| Player | Code S Rank | 2010 Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| TSLRain | T | #6 | DNQ, ro32, second place |
| ZeNEXKyrix | Z | T-#16 | DNQ, ro8, ro64 |
| choyafOu | P | T-#16 | DNQ, ro64, ro8 |
| TSLTrickster (aka sSKS) | P | T-#19 | ro8, DNQ, DNQ |
TSLRain was a controversial finalist in GSL 3 after he beat IMNesTea in the quarterfinals with nothing but SCV/marine rushes. ZeNEXKyrix served as the pioneer of the high economy baneling strategy (on television, at least) and you may recall his epic GSL 2 match against MarineKingPrimeWE, though he also won the Code S special tournament between GSL 2 and GSL 3. choyafOu is the only relatively unknown player, though he was in the quarterfinals of GSL 3 last month. TSLTrickster was one of the best players in the beta back when he was known as Tester. Expected to win GSL 1, he lost to STRainBOw in the quarterfinals and then to everyone's shock he failed to qualify for the next two GSL tournaments. Finally he's made it back to the big stage looking to prove his qualification troubles were an aberration.
Like yesterday, the group D VOD has some basic subtitled video interviews with each player before their first game (but this time the game 2 interview is at the beginning of the game 2 video, not the end of the game 1 section).
choyafOu (P) vs. TSLRain (T) on Scrap Station
Match Rating: 7/10
Click for match play by play
choya does a standard opening but steals Rain's gas, he ends up getting a tech lab on his barracks before his factory
Rain gets marauders and concussive shells, then sends his factory to scout
choya expands at about 31 supply while Rain starts his command center at almost the same time
The factory sees choya's two more gateways, three more barracks being made by Rain as well as stim research
Robotics now for choya while Rain gets a starport before his factory burns down
Still more barracks for Rain, choya just making observers so far with his robotics
Rain sends a medivac with three marauders and two marines toward choya's expansion but stalkers and zealots move to intercept
Rain has a really quick reaction and takes almost no damage, snipes a spotter pylon, then retreats
A four marauder dropship heads for choya's main but again there are stalkers there to defend
Colossus and thermal lance coming for choya, ghost academy and more infantry for Rain
Two more dropships load up, but there's an observer right there watching
Rain scans and sees the defending stalkers, so he sends his medivacs back
choya getting twilight council while still making colossus
Rain starts taking down the rocks in the middle of the map while making vikings
Templar archives now for choya, a second starport (after first rebuilding his factory) for Rain
Vikings harass the colossus, do some damage but lose a few
Blink and amulet researching for choya, who seems to have stopped making colossus now
Rain starts building his third command center while making ghosts, storm research begins for choya
choya starts a nexus at his third, Rain sends a dropship with four marauders in that direction
Both armies relocate to the area around the watchtower
Rain drops the marauders on the high ground, inexplicably shows the units by attacking a pylon, then goes to try to snipe the templar archives but fails as the colossus get back
choya has four cannons and most of his army at his fourth
Rain EMPs some of choya's army and tries to move in, his vikings slaughter the colossus, choya seems to have the ground advantage
Rain lands his vikings, not many storms get off through the EMP and sniping, and Rain barely wins
Rain drops two dropships worth of marauders in choya's main and snipes the robotics just moments before the colossus finishes
The marauders unpower four warpgates by killing a pylon and even snipe the robotics bay before choya cleans up the situation
Zealot legs and a replacement robotics building for choya as well as a nexus at the gold
Rain sends one dropship to choya's main which is easily repelled, but another drop at the gold forces a cancel
choya remaking his robotics bay. surprisingly
Marine/marauder/ghost and templar/stalker armies fight a series of skirmishes near the watchtower, ending inconclusively
Rain sends some infantry and a large number of dropships across the bridge and engages choya's units there
choya moves in with templar, but many are EMPed and the few storms that do get off aren't very effective
Rain moves his army into the production buildings
choya concedes
Solid play from Rain, winning the ghost vs. templar micro battles in the late game when everything was still balanced on a knife edge.
TSLTrickster (P) vs. ZeNEXKyrix (Z) on Metalopolis
Match Rating: 6/10
Click for match play by play
Close air positions, Kyrix at 6 and Trickster at 9
Pylon and then forge on the low ground for Trickster, hatch first for Kyrix
Kyrix has a drone patrolling so Trickster can't block the ramp
Instead he warps in a pylon behind the minerals at the natural
When it finishes Trickster adds two more cannons positioned so it's hopeless to attack them with drones
Kyrix pulls his drones back but inexplicably doesn't cancel his hatch, Trickster cancels one of his cannons
Kyrix builds two spine crawlers out of range of the cannons and sends drones in to take out a belated extra cannon Trickster tries to warp in
The spine crawlers clean up the cannons, but Trickster has a nexus warping in with two cannons shielding it from any kind of zergling counter
Kyrix at 21 drones to 28 probes and is even on bases, not looking good
Kyrix keeps pumping drones and then takes the gold nearest his expansion
Zergling speed starts for Kyrix, Trickster puts a proxy pylon at Kyrix's normal third location
Baneling nest for Kyrix, massive numbers of gateways for Trickster
Trickster sends three zealots and about six sentries out between the bases
Zerglings surround and kill a stalker, but the sentry force fields and zealots fight them off
Banelings attack the sentry and zealot force...one baneling hits almost every sentry, but the rest end up getting killed by stalkers
Trickster moves into the natural with an overwhelming stalker force
Kyrix concedes
I'm not sure why Artosis was so surprised to see Kyrix droning...he was always a drone-first attack-second player, not a cheeser. That was the whole innovation of his baneling play. At any rate, he did well later in the game but it wasn't enough to overcome Trickster's huge lead.
Pylon and then forge on the low ground for Trickster, hatch first for Kyrix
Kyrix has a drone patrolling so Trickster can't block the ramp
Instead he warps in a pylon behind the minerals at the natural
When it finishes Trickster adds two more cannons positioned so it's hopeless to attack them with drones
Kyrix pulls his drones back but inexplicably doesn't cancel his hatch, Trickster cancels one of his cannons
Kyrix builds two spine crawlers out of range of the cannons and sends drones in to take out a belated extra cannon Trickster tries to warp in
The spine crawlers clean up the cannons, but Trickster has a nexus warping in with two cannons shielding it from any kind of zergling counter
Kyrix at 21 drones to 28 probes and is even on bases, not looking good
Kyrix keeps pumping drones and then takes the gold nearest his expansion
Zergling speed starts for Kyrix, Trickster puts a proxy pylon at Kyrix's normal third location
Baneling nest for Kyrix, massive numbers of gateways for Trickster
Trickster sends three zealots and about six sentries out between the bases
Zerglings surround and kill a stalker, but the sentry force fields and zealots fight them off
Banelings attack the sentry and zealot force...one baneling hits almost every sentry, but the rest end up getting killed by stalkers
Trickster moves into the natural with an overwhelming stalker force
Kyrix concedes
I'm not sure why Artosis was so surprised to see Kyrix droning...he was always a drone-first attack-second player, not a cheeser. That was the whole innovation of his baneling play. At any rate, he did well later in the game but it wasn't enough to overcome Trickster's huge lead.
Match 1 winner vs Match 2 loser
Match Rating: 7/10
Click for match play by play
TSLRain (T) vs. ZeNEXKyrix (Z) on Metalopolis
Cross positions, Kyrix at 12 and Rain at 6
Hatch first for Kyrix, two barracks for Rain
Three marines and two SCVs push into Kyrix's natural. Kyrix's zerglings annihilate them. Ouch.
Rain starts a command center at his natural, zerglings counter to it before the bunker finishes but there are enough marines to drive them off
Rain adds an engineering bay to complete a strong building wall from one side of the natural to the command center with the bunker behind it.
Zergling speed coming for Kyrix, factory and a second bunker building for Rain
Kyrix takes his third and starts his lair, Rain adds another factory
Two armories for Rain, one evolution chamber for Kyrix
Hellions being built and blue flame researching for Rain, roach warren and baneling nest for Kyrix
Thor coming as well...
Rain leaves the game! Yikes.
"Client error" is the official explanation. The game will have to be restarted.
Tasteless fills time with a story about a heating pack in his pocket. Artosis raises an eyebrow.
The game restarts and the players' positions are swapped: Kyrix at 6 and Rain at 12.
Hatch first on 15 for Kyrix, two barracks for Rain
Three marines and three SCV pressure again. Zerglings move to intercept...
This time Rain does a little better but this just gives him the time to reinforce and then lose more marines than last game to the inevitable wave of zerglings.
Zergling speed for Kyrix, command center for Rain
None of Rain's marines survive the trip home
Again Rain walls off with an engineering bay and gets two factories, again Kyrix takes his third and starts lair
Two armories start for Rain but an overlord scouts the two factories
Blue flame coming for Rain, roach warren and roach speed for Kyrix
Four hellions head into Kyrix's third base but a spine crawler finishes there just in time
Two thors coming for Rain, a spire for Kyrix
Baneling nest for Kyrix, Rain switching to tanks and getting siege mode and a third factory
Kyrix's roach army moves to the natural choke and the hellions come back and run into them by accident
The roaches kill the factory being built, there's only a tank to defend and siege mode is not done
The roaches do a lot of damage and then withdraw just as siege mode finishes
Mutalisks and baneling speed for Kyrix, command center for Rain
Rain leaves one tank behind and moves out with thors and tanks
There's a long battle at the high ground...Rain loses a number of tanks and a thor while Kyrix loses a few roaches and mutas
Kyrix takes a fourth, harasses siege tanks with his mutalisks
Roaches come in and clean up the weakened army
Not enough marines left to protect the tanks, the mutalisks and roaches kill them
Kyrix has enough roaches to attack into Rain's siege positions
The last tank goes down and it's just SCVs fighting Kyrix's roaches
Rain concedes
The game restart was probably beneficial for Rain, but Kyrix outplayed him in the mid-game, outmaneuvering the Terran army with his roaches.
Cross positions, Kyrix at 12 and Rain at 6
Hatch first for Kyrix, two barracks for Rain
Three marines and two SCVs push into Kyrix's natural. Kyrix's zerglings annihilate them. Ouch.
Rain starts a command center at his natural, zerglings counter to it before the bunker finishes but there are enough marines to drive them off
Rain adds an engineering bay to complete a strong building wall from one side of the natural to the command center with the bunker behind it.
Zergling speed coming for Kyrix, factory and a second bunker building for Rain
Kyrix takes his third and starts his lair, Rain adds another factory
Two armories for Rain, one evolution chamber for Kyrix
Hellions being built and blue flame researching for Rain, roach warren and baneling nest for Kyrix
Thor coming as well...
Rain leaves the game! Yikes.
"Client error" is the official explanation. The game will have to be restarted.
Tasteless fills time with a story about a heating pack in his pocket. Artosis raises an eyebrow.
The game restarts and the players' positions are swapped: Kyrix at 6 and Rain at 12.
Hatch first on 15 for Kyrix, two barracks for Rain
Three marines and three SCV pressure again. Zerglings move to intercept...
This time Rain does a little better but this just gives him the time to reinforce and then lose more marines than last game to the inevitable wave of zerglings.
Zergling speed for Kyrix, command center for Rain
None of Rain's marines survive the trip home
Again Rain walls off with an engineering bay and gets two factories, again Kyrix takes his third and starts lair
Two armories start for Rain but an overlord scouts the two factories
Blue flame coming for Rain, roach warren and roach speed for Kyrix
Four hellions head into Kyrix's third base but a spine crawler finishes there just in time
Two thors coming for Rain, a spire for Kyrix
Baneling nest for Kyrix, Rain switching to tanks and getting siege mode and a third factory
Kyrix's roach army moves to the natural choke and the hellions come back and run into them by accident
The roaches kill the factory being built, there's only a tank to defend and siege mode is not done
The roaches do a lot of damage and then withdraw just as siege mode finishes
Mutalisks and baneling speed for Kyrix, command center for Rain
Rain leaves one tank behind and moves out with thors and tanks
There's a long battle at the high ground...Rain loses a number of tanks and a thor while Kyrix loses a few roaches and mutas
Kyrix takes a fourth, harasses siege tanks with his mutalisks
Roaches come in and clean up the weakened army
Not enough marines left to protect the tanks, the mutalisks and roaches kill them
Kyrix has enough roaches to attack into Rain's siege positions
The last tank goes down and it's just SCVs fighting Kyrix's roaches
Rain concedes
The game restart was probably beneficial for Rain, but Kyrix outplayed him in the mid-game, outmaneuvering the Terran army with his roaches.
Match 2 winner vs Match 1 loser
Match Rating: 3/10
Click for match play by play
TSLTrickster (P) vs. choyafOu (P) on Scrap Station
Standard openings for both players
Four gates for choya, three gate robotics for Trickster
choya puts a proxy pylon right at the bottom of Trickster's ramp
Trickster tries to come down but choya puts up a second one
choya attacks with his stalkers and almost immediately has a numerical advantage
Trickster has to send probes to help. choya's stalker count keeps rising.
Trickster concedes
Tasteless thought Trickster's build was the safest PvP opening. Apparently not, at least on Scrap Station. choya's micro in the initial moments of the attack was good but it seemed like a build order win.
Standard openings for both players
Four gates for choya, three gate robotics for Trickster
choya puts a proxy pylon right at the bottom of Trickster's ramp
Trickster tries to come down but choya puts up a second one
choya attacks with his stalkers and almost immediately has a numerical advantage
Trickster has to send probes to help. choya's stalker count keeps rising.
Trickster concedes
Tasteless thought Trickster's build was the safest PvP opening. Apparently not, at least on Scrap Station. choya's micro in the initial moments of the attack was good but it seemed like a build order win.
Deciding Game(s)
Match Rating: 5/10
Click for match play by play
TSLRain (T) vs TSLTrickster (P) on Lost Temple
This will decide who advances and who is eliminated...only one TSL player can survive
Close air positions, Rain at 9 and Trickster at 6
Despite not being in close ground positions, Trickster scouts in the correct direction and then steals the gas
Barracks, factory, barracks for Rain, twilight council for Trickster
Rain puts a tech lab on his factory and gets a tank, Trickster gets a dark shrine
Proxy pylon at the gold for Trickster, Rain moves out with two tanks and a dozen marines
Trickster force fields his ramp to hold off the army while the first DT goes into Rain's base
Rain turns around and has his army hit by a stalker on the way out
All the SCVs run from the dark templar, Rain tries to build an engineering bay but the SCV is killed the dark templar
Finally the engineering bay completes and Rain scans and kills one of the DTs
Trickster's expansion is up at his natural, his second DT kills the tech lab on Rain's starport before he can make a raven
Finally Rain gets a tech lab up and starts a raven, blink research finishes for Trickster
Trickster sends up about ten stalkers, blinks past Rain's army and kills his one tank, then blinks out of the base
Reinforced from the proxy pylon, the stalkers come back to the main ramp
Rain tries to build a bunker but Trickster's blink micro makes the stalkers very touch to kill
Rain surrenders
Clever gas steal / DT build by Trickster. Rain's timing attack turned out to be at just the timing Trickster needed. A lot of times when teammates play one stomps the other through some sort of mind game, so you wonder if that was what happened here.
choyafOu (P) vs. ZeNEXKyrix (Z) on Steppes of War
The winner advances, the loser is eliminated. If choya advances he will finish top of the group and Rain will finish fourth. If Kyrix advances then Trickster finishes top and choya finishes last. It's a worst or first situation for choya.
Forge first on the high ground for choya. Looks like a quick game. Kyrix went pool first and doesn't have a drone at the bottom of his ramp.
choya blocks the ramp with two pylons, then puts a cannon behind it.
Kyrix decides on a roach warren for his reaction, choya.
choya up to three cannons behind the pylon wall
He glitches a probe up the ramp but it is immediately killed by the roaches
Third pylon behind the cannons for choya, meanwhile he's getting two stargates in his base
The roaches kill the cannons and then clean up the pylons. Void rays on the way.
Kyrix expands and starts zergling speed.
Kyrix's roaches try to break the ramp but with two void rays out it's hopeless.
The roaches fall back while Kyrix gets another queen
After the third void ray finishes choya switches to phoenixes instead
The queens attack the void rays but phoenixes come and lift them
Kyrix sends his ground forces to choya's base and actually breaks through the wall off at the top of the ramp
Some probes die, but when the roaches start working on the nexus phoenixes lift them
The roaches switch to killing probes and get a surprising number of them
choya's air forces go back to Kyrix's natural but he's built spore crawlers
The void rays manage to pick off a queen and spore colony and get within range of the expansion hatchery
The hatchery dies and the void rays move into the main
Kyrix builds some spore colonies in his main but they are killed before they can finish
Kyrix surrenders
For a second there it seemed like Kyrix might somehow dig out a victory, but he couldn't get enough anti-air out in time for the inevitable second wave of the air attack. Kyrix has got to be wishing he patrolled a drone at the bottom of his ramp.
This will decide who advances and who is eliminated...only one TSL player can survive
Close air positions, Rain at 9 and Trickster at 6
Despite not being in close ground positions, Trickster scouts in the correct direction and then steals the gas
Barracks, factory, barracks for Rain, twilight council for Trickster
Rain puts a tech lab on his factory and gets a tank, Trickster gets a dark shrine
Proxy pylon at the gold for Trickster, Rain moves out with two tanks and a dozen marines
Trickster force fields his ramp to hold off the army while the first DT goes into Rain's base
Rain turns around and has his army hit by a stalker on the way out
All the SCVs run from the dark templar, Rain tries to build an engineering bay but the SCV is killed the dark templar
Finally the engineering bay completes and Rain scans and kills one of the DTs
Trickster's expansion is up at his natural, his second DT kills the tech lab on Rain's starport before he can make a raven
Finally Rain gets a tech lab up and starts a raven, blink research finishes for Trickster
Trickster sends up about ten stalkers, blinks past Rain's army and kills his one tank, then blinks out of the base
Reinforced from the proxy pylon, the stalkers come back to the main ramp
Rain tries to build a bunker but Trickster's blink micro makes the stalkers very touch to kill
Rain surrenders
Clever gas steal / DT build by Trickster. Rain's timing attack turned out to be at just the timing Trickster needed. A lot of times when teammates play one stomps the other through some sort of mind game, so you wonder if that was what happened here.
choyafOu (P) vs. ZeNEXKyrix (Z) on Steppes of War
The winner advances, the loser is eliminated. If choya advances he will finish top of the group and Rain will finish fourth. If Kyrix advances then Trickster finishes top and choya finishes last. It's a worst or first situation for choya.
Forge first on the high ground for choya. Looks like a quick game. Kyrix went pool first and doesn't have a drone at the bottom of his ramp.
choya blocks the ramp with two pylons, then puts a cannon behind it.
Kyrix decides on a roach warren for his reaction, choya.
choya up to three cannons behind the pylon wall
He glitches a probe up the ramp but it is immediately killed by the roaches
Third pylon behind the cannons for choya, meanwhile he's getting two stargates in his base
The roaches kill the cannons and then clean up the pylons. Void rays on the way.
Kyrix expands and starts zergling speed.
Kyrix's roaches try to break the ramp but with two void rays out it's hopeless.
The roaches fall back while Kyrix gets another queen
After the third void ray finishes choya switches to phoenixes instead
The queens attack the void rays but phoenixes come and lift them
Kyrix sends his ground forces to choya's base and actually breaks through the wall off at the top of the ramp
Some probes die, but when the roaches start working on the nexus phoenixes lift them
The roaches switch to killing probes and get a surprising number of them
choya's air forces go back to Kyrix's natural but he's built spore crawlers
The void rays manage to pick off a queen and spore colony and get within range of the expansion hatchery
The hatchery dies and the void rays move into the main
Kyrix builds some spore colonies in his main but they are killed before they can finish
Kyrix surrenders
For a second there it seemed like Kyrix might somehow dig out a victory, but he couldn't get enough anti-air out in time for the inevitable second wave of the air attack. Kyrix has got to be wishing he patrolled a drone at the bottom of his ramp.
Group D Results and Commentary
Click for results, standings, and commentary
Results
TSLRain (1-0) defeats choyafOu (0-1)
TSLTrickster (1-0) defeats ZeNEXKyrix (0-1)
ZeNEXKyrix (1-1) defeats TSLRain (1-1)
choyafOu (1-1) defeats TSLTrickster (1-1) [all players tied 1-1]
TSLTrickster (2-1) defeats TSLRain (1-2) [Trickster advances, Rain eliminated]
choyafOu (2-1) defeats ZeNEXKyrix (1-2) [choya advances, Kyrix eliminated, positions determined based on head to head results]
Standings
1. choyafOu
2. TSLTrickster
3. ZeNEXKyrix
4. TSLRain
Commentary
Artosis thinks Kyrix is a one trick player, but I've always thought he's underrated. Artosis was pleasantly surprised by Kyrix's play, but he still didn't advance. Well, I think there's more agreement on choya being a limited player who relies on quick rushes. If so, that at least was born out by choya's unexpected finish at the top of the group after four gating Trickster and cannon walling Kyrix. Still, these are common strategies and players know they could be coming, especially from a player like choya. It's good to see Trickster advance after his qualification difficulties, even if his latest name change is (in my opinion) his worst yet. Kyrix and Rain will have to play the relegation matches, but I expect to see both stay in Code S.
TSLRain (1-0) defeats choyafOu (0-1)
TSLTrickster (1-0) defeats ZeNEXKyrix (0-1)
ZeNEXKyrix (1-1) defeats TSLRain (1-1)
choyafOu (1-1) defeats TSLTrickster (1-1) [all players tied 1-1]
TSLTrickster (2-1) defeats TSLRain (1-2) [Trickster advances, Rain eliminated]
choyafOu (2-1) defeats ZeNEXKyrix (1-2) [choya advances, Kyrix eliminated, positions determined based on head to head results]
Standings
1. choyafOu
2. TSLTrickster
3. ZeNEXKyrix
4. TSLRain
Commentary
Artosis thinks Kyrix is a one trick player, but I've always thought he's underrated. Artosis was pleasantly surprised by Kyrix's play, but he still didn't advance. Well, I think there's more agreement on choya being a limited player who relies on quick rushes. If so, that at least was born out by choya's unexpected finish at the top of the group after four gating Trickster and cannon walling Kyrix. Still, these are common strategies and players know they could be coming, especially from a player like choya. It's good to see Trickster advance after his qualification difficulties, even if his latest name change is (in my opinion) his worst yet. Kyrix and Rain will have to play the relegation matches, but I expect to see both stay in Code S.
