GSL 2 Finals Thoughts

Unlike the GSL 1 finals, where HopeTorture essentially had no answer to Fruit Dealer's macro play, in the GSL 2 finals the advantage went back and forth, often in the same game. When previewing the finals, I wondered what NesTea's answer to Foxer's marine fast expand build was going to be. Not surprisingly, none of my guesses turned out to be correct. NesTea won games 3, 4, and 6 not with pressure or infestors but by taking advantage of two queen Zerg's ability to rapidly mass units. In between Foxer's initial pressure and his crushing onslaught of marines out of many reactored barracks, there was a window where, if the Zerg committed with enough units, he could be broken.

Given the success he had all tournament with his marine strategies, you can't blame Foxer for using the strategy that got him to the finals, but NesTea's preparation was more than adequate. It's not an accident that Foxer's wins came with strategies he hadn't used yet in the tournament (proxy barracks SCV rush in game 1, Thor/marine in game 2, and tank/bunker push in game 5).

Some people dislike Foxer's play, calling him a cheese player, while others say he was the better player and unlucky to lose the finals. Personally, I think the finals are just another manifestation of the way Starcraft 2, at least for now, is a game of strategy. Both Foxer and NesTea are very strong in both micro and macro, but throughout the tournament NesTea has shown he can find the right timing to defeat his opponent's strategies. This is easy to say, but with patches and metagame changes constantly shifting the build orders and tactics, NesTea's ability is actually extremely impressive and makes him a very worthy champion.

GSL 2 Finals: Preview

Since we treat SC2 as a sport, it's surely required that in the run-up to the finals we must endlessly speculate on the outcome. Well, I have no idea who's going to win. If you've watched very much of the tournament at all, you probably know there is something of a clash of styles in store. Foxer is aggressive, daring, and a lover of low tech units. NesTea meanwhile plays a conventional but very solid style, knowing the timings that will maximize his results.

But Foxer is a smarter player than the people who moan about his "all marine" strategies imply. Although aggressive, he doesn't always (or even usually) put on non-stop pressure the way Kyrix did. Against FruitDealer and SangHo, he poked but didn't commit until a planned timing. As anyone who watched those games knows, the results were devastating. Against Kyrix there was non-stop action, but this was more Kyrix's doing than Foxer. The fact is Foxer's favorite build appears to be one barracks fast expand, a build that when successful denies Zerg their goal of securing a one base advantage. By using marines in such quantities, Foxer forces players to prepare defenses instead of teching up and also secures map control. He uses that control to secure a third much earlier than typical Terrans.

If NesTea can't find a way through Foxer's marines, he's done for. He knows that, and in interviews he seems confident he has the answer. If so, can Foxer adapt? Foxer was criticized for doing his marine build the first three games against Kyrix, but he did win the first game, after all. After Kyrix stopped it twice, he switched to a mass banshee build and won on Scrap Station. Against HopeTorture he used tanks on Blistering Sands and did well. So Foxer has other builds to fall back on. Whether or not he can crack NesTea is another story.

As for the maps, here they are in order, with the conventional wisdom about which race they favor:

1. Shakuras Plateau - Zerg
2. Lost Temple - Terran
3. Scrap Station - Zerg
4. Jungle Basin - Terran
5. Steppes of War - Terran
6. X'el Naga Caverns - Even
7. Metalopolis - Zerg

However, Foxer is hardly a conventional Terran. The mobility of his marine/dropship armies means he's effective on large maps. But as HopeTorture found out, he can kill you with early marine pressure if you don't defend well. A lot depends on how NesTea plans on countering Foxer's marine play.

Not knowing that, I'm reduced to guessing wildly, but I'd speculate that he can either put Foxer under pressure himself and thus dictate the game (as Kyrix did with some success) or sit back, turtle on two bases, and mix up his build to confound Foxer's timings. Either strategy, I feel, is suited to small maps. When pressuring, NesTea will want to be close to reduce reinforcement distance. If he's turtling, he doesn't want Foxer to be able to take distant expansions.

I guess I should also mention a lot of people feel NesTea should rush to infestors. I don't think this will work (Foxer will put you under too much pressure if you try to tech, and even if you get them, he's got a preternatural ability to spread marines out) but if that's the plan, smaller maps will help compensate for the slow speed of the infestor.

But who knows? If NesTea makes it to the later midgame, mutalisks can dominate large maps better than marines can. With game 1 being played on Shakuras Plateau, we'll hopefully get a good feel for how this will all play out. Tournament finals rarely live up to the hype, but on paper at least this one will be fascinating.

GSL 2 Semifinals: Day 2

NesTea vs. SlayerSBoxeR
Match Rating: 6/10

Click here to display the full match play-by-play and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Delta Quadrant

Top positions with NesTea at 10 and BoxeR at 2
BoxeR builds his first depot at the bottom of his ramp
BoxeR walls off with first barracks, then gets a second barracks in his main
NesTea gets somewhat early pool and gas, then fast roach warren
Seeing the roach warren, BoxeR puts up a bunker in front of his wall in
BoxeR floats his forward barracks back to his main and gets two tech labs
NesTea getting speed and then banelings
Two more barracks for BoxeR
NesTea makes banelings, has roach and speedling escort
Banelings take out the bunker, speedlings kill the few marauders, marauders wipe out the marines
Roaches move into BoxeR’s main, only SCVs to stop them
With the roaches at the production buildings, BoxeR ggs
NesTea 1-0 BoxeR

Game 2 – Metalopolis

Close air positions (BoxeR at 8, NesTea at 6)
BoxeR doesn’t see NesTea’s overlord and scouts the wrong direction
NesTea goes hatch first
BoxeR gets a tech lab and then a reaper
BoxeR’s scouting SCV builds a bunker behind the expansion minerals
NesTea builds a spine crawler next to the bunker
NesTea’s drones intercept the reaper and almost kill it, forcing it to turn back
BoxeR salvages the bunker and expands
Lings poke but BoxeR has a bunker at his expansion
NesTea gets a baneling nest, BoxeR getting a starport and tanks
NesTea also takes a third
Huge number of banelings for NesTea…they move in…
BoxeR has two bunkers with more on the way, all the banelines die killing them
Rallied lings are killed by the siege tanks behind the wall in
BoxeR sends a banshee to kill scouting lings, also gets blue flame
Spore colony at NesTea’s natural repels banshee
NesTea gets a spire and roach warren, BoxeR getting an armory
NesTea tries to get a fourth but two banshees kill it
Four Hellions do huge damage at the third, massive drone losses
They go into the natural and kill more drones…one hellion has 18 kills
Large number of mutalisks go to BoxeR’s main…his turrets aren’t finished
Thor is out just in time to drive them out
Both players even in drones and SCVs though NesTea is on 3 bases
BoxeR and NesTea both expand
BoxeR pushes out with four tanks, two banshees, two thors, scvs, hellions , and marines
Stops below the top of NesTea’s main and builds turrets
Elevatoring thors on to the high ground, very large number of roaches preparing to defend
Mutas do a lot of damage in BoxeR’s base
Four thors in NesTea’s main
Tons of roaches attack, massive concave
BoxeR’s army is shattered, most killed, some flee, but a small group still in NesTea’s base
NesTea’s mutas killing BoxeR’s workers, but two Thors in his main take out tech structures
NesTea hasn’t seen BoxeR’s third base
Finally a ling spots the third, planetary fortress but little defense against the mutalisks
Hellions harass drones at NesTea’s third and forces muta to come help rather than attack third
Many turrets now around the planetary fortress and repel the mutaslisks when they finally come
BoxeR tries to move out but an enormous baneling/roach army from NesTea crushes him
BoxeR has no army and ggs
NesTea 2-0 BoxeR

Game 3 – Scrap Station

Proxy barracks from BoxeR in NesTea’s third
NesTea looks for it but doesn’t see it, then goes hatch first
BoxeR builds a second barracks at the proxy location
BoxeR lifts his first one and puts it on the high ground about the natural
NesTea already checked this so he may not see it
Finally an overlord spots the barracks
BoxeR builds two bunkers in between the natural and the barracks
Lots of drones coming to fight…first two marines are killed by drones
Zerglings arrive before the bunkers finish
BoxeR puts his next two marines behind the barracks and they repel NesTea’s zerglings
Some lings going to BoxeR’s undefended main base
BoxeR walls off with three barracks
Zerglings kill one of the walling barracks and start killing SCVs
BoxeR makes a decent clump of marines at the proxy location and fights NesTea’s zerglings
Wtih the help of a queen NesTea defeats them, BoxeR lifts and floats the barracks back to his main
BoxeR manages to clear the zerglings out of his base, though of course he’s way behind
BoxeR pushes out with a clump of marines plus two SCVs
Zergling speed finishing…zerglings surround the marines and annihilate them, gg
NesTea 3-0 BoxeR

Game 4 – Blistering Sands

BoxeR proxies his first barracks in the middle of the map
NesTea scouts it after seeing no barracks in the main
NesTea has gone hatch first thuogh
BoxeR’s second barracks is at the natural’s choke
Bunker at the natural choke for BoxeR
Six drones drive back the marines and scvs
They surround and kill the first two marines but the third one gets in the bunker
Drones surround the bunker and prevent reinforcing marines from reaching it
BoxeR falls back, expands, and floats the first barracks to complete the wall at his natural
BoxeR snipes an overlord behind his natural
NesTea’s zerglings start working on BoxeR’s rocks
The marine at the rocks is misplaced and doesn’t see them
BoxeR pushes out and the zerglings fall back to NesTea’s natural
Very good micro from BoxeR kills the defending zerglings
But NesTea surrounds the marines with drones and kills them
NesTea sends more zerglings to BoxeR’s ramp, starts a baneling nest
BoxeR sees the zerglings at the rocks at the last second
BoxeR loses a siege tank but marines push them out of the main
The zerglings kill more SCVs at the natural before getting cleared
NesTea makes banelings at the rocks and heads in
It’s a lot of banelings but they don’t do as much damage as expected
More fighting in BoxeR’s base, sieged tank in the main is holding off zerglings
NesTea starts his lair, BoxeR scans it
BoxeR moves out with fifteen marines, a medivac, and three tanks
NesTea makes a lot of banelings
For some reason the baneling nest is at the natural choke, BoxeR kills it with no resistance
BoxeR siege tank crawls toward the natural
BoxeR spreads his marines as the banelings attack
Four queens transfusing roaches clean up the attack
NesTea remaking the baneling nest plus a spire in his main
NesTea clears the rocks at his gold and starts a hatch there
One Medivac drop of marines at the gold, forces a cancel
BoxeR moves the dropship to the natural but mutalisks kill it
BoxeR pushes out again with three tanks, some marauders, and lots of marines
NesTea has banelings, roaches, mutas, and speedlings
BoxeR’s micro is excellent but there are too many units for NesTea, roachs and mutas overwhelm it
NesTea’s mutalisks harass the natural, killing turrets
BoxeR pushes out with his small army but again, too many units for NesTea
This time NesTea goes all the way to BoxeR’s main with mutalisks and roaches
With most of his base gone, BoxeR drops 8 marines in NesTea’s base
Finally BoxeR acknowledges what’s been clear for a long time and ggs
NesTea wins in a clean sweep

NesTea 4-0 SlayerSBoxeR

Commentary: TvZ was rumored to be BoxeR’s worst matchup, and based on this series that seems accurate. BoxeR always pressures early, but in this series he was even more aggressive. He didn’t seem to think he could win a long game. Unfortunately for him, NesTea’s early defense was excellent, and BoxeR never did enough damage to get any real advantage. In previous rounds, BoxeR’s micro meant he won almost every battle, but in this series, NesTea made sure to have overwhelming force before engaging BoxeR’s armies in the mid-game. It’ll be fascinating to see if NesTea can do as well against Foxer in the finals. Although Foxer has probably beaten better players and certainly shown more flair, at this point it’s hard to bet against NesTea, who has yet to lose a single game of any match in the GSL (13-0), an absolutely amazing feat.

GSL 2 Semifinals: Day 1

Trying something different this time: real time notes written as the games happened. A little less organized than a recap but perhaps easier to read.

Foxer vs HopeTorture
Match Rating: 7/10

Click here to display the full match play-by-play and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Delta Quadrant

Foxer in the upper left, HT in the upper right
Foxer gets second barracks on low ground, normal build for HT
Three marines and an SCV rush from Foxer, HT building bunker
HT’s bunker isn’t up in time, tries to defend with SCVs
Foxer’s marine micro is too good, he obliterates defenses
Massive SCV losses for HT
Hellion comes out…Foxer 19 SCVs now against 5
Foxer spreads his marines and kills the hellion fairly easily, gg

Foxer 1-0 HopeTorture

Game 2 – Lost Temple

Cross positions (3 and 9) on Lost Temple
Marine fast expand from Foxer, builds the CC at the low ground
HT gets factory then tech lab for his barracks
Reaper for HT, then starport
Scouts the expansion but loses the reaper without seeing the main
HT getting banshee and cloak
10 marines and a marauder push to HT’s natural
Banshee arrives at Foxer’s base
Foxer scans to kill the banshee after minor damage, second banshee inbound
Foxer’s small field army prevents HT’s floating expansion CC from landing
Second banshee killed with a scan after relatively minor damage
HT pushes into his natural with infantry under siege tank cover fire, finally lands CC
HT’s expansion very late, Foxer building many barracks
Foxer takes out the rocks at the gold
Foxer sends two dropships with marines and marauders
Banshee spots SCV building at the gold and kills it
Foxer kills another banshee with a scan, still hasn’t taken much damage from them at all
Foxer drops his infantry on the ledge, harasses HT’s expansion
Supply is 109-77 for Foxer
Huge drop for Foxer in HT’s main, six dropships…
No, he drops on HT’s sieged up tanks and infantry at the expansion
Four siege tanks and some infantry defend easily, massive losses for Foxer’s army
HT pushes out with large numbers of marines and a few tanks
Foxer surprises two siege tanks before they can siege and kills them
Echange between infantry inconclusive, HT’s siege tanks push Foxer back and contain
Foxer collects a big group, attacks the siege tank position, kills tanks but loses army
HT building a planetary in his gold (without taking out the rocks)
Foxer finally overwhelms HT’s much weakened containment force, pushes out
Foxer marches on to HT’s gold and kills it
Foxer takes a fourth base in the 9 o’clock main
HT is very behind economically, sends all his attacking units for a final battle
Foxer snipes most of the tanks early with marauders, then routs the infantry, gg

Foxer 2-0 HopeTorture

Game 3 – X’el Naga Caverns

HT opens normally, Foxer skips gas and gets a marine out just in time to deny scouting
Fast command center again for Foxer
HT builds a proxy starport in Foxer’s third
Foxer getting three more barracks, still no gas
HT scouts the expansion but doesn’t see the huge number of barracks and marines
HT getting banshee and cloak plus bunker at his ramp
Foxer pushes with over a dozen marines, HT’s first banshee flies into the expansion
Foxer pulls his scvs back to his main
While the banshee attacks the main, Foxer tries to break HT’s ramp
Destroys the bunker and the marines, but a tank and SCVs push him out
Two banshees in Foxer’s base on 2 hp but still alive
Finally gets one with another scan
Then gets the last one, but suffered quite a bit of damage here
35-18 advantage in SCVs for HopeTorture
Another banshee comes, Foxer sends his marines to HT’s main
No siege mode yet for HT, but Foxer doesn’t move in yet…now he’s going
Too many tanks and marines on the top of the ramp, HT holds easily despite no siege
Still more damaging banshee harass in Foxer’s main
HT pushes into a contain position with tanks, banshees still picking at SCVs
Foxer finally ggs

Foxer 2-1 HopeTorture

Game 4 – Steppes of War

Foxer does his gasless fast expand again
HT makes a quick bunker to defend from a rush
Four barracks before gas for Foxer
HT getting a starport, appears to be going for banshees again
Foxer scans the starport, then gets two extractors
HT adds another factory and barracks, doesn’t expand, doesn’t get cloak
Foxer gets shields and stim, puts marines at both towers
Foxer intercepts the first banshee with marines at the north watchtower, forces it back
HT’s banshee tries to go through the center but is blocked again
The banshee finally makes it to Foxer’s expansion but dies immediately to marines there
Stim finishes just as Foxer’s marines are reaching HT’s defenses
Siege not done for HT, looks like Foxer wants to attack before it does
Foxer brings SCVs to fight with mass marine against three tanks and a few marines
Foxer’s mass marine crushes HT’s army easily before siege finishes
Seiged tank HT’s ramp but little else, Foxer easily takes the top of the ramp, forcing gg

Foxer 3-1 HopeTorture

Game 5 – Blistering Sands

Foxer takes his gas, finally doing a normal build mirroring HT’s
After killing HT’s scouting SCV, Foxer gets a factory, HT follows just afterward
Both players getting their second gas, reactor for barracks
Foxer starts getting a tank while HT gets a starport
Late starport for Foxer, HT starts a banshee and cloak
Foxer pushes out with a small marine force with one tank, building a dropship
First banshee out for HT, stumbles on Foxer’s force in the middle of the map
Medivac brings a tank and some more marines to HT’s rocks, HT has a spotting supply depot
HT moves a force there to counter but it’s clearly not large enough
Two cloaked banshees to help defend, Foxer scans and repels them
Around HT’s main, brutal fighting as both banshees fall to scans while many SCVs fall
Finally Foxer’s remaining force is repeled, meanwhile he expands
He moves in again with three tanks, two landed vikings, and a few marines
HT holds but loses all his SCVs and army
1 mule and 2 banshees for HT vs functioning base for Foxer
Vikings kill two banshees
HT has another banshee in Foxer’s main, kills many of Foxer’s SCVs
Foxer’s army in HT’s base again takes down HT’s few marines
Kind of a silly low econ ending, HT finally ggs
Foxer wins the series 4-1

Commentary: Just like in the GSL 1 semifinals and finals, HopeTorture came with a build he clearly thought was optimal and stuck with it. Obviously, it wasn’t enough. It’s hard to be too critical of HopeTorture since it’s not clear what he should have done. Foxer’s not an all-in player. His macro is actually quite good, and while skipping the banshees for more infantry and tanks would keep HopeTorture from dying so quickly, Foxer has shown he’s willing to expand across the map and overwhelm players who turtle against him.

For Foxer’s part, he has to be the favorite against either of his possible opponents in the finals. NesTea and SlayerSBoxer are more experienced than he is and are obviously quite good, but no one has had a more impressive tournament than Foxer. In FruitDealer, SangHo, and HopeTorture he has beaten players who are at the top of all three races, and that’s not even mentioning his brilliant victory (close though it was) over KyrixZenith’s unconventional Zerg style. Foxer has been criticized as a “one dimensional” player but while his micro is fearsome, his timing attacks are what make him the most dangerous player both in this tournament and on the Korean ladder. His opponent in the finals will have to hope the large venue makes him nervous and play a little more like he did in the round of 64.

GSL 2 Quarterfinals: Day 2

NesTea vs. oGsZenio
Match Rating: 6/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Metalopolis – After spawning in close air positions, both players went hatch first at about 16 supply, then followed with a pool soon after. They diverged when Zenio got an immediate roach warren followed by speed, while NesTea went for zergling speed first and then got a spine crawler. With the game on a knife edge, Zenio lost an overlord to a queen at NesTea’s natural. NesTea started his roach warren while Zenio began building his first roaches. Somewhat surprisingly, Zenio opted to take a third, while NesTea sat back and made units. Zenio sacrificed an overlord to scout just as NesTea began his lair, and perhaps prompted by this, NesTea pushed out with a large number of speedlings supported by roaches. There was a huge battle at Zenio’s natural between roach/ling armies, but the lost overlords and the expansion meant Zenio was at a disadvantage. NesTea’s reinforcements finally turned the tide in his favor, and he pushed up into Zenio’s main. Although Zenio held in the end, he lost all the queens at his main and natural. Although NesTea never scouted the third base (had he done so, there was nothing to stop him from destroying it easily), by this point he was hugely ahead in supply and tech, having gotten a spire. His mutalisks arrived in Zenio’s base and with the queens dead there wasn’t any anti-air defense, winning the game.

Game 2 – Scrap Station – Despite the long rush distance both players went with extractor and pool instead of hatch first. Zenio went into banelings while NesTea put up what would eventually be five spine crawlers and went fast lair. Zenio started morphing banelings in NesTea’s natural, but luckily scouted with a single zergling and spotted the spine crawlers. He canceled the useless banelings and instead ran the speedlings through the spine crawlers, presumably expecting there to be little in the way of defense. In fact, NesTea had quite a few speedlings himself and chased them out without any damage done except for Zenio seeing the spire he was making. The spine crawlers got plenty of hits on both entry and exit, and NesTea chased the speedlings all the way back to Zenio’s base with his own. NesTea simply parked his speedlings there and forced Zenio to kill them at the cost of most of his speedlings. Meanwhile, NesTea expands as his mutas finish.

Zenio got infestors and burrow, sending them burrowed around the map to NesTea’s base. Meanwhile, NesTea’s mutalisks took down several overlords that were stuck vulnerable around the map. Zenio tried to expand and managed to do so despite muta harassment, but his infestors found an overseer waiting for them in NesTea’s natural, forcing them to turn around. Rather than get a huge number of mutas, NesTea switched to roaches and knocked down the rocks. Despite fungal growth on his mutas and roaches, NesTea just had too many units at this point and routed Zenio for a two game lead.

Game 3 – Xel’Naga Caverns – Zenio got an early pool at about 10 supply, plus a fast gas. NesTea went pool first at the standard timing. Zenio got a fast baneling nest while NesTea got a roach warren. Zenio’s build order was fast enough that his banelings morphed in NesTea’s natural when the roach warren was only half done. The result was an intense micro battle in NesTea’s main as he tried to use zerglings in pairs against the banelings but was somewhat stymied by the Zenio’s zergling escort. Meanwhile the banelings went to slip into the mineral line. With only two small gaps between his pool, extractor, and hatchery, NesTea cleverly blocked the banelings with a drone, but was a little late when they switched to the other gap. The banelings loose in his drone line resulted in devastating drone losses. About 4 drones survived the banelings, and more died to the speedlings that had escorted them. With only one drone left, plus two speedlings and four roaches, NesTea desperately countered to Zenio’s base while building drones.

Zenio didn’t have much to defend, and NesTea’s counter took out his queen and quite a few drones before he cleared it away with his lings. Although 7 drones survived for Zenio, he had been making units while NesTea had been making drones, which meant NesTea now had a one drone advantage. Zenio tried to run speedlings back into NesTea’s base, but with two roaches and excellent drone micro he destroyed them. Zenio tried to make two banelings in NesTea’s main but his roaches found them, forcing a cancel.

After both suffering heavy blows, each player now tried to play “normal”, but with both players needing roaches to defend possible all-in attacks, the fact NesTea already had a roach warren meant he could go straight to lair. Although they ended up at fairly even supply, NesTea had five mutalisks out by the time Zenio was starting his spire. Like in the previous game, instead of going straight to harass he sniped overlords, killing three and supply blocking Zenio. Zenio’s spire finished but although they had both expanded NesTea already was on four gas while Zenio hadn’t made the extractors yet. Zenio desperately tried to tech to infestors, but he was run over by NesTea’s mass mutalisks right as the first one came out, eliminating him from the tournament.

Commentary: No one rated NesTea after his poor performance in GSL 1, but here he is making the semifinals. Whether he is good enough against Terran to go further remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt he completely understands ZvZ. Zenio beat Idra with surprise build orders, but NesTea had an answer for everything he tried. Incredibly, NesTea hasn’t lost a game yet in the tournament.

oGsNaDa vs. SlayerSBoxeR
Match Rating: 7/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Metalopolis – In cross positions, NaDa fast expands and then adds three more barracks while BoxeR goes 1-1-1 and gets a banshee and cloak. NaDa expands first, pumping an infantry army. NaDa killed the first banshee before cloak was finished, and used two scans to kill the second without taking very much damage. BoxeR got a third banshee, now trailing somewhat in supply. NaDa moved out with his marine marauder army (principally marine). BoxeR had a smaller number of marines and a tank, but he started his bunker too late. Despite being outnumbered, he somehow defeats NaDa’s army with the help of the SCVs from his natural. While doing so, his third banshee was racking up SCV kills in Nada’s base, meaning that despite the SCVs killed fighting NaDa’s army, NaDa only led 31 to 22 in SCV count.

NaDa tried again with a second wave of infantry, but now BoxeR had sieged tanks guarding his natural. NaDa moved back and began building tanks out of two factories. BoxeR, now with quite a few tanks, moved out with a small marine escort, swinging through the probable site of NaDa’s third and sieging up on the high ground above NaDa’s expansion. NaDa managed to win the ensuing tank duel and pushed him back, but BoxeR seiged his reinforcement wave of tanks and retreated into their cover, halting NaDa’s advance.

NaDa was now ahead in both supply and units, so he sieged his tanks on the low ground beside BoxeR’s main while he expanded to his third and the gold. Using a dropship, he elevatored infantry into BoxeR’s main as well, wrecking havoc amongst the production buildings. BoxeR somehow held this off, then countered to the gold, forcing a cancel. At this point, the two armies missed each other and went unmolested into each other’s naturals. The distance on Metalopolis meant it was too late to turn around, so the result was a base trade. Although NaDa was still in the lead, it was closer than expected, with BoxeR floating his starport away, landing it, and making a banshee that destroyed most of NaDa’s SCVs. With NaDa not mining and supply blocked, it was touch and go for a minute as he almost lost his last orbital command to a banshee, but he managed to repair it. BoxeR fought until he was down to a single cloaked banshee, but NaDa was able to scan, kill it, and win the game.

Game 2 – X’el Naga – Nada got a scout reaper and poked into BoxeR’s base, though it was killed almost immediately. NaDa ended up heading for cloak and a banshee while BoxeR got banshee without the cloak. NaDa scanned BoxeR’s starport as his banshee finished, saw the tech lab, and canceled cloak in favor of a raven. BoxeR makes a viking immediately after his banshee and it emerges to kill NaDa’s banshee soon after it arrived. BoxeR’s banshee kills a fair number of SCVs before NaDa managed to kill it. NaDa got his expansion up faster but BoxeR made another banshee and did more harassment before the NaDa got a viking out and put a stop to it. At a 10 supply disadvantage, NaDa pushed out with his tank/marine army. BoxeR repels this easily and there is a lot of jockeying for position in the middle of the map. NaDa ended up using a banshee, raven, and a viking as his air force, but BoxeR managed to snipe the viking with his own. When NaDa pulled back, BoxeR moved forward and suddenly took his entire army all the way around the back route to NaDa’s natural. NaDa had no spotting depots and had no idea this was happening. With NaDa’s army in the center of the map, BoxeR’s tank force sieged behind NaDa’s natural. NaDa rushed back, but had to lift his command center. With half BoxeR’s tanks sieged behind the grass, NaDa underestimated the size of the force and took heavy marine and tank losses attacking into the position. Meanwhile reinforcements from BoxeR sieged up at the entrance to the natural, trapping NaDa. “Two base checkmate,” Tasteless called it, noting how unusual it is in TvT. At a massive disadvantage now, NaDa pulled all his SCVs and slid every unit he had out of the trap and tried to move down toward BoxeR’s base. BoxeR saw this and attacked from two angles, destroying it easily to tie the series.

Game 3 – Shakuras Plateau – In close positions on Shakuras, neither player fast expanded and instead got factories. Nada went for blue flame hellions and a dropship while BoxeR got a banshee. NaDa sent the dropship with four hellions while making an armory. The dropship arrived before BoxeR’s followup viking was done, and the hellions inflicted massive damage against the marines and SCVs in BoxeR’s main. Meanwhile BoxeR’s banshee got a fair number of kills as well, but when BoxeR’s landed viking finally killed the last hellion NaDa had a 19 to 11 SCV lead. He built a turret in the center of his mineral line and sent two thors with SCVs to BoxeR’s base. Unfortunately for him, BoxeR positions his second banshee just outside its range and was still able to pick off SCVs. NaDa’s push of two thors, two blue flame hellions, and two siege tanks got up into BoxeR’s main, but he held it with tanks and SCVs. Meanwhile, his banshee managed to pick off almost all of NaDa’s SCVs. NaDa sent his reinforcing thor and two hellions in a final last gasp attack but BoxeR now had five tanks and held easily to take a one game lead in the series.

Game 4 – Delta Quadrant – Both players spawned on the left side of the map and did standard openings until NaDa got an early second gas…then hid a ghost academy in the back expansion! Coincidentally, BoxeR paused the game due to his screen unexpectedly freezing, but after a short break (and the requisite speech from Tasteless about e-sports being “driven through the vehicle of technology”) the game was able to resume. After not having done his trademark three marine SCV poke all series, BoxeR poked with two marines and an SCV. Seeing the reactor barracks making something and presumably thinking it was a reaper, he pulled out and went back, missing the chance to inflict damage during the long ghost build time. Nada got two ghosts while BoxeR got his usual banshee. Without cloak, the banshee was repelled easily by NaDa’s marines and ghosts and returned home. NaDa built a later banshee, but it was killed by the viking BoxeR made after his banshee. Both players expand, and NaDa pokes with four marauders, two marines, and two ghosts. BoxeR moved out to engage, but the marauders killed his tanks while the ghosts sniped the marines. BoxeR attacked with his natural’s SCVs to buy time, and also landed what were by now several vikings in NaDa’s base, losing all but one but doing some decent damage. NaDa moved tanks down to BoxeR’s natural at this point and set up a contain. BoxeR’s defense was strong, but NaDa made a nuke.

NaDa nuked BoxeR’s tank line and forced him back, but when he tried to push into the space, BoxeR rushed out with his marauders and destroyed the tanks as they tried to siege, following up with his unsieged tanks. NaDa managed to rebuild the containment line farther back and took advantage of his map control to expand to a third base on the other side of the map. For a while there was a stalemate. NaDa tried another nuke but didn’t gain very much ground. BoxeR switched to a mostly marauder escort for his tanks and, just as NaDa’s third base was getting completely up and running, smashed the contain. Now it was NaDa’s turn to have tanks sieged up just outside his natural. He sent his vikings to BoxeR’s base to try to get SCVs, but marauders easily defended. BoxeR then attacked NaDa’s natural from two angles with marauders and tanks, smashing the defense and carving a path through NaDa’s natural and into his main. Although NaDa pushed BoxeR’s surviving two tanks back out with a mass of SCVs, BoxeR sent four marauders to NaDa’s third to eliminate it and sent reinforcements to NaDa’s natural. NaDa had no choice but to concede the game and the series.

Commentary: In Starcraft 1 it was taken for granted that macro players beat micro players. NaDa is clearly a very good macro player, but BoxeR far outshone him in fine unit control. As he has throughout the tournament, BoxeR won almost every battle, even when the numbers seemed against him. Somewhat surprisingly, his multitasking seemed stronger than NaDa’s as well, using banshee harass during massive battles to negate NaDa’s economic advantage. Perhaps SC2 strategy will eventually be solidify to the point that macro players will reign supreme again, but right now it seems like micro players like BoxeR (not to mention his namesake Foxer) are the strongest.

GSL 2 Quarterfinals: Day 1

Foxer vs. KyrixZenith
Match Rating: 10/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Shakuras Plateau – After almost getting disqualified for arriving late, Kyrix went into this match with little time to prepare. Despite both players’ reputations as aggressive players, both used economy-oriented openings in cross positions. Kyrix went hatch first while Foxer put his barracks at his natural and fast expanded behind marines.

For the first of many times, Kyrix got a quick baneling nest. Foxer got a factory with tech lab for tanks and another two barracks. Kyrix tried to baneling bust the wall off at Foxer’s natural and broke through, but Foxer’s marines were spread expertly, minimizing damage. Unlike a typical all-in baneling rush, Kyrix was getting his third base up by this point. After refreshing his marine numbers, Foxer moved off to apply pressure. Kyrix tried to head him off with banelings in the middle of the map, but Foxer’s marine micro was again good enough to spread his marines and win the battle. He chose to attack Kyrix’s third, but in tighter quarters Kyrix’s banelings, now with upgraded speed, cleaned up the attack.

Foxer dropped marines in Kyrix’s main and shot down five overlords. When the inevitable wave of speedlings and banelings zoomed down the creep towards his force, he picked up again and flew away, having taken no losses. Kyrix got a spire up and added mutalisks to his composition, and both players streamed armies into the middle of the map. Foxer’s immaculate marine micro meant they actually fought pound for pound with the banelings, while Kyrix’s aggression meant he never built up a critical mass of mutalisks. In fairness to Kyrix, any let off on his part and Foxer’s unrelenting attacks would end up in his bases, not in the middle of the map.

Somehow in all the micro and macro, Foxer upgraded his marines and took a third base. He began to get the advantage, with his marines, medivacs, and tanks slowly pushing Kyrix’s ever-smaller groups of speedlings, banelings, and mutalisks across the map and into Kyrix’s natural. Foxer actually managed to snipe the spire at this point before getting pushed out. Kyrix rebuilt it and started using more roaches. He had a fourth base by now, but so did Foxer. Even on bases, Foxer fought a grueling campaign with intricate micro that finally broke Kyrix’s defense and won the game.

Game 2 – Lost Temple – Spawning in close positions, both players used very similar openings to the previous game. Kyrix went hatch first while Foxer did a gasless marine fast expand. He walled off the natural with barracks and then pressured with his early marines. His micro was more than sufficient to defeat much larger numbers of slow zerglings and even snipe a queen, but when zergling speed finished his marines were forced to run back to the natural.

The moment the pressure was off, Kyrix got his baneling nest out, and just like before he prepared for a bust. Foxer saw the banelings with a floating factory and tried to put two engineering bays in front of his wall-in, but the banelings arrived while they were only half complete and smashed through the wall-in. Although Foxer’s micro made his marines seem almost invincible against banelings, with the wall down the speedlings following up destroyed his army and won the game.

Game 3 – Steppes of War – Same openings a third time, hatch first and marine fast expansion, despite the close distance. Foxer again pressured with early marines and a few SCVs, but Kyrix made enough zerglings to defend easily. The counterattack looked dangerous, but Foxer pulled SCVs and his absurdly good micro allowed him to defend without canceling his expansion. Kyrix got a baneling nest in response, of course, but also took the gold expansion. Foxer walled off the ramp to his expansion, but Kyrix made more than enough banelings to destroy the wall. Foxer as usual spread his marines to deal with the banelings, but again zerglings poured through the gap. The onslaught was enough to force Foxer to retreat into his main and lift his expansion. Apparently thinking the game won, Kyrix started making banelings right in Foxer’s main, but Foxer’s remaining marines and a few hellions managed to repel the attack and retake the natural. Kyrix starting getting roaches in response, but never stopped the speedling pressure. Always defending, Foxer wasn’t able to rebuild his wall, and eventually the relentless speedling assault defeated him.

Game 4 – Scrap Station – Kyrix went hatch first, but Foxer changed his play, getting a fast gas for the first time in the series. Instead of going marine fast expand, he went with two starport banshees of a single base. Against Kyrix’s build in the first three games, this might have resulted in an instant victory, but this time he got a reasonably fast lair. But Foxer didn’t bother with researching cloak, he just focused on churning out banshees. Not surprisingly, he proved to have expert banshee micro. With his first two, he sniped one of the queens, then retreated to repair. Kyrix made more queens to defend and started a spire at his expansion. Up to four banshees now, Foxer returned to Kyrix’s main and, with the help of two more that came in during the attack, killed all the queens. From there he devastated Kyrix’s drones. The fleeing drones led the banshees to the natural, where they sniped the spire. From there, Kyrix was obviously doomed, though he managed to get a few spore crawlers up in his natural. Foxer destroyed Kyrix’s tech in his main with two banshees while the rest kept the natural in check, forcing Kyrix to concede.

Game 5 – X’el Naga Caverns – It took five games but finally Foxer walled off with his opening buildings. Kyrix went his usual hatch first. Foxer got a factory, then starport, then a banshee, but he only made one starport this time. While the banshee harassed zerglings in the middle of the map, he built a command center on the low ground. Zerglings tried to pressure but his marines defended fairly easily with the help of the unchecked banshee firing from above. While this was happening, Kyrix got a hidden third expansion in the upper left. After getting his usual baneling nest, he made his banelings behind the grass beside Foxer’s natural. The banshee spotted them and Foxer’s insane micro was able to handle the defense. With his first medivacs, he dropped Kyrix’s distant third base, killing the drones with his marines. Kyrix’s newly hatched mutalisks arrived just in time to drive off the attack and save the hatchery.

This sparked a long serious of battles in the center of the map with speedlings, banelings, and mutalisks fighting Foxer’s marines and medivacs. Much of the fighting was near Foxer’s expansion, but this game he had sieged tanks to clean up anything that got through. After massing up an unusually large force, Foxer pushed Kyrix’s third and won a battle there, losing his medivacs but driving away the mutalisks. From there he destroyed the hatchery and killed a lot of overlords.

Instead of rebuilding his third where it had been, Kyrix took the gold base. By now his creep was all the way down encroaching on Foxer’s natural expansion, so Foxer moved out and scanned to take down some of the creep tumors. Kyrix meanwhile added roaches to his composition and won a battle in the middle of the map. Instead of sending his reinforcements there, Foxer massed them and then countered up the other side towards Kyrix’s gold. Kyrix managed to save it with his remaining mutalisks and what was now a mostly roach army. Foxer meanwhile finally got the creep off his gold expansion and, starved of minerals because of the constant, pressing need for units to fight Kyrix’s aggression, floated the orbital command from his mined out main base to the gold. Kyrix poked but the siege tanks drove off his roaches.

Although he looked like he was finally in a position to defend with each player essentially on two bases (since their mains were mined out), Foxer probably thought Kyrix had taken at least one more base, because he pushed out with his army. Mass roaches cleaned up his force and pushed down to the gold expansion, forcing Foxer to lift. But meanwhile he had been switching to mass marauder, and this new compsition throws back the roach army and allows him to retake the gold base. Kyrix hadn’t rebuilt his mutas, instead going for roaches and banelings. Loading his banelings into his overlords, he tried to defeat the marauder marine armies using baneling drops to complement the roaches, but Foxer’s micro was too good, sniping the overlords before they got close enough to drop. Foxer now pushed in on Kyrix’s almost mined out gold base and Kyrix, never having been able to expand due to the unbelievable amount of fighting, was elminated.

Commentary: My pick for the best series so far in either GSL. Games 1 and 5 were back and forth battles full of intense action and amazing skill. Both players were stretched to their limits, and while they made occasional mistakes (like Foxer not getting shields for his marines in game 1) their ability to micro the constant battles while expanding and macroing (not to mention creep spread in Kyrix’s case) was incredible. Games 2, 3, and 4 weren’t nearly as epic, but they showcased the players’ battle of wills: Kyrix’s confidence in his baneling play despite game 1 and Foxer’s search for an early answer to Kyrix’s busts.

NEXGenius vs. StHopeTorture
Match Rating: 7/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Lost Temple – In close positions on Lost Temple, HopeTorture opened two barracks while Genius got an early stargate. Genius’ first void ray was actually spotted by marines in the middle of the map, and while HopeTorture looked like he wanted to push, he had to keep his forces at home to defend against the void ray harassment. Genius kept making void rays out of the single starport while expanding to his natural. HopeTorture tried to punish him for skimping on ground units and moved his marines and marauders to the natural, forcing a cancel. A force field on the ramp kept his army out of the main, so HopeTorture moved back and expanded himself. Genius built his expansion again at about the same time. Now with three void rays, Genius kept poking the marines and SCVs. When he had four, he brought his ground army to the choke. HopeTorture had a turret in front of his natural, but with the help of force field cuts his forces easily overwhelmed HopeTorture’s defenses and won the game.

Game 2 – Delta Quadrant – After standard openings in far positions, Genius made a proxy twilight council and did a blink rush. Unfortunately for him, HopeTorture was rushing to cloaked banshees. Genius’ eight stalkers blinked up the ramp just as the first banshee arrived in his base. Although his stalkers did quite a bit of damage, the cloaked banshee in his main took out almost all his probes and forced the few survivors to flee. Genius managed to get an observer out, but HopeTorture had put several bunkers around the mineral line in his main. Genius’ blink micro kept the game going longer than one would think, but eventually the observer was sniped and cloaked banshees cleaned up the stalkers.

Game 3 – X’el Naga Caverns – HopeTorture built a proxy factory in the far right of the map and did a thor repair rush. Genius went fast robotics and didn’t have a huge amount of units defending. When the marines, Thor, and SCVs arrived at his ramp, he placed a force field behind the Thor that kept out the marines, but the SCVs were up with the Thor, making it essentially unkillable. Another build order victory for HopeTorture.

Game 4 – Metalopolis – In close air positions, HopeTorture initally put a reactor on his first barracks but canceled in favor of a tech lab when Genius’ probe unexpectedly snuck past the marine guarding the ramp. Instead, he built a fairly fast command center. Genius meanwhile made another quick stargate and began building void rays. HopeTorture sent a scouting reaper in and spotted the stargate. Undeterred, Genius kept making void rays and expanded himself. Genius’ void ray micro proved dangerous as he harassed with three void rays and didn’t lose any even when stim finished. However, with some of them damaged, he moved them back to his army and switched to colossus. However, the void rays had already made HopeTorture begin making vikings. Slightly ahead in supply, he moved out with a fairly large army and fought a huge battle near Genius’ natural. Force fields blocked the inital force away from the colossus, but a small group of late arriving marauders darted around the force fields and focused down the colossus. During the fighting the vikings and marines were all destroyed however, which left the void rays the only survivors after they took out the marauders. Both players expanded but HopeTorture had his up first. After adding a ghost or two to his army, he moved out again. This time he bypassed Genius’ army at the natural and instead hit Genius’ third base. The army focused the nexus and destroyed it, then fled from the oncoming Protoss army. Genius chased the army all the way back to HopeTorture’s natural, but the reinforcements were waiting there. This time there were just enough marines to take out the void rays, and the marauders swept away the colossus. From there, the army swung down on to Genius’ natural and won the game and the series.

Commentary: After the amazing Foxer vs Kyrix series, it was perhaps inevitable that this one would be a little disappointing. Both players played well, but games 2 and 3 were decided mostly by build orders. Genius showed that void rays may be underestimated in army compositions, but HopeTorture seemed to adjust after the first game. Game 4 wasn’t one sided, but HopeTorture never seemed like he was in very much danger. It’s another disappointing tournament for Protoss as for the second time running none have reached the semifinals.

GSL 2 Round of 16: Day 2

NesTea vs. oGsTheWinD
Match Rating: 7/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Blistering Sands – NesTea went hatch first while TheWinD got fast banelings. NesTea survived the initial zergling/baneling rush, but afterward TheWinD took down the destructible rocks with zerglings and exploited the fact that NesTea’s roaches were too slow to adequately defend both entrances to the main. However, TheWinD never landed a knockout blow. He severely damaged the expansion hatchery–but never killed it. He took out some drones with zerglings and banelings–but not more than a few. His best move, sneaking two banelings into NesTea’s base, was defended by a razor-thin margin by NesTea. Still, TheWinD expanded behind his pressure and seemed to be headed towards a win with an advantage of several drones. NesTea was effectively on one base since he could never protect drones at his natural, so he played like it, suddenly massing units and then pushing out. Although TheWinD had switched to roaches, he wasn’t ready for the attack. TheWinD’s 11 roaches and 2 banelings fought NesTea’s 11 roaches and about 20 speedlings outside TheWinD’s natural. NesTea controlled his speedlings carefully, didn’t lose too many to the banelings, and then overcame TheWinD’s defenses even though he had a longer reinforcement distance to secure the come from behind win.

Game 2 – Delta Quadrant – TheWinD did the same fast baneling opening he used in game 1, but in close positions NesTea’s overlord was able to scout it. NesTea went one base speedling into roach with a spine crawler to hold off the initial pressure. His strategy scouted and prepared for, TheWinD wisely only made two banelings and otherwise stuck with speedlings, though he did waste the two banelings in a futile effort to sneak past NesTea’s spine crawler and queen. Although TheWinD got a roach warren, he stuck with speedlings and got a drone advantage, but NesTea once again shifted to unit production and moved out. With mainly speedlings and perhaps two roaches or so to defend, TheWinD was unable to hold off the attack and got eliminated.

Commentary: The players seemed about even mechanically, but NesTea had a far superior sense of timing (not surprising given his SC1 experience). He won both games by exploiting narrow timing windows despite falling behind. Often that sort of game isn’t very exciting to watch, but I felt game 1 was the most exciting ZvZ game yet in either GSL.

Foxer vs. TSLSangHo
Match Rating: 6/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Delta Quadrant – True to his reputation as an aggressive player, Foxer went two barracks, proxying his second at his gold expansion. Sang Ho didn’t scout it, but he went sentry after zealot and followed with three more sentries while getting a fast robotics. When Foxer’s rush arrived, he force fielded the ramp twice, but his third force field was misplaced, allowing Foxer to get marines, marauders, and several SCVs into Sang Ho’s main. Although Sang Ho did he best to defend, Foxer had concussive shells for his marauders and was able to snipe the immortals that were Sang Ho’s last chance, forcing him to concede.

Game 2 – X’el Naga Caverns – Foxer opened with marine-only fast expand, building it on the low ground at about 20 supply. Although Sang Ho didn’t make four sentries this time, his conservative three gate robotics build fell behind economically. Foxer moved out and traded armies right before SangHo’s colossus were ready. With both armies having to be rebuilt, Foxer’s advantage in economy and production facilities sent him way ahead. After adding Vikings and a few dropships, he pushed forward again and by this time was up 130 to 99 in supply. Attacking from both directions into Sang Ho’s natural, Sang Ho was only able to force field one side, and even that wasn’t a complete wall. Vikings and marauders made short work of two of Sang Ho’s three collosus while the few accompanying gateway units melted as well. When Sang Ho didn’t immediately concede Foxer was confident enough to build about ten barracks in the middle of the map.

Commentary: Sang Ho will be disappointed to have lost the first game on such a basic mistake, but the fake BoxeR looked a class above even in the second game. Foxer’s reputation as a fearsome ladder player seems well-earned. Although he’s aggressive, he does it without going all-in, and he clearly has a very good sense of the timings in TvZ and TvP.

NEXGenius vs. oGsInCa
Match Rating: 6/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Lost Temple – Both players had fairly similar build orders, with a normal expansion timing into collosus. The difference was InCa played it safe early by getting two gateways before his cybernetics core, then took a risk in the mid-game by expanding a little earlier and rushing to collosus without making many units. Genius didn’t scout InCa’s faster collosus and ended up getting rolled over by InCa’s superior collosus numbers in the first engagement.

Game 2 – Metalopolis – In cross positions, Genius did a blink stalker rush while InCa used a very similar build to the previous game. Apparently Genius beat WhiteRa with the same strategy in the same positions on Metalopolis at Blizzcon, but even though according to Artosis WhiteRa only barely lost, InCa never had a chance. InCa’s only hope of defending Genius’ push in the early mid-game was force fields, and Genius’ stalkers blinked past them easily and swept away the few defending zealots and stalkers. With no units around them, the immortals were focused down as they emerged from the robitics facility, ending any hope for InCa to hold.

Game 3 – X’el Naga Caverns – Once again both players did similar builds, going straight to blink, but InCa added a dark shrine while Genius just pumped stalkers out of three gates. Genius’ stalker force ambushed InCa’s fewer stalkers out in the middle of the map and destroyed them. For some reason InCa tried to wall off his ramp with gateways even though Genius’ stalkers had blinked during the battle (perhaps InCa wasn’t looking at the right time). Needless to say, Genius blinked past the gateways and killed InCa’s units just as the first DTs came out. Genius had no detection, and with one DT in his base while another attacked his army, he looked like he might be in trouble despite having completely destroyed InCa’s army. Genius lived up to his name and created a hidden robotics in the upper left while running his probes to the lower right and letting the DTs kill them there. Meanwhile he let the other DTs chase his stalkers until the observer was out, then brought his remaining stalkers there and killed the DTs pursuing them. From there, he killed the rest of InCa’s probes and got to work on his buildings. With only one DT left hacking on one of Genius’ pylons compared to Genius’ six stalkers with the observer, InCa had to concede.

Commentary: Like the Idra/oGsZenio games, this mirror matchup was almost entirely dictated by build orders in the first two games. In game 3 however whereas InCa uselessly walled in against blink stalkers, Genius calmly hid a robotics to defeat the DTs, so in the end the winner was decided by Genius’ quick thinking. Genius is now the only Protoss left in the tournament, but as arguably the best Protoss in the world right now he’s a worthy flagbearer.

Loner vs. SlayerSBoxeR
Match Rating: 7/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Metalopolis – Loner decided to pressure with marines and a hellion while BoxeR simply made reactored marines. Although Loner had the better composition, BoxeR won the micro battle at his ramp, destroying the hellion and routing Loner’s marines. Only slightly behind, Loner used his first medivac to drop marines and a marauder in BoxeR’s base, but it arrived just as two vikings came out of BoxeR’s starport. BoxeR also had a sieged tank covering his mineral line, so Loner was forced to drop on the tank. He killed it, but at the cost of the dropship and rest of his force, which was cleaned up by the vikings when they landed. Boxer then countered by sending his vikings to Loner’s base, landing, and picking off SCVs and units. Between this damage and an earlier expansion, BoxeR had a sizable economic advantage in addition to a stronger army. He immediatly began a slow siege tank push that started near BoxeR’s base and pushed all the way to Loner’s natural, ending the game.

Game 2 – Steppes of War – Boxer poked with three marines and an SCV but Loner held it fairly easily. He countered with marines and a single hellion, just like in game 1, and just like in game 1, BoxeR defeated it decisively, this time using three SCVs to block the hellion from getting up the ramp. Although Loner didn’t try a drop this time, he still got the medivac first and found himself at a disadvantage to BoxeR’s vikings. Using the vikings to snipe the medivac and then provide vision for his tanks, Boxer once again slowly pushed down the map and once again Loner couldn’t find a way to stop it.

Commentary: Apparently this SlayerSBoxeR guy knows a thing or two about playing Terran. While that’s not surprising, I expected the transition to SC2 to take longer for him, but he looks like the best TvT player in the tournament. Against Loner, who among his other accomplishments came in second at Blizzcon, BoxeR won every battle and ruthlessly exploited advantages whenever he got them. Ironically, the only Terran who has impressed me as much is the fake BoxeR. SlayerSBoxeR vs. oGsNada in the quarterfinals is surely going to be the most anticipated game in Starcraft 2 history.

GSL 2 Round of 16: Day 1

KyrixZenith vs. oGsEnsnare
Match Rating: 8/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Delta Quadrant – Contrary to his reputation as a rusher, Kyrix opened hatch first.  Ensnare put a bunker at Kyrix’s expansion, just as the edge of vision range.  Kyrix pulled six drones to help stop the bunker and, with support from the eventual zerglings, kill the initial marines.  Still fairly even, Kyrix tried a baneling bust.  Ensnare actually left his depot down, let the banelings in, then raised it, preventing reinforcements.  The banelings did a fair amount of damage, but siege tanks cleaned them up and the zerglings who came in with them.  Kyrix was able to take a third base safely, but Ensnare was safe behind his tanks while he recovered and finally took a third.  Kyrix tried to take his gold base as a fourth, but Ensnare chose that time to move in with a large tank, marine, and marauder force.  The resulting fighting in the center of the map wasn’t decisive, but Kyrix no longer had enough map control to protect his third and lost it to a small force from Ensnare.  After that, Ensnare broke Kyrix down without too much difficulty.

Game 2 – Blistering Sands – Kyrix opened hatch first into two base mutalisks.  After an initial skirmish with zerglings took out one of Ensnare’s first siege tanks, he used his mutas to take out the destructible rocks.  But instead of streamling zerglings through, he sat back in the middle of the map and expanded to Ensnare’s side.  The vulnerability of his main made Ensnare feel he had to play passive, and Kyrix had taken a fourth base before he ever seriously probed the middle of the map.  Although Kyrix’s macro wasn’t overwhelming, after the ensuing battles in the middle of the map Kyrix was able to replace his units much faster.  Ensnare won some minor victories like killing drones at the fourth, but he never was able to safely get a third base until he was almost mined out and resorted to desperate measures.  Despite his efforts, Kyrix moved in before the planetary fortress was finished, and Ensnare had to cancel and lift it.  The game went on for another few minutes but Kyrix’s victory was inevitable.

Game 3 – Steppes of War – This time rather than hatch first, Kyrix went one hatch muta with a very late expansion.  Ensnare seemed to expect banelings and moved out at what he must have thought was a good timing.  Kyrix didn’t haven early enough units to stop him and fell back all the way to his main, but then the mutas arrived and there weren’t enough marines to stop them.  Rather than try to build up a critical mass of mutas, Kyrix was aggressive with them, forcing the Terran to defend and tech to thors while he eventually got a third base.  Ensnare pushed out with a thor plus some marines and seemed like he might roll over Kyrix’s small numbers of mutalisks and zerglings, but Kyrix brought drones to surround the thor, preventing repair and eventually killing it.  After that Kyrix’s economy kicked in and he slowly pushed farther and farther in on Ensnare’s natural with mutalisks and banelings.  Eventually he had to lift the command center, but it was sniped by mutas anyway, and Ensnare was eliminated.

Commentary: Artosis was very critical of Kyrix’s play in the round of 64, mistaking Kyrix’s unusual play for weakness, but Kyrix has shown there’s a method to his madness.  He’s aggressive but not to the point he sacrifices economy.  Instead he accepts a narrower and sometimes slower tech route than typical Zerg players in favor of putting constant pressure.  The fact he uses the resulting map control to expand rather than go for the kill shows he understands his strategy.  His macro seems a few notches below the top tier of Zerg players, but it won’t matter until his opponents do a better job coping with his pressure.  Ensnare, one of the best Terran players since the beginning of the beta, never seemed to have a good handle on what Kyrix was doing, even in the game he won.

CheckPrime vs StHopeTorture
Match Rating: 4/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 - Steppes of War - Perhaps feeling this map favored the Terran too much to play straight up, Check did a 6 pool rush.  Although HopeTorture didn’t wall in, his defense was flawless, and he was able to delay with his SCVs while using mules to fund enough marines to drive out Check’s attack.  HopeTorture’s marine counter looked like it would win, but Check was able to survive, albeit still at a significant disadvantage.  Check expanded and tried to transition into roaches, but HopeTorture scouted it and then easily crushed Check’s expansion.  Check fought on but HopeTorture was clearly too good to lose once he was that far ahead.

Game 2 – Scrap Station - Check did the usual quick hatchery, but HopeTorture went mass viking.  First he killed two overlords, forcing the rest to move back into Check’s base.  Then he brought two dropships with hellions, marauders, and marines to the Zerg expansion.  Those, plus the landed vikings, were so intimidating that Check didn’t dare engage, letting the natural die.  HopeTorturer sent them into the main just before the mutas came out and while he lost his army, he took the Spire with him.  Check tried to counter with the mutas to HopeTorture’s main but there were more marines and vikings to drive them out.  HopeTorture then dropped them in Check’s main, killing Check’s base with the infantry while his vikings cleared what few mutas were left, forcing Check to concede.

Commentary: A surprisingly easy victory for HopeTorture.  Check was probably the underdog, but he seemed desperate in game 1, while in game 2 HopeTorture essentially had a strategic victory.  Check had no answer for the mass viking play.  It’s too bad that Check, one of the most prominent Korean Zergs, still hasn’t really shown his true quality in either GSL.

Leenock vs. oGsNada
Match Rating: 6/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Delta Quadrant – Leenock 6 pools but unlike Check he sends all his drones with it.  Nada was going two barracks but he canceled the second one when he saw the rush coming.  From there Leenock played it perfectly and Nada made a critical error with his barracks rally, allowing his marine to be separated from his SCVs.  Although he managed to build a bunker, his marine died just before entering it.  Because all the drones had come and most died tanking damage, there was a small chance of a tie, but Leenock realized this and moved his last drone out of Nada’s base while his zerglings finished off Nada’s forces.

Game 2 – Shakuras Plateau – Leenock played standard this time while Nada went hellions into thors.  Leenock went mass muta, but while he forced Nada to build a lot of turrets, he didn’t do nearly enough economic damage.  Nada actually expanded base for base with Leenock all the way up to four bases.  Leenock finally moved in and destroyed an expansion with his mutas, but Nada countered to Leenock’s natural with his army.  His marines and thors defeated Leenock’s almost entirely muta-based army with a few thors to spare, ending the game.  Definitely showed that against an expanding Terran, it isn’t enough for Zerg to just mass up mutas.  Without economic damage thor/marine/hellion is too strong for muta/baneling to handle.

Game 3 – X’el Naga Caverns – Nada opened with a single banshee scout, then settled down into tank/marine.  Leenock went fast infestors and tried to rush to hive tech and (presumably) ultralisks while double expanding.  Fruit Dealer in the last GSL would double expand and force Terrans to pick an expansion to kill, but Nada ignored the expansions and went straight for Leenock’s natural, much like in the previous game.   Leenock tried to mass banelings, but he wasted an infestor in the middle of the map and Nada expertly spread his marines.  Without fungal growth holding his marines, Nada rolled over Leenock’s defenses easily to win the series.

Commentary: Leenock wasn’t as good as Nada and he knew it.  In light of this, his rush on the first map and his attempts in the following games to reach army compositions–mass muta, ultras–that conventional wisdom says are powerful for zerg make a lot of sense.  In the end Nada had both better macro, better army compositions, and better timing.  A lot of people assumed Nada wouldn’t have enough practice in SC2 to be as good as the top tier of players, but so far Nada looks extremely dangerous in a tournament where many Terrans have had difficulties.

EGIdra vs. oGsZenio
Match Rating: 5/10

Click here to display the full match recap and commentary (spoilers)

Game 1 – Delta Quadrant – Both players did passive openings, going to roach tech for defense instead of the aggressive speedling or baneling play that characterized GSL 2′s earlier ZvZ.  Idra used roaches to get the expansion in his base while Zenio went mass overseer to do a rolling contaminate of Idra’s hatchery.  From there he tried to break Idra with superior roach numbers.  While Idra defended ably, he moved out to take a third base too early and got rolled over by a second attack just before infestors came out.  Zenio’s strategy cleverly neutralized Idra’s strength, his fearsome macro, without being unsafe.

Game 2 – Blistering Sands – Zenio got early zerglings to deny scouting, then showed roaches at his ramp.  With Idra expecting pure roach, Zenio added a couple banelings and attacked.  The mismatch was such that Idra conceded before the battle was even over.

Commentary: Probably the most strategy-heavy games in GSL 2 so far.  In the interview afterward, Zenio said he didn’t think he could beat Idra in a straight up game, hence his “cute” strategies.  Maybe, but strategy is a big part of the game, especially in ZvZ which seems much more poorly understood than the rest of the game’s matchups.  Idra lost in GSL 1 to better strategies as well, but in his round of 32 games with oGsGon is was clear that he learned from his mistakes.  If he shores up his ZvZ, he’ll be a really strong contender in GSL 3, because his ZvT already looks nearly invincible.