Tale of the Tape:
NSHS (Contender Division) 3-0, 15-9
Liquid (Premier Division) 0-3, 6-15
An awful fight from TLO cost him the game.
Ohana -- Game one
TLO v. Brave
TLO began with map control -- scouting, towers, and three-bases. Brave began off two-bases and played a cheeky warp prism for aggression. TLO defended well and both moved into the mid-game. With little harassment in the game, TLO moved up with speedlings/roaches, but Brave's great force fields and the late infestors made the fight a slaughter for the Protoss side. Finally, Brave moved out with colossus, sentries, and immortals but not before TLO jumped the gun and made another terrible play that exposed his corruptors first. The fight was another massacre and it was over for TLO.
HerO's great defense and better army composition beat Brave without a last fight.
Cloud Kingdom -- Game two
HerO v. Brave
The first mirror match, PvP, pinned HerO and Brave together on Cloud Kingdom. Both started off of one base with small iterations in their build order. HerO grabbed the advantage after Brave misplayed an aggression charge that reaped no kills. HerO's better army composition held Brave's blink stalker all-in. Without a finishing engagement, Brave GG'd out.
A clever fake colossus play allowed for a victory in the biggest engagement of the match.
Entombed Valley -- Game three
HerO v. Jjakji
The big guns for NSH came out with Jjakji. Jjakji began the game with a very aggressive bunker rush to deny HerO's expansion, but the pull back cost him his entire force. Jjakji transitioned to a bio ball and viking composition, while HerO went with psionic storm, stalkers, and sentries. HerO's initial build of colossus prompted Jjakji to make more vikings than medivacs. One bad engagemnt, and some cheeky fake colossus from HerO, led to a counter attack on Jjakji's base and the game.
The better supplied and upgraded army made short work of Madbull's defenses.
Daybreak -- Game four
HerO v. Madbull
With no cheese in play, Madbull tried to play HerO in an honest fight. HerO began the harass with a fast phoenix group with a double attack of stalkers in the front. The caging in of Madbull paid huge dividends in economy and map control for HerO. HerO's warp prism ploy opened up Madbull's front and the better upgraded/supplied army dominated the only engagement.
Guardian shields were the difference in the big game-changing engagement.
Whirlwind -- Game five
HerO v. Tassadar
Tassadar was finally sent out to take out HerO in a PvP match. HerO started conservative with an expansion and defense, while Tassadar began with a fast star gate. Tassadar's harassment with phoenixes created all of the map control and time for his army to be created. HerO finally pushed out despite the constant phoenix pressure with blink stalkers against Tassadar's sentries/immortals/colossus with phoenix support. Tassadar's charge into HerO's natural with guardian shields crushed out most of the blink stalkers in the base. After that, Tassadar just snowballed with reinforcements to finish the game.
Snute's great flank on Tassadar's main armies swung the game in his favor.
Antiga Shipyard -- Game six
Snute v. Tassadar
Snute took the conservative route and macro'd up, while Tassadar also took the cue and went for two-bases. Both players traded mid-game engagements in each other bases, but the stale mate continued until the 20 minute mark. Snute's army composition of roaches, infestors, and speedlings overwhelmed Tassadar's colossus, sentries, and immortals to take the map control advantage. Snute's better macro and economy made reinforcements and supply easier. Eventually, Snute moved in and just crushed the lower supplied army for the win.
Snute's constant pressure ended Salvation's economy and chances.
Antiga Shipyard -- Game seven
Snute v. Salvation
Snute and Salvation started with a very slow and macro-heavy game as both went for expansions rather than pressure. Snute scouted out Salvation's greedy infrastructure build with a timing push of roaches. The attack of roaches caged in Salvation's second expansions while denying the third. With infestors reinforcing the roach army, the second expansion was exposed and denied as well. The lack of forces from Salvation to defend against the infestor/roach army ended NSHS' set.
The up-and-down match to determine who stays in Premier Division or Contender Division finished in a victory for team Liquid. The win allowed the squad to remain in Premier Division for the next season and NSHS has one more shot to move on up.
Timothy Lee is known more for his writing than his playing. He specializes in analysis, profiles, and news reporting. You can find his work on IGN.com, RotoAnalysis.com, 1UP.com, and the Daily Breeze. He is currently a free-lance video game and sports writer.
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