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With only two zergs overall among groups E-H, the incoming plethora of PvT matches is an inevitable event. For a certain protoss known as possessing knowledge and level of skill in the match-up above everyone else, Group H was like a dream come true. Yet meanwhile, the rest of the community sat in wait, eager to see if there will be a repeat of DongRaeGu's unfortunate adventures.

Match 1: Parting vs Polt

Game 1 @ Entombed Valley

Polt's 2-base marine/marauder pressure turned into a soft contain and Parting was denied movement outside his bases for a long time. Thus, the protoss had to employ a slow, caterpillar crawl in taking a third while using feedbacks and storms to keep the terran at the safest distance possible. Still, Parting was down in supply the whole time and although his economy was at a safe place, Polt's rhythm was even smoother - he was macroing perfectly behind his pressure and had a fourth long before Parting could think of one.

The game began turning around at the pointy end of a few zealot harassments of Polt's bases that hurt him just enough for Parting to sneak a breath of fresh air, catch up in supply, take a fourth and establish some position on the map. Once those were taken care of, the dean of PvT met Polt's army in the middle, burned down the medivacs and earned the GG.

Game 2 @ Antiga Shipyard

Good idea and bad execution fully sum up Parting's play on Antiga Shipyard. The protoss went for a 1-base colossus against the standard 1-rax CC macro play from Polt but critically mismicroed during the attack, targetting the bunkers instead of the repairing workers, giving Polt more than enough time to begin viking production. After surviving the initial wave, Polt suffocated Parting's aggression with stimmed bio and an SCV cushion.

Game 3 @ Daybreak

Game three was off to a fun start as the 7-gate army of Parting and the reactor hellions of Polt missed each other in the dark of the night and each reached the respective enemy naturals. The latter were brought to ruins within seconds but overall Polt seemed to have drawn the shorter stick: he had to lift his CC and stay on one base for a little bit while a surgical stalker warp-in at the ramp prevented further damage to Parting's economy.

Going into phase two of the game, Parting did exactly what he need to do: stay put, macro up and, overall, get more ahead - and not just to make Artosis happy. Parting's patience was rewarded with a decimated marauder drop and, later, with a terran army which was split apart and reduced to dust as if it was of sugar.

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Match 2: Oz vs Fin

Game 1 @ Antiga Shipyard

Oz opened with a very tight build going for a nexus first into a quick cannon and three gates, followed by a third nexus. Although Fin's 5-rax marine build looked menacing at that time, Oz timings on the BO were sharp as a machete and he had just enough units to clean the first marine wave and save his third.

Fin would not give up on the nexus, however, and his second attack came through the rocks, shortly after he won an important battle in the center. Oz's loss of a fresh sentry during the defense stripped him of the needed number of forcefields and Fin was free to stim forward and get his win.

Game 2 @ Daybreak

Oz opened with a quick nexus into a double forge play but his hopes for a calm and eventless mid-game were shattered as a similar to game one marine/marauder attack killed one of his forges and some sentries to give Fin a small but crucial edge. This aggression put Oz in a defensive posture, which gave Fin even more control over the game. After terran's first drop attempt was refuted thanks to a lucky probe scout, Fin revisited this plan by going for a quad-medivac unload straight into Oz's main.

The attack may have lacked finesse but its efficiency was entirely different matter. Oz lost even more sentries and realized his life was forfeit long before the actual tap out.

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Winners match: Parting vs Fin

Game 1 @ Daybreak

A stim timing attack on Parting's third before charge was done gave Fin a small lead which he, with his BroodWar macro, slowly turned into 40+ supply lead. Confident in his hegemony, Fin started throwing CCs all around the map, donning an illusionary armor of invincibility resting on the shoulders of his beefy blop of terran units that tirelessly circulated the map.

The more bases one has, however, the more difficult it is for him to defend them and Fin fell for the same trap as Polt in match one. Small attacks by zealot squads made Fin stim and chase the protoss nuisance around the battlefield, ultimately being prevented from turning that supply lead of his into a killing blow. Zealots kept dying without directly hurting the terran army much but Parting knew that if he hits late-game, the match will look different. As he caught up in supply and got his storm and colossus techs running, Parting walked out with an aura of strong presence that had completely erased even the smallest signs of mid-game instability.

Game 2 @ Dual Sight

So hear about that nonsensical of a strat I saw from Fin yesterday. You open with a 5-rax into expansion but instead of setting up your economy while waving your army around, you pull a third of your SCVs and join them with your marines to die at the barrels of a one-basing protoss that has more different types of units than you can count. You lose everything to the counter attack and you GG shortly after.

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Losers match: Oz vs Polt

Game 1 @ Daybreak

This seesaw of a game began with Oz's fast 3-base into 8-gate timing attack but the bunkers of Polt made him reconsider the aggression and fall back. This was Polt's queue to attack but he faced a similar problem of an unbreachable defense and once his reinforcements began to thin out, he was put to the chase by the protoss army. The game ended at the spearhead of a chargelot/blink stalker army in a fashion that is the most common sight in contemporary PvT.

Game 2 @ Antiga Shipyard

Oz used the same build as in the game versus Fin on the very same map but having seen it earlier, Polt knew exactly how to react. The terran took an even faster third to match the incoming economy boom of the protoss and did very well up to the point where Oz moved out on the map, feedbacked half of Polt's medivacs and cut his head off with chargelots and forcefields.

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Final match: Oz vs Fin

Game 1 @ Atlantis Spaceship

A rematch from game two to determine who would advance to Ro16 - marvelous. In set one, Oz played to the standard norms, going for a 2-base 8-gate blink timing attack, only to find that Fin burned from desire to go on the offensive himself (understandable to some extent, seeing what late-game PvT did to him and his terran brother). Fin's move of choice was a double medivac drop in the main, garnished with a frontal attack at the natural but unlike every other person that was watching the game, the terran had no way of knowing that with his build Oz had more units and quicker economy. The medivacs were sniped instantly, unloading about half of their cargo, and the frontal army was easily chased away, seizing just one gateway during its attack.

It was the middle of the game and Fin was already as dead as can be. Oz took a much quicker third, constantly kept the medivac count low and had storm and charge way before the ghost tech of his opponent. A final engagement, a gg and a game away from elimination fro Fin.

Game 2 @ Entombed Valley

Imagine an Oz just like the one we know, identical in every way but the way he forcefields. And instead of sub-optimal or downright ineffective ones, he does it on an MC or Parting level. Because if he can defeat Fin's 5-rax openings while actually hurting himself in the process, how more magnificent of a player will he be when everything is calculated to the last millimeter and combined with his calm and solid blink into charge/storm play in late-game that killed both Polt and ForGG today...

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Final standings

code s season 2 ro32 group h standings

Parting

2-0

4-1

2-1

4-2

Fin

1-2

2-4

Polt

0-2

1-4

Parting 2-1 Polt
Fin 2-0 Oz
Parting 2-0 Fin
Oz 2-0 Polt
Oz 2-0 Fin

GomTvP: Code S Season 2 Ro32 Group H recap