The first match was Sjow vs Hwangsin, in which the two engaged in three dull a-single-push type of games. Sjow opened the series with a failed 1-base marine/tank/SCV push which Hwangsin defended with ease, but tied the score on Antiga after thwarting Korean's double forge play with +1 attack of his own. In the third set Hwangsin went for a 2-base gateway push but a moment of hesitation allowed Sjow to finish his stim and hold the push without much trouble.
Kiwikaki had an easy victory over fellow protoss Socke, coming strong in two quick sets. In both games Kiwi opened with a strong 1-base immortal rush, completely trampling Socke's fast nexus into chargelots on Metalopolis and fast nexus into robo on Antiga.
The mech was strong with Jinro in the mirror against SoftBall and the Swede exerted his domination with a pretty straightforward 2-0. He took game one after doing a low-ground push in order to secure his quicker third and then sealed the series by straight on outmuscling SoftBall's bio, catching it stranded in the middle of the map.
| Division III Week 5 results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
  Sjow | 2-1 |   Hwangsin | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jinro | 2-0 |  Softball | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Morrow | 2-1 |   Idra | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 Kiwikaki | 2-0 |  Socke | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Truth be told, it is not rare to see a ZvT treat like this nowadays. Almost every high-level game of the match-up goes past the 20-minute mark where tier 3 units reign supreme. But see, the thing is when you’re already past three timing attack games, you cannot not enjoy Idra vs Morrow and the single attribute that defines this match – purity!
The three games were like taken from a textbook tailored for academic seminars. Idra was the first to present his lesson, playing a perfect game on Metalopolis despite losing his third to a marine timing attack. Minutes later he tried to do the same to Idra’s fifth but the American was already everywhere – his creep had purpled three quarters of the map already and lings and banelings hopped to any location with the speed of light. Knowing that expanding passively will only bring him pain and suffering in the late-game, Morrow took the gold aiming to explode with income as soon as possible. In a blink of an eye he learned how wrong he was as Idra’s brood lord flock and waves of zerglings started their relentless push, droving the terran back to his natural and extorting a GG.
But as it turns out, flawless domination is not the only form of purity in war there is. In the next two sets, we were treated to the purity of SCV genocide (more than 120 workers killed by Idra on Antiga), the one of ghost-locking the late-game (again on Antiga; by the 40-minute mark Morrow had nearly as many ghosts as marines), the purity of “frustratingly leaving with no gg” (ok, I had to throw that one out), and of course the terran version of an uncontested push that sealed the series on Terminus, despite going against a macro zerg god who had hive tech, ultras and crackling before 17:00.
Now I look back to my words and see that you don’t need any more testimonials for finding this match-up and marvel at this beauty. Period.
| Division III after week 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Score | Points | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st | Morrow | 4-1 | +4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2nd | Idra | 3-2 | +4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd | Kiwikaki | 3-1 | +2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 4th | Jinro | 3-2 | +3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 5th | Socke | 2-2 | +0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 6th | HwangSin | 1-3 | -3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 7th | Sjow | 1-3 | -3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 8th | Sofball | 0-4 | -7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Idra cannot be happy of how things developed for him in the last two weeks. His 0-2 loss to Socke last week and now the 1-2 fall to Morrow has stripped him of the first place and everything is reminding me of Idra's run in NASL 1 where he started just the same but ended with not reaching the playoffs at all. Still he is equal in points with Morrow and since it is almost certain that he will crush Sjow, he should still pray that Week 6 goes horribly long for either Kiwi or Jinro.
Along those lines, the top four of the division is heart-stoppingly close. By the time week 8 is past it can be anyone's throne up there. It's a cruel world, I know, but this is way better than having HerO leading his division with a thousand points ahead of his enemies.
| Division III Week 6 matches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hwangsin | VS | Jinro | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Softball | VS | Kiwikaki | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sjow | VS | Idra | ||||||||||||||||||||||
I like what I am seeing and by "like" I mean "the players I root for will sledge some faces". Jinro is playing HwangSin, who hasn't been performing all too well so that might be the pushing force that Jinro needs to shoot him out of division mediocrity. It's not looking too good for the other terrans, though. Sjow and SoftBall are so very dead and even if they manage to pull a miracle and defeat Idra and Kiwi their fate won't go motley all of a sudden. Still, week 6 will be a very important transition towards the end of the division as the top four spots are tied stronger than a sailor's knot.
