Top 8 in GSL has always been a great honour for every player. And once again we see a foreigner reach this respected position, though he was to face a scary enemy to advance further. Many viewers tuned to GomTV to learn but a single answer - can HuK defeat reigning MLG champion MVP and advance to the semi finals.
Optimus vs Keen
Game 1 @ Dual Sight. Keen opened with a 1-base ghost rush but a sloppy micro mistake brought dead upon his ghost and he had to fall back quickly. Optimus took this opportunity to command a counter-attack and Keen was in trouble. To his delight, he had another two ghosts to help him defend and stay alive for a little longer.
However, everything else went bad for Keen: he failed his drop attempt and when he went on to take his third Optimus was there to deny it before the CC even landed. The rest of the game was just Optimus moving around the battlefield and crippling Keen's map control. An elevator attack put pressure on the production facilities and later a push down from the Northern watch tower destroyed the better part of Keen's marines. As his bases fell, Keen tapped out.
Game 2 @ Belshir Beach. After the cloak banshee mirror, Keen moved out first after his raven popped out but Optimus met him with a perfectly microed army of his own. Optimus chased the enemy units back to their home base and after minutes of siege pushing and banshee terror, Keen had to gg out.
Game 3 @ Xel'Naga Fortress. Optimus' cloak banshee opening got scouted and Keen had an easy time denying any damage to his economy. The prime terran further tried to win the game early and followed this up with a marine/tank rush but despite forcing a heavy repair on Keen's single bunker he could not surge further into enemy lines.
All Keen did after the pressure was over was turtle hard to get his third up and secure a healthy economy. Optimus tried times and times again to deny the additional base of his opponent but only crashed into heavy tank fire. Being one base behind and with inferior army, Optimus admitted defeat and the series would go into a fourth set.
Game 4 @ Terminus. Keen opened with a banshee and got a fast third behind this but took the questionable decision to move out despite being in an army disadvantage. His units got completely annihilated and he would lose the game on the spot was it not for the fresh reinforcements that popped out to chase Optimus' army away.
However, Optimus would not let go of the game that easily. He launched a second push from the lowground and elevated his marines straight upon Keen's production facilities. It was a complete checkmate and Optimus advanced to the semi-finals.
TOP vs Genius
Game 1 @ Xel'Naga Fortress. Genius opened with a void ray into expansion but as his fliers were greeted by bunkers and marines he decided to fall back and work on his economy. Not really TOP's plan, though, as the terran decided that 1-base pushing was the way to victory. However, his tank/marine pushes could not come too strong and were repelled times and times again while Genius' void ray count grew to a critical mass. The final push of TOP melted under blue energy and a gg followed.
Game 2 @ Dual Sight. Once again it was a 3-gate void ray opening into an expansion for Genius and he moved out to contain TOP with forcefields. TOP, though, waited patiently for his medivacs to pop out and elevated his forces down to chase Genius away, sniping three of his precious sentries. He carried on with his pursuit until Genius' base but he was stopped there as zealot charge kicked in.
TOP continued with aggression but relied mostly on multiple drops throughout the mid-game. Genius could not successfully defend all fronts so finally he decided that it's best to charge headlong into terran's army. Only he was greeted by countless EMPs that crippled his archons before they even reached the attack range and so Genius had to gg.
Game 3 @ Terminus. The game was passive for the better part of it, both players building up their armies. While TOP was still relying on bio army, Genius had switched to robo tech and the armies clashed around the 15-minute mark. Genius barely won the battle but a closer look to his bases gave up the real truth - TOP was once again using medivac drops to destroy Genius' economy and with no way to reinforce his army, the protoss GGed.
Game 4 @ Antiga Shipyard. The action packed fourth set on Antiga developed under a very similar scenario. Genius was constantly on the offensive, moving around the map with his big archon/gateway/colossus ball, trying to deny TOP's expansion who were blooming all over the place. But TOP had settled up a nice defenses, building up planetaries to fortify important chokes and once again used multi-pronged drops to peal apart Genius for third time in a row. Nexuses, tech, pylons - there was no impossible target for TOP's marauders to snipe and after 30 minutes of trying to get an army advantage, Genius tapped out.
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MVP vs HuK
Game 1 @ Dual Sight. The quick first game ended at MVP's 1-base marine/tank push. HuK, who was just saturating his natural, had insufficient amount of sentries (or any other battle units for that matter) and had to gg out.
Game 2 @ Metalopolis. In order to exploit the close-by-air positions, HuK opened with a 3-gate void ray into expand but his harassment was denied by MVP's bunkers and tanks. The Korean then went on the counter offensive and HuK found himself in trouble - MVP's tanks were sieged at his lowground and the marines kept being elevated into his main. At one point, even a bunker was started and HuK understood that he was in an unwinnable position. He tapped out and made the score 2-0 in MVP's favor.
Game 3 @ Antiga Shipyard. MVP turtled up hard behind his bunkers until his bio upgrades kicked off. He then moved out on the map and started taking bases around the top while successfully matching HuK's army with a favorable to him ratio. During those end-game moments did MVP's macro shine to its best. After every engagement, HuK's supply fell further apart from his opponent and so did the number of his bases. To draw the full picture of destruction, MVP constantly dropped units to snipe HuK's tech - even during heated battles - so when the bulk of the protoss army got destroyed, HuK tapped out and fell out of GSL August.
July vs Ryung
Game 1 @ Daybreak. Ryung opened with a fast expo into hellions but July's fast roach tech put a hold on the early preigniter aggression as Ryung's army was forced to stay home and defend the SCVs.
The only victory that Ryung won during this first set was successfully denying July's fourth for a short time. But once July's macro went back on track it was lights out for the SlayerS terran - July's scent for blood was insatiable and he sent innumerable waves of roaches, mutas and banelings at Ryung's expansion. The young terran crumbled under the heavy pressure and when banelings blew half his SCVs at the natural, he had to tap out.
Game 2 @ Terminus. July's fury could not be contained in the second set either. Ryung tried to do a funky build, going double starport raven along with his bio army, while July was going all standard - drowning amounts of zerg units that kept ryung to his side of the map and when he finally reached hive, several ultralisks popped out to become Ryung's biggest nightmare. The bio army was pushed back as far as Ryung's natural and the score was 2-0 for the zerg player.
Game 3 @ Antiga Shipyard. Ryung geared for an early expand but once again July struck early with low-econ roach/ling rush and after he successfully bottled Ryung up in his main, he switched back to droning and took a third at 6 o'clock.
However, it was Ryung's time to shine now. His tank/marine push caught July in the middle of building his muta army. There were no banelings or infestors for July so he tried to trade bases with his fliers, but the marines' dps was too much. The zerg tapped out.
Game 4 @ Belshir Beach. In the fourth set, Ryung a page out of July's book and went for early blood, doing a 1-base marine/tank/hellion rush. July tried to stall it with his muta flock until he can get any suitable tech out but Ryung's reinforcements seemed neverending and the God of War had to gg.
Game 5 @ Metalopolis. This game was your standard everyday ZvT. July opened with a big macro play, taking a quick third and continuing to expand further, while keeping Ryung occupied with constant muta harass. As Ryung took his third, he moved out to attack July's fourth but the zerg counter attacked with his maxed baneling/muta/ling army. Ryung was forced to pull back which gave July enough time to get his ultralisk tech going. Once he remaxed, July struck for the jugular and forced out a GG. The God of War was the fourth semi-finalist in Code S August.
Optimus vs Keen
Game 1 @ Dual Sight. Keen opened with a 1-base ghost rush but a sloppy micro mistake brought dead upon his ghost and he had to fall back quickly. Optimus took this opportunity to command a counter-attack and Keen was in trouble. To his delight, he had another two ghosts to help him defend and stay alive for a little longer.
However, everything else went bad for Keen: he failed his drop attempt and when he went on to take his third Optimus was there to deny it before the CC even landed. The rest of the game was just Optimus moving around the battlefield and crippling Keen's map control. An elevator attack put pressure on the production facilities and later a push down from the Northern watch tower destroyed the better part of Keen's marines. As his bases fell, Keen tapped out.
Game 2 @ Belshir Beach. After the cloak banshee mirror, Keen moved out first after his raven popped out but Optimus met him with a perfectly microed army of his own. Optimus chased the enemy units back to their home base and after minutes of siege pushing and banshee terror, Keen had to gg out.
Game 3 @ Xel'Naga Fortress. Optimus' cloak banshee opening got scouted and Keen had an easy time denying any damage to his economy. The prime terran further tried to win the game early and followed this up with a marine/tank rush but despite forcing a heavy repair on Keen's single bunker he could not surge further into enemy lines.
All Keen did after the pressure was over was turtle hard to get his third up and secure a healthy economy. Optimus tried times and times again to deny the additional base of his opponent but only crashed into heavy tank fire. Being one base behind and with inferior army, Optimus admitted defeat and the series would go into a fourth set.
Game 4 @ Terminus. Keen opened with a banshee and got a fast third behind this but took the questionable decision to move out despite being in an army disadvantage. His units got completely annihilated and he would lose the game on the spot was it not for the fresh reinforcements that popped out to chase Optimus' army away.
However, Optimus would not let go of the game that easily. He launched a second push from the lowground and elevated his marines straight upon Keen's production facilities. It was a complete checkmate and Optimus advanced to the semi-finals.
TOP vs Genius
Game 1 @ Xel'Naga Fortress. Genius opened with a void ray into expansion but as his fliers were greeted by bunkers and marines he decided to fall back and work on his economy. Not really TOP's plan, though, as the terran decided that 1-base pushing was the way to victory. However, his tank/marine pushes could not come too strong and were repelled times and times again while Genius' void ray count grew to a critical mass. The final push of TOP melted under blue energy and a gg followed.
Game 2 @ Dual Sight. Once again it was a 3-gate void ray opening into an expansion for Genius and he moved out to contain TOP with forcefields. TOP, though, waited patiently for his medivacs to pop out and elevated his forces down to chase Genius away, sniping three of his precious sentries. He carried on with his pursuit until Genius' base but he was stopped there as zealot charge kicked in.
TOP continued with aggression but relied mostly on multiple drops throughout the mid-game. Genius could not successfully defend all fronts so finally he decided that it's best to charge headlong into terran's army. Only he was greeted by countless EMPs that crippled his archons before they even reached the attack range and so Genius had to gg.
Game 3 @ Terminus. The game was passive for the better part of it, both players building up their armies. While TOP was still relying on bio army, Genius had switched to robo tech and the armies clashed around the 15-minute mark. Genius barely won the battle but a closer look to his bases gave up the real truth - TOP was once again using medivac drops to destroy Genius' economy and with no way to reinforce his army, the protoss GGed.
Game 4 @ Antiga Shipyard. The action packed fourth set on Antiga developed under a very similar scenario. Genius was constantly on the offensive, moving around the map with his big archon/gateway/colossus ball, trying to deny TOP's expansion who were blooming all over the place. But TOP had settled up a nice defenses, building up planetaries to fortify important chokes and once again used multi-pronged drops to peal apart Genius for third time in a row. Nexuses, tech, pylons - there was no impossible target for TOP's marauders to snipe and after 30 minutes of trying to get an army advantage, Genius tapped out.
>a href='https://static.aayyy.com/topic/v/00/f4/e2/7fa30317e58a535dee6b6ea07f85cbba77a2fe2761db346949c19b0d9e.jpg'>
MVP vs HuK
Game 1 @ Dual Sight. The quick first game ended at MVP's 1-base marine/tank push. HuK, who was just saturating his natural, had insufficient amount of sentries (or any other battle units for that matter) and had to gg out.
Game 2 @ Metalopolis. In order to exploit the close-by-air positions, HuK opened with a 3-gate void ray into expand but his harassment was denied by MVP's bunkers and tanks. The Korean then went on the counter offensive and HuK found himself in trouble - MVP's tanks were sieged at his lowground and the marines kept being elevated into his main. At one point, even a bunker was started and HuK understood that he was in an unwinnable position. He tapped out and made the score 2-0 in MVP's favor.
Game 3 @ Antiga Shipyard. MVP turtled up hard behind his bunkers until his bio upgrades kicked off. He then moved out on the map and started taking bases around the top while successfully matching HuK's army with a favorable to him ratio. During those end-game moments did MVP's macro shine to its best. After every engagement, HuK's supply fell further apart from his opponent and so did the number of his bases. To draw the full picture of destruction, MVP constantly dropped units to snipe HuK's tech - even during heated battles - so when the bulk of the protoss army got destroyed, HuK tapped out and fell out of GSL August.
July vs Ryung
Game 1 @ Daybreak. Ryung opened with a fast expo into hellions but July's fast roach tech put a hold on the early preigniter aggression as Ryung's army was forced to stay home and defend the SCVs.
The only victory that Ryung won during this first set was successfully denying July's fourth for a short time. But once July's macro went back on track it was lights out for the SlayerS terran - July's scent for blood was insatiable and he sent innumerable waves of roaches, mutas and banelings at Ryung's expansion. The young terran crumbled under the heavy pressure and when banelings blew half his SCVs at the natural, he had to tap out.
Game 2 @ Terminus. July's fury could not be contained in the second set either. Ryung tried to do a funky build, going double starport raven along with his bio army, while July was going all standard - drowning amounts of zerg units that kept ryung to his side of the map and when he finally reached hive, several ultralisks popped out to become Ryung's biggest nightmare. The bio army was pushed back as far as Ryung's natural and the score was 2-0 for the zerg player.
Game 3 @ Antiga Shipyard. Ryung geared for an early expand but once again July struck early with low-econ roach/ling rush and after he successfully bottled Ryung up in his main, he switched back to droning and took a third at 6 o'clock.
However, it was Ryung's time to shine now. His tank/marine push caught July in the middle of building his muta army. There were no banelings or infestors for July so he tried to trade bases with his fliers, but the marines' dps was too much. The zerg tapped out.
Game 4 @ Belshir Beach. In the fourth set, Ryung a page out of July's book and went for early blood, doing a 1-base marine/tank/hellion rush. July tried to stall it with his muta flock until he can get any suitable tech out but Ryung's reinforcements seemed neverending and the God of War had to gg.
Game 5 @ Metalopolis. This game was your standard everyday ZvT. July opened with a big macro play, taking a quick third and continuing to expand further, while keeping Ryung occupied with constant muta harass. As Ryung took his third, he moved out to attack July's fourth but the zerg counter attacked with his maxed baneling/muta/ling army. Ryung was forced to pull back which gave July enough time to get his ultralisk tech going. Once he remaxed, July struck for the jugular and forced out a GG. The God of War was the fourth semi-finalist in Code S August.
