"Let's all take a moment to bask in the scintillant glow of our acquired mediocrity."
-~CattleBruiser~
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| ~Good~GAME~MAN!! vs. [z-zone]byun | | | Author: | | | IP: | 24.65.24XXXX | | Date: | 12/14/99 08:12 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | Famous Reporter(1), Starcraft(1), Problem: Broken Images(1) | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 3, Max: 9, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for Fractal_Wave: 8.2537 |    |
Game one begins with the higher-seeded ~GOOD~GAME~MAN!! selecting Proving Grounds as the map. After some strange conversations in Korean in the game lobby (I think they were debating races?), the game begins with both switching to Zerg at the last second.
 As the game begins, GGman spawns as blood-Red Zerg in the Bottom-Right starting spot. Byun is White Zerg in the Top-Right starting spot. The positions scream zergling rush at the top of their lungs.
GGman sends his overlord around the map Counter-Clockwise. The right direction. Byun also moves his overlord out counter-clockwise. Alas, that's the wrong way for him. GGman will enjoy the benefits of early scouting against a super-early zergling rush.
The build orders used by the Korean Zerg masters vary dramatically.
~GOOD~GAME~MAN!! builds an Overlord on 8, a Spawning Pool on 9, a second Hatchery, then six quick zerglings, and finally an extractor. GGman is shooting for some sort of tech. Mutalisks would be the obvious choice in a zerg vs. zerg battle.
z-zone]byun builds a spawning pool on 8, an overlord, 6 zerglings ASAP, another hatchery, and then a 3rd hatchery. Obviously, Byun has decided to win or lose this game on the power and numbers of his zerglings.
Byun's first six zerglings go on a mission to wreak some havoc in GGman's base. Lucky for the Man in Red, his scouting overlord sees them coming just as they leave Byun's base, and six zerglings are quickly hatched in GGman's base.
Byun re-directs his overlord to GGman's base, adds two more zerglings to his 'army', and charges.
8 White Zerglings face off against 6 Red, with a bunch more red 'lings about to hatch, and with drone support, in the first blood of the game! ~Good~Game~Man!!'s 'lings reduce Byun's to pools of red, red blood to match the color of his drones.
Next, GGman build an Evolution Chamber, obviously moving towards the attack or armour upgrade for his zerglings. Meanwhile, both competitors are assembling large and scary numbers of 'lings. Byun's are moving to the bridge seperating GGman's base and the island between them.
 As GGman's Evo chamber finishes, Byun moves out 20-some zerglings. After a danse macabre that involves each player trying to isolate groups of their opponents zerglings to surround and kill, ~Good~Game~Man!! emerges victorious, with the bulk of Byun's 'lings retreating across the bridge to the island between them.
The most amusing part of this game would have to be the fact that both players have Overlords over each other's bases, and over the nearest expansion nodes. No move is going unnoticed. Almost as funny is the lack of economic power displayed by both zerg. GGman has 9 drones powering his twin hatcheries, and Byun has 10 powering his three hatches.
...you can almost feel the tension in the air. Both sides are massing zerglings. Byun's White forces outnumber GGman's Red troops. However, GGman's have hit the magic number, 1/0. Suddenly the mini-map flashes in to action. Red dots stream out of GGman's base, moving out to run the perimiter of the map to hit Byun's base from the flank. But, Byun has an overlord over the 6:00 expansion, which sees GGman's lings fly around the bend. Byun moves out his zerglings to attack GGman's less-defended base. Utter war breaks out. In a truely GODLY display of timing, GGman moves his remaining zerglings out towards Byuns, and meets him right at the bridge, where his 1/0 upgrade can do the most good. Held back by the choke point at the bridge, [z-zone]Byun's> Zergling's kill and kill and kill. But can they beat ~GOOD~GAME~MAN!!'s zergling clock of doom?
As the blood-red lings speed around the map like...like some great speedy thing, Byun's lings are being decimated by the 1/0 monsters at the choke. Finally, seven battered white zerglings make it through and blast for GGman's base at top speed. Only to be met by 6 1/0 red avengers who render them down to their componenet atoms in nothing flat.
As 25-some of GGmans's zerglings pour over the ramp in to Byun's base, a desperate last stand is made. Claw meets carapace, blood covers the ground, but as the last of the White dies, four red zerglings are left, with more charging up from the south. With his empire in tatters, [z-zone]byun concedes with a 'gg'
Lessons / Comments
Disclaimer!! All these peopel are far better than I. I could be dead wrong with any or all of these assumptions. If, perchance, you disagree with my synopsis of the situation, feel free to contact me at Swynwyr@hotmail.com, and I will promptly ignore you.
#1.) Tactically speaking, both early build orders were almost airtight. I think if Byun was going to sacrafice early economy for early zerglings, he should have built his spawning pool with his 6th or 7th drone. At this high level either you rush or you power...if you sit on the fence, you'll be meat. The net result of Byun's build was that he lost economy with out doing any damage to GGman's.
Collary to #1.) IF, perchance, GGman had sent his overlord Clockwise instead of counter-clock wise, would he have built those 6 early zerglings to counter Byun's? It is possible that Byun could have waltzed in and slaughterd his drones six ways from sunday, winning the match...
But, we'll never know.
#2.) I was shocked at the lack of power displayed by these two...Only 19 drones in the whole game. Usually, I have over 19 drones per base! Although this 'lapse' was certainly forgiveable knowing the intensity of the Zergling battles, I cannot help but speculate whether an extra drone or two could have pushed the game in Byun's favour. I don't know the math, but I am unsure whether 3-hatch zerglings can be build sucessfully from only 10 drones.
#3.) Hold chokes with superior-quality troops. GGman's 1/0 zerglings at the bridge saved his bum. If Byun's lings had made it across so they could envelop GGman's, I think Byun would have won.
Collary to #3.) Zerglings were meant to SURROUND stuff. Nothing is more gratifying to a zergie that seeing a poor zealot with 9 zerglings around him. The principle applies even more to Zergling -on- Zergling battles.
#4.) MAAD props to [B_Blade]Dasomi for watching the game with me & translating from Korean when nessecary. Dasomi = the man
#5.) Hone = THE MAN
#6.) If you liked this, go visit www.battlereports.com and search for Fractal (shameless plug!:)
#7.) Making huge, gratuitous pictures of zerglings in photoshop is lots of fun.
#8.) Back to a more focused note, 1/0 was an absolutely KEY upgrade for GGman. In case you didn't know:
0/0 zerglings vs. 0/0 zerglings: will take 7 hits exatcly to kill (35 / 5) = 7
1/0 zerglings vs. 0/0 zerglings: will take 6!! hits to kill (35 /6 ) = 6.1 or so
This is a enourmous advantage. I cannnot stress this enough. This, more than anything else he did, is why GGman won the game.
oh, did i mention? Elapsed time, 9 mintues, 3 seconds.
Hope you liked it.
All the best,
Fractal_Wave
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