NASL Season 3 Week 6

Scrimmage Report

If one judges by Division 1, he/she would've never guessed that the week will be so short and uneventful. Not that the games were particularly good, it was just good to see all of them played out and not witness the atrocity that was W6D2 which we shall address later.

There was quite a lot of one-sided bashing, however, starting with Haypro's very questionable and very unsuccessful approach to (not) beating NightEnd. In game one, the Swede decided to test his roach stregth against a substantial immortal count and once blasted to pieces, he let NightEnd have his late-game way which was even stupider. Letting the Romanian play the style he is most comfortable and most skilled at was Haypro's gravest mistake. More from the W6D1 kitchen included a decent PvP that saw TT1 win with a thermalless colossus build and a terran mirror where Puma used his superior decision making and sense of positioning to destroy Cloud 2-0.

Fortunately, the evening was made brighter by game two between Stephano and Zenio. Down 0-1, the Frenchman was in a difficult position, forced to play his worst match-up to keep his second place in the group. His will to live was evidently strong but so was Zenio's will to win and thus the two zerg powerhouse engaged in a 40-minute game that saw more or less every zerg tech available. Stephano's ultras won him a lot of ground during the early stages of the late game but as Zenio began getting more and more brood lords, the ultras and their unfortunate inability to attack air were the cause of Stephano's death.

Despite being the only match played for Division 2 this week, DarkForce and Hero did not put it to heart to give us somewhing worthwhile. The zerg opened game 1 with a 6-pool into an unstable roach transition and then failed a roach all-in in game 2 to give us the shortest playday in NASL history.



Division 3 was also a match short as Axslav did not play his match against Rain but there was a certain forte in the games that were played nonetheless. We were treated to HuK's "proxy pylon in every base" strat that tested Vibe's famed APM and brought it down. TLO reminded us that even if he doesn't win anything anymore, he is still probably the best in the business of creep spreading and had the purple see cover 80% of Odyssey before 15th minute. And Sen was doing what Sen like to do - play zerg as it is by design, with endless waves of units, regardless of enemy's positioning, numbers or strength.

When it's not meant to be it will not be and Division 4 had the same problem as Division 1 - full set of matches but few to none of any particular interest. Bunker rush, immortal/archon rush, 8-gate +1 all-in, overdroning, and a GG after a completely harmless bunker completes - that's W6D4 in a nutshell for you.



Thank god for Division 5, the saving grace for NASL's week 6. In it, MC 2-0s Polt with the old proverb "More stuff > better stuff"; qxc and Sheth abuse Ohana to the maximum and never engage each other but instead lay constant sieges on the thirds and fourths; Jinro brings us back to the early days of SC2 and uses mech against Puzzle; and Morrow and Targa play the best game of the season thus far, fighing for nearly 50 minutes on Daybreak before Morrow's bio manages to shoot Targa dead.

If only all other matches were half as good as Division 5's, this would've been a week to remember for NASL.

Divisions Overview and Standings

DIVISION 1: Boy, is Puma untouchable! If BratOK did not do that wacky base floating stuff in week 4, the Korean would be at perfect +12 points but I guess +11 is also satisfactory.

The constant pickering at the lower leves of the division and constant redistribution of power has left the group without a certain or at least stable runner-up. Stephano, who was in the top three since the beginning of the tournament is now forth with +2 points behind Zenio and, what is more suprisingly, TT1. The Canadian is barely second and although this division is all about the day-by-day changes in standings, this is a big feat for him. If he was not to play Puma still, I'd say there was a real chance to solidify that top two.

We can also include Cloud and NightEnd in the equation but knowing that Cloud is playing Zenio next and NightEnd has to go true Stephano and Puma, I'd say it's already lights out for these boys. They desperately needed a strong early-season push and as such was non-existant their hopes should not be too high.

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DIVISION 2: Ah, what an exemplary Division this one is. There is a clear winner, a clear runner-up and strongly expressed middle and bottom parts. It makes you realize how there's nothing more to say about it as everything has already been written in the previous weeks.

The only thing out of the ordinary is Demuslim's four matches only. The Brit did not play the game against Nony last week and now has a TvP triathlon ahead: Nony, Hero and HasuObs. Having to practice one match-up only for so many days is definitely a bonus to DeMuslim and he might not even lose his magical presence at the highest layers of the NASL.

It's also curious to see how Dimaga's prediction of a Hero/Ryung/Crazymoving top three is now fully shattered.

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DIVISION 3: Slowly and steadily over the course of several weeks Division 4 found this top four - one with parts intimely close to each other. HuK, Strelok, Ganzi and Sen are all within a 2-point difference and the next couple of weeks are critical. The lead of the first two is not big at all and even players in the negative like Vibe and TLO have a chance to catch the last train to the playoffs.

Lights are out for Axslav, however. The protoss that gave us not one or two inspiring plays during the season is most likely not going to make the cut. -5 points and 1-4 is scores is just too much to overcome. The same goes for Rain, too, but the Fnatic terran has been under the radar in general so this was to be expected.

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DIVISION 4: They thought (and we thought) Lowely could not do it.

They (and we) were wrong. The Belarusian version of Demuslim, although resting this week, is safely on the top of the division and has no intention of stepping down. However, Alicia and Select are kind of close to him and if Lowely runs out of luck, or skill, or mojo, the Koreans might catch up to him.

The division is also a complete reverse to what people generally expected. DreamHack and IPL champions Thorzain and Alive are stuck in the middle or below and so are the two zergs that used to be the go-to guys when a tournament needed winning. Here, Ret and Idra are not doing too well with the first often falling victim to his trademark overdroning and the second being suffocated by his own indifference to the game, garnished with the usual frustration.

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DIVISION 5: This is much like Division 2 but instead of a clearly outlined duo, we have a clearly outlied trio. It's no wonder seeing MC and Puzzle that high but it certainly is for Morrow. The Infested Terran is not particularly known for his outstanding recent results but here in NASL he stands atop Polt and Sheth like nobody's business. Although he might not catch up to Puzzle and secure top 1, short of MC there is nobody else to threaten him: Polt is at -1 points and so is Sheth and qxc, WhiteRa and Jinro are to no one's surprise in the deeper negative.

Morrow needs to beat Sheth next week as a decisive match against MC will be next in week 9!

Game of the Week

Zenio vs Stephano, Game 2, Daybreak


TLO vs Ganzi, Game 1, Odyssey


Morrow vs Targa, Game 3, Daybreak

Next on NASL: Week 7, May 23rd-May 27th