The title says it all, the faceoff between Savior and Bisu has finally taken place. Also involved in the deal were two other Zerg players, Magma and Zero. Only two will make it out, but who?
That's right Starcraft fans, the real MSL has finally kicked off, and in a rather grand manner as well. With the first group featuring two of the most adored progamers around, the stakes were quite high from the get go. The question on everbody's lips has been whether Savior's 2009 path of destruction would begin or whether he would flounder and fail at the starting line.
The returning MSL champ Bisu must be considered the clear favorite to leave this group, quite possibly unscathed. But then again, this is not the first time he's surrounded himself with zergs and paid for it dearly. First things first, let's begin with the first and most anticipated game, Bisu vs Savior
Match 1 - Savior vs Bisu @ Neo Harmony
Two stone faced superstars took their places in the booth and the game begins. Savior spawned in the bottom left and Bisu in the top right. Both players opt for a fast expansion opening, with Savior sneaking out a drone to the 10 o clock position to take a hidden expo. While Savior chased the scouting probe and teched to lair, Bisu installed one of his zealots with maphack and instantly found the hidden expansion Savior had put up. Bisu must've been feeling pretty good about himself, but this swiftly changed as a stream of zerglings poured into Bisu's natural and tore down the cannons and killed the probes mining.
Things calmed down after that and the traditional cat and mouse game between corsairs and scourge began, a game where Savior was the superior player, keeping the corsair count low. A ring of burrowed zerglings surrounded Bisu's base, since it was only a matter of time until Bisu moved against the expansion. An ambush attempt involving burrowed hydralisks was scouted by Bisu, which might well have been the end of him otherwise. Instead a clever distraction consisting of a small group of zealots assaulted one expansion, forcing Savior to run his forces down to protect it, while the shuttle with reavers flew towards 10 o clock to rain death upon the drones.
Bisu's army was much too powerful for Savior to attack directly, so he chose instead to pull off a large drop right in Bisu's main, which managed to take down the nexus and a few other buildings. Bisu counterattacked at 10 o clock, destroying the hatchery and it's drones but critically losing even more corsairs and even the shuttle to scourge. Another drop from Savior followed and while not as effective as the first, it flustered Bisu and pulled his forces away from the offense. Despite this he still managed to sneak a shuttle into Saviors main and kill off quite a few drones.
Relentless dropping by Savior while avoiding Bisu's main army wore Bisu down. His main was eventually destroyed, ceasing unit production. Two hero scourge swept in and took down the shuttle with the reavers. Bisu's natural was soon taken down. A desperate counterattack at Savior's natural was deflected by three lurkers, a spore colony and a few scourge. The finishing touch was the lurker egg blocking the ramp to Bisu's only remaining base, which was being demolished by lurkers and hydralisks. The still large Protoss army could only watch as the last remaining buildings were destroyed and Bisu was eliminated from the game. Savior wins and the crowd went wild.
Match 2 - Zero vs Magma @ Carthage
Magma has been rumored to be absolutely unbeatable. In training, that is. On the stage he simply cannot perform at his best and has a lousy record as a result. Zero's record is not spectacular either, but he has recently beaten Jaedong (and Magma for that matter) in ZvZ. Magma turned red in the bottom right while Zero turned yellow in the top left. Both players opted for the same expansion build to start off with, followed by teching to lair. Magma's early zergling pressure was deflected without major losses by smart zergling placement and an almost completed sunken.
The remainder of the game would be decided by and large by mutalisk micro. The superior one here was Zero, who decimated first Magma's zergling count, then his mutalisks by good scourge use and finally his drones with a few zerglings of his own. When the last mutalisk was destroyed, Magma promptly surrendered and Zero moves on to face Savior in the winner's final.
Match 3 - Savior vs Zero @ Byzantium 2
With Bisu down, only Zero stood between Savior and advancement. Zero played well in his last ZvZ vs Magma and should not be underestimated, even by a stone faced Maestro. Savior in white at the top right opened with a quick pool build, while Zero in red went for a second hatchery before pool. On top of this Savior's overlord scouted in the right direction and saw this. The result was not as devastating as might be expected, as good drone bunching and a well placed sunken deflected the brunt of the zergling attack.
The main difficulty for Zero was that Savior's spire was completed long, long before his. A spore colony protected his drone line, but that was all it protected. As Savior's mutalisk count grew it allowed him to take a few pot shots at fringe drones, weakening an already weakened Zero economy. The final blow came when Savior discovered the secret expo in the bottom left corner. As Zero's mutalisks swooped in to kill the attacking zerglings, Savior's mutalisk swooped in and killed off Zero's drone line. The counterattack by Zero proved ineffective, his mutalisks cut down one by one. Zero GGs and Savior has, to the great delight of his fans, made it through to the next round of the Last Day MSL.
Match 4 - Bisu vs Magma @ Byzantium 2
Bisu needed to redeem himself after his loss against Savior, while Magma needed to show that he could play ZvP. Magma in the top right placed his spawning pool before his second hatchery while Bisu in the top left expanded right away, as expected. Three cannons discouraged any zerglings straying too near while Bisu teched to corsairs and templar. Try as they might, the dark templar that Bisu sent out were unable to breach any of Magma's bases. Bisu also got careless with corsairs and lost a couple, to boot.
Both players expanded readily and the only action to be found for some time were a couple of minor skirmishes. Bisu effected an attack at one of Magma's expansions, but the loss of his observers drove him back temporarily. When he assaulted the three o clock expansion things changed however. The flanking zerg force had to run down a ramp of limited width into the loving arms of archons and zealots. Bisu's storms totally devastated the zergling/lurker force and while he couldn't press his advantage at the expansions, Bisu had one archon float away with 39 kills to show for the ordeal. Bisu maintained the pressure and was held back with some difficulty by swarm, plague and lurkers.
Magma amassed a rather impressive army of ultralisks and lurkers, but encountered heavy storms and zealot walls during an attack at one of Bisu's expansions and melted in the face of the onslaught. The action picked up and heavy fighting could be seen all over the map and expansions were traded. Finally Bisu managed to take out most of the ultralisks just after he sent a band of corsairs around the map to snipe overlords. With little money left and his newest expansion in shambles as well as no psi with which to supply a new army, Magma is forced to surrender.
Match 5 - Bisu vs Zero @ Destination
Both Bisu and Zero have thrashed Magma and now they needed to thrash each other to claim the second advancing spot of the group. Zero in the top expanded early at the 2 o clock expansion while Bisu took his natural. Some sneaky probe play and pylon placement forced Zero to place his third hatchery at an awkward position instead of the prefered one in his natural. Once again the build of choice for Bisu was the templar/corsair one while Zero, whose mutalisk control is really quite good, constructed his spire. Instead of going through the front door this time, the dark templar got a ride from a friendly shuttle, dropping them off in the corner of Zero's main. At the same time a strike force attacked Zero's second expansion, but both attacks were deflected without major damage. Inexplicably, Bisu had parked his shuttle over at Zero's base and summarily lost it to mutalisk fire.
With his on house secure it was time for Zero to start knocking at Bisu's door. His mutalisk force grew into a threatening presence on the map, harassing whatever it could find. It seemed as if Bisu's corsairs would drive them away when a swarm of scourge descended upon them and wiped out every single one. With his air dominance secured it was only a matter of time before the Bisu's second expansion at the 4 o clock position was assaulted. The counterattacking zealots were killed off by hydralisk and mutalisk fire. High templar were produced but summarily sniped by the marauding mutalisks, time and time again. Zero finished things up by sending a large force of hydralisks and lurkers over the twin bridges leading into Bisu's natural. With next to no high templar left alive to storm the Zerg, there was no way to hold it. Bisu surrenders and has once again been eliminated out of an all Zerg group. Zero takes his well deserved victory and advances to the next stage of the MSL.
For The Swarm
Disappointment and elation can be heard from fans everywhere. Another Dragon, the champion who has been on a vicious streak no less, is eliminated from this starleague as well. Magma, who claimed the Six Dragons to be nothing more than the Six Acorns did not perform either. Instead we have Savior and Zero as the two worthy winners of the group. Does this herald the return of the Maestro for real? This remains to be seen.
The next group to be played is Group G, where YellOw[ArnC] faces UpMagic and Much faces by.hero. This will take place tomorrow on Saturday 17th. If you're able to, make sure to tune in!
Links
YouTube.com - Source - VODs
