[OSL] 2010 Bacchus OSL- RO8 Week One Text by Waxangel Graphics by SilverskY

Banner by SilverskY by KwarK, Milkis and Waxangel





This week's content

brought to you by Snorlax.





Results and Battle Reports



The Journey So Far:

Pathfinder



2011 e-Sports Resolutions





My New Year's Eve wasn't so much a celebration of new opportunities as it was straight up binge drinking to get over my shock and horror at the Leessang's OSL elimination. One week later, I've recovered enough to say: you know what, it's gonna be all right. We had one hell of a ride, but in the end we couldn't keep living the same story over and over. Moving on begins now.



RO8 battle reports, an analysis of the games on Pathfinder so far, and a list of New Year's resolutions.... for progamers! All in this week's write up.



Also, here's a shout out to my man chobopeon and his newly released book, The Starcraft Bible. I'll be honest here, I didn't actually read the book, so I don't even know if it's any good. But hey, it's a book about the history of f***ing Starcraft, and if you're still reading BW reports now, it's probably something you'd find interesting. So give it a peek, and don't judge it by its atrocious, god-ugly cover.



Round of 8, Week One



Quick Results



+ Show Spoiler [Results and VODs] + Match A:

[VOD] Hyuk < Icarus > Fantasy

[VOD] Hyuk < Gladiator > Fantasy

[VOD] Hyuk < Aztec > Fantasy



Match B:

[VOD] Calm < Aztec > Mind

[VOD] Calm < Pathfinder > Mind

[VOD] Calm < Icarus > Mind



Match C:

[VOD] Modesty < Gladiator > Kal

[VOD] Modesty < Aztec > Kal

[VOD] Modesty < Pathfinder > Kal



Match D:

[VOD] HiyA < Pathfinder > Stork

[VOD] HiyA < Icarus > Stork

[VOD] HiyA < Gladiator > Stork

[VOD][VOD][VOD][VOD][VOD][VOD][VOD][VOD] Thanks to flamewheel for formatting.



Week One Interviews



Battle Reports



by Kwark



Fantasy vs Hyuk







+ Show Spoiler [Game One - Icarus] +



Fantasy got orange at 3 while Hyuk got red at 12 on the map where Hyuk knocked Flash out. The positions were the opposite of that game though with Fantasy's natural sheltered rather than exposed like Flash's was. Hyuk opened 12 pool, 11 gas, 10 hatch for a fast lair with a low drone count, surprising no-one. Meanwhile Fantasy took his natural slowly with a bunker, cautious because of the potential for speedlings. Some speedling runthrough play was attempted but Fantasy was prepared and it did no damage. His turrets were much faster than Flash's had been and a bunker of marines fortified his mineral line.



Hyuk tried a frontal attack with muta-ling but was forced to back off after killing a bunker. He performed a bit of harass, but Fantasy had the turrets and marines to keep the damage low. Fantasy then made what turned out to be an amazing choice: stay on two barracks and cover everything with missile turrets while pushing out to attack Hyuk's newly taken third base at 2:00.



Hyuk did exactly what he'd been doing so well in the games we've seen so far in the OSL, microing his mutalisks well to break turrets and pick off SCVs in Fantasy's main. With the short aerial distance between his 2:00 expansion and Fantasy's main bases at 3:00, he was counting on the fact that he would be able to quickly return his mutas to defend against the M&M pressure.



However, Fantasy's reinforced turret line at his main meant that Hyuk was unable to do enough damage to force Fantasy to pull his M&M back, while his mutalisks took many missile shots when they swooped in to pick off SCVs. This meant that when the attack on his third came Hyuk had no defences in place and had to use weakened mutalisks to defend. To his credit he was able to clean the mnm up but it cost him all his momentum and most of his mutalisks. Fantasy quickly struck with another M&M force, hitting the perfect timing just seconds before Hyuk transitioned to a lurker defense.





He's got two sunkens just finishing in that base and if the mutalisks weren't forced to waste all their hp holding the ramp and a lurker got in then he'd have held in my opinion



Hyuk's third fell and Fantasy was clearly feeling the momentum swing his way, throwing down a lot of barracks and getting his tech up. He quickly pumped out another massive army and sent it straight to Hyuk's natural. Hyuk did a counter with lurkerling but he just didn't have the unit count to alter his fate. GG.



I really liked this game. Hyuk played nicely, his build was very dangerous and he executed it very well. You can see why Flash lost to him on this map, what Hyuk was doing worked, the mutalisk micro was very effective and he was transitioning perfectly, giving himself the assets he needed to win. He played a very strong game and one that would be very hard to beat. However Fantasy hard countered him by making a single key decision: to make mass turrets in his main and do an early mnm attack rather than keep his mnm at home and invest those minerals in more barracks.



On the face of it the barracks is the better choice because he could have just used his existing M&M to defend while investing in more barracks to get a mid-game army faster. However he knew Hyuk was after momentum and would counter any M&M aggression with mutalisk harass, so he went for a quick attack while plugging the hole in his defences with even more turrets. Hyuk's mutalisks were weakened while he was caught at an awkward defencive timing. I loved Hyuk's play but Fantasy's decisions were just so good. Great game.



Match Ratings

Hyuk: 4/5

Fantasy: 4/5

Overall: 5/5



Wax's Take: While it's nice to see that KwarK can find the positives in this mostly one-sided game, it was still a ten minute TvZ where Zerg lost to M&M pressure at lair timing. Not to sell Fantasy short, nor make excuses for the loss to Hyuk, but had Flash opened with a regular 10 rax build (instead of 8 rax) I imagine he could have gotten to the mid-game in decent shape as well.

Fantasy vs Hyuk on IcarusFantasy got orange at 3 while Hyuk got red at 12 on the map where Hyuk knocked Flash out. The positions were the opposite of that game though with Fantasy's natural sheltered rather than exposed like Flash's was. Hyuk opened 12 pool, 11 gas, 10 hatch for a fast lair with a low drone count, surprising no-one. Meanwhile Fantasy took his natural slowly with a bunker, cautious because of the potential for speedlings. Some speedling runthrough play was attempted but Fantasy was prepared and it did no damage. His turrets were much faster than Flash's had been and a bunker of marines fortified his mineral line.Hyuk tried a frontal attack with muta-ling but was forced to back off after killing a bunker. He performed a bit of harass, but Fantasy had the turrets and marines to keep the damage low. Fantasy then made what turned out to be an amazing choice: stay on two barracks and cover everything with missile turrets while pushing out to attack Hyuk's newly taken third base at 2:00.Hyuk did exactly what he'd been doing so well in the games we've seen so far in the OSL, microing his mutalisks well to break turrets and pick off SCVs in Fantasy's main. With the short aerial distance between his 2:00 expansion and Fantasy's main bases at 3:00, he was counting on the fact that he would be able to quickly return his mutas to defend against the M&M pressure.However, Fantasy's reinforced turret line at his main meant that Hyuk was unable to do enough damage to force Fantasy to pull his M&M back, while his mutalisks took many missile shots when they swooped in to pick off SCVs. This meant that when the attack on his third came Hyuk had no defences in place and had to use weakened mutalisks to defend. To his credit he was able to clean the mnm up but it cost him all his momentum and most of his mutalisks. Fantasy quickly struck with another M&M force, hitting the perfect timing just seconds before Hyuk transitioned to a lurker defense.Hyuk's third fell and Fantasy was clearly feeling the momentum swing his way, throwing down a lot of barracks and getting his tech up. He quickly pumped out another massive army and sent it straight to Hyuk's natural. Hyuk did a counter with lurkerling but he just didn't have the unit count to alter his fate. GG.I really liked this game. Hyuk played nicely, his build was very dangerous and he executed it very well. You can see why Flash lost to him on this map, what Hyuk was doing worked, the mutalisk micro was very effective and he was transitioning perfectly, giving himself the assets he needed to win. He played a very strong game and one that would be very hard to beat. However Fantasy hard countered him by making a single key decision: to make mass turrets in his main and do an early mnm attack rather than keep his mnm at home and invest those minerals in more barracks.On the face of it the barracks is the better choice because he could have just used his existing M&M to defend while investing in more barracks to get a mid-game army faster. However he knew Hyuk was after momentum and would counter any M&M aggression with mutalisk harass, so he went for a quick attack while plugging the hole in his defences with even more turrets. Hyuk's mutalisks were weakened while he was caught at an awkward defencive timing. I loved Hyuk's play but Fantasy's decisions were just so good. Great game.Hyuk: 4/5Fantasy: 4/5Overall: 5/5



Mind vs Calm







+ Show Spoiler [Game One - Aztec] + Calm spawned at 12 in teal while Mind was the red Terran at 4 on Aztec. Calm opened with a standard twelve hatch eleven pool without an extractor and Mind responded with a quick expansion of his own off a single barracks and two marines. Calm kept pumping drones and added a third hatchery in his main, swiftly building up a massive macro foundation from which to operate. He headed slowly to lair with quite an early second gas and very few zerglings and no sunkens, relying on well placed overlords to inform him of Mind's movements.



With lair he added a fourth hatchery at the 8 main going for four hatch muta with a lot of gas saved up and began to harass with a full control group of mutalisks, although his micro was pretty average. However it did its job, keeping Mind contained while he took the 8:00 main and got his lurkers out. Calm's main effort was clearly just to take gas expansions and get to hive in a good position rather than to inflict any kind of early damage.



Mind began his standard vessel timing push but was contained at one of the narrow ramps by a few lurkers, so he chose to detour towards the wide ramp. In a momentary lapse of concentration, he manually moved (rather than attack moving) his entire army over two lurkers costing him a lot of marines and a tank. This mistake was only rivalled when Mind responded by irradiating mutalisks and was met by some of the worst mutalisk splitting I've ever seen. Mind's two base army continued to try and push but was met by defilers and dark swarm on every front and couldn't gain any ground.



It looked like Calm was going to settle comfortable into four gas hive without taking any kind of harassment whatsoever, but Mind had a late desperation card. A combined frontal attack on Calm's natural while a single dropship went to 8:00 did surprisingly well as Calm was overwhelmed by the mulitasking rather than the actual strength of the units. With his attention constantly focused in the wrong places at the wrong times, Calm's units were terribly uncoordinated despite having sufficient overall strength to defeat Mind on both fronts.



Mutalisks attack moved into the mnm and died, then his hydralisks followed, then his sole lurker moved in and didn't burrow, then his defiler died without casting swarm. It was as if it had all simply become too much for Calm and he had prioritised his limited multitasking on unit production rather than a few crucial micro decisions. There was no reason to take any damage from the drop or the attacks, but Calm ended up wasting a lot of units and lost a crucial nydus canal which cost him his fourth gas base at 9:00.



Calm was eventually able to clean up the first drop but Mind soon returned with two more dropships, this time in the Zerg main. Again the dark swarms just weren't there at all, and Calm took far more damage than he should have. Calm had a lot of units, but marines and medics can take on a ridiculous amount of unmicroed zerg units. Again, Calm eventually cleaned it up but the momentum was clearly in Mind's favour as he was expanding and preparing for a third drop. This time, three dropships came, and the discombobulated Calm again failed to cast any dark swarms, losing three defilers which simply moved towards the mnm without any support. Calm GGed rather than try and kill that many mnm in his main without defiler support.



Calm showed he was incapable of managing four bases against a drop Terran which is odd because he created that scenario in the first place. His entire play was built around safely getting into a position with four established gas bases defended by dark swarm with a lot of drones and hatcheries, but once he was there, he crumbled. Mind's play was pretty standard, it was a decent execution of a standard two base dropship pressure, get momentum, expand Terran play that everyone seems to use on Aztec. It was nothing surprising and with equal execution I'd expect the Zerg to win from that position. So I guess credit goes to Mind for doing his build less incompetently than Calm.



Match Ratings

Mind: 4/5

Calm: 1/5 (look, if you can't run 4 bases then don't actively try and get 4 bases, go for a cheese or something)

Game: 2/5 (10 minutes of waiting for them to macro up and 2 minutes of Calm being unable to play a macro game)



Wax's Take: Every bit as embarrassing as Kwark said. Negative points for Calm, if possible.







Modesty vs Kal







+ Show Spoiler [Game One - Gladiator] + Modesty spawned in red at 2 while Kal got blue at 8 cross positions on Gladiator. Both went for fairly standard openings, twelve hatch eleven pool from Modesty and forge expand from Kal. Modesty added a third hatchery at 12 and Kal an earlier than necessary cannon because he likes to waste minerals when his opponent only has two zerglings, both of which are occupied chasing a scouting probe on the other side of the map.



Both players took a standard route through the usual tech progression, three hatch lair from Zerg and fast stargate from Protoss and nothing much really happened. Kal didn't add a second gateway and didn't get a fast plus one attack and absolutely nothing remarkable was in the works. He simply headed to archives while making corsairs. Meanwhile Modesty threatened some speedling breaks, decided against it and progressed to three hatch spire -> five hatch hydra in its most standard fashion. A handful of zealots with speed upgrade were completely insufficient to do any damage because Kal hadn't really made the gateways to mass them in any threatening number. The only slight moment of interest was a bit of nice corsair micro against a scourge.



Modesty finally made the first credible aggressive move by going for a five hatch hydra bust, but Kal had added a lot of cannons and his newly created high templars added their storms to block it. Meanwhile, two dt and five corsairs were partying like it was 2007 at Modesty's 12:00 expansion. Instead of using his mass hydralisks and speed overlords to quell the anachronistic raiders, Modesty decided to suicide all his hydralisks in the all or nothing bust. As his swarm of hydralisks was depleted by the cannons, a bunch of speed overlords arrived uselessly on the scene. Remarkably, this did not help him from dying to sair/DT on the other side of the map.



After Modesty lost a hatchery, an evolution chamber, a lot of drones, all his overlords and his entire hydralisk force, things turned downhill for him. Kal made a lot of units and killed 12 while establishing his mineral only. Modesty did get some defilers out, but it didn't stop Kal from crushing him easily. GG.



Modesty played very badly this game. All Kal did was make five corsairs and two dark templar and yet it was more than he could deal with. He seemed completely stumped by it, first by ignoring it and then by making actively bad decisions such as sending all his overlords away from the scene of the crime, and then suiciding all of his hydralisks on the other side of the map. Kal played well enough I guess but he probably wasn't expecting the corsairs and DTs to do anywhere near as much damage as they did. I can't give him too much credit for just making DTs and suddenly winning. He didn't play badly but Modesty was too weak to really give him any opportunity to display talent.



Match Ratings

Kal: 4/5

Modesty: 1/5

Game: 2/5 (unless you're really into Bisu/Savior MSL finals nostalgia)



Wax's Take: An asburd retro-game, with a Zerg losing straight up to Bisu style. It really does seem like Modesty and Kal aren't putting in any extra effort for their team-kill series. Blandly standard builds and a predictable finish.



Stork vs HiyA





I have to admit, that's the ugliest stork I've ever seen.



+ Show Spoiler [Game One - Pathfinder] +



Hiya's first tank tried to push the dragoons back but instead Stork rushed forward with four dragoons and sniped the tank before backing off and resuming his assault on the bunker. When Hiya's second tank sieged up, Stork decided to briefly let up the pressure and expanded again.



Then this happened.



yeah...



Remember while this was happening Stork was on a fast three bases with just two gateways and a very high probe count. If none of that happened he would still be a long way ahead.



Hiya's first tank got sniped and he didn't grasp the significance of it, or else he would have immediately adapted his build to rush turrets out. Whereas Stork realizing that you need tanks to cover other tanks against reavers and that his opponent was a tank short, immediately hit Hiya with the reaver drop. The one error of losing a tank snowballed out of control as the reaver went up to 26 kills, and ended with crowd screaming Stork's name. Stork just did everything right this game, and Hiya didn't get an opportunity to try and display any skill.



Match Ratings

Stork: 5/5

Hiya: 2/5

Game: 5/5



Wax's Take: Without exaggerating, this ranks amongst one of the most one-sided games in history, and is probably the most one-sided reaver drop game. I highly recommend watching it, because I'm not sure you'll ever see anything quite like it. Stork spawned in red at 12 while Hiya got yellow at 4 on Pathfinder. Stork's opening was standard fast core with a zealot while Hiya went for a rax expand with a wallin at his natural. Stork's scouting probe and first zealot arrived just as the bunker was about to finish and managed to kill two marines for their trouble. The fast dragoon range left three dragoons burning down a bunker and Hiya was forced to use three scvs to constantly repair it while Stork expanded himself with just one gateway and headed to a fast reaver.Hiya's first tank tried to push the dragoons back but instead Stork rushed forward with four dragoons and sniped the tank before backing off and resuming his assault on the bunker. When Hiya's second tank sieged up, Stork decided to briefly let up the pressure and expanded again.Then this happened.Remember while this was happening Stork was on a fast three bases with just two gateways and a very high probe count. If none of that happened he would still be a long way ahead.Hiya's first tank got sniped and he didn't grasp the significance of it, or else he would have immediately adapted his build to rush turrets out. Whereas Stork realizing that you need tanks to cover other tanks against reavers and that his opponent was a tank short, immediately hit Hiya with the reaver drop. The one error of losing a tank snowballed out of control as the reaver went up to 26 kills, and ended with crowd screaming Stork's name. Stork just did everything right this game, and Hiya didn't get an opportunity to try and display any skill.Stork: 5/5Hiya: 2/5Game: 5/5





Of COURSE I didn't get paid to plug that book.



The Journey So Far: Pathfinder

by WaxAngel





Mid-size SUV for $27,000 MSRP





Following in the footsteps of Great Barrier Reef and Flight-dreamliner, Pathfinder is the third consecutive OSL unique map to strongly emphasize aerial tactics while retaining a strong ground-based core. Pathfinder utilizes just one simple but significant quirk to achieve this: the air distances between mains are extremely short.



With 32 games now played, and the OSL more than half over, we can start to talk about trends, points of interest, and maybe even dare to take a crack at balance.





Terran vs Zerg (8 : 3)



Let’s begin with the matchup that deviates the most from the norm when played on Pathfinder. For Zerg, short air distances means there is little reason to stray from the standard two or three hatch mutalisks strategy, but Terran players can be tempted into a variety of one-base options.



By now any professional Terran player can pull off a pretty decent two starport wraith build. So well, in fact, that it temporarily became the standard Pathfinder build after its debut. It led to an amusing TvZ metagame which was very similar to the old “Fantasy build” metagame where Zerg would try to go to three hatch mutas while building the bare minimum number of hydralisks required to defend.



From there, Terrans have mixed it up with even more one base builds that try to exploit Zerg’s tendency to pump as many drones as possible before mutalisks. Both Hiya and Suny went for clever one base dropship builds timed to hit before mutalisks; Hiya succeeded and Suny would have if not for his mistakes. There was some creative defense on display as well, when Fantasy dusted off his old “Fantasy-build” which rushes for goliaths and valkyries in order to counter mutalisks (though in that particular game, his opponent read the move and went for a three hatch hydralisk all-in).



Standard 1 rax FE has been decent on the map as well, which is not surprising since you can’t really go wrong with mass M&M into vessels against Zerg. Though it hasn’t been the dominant strat on Pathfinder, it is certainly viable. I did find it amusing though, that Mind, a very safe player who prefers rax FE in almost any scenario, has used 2 port wraith exclusively on this map.



Even with 11 games played, I don’t think we can come to many conclusions on this map. Terran players are still experimenting with different strategies, while Zerg players have yet to utilize many counter-counter builds as of yet. This matchup should continue to be unpredictable and entertaining.



Games of Interest: Shine vs Suny, Mind vs Hero





Protoss vs Zerg (3 : 9)



In a trend not limited to just Pathfinder, Protoss players have been dropping games left and right to Zerg attacks at the five hatchery timing. Stopped corsairs at five? Die to muta-scourge. Made an archon? Die to hydralisks. It’s a little bit more complex than that in an actual game, but overall it shows that Zerg players are scouting and reading their Protoss opponents very well and catching them completely off guard.



One thing that surprises me is that in only one of out ten games did Protoss go for a two stargate robotics build (Movie vs Hyuk). Though it is a risky build that is very slow to transition, it might be better than the middle of the road templar archive builds that are getting slaughtered by the appropriate Zerg counter. At least when you guess correctly with two stargate +1 corsairs, you are completely countering your opponent.



Overall, Pathfinder hasn’t really visibly altered the matchup in a big way, with players going for the same old standard PvZ strategies. Once again, balance is a hard topic to tackle. If a map has an unbalanced record where most games follow a similar pattern, you suggest there is something wrong with only a few games played. Though Zerg leads Protoss so far, it’s hard to pinpoint a cause.



Game of interest: Paralyze vs Great





Terran vs Protoss (3:4)



Fast drops are typically performed in PvT in order to catch your opponent off guard, but Pathfinder changes that mentality to a degree. Close air distances mean any drop performed from the main are equivalent to a semi-proxy robotics on most other maps. Also, Pathfinder’s 360 degree wide open mains offer even more routes of entry for shuttles compared to standard maps where one or two sides of the main are closed off by the map border.



In this situation, DT drops and reaver drops take on the character of fast mutalisks in ZvT, daring opponents to stop a strategy they know is coming. Turret coverage won’t always be perfect, neither will mine and tank placement. If there’s a gap, then it might be GG right there.



It’s not a matter of stopping a rush or not, because anyone can stop a rush if they really want. In today’s greedy, fast-expanding environment, it’s about how much many corners you can safely cut against an early attack, and on the other end identifying and exploiting those cut-corners.



Well, that’s what I can get from seven game’s worth anyway. Over half the games involved some sort of drop, though not all were of the extremely fast sort. It seem that Protoss players consider drops a risk very much worth taking on Pathfinder.



Note: The 12:00 -> 8:00 TvP push worried me from the second they released the map. Push four screens, setup in a ridiculously narrow corridor, neutralize Protoss nat for free? Presented with such a free-win starting position, Leta proceeded to throw the game by clumping all his tanks together and allowing half of them to get stasised.



Games of interest: Stork vs Hiya, Kal vs Baby





Mirrors: Interestingly enough, we’ve only had ZvZ as a mirror matchup on Pathfinder. Since ZvZ NEVER changes, regardless of what map it’s played on, there’s not much to say there.



Similar to TvP, super fast reaver drops might be a bit rough to stop in PvP, even if they are expected. For the most part, however, PvP doesn’t change too much depending on the map, so it probably won’t stray too farm from the norm.



As for TvT, I’m excited this map might take us away from the current trend of fast expanding and playing passively for the late game. When the dropship speed patch came out many years ago, fast drop builds and aggressive air play quickly became the norm. From there, the TvT has gradually slowed down and become a much more resource focused matchup. If Mind and Fantasy can make it past their opponents, I hope they can revive the good old days of early dropship wars.

Following in the footsteps of Great Barrier Reef and Flight-dreamliner, Pathfinder is the third consecutive OSL unique map to strongly emphasize aerial tactics while retaining a strong ground-based core. Pathfinder utilizes just one simple but significant quirk to achieve this: the air distances between mains are extremely short.With 32 games now played, and the OSL more than half over, we can start to talk about trends, points of interest, and maybe even dare to take a crack at balance.(8 : 3)Let’s begin with the matchup that deviates the most from the norm when played on Pathfinder. For Zerg, short air distances means there is little reason to stray from the standard two or three hatch mutalisks strategy, but Terran players can be tempted into a variety of one-base options.By now any professional Terran player can pull off a pretty decent two starport wraith build. So well, in fact, that it temporarily became the standard Pathfinder build after its debut. It led to an amusing TvZ metagame which was very similar to the old “Fantasy build” metagame where Zerg would try to go to three hatch mutas while building the bare minimum number of hydralisks required to defend.From there, Terrans have mixed it up with even more one base builds that try to exploit Zerg’s tendency to pump as many drones as possible before mutalisks. Both Hiya and Suny went for clever one base dropship builds timed to hit before mutalisks; Hiya succeeded and Sunyhave if not for his mistakes. There was some creative defense on display as well, when Fantasy dusted off his old “Fantasy-build” which rushes for goliaths and valkyries in order to counter mutalisks (though in that particular game, his opponent read the move and went for a three hatch hydralisk all-in).Standard 1 rax FE has been decent on the map as well, which is not surprising since you can’t really go wrong with mass M&M into vessels against Zerg. Though it hasn’t been the dominant strat on Pathfinder, it is certainly viable. I did find it amusing though, that Mind, a very safe player who prefers rax FE in almost any scenario, has used 2 port wraith exclusively on this map.Even with 11 games played, I don’t think we can come to many conclusions on this map. Terran players are still experimenting with different strategies, while Zerg players have yet to utilize many counter-counter builds as of yet. This matchup should continue to be unpredictable and entertaining.(3 : 9)In a trend not limited to just Pathfinder, Protoss players have been dropping games left and right to Zerg attacks at the five hatchery timing. Stopped corsairs at five? Die to muta-scourge. Made an archon? Die to hydralisks. It’s a little bit more complex than that in an actual game, but overall it shows that Zerg players are scouting and reading their Protoss opponents very well and catching them completely off guard.One thing that surprises me is that in only one of out ten games did Protoss go for a two stargate robotics build (Movie vs Hyuk). Though it is a risky build that is very slow to transition, it might be better than the middle of the road templar archive builds that are getting slaughtered by the appropriate Zerg counter. At least when you guess correctly with two stargate +1 corsairs, you are completely countering your opponent.Overall, Pathfinder hasn’t really visibly altered the matchup in a big way, with players going for the same old standard PvZ strategies. Once again, balance is a hard topic to tackle. If a map has an unbalanced record where most games follow a similar pattern, you suggest there is something wrong with only a few games played. Though Zerg leads Protoss so far, it’s hard to pinpoint a cause.(3:4)Fast drops are typically performed in PvT in order to catch your opponent off guard, but Pathfinder changes that mentality to a degree. Close air distances mean any drop performed from the main are equivalent to a semi-proxy robotics on most other maps. Also, Pathfinder’s 360 degree wide open mains offer even more routes of entry for shuttles compared to standard maps where one or two sides of the main are closed off by the map border.In this situation, DT drops and reaver drops take on the character of fast mutalisks in ZvT, daring opponents to stop a strategy they know is coming. Turret coverage won’t always be perfect, neither will mine and tank placement. If there’s a gap, then it might be GG right there.It’s not a matter of stopping a rush or not, because anyone can stop a rush if they really want. In today’s greedy, fast-expanding environment, it’s about how much many corners you can safely cut against an early attack, and on the other end identifying and exploiting those cut-corners.Well, that’s what I can get from seven game’s worth anyway. Over half the games involved some sort of drop, though not all were of the extremely fast sort. It seem that Protoss players consider drops a risk very much worth taking on Pathfinder.: Interestingly enough, we’ve only had ZvZ as a mirror matchup on Pathfinder. Since ZvZ NEVER changes, regardless of what map it’s played on, there’s not much to say there.Similar to TvP, super fast reaver drops might be a bit rough to stop in PvP, even if they are expected. For the most part, however, PvP doesn’t change too much depending on the map, so it probably won’t stray too farm from the norm.As for TvT, I’m excited this map might take us away from the current trend of fast expanding and playing passively for the late game. When the dropship speed patch came out many years ago, fast drop builds and aggressive air play quickly became the norm. From there, the TvT has gradually slowed down and become a much more resource focused matchup. If Mind and Fantasy can make it past their opponents, I hope they can revive the good old days of early dropship wars.



I kept saving the Pathfinder article for "later," and then I woke up and found the OSL half over.



2011 e-Sports Resolutions

by Milkis



Editor's Note: Milkis' original, unaltered manuscript was alas, too controversial for its time. Here we present a highly sanitized version, though you can probably guess what Milkis wrote in the original.



2011 has finally arrived, and there's little doubt that the makers of



But I'm getting eleven months ahead of myself. Of course, the new year represents other things as well. While the more naive ones amongst us like to make resolutions for themselves (hoping that this arbitrary change in the calendar will bring about changes in their lives that they never had the willpower or capability to change to begin with), some of us (stuck in an airport, waiting for a flight) would rather suggest resolutions to others. Because after all, us armchair Starcraft players know what we're talking about, right? So without further ado, here are some e-Sports resolutions for 2011.





I can sort of imagine Milkis saying this.



Flash -- Stop being arrogant



There's a fine line between being confident and being downright arrogant. It could just be Flash's bonjwa force, but it's more likely the latter case -- in some of the games he has played recently it looked like he was downright underestimating his opponents and expecting them to be paralyzed in fear. The deadly sin of arrogance was particularly noticeable in the games that





Jaedong -- Rethink the risk/reward paradigm



The biggest reason the consecutive Flash - Jaedong finals were disappointing was because Jaedong simply did not keep up with Flash's mind games. Jaedong opted for greedy plays for one reason or another and got rolled over before he could put up a fight. Remember the





Stork -- Man up



While Stork's nickname is the "Commander in Chief", it's always a stretch when applying that nickname to someone like Stork. And no, it's not just because half his twitter posts are about dieting or the condition of his skin. He's easily the most sensitive/emo Progamer I have seen -- avoiding pictures because he thinks he looks bad or saying stuff like he only plays for the fans now because he doesn't have that much passion anymore, or being a hypocrite and calling out Flash. I dunno, Stork is awesome as a player but his girlish character needs a bit more work. Stork's resolution should be to get traded to Hwaseung Oz and be under the tutelage of their ex-kickboxer head coach (who has threatened to crush ggaemo if he gets caught surfing the web again), or join KT Rolster and learn a thing or two about manliness from Reach. It's time to stop getting babied by January 24/7!





Bisu -- Get a real personality



It's shocking to me that people think Bisu has good enough looks to succeed as a star elsewhere after his BW career. His looks aside (my personal opinion is that he looks like he's a bit... vacant upstairs), the number one reason he won't succeed is because he lacks a personality. He isn't entertaining, he isn't charismatic once he opens his mouth, and SKT knows this -- enough to block Fomos from interviewing him on multiple occasions. Just getting a little bit of personality would help him out, and would help him transition to a variety show position like Shark. Bisu could learn a lesson or two from his former MBCGame teammate!





Paralyze -- Don't get a haircut Keep it up!



One of the biggest travesties in Progaming is that the ID PerfectMan is already taken. Because, of course, we know who the rightful owner is. Paralyze's only flaw is being new -- he has everything that is needed to become an entertaining player: the willingness to speak up, challenge better players, and of course, he has amazing hair. We forgive his 0-3 elimination from the OSL, because he's a rookie after all. He just needs a bit of experience, and he'll keep on being awesome.





firebathero -- Win more games, give more interviews.



Firebathero has been giving some





Violet -- Qualify for the next OSL



Violet wanted to get a twitter account, but apparently he was denied by the team because he did not qualify for the OSL. We all want to see Violet's tweets, considering he's one of the most outgoing progamers currently playing. Qualify for OSL simply so we can follow your twitter!





Kal -- Realize your true potential



Some of the games that Kal has been showing us have been nothing short of amazing due to his incredible micro. From intricate shuttle drop/pick up to clutch shield batteries, Kal has used his incredible micro to win games that he could have easily lost.



However, if he keeps up this way, he's in danger of becoming a player like free -- a player who often starts off at a disadvantage but relies on one well-fought, decisive battle to obtain victory. Kal's inconsistency reflects this point -- many of the games he loses, he simply gets beat before he has the chance to show us his amazing micro. If he improves the other aspects of his game, Kal could easily win Protoss of the year come this December.



(Oh and please teach Midas how to micro.)





iloveoov -- Create more rivalries



iloveoov is remarkably good at making controversial statements that create hype and bring attention to e-Sports. The hype that he created helped the last SKT - KT series to reach #4 in national TV ratings, which is quite a figure for a game that people are so quick to proclaim dead. I hope oov finds more ways to keep the scene interesting, and I also hope that other coaches also help create hype and interest in e-Sports.





GomTV -- Figure out how to attract more than 10 people to the Code S games



The Code S tours have gathered surprisingly little attention in Korea. GomTV decided to rent out a 5000 seat gymnasium for the opening ceremonies and games -- which was a bold move, considering that the last GSL finals only had 1800 people in a 6000 seat stadium.



The result was nothing short of disappointing. Only 500 people showed up, prompting one netizen to comment "Are there Arbiters present? I can't see anyone in the audience".



It only went downhill from there -- only 50 people showed up for Boxer's Code S matches, and apparently, only 10 or so people showed up for Tester's Code S matches. Whatever GomTV is doing, they need to rethink their strategies and retool how they're going to pull this off, because the initial hype in Korea is slowly turning into disinterest. Since it is up for GomTV to keep SC2 alive in Korea -- please, please, promote your games better.

2011 has finally arrived, and there's little doubt that the makers of Pepero are ridiculously happy. This is because Koreans religiously celebrate Pepero Day, 11/11, meaning that we'll there will be all kinds of celebrating and overdosing on these Pocky clones when we hit the magical 11/11/11.But I'm getting eleven months ahead of myself. Of course, the new year represents other things as well. While the more naive ones amongst us like to make resolutions for themselves (hoping that this arbitrary change in the calendar will bring about changes in their lives that they never had the willpower or capability to change to begin with), some of us (stuck in an airport, waiting for a flight) would rather suggest resolutions to others. Because after all, us armchair Starcraft players know what we're talking about, right? So without further ado, here are some e-Sports resolutions for 2011.There's a fine line between being confident and being downright arrogant. It could just be Flash's bonjwa force, but it's more likely the latter case -- in some of the games he has played recently it looked like he was downright underestimating his opponents and expecting them to be paralyzed in fear. The deadly sin of arrogance was particularly noticeable in the games that knocked him out of the MSL . Maybe it's simply his just deserts, but none of us want Flash to go back into a mini-slump -- one that Flash himself had attributed to arrogance. Hopefully, he'll treat the players he plays with a bit more dignity and he won't get caught with his pants down anymore.The biggest reason the consecutive Flash - Jaedong finals were disappointing was because Jaedong simply did not keep up with Flash's mind games. Jaedong opted for greedy plays for one reason or another and got rolled over before he could put up a fight. Remember the game on Triathlon , with the fake Mutalisk that never showed up? And the perfectly timed Dark Swarm and Plague that kept Flash's forces at bay? And then remember that Jaedong didn't make units and got rolled over? Or do you remember the game on Polaris where a surprise bio build caught Jaedong with no units whatsoever? Or the game on Odd Eye , where Goliaths simply rolled Jaedong over... etc etc. Jaedong just took too many big risks -- whether it was due to poor scouting or just general greed. Rethinking the risk/reward paradigm will help Jaedong out a lot, and maybe he'll stop losing games to players like Hogil afterwards.While Stork's nickname is the "Commander in Chief", it's always a stretch when applying that nickname to someone like Stork. And no, it's not just because half his twitter posts are about dieting or the condition of his skin. He's easily the most sensitive/emo Progamer I have seen -- avoiding pictures because he thinks he looks bad or saying stuff like he only plays for the fans now because he doesn't have that much passion anymore, or being a hypocrite and calling out Flash. I dunno, Stork is awesome as a player but his girlish character needs a bit more work. Stork's resolution should be to get traded to Hwaseung Oz and be under the tutelage of their ex-kickboxer head coach (who has threatened to crush ggaemo if he gets caught surfing the web again), or join KT Rolster and learn a thing or two about manliness from Reach. It's time to stop getting babied by January 24/7!It's shocking to me that people think Bisu has good enough looks to succeed as a star elsewhere after his BW career. His looks aside (my personal opinion is that he looks like he's a bit... vacant upstairs), the number one reason he won't succeed is because he lacks a personality. He isn't entertaining, he isn't charismatic once he opens his mouth, and SKT knows this -- enough to block Fomos from interviewing him on multiple occasions. Just getting a little bit of personality would help him out, and would help him transition to a variety show position like Shark. Bisu could learn a lesson or two from his former MBCGame teammate!One of the biggest travesties in Progaming is that the ID PerfectMan is already taken. Because, of course, we know who the rightful owner is. Paralyze's only flaw is being new -- he has everything that is needed to become an entertaining player: the willingness to speak up, challenge better players, and of course, he has amazing hair. We forgive his 0-3 elimination from the OSL, because he's a rookie after all. He just needs a bit of experience, and he'll keep on being awesome.Firebathero has been giving some amazing interviews in ACE's surprisingly numerous winner's interview sessions. From channeling the spirit of Flash during his games to reaching Nirvana once reaching Ace, everything this man says is pure gold. More Firebathero also means more ceremonies, and more (bad) manner Command Centers, which you can never have enough of.Violet wanted to get a twitter account, but apparently he was denied by the team because he did not qualify for the OSL. We all want to see Violet's tweets, considering he's one of the most outgoing progamers currently playing. Qualify for OSL simply so we can follow your twitter!Some of the games that Kal has been showing us have been nothing short of amazing due to his incredible micro. From intricate shuttle drop/pick up to clutch shield batteries, Kal has used his incredible micro to win games that he could have easily lost.However, if he keeps up this way, he's in danger of becoming a player like free -- a player who often starts off at a disadvantage but relies on one well-fought, decisive battle to obtain victory. Kal's inconsistency reflects this point -- many of the games he loses, he simply gets beat before he has the chance to show us his amazing micro. If he improves the other aspects of his game, Kal could easily win Protoss of the year come this December.(Oh and please teach Midas how to micro.)iloveoov is remarkably good at making controversial statements that create hype and bring attention to e-Sports. The hype that he created helped the last SKT - KT series to reach #4 in national TV ratings, which is quite a figure for a game that people are so quick to proclaim dead. I hope oov finds more ways to keep the scene interesting, and I also hope that other coaches also help create hype and interest in e-Sports.The Code S tours have gathered surprisingly little attention in Korea. GomTV decided to rent out a 5000 seat gymnasium for the opening ceremonies and games -- which was a bold move, considering that the last GSL finals only had 1800 people in a 6000 seat stadium.The result was nothing short of disappointing. Only 500 people showed up, prompting one netizen to comment "Are there Arbiters present? I can't see anyone in the audience".It only went downhill from there -- only 50 people showed up for Boxer's Code S matches, and apparently, only 10 or so people showed up for Tester's Code S matches. Whatever GomTV is doing, they need to rethink their strategies and retool how they're going to pull this off, because the initial hype in Korea is slowly turning into disinterest. Since it is up for GomTV to keep SC2 alive in Korea -- please, please, promote your games better.



But seriously, happy new year :D My New Year's Eve wasn't so much a celebration of new opportunities as it was straight up binge drinking to get over my shock and horror at the Leessang's OSL elimination. One week later, I've recovered enough to say: you know what, it's gonna be all right. We had one hell of a ride, but in the end we couldn't keep living the same story over and over. Moving on begins now.RO8 battle reports, an analysis of the games on Pathfinder so far, and a list of New Year's resolutions.... for progamers! All in this week's write up.Also, here's a shout out to my manand his newly released book,. I'll be honest here, I didn't actually read the book, so I don't even know if it's any good. But hey, it's a book about the history of f***ing Starcraft, and if you're still reading BW reports now, it's probably something you'd find interesting. So give it a peek, and don't judge it by its atrocious, god-ugly cover. Administrator Hey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?