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Soulkey vs PartinG
Quick and brutally one-sided – that was the opening game of the largely hyped series between PartinG and Soulkey, respectively StarCraft’s most versatile Protoss and the best Zerg in the best Proleague team.
Parting opened with a feel-the-soil kind of build, going for phoenixes that would end up doing more scouting than disturbing the peace in Soulkey’s base. On the back of that, a blink tech and +1 attack before colossi was initiated and Parting was looking as stable as ever.
Just a few minutes later, Soulkey stormed in to prove that wrong. The Zerg went for a 14th minute maxed army of roaches and hydras and hit two places at once, making Parting regret not getting his AoE units earlier. While the blink tech came with a decent mobility, there weren’t enough units to defend both the natural and the third at the same time. As the latter fell and Soulkey snapped the jaws, Parting tapped out.
Spawning on Daybreak prompted a swarm host tech out of Soulkey, who knew perfectly well that the topography of the map would allow him to abuse the power of the unit to the maximum. Hydras and roaches were mixed in to meat up the army while a blink/colossus tech came from Parting in response as the Protoss realized he needs both mobility and high AoE damage to out-battle Zerg’s composition.
Upon acquiring a significant amount of swarm hosts, Soulkey moved out using a whack-a-mole technique to maximize his damage by burrowing his swarm hosts, releasing the locusts, uprooting, changing position and burrowing again upon locust recharge. While the blink tech kept Parting in the race, he had made a critical mistake – there was just one robo back in his base, meaning he could either produce colossi or observers and he needed both to stop Soulkey’s tango.
By the time Parting finally collected enough of both, Soulkey had already hit brood lord tech and was gearing for a death push with free units en masse and so Parting had to add tempests in his army to have at least some way of combating the long range armada of the Zerg. The potency of both armies led to a long stalemate in the middle of the map and with that – the opportunity for Soulkey’s corruptors to really shine. Knowing the choke is very much secured through swarm hosts and infestors, Soulkey maneuvered his anti-air to eliminate the tempests and colossi of Parting, forcing him to eventually abandon the position. And once out in the open, the Swarm was unstoppable.
?Down two games, Parting was up against the ropes and was visibly worried – Soulkey has been known for his skill in StarCraft 2 ever since KeSPA pros started to switch over but the level of domination he displayed was almost unexpected. Fortunately for all Protoss supporters, Parting was far from dead and his next move was swift and deadly. A 3-base blink timing attack caught Soulkey underprepared and the Zerg had to pull drones to complement his roaches in order to put up some sort of defense. But all was in vain – Soulkey had a chance to stay alive for no longer than a few seconds and the more the battle continued, the more the scales tilted into Parting’s favor.
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Like a true champion, Parting kept his spark alive and his will to live produced arguably the most entertaining and thrilling game of the entire day, the “impossible comeback” being its main theme.
To answer aggression with aggression, Soulkey opened with a huge swell of speedlings off two bases and sprinted across the map to punish Parting’s gateway expand. Marching through the open ramp into the main triggered a nexus cannon from Parting and that would in turn mean sacrificing the natural nexus. Having cleared the second base (and having waited out the expiration of the main base defenses), Soulkey’s lings returned to the main to finish the job only to be laughed off by PartinG’s staggering Probe micro resulting in just two kills. Although hugely in the disadvantage, PartinG was still alive and this was all he need. There, his comeback began.
Losing little to no probes allowed Parting to retake his natural (although hugely delayed), start blink tech and, when that was done, go into colossus production – the most correct decision he could make, seeing how Soulkey had went for swarm hosts and hydras (all that behind a terrifying wall of spine crawlers and viper support) as he did on Daybreak. The Zerg was also taking the whole map, however, and so Parting knew he had to do something, and fast, before he is overwhelmed.
Using the long range of the colossi, Parting started chipping away at the spine crawlers while at the same time positioning his army in such a way as to prevent game-breaking abducts. Said abducts did come eventually but only slowed Parting down a bit and the Protoss push was still a real threat.
Before the unbelieving eyes of viewers, casters and Soulkey alike, PartinG drilled through the Zerg static defenses and opened Soulkey’s guard to deliver the final jab. Having no way of battling the blink stalker overflow or at least reduce the colossus count, Soulkey pulled drones in desperation but he only push Parting back a few inches. The GG came a few seconds later, leaving everybody wondering how that happened and if such a comeback is even allowed.
There came the final game and none were particularly surprised seeing the opening builds – it wouldn’t be a Parting ZvP without at least one 2-base colossus/immortal push. Seven gates were also warped in to make this as scary as possible and overall things looked very good Parting.
There arrived the most precious overlord of all time, which scouted Parting’s plan just as lair finished, giving Soulkey enough time to reach with a tech choice of his own, a spire play in this particular case. This was also the standard recipe for a base race so when the two armies passed each other, nobody was left aghast.
Or at least until Parting’s unexpected decision to recall back and try to fight off the mutalisk flock, which as StarCraft 2 history has taught us, is never a wise decision in times like these. Going back home to defend accomplished absolutely nothing for Parting as Soulkey just flew away to harass elsewhere, forcing Parting to move out for the second time now.
At that point of time, there was no more intrigue as everyone watching already knew the outcome of the series. Before Parting could deal any damage to the Zerg, the mutalisks had returned to clean up his entire base and seize the GG. Soulkey advanced to the semi-finals after a 3-2.
sOs vs Losira
Whereas Parting and Soulkey engaged in what is perceived to be, more or less, the standard way of playing PvZ, sOs and Losira took it to heart to stand on the completely opposite side and be quick, creative and entertaining.
Game one was played on Whirlwind and ended up being shorter than the banner we made for it. Where most Zergs opt for a macro opening, Losira went straight for the 1-base speedling all-in and after reducing sOs to four probes the IM Zerg snatched the quick lead.
Seeing how he wasn’t the first to try something whacky despite his reputation, sOs considered it a personal obligation to treat his fans to some special play.
Step one in sOs’s plan was a 3-gate zealot/sentry attack that hit from the side, dealt a moderate drone damage and kept Losira away from taking his third as early as he would have liked. More gates were added on the back of this aggression but the more critical part was actually sOs scouting Losira’s spire follow-up, which in turn triggered a very sOs-esque response.
Instead of stuffing on stalkers for anti-air, sOs landed a dark shrine and hit Losira from the ground. A few dark templars were used as harassment tools while others were fusioned into archons to supplement the main Protoss army, which army then aimed at the jugular, crushing the Zerg like he was nothing. The score was tied and a game on Atlas was to follow.
Liking how the DT tech worked for him in game two, sOs went for a shrine immediately but relied on shadows and mirrors (in this case zealot warp ins) to make Losira believe nothing is out of the ordinary and conceal his tech as best as he could.
The DTs were only revealed upon warping and Losira had a very small timing in which to react. Spore crawlers were erected immediately in every base and although DTs were already on the way, it was more sOs’ decision to not go for a full DT warp-in than Losira’s skill at defending that allowed the latter to live and fight another day.
Being cleaned up without dealing any damage, sOs knew he’s very much behind and so an +1 attack/archon attack followed, Protoss’ only chance of making something happen. Upon arrival, however, sOs was greeted by Losira’s already too big a roach army and the KeSPA player had to once again give the lead to the Zerg.
sOs was not out of shenanigans, however, and spawned on Red City to play a weird game by all standards, despite Losira’s double evo intentions of playing something that at least barely qualifies as a normal ZvP.
sOs opened with a double stargate phoenix play and moved just a bit later to trick Losira into thinking it’s a normal phoenix opening, while in fact double void ray production was to be started immediately. Thus, a completely unexpected 6 VR raid hit the unsuspecting Losira and in the span of a few seconds, the Zerg saw his lair melt and the Protoss flotilla recalling back to safety before suffering any damage.
The confusion of Losira clearly showed in his play and the IM youngster kept running around with his lings looking for openings but none (besides a slight delay on sOs’s third) were to be found. The only thing that went right for Losira, in fact, was his response in terms of tech reflected in swarm hosts, corruptors, infestors and queens but that couldn’t get him out of this mess either as we’d soon see.
Amassing a hefty number of spellcasters made Losira move out of his base and towards the Protoss side of the map but sOs was more than ready to defend the massive wave of Zerg. By the time the Zerg army arrived, sOs had added archons to tank for his void rays as well as high templars for feedback and he laughed off all of Losira’s infested terran/fungal/transfusion fanciness, tying the score once again.
Daybreak, the battlefield to see sOs’ final trick, and what a trick it was – wild, manic, deceitful and mind-blowing. Here’s how it went in case any readers of ours are mad enough to try it at home.
• Step 1: Open with a cannon rush and whiff it completely, allowing the Zerg to come ahead in terms of economy.
• Step 2: Transition into double stargate, +1 air attack and +1 shields and go straight for void rays. Don’t attack with them, they will be needed for step number three.
• Step 3: Hold still and await the inevitable roach/ling attack. Let a few lings break in and unpower some of your structures, giving the Zerg a false sense of domination, while you clean up the roaches.
• Step 4: Transition into a triple stargate but also add a dark shrine. Don’t worry, it all makes sense in the end.
• Step 5: Warp in just enough archons to provide decent anti-air against Zerg’s spire tech. Warp in zealots with your main army and mix in some DTs just for the fun of it and because using them just to harass is so last week.
• Step 6: Push out with your zealot/archon/DT/void ray/phoenix army and trample the baffled Zerg. Advance to the Code S semi-finals where you’ll play your Woongjin Stars teammate.
The master of trickery at work. There's likely a Fusion Core transition in the plans if step six doesn't work
