twilight council as well for MC, command center coming for Rain

Dark shrine for MC as well as a warp prism

MC expands to the 9 o'clock main instead of his natural

Raven coming for Rain, he pushes out and kills the proxy pylon and the DT there with a scan

There's a second DT in Rain's base. He has to pull SCVs but the raven arrives and helps him kill the DT

There are still two DTs hidden in Rain's base courtesy the warp prism

MC expands to his natural, Rain moves out with his army.

MC doesn't have enough units to defend and gets pushed back into his base

Charge is not done for the zealots, so MC delays with DTs

Finally MC manages to clean up the attack after losing some gateways and his natural nexus

Rain drops MC's other base, but the marines get cleaned up by warped-in gateway units

Templar archives coming for MC now, he re-expands to his natural

Rain moves up to the natural choke and sieges up, psi storm is not ready

Rain puts up four bunkers in the choke, MC counters to Rain's expansion

Third command center built for Rain, not actually in place yet

Rain keeps his contain and sends a large marine detachment to MC's 9 o'clock base

The marines kill the pylons to prevent reinforcements, then take out the nexus

Rain floats his third command center to the southeast island, so he's now at 3 bases to MC's 2

Rain drops a few marines and marauders in MC's main and picks off some templar

MC warping in a ton of high templars with his phase prism

Stalkers and templar move into Rain's natural, but Rain maintains his position at his contain

Rain's next round of production cleans up the stalkers, MC taking the other island

MC breaks the contain by moving down with immortals and attacking with zealots from the back

Rain drops two sets of marines in the back of MC's base

Warp prism forces Rain to lift off his island base, but he clears the rocks and lands another command center at the gold

The prism warps in high templar above the gold base, killing some SCVs with storms, but marines at the island pick it off

A viking kills another warp prism at Rain's main after an ineffectual zealot drop

Rain moves out with his army, this time with ghosts. He manages to get a good EMP on most of MC's templar

A DT at Rain's gold base kills 20 SCVs...ouch

MC finds a few templar with energy to kill Rain's marines, then uses immortals to push the siege tanks back

After that victory MC has a large supply advantage and continues to harass with warp prisms

MC pumps colossus out of two robotics, then when he gets to five attacks into Rain's position

Rain's units get crushed.

Rain concedes

When Rain had the contain set up it seemed like he could have moved in and won the game, but like in game 1 he was too cautious. Then again, he lost most of the battles fought later in the game, so perhaps he's right to be cautious.

Game 3 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Rain starts a second barracks before getting the probe out, then cancels it after the probe leaves and replaces it with a factory

Two more gateways for MC, starport coming for Rain

MC gets six sentries and expands to his natural, banshee and cloak coming from Rain

The first banshee is out, cloak is done, and there's no detection. Second banshee coming of course.

Robotics starts for MC just as the banshee arrives

Rain kills all six sentries with his cloaked banshee, the second moves into the main and kills probes

An observer is out, allowing stalkers to finally push the banshees out, but neither die

Rain gets his natural expansion up and running, robotics bay coming for MC

Raven and infantry upgrades for MC, five barracks pumping marines and marauders

Rain moves out with three banshees, a raven, and a decent infantry force

One colossus at the natural with zealots, banshees move in and take it out

A second colossus comes out, but Rain collects reinforcing marines and then moves in and kills it

The third colossus arrives and Rain only has one marauder, many of the marines die

Rain drops some marines in the main, then attacks the natural while MC's army moves to stop it

A colossus cleans up the attack at the natural and Rain falls back to his expansion

MC sets up his army at Rain's gold and puts up a proxy pylon

Rain moves up with several vikings and defeats MC's army

MC concedes

For a moment it looked like MC would actually pull that out, but Rain's advantage was too great. Clever build by Rain, and the choice to eliminate the sentries looks like it was a good one.

Game 4 - Steppes of War

MC's first pylon goes on the low ground below Rain's main, but Rain spots it with an SCV

Gateway in Rain's main, the probe actually dies just as the first zealot comes out

Rain gets gas despite the zealot pressure, then gets a tech lab for his barracks

Bunker at the left side of the mineral line, but the zealots move around and do tremendous SCV damage

Only five SCVs left, marauder out for Rain but there's too many zealots for it to kite effectively

Stalker out now, Rain can't defend his remaining SCVs

Rain concedes

Well, Rain scouted it, but he still couldn't stop it. Another example of MC's superior micro. Rain is one match from elimination and the next map is possibly the most Protoss-favorable.

Game 5 - Jungle Basin

Standard openings for both players.

Starport for Rain, hellion coming as well with the blue flame upgrade

Four gateways for MC, proxy pylon placed to allow warp ins to the back natural but a marine sees it

Rain was getting ready for a hellion drop, but he dumps them on the low ground and sends the dropship back to help defend

MC attacks up the ramp with a large group of stalkers and sentries, force fielding the bunker at the ramp to prevent repair

The hellions counter to MC's main, where there is nothing to defend

The stalkers kill the bunker and the other defending units, only SCVs and a tank left defending for Rain

MC is not microing his probes, so they die rapidly to the blue flame hellions

MC pushes farther into Rain's base while he desperately defends

One hellion is surrounded and killed, but only two probes are left alive in MC's base, though there is a third probe in the center of the map

Rain's last defending tanks and SCVs die. MC has a probe still alive so there's no real chance of forcing a draw.

Rain surrenders

Fairly ordinary four gateway rush from MC this time, but that's an extremely strong strategy on Jungle Basin. The hellions made things close, but as MC showed against Jinro, he knows exactly how to take apart bunkers with sentries.

Commentary: As expected, MC was just a class above Rain. With TSL supporting him, it's no surprise that Rain had some good strategies, but any time there was an even battle MC would win. Game 4 on Steppes of War was probably the clearest demonstration of MC's tactical advantage, since Rain spotted it early but still got stomped. Previously I've complained that the best Protoss players are too vulnerable to having their strategies countered, even blind countered, but today MC for the most part went with safe strategies that allowed him to lengthen the game when necessary and allow his superior play to surmount momentary disadvantages.

GSL 2011: Structure

At long last, GomTV has posted information on how the GSL tournaments in 2011 will work. In Korean. Luckily, people have translated the information, but there's a lot to digest. Here's my attempt to boil it down as plainly as possible:

Monthly Tournaments

As previously revealed, each month will have a different competition, and not all these tournaments will be the same:

Month	Competition
January	GSL
February	Ladder Tournament
March	GSL
April	GSL
May	Ladder Tournament
June	World Championship
July	GSL
August	Ladder Tournament
September	GSL
October	World Championship
November	Ladder Tournament
December	Blizzard Cup

• The GSL, which will be different from the three "preseason" 2010 GSL tournaments (more in a moment), is the ongoing offline league played in Seoul, South Korea.
• It appears that the Ladder Tournaments will take place mostly online throughout the world, with the top 16 players then taking part in a (offline?) double elimination tournament.
• The twice yearly World Championship will involve the top 4 players from each major battle.net region (Korea, North America, Europe, and China).
• The top 8 players from the year's events will play in the Blizzard Cup in December to determine 2011's best player.

GSL: Player Classifications

The mechanics of the other competitions are still somewhat obscure, but we now have solid details on how the GSL will work. As previously announced, there will be 32 "Code S" (top tier) and 32 "Code A" (second tier) players. You may have seen discussions of 64 Code A players, but their numbers have been cut since the original announcement. The Code S players have already been decided based on results from the first three GSLs (see my discussion here) as have 20 of the Code A players. The remaining Code A candidates are tied on points and will be settled via a tiebreaker competition, per GomTV's announcement.

Code A: Promotion and Relegation

GSL 4 will be seeded based on 2010 results, but afterward 12 winners from offline preliminaries will be given Code A status, as will 4 invited foreigners from outside Korea. These 16 new Code A players will play against the 16 Code A existing players carried over from the previous GSL. The 16 losing players are relegated from Code A and will have to go back to competing in offline preliminaries. The 16 winners will then play each other, with the 8 losers retaining Code A for the next GSL and the 8 winners getting a chance to play against the bottom section of Code S for a chance at promotion.

Code S: Promotion and Relegation

After the main GSL tournament for the month is over, the bottom 16 Code S players are threatened with relegation to Code A and must play the 8 Code A winners to defend their positions. The 16 Code S players are broken into 8 higher seeds and 8 lower seeds based on their results in the main tournament. The higher seeds play the Code A players first, with the victors going on to Code S in the next GSL. The losers play the lower seeded S Class players, and again the winner goes on to Code S in the next GSL, but this time the loser is relegated to Code A. Note:

• The incoming Code A players get two matches against Code S players and winning either results in promotion. Otherwise they return to Code A.
• The higher seeded Code S players will hope to defeat the Code A player they are matched up against, but if they fail they can still beat a lower seeded S Class player to avoid relegation.
• The lower seeded Code S players are in a do or die situation. They must defeat their opponent--usually Code A but sometimes a Code S player--to avoid relegation.

GSL Main Tournament

The main tournament is played among Code S players. Unlike the first three single elimination GSLs, the main tournament consists of two group stages followed by a single elimination tournament. In the first group stage, the 32 players are broken out into 8 groups of 4 players. After round robin play, the top two players advance. The bottom two players now face relegation, the 3rd place player being what I called a "higher seed" and the 4th place player being a "lower seed". Unlike many group stage competitions (like the World Cup, for example), the 3rd place advantage in the relegation tournament means those eliminated after two matches will still have a great deal to play for. The second group stage sees the 16 players who advanced split up into 4 groups of 4. The top two players from each group go on to the 8 player single elimination tournament while the bottom two players are eliminated, though they remain in Code S for the next GSL.

Open Questions

• How much prize money will be available at each stage?
• Are the matches best of 3? Given there is round robin group play, there will be an incredible amount of games if so, but SC2's map balance (that is, the lack thereof) simply does not permit best of 1 to be anything but a farce.
• Will non-ladder maps be used and, if not, will Blizzard take switfter action to balance their maps?
• How will the non-GSL tournaments work?

Commentary

Well, it's quite complicated, but all in all it's a very impressive system. Although it's no longer possible for someone new to come up from the offline preliminaries and win that month's GSL, being able to go from zero to Code S champion in the span of two GSL tournaments means this is still a very open league. Reserving 4 spots in each Code A tournament for foreign invitees gives the top players who don't live in Korea (and their sponsors) more reason to pay the airfare to come compete. Best of all, the promotion and relegation structure ensures that pretty much all the games are going to be quite meaningful.

The complexity may be a barrier to the casual fan, and it isn't helped by GomTV's English choices. Perhaps "Code S" and "Code A" sound good in Korean, but using names that evoke similar structures in other sports ("First Division", "Premiere League" or "Major League" for Code S, "Second Division" or "Minor League" for Code A) would probably help people get their heads around it. I'm tempted to just ignore their lingo and call them "First Division" and "Second Division" here, but that would just add to the confusion for casual fans hearing Tasteless and Artosis talk about Code S and Code A.

Regardless, there are a lot of great competitions to look forward to in 2011.  GomTV has made a big investment in Starcraft 2, and this will be the year that makes or breaks it.

GSL 3 Semifinals: Day 2

LiquidJinro (T) vs oGsMC (P)
Match Rating: 5/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Steppes of War

Standard openings for both players

Jinro builds a proxy factory for scouting

The first zealot arrives to pressure and kills the SCV building a bunker at the top of Jinro's ramp

A few marines drive out the zealot, but another zealot arrives with a stalker and move in

MC's units kill a few SCVs and marines, Jinro finally finishes the bunker

Stalkers simply bypass the bunker and head for the barracks and the mineral line

Jinro sends a hellion to MC's mineral line, but his multitasking isn't up to surrounding stalkers with SCVs and microing his hellion

The hellion is killed by probes, SCVs kill two stalkers but more are coming and he's at a huge worker disadvantage

Jinro concedes

Build order win for MC. Artosis compared it to MC's ability to take apart his teammate Hyperdub but I don't think it's clear MC thought he would win with what was a fairly simple pressure.

Game 2 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Standard openings for both players

Second barracks for Jinro, sentry after zealot for MC

Marauder and concussive shells for Jinro plus a reactor for his other barracks

Two more gateways for MC, Jinro moves out with a few marines and a marauder

Jinro building a command center, MC has six sentries and a zealot at his natural and builds a nexus

Two more barracks and stim for Jinro, stalkers now for MC

Jinro clears the rocks at his gold and puts two bunkers at his expansion

Proxy pylon behind Jinro's grass for MC, he moves to the choke with his army

MC moves in and uses force fields to stop repair on the bunkers, shooting them down easily with his stalkers

Jinro has to lift his expansion command center and the stalkers even shoot it down

MC pulls back to his natural, Jinro moves out for a last gasp attack

Jinro sends his SCVs one way and his army the other, manages to get around the force fields, but there's way too many units

Jinro concedes

Brilliant attack by MC into what looked like a safe defensive position for Jinro. The early sentries saved up enough energy for the force fields needed to prevent repair on the bunkers.

Game 3 - Shakuras Plateau

Cross positions, MC at 10 and Jinro at 5

Standard openings for both players

Tech lab and concussive shells for Jinro, then command center on 24 built at the natural

Stargate for MC, two more barracks for Jinro

Bunker at the natural for Jinro, a scouting reaper goes into MC's main but doesn't see the stargate before dying

Void ray out for MC, Jinro building a turret at his expansion

Proxy pylon near Jinro's expansion, Jinro adds another bunker

Two void rays probe into his main, marines move up to repel

MC moves in and force fields the ramp and the occupied bunker

The stalkers shoot down the bunker, the other is unoccupied

SCVs repair the turret but the void rays stay alive while the stalkers clean out the expansion

Jinro concedes

Another great timing attack by MC. He looks like he could play a thousand games against Jinro and not lose.

Game 4 - Jungle Basin

Standard opening for MC, two barracks with gas for Jinro

Proxy factory for Jinro, twilight council for MC

Jinro cancels his barracks tech lab and gets an armory when MC's scout dies

Dark shrine for MC, proxy pylon positioned to be able to warp into Jinro's expansion

Marines and SCVs move out for Jinro, the first thor finishes

Two DTs in Jinro's expansion, the thor moves up MC's ramp

The DTs are unopposed in Jinro's base, Jinro builds an engineering bay in MC's base

Jinro's SCVs all come to MC's base, MC's probes go to Jinro's expansion and build a nexus there

Jinro's forces kill MC's base, but his orbital is shot down by MC as it floats across the map and he doesn't have enough minerals to build another one

Jinro has no detection except a turret in MC's base and MC, although he's lost his tech buildings, has two DTs remaining

Jinro scouts MC's new nexus with a floating barracks and sees it's hopeless

Jinro surrenders

Wild game. MC was lucky that his build was something of a counter to Jinro's, but it was his calm crisis management that allowed him to pull out the win.

Commentary: Has there been a more decisive victory in any GSL tournament? 4-0, and only the final game was close. In the other three games MC hit Jinro with powerful timing attacks, but he was never all-in and could have transitioned into a longer game if necessary. Jinro was never able to stabilize. It's a tough way to go out, but making the semifinals was a tremendous achievement. MC is surely the favorite now to win the GSL 3 final.

GSL 3 Semifinals: Day 1

HongUnPrimeWE (P) vs TSLRain (T)
Match Rating: 8/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Metalopolis

Cross positions, Rain at 9 and HongUn at 3

Standard opening from HongUn, one barracks and no gas for Rain

Command center starts for Rain, then two more barracks, HongUn gets a nexus a little later at 27 supply

Two more gateways for HongUn, Rain puts a bunker at his natural

Robotics for HongUn, a fourth barracks for Rain and tech labs for all his finished barracks

Ghost academy for Rain in the gas as well as stim, two forges and observer for HongUn

The first observer finds a small infantry force in the center of the map but Rain scans and kills it

Shields and concussive shells research starting for Rain, his small infantry group goes to poke the natural

Rain edges forward with a ghost, but HongUn's sentries are spread

HongUn cuts the army with force fields and easily kills half of it, too late an EMP hits a few sentries but not all of them

Twilight council done for HongUn, getting charge

Double engineering bay now for Rain as well as a starport

Immortals coming now for HongUn to completement his gateway units

Templar archives finishes for Rain, both players take a third base

Storm starts for Rain, HongUn is up to 2/2 and Rain isn't done with 1/1

HongUn tries to engage in the center of the map, but his force fields block his zealots away from the infantry

Rain drops during the battle, but meanwhile HongUn pushes him back into his base

For some reason HongUn doesn't retreat and loses his army to Rain's reinforcements

3/3 coming for HongUn, Rain staying at 1/1 and adding two more barracks

Rain drops in the main again and tries to snipe a pylon, then picks up as zealots are warped in...the medivac is feedbacked but barely survives

Rain engages in the middle of the map again, HongUn pushes him back and this time has templar to storm the SCVs at the natural and the surviving infantry

HongUn pokes Rain's third but pulls back from engaging the planetary, meanwhile starts a nexus at a center gold base

Rain uses two dropships to harass HongUn's fourth, kills a few pylons before having to retreat

HongUn starts a fleet beacon to the delight of the crowd...the benefits of being 50 supply ahead

HongUn tries to walk down toward the gold base and half his army is melted by storms

Rain concedes

As he promised, Rain played a macro game, and as I expected, HongUn looked like he was quite a bit better.

Game 2 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Standard opening for HongUn, second barracks and reactor for Rain while the probe is still in his base

Stargate for HongUn, stim for Rain

Void ray for HongUn, Rain moves out with about ten marines and a few marauders

Rain expands behind his pressure, then goes up HongUn's ramp

Force field comes down behind him so he can't kite the zealot at the top of the ramp, all of Rain's units except two are killed, though they pick off a sentry

Game is paused...

Some sort of monitor problem, apparently.

Game resumes, HongUn moves into the natural with two void rays and some gateway units

A bunker finishes just in time for HongUn to get marines in it, the gateway units escorting the void rays die and force them to pull back to his proxy pylon

HongUn still making void rays, Rain making marines and getting shields

With the marines in the main trying to fight the void rays, HongUn puts a force field on the ramp and attacks the natural again

HongUn is driven off again when the force field goes away

HongUn's three void rays swing into the main again, but Rain stims his marines, kills one void ray and several damages another

Rain gets a few reinforcements, then engages HongUn's outnumbered forces around the proxy pylon

All the void rays are destroyed and the few zealots and stalkers die as well

HongUn concedes

Well, HongUn made some micro mistakes, but I'm not convinced going void rays after seeing a barracks with reactor is a great strategy.

Game 3 - Lost Temple

Cross positions, Rain at 1 and HongUn at 7

Standard openings for both players

HongUn's scouting probe is denied by the wall-in and then killed by the marine who happens to spawn at just the right time

Factory for Rain and then a second gas, second gateway for HongUn

Twilight council for HongUn, starport and tech lab factory for Rain

Blink for HongUn, siege tank for Rain

Hallucination research interrupts Artosis' theorycraft

Rain moves out with a dropship with two tanks in it and snipes a stalker in the center of the map

Proxy pylon for HongUn but it's in plain sight of Rain, he goes to kill it

A hallucinated void ray gives HongUn vision of the high ground and allows his few stalkers to blink up

They get crushed by a far superior Terran force

Rain moves out with three tanks, two dropships, and a decent marine escort, HongUn has about a dozen stalkers in the middle of the map

HongUn blinks up on to a center hill and kills both medivacs, then retreats as Rain scans

Rain sieges up at the natural choke

HongUn blinks his stalkers down and kills two tanks in the back while the other marines are around the front tank

Rain making a command center and getting stim, dark shrine for HongUn

HongUn expands as well, pokes Rain's natural but siege tanks on the high ground force him to retreat

Robotics coming for HongUn, raven coming for Rain

The first DT arrives just as the raven comes out and gets killed after killing two marines

Stalkers blink into Rain's main, kill two tech labs, snipe a medivac, then as they leave they snipe the raven as well

Robotics bay coming for HongUn, Rain pumping infantry

Rain pushes out to the center but then pulls back, building more barracks

Colossus and thermal lance coming for HongUn, who has DTs in the center of the map to screen

Another DT comes in to Rain's natural, Rain's replacement raven isn't done but he has a turret there and kills it easily

Zealot charge coming for HongUn as well

Rain pushes out with four tanks and a large marine/marauder army

HongUn engages with two colossus and a much smaller gateway unit group

The tanks focus down one of the colossus and the infantry picks off the other as HongUn tries to retreat

Rain moves down and kills HongUn's natural nexus

HongUn concedes

Rain countered HongUn's blink strategy perfectly. HongUn's switch to colossus tech was too little, too late.

Game 4 - Delta Quadrant

Right positions, Rain at 1 and HongUn at 5

Standard opening for HongUn, three barracks for Rain

HongUn only saw one barracks, looked like a one barracks fast expand build

Four gates for HongUn

Rain sends his SCVs with his first six marines

No sentries out to stop the ascent up the ramp, SCVs start a bunker

SCVs attack the stalkers, probes attack the marines

The bunker finishes, some of the SCVs go back to Rain's base

The bunker is in range of a gateway and the cybernetics core

The marine count dwindles but reinforcements arrive and the core goes down

HongUn builds another cybernetics core in the back of his base

Rain takes out another gateway, HongUn down to two gates

The battle goes on as HongUn takes more and more stalker and probe casualties

Rain never quite manages to get an overwhelming number of marines like you usually see in these rushes, but HongUn finally runs out of stalkers, which amounts to the same thing

HongUn concedes

Well, after some pretty good macro games, Rain goes back to what got him here and hits HongUn with a strong marine rush. HongUn must have practiced against this, but the way he built the barracks so HongUn never scouted them (without taking the risk of a proxy) was clever. By pulling back his SCVs after the initial attack he wasn't even totally all-in.

Game 5 - Scrap Station

Standard openings for both players

Factory for Rain, positioned to be floated to HongUn's base, as well as concussive shells

Four gateways for HongUn. The three extra gateways at in the rear of his base

Proxy pylon placed, Rain getting a command center and a bunker with marauders

Stim and an extra barracks are on the way, Rain starts a second bunker as soon as the stalkers arrive

HongUn ignores the bunkers and attacks the marauders and marines outside the bunkers

When they are down, he clears out the bunkers surprisingly easy despite SCVs present to repair

Rain concedes

HongUn's build blind countered Rain's, and though Rain scouted it he reacted slowly. Artosis was convinced he could have won with a faster response. I'm not so sure but he's played, what, a thousand more SC2 games than I have?

Game 6 - Blistering Sands

Standard openings for both players

Rain sends two marauders, a marine, and two SCVs to the ramp

There are no sentries there but Rain doesn't know and pulls back

Four gateways for HongUn, three barracks and a command center for Rain

Twilight council for HongUn getting charge, no longer mining gas

HongUn's stalkers go to the rocks, he holds his main group of zealots in reserve

Command center floats to the natural, there's a bunker built there to help defend

Rain puts two bunkers near his production facilities

Fifteen zealots and three stalkers move up into Rain's base

All of Rain's SCVs surround the main bunker and repair, denying the zealots surface area

The marauders stand in between buildings, likewise denying surface area

Finally HongUn pulls back with eight zealots and starts mining gas

HongUn moves back with his zealots but Rain has a bunch of marines standing amid a ton of buildings

HongUn's zealots move to the natural and kill some SCVs, but get driven off by marine reinforcements

He makes some sentries and moves back to the natural, forcing it to lift

Unwisely HongUn moves up the ramp, but his zealots melt to the ball of marines there

HongUn getting a dark shrine while Rain now attacks his back rocks

Forcefields split the army as it tries to move up the ramp, but there's plenty more infantry coming

HongUn tries to warp in a DT, but Rain scans and kills it before it even finishes warping in

HongUn finally surrenders

Fantastic game from Rain. The building placement, the bunker placement, the infantry micro, everything he did was perfect, and against that many charge zealots he needed to be.

Commentary: I don't think anyone gave Rain much of a chance of beating HongUn in a seven game series. I hope not, at least, because I sure didn't. Perhaps I underestimated the benefit Rain got from being able to train with sSKS and SangHo? Regardless, I think it's safe to say this was Rain's best GSL showing, and it's really impressive that with all the pressure and so much money on the line he still performed his best. I do feel like my comments in the preview about how even the best Protoss seem to use strategies without backup plans apply here. HongUn played a very generic macro game in game 1 and won convincingly, but in the other games he was using strategies that, while perhaps not all-in in the strict sense, left him with no good option if countered successfully. It worked on Scrap Station in game 5, but in the other games Rain either played well or had the right build order and got huge advantages. I'd like to see a Protoss who can play a (theoretically) inferior opponent the way NesTea and Jinro (sometimes, at least) do, reacting and countering whatever opponent and then out-expanding them. It'll be an interesting finals regardless of who wins the MC/Jinro semifinal.

GSL 3 Semifinals Preview

No Zerg players left, and the two best semifinalists both Protoss? Before the quarterfinals, it seemed like there was a reasonable chance that either FruitDealer or NesTea could repeat as champion, but instead they were eliminated and with them Zerg hopes of a 2010 GSL sweep. Two Protoss semifinal spots may not quite make up for missing the semifinals entirely in both GSL 1 and GSL 2, but it sure doesn't hurt (especially considering that Protoss is now even with Zerg in semifinalists across the three tournaments).

The team spread continues to be even, and in fact no team has yet managed to place two members in the semifinals...although the oGs/TeamLiquid alliance is getting so close perhaps Jinro and MC really are teammates. If so it's vindication for oGs: after enduring disappointment after disappointment in qualification and the early rounds, there will be either an oGs or a Liquid player in the final (something neither team has ever managed).

HongUnPrimeWE (P) vs. TSLRain (T)

As MC showed against HongUn's teammate MarineKing, marines are not nearly as dangerous to Protoss as they are to Zerg and other Terrans. At the very least, Rain will need to do marauder rushes instead of two barracks marine. Of course, he apologized on Korean forums for rushing NesTea out of the tournament and, chalking it up to lost practice time, claimed he would play more macro-oriented games in the semifinal.

If he does, it seems likely he'll lose. I don't think there's much doubt that HongUn has been the better player and that Rain will have to improve substantially just to match him. Perhaps Rain was just employing some mind games and is going to break out proxy marauder rushes in the actual games.

Although I do think HongUn is the favorite, not only could Rain just have a good day and outplay him, based on GSL 3 I think Protoss just doesn't seem very stable right now. Even the best Protoss like HongUn, Genius, and MC seem to go into games with a specific strategy, like a blink stalker rush or a phoenix build, and if through luck or scouting the opponent counters it, they're in trouble. To put it another way, we see a lot of timing attacks from one or two bases and not the defensive macro play we see from Zergs and Terrans like Jinro who pressure or harass but keep expanding and wait for their opponent to make a mistake. If I'm right about that, it could explain why so many of the top Protoss players have been upset victims in this and previous GSL tournaments. Or I could be totally wrong.

LiquidJinro (T) vs oGsMC (P)

Since they frequently play in oGs practice leagues, these guys must know each other inside and out. MC is one of the very best Protoss, but Jinro has yet to earn that sort of designation among Terrans. Yet he's the one who's still standing and the big name Terrans like Rainbow, MarineKing, and Maka are out.

Talking to Artosis after his grueling match with choya, Jinro was not optimistic about his chances against MC. Against choya, Jinro looked strong, but lost two games when he expanded and choya massed up on units. It's safe to say that MC is probably even better than choya at hitting those sorts of timings. However, while Jinro may have been second best in their practice games the past few months, I don't think anyone would argue that Jinro has improved tremendously. Remember, a month ago fans on TeamLiquid's own forum were wondering if he should stay in Korea, and a few weeks ago he was battling just to qualify for his first GSL. MC, already pretty much at the top, has seen Jinro rising toward his level of play.

Jinro's got an opportunity to prove to Korea and the world just how far he's come, because if he can take MC in a seven game series then he'll have equalled the best achievements of the other "name" Terran players I mentioned. Fans who are otherwise neutral will likely be pulling for him as well, since if HongUn defeats Rain as most people expect only Jinro will be able to prevent a PvP final (and, sorry Protoss fans, that's the worst mirror and probably the worst matchup for the neutral spectator). On the other hand, an MC win means we get to see another "ceremony" from the Suicide Toss, and while he's probably too friendly with Jinro to do anything too humiliating, between his celebrations and his attempts at English in Artosis' interviews, he's definitely the most entertaining winner in GSL history.

GSL 3 Quaterfinals: Day 2

MarineKingPrimeWE (T) vs oGsMC (P)
Match Rating: 5/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Lost Temple

Cross positions, MarineKing at 1 and MC at 7

MarineKing walls in the bottom of his ramp

Standard opening for MC, command center on 20 for MarineKing, then first gas on 22

MC rallies stalkers to the natural choke where marines are defending

Stargate coming for MC

MarineKing out-micros MC and kills a stalker in the skirmishes, bunker up as well to help defend

Three gates and a void ray out for MC as well as a proxy pylon

MarineKing pushes out with his infantry but three zealots warp into his base with the void ray

The void ray charges on the barracks while the zealots fight marauders and SCVs

Marines finally make it back but more zealots are warped in

Void rays down to very low health but they pull back and let their shields recharge

MarineKing gets two turrets up by his command center but MC brings in void rays faster than marines can kill them

MC hits a critical mass where he can easily kill units as they are produced from MarineKing's buildings

MarineKing concedes

Very sharp rush by MC. When MarineKing didn't scout the proxy pylon he was always going to have trouble, but if MC hadn't masterfully kept his void rays alive as long as possible than the rush might have failed.

Game 2 - Delta Quadrant

Right positions, MarineKing at 2 and MC at 5

Proxy barracks in the center of the map by MarineKing with gas on 10, fast scout by MC arrives in the main however

MC goes to the watchtower and sees the barracks making a marauder, standard opening from MC albeit chronoboosting zealots

MarineKing puts a bunker at the bottom of the ramp while the first marauder engages the zealots

Probes force the marauders to retreat back to the watchtower where the last zealot manages to kill the last marauder

The scouting SCV finishes the bunker but the next marauder that comes doesn't have vision of the top of MC's ramp

MarineKing pulls back and builds two more barracks, MC adds another gateway and moves out with a small group of stalkers

MC's stalkers beat MarineKing's marauders with the help of a zealot and destroy the tech lab researching stim in the center of the map

MC moves into position outside MarineKing's base with a sentry and some stalkers, robotics finishes at his main

Two bunkers for MarineKing, nexus now for MC

MC uses a pylon to warp in some stalkers to the back of MarineKing's base

While MarineKing fights in the back of the base, MC moves up the ramp and engages the bunkers, but is repelled

Warp prism out for MC plus an immortal, MarineKing getting a starport and finally finishing stim

Robotics bay coming for MC, warp prism in place behind MarineKing's base

MarineKing sends his SCVs to help fight, colossus halfway done

MarineKing drives MC's forces back up the ramp and kills the nexus at the natural, then snipes the observer

Surviving SCVs go back to MarineKing's main, a zealot is warped in there and kills a few SCVs

Two vikings join MarineKing's army, MC loses his last stalker and only has sentries for anti-air

The vikings easily take out MC's two colossus while the infantry runs over MC's sentries and zealots

MC concedes

That probably wasn't how MarineKing planned out the game, but he didn't give up and managed to turn things around by attacking just before the first colossus was done for MC

Game 3 - Blistering Sands

MC puts his first pylon behind the minerals at MarineKing's natural, then his gateway

MarineKing's barracks is at the ramp, the first zealot arrives before the first marine is even finished

MarineKing tries to tank with SCVs, but his marines are being made on the other side of his base from the SCVs

The SCV count drops steadily as MarineKing can't manage to stabilize

MarineKing surrenders

MarineKing is famous for his marine micro but MC out-microed his marines and SCVs with his zealots, winning easily.

Game 4 - Jungle Basin

Standard opening for MC, gasless opening for MarineKing into expansion on 20 supply

Three more gateways for MC, a zealot and a stalker move up MarineKing's ramp to pressure

MC puts a proxy pylon near MarineKing's rocks, but not close enough to warp on to the other side of it

MarineKing walls in his main ramp, MC's stalkers start attacking the rocks

An SCV sees the attack on the ramp and MarineKing builds two bunkers

Forcefields prevent him from defending the bunkers, forcing him to lift his command center

MC moves up the ramp but SCVs block the units, a bunker at the top of the ramp with SCVs repairing repels

MarineKing loses many SCVs blocking the ramp, but MC finally pulls back and goes to expand himself

An SCV starts an engineering bay just before the nexus can be warped in

Twilight council coming for MC, stim researching for MarineKing

MC scouts MarineKing retaking his expansion and moves back with his stalker army

Dark shrine finishing as MC attacks the expansion, MarineKing repels the attack reasonably easily

The first DT arrives and is killed with a scan, the second comes in but gets too close to a turret and dies almost immediately

MC pushes in again, but MarineKing's marauders force him back

Another wave of warp ins pushes back into MarineKing's natural, but gets repelled again

Templar archives and zealot legs are done, blink and storm researching

MarineKing lands a factory in MC's expansion mineral line and builds a hellion, forcing some zealots to warp in

MC starts a nexus at an outside expansion but it's scouted and MC cancels it

MarineKing's army kills two pylons there and supply blocks MC, ghost academy done for MarineKing

MC starts another nexus at the center expansion, MC gets the templar energy upgrade

MarineKing moves out with a medium sized infantry army and several ghosts

MC perfectly storms the infantry ball, a back and forth storm and EMP battle ensues

MC ends up routing MarineKing's army, though a few marauders bypass MC's army and kill some probes

During the battle a probe built a pylon at MarineKing's expansion, allowing a few zealots to be warped in for harassment

MC takes a fourth base, MarineKing still on only two bases though they have similar supply levels

MarineKing floats an orbital to the center expansion but his defending forces take a beating from feedback and EMP

MC alternates between templars and blink stalkers forcing the command center to lift

MC adds two colossus to his composition and marches into MarineKing's main, crushing the few remaining defenders

MarineKing surrenders

MarineKing held off everything MC threw at him for most of the game, but in the late mid-game he had no answer for the templar tech. Ghosts are good but they weren't enough against energy-upgraded templar that could storm the moment they warp in.

Commentary: Both players were good, and MarineKing might have had the edge when it came to micro, but MC showed he has a far better understanding of the strategy of the matchup than MarineKing. It seemed like every one of his strategies worked very well, and even when MarineKing held out it was only by the skin of his teeth. I think it's safe to say TvP has got to be MarineKing's weakest matchup.

choyafOu (P) vs LiquidJinro (T)
Match Rating: 7/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Steppes of War

Standard openings for both players

choya steals Jinro's gas, so Jinro's marines start working on clearing it

Proxy factory for Jinro positioned to float into choya's main, bunker at the top of Jinro's ramp

Starport and another barracks coming for Jinro, his factory scouts and sees two more gateways coming for choya

Expansion and robotics start for choya, Jinro makes another barracks, a raven, and stim

Stargate coming as well for choya, banshee on the way for Jinro

Observer out for choya, phoenix coming from the stargate

The first banshee goes to harass, but stalkers and a phoenix kill it easily

Jinro moves out with about eight marauders, ten marines, a raven, and a banshee

Some SCVs coming with Jinro as well, forge coming from choya but it's not finished yet

Jinro tries to move up the ramp to choya's natural, but choya blocks him with force fields

The point defense drone is used up while the force fields are out, they get reestablished when the first group fades

Only a small number of Jinro's units were trapped in with the Protoss army by the force fields so there are plenty still waiting below

The sentries are out of energy and Jinro sweeps in with his army, cornering the outnumbered stalkers who remain

choya concedes

Very good build from Jinro. Other than the banshee caught out in the open by the phoenix, everything he did countered choya's composition perfectly.

Game 2 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Quick gas for choya then gateway on 15, finishing it up by stealing Jinro's gas again

Jinro gets a tech lab after two marines start working on choya's geyser, choya adds another gateway

Concussive shells and a marauder coming for Jinro, choya puts a pylon at his third and then starts a twilight council

Jinro adds two more barracks and scouts around the map with his SCV, dark shrine for choya

Jinro has a second orbital command making in his main, choya gets a nexus at his natural

Jinro floats his second command center to his natural and adds another barracks, two more gateways for choya

The dark shrine finishes, no proxy pylon for choya so his DTs warp in near his base

Engineering bay only half done as the DT arrives at the base, Jinro spots the blur and follows it with his infantry

The first DT is killed with a scan but two more DTs follow

Jinro gets a turret up at the mineral line his main, uses a scan to kill one at his expansion while he builds a turret there

All the DTs are cleared out, robotics finishing now for choya

Robotics bay and an immortal on the way for choya, starport coming for Jinro

Ghost academy building for Jinro, colossus and thermal lance start for choya

Medivac moves out with two marauders and four marines, heading for choya's main

Four stalkers are waiting for the dropship and force a hasty retreat, leaving behind a marine and a marauder

Second starport for Jinro and several more barracks, he also begins clearing the rocks leading to his third

Jinro's army moves to the gold and kills the rocks there, using EMP to kill a scouting DT there

Choya moves in and Jinro retreats, allows reinforcing vikings to arrive

choya pokes into the natural, but vikings flank the colossus army and force him to retreat

choya clears the rocks at his gold, starts zealot charge

Jinro starts a nexus at his gold, Jinro now with 12 vikings

Jinro starts his command center, choya moves in with army to try to stop it

Jinro flanks again with his colossus, stalkers move to intercept them but there are so many vikings they can't save the colossus

Without the colossus protecting them the marauders rout choya's army, then move up and kill the nexus at choya's gold

Jinro moves up to choya's natural but choya has rebuilt a large army

Seeing the army with a scan Jinro retreats, allowing choya to rebuild the nexus at his gold

While the two armies dance around the center, Jinro's vikings snipe a colossus

Jinro floats a command center to the gold and starts building a planetary fortress

Jinro moves up to choya's third but pulls back in the face of choya's army

The two armies engage, the vikings destroy the two colossus easily

choya has about a dozen sentries with his army but ghosts EMP all of them before force fields are deployed

With no force fields to split Jinro's army and no colossus, choya's army melts to Jinro's mass marauders

choya concedes

Very well played by Jinro. choya had a very tight DT build that got DTs to Jinro's base slightly before he was ready, but he stayed calm and held them off. choya was at a slight advantage, but Jinro outplayed him from there and ended up winning convincingly.

Game 3 - Lost Temple

Cross positions, Jinro at 9 and choya at 3

Tech lab after two marines for Jinro, choya hides a probe in his base but a marine finds it

Jinro gets a command center fairly quickly, choya gets a nexus early as well

Jinro adds barracks, choya adds gateways and a robotics that are all immediately scanned by Jinro

Immortal coming for choya, shields and then stim for Jinro

Factory now for Jinro, who has a small infantry force in the center of the map being watched by an observer

Jinro moves up to the natural, scans and kills the observer, then pulls back

Two starports for Jinro, robotics bay for choya

Colossus and thermal lance for choya, Jinro adds more barracks and tech labs while pumping vikings and medivacs

choya gets an observer into Jinro's main and sees what he's doing, makes a stargate

Ghost academy finishing for Jinro, phoenixes coming for choya

Jinro takes a third and builds a supply depot at choya's fourth

choya starts to move out, Jinro scans and kills his observer

choya is still on two bases, Jinro on three

choya attacks, the phenoxies distract the vikings while choya's larger ground army forces Jinro to retreat

The vikings get more out of position as Jinro's army retreats, allowing the zealots and colossus to clean up Jinro's infantry before the vikings get there

Most of the colossus die but there's far too much left for choya and nothing but vikings for Jinro

Jinro concedes

Very good attack by choya, timed to come right before Jinro's third bumped up Jinro's production.

Game 4 - Delta Quadrant

Right positions, choya at 1 and Jinro at 5

Standard openings for both players, but a factory after barracks for Jinro

Choya puts a proxy pylon at the 6 o'clock gold, Jinro scouting with his factory and adding a barracks

Raven for Jinro, robotics for choya

choya moves up Jinro's ramp with a group of stalkers, Jinro has two barracks at the top of his ramp

choya's stalkers bypass the bunkers and head into Jinro's main

Jinro walled off the back expansion so the stalkers end up getting trapped behind Jinro's minerals and cleaned up

Robotics bay for choya despite the fact he hasn't expanded, banshee out for Jinro

The banshee moves to the back of choya's main and kills four probes before stalkers drive it off

choya moves out with a pretty good army, gateway units and two colossus

choya moves up the ramp, one viking is out for Jinro plus a point defense drone

One colossus dies and choya retreats

Jinro takes his back expansion, themral lance coming for choya

choya starts a nexus at his front natural, kills the SCV there, then cancels it

Jinro starts a fight near the center of the map, killing one colossus but losing his viking and the rest of his vikings

choya puts a pylon in Jinro's front expansion and warps some zealots into Jinro's expansion, but Jinro handles it perfectly

choya now attacks Jinro's army in front of his ramp, he tries to retreat up the ramp but choya drops a force field and traps him outside

Jinro concedes

Another game where choya let Jinro expand and then attacked right before the economic advantage arrived. Very good timing, and the canceled nexus was a nice touch.

Game 5 - Lost Temple

Standard openings for both players

choya hides a probe in Jinro's base and this time the marine doesn't see it

Jinro getting another barracks, concussive shells, and a marauder

The probe scouts Jinro's base before getting killed

Reaper as well for Jinro, he moves out with a few marines and marauders

Twilight council on the way for choya, stim coming for Jinro

The reaper helps Jinro kill the spotter pylon at choya's rocks, choya gets supply blocked

Dark shrine now for choya, the reaper returns and gets killed almost immediately...but not before spotting the twilight council

Engineering bay for Jinro and a missile turret at the top of his ramp

Two DTs arrive at his ramp, one dies immediately

Choya expanding, Jinro getting a raven and banshee cloak

Jinro gets a banshee now as the raven finishes, no robotics yet for choya

Command center building on the low ground for Jinro, a DT tries to slip in but is spotted by the raven

Robotics starts for choya as the banshee enters his natural

The banshee cloaks and kills some sentries, then moves into the main to kill more probes

The first banshee is out of energy but a second banshee heads for the natural

Jinro moves in with infantry and a point defense drone, but choya has enough force fields to defeat it

Jinro falls back to his natural, making ghosts and vikings while choya starts his robotics bay

Immortal coming for choya in the meantime, Jinro keeps making infantry

Minor skirmishes in the center of the map, Jinro clears the rocks at his gold

Another banshee harasses probes in the main base

Command center at the gold for Jinro, zealot charge coming for choya

choya has plenty of colossus but no thermal lance...almost certainly a mistake

choya moves into the center of the map with his army and the two armies dance around each other

choya tries to engage but many EMPs land, forcing him to withdraw

Banshee in choya's main getting more probe kills

Both players maxed, Jinro with lots of resources banked, nexus coming at choya's gold though he has to be low on probes

A small group of marauders stop choya's nexus at his gold

choya pushes in and tries to engage, but gets repelled at Jinro's choke

choya takes down the rocks, Jinro takes a fourth base

choya moves into Jinro's main and attacks the supply depots, then pulls back when Jinro moves to counter

Finally there's an engagement, the vikings take down the colossus and Jinro's huge force of marauders routs choya's army

The marauders pursue choya's desperately retreating units, picking off the slower sentries

Jinro's economy keeps him maxed as they fight across the map, choya's supply drops dramatically

Last stand for choya's last surviving units outside his natural against marauders and landed vikings

choya surrenders

This is a tough loss for choya. Forgetting to research thermal lance--well, it happens to the best of us. choya played well anyway but seemed to crack under the pressure at the very end, attacking hopelessly into a superior position. Admittedly with Jinro up to four bases the game was close to being over anyway.

Commentary: When all things were equal, Jinro seemed like the stronger player. Rather than try to cheese, choya dealt with this by doing strong one and two base timing attacks to take advantage of Jinro's relatively (for a Terran) quick expansions. That worked well in games 3 and 4 as Jinro got caught off guard and trapped into losing battles, but in game 5 Jinro's agility moving his large army through the map architecture never left an opening that choya was able to exploit. The banshee harassment left him far too low in probes to stay with Jinro economically. Had he had thermal lance it's possible he might have broken Jinro when he attacked the natural choke and had enough units left over to handle reinforcements, but we'll never know for sure. A great victory for Jinro, the first foreigner ever to reach the GSL semifinals.

GSL 3 Quaterfinals: Day 1

IMNesTea (Z) vs TSLRain (T)
Match Rating: 4/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Lost Temple

Close air positions, NesTea at 9 and Rain at 6

Hatch first on 15 for NesTea, standard opening from Rain

Gas on 22 for NesTea, second gas and factory for Rain

Techlab on the factory and starport, siege tank begins

NesTea starts his lair in his main, dropship coming for Rain

Nestea starts a spine crawler at his natural, siege mode research starts for Rain

Rain's dropship moves out with one tank but drops it at the natural choke

Spire coming for NesTea, Rain's tank sieges up at the choke and builds a bunker for the marines

NesTea moves in with zerglings and kills the bunker, but the dropship picks up most of the marines and moves everything to the cliff

Two tanks are sieged on the cliff now but mutalisks are almost out

The mutalisks kill everything, zerglings take out the rocks at NesTea's gold

Somewhat belatedly Rain starts turrets, NesTea upgrading air attack

Rain making vikings to drive off the mutalisks, NesTea taking the gold and getting a baneling nest

Rain floats a command center to his expansion, adding barracks as well

NesTea getting baneling speed and continuing to make mutalisks

Now an armory coming for Rain, but the mutalisk count is getting quite high

Mutalisks continue to harass, killing a geyser, while NesTea takes a fourth and upgrades air weapons again

NesTea morphing a large number of banelings and still making mutalisks

Rain moves out with four tanks and about twenty marines plus a Thor

NesTea's mutalisks take some accidental marine fire, then move in to engage

Rain pulls his marines back from the banelings, which die from tank fire, and the mutalisks follow the marines instead of hitting the tanks

Despite taking heavy losses Rain manages to win the battle

Now Rain drops his surviving two tanks and clump of marines on the high ground above NesTea's natural

NesTea loses many overlords since they were all hovering there, NesTea's natural hatchery is killed

Now Rain sieges in range of the gold base, but mutalisks swoop in and pick off the two tanks

Rain moves out with another army but it's mostly marines, so he goes and clears the rocks at his gold

Despite all that damage NesTea is 40 supply ahead, massing up banelings and mutalisks

Mutalisks fly into the base and destroy a factory before marines can get back to protect it

On their way out mutalisks kill enough supply depots to supply block Rain, NesTea retakes his natural

Rain sieges up at the watchtower so NesTea goes in and kills another factory

Rain responds by heading for NesTea's bases, mutalisks pull up and kill two of Rain's four siege tanks

Rain tries to pull back but NesTea moves in and obliterates his army

Rain concedes

Rain did well to win the battle outside NesTea's natural, but Artosis overstated the danger to NesTea. Rain would have been better off taking out the gold base and then the fourth. As it was, by the time the natural died NesTea was able to rebuild his army and was still at an advantage.

Game 2 - Steppes of War

Hatch first on 15 for NesTea, just beating the SCV trying to block, two barracks for Rain with the second at his natural

NesTea patrols a drone at the bottom of his ramp, Rain sends a huge number of SCVs

NesTea sends most of his drones even before Rain arrives

There's a back and forth battle, but Rain does a good job keeping his marines behind his SCVs

Just about all the SCVs die, but the marines are still alive and kill the few remaining drones and zerglings

NesTea concedes

Good micro by Rain. It's easy to write this off as map imbalance but a lot of Zergs have managed to win on Steppes of War this tournament.

Game 3 - Shakuras Plateau

Cross positions, NesTea at 5 and Rain at 10

Hatch first for NesTea, quick tech lab after marine for Rain starts stim

Rain goes to pressure with two marines and an SCV while expanding to his natural

Rain pulls back to the watchtower, NesTea gets zergling speed

Rain adds three more barracks and a factory, then shields

NesTea takes his third, Rain pressures with six marines but they get surrounded by speedlings and destroyed

Rain tries to wall off but there's only a marauder protecting it and the zerglings smash through it and enter the main

Finally some marines clean it up after a fair number of SCV losses

Baneling nest coming for NesTea, Rain masses up marines just to retake his natural

Rain moves out just as the banelings finish morphing and then retreats

The banelings chase the marines all the way to the back of Rain's main before they die to kiting, but the marine stim repeatedly to do it

Rain takes up a position outside his natural with a large infantry force, mostly marines, then moves out to the watchtower

NesTea getting a lair and a spine crawler, pumping zerglings

Rain catches three overlords in the open and supply blocks NesTea

A large group of zerglings get cornered at a watchtower by Rain's force, but the banelings close in and trap the marines in turn

Rain manages to save perhaps a third of his marines with micro, but since NesTea has almost twice as many workers and an extra base he can replace his losses

Spire finishes for NesTea and starts the air attack upgrade, Rain finally walls off his natural, then goes to clear the rocks from behind his base

NesTea taking his fourth at the top right main, possibly vulnerable to Rain's force coming through the rocks

Mutalisks arrive at Rain's natural and force his army to come back, saving NesTea's fourth base

Rain moves back to attack it again but now NesTea is in position to defend with his army

Rain builds a turret on the low ground outside NesTea's fourth, spine crawler building for NesTea

A small group of marines moves forward and kills the spine crawler, but NesTea rushes in

The banelings force the marines to retreat, the marauders and tanks die

Rain starts a command center in the top center, NesTea's mutalisks attack the natural

While Rain's army fights skirmishes at NesTea's natural, the mutalisks destroy the wall-in and banelings move in and kill every SCV

Rain takes out the hatchery at NesTea's fourth, but NesTea's full army pushes him back and forces him to lift his third

NesTea's mutalisks return to Rain's natural, then move up into the main, meanwhile NesTea takes practically every expansion left

Rain's army pulls back to defend his main but zerglings and banelings move into his now undefended third

Rain surrenders

NesTea's quick third base paid off, allowing him to come out ahead after trading supply in the early battles. Once ahead, he easily outmaneuvered Rain's less mobile army.

Game 4 - Blistering Sands

Hatch first on 15 for NesTea, quick drone scout gets into the main and sees Rain is going no gas two barracks

Rain moves out with three marines and an SCV, two more barracks coming

Rain pulls back after pressuring, NesTea puts up a spine crawler at his expansion

Queen out as well for NesTea, all but two SCVs coming for Rain for the attack

Zergling speed is only just starting for Nestea

The SCVs get in position to tank the damage from the zerglings and drones, the marines shoot from behind

All the SCVs die but there are about a dozen marines left

NesTea still has some drones in his main, but there's nothing he can against so many marines

NesTea concedes

Different map but pretty much the same game they played on Steppes of War. Normally I take Artosis' back seat driving with a grain of salt but it seems like he's right to think NesTea's opening isn't safe enough.

Game 5 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Hatch first for NesTea, two barracks for Rain

The first marine moves in with an SCV to pressure, builds a bunker at the natural choke

NesTea spots it with his drones but pulls back to avoid the marines, starts a spine crawler

Second bunker starts, NesTea fights but the bunker finishes

The spine crawler is in range of the bunker but the SCV isn't dead, so it repairs the bunker

The marines kill the undefended expansion hatchery

NesTea positions zerglings to cut off reinforcements, Rain snipes overlords and maintains a contain, getting a second command center

NesTea moves his forces up to the center of the map, Rain moves into NesTea's main

The marines move into the main but eventually get surrounded by zerglings and die

NesTea expands again, then pokes Rain's natural with zerglings to slow it down

Rain builds a bunker wall off between his ramp and the command center, NesTea gets a baneling nest

Rain moves out with two dozen marines and a few marauders, stim not finished yet however

Rain goes down to the natural, pauses, then moves back to the watchtower

NesTea makes banelings, Rain doesn't attack but waits for stim

Now with even more marines, Rain moves in with a small group of marines to kill a creep tumor

There's a long series of battles as zerglings and banelings fight the huge marine force

Rain's micro is good but he finally weakens his marines too much through overstimming and loses all of them

Zerglings move in and pick off a couple marines and a marauder on move command

Rain's next army moves in with a dozen marines and a tank, plus a sieged tank on the low ground to cover

The siege fire melts NesTea's last defenders, leaving his natural undefended

NesTea surrenders

Well, for a moment there it looked like NesTea might be able to turn things around, but in the end the damage he took from Rain's early attacks was simply too much to recover from.

Commentary: I think everyone would agree this was a huge upset by Rain. He probably didn't win himself a lot of fans by eliminating the reigning champion with three marine rushes (and losing the two "normal" games he played), but the fact is we've seen these two barracks rushes over and over again since the beginning of the tournament. Every Zerg needs to know how to deal with it, and obviously there were flaws in NesTea's strategy. Perhaps he took Rain too lightly?

HongUnPrimeWE (P) vs TSLFruitDealer (Z)
Match Rating: 5/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Steppes of War

Forge first for HongUn, pool first for FruitDealer on 13 plus gas

HongUn puts two pylons at the bottom of the ramp, though it doesn't look like a tight wall-off, then a cannon behind them

HongUn's gateway starts on 19 supply, FruitDealer puts a hatchery near the top of his ramp

Now a spine crawler as well for FruitDealer, hidden pylon on the edge of the map for HongUn

Double stargate at the hidden pylon, lair coming for FruitDealer

Roach warren starts for FruitDealer, he has two spine crawlers moving into range of the pylons

An overlord spots one of the stargates, FruitDealer cancels the roach warren and gets a hydralisk den instead

Three void rays and a phoenix out for HongUn, FruitDealer's spine crawler finishing off the pylons at his ramp

Seven hydralisks and three queens out for FruitDealer to defend, the void rays pull back

The spine crawlers are down at the expansion and the hydralisks easily repel the void rays

HongUn builds a ton of gateways, FruitDealer takes his expansion

Hydralisks kill the pylon powering the stargates, but the void rays force FruitDealer's expansion to cancel

FruitDealer moves his hydralisks into position and rebuilds the hatchery at his natural

The hydralisks go back to the stargates to destroy them, but the four void rays simply move in again and force another cancel

HongUn moving in with a medium sized ground army and four void rays

Speedlings rush in but force fields hold them off, however FruitDealer has enough hydralisks to repel anyway

FruitDealer counters to HongUn's natural and there's not enough defending units to stop him

HongUn concedes

Not a bad idea by HongUn. Had FruitDealer not scouted the stargates with his overlords it could have been an easy victory. But he did scout it, which is only partly luck, and afterward HongUn would have been better served expanding instead of going four gate considering how slow FruitDealer's expansion was.

Game 2 - Scrap Station

Pool and gas for FruitDealer, Nexus first for HongUn at 15

Forge at the natural choke for HongUn, zergling speed for FruitDealer

Cannon at the natural for HongUn, hatchery on 18 for FruitDealer

Gateway now at the main's ramp, HongUn puts a second cannon at the natural rocks in response to zergling pressure

Baneling nest for FruitDealer, two more gateways for HongUn

FruitDealer massing zerglings, presumably for a baneling bust

12 banelings morph and move in with zerglings to the wall

Banelings take out the forge despite force fields from a sentry, zerglings swarm into the main

Zealots warp in and clean up the zerglings in HongUn's main

HongUn builds a second cybernetics core to remake his wall and positions stalkers behind it

The zerglings turn back to the natural rocks but HongUn has sentries there

Lair finishes for FruitDealer, Twilight Council for HongUn, remaking his forge as well

Stalkers, zealots, and sentries punch through the rocks

Zerglings come around from behind but HongUn lays down a ton of force fields to drive them off

Blink researching for HongUn, burrow researching for FruitDEaler

FruitDealer burrows about ten banelings at his choke, HongUn's army moves over it

The banelings explode, killing the core of HongUn's army, but stalker armies aren't very dense and there are plenty left

Nothing to defend for FruitDealer

FruitDealer concedes

After seeing the nexus first opening, FruitDealer didn't do nearly enough damage to defuse HongUn's economic lead.

Game 3 - Shakuras Plateau

Top positions, FruitDealer at 10 and HongUn at 2

Gas and pool first for FruitDealer, forge expansion for HongUn

Roach warren for FruitDealer, gateway and cannon for HongUn

FruitDealer's zerglings start working on the rocks between bases, HongUn has a spotter pylon at his rocks

Second cannon at HongUn's choke, roaches out for FruitDealer

The rocks go down and FruitDealer's army moves to HongUn's back rocks

HongUn builds three cannons, FruitDealer has eight roaches and plenty of zerglings

The roaches easily destroy the cannons and pylons, forcing HongUn to withdraw to his natural

FruitDealer's army follows him down the ramp, the force field to block it is a little late and plenty of zerglings get down to attack the cannons

HongUn concedes

Basically a build order win for FruitDealer, but it wasn't blind. He scouted HongUn's strategy and then destroyed it.

Game 4 - Lost Temple

Close air positions, FruitDealer at 12 and HongUn at 3

Gas and pool again for FruitDealer, forge first for HongUn

He walls in FruitDealer's ramp with two pylons, then puts a cannon behind it

Roach warren for FruitDealer, nexus on 20 for HongUn

Lair for FruitDealer, HongUn slips a probe through the pylons and scouts FruitDealer's base

FruitDealer cancels the lair, then sends three roaches to clear the cannon while holding his other roaches back

Zergling speed starts for FruitDealer while he sends his forces to HongUn's wall off

HongUn has two cannons and is building a third, but the roaches can hit the forge without coming into range

A fourth cannon finishes the cannon wall-off as the forge dies, two stargates building for HongUn

Void ray starts, FruitDealer moves in with roaches and lings

They easily plow through the cannons but HongUn continues building the wall, adding more and more pylons, gates, and so forth

Void ray is out and kills all the roaches, then starts plowing through the zerglings

A second void ray is now out, finally the zerglings break through but only four are left

FruitDealer has four queens at his main as the three void rays arrive

Despite transfusions the void rays kill the queens

FruitDealer concedes

Really impressive, er, wall building from HongUn. That's was about as exciting as a battle can be when only one player has units.

Game 5 - Blistering Sands

Gas and pool for FruitDealer, standard opening for HongUn

Hatchery on 19 for FruitDealer, twilight council for HongUn

Dark shrine and two more gateways now for HongUn, zerglings attacking his back rocks

Dark shrine finishing, no lair yet, but evolution chamber starting for FruitDEaler

Three DTs run into FruitDealer's base, zerglings on hold position on the ramp try to stop them

There's a spore crawler in FruitDealer's main but the DTs get to it before it finishes and destroy it

Everyone waits for FruitDealer to leave while DTs slaughter his undefended forces

FruitDealer surrenders

Not a very exciting game, but a smart move by HongUn to take advantage of FruitDealer's late lair.

Commentary: Both players knew each other quite well and spent the match trying to hit weak spots in each other's strategies. Since these attacks required a lot of commitment they essentially either won or lost the game each time. Not the best match for pure spectators, but probably educational for people who play. HongUn is the first Protoss player to ever reach a GSL semifinal.

2011 S Class Players

With the end of the GSL3 round of 16, we now can say for certain who the S Class players will be for the 2011 season. Hopefully obvious, but there will be implied spoilers for the round of 16 in this post.

Player List

GSL 1 Quarterfinalists

• HongUnPrimeWE (P)
  
• MakaPrimeWE (T)
  
• NEXLiveForever (T)
  
• oGsEnsnare (T)
  
• oGsInca (P)
  
• STRainbOw (T)
  
• TSLFruitDealer (Z)
  
• TSLsSKS (P)
  

GSL 2 Quarterfinalists

• Already Qualified: STRainbOw (T)
  
• IMZenio (Z)
  
• KyrixZenith (Z)
  
• MarineKingPrimeWE (T)
  
• NSPGenius (P)
  
• oGsNaDa (T)
  
• oGsZenio (T)
  
• SlayerSBoxeR (T)
  

GSL 3 Quarterfinalists

• Already Qualified: HongUnPrimeWE (P)
  
• Already Qualified: IMNesTea (Z)
  
• Already Qualified: MarineKingPrimeWE (T)
  
• Already Qualified: TSLFruitDealer (Z)
  
• choyafOu (P)
  
• LiquidJinro (T)
  
• oGsMC (P)
  
• TSLRain (T)
  

Wild Card Spots (in points order)

• CheckPrimeWE (Z)
  
• EGIdrA (Z)
  
• LeenockfOu (Z)
  
• oGsTheWinD (Z)
  
• oGsHyperdub (T)
  
• PoltPrimeWE (T)
  
• TSLClide (T)
  
• sanZenith (P)
  
• imMVP (T)
  
• LegalMinDZenith (P)
  
• anyproPrimeWE (P)
  
• TheBestfOu (T)
  
• oGsJookTo (Z) AKA JookToJung
  

Race Breakdown

• Terran: 14 (43.75%)
  
• Zerg: 9 (28.13%)
  
• Protoss: 9 (28.13%)
  

About as even as could be hoped for, I think, given the wild swings in fortunes of various races throughout the three tournaments. Protoss in particular have yet to reach the semifinals but are well-represented here. Terran has a slight advantage, but that's to be expected given their relative success in all three tournaments.

Team Breakdown

• oGs: 8
  
• PrimeWE: 6
  
• TSL: 4
  
• ZeNEX: 4
  
• fOu: 3
  
• IM: 2
  
• EG: 1
  
• Liquid: 1
  
• NSP: 1
  
• SlayerS: 1
  
• StarTale: 1
  

Despite a disappointing GSL 3, oGs will be very happy to have ended up with the most S Class players. Prime is right behind them, not surprisingly. The most disappointed team has to be StarTale, who come off looking like they're just Rainbow and a bunch of scrubs. Note that SlayerS isn't really a team yet and NSP is just a clan and probably shouldn't even be on this list. NSPGenius will apparently be joining another team, presumably one of the ones already on this list, fairly soon. For all the team changes that have been going on, the players on this list to switch teams after the beginning of GSL 1 are LegalMind (who I don't believe was on ZeNEX immediately), Genius (leaving ZeNEX), and JookTo (leaving Jung for oGs). Of course the Zenith/NEX merger also happened in this timeframe, between GSL 1 and GSL 2 if I remember correctly. One sad note: despite qualifying a ton of players for GSL 1 and GSL 2 before disintegrating, no former WeRRa member managed to reach S Class.

Notable Players Left Out

In points order:

TankBoyPrimeWE - Came excruciatingly close but was the #33 player using GomTV's points scheme. Just qualifying for GSL 3 would have been enough to put him in and oGsJookTo out. His one consolation is that he can take another S Class players' spot if that player is unavailable for a tournament (has anyone heard if NEXLiveForever is going to be active again?).

STJuly - I don't think he tried to qualify for GSL 1, but he tried and failed in GSL 2, then got knocked out of GSL 3 in the round of 16 by oGsMC.

Loner - Looked great in GSL 2 before losing to SlayerSBoxeR, then failed to qualify for GSL 3.

oGsTOP - Has had some great performances in other tournaments but in the GSL world he's still going to be remembered as the Washington Generals to FruitDealer's Globetrotters in GSL 1.

TSLSangHo - Great comeback story and played well in GSL 2 before becoming one of MarineKing's many victims, but failed to qualify for GSL 3.

LiquidTLO - Had a very good shot at securing S Class had he qualified for GSL 3, but he went back to Germany before the tournament. I'm still hoping he'll fly out and take advantage of his A Class status.

FOXLyn - I believe he tried to qualify for GSL 1 and 2 but failed, then lost to Jinro in GSL 3. He has possibly the best excuse of anyone on this list: he's apparently still splitting his time between SC2 and WC3.

GSL 3 Quarterfinals: Preview

Race Breakdown

Terran: 3 (37.5%)
Zerg: 2 (25%)
Protoss: 3 (37.5%)

It doesn't get much more even than this. Blizzard's balance team must be high-fiving each other. Each race has two very impressive players in the quarterfinals, with TSLRain and choyafOu (though not bad by any means) punching a bit above their weight and giving Terran and Protoss an extra player. Although at a slight disadvantage numerically, the two remaining Zergs are the two previous GSL champions. It's worth noting that this incredibly even spread of quarterfinalists has come despite the much-criticized decision by GomTV to remove map downvoting (a decision that, I might add, improved the spectator experience by reducing the number of Xel'Naga Caverns games to a sensible level).

Team Breakdown

PrimeWE: 2
TSL: 2
fOu: 1
IM: 1
Liquid: 1
oGs: 1

Still a very even spread of players. StarTale joins ZeNEX on the outside looking in while Liquid and fOu get a player into the quarterfinals for the first time.

Matches

They're all matches to watch, so let's run them down. Note that matches will be best of 5, which beyond helping better players in general should help mitigate the damage Steppes of War does to the two Zerg players' fortunes (both Zergs drew Steppes of War, but luckily for them neither got Jungle Basin).

IMNesTea (Z) vs. TSLRain (T)

NesTea is the clear favorite here. Of the Terrans who made it this far, he'll be glad he's playing Rain. Jinro's defensive style might work well against NesTea and MarineKing came within one game of beating him in a best of 7, but Rain still needs to show he can consistently play at the very highest level. The one thing Rain does have going for him is being on the same team as the other top Zerg FruitDealer, but unfortunately for him FruitDealer will be practicing for a game against Protoss.

HongUnPrimeWE (P) vs. TSLFruitDealer (Z)

FruitDealer won 2-0 when they played in the All-Stars Invitational before GSL 3, but that tournament wasn't taken as seriously as this one. From their interviews, both players have been looking forward to this match for a while. With his recent win against HongUn and better past GSL results it's easy to say FruitDealer is a slight favorite, but I think I'd give it to HongUn, albeit with the slimmest of margins, as his recent form seems slightly more impressive.

MarineKingPrimeWE (T) vs. oGsMC (P)

In an interview after his win against July, MC essentially said he thought MarineKing (AKA Foxer) is overrated. MC never misses a chance to stir the pot, but how many times have we heard people put down MarineKing? Too reliant on marines, people say. Perhaps, but he just keeps winning. MC is very good and it'll be interesting to see what strategy he goes with. MarineKing hasn't played a Protoss in this tournament, but he beat SangHo in GSL 2 and sSKS in the All-Stars tournament, so he's not just a TvZ specialist.

choyafOu (P) vs. LiquidJinro (T)

Anyone who can beat IMmvp is a dangerous player, but frankly mvp did not play well against choya. This is Jinro's first Protoss opponent in the GSL, so it'll be interesting to see how his defensive style fares. Jinro seems to focus on siege tank play and while I'm certainly no expert, it seems like Protoss have more options for dealing with tanks than Zerg. Jinro has already gotten farther than any foreign player has ever gotten in a GSL tournament and he's got a decent chance to go even further.

GSL 3 Round of 16: Day 2

LeenockfOu (Z) vs MarineKingPrime (T) AKA Foxer
Match Rating: 7/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Shakuras Plateau

Top positions, Leenock at 10 and MarineKing at 2

Hatch first on 14 for Leenock, gas and barracks for MarineKing

Tech lab, stim as soon as it finishes, then command center on 24

Zergling speed for Leenock, two more barracks for MarineKing

One more barracks now for a total of four, spine crawler and lair for Leenock who scouts the expansion

Shields researching for MarineKing, reactors going on all three barracks

Baneling nest starts for Leenock, MarineKing moves out with about ten marines

Spire and baneling speed start for Leenock, MarineKing moves on to the creep and kills tumors

MarineKing moves up the ramp and kills the spire crawler before banelings and zerglings take out the small force

Zerglings attack the second wave in the center of the map and kill it

MarineKing collects a third group and moves out again, Leenock starts a third, getting mutalisks and air attack upgrade

MarineKing backs off, five mutalisks arrive in his base and kill a few mules before marines drive them off

Medivacs pumping out of a starport, armory on the way as well

MarineKing knocks down the rocks and moves across with about thirty marines and two medivacs

MarineKing walks into the main with the mutalisks in the distance

Some drones are killed, but instead of trying to snipe the spire MarineKing takes about ten seconds to completely spread his marines

The mutalisks are good against the spread marines but there aren't enough of them, the banelings have to attack

Only about half the marines die to the banelings, the rest close ranks to fight the mutalisks

Leenock concedes

Leenock deflected MarineKing's early pressure easily, but he was caught totally off guard by the sudden attack in force through the rocks.

Game 2 - Scrap Station

Hatch first on 14 for Leenock and a very early scout, no gas for MarineKing

Command center on 17 for MarineKing at the top of his base near the island

Double engineering bay for MarineKing, command center loads SCVs and floats to the island

Zergling speed starts for Leenock, an overlord scouts the command center at the island

Lair starts for Leenock, MarineKing gets a factory and two more barracks

Baneling nest for Leenock, starport for MarineKing, one tech lab and two reactors for his barracks

Spire now for Leenock, stim for MarineKing

Armory for MarineKing, viking comes out of the starport to clear overlords, reactor goes on the starport

Baneling speed for Leenock, seven mutalisks coming, Leenock starts a hatch at the gold

Four turrets up on the island for MarineKing

Nydus starts for Leenock, shields start for MarineKing

The nydus appears uncontested on the island and zerglings stream in to the undefended island

MarineKing moves out with a large force of upgraded marines, the command center from the island floats away

Mutalisks and zerglings counterattack to MarineKing's wall while the gold dies

The attack at the wall is repelled

MarineKing moves up toward Leenock's expansion, banelings move in and destroy the army before the marines split

MarineKing moves his island command center to his natural, but Leenock puts a nydus on the high ground over it

MarineKing repels the attack without much difficulty, Leenock harasses the main with mutalisks

Leenock expanding to his third and the gold

MarineKing moves through the rocks with another marine army and five dropships

A long battle is fought, this time MarineKing's micro is perfect but there are so many banelings and speedlings the army dies anyway

Leenock has nothing left over initially but mutalisks, but of course his economy is superior

MarineKing moves out with another marine army, but there are too many zerglings and it is easily cleaned up

Leenock hasn't transferred his drones to his expansions so he is only on one mining base despite three hatches

Leenock attacks the natural with banelings from a nydus and kills all the SCVs

MarineKing sends a small force to the gold but banelings clean it up

Another force of marines heads to Leenock's third and gets cleaned up by banelings and mutalisks

One last marine force moves to the watchtower but once again is killed by banelings

MarineKing concedes

Losing the initial marine army and the undefended island were two large blows that MarineKing simply couldn't recover from

Game 3 - Jungle Basin

Hatch first on 14 for Leenock, another early scout harasses the SCV building the barracks but gets killed by another SCV

No gas, command center on 19 for MarineKing

Engineering bay for MarineKing, five marines move out to pressure with an SCV

Zergling speed starts for Leenock, MarineKing pulls back after reaching the watchtower

Two more barracks for MarineKing, lair coming for Leenock

Zerglings start to attack the back rocks but MarineKing has a supply depot building to spot it and chases them away

Second engineering bay for MarineKing, baneling nest for Leenock, armory for MarineKing

Starport starts and barracks for the reactors, two bunkers behind the barracks

Baneling speed, infestation pit, burrow, and a third macro hatchery for Leenock

Leenock sacrifices an overlord to scout MarineKing's main, Leenock takes a third and fourth at the outside expansions

Medivac moves out to the left side expansion and forces a cancel, three more dropships heading toward the natural

He scans and sees the infestors there, pulls back to Leenock's third and kills the hatchery just before zerglings get there

The dropships try to withdraw but they get fungaled and then shot down by infested terrans

Leenock takes a third in the center, hive up for Leenock, ultralisk cavern starts

MarineKing's army kills the hatchery at Leenock's third despite fungal growth and then fights a battle nearby with Leenock's army

Leenock manages to clean up the army with infestors and banelings

MarineKing floats a command center to a center expansion, Leenock tries again to take a third at the outside expansion

An SCV scouts Leenock's third, planetary fortress at MarineKing's third, ultralisks coming for Leenock

Leenock expands to the center and other outside as well

MarineKing moves his army to Leenock's third and kills the hatch there

Leenock's ultralisk count is low and easily repelled by MarineKing's mass marine with a handful of marauders

MarineKing moves to the center expansion, infestors attack but MarineKing has pre-spread his marines

The center expansion dies, there's a large battle fought outside Leenock's main

MarineKing loses a fair number of marines to fungal and banelings, but reinforcements clear out the ultralisks

MarineKing moves into Leenock's main and spreads his marines to prevent fungal growth

Leenock doesn't have enough left to fight it

Leenock surrenders

Strange decision by Leenock to go to ultralisks while still on two base against a mass marine. Good play from MarineKing to deny Leenock's expansions, however.

Commentary: These are both great players and all kinds of brilliant micro was on display, but the strategic decisionmaking was a little disappointing. In each game someone made a mistake that probably cost them the game: not spotting at the rocks, not paying attention to the first army and no defense from nydus, and finally ultralisks in game 3. Perhaps game 3 will show people that, contrary to popular belief, infestors do not by themselves counter MarineKing's marine armies since his spreading tactics against banelings also protect him from fungal growth.

oGsMC (P) vs STJuly (Z)
Match Rating: 7/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Blistering Sands

Gas, then pool for July, standard opening for MC

Zergling speed for July, not more gas mining, expands on 19

Stargate and another gateway for MC, void ray coming

Roach warren starts for July and lair

The void ray attacks an overlord, July immediately gets a third queen

MC expands to his natural, zerglings run by MC's army he uses force fields to trap them on the ramp

Spire and roaches for July, phoenix coming for MC

4 mutalisks on the way for July plus a third macro hatchery

Forge and robotics bay starts for MC along with a second phoenix

Hydralisk den starts for July, also a corruptor

The phoenixes kill all the mutalisks but four corruptors are out, July pumping hydralisks

MC up to 5 phoenixes, making a second robotics and a support bay

Zerglings clearing the rocks at his gold, more corruptors being made as well

MC pushes in with his whol earmy, quite a few stalkers in addition to his air

MC puts up force fields to isolate the zerglings, meanwhile corruptors kill the phoenixes and void ray

With reinforcing hydralisks and roaches July pushes MC back across the map

July now with a principally roach army gets all the way into MC's natural before the roaches are finally killed

Gold base up for July, MC making immortals out of his robotics bay, July attacks the rocks with his roach/zergling army

The rocks go down, but MC's army is in position to defend, so July pulls back to the center

July switching back to hydralisks to deal with MC's immortals, the creep is more than halfway across the map

July moves through where the rocks were, MC moves down behind the army

July starts to pull back b ut then engages MC's army

MC wins with four immortals and some miscellaneous gateway units still alive

MC up to six immortals, July moves in with a large zergling force and surrounds MC's army, putting corruption on the immortals

MC's army wins anyway and pushes toward the gold, only four immortals left

Now July attacks with mass hydra and easily rolls over MC's army

MC surrenders

An interesting game with a lot of transitions between unit compositions. July lost a lot of battles, but in doing so he kept MC's supply low until he had an economic advantage.

Game 2 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Gas and pool for July again, standard opening for MC

Expansion on 19 for July, four warpgates and a stargate for MC

Lair and roach warren for July, void ray for MC

The void ray starts cleaning up overlords, spire coming for July

Second void ray for MC, two spine crawlers for July

MC moves in to July's natural with void rays and gateway units, plenty of queens out for July

Force fields and the spine crawlers combine to block the queens away from the void rays

All the queens die and two void rays are still alive

July concedes

Interesting void ray flavor of the otherwise pretty normal four gate rush.

Game 3 - Shakuras Plateau

Cross positions, MC at 10 and July at 5

Quick scout and forge first for MC, gas and pool first for July

MC puts a pylon and cannon at his natural, July starts zergling speed

July and MC expand at the same time

Lair starts for July, stargate for MC

Spire starts for July, void ray coming for MC

July scouts MC's main with an overseer

Phoenix now omcing from the stargate, macro hatch for July and a third at center expansion

Four more gates for MC, continuing to make phoenixes, now another stargate

Evolution chamber, corruptors, and a hydra den coming for July

Phoenixes harass some drones but corruptors drive them off, another void ray coming for MC

Hydra range for July, MC moves into the center with three void rays and a large number of stalkers

July kills two of the void rays with corruptors while they are briefly unprotected

MC moves down to July's third and starts a proxy pylon

Many stalkers moving into the natural, July doesn't have enough to stop them

Templar archives starts for MC

MC seems like he has a vastly superior army since July has so many corruptors, but he doesn't attack. Artosis thinks this is correct but I'm not so sure.

July takes a third and scouts MC's main with corruptors

MC gets blink and staying mass hydra, roach warren building for July

MC starts a nexus in the center expansion, then moves through the center with his mass stalker army

Robotics bay coming for MC, July massing roaches

The two large armies dance around the center but do not engage

July is maxed but hasn't banked a large amount of resources

MC pulls back, then turns to engage July's army and flanks with his first colossus

July's army melts and MC marches across the map with his stalker/colossus army

July doesn't have the unit count to stop MC's army, which moves into July's natural

July surrenders

I was wondering if MC was being too passive after getting an advantage, but both players ended up taking their third at the same time and July wasn't able to shift to a better composition.

Commentary: July was impressive but fell just short of S Class with his loss to MC. I was surprised to see MC get out-maneuvered strategically in the first match given his reputation as one of the best Protoss players, and sure enough he came back in the next two games and justified his reputation. He's playing one of the most attractive Protoss styles I've ever seen, using virtually all the units except carriers at just the right times.

LiquidJinro (T) vs PoltPrimeWE (T)
Match Rating: 6/10
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Game 1 - Jungle Basin

Standard opening for Polt, no gas and a second proxy barracks for Jinro

Polt's retreating SCV somehow misses the proxy, as does his firs two marines when they move out

Jinro moves in with four marines, Polt puts a bunker up near his command center and makes a hellion

Jinro expands behind his pressure, Jinro spreads his marines to fight the hellion

Polt building a starport, Jinro puts a bunker at the top of his ramp, then scouts with the proxy barracks

Polt moves out with two tanks and ten marines, his siege mode research is ahead of Jinro's

Viking coming for Jinro as well as turrets, Polt moves to the back of Jinro's base and a dropship moves them up inside

Jinro carefully moves siege tanks into range of Polt's siege tank and cleans up the attack

Banshee moves down to Jinro's natural to harass but the turret is there

Vikings destroy it, Jinro getting a banshee and cloak

Polt moves out with five tanks and several marauders but pulls back after checking where Jinro's third would be

Jinro's banshee moves into the main and cloaks

Polt counterattacks to Jinro's front but there's a cloaked banshee there to kill the tanks and marauders

With the help of the banshee and viking cover Jinro demolishes Polt's attack

Jinro now harasses with two banshees, Polt doesn't have enough marines to stop them

Polt gets a decent number of marines and scans but he only gets one banshee

Jinro floats a command center to the central expansion and moves up to Polt's base with his tank force

More banshees move into harass though there are hardly any SCVs left

Jinro's dropship moves siege tanks into Polt's expansion

Polt concedes

Great play from Jinro, calmly dealing with Polt's drop and then macroing behind his banshee harass to coast to victory.

Game 2 - Lost Temple

Cross positions, Polt at 1 and Jinro at 7

Standard openings for both players

Factory and second factory are earlier for Jinro, reactor earlier for Polt

Starports for both players, tank coming for Polt

Banshee and cloak coming for Jinro, Polt puts his starport on the reactor to make bikings

Jinro scans and sees the reactor starport, command center building as well in his main

Polt starts his command center at the expansion, his vikings catch the banshee and kill it just before cloak finishes

The second banshee kills a few SCVs at Polt's main, Polt uses a scan to kill it

Polt moves his tanks and marines to Jinro's natural

Jinro's sieged tanks kill Polt's infantry

Polt scans and moves in again with just four tanks, they get easily destroyed by Jinro's sieged tanks

Polt building a command center at the gold and clearing the rocks, Jinro starts one at the gold as well

Jinro moves a few tanks and banshees to Polt's gold and kills the tank there clearing the rocks

Jinro moves into Polt's natural and easily crushes Polt's forces

Polt surrenders

Mysterious decision by Polt to attack. Not his best game by any means.

Commentary: A decisive win for Jinro over Polt, getting S Class after a surprisingly easy match. Polt's elevator attack into Jinro's main in game 1 was fairly clever, but we didn't see the inventive build orders that he's known for. His tactics were too sloppy to cope with Jinro's solid play.

choyafOu (P) vs IMmvp (T)
Match Rating: 5/10
VOD Link

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Game 1 - Metalopolis

Close ground positions, mvp at 12, choya at 9

Standard openings for both players

Marauder and concussive shells for mvp, then a second command center

Stargate and second gateway for choya

Stim and two more barracks for mvp, void ray for choya

Proxy pylon out for choya, void ray arrives and mvap only has three marines

Stalkers move up to the low ground and help pick off the supply depot there, supply blocking mvp

The void ray forces mvp to lift the barracks at his front

Anything that tries to hit the void rays gets killed by the stalkers

Three void rays now sitting over mvp's minerals

mvp concedes

Very smart build for choya in response to mvp's fast expansion opening.

Game 2 - Blistering Sands

Standard opening for both players

Reactor on mvp's barracks this time, along with two more barracks

Second gateway for choya, two tech labs for mvp's new barracks

Stim and concussive shells start for mvp

Choya's stalkers begin knocking down the rocks, expansion at the same time

Choya's stalkers pull back just before the rocks go down, four more gateways warped in

mvp moves out with fifteen marines and six marauders, not a lot to defend for choya

Force fields at the natural choke point cause mvp to go to the rocks instead

mvp knocks down choya's rocks but doesn't immediately attack

Finally sends a marine in to scout, then follows with his army when he sees nothing there

choya's stalkers zealots move down to meet them, force fields split the marauders

choya's units win surprisingly easily against the split army

choya now on two bases and mvp stuck on one

Seeing there's no expansion yet, choya goes up through the back rocks into mvp's main

mvp has enough marauders to hold of choya's attack, however

mvp is only now floating his orbital to his natural

choya's army moves in just as it lands and forces it to lift again

mvp moves his army down the ramp and lands his command center

After some minor skirmishes, choya moves back around through the back door into mvp's main

choya picks off a supply depot and temporarily supply blocks mvp, who is still 20 supply behind

choya moves back around, trying to out-maneuver mvp's army

choya reticient to engage, just pokes and prods the edges of mvp's main

Finally the two armies engage, very good force fields from choya but mvp has enough infantry now and wins the battle

mvp at a substantial worker disadvantage, he counters toward choya who is trying to get colossus out

mvp moves into choya's natural, meanwhile zealots are warped in near mvp's natural and kill a lot of SCVs

Force fields trap mvp's army against the zealots, choya's stalkers move in and finish them off

choya now at a huge advantage, moves across the map to mvp's natural, only a few marauders left

mvp surrenders

Kind of a sloppy game by both players, a lot of attacks at the wrong times.

Commentary: Not a good series for mvp, who shows that being on top of the ladder doesn't always translate into tournament success. choya is probably one of the weaker players to make the quarterfinals, but watching his exultant gestures in the last minute of game 2 he has to be one of the happiest to be there.