"i'll play red hunters but noway will i play blue"
-Roqu
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| BW Theatre Part 1 | | | Author: | | | IP: | mblt-aa0XXXX | | Date: | 05/11/04 11:05 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | Starcraft(1), Series(1) | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 2, Max: 7, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for maareek: 6.9286 |  |
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BW Theatre
You scuttle through and find your seat in the middle of the row. The auditorium is nearly full now, just a few minutes until the beginning. Your heart beats a little faster, as the time nears, then suddenly, it is time. The announcer comes on over the loudspeaker, you hear the words you've come to know so well "Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to BW Theatre, we hope you enjoy the game we have for you tonight. Now, please give a warm welcome to your host, maareek!" You expect to hear the typical Jay-Z blasting and see maareek grooving onto the stage, but instead, he just silently walks out and, upon reaching the middle of the platform, simply says "hello".
You've been to a few of these before, maareek showing off a boxer, yellow, or nada replay. Sometimes even having a replay of a well-known gosu that most of the community knew. Every time, the players would be announced ahead of time, and everyone who wanted to see it on the big screen, with the announcer commenting on the action, and the full house ooohing and ahhing after every move. This time, however, no announcement was made, the game and the players have been kept secret, and the hundred or more people who have turned out are very anxious to see what all the secrecy is about.
Your mind is brought back to the stage as the host begins to speak. "Welcome, to BW Theatre, my friends", maareek says as he paces across the stage, "Tonight, I have for you something special. As some of you may know, there has been a new server created on battle.net, and because of the well-governed environment and the level of players there, many gosus have flocked to it. Stargate, as it is named, seeks to give gamers a place to play hack-free, mostly good manner games between a well-controlled group of players. Having finally fixed some troubling bugs within the system, Stargate held it's first tournament a few days ago, and I, was there."
Having heard of this server before, you know the caliber of players there and become even more excited about seeing whatever it is maareek has in store.
"After spending some time checking the brackets and trash-talking a few of the better-known players in the channel, I was forced to leave after round 2 or so of the 64 man tourney. And there the story would end if not for the fact that I got my hands on the replays of the finals."
A low hum fills the room as the projectors and computers come to life. You're ready to see a well-played game between some high-caliber players, but maareek isn't done yet, to your dismay.
"I watched these replays with a friend of mine, and decided they were good enough to display to you, my loyal fans. So, without further ado, I present to you...game 1 between ToT)Strafe and Squall."
The Game
As maareek walks off stage, the screen falls and fills with the image of the full replay, it looks like the mini-map blown up to the size of the normal screen, allowing everyone in the audience to see all the action. A hush fills the room and you see the well-known image of the lost temple with Strafe warping in his teal nexus at 9, and Squall spawning his purple hatchery at 6.
Strafe begins with a typical beginning with 7 pylon and 8 gate. After his gateway warps in he begins a zealot and assimilator.
Squall also uses a standard start, 10/9 natural hatch with 9 pool then 6 lings after pool completes.
You prefer to see people using a more unusual strat but, you're sure things will get interesting soon. Strafe builds a ramp pylon at 15, then sends his finished zealot to 6 on a scouting mission. Upon mounting Squall's ramp, the zealot meets with 6 voracious lings jumping to rip him apart. Strafe's zealot is no idiot, however, and runs behind Squall's minerals while sticking out his tongue at the lings. Squall, apparently not having much in the way of a sense of humor, kills the lot, losing 2 of his own lings.
Strafe had begun a core before sending his lot out and it having now finished, he begins a dragoon and a citadel of adun.
Squall builds another hatchery at his natual. Then, he sends his 4 remaining lings to Strafe's choke, begins a sunken at his natural, and finally begins an extractor.
Strafe's goon finishes and he uses it to kill off Squall's scouting overlord. Afterwards, he begins a forge to begin cannon defenses.
Squall queues up another overlord to fill his supply deficit and begins a hydralisk den without a lair, going hydra-ling.
With his citadel and forge completed Strafe begins a cannon at his ramp and an archives. He then moves his 2 zealots to his natural, begins a nexus and a pylon there, and begins his first high templar.
Squall builds a few more overlords, 3 hydras, and researches hydra speed. He then sends his 4 lings into Strafe's natural, but retreats them after losing one to cannon fire.
Strafe warps in 2 cannons at his natural, 1 at his main, and a stargate. He then researches psi storm and begins dt production.
Squall starts a lair, researches hydra range, and takes his mineral only. Once the lair completes, the cerebrate puts a spire down.
You now take stock of the situation. Squall has his main, natural, and mineral only with an army of almost 20 hydras with upgraded range and speed. Strafe has his main and natural, and standing force of about 2 zealots, 3 templars, a dark templar, a goon, and a recently completed corsair. The temple has been silent for most of the game, but the walls and the crowd cheer for blood, and you feel they won't have to wait long.
Squall answers the call first, sending 14 hydras to join his remaining 3 lings outside Strafe's choke. After they arrive and have been seperated correctly, the Zerg forces charge headlong into the protoss defenders, the 2 zealots fall before the spines of the hydras, while the 3 cannons fire, the dt slashes, and 2 of the templars merge into an archon. The 17 attackers are quickly reduced to 3 hydras, who manage to eliminate one more cannon and bring the lone remaining templar to 6 hp before they fall as well. Squall lost his entire force, while Strafe lost only 2 zealots and 3 cannons.
Strafe, having only used 1 gate during this time, and having been mining his natural for a while, now decides to warp in 2 more gates at his main, to produce the force to crush the swarm.
Squall's spire has finished, and he hatches 5 mutas. He then takes these mutas to Strafe's main to kill some peons. They are greeted by 2 cannons, however, and run away. They then run around the base doing a little damage to a goon and a couple of gates, until being chased off by an archon and a corsair.
Strafe decides to use his temps in the way God intended, by killing off some Zerg vermin. His shuttle carrying the deadly 2 temp cargo reaches Squall's mineral only and unleashes 4 well-placed storms on the zerg forces. The protoss lost a shuttle and 2 templars while the zerg lost 4 drones, 6 hydras, and 2 mutas. All you can think while watching it is, "I'd have gotten that shuttle out of there."
Squall takes 6 of his mutas and begins scouting the map for protoss intruders. Strafe also sends out a scout to keep tabs on the other positions, his in the form of a dark templar. The mutas find, upon returning from scouting 12, that Strafe has begun an expansion at his mineral only. The mutas and reinforcing hydras manage to kill off the probe and nexus before being run off by a sair and a few well-placed storms.
Squall moves his forces out into the mid, hoping to take some form of map control. Unfortunately, Strafe also chooses this time to move out into the middle.
You see the storm brewing. Strafe's significant zealot and archon force moves out with 6 templars trailing for support. 30 or more of Squall's hydras with ling support defend against the toss invaders. The battlefield erupts in hydra spines striking shields, psi blades tearing through zerg flesh, lings shredding zealots apart, and finally, the sky crackles with blue lightning as the zerg forces explode from the blanketing storms of the templar. You know Squall is done for, but you also know he's going to take everything he can with him. The cerebrate does not dissapoint as he begins a hive and ultralisk cavern, while securing his mineral only.
Though Strafe attacks Squall yet again with a huge force of zealot, archon, and templar, with hydras dancing and lings surrounding the protoss commander is forced to retreat. The cavern completes, sunkens are dropped at the mineral only, and Squall queues up as many ultras as he can spare. Teal zealots again slam hard into the zerg forces, this time decimating the hydra-ling forces with very well-placed blue lightning. The ultras finally hatch, but far too late to turn back the tide of protoss warriors.
You see the 5 ultras hatch and get ripped to shreads by over 20 zealots. Then Squall leaves and now Strafe has a 1-0 lead.
Post-Game
As the electronics shut down and the lights come up you go over in your head just where Squall went wrong. The first thing that strikes you is that he didn't upgrade his forces quickly enough. He was pinned into his own base before his first upgrade came in. Strafe, on the other hand, was already 2-2 by that time. You also notice that he didn't try a drop, which could have done well against the protoss commander. You can only hope that he fairs better in the next game.
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