Once again, I'm baccccckkkkk!!! Another best-out-of-three series being reported. I think this one is more enjoyable because Joker.no.$321 finally got a challenge. His name is 123fourfive aka. |[=]| (it's supposed to be a film, don't laugh). I got them together for a best-of-three series because I wanted to report a more exciting, fun game because I had some comments on how the game should have been better my other battlereports. So here it is, the feature presentation.:

Introduction

This game was played on the map "Ashrigo", a map covered in molen lava that winds around at the center. The player spots for this map are between 1 and 2 o'clock (upper right), 4 and 5 o'clock (bottom right), 7 and 8 o'clock bottom left) and 10 and 11 o'clock (upper left).
Joker.no.$321, the star of my 2 other battlereports, left his race at random and got the swarming Zerg race. He started out at the 10/11 o'clock position. My close friend, 123fourfive, also chose random, and got the aristocratic Protoss as he took the 4/5 o'clock player spot. This promised to be a see-saw, up-and-down, shoot-before-pass game since both players likes to go offensive.

The Beginning

Joker.no.$321 starts out with his normal Zerg build: Spawning Pool on the 8th drone and the early gas for the coming mutalisks and lurkers. Joker.no.$321 then proceeded to build a Creep Colony that later mutated into a Sunken Colony to make up for the absence of units he was going to need. Meanwhile, 123fourfive seemed to me that he was going to cheese Joker.no.$321 to death (from past experiences, I’m beginning to think if cheese strats are his faveorite) as he got ready to warp in zealots. He built his Pylon on the 8th probe and a Gateway following that on the 10th probe. Another Gateway followed that one as he started cranking the zealots non-stop.

7:09 P.M. Eastern

Joker.no.$321 now had two Sunken Colonies protecting his base. He had his main Hatchery making drones like mad as he started the mutation to Lair. Joker.no.$321 then started his Hydralisk Den to pump the hydras he so cherishes. And as the Lair bursted out, he seemed to be getting the overlord speed upgrade.... Hmmmm. Will we see another drop from the Joker???

123fourfive started to make his own tech buildings and tech units. While Joker.no.$321 was making his lurkers, 123fourfive made mass zealots and started his Citadel of Adun and Forge at the same time. He obviouly knows Joker.no.$321’s tactics of dropping fast, hard and stealthily so he seems to be countering the drop with the Photon Cannons and countering the hoarde of hydralisk with zealots as delaying action and the templars to weaken them up. I must tell you, 123fourfive is a man of counters. He likes to counter and he likes to expand. Joker.no.$321 should be keeping that in mind....

The First Battle

As 123fourfive was teching to High templar, he attacked. Just like that, out of the blue, unexpected attack. Joker.no.$321 on the other hand, has no intention of attacking and sits in his main building his Zerg force up. He gets his second Hatchery, a third sunken and finishes the Overlord speed upgrade. His forces at the choke meet 123fourfive’s force of 5 zealots and 2 probes. 123fourfive’s forces die quickly to the 5 or so hydralisks defending their cerebrate’s base with the help of 3 Sunken Colonies. Joker.no.$321 performed some dancing as well as some cowardliness as he danced the hydralisks away from the zealots and ran back to the supportive Sunken Colonies when things were looking bad for the hydralisks. To my amazement, Joker.no.$321 had a very small casualty count so far: 1 hydralisk. 123fourfive had lost all 5 zealots and 2 probes so it looked as if Joker.no.$321 was in control....

Midgame

123fourfive now had sufficient Photon Cannons to call his main safe as he resumed his zealot cranking and again attacks. The attack is foiled once again by the trusty hydralisks Joker.no.$321 owns. Presuming that 123fourfive is teching to his preferred templar (and guessing right), Joker.no.$321 drops a lone lurker to wreak some havoc on some of the buildings of 123fourfive. Joker.no.$321 guesses right as the lurker takes some damage, rears up and finds a nice place next to the Cybernetics Core to burrow. The Cybernetics Core slowly pokes into the shields of the Subterranean Spines. 123fourfive quickly realizes he cannot help the Cybernetics Core and starts another one. He also puts up some more Photon Cannons for future lurkers as well as to build a Robotics Facility and an Observatory to provide recon as well as protection versus the burrowed units.

While the lurker slowly destroys the Cybernetics Core, Joker.no.$321 decides to spawn some more hydralisks to post a frontal attack. Then he puts up a Hatchery as he thinks it is time for him to expand. Both players mains
were almost dry of minerals. As the Hatchery is half done, Joker.no.$321 burrows some of his hydralisks at the choke to protect it from any danger.

7:23 P.M.

Joker.no.$321 has two sneaky overlords hovering over the almost nude expansion 123fourfive had started. Joker.no.$321 waits until the pylon is almost finished and drops some 1/0/0 hydralisks on that sorry excuse for an expansion. But wait... 123fourfive didn’t put that expansion up unprepared. He reveals the dragoons he was hiding and whoops the hydralisk’s candy asses. After the hydralisks all bit the dust, he capitalized on Joker.no.$321’s mistake of leaving his overlords there. One of the overlords is dealt heavy damage as 123fourfive orders the dragoons off the battlefield as he gets his first taste of victory in this war.

7:25 P.M.

123fourfive tries again to get his natural up and running as he is a few mineral patches from emptiness in his main. While he gets the necessary Photon Cannons to defend the natural, he starts the Templar Archives, the building he was waiting for this whole game. It hits me like a bolt of lightning as I realize that the attacks made by the Protoss were only stalling methods until he could get the “home-run hitters out”. As the Archives finishes he promptly calls up from Aiur, two valiant High Templar. Then, to keep up with Joker.no.$321’s producing capabilities, he makes another Gateway. Meanwhile, Joker.no.$321 has his natural set up already and is starting the Spire to go for some mutalisks. While doing so, he makes more of those dangerous hydralisks.

7:27 P.M. Eastern

Joker.no.$321 has rounded up 6 mutalisks to harass poor 123fourfive. But 123fourfive isn’t so poor. He has many Photon Cannons to halt the attack Joker.no.$321 was planning out. I’m sure 123fourfive was looking foward to stuffing the mutalisks back into Joker.no.$321’s face =]. The archons helped the Photon Cannons in defeating the mutalisks as did a few dragoons and high templars. Joker.no.$321 seemed a little intimidated as he opened his eyes wide and backed slowly away from his 12”inch monitor, hehe.

7:29 P.M. Eastern

Again, 123fourfive goes on the offensive. He attacks with about 8 zealots and a dark templar. Once again, Joker.no.$321 holds it off with about 12 hydras, a lurker and a few zerglings. That’s the good news for him. The downside for Joker.no.$321 is that he is pushed farther and farther into defensive mode and has not even nearly gone on the offensive as much as 123fourfive so he must always watch for another attack since he is getting more and more vulnerable.

Halftime Report

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So far I think that 123fourfive is in control of this game right now. He has been constantly attacking. Although it may not be cost-effective, it gives him time and space to expand and keep him on Joker.no.$321 feet as said earlier. Joker.no.$321 isn’t doing all that bad however, but I think it’s time for him to expand like mad and attack more often as his race has more expanding capabilities and unit producing power than the Protoss do. I think both players don’t exactly know what each other are teching for though. This could prove better for Joker.no.$321 as his race is more flexible to change his strategy. Also, both players seem to be opting to tech and expand before units.

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The calm before the psi storm (The end)

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7:32 P.M. Eastern

For the third time to Joker.no.$321’s one, 123fourfive goes on the offensive. This time, it’s no delaying action to set up tech buildings. 123fourfive orders about 7 dragoons, 3 archons, 7 zealots and a dropship to Joker.no.$321’s main. The land patrol group meets a few hydralisks at the choke however. 18 to be exact. The hydralisks prove no match for the speed-zealots, range dragoons and just plain powerful archons as Joker.no.$321 watches his natural expansion burst into blood. With most of his hydralisks in hell and having only 2 mutalisks and 3 Sunken Colonies apparently isnt enough to stop the huge attack force 123fourfive has sent. 123fourfive regroups his units at the ramp, then charges in. As this attack is made, 123fourfive starts up another expansion just in case. Psi storm flies, drones die, archons blast, Sunken Colonies impale and when the dust clears..... guess who is the victor. None other than 123fourfive!!!

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Post-game follow up

Both players agreed it was a fine match and they both congratulated each other for a good game (especially 123fourfive. He wants to know someone who can consistently beat him or come close. Anyone who would like to be his bitch, call (***)***-****. If you would like to be interviewed live for this glamorous job, go to his house at **-** on ** avenue in ********, NY *****. If you would like to rob his house and burn his car, call me. I got all the keys to his house [j/k]. Now back to the battlereport). I think the reason that 123fourfive won is that he kept up with his unit production at all times and he attacked with them more often. As he always says “Defending doesn’t win you games”. If Joker.no.$321 had gotten maybe another Hatchery and attacked with his units, he probably would of won this one. He shouldn’t of kept morphing in mutalisks either as he couldn’t do anything with them since well placed Photon Cannons nullified their usefullness.

Lessons Learned
-Mutalisks are not good against Protoss, due to the Photon Cannons and Corsairs that the Protoss has.
-Archons are good against Zerg because it deals massive splash damage against the Zerg's mass units.
-DT's proved no use in this game for the Overlords could see them.
-Dragoons mixed in with zealots tend to do better than Hydralisks. I have no idea why. Someone tell me plz.
-Changing strategies is a tactic you must know to be sucessful in StarCraft. In this game, Joker.no.$321 did not change his mutalisk strat into something that would prove more useful against the Photon Cannons and therefore he paid for it. What do good against Photon Cannons for Zerg?
-Give me and Joker tips on expanding plz. We are a tag team and we need a bit of help on it.

Final Stats: