Day 2 of the GSTL Ro8 started with the league newcomers MVP going against Prime and then moved to probably the most anticipated face-off between StarTale and oGs.
MVP versus Prime
GSTL Ro8 match 3
MVP4:3Prime
Tails> HongUn
Tails< Bboong
Nobless< Bboong
GuineaPig> Bboong
GuineaPig> Maka
GuineaPig< MarineKing
DongRaeGu> MarineKing
An unknown and unproven player so far opened the game for the newcomer team. Tails from MVP went against the stellar Protoss HongUn in a mirror on Caverns and in a few minutes showed that he really is not bad at all. A costly mismicro mistake by HongUn put him in the Stalker disadvantage and Tails managed to cause some decent problems despite having two gates only. Tails went for robo from that point and that worked perfectly against Hong's blink tech and soon MVP were ahead 1-0.
Another fresh face stepped on stage to try to even the score. BboongBboong led his Zerg swarm on Metalopolis, completely manhandling Tails' air opening. By taking a quick fourth and successfully defending it by demolishing a big protoss ball, Bboong relentlessly rallied a permamaxed army at the gates of Tails, finally sealing the deal with several Brood Lords.
Bboong then played a very strange third set on Crossfire against Noblesse. Fail after fail painted the early game as a disastrous Bunker rush was followed by even more disastrous Baneling bust counter attack. Both players managed to stabilize and Noblesse started to look really strong, taking out the third of the Zerg with a strong Marine/Tank push. However, Bboong managed to spawn a disgusting number of mutas in time and used them to clean the terran forces and then kill the majority of his production facilities and winning the set.
An interesting choice came from MVP, regarding the player that was sent forth. The former Protoss (and now a random player) and the inventor of the full air tech in a PvZ GuineaPig sat in the booth and played a perfect game on Altar, demolishing the Zerg with a +3 Stalker play from three bases. He then spawned as Zerg against Maka and succeeded in taking him down as well by executing a well-timed 1-base baneling bust.
GuineaPig continued his brilliant play against the ace of Prime MarineKing. Opening with a Dark Shrine tech, the fOu player reigned terror all around MKP's base and then completely denied the terran counter push. It would seem like the end of the three-times GSL finalist but MarineKing is what he is for a reason. Managing to turret up his base and stabilizing his income, MarineKing started slowly evening out the supply and with well calculated pushes denied the third of the Protoss and later killed his natural, putting him in a not-mining-at-all position. The score was tied and the teams would go into set 7.
Who the hell is DongRaeGu and why is he being set as an ace player? That was probably what MKP thought while being completely manhandled by the newcomer Zerg. Starting with a no-gas opening, DongRaeGu secured a huge economy which allowed him to produce around 17,000 banelings in the mid-game. Even MarineKing found it hard to micro against that and had to GG out of the series.
What better way to win the final set but with SO MANY BANELIIIIINGS
StarTale vs oGs
GSTL Ro8 Match 4
oGs4:2StarTale
Hero< Squirtle
Zenio> Squirtle
Zenio< Ace
MC> Ace
MC> Bomber
MC> July
StarTale sent forth one of their best Protosses to open the series against oGs' Hero. The Protoss mirror started with Squirtle going for a proxy gate at Hero's natural. However, by scouting the empty main, the oGs protoss quickly threw down a Forge and a Cannon and easily repelled the aggression, forcing the game to enter a macro phase. At that point, Squirtle made the wiser tech decision, spitting many Immortals as opposed to Hero's Colossi and used them along with Archons to defeat Hero's robo tech and win the game.
Belshir Beach welcomed the second set of the series and its north side was now infected by Zenio's creep. The oGs zerg took a commanding lead by killing Squirtle's natural that he tried to take off of a 3-gate sentry opening, and then killed the counter rush with Roaches that popped out just in time. Having a nice advantage, Zenio took a third and switched to constant aggression accompanied by some nice baneling bombing and after a few engagements he obliterated the higher tech of protoss and evened the score.
Zenio tried to fancily deny the Forge/Fast Expo by Ace on Fortress by using multi-pronged baneling drops but Ace had Stalkers at the right time and place and succeeded in saving the majority of his economy. He then transitioned to blink Stalker, crushing the Roach forces of Zenio before he can fully utilize his third.
So what do you do if you are down a game, want to win but don't have the intention to bullshit around? Yes, send MC to decapitate everyone. Using a good old 3-gate blink to crush all hopes of Ace and then casting some perfect forcefields to wane down Bomber's 5-rax Marine/SCV all-in, MC pulled oGs to a 3:2 lead.
ST had no choice but to put their hopes in the ace player of the team, the old-time BroodWar legend July. The players spawned on Metalopolis and started the set normally with MC going for Stargate opening and July denying it and throwing a quick third. Until that point, the game had the full potential to develop into a late-game macro madness but an unfortunate situation occurred when both players started their attacks at the same time, using two different walk paths. Thus, in couple of seconds, July's Roach/Hydra composition was thrashing MC's natural but in turn had a ton of Stalkers and Sentries demolishing his tech back home. The base trade looked fairly equal at times but somehow MC sneaked a Probe out, hid a Nexus and cannoned it up without any hope for July to break it. July tried to take a gold in a desperate attempt to secure some economy but at the end he was forced to enter a direct combat with MC and his inferior Zerg army was completely trampled. oGs would advance to the Ro4 for the first time in their GSTL history.
"I want YOU to kneel down and obey!"
MVP versus Prime
GSTL Ro8 match 3
MVP4:3Prime
Tails> HongUn
Tails< Bboong
Nobless< Bboong
GuineaPig> Bboong
GuineaPig> Maka
GuineaPig< MarineKing
DongRaeGu> MarineKing
An unknown and unproven player so far opened the game for the newcomer team. Tails from MVP went against the stellar Protoss HongUn in a mirror on Caverns and in a few minutes showed that he really is not bad at all. A costly mismicro mistake by HongUn put him in the Stalker disadvantage and Tails managed to cause some decent problems despite having two gates only. Tails went for robo from that point and that worked perfectly against Hong's blink tech and soon MVP were ahead 1-0.
Another fresh face stepped on stage to try to even the score. BboongBboong led his Zerg swarm on Metalopolis, completely manhandling Tails' air opening. By taking a quick fourth and successfully defending it by demolishing a big protoss ball, Bboong relentlessly rallied a permamaxed army at the gates of Tails, finally sealing the deal with several Brood Lords.
Bboong then played a very strange third set on Crossfire against Noblesse. Fail after fail painted the early game as a disastrous Bunker rush was followed by even more disastrous Baneling bust counter attack. Both players managed to stabilize and Noblesse started to look really strong, taking out the third of the Zerg with a strong Marine/Tank push. However, Bboong managed to spawn a disgusting number of mutas in time and used them to clean the terran forces and then kill the majority of his production facilities and winning the set.
An interesting choice came from MVP, regarding the player that was sent forth. The former Protoss (and now a random player) and the inventor of the full air tech in a PvZ GuineaPig sat in the booth and played a perfect game on Altar, demolishing the Zerg with a +3 Stalker play from three bases. He then spawned as Zerg against Maka and succeeded in taking him down as well by executing a well-timed 1-base baneling bust.
GuineaPig continued his brilliant play against the ace of Prime MarineKing. Opening with a Dark Shrine tech, the fOu player reigned terror all around MKP's base and then completely denied the terran counter push. It would seem like the end of the three-times GSL finalist but MarineKing is what he is for a reason. Managing to turret up his base and stabilizing his income, MarineKing started slowly evening out the supply and with well calculated pushes denied the third of the Protoss and later killed his natural, putting him in a not-mining-at-all position. The score was tied and the teams would go into set 7.
Who the hell is DongRaeGu and why is he being set as an ace player? That was probably what MKP thought while being completely manhandled by the newcomer Zerg. Starting with a no-gas opening, DongRaeGu secured a huge economy which allowed him to produce around 17,000 banelings in the mid-game. Even MarineKing found it hard to micro against that and had to GG out of the series.
What better way to win the final set but with SO MANY BANELIIIIINGS
StarTale vs oGs
GSTL Ro8 Match 4
oGs4:2StarTale
Hero< Squirtle
Zenio> Squirtle
Zenio< Ace
MC> Ace
MC> Bomber
MC> July
StarTale sent forth one of their best Protosses to open the series against oGs' Hero. The Protoss mirror started with Squirtle going for a proxy gate at Hero's natural. However, by scouting the empty main, the oGs protoss quickly threw down a Forge and a Cannon and easily repelled the aggression, forcing the game to enter a macro phase. At that point, Squirtle made the wiser tech decision, spitting many Immortals as opposed to Hero's Colossi and used them along with Archons to defeat Hero's robo tech and win the game.
Belshir Beach welcomed the second set of the series and its north side was now infected by Zenio's creep. The oGs zerg took a commanding lead by killing Squirtle's natural that he tried to take off of a 3-gate sentry opening, and then killed the counter rush with Roaches that popped out just in time. Having a nice advantage, Zenio took a third and switched to constant aggression accompanied by some nice baneling bombing and after a few engagements he obliterated the higher tech of protoss and evened the score.
Zenio tried to fancily deny the Forge/Fast Expo by Ace on Fortress by using multi-pronged baneling drops but Ace had Stalkers at the right time and place and succeeded in saving the majority of his economy. He then transitioned to blink Stalker, crushing the Roach forces of Zenio before he can fully utilize his third.
So what do you do if you are down a game, want to win but don't have the intention to bullshit around? Yes, send MC to decapitate everyone. Using a good old 3-gate blink to crush all hopes of Ace and then casting some perfect forcefields to wane down Bomber's 5-rax Marine/SCV all-in, MC pulled oGs to a 3:2 lead.
ST had no choice but to put their hopes in the ace player of the team, the old-time BroodWar legend July. The players spawned on Metalopolis and started the set normally with MC going for Stargate opening and July denying it and throwing a quick third. Until that point, the game had the full potential to develop into a late-game macro madness but an unfortunate situation occurred when both players started their attacks at the same time, using two different walk paths. Thus, in couple of seconds, July's Roach/Hydra composition was thrashing MC's natural but in turn had a ton of Stalkers and Sentries demolishing his tech back home. The base trade looked fairly equal at times but somehow MC sneaked a Probe out, hid a Nexus and cannoned it up without any hope for July to break it. July tried to take a gold in a desperate attempt to secure some economy but at the end he was forced to enter a direct combat with MC and his inferior Zerg army was completely trampled. oGs would advance to the Ro4 for the first time in their GSTL history.
"I want YOU to kneel down and obey!"
