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Introduction

For the first game of the SC.org invitational 2v2 Finals between Team SG ([B_Blade]Leader and SSamJang) and Team X’Ds (Crow, Roqu) the map choice was given to Team SG as the higher seeded team. Team SG chose Hunters as their battleground:

Both SG team members chose protoss at the last second, Blade getting white in the upper right and SSam getting orange in the top position. X’Ds also chose their races, Roqu selecting aqua terran and drawing the bottom start, and Crow picking yellow zerg and getting the upper left. This left the underdog X’Ds team in a bad starting position, as Team SG could separate the team in half with a containment action and deal with only one opponent at a time. The protoss teammates had similar build orders, both choosing to go with a double gateway build. Roqu walled in the choke to the bottom and bottom left position with two depots and a barracks, then constructed a refinery. Crow, sensing his vulnerability from his scouting overlord’s recon, went with a spawning pool followed by a second hatchery, then constructed a sunken colony to help him withstand the inevitable attacks.

Offensive Cannon? Damn right!

The first skirmish of the game came when Crow sent out a force of eight zerglings to see what damage he could do. SSam was ready and waiting with four zealots and a probe when Crow saw what opposed him he withdrew back to his base leaving the blood of two zerglings on the ground. SSam quickly secured the position leading into the zerg base with a pylon and shield battery, while getting a forge. Blade was up to three gateways and starting a cybernetics core. Roqu was pumping vultures out of two factories, hoping the vultures effectiveness vrs early game units would be enough to relieve the pressure on his ally. Blade proved unwilling to leave the terran alone to tech in peace and sent five zealots to test Roqu’s forces. The four vulture two marine defense proved more than enough to turn Blade away without any losses for the terran.

Crow realized he had only one chance left to be a factor in the early game battle when the cannons started going up at his choke point. He charged the choke with sixteen zerglings just before the cannons started coming on line. The eight opposing zealots SSam fielded were more than enough to hold the line with the help of the shield battery, and as the cannons started firing only half of the zerglings remained to retreat. Realizing his partner was not going to be a factor for a bit, Roqu took a force of six vultures to attack Blade, but was forced to flee when he faced three dragoons.

Both protoss players had been accumulating their zealot forces near the zerg choke. When the vulture attack on Blade failed, they decided it was time to execute a double rush and try to eliminate the zerg player. Eleven zerglings and two sunkens opposed the might of eleven zealots. Crow knew that what he had just wasn’t going to be enough, and pulled his drones off mineral gathering to attack the invaders. In the end, only six drones and a sunken remained, but Crow had pulled through.

Heavy Metal time

Roqu was not sitting idle while this was going on. His force consisted mainly of vultures, and there was no way he was getting through a heavily cannoned choke to help his partner. Instead he went on the attack while the bulk of his opponent’s forces were occupied. Six vultures attacked into Blade’s choke and met up with five dragoons, but this encounter was going to be a little different than the last one. With expert use of mines, laying them just out of sight range and drawing the protoss forces in while Blade was occupied microing the zerg battle, Roqu managed to end the battle with all the dragoons dead and three vultures still available to pound on the back of the probe line, where he cut the amount of protoss probes in half. It is another minute of pain for Blade before he maneuvers a new dragoon into a mine free zone to engage and kill the vultures. Roqu is not daunted at all by the loss of his vultures, having three factories continually pumping out new units.

Crow has changed his strategy over to an air mobility one, while Roqu has stopped producing vultures and begun making tanks. The losses Blade suffered earlier make him vulnerable to the quick tank push Roqu throws at him as Blade tries to get the reaver tech tree. He is unable to effectively oppose the five tanks Roqu places around his base, losing the defending dragoon before it gets off more than two shots. SSam sees the predicament his partner is in and sends a four zealot force over to help. They are able to destroy only one tank before the other tanks and a few vultures end the threat. Roqu carefully places mines directly in front of the gateways so any new units Blade makes to defend himself will be hit immediately.

A twisted end…

At this point Blade is down to one probe. Roqu is a terran powerhouse with the production to support a full ground war of the heavy metal variety. Crow is penned in his base, but has a good supply of zerglings and is just a minute away from mutas. And SSam is less than a minute away from reaver tech. In a disappointing occurrence, both Roqu and SSam are dropped from the game at the same time. A quick pause of the game and consultation of the rules and Hone dictates that the game will proceed with the two players that are left. Crow, feeling a little payback is in order after the double team he was the victim off, sent two control groups of zerglings crashing into what little remained of Blade’s base. Despite a game attempt to construct what defense he can with a cannon, Blade is overrun and departs with a good game offered to his opponent.

Congratulations to Team X’Ds on their underdog victory in game one on the 2v2 Finals. The ending is disappointing in that the players were prevented from finishing the game normally by the server glitch that dropped two of the players, but Team X’Ds was very clearly in the lead at that point of the game, and if no one had dropped would undoubtedly have secured the victory within a few minutes. I hope you enjoyed the report!

Mark4