In partnership with the eSports Federation (eSF), IPL granted seed spots to the winner of each group qualifier. Spanning from group A to D, Korea's best players were pitted against each other in an effort to make an IPL6 spot for Wings of Liberty. Today's Group C finished with a stacked bracket of names: SoN, First, Supernova, MarineKing, finale, Lucky, and jjajki.
First v. Supernova
The lack of AOE cost First and his army as Supernova plowed through.
Ohana -- Game one
First went for the defensive macro start with an expansion into an immortal/colossus build. Supernova committed to a heavy bio ball off of his two bases with some tank backup. With no real area of effect units, First invested heavily in psionic storm. With such a skill build in the army, Supernova just split forces and powered through for game one.
First's lack of units to combat Supernova's vikings ended his tournament.
Daybreak -- Game two
Supernova went with hellion pressure into an expansion to take the first lead in economy. First broke through the disadvantage by turtling and probing up, but Supernova's transition to bio ball controlled the map. First added more colossus into his army composition, but a lack of stalkers meant that follow-up damage to psionic storm was limited. Supernova pushed out with a bio ball/viking with SCV army to finish off the set. First did not have enough units to take out the vikings of Supernova.
MarineKing v. Finale
A four-gate, proxy, attack on MarineKing ended game one in favor of Finale.
Ohana -- Game one
Finale went for a proxy pylon and a fast four warpgate beginning. MarineKing played defense, but an accidental supply depot opening allowed for the Finale attack to be effective. Finale constantly warped in units to destroy all of MarineKing's building blocks and marine/tank reinforcements.
Daybreak -- Game two
MarineKing went for his own cheese play with two proxy barracks at 11 supply. With the scout, Finale defended it perfectly and transitioned for a counter attack from another four-gate build. Unfortunately for MarineKing, he decided to expand instead of creating units. The stalker army of Finale finished off whatever defense MarineKing had and it was over.
Lucky v. jjakji
Lucky's split army attack was finished off in convincing fashion.
Ohana -- Game one
Lucky began the action with some zergling pressure, while jjakji teched and macro'd up. The aggression of Lucky forced jjakji to play defense and focus on drops for pressure that did no damage. Lucky's creep spread, despite jjajki's better macro, gave him the map control. Eventually, jjakji's pressure on the creep and better army composition gave him the advantage over Lucky. Despite the economic advantage early, Lucky was crushed in another meaningful element of the game -- army composition. Jjakji's multi-tasking and micro finished off game one in convincing fashion.
Cloud Kingdom -- Game two
Lucky quickly macro'd out to three bases, while jjakji prepared a hellion/banshee pressure run. Lucky's economic advantage also transitioned to upgrade advantage and he pushed out with banelings and speedlings that crushed most of jjakji's tanks and marines. Lucky kept the pressure with ultralisk transition and controlled the map until the 20-minute mark. Jjakji used constant drops to counter attack, with a commitment to bio ball/tanks. Lucky's advantage in tech and supply was evaporated with one great counter attack from jjakji's bio ball onto Lucky's entire ultralisk army. Eventually, Lucky went all-in with his ultralisks, but traded equally with jjakji's better micro and GG'd out.
Supernova v. SoN
Supernova's map control contained the brood lords of SoN.
Cloud Kingdom -- Game one
Both SoN and Supernova played off of two bases with tech for early aggression. Supernova harassed first with hellions, but SoN prepared a bigger counter attack of banshees and roaches. The bunker defense at Supernova's natural held off the big commitment attack. SoN transitioned to mutalings to grab the map control again, while Supernova continued to use drops to deny SoN's fourth expansion. Supernova's map control allowed him to cage SoN in his bases, despite his tech advantage. The brood lords from SoN were ineffective without the map control and Supernova's constant drops and eventual push out ended game one.
A bunker rush.
Entombed Valley -- Game two
This game was quick. A successful bunker rush by Supernova ended SoN's tournament. A mismanaged micro play by SoN prevented his all-in defense to attack the marines of Supernova and it was over after that.
jjakji v. Finale
The game-winning push after the expansion denied was timed perfectly.
Cloud Kingdom -- Game one
With jjakji's reputation of an aggression Terran against TvP matchups, the unorthodox should be expected. Jjakji went into a quick hellion/marauder pressure to scout and potentially end, but Finale held and expanded afterward. With the scout on the expansion, jjakji went for a marauder/hellion all-in that pushed into the natural base of Finale. A colossus finally popped out to hold the attack, and jjakji expanded to his second base. With the map control and better supply, jjakji went for the expansion deny and returned for the game-winning push.
Entombed Valley -- Game two
Jjakji went for a quick barrack and marine rush with an expansion. Finale scouted it too late and was denied his expansion due to jjakji's marines. Finale used a proxy pylon and four-gate to counter attack behind jjakji's army line. The attack was repelled, but Finale kept up the pressure with more reinforcements. The defense would not break and Finale was forced to end it.
Grand final -- jjakji v. Supernova
jjakji pushed through with siege tanks and a raven to finish off Supernova.
Entombed Valley -- Game one
Who would bust out the superior Terran in this mirror match? Jjakji began with a 1-1-1 opening, Supernova began with reapers and hellions. Jjakji's army composition of early siege mode, viking, and marines with raven support contained Supernova in his base. The point attack drone and siege tank push finished off Supernova.
Supernova's defense led to the game-finishing counter attack.
Ohana -- Game two
Supernova began with quick hellion pressure for scouting purposes, while jjakji held the attack off. Jjakji transitioned to seige tanks, but Supernova went into viking production with tank support. The push out from jjakji was defended so well that Supernova's supply advantage made the counter attack the final attack. Our first third game of the night incoming.
Despite jjakji's great attack, Supernova kept enough units for the victory
Cloud Kingdom -- Game three
Supernova went for a 1-1-1 build into quick siege tanks and hellions, while jjakji went for bio and tanks. Supernova's air tech defended jjakji's push out with marines/tanks. Jjakji caged in Supernova with a timing push of vikings, raven, tanks, and marines. Supernova took advantage of a careless micro play by jjakji and held the push to take the advantage. With both players defending in a neutral state, Supernova kept up his macro with a fifth base and jjakji patrolled the map with a roaming army. Jjakji used consecutive engagements to even the supply and took a fourth base. With Supernova's bases saturated, he moved out with his entire army for a base race. Jjakji used a great two-pronged drop to cripple the army for Supernova. Supernova, however, caught jjakji off-guard with the attack on grounded barracks for the final GG.
Finally, the difficult group qualifier finished with another Terran player headed to IPL6. The stacked field for Group C, alone, had the looks of an all-star lineup. In the end, Supernova finished off the Group in climatic 40-minute fashion.
Timothy Lee is known more for his writing than his playing. He specializes in analysis, profiles, and news reporting. You can find his work on IGN.com, RotoAnalysis.com, 1UP.com, and the Daily Breeze. He is currently a free-lance video game and sports writer.
Source : ign[dot]com
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