Written by mYm.Alpine, edited by GosuGamers.
The first game of the 2nd Master of The Races began with FanatiC.SquaLL commanding his normal Zerg, and this week's challenger, oG)Fayth, playing as protoss. As with last time, the first map was defaulted again to Rush Hour III. SquaLL was given the lower left spawn location, while Fayth set up at the middle right. SquaLL began with sending out his first overlord in the northward direction, giving Fayth a little extra time to let his strategy unfold before it being known. Fayth, began with a pylon at the bottom of his Main Base Ramp (MBR), and then allowed his probe to go on a scouting mission, in counterclockwise fashion. Soon after, another probe was rallied to this position to begin the warping in of a Gateway & a forge. With these two buildings set, it was certain that Fayth was going for a fast expand, trying to even up the odds against the great macro of SquaLL. Meanwhile, across the map, SquaLL was also opting for a fast expand, taking his natural and completing a spawning pool in his main. The ravaging lings came out as always, wanting blood to spill, and headed out towards the southern bridge to his natural. The lings rampaged forward across the south of the map, and came across the bridge to Fayth's natural, halting briefly for a moment near the minerals. SquaLL had then realized that the minerals had indeed been taken already, and cannons were now in place, making probe-stalking an impossible task. Now with a few zealot warrior out, Fayth decided to go on his own mission to the zerg natural. Sending three of the most prepared zealots southward, they began their journey.
Reaver wreaking havoc among the mining drones
Upon reaching the zerg natural however, they were engulfed by zerglings, and fire up from afar by acid-spitting Hydralisks, forcing them to run back. Only two made it however, and SquaLL's now speedlings were hot on their tail. Seeing his opporunity now, SquaLL morphed some of the hydras into Lurkers! At this point, he also send two drones northward from his natural to the 9 o'clock lower minerals, placing two hatcheries within mining distance. He now moved in on the toss base with a group of lurkers/lings and found a soft spot where the lurkers could not be hit. Knowing that Fayth had not teched to observers yet proved invaluable for SquaLL's invisible harassment. But soon after, the first of Fayth's Corsairs came out and began hunting down overlords, as well as his first shuttle. SquaLL was able to take down a pylon at the expansion of Fayth, but that was about it. Just then, the first Reavers came out, and took care of the attack, and also was loaded into a shuttle, along with two zealots, now en route for the zerg natural. When it arrived, completely unseen, the zealots came out first, to prevent the nearby sunken colony from wreaking havoc on the slow moving reaver. But, when the reaver was dropped, it was chaos for the mining drones, killing most, and forcing the others to run for their lives! It was picked up again, and moved into the main where it was able to take down many more drones, and a legion of zerglings that moved in on it. Fayth had now done some major damage, but SquaLL, with 5 hatcheries was undaunted and began pumping drones to replace those that fell. Fayth now again had another shuttle in waiting, filled with two reavers this time. He swiftly send the speed-shuttle over to the natural and main, again taking down many drones in the effort before the shuttle had to run away, with scourge hot on it's afterburners! Reaching the natural of Fayth just in time for cannons to take out the scourge, the shuttle quickly reloaded with another reaver/dual zealot group, and headed across the map to the upcoming 9 o'clock high ground expansion attempt by SquaLL.
"A storm of hydra spit and lurker spine!"
With this offense being put to use, Fayth expanded to the top right of the map, sending a group of 12 probes up from his natural, directly under an overlord en route to the new mining base. Just as this began happening however, SquaLL also had a drop in mind. He began sending units of hydras & lurkers to the bottom right of the map along with some overlords. Quickly the lords were filled, and sent towards the main base minerals of Fayth. Simultaneously Fayth was preventing the 9 expansion attempt of SquaLL, forcing SquaLL to push onward with his own overlord drop, reaching the limits of the protoss base, and unleashing a storm of hydra spit & lurker spine! Fayth was forced to move his army from the lower natural plains up the ramp, and into the clustered base. All the probes were raised to the ground before Fayth could act, and the remaining zerg forcing quickly loaded into their overlords and headed northward once again. Noticing the toss expo at the top of the map, SquaLL tried to drop one of the lords there, but it failed as 2 cannons just had warped in, taking out the two lurkers in the overlord. Fayth was now feeling pretty happy I would say, and he moved out to expand at the natural of the top right base. SquaLL however, saw it and rallied a group of zerglings to race across the map to stop it; they succeeded before they could be killed off by the incoming zealots. Fayth now sent all of his forces around the south of the map, just as SquaLL began sending all of his units around the north of the map. It seemed as though we were in for a major assault! Fayth arrived first, hitting hard at the zerg natural and meeting with stiff resistance, which was put down quickly by a ton of psi storm erupting across the screen! SquaLL had now attacked the top right base of Fayth and had destroyed most of the probes, but due to having to stop the annhilation of his own base, he seemed to leave the offensive unchecked, and Fayth was able to take it down. Now Fayth continued on his rampage into the zerg main at the bottom left, taking out everything in sight in some great battles. He then moved northward towards the burgening bases at the 9 o'clock region. Using a shuttle to drop a battalion of zealots atop the ramp to 9, Fayth was able to knock out the protective sunken, allowing his main force to move up the ramp, and hold the high ground from SquaLL. At this point, SquaLL could do nothing to stop the assault, as psi storm & archon/goon blasts erupted causing impunitive damage to the zerg forcing before they could even get in range of the toss force atop the hill. Psi storm blasts continued erupting back and forth, and SquaLL was forced to type a GG. Fayth 1:0 SquaLL!
Download The Replay: Here!
With the score now 1:0 in Fayth's favor, we enter the 2nd game of the showmatch. SquaLL quickly chose Gaia as his next battleground, with the hopes of evening up the score. SquaLL spawned at the bottom base, and Fayth at the top. These positions will give both players some time early on without having to worry about scout harassment. SquaLL began with a fast expand & scout build like in Game #1, while Fayth played this one a little more reserved. He opted for the normal pylon-in-main-with-gate build initially. When his first zealot finally came out, it went straight to the base of SquaLL and began scouting around inside, before finally being taken out by zerglings. Opposite the map, SquaLL was still scouting out the base of Fayth before his drone was put down by a lone Dragoon on seek-and-destroy mode. Fayth now clogged his ramp with two zealots, and SquaLL began massing his zerglings at his main. Also, a hydra den was added at the natural and hydras began being pumped out. Fayth however, was doing his patented Dark Templar drop, and the shuttle was now en route to SquaLL's main base.
"...taking them all out in 2 beautiful psi storm"
A corsair was sent out ahead of it to seek out and destroy any overlords within view, allowing the DT's to destroy the drones with ease. The shuttle now approached, and just as the DT's landed, an overlord came out of an egg giving vision to the field for a group of hydras. Fayth acted quickly, taking out about 6 drones before forced to run away from the incoming overlord, and then the hydras did what they came to do, shot down the invisible warriors from safe distances. The shuttle then made it's saddened return to the natural of Fayth, which he had now expanded to during the offensive chaos. Now with hydras out of his main, SquaLL immediately sent them upward towards the natural bridge of Fayth. Once they reached it, they realized that Fayth had expanded here, and high templars were guarding the position; the hydras stood still, knowing nothing could be done for the time being. Just as this was occuring, another shuttle was being loaded up with high templars. That shuttle again headed southward towards the main of SquaLL but was seen by an incoming group of hydras, and Fayth was forced to scramble it towards the natural instead. Here he stormed on the helpless drones, taking them all out in 2 beautiful psi storm, before loading the ht's back into the shuttle, and heading back for home. SquaLL, however, perfectly timed it so two scourge passed the shuttle up, and then dived in on it, taking it out once and for all! With drops now out of possibility for the time being, Fayth now moved out in full force.
Groups of zealots/hts/goons headed across the middle of the main map, being met by a massive defensive of hydras/lings/lurkers! Battle erupted on the plains north of SquaLL 2nd natural, which was now up and running. Psi storm flew, lurkers burrowed, full battle was engaged. When the smoke cleared from the field, it was SquaLL, with his never-ending rally of units that came out on top, forcing the 2 remaining dragoons of Fayth to run for their lives back to the toss natural. SquaLL now secured the right side of the map as well, now have 3 expansions to Fayth's 1. Fayth now moved to expand at the 7 o'clock main base, putting down a defense of cannons atop the ramp firstly, then secondly a nexus. Fortunately for SquaLL, his nearby overlord was more then prepared to see it there, and two lords were quickly filled with hydras and sent to take down the expansion. At the same time, opposite the map, Fayth was now moving out in full force again, attacking towards yet another SquaLL expo a the top right's natural base. Fayth found himself in a world of hurt however, as he moved into the natural plain, being followed and hit from all sides by zerg forces. The dragoons were helpless, but Fayth showed some ridiculous micro, taking out about twice as many hydras as he should have, before the goons were finally put down.
Massive drops SquaLL's plan
Switching to the main base of SquaLL, an ht drop was en route, and the ht's arrived, destroying all of the mining drones here...however this was now futile for Fayth as SquaLL had 5 other expansions with mining going on. Scourge then bombed the shuttle perfectly as before, and SquaLL really had this one now! But Fayth, didn't want to concede, and sent yet another massed group of units across the map, this time meeting with ultras & lurkers, storming the entire screen, and backing off yet again. SquaLL now appeared unstoppable, massing and expanding with some of the best macro I've seen recently. Fayth now moved out to the main plain and set up a nexus at his 2nd natural. Seeing this, and another toss expo going up at the left side of the map, SquaLL sent in some ultra/ling to take it down! Fayth again, pulling off something that seemed impossible, managed to storm the ultra into submission and prevent the destruction of his expansions. SquaLL now went for a different tactic...a massive drop. Loading up 5 overlords with ultra/ling he sent a group of overlords northward into the main base of Fayth, dropping right on the nexus. At that point, Fayth called all of his forces back to his main to deal with the threatening assault. As Fayth removed all his forces from the main map to deal with this drop, SquaLL's true plan was seen, as 3 groups of hidden ultra/ling became unleashed! Ravaging their way across the middle of the map they reached the expansions of Fayth undetected, and rose the bases to the ground before Fayth even knew what was happening. He forced the toss to call GG, and evened up the score 1:1!
Download The Replay: Here!
With the score now evened up at 1, both players made ready to attempt to take the lead in the competition. Fayth chose Estrella as the map for Game #3, and he spawned at the left position, with SquaLL spawning at the bottom spot. Both players, knowing the map is an island setting, opted for gas first, then gate & pool respectively. SquaLL quickly built an evo chamber simultaneously with his upcoming spawning pool & 2nd hatchery. Fayth teched quickly to both Stargate & Robotics Facility. First on the offensive was Fayth, who had a corsair come out and immediately head outwards to take down the scouting overlord. The overlord fell swiftly and the Corsair continued towards the main base of SquaLL. However, by this time, SquaLL already had placed a spore colony in his main and rallied all other lords to this spot to protect them.
Fayth had now finished a shuttle, and lifted off a probe northwards to expand at the top left position. After dropping off that probe, the shuttle continued onward to the top position and release yet another probe ready to expand. Nexus was placed at the top left, and cannons also put into use. SquaLL now also was ready to expand, and moved off of his island taking his natural base. He sent a unit of hydras northward to 'test the water' at the top left position. Seeing there was no chance of taking the heavily defended base out, he returned to his natural. There, a DT was ravaging his morphing hatchery, but was chased off once the hydras returned. SquaLL again went on the offensive, and loaded up 5 overlords with hydras. They overlords made their way across the moat to the left island, seperating beautifully and dropping hydras in five different places. With only a few hts & cannons to protect the main base, Fayth was unable to storm enough times, and the hydras managed to take down many probes before a shuttle finally arrived to save eight of them and take them to the top left expansion. SquaLL completed the destruction of Fayth's once main base, and force Fayth now again on the offensive. A group of goons/ht's from the top left headed downwards toward the natural expansion of SquaLL. Here they met resistance in the form of hydras with some great micro. Even after the storms erupted, the hydras came out on top, and now Fayth was in some serious trouble, with only the top left base remaining. Knowing this, Fayth quickly sent a probe to the top right base and began a Nexus & pylon there. As he began to build up at both of his expansions, SquaLL set two simultaneous lurker drops into motion. Both drops went unseen, and lurkers were placed behind the minerals at both the top left & the top right! Probes were out of commission now at both bases and things now looked even more futile were Fayth. SquaLL continued to push onward, determined in taking this game as soon as possible, and he hit both bases with hydras. He wasn't able to take them out, but he was able to contain forces inside. However, Fayth soon was able to break out somehow, and took down the offensive zerg units. SquaLL now probably getting very frustrated expanded at the lower left & at the right main base.
"Fayth was able to trap his units on the bridge"
He began techning towards ultras, and then for a long time nothing happened. Both players continued to mass up, and then SquaLL finally made another move. This time, he headed towards the top right base with a huge group of upgraded ultras & lings. He headed across the dual bridges to the base but Fayth was able to trap his units on the bridge! Able to cross only in a single file line, the ultras and lings were like cannon fodder for the high templars/goons/zealots & archons protecting the base. All the units fell, and SquaLL's food count shot from almost 200 down to nearly 100 in just a few moments! The tide had now turned rather unexpectedly for Fayth!
Taking full advantage of this battle victory, Fayth moved out to take his original natural base, and the natural from the top base! SquaLL now really was on the defensive as Fayth moved outward and now controlled the main map. More ultras & lings continuously came out from SquaLL's hatcheries, and another huge battle erupted. Yet again, Fayth's units just ran over the ultras and lings and he maintained his control of the map, expanding faster and faster. Things were no longer looking good at all for SquaLL. SquaLL tried again to move out with ultra/lings but got stuck in the midst of the force of Fayth. He was forced to retreat across the bridges to the lower right base where he had set up an expansion with many sunkens protecting. Fayth dove headlong into the base, crossing the bridges & losing many zealots in the attack. However, his forces just kept pouring in and there was nothing SquaLL could do. With nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, SquaLL's forces were squashed like bugs (heh), and with Fayth having taken over the entire map in a seemingly impossible comeback, SquaLL GG'd! Fayth 2:1 SquaLL!
Download The Replay: Here!
Fayth now took the lead 2:1 over SquaLL, and this 4th game would prove imperative for SquaLL if he wanted to stay in the competition. He chose Ride of Valkyries as the playing field, and spawned at the lower right base. Fayth took the other position up, at the lower left. Opting for the first time series, Fayth went a dual-gate build atop his MBR. SquaLL went for his usual quick expand to his natural followed by a main base pool. Both players scouted each other out at roughly the same time, and as soon as Fayth had 3 zealots out, he headed towards SquaLL's natural. 4 Probes joined in the movement and the 7 units chugged along across the middle of the map. At the same time, SquaLL began to send his lings in towards Fayth's half of the map. The forces met in the midde, and battle ensued! SquaLL held off with some stall tactics of hit-and-runs with the lings, while Fayth microed very well keeping his probes right in the mix of his zealots. The dual-gates were set rallied to the natural of SquaLL and every half minute, more zealots came to join in the attack. The force moved in, neutralized the defending sunken colony, and took out the defending lings as well. However, more and more lings popped out of eggs and arrived faster then zealots could, finally stabilizing the natural base. SquaLL was now safe for the time being! Feeling safe, SquaLL sent his remaining zerglings into the base of Fayth on a scouting/harass mission, and was able to gather intel on the base for about a minute before the lings were finally stopped by some zealots. Again, Fayth moved out now with his zealots towards SquaLL's natural. SquaLL had just finished a hydralisk den, but did not want Fayth to know so. Due to this, he moved all his hydras up to his main base, keeping them hidden and holding off the incoming zealots with some intense zergling micro around his static defense of sunken colonies. As soon as this attack was nullified, SquaLL unleashed his true plan! The hydras separated into 2 groups, the zerglings into 1. All headed towards the natural of Fayth. With only a few cannons for protection and several zealots with 2 goons, Fayth was in some serious trouble! They hydras & lings poured into the expansion and laid waste to all the defenders of Fayth, forcing him to call a GG as his base sat in blue-laden flames! SquaLL 2:2 Fayth!
Download The Replay: Here!
Again, the score was tied, but this time at 2 a peice! Fayth promptly chose R-Point as his next opportunity to win, and he spawned at the bottom left position, with SquaLL spawning at top right one. Fayth moved out first building a pylon below his MBR, therefore setting up a fast expand. SquaLL scouted this out rather quickly, and he had already started his 2nd hatch above his MBR. He opted for another one right away at his natural base, and then moved again to expand at the 2nd natural. It appeared that he was going to attempt to mass quickly, before Fayth was able to build up from his 2 bases. Pool was complete, and lings were sent in to harass on the expansion of Fayth. After being halted by probes, SquaLL went into production mode. He began massing out zerglings as well as techning in his main base to a Lair. Fayth headed out with a probe to scout and was able to get into the main base of SquaLL, seeing neither a den or spire yet, he was unsure what SquaLL was attempting. He then teched to goons and began upgrading his units at the forge. Several groups of lings moved outward and set up camp outside of the toss expo. Then SquaLL did it finally, he laid down a spire and began pumping out mutas. The mutas were sent out towards the bottom of the map, and then headed directly in on the probes at the natural base of Fayth. With no defense, the mutas rained fire on the probes, and forced them to move quickly away. Goons came to scare off the mutas, and they moved away for the time being. Fayth then sent out a couple of DT's and seeing the massed lings in the middle of the map with no detection, he began taking them out, forcing them all to run back to overlord coverage. The muats again returned and picked off a bunch more probes, before flying away yet again.
Ultras and lings all over the place!
Lurkers were now in the making for SquaLL and began moving out to join the massed ling group. SquaLL set up a very strong containment outside of the exit to the lower left region where Fayth was set up. This forced Fayth to try and secure his 2nd natural base, so he could exit through the north side of it. He set up a nexus, and shifted his units towards it. The units (archons / ht's / zeals / goons) all headed out of the region and up the left side of the map. SquaLL had now expanded to the entire map for the most part, and Fayth engaged the base at the 12 o'clock position first. Seeing the force headed towards his base, SquaLL scrambled all of his forces and the entire map appaeared to move. Mutas/hyras/lings all dove in headfirst into the large protoss force, neglecting to care about any storms or micro that might stop them. The zerg forces overran those of Fayth and things now looked dire after losing his entire attacking force! SquaLL retaliated now by sending all his lurkers/lings towards the 2nd natural north entrance. Zerg units stormed into the base, but were put to shame by Fayth's newly made units. A very poor attack, so SquaLL retreated. Fayth now again moved out in full force, heading all of his remaining units across the map towards the zerg expansion at 3 oclock. As the toss forces rolled into the line of Sunken Colonies guarding the base, again the entire map seemed to move, as ultra/lings were called back from an ongoing offensive on the toss natural, and arrived in time to lay absolute waste to Fayth's forces. With nothing left guarding his own bases, the zerg forces poured in, raising every building to the ground. Fayth GG'd. SquaLL 3:2 Fayth!
Download The Replay: Here!
With the score now 3:2 in SquaLL's favor, Fayth made his pick for the next map to be Luna The Final. SquaLL spawned at the top left position, and Fayth at the top right. Fayth again went for a fast expansion build this time, and SquaLL also did. However, SquaLL did not expand to his natural, he took the minerals at the 9 o'clock position instead. Fayth's scouting probe arrived to SquaLL's main base, and realized that there was no 2nd hatchery, atop his ramp, nor at the first natural. Beacuase of this he then scouted out the 9 base and found the hatchery. He began building a pylon nearby, as he already had a forge in place at his own main base.
Surprising mutalisks from SquaLL
This did not prove worth it, as the lings from SquaLL's main headed in on it, causing a cancel to occur. SquaLL now set up his expansion at his first natural as well, and was almost ready to begin pumping. He also took his main base gas, and his expo gas. Now with a lair upgrading, SquaLL looked to want to finish this series in this game. All the while, Fayth was still trying to built up a fortified defense at his natural and massing out probes. He had 5 zealots ready, and he sent them across the main map towards the base of SquaLL. Seeing them on the way, SquaLL set up some lings in perfect positioning. As the zealots moved ever closer to his base, he surrounded them perfectly with zerglings, taking them all done and suffering almost no casualties! Now SquaLL began building a hidden spire in his main base. Fayth had no cannons in his own main, as he had focuses defense on his natural base. The spire was now completed, and mutas began morphing in their eggs at all three hatcheries. Lings massed in the middle of the map, and now the mutas were out. They headed across the map for the final strike. As the mutas crossed over the final ridge to Fayth's main, a sigh of relief must have echoed in SquaLL's lungs, seeing no defense at all, the first muta shots fired down on the probes and before any could even die, Fayth had called GG, allowing SquaLL to be one step closer to becoming the True Master of The Races with a stunning 4:2 victory over the Canadian Protoss!
Download The Replay: Here!
Next installment of the Master of the Races is being played next Saturday, where SquaLL goes up against his very own race - Zerg! The challenger has not been announced yet, but make sure that the match will be as breathtaking as this one!Links, sources and further information
MeetYourMakers.com - Hosting Master of the Races
