Road to BlizzCon #5 - CMStorm_Polt - WCS 2015 Text by TL.net ESPORTS Graphics by shiroiusagi Story

Player Spotlight

Analysis The Road to Blizzcon - Ch V - Polt







Chapter V Strange Visions from a Strange Land by CosmicSpiral



Somewhere at sea, on Hydra's dingy ship...



Typically, Polt kept the peyote hidden.



It was easy to avoid suspicion. Polt demanded exactitude in all things except the state of his quarters, so visitors were unprepared for the sheer amount of junk that littered the room. Like a family of groundhogs, maps and boxes refused to conform to any notions of neatness. Sometimes they wandered into the corners to obsequiously huddle in silence; other times, they proved more brazen and tripped up passersby. The ensured wave of cognitive dissonance neatly diverted attention from the small tin box underneath the bed. If a curious trespasser had spotted it and investigated further, he might've noticed the thin crust of dry whiskey tinging the edges of the lid. But who would dare accuse the co-ruler of Oegugin of partaking in illegal substances? Technically, it was his job to confiscate all of them anyway.



In normal circumstances that box would have stayed put. But this was an emergency, and emergencies demanded hazy inspiration where pure brainpower was insufficient. Metzennala wasn't the immature frontier that Oegugin still was. It would take more than well-planned strikes to conquer it. Even his keenly intuitive mind couldn't derive the optimal way to start. The number of clans may have dwindled, but there were too many warring parties to consider proper calculation. Mescaline would have to suffice.



“Ahhh, you needed this to beat MMA?”



Hydra dutifully puffed away in the corner, leaning back in the rolling chair. Smoking it...what a goddamn waste. Hydra wasn't nearly the imbiber that his legend suggested. Poor man had to stick to the powdered version. One day, Polt sleepily promised, he'd show him how to do it right. Inhaling was nothing compared to straight injection. Maybe in time, Hydra would graduate to become a heavyweight. Sure would be nice to have a proper partner in crime.



Under the faint glow of the tablelamp, Hydra's face was all sunken angles and ridges. With the puffs of smoke trailing away he uncannily resembled one of those old dented steamboats, like the ones MarineKing used to show him. For the briefest of moments, the air took on a nostalgic tinge. Good ol' Lee Jung Hoon. He always believed in the past beyond the point of stubbornness. If it was up to him, marines would still be the only troops worth deploying to the battlefield.



“You say that like he was a nobody. He was a somebody back then. More than that. Don't you remember? The SlayerS clan laid claim to almost every territory back then. MMA terrorized us.”



“Remember what? Back then, I was raiding La Mancha and running circles around Stork.” Hydra paused, a new thought caressing its way across his face. “You want to talk about downfalls? That poor bastard is now running messages for Solar now. He's worse than nothing now. He's a shadow of nothing. Nothing grinds its heel in his face when he steps out of the door in the morning.”



Polt had neither the energy nor the patience to point out the uselessness of that tangent. Besides, he was starting to perceive Hydra's aura. A little lime green mixed with a lot of vomit brown. Figures. “Well, it was bad. Everyone underestimated Boxer. We thought the old dog had no teeth left in him. SlayerS was supposed to be irrelevant at best.” The soft yellow of the lamp was slowly shifting into neon red. “Maybe MMA was his true son. It runs in the blood, you know. That kind of power. Soldiers know when someone is born into authority. They can smell it.”



“Legitimate, illegitimate, does it really matter? You broke him and you beat him.”



“Took a while. I couldn't decipher his plans. His troops were executing maneuvers that our clan never saw before. Simulations didn't give us jack to work with either. Good old Choya,” he grinned. “I knew he was getting all those crazy ideas from somewhere. He was eager to share.”



“And what, exactly, did this wonderful substance tell you to do?”



“...'Go and kill him. That's what he's vulnerable to.'”.



“Vulnerable to what?”



“Dying.”



“Nice. Really nice.” Hydra leaned backwards in his chair and slightly tilted the pipe, letting the bottom half disappear into the darkness. “What grand revelations is it telling you right now?”



“Relax. Give it time.”



“So you're clutching at straws again”. Hydra's eyes glimmered mischievously.



“Time.”



“Straaaaaaaawws,” he drawled.



Paint was dripping down the walls. Pretty sure it was color though; Polt never ever papered the walls over. He ignored it and let his thoughts flow along the current. It was imperative that he follow anything that manifested during this time.



Obviously they didn't need to search for the scepter. Polt and Hydra had enough friends to track the movements of the home clans, and maybe the occasional payoff could give them a window to move. Creator could be open to negotiations on that front. Direct combat was also fruitless. Even combined, they didn't have the forces to fight a battle if two of the reigning Metzennalan clans joined together. Strikes would have to be surgical. Rivalries would have to be maintained and possibly exacerbated. SKT and KT remained ripe ground for conflict. Perhaps they could use the rumors about envy within their ranks as a catalyst. Greedy boys like Classic should be content with being in the hierarchy. Tacticus knew his type. Some of them had too much thirst and too little ability to succeed.



Classic was a protoss, the same as sOs. sOs shared that in common with Rain. Rain could been swapped with PartinG in that department. Metzennala had talent littering the streets. Oegugin was poverty-stricken in comparison. Shit, Lilbow.



He had to be addressed after this journey. Somehow this nobody was gaining ground and grassroots support, which should be impossible. His plans were fundamentally wrong by conventional and accumulated wisdom alike. He committed his stalker forces to battle without reconnaissance or exit strategies. He attacked when it was foolish, and retreated when it was unnecessary. It didn't matter. Somehow, Lilbow worked over Hydra.



“I don't need to know that. We know what we know, and we know what we don't know. And we know Life's got to meet granddaddy Fruitdealer in the great garden in the sky.” Polt paused, reconsidering his faulty metaphor. “Uhhhh...under the ground. Whatever.”



Hydra's bark shattered the gentle hum of the engines like a cracked whip. “He couldn't have died! He was too good to get surprised by a greenhorn.”



“Eh? Who?”



Hydra's eyes had taken on the color of onyx. His left leg was trembling of its own volition. “Life. That kid is a cockroach. If Armageddon came down on our heads tomorrow, he'd crawl out of the dirt. He wouldn't roll over and die to a stripling.”



“Why not? Unknown factors are always the most dangerous. He took the throne when competition got soft and exposed their hands. No one thought it could happen with Mvp and well...he's gone for good.”



Polt clenched his diaphragm to restrain his tears, though it was hard to tell whether they were stained with disdain or admiration. Or a mixture of both. He slalomed to the side of the bed and crumpled into a squat. Hydra began comparing the vision between both eyes, and Polt wondered how a man with one eye fixed in the haze of anesthesia could ever steer a ship towards land, much less lead an army.



“So...how is it?” he whispered. “I mean...” Polt was almost certain that both eyes would have been seeing the same thing by now.



Hydra shrugged. “Sore throat. Slightly nauseous. Not much else.”



“Hmmm, curious. Different physiology, I guess.”



Polt appeared displeased. That was a week's worth of the stuff and he blew it off like a hookah. Not a single tell until Hydra bent over to massage his leg. A bad eye and a bad foot? Just how does he do it, Polt pondered. "Well," Polt grumbled. "You've been wonderful company. Maybe I'll invite a magpie next time." The terran slowly tipped over, resting against the wall before collapsing into a heap. He still had quite a few calculations to make.



The dull buzz of the engines had finally ceded; the ship must have arrived somewhere, or maybe they had stopped to ask for directions. With a constipated groan, Hydra stood up and approached the bed. Polt was already half asleep, though it was possible that he was this whole time. The peyote had just burned all the way through.



Polt managed to squeeze in a few words in the middle of his last recreational breathe. “Ahhhh, I finally understand.”



“Understand what?” Hydra asked.



“It. The whole thing. How to take Metzennala. It's so simple...”







Typically, Polt kept the peyote hidden.It was easy to avoid suspicion. Polt demanded exactitude in all things except the state of his quarters, so visitors were unprepared for the sheer amount of junk that littered the room. Like a family of groundhogs, maps and boxes refused to conform to any notions of neatness. Sometimes they wandered into the corners to obsequiously huddle in silence; other times, they proved more brazen and tripped up passersby. The ensured wave of cognitive dissonance neatly diverted attention from the small tin box underneath the bed. If a curious trespasser had spotted it and investigated further, he might've noticed the thin crust of dry whiskey tinging the edges of the lid. But who would dare accuse the co-ruler of Oegugin of partaking in illegal substances? Technically, it was his job to confiscate all of them anyway.In normal circumstances that box would have stayed put. But this was an emergency, and emergencies demanded hazy inspiration where pure brainpower was insufficient. Metzennala wasn't the immature frontier that Oegugin still was. It would take more than well-planned strikes to conquer it. Even his keenly intuitive mind couldn't derive the optimal way to start. The number of clans may have dwindled, but there were too many warring parties to consider proper calculation. Mescaline would have to suffice.“Ahhh, you neededto beat MMA?”Hydra dutifully puffed away in the corner, leaning back in the rolling chair. Smoking it...what a goddamn waste. Hydra wasn't nearly the imbiber that his legend suggested. Poor man had to stick to the powdered version. One day, Polt sleepily promised, he'd show him how to do it right. Inhaling was nothing compared to straight injection. Maybe in time, Hydra would graduate to become a heavyweight. Sure would be nice to have a proper partner in crime.Under the faint glow of the tablelamp, Hydra's face was all sunken angles and ridges. With the puffs of smoke trailing away he uncannily resembled one of those old dented steamboats, like the ones MarineKing used to show him. For the briefest of moments, the air took on a nostalgic tinge. Good ol' Lee Jung Hoon. He always believed in the past beyond the point of stubbornness. If it was up to him, marines would still be the only troops worth deploying to the battlefield.“You say that like he was a nobody. He was a somebody back then. More than that. Don't you remember? The SlayerS clan laid claim to almost every territory back then. MMA terrorized us.”“Remember what? Back then, I was raiding La Mancha and running circles around Stork.” Hydra paused, a new thought caressing its way across his face. “You want to talk about downfalls? That poor bastard is now running messages for Solar now. He's worse than nothing now. He's a shadow of nothing. Nothing grinds its heel in his face when he steps out of the door in the morning.”Polt had neither the energy nor the patience to point out the uselessness of that tangent. Besides, he was starting to perceive Hydra's aura. A little lime green mixed with a lot of vomit brown. Figures. “Well, it was bad. Everyone underestimated Boxer. We thought the old dog had no teeth left in him. SlayerS was supposed to be irrelevant at best.” The soft yellow of the lamp was slowly shifting into neon red. “Maybe MMA was his true son. It runs in the blood, you know. That kind of power. Soldiers know when someone is born into authority. They can smell it.”“Legitimate, illegitimate, does it really matter? You broke him and you beat him.”“Took a while. I couldn't decipher his plans. His troops were executing maneuvers that our clan never saw before. Simulations didn't give us jack to work with either. Good old Choya,” he grinned. “I knew he was getting all those crazy ideas from somewhere. He was eager to share.”“And what, exactly, did this wonderful substance tell you to do?”“...'Go and kill him. That's what he's vulnerable to.'”.“Vulnerable to what?”“Dying.”“Nice. Really nice.” Hydra leaned backwards in his chair and slightly tilted the pipe, letting the bottom half disappear into the darkness. “What grand revelations is it telling you right now?”“Relax. Give it time.”“So you're clutching at straws again”. Hydra's eyes glimmered mischievously.“Time.”“Straaaaaaaawws,” he drawled.Paint was dripping down the walls. Pretty sure it was color though; Polt never ever papered the walls over. He ignored it and let his thoughts flow along the current. It was imperative that he follow anything that manifested during this time.Obviously they didn't need to search for the scepter. Polt and Hydra had enough friends to track the movements of the home clans, and maybe the occasional payoff could give them a window to move. Creator could be open to negotiations on that front. Direct combat was also fruitless. Even combined, they didn't have the forces to fight a battle if two of the reigning Metzennalan clans joined together. Strikes would have to be surgical. Rivalries would have to be maintained and possibly exacerbated. SKT and KT remained ripe ground for conflict. Perhaps they could use the rumors about envy within their ranks as a catalyst. Greedy boys like Classic should be content with being in the hierarchy. Tacticus knew his type. Some of them had too much thirst and too little ability to succeed.Classic was a protoss, the same as sOs. sOs shared that in common with Rain. Rain could been swapped with PartinG in that department. Metzennala had talent littering the streets. Oegugin was poverty-stricken in comparison. Shit, Lilbow.He had to be addressed after this journey. Somehow this nobody was gaining ground and grassroots support, which should be impossible. His plans were fundamentally wrong by conventional and accumulated wisdom alike. He committed his stalker forces to battle without reconnaissance or exit strategies. He attacked when it was foolish, and retreated when it was unnecessary. It didn't matter. Somehow, Lilbow worked over Hydra.“I don't need to know that. We know what we know, and we know what we don't know. And we know Life's got to meet granddaddy Fruitdealer in the great garden in the sky.” Polt paused, reconsidering his faulty metaphor. “Uhhhh...under the ground. Whatever.”Hydra's bark shattered the gentle hum of the engines like a cracked whip. “He couldn't have died! He was too good to get surprised by a greenhorn.”“Eh? Who?”Hydra's eyes had taken on the color of onyx. His left leg was trembling of its own volition. “Life. That kid is a cockroach. If Armageddon came down on our heads tomorrow, he'd crawl out of the dirt. He wouldn't roll over and die to a stripling.”“Why not? Unknown factors are always the most dangerous. He took the throne when competition got soft and exposed their hands. No one thought it could happen with Mvp and well...he's gone for good.”Polt clenched his diaphragm to restrain his tears, though it was hard to tell whether they were stained with disdain or admiration. Or a mixture of both. He slalomed to the side of the bed and crumpled into a squat. Hydra began comparing the vision between both eyes, and Polt wondered how a man with one eye fixed in the haze of anesthesia could ever steer a ship towards land, much less lead an army.“So...how is it?” he whispered. “I mean...” Polt was almost certain that both eyes would have been seeing the same thing by now.Hydra shrugged. “Sore throat. Slightly nauseous. Not much else.”“Hmmm, curious. Different physiology, I guess.”Polt appeared displeased. That was a week's worth of the stuff and he blew it off like a hookah. Not a single tell until Hydra bent over to massage his leg.Polt pondered. "Well," Polt grumbled. "You've been wonderful company. Maybe I'll invite a magpie next time." The terran slowly tipped over, resting against the wall before collapsing into a heap. He still had quite a few calculations to make.The dull buzz of the engines had finally ceded; the ship must have arrived somewhere, or maybe they had stopped to ask for directions. With a constipated groan, Hydra stood up and approached the bed. Polt was already half asleep, though it was possible that he was this whole time. The peyote had just burned all the way through.Polt managed to squeeze in a few words in the middle of his last recreational breathe. “Ahhhh, I finally understand.”“Understand what?” Hydra asked.“It. The whole thing. How to take Metzennala. It's so simple...”





Stats are from Aligulac.com







If his attendance at weekenders was sparse and largely forgettable, his WCS Premier League runs continued his dominance in the region. With the stricter region lock in 2015, Polt was one of the few Koreans able to participate, and he added to his tally by winning Season 1. Captain America's finals against Hydra proved that the man was still a force to be reckoned with. Even though Hydra had grabbed match point fairly quickly, Polt mustered enough to composure to climb out of a 1-3 deficit. That would be the peak of his accomplishments for the year, however, as he lost in the rematch during Season 2 and crumbled in the Ro8 in Season 3.



That leaves Polt in a curious position. He was once one of the most familiar players in the scene, one of the most consistent. Yet his comparative absence this year raises questions about his form. He barely faced any elite opponents in offline tournaments in 2015, and only cruised past foreigners for his solitary title. Had this been any other player, the mystery surrounding him would be considered an advantage. However, Polt will likely still play like Polt. After a lackluster 2015, it's hard to say whether that's still enough.



WCS Points:





Top 5 Games







1. Polt vs herO, IEM Taipei 2015 - Catallena

Since his glorious failure at IEM Cologne back in early 2014, Polt’s inevitably become known for his TvP. There’s always a part of us which loves a player with a ‘special move’ in a matchup, be it Maru dropping on colossi in TvP, ForGG’s mass hellions in TvT and TvZ, or Freaky’s infestor monobattles back in WoL. For Polt, that move is the nexus snipe, and it’s a move he executed again here on Catallena, stifling herO’s economy before rolling in with the game winning move.









2. Polt vs ForGG, WCS 2015 Season 1 - Catallena

Since his move to Europe in 2012, ForGG has become known as the king of foreign TvT. His near mythical win rate against foreign terrans (85% career win rate) led many to claim that his mirror match-up play was the best in the world. Polt put that claim to the test in WCS Season 1, and in traditional style, tested those claims by basetrading him. With ForGG seiged up outside his natural, it was the perfect opportunity for Polt to doom drop into his opponent’s natural, cleaning up the mineral line before moving onto the production facilities. A hasty retreat from ForGG was far too slow, and Polt’s macro eventually overwhelmed as the vast differences in production forced ForGG to concede defeat.









3. Polt vs Hydra, WCS 2015 Season 1 – Vaani Research Station

Both Polt and Hydra have ended the year in disappointing fashion, and in the shadow of their twin failures in Poland during WCS Season 3, it’s easy to forget just how brilliant this match was. The first WCS final of the new system was undoubtedly one of the best series of Starcraft 2 ever played, and brought a resoundingly feel good finish to a weekend that was otherwise perhaps lacking in true quality. Every game in the best of 7 is well worth a rewatch, but the pick of the lot is probably Polt’s scrappy victory on Vaani Research Station. Down 2-3, Polt brought wave after wave of terran down onto Hydra, who managed to pull off miraculous hold after miraculous hold. Losing his fourth after a sustained back and forth battle was enough to send Hydra on the counterattack, and the subsequent overcommitment off-creep was enough to seal his fate.









4. Polt vs Harstem, WCS 2015 Season 2 - Cactus Valley

For once, it’s Polt on the defensive in a TvP here. We’ve seen him win TvPs so often with his trademark counters, forcing the protoss into unfavourable basetrades, that we’ve almost forgotten he can play something approximating a standard TvP. Harstem’s 2 base colossus all-in here was strong, but it’s Polt’s two rogue medivacs which are the game changers here, mopping up Harstem’s rallied reinforcements bit by bit while the Dutch protoss slowly ran out of time.









5. Polt vs MarineLorD, WCS Season 2 - Coda

Another semi-basetrade win notched up by Polt. The CM Storm terran’s prowess in chaotic scenarios is well deserved—there are few players as calm under pressure in the game—and here he demonstrates just how well earned that reputation is. Confronted by MarineLorD’s 200/200 death push, Polt techs to battlecruisers, while simultaneously delaying the French terran with bio harass all over the map. Gaining the air advantage after taking out MarineLorD’s viking army, Polt’s solo hero battlecruiser turned the tide of battle as the Frenchman’s strong tank push into Polt’s natural was completely wiped out.



Back in 2014, fans of Starcraft didn't have to look far to find Polt in the booth. He was very active as a competitor, appearing in WCS America and just about every premier international event around. However, things changed in 2015 as Polt's itch from the travel bug seemed to subside. He amassed most of his points through WCS Premier League, and aside from two Ro16 finishes at IEM San Jose and Taipei at the beginning of the year, his only other offline appearance was at MSI MGA in August. Unfortunately, his play left his fans cold. Despite being placed in arguably the easiest Ro16 group with only 1 matchup to prepare for, he was unable to advance and was knocked out in last place by his zerg opponents.If his attendance at weekenders was sparse and largely forgettable, his WCS Premier League runs continued his dominance in the region. With the stricter region lock in 2015, Polt was one of the few Koreans able to participate, and he added to his tally by winning Season 1. Captain America's finals against Hydra proved that the man was still a force to be reckoned with. Even though Hydra had grabbed match point fairly quickly, Polt mustered enough to composure to climb out of a 1-3 deficit. That would be the peak of his accomplishments for the year, however, as he lost in the rematch during Season 2 and crumbled in the Ro8 in Season 3.That leaves Polt in a curious position. He was once one of the most familiar players in the scene, one of the most consistent. Yet his comparative absence this year raises questions about his form. He barely faced any elite opponents in offline tournaments in 2015, and only cruised past foreigners for his solitary title. Had this been any other player, the mystery surrounding him would be considered an advantage. However, Polt will likely still play like Polt. After a lackluster 2015, it's hard to say whether that's still enough.Since his glorious failure at IEM Cologne back in early 2014, Polt’s inevitably become known for his TvP. There’s always a part of us which loves a player with a ‘special move’ in a matchup, be it Maru dropping on colossi in TvP, ForGG’s mass hellions in TvT and TvZ, or Freaky’s infestor monobattles back in WoL. For Polt, that move is the nexus snipe, and it’s a move he executed again here on Catallena, stifling herO’s economy before rolling in with the game winning move.Since his move to Europe in 2012, ForGG has become known as the king of foreign TvT. His near mythical win rate against foreign terrans (85% career win rate) led many to claim that his mirror match-up play was the best in the world. Polt put that claim to the test in WCS Season 1, and in traditional style, tested those claims by basetrading him. With ForGG seiged up outside his natural, it was the perfect opportunity for Polt to doom drop into his opponent’s natural, cleaning up the mineral line before moving onto the production facilities. A hasty retreat from ForGG was far too slow, and Polt’s macro eventually overwhelmed as the vast differences in production forced ForGG to concede defeat.Both Polt and Hydra have ended the year in disappointing fashion, and in the shadow of their twin failures in Poland during WCS Season 3, it’s easy to forget just how brilliant this match was. The first WCS final of the new system was undoubtedly one of the best series of Starcraft 2 ever played, and brought a resoundingly feel good finish to a weekend that was otherwise perhaps lacking in true quality. Every game in the best of 7 is well worth a rewatch, but the pick of the lot is probably Polt’s scrappy victory on Vaani Research Station. Down 2-3, Polt brought wave after wave of terran down onto Hydra, who managed to pull off miraculous hold after miraculous hold. Losing his fourth after a sustained back and forth battle was enough to send Hydra on the counterattack, and the subsequent overcommitment off-creep was enough to seal his fate.For once, it’s Polt on the defensive in a TvP here. We’ve seen him win TvPs so often with his trademark counters, forcing the protoss into unfavourable basetrades, that we’ve almost forgotten he can play something approximating a standard TvP. Harstem’s 2 base colossus all-in here was strong, but it’s Polt’s two rogue medivacs which are the game changers here, mopping up Harstem’s rallied reinforcements bit by bit while the Dutch protoss slowly ran out of time.Another semi-basetrade win notched up by Polt. The CM Storm terran’s prowess in chaotic scenarios is well deserved—there are few players as calm under pressure in the game—and here he demonstrates just how well earned that reputation is. Confronted by MarineLorD’s 200/200 death push, Polt techs to battlecruisers, while simultaneously delaying the French terran with bio harass all over the map. Gaining the air advantage after taking out MarineLorD’s viking army, Polt’s solo hero battlecruiser turned the tide of battle as the Frenchman’s strong tank push into Polt’s natural was completely wiped out.

Polt vs Hydra

WCS Season 1 Finals - Vaani Research Station

by: Jer99



Polt has never been the guy to the glaring mistake. Rarely has there ever been a moment when we thought to ourselves, ‘"remember that one time Polt fell apart?" In fact, Polt is the exact opposite. When almost down and out, he’s the man to keep his composure and shine through the dark. He’s Mr. Clutch incarnate, and this series is a testament to that. Heading into the playoffs of WCS Season 1, Polt wasn’t close to being the favorite. He had the TvT mastermind ForGG to go through, followed by one of the Liquid titans, and finally the inevitable monster Hydra. And in each series, Polt seemed to be almost bested, only to come back as the eventual winner. The analogous sixth game to his legacy shows his trademark resilience like no other.



Facing elimination, Polt had to win the next two games to take the crown. So, Polt went back to his roots for his build selection. In Wings of Liberty, Polt was known for making







Polt moved out across the map, and timed it out so that his combat shield and stimpack upgrades finished as the fight began. At this point Hydra didn’t have a baneling nest yet, and had to rely on pure zerglings and queens to hold the push. The clump of Polt units easily won the fight, and he was able to march into Hydra's base and start killing off drones. A total of 21 drones were killed off by the assault, and it delayed the upgrades from Hydra. This was a big investment from Polt however as it also delayed his own upgrades, and he didn’t have his third command center even started yet. After all was said and done, both players were in relatively similar positions.



From here on a standard game was played out: 4M vs muta/ling/bling. While Polt did have an advantage in the tech department, Hydra was ahead in economy as his third base had been up much longer than Polt's. After establishing his own third base, Polt started the parade push to contest Hydra’s fourth base. Another advantage that Polt had going for him was the fact that there was almost no creep spread. The timing push was able to deny any creep spreading, and also killed off a majority of the queens. This left Hydra with no money to invest in extra queens, and he had to run on what active creep tumors he had left. The result was no creep spread at the fourth base, and barely any past the third.







Even though Polt was in an advantageous position, he did make a few mistakes. In his push, he didn’t split his marines against banelings and lost a significant amount of bio, weakening his army quite a bit. Not only was he losing units to Hydra's army, but he was also losing units to his own widow mines. Even while watching his army, Polt's splits remained lackluster and he was losing packets of marines to widow mine splash damage. Hydra had been getting the more cost-effective trades and he was slowly able to build up enough defenses to hold his fourth. In the end Polt could not contest the fourth base of Hydra anymore, and had to forfeit the push. With no more steam remaining, Polt regrouped back at home and devised a new game plan to get back in contention.



The plan was simple: win a big army fight. Smaller fights would not have worked out in Polt's favor because he was behind in economy, so taking a big fight where they were both maxed out would benefit Polt more than Hydra. The extra supply Hydra had in drones took away from his army, and combining the extra upgrade Polt had over Hydra, a big fight was exactly what Polt needed. Hovering around 190 supply, Polt moved out again to contest Hydra's fourth base, and this was a fight he knew exactly how to win. He postured right outside of the creep, and set up his army in a very specific manner. Three thors were now in the composition, and in a deliberate move, used the hold position command so that they would act as walls. The majority of Polt’s bio units were situated behind these thors, and the ground was filled with widow mines awaiting zerg units to run over them. Hydra initiated the fight, and everything went as planned for Polt. The thors soaked up a lot of damage and detoured the banelings, while the widow mines took out a lot of units. The splits for Polt were much better this time, as there were no money baneling hits on his bio. This was the fight that Polt needed to break Hydra’s shield, and now he could properly contest the fourth.







Behind this attack, Polt was able to take his own fourth base. Another war of attrition broke out, but this time around Polt was in a much better position. The baneling count was exceptionally low after the big fight, and Polt continued to rally units into the fourth base of Hydra. Trade after trade, blow after blow, the two titans duked it out with what scraps of units they could muster. Polt was slowly chipping health away from Hydra's fourth base hatchery, and was eventually able to kill it off. This prompted Hydra to launch a counter attack, which would ultimately be his demise. Hydra pushed way off creep, and situated his army in an awkward position up a ramp. Polt was prepared for this strike, and pre-split his army accordingly. Hydra engaged and lost the fight handily. With a tattered economy and no more army, Hydra called out the GG.



This launched Polt into the final game of the series with all of the momentum. After taking a pretty heavy beating early on in the series, Polt was able to recompose himself and get his mojo back. Even while facing elimination three games in a row, he stayed cool as a cucumber and brought his best to the table, and because of that he was able to win the title.



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Polt has never been the guy to the glaring mistake. Rarely has there ever been a moment when we thought to ourselves, ‘"remember that one time Polt fell apart?" In fact, Polt is the exact opposite. When almost down and out, he’s the man to keep his composure and shine through the dark. He’s Mr. Clutch incarnate, and this series is a testament to that. Heading into the playoffs of WCS Season 1, Polt wasn’t close to being the favorite. He had the TvT mastermind ForGG to go through, followed by one of the Liquid titans, and finally the inevitable monster Hydra. And in each series, Polt seemed to be almost bested, only to come back as the eventual winner. The analogous sixth game to his legacy shows his trademark resilience like no other.Facing elimination, Polt had to win the next two games to take the crown. So, Polt went back to his roots for his build selection. In Wings of Liberty, Polt was known for making special builds , and in this game he did the same. He started out with a command center first; they were on Vaani Research Station, making it a safe choice. His follow up was three barracks with a factory, rather than a quick third command center. As long as he could prevent the scouting from Hydra, this timing had the potential to deal game ending damage. He patrolled marines along common overlord paths, and hid his structures in the back of the base, so Hydra was only able to scout the build when the push was already half way across the map. There are a couple of key differences between the build he used this game, and the one he did back in WoL. The first being that there is no +1 armor for his bio units, which makes them that much more flimsy. The second is an earlier starport which will give him an easier transition after the attack.Polt moved out across the map, and timed it out so that his combat shield and stimpack upgrades finished as the fight began. At this point Hydra didn’t have a baneling nest yet, and had to rely on pure zerglings and queens to hold the push. The clump of Polt units easily won the fight, and he was able to march into Hydra's base and start killing off drones. A total of 21 drones were killed off by the assault, and it delayed the upgrades from Hydra. This was a big investment from Polt however as it also delayed his own upgrades, and he didn’t have his third command center even started yet. After all was said and done, both players were in relatively similar positions.From here on a standard game was played out: 4M vs muta/ling/bling. While Polt did have an advantage in the tech department, Hydra was ahead in economy as his third base had been up much longer than Polt's. After establishing his own third base, Polt started the parade push to contest Hydra’s fourth base. Another advantage that Polt had going for him was the fact that there was almost no creep spread. The timing push was able to deny any creep spreading, and also killed off a majority of the queens. This left Hydra with no money to invest in extra queens, and he had to run on what active creep tumors he had left. The result was no creep spread at the fourth base, and barely any past the third.Even though Polt was in an advantageous position, he did make a few mistakes. In his push, he didn’t split his marines against banelings and lost a significant amount of bio, weakening his army quite a bit. Not only was he losing units to Hydra's army, but he was also losing units to his own widow mines. Even while watching his army, Polt's splits remained lackluster and he was losing packets of marines to widow mine splash damage. Hydra had been getting the more cost-effective trades and he was slowly able to build up enough defenses to hold his fourth. In the end Polt could not contest the fourth base of Hydra anymore, and had to forfeit the push. With no more steam remaining, Polt regrouped back at home and devised a new game plan to get back in contention.The plan was simple: win a big army fight. Smaller fights would not have worked out in Polt's favor because he was behind in economy, so taking a big fight where they were both maxed out would benefit Polt more than Hydra. The extra supply Hydra had in drones took away from his army, and combining the extra upgrade Polt had over Hydra, a big fight was exactly what Polt needed. Hovering around 190 supply, Polt moved out again to contest Hydra's fourth base, and this was a fight he knew exactly how to win. He postured right outside of the creep, and set up his army in a very specific manner. Three thors were now in the composition, and in a deliberate move, used the hold position command so that they would act as walls. The majority of Polt’s bio units were situated behind these thors, and the ground was filled with widow mines awaiting zerg units to run over them. Hydra initiated the fight, and everything went as planned for Polt. The thors soaked up a lot of damage and detoured the banelings, while the widow mines took out a lot of units. The splits for Polt were much better this time, as there were no money baneling hits on his bio. This was the fight that Polt needed to break Hydra’s shield, and now he could properly contest the fourth.Behind this attack, Polt was able to take his own fourth base. Another war of attrition broke out, but this time around Polt was in a much better position. The baneling count was exceptionally low after the big fight, and Polt continued to rally units into the fourth base of Hydra. Trade after trade, blow after blow, the two titans duked it out with what scraps of units they could muster. Polt was slowly chipping health away from Hydra's fourth base hatchery, and was eventually able to kill it off. This prompted Hydra to launch a counter attack, which would ultimately be his demise. Hydra pushed way off creep, and situated his army in an awkward position up a ramp. Polt was prepared for this strike, and pre-split his army accordingly. Hydra engaged and lost the fight handily. With a tattered economy and no more army, Hydra called out the GG.This launched Polt into the final game of the series with all of the momentum. After taking a pretty heavy beating early on in the series, Polt was able to recompose himself and get his mojo back. Even while facing elimination three games in a row, he stayed cool as a cucumber and brought his best to the table, and because of that he was able to win the title. Story

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