Saturday was the semi-finals day with TLO facing Lalush, accompanied by the Slavic fury of Dimaga vs BratOK. And the e-sport fan in me really rejoiced that we did not get to see some straight on, 2-0 ownage (although we did see quite a bit of ownage at one point or another) and the matches were played in such a fashion that just brings joy to the viewer. But enough with the pathos, let’s take a look at results:
| SC2Casts Invitational Semi Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
  LiquidTLO | 2-1 |   Lalush | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 BratOK | 1-2 |  Dimaga | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Many of you may not be surprised of the outcome seeing the players and scaling their recent activity but I must admit that at some points the games were really, really close with no apparent winner right from the start. It is awesome to see that players who we don’t get the pleasure to see so often haven’t lost their mojo.
THE SEMI-FINALS
LiquidTLO vs LalushI have to admit, I have seen so many TLO games that I can’t remember the last time I got surprised. Amidst his 1-Rax CC builds, his risky and peculiar Tier 3 rushes and brutal MULE tank bombing, I can’t recall the last time I saw Banshees. And not just Banshee harass but a full frontal Banshee/Rine/Hellion push in attempt to crush the Zerg spine immediately. Such push would’ve probably worked way better on Steppes, but on Caverns Lalush just had enough time to prepare. Meeting the Banshees with four Queens, and the rest of the army with Roaches on lots of creep, Lalush had little trouble fending off the rush. Following his temporary misfortune, TLO transitioned to this Viking build he so much loves but it was too late – Vikings are rarely the unit with which to stop the flood of Hydras. TLO had to give Game 1 to Lalush.
On Lost Temple, however, I was really struck by the events that I witnessed and I became more and more shocked as the game progressed. First, Lalush really forgot this one thing about the Zerg – you really need Queens and Overlords to get ahead. Being supply blocked and Queenless does not help your cause that much. However, he somehow managed to defend against the Hellion harass and later – against the Thor push. Although destroying the natural, TLO was flatfooted and with no army but on second sight he had and expo and was still pumping mech with no trouble. Trying to get ahead in macro, lalush retook his natural and expanded to the bottom right island while doing the strangest thing in the world – teching to Banelings. Now I know that Terran mech is not like it was in beta and that Baneling bombs are fancy but it really is not the way to battle Thors and Tanks. Trying to kill TLO’s main, lalush went for a huge Infestor/Roach drop while trying to Baneling bomb the expansions (one of which was the gold, which actually put TLO way ahead in the economy game, compared to lalush's two normal expansions). TLO split his army, returning couple of Tanks and Thors to clear the Zerg invasion and the other part – to demolish Lalush’s base. While he did that with ease, lalush refused to surrender and attempted to settle on the north island as well but with all that tech lost everyone already knew the outcome. Game 3 was to follow.
Picking Scrap Station as his map of choice probably made lalush feel confident. However, he was in for a treat. Remember when I mentioned those Tier 3 rushes that terran (and particularly TLO) likes to do? Well, the 1-Base BC is one of those and is really hard to stop with Roaches. The BCs came shortly after a small Marine drop in the main and instilled havoc everywhere they went. Lalush tried to fend the off with some Spore Crawlers but it was already out of control and when the desperate Roach counter attack couldn’t do the wiping-out, Lalush had to surrender his place in the GF to the German.
BratOK vs DimagaI have to say, after seeing those games with BratOK, I really like the new Dimaga. He really turned into a macro beast somehow and implements more and more grandeur in his play than ever before. And he demonstrated this perfectly on Xel’Naga Caverns, opening with 15 Hatch/14 Pool/13 Gas, a build that he will further exploit in this tournament. BratOK decided to go for the current favorite of Terrans – the 5-Rax Reaper into CC but Dimaga had no trouble defending it with lots of lings and lots of Queens. But he didn’t stop there. More Queens emerged and soon the creep began to spread everywhere, almost reaching Terran’s base. Meanwhile, seeing that no Roaches were made, BratOK started pumping Marines out of his Raxes, expecting the Mutas. Which did come and did try to poke around, but it was far from over, because if there is a unit that Dimaga loves above all else – it’s the Baneling. Abusing the creeping and entering into hardcore macro style spawning hatcheries all over the place Dimaga just… overran the terran. The way it should be done.
Now I really don’t know how Dimaga lost that second game on Delta Quadrant, because he had such a huge advantage. BratOK opened again with the reaper play, but did not attack until he had about nine. At which point Dimaga had so many Queens and Lings that the Reapers evaporated without doing anything. It was like 450/450 given away freely to the Zerg. Then the Terran tried to do some fancy leap-dropping around the high ground of the Zerg’s gold and did manage to take it down eventually but again Dimaga was seemingly fine – he had lots of banelings, mutas, creep all over, he was equal to the terran in terms of bases and was opting to retake a third. He even managed to crush one of the attacks, getting most of the tanks and the marines. And it was at this precise moment that something went wrong. Dimaga just left in the middle of the fight, leaving three wimpy marines and two practically dead medivacs alive. Why? One cannot know. It would’ve taken him just a second to swipe the floor and get even bigger lead, but once BratOK managed to reinforce what was left he just walked over Dimaga.
The third game was on Scrap Station and, wisely but yet predictably, BratOK went for 2-Starport Banshees. Dimaga read his opponent perfectly and soon had six Queens on the field just waiting for their prey. And actually the strangest thing here was that BratOK was obviously living the life of Santa that day, because he scanned and saw all those Queens and still sent the Banshees to their death, just like he did with the Reapers on Quadrant. But that may have been a wedding present, what do I know… Being so much behind in economy, BratOK soon found himself playing a 2-base terran against 4-base zerg on Scrap Station and no one wants that. By the time the two armies clashed, Dimaga had so many units of almost every type (from Lings to Ultras AND Brood Lords) that it was just like walking the red carpet (yes, with the blood and all).
With that being recapped we move to Sunday, when TLO played Dimaga for the gold and BratOK faced Lalush for the third place. You can see the results in the table below.
| SC2Casts.com Grand and Bronze Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BratOK | 3-1 | Lalush | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| LiquidTLO | 3-1 | Dimaga | ||||||||||||||||||||||
THE BRONZE FINAL
BratOK vs LalushNow it is really hard to describe this game with words because so many things were happening at once. It started with BratOK’s Thor drop that eventually destroyed Zerg’s natural but Lalush somehow managed to tech to Ventral Sacs without speed and got rid of the Thor with some Roaches. Getting Overlord speed soon after and teching to Baneling Nest, Lalush went for Baneling Bombing just like in the game versus TLO. This time, however, he managed to score much more SCVs and put the Terran quite behind. This was not for long, though, as once he got some Medivacs, BratOK showed us why he is one of the most aggressive terrans out there. In such a small increments of time, he managed to drop Marauders in Zerg’s main killing both the Lair and the 2nd hatch, pressured the natural with another force and dropped at the ninja expansion that lalush was trying to get operational. Greatly suffering from the loss of his hatcheries, Lalush just had to surrender.
The second game was on Metalopolis was shorter than I expected and very few writing is required for recapping it. Being ballsy as hell, Lalush went for a 6-Pool. Which he failed because SCVs are tough, Marines have range and Zerglings can’t pass through walls.
One thing you may notice about BratOK is that he really needs to refine his Scrap Station TvZ because he really suffers in terms of macro on this particular map. He opened analogically to the game against Dimaga with some quick 2-Starport Banshees but again did not deal quite enough damage. After that he got overdefensive, raising bunkers everywhere, which is really not that good against Mutalisking Zerg like lalush. The zerg took map control and was soon two bases ahead, aiming for a critical mass of Mutalisks. However, he somehow burst into aggression with his Marine/Raven push, stimming and clearing Lalush’s third and a large portion of his banelings. However, Marines only are not enough to crush the Zerg once in such macro mode and soon more banelings were on the field, splashing everything to pieces. BratOK had to GG.
And since there is no more Incineration Zone in the pool, BratOK’s choice for Game 4 was as clear as maiden’s tear – Kulas Ravine, Zerg’s bane. Abusing the cliff by the natural, BratOK easily denied mining time and destroyed the hatchery just with one Thor, a Medivac and a Banshee, and not all the Spore Crawlers and Roaches in the world could stop him. Lalush desperately opted to raise his Spire up and he did eventually but by the time the Mutas were out, BratOK just had too many stuff. A few minutes later he pushed with a large Thor/Marauder force and just stomped whatever zerg was spawned this game, taking the Bronze prize.
THE GRAND FINAL
LiquidTLO vs DimagaAh, I am almost thrilled to watch finals, no matter the tournament. And this one did not disappoint for the better part for it. We had some quick games, we had some longer ones but all in all – it was quite the experience.
TLO started the series aggressively by teching straight to Thor drop which proved more successful than I thought. Dimaga was completely unprepared for that (possibly he was expecting the usual Hellions) and TLO took the Spine Crawlers and soon – the natural. Seeing that he is just so far behind, Dimaga GGed out.
However, the second game blew my mind. Dimaga picked Scrap Station and so far and he opened with the aforementioned 15/14/13 build obviously getting ready for a strong mid-game. Soon, he started pumping Queens (normally) to stop the Hellions that came soon. TLO’s harass was transitioned to Banshees but these were also stopped by more Queens – now four. But Dimaga did not stop there. For some reason he continued to puke Queens as a madman and soon he had eight. I guess he just like them better than Zerglings. TLO quickly switched to his standard Viking play while Dimaga double expanded and spread creep as much as he could (not a tough job with more Queens than you have Drones). Soon Mutalisks and Queens were fighting Vikings all over the place but no clear winner was to be decided. After a huge battle at Dimaga’s third, though, TLO managed to kill a lot of Queens (yes, you will hear that a lot here – a LOT of Queens) and Zerglings and even the Hatchery itself and it seemed he was in a commanding lead.
But Dimaga never despairs apparently and he continued to rebuild his Queens like nothing happened and slowly pushed TLO back and soon war was all over again. Playing very carefully, TLO managed to both kill Dimaga’s gold and set up a Fortress at his own third, but the Ukrainian was not going to let that stay. Morphing a ton of Banelings he just bombed it to ashes without leaving it the chance to repay itself. Around that time or the 15-minute mark, Dimaga had 15 Queens! However, the sturdy German is not easily crushed. In amidst all that chaos, he built two Battle Cruisers and sent them along with the Vikings to Zerg’s main. Dimaga’s anti-air at that point consisted of only 15 Queens (
) and they were definitely not enough to stop the BCs right away. Dimaga lost 10 Queens in a matter of seconds. Hydralisks soon came to the rescue, though, and TLO was forced to retreat, killing a Hatchery along the way. And suddenly, TLO was behind in bases, barely having the Tier 3 units to fight Dimaga’s macro adequately. He fought bravely at the spot of his last mining base but it was all over soon.I like cheese on Steppes of War partly because after all that long writing I can say the following with no regrets – TLO went for double proxy rax and Dimaga opened once again with 15/14/13. However, he GGed as soon as he scouted the first marines popping out with his pool only half-way done.
The game on Xel’Naga Caverns were more entertaining, however. There was little surprise that Dimaga went for 15/14/13 once again, securing a nice macro position. TLO tried to diversify his games as much as possible, though, and he went for a build that I really like – the Double Armory Mech. Soon, the two players started engaging each other but something unusual for Dimaga happened – his Roach micro was surprisingly sloppy and he kept losing more Roaches as the game progressed. And thus, despite being one base ahead and generally having the better macro, the Ukrainian kept throwing forces away during some important battles. Thus, when the time came for TLO to push, the Zerg simply did not have enough. His remaining forces were shattered by the heavily upgraded mech army. Terran reigned supreme once more.
With that being said, I can now gently put this huge article behind me and get a beer. And because there are actually VODs of this whole final series, I advise that you do the same. Check the links below for more SC2 stuff and we hope to see yet another tournament, sponsored by SC2Cast.com.
Links
SC2Casts.com - Sponsor
SCWorld.it - Organizer
YouTube.com - VODs
