In a match at the mid levels of the division, MoonGlade stripped SeleCT of all hope for victory, displaying an apt defense against the heavy medivac play of the Korean. In game one, SeleCT rushed to reactor starport opting to cripple MoonGlade's income but the zerg scouted that in time and prevented any game-turning damage. MoonGlade swayed the game around by counter-pressuring with mutas and banelings, sniping the already delayed third of SeleCT and winning the game. The second game was much alike, although this time SeleCT couldn't even secure an expansion.
NightEnd was uncontested in the protoss mirror against InKa and he flew away with a 2-0 win and a song on his lips. NightEnd played solidly and orthodox but that, and his Colossi, was all he needed to defeat InKa's warp prism play on Antiga and fast nexus play on Terminus.
In the third and final series, InControl fell 1-2 to Ret after failing to transition out of his cannon rushes in games 1 and 3 and go into a stable mid-game. On Antiga, InControl made the grave mistake of overcommittin to an attack and losing all of his sentries and on Dual Sight he took the wrong decision to go forgo steady production capacity and/or tech and rush for the third nexus, thus falling victim to Ret's speedlings.
| Division IV Week 5 results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
  NightEnd | 2-0 |  Inka | ||||||||||||||||||||||
  Moonglade | 2-0 |   SeleCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 Ret | 2-1 | InControl | ||||||||||||||||||||||
I am not a guy that enjoys bashing on people straight on in an editorial spot but this is not my intention here as well. It's just the mistakes that players make are as important to understanding the game as the episodes of pure progaming brilliance that we see at every tournament. Studying a player should not end at him winning MLG or pulling off the tightest build order or the pristine marine micro. There are many games that are defined by flaws and Ret vs InControl is a perfect example.
Specimen #1: The protoss player InControl opens with a cannon rush and blocks the natural of Ret. The zerg, thus, hops to his third and sets a hatchery there, but InControl is quick to react and cannons that as well, forcing spine crawlers and queens and canceling his macro hatch. A later push completely destroys zerg's third and Ret, who had previously retaken his natural, is left to only two bases, having worse tech than the protoss. Confident in his strength, the protoss steps on creep and starts his ascend up Ret's ramp. A blink of an eye and every protoss unit is dead to the reinforcing roaches. No forcefields equals death for InControl in the mid game.
Specimen #2: The zerg sprints to four bases, abusing the topography of Terminus and the way this map is played. InControl chooses a more standard opening and techs to void rays, flying them to zerg's fourth. The damage dealt is extremely minor - a few spore repositions and some queen damage sends the protoss fliers back and InControl is now two bases behind with a completely nullified tech. In an attempt to make something happen nonetheless, InControl marches his blink army towards zerg's fourth once again. Ret engages in the worst possible angle and his roaches and hydras get melted at a horrific ration. The game is essentially lost.
Now that we have identified and isolated the strains of flawed play, we can make sure that we prevent further occurrences of the latter in future uses.
| Division IV after Week 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Score | Points | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st |  Strelok | 4-0 | +7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2nd | Ret | 4-1 | +4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd |  Sen | 3-1 | +2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 4th | Moonglade | 2-2 | +1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 5th | SeleCT | 2-3 | -1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 6th | NightEnd | 1-3 | -2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 7th | Inka | 1-3 | -4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 8th | InControl | 0-4 | -7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
The only player scoring an actual climb is Ret, although it would've been much better for him had he did not drop a game to InControl. Strelok is still three points ahead of him and has yet to play his fifth match so any minor advantage is crucial for Ret if he is to top the group in some way.
SeleCT and Moonglade keep hovering in the middle of the division, still waiting for their big and hot win streak that will shove them upwards like a kick in the sack. Sadly, there isn't much games left - just three for Glade and two for SeleCT and if but a tiny piece goes wrong it could spell downfall for either players.
| Division IV Week 6 matches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Inka | VS | Strelok | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| SEn | VS | Ret | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| NightEnd | VS | SeleCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moonglade | VS | InControl | ||||||||||||||||||||||
By the looks of it, Strelok will keep his position as a division leader. Sure, InKa defeated SeleCT in week 2 of NASL but as it turns out the Korean hasn't been putting out his best performance so we can't take this match and make conclusions on top of it. Oh, and speaking of SeleCT, he better shape up as NightEnd is surely no spring chicken and must not be underestimated at any cost.
The unquestionable hightlight for the the next week will be Ret vs SEn, though, as both are having their eyes set on the top 2 position in the division. Even a 1-2 loss for Ret would mean a third spot and knowing SEn and his prowess in ZvZ it might very well be the case.
But zerg mirrors are unpredictable as the ocean and deadly as the sharks in it. And poetically enough, the players must stay true to the philosophy of the swarm and fight tooth and nail and spines for the every single inch leading to the brighter terraces of the division.
