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Grrrr who?
It was just another ho-hum day of watching games. This time Hone asked me to watch some player named, X'ds~Grrrr... play some other guy named {i}JeSteR. Oh, it's the world champion vs the winner of i2e2 LasVegas? Hmm... might be good then.

I was the first into the designated channel, and X'Ds~Grrrr... came second. Not being much of an ass kisser, I had a bit of casual dialogue with Grrrr, and later Hone, as he arrived. The world champ is a pretty personable guy, and calm in the knowledge that he was on a big screen being watched by Hone and a group of Hone's friends. My dog, Shadow, and I calmly watched without any other people present at my house. In case you're wondering what a 17 year old from Quebec, who's won more money playing Starcraft than most people make in a year, is like... He seemed pretty cool during our short chat session. Check out the chat dialogue below... I edited out some completely unrelated stuff, like his secrets for winning. You don't want to know those secrets.

The Found Temple
X'Ds~Grrrr... had the first choice of map, and he chose Lost Temple. Do I really need to show ANYONE a map of Lost Temple? It's not lost at all anymore.

{i}JeSteR chose Zerg at the last minute, and started at 12:00
X'Ds~Grrrr... stayed with Random and got Terran, starting at 3:00

Interestingly, Grrrr knew that Jester had chosen a race, but didn't look up from whatever he was doing fast enough to see which race it was. Grrrr asked Jester what race he chose, and of course, as any honest human being would do, Jester lied out of his ass, "Protoss". Shockingly, Grrrr believed this, as he admitted after the game, and was a bit perturbed at the ruse. Of course, not paying attention when the game started was one of Grrrr's few micro errors, and Jester took advantage of anything he could get.

Overlord Scouting
Jester found Grrrr with his first scouting overlord and tried not to let the overlord be seen, quickly retreating it and circling to see what Grrrr was doing about gas in the early game. While this was going on, Jester used a pretty standard late triple hatchery, the second was at the top of his ramp, and the third would come later, near his first hatchery. Jester wanted to power hydras and lurkers quickly, hoping to do some damage to Grrrr so he could safely expand. Jester wasn't in a good position at 12:00 and even worse against a Terran at 3:00.

Fast Factory
X'DS~Grrrr... from the required one depot and one barracks, Grrrr built only 2 marines at first. He was probably confident that he could micro his SCVs and 2 marines vs a large number of zerglings. Grrrr used the economy he saved to go with a fast factory build, which provides an early factory and academy, then another barracks. The build is designed to get comstat and tanks with your marines ASAP, therefor, it requires you to skip alot of troops and a second Barracks for a few minutes. The first bunch of marines milled about at Grrrr's ramp, but they wouldn't have long to wait for tank support. In fact, after spotting the overlord, and from that, discerning Jester's race and location, Grrrr didn't even waste a worker to scout. It was almost as if he didn't CARE what Jester was doing, because nothing would work!

It Doesn't Matter What You Do!
While Jester was making hydras and teching to lurkers, Grrrr placed his first tank so that it was on his plateau, but could hit Jester's ramp. Grrrr used his second barracks as a spotter, and continued to crank tanks and medics/marines non-stop from his factory and running barracks. The marines and medics moved into position near Jester's ramp, but far enough away to stay safe from the sunken above. The floating rax allowed Grrrr to use his tank without building an engineering bay or wasting comstat energy. Jester decided not to try to send his hydras down the ramp. After destroying the barracks, the hydras gathered in a large group of about 16 near the center of the zerg main while 3 lurkers were slowly created. Jester's only hope was to crush the terran's with the lurkers and push back the other way.

Grrrr's troops and a single tank pushed to the top of Jester's ramp, there were supporting tanks below as well. The hydras and lurkers engaged, but Grrrr had expected this, and before you could say, "hotkey", Grrrr comstatted and destroyed 2 of the 3 lurkers, while quickly pulling his remaining soldiers out of range of the remaining lurker. The hydras fared poorly against the fewer marines, but did manage to destroy the lone tank at the top of the cliff... sadly, this single tank wasn't worth about 12 hydras, and with the issue of four more tanks up the ramp, the last lurker was gunned down and the game was over. This GIF file is exceedingly large by my normal standards (600k), but shows the best action of the game, so I decided to include it here.

Basically, Grrrr tank and infantry pushed out of his main in a direct line, using the absolute fastest way possible to move, attack, and tech in order to hit Jester before the zerg could expand or mass lurkers. It was surgically precise, and highly effective, as you have read. Grrrr relied solidly on a focused plan that might have failed with a 60 second delay or a wasted comstat, but he played mistake free and there is nothing that I can imagine that Jester could have done to turn this around.

Sorry that it took me so long to post this game... Real life has eaten away at my time very severely in the last few months. I hope the fast factory strategy buys you a few wins vs closeby zerg, but be careful with it early on. I'm really beginning to appreciate these quick games. The winning player is very decisive and quick to whatever strategy he/she picks, and that's always the difference.

Victor: XD~s-Grrrr...