Source: HERE by JWD

SK Telecom T1 heads into their match against eSTRO on a two-match winstreak. Can Midas and company overcome their effeminate cheek tattoos to make it three in a row?


The streaking Midas hoped to set the tone for a T1 victory in the first set, but his younger Terran opponent Sea.Really had other ideas. While Midas fast expanded, Really forewent a second command center in favor of two proxy starports for a ballsy wraith rush. Scouting his enemy's building shortage, Midas intelligently began constructing an armory. Though Really's first two wraiths picked away at Midas's builder SCVs, the T1 Terran was able to complete his armory and ward off Really's wraiths without taking a crippling blow to his SCV count.


At this point, Midas was significantly ahead considering he had been mining at his natural several minutes before Really began construction of a second command center. Midas took his third and delayed Really's, putting him even further ahead. Sensing his lead, Midas set up an ambitious map-wide contain that stretched his forces too thin. Really capitalized on Midas's overextension by penetrating the contain at its weakest point and sieging directly outside of Midas's base.


At this point it became apparent that Midas had simply been outmaneuvered - despite having a significantly superior economy, Midas could do nothing to break the tank line at his front door and was forced to type out.

Hyuk (Z) vs maGma (Z)

With Midas unexpectedly dropping the first set and eSTRO's nigh invincible 2v2 squad on deck, the young Zerg Hyuk must have been feeling the pressure as he stepped into the box for his mirror against maGma. If Hyuk didn't bring his best game, T1 would face the embarrassment of a sweep at the hands of one of the Proleague's worst teams.

Hyuk fell slightly behind early on as his attempt at a zergling raid failed to a sunken and maGma's first batch of mutalisks. Having put down his second hatchery well after maGma, Hyuk would have to show some very impressive muta/scourge micro to taste victory. Both players grew their air forces and engaged in minor skirmishes, but maGma took his natural while Hyuk interestingly chose to send a string of drones out to his second gas rather than splurge on a third hatchery.


Gas is gold in ZvZ, but was it really worth pulling so many drones off of minerals? Time would tell. Sensing blood (and with a larger air force, why should he not), maGma committed to a decisive battle over Hyuk's natural.




What the ?? is going on? Hyuk knows


I don't know enough about ZvZ micromanagement to explain how Hyuk could possibly come out several mutalisks ahead of maGma when the blood and explosions finally cleared, so I'll chalk it up to Hyuk's inherent gosu-ness. In reality, it was probably that maGma's scourge arrived on the scene just a fraction of a second too late. In any case, Hyuk rode his new air superiority to a win for T1 in the second set.



I predicted great things from Hyuk, and this game is just the beginning. I'm hoping to see much more of this exciting young Zerg in the future. Hyuk showed some massive balls by pulling out a crucial win for T1 here. If you read the rest of this report you'll see why he was easily the night's MVP.



Canata (T) / AnomiA (Z) vs hyvaa (Z) / Tester (P)



hyvaa and Tester have been on an absolute tear this Proleague season, sporting a 5-1 record going into their game against T1's latest attempt at a decent 2v2 team. I'm going to propose that AnomiA and Canata are not the solution T1 has been looking for in the third set, after watching their lackluster performance last night.



AnomiA and Canata looked confused from the start, when their sad attempt at a bunker rush on hyvaa at bottom right yielded map control to Tester's zealots. While Canata struggled to defend his front door and AnomiA put up almost one million sunkens in his main, hyvaa and Tester were free to tech and macro as they wished. When hyvaa popped the game's first mutalisk, AnomiA discovered that sunkens don't attack air and lost all of his drones.




Unexpected flying doohickeys own AnomiA


Canata, trapped in his main for almost the entire duration of the game, failed to break Tester's cannon line and T1 typed out.




Canata's last stand


And thus, T1's 2v2 pain continues. Coach oov, stop the debacle that is your third set!

Best (P) vs UpMagiC (T)

T1 was on the brink of losing heading into the fourth set, but I had no fear: BeSt is a stud who has been playing especially well lately. He opened at top left on the macro-heavy map Andromeda, with UpMagic next door at top right.



While Up took his protected mineral-only, BeSt decided to take advantage of the close positions and go for a one-base dark templar drop. By the time BeSt's DTs made it into Up's main, the eSTRO Terran already had an academy up. However, BeSt was able to prevent Up's comsat from finishing and thereby stop mining at the Terran main.




Up's comsat goes boom


Though BeSt only scored a handful of SCV kills, his dark templar drop made UpMagic's main a warzone for a good several minutes. While Up defended against the DTs, BeSt was free to take both his protected and natural expansions and amass a sizeable ground force.



Furthermore, the dark templar drop left BeSt with a very early shuttle, which he used to keep UpMagic at bay with well-placed zealot bombs and take the island expansion at 12. With UpMagic licking his wounds and turtling in preparation for his first big push, BeSt could take two more expansions and tech to Arbiters. His macro in the game's middle stages put him in total control, but micro was on display as well: a few hero zealots dragged mines into Up's tanks to devastating effect.






When UpMagic finally rolled out of his corner of the map, BeSt was ready. He simultaneously recalled into Up's natural while using one perfectly-placed stasis to help defeat the Terran army at his front door.




BeSt attacks with recall...




...and defends with stasis



With his natural in flames and no army to speak of, UpMagic typed out and sent the match to an ace. Another impressive showing from BeSt, who is quietly becoming one of Starcraft's strongest Protosses.

Bisu (P) vs SangHo (P)

With Midas and BeSt having already appeared, there was little doubt T1 would call on none other than Kim Taek Yong for the match's final set on Colosseum. Kurogane performed the IRC equivalent of spontaneously combusting as Bisu stepped into the box, and I couldn't help but be excited as well. Bisu is one of my favorite players, but he's also exactly the man I'd want to represent my team in a crucial game. Simply put, though Bisu is no longer the absolutely dominant force he was last year, he is still fucking clutch.



eSTRO sent out the middling Protoss SangHo, probably because of Colosseum's advantages for the forces of Aiur. SangHo gave his best but the ace game belonged to Bisu from their first encounter, when Taek Yong used higher ground to defend his second expansion by routing out SangHo's attacking force. Bisu's counter caught SangHo totally out of position by entering his base through the small ramp above his natural. Despite having to navigate his forces up the tiny ramp, Bisu's dragoon micro was impeccable and he used the nearby mineral line to deny SangHo proper positioning.




Bisu raids SangHo's natural


After taking out SangHo's army and emptying his natural, Bisu continued to bring the pain by immediately following up with a DT drop at SangHo's second expansion. As Bisu's templar brought down the nexus, it became clear that SangHo would not be able to find a way back into the game.




eSTRO's chances go down with SangHo's nexus



Sure enough, after a short lull Bisu massed at SangHo's front door, eliminated nearly all of the defending high templar with a single well-placed storm, and rolled to victory. The ace game was an example of what Bisu brings to T1: confidence in high-pressure situations. The Revolutionist dominated SangHo and handed T1 a hard-fought match win - now at 4-3 and on a three-match winstreak, T1 is looking better and better each week.