Oh thank heaven, Ascension week seven

[s]event[/s]

Another installation of Media's Ascension project is in the history books and this week was arguably the best one yet. Two established players and a returning gosu faced off this Sunday in six epic games.

This Sunday brought us another two hours of the Ascension tournament, and with so many great players already making it into round 2, it would be hard to top the previous groups. Somehow Media managed it and with ease as mYm.Dreiven and RoX.aoOa (a.k.a Advokate) were picked to play; both players already very well known in the scene, with a lot of experience in WCG and LAN play as well. To compete with these already experienced gosus they brought along Ret, an accomplished, skilled, and respected player who hasn't done much since 2005, but is trying to come back on the scene and recently joined Media after finishing this group.


-- To avoid spoilers, do not read any further --

An epic beginning and our featured match of the week

To kick things off we saw Ret take on Dreiven on the map Zodiac. In somewhat humorous fashion Dreiven missed the scout on Ret after not going deep enough into the main to see any creep, forcing him to scout twice. Because of the delayed scout Dreiven opts not to fast expand and instead does and somewhat unorthodox build with Zealots and Templars off two gateways. By the time he scouts Ret's base, Ret's third hatch was already building, and he chose to go with a more hydra/lurker oriented build.

Very conservative play from both players, as they built up their macro. Ret techs to greater spire for Guardians while Dreiven is unaware and doesn't put up a Stargate until relatively late. After 14 minutes of play, Ret is already pumping off of 5 bases and has a booming economy. The first major encounter happens after fifteen minutes as Dreiven attempted to take away Ret's expo at the 12 O'Clock second natural but fails. Shortly after, Dreiven takes his fifth base, and has an army of literally every protoss ground unit brewing.

At about the twenty minute mark, Dreiven uses incredible micro to fend off a couple dozen Ultralisks with Hydralisks with the help of an underused, yet deadly combo in Maelstrom with Psi Storm on the clustered Ultras. With every attack Ret tried, Dreiven ended up on the winning side of it.


Dreiven used the Dark Archon efficiently against Ret's huge armies.
After battling it out for almost 35 minutes and having every single Protoss ground unit on the map, Dreiven decided to change course and assault Ret's island expos with Carriers off of 4 Stargates. With every other base almost mined out of minerals, Ret fought with all his might, but at the 40 and a half minute mark realized he had been outplayed and was forced to surrender. This was a very entertaining and exciting match with unique play from both players.

Now it was time for the Russian player aoOa/Advokate to shine

Game two took place on Python, with Advokate spawning at the 2 position and Dreiven at 12. Dreiven goes for a very early Robotics Facility while Advokate, after scouting it and anticipating the drop, puts up a Starport and makes a wraith. Dreiven decides to drop reavers anyway, and with good micro and a bit of luck manages to take out thirteen SCVs with one scarab. Advokate, now at a huge economic disadvantage, seizes the opportunity and attacks with an army consisting of mostly tanks, and manages to destroy the nexus at Dreiven's natural as well as force him back up his ramp. Dreiven manages to fight off the attack and begin reconstruction while Advokate takes his expo.

Both players were now even and moved towards a more typical PvT match. After some back and forth action between the two of them, Advokate managed to overcome Dreiven and make him surrender at around 22 minutes. Dreiven managed to come back however, beating Advokate in game 4, therefore evening the score and forcing a tiebreaker if Ret couldn't win in game 5.

After several quality games, Advokate pulls through and wins the group.

Dreiven beat Ret once again in the fifth game, knocking Ret out of the group officially. With only one game left in the two hour limit, tensions ran high as Dreiven and Advokate prepared to settle the score once and for all.

In a very close and entertaining game on Blue Storm, the two battled in the middle for a good portion of the game, with Advokate gaining a slow advantage as Dreiven's macro began to slip. As time wore on, Advokate's strength grew and he eventually took out Dreiven with his force of Goliaths, Tanks, and Vultures. The group had been decided, and the Russian Advokate will go on to round 2 to make his "Ascension" into greatness.

Links
MediaESports.com - Ascension Group 7 - Preview
MediaESports.com - METV - The VODs