Ongamenet once again put on a spectacular outdoor show while the terran and zerg festival that is this latest starleague produced some games of real excitement.
[Red]Nada (Lee Yoon Yeol) v Yellow (Hong Jin Ho) on Requiem
Nada (terran at 12) opened with a standard two barracks build against Yellow's expected early expansion. Nada opted for a factory then an academy, while Yellow (zerg at six) morphed a lair and hydralisk den and set to work on lurkers.
Nada attacked early, sending his first major force of marines and medics down the centre of the map towards the zerg natural, firebats and tanks following close behind. His two tanks set up and sieged and started to rain fire on the three sunken colonies guarding the zerg hatchery. Yellow, with lurkers now available, decided for a quick counterattack, launching his lurker/ling force at the terran main, forcing Nada into intense micro and rapid scans to kill off the invaders.
Back at Yellow's base, marines were now charging in to take down the natural, new lurkers arriving only just in time to save the hatchery, although all the defending sunkens and Yellow's extractor had been destroyed.
Nada now appeared to have the upper hand but Yellow had finished morphing a spire and used his peerless muta control to complicate the game considerably. His flight of mutalisks swooped into the undermanned terran main, killing marines left, right and centre and taking down a tank.
With the majority of his army outside the zerg base, Nada attacked. His marines destroyed the zerg natural and entered the main, Nada superbly sacrificing a medic to destroy an annoying lurker with splash damage at the main entrance.
In the terran base Yellow's mutas were laying waste to Nada's SCVs, while Nada's own forces decimated the zerg drones and razed the main to the ground.
In the confusion, a single terran SCV had escaped, while Yellow had a single mutalisk left and a new hatchery at the seven position with two drones mining. However, when Nada's single wraith discovered the one remaining hatchery, Yellow realised all hope was lost and typed out.
An exciting and unpredictable game, with more fireworks to come in game two next week
Nada 1 – 0 Yellow
Doggi (Choi Soo Beom) v GoRush (Park Tae Min) on Alchemist
Doggi (terran at three) went for a one rax one factory build against GoRush's early expo. Like Nada in the opening game, Doggi looked to sieze the initiative quickly with a lightning strike, sending a vulture and three marines to the zerg natural and attempting to take down the first warping sunken. GoRush rallied his first lings and some drones to force the terran forces to pull back and secured his expansion.
Doggi was now taking his natural very early, while Gorush was morphing his spire.
The first flight of zerg mutalisks headed directly for the terran main, harassing the main and and natural expansion as Doggi struggled to cope with the mobility of the enemy fliers. He had sufficient turrets to defend his mineral lines but much of his infrastructure was out of range of his static defences and GoRush used this fact to keep the terran player busy as he morphed a den, nest and a hive.
With lurkers finally on their way and no tanks available the situation deteriorating rapidly for Doggi. Lurkers and zerglings scurried into the terran main, decimating marines as they tried to pick off the burrowers. Doggi now had wraiths in the air but GoRush provided his lurkers with air cover in the shape of his still active mutalisks. As the lurkers lay waste to the top of the terran main, Doggi started to pick off the mutas.
However, even as he finally secured his main, Doggi saw his natural come under assault from a host of new lurkers, forcing the SCVs to flee to the main.
GoRush, now in complete command, looked to deliver the killing blow with mass hydra heading towards the terran base, many morphing to lurker on the way. In his own main he also had a greater spire and a defiler mound. His hyralisks and lurkers climbed the ramp into the terran main, lurkers dealing with marines while thye hyrdras held off Doggi's wraiths. As the swarm surged into the main base, Doggi finally conceded defeat.
Doggi 0 – 1 GoRush
Saferzerg (Kim Kun Baek) v July Zerg (Park Seong Joon) on Dream of Balhae
Making his first appearance in the OSL quarters, Safer (zerg at 11) opened with pool and extractor while his opponent, former champion and recently crowned Premiere League king July (zerg at seven), opted for an early expansion.
Safer quickly started morphing an expansion of his own while his tech development held a narrow lead over his illustrious opponent. July's lair finished morphing a short time after Safer started on his spire and the former OSL champ threw down an evolution chamber and two spore colonies as he waited for Safer's inevitably earlier mutalisks.
With his slight tech lead, Safer was able to harass July's expansion but could not gain any serious material advantage. With July's spire finishing soon after the game settled into the familiar routine of muta and scourge manoeuvres. The first major muta confrontation decided nothing, leaving both players with one remaining flyer. However, July had managed to spirit a flyer upgrade in while maintaining material parity and when the second major muta battle was finally joined his forces suddenly took total and devastating control of the air. He immediately attacked and a shocked Safer realised the game was over.
Saferzerg 0 – 1 July Zerg
Goodfriend (Lee Byeong Min) v Midas (Jeon Sang Ook) on Neo Guillotine
Two players making their first appearance in the knockout stages of the OSL, Goodfriend (terran at five) went for one factory and one starport against the two factory and armoury opening by Midas (terran at 11).
As his first dropship picked up two tanks Goodfriend sent it in the direction of the enemy base at the exact moment Midas' first force of tank and goliaths was arriving at the five o'clock wall. Goodfriend was staring over the edge of a precipice as his dropship glided through ground to air fire from a passing goliath at the same time as he struggled to save his wall in the face of a sustained attack from Midas' army.
However, Goodfriend held everything together. His wall survived long enough for siege mode to force a Midas retreat and his dropship deposited his two deadly tanks on the familiar Guillotine structure to the right of Midas' main. Immediately sieging, the two tanks started firing down on Midas' factories.
Weighing up his options, Midas decided to challenge the tanks right away as his retreating forces returned to his main. It was to no avail, the two tanks sitting viewing Midas's forces with disdain from their lofty vantage point and raining death down upon them. When the smoke had cleared Midas had lost a tank, five goliaths and a marine yet the two enemy tanks still survived.
More tanks were now approaching Midas' main overland, while Midas was waiting for a wraith from his new starport to finally deal with the tanks still up on the high ground. As Goodfriend's reinforcements arrived Midas was forced to rally his SCVs but they were picked off one after the other as they vainly attempted to repel attacks by four then five tanks, with a single wraith the only combat unit in support.
Midas had managed to put up an expansion but with all the SCVs at his main destroyed and a handful of miners working overtime at his expo, and with Goodfriend's economy untouched, the game was all but over. Midas held on vainly but finally bowed to the inevitable.
Goodfriend 1 – 0 Midas
Nada, GoRush, July and Goodfriend can close out their matches next week, while for ever-the-bridesmaid Yellow, a seemingly outclassed Doggi, unpredictable Saferzerg and Midas, it is all or nothing.