GSL Super Ro32 Day 3 and 4 report

The GSL Super advances further and further forward. Which makes me happy because even among the top 64 there are players that are just plain bad. So, for us to finally see some interesting games, those will have to go. With the closing of the last two days of GSL super, that faith befell eight more contenders.

Day 3

MarineKing vs Ace

Ace scouted early on Terminus and as soon as his probe found the terran base using the illustrious method of sneaking around the edge and checking if the mineral patches are being mined, the protoss threw down double proxy Gateway and waited for three Zealots before showing his hand. This is probably why he could not operate his mouse and his Zealots got slaughtered by SCVs and three marines. And this with a walled front and a gasless expo build from MKP...
It was no different for Ace on Xel'Naga Caverns. Getting cocky after deflecting MKP's initial push, Ace pushed downed and showed his worst - bad decisions, bad forcefields (when present), bad positioning, bad engagement and finally, a bad defence when MKP pushed in with humongous marauder army.

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People usually micro better in such moments
Leenock vs Clide

It was not a perfect day for Clide as well. He went against Leenock, a guy that had beaten him so hard in the past and did so again. On Dual Sight, Leenock kept sending endless amounts of banelings at the terran line, forcing Clide to split a bit too much and picking the small groups with mutas, downing the marines to a count where they didn't matter. On Xel'Naga Caverns there was the way uglier sight of Clide being torn apart by Mutalisks, July style...

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That is the only way to fight marines with mutalisks
Byun vs Alicia

Alicia's aggression won his the first set on Crevasse after his 2-base push broke the ramp and seized the day. He tried a similar strat on Xel'Naga Caverns but Byun had smartly bunkered up and depot-walled himself and Alicia's Zealots just could not do anything but fall to the Ghost counter push that tied the score.
Also, if you want to see how to do a Void Ray rush, watch the game on Crossfire. Alicia went for heavy pressure when his air teched kicked in and after some pokes at the front, he took the back allies to kill Byun's rocks. But then another cool thing happened - forcing the fear of an attack from the back and making Byun to keep all his forces there, Alicia went around for a second time, FFed the front ramp and killed all the bunkers and SCVs that were preparing the natural for mining. After this awesome move, Alicia threw down a gold expo and won the game minutes after this.

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Alicia flies his Void Rays in for the kill

Maka vs sC

Maka played some beautiful games in the Ro32, possibly hinting his return as one of the best Terrans in the world. On Terminus there were no indications of his slump as he used Point Defence Drones and smart tank positioning to gain tactical advantage and push sC further and further back to his base, forcing him to eventually surrender. And in total contrast to the first macro set, Maka went for 1-base siege tech timing attack on Metalopolis, catching sC's fast expo build off-guard and bombing it to ruins.

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When you are about to lose half your supply in two second, $#!& is getting serious

Day 4

Huk vs Polt

HuK played so poorly that day that I had doubts that he was neural parasited by Idra so he can lose like that. On Crevasse he attempted a 6-gate push but poor control and indecisiveness made him lose a ton of Zealots and HuK was later slaughtered by the ever-growing marauder army of Polt.
Even stupid thing happened on Xel'Naga Caverns where the Canadian Protoss went for a DT expand opening which did less than zero damage to Polt and his walled-in front. As the Raven popped out and the stim kicked in, HuK was basically dead and out of the tournament.

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15 supply army lead is not what this puny protoss army wants to face

Line vs Kyrix

The day was looking good for Kyrix as after stopping Line's speedling play and scouting his Hydra tech due to a failed Queen wall he managed to launch a Roach timing push and end the first set on Crevasse. But then again, he really shouldn't have continued with the "I-can-win-this-easily" attitude and he quickly lost the next two sets by going for a poorly executed Baneling/Roach push on Crossfire and another early baneling play on Xel'Naga Caverns which was defended easily and countered with roach attack.

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Kyrix's low econ play comes to bite him in the ass
Nada vs Virus

The other heyday of the Ro32 was Nada's games against Virus. Or they would've been if actually Virus put up a better fight and had not got owned by three Blue Flame Hellions on Metalopolis and thus overrun by four times the tank count.
Speaking of tank counts, go check the game on Terminus, which started as a perfect mirror with both players going for Hellion into Banshees into Preigniter but soon entered a phase where massive tank counts were spread along the map. That type of play actually benefited NaDa as he, as a BW legend of old, had dealt with suck mech wars countless time and after several battles for positioning the Genius Terran advanced to the Ro16 with a 2-0.

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Choya vs TOP

I was really baffled by Choya's play on Metalopolis. He started good, opening a proxy Void Ray plus gateways and was soon all over TOP, killing units, building and denying the expansion. Then suddenly, probably in a surge of overconfidence, he abandoned microing, was pushed back and soon lost both his VRs which ended the game.
At least on Crevasse Choya picked up his game and after his Void Ray/DT opening failed, he smartly transitioned into mass chargelots and managed to overrun TOP, showing that he actually should not be fired form the fOu coach position...
...But should definitely stop playing as it became apparent on Xel'Naga Fortress after the protoss failed his 2-base push due to the worst forcefields in the history of gaming.