Gatored. Photo: TeamLiquid.netUSA semi professional Benjamin "Gatored" Brewer of It's Gosu sported a very effective warp prism strategy against group stage opponents Eugin "Strelok" Oparyshev and Su Ho "DongRaeGu" Park to come out 2-1 in each set after the first day of the Intel Extreme Masters Thursday.

Homefield Protoss stun New York - advances to playoff
IEM NY Group B Results DongRaeGu 2-1 5-3
Gatored 2-1 4-4
 Strelok 1-2 4-4
StrifeCro 1-2 2-4
StrifeCro 2-0 Gatored
Strelok 1-2 DongRaeGu
Gatored 2-1 DongRaeGu
Strelok 2-0 StrifeCro
Strelok 1-2 Gatored
StrifeCro 0-2 DongRaeGu

DongRaeGu. Photo: TeamLiquid.netThe American Protoss stood thus for the upset of today as he advanced on the expense of "Strelok" and "StrifeCro" in the B group. Despite a victory over "DongRaeGu" the homefield Protoss was not able to claim the top spot in the group due to a worse overall map score than his Korean competitor.

"Gatored" was able to withstand the a bit too late zergling-infestor bust by "DongRaeGu" in the first game to finish the game off with a standard but fierce colossi, sentry, stalker army on the grounds of Shattered Temple.

The Korean Zerg could bounce back on the second game played on Dual Sight by defending well to Gatored's adrenalinic all-in push.

But it was on game three that Gatored showed his warp prism play and force field laydowns. Gatored went for a fast expansion to move into a double stargate plan while he saw his opponent go speedlings.

As six phoenixes had warped in for "Gatored" he roamed the Zerg base and sniped off all of the Korean player's queens effectively hindering any larvae injections.

The nail in the coffin was the warp prism that warped in zealots and sentries inside the base of "DongRaeGu". With well-timed force fields at the ramp to the natural expansion, the warpgate units could roam free in the Zerg main.


"DongRaeGu" attempted to counter-attack with roaches and hydralisks, but "Gatored's" natural expansion was well defended, especially when the phoenixes flew home to lift up and take out the remaining hydralisks.

Effective warp prism zealot drop kills 18 SCVs and Strelok's playoff chances"Gatored" brought forth his warp prism in the third and deciding game against "Strelok" after two standard Terran bio-ball against Protoss robo/warp gate army games. It was on close positions on Shattered Temple. "Gatored" rushed to a warp prism filled with four zealots to fly over to "Strelok's" very much so undefended base. Having gone for a fast command center and a tech up to cloaked banshees, "Strelok" had a rough time against the sudden zealot attack and lost 18 workers in the process before he could wipe the Protoss forces out with his banshees.

Heavily ahead, "Gatored" continued with a second warp prism, and sealed the deal when he warped in the much needed stalkers to eliminate the scary but yet insufficient air troop of "Strelok".

One Dignitee pull through but must change name after agreement
IEM NY Group A Results
Killer 2-1 5-3
KiLLeR 2-1 5-3
 SjoW 1-2 3-4
Attero 1-2 2-5
SjoW 1-2 KiLLeR
Attero 2-1 Killer
KiLLeR 1-2 Killer
SjoW 2-0 Attero
KiLLeR 2-0 Attero
SjoW 0-2 Killer

KiLLeR, Killer Photo: GosuGamers.net, TeamLiquid.netSweden's Jeffrey "SjoW" Brusi, Pipe "KiLLeR" Zuñiga of Chile, Canada's Andrew "Attero" Golec and Sang Ho "Killer" Shin of South Korea were featured in group A, which saw the two killers advance through.

ESL TV shoutcasters Kevin "RotterdaM" van der Kooi and Ben "MrBitter" Nichol came on the stream after an hour's downtime due to bandwidth issues in New York, to bring the viewers a battle of killers. The Dutch caster van der Kooi revealed that the Chilean and the Korean not only played for the survival and good seed-in for the playoffs, but also for the player handle.

And it turned out so that "KiLLeR" will be the one to change his name after his Korean namesake efficiently won game one and three with fast nexus play into phoenix and void rays.

"KiLLeR" did however impress the onlookers with a quick tech switch on the second game played out on Tal'Darim Altar as he heaved 11 mutalisks up in the sky after having showed "Killer" nothing but roaches and zerglings.

The Korean Protoss took some heavy hits in the mineral line, having lost up to 30 probes to the sniping mutalisks only to be followed up with a throng of roaches taking out the majority of "Killer's" stalker and colossi mix.


More action tomorrow with FruitDealer, TOP and MaNaIntel Extreme Masters Global Challenge stop in New York at ComicCon continues tomorrow with groups C and D with players like "MaNa", "TOP", "FruitDealer", "elfittaja" and many more. For the full scope visit our Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge New York coverage page with a full schedule, news reel and social media updates.

» EXTERNAL: Download the replays from groups A and B!