Persistance

The Third Round BWForum matchup between NewbieMcNasty and DoomDragon.

From the second I realized this matchup, I knew it was going to be an unforgettable game.  NewbieMcNasty, having surprised virtually the entire Nohunters community with his endless skill, and DoomDragon, the commander with an unprecedented, unorthodox fighting style (winning his previous match with Scouts and Archons), were going to collide in this very game to determine the master of the Northeastern Bracket...........

Let's get ready to rumble

Both players agreed to take out their aggression on the famed ladder map Rivalry (how fitting).  NewbieMcNasty chose his famous Terrans, and found his Command Center painted Red in the northwestern position.  DoomDragon also had good fortune with his Protoss and, probably hoping to exploit imbalance, found himself as Orange in the southeast.

McNasty wasted no time in constructing his first building, a Refinery.  He's probably hoping to out-tech the advanced Protoss race...

Unfortunately, the Terran commander's dream for delayed warfare will not come to be realized, as DoomDragon goes for a quick dual-Gateway build.

Can NewbieMcNasty advance his technology fast enough to avoid DoomDragon's dreaded Zealot Rush?

Still hoping to advance past simple units to utilize the heralded Heavy Metal Tactic, NewbieMcNasty is able to construct a Barracks and a Factory.  Doom wants to finish this early and assure himself the win, so his first Zealot promptly advances toward the opposing basecamp.  It proves to be a long walk for the scouting warrior, but he eventually reaches the destination and discovers McNasty's fearful plan.  DoomDragon orders his troop to attack the two defending Marines, but fast-acting McNasty cheats death by exhibiting adequate micromanagement, and gives the shell-shocked Marines a tune to dance to.

Both Marines successfully fend off certain death at the hands of Psi Blades, and NewbieMcNasty breathes easy, for now.  DoomDragon is ecstatic that his Zealot so easily bypassed the Terran defenses, he sends two more.

No more Mr. Nice Guy

With DoomDragon's failed assault, he becomes more determined than ever to ensure that his Zealots do optimum damage against the Terran encampment.

A vulture proves to be even more agile and dangerous than the Marines, so the Zealots target it.  They do well, and destroy the Vulture easily.  But, more are being constructed fairly rapidly at the local Factory.  The Zealots are relentless and manage to do a fair amount of damage to the Vulture before it is forced to escape.  DoomDragon may have the upper hand after all...

The Vulture escapes to the newly-built second Factory, suffering moderate damage.  DoomDragon sees this as a great opportunity to hit McNasty's workers.

Of course, NewbieMcNasty would never let his SCVs simply die for no reason, so he sends both his veteran Vulture and a rookie to dispatch the invaders.  They succeed, and once again McNasty just won't die.

More Zealots appear at the Terran ramp, and walk straight over to the peon line.  DoomDragon is intent on winning this game, even if it means a slow lingering death for his opponent.  The Zealots manage to destroy a few SCVs before being taken down by frag grenade shrapnel in the back.  DoomDragon, however, is secretly upping the ante at his own base, and techs to a Vulture's worst nightmare, the Dragoon....

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor dead of night, shall keep a Dragoon from accomplishing its assigned task.  The bionic soulcages that keep the dead cryogenically suspended in time lumber over to the Terran base.  Doom is expecting nothing less than the complete annihilation of NewbieMcNasty's base.  What he didn't count on, though, was the help of Space Construction Vehicles...

The Terran commander actually had to pull some SCVs away from his minerals to keep the Dragoons

from razing his base.  They did extremely well, and this worked out all the better for DoomDragon, because he now had a significant resource advantage over his rival.

I suppose this picture is a little disheartening for a Terran.  Just as the Dragoon threat had ended, two more pop up at the ramp, ready to continue on the destructive reign...

What worked once is bound to work again however, as the SCVs return to dispatch the evil Dragoons.

By this time, McNasty has a Bunker constructed at his chokepoint, with two marines inside firing as fast as they can.  The Dragoons, having a height disadvantage, miss their designated target and the Bunker stays standing.  One thing a Bunker can't defend against, though, is an attack where it ain't... enter the Shuttle...

NewbieMcNasty now has a couple of tanks equipped with Siege Tech, and readies them for DoomDragon's impending drop on his main fortification.  The drop consists of a Dragoon and a Reaver, and hoping not to let the Reaver get adjacent to sieged tanks, McNasty leaves them in Tank Mode.

This was a clever maneuver on the Terran's part.  Using extreme micro, he builds a wall of units around his sieging tank and pummels the Reaver from at range.  The tank fires and connects, and the Reaver is destroyed.

Both of us observers were just as surprised when it came to McNasty's phenomenal micromanagement.  Reaver drop after Reaver drop was repelled, and it seemed as though he might have turned the game into his favor.  A substantial amount of missile turrets were constructed to destroy incoming Shuttles.  Sadly, they weren't enough to wipe them out. 

McNasty's rampside Bunker was nearly destroyed by repeated assaults, but he luckily caught it early enough to repair it to full strength.

It was time to end these attacks at the ramp, and Siege Tanks were brought in to destroy the incoming Dragoons.

This Reaver drop was the most effective of all.  Spider Mines delivered splash to friendly targets, on top of the Scarabs that were knocked into the tanks at point-blank range.  When the dust settled, no Protoss or Terran military unit was alive in the area.  How could the Terran commander possibly work around this disposition?

Don't count them out...

The conservative Protoss leader decides that the time is right for an expansion.  He sends a lone probe to the 3 o'clock expansion area and begins a Nexus.  It finishes, and he begins mining the area.  The Terrans are more than annoyed at this point, and gather together into a small task force consisting of Vultures, Marines, Medics, SCVs, and Siege Tanks.  NewbieMcNasty chooses to move out and make an expansion of his own, at the northeastern start position.  Both expansions are completed, and the Terran force mobilizes toward DoomDragon's virtually defenseless expansion base.  The base is leveled flat, and the Terran leader sees this as an appropriate time to assault the main base directly.

For the Terran strike force, the attack is an astounding success, and the enemy Dragoons are slaughtered mercilessly by Arclite shells and Gauss Rifle fire.  DoomDragon now remembers the premonition that he had at the beginning of the match -- that he knew he would lose despite the fact that he was doing so well in the beginning.  Unfortunately that premonition came to pass, and the mighty Protoss empire was forced to surrender at the hands of the underdog Terran Dominion.

This was one helluva game, and I took so many screenshots that I actually ran outta space!  The last two shots are courtesy of the other observer of the match, GameOverZ (no relation of course).  Such a shame that tanks rip, because it really looked like the Protoss were going to take it all away.

A good game was had by all.  Tremendous, almost superhuman micro powers were shown by the Terran side, and the Protoss executor proved that a good drop can go a long way.  I was ready to count the Terran player out for a while, because the Zealots just kept on coming.  Nice job, both of you.  NewbieMcNasty advances to the Semis.