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Zileas vs Stratus

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Zileas vs Stratus
Match: One
Map: Snowbound
Players:
Zileas Protoss Red Mid-Right
Stratus Protoss Yellow Bottom-Left
Length of Match: 42:52



(4)Snowbound


Zileas and Stratus both built a Pylon, an Assimilator and a Gateway, with Zileas finishing first. They both then built a Cybernetics Core, with Zileas warping his building in just ahead of Stratus. This is where their building strategies diverged.

Zileas, expected to advance quickly towards his usual strategy of setting up the early Reaver drop, made an unexpected move by simultaneously building a Citadel and a Forge before starting a Robotics Factory. Obviously wary of an aerial assault, Zileas decided to fortify his position by getting to Photon Cannons. Stratus had chosen random, and this was Zileas' counter order for all races.

Stratus continued on to build a Citadel of Adun, a Robotics Facility, and a second Gateway for summoning Dark Templars sooner, rather than later.

Zileas continued by building a Templar Archives and a Robotics Facility.

Stratus then trained two Dark Templars, constructed two Photon Cannons, and built a Support Bay. He then ordered up Dragoons.

After building his first Support Bay he constructed another Pylon, and then built an Observatory.

Zileas, however, did not move immediately towards the production of Dark Templar as was expected.

The strategy of placing a defensive wall of Photon Cannons paid off for Zileas when Stratus attempted to Shuttle in a team of Dark Templer. The Shuttles could find no safe landing zone, and this potentially devastating thrust was repelled.

Stratus, unable to penetrate the strong defense of Zileas, pulled back and switched gears rapidly.

Realizing that his opponent had far to many detectors for his cloaked forces to penetrate, Stratus began merging the Dark Templar and created a force of Dark Archons while researching Mind Control.

Stratus then built three Dragoons to supplement his forces. The Dragoons are positioned so they can intercept enemy Shuttles.

Zileas, however, was not content to sit behind his barricade of Photon Cannons and await another attack. Taking a High Templar and a Reaver, he launched an assault on Stratus' base.

Stratus, seeing the enemy landing in his base, attempted to kill the High Templar before it could unleash its attack. Zileas let loose a devastating Psi Storm just as Stratus' Dark Archon began to use his Feedback ability against the High Templar.

The High Templar was killed by Feedback just as Stratus' Probes were killed en mass by the Psionic Storm.

Stratus moved a Reaver of his own toward Zileas' Reaver and High Templar.

Stratus quickly eliminated the enemy threat, but the brutal blow was already dealt to his economy as at least half of the Probes working in the mineral fields were destroyed.



Zileas also sent a small expeditionary force out and secured an expansion outpost at the mid-left side of the map, taking what would become a decisive lead in resources. This combination of a crippling attack against the economy of Stratus and gaining a second base was a strong play for Zileas.

Stratus rebuilds his worker flow and then expands out in need of more resources. Unfortunately, he moves to a location that does not have a Vespene Geyser, thus limiting his long-term choices of units and technology.

Zileas sends in a Shuttle towards Stratus, perhaps to start a Reaver drop, but Stratus moves a Dark Archon into position and uses Mind Control to "convince" the enemy pilot to join his cause. Stratus received a Templar, a Reaver and also received the Psionic Storm upgrade for free.



Stratus finally expanded to a base to the left of Zileas' main town. Unfortunately, he picked a spot that had no gas, greatly reducing his ability to match Zileas unit for unit.

Seeing that Stratus has the ability to steal his units, Zileas next sends in a fleet of Shuttles - or so it appears. Using hallucinate to confuse his opponent, Zileas hopes to draw fire away from his true attack force or perhaps temp a Dark Archon into wasting precious energy trying to mind control an illusion. Stratus, however, shows great restraint and waits for the Shuttle to unload before committing any of his troops and successfully holds off the attack.

Stratus now jumps on the offensive and lands a single Reaver at Zileas' left expansion.

Zileas was able to fight off the attack using High Templars and Psionic Storm. He reinforced the outpost with more Photon Cannons and High Templars.

Zileas returned the favor and dropped a Reaver off at Stratus' expansion.             

Zileas kept watch of all the expansion positions except the on in the bottom left by using Shuttles and Observers.

Stratus attempted to expand to a position right of his town, but Zileas' Observer spotted it.

Using Dark Templars (and Stratus with no Observers), Zileas made quick work of that Stratus expansion.

Zileas and Stratus began making Corsairs and used them to intercept and kill any Shuttles.

Stratus tried to Reaver drop the Middle Left Zileas expansion but was fought off with Psionic Storm.

A two Reaver drop at the same location by Stratus was also fought off       

Stratus finally built an Observatory                                                                                                                                 

Stratus attempted to expand to a top left position but Zileas spotted the outpost using Observers.

Zileas took another base above his main town.                                                                            



A duel for a key resource node now begins, as both players battle fiercely over an single outpost. Zileas begins showing his skills at the Reaver drop as he begins surgically removing the defenses of Stratus' base.





Stratus sent over a Dark Archon and took a Zileas Shuttle with Mind Control.

Stratus kills a Reaver using a Probe                                                                            

Zileas' expansion at top right is in full swing                                                                            



Zileas uses Corsairs to hunt down Shuttles                                                                            

Zileas lands a Reaver                                                                            

Stratus came in from the air with fully loaded Carriers. Using Corsairs and Psionic Storm, Zileas makes quick work of them however.

A Reaver/Shuttle War then developed. Stratus dropped off a Reaver but Zileas' Corsairs attacked and destroyed his Shuttle.

Then Zileas used his advanced Reaver/Shuttle tactics to destroy the Reaver. He dropped the Reaver onto the ground, fired a scarab and before Stratus' Scarab could reach the Reaver, he would load it back into the Shuttle (in the blink of an eye) and the Scarab fired by Stratus would miss. This quickly destroyed Stratus' Reaver

Stratus then used a Dark Templar to take a hit on Zileas' Reaver the second it dropped destroying it. Zileas could not see the Dark Templar because he had no Observers nearby. When he realized how Stratus had killed the Reaver who only touched the ground for a second at a time, he complimented Stratus on his attack.

Zileas then sent an Observer in and killed the Dark Templar with a Reaver

Stratus continued to send reinforcements to his expansion base but the fighting was fierce

Zileas started making Scouts. He took the expansion base left of Stratus' main town, as it was Empty.

Stratus then went for the expansion right of his main base. Using Dark Templars and Psionic Storm he cleared out the 2 Dark Templars of Zileas that had been guarding the base most of the game. Zileas saw this attack with his Observer.

Stratus then set up defenses at that resource spot, moving in Dragoons. Zileas sent in some Scouts but was forced to retreat in the face of the Dragoons and Templar.

The fighting was very fierce for the expansion as both sides exchanged blows. Zileas brought in a wide array of troops. A Reaver was dropped off, with Scouts and Corsairs for air defense. A Probe begins to set up on the ramp above the town.

The Reaver kills both of Stratus' Dragoons but soon died to Psionic Storm

Zileas did a double Reaver Drop with air support and finally was able to take the base



By this time the lack of additional Vespene resources has weighed heavily against Stratus as he cannot support the force required to turn the tide of the battle to his favor. Good Games are offered all around as this extremely well fought and strongly micro-managed bloodbath ends.

Length of Match: 42:52



ROUND ONE
Zileas vs Stratus
Match: Two
Map: Showdown
Players:
Zileas Protoss Yellow Top
Stratus Terran Purple Bottom
Length of Match: 13:00



Showdown

Hoping to throw off his opponent in the must win game two, Stratus waited until there were just 2 seconds until game launch before picking Terrans.

The match started predictably enough with both players sending workers to scout out their enemy's plans and bases. Stratus, however, started to unfold a brilliant strategy. As opposed to entering his opponent's base, the SCV moved in the direction of the expansion site southwest of Zileas' outpost. As Stratus built a supply depot at his home base, he used his forward SCV to construct a barracks below Zileas in a remote area of the map.

Stratus then sent a second SCV to join the first and engaged the scouting Probe of Zileas.

The Probe finally reached Stratus' base. At this point, things may have looked strange to Zileas and he noticed that something was not quite right. Stratus had only one supply depot and no barracks at his home base, and too few SCVs for this point in the game. This was a strong warning that Stratus was using an offensive building strategy or that he had made a Command Center to fly to an island (which is what Zileas thought)

Zileas continued to build up his base by constructing a Pylon, a Gateway, and then a second Gateway. This led to an early push for Zealots.

Meanwhile, after scouting Zileas' town, Stratus used his second SCV to build a second barracks next to his first one.

When the first Barracks was completed, Stratus made a bold and surprising move. He ordered the mobile building to lift off and flew it toward the ridge above the left side of Zileas' base.

Noticing a Zealot moving towards his defenseless forward outpost, Stratus canceled the construction of his second Barracks and hid his SCV. The rubble from the destruction of the Barracks had disappeared beneath the sands of the dessert before Zileas could spot them. This was important in that it kept Zileas clueless as to what Stratus had in mind.

Zileas next sent down three Zealots toward Stratus' base. Having committed himself, he had no defenses for his main base, and so he hurried to create a Barracks and a Bunker. The one Marine that Stratus was using for scouting met up with the initial Zealot force sent by Zileas. The Marine turned and ran as fast as possible to the Bunker to defend the base.

After the barracks was completed, Stratus managed to get two Marines into the bunker as the Zealots attacked. The Bunker was not in a good position, however, to protect the minerals field and the SCVs working there. If it had been placed closer to the Minerals, Stratus would have been able to defend his workers to much greater effect.

The placement of the Bunker had the Marines just out of reach of this attack, and Stratus was forced to unload and use the Marines to attack the Zealots in the open. Stratus was also building a second Supply depot at this point, which was possibly limiting his training of Marines. In a humorous moment amidst the chaos, a Zealot and a Marine both tried to go between the Command Center and the Barracks. They continued to dance around each other, but as they were both moving, neither was attacking. Luckily, Stratus was able to run the Marine way from the Zealot before he realized what was happening. By running SCVs around the Zealots and using the range of his Marine's weapons, Stratus was able to defend against this attack.

At this point, Stratus had landed his Barracks on the high ledge behind Zileas' base and sat overlooking his Probes gathering minerals, rather than landing on low ground and trying to sneak Marines into the back side of Zileas' town. Stratus then built Marines and attempted to commit wholesale slaughter against the Probes working in the mineral fields. Unfortunately, they had not yet researched U-238 shells and did not have the range required to hit but a few of the Probes.

Zileas constructed a Cybernetics Core and was quick to train Dragoons. Using a Dragoon, he was able to get a few hits on the Marines on high ground, but since he had no units yet to spot for his troops in the valley, he could only counter attack after the Marines revealed themselves by firing on the Protoss below. This meant that neither was able to fully exploit the situation as of yet.

In a move which probably cost Stratus the game, his next building was a Factory. Building Vultures to counter incoming Zealots is a good move, but it meant that he was dividing his resources between two strategies. This also meant that precious minerals were not being used to train Marines or upgrade their range. With only 2-3 Marines in a Bunker for defense, Stratus found himself at a very vulnerable time in the game.

Zileas continued up the technology tree and constructed a Forge to plan to build Photon Cannons to defend against Vultures, and Wraiths.

Zileas then massed a group of Dragoons and Zealots, and attacked Stratus at his main base. Although Stratus had built an Engineering bay, it didn't contribute enough to his defenses. The Marines he so desperately needed to repel this attack were caught out in the open and, although they fought hard, the too few defenders lost the battle.

At this point it was simply a matter of destroying the Terran buildings until Stratus offered a hand shake across Battle.net and conceded the a very well fought and exciting game filled with surprises.



Length of Match: 13:00





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