In the PvP for the night, Hwangsin practically gift-wrapped the victory and handed it to Socke after two amateur mistakes: being aggressive against a defensive blink tech and losing his warp-in pylon and thus failing his 4-gate timing (add to that the strange decision to add a robo while still on one base and you get the full picture).
Idra vs Kiwikaki has always been a ZvP with a history and a pinch of seasoning as well - the overwhelming macro beast versus the ever-creative protoss, who is always full of surprises. Both players did not disappoint their fans with Idra taking the first game with just a perfect macro and control upon Kiwikaki's expansion. Kiwi, on the other hand, opened the second series with a strange nexus first 1-gas +1 attack zealot rush before cyber core (!) in attempt to swiftly deny Idra's fast third, but as his army got kited by Idra's roaches, Kiwi was forced to transition into double SG voidray play. Unfortunately, a two sacrificial overlords scouted Kiwi's plan and Idra had enough time to spore up and pour devastation upon the protoss with his hydra/roach army.
Jinro and Sjow also put up a show to remember. Jinro opened the Terminus set with a banshee/preigniter build which transitioned into triple startport, which gave the Liquid terran an uncontested air dominance. The results of this were two dead CCs of Sjow and later the game itself. The second set on Dual Site was a TvT fiesta worthy of GSL Code S with the game going beyond the 40th minute mark, at which point Jinro pulled off the victory with a heart-warming mass raven/battlecruiser combo that put Sjow's tank/thor army to rest.
Morrow vs Softball was the fourth game for the night and things did not end well for the latter, who is still counted among the best Taiwanese players. Neither the marine pressure in game 1 or the preigniter/banshee opening in game 2 succeeded into breaking the zerg and once the mid-game segments came it was a macro holiday for Morrow. The picture that most accurately described Morrow's complete dominance was him having 69 drones to 45 SCVs after losing more than forty workers to a preigniter attack! An easy 2-0 for the Swede.
| NASL Division 3 Week 3 results | ||
  Socke | 2-0 |  Hwangsin |
  Idra | 2-0 |  Kiwikaki |
 Morrow | 2-0 |   Softball |
| Jinro | 2-0 | Sjow |
Oh man, I am so excited about how this week turned out. Not because almost every match was excellent (well maybe except the PvP but you kind of usually expect that from a protoss mirror), but mostly due to Jinro's performance in this tournament. After he ended 1-1 after week two I was a bit worried about this old favourite of mine but his TvT this week was amazing. Once again I witnessed the Jinro I knew and loved - the one that goes for the solid macro play and the one that treats every unit with utmost care.
Jinro's approach to game 1 vs Sjow is bringing back the lost hope of him ever coming out of the horrible slump where he currently resides. Truly, Sjow was not playing to his best and Jinro is still far from the class of the Korean terrans, but the way Mr. Walsch handled his triple starport play was beautiful. Excerpts of it reminded me of Nada vs MMA from this season's GSL Group C where Nada was checkmated in much the same way - through complete air dominance. The spark is still alit and Jinro's eSports future might not be too dark after all.
The zerg infestation is getting huger and huger by the week. Looking at the points and scores, there is little chance for anyone to dethrone either Morrow or Idra. Jinro and Socke, placed respectively third and fourth, are doing relatively well, but recent history teaches us that the Swede is too much of a wild card currently, so his odds for the top are minimal (OK, I know what I wrote in the editorial spot above! It doesn't mean I can't be a bit pessimistic!). And Socke still has to play the zerg representatives, which means his job is even harder.
What is even more striking, though, is the size of the amplitude between the top, the middle, and the bottom placed players. One can even say that even in Division 1 things are looking a bit more equal, despite the almost identical first-to-last difference. There are three players that haven't won a single match, and two of them are at 0-3 score. It's not a miracle they need; a joint-pantheon covert ops divine intervention might be more to their taste.
| Division III after Week 3 | |||
| Player | Score | Points | |
| 1st | Idra | 3-0 | +6 |
| 2nd | Morrow | 3-0 | +5 |
| 3rd | Jinro | 2-1 | +2 |
| 4th | Socke | 2-1 | +1 |
| 5th | Kiwikaki | 1-1 | -1 |
| 6th | Hwangsin | 0-2 | -4 |
| 7th | Sjow | 0-3 | -4 |
| 8th | Softball | 0-3 | -5 |
| Division III Week 4 Matches | ||
| Hwangsin | vs | Morrow |
| Idra | vs | Socke |
| Jinro | vs | Kiwikaki |
Morrow and Idra will open Week 4, hoping to cement their top positions even further. Morrow hasn't played a televised ZvP in a long time but then again Hwangsin is not and will never be the favourite here, as far as his NASL performance is concerned. Idra vs Socke will be a volatile match. Socke loves ZvP while Idra hates it in his guts. The statistics are not definite as well: Socke enjoys a better overall ZvP stats, while Idra practically made his way up to Division 3's top by crushing children of Aiur. And he won IEM Guangzhou in a ZvP final so at the very least Greg might have accepted the fact that protosses are beatable.
What sparks my excitation, though, is Jinro vs Kiwikaki, a crucial match for either player. Both are currently in the middle of the division and have about equal chances of winning this series. But while a victory for Kiwi would mean just holding to this middle spot, a triumph for Jinro (especially a 2-0) would put him within a hand-reach from the top of the group.
