Okay first come introductions, I am iCCup.Raelcun I am currently a trial Tournament admin I hope to pass my trial and become a full admin assuming that I succeed in this I will be having a semi regular tournament blog mostly about the final matches of tournaments I run. I will mostly report on what I deem to be good matches, or generally fun to watch matches. This means I wont release a blog on every tournament because honestly some matches aren't really worth the effort. That being said here is the first match and before I get into the reports I will provide replay links for people who do not wish to know what happens ahead of time.


[url=http://www.4shared.com/file/40928332/8aae2a7e/C_Tournament_ICC_Game_1.html]Game 1[/url]
[url=http://www.4shared.com/file/40928339/1d7cf3f6/C_Tournament_ICC_Game_2.html]Game 2[/url]
[url=http://www.4shared.com/file/40928851/49a833a3/C_Tournament_ICC_Game_3.html]Game 3[/url]

On to the match Reports

Game 1
Map: Python
Players: H_Paul_WII(Protoss 3 oclock) vs NanJokeR(Terran 7 oclock)

This game started and it soon became apparent Paul was up to something as he stopped making probes at 6 psi and made a pylon followed by a 7psi gateway


This fast gateway meant for an interesting game

While this was happening Joker was going for a standard vs P build which meant he would soon be facing zealots without a whole lot to defend with. Paul scouted the other bases finding no one until right before his first zealot came out and the assault started. Right as the zealot started on it's way towards Joker his scouting scv walked right by it on the way to Joker's base so he had at least a little bit of warning of what was to come. But with short notice on the proxy gateway Joker had to scramble to manage a defense.


Paul managed to kill the scv building the factory twice and force Joker to switch them off once more meaning for even slower defense.

As Joker scrambled to fight off the onslaught of zealots using marines and scvs and trying to get his factory done Paul was steadily teching up towards dts but Joker had bigger problems on his hands for now. Joker did a good job of fighting off the zealots using some very nice micro to beat them back and get his factory up eventually settling in trying to recover.


Joker almost completely surrounds the zealot for an easy kill

But Paul was not going to let Joker recover while he kept up the zealot harassment he sacrificed some control for teching up to dts and when they were ready they managed to slip past a just out of place turret to remove the building expansion and delay the badly needed econoby boost from Joker. This proved to be his undoing as Paul was now free to boost his gateway count to 5 after getting his own expansion running and taking Joker down at his own leisure. Joker was just unable to match the unit production capability of Joker after getting his expansion delayed even further by the dark templars and though he fought valiantly with some very nice patches of unit control the unit difference overwhelmed him.




Joker put up a valiant fight but he just couldn't come back after having his economy delayed constantly by Paul's onslaught and he is forced to concede the first game of the match.

H_Paul_WII vs NanJokeR (1-0)

Game 2
Map: Tau Cross
Players: H_Paul_WII(Protoss 5 oclock) vs NanJokeR(Terran 1 oclock)

This game started out looking much more normal with Paul going for a much more standard opening build getting a gateway gas then a cyber core while Joker blocked his choke with marines and a half finished supply depot early apparently wary of more zealots. Joker had reason to be suspicious but he didn't anticipate what Paul had in mind.


Late proxy gates out of the normal unit path took Joker by surprise

Just as Joker finished his mine upgrade and had a tank and a vulture he decided he would try to clear his natural of the zealots hanging around seeing no trickery from Paul so far. The zealots started to run away and there was no sign of anything being off until 3 dragoons came in from different directions attacking his small attack force. While the Dragoons took potshots at the marines abusing the range difference Joker tried to lay some mines to cover his retreat but Paul microd very well to make almost each mine explode in a more costly manner to Joker than himself.


Some good control by Paul renders the mines more harmful than good

Soon Joker was pressed back to his own natural with only one barracks and a factory to defend himself against 3 gateways in dire straights he tries the scv line defense but Paul uses Jokers mine against him one more time in devastating fashion leaving far too few scvs against increasingly more Dragoons making Joker give up to defeat for the game and the match.


Joker's mine blows up his own units once again after some nice control from Paul.

The match ends in a rather quick fashion 2-0 in the Finals BO3 matchup with Paul flexing his quick win strategies. The first game was a good display of control from both players while the second was Paul just flexing his unit production ability. Not the best match I've ever watched but it certainly was fun.

That about concludes my first Tournament Blog this was a bit of a short match but think of it as a teaser intro. Feel free to leave feedback on what you thought and look forward to another one possibly in a few days.

-Rael