On this day some players had to defend their values. There was a Zerg, fighting the extinction of his race. A young kid was going up against a powerful Protoss and InCa was to play yet another PvP to check if he is truly one of the favorites of the tournament. How did that go?
| GSL Ro32 Day 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
  NEXTaeja | 0-2 |  Cool[fOu] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| oGsTop | 2-0 | PoltPrime | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| MaruPrime | 0-2 |  SanZenith | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| oGsInCa | 2-0 | ZanDarke | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NEXTaeja vs Cool[fOu]Game 1 was played on Lost Temple. Going straight for the macro plan, Cool opened with a Hatch before pool while his opponent went quick Factory for Hellion/Reaper harass. He managed to kill some drones but eventually was denied by ling speed. But Taeja was not quitting on the harass and dropped some tanks on the natural highground further denying mining time to the Zerg but Mutas popped just in time to finish the harassment. With his mobile air force, Cool quickly secured map control and expanded to the gold. Terran attempted a nice push but Cool stopped him easily and took 4th right after that. Knowing that Taeja needed a third base, Cool waited for his opponent to exit his choke to secure the gold and sneaked all his army into Terran’s main. It was over there and then.
It was evident that Cool really likes having macro mid-game advantage and he again went Hatch first on Metalopolis. Delaying ling speed, he went for quick Roach Warren to stop Taeja’s Hellions. But what the key moment here was that Cool actually managed to sneak some lings into Terran’s main due to some sloppy control by Taeja. It became more obvious that the nerves had got that otherwise talented player when he attempted to break a Spined-up defense with no stim and tons of Zerg units, supported by Cool’s micro. The second push (now with stim) was also ineffective due to army size and to be the defeat even more humiliating – lings sneaked into Terran’s main again. Taeja just fell apart.
oGsTop vs PoltPrimeIt was a real pleasure to watch those two guys battle. Their first on Delta Quadrant was intensely breathtaking right from the start when Top opened with Banshees, a build that becomes more and more standard for the match-up, while Polt preferred the classic Viking/Tank. Banshees, however, are very costly and precious and Top soon found that when Polt sniped his first flier, completely shutting the harassment. Moreover, Top soon found himself contained with Tanks and Vikings and almost lost his CC that he was attempting to land at his natural. Knowing that he has to do something and make worth of those 400 minerals, Top tried to break the contain and eventually did so but it cost him about 90% of his army. Polt, however, was not done and he knew precisely what he had to do – deny Top’s advantage of having a second CC. He transitioned to Banshee harass almost at the very same time as Top tried to crush him with a push. Both aggressions were somehow stopped and the game entered the usual Cold War phase. However, having this earlier expansion, Top patiently and slowly crept up ahead, amassing much larger army. Realizing his advantage, Top decided that there was no time to lose and pushed for the kill.
Moving their forces to Xel’Naga caverns, both players decided to stick with what they know and what they can play best – Polt with his Viking/Tank and Top with his shiny air force, this time – with a Raven. The game went on quite passively until Top had enough of sitting around, moved North and sieged all his tanks at Polt’s south ledge, hitting many of his Depots and production buildings. Polt knew he had to engage but did that very poorly, losing literally everything. The second attempt broke Top’s lines but the oGs player already had the gold secured. It was all downhill for Polt from that point on and everyone who took a look at the army tab and saw the 2-to-1 unit ration knew that.
MaruPrime vs SanZenithAh, the young generation is so inspiring. Maru really did an awesome job against San, although I felt that the first game on Quadrant was filled with a bit more mistakes that one can afford. Maru opened with a Tank/Viking build (not the most optimal one for PvT), amassing more and more metal units. San, however, was in the mood for some mind games, hiding both his Fenix tech and his gold Nexus. However, seeing the army composition of Maru he knew that he couldn’t battle it with the fragile birdies and elegantly transitioned to lots of Warpgates, pumping Stalker and Zealots like crazy. Maru was not to be underestimated though – he had a ton of units and even managed to drop some blue Hellions at San’s probe line. Strangely enough, though, he got easily denied and did not do the damage necessary at all. Moreover, his scans were awful, missing every single piece of significant tech. Was he more precise with his CC energy, he maybe could’ve seen… the Mothership!!! Having such a tank-heavy army, Maru knew that he could not respond to that adequately and GGed as he saw the beast on the field.
On Lost Temple, Maru played much better and I was really delighted that he did not fell apart after losing to a freakin Mothership. The young kid went for really fast CC with Tech Lab raxes against San’s 2-Gate Colossus with Nexus. The timing Marauder timing push from Maru was obviously coming and San, having the advantage of faster reinforcements, managed to defend his expo. Feeling ahead, the Protoss pushed with his Colossi but made the grave mistake of feeling greedy and forgetting his micro at home. The Bunkers and the Marauders easily defended Maru’s base but nonetheless San was still ahead – he had his Nexus running and his Robo was producing Colossi 24/7. Not to mention the huge count of Blink Stalker he managed to pull out of his sleeve. When San’s second push came, Maru just did not stand a chance – the Stalkers and Colossi were just all over the place.
Game 1 Quadrant – San hides fenix tech and sneaks a gold expo. Maru answers with
oGsInCa vs ZanDarkeI am becoming a HUGE fan of InCa as he is one of the few Protosses I enjoy watching every single time. He is just not the average toss user and slowly turns into the Korean TLO with his crazy build and risky openings. Starting his series on Lost Temple, InCa opened with a very quick Immortal even before his second Gateway. At the moment that seemed peculiar but was actually what saved his ass when ZanDarke’s inevitable 3-Gate Colossi push came. Agilely microing the Immortal, InCa sniped Zan’s Colossus and immediately counter-attacked, throwing an expo on the back of that. Had he not overcommitted he could’ve ended the game right there but because of his greediness (Dear Lord, aren’t there any modest Protosses out there, holding dear to traditional values and such) he lost way too many units and was now against the ropes as the tables turned once again. Being outnumbered it seemed that InCa lost the game in the very stupid way possible but, boy, does that guy have some micro or what? With his back against his mineral line (that would be the boxing ropes of the SC universe) he maintained his calmness and warped just enough units to hold Zan’s counter. Suddenly, he was even ahead in terms of Colossi. Seeing that, Zan GGed.
I have to say, if InCa continues to play like he did in that second game on Metalopolis he has to receive some award of extreme ballsyness. After throwing triple Gateway in opponent’s main in the Ro64, he now decided to do something even more bizarre – cannon rush a protoss. And he did that perfectly, throwing 2 pylons at Zan’s ramp and some Cannons on the low ground while microing his scouting probe with unfathomable micro, providing essential vision and blocking units with Pylons. Most devious indeed. He won the game just 5 minutes after the start.
Drawing the line at the end of the day I can’t say I am disappointed. Cool defended Zerg’s honor and InCa played crazily enough to make a certain eSports fan and writer happy. With the Ro16 coming next week, I just can’t wait to see those two in action again.
Links
GosuGamers - Day 1
GosuGamers - Day 3
GosuGamers - Day 4
