Finals - sSak vs. Last

sSak > Last @ Sin Peaks of Baekdu

sSak < Last @ Fighting Spirit

sSak < Last @ Return of the King

sSak > Last @ Blue Storm

sSak > Last @ Sin Peaks of Baekdu Last @ Sin Peaks of BaekdusSak



Speechless.



Strength in offense



I'm walking on sunshine, hey!



Vulture action



The end!

Third Place Match - HiyA vs. Mong

Mong < HiyA @ Fighting Spirit

Mong > HiyA @ Return of the King

Mong > HiyA @ Sin Peaks of Baekdu

Mong > HiyA @ Blue Storm Mong

On Sin Peaks of Baekdu , Last went for a proxy rax near sSak's base to scout. Both players went for a factory expand. After both players added more factories, sSak slowly started to take control of the game. A small vulture runby into Last's main killed many SCVs. sSak had better engagements and better tank placements in the middle and the high ground on either side of the map even taking over Last's potential third at the 3 o'clock position. By limiting Last's movement, he eventually took a faster third as well. Last slowly managed to stabilize but was still at a deficit as the game progressed into heavy dropship play. With the higher dropship and a stronger economy, sSak managed to get a large drop at Last's expansion which Last defended it (gif). sSak tried again at Last's third (sSak had a fourth at this point) but Last still managed to defend it losing many workers in the process. As the game progressed, sSak, using SCVs as a buffer, broke the high ground that Last was holding outside his fourth then took it down. His last drop at Last's third was more than enough for him to win the game.After leading in the first game, sSak opened up once again with a 1 rax factory while Last opted for 1 rax FE on Fighting Spirit . Both players went up to two factories though sSak gained early map control with mines. Last decided to add another factory and a starport opting for drops. But before that, he massed up vultures and tried to go for a frontal attack on sSak whose's quick reaction helped him built 2 ebays just in the nick of time to block the vultures. Soon after massing a small army, sSak went on the offensive countering with a heavy tank army and managed to get lots of SCV kills while Last got a 4 vulture drop off that ripped apart sSak's mineral line at his expansion. Though Last lost more workers (or an equal amount) compared to sSak, he still had a strong enough army left at home which he used to attack sSak's expansion. After managing to win a major engagement outside sSak's base (gif), Last pushed further and won the game with his superior army to tie the series 1-1.Deciding to play on the edge, Last took a major risk in game three on Return of the King opening with a 14cc on the low ground. sSak still stuck to his 1 rax factory build. Upon scouting the cc first, sSak added his own cc on the low ground. He tried a single vulture runby but Last was easily able to defend against it losing one worker in the process. Things were not looking great for sSak and things became worse when his port was scouted by a pesky SCV from Last giving away his gameplan. On the other hand, Last was on top of his game. Scouting around, he caught some vultures at his potential third and then moved out looking to take the high ground while sSak tried the same thing. Last's better position and stronger army gave him the advantage and the high ground. In the meantime, sSak decided to drop Last's main but it was easily defended by some marines+one tank. Having added two ports that were not caught by the observer, Last plowed through sSak's paltry force (gif) laying siege to his expansion and took a one-sided game to go up 2-1.Realizing his bad situation, it was now time for sSak to move on from his build order rut though Last had other plans. Opening with a proxy rax on Blue Storm , it looked like sSak's tournament run was over when it was scouted. A spectacle unfolded as both players tried to micro two SCVs to build/stop the rax from going up. sSak eventually managed to get his rax to complete though he didn't do much with it. Both players added a factory and expand soon after. Drawing on fantasy's wisdom, sSak went for a heavy vulture style. He killed several SCVs at Last's expansion and several in his main before adding more factories for more vultures. Last decided on 2 port wraith to try and mirror his success from the last game. It looked like Last was going to sweep sSak with a 3-1 with wraiths killing many workers, delaying the armory (sSak did have another armory building though) however sSak's vulture count and strong macro allowed him to overcome Last's vulture army outside Last's expansion (gif). With the much superior army, sSak killed many workers at Last's expansion and mined his factories to take a close and exhilarating game.The last game of the series, this was it! A single game worth $9000 and the title of SSL10 champion! Both players ended up mimicking each other opening with a 1 rax factory expand and adding three more factories around the same time. Prior to that, sSak tried for early harass using 2 vultures against Last's 1 vulture/marine defense however Last's reaction was quick and he repaired his only vulture. It looked like we were going into the macro game with both players on equal footing then it happened. A single second was all that was required to help sSak grab a lead that he wouldn't relinquish. Last looked away from his vultures on the high ground for a single second and allowed sSak to get onto the high ground and grab the better concave. Taking the engagement in his favour, sSak rallied his vultures at his home and added them to his remaining vultures from the fight then went for a massive attack on Last's expansion. Many SCVs were slaughtered as sSak took a huge eco lead. As Last desperately tried to recover after the attack, sSak took a third and then a fourth while pressuring Last. From this point on, sSak's game was too solid to overcome. His army was much bigger and with one final attack, he claimed victory!While Last ended up losing, he played some terrific games, He was solid, unpredictable and when things went his way looked quite dominant. His micro in general looked stellar and he might've even taken the series had he made some different decisions in his last two games. Despite all that, he was not able to overcome sSak. sSak fought a hard battle against a player that had a dominant TvT and was quite confident in his game. He was able to prevail and make his fans proud. Could he be the new crown prince of SKT T1? With all that said, sSak IS YOUR SSL10 CHAMPION!HiyA and Mong, two staples that brought the transition of SOSPA from the "amateur" scene to a resurged semi-professional BW, faced off for third place in the first SBENU Starleague and the 10th iteration of SSL.Spawning cross map on Fighting Spirit, HiyA opened with a 1 factory expand (perhaps like sSak's book to stick with this opening) with Mong going for a gas-less barrack expand. Mong had a seemingly solid game plan to harass and gain map control. After the expo, he followed up with another factory into 1 starport for a batch of 3 cloaked wraiths, a dropship, and then a surge of speed vultures to mine up the map. The harass had the potential to keep HiyA at home and could catch him unprepared (for wraiths, for cloak, or for drop), however, HiyA had other plans. HiyA took his third expansion quickly and established a solid siege line with goliath support to guard his bases. Mong's harass was shut down and the speed vultures had no hope of running through tank fire. Mong tried to establish a soft split of the map hoping that HiyA would play passively but HiyA used his early third and strong economy to easily muscle his way out of one side of Mong's contain. He continued to push into Mong's natural, harassed Mong's third, and easily took the game.This game on Return of the King displayed a lot of very small mind games that can happen in TvT early on, before becoming a battle for map positioning. Early on, HiyA placed his barracks forward on the map, allowing for an easy scout by floating it. Both players opened with factory into starport and command center, but Mong's first 2 vultures did some harass and made their way into HiyA's base scouting around. Mong canceled the starport add-on after HiyA's barrack was out of range and landed his own barrack in HiyA's main to make a 4 marine hit squad to kill SCVs. HiyA followed up with a second starport using the mobility and harass of cloaked wraiths to kill many of Mong's SCVs, however, he forfeited map positioning. Due to the high ground surrounding his third and natural, Hiya was contained and his movement was completely constricted. HiyA's attempts to escape with dropships didn't pan out well due to Mong's excellent preparation and his use of the map terrain to its fullest.HiyA took to the skies once again in game 3, perhaps due to Sin Peaks of Baekdu's unique architecture of a long, switchback-like path by ground. Opening straight into 1 starport and a quick cloak, he delayed Mong's low ground expansion off 1 factory. This was done with vultures and marines then with wraiths. Hoping this damage was enough, HiyA made an incredibly strong commitment off 1 base to cloaked wraiths and siege tanks to go for the kill (with a very slow expansion, even delayed by vultures, as a backup). His attempt to break up the small ramp of Mong and set up a contain on the natural failed. Far ahead on economy, Mong just built up a healthy backbone of tanks, goliaths and dropships. HiyA's last hope of holding on with siege tanks outside Mong's natural was crushed.Like game 3, HiyA came prepared with a specific gameplan utilizing Blue Storm's architecture. The plan started off with an 8 rax with bunker on the natural's high ground. This was followed up by a marine/vulture attack that allowed a bunker to be built at the natural with siege tank support for the contain. Wraith also helped cover airspace and reduced Mong's air options. Mong's factory command center into starport build seemed to be put on the backfoot. He was able to make a crucial move by sniping HiyA's wraith before cloak finished researching.Skipping siege to get cloak, Mong walked a tight line as he took out HiyA's second wraith and relied on repair as his factory was being shelled:Mong got siege mode finished, used his wraiths to pick off one of HiyA's tanks, and was able to breath once again. HiyA was determined to keep the contain on the natural, throwing down a second starport while still on one base to gain the wraith advantage. However, HiyA didn't know that Mong had quietly landed his command center at the 6 o'clock, was mining the gas freely and that after breaking out of the full contain his natural was his third base. With a late second base of his own, HiyA was down by one base (2 to 3). Mong safely split the map in his favour after defending against HiyA's attempt to set up another contain outside his natural. It was an easy ride to victory after that. With the massive economic lead, Mong eventually built up an air force of his own to cement the GG and allow him to be victorious.The final result was 3-1 in Mong's favour who went on to finish SSL10 in third place, his highest ranking in recent SSLs.