MSL ClubDay has started with a Terran dominated group and a lesser Zerg. fOrGG the former champion wants to assure that he is still the force that swept the previous tournament. But will he scrape past Iris' TvT?
fOrGG vs Leta @ Athena 2
This match sure excites us as it offers two newly formed superstars After lurking in the shadows for quite some time, fOrGG has recently amazed the progaming scene with his incredible display of macro, absolutely disembowelling the Zerg god Jaedong 3-0. However, his TvT skills have always been mediocre and not comparable to his TvZ/ TvP supremacy.
Leta on the other hand is an up and coming talent and seems unstoppable.
Will the macro god fOrGG able to overpower the talented but not necessarily experienced Leta?
Map is Athena with fOrGG landing his CC at 9oclock and Leta commanding his Terran force at 2. Both players start up with a 1 factory opening, whilst denying each other scouting with well placed marines on ramp. At this point it becomes a battle of experience and wits. FOrGG opts for a fast expand but Leta decides a starport is wiser and attacks at the same time with a small force of marines and vultures.
A small skirmish occurs in fOrGGs main and a hero tank saves the day for the expanding Terran. Letas’ starport decision pays off as he is able to pick off a number of SCVs with his cloaked wraiths since fOrGG had no turrets and was late on the comsat station. At this point, Leta decides it would be a good idea to expand but a cute barracks lands at the expansion point, delaying his macro opportunities. As he returns his wraith/ tank forces from the middle of the map to dispatch the annoying barracks, fOrGG, as if by maphack capability, foresees this and pushes forward with his own goliath/ tank combination.
With both forces sieged, Leta has the advantage of wraith mobility and further harasses his enemy. It’s worth to mention that at this point, his 2 wraiths managed to have a total of around 15 scv kills before one of them is dispatched and the other retreats. FOrGG cannot be too happy. But Leta is not finished. He cleverly goes around forGGs forces and secures strategic positions, allowing him to expand once again.
Leta’s starport enabled him to mass dropships which he immediately puts to use by dropping his rivals main, right on the ramp. Nevertheless after some minimal SCV loses forgg once again repels the attack and is slowly put surely growing.
At this point both are running on 3 gas but fOrGG launches another assault. It was very unfortunate for Leta because the moment he decided to go for another drop fOrGG smashed against his natural with a massive force of tanks and goliaths. But quick reactions prevailed as he JUST managed to unload his drop on the assaulting Terran and save the day. But the macro monster didn’t hesitate a second and immediately set up a huge contain outside Letas natural.
At this point, Leta must have felt the pressure, as he desperately tried to drop forgg. But it was futile. ForGG was already all over the place and large number of turrets guarded his bases. He eventually kamikazied his drop onto turrets and the remaining forces were nicely dispatched by fOrGG who in response landed a final blow assault at Letas’ natural. GG. Nice play for the defending champion.
Overall, the fOrGG’s macro was just mindblowing. Even though he lost many SCVs his units just kept on coming. Leta’s starport opening didn’t really give him an edge at any point in the game. Solid play by fOrGG.
Iris vs Zero @ Byzantium 2
Iris (Berserker) needs no introduction. At one time in time he was the TvT master with Terran after Terran failing against his mighty strength. But he was mostly considered a one MU wonder. This all changed when he greatly improved his ZvT and presented an amazing bo5 semi-final vs the Maestro himself.
Zero on the other hand is unknown and considered a mediocre player. Will this clash provide any surprises?
Iris starts up at 4oclock and Zero at 10. Iris provides no shocks as he opens with the fairly standard fast exp build order. Zero on the other hand decides on a more aggressive option and opts for 2 hatch muta with speedlings. Due to a slight blunder by iris, zero is able to kill 2 marines with his lings and rush into Iris’s main, providing him with invaluable scouting. Sure enough, the mutalisks started their harass and Iris really needs to keep his act together. And he did just that, as his defence was virtually unbreakable, with cleverly placed turrets and marine groups.
At some point, Iris thought “enough is enough” and broke out, guns blazing. Zero did his best, killing a few marines with his mutas and stalling the Terrans advance for his hive tech to kick in from his 3 bases… but he was losing too many mutas. At this point it was clear he was trying to pull off some cute mass muta into guardian build. Iris knew this and calmly slapped down 3 starports. The rest is predictable. Wraiths came in and slowly massacred the guardians since Zero didn’t upgrade overlord speed (!). Clearly overpowered, he typed out.
Interesting fact: Iris never actually went further than the middle of the map! Zero just kept on losing muta after muta, which led to his overpowerment. Nice attempt but he really must work on his muta micro.
fOrGG vs Iris @ Medusa
So now the winners can battle it out for advancement! fOrGG looked scary in his map vs Leta and Iris has his TvT medals to back his punch.
Map is Medusa, Iris lands his Command Center at 6 o’clock and his rival at 3. fOrGG opens with 2 factory/ armory whilst Iris follows Leta and goes factory/starport. A small skirmish of marines and vultures occurs at fOrGG’s main but with no real loses for either players. It must have been dejavous once gain for fOrGG as he had yet again cloaked wraiths in his base killing off his SCVs. But he seemed unfazed as he expanded with Iris following.
At this point fOrGG showed clear map exploitation as he destroyed the neutral building which gave him access to the cliff behind Iris’s main! But Iris was prepared as he had a floating barracks and managed to stop the attack with some well-placed tanks. But fOrGG had control of the cliff and was slowly advancing. Iris struggled as much as he could but the high ground advantage was too much for him to cope as fOrGG was in range of Iris’s precious refinery. Eventually, fOrGG uncovered Iris’ sneaky 2nd exp and that meant game over for Iris who sent everything he had to protect it. But fOrGG’s forces were just too much and iris gg’ed.
Very clever play by fOrGG. Very calculative and with a macro that just never falters. Taking Iris’ main gas and cliff was a sweet move and pretty much spelt GG.
Leta vs Zero @Medusa
So now it’s time for the two losers to battle it out for any chance of survival.
Zero spawns his Zerg forces at 10 oclock and Leta at 3. Both players decide not to open standard as Zero opts for a quick pool and gas and Leta similarly takes his gas quite early and goes for a factory opening. Leta showed some very very cute play as he managed to squeeze a vulture through the neutral building with the help of a SCV and the surrounding minerals.
But Zero somehow had calculated this and his nearby overlord summoned zerglings to dispatch the intruder. And then it happened, a vulture rushed through Zeros expansion and with health at red levels started to wreck total havoc at Zergs drones and lings, scouting the morphing spire in the process. At that point Zero was almost dead by definition. Leta already had an expansion and was macroing up, whilst Zero now relied on his mutas. But the Terran player wasn’t going to leave Zero to relax and sent out a small squad of marines and medics which ripped through the sunkens and any few forces that Zero had. Hero vulture.
Iris vs Leta @ Destination
At this point both players have one win and one loss with the deciding match between them. Winner joins fOrGG. Destination is a 2-player map with plenty of expansions, although quite far between them. Iris appears at the bottom position and Leta, naturally, on the north side. The commentators shout with joy as both players decide to proxy/factory each other! Iris then added one more factory, and Leta, curiously added an engineering bay! Things looked very exciting indeed as Leta juuust missed the two building factories.
Iris charged with two vultures causing small damage to Leta who had marines up his ramp. But then he severely messed up as he allows goliaths to start pouring into his base and annihilating everything. Meanwhile, his SCV was mining up the mineral that blocked the ramp up to Iris’s main and the ready-made tanks were getting eager for action. But Iris cleverly reacted and pushed out a wraith, and with the help of SCVs and retreating goliaths stopped any chance for a comeback for Leta. GG.
MSL ClubDay 2008
First Group
fOrGG> Leta
Iris> Zero
fOrGG > Iris
Leta> Zero
Iris> Leta
So fOrGG and Iris advance! fOrGG looks downright scary as his TvT weakness is obviously no more. More to follow…
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