GSL 3 Ro64 Day 1 - Battle report

We are finally at the GSL 3, the last season for this year. We see the return of champions and legends and a large invasion of foreigners. And it all starts here, Ro64 Day 1, which was more breathtaking than any Day 1 has been.

We had GSL 2 champion NesTea opening the tournament, followed by SEn’s games and even more stunning players like Maka and TheWind.

NesTea vs Jys

Game 1 @ Shakuras Plateau. Oh, my God! I can’t believe that this series was so intense, hectic and just pure awesome! Jys really had a plan for this game as he opened with double Starport Banshee into… double CC with the turret upgrade. Although his Banshees did not kill a ton of units, he made NesTea build lots of Spore Crawlers that was useless for the rest of the game. Furthermore, due to his transition into defensive macro play, Jys easily defended the Muta harass and for a moment both players were on equal bases.

NesTea, though, is not easily fooled. Seeing that he has the freedom to do
whatever, he went into full macro mode and was sitting on 6 bases before the 15-minute mark. With so huge of an income he had the freedom to go whatever tech he wanted so he just went for everything. The first wave was made of Brood Lords who fored Vikings out of the Terran and then the Zerg followed with huge Ultralisk numbers who just rolled over Jys no problem.

8/10

8/10 due to Jys’s innovative opening and the monstrous macro out of NesTea. Also the constant tech switch from NesTea was an exemplary one for all Zergs.

Game 2 @ Delta Quadrant. Knowing the short distances on Quadrant and the probability of a 2-Rax pressure, NesTea opened Pool first with quick Speed and he had just enough Lings when the 2-Rax push indeed came. However, Jys was not done and he continued being aggressive and followed with a nice Blue Hellion/Marine pressure that turned out to be quite damaging. When his Hellions were finally stopped by Zerg’s Roaches, they had approximately 30 kills with Terran’s economy high above Zerg’s. Further showing flexibility, Jys tech switched to Tank drop in attempt to deny the gas at NesTea’s expo. The reigning champion had other plans, however. Issuing a brilliant Burrow Roach attack, he stalled the Terran forces quite a while, did serious economy damage, forced around thousand and a half scans and actually won the opportunity to drone up. At this point it seemed that this was NesTea’s game to lose.

Jys, though, had plans of his own. Managing to tech up to Cloack Banshee, he magnificently counter-attacked, leaving the undefended economy of NesTea in shambles. Tripling the Zerg’s income, the Terran then took a third base and just pushed for the kill.

9/10

9/10 because everything less would be an insult. There was so much tech changes, both forced and intended, lots of harass, constant shifts the in game control that you wouldn’t guess the winner until the GG.

Game 3 @ Xel’Naga Caverns. This final game went a bit more standard. Jys opened with a fake 2-Rax pressure that eventually transitioned into a real 2-Rax pressure. The Terran managed to climb Zerg’s ramp and in a fancy attempt to lock him out attempted to wall it off with some bunkers. Although he succeeded it was just for a while as the Zerglings broke in and cleaned the Marine force. An immediate counter from NesTea won the game, as Jys just did not have either a good army or a complete wall.

7/10

7/10 only because of the cute Bunker wall attempt. After the first two games, this one is just not THAT enticing.


Sen vs oGsVines

Game 1 @ Steppes of War. Steppes is a map that every Zerg hates to play and this game was a perfect example. SEn recklessly went for Hatch first and seeing that, Vines chronoboosted his Zealots and added a Forge on top of his rush. Throwing a Pylon on the lowground at SEn’s natural followed by some Cannons, he started pressuring the Zerg and eventually killed the Hatchery. SEn tried to do a run-by counter but he faced a tight wall at the protoss ramp and had to GG out.

5/10

Like most PvZs on Steppes, that one was quick and painless to watch. No excitement, the demise of SEn was obvious as soon as he put down the Hatch.

Game 2 @ Delta Quadrant. Vines had an interesting build for this map as well. He went for Phoenixes and he waited for three of those and darted towards SEn’s base. He did quite well, killing both Queens and some Overlords, putting SEn against the ropes. But then he did the most bizarre transition possible – Warp Gates. Despite the obvious fact that SEn was switching to Hydras, Vines started pouring out Stalkers and tried to finish the game with one push. All SEn needed was a nice arc and he just crushed the protoss forces.

6/10

This game gets 6/10 for the nice Phoenix opening but it can hardly go beyond this score. The peculiar transition from Vines was a huge mistake, SEn did not have to sweat a lot in order to win.

Game 3 @ Blistering Sands. Vines opened safely with a 3-Gate expo and transitioned to a 4-Gate pressure, hoping to destroy Sen with a massive Stalker army. And he was damn close as SEn struggled for quite a lot to stall the Gateway army. Fortunately, his Burrow tech kicked in just in time and with the nice underground heal he started gaining larger and larger advantage and Vines had to type out.

7/10

Pretty normal game with standard openings but the tension in the end was worth it. SEn was walking a thin edge and it was both luck and skill that won him the game.


LittleBoy vs jookToJung

Game 1 @ Shakuras Plateau. LittleBoy. Who the hell is he, seriously? And how did he beat InCa in the preliminaries? Well, the witty Terran was just about to show us. LittleBoy opened by walling off his natural ramp with three Raxes and then immediately went for triple Starport. He got couple of Banshees out and tried to do some harassment but the incredible part of the build came a bit later. The Terran started pumping out Viking like a madman and suddenly JookTo, who was naturally going for a Muta build, found himself facing an undefeatable air force. Instead of switching to Hydras like any normal Zerg would do, however, JookTo persisted with the Mutas and, naturally, was obliterated into pieces when LittleBoy flew to his main and sniped every single flier the Zerg had on the map.

7/10

I really want to give higher grade and maybe later I will edit this, but now I just can’t. I admit LittleBoy’s build order was hilariously original, but everything would’ve been different if JookTo actually knew what to do.

Game 2 @ Blistering Sands. This game was even shorter and again demonstrated how poor JookTo’s decision making is. Due to a Drone gas steal, JookTo actually managed to scout that LittleBoy was going for a 4-Rax timing push after Stim… and he did very little to prepare. Sure, he went for Nest + Speed but then again you cannot rely only on Banelings. Without the sufficient number of Zerglings and/or Spine Crawlers to defend the Zerg base, it was like a walk in the park for LittleBoy who just marched in there and shot everything dead.

3/10

Really, really straightforward and boring game. Thank God it was short!

MakaPrime vs IMSleep

Game 1 @ Xel’Naga Caverns. Both players went for solid openings this game. Maka started building up his bio and IMSleep went for the standard Muta/Baneling play. The mid-game was marked by some minor but still sloppy mistakes: Maka’s loss of two full dropships and the inability of IMSleep to do ANY damage via his Muta harass. He even tried a Kyrix-style bane bust, but Maka already had Tanks and Bunkers to defend. From that point on, Maka seized control of the game, taking his gold expo and destroying Zerg’s third with a nice push. After that IMSleep got restless and basically suicided all his units into Maka’s impenetrable defense of Tanks, Marines and a Fortress.

6/10

Not quite the impressive game I was hoping for. I mean there is not much fun of watching Maka’s bastion of defense crushing Zerg forces without even flexing its muscles.

Game 2 @ Steppes of War. I really like when Zergs go 6-pool on Steppes because that way you cut all bullshit out for the mid-game. To extend the cheese even further, IMSleep brought all his Drones along and actually climbed Maka’s ramp but Terran’s micro was too good. With only one Marine lost, Maka managed to save his other forces quite well and withered the Zerg rush one unit at a time.

7/10

7/10 for the moments of tension and the crisis management for Maka. I actually did not expect him to come back from this.

oGsTheWind vs GoldenfOu

Game 1 @ Xel’Naga Caverns. Wind decided to start the series with an early pressure and he opened with 7-pool but because of the relatively long distance on Caverns, Golden had more than enough time to get some Lings out. Switching his tech, Wind wanted to continue his fancy play by going for an aggressive Burrow Roach play and for some minutes there was a tense battles at Golden’s natural. However, the fOu player managed to Lair up and get some Overseers out and Wind’s push was done. From that point on it was the demise of Wind: he was way behind in army, Golden’s Overseers kept stalling his Hatcheries and when his opponent marched up with his superior army he had to surrender the first game.

7/10

There were some nice battles at Golden’s natural and some of them were really close. Also, it is always nice to see that many Roaches spitting each other in the face!

Game 2 @ Shakuras Plateau. Both player opened with a quick expo followed by a Baneling Nest but while TheWind went for a quicker Lair and a Spire, Golden decided to stick to a heavy ground army that eventually consisted of Infestors, Roaches and Hydras. Although TheWind was a base ahead and quickly abandoned the Muta tech in favor of a Roach Warren, he still had to face Golden’s army of green fungals. With a nice timing push, Golden walked over TheWind and won the series 2-0.

6/10

The game had somewhat of a boring beginning with no action at all and furthermore TheWind got outplayed so hard that the fight was not even close.


Want to catch up with GSL Season 3?
Then stop by our earlier coverage of the season:

- ROUND OF 64: VODs
- ROUND OF 64: RESULTS
- ROUND OF 64: LIVE REPORT - DAY 2
- ROUND OF 64: LIVE REPORT - DAY 1
- ROUND OF 64: SCHEDULE & GOSUBETS