This image is from TeamLiquid.net and is their property. I claim no credit.

It's been awhile since I sat my butt down to actually write a report. I've been very busy doing my audio commentaries and posting them on YouTube, not to mention other side projects I've been working on for RTSProfessional.com and hosting my own show on www.goodgameTV.com which airs April 1st. (No, it's not a joke.)
I'll cut to the chase since most of you don't care about my life. =p TeamLiquid.net is hosting a tournament. The idea is to join their team and try to become one of the top 48 players on the team through ICCUP. Those top 48 move on to play in the actual tournament and whoever comes out on top, wins $5000.

I'm not really aspiring to win $5000 but I've been playing StarCraft for way too much of my life and this seems like a chance to see how far I've come these past 10 years. This report, with others to follow, will chronicle my journey of trying to reach the top 48. My objective in writing these is to show my triumphs and defeats, not to get rated a high score here on BR.com. Hope you all enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Edit - I will be reporting the 4 games I played on March 30th, so wait till I have them up before rating.

Game 1

Map: Python

Players

TSL-Psyonic – Orange Protoss

TSL-Neo7 – Red Protoss

I started off in the 6 o'clock position on Python while Neo was placed at the 9 o'clock. My goal was to go for early Dragoons but I also didn't want to get caught by any kind of cheese as is common on lower level ICCUP play. The safest thing to do is build close and scout often.

My Probe scouted counter-clock wise as I continued to fortify my economy. I opted for a second Pylon before deciding to place down an Assimilator or a Gateway because this would give me more time to scout for Neo's base and see what he was up to. I passed his Probe near the 12 o'clock but I didn't find him there.

I was close to stock piling minerals and I decided I would be fine to build an Assimilator and start teching to Dragoons. I was still wary as to what Neo was up to and started a Zealot just before a red Probe arrived at my base. I was unable to climb Neo's ramp as he had expertly placed a Probe to block my scout. I left my Probe to sit outside the ramp so I could focus on building up my base. He got a good look at my 1 Gate tech before my Zealot killed his Probe.

I just placed my Cyber. Core when I noticed that my scout suddenly disappeared. I realized I was going to be on the receiving end of a 2 Gateway Zealot rush and I quickly started my second Zealot while using the first and a Probe to hold the ramp. Seconds after I secured my troops, Neo arrived. His Probe tried to use it's range on my Zealot but my Probe was able to successfully counter-attack. Neo was forced to commit his Zealot and a short battle ensued on the ramp, I retreated my hurt Zealot just my second one arrived to force Neo back down the ramp.

I took the brief lull to take my Probe and move him down the ramp and around Neo's, now 3, Zealots to scout around the map for any proxy cheese and for expansions. I realized that I needed troops in order to compete with the brute force tactics Neo was employing and placed another Gateway while building another Zealot. I couldn't afford to lose my ramp and a Dragoon would take too long to build.

Neo attacked several times before I was forced to pull back from my ramp. 3 red Zealots stormed into my base with the intent to kill my Probes. I grouped up 5 Probes to lead a counter-attack with my Zealots.

Neo didn't want to fight within the confined portion of my base and tried to flee north but 1 of his Zealots got trapped between a Pylon and my newest Zealot and bit the dust. A second red Zealot joined the first as he was surrounded and picked off by my vengeful Probes. Neo was down to just 1 Zealot against 3 and he made good use of him, picking off 2 Probes before I could finally kill him with help from a Dragoon.

I was not idle during the battle and I kept up on my Pylon count and my Dragoon range was about half-way finished as another Dragoon warped into play. The Probe I managed to sneak out before the ramp battles found himself inside of Neo's base, hiding in a corner. I didn't know if Neo was expanding or teching but I wanted to see if it was the former before committing the Probe to scout for the latter. I also started a Forge in case Dark Templar came into play while building a Pylon in my Natural. If Neo did not expand yet, then I needed to take the lead.

I moved out with 4 Zealots and 2 Dragoons and stumbled across 2 idle enemy Zealots. I tried to surround them and prevent them from fleeing but I was unsuccessful as they managed to make it safely back up Neo's ramp under the cover of Dragoon fire. Realizing that Neo hadn't expanded I placed my own Nexus and a Cannon near my ramp.

Neo chased my army out of his Natural and I reluctantly agreed. I had my Gateways rallied to my Dragoons and I decided to camp outside the entrance to Neo's territory.

My Probe inside Neo's base had his cover blown when a random Probe happened to wander by. I scouted out and saw that a Templar Archives had finished and I moved my Probe to scout the enemy Gateway count. I saw 3 Gateways and a blurry thing trying to catch my Probe. I quickly ran down the ramp to scout for a Nexus, found none, and ran back up. I eventually had to leave my Probe idle as I knew I was going to be in big trouble soon.

I placed another Cannon in my Natural and a Robotics Facility as soon as I saw the Archives. I also retreated my army back towards my ramp to prevent DT's from climbing it. My expansion was online and running so I was content for now to mass, get Observers, and tech to Archives myself. I started +1 Weapon since I was getting high on vespene gas.

Neo tried breaking into by Natural with a small force of Dragoons but after taking 2 losses, he quickly retreated. He was a sneaky bastard though and managed to get a DT into my mineral line at my expansion. He scored 5 kills before he accidentally wandered into my Cannon.

I placed a 3rd Cannon to prevent the same thing from happening and another Cannon in my main mineral line in case Neo decided to drop me anytime later. I had Observers out now and scouted the middle of the map. I saw Neo's army but I decided to macro up more before moving out. I started my 4th and 5th Gateway to help me accomplish my desires.

After a few Observers were created I pushed out and easily forced Neo to pull back. I just started building a Shuttle with the idea of taking the top right island when a red Shuttle entered my base and dropped off two DT's. My Probes on Gas were quickly disposed but a few Speedlots and an Observer quickly reinforced my Cannon and the DT's were assassinated.

I debated on placing another Cannon and decided not to as I continued massing my own army of DT's and HT's with Psi Storm. A scouting Probe saw Neo trying to expand to the top left and one DT was more then enough to force Neo to cancel the building.

I soon regretted not placing another Cannon as Neo dropped me twice more with DT's but luckily for me, his control wasn't very good and he kept losing them to the 1 Cannon I had. I decided to place a 2nd Cannon for the hell of it. He was annoying me. My top right Expansion came online and I started making some Cannons to protect it.

Having tired of Neo dropping me every 2 seconds, I decided to return the favor. 2 Shuttles loaded with HT and DT approached from the north, 1 Shuttle dropped 2 DT since there were only a few Probes mining and continued on. Both Shuttles arrived at the Main base and my HT found Probes a plenty to storm. Neo conceded the game after I successfully shut down his Economy.

Post Game Thoughts

Early game was a rush for me since it's been awhile since I had someone do a double Gate rush on me but I soon grew bored after I took my Natural. Neo just played very defensively after I chased his army away and, upon reviewing the replay, he never had a good economy all game. One thing I think that really could have spelled certain doom for me was if Neo had kept up a good Econ, forgo the fast DT, and used those 4 Gateways to just mass troops and overrun me. I was vulnerable after my Expansion came online and a mass army would have kicked my butt.

Link to Replay

Game 2

Map: Blue Storm

Players

TSL-Psyonic – Teal Protoss

Zerllos – Yellow Zerg

To tell the honest truth. I did a /stats on this guy and saw he had a losing record so I joined his game. I don't want to say I'm a cheap bastard but in order for me to get my way into the top 48 it's not going to be “Hey Nony! 1V1? How about you Artosis? You want some?” I have to pick my battles carefully and then play my best. Sometimes people with a bad record are really good players off to a bad start. Gotta be careful.

I started in the top right hand corner and Zerllos was in the bottom left. I decided beforehand I would do a Bisu FE build and depending on what Zerllos would do, go either HT or Corsairs. I scouted his base and saw a 9 pool and knew I would need to get Cannons up quickly to deal with any Zergling harassment.

My Probe played ring around the rosey with a Drone in Zerllos natural for a long time. I was just waiting for Zerglings to show up while I placed a Cannon.

I waited and waited and still saw no Zerglings from Zerllos or an attempt to build in his Natural. I lost the Probe because I was microing my base but I figured he either A) Built a 2nd Hatch in his main or B) Is doing some kind of weird 1 Hatch tech.

I opted to not build a 2nd Cannon right away and placed a Nexus down first before saving the money for the 2nd Cannon. I would of liked to have built a Gateway but my 1st Cannon didn't cover my Nexus that well. I still really wanted to know what Zerllos was up to and sent out another Probe right after building a Gateway. A lot of Zerg on Blue Storm like to block the opening and the ramp to prevent a Protoss from knowing what a Zerg is doing but I guess Zerllos either had no Zerglings or they weren't there yet to block me.

My Probe arrived to find a morphing Lair just as a Zergling tested my defenses. I thought that more were coming so I pulled some Probes off mining to help plug holes. When no attack was forthcoming, I sent them to start mining at my Natural.

Just as my Probes started mining, a wave of Zerglings rushed the mineral line trying to kill a Probe but due to good Cannon placement and a Zealot warping in just in time, I was able to repel the attack with no losses. I was deeply concerned by the 2 Hatch no expansion build Zerllos was employing and since I didn't see a Hydra den I was going to start expecting Mutalisks. I started my 2nd Gas and placed a Cyer. Core while slowly pumping Zealots from 1 Gateway.

I suddenly realized that my Probe reported no Sunkens or any new Zerglings being made. I sent out 3 Zealots to see what damage I could do, all under the watchful eye of an Overlord but I was gambling that he didn't see my troops move out.

I arrived to spot a Spire and a lot of eggs. I hoped they were Mutas because that means I would have time to take down this Sunken that suddenly appeared and then harass Drones. Unfortunately and fortunately, they were Zerglings. I lost my Zealots but that means I made Zerllos use precious food and larva to make Zerglings instead of Mutalisks. I already had Cannons warping in at my Natural and my Main. My Stargate was up as well and I queued up a Corsair.

I had little time to prepare myself so I decided that with my first Corsair I would harass the nearby Overlord on my cliff and try to stall his food while teching to High and Dark Templar. I had +1 weapon almost complete as well. Suddenly a swarm of Mutas came out to defend the Overlord I was busy trying to kill. I figured with Cannons and Corsairs, I would be ok.

We had a few skirmishes near my Expansion but nothing I couldn't handle. I ended up nabbing the Overlord and chasing his Mutalisks around for awhile. I felt pretty confident, I was placing more Gateways and my small army of +1 Speedlots were ready to move out as soon as I could get some HT to back them up. I also had Storm researching when suddenly the poo hit the fan.

My Corsairs were out harassing Zerllos Overlords in his base and I guess Zerllos didn't like that. He hit me with a decent size force of Muta//Lings but due to good Cannon placement and Zealot//Corsair reinforcements, I came out on top. Zerllos had no food to replace his army. It was time to counter-attack. A few small waves of Zealots/DT/HT and Corsairs finished him off and he was forced to leave the game.

Post Game Thoughts

Interesting strategy by Zerllos but I think he should try playing the normal 3 Hatch expand when he sees a Protoss expanding. I was never really worried about losing the game after the first 2 Scouts reported no Zerg expansion. It was all about holding off any attack until I could mass.

Link to Replay

Game 3

Map: Blue Storm

Players

TSL-Psyonic – Peach Protoss

TSL-Yoz – Green Zerg

I did a /stats to see that Yoz was currently 0-0-0 so he was therefore a wildcard. The game commenced, but I remained wary as I sent my Probes to mine the nearby minerals. I have heard his name around TL.net as a decent player so I would have to be quick with my micro in this PvZ matchup.

Blue Storm is currently a Zerg favored map but Protoss can still gain an edge if the Zerg is at all sloppy. Then again, one wrong move and you're knee deep in trouble. Sadly, I made the first mistake of thinking Yoz was going a quick 9 pool to scare me into making 2 Cannons before Nexus. Too late did I realize the folly of not building a 2nd Cannon sooner then I did and I watched in horror as 6 Zerglings took down my 1st Cannon, despite reinforcing with 4 Probes.

I was way behind now. I quickly placed down 2 Gateways to get some Zealots out. I was successful in expelling the Zerglings but I knew if Yoz was smart, he'd have his Natural and his Mineral only going full bore. I scouted with a Probe as soon as the Zerglings left my base and my fears were confirmed. Yoz had 3 bases with a Hydra Den still morphing in. I was going to be subjected to an all in Hydra break in the next few minutes unless I could find a way to slow him down. I sent out 3 Zealots to harass his Mineral only but I was a few seconds too late. The eggs began bursting out Hydras before I could kill any Drones and I was on the retreat.

The name of the game now was go Sair//HT//DT and try to win out that way since I was effectively stuck in my base till +1 Weapon and Leg Speed finished for my Zealots. I got a DT out and around Yoz's Hydralisks and snagged 8 Drones before he realized what happened.

Now that I knew he had about 8 Hatcheries I knew I needed to attack before he started massing like crazy. I sent out the few Corsairs I had to start harassing while trying to pressure his Mineral only. I stormed a lot of Hydras but Yoz's macro was just going insane by then and I couldn't keep up. He eventually ran me over and I complimented him on his early game Zergling harassment.

Post Game Thoughts

Upon reviewing the Replay, if I hadn't of had the Zergling setback I think I could have done a fair job against him. He constantly kept choking himself on supply and let his resources pile up. I had a resource pileup in the beginning because I was pretty much banging my head on my desk at my stupidity for not placing a 2nd Cannon. LESSON LEARNED!

Game 4

This game was the best game I played and I had to call it quits after this happened. I just randomly asked my opponent where he was from and he said “Peru.” Since I'm a Spanish speaker myself, I started up a conversation with him and we got to talking in Spanish. Suddenly, he says the equivilant of the “F” word and disconnects. I was stumped and I was wondering if he left because of a personal problem or if he had messed up my build. I secretly hoped he did because I had messed up my build during our chatting.

Lo and behold. My Probe finds a Supply Depot expertly blocking his Refinery. It would require 5 or 6 SCVs to mine it effectively instead of 3. GG Mr. Luzz. GG.

Thanks for reading.

-Psyonic