Representatives of every race managed to find their way to the semi-finals of Code A, bringing marginally more diversity than last season. Who would advance to the grand final, though, remained to be seen.
Leenock vs Tassadar
Xel'Naga Caverns: As neither player took aggressive actions during the mid-game, the match transitioned into a very tense macro stalemate with both armies maneuvering around the center, looking for the best way to engage. Each of the sides had strong tier 3 armies with Leenock going for hydra/infestor/brood lord with overlorded banelings and Tassadar relying on blink/storm/colossi as his force of choice.
Leenock was the first to move forward, swarming down towards Tassadar's gold and the zerg unleashed all hell, dropping banelings all over the stalkers and clearing the rest with his brood lords and hydras. Tassadar tried to warp in some additional units but with the broods barely injured, it was all lights out for him.
Dual Sight: Tassadar opened with very quick dark shrine into expand but Leenock managed to read the build by seeing the small sentry count. The zerg forced a cancel with his lings and fled back to stop the templars. However, those managed to do quite a bit of damage, forcing the drones to reposition and severely damaging the hatchery and killing it with the follow up archon/zealot/sentry timing attack.
Leenock tried to get back in the game by instantly rebuilding his natural and adding a third right after that, but another protoss attack was already on the way. The third of the zerg had to be cancelled and soon the natural was under pressure but the fungals were there to save it.
Somehow, Leenock managed to stabilize and even reach hive tech but instead of both armies engaging in an epic clash like set 1, they passed each other and a base race was under way. After a few minutes of cat-and-mouse games, Tassadar killed the only hatch of Leenock, saw where the last zerg building is and marched towards it for the win.
Terminus: Tassadar opened with fast nexus into Void Ray and fueled the air aggression with some Phoenixes and throwing in a pinch of zealots every once in a while. Uncharacteristically of him, Leenock seemed to choke, barely making any units for defence which allowed the zealots to slaughter innocent drones without much trouble. By the 10th minute, Tassadar had killed more than 20 workers. He followed that with a charge timing attack to seize the third set.
Tal'Darim Altar: Leenock attempted a version of NesTea's spine crawler rush but only got a forge and a gateway down before he was cleaned by Tassadar's army. The protoss, who was going stargate and dark shrine during the attack, was now on the move, trying to establish map control with his mobile units but Leenock was quick to react and prevented any serious damage to his economy.
The zerg was quick to take his fourth but was soon forced to engage in a fight at the center as Tassadar's massive stalker army (now with blink!) moved forth with the good intention to obliterate the zerg resistance. Leenock crushed the first wave but more blinkers were underway. Being shoved in a fight without having enough time to get his brood lords ready, Leenock lost the fourth set; Tassadar would advance to the Code A grand final.
Puzzle vs Happy
Dual Sight: Happy opened with banshee into preigniter hellion into mech, a build that baffled even the caster duo qxc/Wolf. The terran managed to deal some nice damage at the protoss natural but reluctantly discovered that Puzzle was going for a very strong immortal timing attack that just ran him over.
Belshir Beach: Happy went for a 2-rax/SCV all-in but Puzzle barely defended with his probes and stalkers and Happy was in trouble. He tried to fall back and bunker up so he could probably transition into some kind of stable mid-game. Puzzle would not allow that to happen as he immediately threw down a twilight council and blinked forward to the victory.
Terminus: The two-base sentry pressure put Happy far behind in the supply count but he succeeded in staying alive till stim was done. Puzzle pushed again and Happy stimmed forward to hunt down the sentries but was immediately trapped by force fields. He loaded the marines in a medivac so he could reposition his army but Puzzle was quick to snipe it, putting the terran into an unwinnable situation. Code A would end with a PvP grand final.
Code A July Semi finals
Leenock 1:3 Tassadar
Leenock> Tassadar@ Xel'Naga Caverns
Leenock< Tassadar@ Dual Sight
Leenock< Tassadar@ Terminus
Leenock< Tassadar@ Tal'Darim Altar
Puzzle 3:0 Happy
Puzzle> Happy@ Dual Sight
Puzzle> Happy@ Belshir Beach
Puzzle> Happy@ Terminus
Leenock vs Tassadar
Xel'Naga Caverns: As neither player took aggressive actions during the mid-game, the match transitioned into a very tense macro stalemate with both armies maneuvering around the center, looking for the best way to engage. Each of the sides had strong tier 3 armies with Leenock going for hydra/infestor/brood lord with overlorded banelings and Tassadar relying on blink/storm/colossi as his force of choice.
Leenock was the first to move forward, swarming down towards Tassadar's gold and the zerg unleashed all hell, dropping banelings all over the stalkers and clearing the rest with his brood lords and hydras. Tassadar tried to warp in some additional units but with the broods barely injured, it was all lights out for him.
Dual Sight: Tassadar opened with very quick dark shrine into expand but Leenock managed to read the build by seeing the small sentry count. The zerg forced a cancel with his lings and fled back to stop the templars. However, those managed to do quite a bit of damage, forcing the drones to reposition and severely damaging the hatchery and killing it with the follow up archon/zealot/sentry timing attack.
Leenock tried to get back in the game by instantly rebuilding his natural and adding a third right after that, but another protoss attack was already on the way. The third of the zerg had to be cancelled and soon the natural was under pressure but the fungals were there to save it.
Somehow, Leenock managed to stabilize and even reach hive tech but instead of both armies engaging in an epic clash like set 1, they passed each other and a base race was under way. After a few minutes of cat-and-mouse games, Tassadar killed the only hatch of Leenock, saw where the last zerg building is and marched towards it for the win.
Terminus: Tassadar opened with fast nexus into Void Ray and fueled the air aggression with some Phoenixes and throwing in a pinch of zealots every once in a while. Uncharacteristically of him, Leenock seemed to choke, barely making any units for defence which allowed the zealots to slaughter innocent drones without much trouble. By the 10th minute, Tassadar had killed more than 20 workers. He followed that with a charge timing attack to seize the third set.
Tal'Darim Altar: Leenock attempted a version of NesTea's spine crawler rush but only got a forge and a gateway down before he was cleaned by Tassadar's army. The protoss, who was going stargate and dark shrine during the attack, was now on the move, trying to establish map control with his mobile units but Leenock was quick to react and prevented any serious damage to his economy.
The zerg was quick to take his fourth but was soon forced to engage in a fight at the center as Tassadar's massive stalker army (now with blink!) moved forth with the good intention to obliterate the zerg resistance. Leenock crushed the first wave but more blinkers were underway. Being shoved in a fight without having enough time to get his brood lords ready, Leenock lost the fourth set; Tassadar would advance to the Code A grand final.
Puzzle vs Happy
Dual Sight: Happy opened with banshee into preigniter hellion into mech, a build that baffled even the caster duo qxc/Wolf. The terran managed to deal some nice damage at the protoss natural but reluctantly discovered that Puzzle was going for a very strong immortal timing attack that just ran him over.
Belshir Beach: Happy went for a 2-rax/SCV all-in but Puzzle barely defended with his probes and stalkers and Happy was in trouble. He tried to fall back and bunker up so he could probably transition into some kind of stable mid-game. Puzzle would not allow that to happen as he immediately threw down a twilight council and blinked forward to the victory.
Terminus: The two-base sentry pressure put Happy far behind in the supply count but he succeeded in staying alive till stim was done. Puzzle pushed again and Happy stimmed forward to hunt down the sentries but was immediately trapped by force fields. He loaded the marines in a medivac so he could reposition his army but Puzzle was quick to snipe it, putting the terran into an unwinnable situation. Code A would end with a PvP grand final.
Code A July Semi finals
Leenock 1:3 Tassadar
Leenock> Tassadar@ Xel'Naga Caverns
Leenock< Tassadar@ Dual Sight
Leenock< Tassadar@ Terminus
Leenock< Tassadar@ Tal'Darim Altar
Puzzle 3:0 Happy
Puzzle> Happy@ Dual Sight
Puzzle> Happy@ Belshir Beach
Puzzle> Happy@ Terminus
