Heart of The Swarm Preview and New Units

Blizzcon!! Blizzcon!! Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm Preview has been revealed. New units for each race are currently being explored and tested. First of all let's have a look at the new HOTS Preview. Check out the new units towards the end.




Zerg  

 

1. Viper 

GSL October Code S Results

Slayers MMA wins GSL October Code S

Slayers MMA took down three time GSL champion IMMvP to win the first GSL Code S title for his team. MMA beat Mvp with a staggering 4-1 record. Before going into the finals, everyone was expecting MvP to win the match 4-1. 70% of the votes before the finals favours MVP. However, in the end MMA proved that he is the better player with his Bio style against MVP's mech builds. Several of the games went down to base trade where MVP had a huge Terran death ball but without a base while MMA had ongoing bases but could not engage MVP's superior army. This is definitely an very interesting series between two best Terrans in the world currently.

Congratulations to SlayersMMA and Boxer is definitely proud of his child.

 

New Protoss unit in Heart of The Swarm

Blizzard had previously released a glimpse of the new Protoss unit in Heart of the Swarm, HOTS. Blizzard is still keeping everyone guessing on what this new unit actually does. But currently nothing has been revealed to the community on the new unit at all except an Image outline of it. Let's take a look.

The first thing that crossed my mind when I first saw this picture is, Holy Cow it looks like some kind of Batman's weapon. Lol. In fact it resembles the weapon or (whatever you call that) that Batman throws.

Let's take another step in analysing the new unit. This new Protoss unit is most likely to be an air unit build

Fast Chrono Boost on Buildings for Protoss

I guess most of you already know how do Chrono Boost on Buildings but I'll point this out anyway for those who are still having troubles with it. What is meant here is where you can Chrono Boost all of you Gateways as fast as possible. Top Masters and Grandmasters players can Chrono all their Gateways (eg 6) within 1 second. This is essential when you need as many units as possible to hold off pushes or defending against your opponents. If you can master this, you are another step towards winning more of your games.

Fast Chrono Boost
1. Hotkey all your Nexus in one Key
2. Select the key and hold down 'C'
3. Left click all  your Gateways.

You may say everyone can perform this easy task. However the main difference here is high level players can performed it instantly. Let's take a look at this game by ogsHero.

GSL October Up and Down Results

Were finally here again at the GSL Up and Down matches which determines which gamers get the important Code S slots and who stays or drops to Code A for next season. This time, the Up and Down are dominated by a lot of Protoss players. This is the result of Protoss poor performance previously where Terran 1-1-1 all in reign supreme.

We have 3 top Protoss gamers Sage, Puzzle and Genius competing today. However, only Puzzle manage to cling on to his Code S medal. Long time Code S player, Genius is down into Code A. Sage, one of the best Protoss in the world currently failed to make into Code S again. Gumiho and Puzzle gets Code S.

Group A Day 1 Results

DongRaeGu wins IEM New York

DongRaeGu wins IEM New York SC2 tournament after beating another Zerg gamer, Fruitdealer the first GSL Champion 3-2 in the finals. This is DongRaeGu's second international trophy after his recent Dreamhack win. This tournament had clashed with the MLG. Thus, it only managed to capture a relatively small amount of viewers within the Starcraft 2 community. IEM NewYork will best be known as a Zerg dominated championship with top 3 players being all Zerg.

 

Credit goes to Teamliquid for such an awesome photo.

EGHuk wins MLG Orlando, ogsMC second!!

EGHuk wins MLG Orlando defeating ex teammate ogsMC in the tournament's Grand Finals. Huk was crowned the champion and MC gets the very important GSL Code S spot for next season. What this means is that MC who had been knocked out form Code A into Code B recently is finally back into Code S. Protoss supporters cheered for these awesome news. Huk is the first repeat champion gamer to ever win two MLG titles, where his previous was the first MLG Raleigh event ever hosted against Kiwikaki in the grandfinals.

Never would anyone expect to see a Protoss vs Protoss matchup for the finals in this major Starcraft 2 tournament. MLG is deemed the GSL version of the West and the most prestigious tournament outside of Korea with its huge price money and competition level. Leading off into the finals with a 2-1 lead over MC due to the extended series rules of MLG, Huk only needs to win another 2 games. In the first game, Huk outmicroed MC in a 4 Gate fashion battle on Tel'Darim Altar which is infamous for its 4 Gating heaven or should I say hell. A mismicro from MC failing to target down a very low hp Zealot cost him the game. Game 2 on Xel Naga Caverns had MC lead off with a Cannon rush. However, it was scouted instantly by Huk and a well placed Pylon behind his mineral line thwarts any attempt of incoming cheese. Falling behind, MC

New Units in SC2: Heart of The Swarm

Blizzard has finally gave us another glimpse in the long awaited Starcraft 2 expansion set: Heart of the Swarm. This will be the second installment of the three series of the all time popular online game. Previously Blizzard revealed the campaign play through of HOTS which features on Kerrigan the Queen of Blade's quest in claiming back her Zerg throne against other Overlord's seeking to control over the swarm. This time around, a new unit for Terran and Zerg has been released while the Protoss will be followed soon after. Let's have a peek at the new interesting and exciting new unit image design.

Terran

GSL October Code A Results

Finals


Curious from team Startale wins GSL October Code A and earned his Code S spot for next season.


STCurious 4-0 FXOz

How to Scout with Protoss in PvZ when you Fast Expand

I have to clarify this matter to a lot of Protoss gamers out there who claimed that it is impossible to scout the Zerg player if you go for a Forge Fast Expo build. People claimed that Protoss will be playing in total blind when fast expanding. THIS IS TOTALLY WRONG. It is absolutely possible to scout the Zerg when you are fast expanding.

Let's have a look at the PvZ matchup. The most common starting build is basically a Fast Expanding Build and Gateway Expand. Here we are not referring to any one basing all in cheese builds. Why is FFE so commonly seen in high level games? Pro gamers prefer this opening compared Gateway first for its strong economic advantage gained. Having two Nexus with Chrono Boost puts you toe to toe with the Zerg player in terms of worker economic. However, FFE are vulnerable to all in builds such as Baneling bust and Roach Ling all in if left unscouted.

So How do You scout Zerg when you are FFE?

Stephano wins IPL 3

French Zerg Pro Gamer, Stephano wins IPL 3 after tearing apart Korean Zerg gamer, FXOLucky 4-0 in the finals. This is a huge surprise as he is often considered the underdog in the whole Starcraft 2 tournament. What's more, Stephano managed to grab the title amidst facing against some of the Korean best SC2 players present at the tournament. His impressive and smart Zerg strategies and tactics managed to bring the title back to the Westerners. Stephano was previously a progamer from Warcraft 3. This is the second international tournament where foreigners wins another international tournament. The previous was EGIdra's magnificent run at IEM:Guanzhou. Is this the end of the Korean domination? Will the fat price money being siphoned into the Korean economy coming to an end? Let's hope so.

GSTL July Results

GSTL July Finals Results

Team MVP wins GSTL July beating Prime 5 - 3.

MVP 5 vs 3 Prime
Vampire P vs Check Z
Noblesse T vs Check Z
Noblesse T vs Terius Z

Noblesse T vs Creator P
Noblesse T vs BboongBboong Z
Genius P vs BboongBboong Z
Keen T vs BboongBboong Z
Keen T vs MKP T

Force Field Guide in PvZ SC2

I am still seeing lots of Protoss Force Field wrongly against their Zerg opponents in PvZ. Let's first analyze the Protoss vs Zerg matchup. For Protoss, most people will be utilizing the Stalkers, Sentries and Colossus with probably some Immortals being thrown into the mix. This is the most common unit mix you will be using and facing against in your online game opponents. However, there's some new variations such as Zealots and Archon mix popping up in the metagame currently or Air unit usage such as Phoenix and Void Rays. As for Zergs, we often seen Roach and Hydra mix, Zerlings with Infestors or Mutalisk builds.

Lets stick to the Stalker, Sentries, Immortal and Colossus ball. With this army mix, all your units have a range attack. The correct way to Force Field against Zerg players is to Force Field the front of their armies. Let's take a look at the snapshot taken below between TSLJYP and Dimaga in the recent IEM Guangzhou.

The Gracken Wins IEM Guangzhou

Finally, the Western pro Gamers has showed who they are made off by claiming a championship trophy after such a long time since the Koreans broke into the international Starcraft 2 scene. EGIdra, the Gracken has finally reclaim a championship for himself after such a long drought since IPL2. The notorious and infamous Idra placed first out of the 16 invited gamers including 2 Koreans, Puma, Revival and JYP.

Making into the round of 8, Idra took out TSLRevival with a 3-1 record. Next beating teammate EGPuma, the champion for NASL and IEM in the semifinals 3-0 and finally besting Elfi, the Protoss player from Finland in the finals 3-1. Who cares if Idra GG or not. Most important is Idra still has what it takes to win an international tournament.

IEM Guangzhou Standings
1. EGIdra
2. elfi
3. EGPuma
4. HasuObs

Replays can be found here