The new season of Pro League is off with a bang. With the the new season come a hot batch of fresh, new maps. The map pool this season consists of 6 maps, with Destination making a return unscathed, Medusa getting the Neo treatment, and 4 others.
*Click Map Pictures to enlarge*
First up, Medusa got herself a makeover
There are only a few changes, but they may have a significant impact on the balance of the map. Most notably, the difficult time Terran have on this map was addressed by making the middle section terrain able to be built on. Now while this does allow Terran to make turrets, it also has, so far, allows for proxy gates and, in a recent game, proxy hatcheries. In finer spots, a mineral patch was moved at the 11 o'clock position, and the gas geyser was moved at the 7 o'clock spot. The 7 o'clock position has had a history of making Protoss units buggy, so hopefully these changes will help fix that.
Next, there is Battle Royal
A two player map. There are a large number of map artifacts to deal with. Temples, assimilators, radar buildings, and lakes abound. It's like a Xel'naga junk yard. With such close starting positions, early harassment is almost guaranteed from one player or the other in the early game, but with little room to maneuver in the main figure-eight area, mid to late game pushes will most likely be difficult. Also, securing a third expansion is tedious, requiring either a drop or destroying your temple, which therefore opens another entrance for enemy access to your main. This map is sure to provide some awesome games.
Third up is God's Garden
Natural expansions will be no problem on this map. With the back door expansion easily taken, and the front side expansion being a typical expo, securing 3 bases is easy sauce in this garden of God himself (in all actuality, it's not a very impressive garden. Who grows flowers in 2D?). However, holding these expansions isn't as easy as taking them. With open ridges surrounding both expansions, they are very susceptible to tank drops, carriers, and guardian play. Having map control and fending off long range harassment will be key to success on this map.
Fourth is the intimidating Heartbreak Ridge
This awesome map looks like some futuristic form of the Sharingan. With a narrow entrance to the main, similar to Tau Cross, temporary wall-ins by Terran are easily constructed. Also there is a Temple and a mineral patch blocking a back door entrance to the natural expansion, which just begs speedlings to run in and ruin everyone's day (burrow trick anyone?). The map seems to be centered around controlling the center expansion which gives you access to two mineral lines and two gas geysers, but with FOUR entrances to the expo, actual attempts at expanding here are unlikely. There are also, obviously, a swaggering number of ridges, which probably have tanks foaming at the grills. Pushing over ridge after ridge is sure to be slow, tedious, HEARTBREAKING work.
Lastly, but certainly not least, is Outsider
At first glance it looks like an island map, but rest assured that there are ramps. It's difficult to name the types of expansions available to you. Early on, there is a natural expansion and two min only expansions available. However, later in the game, what was a min only can turn into a regular expansion, or a double gas expo, which would be sweet for Zerg. There better not be beans in the mineral lines, or the Zerg will have more gas than they can deal with. Drop play will be key to managing your opponents number of expansions.
Obviously, these are merely first glance speculations. It will be interesting to see what kind of plays the progamers can conjure up to provide some great games on these interesting maps.
Links
Team Liquid - Shows the new maps and what they bring
