On the first day of the Quarters we had Boxer (a.k.a. Fake Boxer and, as the casters call it now, Foxer) against KyrixZenith, the Zerg with the insanely aggressive ZvT; next on the line we had Blizzcon’s champion and the last Protoss of the tournament NEXGenius versus the vice-champion of GSL 1 HopeTorture who is again and again showing us what a stable player he is. But let’s look at the games themselves.
Boxer vs 
KyrixZenithGame 1 @ Shakuras Plateau. Exploiting the topography of the map and the long rush distance, Kyrix threw a quick expo followed by Speed and a Baneling Nest before Lair and he was camping in front of Boxer’s natural, who was meanwhile going for CC into triple Reactor with Siege Tanks. The first bust took down the Depot and Zerglings followed up but Boxer beautifully split his forces and managed to defend. The second Baneling bust attempt did even less, killing a Factory but almost no units at all.
Trying to seize control of the game, Boxer moved with a respectable Marine force towards Zerg’s third base but Kyrix barely deflected that, keeping his economical advantage and gave him the opportunity to add Spire tech. And this is when the most amazing part of the game came. Countless Marines vs Banelings dances occurred in the middle of the map with Boxer’s forces constantly trying to push forward and gain some ground. Kyrix’s Baneling waves seemed indefinite as he tirelessly sent army after army of green balls into Boxer’s marines. But the kid showed us just how monstrous of a micro he has and he kept splitting his Marines into three, four and even more parts to minimize Baneling damage. However, Kyrix seemed to regain control as he managed to stall down the Marine force for a while and waning down the Medivac count. But Boxer’s macro, reinforcing and upgrading was relentless, he continued to push forward and soon easily took down Zerg’s natural. Seeing that his Baneling were getting constantly outmicroed, Kyrix switched to Roaches but it was already too late – Boxer’s Marines were already 3/3 and as soon as he marched up Zerg’s third the game for Kyrix was over.
Game 2 @ Lost Temple. This game looked promising right from the start as the two players got the 9-to-12 rush positions. Boxer opted for big aggression, opening with 4-Rax off of one base and pushing with threatening Marine force in the Speedless time window. And thank god for that decision as we again saw his beautiful Marine vs Zergling micro that made him shine in the game against FruitDealer. Minimizing his losses and doing the best he can with the Marine force, Boxer managed to take down a Queen and force a lot of Zerglings but as soon as Speed was done he had to retreat to safety, adding a bunker amidst his Rax wall. This proved to be his direst mistake as Kyrix, true to his style, went for Baneling nest and after two painful busts with Speedling follow-ups he managed to tear down Boxer apart, tying the score.
Game 3 @ Steppes of War. The third game developed in much similar fashion. Boxer tried to do an early Marine push but he got fended off by Speedlings who in turn tried to show their worth by counterattacking futilely. Boxer then went into a turtle mode, adding some Bunker to his natural ramp and seeing that Kyrix responded by taking the north gold. With a skyrocketing economy he had an even easier time getting this huge number of Baneling he so much enjoys. A gigantic Baneling bust followed by some nice Speedling follow-up took down Boxer’s expo, sending him far behind in the economy game. Realizing that he has no chance of coming back, Boxer typed out.
Game 4 @ Scrap Station. The fourth set was a nice breath of fresh air. With the map architecture denying the options of early aggressive play, both players had to find another way to the win. And it seemed that Boxer had made the right decision, going for double Cloak Banshees, which unfortunately got spotted by Kyrix’s Overlord. The Zerg was meanwhile trying to tech to Mutas but when the first wave of Banshees flew to his main he only had Queens to defend. Wounding the Banshees as much as he can and forcing them to retreat for repairs, Kyrix was safe for a while but then Terran’s fliers returned, their numbers even greater. Disposing of all the Queens, the Banshees flew to the natural where they found the best present – a Spire still in completion. Three Banshees made short work of that tech and it was a checkmate for Kyrix. The score was once again tied.
Game 5 @ Xel’Naga Caverns. I can’t even begin to describe this game because was it mind-blowing!! It all started with one of Kyrix’s Baneling/Speedling pressures that almost killed Boxer there and then and hurting his economy immensely. Soon, Kyrix was on three bases and his lead was even larger. Trying to get some ground, Boxer, much like in game 1, tried to poke out with Marine/Tank forces as much as he can but he was constantly stopped by Banelings, Roaches, Mutas, the whole nine Zerg yards. After several attempts he managed to take down Zerg’s third but that seemed like a small victory as he was still behind in supply and had to take another base himself as his main was running empty.
Boxer decided to settle at the gold but with the main Orbital instead of the Fortress things looked grim – there was nothing there to stop Kyrix’s constant pressure and Boxer kept losing SCVs and mining time.
But there was one thing that Kyrix did not anticipate – you just can’t fight Terran on equal grounds in the late game. Underestimating the necessity for rapid expanding, Kyrix soon started losing his army advantage and suddenly Boxer was a real threat – he had almost as big of an army, his upgrades were better, he had finally secured his gold and most importantly – he still managed to dodge all Baneling waves suffering little to no damage. And in what would probably the biggest comeback of the tournament, he succeeded in amassing a Marine force of such magnitude, that Kyrix had to GG out, probably pissed off about throwing a perfectly good game away.
NEXGenius vs HopeTortureGame 1 @ Lost Temple. It all began with what would seem to be a perfectly normal PvT. Hope opened with a Rax build for a timing push while Genius opened with Void Rays into expansion – possibly the worst outcome in this rock/paper/scissors situation. Hope’s poke even forced a cancel on the Nexus and Genius had to do some alterations to his strat. Using his Void Rays to harass wherever he can without losing any, he gradually amassed a solid Gateway army and his VR numbers continued to grow. HopeTorture had already managed to secure an expansion, though, so Genius went for a full frontal attack. Because of the CC, Hope’s bio army was a bit smaller than necessary and the combined air & ground army of Genius just stomped it over.
Game 2 @ Delta Quadrant. You rarely see HopeTorture go Banshee but for some reason he chose to open Cloak on Quadrant despite the fact that his opponent spawned diametrically across the map. In his turn, Genius decided to go Blink Stalkers, hiding his Twilight Council out of Hope’s sight. But the sneaky play almost played a fatal joke to both of these players. Hope’s Banshee flew into Genius’s main just as a decent amount of Stalkers blinked into his main base. Both players tried to micro to their best and were dealing some serious damage to each other – Hope was killing probes and Genius was waning down the Terran army. However, HopeTorture still had his economy up and running while Genius was down to seven Probes all being chased around the map by a single Banshee. Using his SCVs and the few Marines that managed to pop out of the Barracks, HopeTorture cornered Genius’s Stalkers and disposed of them one by one, winning the game.
Game 3 @ Xel’Naga Caverns. Do you know what is the best part of writing a report in 2 o’clock in the evening? It’s when time comes to recap the shortest game of the series. Trying to be cheesy, HopeTorture proxied a Factory near the Protoss main and as soon as it finished, he added an Armory in his own main, indicating a strong Thor/Marine timing push. Which went particularly well considering the fact that Genius was not expecting it at all and only had some puny Sentries and Probes, none of which are amazingly useful against Thors. HopeTorture was up 2-1.
Game 4 @ Metalopolis. In this fourth game, both players decided to return to what they know and what they can do very well: HopeTorture embraced his bio army and Genius opened with Void Ray tech once again, having the good intention to play another Lost Temple series. However, his VR tech got scouted by a Reaper and when Genius flew his units to Hope’s base he found the Terran more than ready. Seeing that he won’t be able to kill squat with his Rays, Genius transitioned to Colossi and took a third base. HopeTorture knew that it was his time to act and exploiting both the expansion timing and the still low count of Colossi, he tried to crush the protoss with his Marine/Marauder army but he got stopped at Genius’s natural. There was a small victory for Terran, however, as he managed to kill both of Genius’s Colossi. Issuing a second bio push, HopeTorture managed to take down Protoss’s third and returned to the safety of his part of the map.
Knowing that he has to make something happen, Genius pushed towards Terran’s natural but HopeTorture was already prepared: with a perfectly aimed EMP he crippled the Protoss army and just ordered his Marauder to clean the mess, eliminating Genius from the tournament.
It is somewhat peculiar of what the Ro4 lineup will be. After today’s mirrors we will have 3 Terrans and 1 Zerg, just as last season’s. And with this spookily peculiar fact I leave you waiting for Day 2’s matches, ‘cuz it’s NaDa vs Boxer, baby, yeah!
Want to catch up with GSL Season 2?
Then stop by our earlier coverage of the season:
BATTLE REPORT: Quarter finals - Day 1
RESULTS: Quarter finals - Day 1
VODs: Quarter finals - Day 1
BATTLE REPORT: Round of 16 - Day 2
RESULTS & VODs: Round of 16 - Day 2
BATTLE REPORT: Round of 16 - Day 1
RESULTS & VODs: Round of 16 - Day 1
BATTLE REPORT: Round of 32 - Day 4
RESULTS & VODs: Round of 32 - Day 4
BATTLE REPORT: Round of 32 - Day 3
RESULTS & VODs: Round of 32 - Day 3
BATTLE REPORT: Round of 32 - Day 2
RESULTS & VODs: Round of 32 - Day 2
