July's style of zerg

From Teamliquid.net

July to Round of 16

ST_July has been having poor results lately in South Korea.

After getting 2nd in GSL March, he was knocked out in the first round of the last two GSL tournaments, and hasn't performed well in the GSLTL either. He placed high (4th) in both the NASL and Dreamhack, but there seemed to be limits to his play when he reached the highest levels and he couldn't seem to get any further.

This was something July himself seemed to realize when he was interviewed during the GSL Code S selection, where he was placed in a group with LosirA, Genius and Ensnare.

I was obviously nervous, that once again July would fall in the first round and that he might even get knocked down to the dreaded Up and Down matches, which look more and more like a postapocalyptic movie where everyone is trying to eat and kill each other. July's group was the last of the Round of 32 and looked to be a bit uncertain. The preview from Team Liquid was as follows:

LoSirA returns to the stage for another run at the championship. Will he be thwarted again? Certainly not by anyone in this group. Both LoSirA and July have been to the promised land of a GSL Code S final but July hasn't gotten anywhere close again. In fact, his performances have been slipping steadily and he narrowly avoided the Up / Down matches last season.

Ensnare had the misfortune of meeting NesTea in the Ro16 last season and had his run cut short, while Genius met the same fate at the hands of another ZvP terror in CoCa. Thankfully for both, July hasn't been at that level lately. That leaves the door wide open for second place in the group.

Form suggests that it won't be July. Looking at the stats, a gambling man would put his dollars Genius as he hasn't been bested in a TvP since he lost to NaDa back in May.

The prediction was that July would be 0-2 in the group and get knocked down to the Up and Down matches.

Such did not happen though, as this strange group turned schizophrenic in terms of results. LosirA, the gamer that almost everyone thought would make it through with no problems (after just finishing 2nd place in the previous GSL). He however ended up 0-2 and will go straight to the Up and Down matches. Ensnare and Genius fought over 2nd place, with Genius making it through. July, through a mixture of balls of steel and poor play made it through 2-0.

In his match against Genius on Bel-Shir Beach, July gave up his clear map advantage and instead chose to baneling bust his opponent who had forge expanded. Even though Genius had scouted the gas, he responded too late and was crushed with a volley of banelings and zerglings. It was a bold movie, July perhaps playing a mind game on Genius and taking advantage of his expectation that July would use his map advantage to play a longer safer game.

Later against Ensnare, July fought back a bunker rush, which had in the previous game set back LosirA eventually helping Ensnare win his game against him on Terminus. Clearly behind, Ensnare muscled up his forces for an all-in with Marines and Helions. July had droned heavily in the meantime, but had some defenses (banelings and spine crawlers). By the time Ensnare attacked he had a large enough force to possibly destroy July. But due to some nervousness and meekness from the Terran player he fumbled his potential advantage, and July destroyed his push.

ST_July mumumu! His next opponent in the Round of 16 is HungunPrime.We!

Day 9 on Z v Z

Z v Z is insanity in the early game. Gi i tinituhon ti hongge'on este na inafana'. Puru ha' kinaduku.

In July v. Moon this morning in the Round of 8 of the NASL Finals, Day9 stated very well what effect Z v Z has on poor, daffe' nerds such as myself. While July teched to Roaches and Moon rushed to Banelings, July wandered around the map scouting with a squad of zerlings and narrowly dodged Moon's banelings several times. After doing this several times and narrowly avoiding defeat in the form of the green oozing corpses of his zergling army, Day9 yelped for July to stop this, he eats fatty foods and his heart can't handle this!

In Just a Few Minutes...

Round of 8, NASL, Day 2. July v. Moon. Z v Z.

Puede ha' u fanggana' i gayu-hu!

July > Morrow

NASL Finals Day 1 showed the dominance of South Korean Starcraft 2 players with the exceptions of aTnDarkforce and Fnatic who were able to overcome TSL_Alive and oGsZenio. Especially dominant was i mas ya-hu na gayu ST_July, who crushed very Mouz_Morrow so badly that his grandchildren will most likely be born kitan. Morrow played Terran at the start of SC2, but later switched to Zerg and now sometimes switches back to Terran when playing his most hated matchup Z v Z. In the first match on Xel'Naga Caverns, an early omen foreshadowed Morrow's demise, when he accidentally opened with a 12 - Engineering Bay instead of barracks. He quickly cancelled it and started the barracks instead but it was still a sign that it wasn't going to be his day.

Here's some of the #NASL tweets from July and Morrow's match earlier today:

NASL FINALS AGUPA'!

Here's the bracket.

If you've been reading this blog for the past few months you know who I'm rooting for.

July Mumumumu!

He crushed plenty of nerds at MLG Columbus and came in 4th at Dreamhack. I hope that this is finally his chance to take a major title in Starcraft 2.

The Irony of July

ST_July staring off into space wondering if he's going to get ironically knocked out in the first round of the GSL July. For those who don't know July's wins in Brood War all came in July and so he's probably the hungriest of all players this season for a win.

In truth this image comes from Team Liquid's twitter page and is July watching Idra and MC play at Summer Dreamhack 2011.

Huk

I should be sleeping but instead I'm half doing work and half watching the Homestory Cup 3.
I just saw Naniwa defeat Huk 3-2. This is LiquidHuk after his loss while watching the replay of the match. In a final match of a PvP he went Dark Templars which failed miserably as Naniwa did a Robotics Bay build and left his observer at his ramp with his units. Don't have much sympathy for Huk as he crushed miserably my favorite player July in the Summer Dreamhack 2011 earlier this month. Although I can always admire and recognize the skill of even players I don't like or care about, part of the enjoyment of esports is the pettiness automatically hating all who are against those you want to win.

I wish I could watch the next rounds as Huk goes up against oGsMC, but I'm getting sleepy and I'm supposed to wake up early tomorrow and work out.

NASL Playoffs and Finals

The NASL playoffs are here and the finals are just around the corner. Here's a link to Team Liquid which gives a great overview of the playoff brackets and who's got a good shot at making it to the finals.

Para bai hu faisen i che'lu-hu hayi i gayu-na gi este na inachai'igi. Lao anggen un taitai este na blog siempre esta un tungo' hayi i gayu-hu no? Si Hulio, pat Si July i mas ya-hu. Ha ikak todu i kontrario-na gi i dibishon-na.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=233512

MKP Mumumu!

I've been too busy with the MLG and the NASL lately to really closely follow the GSL Super Tournament.

Part of the reason I haven't cared to watch it because of the early exit of ST_July at the hands of Slayers_Min. Now after a few weeks we're down to the final four players and so I'm paying attention again. The format of this tournament led to plenty of upsets, and the team Slayers in particular seemed to dominate round after round with the only players eliminated early being Boxer and Yugi-oh. As we reach the final four we've only got one Slayers player left, MMA, who is fresh off his nerd-crushing, choking and all around savaging performance at MLG Columbus (a victim of which was July).

One of the icky things about this Super Tournament has been the Terran dominance. Protoss were destroyed early on, leaving only one Slayers_Alicia in the final 16. And while the final 16 had 6 zergs, (IMNestea, oGsjookto, SlayerS_Min, ZeNEXLine, LeenockfOu and TSL_Revival), only one made it to the round of 8, ZeNEXLine, and he was eliminated in a close series by oGsTop.

The only reason that I'll be watching the final four and hopefully the finals themselves are if MarineKingPrime.We can make it. After making it to the finals three times now and coming up short each time, he is hungry for a win, and a chance to ensure that he does not become the quick King of Silver in SC2. I'm rarely a big fan of Terrans, a case in point is SlayerS_MMA, who is a brilliant player absolutely, but whose style of Terran while technically incredible, since his abilitly to take apart zergs in particular by consistently denying them their late bases, while holding off their large pushes in the center, is nonetheless boring. MKP, has so far been a joy to watch and so I'd much rather see him get to the finals and win.

July and Losira

ST_July and IMLosira at MLG Columbus.

Photo courtesy of Peanut SC

July and Gretorp at MLG

Startale July is at MLG Columbus crushing nerds and taking their MLG points.

Sadly, Gretorp is also at MLG Columbus, not doing very well and reminding people that his talents may lie elsewhere.

Total Biscuit on Fast Battle Cruisers

NASL Season 1
Week 6
May 19, 2011

ST_July v. aTn.Dark.Force

Game 2

Commentators are the Awesome Andre that is Gretorp and guest commentator TotalBiscuit

The topic: If you are playing as Terran on the ladder and you end up fighting another Terran, what is a good way of saving yourself from a 40 min game of grinding and boring tank war?

TotalBiscuit: Playing (t.v.t.) is draining, especially for lower level players like myself. Everytime I see a T v. T on my ladder stream I cringe. It's the reason I go fast battlecruiser. One way or the other, the game will end in 10 mins, if I go fast battle cruisers, there you go. That's the attitude I take to it. Please don't try this at home kids, it's a terrible strategy.

Na'chalek Este

GSL- Thoughts

The GSL finals were sad sight to see if you are a Zerg player or sympathizer. The anticipated finals of MC vs July, the Gods of War of their respected races, was more of the "Protoss President" outplaying and outpreparing the Starcraft:BW legend. MC showed impeccable play with superb timings and flawless micro, July never was in control. (Except for the 3^rd set in which July conducted a slick Hydra drop timing while MC was teching)

However what made MC play so frightening was that he basically won the series only using Tier 1 Gateway Units. Dark Templars made a brief appearance but really they did not shine in any way. MC’s Sentry and Stalker control was awe dropping. His pushes of “infinite forcefields” (8 or more sentries) were just cutting up July’s forces so badly that the notion of a fair fight was nonexistent.

Not one Colossus was made, which has been the buzz word for Zerg players who cry ZvP imbalance. *cough* Artosis and Idra

One Void Ray was made, but that game was the only one that MC preceded to lose.

No High Templars were produced as well.

So what is the big story? Well gateway pushes are incredibly powerful especially backed with top notch micro and such creative timings. In Game 2, MC’s 1 Gate Expand, a build catered for Crevasse, to a 6 Gate push came at such a fast time because his build allowed him to tech to warp faster by skipping a forge (Which is usually the crucial structure for fast expansions in PvZ). Were these pushes unstoppable though? The answer in my mind is no but it is not easy. In game 1 July could have held it off if he built a few more spine crawlers but the nail in the coffin was the last couple of Forcefields at the ramp, which blocked a huge amount of Reinforcements. They were mistakes made by Tushin (July), but in the bigger picture, this series lacked something that we came to expect from the Brood War Champion.

July, who in Brood War was known for being one the best BoX players in the game. His match preparation was legendary; see his series against Best in the EVER OSL where he truly played the player and not the game. It was surprising to see him getting outsmarted by MC here.

One thing that was disheartening as well is that July was not adapting at all to his opponent’s play. The one thing that MC lacked in these brute force pushes was detection, he completely ignored robo tech in 4/5 games. Rushing roach burrow would have stopped these pushes cold, with burrow being the best way to handle force fields in the mid game. Instead we saw the Zerg units get completely torn apart. This was a bad time for July to not bring his A game especially when he is playing the best player in the world. MC’s aggression is so refined; it truly is a scary sight to see.

In my mind, this GSL final is not evidence for ZvP imbalance (Its still favored for the Protoss but the matchup itself is not broken imo) but rather that MC is really good and July simply was not up to par. He lost the mental edge that earned him his nickname in BW.

July Interview

This Friday is the finals of the March GSL, as I was hoping it'll be ST_July v. oGsMC. I'll be writing more about this later (pa'go ha' tinane' yu' ni' i che'cho'-hu). But in the meantime, here is an interview with July after he defeated his old rival (who had defeated him many times in Brood War Nada), on his way to the finals. The interview comes from this link.

********************

Q: Feelings for advancing to Ro4?
A: I have never felt this anxious/nervous for such a long time. I do not even know how long have I not felt such feelings. When I win I kept on thinking, did I really just win?

Q: 1st 2 matches you won easily.
A: I thought today I could perform a 3-0 victory. It will be 3-0 as long as I take down the 1st match, even if I lost the 1st match it will be 3-1 victory. However, during the 3rd match I actually did a low level mistake, not scouting.

Selected strategy and spawning locations are good, but I did not see opponent's hellion coming out of base. After I saw my spawn location which are all in the correct location, I feel ladyluck is blessing me.

Q: Today matches strategy are similar
A: I saw many comments from friends on the internet. They say my matches contain aggressive elements, extremely entertaining. Even if I lose I will still see good comments for my play. I love these comments. Without these comments I will never be able to take down today's matches.

Q: You have a match with Nada after 2 years, feelings?
A: Both of us should be pretty excited about this. We trained very hard after all, and result in panda eyes. In SC1, I lose alot, thus in SC2 I hope I can win him.

Q: In 4th matches, do u notice not the small passage between the 2 barracks?
A: I do not know about this. If I knew, I could have won alot easier. Main thing is, after losing the 3rd round I felt a little bit at loss. In addition, 4th match bunker rush I defended poorly. Key factor in winning the 5th match is due to having adjusted my mental condition.

Q: Not using late game units on purpose?
A: Ultralisk is really not good. Even if I max out 200 food count on ultralisk, it is hard to win. Analysing Nada I have realised he love doing a Timing All-In. So I have decided to specifically counter against his unit's mobility. Against other player I may choose other strategy.

Q: MC said between July and Nada, whoever wins will enter the Finals.
A: I totally agreed with MC! Now I cannot see other opponent, only MC. Although in Ro32 I lose to MC, but at the finals I WILL LAUGH TILL THE END.

Q: MC said to win the finals, a zerg opponent will be the best bet.
A: Indeed, due to ZvP matchup. I can only sigh.

The races characteristic is wierd. A 200/200 maxed out engage basically Protoss could have won with just a net loss of 30 food count units. Then another push from Protoss Zerg would have KO. Zerg is too fragile. ZvP is indeed hard to fight.

Q: Next match could be Lyn or MarineKing
A: Lyn is famous @ War3, so I want to play a match against him. I have not fought him yet, I will win lyn to advance the semifinals, in the end everything will play out according to my script and I will win the finals.

Q: Alot of audience from SC1 wished today's victor would go to the Finals and win. Are you confident?
A: During group selection I have said that I have climbed from the lowest point. I will let everyone know how did I climbed to this place. I have the capabilities to advance from Code A to Code S Ro4, what is so difficult about going into the Finals? On the contary, I feel entering the Finals would make my mental condition even more stable.

Q: As of now, Zerg who advances to Ro8 take the finals.
A: There is alot differences between the past and now. Compared to last time, now racial balance is much better. But after hearing this I feel I must take the finals. Now I can only think being champion.

Q: Feel any 'Champion' Omen incoming?
A: Today, when I washed my hair, I think back of the past. Suddenly I thought of...should I dye my hair red again? Still, I feel now and the past there is some differences, now I am at the stage of climbing 1 step at a time.

Q: Last words?
A: Yesterday I discussed alot with my teammates, thank deeply for them. Many players accompanied me to train. Especially Clide whom I eliminated in Ro16, still he sincere helped me in training. Finally, I want to thank my coach.

SC: BW

I'm going to take the advice of my brother and order the book he recommended in a post below, The Starcraft Bible.

Part of the reason why I want to get this is because I know very little about the first version of Starcraft and its expansion, which has been around for a decade. When I watch the games, I sometimes can't tell what's going on (especially when the commentators are speaking in Korean), because while some units are the same, some are very different. The mere look of Starcraft sometimes makes my eyes hurt compared to the graphics of Starcraft 2.

I've been trying to learn more about Starcraft in hopes of gaining more understanding of it as a cultural phenomenon and also so I can enjoy and appreciate the legacies or narratives that follow some players. Nada is supposed to be one of the most consistent SC progamers. Players such as Jaedong and July in their own ways revolutionized the way to play Zerg. Some players who were on the B team for SC1 are in Code S and dominating in SC2. When I first heard the theme song written for Tasteless there were several references to players and matchups in SC1, and I didn't get them so I had to ask my brother what they were all about.

In hopes of getting caught up and also familiar with the basic mechanics of SC1, I've started to watch more and more games, starting with this list of "most unusual progames" that I came across on TeamLiquid.net.

Hulio

I know that, given the way that the races were designed in Starcraft 2, it is always in the best interests of zerg to focus on their economy early, so that they can come in later in the match, with the full force of the swarm. Protoss and Terran can rush early and if it fails, still find a way to recover, but for zerg, falling behind early usually means you can never come back. As they always say in Starcraft 2, zerg has to always stay one base ahead of it's opponent.

Since I began watching the GSL last year, I've started to follow ST_July or Julyzerg, who was a professional SC1 player, even winning the OSL three times, and is sometimes known as "The God of War." His story was made interesting by the fanboy mentality of Tasteless and Artosis, who adored July from his SC1 days and would speak of him in hushed and reverent tones while casting his games. He was knocked out in Round of 16 by oGsMC in GSL 3, and got to Round of 8 in the January Code A matches and was eventually able to break into Code S in the Up/Down matches that followed. He made it through and started GSL 4 in Code S.

Although he did very well, and making it into Code S was a big feat in and of itself, July wasn't showing the God of War powers that Tastosis kept bestowing him. Ironically, they called oGsMC, the Protoss who beat July in GSL 3 "the Kraitos Protoss" who is the title character from the series God of War. And in GSL he seemed to be more worthy of the title.

One thing that July has shown me so far in the GSLs is that he can be hyper aggressive in the early game. This hasn’t always worked out for him, as zerg isn’t meant to do it, and my brother hates it when I talk about wanting to see more zergs take control of the game early and not let Protoss or Terran dictate things by whether they choose to rush or not.

Last week I watched LiquidHaypro v. IMGanzi in the Code A matches and it showed me why some of the conventional wisdom on zerg needs to change, and how easily the “one base ahead” need can be used against zerg. Haypro expanded like mad on Terminus in order to try to stay ahead of the GanZi, he lost so many hatcheries that even Tasteless couldn’t keep track anymore. The new commentator Kelly had mentioned that GanZi loves to drop and can sometimes do more than two drops at once and he showed that very well in this match. Zerg would win every engagement in the middle, but GanZi just starved Haypro out, by constantly denying his ability to expand, and also using the drops to keep Haypro from engaging, and forcing him to divide his mind and decide whether to divide his forces (which he rarely did). I’ve often heard that the late game belongs to zerg, but this match showed how that can be denied. The better that Terrans become at multitasking in the late game, the worse it will be for zerg. And although the new massive GSL maps make for epic games, they make it difficult to impossible for those with a large central force to be able to stop harassment. Haypro showed that weakness in the game, by not being able to split his units or defend himself, and GanZi made better use of his race’s adaptability and the fact that with every drop he would be able to do plenty of damage before the first speedling got there to defend.

In last night’s Code A, a similar thing happened to LiquidRet, who was better than Haypro at stopping the harassing or at least minimizing it, but still fell to a similar starving out strategy against Slayers_M. On a night where many a zerg was slaughtered and the first three matchups were taken 2 -0 by Protoss or Terran, in the final round a zerg was finally able to beat a Protoss, but only by creating a massive Muta ball which could one shot pylons and canons. The zerg ended up losing though.

The GSL Code S started last week with the “Group of Death” which had two players who are considered by most to be the best players of their race, IMMvp (Terran) and oGsMC (Protoss), and someone who revolutionized zerg in SC1, but has yet to prove himself “god-like” in SC2, ST_July. I felt bad for the remaining player in the group oGsHyperDub, who stood in the shadow and would be shadow of all the others, and struggled in the matches to prove himself.

July had made this more interesting by wanting to be in this group in order to take out MC who beat him out of GSL 3. Although July lost to MC, who easily made it out of the group on top, most everyone who was watching the group of death was probably blown away by the fact that it was July and not Mvp, who moved on to the next round. MVP won the first GSL Code S tourney in January, becoming the first Terran to do so by defeating MarineKingPrime.We. His win rate was phenomenal in SC2 for the past few months, massacring zergs and being known as unbeatable against Terran as well.

But on the first day of the GSL, July beat MVP twice to move on, both times by being aggressive early, the first time failing miserably and then coming back, the second time, by being very very lucky, and attacking at exact moment he should. In the first match, July got his banelings into the main of MVP but did very little except killing a supply depot, a tech lab and no SCVs. His economy in shambles, he tried to rebuild, but MVP was clearly in the lead and Tastosis was already calling it for MVP. MVP pushed too early into the main of July, thinking him to be weaker than he actually was. The push failed, and although July lost quite a bit, MVP lost his advantage. July came back with mutas, and attacked again with speedlings and banelings and broke MVP.

The second match, on Metapolis, July once again went for early aggression, intending to baneling bust MVP. MVP walled in with two barracks, and did not notice July waiting outside his main when he lifted up his buildings to move them around. July had already attacked, not knowing that the buildings were lifted up. When July waltzed right into the main, with all of his units intact, he actually hesitated and turned around, not sure what was going on, and if there was some trap waiting for him. He only turned around for a moment and then pushed back in, easily massacring MVPs units and SCVs. Most players when they lose they stare off into space for a bit or shake their head and mutter to themselves as they unhook their keyboard or mouse, MVP put his head down on his keyboard and didn’t move.

I’m looking forward to see how July can do in the next round and to see if he can really make it to the top of SC2.