January 2011 Code S Round of 32: Group G

Most of the Code S groups are loaded with talent. This one is something of an exception:

Player		Code S Rank	2010 Results
MarineKingPrimeWE	T	#5	DNQ, second place, ro8
ZeNEXLiveForever	T	T-#11	ro4, DNQ, DNQ
TSLClide	T	#26	ro16, ro64, ro64
SlayerSLegalMinD	P	T-#29	ro16, ro64, DNQ

MarineKingPrimeWE, known in GSL 2 as BoxeR and (in the foreign community) Foxer, is sometimes criticized for being one-dimensional but his micro-heavy style can be incredibly exciting to watch. ZeNEXLiveForever was a semifinalist in GSL 1 but then did not attempt to qualify for the next two GSL tournaments due to academic commitments. No one is sure exactly how much he's practiced and what kind of shape he's really in, but he was something of an unexpected semifinalist even in GSL 1 so it could be tough. TSLClide impressed Artosis early in GSL 1 and has been talked up ever since on air, but he hasn't really had any, er, results. However, in GSL 3 he played an absolutely amazing match against LeenockfOu so perhaps he's just been unlucky in his opponents. SlayerSLegalMinD did well in GSL 1 but hasn't made much of an impact since then, so depending on how rusty you think LiveForever is, LegalMinD is probably the underdog of the group.

As usual, when checking out the group G VOD there are some basic subtitled video interviews with each player before their first game (for game 2 it's on the end of the game 1 video).

MarineKingPrimeWE (T) vs. TSLClide (T) on Xel'Naga Caverns
Match Rating: 7/10

Click for match play by play

One barracks fast expand on the low ground for MarineKing, Clide gets a command center in his main

Three more barracks under construction for MarineKing, two more barracks for Clide

MarineKing scans, sees Clide's barracks and the command center floating to the natural, and moves out

He has nine marines in his initial wave, Clide has less marines defending

Clide's reinforcements come in from the side and despite some reinforcements for MarineKing he holds off the pressure

Engineering bay, factory, stim, and shields for MarineKing, three more reactors for Clide, shields, and a factory

Starport going up for MarineKing, Clide making some marauders

Starport coming for Clide, medivacs being made for MarineKing

MarineKing's marines take out the rocks at the gold, then slowly work their way up the map

Clide has more marauders in his infantry composition...MarineKing moves into the natural

The two infantry armies engage...Clide's marines win but all the SCVs at the natural are shot down by MarineKing's marines

Clide starts to counterattack, but empty dropships in the back of his main cause his army to temporarily pull back

Clide is at a considerable disadvantage in SCVs but he has a larger army

The two armies meet at MarineKing's watchtower and Clide's army wins again

Clide's fifteen surviving marines force the command center at the gold to cancel

Now Clide's army swoops down, takes out the defending marines in MarineKing's base, and pushes into the main

MarineKing concedes

Clide's superior upgrades certainly helped in the marine fights, and while I'm not positive I think in the initial engagement MarineKing actually focused the SCVs instead of the marines. At the very least, he let the automatic targeting take out the SCVs. Clide was crippled but he was smart enough to hit while he still could.

SlayerSLegalMinD vs. ZeNEXLiveForever (T) on Shakuras Plateau
Match Rating: 4/10

Click for match play by play

Top positions, LiveForever at 10 and LegalMinD at 2

Standard openings for both players, factory and bunker for LiveForever

Starport and tech lab for LiveForever, four gates for LegalMinD

Proxy pylon going up at the top gold expansion

Banshee and tank start for LiveForever, LegalMinD moves out with his stalkers and sentries

The first banshee heads out to LegalMinD's base, raven coming up next from the starport

LegalMinD's army moves up the ramp and force fields behind the bunker to prevent retreat

In LegalMinD's base the banshee rapidly kills probes, but four zealots, three stalkers, and a sentry are alive in LiveForever's base

The banshee starts attacking LegalMinD's nexus and LiveForever lifts his command center and flies it off the map

If LegalMinD loses his nexus it will be a draw, but the stalkers get back and fend off the banshees, allowing the surviving probes to go back to work

LiveForever concedes

Well, four gate rush beats uncloaked banshees. With cloak it seems like LiveForever could have at least gotten a draw or in fact probably won, but he wanted to get a tank.

Match 1 winner vs Match 2 loser
Match Rating: 5/10

Click for match play by play

TSLClide (T) vs. ZeNEXLiveForever (T) vs. on Steppes of War

Two barracks for LiveForever, factory for Clide

Clide pressures with three marines and an SCV

There are only two marines at the top of the ramp...they both die and Clide has two marines left over

There's a reactor on LiveForever's barracks so two marines come out, forcing Clide to retreat

A hellion reinforces and he tries to break the ramp again, but there's enough marines and SCVs now to defend

Clide getting a starport and a tank

Clide sends two more hellions and a marine or two, but LiveForever pulls back and then moves in with marauders

Clide retreats in the face of the marauders. LiveForever pursues with...everything, including most of his SCVs.

Clide builds a couple barracks at the top of his ramp and a brief hesitation from LiveForever gives them time to finish

LiveForever moves up the ramp and kills the barracks, but the most of his marines are killed, leaving him with mainly SCVs

A banshee comes out of the starport and goes to kill the reinforcing marines

LiveForever surrenders

Surprisingly aggressive play from Clide despite the fact he was teching to banshees. Against a better player he might have paid for it, but you can't argue with the results.

Match 2 winner vs Match 1 loser
Match Rating: 3/10

Click for match play by play

MarineKingPrimeWE (T) vs. SlayerSLegalMinD on Metalopolis

Close air positions, MarineKing at 6 and LegalMinD at 9

Standard openings for both players

MarineKing does his usual one barracks fast expand, but he gets gas to get a reactor

Two more barracks for MarineKing, three gate robotics for LegalMinD

Stim for MarineKing as he floats the command center to the natural, immortal coming from the robotics

LegalMinD puts a proxy pylon in the center of the map and moves his army there

An SCV sees an immortal, but of course MarineKing's composition is (surprise) mainly marines with a few marauders mixed in

LegalMinD cuts MarineKing's army in half, but he doesn't have enough zealots nor are they in front...his army melts

MarineKing counters to the natural where a nexus was warping in, not a lot to defend

LegalMinD concedes

Doing a fast immortal rush against a guy whose name is MarineKing...questionable.

Deciding Game(s)
Match Rating: 8/10

Click for match play by play

MarineKingPrimeWE (T) vs. SlayerSLegalMinD on Steppes of War, winner advances (second) and the loser is eliminated (third)

Standard opening for LegalMinD, factory and then second barracks for MarineKing

Four gateways for LegalMinD, bunker going up at the top of MarineKing's ramp

Proxy pylon warping in on the high ground above the rocks, tank coming from the factory

The stalkers and zealots storm up MarineKing's ramp

Initially it looks like MarineKing is going to hold it, but reinforcements break the defenses at the top of the ramp

MarineKing retreats toward his production builds and SCVs repair his one tank

For a time the game is balanced on a knife edge with both players trading blows in MarineKing's base at even supply

LegalMinD drops back to reinforce

MarineKing starts a bunker as LegalMinD attacks again

A force field helps block the zealots away from the marines and LegalMinD has to withdraw back to his base

MarineKing moves out with two tanks and about 16 marines and skirmishes in the middle of the map

Force fields go down, initially trapping the tanks, but they escape

LegalMinD has to withdraw to his main. Siege mode is finishing for MarineKing

Stalkers warp in behind MarineKing's army to cut off reinforcements

MarineKing moves up the ramp and has his marines cut off by a force field

But the tanks are sieged behind them and devastate the Protoss army, including the stalkers attacking from behind

Despite heavy losses MarineKing establishes a siege contain and LegalMinD doesn't have the units to break it

MarineKing inches his siege tanks forward and when his marines go up the map LegalMinD engages

There are too many siege tanks in position and LegalMinD retreats again

MarineKing's units stream into LegalMinD's main, destroying the few units and probes there defending it

LegalMinD surrenders

An exciting, back and forth game that really felt like it could go either way. With some better force field placement LegalMinD might have scraped out a victory, but in the end it was MarineKing's micro that proved superior.

Group G Results and Commentary

Click for results, standings, and commentary

Results
TSLClide (1-0) defeats MarineKingPrimeWE (0-1)
SlayerSLegalMinD (1-0) defeats ZeNEXLiveForever (0-1)
TSLClide (2-0) defeats ZeNEXLiveForever (0-2) [Clide advances, LiveForever eliminated]
MarineKingPrimeWE (1-1) defeats SlayerSLegalMinD (1-1) [Clide clinches first, LiveForever finishes last]
MarineKingPrimeWE (2-1) defeats SlayerSLegalMinD (1-2) [MarineKing takes second and advances, LegalMinD ends up third and is eliminated]

Standings
1. TSLClide
2. MarineKingPrimeWE
3. SlayerSLegalMinD
4. ZeNEXLiveForever

Commentary
People complain about Tasteless and Artosis' relentless hyping of Clide, but the game against LeenockfOu in GSL 3 proved he's a force to be reckoned with. He beat one of the best Terran players out there in MarineKing. It was a weak group, but who knows, maybe this really is Clide's time? Despite his initial loss to Clide, MarineKing looks like he's still a contender, especially with his (slightly) more diverse play. LegalMinD came close but he couldn't find a way to beat MarineKing, which is pretty much what everyone expected given their past performances. LiveForever looked about as rusty as you'd expect for someone who hasn't been playing competitively in a couple months. I think he's going to be a player that a Code A promotion hopeful will be glad to see they've been matched up with.

2011 GSL January Code A: Day 7

Today in Code A, the infamous cheese rusher BitByBitPrimeWE is taking on one of the best Warcraft 3 players ever, "The Fifth Race" FOXMoon. In the second match, Artosis' favorite player GuineaPigCommando goes up agaisnt STAugust.

BitByBitPrimeWE Terran T-#2 2010 Results: DNQ, DNQ, ro16 Eliminated Map: Shakuras Plateau

vs.

FOXMoon Zerg #T-21 2010 Results: DNQ, DNQ, ro32 Eliminated Map: Steppes of War

Metalopolis Jungle Basin Lost Temple

GuineaPigCommando AKA TSLGuineaPig Terran T-#9 2010 Results: ro64, DNQ, ro32 Eliminated Map: Steppes of War

vs.

STAugust Terran T-#21 2010 Results: ro32, DNQ, DNQ Eliminated Map: Jungle Basin

Metalopolis Scrap Station Lost Temple

BitByBitPrimeWE (T) vs FOXMoon (Z)
Match Rating: 4/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Metalopolis

Close ground positions, BitByBit at 3 and Moon at 6

BitByBit walls in on the low ground, Moon goes gas and then pool first

Second barracks in the main for BitByBit...then three barracks

Zergling speed for Moon, then baneling nest

5 banelings on the high ground between bases for Moon, still more zerglings on the way

BitByBit tries to come out, immediately gets attacked by banelings and zerglings

Almost all the marines die to the banelings and the zerglings go over the lowered supply depot

Two zerglings morph into banelings behind the smoke, the other zerglings kill a few more marines

The two banelings attack the choke from the rear while zerglings press from the front, but the marines shoot down the banelings

More banelings kill the walling supply depot and allow zerglings in to attack the weakened marines, but BitByBit cleans them up

Moon tries to come back with more zerglings and banelings, but turns around after seeing BitByBit's two bunkers above the ramp

Factory for BitByBit, Moon staying with zerglings and banelings

BitByBit builds two starports, Moon takes his natural

A hellion or two plus banshees for BitByBit, cloak begins researching as well

The first two banshees move out, lair two thirds complete for Moon, evolution chamber is half done

The banshees kill a queen, then start hitting dones

Moon brings two queens to fight the banshees, but they cloak and kill them

Moon throws up a ton of spore crawlers, too many for all to be killed

The banshees kill a few of the spore crawlers to allow an angle to hit the natural expansion

While Moon tries to reposition some spore crawlers, BitByBit moves out with a large group of marines and SCVs

The army arrives and plows through Moon's spore crawlers like it's a single player mission

With almost all his drones gone Moon creates a few more banelings and sends them to die

Moon concedes

Moon had the right counter to BitByBit's rush, but surprisingly he made the wrong tactical choice, attacking while the army could still retreat up the ramp. He must have been attacking regardless and just happened to have the same timing...but if so that makes it sound like he didn't realize a rush was coming. And...come on, it's BitByBit.

Game 2 - Jungle Basin

Hatch on 15 for Moon, one barracks fast expand for BitByBit followed by double gas

Moon's zerglings kill the scouting SCV in the center of the map, then get driven off by a few marines in the center of the map

Factory for BitByBit then another two barracks, zergling speed for Moon

Starport now for BitByBit, evolution chamber for Moon

Lair for Moon, tank and siege mode for BitByBit

Moon takes a third at the near outside expansion while starting a baneling nest

Spire now for Moon, who has been making drones at the expense of units and creep tumors

Baneling speed beginning, BitByBit makes two more barracks

Reactors go on the starport and two of the barracks, stim researching

Mutalisks coming for Moon as well as air attack

Armory for BitByBit as well as a few turrets

The mutalisks poke into the base but get repelled by turrets, banelings burrowed all around the bottom of BitByBit's ramp

Moon makes 34 more banelings while continuing to make mutalisks

BitByBit moves his army out over the banelings and...somehow...Moon misses everything when he detonates his ten burrowed banelings

Moon sends in his banelings and mutalisks...he has an absolutely incredible number of banelings

BitByBit does a decent job of spreading his marines but there are more than enough banelings for all of them

Mutalisks handle the siege tanks while the surviving banelings...a lot of them...head into the base

The few marines there die and there are still more banelings left over, so they head into the SCV line

Finally all the banelings go off. BitByBit has pretty much nothing left.

BitByBit concedes.

That was about as overwhelming an attack as I've ever seen. I guess you shouldn't let Zerg have three bases with absolutely no pressure.

Game 3 - Lost Temple

Close ground positions, BitByBit at 12 and Moon at 9

BitByBit walls in on the bottom of his ramp and puts up a second barracks in his main

Meanwhile, hatch first for Moon and then a third barracks for BitByBit

BitByBit sends two marines and an SCV to Moon's natural, but ten zerglings are out and chase them away

Spine crawler going up at Moon's natural plus a baneling nest

BitByBit moves out and the baneling nest isn't even half done

Eight marines and about ten SCVs head into the expansion...Moon doesn't support the spine crawler and lets it die

He cancels the second spine crawler and waits at the top of the ramp

BitByBit ignores the expansion hatch and goes up the ramp

Moon is making banelings in an exposed position, but drones move in to attack while they finish

A few banelings finish and take out about a third of the marines

Zerglings and drones take out another third and the marines retreat toward the ramp

Zerglings from the natural come up the ramp as the marines go down, surrounding them

The attack ends with rallied reinforcements turning around. BitByBit has 4 SCVs left, Moon has plenty of zerglings.

BitByBit makes a few more marines and heads out again. Moon easily surrounds them with his drones and zerglings.

BitByBit surrenders

Strange game. It definitely looked like BitByBit could focus down the morphing banelings and then easily win. It's really hard to believe he didn't...focus firing is, er, pretty basic. Perhaps he was macroing, or it was the pressure?

Commentary: Artosis got his wish and in game 2 BitByBit played a standard game. Unfortunately, he wasn't very good, and Moon took advantage of the lack of pressure to steamroll him. Meanwhile, game 3 looked winnable for BitByBit but for some basic micro errors. Hard to really evaluate Moon based on games like this. He still looks like a surprisingly middle of the road SC2 player for all his Warcraft 3 pedigree, but perhaps in more normal games he'll be stronger.

GuineaPigCommando (P) vs STAugust (T)
Match Rating: 4/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Metalopolis

Cross positions, August at 12 and GuineaPig at 6

Standard openings for both players

Hellion and then starport for August, blue flame researching

Nexus on about 36 supply for GuineaPig, then robotics

Medivac out, presumably for a hellion drop, and a raven coming

August gets a second barracks and stim as his dropship finds a hidden spot and drops four blue flame hellions in the main

Stalkers and a sentry from the expansion clean them up, but a lot of probes die in the meantime...the workers are about even now

August moves out with more hellions and sends the medivac to the back of the base as a distraction while the hellions wait at the natural

GuineaPig either doesn't see or just ignores the dropship and the hellions find a defended natural

Banshees and cloak coming for August

August moves out with mass hellion, marauders, SCVs, banshees, and his raven

GuineaPig has about a dozen stalkers, an immortal, a few sentries, and some zealots

The two armies engage, August deploys two point defense drones to help with the stalkers

The marauders crush the stalkers, the hellions deal with the zealots

With the army routed, the marauders move into the main and destroy the pylons powering GuineaPig's production buildings

GuineaPig concedes

Very clever hellion/marauder composition for August...GuineaPig had no idea what hit him.

Game 2 - Scrap Station

Standard openings for both players

August gets a bunker and a starport, GuineaPig gets a stargate

Banshee and cloak for August, void ray coming for GuineaPig along with two gateways

The void ray heads into August's base while the banshee enters GuineaPig's

Belatedly the robotics starts, August getting a viking to help with the void ray

18 kills (all of them probes I believe) on the banshee when it runs out of cloak and dies

A second cloaked banshee arrives, of course, and kills another five probes before an observer finally arrives

The two void rays skirmish with vikings and one of them dies

14 probes to 32 SCVs, August has an expansion up at his natural

A raven and two more starports for August and stim, GuineaPig puts up a natural at his nexus

Twilight council for GuineaPig, who is building immortals out of the robotics

August getting stim, banshees, and vikings while GuineaPig gets charge

August is fifty supply ahead, though he keeps building vikings to counter a single void ray

Finally August starts taking down the rocks with a ton of marines, marauders, and banshees

As expected, August's army demolishes GuineaPig's defenders and smashing into the main

GuineaPig surrenders

Commentary: GuineaPig's "sky Protoss" strategy impressed a lot of people. This was...less impressive. August used an unusual composition in game 1 so perhaps it's understandable GuineaPig had problems, but in game 2 GuineaPig completely failed to prepare for what may be the most common Terran strategy on Scrap Station: early banshee pressure. August looks promising, at least, but he had a pretty easy time of it here.

2011 GSL January Code A: Day 6

SlayerSGolden AKA GoldenfOu Zerg T-#21 2010 Results: DNQ, DNQ, ro32 Eliminated Map: Delta Quadrant

vs.

ZeNEXByun AKA Bleach Terran #T-15 2010 Results: ro32, ro64, DNQ Eliminated Map: Scrap Station

Shakuras Plateau Steppes of War Metalopolis

Gilja AKA Sync Terran T-#21 2010 Results: DNQ, ro32, DNQ Eliminated Map: Blistering Sands

vs.

TSLKiller AKA SangHo, TSLBabyByeBye Protoss T-#2 2010 Results: DNQ, ro16, DNQ Eliminated Map: Delta Quadrant

Scrap Station Shakuras Plateau Jungle Basin

SlayerSGolden (Z) vs ZeNEXByun (T)
Match Rating: 5/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Shakuras Plateau

Byun at 10, Golden at 5

Hatch first for Golden who steals Byun's gas, Byun gets a reaper then a command center on 21

The reaper quickly takes down the extractor, then heads out to scout

The reaper kills two drones after scouting the base, zergling speed meanwhile for Golden

At home Byun getting a tank and siege mode, then a second factory

Golden takes his third, Byun getting an armory and engineering bay

Lair, evolution chamber, and a roach warren for Golden

Two thors and three turrets for Byun, infestation pit for Golden

Four barracks now for Byun and he knocks down the rocks behind his base

Zerglings are taking down the other set of rocks

Baneling nest for Golden, command center for Byun

Reactors on all four of Byun's new barracks, stim researching as well

Golden making roaches and infestors

Byun begins hard pushing across the top of the map, Golden takes a fourth

Zerglings try to counter to Byun's natural but get repelled

Fifth base for Golden as well, Byun lands his command center at the top center expansion as Golden retreats

Hive coming for Golden

Golden suddenly rushes his army into Byun's sieged up position

Even though Byun had siege tanks and a ramp protecting his army, the roaches run down the ramp and infestors neural parasite his thors and several siege tanks

Golden wins the battle decisively, but the top center command center is a planetary fortress so it is left alone

Golden moves back around through the center of the map and attacks Byun's natural, fungaling the marines who try to reinforce

Siege tanks on the high ground force Golden to retreat but only after inflicting a lot of damage

Greater spire coming for Golden, Byun making a few vikings

Marines drop in Golden's fifth base and kill some drones

A few brood lords out for Golden, one now attacks Byun's third

Vikings come to kill the one brood lord, but infestors fungal them and then neural parasite them to kill each other

With the viking count much lower, Golden moves in with about six brood lords and destroys the planetary fortress at Byun's third with roach assistance

More vikings finally repel the brood lords, but Byun is almost mined out

Golden floats his main's orbital to his third and sieges up on the other side while being harassed by mutalisks

After a lot of skirmishing, Byun takes out Golden's fourth hatchery and then moves down into his third

Golden moves his army elsewhere but doesn't actually counter attack, meanwhile marines kill his third hatchery

There's a large battle in the center of the map...Golden loses most of his mutalisks, Byun loses most of his marines

Byun's siege tanks take out Golden's mining hatcheries and suddenly Golden is starved

Byun is almost out as well, but he has a supply advantage

Golden still has a lot of infestors, so he uses fungal growth to snipe units on the edge of Byun's army

Byun takes one of the center bases, Golden retakes his original fourth

Golden fungals many of the SCVs mining at Byun's one base but loses several infestors

Marines drive Golden away from the high ground, killing another infestor

Byun sieges his tanks underneath Golden's one base, forcing Golden to attack into it

This time Golden can't win the battle and loses his army

Golden concedes

Lost opportunity for Golden, who had a big advantage of his neural parasite attack wiped out much of Byun's forces, but he just didn't do anything to capitalize. Either taking more bases (as Artosis wanted) or counterattacking effectively would surely have won the game.

Game 2 - Steppes of War

Pool first for Golden, two barracks for Byun

Fast roach warren for Golden, an SCV enters his base but gets repelled by zerglings before seeing it

Three marines and some SCVs arrive and wall off the bottom of Golden's ramp with two bunkers

The roaches shoot the bunkers from the high ground where the marines in the bunkers have no vision

Byun takes his natural, Golden getting a baneling nest and zergling speed

Golden gets five banelings and a bunch of zerglings, then breaks through the bunkers and heads down to Byun's expansion

Three bunkers with a fourth building for Byun, now a fifth, but it gets shot down by the roaches

The roaches hold off and wait for some banelings

The banelings take out one of the bunkers, the roaches head up the ramp

They can't fit through the barracks, so they try to shoot them down, but SCVs repair and all this time marines are hitting the roaches

The roaches die, of course

Golden surrenders

A foolish attack on Byun's natural at the end made defeat inevitable. I think Golden had time before the economy kicked in for Byun to get more banelings so he could properly take on the defenses.

Commentary: The first game was exciting at times, but in both games it felt like Golden was floundering around. Probably Byun's somewhat unusual plays (initial mech on Shakuras, bunker wall-in on Steppes) meant Golden had to break from the plans he he practiced and he just couldn't improvise well enough. Byun deserves a lot of credit for hanging tough and digging out a victory in the long first game, however.

Gilja (T) vs TSLKiller (P)
Match Rating: 7/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Scrap Station

Standard openings for both players, then Gilja gets a reaper

Gilja starts a command center at about 22 supply, Killer gets another gateway and a robotics bay

Stim researching for Gilja as the reaper heads into the main, where it kills a probe and then is killed by sentries

Immortal and two more gateways for Killer, a fourth barracks for Gilja as he floats his command center to his natural

For some reason Gilja's marauders take down the rocks in the middle of the map

Second immortal almost out for Killer, Gilja scans and sees the immortals

Gilja retreats to his side of the map, Killer moves across with his army

A battle is fought...Killer drops force fields and wins, but Gilja retreats with some of his units back to his main

Gilja sends SCVs after Killer's army while his infantry focuses down the last immortal and chases his units to the south

A few stalkers kill a number of SCVs at Gilja's natural

Killer adds another immortal to his army and attacks across the rocks again

Killer's army focuses down the bunker Gilja built there, but Gilja's forces focus down Killer's immortal

Killer's force is chased by to his main

Gilja puts up two bunkers near the rocks and builds a starport, Killer gets another immortal and belatedly takes his natural

Twilight council now for Killer, Gilja getting medivacs and continuing to make infantry

Ghost academy for Gilja as well, who moves out across the bridge toward Killer's defending units

Three immortals and some stalkers and zealots there to defend, but Gilja has more than enough infantry to destroy them

Killer concedes

Killer just didn't do enough damage to the expansion after he initially got an advantage with his immortal push. Once Gilja stabilized his economic advantage allowed him to coast to a victory.

Game 2 - Shakuras Plateau

Bottom positions, Killer at 5 and Gilja at 7

Standard openings for both players, Gilja gets a reaper again

Command center at 20 for Gilja, hidden pylon in the back of the top left main for Killer

Killer starts a twilight council by the hidden pylon but the reaper finds it and kills the probe

Killer has to cancel the twilight council and builds a robotics in his main instead

Stim for Gilja has he sends his command center to his natural, nexus warping in for Killer at his natural

Robotics bay for Killer, ghost academy for Gilja and concussive shells

Two more barracks for Gilja as well as two ghosts, immortal coming for Killer

Colossus and thermal lance coming for Killer, factory for Gilja

Gilja moves out into the center of the map with his marine/marauder army

The army arrives at Killer's natural but force fields block them...one sentry is EMPed

Thermal lance is finished and two colossus are out, two starports building for Gilja

Two more sentries are EMPed

Forge and two stargate for Killer, Gilja retreats back to his natural while still making colossus

Gilja making lots of vikings, Killer making phoenixes

Gilja moves his army to the center of the map and takes his third

The phoenixes harass Gilja's main a little bit, but Gilja has twice their number in vikings and chases them away easily

Gilja now moves in with a very large marauder army escorted by lots of vikings

Gilja pulls back to the center of the map, Killer takes his third

The two armies engage...the vikings ignore the phoenixes and destroy all the colossus

About a dozen marauders survive once the ground armies cancel each other out, but there are ten phoenixes left and they help kill the infantry

The phoenixes now counterattack, killing marines and vikings as they find them, then harass the main, though there are turrets there so they end up leaving

Zealot legs and colossus again for Killer, Gilja rebuilds his infantry army and moves out again

Three colossus out for Killer, templar archives coming

Gilja tries to engage, but force fields hold the marauders away from the colossus and this time there's no vikings to help

Killer wins the battle and continues to harass with his phoenixes, researching storm meanwhile

Gilja attacks the colossus since they are only escorted by sentries, but force fields prevent the marauders from managing to kill any of them

The colossus move right into Gilja's natural now and lay waste to it, destroying a ridiculous number of SCVs

Now they move up to the third and destroy that as well

Gilja makes one last ditch attack, but force fields once again protect the colossus and the last marauders melt

Gilja concedes

Killer reacted to Gilja's vikings with a transition into mass phoenix and Gilja couldn't come up his own response.

Game 3 - Jungle Basin

Standard openings, Gilja doing his reaper / fast command center opening once again

Twilight council in the back of Killer's base, stim researching for Gilja

Dark shrine now for Killer, who kills Gilja's scout reaper in time to keep it hidden

Gilja scans and sees the dark shrine, Killer takes his natural

Gilja puts up missile turrets but a DT gets into Gilja's main before the one at the ramp is finished

Two more in the natural kill a few SCVs, but one dies thanks to a turret and the other after a scan

Templar archives now for Killer, concussive shells for Gilja

Zealot legs now for Killer, Gilja moves out with his infantry and heads for the back rocks

Storm isn't even close to finished as about 8 marauders and 10 marines move into Killer's natural

Killer makes an archon since storm isn't done and attacks with it and some zealots

Gilja's infantry goes behind the minerals but the zealots get enough hits to win the battle

Gilja adds a starport and three more barracks, amulet researching for Killer

Gilja sends a small infantry force to Killer's natural and kills a few probes and a templar before getting cleaned up

Killer sends two DTs into Gilja's natural, destroys the turret there, and gets a number of SCVs

With Gilja's army down dealing with the DTs, Killer's army breaks through the front

Te infantry rushes to defend and gets stormed for their trouble

The templar turn into archons and help the zealots clean up the surviving units

Gilja surrenders

Gilja did well to hold off the initial DT attack, but the delayed second wave while his attention was elsewhere paved the way for Killer's victory.

Commentary: Although both these guys were very good SC1 players at previous points in their careers, they look like fairly middle of the road SC2 players at the moment. After his all-in failed in the first game, Killer switched to a safer, macro style and did quite well, something we see too rarely from Protoss. In the second game his hidden tech was spotted and in the third his DTs initially did very little damage, but in both cases he was able to fall back on a solid composition and rely on his superior skills to earn him victory.

2011 January Code S Round of 32: Group F

Group F should make for a memorable day for Protoss fans:

Player		Code S Rank	2010 Results
oGsMC	P	#3	ro64, ro32, Champion
oGsInCa	P	#13	ro8, ro16, DNQ
oGsNaDa	T	#20	DNQ, ro8, DNQ
sanZenith	P	T-#27	ro16, ro32, DNQ

This group has three extremely talented oGs players...and also sanZenith. oGsMC not only won GSL 3, he made it look easy as he cruised through the latter stages of the tournament. He has to be considered the best Protoss player in the world, although Genius is snapping at his heels. InCa meanwhile is always included in lists of the top Protoss players, but he hasn't had the results to justify it since GSL 1. NaDa was a legend in Starcraft 1, but while he's shown some flashes of brilliance in Starcraft 2 he still has to prove he's among the very top tier of players (his GSL 2 quaterfinals run was, frankly, against a relatively easy bracket). sanZenith, meanwhile, is fairly well-known himself in SC2 circles for his match against MakaPrimeWE in GSL 2 where he put on what is widely considered to be the worst performance by any player in all three 2010 tournaments. He was eliminated from the GSL 1 round of 16 by his first game opponent today, oGsInCa.

As usual, the group C VOD has basic subtitled video interviews with each player before their first game (and again for game 2 it's at the end of the game 1 video).

oGsMC (P) vs. oGsNaDa (T) on Shakuras Plateau
Match Rating: 7/10

Click for match play by play

Cross positions, MC at 2 and Nada at 8

Standard opening for MC, quick command center at 21 supply for NaDa

Two more barracks for Nada, MC sends a stalker and zealot across the map

MC's two units poke up the ramp, but NaDa kites the zealot with his marines and kills it without losing any units

Stim coming for NaDa, nexus at the natural and three more gateways for MC

Robotics bay starts for MC just as NaDa moves out with his infantry force: 13 marines and six marauders

They stim into the natural. MC force fields the ramp but he ends up trapping most of the army in the natural

MC holds off the army, but he loses all his sentries and ends with only a few stalkers left

Starport, concussive shells, and more barracks on the way for NaDa, observer and robotics bay for MC

Thermal lance starts, and meanwhile NaDa sends another wave toward MC's base

NaDa moves his infantry into a light contain position outside MC's natural but doesn't attack

MC starts a nexus at his third right as NaDa begins a third command center

A spotter marine sees the nexus coming in, meanwhile NaDa is making vikings

Twilight council for MC who seems to have stopped colossus production at three

Blink starts as the two armies engage in front of MC's base

The vikings kill the colossus, but the stalkers cut through the infantry who cannot retreat due to force fields

Two forges for MC and then zealot legs, NaDa has his third up in a low center expansion

MC pushes forward with a large stalker force but turns back after making contact with a large marauder force

Templar archives starts while MC harasses NaDa's third with his stalkers at the watchtower

NaDa getting ghosts and cloak, MC getting storm and a fourth nexus

NaDa pushes forward with an all-marauder force, but force fields trap them against a group of zealots

Stalkers blink to pursue and completely destroy NaDa's army

MC moves into NaDa's third and destroys NaDa's infantry when they try to stop the attack

Between MC's superior numbers and templar storms, he has almost complete control of NaDa's third

NaDa concedes

NaDa is good but MC is one of the very best. Besides staying even in macro, MC had superior micro in the battles, winning almost every engagement.

oGsInCa (P) vs. sanZenith (P) on Metalopolis
Match Rating: 1/10

Click for match play by play

Close ground positions, InCa at 12 and san at 9

InCa immediately sends a probe in the correct direction, sneaks into san's base, and proxies a gateway behind the smoke

InCa adds a forge as well, then puts a cannon in front of everything

san scouts in the wrong direction, so his first indication that anything is wrong is the zealot walking into his mineral line

san tries to fight with his probes but of course there's no chance as the zealots keep coming out of the gateway

san concedes

"Like beating up a puppy," Artosis says, and indeed that was absolutely brutal.

Match 2 winner vs Match 1 loser (played first due to equipment issue)
Match Rating: 8/10

Click for match play by play

oGsInCa (P) vs. oGsNaDa (P) on Delta Quadrant

Right positions, InCa at 2 and NaDa at 5

Standard opening for InCa, two barracks for NaDa with the second behind the minerals of his natural

Marauders and concussive shells for NaDa, InCa puts a pylon at the 6 o'clock gold and proxies a robotics there

NaDa pokes InCa's ramp with two marauders and a marine

The first force field doesn't quite trap any units, but after it goes away zealots clean them up

Immortals coming out of the proxy robotics, meanwhile NaDa moves four marauders and seven marines to the bottom of InCa's ramp

Plenty of sentries available for InCa but not much else...NaDa feints but doesn't go up the ramp

Third immortal coming now for InCa at the proxy, two more barracks and a command center finishing for NaDa

NaDa pulls back so InCa's sentries and zealots move out and join the immortals

Without waiting for the fourth immortal, InCa attacks NaDa's units, pushing them back into the main

InCa force fields behind NaDa's army, trapping them against the zealots, but the immortals aren't in range and the zealots melt

NaDa builds a bunker while four immortals and a few sentries contain him at the bottom of the ramp

Second bunker for Nada, robotics bay and an expansion nexus for InCa

NaDa sends a few marauders to remove the rocks at the back natural

Thermal lance starts, then the first colossus. Meanwhile InCa gets a starport.

The first colossus emerges from the proxy robotics and joins the containing force

NaDa's back expansion is up and running but he has no vikings

NaDa sends a dropship with four marauders to InCa's main, no units to defend

InCa attacks the ramp with three colossus...InCa loses a lot of units but so does NaDa

When the dust settles InCa has two colossus and a small group of stalkers, NaDa has two vikings out

InCa takes a fourth in the 10 o'clock main and keeps warping in stalkers to his containing army

InCa loads four dropships full of marauders and unloads on to the low ground

InCa walks up the ramp, sees nothing there, then moves and attacks NaDa's units in the natural

NaDa's marauders are trapped behind the minerals but the colossus fall quickly to the vikings

InCa basically wins the battle, forcing the few surviving Terran units to return to NaDa's base, but at a huge price

With his colossus count low, NaDa attacks and defeats the army by killing the last colossus and then landing his vikings to help fight the stalkers

Now NaDa swings around, traps and kills InCa's last attacking units at the proxy location

InCa is up three bases to two but NaDa has the advantage in attacking units

NaDa doesn't hesitate and sends his army to InCa's natural, smashing it easily

InCa concedes

Great game where InCa seemed to get a decisive advantage, but NaDa had nerves of steel and dug out a victory with a clever breakout maneuver.

Match 1 winner vs Match 2 loser
Match Rating: 3/10

Click for match play by play

oGsMC (P) vs. sanZenith (P) on Metalopolis

Close air positions, MC at 12 and san at 3

This time sanZenith puts a pylon behind his smoke immediately

Both players go three gateways, after that san gets a stargate and MC gets a twilight council

MC tries to blast up the ramp with his stalkers but is held off by san's defending stalkers

Void rays coming for san, blink for MC

MC's second wave of stalkers kill some of san's stalkers that were wandering around the outside of the map

A sentry prevents MC's stalkers from going up the ramp, but blink is almost done

MC blinks up the ramp, and although san has charged his void ray on the gateway it gets focused down almost immediately

The second void ray is destroyed quickly as well as MC's stalkers get deep into san's base

san surrenders

Sadly, for san this was a much better performance. Still, he got crushed by a straightforward blink rush in less than ten minutes. In any case, MC advances top of the group as expected.

Deciding Game(s)
Match Rating: 7/10

Click for match play by play

oGsInCa (P) vs. oGsNaDa (T) on Lost Temple, winner advances and loser is eliminated

Cross positions, NaDa at 12 and InCa at 6

One gas into marauders and concussive shells into command center for NaDa

Nexus at about 30 for InCa at his natural, scout reaper out for NaDa who is building three more barracks

Three gate robotics for InCa, NaDa floats his barracks to his natural and starts stim

Robotics bay for InCa, who uses it to make an observer and finally get the reaper off the ledge at his natural

NaDa takes out the rocks at his gold, InCa starting a colossus and thermal lance

NaDa moves in with his army trying to hit the pre-colossus timing

NaDa stims in and most of his army makes it through the inevitable force fields

The sentries are killed and the few stalkers with them, InCa falls back to the high ground and a colossus comes out

A force field keeps the marauders from engaging the colossus but they easily kill the nexus and then withdraw

InCa starts a new nexus while NaDa scans and kills the observer watching his units in the center of the map

NaDa has two starports, both with reactors, making medivacs and vikings

Warp prism and forge for InCa, NaDa builds a command center at the gold

The warp prism picks up a probe and heads for the island, but NaDa scans just as it's about to get there

The warp prism retreats as the vikings move in and look for it

The prism tries to go to the other island but an SCV spots it and the vikings head over there

NaDa moves his army to the choke in front of InCa's natural

Force fields and colossus ravage NaDa's army, so he pulls back and takes a fourth base

Ghost academy out for NaDa, who just took a fifth base. InCa still on two. Make of that what you will.

InCa reseaching blink, NaDa building up his containment position with bunkers and sensor towers

NaDa takes a sixth base. Because he can.

InCa moves out with his army, the marauders assume a huge concave

The vikings cut down the colossus and the stalkers have no chance against the marauders

InCa surrenders

After the initial battle NaDa had a large lead that he never relinquished, but it was a virtuoso performance of lead protection.

Group F Results and Commentary

Click for results, standings, and commentary

Results
oGsMC (1-0) defeats oGsNaDa (0-1)
oGsInCa (1-0) defeats sanZenith (0-1)
oGsNaDa (1-1) defeats oGsInCa (1-1)
oGsMC (2-0) defeats sanZenith (0-2) [MC advances top of the group, san eliminated in last position]
oGsNaDa (2-1) defeats oGsInCa (1-2) [NaDa advances second, InCa eliminated and gets third]

Standings
1. oGsMC
2. oGsNaDa
3. oGsInCa
4. sanZenith

Commentary
oGsMC picked up where he left off in GSL 3, making NaDa look ordinary and then smashing sanZenith. oGsNaDa was convincing as well, going 2-0 against a good Protoss in his teammate oGsInCa. As for oGsInCa, in other groups he might have been able to advance, but he obviously couldn't handle NaDa and although he's known particularly for his PvP I think it's safe to say MC would have been a tall order as well. Truly a brutal day for sanZenith, but if he indulges in schadenfreude he can be comforted by the fact that at least his chief tormentor oGsInCa didn't advance either.

2011 GSL January Code A: Day 5

It's "July and three other guys" day in the Code A tournament. Already somewhat anonymous, all three of them have made matters worse by changing their IDs since their previous GSL appearances. Today's matchups:

OdinMVP AKA Aya Terran T-#15 2010 Results: DNQ, ro64, ro64 Eliminated Map: Blistering Sands

vs.

STJuly Zerg #T-2 2010 Results: DNQ, DNQ, ro16 Eliminated Map: Jungle Basin

Delta Quadrant Metalopolis Scrap Station

SlayerSYuGiOh AKA NewDawn Zerg T-#21 2010 Results: DNQ, DNQ, ro32 Eliminated Map: Lost Temple

vs.

ZeNEXGuardian AKA NEXLine and AKA Suhoshin Zerg T-#15 2010 Results: DNQ, ro32, ro64 Eliminated Map: Jungle Basin

Blistering Sands Steppes of War Xel'Naga Caverns

OdinMVP (T) vs STJuly (Z)
Match Rating: 4/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Delta Quadrant

Left positions, Odin at 10 and July at 7

Pool first for July, standard opening for Odin

Zergling speed for July and hatchery on 22, factory and reactor coming for Odin

July cancels the hatchery and puts a baneling nest at the natural instead...wow

At 5:30 July has banelings morphing outside Odin's base

Odin has a bunker but only two marines in it...the banelings destroy the two supply depots easily

SCVs come to help but the zerglings just run by them and force the SCVs away from the minerals

More zerglings are streaming in and the SCVs drop fast

Odin concedes

Cutting edge baneling bust strategy from July, almost certainly the first professional use of it. Odin certainly seemed like he didn't know what hit him.

Game 2 - Metalopolis

Close ground positions, Odin at 3, July at 6

Low ground wall-in two barracks for Odin, hatch first for July on 15

Odin lands his second barracks on the low ground outside his base for a shorter rally

Seven marines head in with a bunch of SCVs

July doesn't even have remotely enough zerglings, no spine crawler either

July's queens go down (the second to SCVs) and the marines and SCVs move into the main

The drones all come in to fight, but there are just way too many marines

July concedes

Turnabout is fair play. Moments after losing to a clinical rush, Odin comes back with one of his own to tie up the series.

Game 3 - Scrap Station

Hatch first on 15 for July, two barracks for Odin with the second at the chokepoint at the bottom of his ramp

Odin builds a bunker in the smoke outside July's base, but July sees it with a drone and moves in with more drones

The drones kill some of the SCVs, then zerglings come in and kill the few marines that had come to try to get to the bunker

Odin takes his natural and builds two more barracks to wall off the chokepoint

Odin puts up a bunker behind the barracks wall with the zerglings patrol outside

Zergling speed finishing and lair staring for July, stim starting for Odin

Spire now for July as well as a baneling nest

Odin moves out with 17 marines and three marauders

The baneling nest finishes as a push approaches, July morphs banelings

The marines almost come too quickly, but they stop to kill overlords and arrive just as the banelings finish and obliterate the marines

Starport and turret being built for Odin, going two factories with tech labs

Siege mode and tanks coming from the factories as mutalisks arrive in Odin's base

The mutalisks move around the periphery of the base. There are some turrets but not enough and he gets several SCVs.

July's third finishes, he starts baneling speed and continues to make zerglings and mutalisks

July gets enough mutalisks that he just stands and fights the marines, killing a bunch of SCVs before reinforcements arrive

Odin tries to drop July's third but speedlings and mutalisks easily destroy it

40 supply lead for July, who starts a hatchery at the zerg

Odin starts to move through the rocks, July makes zerglings and banelings

With Odin's army out of position, a huge group of zerglings run by into the expansion while the mutalisks kill the orbital command in the main

The Terran army gets slowed down by spine crawlers and then gets crushed by a huge number of banelings

Odin surrenders

No way to sugarcoat it: July is way better than Odin. Odin tried to make up the difference with early rush strategies and managed to win a game, but once game 3 turned into a longer game he never had a chance.

Commentary: July looked unstoppable in the early rounds of GSL 3, and while he did turn out to be, well, stoppable by good players, he definitely knows how to grind through the lower tier. Artosis is sure he'll get promoted into Code S. It's a long road so I'm not quite as positive, but he's got to be considered one of the very best Code A players right now.

SlayerSYuGiOh (Z) vs ZeNEXGuardian (Z)
Match Rating: 3/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Blistering Sands

Both players go pool first, though YuGiOh's is earlier

Guardian gets a hatchery at his natural on 15, YuGiOh gets zergling speed

Baneling nest for YuGiOh, zergling speed for Guardian

Baneling nest for Guardian as well now, about one third done when YuGiOh's finishes

YuGiOh makes two banelings and moves into the natural with a zergling escort

Guardian micros his zerglings...right into the two banelings, resulting in all of them dying. Wow.

A second wave of banelings rips through Guardian's drones and his replacement zerglings

With only four drones left, a third wave comes in and kills most of them

Guardian concedes

Zergling/baneling fights are extremely unforgiving and I've seen a lot of micro errors, but that might have been the worst zergling micro against banelings I've seen in any GSL.

Game 2 - Steppes of War

Both players go pool first

Guardian follows up with a roach warren while YuGiOh gets a baneling nest

YuGiOh makes four banelings outside Guardian's main then heads in

The roaches come out just a bit too late. The zerglings dodge the banelings this time, but the banelings just go in and kill drones.

Guardian's not that far behind in terms of drones however, and he has enough roaches now that he cleans out his base and secures his ramp

YuGiOh takes his natural at about 26, both players getting zergling speed

YuGiOh starts a roach warren, meanwhile Guardian gets several overseers and starts a rotating contamination of YuGiOh's hatchery

Guardian's zerglings push down almost into YuGiOh's natural, but YuGiOh makes banelings in his main

YuGiOh's zerglings trap Guardian's units in his natural, allowing the banelings to come down and destroy them

As a result Guardian has almost no units. YuGiOh moves up and into Guardian's base.

Guardian surrenders

After stabilizing with roaches and starting to contaminate, it seemed like Guardian was in a good position, but he overextended himself and let his units get caught by banelings.

Commentary: Guardian made a lot of mistakes, YuGiOh played solid. In a mirror matchup, that's a sure recipe for a victory for the guy playing solid. YuGiOh lost in GSL 3 to BitByBit during the time when Zergs were still trying to figure out the two barracks rush, so it's possible he's quite a bit better than he was given credit for at the time. He certainly looked like the best player at the Code A qualifiers after GSL 3. Even in Code A, however, most of his opponents won't make the same mistakes that Guardian did today.

January 2011 Code S Round of 32: Group E

Group E is another star-studded group with a consistent top performer and the 2010 Blizzcon Champion:

Player		Code S Rank	2010 Results
STRainBOw	T	#4	second place, ro4, ro64
NsPGenius	P	T-#14	ro64, ro8, ro32
LeenockfOu	Z	#22	DNQ, ro16, ro16
AnyproPrimeWE	P	T-#29	ro16, DNQ, ro64

STRainBOw (AKA HopeTorture) was extremely strong in GSL 1 and 2, and while he's shown a few signs of slipping since then he's a force to be reckoned with. NSPGenius hasn't quite had the results in GSL tournaments that he deserves (at least in his opinion), but the controversial player won 2010's Blizzcon invitational tournament. Leenock is a little more obscure, but he impressed a lot of people (including me) with his epic match against TSLClide in GSL 3. Anypro is clearly the minnow of the group. He did well in GSL 1 but lost in absolutely humiliating fashion against TheBestfOu in GSL 3. But in this format anything can happen, so you can't count out the underdogs.

After setting it up properly yesterday, this time GomTV put the game 2 interviews on the end of game 1 in the group E VOD divisions.

IMRainBOw (T) vs. LeenockfOu (Z) on Shakuras Plateau
Match Rating: 7/10

Click for game play by play

Bottom positions, RainBOw at 8, Leenock at 4

RainBOw walls in at the bottom of his ramp, hatch first for Leenock

No gas for RainBOw and he starts his command center on high ground at about 20

RainBOw pressures a bit with a few marines in the middle of the map

Leenock gets a spine crawler and zergling speed

Factory and another barracks for RainBOw, Leenock starts his lair

Third barracks and engineer bay for RainBOw now, plus a tech lab on his factory and a reactor on a barracks

Tank and siege mode for RainBOw, baneling nest for Leenock made at his expansion instead of his main

Spire in Leenock's main now, starport for RainBOw

Baneling speed for Leenock now, one viking building for RainBOw in addition to marines and a tank

RainBOw adding a turret or two and starting to work on the rocks leading to the center

RainBOw's viking kills a scouting overseer, Leenock making 8 mutalisks

Leenock takes his third at the 2 o'clock main and upgrades air attacks

Leenock moves into the center of the map with three tanks and about two dozen marines

The viking gets killed by mutalisks, but RainBOw does a hard push building turrets in a line towards Leenock's base

Now in range of the rocks, RainBOw starts hitting the rocks leading to Leenock's main

Leenock getting 18 banelings while RainBOw crawls up the ramp

Mutalisks snipe one of the tanks and the marines move into the main

Banelings move in but the marines retreat and tank splash damage slaughters about half the banelings

Another small group of banelings goes into RainBOw's natural and kill some SCVs

RainBOw moves in and almost kills the lair, but banelings come in and the marines don't spread properly

RainBOw still has his tanks and he reinforces and then finishes off the lair

Infestor out for Leenock as the tanks crawl through the main

Leenock concedes

Leenock just couldn't find an answer to RainBOw's very strong hard push across the bottom of the map.

NsPGenius (P) vs. AnyproPrimeWE (P) on Shakuras Plateau
Match Rating: 6/10

Click for game play by play

Cross positions, Genius at 9 and Anypro at 3

Similar openings, both players save chronoboost, but Anypro's second gas is later

Genius gets three gate robotics, Anypro goes two gate twilight council

Blink research starts for Anypro, who puts a proxy pylon at the gold near Genius

Observer out for Genius

Anypro sends a stalker up the ramp and then tries to blink on to the high ground...but he misses

Well, Anypro has to retreat from the zealots. When he comes back to try again, Genius puts a force field on the ramp in just the right place to deny vision to the high ground

Genius also has an immortal out which makes Genius perfectly safe

Plan B for Anypro is a nexus and zealot legs, Genius getting blink now himself

Genius moves out, delayed by a force field on his ramp, with two immortals, three sentries, and about a dozen stalkers

Charge finishes just as the attack begins, but Genius blinks on to the high ground with his observer providing vision

Anypro can't defend his expansion nexus and it falls almost immediately

A force field on Anypro's ramp delays the inevitable but Genius is able to blink more stalkers on the high ground than Anypro has

When the force field disperses, Genius' immortals join what was already a slaughter

Anypro concedes

Tragic misclick for Anypro when he tried to blink onto the high ground. Genius might have been able to hold, but at least it wouldn't have been such a one-sided rout as it ended up becoming.

Match 1 winner vs Match 2 loser
Match Rating: 2/10

Click for game play by play

AnyproPrimeWE (P) vs. STRainBOw (T) on Delta Quadrant

Anypro at 10 and RainBOw at 7

Two barracks, tech lab, concussive shells for RainBOw, standard opening for Anypro

Two gates and a stargate for Anypro now while RainBOw comes to pressure with two marauders and two marines

A force field traps the first marauder and allows Anypro's units to kill it

The other three units come up the ramp and kill the stalker defending

Suddenly it's just probes defending the gateways from marauders and marines

The next unit out of the gateways it...a sentry. Ouch.

Warp gates finish but Anypro warps in zealots who die almost immediately thanks to concussive shells

The void ray finishes and kills the marines, then with nothing to hit air it cleans up the marauders

Of course Anypro is at a huge worker disadvantage

The void ray comes down to RainBOw's base, sees marines

Anypro surrenders

Match 2 winner vs Match 1 loser
Match Rating: 3/10

Click for game play by play

LeenockfOu (Z) vs. NsPGenius (P) on Xel'Naga Caverns

Hatch first for Leenock, standard opening for Genius

Leenock actually manages to use his drone to prevent the cybernetics core from being warped in at the top of the ramp and puts the first pylon into yellow health

Genius has to improvise a gateway/two pylon wall-in instead, but Leenock doesn't rush with zerglings

Genius doing a four gate rush, zergling speed and a spine crawler coming for Leenock

Lair now for Leenock, Genius' units move out and put a proxy pylon at Leenock's gold

Leenock adds a second spine crawler and a hydralisk den but Genius pokes in and kills the spine crawler

Genius waits for more units, meanwhile Leenock moves his zerglings down to the watchtower

Genius goes in again and kills the spine crawler before Leenock's units can get back to engage

Genius' army gets into the main and force fields the ramp behind him

Leenock concedes

Another one of these games where a Protoss does a four gate rush and the opponent doesn't adequately prepare. I expected better from Leenock.

Deciding Game(s)
Match Rating: 7/10

Click for game play by play

NsPGenius (P) vs. STRainBOw (T) on Shakuras Plateau to decide seeding in the round of 16 group stage

Top positions, Genius at 10 and RainBOw at 2

Standard opening for Genius, RainBOw gets a reaper off his one barracks tech lab opening

Factory now for RainBOw, robotics and a second gateway for Genius

There's a stalker waiting on the high ground and the reaper turns around after a brief pop up into the base, not seeing the robotics

Tank and siege mode for RainBOw, who starts shooting down the rocks

Nexus on 40 for Genius as he sends an observer to RainBOw's base

The observer watches two tanks and a bunch of marines as they finish the rocks

Genius cancels the nexus, gets an immortal, and warps in more sentries

RainBOw arrives and attacks the rocks, building a bunker on the low ground and sieging up three tanks

Two immortals out and a ton of sentries for Genius, meanwhile he gets a warp prism

RainBOw getting a starport while his forces are stuck on the low ground due to force fields on the ramp leading into the main

Genius puts his two immortals in his warp prism and drops them behind the siege tanks while attacking with his gateway units from the other side

RainBOw's army is crushed and what little is left has to retreat to his main

RainBOw making vikings, Genius still making immortals and also starts his expansion again

Now with better vision on the high ground, RainBOw sieges again on the low ground and forces Genius' units to retreat

RainBOw puts a bunker on the high ground, forcing Genius to attack with his immortals

Two tanks die and then Genius retreats, still a decent number of marines left

More bunkers go up in Genius' main, so he moves back in

Genius' army crushes RainBOw's force and continues to RainBOw's main, where he's forced to block the ramp with SCVs

Genius makes a stargate for phoenixes, RainBOw making hellions and banshees

RainBOw moves out with two tanks, two hellions, and eight marines

Genius has three immortals and at least a dozen zealots

Two hellions are dropped at Genius' expansion and kill a decent number of probes before getting cleaned up

The phoenixes snipe dropships while RainBOw's last ditch attack moves out

Siege tanks, banshees, hellions, and about a dozen marines

Phoenixes pick up the siege tanks and that's the cue for the immortals and stalkers to move in and destroy most of RainBOw's army

RainBOw concedes

Genius looked very strong, scouting RainBOw's strategy and then countering it perfectly.

AnyproPrimeWE (P) vs. LeenockfOu (Z) on Delta Quadrant to decide seeding in the relegation matches

Hatch first on 16 for Leenock, just ahead of the blocking probe

Anypro goes to put down a nexus as well, but the scouting drone squats in that position and kills the probe

Anypro puts down a forge and sends a second probe to kill the scouting drone

Anypro's scout probe walls off the ramp to Leenock's natural with pylons

Leenock cancels his hatchery, Anypro cancels the pylons

Anypro rebuilds his nexus (after first missing the proper position and having to cancel), Leenock puts up his hatch but he does it in the outside expansion closest to Anypro

Anypro scouts it almost immediately with a probe

Lair and zergling speed for Leenock, then takes his natural for a third

Spire now for Leenock, Anypro goes up to four warpgates but it gets scouted by an overseer almost immediately

Two spine crawlers at Leenock's expansion, he contaminates one of the gateways

Blink research starts for Anypro, mutalisks out for Leenock

The mutalisks snipe a stalker warping in at the expansion, then briefly harass the probes

Anypro puts two cannons behind his natural's mineral line, Leenock pumping mutalisks

Leenock's mutalisks force the cannons to cancel, but Anypro recreates them while Leenock pulls back to avoid actually losing mutalisks

A large stalker force blinks past the rocks and attacks Leenock's nearby expansion

Between the spine crawlers, zerglings, and mutalisks they take a huge amount of damage

A few zealots sneak into Leenock's natural and kill a few drones, forcing the mutalisks to come all the way back

Now he attacks Leenock's expansion again, but retreats before the mutalisks can get back

Leenock is up to about 18 mutalisks and still making more while also adding more spine crawlers at that expansion

The mutalisks go to harass the front of Anypro's base while he moves his stalkers to Leenock's expansion again

There's a lot of stalkers, but when the mutalisks arrive they attack from the side and once again force a retreat

This time Leenock just moves into Anypro's army, killing the cannon guarding the way into Anypro's expansion

They pull back for a moment to replenish some zerglings, then in the second wave they sweep away what's left of the defenses

Anypro concedes

Very good game for Leenock after a chaotic opening resulted in a pattern he almost certainly didn't practice.

Group D Results and Commentary

Click for results, standings, and commentary

Results
STRainBOw (1-0) defeats LeenockfOu (0-1)
NsPGenius (1-0) defeats AnyproPrimeWE (0-1)
STRainBOw (2-0) defeats AnyproPrimeWE (0-2) [RainBOw advances, Anypro eliminated]
NsPGenius (2-0) defeats LeenockfOu (0-2) [NsPGenius advances, LeenockfOu eliminated]
NsPGenius (3-0) defeats STRainBOw (2-1) [NsPGenius finishes first, RainBOw finishes second]
LeenockfOu (1-2) defeats AnyproPrimeWE (0-3) [Leenock finishes third, Anypro finishes fourth]

Standings
1. NsPGenius
2. STRainBOw
3. LeenockfOu
4. AnyproPrimeWE

Commentary
If NsPGenius wasn't in the conversation about possible tournament champions, he is now after sweeping a group with two very good players in STRainBOw and LeenockfOu. Although STRainBOw placed second, he seems to have regained the form that saw him place so highly in the first two GSL seasons and ought to be very dangerous going forward. Leenock will be disappointed to be eliminated from the tournament, but really there's no shame in losing to RainBOw and Genius. With two chances to stay in Code S I expect him to escape relegation and be back for the next GSL Code S tournament. Anypro didn't look too bad but he was clearly a couple steps below the other players. He's still got a decent chance to stay in Code S but he'll face a do-or-die match.

2011 GSL January Code A Round of 64: Day 4

Day 4 of the Code A tournament sees the first foreigner match of 2011 as TeamLiquid's Dutch player Ret takes the stage. The second foreigner match is tonight as well, for the Chinese player Loner is playing right afterward. There's a bit of intrigue here as Loner is quite sick, so despite being a clear favorite it's going to be difficult for him. The matchups:

LiquidRet Zerg T-#21 2010 Results: DNQ, DNQ, ro32 Eliminated Map: Delta Quadrant

vs.

oGsCezanne Zerg #T-15 2010 Results: ro64, ro64, DNQ Eliminated Map: Delta Quadrant

Jungle Basin Shakuras Plateau Xel'Naga Caverns

IMPpippi Protoss T-#21 2010 Results: DNQ, ro32, DNQ Eliminated Map: Delta Quadrant

vs.

LonerPrimeWE Terran T-#2 2010 Results: DNQ, ro16, DNQ Eliminated Map: Jungle Basin

Scrap Station Blistering Sands Xel'Naga Caverns

LiquidRet (Z) vs oGsCezanne (Z)
Match Rating: 6/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Jungle Basin

Ret gets gas and then pool, Cezanne goes hatch first

Zergling speed immediately as the pool finishes for Ret, who now pumps zerglings

Hatch on 21 for Ret, who is rallying his zerglings straight to Cezanne's ramp

Roach warren for Cezanne, who gets the better of a small skirmish at the top of his ramp

Ret gets a roach warren as well, both players making drones now instead of units

26 drones for Ret, 21 for Cezanne

Cezanne blocks his ramp with roaches, Ret starts working on Cezanne's rocks with a few zerglings

Cezanne moves out with six zerglings, but Ret has roaches at his ramp as well

Cezanne goes to Ret's rocks with his zerglings and Ret isn't watching

Ret at a huge drone advantage, about 15 ahead

Two evolution chambers for Ret, Cezanne making a roach army

Lair for Ret, Cezanne moves out with a large roach army

Cezanne fights his way up the ramp and Ret doesn't have even close to enough units to defend

Ret concedes

Ret clearly overdroned despite his pool first opening and he paid the price for it. Smart attack by Cezanne.

Game 2 - Shakuras Plateau

Top positions, Cezanne at 10 and Ret at 2

Gas and then pool again for Ret, hatch first for Cezanne

Quick zergling speed for Ret, who takes his expansion at 21 like last game

Roach warren for Cezanne, Ret pokes with his zerglings but Cezanne has more so he withdraws and waits for speed

Ret moves in and uses his speedlings to snipe some zerglings

A few roaches are out but Ret outmaneuvers them and the queen, surrounds the zerglings and kills all of them

Now Cezanne's undefended queen is surrounded and killed as is one roach

Ret's speedlings dart into Cezanne's main and kill two drones before withdrawing

Ret switching to roaches as both players mass up

Ret moves out with seven roaches, Cezanne runs by but Ret gets some speedlings out in time to hold them off

Ret's roaches keep going and take up a position in Cezanne's natural, easily killing the hatchery since with speedling escort Cezanne can't attack them

Ret moves into the main before Cezanne's two spine crawlers can finish

One spine crawler dies while the two players' armies cancel each other out, but a few surviving roaches pursue drones

Massive drone losses for Cezanne make this hopeless, Ret is rallying speedlings into the base

Cezanne concedes

Ret's known as a macro player but he won that game with superior micro in the battle at Cezanne's natural.

Game 3 - Xel'Naga Caverns

Gas then pool first for Cezanne, hatch first for Ret

Quick zergling speed for Cezanne (Ret's opening from games 1 and 2), Ret doing Cezanne's hatch first into roach warren opening

Cezanne pokes but Ret has six lings to Cezanne's four

Ret also getting zergling speed, baneling nest for Cezanne

Cezanne kills one roach that he catches with his speedlings

Two banelings being made outside Ret's natural

One baneling kills a decent number of zerglings, the other gets sniped by Ret's one roach

Cezanne now has a large zergling advantage and pushes into the natural, then the main

Ret scrambles to get more zerglings out but with his queen killed he can't hope to match Cezanne's numbers

Ret surrenders

Cezanne seemed to have banelings out before Ret expected them. Ret just didn't have enough roaches to deal with them.

Commentary: It seems like whoever Artosis talks up as being amazing always loses (call it the Clide effect) but certainly from the games we've seen Ret looked much better in the other matchups than the volatile ZvZ. Hopefully he'll be able to survive relegation and stay in Code A. I'm not sure if Koreans and oGs really see this as an upset, but Cezanne still will feel good going into the next round having beaten a strong opponent.

IMPpippi (P) vs LonerPrimeWE (T)
Match Rating: 5/10
VOD Link

Click for match play by play and commentary

Game 1 - Scrap Station

Standard openings for both players allow Tasteless and Artosis to discuss the long-term prospects of the chest bump as a cultural institution

Reactor on Loner's barracks, both players still on one gas 4 minutes into the game

Second barracks finishes for Loner, gets a tech lab, and starts concussive shells

Nexus on 30 for Ppippi, who puts down a proxy pylon and seems to fake a four gate rush

Loner builds a bunker but of course no attack comes, instead Ppippi sneaks a probe into the base but loses it with some lazy micro

Loner moves out with about eight marines, two marauders, and a few SCVs. Ppippi has four gates up now.

Loner starts building a bunker at the bottom of Ppippi's ramp, forcing Ppippi to attack

Ppippi puts down force fields but doesn't really split Loner's army, allowing Loner to win

Expansion up for Loner and stim about to finish, and he pulls back and masses up off his four barracks.

Robotics coming for Ppippi, starport for Loner

Robotics bay now for Ppippi, medivacs for Loner plus an engineering bay

Colossus and thermal lance start, Loner moves out with a large infantry army

This time Ppippi splits the army with his force fields but he doesn't have enough defending units to crush even half of Loner's army

Loner's army pursues the stalkers up into the main and seems like he is on the brink of victory, but a colossus comes out just in time and forces him to retreat

Loner builds a second starport so he can make vikings while still making medivacs

Loner drops some infantry at Ppippi's natural to get some free probe kills without taking any damage, though he is quickly driven out

Three colossus, three vikings, but Loner has three more coming

Twilight council building for Ppippi, Loner drops the main

While Ppippi sends his whole army to deal with it, Loner follows with his infantry and vikings

When Ppippi comes back, the vikings and marauders easily kill all the colossus

The remaining stalkers get cleaned up

Ppippi concedes

Loner might be sick, but his play wasn't suffering. Sorry. But it's true. Loner looked a class above Ppippi, just like we all expected.

Game 2 - Jungle Basin

Standard openings, although Ppippi gets two gas and Loner gets a tech lab on his first barracks for fast marauders and concussive shells

Second barracks now for Loner, Ppippi going four gate.

Third barracks and stim coming for Loner as well as a reactor for his barracks

Proxy pylon put in Loner's natural. Loner currently isn't watching the rocks.

Ppippi pokes, warps in more units, then charges up the ramp with zealots and stalkers

Loner has a bunker and rushes SCVs to repair, but surprisingly Ppippi attacks SCVs instead of the bunker and kills almost all of them

Ppippi actually has a small probe advantage, but he lost a lot of units doing that

The second wave moves in and kills the bunker before SCVs can repair, but Loner has too many units now and crushes Ppippi's force

Loner marches across the ramp and knocks down the rocks

Ppippi sees it and warps in units at the top of the ramp there, force fielding when the rocks are gone

When the force fields disperse, he has to fall back to his gateways

Loner's infantry moves in and there's clearly not enough defending units. Probes come out to fight.

The battle is quite close and Ppippi actually cleans up all of Loner's units. But he has only three probes left...

Ppippi surrenders

Loner just dominated that game. Ppippi's unusual targeting when attacking Loner's defenses is apparently unusual for a reason.

Commentary: Loner just crushed Ppippi despite being quite sick. He looks like a clear favorite for promotion. If anyone can claw their way into Code S from this group of players it's Loner. Ppippi meanwhile has got to be pretty nervous going into the relegation matches.