GSL Ro32 Group G Recap



As expected, (Z)Dark and (T)MMA advanced from the group. Dark validated all the hype surrounding him, showing dominance as he cleanly dismantled MMA and then defeated Dear in a crazy series. Meanwhile MMA seemed to struggle early on; however, he rebounded nicely from his defeat to cut through (P)Seed and (P)Dear, proving he has shed the old SlayerS weakness once and for all. Unfortunately Seed and Dear were not clean enough in their play. Both looked good at points,but a couple of key mistakes saw both go down to Code A.

The series between the former SlayerS players can be described succinctly. MMA's builds, while slick, failed to net him enough of an advantage. For every nice move MMA pulled off, he was shut down and crushed by Dark somewhere else. Dark meticulously denied all his drops and forced direct engagements which he won with shocking ease.

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Seed vs Dear was also a bit underwhelming. Seed got a small lead on Overgrowth via faster expansion, but then threw away the lead in a risky assault on Dear's natural. On KSS Seed again got off to a good start when his proxy oracle scored 7 kills. However Dear returned the favor with his own oracles as well as DTs, forcing Seed into an all-or-nothing attack that only delayed his inevitable demise.

Dark took a calculated risk to open the winners match, going for an early pool in hopes he could punish a fast expand. However, the Samsung Protoss easily deflected Dark's attack while getting away with his early nexus, then pretended to tech up to launch an unexpected 7 gate. Dear once more tried to finish the game with a 3 base gateway attack, but Dark was prepared and pummeled Dear into submission after deflecting the assault. This setup the best game of the series.

Game 3

Overgrowth

RATING:

Dark got off to a good start after sneaking a swell of slow lings into Dears main. Dear was flustered from there and despite scouting the upcoming roach/hydra/viper followup, he was caught totally out of position. After eliminating his opponent's 3rd base, Dark took his own gold while advancing up to brood lords. Dear attempted to punish this lull in army buildup, pushing out only to lose his own 3rd and 4th. This prompted a desperate base trade from Dear which came down to the wire. Dear cleaned up all the outer Zerg bases only to run into a veritable fortress at Dark's main, a forest of spines supported by queens, roaches, and a fleet of brood lords. Dear threw himself into the fray, but he barely lacked the numbers and conceded the series.

SKT.DarkZ1 RATING:

Dark was in the driver's seat from the get go and never relented. He expanded in a timely manner, tech-switched appropriately and constantly stayed active on the map. He looked close to flawless but didn't make the cut: he allowed Dear's harass to ransack his 4th and he lost unnecessary in his attacks on Dear's 3rd. However, those are minor points. He appeared in complete control of the game and his emotions, staying calm under pressure and getting the perfect defense to absorb the ensuing base trade.

P7 Samsung DearRATING:

Dear made a game of it despite the early ling run by and the loss of his 3rd. Scouting played a pivotal role in his obstinance, matching Dark every time the Zerg switched to another composition. Sadly his early mistakes forced to give him map control, leading to a lack of awareness that cost him bases on multiple occasions.



In the losers bracket, MMA and Seed squared off in a brutal battle for survival. Seed got off to a rocky start on Merry Go Round; lackluster positioning cost him lose the 3rd base and 2 colossus, spelling defeat. He rebounded on Overgrowth with more precise gameplay, expanding carefully and rebuffing most of MMA's attacks until his lead was large enough to force the winning engagement.

Game 3

Catallena

RATING:

MMA tried to apply early pressure with drops and a runby, but Seed deflected them aptly. From there both players macroed largely undisturbed on 3 bases. The game started to heat up when Seed sent out a DT-filled warp prism to disrupt MMA's ecnomy. This attack, while not crippling, bought Seed enough time to research storms. From there MMA chose direct attacks while Seed tried to imitate the LTTE. MMA poked, prodded and dropped all over the place, searching for an opening that never fully manifested. Meanwhile Seed's harass racked up some SCV kills. The two clashed numerous times and lost nearly all their army units only to remax. MMA prevailed with superior lategame base management, out expanding Seed while keeping him pinned with aggression. Seed fought valiantly but ultimately ran out of steam in the end.

Acer MMA T9 RATING:

Acer's star player looked exactly as advertised, a star player. He deflected most of Seed's harass without taking too much damage, and despite not finding many chinks in Seed's armor he took over the map and build up a ferocious economy. His engagements also looked good, splitting well and getting good EMPs.

P5 Dignitas SeedRATING:

Seed showed glimpses of what made him a GSL champion. He displayed a throwback style of delaying upgrades for quicker templars and storm, while also buying time with warp prism threats. Unfortunately Seed lacked the chops to play an attrition war. He didn't seem to know how to secure his 4th base, which was accentuated with some wasteful usage of high templar.



While Seed seemed intent on playing a defensive PvT, Dear tried to cave in MMA's face right off the bat. Dear took Game 1 with a 2 base mass stalker attack that MMA didn't see coming. MMA adjusted well to such perils in the subsequent games. Despite taking early DT harass on Overgrowth, MMA adeptly used his trademark drop play to constantly pull Dear out of position. Eventually Dear committed a fatal mistake by having half his army caught out of position; from there, MMA stormed ahead and cleaned up. On Foxtrot MMA played even better, slapping aside all of Dear's attacks and harass while doing crippling damage of his own. Slowly but surely, MMA reached a 40 supply lead which he used to crush Dear in a final assault.

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Group G
(Z)Dark vs (T)MMA: Click here
(P)Seed vs (P)Dear: Click here
Winners Match: Click here
Losers Match: Click here
Final Match: Click here