The beautiful Thursday of May 19th the GomTV studio welcomed the best two teams in Korea to fight for pride and 10,000,000 KRW. It was a day in which SlayerS had to defend their title as reigning champions from the young but highly skilled team of MVP.
Game 1: SlayerS_Ryung vs MVPGenius
Two of the best players of each team stepped forth to open the series. Ryung was looking forward to prove that the Terran school of SlayerS is still the best while Blizzcon champion and GSL veteran Genius was craving for an important victory for his team.
Genius opened with a hidden Void Ray tech placed at Ryung's low-ground third. However, the Terran player had just enough marines and seeing that Genius decided to cancel the rush. Instead, he threw down an expansion and the game entered a phase of passivity with both players just massing up their armies.
The action resumed when Ryung pushed towards Genius's low-ground third but unfortunately had quite the wrong army mix. Lacking enough Ghosts, Ryung could not efficiently deny all the Sentries, HTs and Archons and was easily pushed back. A second attempt to storm the expansion came later but that actually cost him the game as Genius took the chance to chase down bio army and rip it to shreds with his superior tech.
The now buffed archons of Genius are chasing the remnants of Ryung's bio
Game 2: SlayerS_Min vs MVPGenius
SlayerS went for a Zerg player and a macro map for the second set and obviously they had something planned in advance. Seeing the Forge/Fast expand from Genius, Min went for a very quick third and delayed his gas to saturate his three mineral lines faster. Hitting a perfect timing, Min got his Lair and started Burrow and got both upgrades for his Roaches. He then exploded with surmounting army size (having almost twice the food as Genius) and stormed the natural of the Protoss. Neither the Blink tech nor all the Force Fields could stop Min's unrelenting Roach pressure and Genius crumbled down, surrendering the second set.
Force Fields do not really work on burrow Roaches
Game 3: SlayerS_Min vs MVPKeen
Keen opened the set with a strong mech play, going for double harass with Roaches and Banshees. Min, though, was prepared and had the necessary number of Roaches and Spore Crawlers to deny significant economy damage and successfully tech to Spire.
Just when Mutas popped out, Keen pushed forward with a small forces of Marines, 2 Banshees and a Thor but it all went horribly wrong as Zerg's forces managed to crush it without any problem and suddenly Keen had a ton of Roaches knocking down his wall. The Terran had to micro perfectly to fend off the counter rush as well as the follow-up baneling attack and after the smoke cleared he saw that he actually is not that much behind.
Meanwhile, Min took this opportunity to produce his Baneling anew and also get some Infestors out, having, in theory, the stronger army composition. As Keen moved forward for a push, it seemed that Min would be able to trample it like it is nothing but a slight (or rather quite huge!) micro mistake by Min cost him the series. He fungalled everything perfectly but the position of his banelings was initially bad and he could not deal the optimal amount of damage. Wasting all those precious stuns, Min's swarm was shot down without mercy.
Sadly, the banelings were a bit late to the party
Game 4: SlayerS_Frozen vs MVPKeen
Set 4, or "The game that will get Tal'Darim fixed" as it will be henceforth know, started as a (relatively) normal PvT with Frozen rushing for Blink (unusual but not unseen) and Keen going for fast stim into expansion (quite usual and often seen). The game suddenly broke down as Frozen threw down a proxy Pylon just south of the small low-ground below the terran natural. For a moment Doa was wondering if he could warp across the little piece of low-ground straight into the main. It turned out that you can't.
What you can, however, is gain vision of the main. Thus, you can blink your repulsively dangerous Stalker army in your enemy's face, kill the Tech Lab researching Stim, go around to snipe the bunkers at the front and thus win a GSTL game. Nice!
"Guys, I don't think I can jump over there..."
"Oh, ok, never mind then."
Game 5: SlayerS_Frozen vs MVPviOlet
Violet went for a crazy ling aggression right from the start, chewing down the initial pylon at the wall and, having wide eyes for victory, continued to stream down lings instead of pumping out Drones. By that time, however, a Void Ray was already out for Frozen and by the power of continuously repyloning his wall, he somehow managed to prevent the bust the Violet was hoping for.
The Zerg now started redroning but for some reason forgot to build Evolution Chamber in time to deflect the Void Rays...
And just like that the set was lost. Frozen's two Void Rays laid waste upon Violet's base, killing all the Queen, Spore Crawlers and later the natural hatch. Violet tried to comeback and struggled for another 10 minutes or so before finally crumbling down when Colossi came to blaze him off.
Not making spore crawlers can cause severe hatchery damage, loss of game sets and huge wave of embarrassment. Consult your coach before entering the booth
Game 6: Frozen vs GuineaPig
GuineaPig spawned as Zerg on Fortress and had to endure the heavy Phoenix/Void Ray harass by Frozen but not making Violet's mistake, he had Spores and enough Queens to chase away the pesky protoss fliers. Playing passively, GuineaPig pumped up his economy and once he hit Lair tech, he immediately went for Over speed and Over drop, obviously having a plan to bypass the frontal defenses of Frozen.
The doom drop came soon but it was nothing like July's hydra-only play in the GSL March finals. GuineaPig was taking it seriously, unleashing his full army of Roaches, Hydras and even Queens to transfuse any weakened units. In a blink of an eye, GuineaPig sniped the two Colossi of Frozen, leaving him at basic Gateway tech which was no match for the overwhelming masses of Zerg units. The score was tied once again.
Zerg doom drop in its full beauty
Game 7: SlayerS_Ganzi vs GuineaPig
I was wondering if we would see a normal game in this final GSTL series with all the blink and doom drop shenanigans. But Ganzi and GuineaPig played a very standard yet quite tense ZvT on Crossfire.
Ganzi's initial harass could not do enough damage and once his Hellions were denied a lot of drone kills, he pulled them back and transitioned to the usual Tank/Marine army. Abusing the architecture of Crossfire, Ganzi pushed towards Guinea's third and managed to take it down before Baneing speed kicked off. Put in dire straits, GuineaPig had to muster all his micro but even with it he couldn't deal with the constant drops, followed by a huge frontal bio push that eventually ended the game.
GuineaPig lost but how cool is THAT?!
Game 8: SlayerS_Ganzi vs MVPDongRaeGu
Ganzi must have felt confident when he approached the MVP bench and taunted DongRaeGu to come out and face him. Was he the DRG sniper that SlayerS prepared for this crusher of terran players?
By hiding all his opening tech at the third, Ganzi unleashed continuing waves of harass, opening with Hellions and then switching to Banshees. But I bet that the end result of killing exactly two drones did not meet Ganzi's expectations and so he went for a bit of an all-inish Marine/Tank/SCV push. And it looked scary and most Zergs would die to that but not DRG. Patiently waiting till the perfect moment, DRG tanked the initial tank fire with his Queens while pulling off a complete surround with his speedlings, tearing the Terran army to shreds and winning the set soon thereafter.
Apparently, three tanks, a banshee, some SCVs and a buttload of marines is nothing be scared of
Game 9: SlayerS_MMA vs MVPDongRaeGu
I honestly thought that SlayerS will send Alicia. Yeah, I know that MMA is their ace, but any coach would be scared of DRG's ZvT by now. After all, the Zerg underdog has so far crushed MarineKing, NaDa and Supernova - all of them established Terrans.
Obviously, SlayerS had faith in their star Terran and sent him to defend their title on Metalopolis.
Things soon took a wrong turn for MMA. DongRaeGu was expanding and macroing like crazy, stopping every attempt for Marine pressure. By the 16th minute mark, DRG was maxed, almost 60 supply ahead and on four hatcheries, looking forward to overwhelming the Terran base with one swift move.
Such an opportunity came soon as MMA moved out to deny the fourth base of DRG and seeing the push, the Zerg launched his maxed out army of Banes/Lings/Mutalisks. And that cost him the game.
MMA's perfect tank positioning sniped the majority of the banelings before they could get any closer. The mutas were now against an untouched army of marines and DRG had to pull them back if he was to save them. That cost him the fourth base and it all went downhill from there.
MMA's erratic multitasking kept denying DRG any further economy and held him at three bases while continuously withering down his forces. The MVP Zerg tried his best to get back in the game but being stripped of additional gazers, he could not produce a sufficient number of Infestors and/or Banelings. After a few minutes, he was knee-deep in enemy marines and had to surrender the final set, allowing SlayerS to win their second GSTL title.
When numbers count for nothing...
Team Slayers 5:4 Team MVP
Ryung< Genius@ Xel'Naga Caverns
Min> Genius@ Terminus
Min< Keen@ Crevasse
Frozen> Keen@ Tal'Darim Altar
Frozen> Violet@ Belshir Beach
Frozen< GuineaPig@ Xel'Naga Fortress
Ganzi> GuineaPin@ Crossfire
Ganzi< DongRaeGu@ Dual Sight
MMA> DongRaeGu@ Metalopolis
Thus, SlayerS will bring home another GSTL trophy. The team that was the biggest underdog in the first team league now continues to show one of the best decision making, utilizing its roster to the fullest. We are yet to see if they can show the same exceptional play come the new GSTL format in June.
MMA receiving the "Most Valuable Player" trophy
Game 1: SlayerS_Ryung vs MVPGenius
Two of the best players of each team stepped forth to open the series. Ryung was looking forward to prove that the Terran school of SlayerS is still the best while Blizzcon champion and GSL veteran Genius was craving for an important victory for his team.
Genius opened with a hidden Void Ray tech placed at Ryung's low-ground third. However, the Terran player had just enough marines and seeing that Genius decided to cancel the rush. Instead, he threw down an expansion and the game entered a phase of passivity with both players just massing up their armies.
The action resumed when Ryung pushed towards Genius's low-ground third but unfortunately had quite the wrong army mix. Lacking enough Ghosts, Ryung could not efficiently deny all the Sentries, HTs and Archons and was easily pushed back. A second attempt to storm the expansion came later but that actually cost him the game as Genius took the chance to chase down bio army and rip it to shreds with his superior tech.
The now buffed archons of Genius are chasing the remnants of Ryung's bio
Game 2: SlayerS_Min vs MVPGenius
SlayerS went for a Zerg player and a macro map for the second set and obviously they had something planned in advance. Seeing the Forge/Fast expand from Genius, Min went for a very quick third and delayed his gas to saturate his three mineral lines faster. Hitting a perfect timing, Min got his Lair and started Burrow and got both upgrades for his Roaches. He then exploded with surmounting army size (having almost twice the food as Genius) and stormed the natural of the Protoss. Neither the Blink tech nor all the Force Fields could stop Min's unrelenting Roach pressure and Genius crumbled down, surrendering the second set.
Force Fields do not really work on burrow Roaches
Game 3: SlayerS_Min vs MVPKeen
Keen opened the set with a strong mech play, going for double harass with Roaches and Banshees. Min, though, was prepared and had the necessary number of Roaches and Spore Crawlers to deny significant economy damage and successfully tech to Spire.
Just when Mutas popped out, Keen pushed forward with a small forces of Marines, 2 Banshees and a Thor but it all went horribly wrong as Zerg's forces managed to crush it without any problem and suddenly Keen had a ton of Roaches knocking down his wall. The Terran had to micro perfectly to fend off the counter rush as well as the follow-up baneling attack and after the smoke cleared he saw that he actually is not that much behind.
Meanwhile, Min took this opportunity to produce his Baneling anew and also get some Infestors out, having, in theory, the stronger army composition. As Keen moved forward for a push, it seemed that Min would be able to trample it like it is nothing but a slight (or rather quite huge!) micro mistake by Min cost him the series. He fungalled everything perfectly but the position of his banelings was initially bad and he could not deal the optimal amount of damage. Wasting all those precious stuns, Min's swarm was shot down without mercy.
Sadly, the banelings were a bit late to the party
Game 4: SlayerS_Frozen vs MVPKeen
Set 4, or "The game that will get Tal'Darim fixed" as it will be henceforth know, started as a (relatively) normal PvT with Frozen rushing for Blink (unusual but not unseen) and Keen going for fast stim into expansion (quite usual and often seen). The game suddenly broke down as Frozen threw down a proxy Pylon just south of the small low-ground below the terran natural. For a moment Doa was wondering if he could warp across the little piece of low-ground straight into the main. It turned out that you can't.
What you can, however, is gain vision of the main. Thus, you can blink your repulsively dangerous Stalker army in your enemy's face, kill the Tech Lab researching Stim, go around to snipe the bunkers at the front and thus win a GSTL game. Nice!
"Guys, I don't think I can jump over there..."
"Oh, ok, never mind then."
Game 5: SlayerS_Frozen vs MVPviOlet
Violet went for a crazy ling aggression right from the start, chewing down the initial pylon at the wall and, having wide eyes for victory, continued to stream down lings instead of pumping out Drones. By that time, however, a Void Ray was already out for Frozen and by the power of continuously repyloning his wall, he somehow managed to prevent the bust the Violet was hoping for.
The Zerg now started redroning but for some reason forgot to build Evolution Chamber in time to deflect the Void Rays...
And just like that the set was lost. Frozen's two Void Rays laid waste upon Violet's base, killing all the Queen, Spore Crawlers and later the natural hatch. Violet tried to comeback and struggled for another 10 minutes or so before finally crumbling down when Colossi came to blaze him off.
Not making spore crawlers can cause severe hatchery damage, loss of game sets and huge wave of embarrassment. Consult your coach before entering the booth
Game 6: Frozen vs GuineaPig
GuineaPig spawned as Zerg on Fortress and had to endure the heavy Phoenix/Void Ray harass by Frozen but not making Violet's mistake, he had Spores and enough Queens to chase away the pesky protoss fliers. Playing passively, GuineaPig pumped up his economy and once he hit Lair tech, he immediately went for Over speed and Over drop, obviously having a plan to bypass the frontal defenses of Frozen.
The doom drop came soon but it was nothing like July's hydra-only play in the GSL March finals. GuineaPig was taking it seriously, unleashing his full army of Roaches, Hydras and even Queens to transfuse any weakened units. In a blink of an eye, GuineaPig sniped the two Colossi of Frozen, leaving him at basic Gateway tech which was no match for the overwhelming masses of Zerg units. The score was tied once again.
Zerg doom drop in its full beauty
Game 7: SlayerS_Ganzi vs GuineaPig
I was wondering if we would see a normal game in this final GSTL series with all the blink and doom drop shenanigans. But Ganzi and GuineaPig played a very standard yet quite tense ZvT on Crossfire.
Ganzi's initial harass could not do enough damage and once his Hellions were denied a lot of drone kills, he pulled them back and transitioned to the usual Tank/Marine army. Abusing the architecture of Crossfire, Ganzi pushed towards Guinea's third and managed to take it down before Baneing speed kicked off. Put in dire straits, GuineaPig had to muster all his micro but even with it he couldn't deal with the constant drops, followed by a huge frontal bio push that eventually ended the game.
GuineaPig lost but how cool is THAT?!
Game 8: SlayerS_Ganzi vs MVPDongRaeGu
Ganzi must have felt confident when he approached the MVP bench and taunted DongRaeGu to come out and face him. Was he the DRG sniper that SlayerS prepared for this crusher of terran players?
By hiding all his opening tech at the third, Ganzi unleashed continuing waves of harass, opening with Hellions and then switching to Banshees. But I bet that the end result of killing exactly two drones did not meet Ganzi's expectations and so he went for a bit of an all-inish Marine/Tank/SCV push. And it looked scary and most Zergs would die to that but not DRG. Patiently waiting till the perfect moment, DRG tanked the initial tank fire with his Queens while pulling off a complete surround with his speedlings, tearing the Terran army to shreds and winning the set soon thereafter.
Apparently, three tanks, a banshee, some SCVs and a buttload of marines is nothing be scared of
Game 9: SlayerS_MMA vs MVPDongRaeGu
I honestly thought that SlayerS will send Alicia. Yeah, I know that MMA is their ace, but any coach would be scared of DRG's ZvT by now. After all, the Zerg underdog has so far crushed MarineKing, NaDa and Supernova - all of them established Terrans.
Obviously, SlayerS had faith in their star Terran and sent him to defend their title on Metalopolis.
Things soon took a wrong turn for MMA. DongRaeGu was expanding and macroing like crazy, stopping every attempt for Marine pressure. By the 16th minute mark, DRG was maxed, almost 60 supply ahead and on four hatcheries, looking forward to overwhelming the Terran base with one swift move.
Such an opportunity came soon as MMA moved out to deny the fourth base of DRG and seeing the push, the Zerg launched his maxed out army of Banes/Lings/Mutalisks. And that cost him the game.
MMA's perfect tank positioning sniped the majority of the banelings before they could get any closer. The mutas were now against an untouched army of marines and DRG had to pull them back if he was to save them. That cost him the fourth base and it all went downhill from there.
MMA's erratic multitasking kept denying DRG any further economy and held him at three bases while continuously withering down his forces. The MVP Zerg tried his best to get back in the game but being stripped of additional gazers, he could not produce a sufficient number of Infestors and/or Banelings. After a few minutes, he was knee-deep in enemy marines and had to surrender the final set, allowing SlayerS to win their second GSTL title.
When numbers count for nothing...
Team Slayers 5:4 Team MVP
Ryung< Genius@ Xel'Naga Caverns
Min> Genius@ Terminus
Min< Keen@ Crevasse
Frozen> Keen@ Tal'Darim Altar
Frozen> Violet@ Belshir Beach
Frozen< GuineaPig@ Xel'Naga Fortress
Ganzi> GuineaPin@ Crossfire
Ganzi< DongRaeGu@ Dual Sight
MMA> DongRaeGu@ Metalopolis
Thus, SlayerS will bring home another GSTL trophy. The team that was the biggest underdog in the first team league now continues to show one of the best decision making, utilizing its roster to the fullest. We are yet to see if they can show the same exceptional play come the new GSTL format in June.
MMA receiving the "Most Valuable Player" trophy
