This week in BWCL (Week 1)

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This week in BWCL


Vol.1, issue 1 (Week 1)



Dear Reader,


the BWCL content team is happy to bring to you the This week in BWCL format. Created with the purpose to cover all division A series that weren't streamed, shed a bit of light on the divisions below division A and just generally report on everything that is noteworthy around BWCL, we hope to release this format on a biweekly basis going forward. With that said, let's get down to business and see what happened in the first week of BWCL season 53.


Table of contents
1. General content releases
2. Div-A: iRk-A vs ef
2.2 iRk-MadiNho[V] vs DarkinG[ef]
2.3 iRk-Oyaji vs LeO[ef]
2.4 iRk-vOddy vs cRuZa[ef]
2.5 iRk-Hawk vs Dienmax[ef]
2.6 iRk-voodoodo + iRk-FavoOa vs ilovexto[ef] + kingtoss[ef]
2.7 iRk-A vs ef: Summary
3.Div-A: Soul vs Red
3.1 Red.RatataTeNG vs Soul)Z(Gae9ri
3.2 Red.Eriador vs Soul)T(Dandy
3.3 Red.MasterRey vs Soul)Z(Sziky
3.4 Red.pRobeRzy vs Soul)T(UltrA
3.5 Red.MasterRey + Red.RatataTeNG vs Soul)Z(Sziky + Soul)T(Dandy
3.6 Red vs Soul: Summary
4. ash Aeterna vs dM
5. Elsewhere in the league - Division B: Rev-Aye vs Cwt
6. Standings
7. Outro

General content releases


Starting off extremely strong in regards to content, two articles were released this week! Gecko released the first part of his BWCL legacy series dubbed “Duel of the Fates”, while Cele released his interview with the leader of Red, Red.W4rr10r.


Gecko's article can be found under https://broodwar.net/forum/threads/bwcl-legacy-series-part-i-duel-of-the-fates.243751/#post-6840355


Cele's interview can be found under https://broodwar.net/forum/threads/bwcl-clan-interviews-part-1-red.243754/
 
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Division A series write-ups

iRk-A vs ef


A bit like David vs Goliath, ef had to take on iRk-A in the first week of this season's BWCL. Was the underdog able to beat the big menacing favourite, or did iRk-A just smash the opposition like a bug and move on unshaken? Read on to find out!


Series 1: iRk-MadiNho[V] T vs DarkinG[ef] P

Game 1: Polypoid, 1 o’clock vs 11 o’clock

Despite spawning adjacent to each other, both players opted for rather greedy opener: A 1 Rax FE in the case of MadiNho and a 16 Nexus in the case of DarkinG. The result of that was an uneventful early game which allowed both players to build up a healthy mid-game economy and tech. This uneventfulness would go on to be the defining feature of the earlier portion of the game, since, apart from a Vulture Runby killing only a single probe, first the Protoss and then the Terran player would take their respective mineral-only third bases without any opposition. However, that was only the calm before the storm. In the following minutes, the game heated up considerably as MadiNho was able to tip the scales in his favour. First, he delayed the Protoss' fourth base by killing the Probe that was about to set up the Nexus and then he was able to drop Vultures into DarkinG's natural and main killing about 10 Probes in the process. Maybe because he felt behind due to the events that just befell him, DarkingG, who build up an Arbiter free style army, launched a push onto the Terran's well defended third base. Unfortunately, his Shuttle, which held four High Templars, was shot down by a Turret without doing anything and thus the Protoss army was soundly defeated and DarkinG conceded the battle.

iRk-MadiNho[V] T 1 vs 0 DarkinG[ef] P
1.png
Imagine all those Templars being able to storm... *sigh*

Game 2: BSLaderunner, 5 o’clock vs 11 o’clock

Perhaps because he lost, perhaps because of other reasons, DarkinG decided to open this game with an even greedier 12 Nexus, while MadiNho employed a fast drop opener. After another uneventful early game that saw both players secure their respective naturals, disaster struck hard and suddenly when MadiNho’s drop hit the Protoss’ main base. In what can only be described as a massacre, MadiNho’s Vultures killed 10 Probes and completely stopped mining in the Protoss' main base. Emboldened by such a result, a second drop was executed by MadiNho, but it was utterly slapped down, resulting in a dead Dropship, a dead Siege Tank, two dead Marines and one dead Vulture. This failed drop would then go on to mark the point at which the game slowed down again and both players started working towards the late-game army of their respective races. However, due to the successful drop that occurred earlier, the advantage was clearly in MadiNho's favour, as he was able to secure his fourth base at the same time as DarkinG secured his fourth base. Furthermore, MadiNho was able to tech up to 0-3 upgrades, while the Protoss was only on 1-1 upgrades. Still, in the end both players were at about 200 supply when the final battle ensued. Would MadiNho be able to leverage his advantage into another victory in that battle, or would DarkinG's Protoss army evaporate the Terran forces? Well, sometimes Starcraft can be full of surprises, but in this particular case, it wasn't. Setting up at the Protoss' fourth base at 9 o'clock, MadiNho's army consisting of Tanks, Vultures, Goliaths and two Science Vessels beat the Protoss army made up of Zealots, Arbiters, Dragoons and Observers in a close battle. Unfortunately for DarkinG, his Zealots only engaged after most of the Dragoons were already dead. Furthermore, the Stases were a mixed bag. One only hit a single Science Vessel, another hit the second Science Vessel, but also hit a FULL ENERGY Arbiter and only the third Stasis was able to freeze ten Siege Tanks. Thus, while DarkinG was able to wittle down the first wave of Terran units, he fought way too inefficient and the next wave of Terran reinforcements was able to clean up what remained of the Protoss army to secure a win for MadiNho by taking out DarkinG's 9 o'clock base.

iRk-MadiNho[V] T 2 vs 0 DarkinG[ef] P

2.png
Sometimes a picture says more than a 1000 words.
 
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Series 2: iRk-Oyaji P vs LeO[ef] Z

Game 1: Polypoid, 11 o’clock vs 5 o’clock

Keeping the theme of uneventful early games, Oyaji employed a Gate FE and kept his Zealots back, while LeO decided that the good old Overpool was the way to go. What could have shaped up to be a very standard game then, was shaken up by the Zerg player taking the natural of the 1 o'clock main, thus making their intentions clear to play turtle Zerg. However, playing a rather standard game, the only difference to the usual Corsair build being a later Stargate in exchange for an earlier Citadel and Zealot legs, Oyaji just crushed the aforementioned Zerg expansion with an eight-minute Zealot, Dark Templar and Dragoon push to effectively end the game. It should be noted though that LeO did show remarkable fighting spirit and kept the game going for several minutes more on the back of +1 carapace Zerglings and a sneaky hatchery at 1 o’clock, but his swarm soon fell to another Protoss attack.

iRk-Oyaji P 1 vs 0 LeO[ef] Z
3.png
When the turtle's shell gets broken. Looks painful, ouch!

Game 2: Shakuras Temple, 11 o’clock vs 5 o’clock

Eerily similar to the first game, both players opened the same way as before with just some minor differences in regards to some building timings (like Oyaji building his Stargate before the Citadel). Interestingly enough, the game would not only start in a very similar fashion to the first one, it would also end in a very similar way. A nine-minute Zealot and High Templar push by Oyaji killed all the drones at the Zerg natural, breaking our turtling Zerg player and thus made way for the finish just about three minutes later when the Zerg's main base was overrun by another wave of Protoss warriors.

iRk-Oyaji P 2 vs 0 LeO[ef] Z4.png
Although a few things are different, it does look familiar, doesn't it?
 
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Series 3: iRk-vOddy T vs cRuZa[ef]

Game 1: Polypoid, 11 o’clock vs 5 o’clock

The first game of the third series, another TvP, started in a similar fashion to the first TvP between MadiNho and DarkinG. the Terran player opted for a 1 Rax FE, while the Protoss player employed a 20 Nexus opener. However, in contrary to the first game between MadiNho and DarkinG, the 20 Nexus enabled the Protoss player to put some pressure on the Terran bunker with his Dragoons until Siege mod finished researching. There was also no mid-game slowdown, since vOddy decided to push with four Siege Tanks, four Marines, two SCVs and rallying Vultures. This push didn’t go so well though. CRuZa, having in place the perfect pieces to defend the push, slapped it down hard by Zealot bombing the Siege Tanks and cleaning up the rest with Dragoons. This allowed him to take his expansions number five and six, while the Terran had to turtle on three bases for a while before taking a fourth base. Right after that, the two maxed out Armies met. This battle ended in a Protoss victory, due to exquisite storms and an upgrade advantage over the Terran who was on one armoury for most of the game. Unfortunately for the Protoss player though, he couldn’t leverage this victory into anything and was further bullied by a single dropship that stopped mining at his third. This in turn allowed the Terran player to catch up in upgrades and crush the Protoss player in the next battle, thus paving the path to victory for vOddy’s space cowboys.

iRk-vOddy T 1 vs 0 cRuZa[ef] P
5.png
Imagine just slapping that as a Protoss Player and still losing. T-E-S-A-G-I
Game 2: No-show by cRuZa[ef]

iRk-vOddy T 2 vs 0 cRuZa[ef] P


Series 4: iRk-Hawk Z vs Dienmax[ef] P

Complete walk-over in favour Dienmax[ef]
d77bf35fc16aa5c458558dfc8815947d.jpg
Since I didn't get a hawk to write about, I brought a hippo instead
 
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Series 5: iRk-voodoodo Z+ iRk-FavoOa P vs ilovexto[ef] T+ kingtoss[ef] P

Game 1: Shakuras Temple, 5 o’clock + 7 o’clock vs 11 o'clock + 1 o'clock

As is the case for most 2v2s, things heated up very fast. The 9 Pool and 1 Gate combination of the iRk team faced off against the 2 Rax and 2 Gate combination of the ef team. In the following minutes, ef planned to use their more aggressive opening to put pressure on the Zerg player of iRk by using a combined force of Marines and Zealots, but things seldom go according to plan. Making use of the greater speed of Zerglings, voodoodo was able to eliminate the isolated Marines of ilovexto on their way across the map, before dealing with the Zealots of kingtoss. Meanwhile, FavoOa used this opportunity created by his teammate to tech up to Dark Templars and kill the Terran player with them. Shortly after, the team of ef surrendered.
iRk-voodoodo Z + iRk-FavoOa P 1 vs ilovexto[ef] T+ kingtoss[ef] P 0
7.png
When the invisible man is out to get you, you can't escape.
Game 2: Shakuras Temple, 7 o’clock + 5 o’clock vs 11 o'clock + 1 o'clock

While both voodoodo and kingtoss employed the same openers as before, a 9 Pool and a 2 Gate, FavoOa and ilovexto changed up their builds. The first decided on opening 2 Gate Goon + range and the latter opened with a 2 Fac play. However, voodoodo was able to secure map control against his Protoss opponent and thus FavoOa was able to contain the Vultures of ilovexto at the Terran's natural. This allowed voodoodo to tech up to Mutalisks and finish of the Terran player who was severely lacking in anti-air. With the Terran player down again, ef called the gg seconds later.

iRk-voodoodo Z + iRk-FavoOa P 2 vs ilovexto[ef] T+ kingtoss[ef] P 08.png
Not a good 2v2 series to be a Terran.

iRk-A vs ef: Summary

iRk-A: 4
ef: 1


Unfortunately, no underdog story today! ef wasn't able to win a single game against the giant that is iRk-A and only got one point due to a walk-over. Still, ef did put up a good fight, delivering good games against a clear favourite.
 

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Soul vs Red

Another David vs Goliath situation, Red had to face the monster that is soul. Did the players of Red win the day, or were they devoured by the beast?

Series 1: Red.RatataTeNG T vs Soul)Z(Gae9ri Z

Game 1: Polypoid, 7 o'clock vs 1 o'clock

Starting of the series, Red's RatataTeNG faced of against Soul's Gae9ri in a TvZ. The latter of which opened 12 Hatch, while the former opened with a 1 Fac FE. With the respective builds in mind, things went on as expected for a while, but RatataTeNG's quick wit soon netted him a bit of an advantage as he was able to send his Marines out and kill an overlord, due to Gae9ri only building a single pair of Zerglings while moving into open areas with his Overlords. Still, Gae9ri was not deterred by this little setback and just stuck to the standard: Lair tech, a Sunken Colony due to not seeing a Terran expansion and then a Spire once the Lair finished. Meanwhile, RatataTeng also went relatively standard to a degree. An expansion at the normal timing for mech, two Factories (one with a Machine Shop), a vulture and an Armoury as well as an Engineering Bay for Turrets. Thus the stage was set: On the one side, we had Gae9ri flying across the map with Mutalisks and a +1 Attack upgrade in the works, while on the other side RattataTeNG was waiting with his Turrets, his Goliaths and his own +1 attack upgrade in the works – 12 Hatch Muta vs 2 Fac Goliath. The ensuing Mutalisk harassment saw RatataTeNg lose about seven SCVs, while Gae9ri only lost a single Mutalisk. After that little scuffle, the game slowed down a bit. Gae9ri took his third behind his harassment, droned up and started up his Mutalisk production for real once he had enough Drones, while the Terran player took his third and build two additional Factories, bringing him up to four. Staying so long on two factories would soon bite him in the butt though, as his Goliaths were completely wiped out by the Zerg's Mutalisk force when they attacked the Terran's third. RatataTeNG was able to repel the Mutalisks eventually, but Gae9ri was already switching into Hydralisks at that point and was able to use them to break the Terran in a quick and clean fashion.

Red.RataTeNG T 0 vs 1 Soul)Z(Gae9ri Z
9.png
Too many Mutalisks!
Game 2: Ultimate Stream, 7 o'clock vs 1 o'clock

Souldering on (get it? Souldering, because of soul and... fine fine, I'll stop), Gae9ri decided to open 12 Hatch again, while RatataTeNG switched things up and opted to 1 Rax FE this game. Apart from Gae9ri losing his scouting Drone to two Marines, not much else happened for a while. The Terran player got his expansion up and added a second Barracks, an Engineering Bay and an Academy, while Gea9ri did the usual things you do when you go 2 Hatch Mutalisk. Seeing a chance due to Gea9ri being low on Zerglings, RattataTeNG decided to attack with seven Marines before Mutalisks would hit the field. Unfortunatly though, his move out got spotted by an Overlord and the Zerg player had ample time to bolster his Zergling count. Despite being aware that he got spotted, RatataTeNG persisted in his intent to run his Marines to the Zerg's natural and got all seven of them killed by Speedlings in the process. Thus, despite forcing two Sunken Colonies and a bunch of Zerglings, the Terran player was severely set back and once the Mutalisks arrived, things really started to go downhill. Slowly and methodically, the Zerg player started to pick the Terran apart with Mutalisks (first unupgraded and later with +1 attack), only teching up to Lurkers once the Terran player deployed his first Science Vessels. But even those Vessels couldn't save RatataTeNG. Yes, the Irradiates did kill a few Mutalisks, but with only 22 SCVs remaining after fourteen minutes and eleven Lurkers burrowing at his natural, RatataTeng had no other choice but to concede the game.

Red.RataTeNG T 0 vs 2 Soul)Z(Gae9ri Z10.png
If things look like that after about 12 minutes, then things are looking pretty bad :X
 

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Series 2: Red.Eriador Z vs Soul)T(Dandy T

Game 1: Polypoid, 11 o'clock vs 5 o'clock

The second series started out rather standard. Dandy opened with a 1 Rax FE, while Eriador opted for a 12 Hatch as his opening of choice. However, Eriador was not about to play a cookie-cutter standard build-order from there. WITHOUT SCOUTING, he put up his third Hatchery in his main base BEFORE building his pool and only scouted what the Terran was up to after he threw down his Extractor. And what did he find? A Command Centre going up at the usual time for a Bio build, since his opponent was going for a 5 Barracks +1 build in response to Eraidor's 3 Hatch. To the Zerg player's delight, he also didn't scout a bunker. So, what did Eriador do? He build about ten Zerglings (with speed) and stormed the Terran's natural, killing all Marines, stopping the mining and even pushing into the Terran's main base where the Zergling's onslaught was only stopped after three SCVs sacrificed their life. Behind this, Eriador didn't tech up to Mutalisks, but went +1 Carapace and Lurker/Hydra. Before this unit combination would test their mettle in combat though, another attack with twelve Zerglings wrecked the Terran's unit count again, killing several Marines, Firebats, Medics and SCVs before being repelled. Then, in the following minutes, the game slowed down for the first time. Eriador took his third and went for a Hydra, Lurker, Queen (with Ensnare) unit composition, while Dandy just played the usual 5 Barracks +1 game. After finding out what the Zerg was up to via Scans, Dandy sought to abuse the more immobile Zerg army composition with a drop, but his Dropships were intercepted and only four Marines made it out of them alive, not doing that much damage before they got killed off. His plan being foiled, Dandy then sat back and took his mineral-only third on the back of two Factory Siege Tank production and his +2/+2 Medic and Marine ball. An attack on that mineral-only third by Eriador and his +2/0 upgraded unit composition was thwarted by the aforementioned units without many losses on the Terran side. Another attack on the same location not soon after the last one was successful in making the Terran lift his Command Centre, but Dandy held on without losing too much again, since he just pulled back a little. Retaking his third with four new Siege Tanks just a little later, Dandy was able to drop eight Marines at the 1 o'clock main base which Eriador tried to take for himself and thus reduced Eriador to four bases again – his main base, his natural as well as the 12 and 9 o'clock bases. During all of this back and forth, both players were also able to get their last tech pieces in place. Dandy sporting a unit composition of Marines, Medics, Science Vessels and Siege Tanks and Eriador, who had gone up to Hive, employing a mix of Hydra, Lurker, Ling with Defiler and Queen support. There is a reason though, why Hydra play isn't seen that often in ZvT. In the last two battles, the highly upgraded Terran army, the infantry upgrades were at +3/+3 at the end, just cleaved through Eriador's unit composition without much effort and thus a rather long game ended unceremoniously without much Zerg resistance.

Red.Eriador Z 0 vs 1 Soul)T(Dandy T
11.png
Hydra/Lurker/Queen Hype! Wooooop woooooop!
Game 2: Shakuras Temple, 11 o'clock vs 5 o'clock

9 Pool Speed vs 8 Rax. Do I have to say anything else? Yes? Fine, though not much happened really. Spawning on cross-positions, Dandy scouted the Zerglings of Eriador way too late and even miscalculated how long it would take for them to reach his natural. Having to cancel a bunker that he wanted to build in his natural, not being able to properly block the ramp with SCVs in time and with his Barracks in a useless position in his natural, the Zerglings broke through into Dandy's main and although he got things under control once, Eriador killed him with the next wave of Zerglings.

Red.Eriador 1 Z vs 1 Soul)T(Dandy T(It's the first series that's not 0-2 guys!)
12.png
If you listen very closely while looking at this picture, you can hear the Terran's heart shatter.
Game 3: Eclipse, 1 o'clock vs 7 o'clock

Scouting with his ninth Drone, Eriador scouted Dandy's 8 Rax early and in response went for the safer 12 Pool. However, due to Eclipse's “wallibility”, he couldn't put any pressure on the Terran player with the four Zerglings he built and thus found himself in an awkward situation due to his Lair starting rather late (around 3:14) and everything else also being delayed. And while Dandy was also a bit delayed due to starting with an 8 Rax, his game seemed more healthy, as he went for a three Barracks tech strategy. Still, at about six minutes, six Mutalisks made their way across the map and thus the dazzling dance of Mutalisks and Marines began anew. Sadly, the Mutalisks didn't find much damage and only killed a Medic and a single SCV, since Dandy's Turrets were in place and his Marine micro was impeccable. It should be noted though, that Eriador only build 6 Mutalisks and that the real aces up his sleeve were Lurkers and Hive tech into Defiler on two bases. Waiting for Dandy's Marines to move out, Eriador destroyed Dandy's natural with a group of Lurkers and Zerglings that he had at the ready at the 3 o'clock position, but lost his own natural to Dandy's Marines in the process, since he only had a Lurker and a single Sunken Colony in position and the rest of his Lurkers were still morphing. Did I mention that Eriador's Spire and Hydra Den were in his Natural? No? Well, now I did! Thus, despite taking the 12 o'clock base and managing to kill off all attacking Marines and Medics, Eriador was basically all-in. He then put all his eggs into one basket – a Defiler that slowly made its way across the map to provide the Dark Swarm his Lurkers needed to get up the ramp into the Terran's main base. Dandy was already on two Starprts however and just ferried troops outside his natural to intercept the Defiler. Eriador then made one final desperate attempt to storm Dandy's main, but was easily repelled and thus forced to surrender.

Red.Eriador Z 1 vs 2 Soul)T(Dandy T13.png
Conversely, if you closely look at this picture and listen, you can hear the Zerg player's heart shatter.
 

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Series 3: Red.MasterRey P vs Soul)Z(Sziky Z

Game 1: Polypoid, 7 o'clock vs 5 o'clock

Going into the series, an interesting opening mix-up occured. MasterRey going for a 1 Gate FE, while Sziky executes a 9 Pool, followed up by a 10/9 Hatchery. However, things went south for the Protoss player real quick. Misreading the Zerg opening and losing his Probe to the Drone that was about to build the Hatchery, MasterRey sends his first Zealot into his doom, since Sziky, of course, built 6 Zerglings once his Pool finished. Following the death of the poor Zealot, the Protoss player pulled four Probes to hold his wall, but the Zerglings killed two and made their way into the main base regardless of that effort. There, they killed two more Probes before being hunted down. A short while after, Sziky was now on three bases and preparing 3 Hatch Hydra, while MasterRey was able to finally throw down his delayed Nexus, the Protoss player attempted an attack with four Zealots, but Sziky had Zerglings in position and was able to kill the Cannon as well as four Probes. Without regards for the trouble at their natural, two Zealots tried to make their way across the map, but they too were killed by another twelve Zerglings. In the aftermath, MasterRey was able to keep those Zerglings from breaching his wall, but he soon fell to the Hydras.

Red.MasterRey P 0 vs 1 Soul)Z(Sziky Z
14.png
Part I of "why you should never trust your instinct and always try to scout as much as you can"
Game 2: Ascension, 12 o'clock vs 5 o'clock

Trusting in his 1 Gate FE opener, MasterRey employed it again, while Sziky went for a 12 Hatch on the back of an Extractor trick (10/9). This gave MasterRey a lot more leeway with his Zealots and he was able to kill the Zerg's Scouting Drone as well as position his Zealots behind Szikiy's Mineral-line. He also provoked Sziky into building twelve Zerglings, which made his second Zealot pretty ineffective, but set back the Zerg economy by quite a bit, especially since those Zerglings didn't find any damage. From there on, the game progressed into a Stargate (without +1 air attack) vs 3 Hatch Hydra situation. However, with two cannons already in place and four Zealots available, MasterRey was able to hold the initial Hydra pressure without losing a single Cannon and was able to add four more, bringing him up to six. From there on, Sziky had to transition into a normal 5 Hatch Hydra game, while his Hydras were only able to destroy the Protoss Gateway at the front. Since his Hydras weren't able to destroy the Forge as well, it was able to finish the important +1 attack upgrade. MasterRey would then go on to break the Hydra contain with a 9:30 Zealot, High Templar push and put some hurt on Sziky's third base, but ultimately, Sziky was able to hold on. However, when the Protoss player wanted to take his own third base, Sziky decided that he had to deny it and tried to attack into it. To hid dismay, he was repelled by the Protoss army, which now included Archons, and while he in turn was also able to repel that army, the next army of MasterRey was too much for him to handle and he swiftly gg'd out.

Red.MasterRey P 1 vs 1 Soul)Z(Sziky Z
15.png
Ez peez 9-7-3 hold!
Game 3: Demonio Azul, 12 o'clock vs 5 o'clock

Sziky, switching up his opening yet again, opens up with a 9 Pool Speed this time around, while MasterRey sticks to his tried and tested 1 Gate FE. In contrary to the first game, this time he scouts the imminent wave of Zerglings however and uses his initial Zealots to wall the entrance to his natural. Undeterred by that, Sziky just breaks into the natural with 8 Zerglings by killing the two Zealots before the third Zealot spawns and just runs into MasteRey's main base. There he kills 5 Probes (which is huge this early!) before the Zealots catch the Zerglings. Luckily for MasterRey, that happened before the Cannon in his mineral line (in his main base) finished warping in and thus he was able to cancel it, saving an important 150 Minerals. At that point Sziky was already preparing another 3 Hatch Hydra though and due to six new Zerglings, MasterRey was unable to scout it. He did try to move out with three Zealots a bit later, but this just allowed the six zerglings to swarm the Cannon and upon discovering the Hydras, the Protoss player just tapped out.

Red.MasterRey P 1 vs 2 Soul)Z(Sziky Z16.png
Even when you think you're walled and safe, Sziky will get his Zerglings into your main!
 

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Series 4: Red.pRobeRzy P vs Soul)T(UltrA T

Game 1: Polypoid, 11 o'clock vs 1 o'clock

Going into the game, both players opened very standard and safe. UltrA opted for a Siege Expand with a full wall-in at the main-ramp, while ProbeRzy opted for a 26 Nexus. Since both players also scouted what the other was up to, the early portion of the game was extremely quiet and the only thing that might deserve a mention, is that UltrA managed to lose the SCV that built his second Supply Depot to a Probe. However, going into the midgame, pRobeRzy failed to keep track of the Terran Factory count and only saw two before his first observer got shot down by a Missle Turret. UltrA was going for a five Factory push however and thus, when the big push consisting of seven Siege Tanks, a few Marines and rallying units occurred at around 8:30, pRobeRzy was woefully unprepared, due to misreading the situation. He took his third on the back of only two Gateways, because he probably thought that the Terran was going for a standard three base play and therefore had only four Gateways when the push hit. That push would then go on to cut straight through any Protoss resistance (a few Dragoons) and set up at the Protoss player's natural. Feeling confident, UltrA even split off three of his Siege Tanks to go siege the Protoss' third base at 9 o'clock. And though they were successful at setting up at the aforementioned base, a shuttle containing two Dts and two Zealots soon overwhelmed that little siege force. Soon after, a much larger Terran force of Vultures, Siege Tanks and SCVs started to siege the third again and this time succeeded. In exchange however, the Protoss was finally able to break the contain at his natural, thus being able to retake that base and counter attack the Terran. This counter attack would hit the Terran's mineral-only base, the Terran double-expanded to his mineral-only as well as to the 3 o'clock position during his offensive, but was repelled rather unceremoniously. Being hopelessly behind at that point, the Protoss tried another attack on the mineral-only, while also taking the 7 o'clock main as his new third, but the attack was repelled and taking the base was just too little, too late. The next push of UltrA simply brushed the Protoss army aside and pRobeRzy was forced to surrender.

Red.pRobeRzy P 0 vs 1 Soul)T(UltrA T
17.png
Part II of "why you should never trust your instinct and always try to scout as much as you can"
Game 2: Eclipse, 1 o'clock vs 7 o'clock

Changing up his game, pRobeRzy opened with a gateway at his natural this time around and thus set the pace of the game. With Zealots in his base, whatever UltrA had planned probably went out the window, as the Terran main became a bloody battlefield. Four Marines and three SCVs gave their life in defense of the Terran homebase, while three Zealots fell on the Protoss side. It should be noted, that UltrA actually had a pretty cool simcity, but even with a simcity, Zealots can be really really bothersome. Anyhow, instead of going into a standard one Factory expansion, UltrA decided to launch a counter-offensive on the back of two Factories and soon pushed out with 4 Vultures and 6 Marines. pRobeRzy, who expanded and only added two Gateways afterwards, did see the push coming too late again and despite throwing up a Shield Battery, the Terran battalion broke into the Protoss' natural, killing several Dragoons and two Probes in the process. Employing a probe pull, the Protoss player was able to stop the Terran army at his ramp though and due to having teched to observers, he was soon able to clear the Mines in his natural and retake his base. Nevertheless, the push enabled the Terran to take his own natural, tech into Siege Tanks and set up between his natural and his third. To the latter of which he soon expanded as well. Only on two bases and behind in Probes, the Protoss decided to seek his fortune in an aggressive Dragoon, Zealot, Speed-Shuttle bust attempt and started to built up to that, while the Terran stayed on the defensive. When the attempted bust happened though, it was squashed like a bug by about ten Tanks and four Vultures supported by Turrets and Mines. The Protoss army consisting of thirteen Dragoons, three Zealots and two Shuttles full of Zealots was simply too small to break a fortified position like that. It also didn't help that one Shuttle was shot down before delivering its payload in full. Even further behind now, the Protoss sought to double expand, but the Terran was already firmly established on three bases and eight Factories vs the Protoss' paltry five Gateways. It should come to no surprise then, that the game ended soon after when the Terran pushed with 181 supply against 116 supply.

Red.pRobeRzy P 0 vs 2 Soul)T(UltrA T18.png
Let's just take a second and appreciate this beautiful simcity on Eclipse 7 o'clock.
 

PancakePrincess

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Series 5: Red.MasterRey P + Red.RatataTeNG T vs Soul)Z(Sziky Z + Soul)T(Dandy T

Game 1: Shakuras Temple, 5 o'clock + 7 o'clock vs 11 o'clock + 1 o'clock

Starting off very aggressive, Dandy went for an 8 Rax, while his ally went for a 9 Pool. Meanwhile, Red's team took a much less aggressive approach and opened 2 Gate and 2 Rax respectively. Because of their aggressive opening, Soul's team was able to attack the isolated MasterRey , who was able to hold his ramp initially with three Zealots, but was soon forced to Probe drill against Soul's Marine and Zergling forces. This drill failed unfortunately, since Soul dodged it masterfully and thus MasterRey's Probe count was reduced by four to a total of nine, before two Marines from RatataTeNG were able to help their ally and beat back that early push. For a moment, this relief effort seemed to swing the momentum into Red's favour, as MasterRey's Zealots were now chasing after Dandy's Marines, but the latter was already teching into Vultures and thus the Zealot force of the Protoss player saw itself confronted with Vultures and Zerglings. And although RatataTeNG's Marines soon joined the party, Soul was able to win the battle and reset MasterRey's army count. This would soon come to bite him, since the combined forces of Soul were now headed towards his base and he was left with only three Zealots. Despite being at a clear disadvantage though, MasterRey was able to hold on until RatataTeNG's Medics and Marines arrived to save the day and beat back the attack. That hold was not without losses though, as the Protoss player's army count was reset again and four more Probes died in the defence. At this point, a bit about tech choices and main bases: Sziky was on three Hatchery Zergling production without gas, Dandy was on three Factory Vulture, RatataTeNG was on three Barracks Medic and Marine and MasterRey, due to losing a lot of his eco, just started two Gateway Dragoon production. Back to the army game, a group of Medic and Marines were killed by Zerglings and Vultures in front of RatataTeNG's base and this enabled Soul to start another big attack on Red's Protoss player. This attack would end the game, as MasterRey just didn't have the army to hold on and RatatTeNG's Medic and Marines were massacred by Zerglings.

Red.MasterRey P+ Red.RatataTeNG 0 T vs 1 Soul)Z(Sziky Z + Soul)T(Dandy T
19.png
The shy Vulgoon rears its head in one of its rare appearances. Also, MasterRey loses his ramp.
Game 1: BSLaderunner, 11 o'clock + 5 o'clock vs 7 o'clock + 11 o'clock

While the team of Soul started the same in regards to their openings, Red's team tried something different this time around. MasterRey opened with a single Gateway into a Forge into a Cannon and RatataTeNG went for a 2 Fac opening. However, with only one gateway producing Zealots and his Cannon not finishing in time, MasterRey wasn't able to hold onto his ramp when the Marine and Zergling attack of Soul's team hit and thus Red's duo was forced to surrender after only about four minutes.

Red.MasterRey P + Red.RatataTeNG T 0 vs 2 Soul)Z(Sziky Z + Soul)T(Dandy T
20.png
In the last 2v2 series, it wasn't a good time to be a Terran. This time it's not so nice to be a Protoss.

Red vs Soul: Summary

Soul: 6
Red: 0


Looks like Red got eaten up, bones and all! However, both MasterRey and Eriador were able to take a game of their respective opponents and that's definitely something, considering who they faced! So yes, while Red did fall to the monster, they did put up a fight for sure!
 

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ash Aeterna vs dM

This was cast by ReVolutionViR! It's available under:


Elsewhere in the league - Division B: Rev-Aye vs Cwt

This was cast by Pancake Princess and ash.Return! It's available under:


Standings

standings.png


Outro

And that's all folks! I hope the first issue of This week in BWCL was fun reading and I wish everyone a fun week two of season 53 of BWCL. See you all in two weeks!

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