BEWARE OF SPOILERS!
Today's group was the group that most people called the absolute group of death, even though there were a lot of groups fighting for that title this season.
Anyway, it was three of the absolute best Terrans in the world, MvP, MMA and TaeJa, and one of two foreigners in the GSL this season, MaNa.
First series was TaeJa vs. MaNa.
Not much to say about the series honestly. Even though MaNa probably has one of the best PvT's of all the foreigners, he was never any match for TaeJa.
MaNa did take one game of TaeJa, but that was in a weird game in which TaeJa did a 2 rax build that did no damage at all, and then decided he had to catch up by building two command centers, but MaNa had already build 4 gates so he just rolled over TaeJa.
In the Macro games however, Taeja looked very dominat.
TaeJa vs. MaNa = 2 - 1
Next series was a somewhat classic rivalry between Mvp and MMA.
First game was a game that we can definitely recommend. A 45 minute TvT, that was constantly back and forth. It was never possible to figure out who was going to take it, as both players kept sniping the other player's expansions with drops. On top of that they had almost the exact same Tank/marine type of army and army supply for most of the game.
MMA did have a secret base for most of the game though, that Mvp didn't scout until really late, and that gave MMA's economy a constant edge that eventually helped him outlast Mvp and take the game.
Second game was on Daybreak and actually even more fun to watch. Mvp invested heavily in a lot of helions, as he wanted to go mech (probably just to please Artosis). From there he went into a tank/viking/raven combination along with his helions. When MMA pushed out with marine/marauder/medivacs, Mvp had a very hard time defending. Mainly because he had built quite a lot of vikings that didn't really help him a lot. So he lost a lot of SCVs but managed to hold on. From that point on he was a bit behind but with his mech he could safely focus on his economy for a while. As MMA could not do another big push into Mvp's siege Tanks, he decided to do some drops while investing heavily in ghosts and nukes. So when Mvp was at max supply he moved out but MMA kept throwing defensive nukes which slowed Mvp's push massively, and while Mvp's mech army was in the middle of the map, MMA managed to do some quite damaging drops in Mvp's main.
MMA never managed to pull of a killer nuke, as Mvp was too careful. He did however nuke two of his own medivacs that were both full.
In the end he didn't really have any match for Mvp's army and MMA lost the game, even though he had a somewhat big lead in the beginning of the game. But we are grateful for his 20 nukes or whatever.
Third game was on Antiga Shipyard and not quite as exciting as the first two sets, but still good.
They both went for banshees, MMA's with cloak as well. Mvp on the other hand had a number of helions as well, whereas MMA only had marines. Mvp attacked with his banshee/helion combo and killed all MMA's marines and around 10-12 of MMA's workers. At the same time though MMA had his cloaked banshee in Mvp's base, and he ended up killing around the same number of SCV's as Mvp, so they ended up being pretty even.
From there on MMA continued to attack with various banshees and he did a bit damage here and there. At some point though, Mvp managed to get some helions to MMA's third expansion and kill a ton of SCVs. A bit later he even got up the ramp at MMA's main and killed a lot of SCVs again. Eventually MMA pulled all his remaining SCVs and vent for a push, but MVP had tanks in siege mode and was able to defend easily and take the series.
Mvp vs. MMA = 2-1
Next series was the winners of the first two series TaeJa and Mvp battling to claim 1st place in the group.
First game was on Abyssal city. Mvp placed a proxy barracks outside TaeJa's main but his rush failed, but he transitioned into an expansion. Around the 8.30 mark TaeJa did a 2 base push with some vikings, a banshee and some marines and he took out a lot of SCVs with the push. After Mvp held that attack TaeJa took out even more SCV's with another banshee. Mvp however, had quite greedily taken three orbitals so he wasn't exactly dead, even though he had lost so many SCVs.
Mvp did some damage with some helions, but when TaeJa moved out he simply overwhelmed Mvp because TaeJa had better upgrades and siege mode already and so forth. So it ended up feeling like the quick three bases of Mvp was simply too greedy an idea. At least against TaeJa, who doesn't really make any mistakes at the moment, so TaeJa took the game.
Second game was on daybreak. Both players went for mech. Mvp took both his natural and third a bit faster than TaeJa so he got a small economic advantage early on. TaeJa however managed to sneak in some helions at Mvp's natural and they killed around 15 SCVs.
From this point the game went into a real macro TvT. TaeJa seemed to be a bit in front of Mvp with regards to upgrades and production facilities, but at the same time they had some minor engagements that favored Mvp because TaeJa seemed a bit too eager to try and get ahead. Around the 25 minute mark the map was split in half as we have seen it on Daybreak so many times before. They both had 6 bases and both tried to transition into skyterran.
At the same time TaeJa managed to take out a billion of MVP's SCVs with helions, and when their armies met the next time TaeJa's skyforce was much bigger and he took the game and the series and moved on. In the end TaeJa never really looked threatened today and as Artosis put it: They need to put out a patch that buffs TaeJa :)
TaeJa vs. Mvp = 2-0
Third series was between MMA and MaNa but in our opinion it wasn't really a series that was that exciting, cause while we we're really cheering for MaNa, MMA actually ended outclassing him almost as bad as TaeJa did in the first series. MaNa is a great player, but GSL is a special format and he had to battle some of the most experienced GSL players.
First set was on Abyssal city. MaNa did a blink stalker build that was sort of all in. He didn't kill MMA and tried to transition. Eventually MMA crushed him looking much better in the engagements.
Second set was on Entombed valley and it was a weird and painful game to watch. MMA did a two base bio push while expanding, that did massive damage. For most of the game MMA was just in a big lead in general and it almost looked like he could have won it with one hand tied to his back.
Compared to the Up & down matches MaNa really didn't look that good overall today, and in almost all engagements he came out as the loser. Especially in this last set.
We hope that MaNa keeps believing that he has what it takes to show good results in code S, and hopefully he can return next season.
MMA vs. MaNa = 2-0
So the last series of the day was a rematch between MVP and MMA.
First set was on emtombed valley. MMA did an early push with a quick medivac, a few helions and some marines. MVP had scouted it though, and he flew his expansion into his main and build a bunker. MMA still did a bit of damage and killed some SCVs at the ramp but the game transitioned into a longer game.
MVP did a counter drop with helions in medivacs and did reasonable damage.
The game stabilized a bit after this. Around the 15 minute mark Mvp had more than twice as many siege tanks as MMA and Mvp used this to his advantage and pulled of some beautiful engagements and brake MMA's siegelines.
MMA tried to take hidden bases and do different drops at the same time to try and get back in the game. But Mvp was on top of everything and MMA couldn't stop his army and had to GG out.
Second set was on whirlwind and a really cool game.
They tried to do some damage to each other in the early game, Mvp with helions and MMA with banshees. Neither did massive damage though.
Mvp went mech and MMA went bio as we have seen a lot of times before.
Around the 15 minute mark MMA did a beautiful 3 medivac drop at Mvp's main. He led the drop with a viking to absorb all the turret damage, which was why he could drop all the units.
Mvp did a counter drop that was also quite successful but he was still 15 SCVs behind.
From this point on the game gets really heated going back and forth all the time. A lot of position wars, most of which MVPs seems to come out of on top of.
While this goes on they continue to drop each other quite successfully. Mvp however does most damage with the drops and takes out a lot of important production facilities of MMA. Eventually Mvp does a beautiful and very nasty drop in MMA's main with a huge amount of tanks.
This is too much for MMA and Mvp takes the game and the series and moved on to the round of 16.
Must feel pretty good for Mvp to defeat MMA twice on one day, when he has had such a hard time dealing with him in the past.
MVP vs. MMA = 2 - 0
TaeJa and Mvp moves on, and this can hardly come as a surprise to anyone, as they are probably the too scariest Terrans out there at the moment.
Today's group was the group that most people called the absolute group of death, even though there were a lot of groups fighting for that title this season.
Anyway, it was three of the absolute best Terrans in the world, MvP, MMA and TaeJa, and one of two foreigners in the GSL this season, MaNa.
First series was TaeJa vs. MaNa.
Not much to say about the series honestly. Even though MaNa probably has one of the best PvT's of all the foreigners, he was never any match for TaeJa.
MaNa did take one game of TaeJa, but that was in a weird game in which TaeJa did a 2 rax build that did no damage at all, and then decided he had to catch up by building two command centers, but MaNa had already build 4 gates so he just rolled over TaeJa.
In the Macro games however, Taeja looked very dominat.
TaeJa vs. MaNa = 2 - 1
Next series was a somewhat classic rivalry between Mvp and MMA.
First game was a game that we can definitely recommend. A 45 minute TvT, that was constantly back and forth. It was never possible to figure out who was going to take it, as both players kept sniping the other player's expansions with drops. On top of that they had almost the exact same Tank/marine type of army and army supply for most of the game.
MMA did have a secret base for most of the game though, that Mvp didn't scout until really late, and that gave MMA's economy a constant edge that eventually helped him outlast Mvp and take the game.
Second game was on Daybreak and actually even more fun to watch. Mvp invested heavily in a lot of helions, as he wanted to go mech (probably just to please Artosis). From there he went into a tank/viking/raven combination along with his helions. When MMA pushed out with marine/marauder/medivacs, Mvp had a very hard time defending. Mainly because he had built quite a lot of vikings that didn't really help him a lot. So he lost a lot of SCVs but managed to hold on. From that point on he was a bit behind but with his mech he could safely focus on his economy for a while. As MMA could not do another big push into Mvp's siege Tanks, he decided to do some drops while investing heavily in ghosts and nukes. So when Mvp was at max supply he moved out but MMA kept throwing defensive nukes which slowed Mvp's push massively, and while Mvp's mech army was in the middle of the map, MMA managed to do some quite damaging drops in Mvp's main.
MMA never managed to pull of a killer nuke, as Mvp was too careful. He did however nuke two of his own medivacs that were both full.
In the end he didn't really have any match for Mvp's army and MMA lost the game, even though he had a somewhat big lead in the beginning of the game. But we are grateful for his 20 nukes or whatever.
Third game was on Antiga Shipyard and not quite as exciting as the first two sets, but still good.
They both went for banshees, MMA's with cloak as well. Mvp on the other hand had a number of helions as well, whereas MMA only had marines. Mvp attacked with his banshee/helion combo and killed all MMA's marines and around 10-12 of MMA's workers. At the same time though MMA had his cloaked banshee in Mvp's base, and he ended up killing around the same number of SCV's as Mvp, so they ended up being pretty even.
From there on MMA continued to attack with various banshees and he did a bit damage here and there. At some point though, Mvp managed to get some helions to MMA's third expansion and kill a ton of SCVs. A bit later he even got up the ramp at MMA's main and killed a lot of SCVs again. Eventually MMA pulled all his remaining SCVs and vent for a push, but MVP had tanks in siege mode and was able to defend easily and take the series.
Mvp vs. MMA = 2-1
Next series was the winners of the first two series TaeJa and Mvp battling to claim 1st place in the group.
First game was on Abyssal city. Mvp placed a proxy barracks outside TaeJa's main but his rush failed, but he transitioned into an expansion. Around the 8.30 mark TaeJa did a 2 base push with some vikings, a banshee and some marines and he took out a lot of SCVs with the push. After Mvp held that attack TaeJa took out even more SCV's with another banshee. Mvp however, had quite greedily taken three orbitals so he wasn't exactly dead, even though he had lost so many SCVs.
Mvp did some damage with some helions, but when TaeJa moved out he simply overwhelmed Mvp because TaeJa had better upgrades and siege mode already and so forth. So it ended up feeling like the quick three bases of Mvp was simply too greedy an idea. At least against TaeJa, who doesn't really make any mistakes at the moment, so TaeJa took the game.
Second game was on daybreak. Both players went for mech. Mvp took both his natural and third a bit faster than TaeJa so he got a small economic advantage early on. TaeJa however managed to sneak in some helions at Mvp's natural and they killed around 15 SCVs.
From this point the game went into a real macro TvT. TaeJa seemed to be a bit in front of Mvp with regards to upgrades and production facilities, but at the same time they had some minor engagements that favored Mvp because TaeJa seemed a bit too eager to try and get ahead. Around the 25 minute mark the map was split in half as we have seen it on Daybreak so many times before. They both had 6 bases and both tried to transition into skyterran.
At the same time TaeJa managed to take out a billion of MVP's SCVs with helions, and when their armies met the next time TaeJa's skyforce was much bigger and he took the game and the series and moved on. In the end TaeJa never really looked threatened today and as Artosis put it: They need to put out a patch that buffs TaeJa :)
TaeJa vs. Mvp = 2-0
Third series was between MMA and MaNa but in our opinion it wasn't really a series that was that exciting, cause while we we're really cheering for MaNa, MMA actually ended outclassing him almost as bad as TaeJa did in the first series. MaNa is a great player, but GSL is a special format and he had to battle some of the most experienced GSL players.
First set was on Abyssal city. MaNa did a blink stalker build that was sort of all in. He didn't kill MMA and tried to transition. Eventually MMA crushed him looking much better in the engagements.
Second set was on Entombed valley and it was a weird and painful game to watch. MMA did a two base bio push while expanding, that did massive damage. For most of the game MMA was just in a big lead in general and it almost looked like he could have won it with one hand tied to his back.
Compared to the Up & down matches MaNa really didn't look that good overall today, and in almost all engagements he came out as the loser. Especially in this last set.
We hope that MaNa keeps believing that he has what it takes to show good results in code S, and hopefully he can return next season.
MMA vs. MaNa = 2-0
So the last series of the day was a rematch between MVP and MMA.
First set was on emtombed valley. MMA did an early push with a quick medivac, a few helions and some marines. MVP had scouted it though, and he flew his expansion into his main and build a bunker. MMA still did a bit of damage and killed some SCVs at the ramp but the game transitioned into a longer game.
MVP did a counter drop with helions in medivacs and did reasonable damage.
The game stabilized a bit after this. Around the 15 minute mark Mvp had more than twice as many siege tanks as MMA and Mvp used this to his advantage and pulled of some beautiful engagements and brake MMA's siegelines.
MMA tried to take hidden bases and do different drops at the same time to try and get back in the game. But Mvp was on top of everything and MMA couldn't stop his army and had to GG out.
Second set was on whirlwind and a really cool game.
They tried to do some damage to each other in the early game, Mvp with helions and MMA with banshees. Neither did massive damage though.
Mvp went mech and MMA went bio as we have seen a lot of times before.
Around the 15 minute mark MMA did a beautiful 3 medivac drop at Mvp's main. He led the drop with a viking to absorb all the turret damage, which was why he could drop all the units.
Mvp did a counter drop that was also quite successful but he was still 15 SCVs behind.
From this point on the game gets really heated going back and forth all the time. A lot of position wars, most of which MVPs seems to come out of on top of.
While this goes on they continue to drop each other quite successfully. Mvp however does most damage with the drops and takes out a lot of important production facilities of MMA. Eventually Mvp does a beautiful and very nasty drop in MMA's main with a huge amount of tanks.
This is too much for MMA and Mvp takes the game and the series and moved on to the round of 16.
Must feel pretty good for Mvp to defeat MMA twice on one day, when he has had such a hard time dealing with him in the past.
MVP vs. MMA = 2 - 0
TaeJa and Mvp moves on, and this can hardly come as a surprise to anyone, as they are probably the too scariest Terrans out there at the moment.
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