First up was technically supposed to be Hwasin against Jaedong, but I guess Group A and Group B got switched around so free and Much played the first Round of 8 match for the MSL. So since I can't really do much of a preview on a game that's already been played I'll just briefly skim over what happened in the matches. If you haven't watched them yourself and want to the links are here Game 1, Game 2, Game 3, Game 4, Game 5. Without anymore stalling here are the results for the Arena MSL 2008: Group B.

Set 1 @ Athena

The first game took place on Athena and all I can say is that free basically took out Much in a 1 shot kill with just plain great micro. free spawned at the 2 o'clock position while Much spawned at the 9 o'clock position.

The start of the game was pretty much the same for both players opening with a 1 Gate Dragoon build but Much took the early lead as he denied free's scout while he himself had his in free's base for quite a while. Once the scout left his base, free built his Robotics Bay and went for a Observatory first and then a Robotics Support Bay.

Although Much had free in a contain, free easily broke out with the use of his Reaver which was produced quicker than Much's. Wtih now 2 Reavers compared to Much's 1 Reaver, free went for his attack on Much's upcoming natural.

Much won the battle due to his 2nd Reaver coming out just in time but his Dragoon army was much less than free's Dragoon army, while free only had 1 Reaver at the end of the battle. But because Much tried to take his natural alot earlier than free, he didn't have the resources to cop up as many Dragoons as free, so although he was 1 Reaver down free used brute force and pushed his way in and Much tapped out GG.

Set 2 @ Tiamat

To start off the 2nd game on Tiamat, Much pulled an unorthodox move and scouted with his 5th Probe but really it was to get a proxy Gateway near free's natural. However, Much's Probe was scouted right away, and STILL, Much built a Pylon and Gateways forcing free to pull off Probes from his mineral line to destroy the Gateways. Although Much's attempt at a proxy Gateway failed, Much was still in the lead due to his 0 loss of economy aside from a Pylon and 2 Gateways, while free took off virtually all his Probes to deny this proxy rush. To top it off, Much also denied the scout into his own base while he could easily see everything free was doing, so things were looking to be in Much's favour.

With a couple Dragoons and Zealots, Much went on the offensive and pushed his way through into free's main. Due to free's tech being slightly faster than Much's but not fast enough, free didn't have time to produce a Reaver, and once Much made it into free's base with 4 Dragoons and 3 Zealots to free's 3 Dragoons free quickly called GG and Set 2 was complete with a score of 1:1.

Set 3 @ Othello

Set 3 took place on Othello where in the end Much reigned a victory over free with his Reaver + Dragoon control. Much spawned at the 7 o'clock position while free spawned at the 1 o'clock. Both players opened with a 1 Gateway + Dragoon Range build and went for a Robotics along with an Observatory.

Since Much's Reaver+Shuttle was slightly faster, Much went on the offensive and attacked free with basically everything he had. With some good Reaver + Dragoon control he took the battle. Due to Much's push on free's natural free's economy was distrupted and Much took that opportunity to set up an expansion at his natural for himself.

After securing the expansion, Much continued to pressure free and with some amazing Reaver control (his one Reaver lasted as long as 3 of free's Reavers combined) he took out free's natural and pushing into free's main was just a simple combination of Zealots and Dragoons. free then called GG and the tables were turned from the first match with Much leading at 2-1 in a Best of 5 series.

Set 4 @ Colosseum

Report Coming Soon ...


So in the end Much took the match 3 to 1 against free and will face either Jaedong or Hwasin in the Round of 4 (to be determined on June 19, 2008).