With Group C holding the Legend Killer himself, Jaedong, it seems it’s a given that the rest of the group will be fighting tooth and nail for the runner-up position. Packed with Terrans, this group promises to be TvT-fest (admittedly between average TvTers) but peppered with some convincing ZvTs-Jaedong-style who should sail through this group. But will this be the case? Or will there be another upset in this MSL?
Jaedong vs go.go @ Medusa
Map is the three-player Medusa with Jaedong at 3 o’clock and the Terran go.go at 6. go.go starts of the action with a 8 barracks opening, no doubt wanting to pressure Zerg as early as possible. This works to his favour as Jaedong has gone for a hatchery first build and his spawning pool just starts morphing as the first marines and charging SCVs go in for the kill!
Jaedong is indeed in big trouble as after a few seconds a bunker rush is set up and things look even bleaker as he is forced to cancel his hatch! Massive delay for the Zerg star. However, as a creep colony is set up at his now 1 hatch main, go.go decides to retreat to his base with zerglings on the pursuit. Jaedong has now morphed his lair and his spire in underway while go.go rushes for academy support.
With a handful of marines and medics and still on 1 barracks go.go quickly runs down the map to meet Jaedong’s sunkenless expansion! The hatchery explodes with blood and flesh splattering everywhere and as Zerg is hanging on with four sunkens at his main while at the same time sending just 3 mutalisks to do as much damage as possible! And he does very well indeed as the low barracks build just produces tiny amount of marines, which the mutalisks easily avoid and pick of SCVs.
As go.go charges the sunkens he is clearly unable to do any damage and the mutalisks are now reaching critical mass tearing up the intruder and going back to rip him apart. In a, now standard, Jaedong perfected mutalisk micro he snipes SCV after SCV, marine after marine, and go.go is now, unbelievably hanging on for dear life with a couple of turrets!
The Terran stronghold is now reduced to what can be described as a sad little hut on fire as buildings crash and burn, with Terran not being able to do a thing about it. Go.go then decides to end this humiliation and types out. What an amazing comeback! Nerves of steel.
UpMagiC vs FrOzean @ Destination
Second match we have the trickster UpMagiC vs the Samsung Khan Terran FrOzean. With both sporting a relatively below average TvT it would safely seem this can go either way.
UpMagiC starts at the south position and shows he is up to his magic again (excuse the pun) as he proceeds to single proxy rax FrOzean who is caught with his pants down as a quick, steady flow of marines proves to be a real pain in the ass, wasting precious mining time to dispatch them with SCVs and late marines of his own. After managing to set up a factory, UpMagiC retreats with zero casualties to this point.
It’s now FrOzean’s time to do some damage as he know has wraith tech and is picking off SCVs, while at the same time UpMagiC is pumping goliaths. FrOzeans takes full advantage of the fact that his enemy hasn’t got any tanks and charges down the south with a small force of tanks and marines. However he decides to take the western paths and go directly behind UpMagiC’s expansion hard-hitting it with the help of wraiths and forming a contain.
But UpMagiC has not been idle as his own force of goliath/tank has forced FrOzean to lift his expansion and barely manage to defend with a couple of tanks. UpMagiC however has numerous goliaths and with a charge down the ramp he scares away the tanks, which flee and set up further to the north. As UpMagiC hunts down this group, a massive tank force rumbles from the north, annihilating the small contain and things sure look desperate now as his goliath-heavy army is unable to do much about it.
But he still holds on, as he kamikazes a few SCVs, making the tanks blast each other to pieces. FrOzean know sits comfortably on 3 bases, while UpMagiC has just started his third and has minimal SCVs at his natural. FrOzean once again decides to shut down the natural as he again flanks and hits from behind the cliff.
Even though initially dispatched he stubbornly presses on and annoyingly for his opponent, for the third time severely hinders UpMagiC’s economy, who is now mining from only one expansion. Moments later and after some desperate dropship micro, UpMagiC is outmacroed and concedes the game.
Jaedong vs FrOzean @ Athena 2
With both players able to win their first matches, they now battle each other for advancement to the second stage. Battleground is the three-player map Athena 2, with Jaedong at 6 o’clock and the Terran FrOzean at 9. But things start off very excitingly as greedy Jaedong decides to go hatch, gas followed by a late pool!
This worked perfectly for FrOzean as he went for a 8 barracks build and is now proceeding to bunker the Legend Killer! As marines continuously zip down the map, Jaedong cancels his hatch and is frantically holding the ramp with just drones! With a bunker outside his base, Jaedong is again found in a position almost exactly like he did with go.go, opting for 1 lair into mutas!
FrOzean for the time being is pumping out from 2 barracks and has calmly blocked his ramp with SCVs and numerous marines, which he retreated from the bunker. As FrOzean hopes to do some timing damage, Jaedong amazingly has researched burrow and the emerging lings proceed to slaughter the stunned marines and firebat.
This is promptly followed with mutalisks. FrOzean however had forseen this and his nicely placed turrets along with an evergrowing M&M force prove to be too much for Jaedong to handle. The Terran takes the battle to the middle of the map as Jaedong desperately trying to stall him with a handful of mutalisks. And he seems to manage quite well as his hatchery emerged and sunkens are now defending his expansion.
But FrOzean has now massed a massive m&m force, supported by science vessels, which Jaedong tried to scourge but with no luck. The vessels countered perfectly the ongoing mutalisk harass as a nicely placed irradiate wrecked havoc on the mutaball. Jaedong is now relying on defilers but with one charge and numerous lurkers being irradiated, followed by a drop, Jaedong is beaten.
On a map where bunker rushing is definitely a possibility, it’s strange to see Zerg doing something cute like early gas before pool. Jaedong’s strategy failed from the second minute, and was unable to gain any significant advantage ever since.
UpMagiC vs go.go @ Athena 2
With both players failing their opening matches, this is their last chance to stay in the competition. Go.go is at 3 o’clock with UpMagiC at 6. Both players start off fairly standard with go.go placing his barracks at the center of the map. UpMagiC decides to go for a starport with his opponent opting for a 1 factory fast expansion.
Luckily for go.go, his nearby barracks provides him with essential scouting, as UpMagiC has no idea what he is up to. As his wraith spots the command centre, he sends in everything he has and a micro battle commences with go.go managing to fend the attack off. Meanwhile he has landed his barracks in UpMagiC’s main and is pumping marines and even a firebat, providing a lot of extra pain and harass.
By now however UpMagiC has set up a contain and has got an expansion for himself, dispatching the offensive rax in the process. The contain of about 8 tanks looks impossible to break but go.go with chess-like movements is able to pick off a few tanks and wraiths. He is also deploying forces at the flank of UpMagiC in order to secure a floating command center.
But the yellow Terran sees this and pretty much rolls over the meagre defenders as he comfortably now sits on 3 gases. He even places turrets around the map and go.go is completely contained. With no routes available he simply shows the white flag. The contain was just too much.
UpMagiC vs Jaedong @ Byzantium
Last chance for these players at the twilight map Byzantium. Zerg at lower right and Terran close by at upper right. Jaedong is eager to end this it seems as he goes for an overpool & gas opening. UpMagiC is on the meantime trying to secure his expansion by blocking it off with 3 (!) depots and a barracks as his scout spots the incoming zerglings. And yes, “attempt” is the correct word because he downright fails as Jaedong simply targets the building depot, demolishes it and the stream of lings end UpMagiC’s hopes. Not sure if this qualifies for a GG but there you go.
MSL ClubDay 2008
Group C
Jaedong> go.go
FrOzean> UpMagiC
Jaedong < FrOzean
UpMagiC> go.go
Jaedong> UpMagiC
Nice to see FrOzean advance but Jaedong’s games were not convincing at all. Hopefully for the fans he will pick up his game at the next stage of the MSL!
As always, special thanks to nevake for the vods.
Links
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