[MSL] Down to Earth Text by flamewheel Graphics by disciple

Banner by disciple. Table of Contents



Groups A, B and G Results

and Recap



Battle Reports



Shot Down By ]343[, l10f and flamewheel



Another week, another news post, and another couple minutes spent trying to fill out this top bit of text. Honestly, I hate this part; it's what makes me delay starting these posts for so long. But I digress...



There should be plenty to talk about this week, what with Flash losing and everything. Seriously, has there been a season more filled with "what the " than the one we're currently seeing? As partly said by Harem, the unthinkable is becoming reality. Skyhigh loses more TvTs (1 for four this season?), Jaedong drops ZvZs, Jangbi is really, really slumping, ACE is dominating, and... Flash?



Flash.

Groups A, B and G Results and Recap

What a crazy week. While some of the results may be a bit shocking, at the very least the quality of the games has jumped a fewfold, making them markedly better than those played in the Survivor Tournament. With the "groups of death" still to come, hopefully we'll be seeing some very high-level Starcraft that progresses on into the later stages of this Starleague. Either way, let's take a quick look at what transpired for the first three groups of the Round of 32. Oh yes, and you can check the full results here in the R&S thread.



+ Show Spoiler + Group A: (12/16 17:00 KST)

2-0 ► Advances to Round of 16

2-1 ► Advances to Round of 16

1-2 Eliminated

0-2 Eliminated



Flash < Circuit Breaker > Ssak

Classic < Dante's Peak > MisO

Ssak < Triathlon > MisO

Flash < Triathlon > Classic

MisO < Benzene > Classic



Group B: (12/16 19:30 KST)

2-0 ► Advances to Round of 16

2-1 ► Advances to Round of 16

1-2 Eliminated

0-2 Eliminated



Jaedong < Dante's Peak > Stats

Snow < Triathlon > free

Jaedong < Benzene > Snow

Stats < Benzene > free

Snow < Circuit Breaker > free



Group G: (12/18 17:00 KST)

2-0 ► Advances to Round of 16

2-1 ► Advances to Round of 16

1-2 Eliminated

0-2 Eliminated



Sea < Triathlon > Action

s2 < Benzene > ZerO

Sea < Circuit Breaker > ZerO

Action < Circuit Breaker > s2

Sea < Dante's Peak > Action (12/16 17:00 KST) Ssak 2-0 ► Classic 2-1 ► MisO 1-2 Flash 0-2(12/16 19:30 KST) Jaedong 2-0 ► Snow 2-1 ► free 1-2 Stats 0-2(12/18 17:00 KST) ZerO 2-0 ► Action 2-1 ► Sea 1-2 s2 0-2

Pretty weird, right? Obviously the topic of discussion for this week is Flash's elimination, but Sea's defeat should also turn a few heads. He normally makes it to the Round of 16! Anyway, since we here at the MSL writing team were pretty impressed with the games played in Groups A, B, and G, we have not one, not two, but five full-length battle reports for you to go over.



And this is a lot from us, since we're not Wax and KwarK.



Battle Reports

By ]343[, flamewheel and l10f

Group A Set 1: Flash < Circuit Breaker > Ssak

+ Show Spoiler + By ]343[



In his himself issued a warning to the lowly SKT Terran rookie, , who had rudely celebrated his victory over with no fewer than 3 manner CC's.



On December 15 2010 17:29 Jaester88 wrote:

Q: Your MSL and OSL games are coming up shortly after. Anything to say regarding that?

A: I need to head off to play OSL immediately, but I was able to practice enough because of the Coaching staff's consideration. So I'm pretty confident about both today's OSL match and tomorrow's MSL match. On a related note, I think player Choi Ho Seon (Ssak) is showing a level of confidence slightly disproportionate to his achievements so far, so if he doesn't win against me tomorrow, he may end up seeing a command center in his base.



This was just going to be another "yawn rape," and hopefully we'd see some manner CC's from Flash.



The Ultimate Weapon spawns as the Orange Terran at 1 o'clock in his first televised game on 's "leave-the-game-before-it-starts" strategy), whereas the Unfortunate Victim spawns at 11 in Purple.





Pocari Sweat!

Flash places his first depot below the CC to simcity, while Ssak places his above his mineral line. Ssak starts his Barracks in the corner of his base to float, while simultaneously starting his refinery. Flash opens with his famous 14cc, showing no fear of taking this risk.



Flash's refinery starts after Ssak's factory, and the scouts both meet at 7--Flash knows his opponent's location, while Ssak still has another base to scout in between. Flash spots Ssak's expansion with his scout.



Flash begins his bunker in time to stop Ssak's first vulture, while has factory has already started. The vulture pokes in, only to be repelled by the finished bunker; Flash puts up another factory with addon and starts his armory and academy. Ssak also constructs a second factory.



Ssak opens with mines from his machine shop while laying down his 3rd, hoping to catch Flash's economic advantage. Ssak's floating barracks spots Flash laying down two more factories in comparison to his own 2 with 1 addon, though he is confident that he can defend his bases with mines.



Flash's scan is out already, however, and his goliath/tank force begins to push out as he adds a 5th fac. Flash's 4 goliaths and 3 tanks make their way across the map, reinforced by 4 vultures.



Ssak is already sieged at the ramp outside his 3rd with mines laid, and his armory, academy, and 3rd factory have been erected.



Flash attacks up the ramp and succeeds in taking out Ssak's entrenched position (along with his floating barracks), and raids Ssak's 3rd with vultures. Fortunately, Ssak's tanks are able to prevent Flash from advancing further.







Overrun!



Ssak does manage to snipe the SCV building Flash's 3rd, delaying it temporarily. A sneaky 4-vulture drop by Ssak helps him stay in the game as he kills a few SCVs and forces an evacuation, and he even saves half his vultures with his dropship. Unfortunately for Ssak, his simultaneous vulture attack on Flash's position is stopped cold.







Vultures: good against SCVs, bad against tanks.



Ssak's further dropship antics are denied by vultures, but he soon destroys the 3 tanks overlooking his 3rd and retakes the base. Meanwhile, Ssak has begun producing wraiths; Flash is going almost pure vulture/tank.



The cloaked wraiths soon arrive and begin picking off goliaths and tanks, forcing Flash's army back.

But a simultaneous tank push by Ssak is completely counterproductive as he loses all his tanks to well-placed mines.







Tanks: bad against wraiths and mines.



Despite the damage, the wraiths continue pew-pewing the undefended tanks. Flash begins building goliaths and wraiths of his own to counter Ssak's wraiths, and they are soon forced to back off.. Ssak executes a mildly successful vulture raid at Flash's 3rd.



Ssak begins his 3rd addon on 6 factories while the players trade tanks in the middle. Flash then questionably decides to double expand after taking his 4th, and both building SCVs are caught by marauding vultures.





Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to expand we go... oops.



But the wraiths come out of hiding, inducing Flash to produce some more wraiths of his own. Suddenly, Ssak's army seems much larger than Flash's--money that Ssak had used to build units Flash had spent expanding.





How do ya like my army?

Flash's wraiths and Ssak's wraiths both start shooting tanks, but when the wraiths engage each other, Flash comes out on top. A fresh valkyrie from Ssak, however, avenges his wraith brethren.





Sector locked i--KABOOM

Ssak, with the larger army and map control, is able to take out many SCVs in Flash's 3rd and 4th with vultures while the armies clash in the middle. Flash responds by hitting Ssak's 3rd, but Ssak destroys the attacking force without much trouble. He then pushes into Flash's 4th, demolishing the four defending tanks with ease.





More explosions for your viewing pleasure.

Flash again makes wraiths to deal with tanks, and they are only deterred by the arrival of goliaths. But Flash's isolated 3rd and 4th are undefendable, and Flash lifts his 4th while desperately pewpewing as many tanks as possible. He knows he's far behind, though, and GG's as soon as four cloaked wraiths from Ssak arrive.





Flash GG's in all caps.

This was quite an embarrassing game from Flash after his trashtalk, and coach Oov is especially happy to get this win.





Flash face, and gorilla face. In his interview following the KT-SKT Proleague match two days before, God Young Ho himself issued a warning to the lowly SKT Terran rookie, Ssak , who had rudely celebrated his victory over Tempest with no fewer than 3 manner CC's.This was just going to be another "yawn rape," and hopefully we'd see some manner CC's from Flash.The Ultimate Weapon spawns as the Orange Terran at 1 o'clock in his first televised game on Circuit Breaker (not counting RuBy 's "leave-the-game-before-it-starts" strategy), whereas the Unfortunate Victim spawns at 11 in Purple.Flash places his first depot below the CC to simcity, while Ssak places his above his mineral line. Ssak starts his Barracks in the corner of his base to float, while simultaneously starting his refinery. Flash opens with his famous 14cc, showing no fear of taking this risk.Flash's refinery starts after Ssak's factory, and the scouts both meet at 7--Flash knows his opponent's location, while Ssak still has another base to scout in between. Flash spots Ssak's expansion with his scout.Flash begins his bunker in time to stop Ssak's first vulture, while has factory has already started. The vulture pokes in, only to be repelled by the finished bunker; Flash puts up another factory with addon and starts his armory and academy. Ssak also constructs a second factory.Ssak opens with mines from his machine shop while laying down his 3rd, hoping to catch Flash's economic advantage. Ssak's floating barracks spots Flash laying down two more factories in comparison to his own 2 with 1 addon, though he is confident that he can defend his bases with mines.Flash's scan is out already, however, and his goliath/tank force begins to push out as he adds a 5th fac. Flash's 4 goliaths and 3 tanks make their way across the map, reinforced by 4 vultures.Ssak is already sieged at the ramp outside his 3rd with mines laid, and his armory, academy, and 3rd factory have been erected.Flash attacks up the ramp and succeeds in taking out Ssak's entrenched position (along with his floating barracks), and raids Ssak's 3rd with vultures. Fortunately, Ssak's tanks are able to prevent Flash from advancing further.Ssak does manage to snipe the SCV building Flash's 3rd, delaying it temporarily. A sneaky 4-vulture drop by Ssak helps him stay in the game as he kills a few SCVs and forces an evacuation, and he even saves half his vultures with his dropship. Unfortunately for Ssak, his simultaneous vulture attack on Flash's position is stopped cold.Ssak's further dropship antics are denied by vultures, but he soon destroys the 3 tanks overlooking his 3rd and retakes the base. Meanwhile, Ssak has begun producing wraiths; Flash is going almost pure vulture/tank.The cloaked wraiths soon arrive and begin picking off goliaths and tanks, forcing Flash's army back.But a simultaneous tank push by Ssak is completely counterproductive as he loses all his tanks to well-placed mines.Despite the damage, the wraiths continue pew-pewing the undefended tanks. Flash begins building goliaths and wraiths of his own to counter Ssak's wraiths, and they are soon forced to back off.. Ssak executes a mildly successful vulture raid at Flash's 3rd.Ssak begins his 3rd addon on 6 factories while the players trade tanks in the middle. Flash then questionably decides to double expand after taking his 4th, and both building SCVs are caught by marauding vultures.But the wraiths come out of hiding, inducing Flash to produce some more wraiths of his own. Suddenly, Ssak's army seems much larger than Flash's--money that Ssak had used to build units Flash had spent expanding.Flash's wraiths and Ssak's wraiths both start shooting tanks, but when the wraiths engage each other, Flash comes out on top. A fresh valkyrie from Ssak, however, avenges his wraith brethren.Ssak, with the larger army and map control, is able to take out many SCVs in Flash's 3rd and 4th with vultures while the armies clash in the middle. Flash responds by hitting Ssak's 3rd, but Ssak destroys the attacking force without much trouble. He then pushes into Flash's 4th, demolishing the four defending tanks with ease.Flash again makes wraiths to deal with tanks, and they are only deterred by the arrival of goliaths. But Flash's isolated 3rd and 4th are undefendable, and Flash lifts his 4th while desperately pewpewing as many tanks as possible. He knows he's far behind, though, and GG's as soon as four cloaked wraiths from Ssak arrive.This was quite an embarrassing game from Flash after his trashtalk, and coach Oov is especially happy to get this win.

Group A Losers' Set: Flash < Triathlon > Classic

+ Show Spoiler + By ]343[



and meet in the Loser's match of Group A on



Flash walls his ramp as well, denying Classic's scout, but Classic proceeds, undaunted, with his 2port build (this whole group seems to feature wraiths everywhere...). Flash adds a refinery at his natural, as Classic researches cloak.



The commentators become very excited when Flash begins two starports of his own, and his Academy goes up in time for scan before cloak. But Classic's wraiths are faster regardless, and he forces Flash to empty his natural.





Wraith, reportin' in.

Flash quickly gets his own wraiths and an engineering bay, but his turrets can't get up in time to prevent more significant damage to his mineral line. Finally, Flash's wraith cloak finishes, and he's able to kick Classic out of his main. But Classic continues harassing the natural for a bit while expanding himself.



Classic finally withdraws to repair his wraiths, while Flash continues building up his own wraith fleet. A brief skirmish occurs near Flash's natural, but Flash finally manages to repel the marauding wraiths.



Classic adds his second factory, but Flash does some harassment of his own, scouting Classic's base and sniping a tank. Both players construct their armories, and Classic adds a 3rd command center; Flash snipes the building SCV with his wraiths. The starports continue to flash for both players, and both players secure positions with their small ground armies.



Disaster strikes for Flash as his wraiths are caught off-guard, and their numbers are decimated by Classic's wraiths and a newly built valkyrie.





Looks awfully familiar...

Flash still has the defensive advantage with sieged tanks covered by goliaths and turrets, so Classic therefore opts for a drop. Flash incredibly scans the dropship, and takes action to stop it. He sends two wraiths to snipe the dropship, but they're met by Classic's wraith fleet. Amazingly, one wraith barely makes it, only to... not fire? Instead, Flash's goliaths ambush the dropship, which just barely escapes its doom. Flash is now ready for the drop, though, with a small mobile tank/goliath force and a heavily turreted back natural.





You got away this time!

The dropship somehow manages to unload 2 goliaths before exploding, thanks to wraith cover. They're are easily cleaned up, but Classic then moves out with his real army to attack the north end Flash's tank line. Classic is forced to retreat at the arrival of the other half of Flash's roaming tanks.





Oops.

Classic is now on 5 factories with 2 addons and takes a 4th, while Flash's 3 bases are supporting 4 factories with 2 addons. Classic next attacks the south end of Flash's tank line, and manages to advance his position a little while expanding yet again to the inner 9 base.



Three dropships for Classic now drop in Flash's main, but Flash responds quickly with his own dropships... but he seems to have forgotten about a single goliath and tank that survived the drop, and they proceed to deal more damage to Flash's economy; the two combine to score 16 kills before SCVs finally finish them off.





Dangit, doing the dirty work wasn't in our job description...

Classic follows up by pushing throw the south end of Flash's tank line, angling to hit Flash's newly erected 4th at 2 o'clock. Flash's dropships, having just unloaded to deny a 6th (!) for Classic, quickly ferry the troops back to defend.



Classic now has 6 factories with 3 addons to Flash's 4, in addition to map control. He flanks Flash's central tank line from both sides with his huge army of tank/goliath and smashes it.





Tank flank!

Flash's inner 5th at 12 is forced to lift, but a drop by Flash forces Classic's 5th to lift as well. Classic begins construction of yet another command center.



Classic next drops the 4th of Flash, but quick reaction allows Flash to escape with medium losses. They're now even in bases, but Classic's economic advantage shows: he is ready to expand again while having 3 more factories and quite a few more dropships than Flash. Both players have 2/0 upgrades.





More dirty work.

Classic retakes 6 and floats to 10 while Flash expands to 3:30, and Flash adds his 5th factory. A huge drop and counterdrop at Flash's new expansion ends up with Classic decidedly on top, and the command center is forced to lift.





Come on, I just want this base...

Flash moves to take back the center and his 5th with drops, while Classic's huge army moves out and sets up a parallel tank line. Classic then inexplicably flies a bunch of dropships over Flash's tanks/goliaths, taking a lot of hits for nothing.



Classic then makes up for his previous blunder by catching some of Flash's dropships with goliaths out of his own, though his base at 6 is amusingly full of SCVs yet not mining.





Hint: An expansion with SCVs doesn't do anything unless the SCVs are mining.



Both players maneuver with dropships, and Flash tries to drop Classic's base at 2 with depressing results.





If at first you don't succeed...

Classic expands yet again to 3:30, and forces Flash's inner base at 12 to lift; it moves to a position where it can still mine gas. Flash is firmly behind, but if anyone can come back, it's Lee Young Ho...



Flash tries to float a command center south to the back natural at 3:30, but turrets and Classic's dropships deter him. Flash finally equalizes in dropship numbers and successfully drops Classic's mining-gas-only base at 10 and prepares to take it.





... try, try again.

A successful drop at 3:30 by Flash is counter-dropped, and Flash loses the CC he planned to expand with after it escapes from the clutches of (of all things) a turret. Flash mutters angrily in response.





Can I please have this base?

Flash contents himself with the base at 10, dropping a large number of tanks and goliaths there to secure the area. Classic has taken the inner base at 4 and maynards there. Flash only adds his 6th factory at 27 minutes (!!).



Flash has to take the expansion at 3:30 by force, but he is behind in dropship numbers, and the area is heavily defended by turrets and tanks. Flash catches Classic's dropships going the wrong way and strikes, but the units the survive the drop are just not enough to hold the counterdrop.





Can I PLEASE have this base?

Classic builds three starports at 5. Flash's base at 3 is mined out, and he desperately drops 3:30 again... but there are far too many units for Classic, and he stops the attempt easily.





Pretty please?

Flash gathers his remaining forces and attempts to take the base again, but gg's out (not in caps!) as soon as he sees how many tanks Classic has there.





Sigh, I give up.





I can't believe he was so selfish... I mean, it's almost Christmas!

Flash's 2port wraith after expansion was quite a bit slower than Classic's, and Classic was able to at least equalize economically after the opening. But when Flash lost all his wraiths, he lost map control, and Classic could expand with impunity while harassing Flash and putting him further behind.



While it pains me as a Flash fan to see him exit the MSL in such fashion, the adage still rings true: "What goes up, must come down." Hopefully Flash will pick himself back up after these losses. Luckily for Flash fans, one thing holds true: Flash's mental state is among one of the strongest in the game, so we know he'll be back. Flash and Classic meet in the Loser's match of Group A on Triathlon , one of the more interesting maps in the pool. Flash, annoyed at his previous loss, spawns at 12 in purple, whereas Classic, clearly nervous, spawn in yellow at 8. Flash puts his initial depot beside his mineral line, while Classic prepares to wall his main ramp. Classic then builds his refinery before his barracks, aiming for a quick factory, while Flash 14CC's at his back natural.Flash walls his ramp as well, denying Classic's scout, but Classic proceeds, undaunted, with his 2port build (this whole group seems to feature wraiths everywhere...). Flash adds a refinery at his natural, as Classic researches cloak.The commentators become very excited when Flash begins two starports of his own, and his Academy goes up in time for scan before cloak. But Classic's wraiths are faster regardless, and he forces Flash to empty his natural.Flash quickly gets his own wraiths and an engineering bay, but his turrets can't get up in time to prevent more significant damage to his mineral line. Finally, Flash's wraith cloak finishes, and he's able to kick Classic out of his main. But Classic continues harassing the natural for a bit while expanding himself.Classic finally withdraws to repair his wraiths, while Flash continues building up his own wraith fleet. A brief skirmish occurs near Flash's natural, but Flash finally manages to repel the marauding wraiths.Classic adds his second factory, but Flash does some harassment of his own, scouting Classic's base and sniping a tank. Both players construct their armories, and Classic adds a 3rd command center; Flash snipes the building SCV with his wraiths. The starports continue to flash for both players, and both players secure positions with their small ground armies.Disaster strikes for Flash as his wraiths are caught off-guard, and their numbers are decimated by Classic's wraiths and a newly built valkyrie.Flash still has the defensive advantage with sieged tanks covered by goliaths and turrets, so Classic therefore opts for a drop. Flash incredibly scans the dropship, and takes action to stop it. He sends two wraiths to snipe the dropship, but they're met by Classic's wraith fleet. Amazingly, one wraith barely makes it, only to... not fire? Instead, Flash's goliaths ambush the dropship, which just barely escapes its doom. Flash is now ready for the drop, though, with a small mobile tank/goliath force and a heavily turreted back natural.The dropship somehow manages to unload 2 goliaths before exploding, thanks to wraith cover. They're are easily cleaned up, but Classic then moves out with his real army to attack the north end Flash's tank line. Classic is forced to retreat at the arrival of the other half of Flash's roaming tanks.Classic is now on 5 factories with 2 addons and takes a 4th, while Flash's 3 bases are supporting 4 factories with 2 addons. Classic next attacks the south end of Flash's tank line, and manages to advance his position a little while expanding yet again to the inner 9 base.Three dropships for Classic now drop in Flash's main, but Flash responds quickly with his own dropships... but he seems to have forgotten about a single goliath and tank that survived the drop, and they proceed to deal more damage to Flash's economy; the two combine to score 16 kills before SCVs finally finish them off.Classic follows up by pushing throw the south end of Flash's tank line, angling to hit Flash's newly erected 4th at 2 o'clock. Flash's dropships, having just unloaded to deny a 6th (!) for Classic, quickly ferry the troops back to defend.Classic now has 6 factories with 3 addons to Flash's 4, in addition to map control. He flanks Flash's central tank line from both sides with his huge army of tank/goliath and smashes it.Flash's inner 5th at 12 is forced to lift, but a drop by Flash forces Classic's 5th to lift as well. Classic begins construction of yet another command center.Classic next drops the 4th of Flash, but quick reaction allows Flash to escape with medium losses. They're now even in bases, but Classic's economic advantage shows: he is ready to expand again while having 3 more factories and quite a few more dropships than Flash. Both players have 2/0 upgrades.Classic retakes 6 and floats to 10 while Flash expands to 3:30, and Flash adds his 5th factory. A huge drop and counterdrop at Flash's new expansion ends up with Classic decidedly on top, and the command center is forced to lift.Flash moves to take back the center and his 5th with drops, while Classic's huge army moves out and sets up a parallel tank line. Classic then inexplicably flies a bunch of dropships over Flash's tanks/goliaths, taking a lot of hits for nothing.Classic then makes up for his previous blunder by catching some of Flash's dropships with goliaths out of his own, though his base at 6 is amusingly full of SCVs yet not mining.Both players maneuver with dropships, and Flash tries to drop Classic's base at 2 with depressing results.Classic expands yet again to 3:30, and forces Flash's inner base at 12 to lift; it moves to a position where it can still mine gas. Flash is firmly behind, but if anyone can come back, it's Lee Young Ho...Flash tries to float a command center south to the back natural at 3:30, but turrets and Classic's dropships deter him. Flash finally equalizes in dropship numbers and successfully drops Classic's mining-gas-only base at 10 and prepares to take it.A successful drop at 3:30 by Flash is counter-dropped, and Flash loses the CC he planned to expand with after it escapes from the clutches of (of all things) a turret. Flash mutters angrily in response.Flash contents himself with the base at 10, dropping a large number of tanks and goliaths there to secure the area. Classic has taken the inner base at 4 and maynards there. Flash only adds his 6th factory at 27 minutes (!!).Flash has to take the expansion at 3:30 by force, but he is behind in dropship numbers, and the area is heavily defended by turrets and tanks. Flash catches Classic's dropships going the wrong way and strikes, but the units the survive the drop are just not enough to hold the counterdrop.Classic builds three starports at 5. Flash's base at 3 is mined out, and he desperately drops 3:30 again... but there are far too many units for Classic, and he stops the attempt easily.Flash gathers his remaining forces and attempts to take the base again, but gg's out (not in caps!) as soon as he sees how many tanks Classic has there.Flash's 2port wraith after expansion was quite a bit slower than Classic's, and Classic was able to at least equalize economically after the opening. But when Flash lost all his wraiths, he lost map control, and Classic could expand with impunity while harassing Flash and putting him further behind.While it pains me as a Flash fan to see him exit the MSL in such fashion, the adage still rings true: "What goes up, must come down." Hopefully Flash will pick himself back up after these losses. Luckily for Flash fans, one thing holds true: Flash's mental state is among one of the strongest in the game, so we know he'll be back.

Group B Set 2: Snow < Triathlon > free

+ Show Spoiler + By flamewheel



Triathlon really brings about the best games in the MSL. I don't know if it's the arbiters, the eggs, or the fact that the name "Triathlon" is pretty cool, but generally the games played on the map have a higher level of wacky to them. In my opinion, you can take a hundred high-level standard games and write Battle Reports on them, but eventually they'll become repetitive. However, take the games where things aren't quite so normal...



Either way, I think this match deserves a writeup. While it doesn't feature any revolutionary builds or [too] fantastic micro, it still has some tense, some odd, and some tense and odd situations.



If you haven't figured it out already, the map is Triathlon. The combatants are Snow, colored orange at 4, and Free, colored yellow at 8. In this second set of Group B, the two are squaring off to see who gets to advance to the Winners' match to face off against Jaedong. What fun.



There's really nothing too special about this game till later on. Both players take their foward expansion at around the same time (though Free's is a bit faster). Free goes 1gate core, trying to play a tech game. However, a lucky probe scout gets in and Free notices Snow's 3gate, prompting him to throw down more gateways. Snow goes for Reavers first while Free, seeking vision, opts for Observers.



At 8 minutes and 15 seconds in the game, the first battle occurs! Snow attacks with a shuttle/reaver and goons while Free has zealots and goons to defend.





Goon + Zealot < Reaver + Goon.

...You'd think that, right? However, with some nice micro Free is able to pick off the shuttle and reaver, and is able to force the battle to a draw. Snow decides not to press the attack with his reinforcements, and instead starts his third at his protected back expansion. Instead of following suit and expoing to the third, Free decides to take the offensive, perhaps hoping to end the game then and there. Since he didn't fight with Reavers in the first engagement, his Reaver/Shuttle-supported army should be stronger than Snow's, and thus Free should easily overpower him... Right?





Shuttle + Reavers + Goon > Reavers + Goon?

Well, yes in theory... However Free decides to be silly. After dropping his reavers in front of his goon army, he loses his shuttle, and Snow's reavers make short work of their antagonistic counterparts.





Boom!

Losing those Reavers was big. Since Snow didn't have a Shuttle, Free should have just killed off Snow's defenseless Reavers with his own, then used his remaining forces to take out Snow's natural. After that it would have been a short road to victory. We know how important Reavers are though, and without them Free's army is held off. He keeps his forces outside of Snow's natural in a semi-contain though, and starts his third.



Now here's where things start to get interesting.



Snow, having spotted the third and knowing that Free's forces are being rallied to the battlefield, decides the time for harassment is now.





Taking a reaver and two zealots, Snow heads for the third...





Just as Free decides to attack again.

Without his shuttle and second reaver, Snow is unable to defend his base. Retreating up the ramp and into the main, he has no choice but to let Free take out his natural.





Generally, this position signifies the game ending shortly.

Luckily for Snow, Triathlon's back expansion means that in scenarios like this, it's not 2base vs 1base, but 3base vs 2base. And while Free's been busy attacking, Snow's been busy clearing out probes from all of Free's bases.







Remember that 80-something kill Reaver Snow had in that playoffs game?

Free decides to try to end the game then and there, and tries pushing into Snow's main. However, instead of running up the ramp with his units he decides to just attack uphill, allowing Snow to defend with Reaver + storm. It isn't until after wasting a large majority of his army does Free back off. Snow retakes his natural, and Free starts remaking probes, and both players macro for a while, dancing armies back and forth across the middle of the map.



Again, Snow shows to be the player with better adaptability. Instead of just purely trying to play the eco game, he decides to go for more harassment. This time, the pain is brought by zealots and... dark templar.





"pvp is so funny



they just sit there hurling imbalanced shit at each other"

314 ESPORTS DOLLARS to whomever can tell me who this quote came from.



Anyway, after trading armies and again losing a good number of probes (as well as the nexus at the third), Free types out after losing the next battle.



Overall, a very well-played game by Snow. Though he put himself at an initial disadvantage by trading a superior army for Free's inferior one, his excellent defense and sniping made it possible for him to dig back into the game with Protoss imba harassment. Interestingly enough, for a PvP of this length I found it weird that not a single storm drop was attempted by either player, though it was refreshing watching DTs slice up probes at 20 minutes into the game. Triathlon really brings about the best games in the MSL. I don't know if it's the arbiters, the eggs, or the fact that the name "Triathlon" is pretty cool, but generally the games played on the map have a higher level of wacky to them. In my opinion, you can take a hundred high-level standard games and write Battle Reports on them, but eventually they'll become repetitive. However, take the games where things aren't quite so normal...Either way, I think this match deserves a writeup. While it doesn't feature any revolutionary builds or [too] fantastic micro, it still has some tense, some odd, and some tense and odd situations.If you haven't figured it out already, the map is Triathlon. The combatants are Snow, colored orange at 4, and Free, colored yellow at 8. In this second set of Group B, the two are squaring off to see who gets to advance to the Winners' match to face off against Jaedong. What fun.There's really nothing tooabout this game till later on. Both players take their foward expansion at around the same time (though Free's is a bit faster). Free goes 1gate core, trying to play a tech game. However, a lucky probe scout gets in and Free notices Snow's 3gate, prompting him to throw down more gateways. Snow goes for Reavers first while Free, seeking vision, opts for Observers.At 8 minutes and 15 seconds in the game, the first battle occurs! Snow attacks with a shuttle/reaver and goons while Free has zealots and goons to defend....You'd think that, right? However, with some nice micro Free is able to pick off the shuttle and reaver, and is able to force the battle to a draw. Snow decides not to press the attack with his reinforcements, and instead starts his third at his protected back expansion. Instead of following suit and expoing to the third, Free decides to take the offensive, perhaps hoping to end the game then and there. Since he didn't fight with Reavers in the first engagement, his Reaver/Shuttle-supported army should be stronger than Snow's, and thus Free should easily overpower him... Right?Well, yes in theory... However Free decides to be silly. After dropping his reavers in front of his goon army, he loses his shuttle, and Snow's reavers make short work of their antagonistic counterparts.Losing those Reavers was big. Since Snow didn't have a Shuttle, Free should have just killed off Snow's defenseless Reavers with his own, then used his remaining forces to take out Snow's natural. After that it would have been a short road to victory. We know how important Reavers are though, and without them Free's army is held off. He keeps his forces outside of Snow's natural in a semi-contain though, and starts his third.Now here's where things start to get interesting.Snow, having spotted the third and knowing that Free's forces are being rallied to the battlefield, decides the time for harassment is now.Without his shuttle and second reaver, Snow is unable to defend his base. Retreating up the ramp and into the main, he has no choice but to let Free take out his natural.Luckily for Snow, Triathlon's back expansion means that in scenarios like this, it's not 2base vs 1base, but 3base vs 2base. And while Free's been busy attacking, Snow's been busy clearing out probes from all of Free's bases.Free decides to try to end the game then and there, and tries pushing into Snow's main. However, instead of running up the ramp with his units he decides to just attack uphill, allowing Snow to defend with Reaver + storm. It isn't until after wasting a large majority of his army does Free back off. Snow retakes his natural, and Free starts remaking probes, and both players macro for a while, dancing armies back and forth across the middle of the map.Again, Snow shows to be the player with better adaptability. Instead of just purely trying to play the eco game, he decides to go for more harassment. This time, the pain is brought by zealots and... dark templar.314 ESPORTS DOLLARS to whomever can tell me who this quote came from.Anyway, after trading armies and again losing a good number of probes (as well as the nexus at the third), Free types out after losing the next battle.Overall, a very well-played game by Snow. Though he put himself at an initial disadvantage by trading a superior army for Free's inferior one, his excellent defense and sniping made it possible for him to dig back into the game withharassment. Interestingly enough, for a PvP of this length I found it weird that not a single storm drop was attempted by either player, though it was refreshing watching DTs slice up probes at 20 minutes into the game.

Group G Set 1: Sea < Triathlon > Action

+ Show Spoiler + By l10f



Action starts at 12 o'clock as the Red Zerg and Sea starts at 9 o'clock as the Blue Terran. Action starts by sending an overlord to the center to check for any proxies as Sea hasn't been doing well against Zerg players lately. Action continues to take his natural before his pool, and sees that Sea is doing a 14CC build with his drone. Action responds by taking his back expansion before making his pool.





It's 3 minutes into the game and spawning pool is just starting.

Action continues to play economically by keep making more drones before his spawning pool, and sea builds a quick gas after sealing off his entrance. Sea is unable to scout Action, and starts building a factory. Action's spawning pool finally finishes, and Action starts to get his lair. Action sees that Sea has stopped marine production, and builds a sunken colony in his natural to stop the vulture.



Sea builds two starports as soon as his factory finishes, and Action starts his spire. The first two wraiths kill a few drones and overlords, but after seeing the spire, Sea retreats with his wraiths. Action takes a 4th expansion while massing up a large force of mutalisks. Sea tries to harass with wraiths, but the overlord speed finishes and cloaked wraiths are forced to retreat. Action makes even more mutalisks and Sea is forced to build a lot of turrets to defend.





Mutas with detection > Wraiths.





SURPRISE!!!

Action decides to not use his mutalisks actively, and techs up to hive. Sea now has a sizeable bionic army and valkyries to counter the mutalisks. Sea hides his valkyries and defends against the mutalisks with only marines until he builds up a large enough force to push out as hive finishes. When Action tries to kill some marines, Sea shows his valkyries, dealing a large amount of damage to all of the mutalisks. Action builds a lot of sunken colonies to defend, but with all of his mutalisks almost dead, Sea's marines kill Action's natural and forces Action to GG. Action starts at 12 o'clock as the Red Zerg and Sea starts at 9 o'clock as the Blue Terran. Action starts by sending an overlord to the center to check for any proxies as Sea hasn't been doing well against Zerg players lately. Action continues to take his natural before his pool, and sees that Sea is doing a 14CC build with his drone. Action responds by taking his back expansion before making his pool.Action continues to play economically by keep making more drones before his spawning pool, and sea builds a quick gas after sealing off his entrance. Sea is unable to scout Action, and starts building a factory. Action's spawning pool finally finishes, and Action starts to get his lair. Action sees that Sea has stopped marine production, and builds a sunken colony in his natural to stop the vulture.Sea builds two starports as soon as his factory finishes, and Action starts his spire. The first two wraiths kill a few drones and overlords, but after seeing the spire, Sea retreats with his wraiths. Action takes a 4th expansion while massing up a large force of mutalisks. Sea tries to harass with wraiths, but the overlord speed finishes and cloaked wraiths are forced to retreat. Action makes even more mutalisks and Sea is forced to build a lot of turrets to defend.Action decides to not use his mutalisks actively, and techs up to hive. Sea now has a sizeable bionic army and valkyries to counter the mutalisks. Sea hides his valkyries and defends against the mutalisks with only marines until he builds up a large enough force to push out as hive finishes. When Action tries to kill some marines, Sea shows his valkyries, dealing a large amount of damage to all of the mutalisks. Action builds a lot of sunken colonies to defend, but with all of his mutalisks almost dead, Sea's marines kill Action's natural and forces Action to GG.

Group G Winners' Set: Sea < Circuit Breaker > ZerO

+ Show Spoiler + By l10f



Zero starts at 5 o'clock as the Blue ZErg and Sea starts at 7 o'clock as the Purple Terran on Circuit Breaker. Sea opens standard with a 1 barracks expansion, but Zero starts by putting down a spawning pool after his overlord. Zero takes his natural after making a few Zerglings. Sea misses these Zerglings on the way and loses a few marines and SCV's.





This sight seems to be common in Sea's games lately...

Zero gets a third hatchery and techs up to lair while sea gets his academy. Zero decides to make a lot of zerglings and attack Sea's natural right before medics come out. Sea reacts a little bit slowly, and loses a lot of marines. Zero's spire finishes, and Sea moves out with a few marines, medics, and firebats to force a sunken colony and a few zerglings, trying to make up for the blunder.





Sea needs to learn from his mistakes.

Sea is forced to put down a third barracks and a lot of turrets to defend against the mutalisks. Sea manages to stall Zero's 3rd with a firebat, but Zero's mutalisks kill a lot of marines and SCV's. Zero doesn't commit to a killing blow with his mutalisks, but continues to deal minor damage while taking his 3rd and teching to lurkers. Zero's lurkers are able to contain Sea, and Sea is forced to wait until he gets his vessel to attack.



Sea moves out with 3 tanks and a vessel, supported by a large bionic force. Zero fights at the center and loses a lot of lurkers, although he kills the vessel. Sea takes a 3rd expansion while pushing forward, but dark swarm keeps Sea at bay. Zero attacks Sea's 3rd with a small army of lurkers and a defiler, and Sea is forced to lift.





10hp Lurker + Swarm > Marine + Medic + Tank army.

Sea knows he needs to do something and sieges up in front of Zero's natural. Zero continues to stall with swarm, and Sea is still unable to land his command center. Zero is able to secure a 4th gas in the meantime, and by the time Sea is able to take his 3rd again, Zero has a big enough army to take the center.





When you see this, you know Zero is playing.

After taking control of the cetner, Zero makes a queen and infests Sea's command center at his 3rd expansion. Sea takes another expansion at 9 o'clock and attempts to attack Zero again, but Zero defends with swarms and once his ultralisks are out, Sea is forced to GG. Zero starts at 5 o'clock as the Blue ZErg and Sea starts at 7 o'clock as the Purple Terran on Circuit Breaker. Sea opens standard with a 1 barracks expansion, but Zero starts by putting down a spawning pool after his overlord. Zero takes his natural after making a few Zerglings. Sea misses these Zerglings on the way and loses a few marines and SCV's.Zero gets a third hatchery and techs up to lair while sea gets his academy. Zero decides to make a lot of zerglings and attack Sea's natural right before medics come out. Sea reacts a little bit slowly, and loses a lot of marines. Zero's spire finishes, and Sea moves out with a few marines, medics, and firebats to force a sunken colony and a few zerglings, trying to make up for the blunder.Sea is forced to put down a third barracks and a lot of turrets to defend against the mutalisks. Sea manages to stall Zero's 3rd with a firebat, but Zero's mutalisks kill a lot of marines and SCV's. Zero doesn't commit to a killing blow with his mutalisks, but continues to deal minor damage while taking his 3rd and teching to lurkers. Zero's lurkers are able to contain Sea, and Sea is forced to wait until he gets his vessel to attack.Sea moves out with 3 tanks and a vessel, supported by a large bionic force. Zero fights at the center and loses a lot of lurkers, although he kills the vessel. Sea takes a 3rd expansion while pushing forward, but dark swarm keeps Sea at bay. Zero attacks Sea's 3rd with a small army of lurkers and a defiler, and Sea is forced to lift.Sea knows he needs to do something and sieges up in front of Zero's natural. Zero continues to stall with swarm, and Sea is still unable to land his command center. Zero is able to secure a 4th gas in the meantime, and by the time Sea is able to take his 3rd again, Zero has a big enough army to take the center.After taking control of the cetner, Zero makes a queen and infests Sea's command center at his 3rd expansion. Sea takes another expansion at 9 o'clock and attempts to attack Zero again, but Zero defends with swarms and once his ultralisks are out, Sea is forced to GG.



These updates for the Round of 32 aren't going to be long. Luckily, the level of play was pretty high, so we had some good games to recap. However, before you leave to do whatever it is you guys do during the day/night take a moment to read this. Yes, it concerns Flash's losses, and it's probably going to generate a good majority of the comments. Please note that since this is an inclusive news post, some OSL spoilers might be posted. Read at your risk.



Shot Down

By flamewheel

See, there were two titles to choose for this week's article--the main title and the title for this sub-article. I toyed with a few others before choosing the two that I did, since I wanted to capture the right feel for this news post. Other worthy contenders included included the likes of the sensationalist "Flash in the Pan", the metaphorically blasé "Falling Star", and the playing-on-Engrish-and-bad-puns "Crashing [Frashing] Down". While all those titles sounded nice to me at the time of their inceptions, I [obviously] did not feel comfortable in using them. There is a fundamental difference between the two titles chosen and those that are listed above. Can you see why?



Take note: what comes next is a short opinion piece, backed up by some statistics. Perhaps these statistics aren't all-inclusive, but that's what makes opinion opinion, right? If you do decide to flame me, be warned that depending on your stance, you will be targeted by logical people, illogical people, fans, anti-fans, fanboys, and anti-fanboys. In short, what I'm trying to say is flame away.



I am not a sensationalist. While in times of frivolity (read: Live Report threads) I may yell random things like "SLUUMMMPPP", but when it comes down to it I prefer logic over impulse. Going on impulse, Flash losing to two "random" players and dropping out of the MSL is a sign of something deeper than just two singularly bad occurrences. In the same vein, Flash facing elimination in the OSL due to losses to Kal and Hyuk shows that, well...



On 1881, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote:

God is dead.

Lo and behold though, is this the case? After watching those four games and the Proleague game against Really, I did start to wonder whether or not Flash was facing some sort of downturn. Perhaps, as is so often in the Greek myths of old, this was a case of hubris?



Lately, I've been trying to parameterize the world in terms of plausibilities and implausibilities, so I decided to use statistics to look at this phenomenon, taking a trek to the Teamliquid Database and going straight to Flash's page. The first thing I saw? 70.54%. However, as all rigorous mathematicians know the overall picture is not always the best one. Therefore, I decided to take a trip back in time.



Basically everybody knows Flash suffered a "slump" through 2008 and into 2009. As a handy point of reference, I took the date of Flash's first EVER 2009 game (against HoGiL) as my starting point. The numbers? 150 to 47. I went back three more games, and that became 153-47, or 76.5%.



Oh, his last ten games? 5-5, with four losses in individual leagues and a loss to Light in Proleague, breaking a 12-game Proleague win streak. While 5-5 is average for the progaming world, it's definitely far below Flash's 70%, or expected 7-3. But how far below? Using my primitive knowledge of Statistics, I went back in those 200 games, ten at a time.



Now, with a mean of 7.75 and a standard deviation of around 1.48, Flash is still (barely) within the 95% range. While this doesn't really say anything in Starcraft, it still tells me enough that this isn't too weird, right?



Just...



Well... Flash is facing elimination in both leagues, having been knocked out of one with the other a very likely option. Losing a random Proleague game is far more trivial than losing an OSL/MSL game, not to even consider being knocked out of an individual league. Even if Paralyze beats Kal (that would be a feat in itself) and Flash manages to win the tiebreaker, that would still be... odd. It really all boils down to this though: Flash is out, and after a full year of winning pretty much everything, it seems that he's finally slowed down a bit.



Alright, I didn't want this to become very long-winded. Having read this far, you're probably saying at this point "flamewheel has said nothing that I didn't already know." So let's get down to the nitty-gritty. In losing these four games in an individual league, Flash has lost a match (or two, in one case) in every matchup. It's not as if he lost all four games in TvT, where one would then be saying "well, Flash seems to be having problems with TvT / his opponents have figured him out and have responded appropriately"; this either says that Flash has gotten worse or his opponents, in general, are catching up. And really, besides his questionable play against Hyuk (where I really don't doubt Flash for wanting to be safe, at least) it's not as if Flash played terribly in his other games. Kal straight up outplayed him in terms of both preparation and execution. You might say the game against Classic was a build order loss, but in TvT it's much easier to come back from a build order loss than in the other mirrors, especially when one has Flash's mechanics. In the game against Ssak, Flash pretty much had it won--but decided to gloat a bit too early, allowing Ssak to recognize and pull the comeback needed to win. In essence, I can't fully attribute Flash's loss to his own failures, but in the same sense, I can't say that his opponents beat Flash. It was a mixture of both: in a way, I guess you could say that Flash assists others in beating himself. A sort of... Hyuking? Of course, not as extreme, but you still get the point.



Face it anti-fans/anti-fanboys, anti-Flash builds exist and sometimes Flash just gets outplayed. And in the same sense, fans and fanboys have to acknowledge that sometimes Flash doesn't play perfectly. While these last couple games have been anomalous, they are still probably the product of a combination of the two factors. After all, if you know you're going to play Flash, what are you going to do? You bet you're going to try as hard as possible, since you have more play time and more games (since Flash plays more than you do) to work with. And with your coaching staff and your team behind you, you've got the build, you've got the hope. You just have to make sure Flash messes up. And Flash isn't truly a god, for he still messes up. 60% is considered pretty A-class, but that means you're still losing 4 out of 10 games. 70%, 3 games out of 10. So?



Look, on the subject of matchups again: do you remember when Jaedong hit his peak in ZvZ, then in ZvP? He was able to do so because he found something that others did not, allowing him to pretty much "break" the game for a short period of time. And while Jaedong is still ridiculously scary in both matchups, others have started to show they can catch up. It's only a matter of time. While Flash relies more on his mechanics and sense (which cannot be altered by an opponent) than Jaedong does, he still has to start somewhere at the beginning of each game. We've all seen and discussed the games where Flash comes back from a massive early-game disadvantage. In those games, Flash knew that if he just held on, he would be able to use the massive difference in mechanical skill to eventually come back. Well, the same still happens now, and it happened in these games. The opponents, through build tailoring and execution, got off to a good start. Flash hung on, and tried to get back in... But it wasn't enough. Somewhere down the line, everybody else starts catching up. I suppose the phrase that ]343[ used ("what goes up, must come down") isn't totally true in this case: perhaps it's not Flash going down. Perhaps others have started coming up.



Ah, being on break these past few days have granted me the liberty of watching some old games. I started with the classics, the finals, then went onto the ELO-peaking games for each player. Incidentally, watching Jangbi's game made me sad. Anyway, after watching Boxer's and YellOw's games from back then one can really realize the massive skill increase (on average) between then and now. This much is obvious, and can be extrapolated into saying that the rookies and new players of today are better than their counterparts of yesteryear. While Flash has been able to ride this wave of improvement far longer and far... farther... than everybody else, there comes a time where you simply must slow down.



So, in conclusion, everything I've written can be summarized into one sentence. I think Flash is still bonjwa. Can you disagree with me? Of course, I might be wrong--the coming days, weeks, and months will prove or disprove me. Though I never agreed with the term "god", I would say that Flash, through a combination of arrogance and competition, has been knocked off the highest pedestal.



Hah, for those of you who read this poorly organized ramble, thanks. While I don't hope to completely dictate your train of thought regarding this situation, it's something else to think about, right?

This exciting and confusing MSL update brought to you by the MSL team of ]343[, l10f, and flamewheel. Graphics are by disciple, and if you're wondering about the banner he'll have a new one up for the Round of 16. Thanks for reading!



Harem, zerglings don't need money.



612 ESPORTS BUCKS to whomever finds the hidden message first. Writer damn, i was two days from retirement Another week, another news post, and another couple minutes spent trying to fill out this top bit of text. Honestly, I hate this part; it's what makes me delay starting these posts for so long. But I digress...There should be plenty to talk about this week, what with Flash losing and everything. Seriously, has there been a season more filled with "what the