Hihi! Welcome to my chobo report. Anyways, in this game our gosu friends ..(Myst).. and Axis-X face each other on Lost Temple. Both are very respectable players, and from very respectable clans too. Observing along with me is 1st~Annihilator. Without further ado, I bring you the map :

Hmm... this should be interesting. Both players picked their races, and ..(Myst).. got the 12:00 position while Axis started at 3:00. If you don't know, this are the closest starting positions in Lost Temple. Axis-X has an advantage here, as tanks can get free shots on incoming troops from ..(Myst)..'s main if he seiges them on his plataeu. But then again, this isn't really that substantial.

Both players open with standard build orders. Axis-X builds a Supply Depot on 8 at his ramp, uses that SCV to scout and a Barracks on 10 also at his ramp. A bit later, a second barracks is constructed. On the other hand, ..(Myst).. morphs an Overlord once he hits 8 supply, then a Hatchery above his ramp on 12. Then, a Spawning Pool is built and an Extractor soon after that for the gas needed to combat a Terran. He puts 3 drones on gas immediately after the Extractor finishes and begins morphing 6 Zerglings.

Enough about the build orders. Let's get down to the action. Anyway, the first offensive maneuver was taken by Axis-X, when he builds a bunker right next to the hatchery on ..(Myst)..'s ramp. The SCV completes the bunker but unforunately he is mauled to death by hastily built zerglings. And just in time to, as a split second after the bunker is razed 3 marines arrive on the battlefield. One of them falls to the 6 Zerglings before Axis-X pulls those and another 2 marines back to his ramp. Usually, even though the zerglings are faster they will fail to kill the marines because of pathing problems, but in this case ..(Myst).. trapped the marines at Axis-X's mineral only. All of them perished on the spot.

Simply amazing. At this time, Axis-X had already had his Academy building more than halfway through. Quite good, but nothing compared to ..(Myst).. who had completed his Lair upgrade, Zergling speed upgrade and was now building a Hydralisk Den. Judging from this, I guess Axis-X will go hard infantry while ..(Myst).. is going for quick lurkers. After a while, Axis-X had finished his Academy and began building his Comstat. ..(Myst).. too finished his Hydralisk Den. He's waiting for the Lurker Aspect upgrade, I guess. ..(Myst).. then leaves a Zergling outside Axis-X's base for advanced recon. Bah, it's useless I guess. Axis-X scouts with an SCV, sees the zergling, and quickly kills it with marines.

But then again, Axis-X is also denied of scouting when. ..(Myst).. kills the scouting SCV with his other Zerglings and the sunken he has ontop of his ramp. Axis-X, not bothered with this minor setback, groups his 9 marines, 2 firebats and 2 medics and orders them to attack. He also adds a Factory back at home to combat incoming lurkers.

..(Myst).., forseeing the attack with a sacrificial zergling he sent to scout, knows that his 10 zerglings cannot withstand Axis-X's infantry. Thus, he makes them into a control group, and sends them to the center near the temple.

Unfortunately, ..(Myst).. underestimated Axis-X's capabilities. Axis-X wisely split his forces into two, one to pressure ..(Myst).. into building more troops and the other to defend his choke. Therefore, when ..(Myst).. tried to run his zerglings up the ramp (which he usually does if you have played him before) Axis-X's infantry intercepted it and as a result all zerglings were killed. However, for some reason, Axis-X didn't continue attacking but instead retreated his uints back to his ramp.

Well, my question was answered a few moments later. ..(Myst).., using the zerglings as a delaying tactic had finally gotten 2 lurkers. He burrowed them under Axis-X's ramp and used zerglings to get vision above the ramp. Many zerglings and marines were sent to hell that day. However for ..(Myst).., when the previous battle was being ensued he built an Engineering Bay. Therefore, after building a bunker and a turret above the ramp, with the help of a seige tank, the lurker threat was squelched. Axis-X showed his gosuism by placing his turret in such a way that it is out of the range of lurkers below, but yet providing ample detection.

Immediately after this, Axis-X constructed a Starport for teching purposes. Then, he seiged up a tank near his command center, and built a turret close to it to discourage drops. ..(Myst).. on the other hand expanded twice, to his mineral only and the 9:00 main. The reason he didn't expand to his natural is because he wasted gas and time going for lurkers, so if the natural was turbo-newbied he cannot get mutas to counter it in time. Once he had 4 lurkers, he burrowed around the center near Axis-X's mineral only. Then, he built 2 Evolution Chambers in his main and burrowed another lurker in his peon line in case of drops.

After massing enough cash, Axis-X built a Command Center on his cliff to float to his natural later on. Then, after finishing his Science Facility, he built a Science Vessel and immediately began a tank push. He started the seige at his mineral only, and slowly reinforced his troops with tanks and infantry until the push stretched to ..(Myst)..'s mineral only. ..(Myst).. had to unburrow his lurkers, move them a short distance away while Axis-X had to do the same thing except with tanks. After securing the center, Axis-X sent a marine to the 9:00 main and found ..(Myst)..'s scret expansion. He immediately loaded a dropship with a tank, 3 marines and a medic and unloaded them at the small island beneath the main. A few drones were killed before lurkers stopped that attack. At the same time, Axis-X also expanded to the 6:00 natural.

Was ..(Myst).. idle all this while? Well of course you know the answer. ..(Myst).. being the super gosu player he is, began constructing numerous expansions all over the map. He morphed 2 hatcheries at the 9:00 natural, another at 9:00's mineral only and finally took his own natural (12:00). Even though if his mineral only falls, he will have 3 brand new expansions to replace it. Before this, he did try to break the push but it only resulted in him losing a ton of units while only killing a marine or too. Therefore, instead of attacking, he massed quite an amount of mixed zerglings, hydras, and lurkers on his ramp. What was he up to? Note : At this time, ..(Myst).. had +1 carapace and +1 range attack upgrades, while Axis-X had 2/1 marines.

As the map in the image above shows, Axis-X had already mined out his main. ..(Myst).., not knowing that, loaded all the troops above his ramp and dropped them in the heart of Axis-X's main. The result : Axis-X loses a bunch of supply depots, a CC and a couple of other buildings, but manages to fend off the intruders after retreating back some of his units carrying out the push. However, another drop of 2 lurkers executed exactly at the same time at Axis-X's natural was a bit more succesful as he just transfered his SCV's from his main there. Quite an amount died before a Science Vessel provided the necessary detection.

After this attack, ..(Myst).. sends a lurker down to 6:00 for scouting. Although he tried to burrow the lurker at 6:00's natural expansion, a seiged tank in the middle of the SCV's prevented it from getting close. Therefore, the lurker was microed back to 6:00's mineral only, and burrowed there, killing a few SCV's before Axis-X lifted his Command Center. However, this not deter him from continuing his tank push back at ..(Myst)..'s mineral only. Unfortunately for Axis-X, ..(Myst).. simply conceded the expansion and planned an attack of his own. Since most of Axis-X's troops were on the upper half section of the map, ..(Myst).. used the 4 hatches he had at 9:00 (2 at main, 2 at natural) to pump out hydras and lurkers. Once he saw an opportunity, he quickly sent 8 hydras and 5 lurkers down to Axis-X's expansion. Not only he completely bypasses Axis-X's main forces, but his blitz was also extremely succesful. Axis-X was forced to move his already floating Command Center even further away from mineral nodes, and the natural expansion was totally decimated by the Zerg. For some weird though, ..(Myst).. canceled his Hatchery at 9:00's mineral only.

Even though he saved some of the SCV's by running them north, this only alerted ..(Myst).. to the fact that Axis-X had started work on a new expansion, this time at the 3:00 mineral only. Also, after a short while, Axis-X conveniently forgot about his flying, burning Command Center and it promptly burst into flames. However, he had a good reason for this imcompetency, as revealed by a turbo newbie at 9:00's natural. Axis-X used the dropship twice to ferry a tank and marines & medics ontop the cliff. ..(Myst).. on the other hand tried to neutralize this threat but hydras simply don't cut it against upgraded marines. Therefore, he loaded a drone into an overlord and started another expansion, this time at the topleft island. Working expansions count : ..(Myst).. : 2, Axis-X : 1 and a half.

[this next paragraph has gosu tactics. read it until you understand.]

However, ..(Myst).. shows his brilliance again. Remember those lurkers and hydras that were used to kill the expansions down south? Well, morphed a couple more lurkers, loaded 2 lurkers into an overlord and proceeded to do a two-prong attack. He dropped again at Axis-X's natural with those lurkers, and send in the other hydras and lurkers through the front way. Again, Axis-X's troops are badly positioned as almost no units are protecting his ramp and his natural (most of them are in the top center area). Even though Axis-X was prepared against the 2 lurker drop, the frontal attack was devestating. Not only he got to the natural virtually unscathed and managed to burrow his lurkers there and killed a bunch of SCVs, he also took another 2 lurkers and instead of running them east to the natural, he went north instead, and burrow THESE lurkers behind Axis-X's mineral only. The effect was devestating; Axis-X lost virtually all his peons (save 3 or 4) and it forced him to lift off his CC at his natural. Not only that, marines and medics aren't really that well prepared to counter lurkers, if the lurkers managed to burrow first. This was exactly what happened.

..(Myst).. has simply amazing micro and macro. While this attack was being launched, he managed to hatch hydras from all hatches, load those at the east side into overlords and drop them onto the cliff to take care of the newbie, AND make lurkers from those at his main. Subsequently, the 8 hydras on his cliff killed the defending infantry and destroyed the tank. Then, he attacked Axis-X's forces 6 lurkers or so, killing some of his infantry. Repeat and rinse a few times. Equate more Zerg units and less Terran forces after every battle. Well, seriously, the rest of the game was just ..(Myst).. FINALLY tech to Hive, get cracklings and ultras, and flank Axis-X's units from 3 sides. Add in a lot of blood, serious casualties from both sides, some bitching from Axis-X and around 5 more minutes and you get the end of the game. GG to all.

other thots

i) ..(Myst).. owns. So does Axis-X... although he claimed after the game that he could have won but didn't continue tank pushing because he wanted the game to be fun. Truth or lie, you decide. I'm just battlereporter.

ii) You don't need fancy defilers and guardians to defeat a Terran as Zerg.

iii) If you play ..(Myst).., remember that he goes for Lurker drops or some variant of it 99.9% in each game he plays.

iv) I'm sorry for delaying this report, Mysty. I had exams so I couldn't do it earlier. Let me obs more of your games now that I finished. :D

v) ..(Myst) owns.