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Scrimmage report

Zenio 2-0 Hwangsin
VODs: Game 1 on Dual Sight /// Game 2 on Ohana

Hwangsin finds his 7-gate tech drowned as he moves out and without losing too much time, Zenio proceded to beat him in game two as well. There, Hwangsin tried to act like Liquid`Hero, doing that very famouse warp prism/sentry drop only to find that there is a reason why HerO is so good and why is he difficult to mimick.

TT1 2-1 BratOK
VODs: Game 1 on Dual Sight /// Game 2 on Antiga Shipyard /// Game 3 on Tal'Darim Altar

This was a set mostly decided by a single critical (and basic!) mistake and, strangely, the same one in all three sets. On Dual Sight, TT1 kept insisting on being in the middle of the map with less units that is clinically healthy, but as he lost, he got the chance to see BratOK doing the same thing. BratOK had to be beaten twice to, hopefully, learn the lesson that you should not act like a boss when your army is smaller and your upgrades are worse.

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Cloud 2-0 NightEnd
VODs: Game 1 on Dual Sight /// Game 2 on Antiga Shipyard

One of the shortest games for the evening had Cloud destroying NightEnd with a+move command. The 1-0 came on Dual Sight after a 1/1/1 attack and NightEnd's fall was completed on Antiga Shipyard as the Romanian conceded to the stim/combat shield pressure as hisi colossus lived for about 2.5 seconds.

Puma receives W.O. against Stephano

Noctilucence

What is this writer drinking, right? Why is he acting like a stuffed shirt, making up words all of a sudden?

Fret not, dear reader. We are not going to go on an adventure to the depths of the Latin language. Instead, we are going to talk about clouds. Italian ones with a gauss rifle in hand, to be precise.

As I'll mention again but a few paragraphs below, Cloud is the division underdog that is barking the loudest. Two weeks past the start of NASL and he is already at +3 points, just one below division leader Puma. For all it's worth, the way I saw Cloud's first steps was a 2-1 win or 1-2 loss to Haypro followed by a 0-2 to NightEnd, who everyone remembers giving Puma hard time at DHW '11, now hopping around the Korean ladder like it's child's play.

It seems, however, that it was meant for Cloud to ascent. It might be temporary (although a coming match again TT1 next week might just prolong his superiority a little longer) but it's noteworthy nonetheless. From where I stand, neither BratOK, nor Hwangsin will be any large obstacles and Zenio is everything but invincible.

That leaves Puma and Stephano who are both the background that makes Cloud visible and the bright light that can make him disappear. Yet if one of them makes a fatal mistake, we might just see the Apennine cloud flying so high that the light of playoffs trickles through him.

Division overview and standings

Division 1 after week 2
Puma	2-0	+4
Cloud	2-0	+3
NightEnd	1-1	0
Stephano	1-1	0
Zenio	1-1	0
TT1	1-1	-1
Haypro	0-1	-1
Hwangsin	0-1	-2
BratOK	0-2	-3

Frankly speaking, I did not expect these standings by week two and most of all seeing Cloud doing so good. After watching NightEnd destroy the Korean ladder with not one or two Code S-ers in it, having Cloud 2-0 him very convincingly is... strange.

In other news, Stephano did not play his match against Puma and the Korean got a walk over. Very unfortunate, as this was the most anticipated match in the division. Nevertheless, Puma had his +2 points and Stephano dropped down to zero - something that is never fatal for a player of his caliber but undesirable nonetheless.

Finally, we see BratOK already at -3. Not to condemn the Russian from week 2, but having yet to play Puma, Zenio and Stephano, the prospects of making it to a hight finish are very dimunitive already.

Barely clairvoyant: Week 3 on April 25th

Division 1 Week 3 matches

Cloud

TT1

Stephano

BratOK

Hwangsin

Puma

Haypro

Zenio

More seemingly one-sided matches are on the way. After wiping the floor with NightEnd, Cloud should be set for some more serious TvP ownage and that's perfect as he faces TT1. The Canadian made not one or two mistakes in the game versus BratOK and won mostly by BratOK just making more of them. Cloud, however, has been perfect thus far and it'll be a tough harrowing for TT1.

In the next two matches, Stephano will possibly crush BratOK while Puma butchers HwangSin. The final match sees Zenio against Haypro and this one should go to the Korean as well. Since his NesTea win at MLG Providence, Haypro hasn't had a significant ZvZ victory and has lost nine of the last ten mirror he had played.

Ouch.

Noctilucence: NASL 3 W2D1 recap