NesTea vs 
TSL_RainGame 1 @ Lost Temple. Knowing that a cliff drop is quite possible, NesTea opened with hatch first, hoping to get the most of it. Rain, on the other hand, indeed opened with Starport and Siege tech and soon pushed out with couple of Marines, his Tanks and a Medivac. Strangely enough, he did not go for the cliff drop immediately but instead tried to contain NesTea with a Bunker/Tank push. NesTea handled it well, spawning lots of Lings, and Rain just now went for the cliff. Unfortunately for him, NesTea’s Spire was now done and the Mutas cleaned the scene, putting Rain far behind in supply.
Knowing that he has an advantage, NesTea double expanded to the gold and the 12 o’clock natural and started powering up Drones. It was at that time that Rain knew he had to do something and moved out with what would seem to be a pathetically small force. However, NesTea engaged poorly, losing Mutas and Banelings in vain and Rain darted even forward, transforming his push into a cliff drop, which successfully killed Zerg’s natural and harassed the gold base.
But NesTea’s macro should not be neglected: although with his natural dead, he still was one base ahead of Terran and that gave him the opportunity to rebuild his Muta numbers and do some serious harass. Rain, on the other hand, took the poor decision to go for another push straight into NesTea’s swarm of units (instead of just sitting back and taking a third) and was completely overwhelmed.
8/10   |
Extremely good decisions and crisis management from NesTea, not losing his cool even after Rain won the first battle.
Game 2 @ Steppes of War. There are some things that you just not do on Steppes in the current meta game and one of those is Hatch first. NesTea took the risk and paid dearly when he found out that Rain is actually going for a 2-Rax SCV all-in. When Rain’s units arrived, NesTea just did not have a sufficient amount of units and the score became equal.
| 3/10 |
Well, it’s a 5-minute long game with a SCV all-in…
Game 3 @ Shakuras Plateau. Rain felt like pressuring this game and he opened triple Rax against NesTea’s quick third hatch. Sadly enough, things did not work as Rain probably hoped for as he stupidly lost his first batch of Marines and that gave NesTea the opportunity for a counter attack. Rallying tons of Speedlings to Rain’s base, the Zerg player managed to hurt his economy and deny mining time at the expansion. NesTea even tried to do a Baneling Bust follow-up but got stopped by some nice Stim micro.
The game entered its mid part with NesTea taking his fourth and Rain having doubts about what precisely is he supposed to do. He tried to push through the rocks towards NesTea’s fourth base while putting down a third CC. Unfortunately, just at that time NesTea did a Muta counter so Rain had to turn back and when later he decided to push the fourth, there were a ton of banelings waiting for him. Torn apart between the obligation to hunt down the Hatcheries and secure his own expansions, Rain failed at both: he lost his natural SCVs to a Baneling attack and shortly after NesTea was at five bases with the sixth and seventh being morphed. Realizing that he has no chance to win the game, Rain typed out.
| 7/10 |
Nothing special but a nice game nonetheless. If Rain hadn’t lost tons of economy at NesTea’s first counter, he would’ve been in a much better position.
Game 4 @ Blistering Sands. NesTea once again opened with 14-Hatch while Rain went for a 4-Rax pressure. The game ended just as quickly as the one on Steppes – Rain pushed with Marines, NesTea lost because he had less tech than a third-world elementary school. You just cannot stop aggression like this with slow Lings, no Banes or no second Spine Crawler!
| 3/10 |
I have watched “Indiana Zerg and the Raiders of the Lost Baneling Nest” a million times in the GSL. It baffles me every time.
Game 5 @ Xel’Naga Cavers. Another pressure build came out from Rain but this time, instead of all-ining, the Terran patiently initiated a Bunker push which eventually killed NesTea’s expo. Down to just one base, the Zerg had some tough decisions to make. Holding to his dear life, NesTea started massing up Zerglings and teching to Speed and at the end managed to clear up the Terran forces and finally put down an expansion of his own.
But Rain was not done. A wave after wave of constant aggression clashed at NesTea’s expo, dwindling his Zergling numbers down. Although the Zerg showed incredible endurance and patience, he had to surrender the series after Rain’s Siege tech kicked in and he deployed his Tanks behind the Marines.
| 8/10 |
Incredible mechanics from both players. Rain’s determination for an early kill and NesTea’s defense were just a pleasure to watch.
FruitDealer vs 
HongUnPrimeGame 1 @ Steppe of War. The champion of GSL 1 had to begin his series against HongUn on Steppes, a generally tough map for ZvP. HongUn opened with Forge first, Pylon-blocking Zerg’s ramp and throwing down a Cannon. He then transitioned into double proxy Stargate in an attempt to get an easy early win against the Zerg monster.
Unfortunately for him, FruitDealer spotted the Stargates and immediately got the necessary Hydra tech and from that point on all Void Rays could do was delay Fruit’s natural for couple of minutes. Weirdly enough, instead of warping a Nexus of his own and switching to Robo tech, HongUn decided to do a Warpgate all-in push that just got demolished by the supreme Hydra count. 1-0 for the Season 1 champion.
| 5/10 |
Mediocre game, to be honest. FruitDealer basically won without doing anything, HongUn just delivered the game on a silver plate.
Game 2 @ Scrap Station. Tides did turn on Scrap Station with the Zerg going for a 1-Base play and HongUn throwing down a fast Nexus. And here FruitDealer did the most irrational thing he could possibly do. Instead of going Roach pressure or throwing down an expo of his own, the GSL 1 champion decided it’s a good idea to do a… Baneling Bust. He marched around 15 Banelings through the Forge and killed the Cannon but he had no valid follow-up as the Zealots of HongUn took care of the Zerglings that broke through.
FruitDealer stubbornness, however, knew no ends and once again he chose aggression before droning. Even though he had no chance in hell to break the solid wall of HongUn, he continued pumping out useless Speedlings. This gave the Protoss a chance to macro up a solid Gateway army that could not be stopped with the current army of FruitDealer.
| 5/10 |
Just like the first game, one of the players got a free win without sweating too much. Really, really bad decision making by FruitDealer.
Game 3 @ Shakuras Plateau. Despite the risk of backdoor rushes, HongUn went for the Forge expand, hoping that his opponent will too go for a macro opening. That, however, was not the case. FruitDealer did what he should’ve done on Scrap – heavy Roach pressure off of one base. The Zerg pummeled through the back rocks and soon his Roaches and Lings were all over HongUn, who couldn’t cannon up his ramp in time.
| 8/10 |
Hilarious game and daring all-in by FruitDealer. Among the other standard and boring stuff we saw earlier, this one game really shines!
Game 5 @ Blistering Sands. When you think about the games so far in the Ro8 you can see they are an exemplary ones of how NOT to play! The final game in this series was also of that kind. Knowing that Korean Zergs are a bit lazy on the Lair tech, the Protoss threw in astonishingly quick Dark Shrine and just marched three DTs to Fruit’s base. The Zerg, who hadn’t even started the Lair yet, had to type GG and drop out of the tournament.
| 7/10 |
I rate this game so high both because we do not see DTs that often and because it was a teaching stick for the Zerg – DO get the goddamn Lair, staying at Tier 1 is never cute!
And thus I leave you waiting for Day 2 and will bid you farewell with the next five words: I hope tomorrow is better!
