2011 GSL January Up And Down Matches: Group F

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

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

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

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

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

scfOu (T) vs. TSLFruitDealer (Z)
Match Rating: 6/10
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Game 1 - Blistering Sands

Hatch first for FruitDealer, two barracks for sC

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

Spine crawler is two thirds done for FruitDealer

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

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

Two factories for sC, zergling speed for FruitDealer

Lair, baneling nest, and roach warren for FruitDealer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After losing more tanks, sC pushes them out again

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

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

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

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

FruitDealer takes a fourth base during this pressure.

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

FruitDealer had a baneling trap on the ramp but sC scans

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

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

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

sC concedes

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

Game 2 - Metalopolis

Close ground positions, sC at 9 and FruitDealer at 12

Gas then pool for FruitDealer, two barracks for sC

Zergling speed for FruitDealer.

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

FruitDealer takes his natural, sC does as well

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

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

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

After taking huge damage, sC stabilizes

FruitDealer gets a baneling nest and attacks again

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

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

FruitDealer gets some more banelings and attacks a third time

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

FruitDealer gets spine crawlers, sC gets stim

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

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

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

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

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

With about half his army still alive, sC pushes on

FruitDealer concedes

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

Game 3 - Scrap Station

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

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

FruitDealer's initial zerglings kill a marine and an SCV

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

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

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

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

Siege mode starts for sC

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

Baneling nest for FruitDealer, starport for sC

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

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

As sC approaches mutalisks snipe two of his tanks

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

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

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

FruitDealer surrenders

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

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

Match 1 Loser vs. MakaPrimeWE (T)
Match Rating: 2/10
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Game 1 - Shakuras Plateau

Lower positions, FruitDealer at 4 and Maka at 7

Hatch first for FruitDealer, factory for Maka

Starport and hellion for Maka, spine crawler for FruitDealer

Second starport for Maka, lair for FruitDealer

Zergling speed for FruitDealer, raven for Maka

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

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

Banshees coming now for Maka, more queens for FruitDealer

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

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

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

Maka concedes

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

Game 2 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Hatch first for FruitDealer, command center on 16 for Maka

Maka pokes with a marine and SCV but immediately withdraws

Two more barracks for Maka, zergling speed for FruitDealer

Stim for Maka, lair for FruitDealer

Baneling nest and plenty of speedlings for FruitDealer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maka surrenders

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

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