Day One: MMA a Class Above, Amidst Tight Competition
There was little to nothing separating the players gathered in Groups A and B at the IEM World Championships, with the final placements for seven of the players being decided by map scores or head-to-heads. However, as the gurus at Liquipedia poured over the IEM rulebook to make sense of the final standings, one player made his rightful place a plain and simple fact.
SlayerS_MMA cleared his group undefeated, on both match (5 – 0) and map (10 – 0) scores. His spotless record was an accurate reflection of the content of his games as well, as he hardly looked threatened as he swept his group. Of the group A challengers, it was surprisingly Dignitas' KiLLeR who made MMA work the hardest, though inevitably he fell with the rest.
Korean... domination?
The three other Koreans in EG.JYP, Empire|viOlet, and SK_MC also made it through to the next round, but they were made to sweat a little. JYP won his 3rd/4th place tie-break against aTn.Socke by just a single map, 6 – 5 to 6 – 6. MC was tied with three other players at 3 – 2, but managed to clear his group in first place by having the best map score of 8 – 4.
Don't forget Maru!
Acer.Elfi showed that his nearly 70% win-rate in PvP is no fluke, as he beat Grubby, Tt.White-Ra, and even the feared MC to take second place in his group. Though his low APM perplexes his colleagues and fans alike, the Finnish Protoss has had a knack for exceeding expectations and making surprising runs in tournaments. Should he face a Protoss player in the next round, he may very well make the top eight in IEM's final event of the year.
Barely making, and missing the cut
Group B saw four players – MC, elfi, mouz.HasuObs, and Acer.Nerchio tie at 3 – 2. The map scores made it clear that MC and elfi should go through as 1st and 2nd place, but that left HasuObs and Nerchio tied at not only 3 – 2 in matches, and 6 – 5 in maps as well. This required IEM to go to their fourth level of tie-breakers, and go by head to head result. Having defeated Nerchio by a score of 2 – 0 earlier in the tournament, HasuObs was the player to advance.
It was a painful loss for Nerchio, who had the misfortune of having a group that had originally included the Korean Terran ST_Sound and Dutch Zerg Liquid`Ret, suddenly be filled with two more Protosses in White-Ra and Grubby due to last minute withdrawals from tournament. That forced Nerchio to play five consecutive ZvP's, which are widely known as his weakest match-up. Though he came very close to overcoming his weakness and qualifying for the bracket stage of the tournament, he missed out by the smallest of margins.
12:26 EST[local]: Group B concludes with MC going through in first place, elfi in second, and HasuObs in third. MC, elfi, HasuObs, and Nerchio were all tied 3 - 2 in match scores, but MC and elfi came out ahead of the pack with map scores of 8 - 4 and 8 - 6 respectively. HasuObs and Nerchio were tied 6 - 5 in map scores as well, but HasuObs won the tie-breaker as he had won the head to head match.
12:19 EST: Nerchio 2 - 0 Grubby. Grubby went for an unorthodox 2 stargate, 2 robo build, making mass phoenix and immortals. It wasn't terribly hard for Nerchio to counter, and Grubby had no answer to the eventual brood lords and infestors that came to attack.
12:15 EST: elfi 2 - 1 MC. Another 2 base colossus vs colossus fight at MC's natural, Elfi gets the better end of it and runs over MC.
12:12 EST: WhiteRa 2 - 0 HasuObs. White-Ra 4-gated successfully, winning the game.
12:03 EST: White-Ra 1 - 0 HasuObs. White-Ra made expansion (2 gate robo), and defensed it (4 gate blink-observer).
11:59 EST: elfi 1 - 1 MC. MC opens 3 fast stalkers and does a lot of damage with them against early robo, expanding behind. Elfi tries to counter when he gets his first colossus but it's already too late and his army dies.
11:57 EST: Nerchio 1 - 0 Grubby. Grubby's early pressure after fast expanding didn't go so well, and Nerchio was able to pump mass mutalisks off a strong economy. Grubby had a lot of trouble dealing with the harassment, and was whittled down until he lost.
11:52 EST: White-Ra vs HasuObs started up on GLHF.tv
11:49 EST: elfi 1 - 0 MC. Both open with blink stalker, and from there the game progresses to a normal 2 base colossus standoff. Elfi's tech and expansion are slightly earlier, and when he gets the better concave in a battle at MC's natural it is all over.
11:44 EST: Grubby vs Nerchio started up on ZeddSC.
11:40 EST: Elfi vs MC started up on the main stream.
11:24 EST: Grubby 2 - 1 White-Ra. The beginning stages of the game involve both players being annoying with warp prisms inside one another's main. It progresses into a multibase war between colossus, mothership, and a few White-Ra carriers. Grubby has more colossus and wins.
11:08 EST: Surprise! It turns out MMA did beat Strelok in that game that stopped being streamed. 10 - 0, perfect day for MMA.
11:02 EST: Grubby 1 - 1 White-Ra. Grubby opens phoenix, while White-Ra makes gateways and a warp prism. His prism is killed before it can do anything, and Grubby establishes control with phoenixes and wrecks Grubby's economy. White-Ra taps out shortly after.
10:59 EST: HasuObs 2 - 1 elfi. Elfi's vaunted 4-gate failed to leave an impression and HasuObs, effectively ending the game.
10:48 EST: Grubby 0 - 1 White-Ra. They get to late game scenario with maxed out armies before any significant fights. White-Ra's army comes out on top thanks to a mothership, victory comes shortly after.
10:46 EST: HasuObs 1 - 1 Elfi. The one with more colossi won the game, as PvP tends to go.
10:32 EST: Grubby vs White-Ra starting up on the ESL SC2 Stream.
10:28 EST: Elfi 1 - 0 HasuObs (Draw). A base trade situation saw elfi defending his last remaining buildings with immortals, stalkers, and a colossus. HasuObs had the mobility advantage with blink stalkers, but couldn't hope to try to ignore elfi's firepower and go for his buildings. The two players agreed to a draw after it was clear that elfi wouldn't budge from defending, and HasuObs could not attack.
10:19 EST: MC 2 - 0 Nerchio. MC starts out making void rays after expanding, which Nerchio repels easily before they do any damage. MC then sits on the back foot and takes an early third, then a fourth, while Nerchio fails to pressure or delay them. Maxing out he pushes out into the center with a mothership, and after a long battle emerges victorious.
10:08 EST: elfi 1 - 0 HasuObs. Elfi's jedi mind tricks allowed him to survive an early loss in 4-gate blink vs 4-gate blink engagement, as he somehow convinced HasuObs to not press his lead. The two players took their expansions and built up, but with elfi going for faster colossi while HasuObs cranked out more immortals. The colossus proved to be the difference in the second and deciding fight of the game, allowing elfi to win with ease.
10:00 EST: MC 1 - 0 Nerchio. MC opened by making a host of sentries, then dropping them into Nerchio's main and keeping out Zerg units by chaining forcefields. Warping in units with his prism he killed the lair and all the drones there, and rode his advantage to victory.
09:50 EST: Elfi vs Hasuobs starting up on Imba.tv and GLHF.tv.
09:46 EST: MC vs Nerchio begins on ESL SC2 Stream.
09:34 EST: Regardless of the result of his final match vs Strelok, MMA advances in first place and is seeded directly into the RO8. viOLet and JYP advance in second and third place respectively.
09:30 EST: viOLet 2 - 0 Socke. viOLet secured the bases on his side of the map faster than Socke due to some nice harass, but the game boiled down to a max-out army vs max-out army fight anyway. viOLet positioned his troops well, used good micro, and didn't get everything annihilated by a mothership, allowing him to win the game.
09:16 EST: The MMA vs Strelok series won't be streamed to its conclusion, unfortunately.
09:13 EST: elfi 2 - 1 Grubby. Grubby went for a 3-gate blink blink expo, while Elfi went robo then blink. Grubby tried to contain at Elfi's ramp but Elfi blinked down and killed Grubby's army, then blinked into Grubby's base to end the game.
09:12 EST: JYP 2 - 0 d.KiLLeR. KiLLeR did a better job holding off the 4-gate +1 harass, but JYP was still able to secure three bases easily and roll through with colossi + stalker ball.
09:05 EST Strelok 0 - 1 MMA. MMA chooses mech on Tal'Darim while Strelok makes bio units. After killing a lot of workers through the game with hellion harass MMA crushes Strelok's army and wins.
09:05 EST: viOLet 1 - 0 Socke. Socke's harassment couldn't do anything to stop viOLet from building a strong economy on three bases, and when it came time to defend against incessant mutalisk and zergling attacks, Socke just couldn't hold.
09:02 EST: elfi 1 - 1 Grubby. Grubby went for blink while Elfi went robo expand. Grubby forced a cancel, then retreated. Both players re-expanded and went colossus. Elfi just had more colossi, and got his range earlier, and won the game deciding battle.
08:57 EST: JYP 1 - 0 d.KiLLeR. JYP's 4-gate +1 and voidray pressure was able to destroy KiLLeR's third, putting KiLLeR far behind. JYP then followed with DTs while taking his own third base, putting him even further ahead. He was then able to attack with a large amount of blink stalkers to finish the game.
08:52 EST: Grubby vs elfi started on Moricupstream, with Grubby up 1 - 0. Socke vs viOLet started on ESL SC2 Stream.
08:51 EST: MMA vs Strelok started on GoodGame.
08:45 EST: JYP vs d.KiLLeR started on GLHF.tv
08:40 EST: MMA 2 - 0 KiLLeR. KiLLeR put up another good fight against MMA, holding off harassment and even doing a good job at annoying MMA with his own mutalisks. However, MMA just held on off three bases, and rolled through with great macro and well microed armies.
08:36 EST: Strelok 1 - 2 viOlet. Violet begins the game with a baneling bust at Strelok's natural, doing some damage but not enough to stop the game from progressing to a relatively normal mid and late game. He keeps a minor lead and leverages it into victory when infestors fungal all of Strelok's army.
08:15 EST: MMA 1 - 0 KiLLeR. KiLLeR put up a good fight against MMA, even looking like he was ahead at one point after using ling-festor to kill his first army. However, MMA just played a safe, slowly expanding style, and KiLLeR was unable to extricate him from the center expansion on Antiga. KiLLeR's decision to make ultralisks didn't help either, as they were unable to get many cost effective fights against MMA's tanks and marauders.
08:09 EST Strelok 1 - 1 viOlet. Violet goes for ling-infestor, Strelok is unable to capitalize with drops or hararssing him building up an army. Violet has plenty of fungals for their big engagement and takes it easily with broodlords.
08:09 EST: Nerchio 2 - 0 White-Ra. White-Ra attacks with early zealots while expanding, Nerchio backstabs with lings and deals a lot of damage. He then backstabs with more lings and eventually mutas, killing White-Ra's templar archives many times while taking a 4th. White-Ra takes a third but is unable to stabilize and eventually loses to muta-ling harass.
07:56 EST: MMA vs d.KiLLeR starts up on imba.tv.
07:55 EST: In the meanwhile, it appears MC has defeated HasuObs 2 - 0 off-stream.
07:49 EST Strelok 1 - 0 viOlet. Strelok starts with cloaked banshees and gets a handful of drone kills. They both macro up and take several bases, Strelok wins by sieging up in the center and killing viOlet's third and fourth at the same time.
07:49 EST: Socke 2 - 0 JYP. Both players secured two bases fairly easily in the mid-game. As JYP went to attack, Socke sent zealots around to kill JYP's probes and was very successful. Socke also managed to successfully defend JYP's attack as well, which earned him the GG.
07:48 EST: Nerchio 1 - 0 White-Ra. A few missed forcefields are the end of the story as White-Ra tried to expand too greedily.
07:40 EST: White-Ra vs Nerchio starts up on Zeddsc and GoodGame.
07:37 EST: Socke 1 - 0 JYP. Both players went for 3-stalker into 4-gate builds on Tal'Darim, but Socke's micro was better.
07:35 EST: viOLet vs Strelok started up on ESL stream.
07:29 EST: Socke vs JYP started up on most of the non-ESL streams.
07:24 EST Strelok 1 - 2 Dignitas.Killer. Killer wins via the 2 base roach-ling-baneline all-in we have grown to love.
07:15 EST Strelok 1 - 1 Dignitas.Killer. Strelok opens with a hellion expand, then moves into mass hellion marauder push and kills Killer instantly.
07:09 EST: MMA 2 - 0 Socke. Even though Socke got away with a fast third base, he was unable to deal with MMA's dropping and great army control. After setting himself up in a good position with three bases and a strong composition, MMA cut through Socke's army to sweep the series.
07:01 EST Strelok 0 – 1 Dignitas.Killer. Killer goes for ling-infestor style on Antiga and Strelok's drops are ineffective to slow it down or stop it. He finishes Strelok off with ultras after busting the natural with lings and infested Terrans.
06:54 EST: MMA 1 - 0 Socke. MMA did a quick three base build that included both siege tank and banshee tech, and seemed to be in danger when Socke hit with a two base colossus timing. However, MMA managed to hold the attack off without taking too much damage, and also sent his banshees behind to kill a large amount of Socke's probes during the attack. Socke couldn't recover from that economic damage, and lost the game to a large Terran army soon after.
06:42 EST: MMA vs Socke started on ESL SC2 Stream.
06:39 EST: Strelok vs d.KiLLerR starting on GoodGame, imba.tv, GLHF.tv, and pretty much every stream.
06:26 EST Socke 2 - 1 d.KiLLeR. After both players took multiple bases on their respective sides of the map, Socke hit with his colossi and stalker army at a good timing before KiLLeR had transitioned to hive units. Roaches and infestors were just not enough, and KiLLeR GG'd out.
06:12 EST JYP 2 – 1 viOlet. JYP controls the center with blink stalkers and denies viOlet's attempts to expand while mutas and banelings. Some good storms in critical fights kill viOlet's banelings and he never has the raw firepower to stop JYP.
06:08 EST Socke 1 - 1 d.KiLLeR. In a half-map war on Entombed Valley, KiLLeR couldn't overcome Socke's effective use of a mothership assisted deathball.
05:53 EST JYP 1 – 1 viOlet. Game two. Violet double expanded, and JYP was unable to kill the third with his 2 gate pressure. JYP went for full 2 base play, attacking again with zealot-sentry-stalker and when Violet held with roaches, lings, and later infestors the game was over. Not sure what happened game 1.
05:44 EST: d.KiLLeR 1 - 0 Socke. KiLLeR easily had enough hydralisks and roaches to stop Socke's 2-base push, and simply counter attacked for the victory.
05:37 EST: JYP vs viOLet starting up on GLHF.tv and ZeddSC. JYP already up 1 - 0 as the observers come in.
05:34 EST: Socke vs d.KiLLeR starting up on ESL SC2 stream.
05:31 EST HasuObs 2 - 0 Grubby. Missed the game, ack.
05:26 EST White-Ra 2 – 1 MC. Regame is 4 gate vs 4 gate. White-Ra holds first round of stalkers in his base while sneaking a few zealots out to kill MC's probes. MC warps in some sentries due to reduced mineral count and can't stop White-Ra's army.
05:18 EST: White-ra vs MC going to a re-game on Goodgame stream.
05:17 EST: Nerchio 2 - 1 elfi. Nerchio does the hatchery cancel into evolution chamber at Elfi's nat yet again, while Elfi goes stargate into robo warpgate. Nerchio goes mass muta and harasses his way to a surprisingly easy win.
05:13 EST: Nerchio 1 - 1 elfi. Nerchio stopped a 4-gate (what else?) from elfi, and won the game.
05:10 EST: HasuObs 1 - 0 Grubby. HasuObs took an early lead by defending his 3-gate blink against Grubby's 3 gate pressure. That turned into a faster expand, which turned into a bigger army, and HasuObs took a straightforward win.
05:06 EST: White-Ra drops vs MC. White-Ra was up 25 supply and almost had mothership completed, as well as his 3rd base running much faster. It's all in Russian so I don't know what status is or why it happened.
04:56 EST: HasuObs vs Grubby starting up on ESL SC2 stream.
04:55 EST elfi 1 - 0 Nerchio. Elfi vs Nerchio on Shakuras. Elfi blocks Nerchio's nat with pylon and cannons, while Nerchio blocks Elfi's nat with a hatchery/cancel and evo. Nerchio takes a third. Elfi chronos zealots out of two gates (no warpgate), attacks, and then follows up with 2 stargates. Phoenixes kill a lot of overlords, and Elfi kills Nerchio's main with a zealot drop / warpin. Elfi then moves out (still off 2 base) with stalker sentry immortal and Nerchio ggs.
04:48 EST White-Ra 1 - 1 MC. They each get to 3 bases on Cloud Kingdom without much action, White-Ra wins the maxed out army battle because he has a mothership in his army.
04:46 EST: Killer vs Socke coming up on GLHF.tv
04:42 EST: MMA 2 - 0 viOLet. What can I say? MMA is a boss at TvZ. All-around domination from MMA, with good harassment, macro, micro, and everything.
04:40 EST: elfi vs nerchio starting up on zeddsc and imba.tv.
04:32 EST White-Ra 0 – 1 MC. MC opened with blink stalker harass while getting his expansion, and wrecked White-Ra's mineral line. White-Ra tried to come back with some warp prism harass but it wasn't enough, and he GG'ed.
04:26 EST: White-Ra 0 - 0 MC. Game one starting. MC winning with blink stalkers against White-Ra's 3-gate robotics.
04:24 EST: MMA 1 - 0 viOLet. Pretty much what you'd expect. MMA got three fast orbitals up, got in some damaging drops, and won with a strong push. Standard MMA TvZ!
04:11 EST: MMA vs viOLet started. Also, MC vs White-Ra on ZeddSC, according to overlay.
04:08 EST HasuObs 2 - 0 Nerchio. Game two starts with a 7-gate immortal/warp prism attack against Nerchio's 3 bases. Nerchio holds with roaches and hydras but not before his third is taken down. Hasu takes his own third, and when he comes back with 2 colossus and range Nerchio's army is wiped out.
04:06 EST: Violet vs MMA starting soon on ESL TV main.
04:05 EST: Socke 1 - 1 Strelok. Entombed Valley, cross positions. Both players fast expand and then take third bases. Strelok attacks through middle while dropping, Socke holds with colossus and templar. Socke wins the next fight decisively and Strelok GGs.
04:00 EST: MC 2 - 0 Grubby. Wasn't streamed, but it was fast, it seems.
03:52 EST: MMA 2 - 0 JYP. Nothing too special happened, except MMA reaper expanding and holding off some early pressure from JYP. As the game went late, it was just clear that MMA was better at the management style of TvP, and he crushed JYP's army to take the series.
03:51 EST: HasuObs 1 - 0 Nerchio. Starts as a typical cross-position macro war on Tal'Darim, with few skirmishes until they were maxed out on tier 3 armies. HasuObs wins the first big engagement thanks to a vortex, and adds DTs and carriers to his army. They go into a prolonged base trade where Hasu's blink stalkers and mothership carry him to the win.
03:48 EST: Strelok 1 - 0 Socke. Socke vs Strelok on Antiga, cross positions. Both players expand, Strelok does a hellion drop netting a few probes. Socke does a bad attack at Strelok's third, losing most of his army, and Strelok's counterattack wins the game.
03:37 EST: MMA 1 - 0 JYP. Not much to say, that early economic loss and failed push was fatal for JYP.
03:35 EST: Socke vs Strelok on GLHF.tv
03:33 EST: MMA's banshees killed a ton of JYP's SCVs while he tried to go for a two base immortal + gateway push. The push failed pretty badly, and now JYP is looking pretty dead.
03:25 EST: Nerchio vs HasuObs starting on Tal'Darim. Cross positions.
03:23 EST: JYP vs MMA started, diagonal positions on entombed valley.
03:14 EST: ESL TV Poland will be showing HasuObs vs Nerchio according to overlay
03:14 EST: Looks like imba.tv stream will be showing Grubby vs MC.
MMA vs JYP - 09:10 CET - ESL SC2 Stream // Take.TV
Game One: JYP attempted to go for an immortal-gateway push off two bases, but his push was stopped, AND his economy was crippled by a cloak banshee that killed many probes during the attack. JYP could never recover from that disadvantage, and lost easily.
Game Two: Nothing too special happened, except MMA reaper expanding and holding off some early pressure from JYP. As the game went late, it was just clear that MMA was better at the management style of TvP, and he crushed JYP's army to take the series.
MMA 2 - 0 JYP
Socke vs Strelok - 09:30 CET- GLHF.tv
Game One: Antiga, cross positions. Both players expand, Strelok does a hellion drop netting a few probes. Socke does a bad attack at Strelok's third, losing most of his army, and Strelok's counterattack wins the game.
Game Two:Entombed Valley, cross positions. Both players fast expand and then take third bases. Strelok attacks through middle while dropping, Socke holds with colossus and templar. Socke wins the next fight decisively and Strelok GGs.
Game Three: Socke won, stream cut out.
Socke 2 - 1 Strelok
MMA vs viOLet - Between 09:10 CET and 11:30 CET - ESL SC2 Stream
Game One: Pretty much what you'd expect. MMA got three fast orbitals up, got in some damaging drops, and won with a strong push. Standard MMA TvZ!
Game Two: What can I say? MMA is a boss at TvZ. All-around domination from MMA, with good harassment, macro, micro, and everything.
MMA 2 - 0 viOLet
KiLLeR vs Socke - ESL SC2 Stream
Game One: KiLLeR easily had enough hydralisks and roaches to stop Socke's 2-base push, and simply counter attacked for the victory.
Game Two: In a half-map war on Entombed Valley, KiLLeR couldn't overcome Socke's effective use of a mothership assisted deathball.
Game Three: After both players took multiple bases on their respective sides of the map, Socke hit with his colossi and stalker army at a good timing before KiLLeR had transitioned to hive units. Roaches and infestors were just not enough, and KiLLeR GG'd out.
KiLLeR 1 - 2 Socke
JYP vs viOLet - GLHF.tv and ZeddSC
Game One: JYP won, was played off-streams.
Game Two: Game two. Violet double expanded, and JYP was unable to kill the third with his 2 gate pressure. JYP went for full 2 base play, attacking again with zealot-sentry-stalker and when Violet held with roaches, lings, and later infestors the game was over.
Game Three: JYP controls the center with blink stalkers and denies viOlet's attempts to expand while mutas and banelings. Some good storms in critical fights kill viOlet's banelings and he never has the raw firepower to stop JYP.
JYP 2- 1 viOLet
Strelok vs d.KiLLeR - Most non ESL streams.
Game One: Killer goes for ling-infestor style on Antiga and Strelok's drops are ineffective to slow it down or stop it. He finishes Strelok off with ultras after busting the natural with lings and infested Terrans.
Game Two:. Strelok opens with a hellion expand, then moves into mass hellion marauder push and kills Killer instantly.
Game Three:. Killer wins via the 2 base roach-ling-baneline all-in we have grown to love.
Strelok 1 - 2 d.Killer
MMA vs Socke - 11:30 CET - ESL SC2
Game One: MMA did a quick three base build that included both siege tank and banshee tech, and seemed to be in danger when Socke hit with a two base colossus timing. However, MMA managed to hold the attack off without taking too much damage, and also sent his banshees behind to kill a large amount of Socke's probes during the attack. Socke couldn't recover from that economic damage, and lost the game to a large Terran army soon after.
Game Two: Even though Socke got away with a fast third base, he was unable to deal with MMA's dropping and great army control. After setting himself up in a good position with three bases and a strong composition, MMA cut through Socke's army to sweep the series.
MMA 2 - 0 Socke
Socke vs JYP - non-ESL streams.
Game One: Both players went for 3-stalker into 4-gate builds on Tal'Darim, but Socke's micro was better.
Game Two: Both players secured two bases fairly easily in the mid-game. As JYP went to attack, Socke sent zealots around to kill JYP's probes and was very successful. Socke also managed to successfully defend JYP's attack as well, which earned him the GG.
Socke 2 - 0 JYP
Strelok vs viOLet - Between 11:30 CET and 13:30 CET
Game One: Strelok starts with cloaked banshees and gets a handful of drone kills. They both macro up and take several bases, Strelok wins by sieging up in the center and killing viOlet's third and fourth at the same time.
Game Two: Violet goes for ling-infestor, Strelok is unable to capitalize with drops or hararssing him building up an army. Violet has plenty of fungals for their big engagement and takes it easily with broodlords.
Game Three: Violet begins the game with a baneling bust at Strelok's natural, doing some damage but not enough to stop the game from progressing to a relatively normal mid and late game. He keeps a minor lead and leverages it into victory when infestors fungal all of Strelok's army.
Strelok 1 - 2 viOlet
MMA vs d.KiLLeR
Game One: KiLLeR put up a good fight against MMA, even looking like he was ahead at one point after using ling-festor to kill his first army. However, MMA just played a safe, slowly expanding style, and KiLLeR was unable to extricate him from the center expansion on Antiga. KiLLeR's decision to make ultralisks didn't help either, as they were unable to get many cost effective fights against MMA's tanks and marauders.
Game Two: KiLLeR put up another good fight against MMA, holding off harassment and even doing a good job at annoying MMA with his own mutalisks. However, MMA just held on off three bases, and rolled through with great macro and well microed armies.
MMA 2 - 0 d.KiLLeR
JYP vs d.KiLLeR - GLHF.tv
Game One: JYP's 4-gate +1 and voidray pressure was able to destroy KiLLeR's third, putting KiLLeR far behind. JYP then followed with DTs while taking his own third base, putting him even further ahead. He was then able to attack with a large amount of blink stalkers to finish the game.
Game Two: KiLLeR did a better job holding off the 4-gate +1 harass, but JYP was still able to secure three bases easily and roll through with colossi + stalker ball.
JYP 2 - 0 d.KiLLeR
MMA vs Strelok - GoodGame
Game One: MMA chooses mech on Tal'Darim while Strelok makes bio units. After killing a lot of workers through the game with hellion harass MMA crushes Strelok's army and wins.
Game Two:
MMA 1 - 0 Strelok
Socke vs viOLet - ESL SC2 Stream
Game One: Socke's harassment couldn't do anything to stop viOLet from building a strong economy on three bases, and when it came time to defend against incessant mutalisk and zergling attacks, Socke just couldn't hold.
Game Two: viOLet secured the bases on his side of the map faster than Socke due to some nice harass, but the game boiled down to a max-out army vs max-out army fight anyway. viOLet positioned his troops well, used good micro, and didn't get everything annihilated by a mothership, allowing him to win the game.
Socke 0 - 2 viOLet
Non-main stream - Games may be selected for streaming
HasuObs vs Nerchio - Between 09:10 CET - ESL Poland
Game One: Starts as a typical cross-position macro war on Tal'Darim, with few skirmishes until they were maxed out on tier 3 armies. HasuObs wins the first big engagement thanks to a vortex, and adds DTs and carriers to his army. They go into a prolonged base trade where Hasu's blink stalkers and mothership carry him to the win.
Game Two:. Game two starts with a 7-gate immortal/warp prism attack against Nerchio's 3 bases. Nerchio holds with roaches and hydras but not before his third is taken down. Hasu takes his own third, and when he comes back with 2 colossus and range Nerchio's army is wiped out.
HasuObs 2 - 0 Nerchio
White-Ra vs MC - ZeddSC
Game One: MC opened with blink stalker harass while getting his expansion, and wrecked White-Ra's mineral line. White-Ra tried to come back with some warp prism harass but it wasn't enough, and he GG'ed.
Game Two: They each get to 3 bases on Cloud Kingdom without much action, White-Ra wins the maxed out army battle because he has a mothership in his army.
Game Three: First game White-Ra drops, while holding a small lead. Regame is 4 gate vs 4 gate. White-Ra holds first round of stalkers in his base while sneaking a few zealots out to kill MC's probes. MC warps in some sentries due to reduced mineral count and can't stop White-Ra's army.
White-Ra 2 - 1 MC
elfi vs Nerchio - ZeddSC // imba.tv
Game One: Elfi vs Nerchio on Shakuras. Elfi blocks Nerchio's nat with pylon and cannons, while Nerchio blocks Elfi's nat with a hatchery/cancel and evo. Nerchio takes a third. Elfi chronos zealots out of two gates (no warpgate), attacks, and then follows up with 2 stargates. Phoenixes kill a lot of overlords, and Elfi kills Nerchio's main with a zealot drop / warpin. Elfi then moves out (still off 2 base) with stalker sentry immortal and Nerchio ggs.
Game Two: Nerchio stopped a 4-gate (what else?) from elfi, and won the game.
Game Three: Nerchio does the hatchery cancel into evolution chamber at Elfi's nat yet again, while Elfi goes stargate into robo warpgate. Nerchio goes mass muta and harasses his way to a surprisingly easy win.
elfi 1 - 2 Nerchio
HasuObs vs Grubby - ESL SC2 Stream
Game One: HasuObs took an early lead by defending his 3-gate blink against Grubby's 3 gate pressure. That turned into a faster expand, which turned into a bigger army, and HasuObs took a straightforward win.
Game Two: ???
HasuObs 2 - 0 Grubby
White-Ra vs Nerchio - ZeddSC // GoodGame
Game One: A few missed forcefields are the end of the story as White-Ra tried to expand too greedily.
Game Two: White-Ra attacks with early zealots while expanding, Nerchio backstabs with lings and deals a lot of damage. He then backstabs with more lings and eventually mutas, killing White-Ra's templar archives many times while taking a 4th. White-Ra takes a third but is unable to stabilize and eventually loses to muta-ling harass.
White-Ra 0 - 2 Nerchio
Grubby vs elfi - MoriCupStream
Game One: Grubby won, off-stream.
Game Two: Grubby went for blink while Elfi went robo expand. Grubby forced a cancel, then retreated. Both players re-expanded and went colossus. Elfi just had more colossi, and got his range earlier, and won the game deciding battle.
Game Three: Grubby went for a 3-gate blink blink expo, while Elfi went robo then blink. Grubby tried to contain at Elfi's ramp but Elfi blinked down and killed Grubby's army, then blinked into Grubby's base to end the game.
Grubby 1 - 2 elfi
MC vs Nerchio - Between 13:30 CET and 15:30 CET
Game One: MC opened by making a host of sentries, then dropping them into Nerchio's main and keeping out Zerg units by chaining forcefields. Warping in units with his prism he killed the lair and all the drones there, and rode his advantage to victory.
Game Two: MC starts out making void rays after expanding, which Nerchio repels easily before they do any damage. MC then sits on the back foot and takes an early third, then a fourth, while Nerchio fails to pressure or delay them. Maxing out he pushes out into the center with a mothership, and after a long battle emerges victorious.
MC 2 - 0 Nerchio
elfi vs HasuObs - imba.tv // GLHF.tv
Game One: Elfi's jedi mind tricks allowed him to survive an early loss in 4-gate blink vs 4-gate blink engagement, as he somehow convinced HasuObs to not press his lead. The two players took their expansions and built up, but with elfi going for faster colossi while HasuObs cranked out more immortals. The colossus proved to be the difference in the second and deciding fight of the game, allowing elfi to win with ease.
Game Two (draw): A base trade situation saw elfi defending his last remaining buildings with immortals, stalkers, and a colossus. HasuObs had the mobility advantage with blink stalkers, but couldn't hope to try to ignore elfi's firepower and go for his buildings. The two players agreed to a draw after it was clear that elfi wouldn't budge from defending, and HasuObs could not attack.
Game Two: The one with more colossi won the game, as PvP tends to go.
Game Three: Elfi's vaunted 4-gate failed to leave an impression and HasuObs, effectively ending the game.
elfi 1 - 2 HasuObs
White-Ra vs Grubby - ESL SC2 Stream
Game One: They get to late game scenario with maxed out armies before any significant fights. White-Ra's army comes out on top thanks to a mothership, victory comes shortly after.
Game Two: Grubby opens phoenix, while White-Ra makes gateways and a warp prism. His prism is killed before it can do anything, and Grubby establishes control with phoenixes and wrecks Grubby's economy. White-Ra taps out shortly after.
Game Three: The beginning stages of the game involve both players being annoying with warp prisms inside one another's main. It progresses into a multibase war between colossus, mothership, and a few White-Ra carriers. Grubby has more colossus and wins.
Grubby 2 - 1 White-Ra
Elfi vs MC - ESL SC2 Stream
Game One: Both open with blink stalker, and from there the game progresses to a normal 2 base colossus standoff. Elfi's tech and expansion are slightly earlier, and when he gets the better concave in a battle at MC's natural it is all over.
Game Two: MC opens 3 fast stalkers and does a lot of damage with them against early robo, expanding behind. Elfi tries to counter when he gets his first colossus but it's already too late and his army dies.
Game Three: Another 2 base colossus vs colossus fight at MC's natural, Elfi gets the better end of it and runs over MC.
Elfi 2 - 1 MC
Nerchio vs Grubby - ZeddSC
Game One: Grubby's early pressure after fast expanding didn't go so well, and Nerchio was able to pump mass mutalisks off a strong economy. Grubby had a lot of trouble dealing with the harassment, and was whittled down until he lost.
Game Two: Grubby went for an unorthodox 2 stargate, 2 robo build, making mass phoenix and immortals. It wasn't terribly hard for Nerchio to counter, and Grubby had no answer to the eventual brood lords and infestors that came to attack.
Nerchio 2 - 0 Grubby
White-Ra vs HasuObs - GLHF.tv
Game One: White-Ra made expansion (2 gate robo), and defensed it (4 gate blink-observer).
Game Two: White-Ra 4-gated successfully, winning the game.
White-Ra 2 - 0 HasuObs
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I heard that MC is playing White-Ra right now, but no one is casting it atm...? One caster is waiting to get into the next game in their series, I think.
entombed valley is fixed cross hasu makes and 8 pylon in grubbys base, adds 2 gateways. grubby doesnt scout it, hasu walks in with 2 zealots vs 0, kills pylons, everything unpowered, grubby GGs
Not only does he go 10-0, but in so few of those games did it look like he was ever behind or in trouble...I'm calling it already; MMA for President of the United States of America 2012.
I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Bagration United States. March 07 2012 01:31. Posts 10780
On March 07 2012 01:28 Tachyon wrote: Not only does he go 10-0, but in so few of those games did it look like he was ever behind or in trouble...I'm calling it already; MMA for President of the United States of America 2012.
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