Hm, most of the games weren't all that great. The best two would be Calm vs MVP and Free vs Modesty. Calm vs MVP didn't feature particularly solid play from either player, but it was a really entertaining, back and forth mech TvZ with great use of mutas and very nice vulture harass. Free vs Modesty was a sligthly above average ZvP with good play from both players. ZvPs are almost always awesome to watch, especially the ones that hit lategame on fairly even footing (like this one). Of the 2 games though, I'd pick Calm vs MVP.
Finally a thread for GSM that is actually early :D!
Hoping to see Kal today, hopefully. But will probably see Bogus and Trap warming up for the Shanghai event.
On August 16 2010 06:48 kyophan wrote: Can someone tell me the format to this tournament or link me somewhere so I can find it? Why is it that woonjing stars keeps playing?
It's Bo7 All-Kill format. Each team fight to climb the ladder where the first ranked team in the last PL season is already seeded into the finals. The second best team is seeded into semi-finals, etc. Woonjing was ranked fairly low and has beaten several teams (already seeded) already.
I should probably look for a picture of the tournament format.
On August 16 2010 06:48 kyophan wrote: Can someone tell me the format to this tournament or link me somewhere so I can find it? Why is it that woonjing stars keeps playing?
Two teams play against each other in a Winner's League format (Winner of game 1 plays in game 2, and so on). The winning team advances to face the next team. Woongjin won yesterday against MBC so they advance. I have no idea what particular order you have to face the teams, but I'm gonna assume it has to do with your proleague ranking.
On August 16 2010 06:49 Quasar wrote: Finally a thread for GSM that is actually early :D!
Hoping to see Kal today, hopefully. But will probably see Bogus and Trap warming up for the Shanghai event.
You know who else is going to the event? July and TossGirl :D. Hoping to see them too.
On August 16 2010 06:48 kyophan wrote: Can someone tell me the format to this tournament or link me somewhere so I can find it? Why is it that woonjing stars keeps playing?
Same format as WL, team BO7, winner stays, losing team sends next player up. Any player for the team can play in the ace match regardless if he already played that day or not.
Winning team moves on to play the next team. Woongjin just keeps winning, thats why they come back.
On August 16 2010 06:48 kyophan wrote: Can someone tell me the format to this tournament or link me somewhere so I can find it? Why is it that woonjing stars keeps playing?
It's Bo7 All-Kill format. Each team fight to climb the ladder where the first ranked team in the last PL season is already seeded into the finals. The second best team is seeded into semi-finals, etc. Woonjing was ranked fairly low and has beaten several teams (already seeded) already.
I should probably look for a picture of the tournament format.
almost, but SKT got seeded in the finals of this tournament as the reigning champions, KT and STX got knocked one spot down. Meaning the winner of this game will play KT, the winner of that one will play SKT in the finals
Considering the way the Stars are playing right now, and considering the way STX is playing right now, I feel that this is fairly easy to predict. Zero is on his way to S class
mvp bringing like 12 vults to raid frozen's 4th - a goliath comes to help defend but runs into th emines that have been there for ages, helping blow up a few of the running scvs as well
4 of mvp's wraiths hunt down a dropship heading out for frozen, and another idle one too
mvp brings a lot of tanks and sieges up at 5, forcing the cc to lift
frozen losing lots of tanks sieging at the low ground trying to defend, and even more to wraiths that have come out
mvp's vultures also raid the empty cc of frozen's at 6
nicely played by mvp, although i missed basically the entire proxy rax stage (weird performance issues running the stream in a separate window that doesn't happen in a separate tab, wtf)
Calm sends 5 hydra to escort the latest drone to 9 and finally successfully starts a hatchery there
calm's added about 7 mutas again
mines done, being dropped around the map
calm still has slow ol's
a bunch of vultures throw themselves unsuccessfully against hydra at calm's megachoke - calm also reveals mutas as he defends so mvp starts to add more turrets
mutas taking down 2 turrets in the main and leave as goliaths chase
but get a few scv kills and one tank kill at the inner nat
hydra moving into MVP's inner nat - 2 tanks reinforce and siege - calm move/shoot - but didn't focus on the tanks with either his hydra (hard) or mutas (should've been easy) and loses all his hydra as the 2 tanks survive
Calm going for a hydra bust after taking out tanks with his mutas, but 2 more tanks siege up at tha back, and all of Calm's hydras die. MVP looking to move out with a bunch of goliaths and about 4 tanks
Calm was expecting to rally hydras until he won but got squashed by 2 tanks and forgot to reset the rally until drones started heading there, funny guy.
these muta switches wouldn't be half as devastating if mvp invested in the tech for one vessel+ irrad but now another army sieged up at calm's front door - with lots of mutas
but Calm overwhelms with a huge number of hydra
MVP had his army split up - bad move
now Calm's hydra continue to the 2nd part of the army and all die
but even more hydra arrive - mvp unsieges his one remaining tank and heads home
lots of mines pop from the ground but only one hydra dies, lucky a-move
I'd actually say calm is in decent shape now - even has okay drone saturation at his 5th
another army from mvp headed across the bottom path, hydra meet it halfway and they are forced back
mvp sieges up 2 tanks with goliaths/vultures as buffer
calm losing lots of hydra whittling down the buffer but even more hydra arrive and all the buffer is gone 3 tanks killed (one reinforced)
hydra finally back off as vultures arrive and plant mines in front
but an OL arrives and the mines are cleared, but he FINALLY really backs off as the 6 or so remaining hydra bump into sieged shots
mass vultures headed towards 10.5 but 5 hydra hold the front
still with >12 vultures the hydra are killed - drones pulled to a corner but vultures find them and destroy them all about 12 hydra arrive but one vulture escapes
hydra find mvp trying to expand to 3 and force it to cancel
Whatever you say i think Calm just showed a great example at how exactly should Hydra and muta counter to mech be used.I think his technic and micro were very good this game in terms of countering mech.
MVP moving out once again with a small army, never a big invincible push like you should with mech oh he just sets up a bit outside his megachoke to help defend 3
but mutas come to 4 and kill a bunch of scvs - quite a few actually, probably 8 or so?
huge huge hydra mass gathering midmap - MVP's about to get boned and even better mvp's splitting his ground army to try to defend more ground for an expo
one hydra dies to mines outside 6 - they've probably seend the base
vultures try to rush north but most of them die to the hydra masses waiting around
hydra attacking a few sieged tanks behind walls - pick off one, but mvp moves the tanks out of hydra range and the hydra back off from the wall
another 6 vulture raid on the drones at 9 - a few kills but far fewer than previous raids
mvp moving his army west across the bottom of the map - the small group of hydra waiting there all run over - but huge huge hydra mass clearing mines and moving towards mvp's lightly defended megachoke!
Some of the worst decision making I have seen in a while by MVP. Got wrecked by stacked muta for like 15 minuts straight. He should be ashamed of himself
On August 16 2010 19:02 pvzvt wrote: why isnt mvp is getting science vessel?
I think he may have prop-betted to win without SV or something. This is just so silly that even a D-level terran would get a vessel in this spot
He did go 3 fact though, so he was always behind in tech and probably had to power pure factory units to match calm's macro. Hence why he made 7 factories
Mostly because it's so amazing the see the game still evolving, it's like we just saw a bell curve of Mech's "imbalance" and it is now being "figured out".
Crazy to think the game is still evolving and changing.
On August 16 2010 19:11 NEgroidZerg wrote: Seeing mech be defeated really makes me hopeful.
Mostly because it's so amazing the see the game still evolving, it's like we just saw a bell curve of Mech's "imbalance" and it is now being "figured out".
Crazy to think the game is still evolving and changing.
You haven't been around for long, have you? Pure mech has been figured out about a year now, and its really outdated. Its just some maps (like judgement day) really cater towards it. Theres no mech imbalance and hasn't been for a while, in fact most progamers right now will tell you bio is much stronger than mech.
Now the bio into late game mech switch? Thats different
On August 16 2010 19:11 NEgroidZerg wrote: Seeing mech be defeated really makes me hopeful.
Mostly because it's so amazing the see the game still evolving, it's like we just saw a bell curve of Mech's "imbalance" and it is now being "figured out".
Crazy to think the game is still evolving and changing.
You haven't been around for long, have you? Pure mech has been figured out about a year now, and its really outdated. Its just some maps (like judgement day) really cater towards it. Theres no mech imbalance and hasn't been for a while, in fact most progamers right now will tell you bio is much stronger than mech.
Now the bio into late game mech switch? Thats different
Keeping up with BW metagame trends in a full-time job nowadays
On August 16 2010 19:27 Black Gun wrote: hmmm, but hasnt calm overcome a 12 hatch vs 9 pool supposed-to-be bo loss before, afaik in his msl final against kwanro?
On August 16 2010 19:27 Black Gun wrote: hmmm, but hasnt calm overcome a 12 hatch vs 9 pool supposed-to-be bo loss before, afaik in his msl final against kwanro?
That was actually 12hatch vs 4 pool
That map...I forgot the name, has bigger rush distance
huge ling fight near modesty's bridge - soulkey doesn't get a good arc despite having more lings - but he does have 7 lings alive at modesty's nat while modesty has 5
On August 16 2010 19:45 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: Modesty probably just spends all his time practicing Muta micro now - if you're going to play ZvZs forever, might as well do it well.
But yeah Modesty's ZvZ is so sick :3
n_n
Lol modesty doesn't even practice ZvZ, he just spends his time on a muta micro UMS
On August 16 2010 19:45 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: Modesty probably just spends all his time practicing Muta micro now - if you're going to play ZvZs forever, might as well do it well.
But yeah Modesty's ZvZ is so sick :3
n_n
Lol modesty doesn't even practice ZvZ, he just spends his time on a muta micro UMS
To be honest a lot of other zerg players could use a bit more time with a muta micro UMS.
Modesty also has a sunken just in time with nice evo placement to save his nat. Free says fuck it and bulldozes in. Tons of lings+drones fighting Zeals!
free starting his 3rd at 7, but mutas find it and are picking away at it - free's army heading towards modesty's nat instead - modesty following behind with one group of hydra which free spots and turns around to surround and kill with reinforcing goons
Free should have gone mass archon when he realised ultras are coming.Yeah its 300 gas but anything else is pretty much useless against ultra ling defiler.
On August 16 2010 20:17 zmeqt wrote: Free should have gone mass archon when he realised ultras are coming.Yeah its 300 gas but anything else is pretty much useless against ultra ling defiler.
what? Reavers are usually the preferred answer when facing ultra/ling/defiler.
On August 16 2010 20:17 meegrean wrote: what the hell free? modesty is the easiest zerg you could ask for.
Well, he didn't totally outplay Modesty, which means autoloss in PvZ nowadays.
Not really, he went for an all in after his early zealot pressure and failed. At that point modesty had turtled 4 gas while free was still trying to get his 3rd up. Maybe understand the game a tad better before posting something like that?
Modesty played that game very well, I'm impressed. Decision making, timings, macro, micro, were all very atypical of him, very good. Does this mean Modesty can play ZvP now?! <3
On August 16 2010 20:17 meegrean wrote: what the hell free? modesty is the easiest zerg you could ask for.
Well, he didn't totally outplay Modesty, which means autoloss in PvZ nowadays.
Not really, he went for an all in after his early zealot pressure and failed. At that point modesty had turtled 4 gas while free was still trying to get his 3rd up. Maybe understand the game a tad better before posting something like that?
On August 16 2010 20:17 meegrean wrote: what the hell free? modesty is the easiest zerg you could ask for.
Well, he didn't totally outplay Modesty, which means autoloss in PvZ nowadays.
Not really, he went for an all in after his early zealot pressure and failed. At that point modesty had turtled 4 gas while free was still trying to get his 3rd up. Maybe understand the game a tad better before posting something like that?
Free never went all in
Fine, semi all in? He delayed his tech and 3rd base a lot for that mid game attack, so he was really behind when it failed to do any real damage.
On August 16 2010 20:17 zmeqt wrote: Free should have gone mass archon when he realised ultras are coming.Yeah its 300 gas but anything else is pretty much useless against ultra ling defiler.
what? Reavers are usually the preferred answer when facing ultra/ling/defiler.
Surely the best combination is Archon/Reaver/DA.But pure reaver zealot is not so good.
On August 16 2010 20:17 zmeqt wrote: Free should have gone mass archon when he realised ultras are coming.Yeah its 300 gas but anything else is pretty much useless against ultra ling defiler.
what? Reavers are usually the preferred answer when facing ultra/ling/defiler.
Surely the best combination is Archon/Reaver/DA.But pure reaver zealot is not so good.
Well you have to consider what resources you have available at that point in the game...it's not just "fantasize some protoss 200/200 army"
On August 16 2010 20:17 meegrean wrote: what the hell free? modesty is the easiest zerg you could ask for.
Well, he didn't totally outplay Modesty, which means autoloss in PvZ nowadays.
Not really, he went for an all in after his early zealot pressure and failed. At that point modesty had turtled 4 gas while free was still trying to get his 3rd up. Maybe understand the game a tad better before posting something like that?
Free never went all in
Fine, semi all in? He delayed his tech and 3rd base a lot for that mid game attack, so he was really behind when it failed to do any real damage.
ehh ok but even semi all in is misleading. He wasn't really that behind at all.
On August 16 2010 20:17 zmeqt wrote: Free should have gone mass archon when he realised ultras are coming.Yeah its 300 gas but anything else is pretty much useless against ultra ling defiler.
what? Reavers are usually the preferred answer when facing ultra/ling/defiler.
Surely the best combination is Archon/Reaver/DA.But pure reaver zealot is not so good.
Well you have to consider what resources you have available at that point in the game...it's not just "fantasize some protoss 200/200 army"
Agreed,but Free should have sensed ultra ling defiler was coming from the way modesty was playing,so he should have prepared better to face it.
On August 16 2010 20:17 meegrean wrote: what the hell free? modesty is the easiest zerg you could ask for.
Well, he didn't totally outplay Modesty, which means autoloss in PvZ nowadays.
Not really, he went for an all in after his early zealot pressure and failed. At that point modesty had turtled 4 gas while free was still trying to get his 3rd up. Maybe understand the game a tad better before posting something like that?
Free never went all in
Fine, semi all in? He delayed his tech and 3rd base a lot for that mid game attack, so he was really behind when it failed to do any real damage.
ehh ok but even semi all in is misleading. He wasn't really that behind at all.
Of course he was, his 3rd was really delayed compared to modesty's 4th base.
On August 16 2010 20:17 zmeqt wrote: Free should have gone mass archon when he realised ultras are coming.Yeah its 300 gas but anything else is pretty much useless against ultra ling defiler.
what? Reavers are usually the preferred answer when facing ultra/ling/defiler.
Surely the best combination is Archon/Reaver/DA.But pure reaver zealot is not so good.
Well you have to consider what resources you have available at that point in the game...it's not just "fantasize some protoss 200/200 army"
Agreed,but Free should have sensed ultra ling defiler was coming from the way modesty was playing,so he should have prepared better to face it.
Free had two gases for most of the game. High Templars are not cheap gas units, getting an archon ball is impossible.
of course modesty gets baited into trying to attack the maynarding drones and Zero buys enough time. Of course modesty has his expo hatch up just in time and a lair started.
don't know why zero was so stubborn to not go evo/spore - his OL should have told him everything he needed to know about modesty's much faster spire
He didn't really need to, the timing on the spire + the time it takes to fly across the spire wasn't gamebreakingly significant, and he delayed it fine with his lings. The issue was zero pulling drones off gas to defend the rush and taking his extractor later which meant that modesty had more gas to spend immediately on spire units. If zero had the gas for a pair or two scourge rather than the pure mutas he pumped it would have gone completely differently.
don't know why zero was so stubborn to not go evo/spore - his OL should have told him everything he needed to know about modesty's much faster spire
He didn't really need to, the timing on the spire + the time it takes to fly across the spire wasn't gamebreakingly significant, and he delayed it fine with his lings. The issue was zero pulling drones off gas to defend the rush and taking his extractor later which meant that modesty had more gas to spend immediately on spire units. If zero had the gas for a pair or two scourge rather than the pure mutas he pumped it would have gone completely differently.
Modesty also took a sick gamble and never got ling speed, compounding his gas advantage.
Series like this always make me question why Starcraft choose to take up the stupidest playoff bracket in the history of competition for their team leagues.
watch next time on stx masters: what would have been, if stx beat skt in the real season playoff? kt vs stx! the match of the 2 highest scoring teams in proleague! lets get ready to rumble!
On August 17 2010 05:40 Heimatloser wrote: watch next time on stx masters: what would have been, if stx beat skt in the real season playoff? kt vs stx! the match of the 2 highest scoring teams in proleague! lets get ready to rumble!