WGL Season 2

Ying{r~}Yang  vs.  [s]

It's time again for the dirt of some of the action of the WGL series.  This is the second weekend of matches.  There were originally 32 teams.  Team [s], seeded 5th, was opportunistic enough to beat Illuminati in the second round (they had a bye in the first round).  Team yyr~, seeded 4th, also had a bye first round and defeated the infamous Fireswarm to advance to the quarterfinals.  My last team I was reporting on, Eternal Darkness, lost their last round to the Elite Rebels (more on Team Elite Rebels, lead by Radivel, later).

Team [s] vs. Team yyr~ in a best of 5 match-up.

yyr~ had first map pick due to higher seeding and chose Dire Straits.  yyr~CrazyOne and yyr~Belgorim are battling [s]Minken and [s]BeaverBoy.  On a side note before we begin, I just have to say there were very interesting conversations prior to the game.  Unfortunately, I don't really know what all was talked about since I don't speak or understand Swedish!  I can only imagine what smack talk and dastardly plans were made.  Anyway...     the game.

With pleasantries exchanged and players ready, the game begins.  yyr~CrazyOne warps white protoss in the upper left corner and his partner, yyr~Belgorim, spawns blue zerg in the lower right.  [s]Minken warps purple protoss (say that 5 times real fast. "purple protoss" argh, I can only get 3) at upper right.  And finally, [s]BeaverBoy lands his Teal Command Center bottom left.

All starts off quiet enough as is fairly normal on an island game.  Everyone gets gas early.  Both protoss players warp 2 Stargates after their Cy-cores finish in preparation for aerial domination.  The terran of [s]BeaverBoy are also going air as 2 Starports begin construction in tandem.  Only yyr~Belgorim seems to be going for any ground based attacks as his two Hatcheries begin morphing to Lairs and his Hydra Den finishes.

[s]Minken is the first on the offensive with 2 corsairs.  He finds the zerg base of yyr~Belgorim and tries to pop a few overlords.  The corsairs are forced to move around the few hydras that are present and are only able to corner one overlord before being chased off.  Ah, but [s]BeaverBoy comes to join his partners foray into the zerg base with about 4 wraiths.  The wraiths and corsair team up and are able to force several overlords into saying "blehhhach" as they explode in a gory mess.  Got to hate that.

yyr~CrazyOne has not been totally idle while his partner was having to stave off the air assault on his ovies.  yyr~CrazyOne has several corsairs of his own and decides to hit the terran base to try and catch some wraiths.  yyr~CrazyOne is very successful at the start, but is soon run off by marines going psycho.

Both teams regroup for just a second.  yyr~Belgorim was successful in replenishing his Overlords without much delay, and [s]BeaverBoy replenished what wraiths were lost.  More corsairs are made from both protoss.  yyr~Belgorim asks his partner a question that I have no idea what it was: 

Hmm, apparently this means "Let me drop the nasty terran that helped to kill my precious overlords and make him pay dearly!"  yyr~Belgorim has loaded up 4 overlords with hydras and begins to make his way due East towards the terran.

Unfortunately, [s]Minken has a group of corsairs patrolling the bottom right zerg base, and catches the overlords in transit!  Alas, the overlords are able to unload their cargo on their own island to deter the corsair.  All four players get involved here. 

Wraiths now aided with cloak begin to rape the corsairs, but yyr~Belgorim's ovies provide much needed site.  yyr~CrazyOne's large corsair fleet chases the wraiths and Minkens opposing corsair away.  Belogorim promptly reloads his hydras.

As you can see by the above mini-map, no one has expanded yet.  [s]Minken is going for goons/reavers with shuttle support now as shown by 2 Robotics Bays that have warped in.  yyr~CrazyOne has 1 Robo-Bay and has a Fleet Beacon for arming his army of corsairs.  yyr~Belgorim is still pumping hydras and [s]BeaverBoy is trying to prepare for the impending drop.

yyr~CrazyOne provides the escort and yyr~Belgorim skirts the terran island and drops his hydra cargo on the northern part of the island.  [s]BeaverBoy did have infantry, but had concentrated on the wraiths that are now getting destroyed by CrazyOnes corsair.  The infantry is not enough too hold the hydras at bay and BBoys base begins to look like cheese, Swiss Cheese (sorry, couldn't help it).

[s]BeaverBoy is not completely eliminated, but has been effectively taken out of the game.  [s]Minken cannot help his partner and is going to do what he can to prevent himself from the same demise.  He prepares for a similar drop by making zealots to counter the hydras and more corsair.  However, yyr~Belgorim has switched to mutas and yyr~CrazyOne has equipped his corsair with D-web for those muta-eating cannons.

Both yyr~CrazyOne and yyr~Belgorim expanded here.  They also spotted [s]Minken trying to expand and ended his attempt.  yyr~Belgorim then flew his mutas and overlords full of hydras to take [s]Minken out.  With the aid of yyr~CrazyOne's D-Web, [s]Minken is virtually helpless to the attack and soon concedes the game.

I take a brief moment to capture the final scores:

And Game 1 is finished.

yyr~  1    [s]  0

yyr~CrazyOne and yyr~Belgorim are congratulated by teammates yyr~Thorlock and yyr~Therak who take over playing duties for game 2.  Team [s] is still only represented by Minken and BeaverBoy, and they are ready for the next game.  This time Team [s] gets map pick and so choose Lost Temple.

The game is made and we start.  Here an unfortunate event happens with the disconnection of MYSELF!  Argh, we were about 5 minutes into the game and my cable modem shits itself for some unknown reason.  Bah!  I re-log on using a back up dial up connection (ugh), and I am able to get back on the server.  The game continued on and after a somewhat short period of time [s]Minken and [s]BeaverBoy show up in the channel first.  Yes, the twin combo of yyr~Therak and yyr~Thorlock have prevailed and it is now:

yyr~  2     [s]  0

Yes, yes, that sucks ass, or as Cartman would say, "that sucks ass, gimme some cheesy poofs!"  But, for now my connection is good and we have what could be a very decisive Game 3 ready to go.  I scramble for my cheesy poofs.

Both teams are ready to go and it will be the same combination from Game 2 battling again.  [s]Minken and [s]BeaverBoy for Team [s] and yyr~Therak and yyr~Thorlock for Team yyr~.  Team [s] feels they learned something from Game 2 and call for the same map, Lost Temple.

So, in the words of the Ultimate Fighting Championship Referee...

"Ready?  Ready?  Let's get it on!!!"

Starting at 12:00, yyr~Thorlock is awarded orange protoss.  [s]Minken also gets protoss at 3:00, color of purple.  yyr~Therak lands a teal Command Center down at 6:00 and [s]BeaverBoy lands a yellow one down at 9:00.  Hmm, Terran/Protoss match-up on opposite sides of Temple.  This should be good.  [s]Minken and BeaverBoy have to win this game against the wonder twins to keep Team [s] alive.

I am not sure I am really watching a game as the build orders show themsleves.  Protoss is mirroring protoss and terran is mirroring terran.  Double Gates and wall-ins at ramps are the soup-du-jour.  Scouting is quickly commenced by all revealing what I just told you.  I am sure yyr~Thorlock let out a brief yet relaxing sigh of relief to know there was not a damn terran at 3:00 to rule the world of his choke.  I am also pretty sure both terrans let a similar sigh out that they were not cursed with the 12:00 spot.  With the protoss both building a Forge prior to a Cy-Core, everyone is set for rushes:

With all ramps seeming to be secured technology can now be obtained.  Both protoss still mimic each other getting Assimilators and Cy-Cores.  The terrans had gotten refineries early and both erect Factories.  Finally, there is originality.  yyr~Therak immediatley built a second Factory while [s]BeaverBoy opted to construct a Starport.

The Starport allows for the first offensive.  [s]BeaverBoy does the 'awesome' 4 Vulture Drop on the nearby opposing terran at 6:00.  The vultures safely landed and began to pummel the SCV's with grenades.  However, going double Factories, yyr~Therak is poised for tanks and just so happens to have one ready - in siege mode - at the top of his Command Center.  He also has a few vultures of his own.  Needless to say, the Vulture Drop did minimal damage before being squashed.

Both the protoss have been quiet so far, but not idle.  Both have Robo-Bays.  yyr~Thorlock has chosen to warp in a few observers to cover his dragoons while [s]Minken has decided upon reavers.  yyr~Thorlock had noticed the vulture drop on his partner and had already began moving troops out of his base.  After yyr~Therak took care of the vultures, he moved his own troops out.  Vultures/tanks, goons/zealots pour out of the 6 and 12:00 positions.  They rally outside of [s]Minken at 3:00.

[s]BeaverBoy had a wraith out already, and was scouting around with it.  The wraith pilot spotted an E-Bay floating from 6:00 on a trajectory to his partner at 3:00.  E-Bay's usually only float for one reason - spotting for tanks.  The wraith then confirms the combined force gathered outside [s]Minken's choke.  The wraith all alone can't do anything about this force, other than die, so begins to fire upon the E-Bay.  [s]Minken sends some zealots and drops a reaver to the front of the invading party.  The zealots and reaver die fast, but slow down the attack 'just' enough for [s]Minken to get his defended heartily by another reaver and ranged dragoons.

Sensing his parnter may not be able to hold this attack off, [s]BeaverBoy has landed 2 tanks on the ledge of the 3:00 natural.  A group of 'follow-up' marines is making its way across the map to help out also.  Team yyr~ realizes their attack is not going well as [s]Minken is very effectively in charge of his own ramp.  [s]BeaverBoy tanks on the ledge pad the 3:00 defense effort.  yyr~Therak and yyr~Thorlock decide to pull back and wind up slaughtering the marines sent by [s]BeaverBoy that were in transit.

Team yyr~ has saved most of their units from the foiled attack at 3:00 and decided to hold them steady at the temple itself in the center of the map.  After [s]BeaverBoy watched his marines die and saw that yyr~ was content in the center, he expanded to his natural.  yyr~Thorlock follows [s]BeaverBoy and expands at his own natural at 12:00.  yyr~Therak decides to be irritating and takes like 5 vultures and mines the shit of the outskirts of the 9:00 choke of [s]BeaverBoy.  yyr~Therak also decides to expand to his natural at 6:00.

Team yyr~ seems to be creeping towards [s]Minken again.  Tank fire from 3:00 ledge, courtesy of [s]BeaverBoy, forces Team yyr~ to pull back just a bit.  [s]Minken sees that there are still troops to be dealt with outside of his base, but he is okay with that.  He has just dropped 2 reavers in yyr~Thorlock's 12:00 natural!  

The way this battle transpired was pretty cool.  I will try to illustrate why.

Upon the drop on his natural, yyr~Thorlock took what few troops he had at his main and many of the troops he had sitting outside [s]Minken's base to go kill the reavers.  Remember those tanks of [s]BeaverBoy's up on the 3:00 ledge?  Well, they succeded in forcing the containment troops far enough back, that when [s]Minken sent a group of dragoons from 3:00 up to help his reavers at 12:00, they were not molested by the still large force of yyr~Therak!  However, when Team yyr~ sees the purple goons of [s]Minken attempting to assist the 12:00 natural distruction, yyr~Therak heads his tanks and vultures up there too.  [s]Minken is forced to run his dragoons above the nexus to try and save himself and cause as much damage as he can.  His goons perish here, but not without forcing both troop losses and troop movement.  Good Job!

Knowing he just forced the bulk of Team yyr~ troops to the north of the map, [s]Minken follows up with another reaver drop on yyr~Therak's 6:00 expansion.  [s]Minken is successful in taking out several SCV's but the reavers eventually fall to fresh tanks.  All this basically does is wind up clearing the center of the map that was earlier so completely held by Team yyr~.

So, as we stand right now, everyone is mining from their naturals.  There have been attacks by Team yyr~ on [s]Minken at 3:00 and by Team [s] on both enemy naturals at 12:00 and 6:00.  This is soon to change =)

[s]BeaverBoy had been a little quiet, but has amassed a group of wraiths now in the center below the temple.  He is hoping [s]Minken will join him out there, but it is yyr~Thorlock with a group of dragoons that makes it out there first.  The goons and wraiths have a breif skirmish.  The goons win with the help of an observer and pray patiently at the Temple while they await yyr~Therak to come help secure the center again.

Well, yyr~Therak makes his way out there, but so does [s]BeaverBoy.  [s]BeaverBoy sets up to the left of center of the Temple and a great fight breaks out between his tanks and the combined force of Team yyr~.  Unfortunately, [s]Minken was not able to make it out in time to balance the battle, and [s]BeaverBoy loses his large force of tanks.

After [s]BeaverBoy's tanks got owned he decided to provide some distraction to allow his team to expand again.  [s]BeaverBoy had 2 tanks in a dropship and proceeded to "load/unload" them on the 6:00 natural ledge.  yyr~Therak had a token tank up there and still had his E-Bay floating there, too.  The dancing of [s]BeaverBoy's remaining tank was successful in in not only killing most of the ledge defenses, but provided the cover needed for [s]BeaverBoy to float safely to the top left island, and for [s]Minken to float safely to the bottom right island.

yyr~Thorlock and yyr~Therak also expand, but to their own respective "mineral only naturals".  [s]BeaverBoy is greedy and wants his mineral only, too.  Argh, its covered in those damn mines yyr~Therak placed there a millennium ago.  [s]Minken needs to distract the horde in the center while his partner secures his new expansion.  He brings a few High Templar over and gets off a few storms before they are vanquished.

Team yyr~ decides to split up.  They must be tired of these distractions.  It looks as though they want to end both opponents at the same time.  yyr~Thorlock heads straight for [s]Minken with about 2 control groups of dragoons.  The dragoons are on 'attack move' and take out the tank on the ledge first, then proceed to get scarabed and stormed before making it much farther.

After losing, like, oh "a shit ton" of dragoons, yyr~Thorlock wisely retreats what remaining forces he has, and decides to assist the havoc yyr~Therak is placing on [s]BeaverBoy over at 9:00.

yyr~Therak is successful in destroying the Command Center at the 9:00 mineral only, but cannot press further into [s]BeaverBoy's defense.  He is forced to pull out and ceases penetration (and the Dr. subconsciously reverts to sexual innuendo having no idea the repercussions from one such as Bob_the_Newt.  Sorry, so sorry).

This has been a long game.  Tensions are mounting.  Team yyr~ has been very persistant in attacking, and have the higher troop count, but have yet to break into either defense of Team [s].  Team [s] has taken the advantage with the island expansions.  This allows them the much needed vespene gas needed for the long haul of late game tactics.  Almost all ground troops are fully upgraded on both teams.  Air has not been a factor yet, but could come into play.  Something has to give and both teams know it.  Team yyr~ heads into the fray again...

yyr~Therak and yyr~Thorlock decide to target [s]Minken again.  Mass tanks from yyr~Therak lead the way and are totally devastated by high ground Templar storms.  Only 3 tanks out of 12+ remain by the time yyr~Thorlock gets there with his army of dragoons.  The high ground templar show no mercy and obviously have energy upgrades as storms electrify the air all over the incoming troops.  [s]BeaverBoy sent some of his own tanks to help his partner, but really only mopped up the fried leftovers of what was once a mighty army.

Finally, Team [s] go on the offensive again.  Feeling confident over their last stand over Team yyr~, [s]Minken and [s]BeaverBoy head north to try and break yyr~Thorlock.  [s]Minken is able to get off a few more storms on the defending dragoons at the 12:00 choke area.  [s]BeaverBoy sieges his tanks and Team [s] is looking pretty good.  yyr~Therak feels different and launches a whole mess load of vultures that he was able to amass from his 7 Factories.  The vultures deal their damage to the tanks before they die, and when Team [s] advances on yyr~Thorlock in a weakened state, it is nothing a few storms can't handle.

Bah, this is crazy.  Attack - Denied.  Attack - Denied.  Will the madness never end?

How about a mini-map update?  Must get more Cheesy Poofs anyways.

Ok, Team [s] has failed to break into yyr~Thorlock's base at 12:00.  yyr~Therak, like mentioned in the mini-map has a tremendous continuous output from his Factories.  yyr~Therak sieges a whole regiment of tanks and begins raining arclite down upon all the buildings at [s]BeaverBoy's mineral only.  [s]Minken and yyr~Thorlock's minions clash enroute to aid/rape [s]BeaverBoy.  [s]Minken has a few more in number and yyr~Therak is forced away from 9:00 and back towards the middle to assist yyr~Thorlock from [s]Minken.  Reinforcements from all sides arrive to the center and fight once more on the temple itself.

Going on at the same time, yyr~Thorlock and yyr~Therak have combined an assault on the upper left island and have finally broken its defenses forcing the Command Center to lift.  There are BC's on the way and it looks as if [s]BeaverBoy may be able to save his island.  yyr~Therak is totally mined out of all recources.  yyr~Thorlock has expanded to the 3:00 mineral only and I am running out of pic space.

[s]BeaverBoy is not able to hold the island and loses his only fully operational expansion.  yyr~Therak and yyr~Thorlock do not waste a moment and immediately attack [s]BeaverBoy's mineral only again.  [s]BeaverBoy does not have the resources to provide reinforcements.  Team yyr~ breaks [s]BeaverBoy's defensive stand and begin to push forward into his natural.  [s]BeaverBoy is done and soon concedes.

[s]Minken cannot take on the combined forces of Team yyr~ without the help of his partner and soon looses his expansion.  He then concedes the game.

Team yyr~ has prevailed and wins the honor of advancing in the tournament!

yyr~  3     [s]  0     FINAL

A few things here as a wrap-up.  This game kicked ass.  It was only marred by one small thing.  There was an unintentional disconnect and we agreed to replay from a previous save.  It was unfortunate, but it was a well played game regardless.  My hats off to both teams and all the players I met.

Ying{r~}Yang advances to face Elite Rebels in my next match-up.  yyr~CrazyOne, Belgorim, yyr~Therak, and yyr~Thorlock will have their hands full with the Elite Rebels.  Elite Rebels are the number 1 seed, so it should be good!  Stay tuned...

-Dr.Zchivago