Three mighty terrans and a very young but extremely talented zerg - that was what Group D offered but since when does anyone need more than four sickly good players going at each others' throats.

Ganzi vs Ensnare @ Belshir Beach

Both terrans mirrored each other with 1-rax CC into starport openings right up to the last part. Ganzi's starport started medivac production - a strong indication of bio build - while Ensnare's proxied one spat out a banshee.

Early engagements went into no player's favor: Ganzi's initial bio attack was pushed back and so was Ensnare's banshee. The equality of the whole vista, however, was shaken by the way Ensnare handled his mech tech, in completely the wrong way that is.

For some unspoken reason, Ensnare insisted on moving out times and times again with a diminutive tank/hellion army only to fall victim to Ganzi's marauders for the umpteenth time. The supply advantage for Ganzi escalated to unbeatable proportions and the SlayerS terran scored an early victory in his group.

Leenock vs Polt @ Calm Before the Storm

Leenock opened with double evo before lair and rushed to +1/+1 for his melee units but a 2-base timing attack by Polt thrashed his hopes for brighter future. Leenock barely stayed alive for a while longer but the finely tuned engine that is Polt's macro was ever ticking.

The stream of bio units shook the foundations of CbtS and Leenock, still only on three bases, had no means to produce and maintain a counter-efficient high-tier army. His ultralisks came and died by the few and not a single fungal connected properly, leading to an uncontested victory for Polt.


Two ultralisks are never much of a threat

Polt vs Ganzi @ Crossfire

This high octane game told a tale of destruction: for 30 minutes there was not a single moment when armies weren't traded, expansions destroyed, contains broken, tanks and medivacs killed and drops cleaned.

The final battle ensued when Polt caught many of Ganzi's tanks unsieged and sprinted forward to snipe as many of them as possible. Tastosis uttered a scream of admiration but few seconds later they had to redirect it to Ganzi - the SlayerS terran had flown over Polt's marines (most of them now dead) and had cleaned Polt's medivacs to make the army trade sway hugely in his favor. With 40 supply and one base behind, Polt had no other choice but to surrender himself to Ganzi.


The winning blow for Polt you would say? Well, as it appeared, not quite so.

Leenock vs Ensnare @ Daybreak

The game started funny although not for each player's workers. The reactor hellions of Ensnare burned down close to 15 drones but a baneling counter by Leenock put the score even and the match transitioned to your everyday ZvT.

Players kept trading armies and playing ring around the rosie around Daybreak until eventually Leeock caught a marine/tank push that was going for his third. Some baneling explosions, Leenock was up 50 supply and Ensnare was in all sorts of trouble. His marine count was way below the optimal number and thus he had to endure the slow and painful death under Leenock's mutalisk flock.

Leenock vs Polt @ Antiga Shipyard

Leenock caught another fat meal by just sitting around the old shipyard, fishin' for them macro terrans. Polt opened with a reactor hellion into a 2-base push but arrived at the worst possible time - just as baneling speed finished for Leenock. Polt walked right into zerg's embrace and was perfectly surrounded for a nice clean-up. Leenock used this victory to power up drones and set up map control with his mutalisks and speedlings, delaying any follow-up push that Polt tried to orchestrate.

One must really give it to Leenock for winning the game by staying on tier 2 only and displaying one of the most careful and calculated mutalisk micros a zerg can do. Keeping each flier of his alive for as long as possible, Leenock's flock kept growing while Polt's tanks kept getting sniped until only his marine force was left standing. And that, as we all know, is never enough in a TvZ.


Screenshotting marines dying a green death will never get dull

Code S November Group D standings
Ganzi20To Code S Ro16
Leenock21To Code S Ro16
Polt12To Code A Ro32
Ensnare02To Code A Ro48


Editorial Verbiage

Code S has been in this state for quite a while now: the state of tournament favorites and long-proven players getting eliminated early on. The GSL has evolved from phase where the big bugs smashed and tore apart the little flies unquestionably up to the point where these tiny flies grew up enough to punch the big praying mantis in the face.

This is how we see Polt falling at the hands of Leenock - a zerg player I have long admired but who was constantly trying to stay out of the Code A web and fought furiously for his life whenever he landed there. This ZvT came as the delicious desert after the big clash between Polt and Ganzi - the two terrans who were considered the top two finishers-to-be in Group D. It was a classic finale - one of the big bugs is defeated and crawls back to his lair to rejuvenate itself but instead gets mauled down harshly by the alleged prey.

If we are to extend the insect metaphors a bit further (not that Polt is some kind of a bug, which I know for certain because he does not trigger my phobia every time I see him on screen), the TSL terran has landed amidst the locust swarm of Code A. And those guys would eat you alive, I tell you!