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News 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 > History mensrea, February 12 OGN Duel Tournament - Group E & F RESULTS Keeping with the lazy precedent set by Waxangel recently with the GhemTV Starleague reports, I'm bringing 'em to ya TWO at a time.



First, the results of GROUP E in the OGN Duel Tournament:





1) [Soul]Gyuntae (Z) ("Lim Gyun-tae") < SlayerS_`BoxeR` (T) ("Lim Yo-hwan") - Gaema Gowon

2) Jinnam (Z) ("Jang Jin-nam") < Zeus (P) ("Jun Tae-gyu") (P) - Gaema Gowon

3) Zeus (P) > SlayerS_`BoxeR` (T) - Neo Forbidden Zone -> Zeus qualifies for the next OGN Starleague

4) Jinnam (Z) > [Soul]Gyuntae (Z) - Avant Garde II

5) Jinnam (Z) < SlayerS_`BoxeR` (T) -> Boxer qualifies for the next OGN Starleague





No, you read me right and it ain't no typo: Zeus went toe-to-toe, mano-a-mano with two of the elite vP players on the planet and bitch-slapped them into submission. Just qualifying itself was an impressive feat given the dismal record of Protoss players in the Duel Tournament (prior to Zeus, only two Protoss users had ever made it through the Duel Tournament - Reach and Garimto). But, Zeus did it in style - nothing fancy, no smoke-and-mirrors, no where-shall-I-hide-my-proxy-gate strategizing. Zeus invited Jinnam and Boxer to a force-on-force showdown and he just flat out out-played them both. A very deserved win & qualification for Zeus. Jun hasn't been in an OGN Starleague since Freechal (uhm, like 4 years ago...) and now he gets the chance to strut his stuff again on a stage worthy of his name.



And, oh yeah, another thing worth mentioning. Watch out for this guy on Neo Forbidden Zone. Zeus has always had a reputation for three things: he has a vocal range to give Mariah Carey goosebumps, he owns ChRh and he's DEADLY on island maps. Jun proved that semi-islands are no exception. Boxer did everything but slather crazy glue on Zeus's mouse & board and still got raped on Neo FZ. Kinda reminiscent of Boxer v Reach in the SKY 2002 final. Kowabunga!



And, of course, what Starleague would

be complete without Boxer? Lim did what everyone expected and qualified. Zeus's win gave fans a scare, but Boxer took care of the two Zergs without much of a tussle. Like always. Yawn.



[Soul]Gyuntae, to his credit, did not look lost in his Duel Tournament debut, so I'd watch for him in the future. The guy's got skill and, if nothing else, his matches are always entertaining: he turns 5-minute quickies into 25-min drag-'em-out marathons - even when he's winning. Jinnam, on the other hand, once again melted before Boxer like cotton candy in a blast furnace. No joke.





GROUP F



1) Junwi (Z) ("Bak Gyung-rak") < Silent_Control (T) ("Na Do-hyun") - Gaema Gowon

2) fOru (P) ("Lee Jae-hoon") > Sync (T) ("Byun Gil-sup") - Gaema Gowon

3) fOru (P) > Silent_Control (T) - Neo Forbidden Zone -> fOru qualifies for the next OGN Starleague

4) Sync (T) < Junwi (Z) - Avant Garde II

5) Junwi (Z) > Silent_Control (T) - Neo Bifrost - > Junwi qualifies for the next OGN Starleague





Yeah, keep rubbing your eyes in disbelief, people, cuz that's what I'm doin' - we have another Protoss player in the next Starleague! An amazing and unexpected development and I'll have to quote ya the old saying about how sometimes the snow falls down in June and sometimes the Sun goes round the Moon. Who would've believed that both Zeus (last week) and fOru would run the tables and qualify for Starleague 2-0? But, then again, ask any pro gamer in Korea who they pick as the greatest PvT specialist of them all and eight times out of ten you'll get fOru on top of the list. Lee's fellow GO team members ChRh and Xellos (no slouches when it comes to TvP) will be the first ones to tell ya Jae-hoon's vT play is something special. There's just something about fOru's play that makes even the best T players lose nerve and start thinking about more expansions. And he showed that quality again tonight versus some pretty tough opposition. Both Sync and Silent_Control played textbook TvP and looked to have the better of Lee many, many times throughout their respective matches. Sync went so far as to go Sauron on Gaema Gowon, just to make sure! But throughout it all, Lee made like a zen master and oh so smoothly went about dismantling his opponents with a look calmer than Lake Placid. The same couldn't be said for the OGN casters whose mouths dropped faster than dead weight on water watching Lee go to work. Absolutely impressive stuff.



Junwi makes it through again, but not without an unexpected surprise from Silent_Control. Not only did Control own Junwi on Gaema Gowon (something neither Boxer nor Xellos were able to do), but almost did it to Junwi again on Neo Bifrost. In fact, the final match on Bifrost may just be the most entertaining match of this whole Duel Tournament. I mean it was not just a nailbiter, but a real THRILLER. Junwi had the strategic advantage almost from the start, but Control just SILENTLY krept back into it and each battle anywhere ended with both sides practically decimated. Battle after battle there was virtually no real winner, even when Junwi had swarms of ultras and adrenalings crawling all over the place. In the end, Control just starved to death. Better econ management by Na and they'd STILL be playing. Man, what a ride. Watch this match if you can. This is what e-sports entertainment is all about.



Sync finally bows out of the Starleague. To be fair, the guy's been sick for a while now and didn't quite practice the way he usually does. Watch for him next time tho. He'll be there, I guarantee it.



Silent_Control. What can I say? After watching him stink up his matches versus Sir@Soni~ (on Gaema Gowon) and IntoTheRainbow (neo Bifrost) last winter in the HanbitStars v IS Team exhibition, I honestly didn't think he should even be in the Duel Tournament. Afterall, he only made it this far by sliding through the proverbial back door left open by Garimto's retirement. And, you know what, I still don't think he's got the juice when it comes to vT and vP matchups. But his TvZ is world-class. He proved it in the GhemTV Starleague where he beat both Yellow AND Chojja (@__@), and he proved it again this night by taking the hottest ZvT player in existence right to the edge. The GhemTV wins were no fluke. Silent_Control is for real. And his ID ROCKS.





So, it's official. The table's been set for the next OnGameNet Starleague and here's what it looks like (in no particular order - the actual Groups will be done through the traditional selection process next month):



Chojja (Z) (SEED), Nada (T) (SEED), Yellow (Z) (SEED), Kingdom (P) (SEED), Mumyung (Z), HOT_Forever (Z), Xellos (T), TheWind (Z), KOs (T), ElkY (T), [Oops]Lee (T), Jinsu (Z), Zeus (P), Boxer (T), fOru (P), Junwi (Z).





We have THREE Protoss players in the next Starleague! Hot dang! NOW we have a PARTY! Comments (19) Rekruler, February 11 Team Liquid Exhibition Match #4 * Due to a sore anus, I was unable to complete Liquibition 4. The following is a thorough, hilarious, and masterful report written by a guest reporter: Dudey AKA ilnp <3 *



We've got lots of love for you folks today. In one corner we have ElkY, the first, current, undisputed, and only champion of The Liquibition Match, Bertrand "The Red In My Hair Is The Other Guy's Blood" Grospellier (ElkY, The Elkinator, El Elkarino, Elkster, Elk, Elkachino). In the other corner, we have everyone's favorite six-foot-plus-white-guy, Capdan America himself, Dan "The Man Who Puts The Pro in Protoss" Schreiber (Rekrul, Trekkie Rekkie, Madagascarbiter, Slow-Shuttles-Schreiber). And oh boy, do we have a match for you folks. These kids fought a gruelling best of thirteen match for ElkY's third defense and fourth match for teamliquid.net. Can Dan devise a plan to stop the man? How will the Terran Baron be farin' in this pairin'? Which race will dominate space in this case!?



ElkY 3 - Rekrul 6 on Lost Temple



Both had fairly normal starts; Elky didn't wall-in and made two Marines for defense, while Rekrul went with the typical fast Core, Range, and Robotics Facility with one Gateway. ElkY made two Factories with one Machine Shop, and showed all the tell-tale signs of a Bamboo. He charged out with his Marines, Tank, and Vulture while starting a Command Center at his natural. The Vulture ran all the way to 6:00 to place Spider Mines in front of Rekrul's ramp while the Tank and two Marines ran halfway there and then ran back. Rekrul added some flavor to his build, making a Robotics Support Bay and heading for a Reaver Drop. ElkY got an Engineering Bay and added three Factories to his base, totalling five. Knowing a drop was imminent, he turreted up and waited for a Reaver Drop that was at least a minute too slow. Rekrul ran around, trying to do damage, but was rejected like a geek the day before prom. Rekrul desperately tried to catch up by expanding and making Gateways, but he was too far behind to stop Elky's push when it came thundering down the map. Dragoons melted, Zealots vaporized, buildings were set on fire, and Rekrul was sent back to Aiur.



1-0 ElkY



ElkY 5 - Rekrul 7 on BladeStorm



ElkY caught a break by getting close spots on a map generally considered advantageous to Protoss. He developed with a similar order to before, except getting an extra Tank and Vulture before building his Command Center. Rekrul came out with a perfectly normal order consisting of fast Dragoons and fast Observers; he must have lost confidence in his Reaver usage abilities :-). Rekrul expanded to his natural a little after when ElkY did, and started building Gateways to match ElkY's growing number of factories. ElkY started to push out with Vultures and Tanks, and Rekrul did a much better job than last game of battling the onslaught. Unfortunately for him, though, he couldn't manage to fully quell the push and only succeeded in stalling long enough to take his mineral expansion behind him. ElkY took his mineral expansion as well in stride and continued moving aggressively and methodically at Rekrul's natural, which went down like a cheerleader on homecoming. The rest of Rekrul shortly followed suit.



2-0 ElkY



ElkY 1 - Rekrul 5 on Forbidden Zone



ElkY opened with two Factories and then a Starport, making two Vultures in his main base and then floating both Factories below to the mainland. Rekrul developed rather conservative as well, getting the stuff of PvT to the middle so he could expand at his natural. Disaster struck another blow into the already diminishing confidence of Mister Dantastic when a Dropship full of four Vultures flew the long way to Rekrul's main and found it completely devoid of military units with a Protoss Shuttle nowhere in sight. ElkY destroyed every Probe in Rekrul's base but one, which found sanctuary from the grenades inside a Shuttle, while Rekrul slowly stopped the harassing units. Out of options and behind on economy, Rekrul blitzed the Terran forces in the mainland and succeeded and pushing ElkY completely off the middle, even forcing him to float his Factories back up to his island. A sign of hope, but Rekrul still lost many units and was hurting quite badly. ElkY calmly pushed his way down to secure his expansion, then swiftly produced Vultures and Tanks and pushed his way to the Protoss natural. Rekrul wasn't quite ready to deal with fighting yet and he fell once again victim to the Frenchman's wrath. Who ever gave ElkY the name Desperate Terran? Doesn't seem very fitting at all, as he seems to be TEARIN' it up.



3-0 ElkY



ElkY 1 - Rekrul 11 on Gaema Gowon



Rekrul once again opened with his flavor of the Observer Rush while ElkY added a little jazz to his usual fare by making four Marines instead of two, then getting a third Factory for a one base push instead of his two Factory then CC order he sported in games one and two. He juked and jived a little bit with Vultures while pushing cautiously from base to base while Rekrul fended off the Vultures without much sweat and took his natural. Seeing the Dragoons in front, protecting the building Nexus, ElkY began another festive round of Vulture harassing by running behind, through the second natural, and into Rekrul's main, whereupon he netted a good amount of Probe kills. He continued pushing until he was about a half screen away from laying siege upon the right side of the expansion Nexus while doing an amazing job keeping Rekrul on his toes in dealing with Vultures from left and below. Using a Shuttle, a few Zealots, and his force of Dragoons, Rekrul managed to end the push and force ElkY to siege up around his own natural to protect his building Command Center. Things were looking up for the Cincinatti Kid.



ElkY wasn't deterred, though, and kept shaking his Vultures around like J-Lo's Booty. Rekrul stood fast, developing his units and preparing to deal with the imminent Terran onslaught which had hitherto defeated him so. ElkY began another cautious push into the space between the two bases and Rekrul moved his forces into flanking position in stride. The game ended rather abrubtly, though, when, as Rekrul directed his entire force towards the bottom middle in order to charge the Terran forces from an optimal position, ElkY's Vultures charged into the naked Protoss encampment like sperm into a uterus, penetrating everything in sight. Disheartened by his quick misfortune and without an economy, Rekrul prematurely conceded.



4-0 ElkY



ElkY 6 - Rekrul 3 on Lost Temple



ElkY repeated his seemingly favorite build order by making two Factories, then a Command Center (when he had two Tanks, this time) without walling in while Rekrul took no risks and brought another Observer Rush to the table. Rekrul expected ElkY's actions fully and conservatively made a second Gateway, then a Nexus soon after at his natural. ElkY kept his Vulture harassment mojo in full swing, high on the last game's victory, making a few more Vultures and less Tanks (with Mines and Speed before Siege, rather than just Mines) compared to the usual. He threw up a third Factory and then a Starport as his floating Barracks mischeviously landed on the cliff overlooking Rekrul's thriving expansion. Rekrul methodically developed his unit count off one expansion, preparing to deal with the deadly push he remembered all too well from both the first and second games. ElkY began to make Marines and Medics from his landed Barracks, adding Stim-Packs from his Academy and then a pair of Tanks via Dropship. As Rekrul's mineral expansion between 3:00 and 12:00 came online (and a Vulture from the ever-persistant ElkY killed a freshly transfered Probe or two and retreated to the empty 12:00 main), the cliffed Tanks sieged and started to wreak havoc below. Rekrul started production of a Shuttle in his Robotics Facility, but panic set in and he charged the Terran camp. He fortunately caught ElkY off-guard, with many Tanks gathered in front of the expansion's Command Center and unsieged, but only succeeded in trading the majority of his units for the majority of ElkY's and only dented the Frenchman's Economy. Rekrul had finished a Nexus at 12:00's natural during this time, but his DT filled Shuttle planning to save his 3:00 cliff caught sight of the Marine and Medic entrenchment and surrendered the territory. ElkY didn't slow down and charged the mineral expansion with Vultures while dropping two more Tanks on the 12:00 natural cliff and Rekrul, with a quicksand economy and far too few units, surrendered the match.



5-0 ElkY



ElkY 11 - Rekrul 5 on Bladestorm



Rekrul seemed to give up all hope on his original gameplan when an extremely early Probe left the 5:00 base and started a Pylon outside his natural. Two Gateways followed before the tenth Probe was built and Rekrul searched for the appropriate base to set his rally point. ElkY proceeded as normal, building Marines without walling in and starting his Factory. Unfortunately for him he did not see Rekrul's sinister plan in time to block his ramp with SCVs and the stream of Zealots had free reign to bring pain upon his main. ElkY combatted with excellent Marine micro and absolutely no regard for the lives of his SCVs as he desperately (finally!) tried to finish building his Factory and keep the Zealot threat under control. Obviously panicked from his performance in the previous five games, Rekrul was not able to remain calm and did not do the most impressive job of building Probes or keeping his Zealot number advantageous, but he continued to keep pressure up with Zealots and began building a Photon Cannon in ElkY's mineral expansion. The full depths of his evil mind showed it's face when a second and third Photon Cannon started to warp on ElkY's main, behind the SCV line, under protection of the near-finished Flower Tower below. Not willing to let his undefeated streak go so easy, ElkY charged the Photons when they reached ~90% with his SCVs and managed to kill them, bringing his SCV count down to about seven. Assisted by a newly built Vulture and some serious determination, he finally secured his base and set out with a couple Vultures to see what could be done.



Once his momentum started to sputter out, Rekrul built a pair of Photon Cannons by his Gateways (which, be it by coincidence or foresight, were in good position for a long term game; the Gateways blocked a good amount of a chokepoint into his base and the Photons protecting would save him from dying immediately to Vultures), an Assimilator, and then a Cybernetics Core. Knowing ElkY would utilize Vultures as soon as possible, he built a Robotics Facility right after his Core finished, seeking the Observers that would allow him to be aggressive once more. He started to build Dragoons out of his two Gateways and waited. ElkY, on the other hand, developed his economy back to a workable level, built a second Factory, and then a Command Center, all in short order. Expecting a Protoss attack, he prepared accordingly with Sieged Tanks and a small amount of Vultures. Rekrul's plan was just that, but he managed to retreat quick enough to keep from forfeiting the game. Rekrul took his natural expansion to catch up, while ElkY increased his Factory count to four, then took his mineral expansion behind him. Still trying his darndest (and not as behind as it may sound, especially considering the map), Rekrul also expanded to the safe minerals and built Gateways up the wazoo. ElkY pushed his units across the map, aggressively but not too aggressively, and Rekrul flexed his fingers and tensed his jaw and prepared to rumble in the blue jungle once more. The Protoss forces blitzed the Terran entrenchment, but due to clever positioning around the middle doodad, they were easily dispelled. ElkY continued moving towards Rekrul's natural and took an unnecessary expansion at 1:00 and Rekrul surrendered the game.



6-0 ElkY



ElkY 12 - Rekrul 6 on Lost Temple



It was match point for ElkY, and Rekrul had requested a recess to regain his hopes and confidence. I imagine his heart skipped a beat when he drew the un-loved 6:00 position, then skipped another when he located ElkY at the much-loved 12:00. In spite of this he proceeded confidently with a Gateway, Cybernetics Core, Robotics Facility, Observatory, then a faster-than-usual Nexus before his second Gateway. ElkY developed in his usual style with two Factories with Spider Mines and then a fast Command Center, unknowing of Rekrul's risky behavior until it was too late to deal with. Both players developed their protection facilities as their economies grew, Rekrul adding Gateways and ElkY adding a third Factory and then a Starport. Learning his lesson from the last Lost Temple game, Rekrul built a Shuttle and dropped rudimentary forces on his cliff in time to catch a handful of Marines preparing to repeat their past deeds. ElkY flew a pair of Tanks to the Protoss main shortly after, whereupon they met with a handful of Dragoons and their own destruction. Gaining momentum and surely confidence, Rekrul moved to take his mineral expansion and fought off the Vultures attempting to harass, only losing a couple of Zealots. ElkY had the same plan in mind as he pushed down to secure his mineral expansion and then audaciously starting a Command Center both there and at the 3:00 main.



Rekrul attempted some tom-foolery of his own by dropping a payload of Zealots in ElkY's main SCV line (utilizing his trademark Slow-as-Shit-Shuttles), but a gang of Vultures quickly showed up to defend. Rekrul efficiently saved half his force and flew home (at three kilometers per hour) while sending a Probe to start a Nexus at the 9:00 expansion (escorted by a perfectly appropriate Dragoon, which dispatched a scouting Marine which would have most surely caused quite a bit of distress if the Probe had headed into the scary foreign base alone). ElkY, who seemed to be confusing himself with NTT, dropped an SCV off at the top left island and started a Command Center (in addition to starting a Command Center at the mineral expansion to the left of 12:00!), then loaded two Tanks into a Dropship and headed for 9:00's natural. He dropped the Tanks off on the cliff overlooking the building Nexus and a platoon of defensive Dragoons and sieged up, then blitzed the chokepoint with a slightly-more-than-token group of Vultures to mine everything he could.



Trumpets sounded and the Cavalry of four completely-and-utterly-unexpected-Shuttles-with-the-Speed-Upgrade valiantly flew from Rekrul's main to save the day up above while the now unsupported Vultures ran away. ElkY canceled his half-finished and, in his mind, certainly doomed Command Center at top left (or maybe the game hit it's theoretical limit of Command Centers for one player to have at working bases simultaneously) as Rekrul's Shuttles full of Zealots charged toward the Terran main (taking a route just out of sight of the island expansion). While causing some annoyance, the forces were fairly easily dispatched by a large number of Vultures and a couple Tanks. Rekrul tried to keep the momentum alive by sending a quad squad of Dragoons to the left mineral expansion, but they only succeeded in bringing the Command Center to yellow before they were dispatched.



Knowing his window was quickly closing, Rekrul moved a force of Zealots, Dragoons, and an Archon or two towards the entry to the 3:00 base. Killing the Tanks set up there to defend, a small amount of his forces charged up to kill Tanks sieged around the mineral expansion while a couple others battled the SCVs that were mining the 3:00 natural. As Rekrul's forces began to dissipate, a fresh group reinforced the others to continue the love and watch The Cavalry fly overhead. The Cavalry, in this case, was a pair of Shuttles filled with Zealots that flew over the fighting at the 3:00 natural, over the 3:00 main, and were finally dropped down in the SCV line of the 12:00 natural (which, if you may not remember, was ElkY's first expansion and the only expansion normal people would have at this point). A decent amount of SCVs died in the drop at 12:00's natural, and Rekrul continued the onslaught at 3:00 with even more reinforcements, charging up the ramp towards the main while a couple units still hacked away at the mining natural expansion.



Realizing he was in a fix, ElkY sent a group of four Tanks and a lone Vulture to the 9:00 expansion, sieging up, destroying the Nexus, and walking back home in what seemed like an instant. He finally gathered the forces and ended the fighting at 3:00, after losing all the mining SCVs at both the natural and main in addition to all the buildings in the main (including the Command Center and a very important pair of Armories which were half done with vehicular 1-1). Just as the last Zealot was sent back to Aiur from the 3:00 chokepoint a pair of Shuttles unloaded Zealots on the 12:00 mineral expansion. The Zealots succeeded in killing a good amount of SCVs and the Command Center mining there, and in drawing ElkY's attention away from 3:00's chokepoint, where yet *another* group of units charged. Since he was still dealing with the remainder of Zealots at the 12:00 mineral, ElkY lost more units than he should have to the forces at 3:00's chokepoint, but Rekrul was lacking in numbers to keep the love flowing. The game finally had a state of peace.



ElkY had the top left island mining full blast, a new pair of Armories working on 1-1 (but not even a fourth done), the 12:00 natural with a small amount of SCVs, the 3:00 mineral full blast, the 3:00 natural full blast, and a Command Center floating to land at the 3:00 main with a good amount of SCVs already mining there. He was sitting at 182 Supply, had a Command Center ready to float from around the middle of the map (hello NTT?) back to the 12:00 mineral, had about 1000/650 in resources, and seven Factories (three of which with Machine Shops). Rekrul, on the other hand, had mining bases at 6:00's natural and mineral, and 9:00's main and natural, 138 Supply, with his ground units upgraded with +2 Attack and +1 Shield, two Forges halfway done upgrading each of those upgrades once more over, eleven Gateways, a twelfth building, and a Stargate that had just began production of Rekrul's famous Arbiters. I think I also saw a partridge in there, and perhaps a pear tree as well. And Waldo.



Rekrul used a single Shuttle, swifter than ever, to harass sieged Tanks protecting the 3:00 chokepoint, to prepare for a small attack at his favorite target of the day. The main units were dispatched fairly easy by ElkY's reinforcing units, but quite a bit of damage was dealt by the Shuttle and it's travelers, killing unprotected Sieged Tanks and a few SCVs before meeting their ultimate demise in a dastardly Missile Turret. Disaster struck for our favorite friend when ElkY constructed a buttload of Turrets over the 9:00 cliff and added a couple Dropships full of Tanks to attack the innocent Probes below (including the newly built Nexus at the 9:00 mineral expansion). Rekrul sent another large force of units at the 3:00 bases but was ultimately unsuccessful at doing anything but trading military for military.



Rekrul attempted recalling a group of units at 3:00, but achieved the same results as the attack before (except netting a few SCVs in the crossfire), and moved to regroup with his Arbiter in the lower middle. At this time ElkY put up a handful of turrets around the bottom right island, to protect the Command Center building there, and started construction of his ever-so-famous Nuclear Missiles. Rekrul charged up the middle with an Arbiter and many units, aiming for the 12:00 mineral expansion, which met with little resistance. He sent a good amount of his units into the Terran main, aiming to stunt ElkY's production, and reinforced his charge by brilliantly recalling a group of units from 9:00's Gateway's rally point (where a Nuclear Missile was moments from landing on them!_ onto Tanks around the 3:00 mineral expansion Command Center. As ElkY's Factories burned to the ground, a second Arbiter recalled a group of Zealots onto the 9:00 cliff to clear it of Terran forces and allow Rekrul to resume mining below. Undeterred by the recent turn of events, ElkY constructed many Factories at his 3:00 base and dropped a psychological Nuclear Missile on the 9:00 production facilities. He also finished off the units destroying his main base, saving his Starport, one Armory (his 3-3 upgrades were near done, so he was now 3-2) Science Facility, Academy, and some Supply Depots.



Seeing a large group of Probes distance mining with the Nuking Ghost from seconds earlier, ElkY dropped a pair of Goliaths and a Siege Tank on the 9:00 ramp, supported with an equal force walked in from below. Taking some worker losses, Rekrul ended the attack with a recalled group of Zealots and some bloodthirsty Probes. Despite his decently sized military (comprised of an unusual amount of Archons and some Zealots), Rekrul was out of money and desperately trying to gather enough minerals for a Nexus by mining 9:00's natural from afar. ElkY unnecessarily took re-took the 12:00 mineral expansion (his mineral count exceeded five digits and he had almost enough gas to match) and gathered units in the middle for a final charge. Although futile at this point, Rekrul attacked the top left island successfully seconds before ElkY attacked Rekrul's remaining forces at 9:00 with a mixture of Goliaths, Tanks, Vultures, and the occasional Ghost. As a Nuclear Missile rained down upon the burning Gateways at 9:00, Rekrul surrendered one last time.



7-0 ElkY.



* Elky's 5th/final opponent will be none other than Smuft. Will the Conniving Canadian be able to defend the honor of Liquibition from the nuking bastard or get trounced like the others? Stay tuned. * Comments (46) Waxangel, February 05 KPGA Winner's Championship Update Here's my really late report on last week's KPGA Winner's Championship. Yes, I'm lazy, but at least I'm not like Rekrul who took a few months to get the next liquibition up :O. Oh, and this week's team vs team report will be late too -_-



Game 1: Chojja vs Reach on Sauron



The players started fairly close, Reach at 11:00 and Chojja at 1:00. Both players had scouts in each other's bases quickly, and they dared each other to make a move before building their own buildings. Eventually Reach went 1 gate tech, making a fair amount of zeals to defend. Chojja played from his main, going for lurks.



Reach made a sair, but Chojja had sufficient air defense. Reach followed up by making more gates and getting zealot speed upgrades. Chojja made 2 lurkers, then he expanded to his natural while going spire tech. He parked his lurkers Reach's main and went about his business at home.



Reach made a daring move, sending out his speedzeals without detection. It proved to be a good choice, since Chojja had made only 2 lurkers to keep Reach from attacking. The zealots ran to Chojja's nat, and were able to kill the hatchery there before Chojja's defenses could stop them.



After defending, Chojja promptly retook his natural, while taking the 5:00 main as well. Reach got observers, and came out of his base, taking his natural. He attempted another attack, but was forced back by an unexpectedly large amount of mutalisks. With his large amount of mutas, Chojja harassed the best he could, avoiding storms very well. He would keep it up during the whole game.



Reach made mostly dragoons and templars, preparing for a change in zerg tech. However, Chojja made a surprising move, going all out mutalisks. When Reach went to attack, Chojja overwhelmed with a huge amount of mutalisks. Avoiding storms easily, Chojja turned Reach's goons into soup.



Running out of resources at his main, Reach discreetly tried for the west middle expansion. He almost g

ot it off, but Chojja somehow arrived just before the cannons there were done. Reach continued to try, sacrificing his goon/temp to buy time while he secured the expansion. Chojja expanded as well, taking the 5:00 nat and the southern middle expansion. Still making only mutas, he made many sunkens at his expansions.



With the addition of a second gas, Reach started throwing archons into his troop mix. With it being much harder to fight Reach head on, Chojja switched to using heavy guerilla tactics. Making sure Reach's troops could never stay put, Chojja would hit the 11:00 natural when it was open, then retreat back to make sure protoss didn't get any other expansions.



Though he was very successful at harassing, Chojja was slowly cutting his mutas' HP lower and lower. At a critical point, Chojja decided to use his 30 odd muta fight Reach's dragoon/archon/zeal/temp force straight out as they were moving across the map. The storms flew wildly, and Reach came out on top, with heavy losses. It seemed like Reach had bought himself some breathing room for another expansion, but it was not to be.



Chojja had been preparing to execute his finishing maneuver, mass ultralisks. His forces being severely damaged, Reach didn't bother to try a last fight as the ultralisks went around and attacked his empty main.



Chojja's mutalisk control really shined this game. Using them to tie up Reach, he took expansions and turtled heavily. Later on, Reach was unable to attack because of the huge fields of sunkens, and was forced to run around chasing Chojja's mutas. Finally, Chojja dealt the finishing blow with the ultras he had made with his vast resources.



Chojja defeats Reach





Game 2: Chrh vs IntoTheRain on Jim Raynor's Memory J



Rain started off at 6:00, while Chrh started at 3:00. Rain played it by the book early on, going for dragoon/obs. Chrh build 2 factories, and went on to make vultures and upgrade from 2 machine shops.



With a few marines and 4 vults, Chrh attacked. Though he didn't have obs, Rain's goons still took nearly no losses while eating up Chrh's vultures. However, they were pushed back quite far and awaited for an observer so they could clear the minefield. Chrh took his break to expand to his mineral natural, and rush to tanks. His siege mode upgrade finished just in time, just as Rain broke through the minefield was about to attack.



Rain expanded to his own mineral natural, while pondering his next move. He decided to ferry his ground troops into Chrh's base slowly, using his single shuttle. It was looking good for Rain at first, as he got his troops into Chrh's main without getting caught. But his attack did not go so well, Chrh was able to defend himself easily.



Soon after, Chrh had enough troops to attack Rain. Having lost many of his troops in the failed drop, Rain was pushed far back. Unable to attack Chrh head on, Rain took his dragoons around and struck at Chrh's newly built mineral expansion. Instead of quickly advancing his troops, Chrh went to defend his expansion first. With Rain's counter-attack parried off, Chrh continued his push.



Rain tried to defend, but it was hopeless. Not even having speed zealots by that time, he fell to Chrh's massive ground army.



Chrh defeats IntoTheRain



Game 3: Sonic)Black defeats Kos on Plains to Hill D



Wow, this must have been short. Knowing that the announcers take some 15~20 minutes between games to finish their wrap up, I changed the channel to watch something else. I switch back, and they're already on game 4 -_-. I guess black 9 pooled and won -_-!





Game 4: Jinnam vs Nada on Plains to Hill D



Jinnam started at 7:00, while Nada started at 1:00. Jinnam used the standard zerg build on Plains, 2nd hatch at his choke, 3rd hatch at his natural. Possibly since he had been using all sorts of crazy tactics the day before at KTF Bigi, Nada continued to do so at KPGA. At first it looked like standard 2 rax, which Jinnam saw as well. Then Nada skipped an academy, going fast factory and 2 starports.



Jinnam was caught completely off guard by the first 2 wraiths. After killing an overlord, the wraiths went to the zerg natural to slowly kill off the drones there. As Jinnam scrambled to get air defense, Nada was massing M&M; at his main. Additional wraiths arrived, speeding up the overlord and drone killing. With his lair units delayed significantly, Jinnam fell easily to the following marines and medics.



Nada defeated Jinnam Comments (20) Rekruler, February 05 Team Liquid Exhibition Match #3 Liquibition is finally back in action. In the poll you all were given a choice of what style you wanted Liquibition to be run with. The vast majority of you said you wanted the winner to stay until he loses. Well, being the asshole that I am, I will totally ignore that poll. The new format is going to be the winner can stay until a maximum of 5 match wins. Also, the Team Liquid Staff will be choosing the opponents for the winners of previous rounds. But we'll still try to give them opponents that they have some sort of rivalry with and opponents that we know will give them a fight. The people who manage to win 5 matches in a row (if any) will be put into a Hall of Fame. Perhaps if 4 people get into that Hall of Fame there could be a "Team Liquid King of Kings Tournament." But that is all in the far future...on with the present.



In one corner we have the French Fandango, Elky, and in the other corner we have the Boisterous Bulgarian, Beast. At WCG last year, Elky and Beast were both in the same round robin group. Beast managed to beat Elky in the round robin. After all the games were finished, Giyom was in 1st place and Elky/Beast/Wizard were tied for 2nd. In the tiebreaker games Elky defeated Beast, meaning Elky advanced while Beast got a lovely VIP spectator seat. If you like back and forth action packed games, I cordially apologize. If you’re a fan of excessive use of explosives, this best-of-7 match might just intrigue you.



Game 1

Map: The Lost Temple

The Game: Terran vs. Terran (as are all the games in this series) Elky started at 3, Beast at 12. This wasn’t much of a game. They both did 2 fact openings, with Beast forgetting his 2nd depot for a long time which put him behind and put him in the “How the !@#$ am I supposed to beat Elky when I forget my depot” mindset. Elky harassed Beast with vultures and used mines very well (he should have used ally mines, because we all know Beast has no problem with them). Beast fended the vulture onslaught off with Vult/Tank but Elky soon had a wraith and drops. Elky got his expand much faster and cliffed Beast rather easily. In a very short while Elky’s population was two times higher than Beast’s.





1-0 Elky



Game 2

Map: Neo Forbidden Zone

The Game: Elky started at 1, Beast at 10. They both did 2 fact/port/goliath builds. Elky opted to float his factories to the mainland while Beast kept them on his plateau. Elky expanded and so did Beast. Elky got the economic and tactical advantage early and took the map while Beast was struggling to survive. What Beast was thinking: “I can do this. I can win. I am a BEAST. Must…not…give…up.” *Elky’s eyes turn fiery red* “Muahahaahahahaha…” *Nuclear Launch Detected* *Nuclear Launch Detected* *Nuclear Launch Detected* Need I say more?



2-0 Kim Jung Elky



Game 3

Map: Plains to Hill

The Game: Elky started at 10, Beast at 4. They both did a 2 fact opening again. This time Beast went all tanks and turrets while Elky went goliaths but then switched to 2 port wraiths. Elky’s intuitive adaptation worked perfectly as he beat back Beast’s tanks and killed some SCV’s in Beast’s main as Beast scrambled to make turrets. While Elky was attacking Beast’s main, Beast took Elky’s natural ledge with tanks/turrets to contain him. This didn’t stop Elky as he powered like a maniac and took the islands and other bases while Beast merely had Elky’s natural as his expansion. *Nuclear Launch Detected*



3-0 Kim Jung Elky



Game 4

Map: Neo Bifrost

The Game: Elky started at 1, Beast at 7. Elky’s trademark barrack float block + marines behind minerals. “GG.”



4-0 Elky



Rekrul’s Rating of the games in this Match: 3 out of 10. The only reason they even got a 3 was because of the nukes.



Elky annihilated Beast with a gleaming smirk on his face. He is 3-0 now, defeating Crystal then Blackman in previous rounds. Can anyone stop this juggernaut? I don’t know who the next competitor is yet, but we’ll find one soon. Stay Tuned~



P.S. From Elky – “All foreigners suck, I would go 20-0 in Liquibition if you !@#$ers let me -_-” Comments (32) mensrea, February 05 OGN Duel Tournament - Group D RESULTS Just the results first:





1) Jinsu (Z) ("Jang Jin-su") > [Oops]Reach (P) - Gaema Gowon

2) Sir@Soni~(Z) ("Lee Jae-hang") < [Oops]Lee (T) ("Lee Woon-jae") - Gaema Gowon

3) [Oops]Lee (T) > Jinsu (Z) - Neo Forbidden Zone -> [Oops]Lee qualifies for the nest OGN Starleague

4) Sir@Soni~ (Z) > [Oops]Reach (P) - Avant Garde II

5) Sir@Soni~(Z) < Jinsu (Z) - Neo Bifrost -> Jinsu qualifies for the nest OGN Starleague





So, [Oops]Lee makes it into another Starleague and shows that he's no fluke. Lee (@8) somehow managed to win a shootout v Sir@Soni~ (@11) on Gaema Gowon when the Zerg player had his forces outnumbered and outgunned for the longest time. Lee at one point even almost had his natural pushed completely by wave after wave of lurkers. Both players seemed nervous and tentative and Lee never really got into his rhythm until the very end when he started effectively touring with M&M; + tank + vessels. Sir@Soni~ never really got into his rhythm at all. Lots of control and strategic mistakes in this one, but hey, a win's a win.



Lee's victory over Jinsu was much better played. And a real shootout (Are ANY of Lee's games NOT a shootout? A candidate for "Desperate Terran II?" What say you, Bertrand?). And Lee showed why he used to be called (and may yet be again in the near future...) "The Living Marine." Lee (@11) opened with an interesting no expo 2 rax M&M; + upgrades. Lee never even attempted to move out from his main until he had a sizable M&M; battle group ready with vessel and ship support. Jinsu (@5) went quick muta/scourge, hoping to catch Lee napping with his dropships, but Lee had planned for it and matrixed his ships whenever they had cargo. Jinsu tried mass expoing then did a neat switch to Guardians that almost caught Lee off-guard, but Jinsu didn't have an effective counter for Lee's vessels and was never really able to take advantage. It was a back-and-forth game the rest of the way with Lee dropping on Jinsu's expos all over the place, while Jinsu desperately tried to counter with lurker/hydra, then lurker/hydra/defiler combos. In the end tho, Jinsu wasn't able to raze even a single one of Lee's expos (Lee's natural and the 8 natural) and that cost him the match. Entertaining stuff. Lee did a nice job defending his expos and once again proved why you never let a T player fully upgrade M&Ms; 3/3 (yep, 3/3) if you're a Zerg. Lee even tackled Jinsu's natural which was defended by 7 sunkens with just M&Ms; - and wasted them all without breaking a sweat. Wow. Anyway, Lee ain't the flashiest Terran player around, but he gets the job done. The Living Marine cometh!



As happy as [Oops]Lee was to qualify for another Starleague, it's next to nothing compared to the ecstatic joy Jinsu must've felt. Not only is Jinsu in his first Starleague, he made it after EIGHT failed attempts over FOUR excruciatingly long years! Talk about an exercise in futility. If Jinsu had failed again this time (after such a strong showing in the Challenge League and that heart-breaking loss to Nal_rA on Neo Bifrost), I would've had to recommend a name change: "Susan Lucci_Forever." But, he didn't fail. And now he has the chance to finally move out of his brother's considerable shadow and become more than just one-half of the best 2v2 team in the world.



Jinsu did it in style, too. Not only did he handily defeat the reigning OGN Champion Reach (as bad as he is these days...), but he even managed to psych out the win versus the ZvZ specialist Sir@Soni~. Reach (@11) tried a cute 1 gate main + 2 proxy gate hardcore zealot rush on Jinsu. Jinsu (@8) had started an early natural and panicked for a bit before regaining composure. After that initial outburst from the Hero Toss tho, it was all Jinsu. Reach tried switching to goon/temps/zealots, but I got the feeling he had banked everything on the proxy gates. Reach just got bottled up inside his main and was never allowed to expand. Got slowly squeezed by wave after wave of hydra/lurker/speedlings. Jinsu's victory over Sir@Soni~ on Neo Bifrost was even more impressive - because Jinsu got outplayed and out-strategized, but won the mind game and the match. It was a muta/scourge/ling fight right from the start. Jinsu was the aggressor most of the game, playing cat-and-mouse muta/ling harrass. Jae-hang concentrated more on steady tech and expansion and was obviously outplaying Jinsu for 99% of the game - nothing Jinsu tried seemed to work. But, as with almost all ZvZ games, Jae-hang lost one decisive muta battle and that was the match. Jae-hang should've been more aggressive. He was obviously playing better, better control, forces virtually even. But, Jinsu just psyched him out and forced his opponent to play scared. Excellent, excellent win.



Sir@Soni~ goes back to his IS team with his tail between his legs. Kind of felt bad for him - his parents were in the audience to cheer him on.



And Reach...what can I say? This guy is in a serious slump. And another Protoss bites the proverbial dust. Only two more groups left in the Duel Tournament and only two more Protoss players, Zeus and forU. If neither of them make it, we will have the lowest Protoss race turnout in any Starleague ever - just one (Kingdom, who received an automatic seed due to his 1st place finish in the Challenge League).



Anyone wanna place bets...?





NEXT: Boxer (T), Gyuntae (Z), Jinnam (Z), Zeus (P) Comments (13) Waxangel, February 03 KTF Bigi Four Emperors Tournament KTF Bigi Four Emperors Tournament



The Tournament



KTF's tournament looks like it may become one of the major SC events. It's a one-day tournament for 4 players, with 10,000,000 won ($8,000) going to the winner. That kind of prize money doesn't come easily, the winner of MBCgame's KPGA Tour gets less than that for winning a grueling 13-week league.



The player selection method is rather simple, and somewhat debatable. They pick 4 pro gamers based on there past performance and their popularity. It's a very subjective way to pick the contestants for a very big tournament, but the guys at KTF said it's going to be that way.



The way it's played is simple, the 4 players play a single elimination tournament. The 1st round (semi-finals) is one game, and the finals are best 2 of 3. The 3r/4th-place game is a single match as well. The pairings are decided by some silly games between the players, where they're forced to play random, and all bugs are allowed.



The Players

Not a fan of writing complete IDs -.-



Boxer: He's in a slump right now. A slump's still impressive when you're Boxer, with a top 6 finish in KPGA, and a top 8 finish in Ongamenet. Despite some disappointing results lately, many people still say Boxer's the best in the world. The reason? Just because he is Boxer. He's recovered from worse, managing to come back on top. Boxer looked to signal his return to dominance.



Nada: At the moment, the best player on earth. 3 time KPGA winner, currently waiting in the finals on his first OnGameNet appearance, and he's going strong on GhemTV as well. They say he might be the next Boxer, the new Emperor of terran. Some are already willing to give him that title. But he's not a legend yet. He's making his way up there, and winning the KTF Bigi would sure help a lot....



Yellow: Considered to be one of the best, yet he can't manage to win a major tourney. No other player has managed to continuously

place in the top 4 of major tourneys like Yellow. Despite being a very solid zerg player, it's never been enough to get to the coveted position, which is #1. Boxer had stopped Nada from reaching the top for the longest time, and more recently Reach and Nada have stopped him as well. Perhaps Yellow can get revenge on the 3, and take the crown for himself.



Reach: A while ago, people were thinking that Protoss may have a new hero, someone to follow Garimto's path. When Reach beat Boxer on Ongamenet, all the protoss users out there hoped that it might signal a revival for protoss. However, it's been the same dark, depressing road for protoss since. Reach will want to prove his victory was not a fluke, and show that protoss isn't dead yet.



Results



First Round



Nada vs Yellow on The Lost Temple



Yellow started at 12:00, while Nada started at 6:00. Yellow started with a slightly risky 2nd hatch below ramp, and later 3rd hatch at his expansion. Nada opened with a standard 2 barracks, and followed up with a little twist on the build. After 2 rax, Nada build an engineering bay quickly, even before his Academy. After getting +1, Nada moved out with 20+ M&M.;



Unfortunately, that's all I need to write. The M&M; plowed through the sunkens and zerglings, and Yellow was dead. No lair unit even managed to make an appearance before Yellow died. A very disappointing game from Yellow.



Nada defeats Yellow



Reach vs Boxer on Rivalry



Boxer started at 11:00, while Reach started below him at 7:00. Boxer's plan was to expand quickly, going 1 fact and very quick command center. Reach's plan was to play aggressive, going for fast range upgrade and 2 gate dragoons.



It seemed like Reach had made the right choice. Having tanks but no siege mode, Boxer was unable to land his CC at first. He even made the mistake of losing a tank to the range upgraded dragoons harassing him. Later, after he got siege mode, Boxer tried to push down and get his CC on the ground. Reach sacrificed his dragoons to kill the tanks as they sieged below the ramp, delaying Boxer some more. Reach expanded to his nat as he pressured Boxer.



Reach continued to play aggressively after Boxer expanded. Not long after Boxer had his command center down with SCVs mining, Reach came back with dragoons and a shuttle full of zealots. It looked like Boxer might even have had to lift his CC, but he managed to take Reach's attack after taking heavy losses himself. It took him a little while before he got Reach to retreat completely behind the bridges. Reach expanded again, to the 6:00 base.



Despite having his troops continuously killed from the start, Boxer had his expansion behind him and soon got enough tanks to try an attack. With Reach's forced split at various points, Boxer took 8 tanks and rolled down through the left side of the map. They stopped behind the bridge leading into Reach's nat, where a defense line had formed. Turrets went up as Boxer started digging in.



Reach made a crucial decision then, one that would decide the game. Loading up a shuttle with 4 zealots to temporarily delay the tanks pushing into his natural, he sent the rest of his forces to try a counter attack. The shuttle worked well, the 4 zealots killed 4 tanks. The counter-attack was another story. Mines decimated the zealots running up front, and the tanks finished up the dragoons in the back. Reach expanded to the 5:00 natural, feeling his natural and main might soon fall. Boxer expanded to 9:00, both entrances being heavily defended.



With a superior standing army, Boxer pushed further and got nearly within the range of Reach's nat. This did not bode well for Reach, as most of his gateways were in his main, meaning his troops would have to fight the entrenched terran as soon as they were produced. Boxer exploited the situation well, tying up the brunt of the protoss troops in losing fights at the 5:00 natural. Meanwhile, he massed a group of 20 + vultures which stormed the 6:00 expansion easily. It didn't take long for Boxer to take 5:00 down as well, and receive surrender from Reach.



Reach was so impressive early on, pressuring Boxer extremely well. But Boxer is the king of comebacks, oh well -_-;;



3rd/4th place match



Reach vs Yellow on Plains to Hill D



Yellow started at 1:00, while Reach started at 5:00. Yellow went for a typical Plains build order, making his 2nd hatch at his 3 way choke and later expanding to hi natural. Reach opted to do a tech build order, narrowing his choke with a pylon and mining gas quick. Reach's tech was fast sairs, followed by a citadel of adun and 2 more gateways. Yellow was prepared for the corsair, going for hydras and protecting his overlords. Reach's speed zeal follow-up was the important factor in the game.



They went up, and tested Yellow's choke from the top entrance. Yellow had sunks, and he flashed his ling/hydra as well. Seeing the defense, Reach backed off. Trying to catch Reach off guard, Yellow slyly sent his hydra/ling down his bridge to attack Reach's main. Unfortunately for Yellow, Reach tried to attack too. What ensued was a painful situation for Yellow.



Reach's speedzeals ran up the ramp and into Yellow's natural. Knowing the hatchery would be dead by the time he returned, Yellow gave up his nat and continued his attack into Reach's under-defended base. However, Reach had produced a DT, and there wasn't an overlord in sight. Yellow took hits from the DT and tried his best to do as much damage as he could. And that wasn't much damage.



Losing his expand and his forces, Yellow had at least succeeded in trapping the speedzeals inside his natural. Reach tried to move them out, meeting sunken and hydra fire. He quickly ran back into the zerg natural, still having enough to give any zerg force trying to retake the nat a good fight. Thinking he had scared Reach into staying put, Yellow tried a counter again, this time with muta.



Yellow fell victim to the same misfortune, Reach attacking with his troops at the zerg natural as Yellow moved out. He ran some of the troops away, while sending the rest to give Yellow some trouble at home. Yellow's attack was again, not so successful. Reach squeezed in an expansion at the 7:00 natural, giving him the resource advantage.



With the money and a superior force, Reach went to secure the game. He harassed Yellow's rebuilt natural with dragoons from below, while he mass expanded himself. Yellow turned to mass air and isle expands to try and stay in the game, but was unable to secure even one island. Without the resources to continue, Yellow conceded the game.



Reach defeated Yellow, Reach takes 3rd place





The Finals: Nada vs Boxer



Game 1: River of Flame



Nada started at 8:00, while Boxer started at 2:00. The mind games started right away. The two players both tried to catch their opponent off guard, going for 2 starports. Boxer got a lucky scout, however, and saw Nada mirroring his build. Boxer continued to with his plan, adding a control tower for cloaking at his starports finished. With his stargates scouted when they were over halfway done, Nada pulled a wild stunt.



Canceling both starports, he added an armory and 2 factories. Meanwhile, his barracks landed in Boxer's base and made a scouting marine. I wonder how Boxer felt when Nada showed up with 6 goliaths. Boxer did the best he could to stop the goliaths, sending in wraiths one at a time to waste scan energy. Nada killed the wraiths he could, while killing a massive amount of Boxer's SCVs before being stopped by cloaked wraiths.



Nada hit again, as Boxer tried to adapt. Though not a killing blow, Nada contained Boxer in his base with goliaths and tanks. Boxer switched to tank production, doing the best he could with his poor economy. Nada read Boxer's move perfectly, making 3 starports while he started building a command center.



It looked like Boxer was breaking his containment, but then the wraiths came along. Being caught completely off-guard again, Boxer was forced to concede the game.



An excellent game from Nada, I've never seen someone beat Boxer T v T so one-sidedly. The wraiths at the end were a nice touch, though there was no way Boxer was going to win after he lost so many SCVs at the beginning.



Nada 1 : 0 Boxer



Game 2: Bladestorm



The players started close to each other, Nada at 1:00 and Boxer at 11:00. Nada tried to catch Boxer off guard with small tricks, making 2 marines against Boxer's single marine, and 2 vultures against Boxer's 1. Boxer shrugged these off, and the game went on uneventfully. Both players went 2 factories and armory at first. Then their strategies diverged.



The two players both saw their opponent make gols, and then their scouting was cut off. They both followed with dual machine shops. Nada went for tanks, going for a solid ground game. Boxer dual shop for ground control as well, but he was going for vultures -_-;;



With a few gols and a good amount of vultures, Boxer went on the offensive. Nada left his base to attack a few second after Boxer. Gol/Tank clashed versus Gol/Vult outside Nada's natural. At first it looked like Nada was crushing Boxer, but the mines laid during the later part of the battle turned it into a draw. Locking up Nada with mines, Boxer expanded to has gas natural while changing directly to tanks. Nada teched to scan and drops, looking for ways around his containment.



Boxer was the one who made the correct decisions. His expansion completed, and he had tanks out and sieged just Nada cleared the minefield. His tanks started a containment line in range of Nada's natural. When Nada tried to drop, he was only able to cause minimal damage as Boxer stopped it easily.



With a heavy resource advantage, the game swiftly dipped toward Boxer's way. A battle at Nada's natural ended with Boxer as the victor, opening the way into Nada's main. Nada's final drop attempt failed, and he typed GG.



This time it was Boxer's decision making that was outstanding.



Nada 1 : 1 Boxer



Game 3: The Lost Temple



Nada started at 3:00, while Boxer started at 9:00. Nada tried cute tricks early on, making his barracks the usual time, but in an odd position. Making his barracks in the center, he tried a quick 3 marine and 1 SCV attack. It turned out to be a waste, Boxer's vulture coming out in time to stop it with ease.



The two player's build orders mirrored each other again, both of them going 2 factories, armory, and starport. They knew this, their scouting barracks having seen their opponent. With goliaths produced to chase the rax off, the mind games started again.



Boxer added a control tower, and another starport. He was going for cloaked wraiths. Nada went for a dropship. As they teched, both players added command centers in their mains at the same time. When Nada's dropship came out, he used it to patrol his base, thinking that Boxer would try to drop as well. Seeing nothing coming, Nada settled back in his main and prepared to land his command center. Boxer expanded as well.



Boxer went out with 3 cloaked wraiths. He caught Nada's dropship as it patrolled the air, but not before it dropped all of its goliaths. With no defenses against cloaking units, Nada was forced to attack to buy time. He sent his 4 gols and 2 tanks to attack Boxer, who was short on ground units. Boxer's wraiths shot up the tanks, while Nada got scan and turrets.



Having seized the initiative, Boxer started the massive drop wars to come. With his wraiths escorting, he dropped 2 tanks on Nada's nat. Mining was stopped momentarily before Nada saved his cliff with his own drop. Boxer had stopped wraiths, and was going for mech drops as was Nada. He also slipped an SCV in the 6:00 main, starting an expansion there.



Nada soon made Boxer regret spending gas on wraiths early, and wasting 2 tanks on a drop. He sent a drop of his own, sending a powerful force above Boxer's natural. Boxer gave up on trying to keep the expand, mining as much as he could while it lasted and making Nada commit as many forces to it as possible. Boxer had 6:00, and Nada still didn't know.



With a good chunk of Nada's troops attacking his natural, Boxer loaded up his dropships for a counter drop. They cliffed Nada's natural, stopping mining again. Nada wasn't one to be hurt so easily, removing the attackers with his own drop and some brilliant micro (he used dropship tricks and timed against the delay of Boxer's TANK MODE tanks).



Boxer held the advantage of having mined more, and being the one currently attacking. He kept it up, forcing Nada to defend and follow him around. A drop in Nada's main caught him off-guard, making him put together another defense force. An SCV went and killed Nada's SCV building a CC at 12:00. Boxer pressed his advantage, expanding to the 6:00 natural as well.



Determined to keep dragging Nada around, Boxer poured on with the attacks. Giving up the 6:00 natural, he dropped 12:00 and traded expansions with Nada. And not long after, he dropped Nada's main again. Nada successfully defended again, but Boxer gave him no time to rest. He changed targets again, going for Nada's natural cliff.



Finally, Nada ran out of steam, and failed to remove Boxer's troops from his cliff. Boxer was relentless, dropping Nada's main, isle expand, and whatever there was. Without money, and soon to be without buildings, Nada conceded to Boxer.



Awesome game! Though it's not clear cut why Boxer won in the end with similar resources, I think it's because Boxer was generally mining for longer amounts of time than Nada. And he was the one attacking, cost effectively fighting Nada's defense, eventually wearing down his numbers. I think!



Nada 1 : 2 Boxer



Boxer defeats Nada 2:1. Boxer takes 1st place!



Is this a sign? The king returns and takes down his would be usurper. It was like seeing Boxer in his prime again, during his last game with Nada. If he continues playing like this, the next few game leagues will really be things to look forward to. And what about Yellow? Will be forever be cursed to be Mr. Top 4? Time will tell ;-) Make your predictions, we'll see what happens ;-) Comments (31) [pG]Liquid`Nazgul, February 02 Site Updates *edit Something that I personally find a very cool part of our forum has gotten even better; the smileys! We are happy to announce we have gotten hold of 7 great new smileys.



when you feel like being in heaven (whatever that feels like )

when you're bored

when you're feeling fat

when you're being supportive

sarcasm

when Iszard get's her 7th ban

when Iszard get's her 8th ban



Thanks go to VVouter for these awesome new smileys. Also I'd like to thank RazorBlade for letting us use and since the beginning of our site.



When you go to our forum you will notice we have divided it into 3 sections. We felt like the forum was getting too unclear and that it would be better to split it up in 3 different forums.



The Brood War Forum is obviously meant to discuss everything that is about our favorite game. From Tournaments to strategies and whatever you like to discuss as long as it relates direct- or indirectly to Brood War.



Site Support is about anything that has got to do with this site. For example if you think there is some moderation needed in one of the topics in the other forums this is where you should post it. Questioning bans, questions about the design or reporting bugs, etc. Anything that you think should be read by Meat, mensrea or myself you post here.



The General Forum basically is for everything that does not fit under one of the previous discriptions.



Also you can see a "Paypal Donate" on the right under the poll. So far our banners have gotten us $40 where it is around $400 that we need for a dedicated server. I'm not going to go into it again, but I guess you can all draw your own conclusions from that.



I'd like to thank Meat for the great work he's always doing for this site. Many stuff he does goes undetected by the most of you, but it's definitely there. Thanks Joy Comments (9) [pG]Liquid`Nazgul, February 01 Korea Report at pG.de I wanted to wait with this report until I had played my next game on TV. This not only to make it more interesting for you, but also because I wanted to put my time/effort in practising instead. Anyway here I am again with even more good news from Korea.



Click here to read more. Big thanks goes to Wax and ilvy Comments (8) Waxangel, January 30 3 weeks of GhemTV updates at once Update: MMS addresses, thanks EmKey!



Argh, no reports for these -_-. Anyway, here are the links to the VODs, and the time where each game starts. The general quality of GhemTV games seems to be better than that of MBCGame or OGN. Less boring, one-sided ownage.



So many awesome games. Please rip them all -_-



Ghemtv LT, Forest of Abyss, Emperor of Emperor, Isles of Siren



Standings



Group A

HOT-Forever: 2-0

V-Gundam: 1-1

[Soul]Junior: 1-1

forU: 0-2



Group B

Oddysay: 2-0

Junwi: 1-1

Nada: 1-1

Autumn: 0-2



Group C (There is no VOD for Xellos vs Black, there was a problem and it was played off TV)

Kingdom: 2-0

Zeus: 1-1

Sonic)Black: 1-1

Xellos: 0-2



Group D

Silent_Control: 2-0

Chrh: 1-1

Chojja: 1-1

IntoTheRainbow: 0-2





Week 2



http://www.ghemtv.com/program/vod/sl_3_02_1.asx

mms://210.124.186.163/ghemtv/sleague/sl_3_02_1.wmv



[Soul]Junior defeats forU on Desert Lost Temple 1:08:30



Oddysay defeats Nada on Isles of Siren 1:50:50



http://www.ghemtv.com/program/vod/sl_3_02_2.asx

mms://210.124.186.163/ghemtv/sleague/sl_3_02_2.wmv



Kingdom defeats Xellos on Forest of Abyss 9:10



Chojja defeats IntoTheRainbow on Emperor of Emperor 40:20



Week 3



http://www.ghemtv.com/program/vod/sl_3_03_1.asx

mms://210.124.186.163/ghemtv/sleague/sl_3_03_1.wmv



HOT-Forever defeats forU on Forest of Abyss 1:14:25



Nada defeats Junwi on Desert Lost Temple 1:49:30



http://www.ghemtv.com/program/vod/sl_3_03_2.asx

mms://210.124.186.163/ghemtv/sleague/sl_3_03_2.wmv



Kingdom (starts below) defeats Zeus(starts above) on Isles of Siren 8:30



Chrh defeats IntoTheRainbow on Emperor of Emperor 41:00



Week 4



http://www.ghemtv.com/program/vod/sl_3_04_1.asx

mms://210.124.186.163/ghemtv/sleague/sl_3_04_1.wmv



V-Gundam defeats [Soul]Junior on Isles of Siren 1:11:10



Oddysay defeats Autumn on Emperor of Emperor 1:52:00



http://www.ghemtv.com/program/vod/sl_3_04_2.asx

mms://210.124.186.163/ghemtv/sleague/sl_3_04_2.wmv



Silent_control defeats Chojja on Desert Lost Temple 14:40



Comments (22) Waxangel, January 30 KPGA Tour Team League Update Week 2 of the KPGA Tour Team League exhibitions. This time, it was the Dream Team versus the Greatest Ones (GO). Oh, everyone's favorite Dutchman, Nazgul, was on the Dream Team ;O



Dream Team: Nazgul(p), Grrr...(p), V-Gundam(t), Jinnam(z)

The separated group of pro-gamers under one manager. Let loose to do whatever they please, they are brought together in times of dire need (like when they need to kick another team's ass for money).



Greatest Ones: Xellos(t), Chrh(t), Nal_Ra(p), forU(p)

A more traditional "team" than their adversaries. Full of extremely skilled players, who just have some strange hex when they go on TV. And they all look marvelous in their navy suits!







Game 1: Xellos vs Nazgul on Plains to Hill D



This report is longer than the rest, because everyone here seems to care so much about Naz. Xellos started 11:00, while Naz started at 1:00. Naz got off to a good start, when Xellos's scouting SCV missed his base even though it made it's way there first. Nazgul has made his pylon and gateway to the side, so Xellos, who wasn't scouting deep, had to re-check all of the mains.



Both players were thinking of the same thing early on: Island expanding. Nazgul went for a fast robotics bay and shuttle, while Xellos went for a quick dropship as well. Nazgul's first shuttle went to the 3:00 and 6:00 islands, dropping off probes. A nexus was warped in at 3:00 soon after. Xellos loaded his first dropship with an SCV, sending it off to the 9:00. Xellos had done a little preparing, his engineering bay had been built close to the 3:00 and floated there seeing the warping nexus. He loaded up 2 tanks and went for a drop.



With nothing but a warping nexus and a pylon, Xellos went about shooting the pylon while Naz ferried goons up to his isle. When the goons came to kill the tanks, Xellos tried to make a quick retreat, but ended up losing his dropship and tanks. Xellos built a CC at his 9:00 during this time. Naz, on the

other hand, made more shuttles and teched up to shuttle speed.



As both players built up, Xellos tried another drop. This time it was 4 tanks. The tanks shot a few probes, before Naz promptly sent shuttles full of reinforcements, which forced Xellos to run again. Not to be daunted, Xellos continued to make more factories and started building a command center at his natural.



It was at this time that Naz caught Xellos off-guard. Nazgul sent 3 shuttles and dropped off 8 speedzeals and 2 goons in Xellos's main. Xellos was short on units, and scrambled to try to stop it best. With the units defending the choke gone, Nazgul sent troops by ground as well. As both sides traded casualties in Xellos's main, Nazgul took the 6:00 isle.



In the end, Xellos managed to save his main after losing several rounds of units from his factory. He also suffered the damage of losing the command center at his natural. After being repelled from Xellos's main, Naz followed a drop at Xellos's isle expansion. Xellos stopped this too, but not before taking heavy SCV damage. Feeling the game rapidly falling away from him, Xellos pulled out a risky maneuver, discreetly building a CC at 7:00. Later, Xellos took back his natural. Naz kept playing safely, expanding to the 5:00 main, while taking care of the 9:00 isle once and for all. The game had already entered the finishing stages.



Naz found 7:00 a little late, but not very. Xellos attempted to save it, but it was a poor choice as he outmatched on the ground. Eventually Naz started doing suicide drops into Xellos's main to free up population for 7 gate carriers. Xellos attempted a final attack, but was unable to even defeat Naz's reduced ground forces. With carriers soon upon him, Xellos conceded the game.



Nazgul defeats Xellos





Game 2: Chrh vs Grrr... on Bladestorm



Chrh started at 7:00, while Grrr started at 1:00. And now we move on to the mid game! Both players played very passively early on. The two players fast expanded (Chrh to his min nat, Grrr to his gas nat), and followed with by taking their other freebie expansion soon after. The two players branched there, Chrh being aggressive and Grrr being defensive.



Chrh started the first real aggressive movements of the game, trying to harass with vultures. Grrr continued to stay in defend & expand mode, stopping Chrh's vulture harass attempts without trouble, and taking the 11:00 gas natural as well. Chrh stepped up his attacks, adding drops to his harassment attempts. They failed to do damage, and ended up being a waste of units on Chrh's part. In the meanwhile, Grrr stayed with only dragoons for the longest time ever. Chrh started expanding to 5:00, starting command centers there, while hoping to extend defense line to cover them later.



Things didn't go Chrh's way though, Grrr choose to engage Chrh's forces whenever they started advancing too far, keeping them from taking 5:00. Chrh did get some valuable mining time from 5:00 before Grrr scouted it out, but was powerless to stop Grrr from razing it when it happened. With victory before his eyes, Grrr... took the 11:00 main, while going for many, many stargates in his main. 5:00 expansions failed, Chrh started on a CC to go to the 9:00 isle.



Chrh tried for his last chance to turn the game in his favor before the masses of carriers ran him over (floated him over). Amazingly, he still had a significantly large amount of ground troops. In a last ditch attack, he was able to crush Grrr's significantly lacking ground troops (all population in stargate carriers!). While Grrr... hung on and waited for carriers, Chrh killed the nexuses at the 11:00 and 1:00 gas naturals. Chrh desperately tried to build on that after the carriers came out.



With Grrr low on cash, Chrh sent small groups of units continuously, trying to disrupt Grrr's resources while keeping the carriers far away from himself. Grrr happily complied, sending his carriers here and there to take care of the units Chrh threw at him. In the end, Grrr proved to have chosen correctly (though we never know what would have happened otherwise), as the expansions and units Chrh built up during the harassing were not enough to take the masses of carriers. GG!



Grrr.. defeats Chrh





Game 3: Nal_Ra vs V-Gundam on Sauron



V-Gundam started at 11:00, while Nal_ra started at 5:00. V-Gundam started with what appeared to be his trademark build. Nal_ra was expecting such a thing, and prepared accordingly. He went for 3-gate range goon with ob, waiting for the marines and vultures to knock on his door. V-Gundam dealt Nal_ra a low blow, flashing 2 factories + some marines, and then expanding ASAP.



Nal_ra tried to compensate, expanding to his nat, and then to the 7:00 main. This turned out to be overcompensating. V-Gundam didn't wait very long after he expanded to attack, he sent out a moderately sized force quickly. Nal_ra did his best to try and delay V-Gundam, but it was of no use. Nal_ra had made himself vulnerable, and V-Gundam was making him pay.



With V-Gundam on the cliff overlooking his nat, Nal_ra tried hard to keep the tanks from advancing within range of the nexus. This worked to a degree, Nal_ra didn't just lie down while he lost his nat. Nal_ra prevented anymore forward advancement, which would have gone all the way into his main. V-Gundam continued to take the initiative, dropping 7:00 to do some heavy probe damage. He also double expanded to the 11:00 main and nat.



Nal_ra was down, but barely managed to hang on. He tried to counter the 11:00 expansions, while precisely stopping V-Gundam whenever he showed anything less than full attention. Tired of Nal_ra's tenacity, V-Gundam applied the final blows. Well, they should have been final blows, finishing off 7:00 and taking his main. Nal_ra still clung on the best he could, fighting until the bitter end.



V-Gundam defeats Nal_ra



Game 4: forU vs Jinnam on Sauron



Jinnam started at 7:00, while forU started at 11:00. ForU gave a preview of the unorthodox game to come, opening with 1 gate fast gas. Jinnam started playing into the scenario of "excessively plain zerg gets raped by bizarre protoss strat." He opened with 2nd hatch on ramp, and 3rd hatch at expansion soon after.



ForU went stargate first. Though Jinnam's overlord had left the toss base after seeing the cybernetics core, Jinnam prepared for corsair tech anyway. He went den, thus suffering only 1 overlord loss while hydras protected the rest. He kept minimal hydras and opted for more speedlings while teching to lair.



ForU's follow-up was a special package for Jinnam (U!), a shuttle with a reaver and 2 zealots. Unfortunately for forU, he landed at the nat, which had a meager 4 drones mining. Still bad for Jinnam, who had mainly speedlings and a few hydras. Jinnam boldly surrounded the reaver with speedlings, trying to get in as many hits as he could before the lings met their inevitable fates. The reaver and zealots focused fire at the hatchery, trying to take it down before Jinnam massed enough troops to overwhelm them. Jinnam succeeded in killing the zealots and reaver, as the shuttle was mysteriously elsewhere. Just as Jinnam's troops left, a speed shuttle arrived with another reaver to finish the job.



While Jinnam recovered and re expanded to his nat, forU hit him with another blow. This time it was combination of everything in Jinnam's main. A shuttle dropped 2 DTs and a reaver, while some zealots ran in by ground. The drop wasn't as successful as it was cute. It killed a fair amount of drones, the spire, and some units, but not quite cost effectively. Anyway, it tied up Jinnam again, and confused him about what the hell forU was doing. Meanwhile, forU expanded and cannoned up.



Jinnam had taken the blows early on, but struck back very hard. ForU had effectively thrown most of his troops at Jinnam in what turned out to be nothing more than a time buying attack, and was low on units. Jinnam showed up at forU's nat with 10+ hydras an 2 lurkers. ForU had 2 zealots and archons defending, but the supporting cannons were all placed close to the nexus. Jinnam used his lurkers to move in, staying out of cannon range. ForU kept his few ground troops near his exp, preparing for a direct attack on the natural's defenses.



Jinnam then made a very critical move. Taking a risk, he took his hydra/lurk and attacked forU's ramp. 1 cannon. Seeing no sense in trying to go up a ramp with lurkers and hydras, forU sent his zealot pair and archons to try to counter Jinnam. Jinnam delayed those easily, morphing lurkers on all the ramps on the way to his base. The hydra/lurk in forU's main went for the gateways, rather than try to attack the probes at the natural from above. ForU gave up his gates, building them anew under cannon cover. Fortunately his robotics facility was already protected by cannons, letting him build a reaver for immediate defense. He lost 4 gateways anyway. Jinnam continued cause forU pain, tearing down his expansion with his reinforcements.



Down 4 gateways, an expansion, and all the probes there, forU managed to live. The reaver from his main, and the many templar from his rebuilt gates were too much splash damage for even Jinnam to try to attack. Jinnam was forced to back off, letting forU get down to his natural and start long distance mining.



Jinnam's dilemma was that he had not expanded at all. The situation worsened when a dark templar killed the drone he had sent to 5:00. So Jinnam made a decision, it was to finish forU off using just his main and nat. Rebuilding his spire, he made mutas to try to shake up forU. ForU was not one to fall victim, however. Having been on the receiving end for the last few minutes, he was still in defend mode. Unable to attack, Jinnam focused on making an impenetrable containment force.



2 bases vs 1, where toss has all the tech and gas in the world. ForU broke out with an exclamation point, having 4 archons as his front runners. Despite the fact that he was fighting uphill, the brute power of archons and storm erased Jinnam's containment from the map. Such an impressive force was prevented from advancing, however. Jinnam used lurkers and scourge, buying himself time for other options. The dam had already burst, however. ForU simply took the long way around, taking a big circle through the map, through 1:00, 5:00, and finally 7:00. A mainly dragoon army arrived to challenge Jinnam.



During their long trip, Jinnam had prepared somewhat. He turtled in tightly at his natural. He had made a little slip though, he couldn't stop the protoss army from simply walking into his main. This was a critical hit for Jinnam, the dragoons holding the ramp could also fire down and stop mining at his nat. The other troops cleaned up the tech buildings in his main. Fortunately for Jinnam, he had taken the lower middle expansion, so he was still mining.



On the opposite side of the map, Jinnam was doing a little better. ForU had run out of cash at his natural, and had expanded to the 1:00 main. He had left the vicinity of the nexus undefended, letting 2 leftover mutas stop all resource mining. Seeing his adversary strapped for cash as well, Jinnam continued to do his best. Giving up his main and nat, he decided to his the situation to his advantage by trapping the protoss troops in his main with lurkers below the ramp. After leaving a sufficient force to keep the toss troops in place, he scrounged up what he could to try and hit protoss's only mining base.



Things did not work out for Jinnam in the end. ForU had a powerful force that he had made from the last resources at his natural, forcing Jinnam to give up on any ideas of attacking 1:00. Rather, the tables were turned as forU turned to attack the southern expansion in the middle. In a spectacular battle, Jinnam barely stopped forU's force even after being liberally sprayed with storm.



However, Jinnam had been forced pull all his troops together to stop this attack. The protoss troops holed up at the 7:00 used this break to come out. Combined with freshly warped protoss reinforcements, they went to 6:00 and received the final GG from Jinnam.



forU defeats Jinnam



Dream Team 3 : 1 Greatest Ones

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