[GSL] Super Tournament - Semi-Finals Preview Text by Waxangel Graphics by HawaiianPig



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GSL Super Tournament - Semi-Finals Preview

By Antoine, b_unnies, confusedcrib, and WaxAngel

Table of contents

brought to you by Snorlax



Results and Reviews



Semi-finals Preview One:

Must Watch TvT



Semi-finals Preview Two:

The Breakfast of Champions



Well, there it is. Fionn seems to be



This week we recap some excellent RO8 series and look forward to the semi-finals. Graphics genius HawaiianPig took some pity on us this week and provided us with some new eye-candy, which makes our writing at least seem enthusiastic about the unusual semi-final match ups that wait ahead.















Results and Ratings



Brackets

+ Show Spoiler [Brackets] + A

B

C

D



Quarter-final one: SlayerS_MMA vs SlayerS_Ryung



Game One: Bel'Shir Beach -

+ Show Spoiler + MMA > Ryung



MMA went for the 11 rax, 11 gas build that Maka showed last week. It's a build that sacrifices some econ but pushes the factory out a fair time faster than a normal 12 rax 13 gas build. MMA further enhanced the effect of his fast tech by proxying both his factory AND starport by Ryung's base, ensuring a super fast banshee.



Ryung was going banshees as well, but of the regular 12 rax 13 gas variety. In a truly unfortunate move by Ryung, he decided to pressure MMA's choke with his marines and hellions, not realizing his marines would be needed at his own base much sooner than he expected.



As MMA tore through Ryung's mineral line, Ryung realized his marines were already too far away to return, and knew his only option was to change his light pressure into a desperate base trade all-in. However, his handful of marines and hellions (and later a single tank) were not enough to break through MMA's wall and repairing SCVs, and he GG'd out when he was left with 1 SCV.



MMA:

Very cute strategy, though he was aided by Ryung's decision to move his marines out.



Ryung:

Caught totally off guard, but that's more MMA being creative than Ryung being lazy.

MMA went for the 11 rax, 11 gas build that Maka showed last week. It's a build that sacrifices some econ but pushes the factory out a fair time faster than a normal 12 rax 13 gas build. MMA further enhanced the effect of his fast tech by proxying both his factory AND starport by Ryung's base, ensuring a super fast banshee.Ryung was going banshees as well, but of the regular 12 rax 13 gas variety. In a truly unfortunate move by Ryung, he decided to pressure MMA's choke with his marines and hellions, not realizing his marines would be needed at his own base much sooner than he expected.As MMA tore through Ryung's mineral line, Ryung realized his marines were already too far away to return, and knew his only option was to change his light pressure into a desperate base trade all-in. However, his handful of marines and hellions (and later a single tank) were not enough to break through MMA's wall and repairing SCVs, and he GG'd out when he was left with 1 SCV.3.5/5Very cute strategy, though he was aided by Ryung's decision to move his marines out.2/5Caught totally off guard, but that's more MMA being creative than Ryung being lazy.



Game Two: Dual Sight -

+ Show Spoiler + Ryung > MMA



After opening up with 12 rax 13 gas tech builds, MMA and Ryung split paths. MMA went for a 2nd refinery and fast blue-flame upgrade before getting his starport, while Ryung skipped his second gas but went straight for a starport while getting a much faster command center.



MMA poked at Ryung with his marines and blue flame hellions, which put a minor hurting on Ryung while he tried to defend with his no-cloak banshee and marines. MMA quickly followed up by dropping additional blue flame hellions in Ryung's main, but Ryung was more than prepared for it.



Overall, MMA didn't do quite enough damage as his investment required, and Ryung's faster orbital command sent him slightly ahead. Interestingly enough, MMA chose to follow up by going for a pure mech style, while Ryung went for the more standard bio + tank composition.



The two terrans began to jockey for position in the center, though neither side wanted to commit to any major battles considering the large tank numbers for both. Both players managed to take their third bases at a similar time, at which time also, both players coincidentally decided to counter attack each other.



MMA's mech was more susceptible to being being chipped away at by small numbers of Ryung's newly produced troops, such as when 3 marauders would pop out and shoot down a single unsieged tank. In comparison, MMA's factory troops had a much harder time denting Ryung's tank and marauder ball. Eventually, nothing was left of MMA's army while Ryung still had a large amount of tanks parked outside MMA's natural.



One last charge was attempted by MMA, who GG'd out after immediately after.



MMA:

From an observer's perspective at least, it seemed obvious that MMA was in a worse base trade position than Ryung, and shouldn't have chosen that course of action.



Ryung:

Pretty good defense all-around against MMA's harassment tactics, and had some good defense in the base trade as well.

After opening up with 12 rax 13 gas tech builds, MMA and Ryung split paths. MMA went for a 2nd refinery and fast blue-flame upgrade before getting his starport, while Ryung skipped his second gas but went straight for a starport while getting a much faster command center.MMA poked at Ryung with his marines and blue flame hellions, which put a minor hurting on Ryung while he tried to defend with his no-cloak banshee and marines. MMA quickly followed up by dropping additional blue flame hellions in Ryung's main, but Ryung was more than prepared for it.Overall, MMA didn't do quite enough damage as his investment required, and Ryung's faster orbital command sent him slightly ahead. Interestingly enough, MMA chose to follow up by going for a pure mech style, while Ryung went for the more standard bio + tank composition.The two terrans began to jockey for position in the center, though neither side wanted to commit to any major battles considering the large tank numbers for both. Both players managed to take their third bases at a similar time, at which time also, both players coincidentally decided to counter attack each other.MMA's mech was more susceptible to being being chipped away at by small numbers of Ryung's newly produced troops, such as when 3 marauders would pop out and shoot down a single unsieged tank. In comparison, MMA's factory troops had a much harder time denting Ryung's tank and marauder ball. Eventually, nothing was left of MMA's army while Ryung still had a large amount of tanks parked outside MMA's natural.One last charge was attempted by MMA, who GG'd out after immediately after.2.5/5From an observer's perspective at least, it seemed obvious that MMA was in a worse base trade position than Ryung, and shouldn't have chosen that course of action.3.5/5Pretty good defense all-around against MMA's harassment tactics, and had some good defense in the base trade as well.



Game Three: Xel'Naga Caverns -

+ Show Spoiler + MMA > Ryung



MMA's gasless expand went up against Ryung's reaper expand. The SCVs counts stayed nearly identical, but MMA went for slightly faster tech. Besides the requisite TvT dropship harassment that does nothing, the game went by pretty uneventfully, with both SlayerS terrans getting more marines and medivacs and tanks.



Ryung felt the need to commit to an attack first, and moved up towards MMA's base. He performed a maneuver where he made it look like he wanted to engage in battle by approaching and sieging up his tanks, causing MMA to siege his own tanks up in response. Instead of charging into battle, Ryung left his sieged tanks behind while his marines stimmed up and charged ahead into MMA's natural before his opponent could react. This allowed him to snipe the command center easily, but MMA was already in position to kill many of Ryung's marines when they attempted to withdraw. Considering that MMA had secretly floated a CC to one of the side expansions during all this commotion, Ryung tactics actually hadn't changed the resource situation at all.



Ryung continued playing off two base thinking that he had an advantage, when in fact he was on nearly equal terms with MMA. While MMA rebuilt a command center at his natural, Ryung also took a base of his own at the gold expansion (strangely enough, MMA did not take his gold expansion for quite some time, despite being in a position to easily do so).



The game defining moment came soon after Ryung's gold base completed. MMA caught Ryung splitting his forces up to defend the dual routes through Xel'Naga's center, with about 5 tanks and some marines being redeployed to defend the gold expansion. A quick scan told MMA that he could charge into the gold expansion a half second before Ryung could siege up, and he judged that his tanks and marines only needed that one half second, the advantage of getting the first volley in to defeat Ryung. He was correct.



The battle was bloody with marines getting annihilated on both sides, but MMA came out with a significant siege tank advantage and obtained a firing position on Ryung's gold. It was the impetus MMA needed to start rolling to victory, as having his gold base being constantly battered by tank fire forced Ryung to wastefully expend units trying to clear the space around his gold. Eventually it forced Ryung to decide that offense was the best defense, but that sort of decision making was too obvious to a player of MMA's caliber.



He tracked Ryung's forces around the map as they looked for places to hit, and finally MMA was able to ambush Ryung while he was being unattentive and out of siege mode, swarming his army with marines and taking the game.



MMA:

Moved his army around so actively, and was extremely aware of his opponent's position. Though he let Ryung catch him off-guard once early on, he paid Ryung back several times over afterwards by exploiting split second army positioning advantages.



Ryung:

Played pretty well, allowing a hidden expansion on such a small map was a pretty bad mistake.

MMA's gasless expand went up against Ryung's reaper expand. The SCVs counts stayed nearly identical, but MMA went for slightly faster tech. Besides the requisite TvT dropship harassment that does nothing, the game went by pretty uneventfully, with both SlayerS terrans getting more marines and medivacs and tanks.Ryung felt the need to commit to an attack first, and moved up towards MMA's base. He performed a maneuver where he made it look like he wanted to engage in battle by approaching and sieging up his tanks, causing MMA to siege his own tanks up in response. Instead of charging into battle, Ryung left his sieged tanks behind while his marines stimmed up and charged ahead into MMA's natural before his opponent could react. This allowed him to snipe the command center easily, but MMA was already in position to kill many of Ryung's marines when they attempted to withdraw. Considering that MMA had secretly floated a CC to one of the side expansions during all this commotion, Ryung tactics actually hadn't changed the resource situation at all.Ryung continued playing off two base thinking that he had an advantage, when in fact he was on nearly equal terms with MMA. While MMA rebuilt a command center at his natural, Ryung also took a base of his own at the gold expansion (strangely enough, MMA did not take his gold expansion for quite some time, despite being in a position to easily do so).The game defining moment came soon after Ryung's gold base completed. MMA caught Ryung splitting his forces up to defend the dual routes through Xel'Naga's center, with about 5 tanks and some marines being redeployed to defend the gold expansion. A quick scan told MMA that he could charge into the gold expansion a half second before Ryung could siege up, and he judged that his tanks and marines only needed that one half second, the advantage of getting the first volley in to defeat Ryung. He was correct.The battle was bloody with marines getting annihilated on both sides, but MMA came out with a significant siege tank advantage and obtained a firing position on Ryung's gold. It was the impetus MMA needed to start rolling to victory, as having his gold base being constantly battered by tank fire forced Ryung to wastefully expend units trying to clear the space around his gold. Eventually it forced Ryung to decide that offense was the best defense, but that sort of decision making was too obvious to a player of MMA's caliber.He tracked Ryung's forces around the map as they looked for places to hit, and finally MMA was able to ambush Ryung while he was being unattentive and out of siege mode, swarming his army with marines and taking the game.4/5Moved his army around so actively, and was extremely aware of his opponent's position. Though he let Ryung catch him off-guard once early on, he paid Ryung back several times over afterwards by exploiting split second army positioning advantages.3/5Played pretty well, allowing a hidden expansion on such a small map was a pretty bad mistake.



Game Four: Xel'Naga Fortress -

+ Show Spoiler + MMA > Ryung

MMA scouted Ryung's base and saw there was no refinery, and assumed it was a raxless expand. However, Ryung was actually going for a two rax with one hidden elsewhere on the map, which looked very bad MMA's fast expansion directly at his natural. Ryung attained a 7 SCV advantage off his early attack, though imba double orbital would let MMA overtake him after 90 seconds. Ryung had more plans, however, as he had gone for very fast tech after his two barracks attack.



This move proved to be the actual difference maker for Ryung, as his cloaked banshee sent him up by 10 in the SCV count. With his own orbital command complete, there would be no catching up from MMA. The resource advantage showed as Ryung amassed an army and went to pressure MMA's natural from the low-ground.



Ryung took his thirty population advantage and started to build a third base, but unbeknownst to him, his SlayerS teammate was taking a hidden expansion for himself. With the income being more or less equal, the population gap of 30 began to mean less and less as food counts went from 90-60 to 150-120.



Around the time Ryung finally discovered the hidden expansion, MMA made a move to equalize. In a similar fashion to Ryung from the previous game, he goaded his opponent into sieging up in anticipation of an immediate battle. Once MMA confirmed that Ryung's siege tanks had been briefly immobilized, he rushed his marines into Ryung's natural and sniped down the command center. MMA used his temporary 3-2 base advantage to bring himself up to even food counts with Ryung.



With equal footing, MMA proved to be Ryung's superior once more in army positioning and map awareness. On multiple occasions, MMA was able to catch Ryung unprepared for battle and jumped on him with stimmed marines. Ryung was left at gigantic army disadvantage (especially in the tank count), and was forced to GG.



MMA:

Good perseverance and all around management of a late game marine-tank army.



Ryung:

He HAD this game, but didn't scout diligently enough for hidden expansions.

MMA scouted Ryung's base and saw there was no refinery, and assumed it was a raxless expand. However, Ryung was actually going for a two rax with one hidden elsewhere on the map, which looked very bad MMA's fast expansion directly at his natural. Ryung attained a 7 SCV advantage off his early attack, though imba double orbital would let MMA overtake him after 90 seconds. Ryung had more plans, however, as he had gone for very fast tech after his two barracks attack.This move proved to be the actual difference maker for Ryung, as his cloaked banshee sent him up by 10 in the SCV count. With his own orbital command complete, there would be no catching up from MMA. The resource advantage showed as Ryung amassed an army and went to pressure MMA's natural from the low-ground.Ryung took his thirty population advantage and started to build a third base, but unbeknownst to him, his SlayerS teammate was taking a hidden expansion for himself. With the income being more or less equal, the population gap of 30 began to mean less and less as food counts went from 90-60 to 150-120.Around the time Ryung finally discovered the hidden expansion, MMA made a move to equalize. In a similar fashion to Ryung from the previous game, he goaded his opponent into sieging up in anticipation of an immediate battle. Once MMA confirmed that Ryung's siege tanks had been briefly immobilized, he rushed his marines into Ryung's natural and sniped down the command center. MMA used his temporary 3-2 base advantage to bring himself up to even food counts with Ryung.With equal footing, MMA proved to be Ryung's superior once more in army positioning and map awareness. On multiple occasions, MMA was able to catch Ryung unprepared for battle and jumped on him with stimmed marines. Ryung was left at gigantic army disadvantage (especially in the tank count), and was forced to GG.4/5Good perseverance and all around management of a late game marine-tank army.3/5He HAD this game, but didn't scout diligently enough for hidden expansions.



Game Five: Metalopolis -

+ Show Spoiler + MMA won 3-1



Quarter-final Two: MarineKingPrime vs TheBestfOu



Game One: Dual Sight -

+ Show Spoiler +

MKP>TheBest



TheBest goes gas first while MKP goes rax first. TheBest proxies his factory and starport and goes fast banshee rush. TheBest makes 2 banshees and doesnt micro either of them and loses them both after doing almost nothing. After the banshees die, he tries to expand anyway. MKP goes for a tank marine push and wins the game.



TheBestfOu:

He didn't micro once this game.



MKP:

He defended well while barely losing anything vs banshees. Great timing push while TheBest proxied a CC easily won him the game.

TheBest goes gas first while MKP goes rax first. TheBest proxies his factory and starport and goes fast banshee rush. TheBest makes 2 banshees and doesnt micro either of them and loses them both after doing almost nothing. After the banshees die, he tries to expand anyway. MKP goes for a tank marine push and wins the game.1/5He didn't micro once this game.4/5He defended well while barely losing anything vs banshees. Great timing push while TheBest proxied a CC easily won him the game.



Game Two: Terminus -

+ Show Spoiler +

MKP>TheBest



TheBest goes gas first for blue flame hellions and medivac while MKP fast expands off 1 rax and 2 gas. MKP defends easily against the hellions. TheBest follows up with fast banshee and double expands. MKP just went in and kills TheBest with tanks, vikings and marines.



TheBestfOu:

A bit better this time but again his harass barely does anything



MKP:

Again, after MKP expands he just went and killed him TheBest goes gas first for blue flame hellions and medivac while MKP fast expands off 1 rax and 2 gas. MKP defends easily against the hellions. TheBest follows up with fast banshee and double expands. MKP just went in and kills TheBest with tanks, vikings and marines.2/5A bit better this time but again his harass barely does anything4/5Again, after MKP expands he just went and killed him



Game Three: Metalopolis -

+ Show Spoiler + MKP>TheBest



Both players fast expand and MKP goes banshees while TheBest goes blue flame hellions. Banshees do a ridiculous amount of damage while MKP macros an army at home and kills TheBest later.



TheBestfOu:

TheBest couldn't stop the banshee harasses and lost like 50 units.



MKP:

MKP teaches TheBest how to banshee harass. Both players fast expand and MKP goes banshees while TheBest goes blue flame hellions. Banshees do a ridiculous amount of damage while MKP macros an army at home and kills TheBest later.2/5TheBest couldn't stop the banshee harasses and lost like 50 units.4/5MKP teaches TheBest how to banshee harass.



Game Four: Crossfire SE -

+ Show Spoiler + MKP won 3-0.



Game Five: Tal'Darim Altar LE -

+ Show Spoiler + MKP won 3-0.



Quarter-Final Three: PoltPrime vs. SlayerS_Alicia



Game One: Metalopolis -

+ Show Spoiler + Polt > Alicia



Tastosis are on top their commentary to kick off this game, the hilarity is piled on plate after sumptuous plate.



It's amazing how many Protoss players Polt can defeat using one of the oldest Terran builds in the book, just a basic two barracks expand. The simple timing attack is able to pick off a sentry and a stalker outside of Alicia's base, after which Polt just walks up the ramp and kills nearly all of Alicia's probes. Alicia's loss was due to a combination of being too greedy and the huge error of losing his only sentry.



Alicia:

Polt: Tastosis are on top their commentary to kick off this game, the hilarity is piled on plate after sumptuous plate.It's amazing how many Protoss players Polt can defeat using one of the oldest Terran builds in the book, just a basic two barracks expand. The simple timing attack is able to pick off a sentry and a stalker outside of Alicia's base, after which Polt just walks up the ramp and kills nearly all of Alicia's probes. Alicia's loss was due to a combination of being too greedy and the huge error of losing his only sentry.



Game Two: Crevasse -

+ Show Spoiler + Polt > Alicia



Polt goes command center first and Alicia responds by four gating. Alicia makes the right move by backing off of the four gate and expanding once he sees that Polt's has quite a high unit count despite his greedy open.



Somehow, despite Polt going CC first against a failed four gate, Alicia catches up in workers before his dark templar harass even begins. The DTs do some great damage and Alicia ends up ahead of Polt afterwards. However, Alicia rushes a little bit too quickly for high templar and doesn't have enough units to deal with Polt's push. This problem is exacerbated by Polt's great multipronged attack that forces Alicia to gg after losing his third.



Alicia:

Polt: Polt goes command center first and Alicia responds by four gating. Alicia makes the right move by backing off of the four gate and expanding once he sees that Polt's has quite a high unit count despite his greedy open.Somehow, despite Polt going CC first against a failed four gate, Alicia catches up in workers before his dark templar harass even begins. The DTs do some great damage and Alicia ends up ahead of Polt afterwards. However, Alicia rushes a little bit too quickly for high templar and doesn't have enough units to deal with Polt's push. This problem is exacerbated by Polt's great multipronged attack that forces Alicia to gg after losing his third.



Game Three: Dual Sight -

+ Show Spoiler + Polt > Alicia



Alicia does a neat 3 gate expand push that does some great damage against Polt early on. Alicia correctly pulls back after doing some major damage, but when Polt goes in for a counter attack, he is able to focus down the natural expansion of Alicia and then leave without taking any damage. Alicia feels forced into counter attacking, but loses too much while trying to retreat from concussive shell marauders and is forced to gg.



Alicia:

Polt: Alicia does a neat 3 gate expand push that does some great damage against Polt early on. Alicia correctly pulls back after doing some major damage, but when Polt goes in for a counter attack, he is able to focus down the natural expansion of Alicia and then leave without taking any damage. Alicia feels forced into counter attacking, but loses too much while trying to retreat from concussive shell marauders and is forced to gg.



Game Four: Xel'Naga Caverns-

+ Show Spoiler + Polt won 3-0.



Game Five: Xe'Naga Fortress-

+ Show Spoiler + Polt won 3-0.



Quarter-final Four: ZeNEXLine vs. oGsTOP



Game One: Metalopolis -

+ Show Spoiler + Top > Line



Top showed himself to be a fantastic macro player this game. Top's hellion banshee opening seemed unexpectedly safe, despite the fact that Line handled it perfectly, he was actually down in workers afterwards. Top hits a two base marine tank timing while securing his third and does some huge economic damage that Line just can't recover from. Top's next timing push is able to force Line to gg.



Line:



Top: Top showed himself to be a fantastic macro player this game. Top's hellion banshee opening seemed unexpectedly safe, despite the fact that Line handled it perfectly, he was actually down in workers afterwards. Top hits a two base marine tank timing while securing his third and does some huge economic damage that Line just can't recover from. Top's next timing push is able to force Line to gg.



Game Two: Dual Sight -

+ Show Spoiler + Line > Top



Top goes for his same opening, which Line manages to hold off much better than last time. Line barely holds the same timing that nearly killed him last time with his mutalisks surviving. After his mutalisks survive, Line continues to add to the muta count, only getting a few banelings to compliment his zergling and muta numbers. Top heads out with a big timing push, but Line is able to kill Top's third, forcing Top to be all in with his push. Line is barely able to hold with his huge muta count and force Top to gg.



Top:



Line: Top goes for his same opening, which Line manages to hold off much better than last time. Line barely holds the same timing that nearly killed him last time with his mutalisks surviving. After his mutalisks survive, Line continues to add to the muta count, only getting a few banelings to compliment his zergling and muta numbers. Top heads out with a big timing push, but Line is able to kill Top's third, forcing Top to be all in with his push. Line is barely able to hold with his huge muta count and force Top to gg.



Game Three: Crossfire SE -

+ Show Spoiler + Line > Top



Top does a great opening in this match. He opens again with the 4 hellion pressure, which would make Line probably assume that cloak banshees are coming yet again immediately afterwards. Instead, Top is going for a marauder hellion two base timing, that is pretty much an all in due to mutalisks being the answer for both units. The timing fails, and Line is able to use his huge muta numbers to finally force the gg from Top 10 minutes later.



Top:



Line: Top does a great opening in this match. He opens again with the 4 hellion pressure, which would make Line probably assume that cloak banshees are coming yet again immediately afterwards. Instead, Top is going for a marauder hellion two base timing, that is pretty much an all in due to mutalisks being the answer for both units. The timing fails, and Line is able to use his huge muta numbers to finally force the gg from Top 10 minutes later.



Game Four: Tal'Darim Altar LE -

+ Show Spoiler + Top > Line



Line goes for a huge two base baneling bust but doesn't quite do enough damage to Top to make it worth it. Top is able to do some great drop play to get on equal footing with Line. Line then stays on two base with low economy for way too long and is still trying to get away with focusing on mutalisk play. Top is pumping 6 marines at a time and is able to simply overwhelm Line's and take the game.



Top:



Line: Line goes for a huge two base baneling bust but doesn't quite do enough damage to Top to make it worth it. Top is able to do some great drop play to get on equal footing with Line. Line then stays on two base with low economy for way too long and is still trying to get away with focusing on mutalisk play. Top is pumping 6 marines at a time and is able to simply overwhelm Line's and take the game.



Game Five: Xel'Naga Caverns -

+ Show Spoiler + Top > Line



Insane back and forth game, where Line barely manages to get infestor / corrupter / brood lord up, but mis-micros while also failing to get an extra base in time to keep up with the macro of Top.



Top:



Line: Insane back and forth game, where Line barely manages to get infestor / corrupter / brood lord up, but mis-micros while also failing to get an extra base in time to keep up with the macro of Top.





Interviews by PlayXP, translated by Phosgene

- MMA vs Ryung, MKP vs TheBest

- Alicia vs Polt, Line vs TOP

Game One: Bel'Shir Beach -3/5Game Two: Dual Sight -2.5/5Game Three: Xel'Naga Caverns -3/5Game Four: Xel'Naga Fortress -4/5Game Five: Metalopolis -4/5Game One: Dual Sight -2/5Game Two: Terminus -2/5Game Three: Metalopolis -2/5Game Four: Crossfire SE -2.5/5Game Five: Tal'Darim Altar LE -3/5Game One: Metalopolis -3/5Game Two: Crevasse -3/5Game Three: Dual Sight -3/5Game Four: Xel'Naga Caverns-4/5Game Five: Xe'Naga Fortress-3/5Game One: Metalopolis -4/5Game Two: Dual Sight -4/5Game Three: Crossfire SE -4/5Game Four: Tal'Darim Altar LE -4/5Game Five: Xel'Naga Caverns -5/5translated by Phosgene Day 1 - MMA vs Ryung, MKP vs TheBest Day 2 - Alicia vs Polt, Line vs TOP





Well, there it is. Fionn seems to be writing previews for each round . Don't be surprised to see us in the unemployment line soon. Just kidding! We hired him.This week we recap some excellent RO8 series and look forward to the semi-finals. Graphics genius HawaiianPig took some pity on us this week and provided us with some new eye-candy, which makes our writing at leastenthusiastic about the unusual semi-final match ups that wait ahead. And now, some semi-finals hype.





For all of 2011, players have only needed 3 keystrokes, each starting with M, to summarize the peak of Terran play. There's MVP, the only Terran to win a GSL championship to date, often regarded as one of the two best players in the world alongside his teammate NesTea. There's MKP (MarineKingPrime), so far consigned to carrying the burden of the Kong line in StarCraft2. And then there's MMA, who, if one is talking about individual tournaments has not distinguished himself, but has been the single most important player in GSTL competition. MVP is out of this tournament, falling victim to yet another of those up-and-coming SlayerS terrans that seem to multiply like rabbits. The other two face off next, in the semifinals of the 2011 GSL Super Tournament.



Both of these combatants has a uniqueness to their play, departing from the "standard" and in doing so making it difficult for opponents to prepare adequately. MarineKing, as everyone knows, favors massing that so-beloved tier 1 unit, centering his gameplay around building up the efficacy of this core unit. MMA, on the other hand, utilizes those same drops that make him a terror in TvZ. He also has a knack for coming back from disadvantageous situations, although the fact that he gets in those bad spots so often is cause for concern.,



The contrast in styles is exactly what is going to make this match so exciting to watch. MarineKing has somewhat of a brute force style, often overpowering his opponent with wave upon wave of marines, supported by just the right mix of tech. MMA focuses on getting to the midgame without losing, then attempts to dissect his opponent with an overwhelming amount of required multitasking and perfect deployment.



These keyboard jockeys have met once before, going head to head in last season's up-down matches. These matches highlighted one additional important factor for MarineKing: if he can take that expected early-game advantage, he has to decide what to do from that point. If he attempts to end right away as he did in game 1 on Tal'Darim Altar, he has to be really sure he can do so or he'll lose just like he did then. Choosing to back off and, as Artosis loves, get more ahead may be the more prudent choice. If he's confident enough in his drop defense, expect him to do just that, as he did in his two up-down victories. This could end up backfiring for him, as MMA's positioning has improved drastically since that point.



MarineKing's strengths are the early game and the very end game (base-trade situations), and MMA shines in the midgame. The player who is best able to impose his will on the game, bending it so that his favored phase of the game is the most crucial, will be the one to win the series.



For a prediction, I will turn to two legacies that apply to this game. There is, obviously, MarineKing's tradition of silver medals. To get that medal you need to first get to the final, and indeed MarineKing has never lost in the semifinals of a GSL. On the other side we have MMA, still riding the momentum of his MLG victory. Past history indicates that his run will end here, just as Jinro was stopped in the round of 4 after his victory at last year's season-ending MLG Dallas. If past trends continue, it will be MarineKing who takes this series and captures a berth in the finals.



Obviously, the key to being a great Terran player is picking a random three letter combination starting with "M" as your ID. FXO.qxc couldn't get this simple rule quite right, and has to settle for being merely a really good player. If he changes his ID to "mxc" before he goes to Korea, he's probably going to be our next Code-S winner.





Semi-finals Preview Two: PoltPrime.WE vs. oGs TOP

Featuring yet more food comparisons



by confusedcrib



I am cursed. I think that TvT is a boring, endless repetition of the same stuff over and over. So obviously, whenever there are TvTs in the semi-finals and above, the players are always so damn good that I'm forced to watch anyway. Polt vs. Top is the semi finals match that no one expected to see, a matchup I never expected to want to see, but now I'm going to be glued to my screen. Damn you guys, why do you have to be SO GOOD?



Choi Sung Hoon, aka 'PoltPrime.WE' - 19-19 vs Terran - 19-19 vs Terran



The Journey

+ Show Spoiler +

RO64 - 2 : 1 > LosirA

This series was really highlighted by Losira's uncharacteristically bad play; regardless, it's not like any ordinary player can beat Losira. At this point, most people were blowing Polt off and saying that the win was due to Losira's bad play more than Polt's good play.



Hype-o-meter: 0/10 - Polt got lucky.





RO32 - 2 : 0 > - At this point, people knew that Polt's best matchup was TvP, but they also knew that PvT was one of Huk's best matchups as well. A lot of people watched this game due to our Protoss superhero Huk playing, but many came out as Polt fans. He showed some very safe builds and also some impressive multi-tasking and micro.



Hype-o-meter: 5/10 - This guy's got some TvP skills.





RO16 - 2 : 1 > - Polt only lost game one to a cheese, but purely outclassed his teammate Maka in the other two games. Polt used a unique double reactor marine build in one of his games, and standard banshee's in the other, showing a combination of standard and creative play that would make him a tough opponents in a multi-game series.



Hype-o-meter: 6/10 - Polt clearly dominated Maka, a great Terran player, suggesting that he was better at TvT than we had previously thought. Still, teammate vs teammate games are often strange, so we reserved some judgment.





RO8 - 3 : 0 - Polt absolutely dominated Alicia in the series. Alicia was totally outclassed from build order execution to micro, an incredibly difficult task to accomplish. This series was actually kind of boring only because Polt played too well.



Hype-o-meter: 8/10 - This guy... might win it all? - 2 : 1 >This series was really highlighted by Losira's uncharacteristically bad play; regardless, it's not like any ordinary player can beat Losira. At this point, most people were blowing Polt off and saying that the win was due to Losira's bad play more than Polt's good play.0/10 - Polt got lucky.- 2 : 0 > HuK - At this point, people knew that Polt's best matchup was TvP, but they also knew that PvT was one of Huk's best matchups as well. A lot of people watched this game due to our Protoss superhero Huk playing, but many came out as Polt fans. He showed some very safe builds and also some impressive multi-tasking and micro.5/10 - This guy's got some TvP skills.- 2 : 1 > Maka - Polt only lost game one to a cheese, but purely outclassed his teammate Maka in the other two games. Polt used a unique double reactor marine build in one of his games, and standard banshee's in the other, showing a combination of standard and creative play that would make him a tough opponents in a multi-game series.6/10 - Polt clearly dominated Maka, a great Terran player, suggesting that he was better at TvT than we had previously thought. Still, teammate vs teammate games are often strange, so we reserved some judgment.- 3 : 0 Alicia - Polt absolutely dominated Alicia in the series. Alicia was totally outclassed from build order execution to micro, an incredibly difficult task to accomplish. This series was actually kind of boring only because Polt played8/10 - This guy... might win it all?



Polt's gameplay really reminds me of eggs. Eggs have been a cornerstone of breakfast since chickens were domesticated (wait which one came first? Editor's note: A better mind-screw is, 'What came first, The hatchery, the drone, the larva, the mineral or the egg?'). Eggs can be thrown into any breakfast medley and be cooked in so many different ways - be it fried over-easy with toast, or poached and placed on a seat of ham and english muffin as eggs benedict - eggs always maintain the integrity of their flavor. Eggs are always unmistakably eggs, just like Polt is always Polt, with his style never diminished regardless of the map, opponent or match-up.



He uses some classic builds to great effect; he really seems to be the kind of player that just does his own thing, not letting the "meta-game" really change his play. Remember that time MC lost to Polt twice in a row, because of some convoluted overthinking that made him assume Polt was going banshees? No, Polt was being Polt, and doing a regular two rax rush. Not to mention, eggs and cheese are a match made in heaven. I think we're done here.





Kim Jung Hoon aka 'oGsTOP' - 30-16 vs Terran - 30-16 vs Terran



The Journey

+ Show Spoiler +

RO64 - 2 : 0 - Top goes for a huge one base timing attack in game one and then plays some standard TvT in game two.



Hype-o-meter: 0/10 - Let's be honest, was this a huge shock to anyone?





RO32 - 2 : 1 - The cheese! It's everywhere! Choya did a bunch of sneaky strategies, that actually almost worked against Top, but Top managed to defend well enough in 2 of the 3 games to come out ahead.



Hype-o-meter: 2/10 - If Choya all-ins every game, was it because he's that bad or Top is that good? Still, the fact that Top won the series is worth a little titillation.





RO16 - 2 : 1 - Was this meant to happen? LIES! Nestea can never lose! Well, the fact of the matter was that Nestea was out-played this series and deserved to lose. Top's builds put him quite a bit ahead every game, and having good enough macro to not let Nestea catch back up is no small feat.



Hype-o-meter: 8/10 - You just beat the best Zerg in the world Top, that's worth at least a little bit of hype.





RO8 - 3 : 2 - This series had absolutely fantastic play from both players. TOP really demonstrated that he has some jaw-dropping macro, able to stay ahead of Line the entire game. This series also brought up a concern about Top; it took him a long time to adjust his style, though Line had been going muta-heavy ZvT the entire tournament.



Hype-o-meter: 9/10 - Keeping up with the macro of a zerg player is very difficult, but Top manages to do it. For much of this series, Top was up in workers over Line, this series really showed the strength of his macro.

- 2 : 0 August - Top goes for a huge one base timing attack in game one and then plays some standard TvT in game two.0/10 - Let's be honest, was this a huge shock to anyone?- 2 : 1 Choya - The cheese! It's everywhere! Choya did a bunch of sneaky strategies, that actually almost worked against Top, but Top managed to defend well enough in 2 of the 3 games to come out ahead.2/10 - If Choya all-ins every game, was it because he's that bad or Top is that good? Still, the fact that Top won the series is worth a little titillation.- 2 : 1 NesTea - Was this meant to happen? LIES! Nestea can never lose! Well, the fact of the matter was that Nestea was out-played this series and deserved to lose. Top's builds put him quite a bit ahead every game, and having good enough macro to not let Nestea catch back up is no small feat.8/10 - You just beat the best Zerg in the world Top, that's worth at least a little bit of hype.- 3 : 2 Line - This series had absolutely fantastic play from both players. TOP really demonstrated that he has some jaw-dropping macro, able to stay ahead of Line the entire game. This series also brought up a concern about Top; it took him a long time to adjust his style, though Line had been going muta-heavy ZvT the entire tournament.9/10 - Keeping up with the macro of a zerg player is very difficult, but Top manages to do it. For much of this series, Top was up in workers over Line, this series really showed the strength of his macro.



Oh Top, you have such great macro, it's not enough to say you're just one food. You get the highest breakfast award of all, Mr. HawaiianPig's (and Jinro's) favorite breakfast item, the sinfully good bacon donut. Bacon and donuts are two of the safest items available in the world of breakfast, you're not going to find anyone who will turn down both a boston creme donut and a side of nicely crisped bacon. Top is so safe, delicious, and satisfying, that he deserves to be compared to both at the same time.



And yet, some people think bacon donuts are grotesque monstrosities, a showy mess of excess, a novelty piece that will never find a regular place at the table. Those people are wrong. Bacon donuts are the choice of a truly refined palette.



The Breakfast of Champions:



This isn't some all you can eat buffet. The coffee's free (Tastosis, a fine blend of robust Ecuador and earthy Java) but you have to pick your primary dish.



The stats show a massive disadvantage for Polt, but many of his losses were accumulated before his evolution as a player. Though his most recent series vs Maka didn't exactly vindicate him completely, it showed that Polt has a lot of smarts about him, and that he can be a very effective aggressive player in TvT. If nothing else, his confidence must be at an all-time personal high, and a little overconfidence might be what he needs to play with the bravado and guts to beat TOP.



As for TOP, all he needs to do here is stay the course. He IS the better player still, beating better players with better play to get here. It is notable that Top didn't really react to Line's huge mutalisk play until the final game of his series. If somehow Polt gets TOP off balance, TOP won't be able to adjust his play in time. In the end though, TOP's combination of amazing macro and solidity seems like a safer bet than Polt's still-slightly-inexplicable rise this tournament.

I am cursed. I think that TvT is a boring, endless repetition of the same stuff over and over. So obviously, whenever there are TvTs in the semi-finals and above, the players are alwaysthat I'm forced to watch anyway. Polt vs. Top is the semi finals match that no one expected to see, a matchup I never expected toto see, but now I'm going to be glued to my screen. Damn you guys, why do you have to be SO GOOD?Polt's gameplay really reminds me of eggs. Eggs have been a cornerstone of breakfast since chickens were domesticated (wait which one came first?'). Eggs can be thrown into any breakfast medley and be cooked in so many different ways - be it fried over-easy with toast, or poached and placed on a seat of ham and english muffin as eggs benedict - eggs always maintain the integrity of their flavor. Eggs are always unmistakably eggs, just like Polt is always Polt, with his style never diminished regardless of the map, opponent or match-up.He uses some classic builds to great effect; he really seems to be the kind of player that just does his own thing, not letting the "meta-game" really change his play. Remember that time MC lost to Polt twice in a row, because of some convoluted overthinking that made him assume Polt was going banshees? No, Polt was being Polt, and doing a regular two rax rush. Not to mention, eggs and cheese are a match made in heaven. I think we're done here.Oh Top, you have such great macro, it's not enough to say you're just one food. You get the highest breakfast award of all, Mr. HawaiianPig's (and Jinro's) favorite breakfast item, the sinfully good bacon donut. Bacon and donuts are two of the safest items available in the world of breakfast, you're not going to find anyone who will turn down both a boston creme donut and a side of nicely crisped bacon. Top is so safe, delicious, and satisfying, that he deserves to be compared to both at the same time.And yet, some people think bacon donuts are grotesque monstrosities, a showy mess of excess, a novelty piece that will never find a regular place at the table. Those people are wrong. Bacon donuts are the choice of a truly refined palette.This isn't some all you can eat buffet. The coffee's free (a fine blend of robust Ecuador and earthy Java) but you have to pick your primary dish.The stats show a massive disadvantage for Polt, but many of his losses were accumulated before his evolution as a player. Though his most recent series vs Maka didn't exactly vindicate him completely, it showed that Polt has a lot of smarts about him, and that he can be a very effective aggressive player in TvT. If nothing else, his confidence must be at an all-time personal high, and a little overconfidence might be what he needs to play with the bravado and guts to beat TOP.As for TOP, all he needs to do here is stay the course. He IS the better player still, beating better players with better play to get here. It is notable that Top didn't really react to Line's huge mutalisk play until the final game of his series. If somehow Polt gets TOP off balance, TOP won't be able to adjust his play in time. In the end though, TOP's combination of amazing macro and solidity seems like a safer bet than Polt's still-slightly-inexplicable rise this tournament.



Yes, we know we're not funny.

Administrator Hey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?