MC spawns at the 1 o’clock position while Losira spawns at 5 o’clock. Both players start with very safe standard openings. MC goes for a Forge/Fast expand build, while Losira opens 14 gas 14 pool. Some zergs may prefer hatch first builds but this one is much safer against any type of cannon rush that is very likely to happen on this map. MC sends a scouting probe after his first pylon but as he could not find his opponent at the first place he checks (the 11 o’clock), he sends a second probe right after he puts up his forge at 12 food. Both scouting probes reach their destinations - the 7 and 5 o’clock positions - at the same time. The reason behind scouting with 2 probes is the urge to find and see what your opponent is doing. Losira could be doing a 6-7 pool rush which is soft-countered by a quick scout or he could be going for a hatch first build in which case MC would cannon rush, block the entrance and force a cancel on the hatch. But as MC sees his opponent going for a safe build he puts up his nexus and plays safe as well. In the mean time, he tries to hide his second probe on the bottom of the map in order to use it later but Losira had an overlord spotting it.
After talking about the openings lets skip forward a little to the intersting parts of the game. MC puts up a stargate at 5:25 right after his core finishes. The stargate after forge fe is a very safe and very powerful build and an early void ray can save the protoss from a roach/ling all-in and can also be used offensively to harass your opponent. In the mean time, Losira starts his lair very early at 6:05, which is an indication of a tech instead of long macro game. While MC starts to move his void ray towards Losira’s base to do a little damage and force some air defences but Losira starts his hydralisk den right after the lair finishes.
Most of the good zerg players would avoid putting hydra den that fast because making enough hydras to stop air harassment would cost the zerg a lot. Hydras are a bit inflexible when attacking the opponent because the distance between the bases on Tal'Darim Altar are too long and hydras are extremely slow off creep. But Losira had something else in his mind. We all understood his intention at 8:27 after he put up a nydus network!
The downside of the nydus play is that it is not easy to put a nydus in your opponent's base, especially when you have someone as good as MC, who would probably see it right away and kill before it pops. Back in the base of Losira, MC tries to do more damage by sending 2 more void rays but he could only kill an extractor and is then forced to fly back when he sees 4 hydras and a queen. Losira moves all his hydras and the queen into the nydus and unloads them via a worm in front of MC’s natural. MC doesn't see the nydus building because it is placed perfectly just outside of the vision range.
At the 10-minute mark, 11 hydras pop out of the nydus and start attacking MC’s core at the entrance of his base. MC had only 3 voids, 3 sentries and 3 phoenixes at that time and couldn’t do anything to save his core. As Losira took it down, he places 2 creep tumors with the queen and runs back into the nydus... just to unload them through another worm that he had placed inside MC's main during the attack! At 10:25, 13 hydras 27 zerglings and a queen cоme out and start attacking the main mineral line. MC pulled his probes back instantly but he doesn't have much to defend so he uses his probes alongside his army and with some miracle micro MC managed to win the battle inside his base and kill that nydus warm.
The battle was won but the overall victory was far from MC's grasp. He lost 25 probes just to push Losira out of his base. As Losira initiates a tactical retreat, his nydus infront of MC’s natural was still up and the creep has reached the first line of protoss buildings. Losira was 40 supply and 23 workers ahead, all he had to do was to make a killing blow. But MC still had a considerable defence at his entrance with 3 cannons, 2 zealots, 3 phoenixes, 4 sentries and an immortal. Losira slowly started to push from the front but just enough to kill the buildings at the entrance one by one, while continuing to rally more and more units through the nydus. The killing blow came from yet another nydus worm popping up at the bottom of MC’s main. Losira pulls all his units into the nydus and comes out from behind MC’s army. MC tried to put a last stand but it was impossible to defeat an army of 22 hydras without any AoE damage even with a perfect micro. Finally MC gg’ed and Losira was the one to play in the grand finals of MLG Columbus 2011.
Replay highlights:
Zerg opens 14 gas/14 pool
6:06 Lair starts, 7:30 hydra den goes down after lair is completed
8:26 the nydus network is put down
9:27 the first worm starts to build, 10:25 second worm goes up while the attack at the front is under way
13:49 a third worm is put into MC's main
Zerg opens 14 gas/14 pool
6:06 Lair starts, 7:30 hydra den goes down after lair is completed
8:26 the nydus network is put down
9:27 the first worm starts to build, 10:25 second worm goes up while the attack at the front is under way
13:49 a third worm is put into MC's main
In this game Losira showed us a very good way to combine mobility of the nydus network with the dps of slow moving hydras. I hope that you guys will enjoy watching this replay and follow our replay section for more interesting games to come.
Text by: Aydin "GodZeus" Sen
Download the replay from here