BROOD WAR SEASON II TOURNAMENT FINALS [5th]Fire vs. LARRY-THE-WEIRD Game: One Map: Lost Temple Players: [5th]Fire - Protoss - Orange - Center Right LARRY-THE-WEIRD - Zerg - Aqua Bottom Center Length of Match: 36:49

(4)Lost Temple

The final match of the Brood War Season II Tournament finals begins with [5th]Fire deciding to face his opponent, LARRY-THE-WEIRD, on the familiar grounds of the Lost Temple. LARRY-THE-WEIRD takes command of a Zerg horde for the upcoming fight, while [5th]Fire uses the Protoss forces that have served him so well over the course of the tournament. The battle begins when LARRY-THE-WEIRD finds his forces taking position on the southernmost plateau of the battlefield. [5th]Fire takes station on the eastern plateau. Both commanders quickly order their workers to begin harvesting, and LARRY-THE-WEIRD sends his initial Overlord to scout the nearest possible position his enemy could possibly be located, the western plateau.

Both players decide to build relatively conservatively, with [5th]Fire building a Pylon, Gateway, then one more Pylon. LARRY-THE-WEIRD decides to build a second overlord, then waits for enough minerals to allow the morphing of a second Hatchery at the nearby resource node below the ramp leading up to his plateau. Still needing to discover the location of his enemy, LARRY-THE-WEIRD orders his first Overlord to scout the northern plateau, while his second Overlord starts to float over to the east. [5th]Fire, also wanting to know where his enemy lies, orders a single Probe to hunt for the enemy. Fate smiles on [5th]Fire, and the Probe decides to first check the south starting location. The Probe quickly discovers LARRY-THE-WEIRD's drone attempting to morph into a second Hatchery. At the sight of the Probe near his expansion, LARRY-THE-WEIRD begins to create a Spawning Pool. LARRY-THE-WEIRD has to hope that [5th]Fire is not able to decisively attack before he can construct some kind of defense.

Sensing that perhaps LARRY-THE-WEIRD has overextended himself, [5th]Fire orders his first Zealot to attack the expansion. The Zealot reaches the second Hatchery before it is fully completed, but not before the Spawning Pool finishes. The Zealot is able to deal some damage to the Hatchery, but Zerglings begin to harass the Zealot and the Hatchery is able to finish. A second Zealot joins the fray, but more Zerglings are sent to delay the Zealots. Using the creep now extending from his new Hatchery, LARRY-THE-WEIRD orders a Drone to morph into a Creep Colony. [5th]Fire's Zealots, knowing that the Creep Colony will shortly begin its transformation into a Sunken Colony, savagely tear into the structure. LARRY-THE-WEIRD's Zerglings attack the Zealots, but retreat as soon as the Zealots turn to face their attackers. LARRY-THE-WEIRD is merely trying to draw attention away from the almost complete Sunken Colony. These delaying tactics give the Sunken Colony just enough time to finish its transformation. With the functional Sunken Colony attacking the Zealots, more Zerglings coming down the ramp, and a second Sunken Colony forming nearby, [5th]Fire orders his Zealots to retreat.

LARRY-THE-WEIRD commands his Zerglings to give chase, and the Protoss are forced to retreat to the relative safety of their own plateau. With five Zealots guarding his ramp, [5th]Fire can hold off the large number of enemy Zerglings below, but also cannot force the Zerglings from their position in the valley. For now the two enemies are at an impasse, but both players begin preparations for the next phase of the battle. [5th]Fire has completed a Forge and Cybernetics Core, and reinforces his base and entry ramp with Photon Cannons. The Protoss commander also starts to construct the buildings necessary for the production of High Templar. LARRY-THE-WEIRD finally begins to harvest Vespene Gas, and now also has a third Hatchery completed overlooking the ramp leading to his main base. The creep from this Hatchery will allow LARRY-THE-WEIRD to place Sunken Colonies along the ridge wall, guarding both the ramp and the expansion below. LARRY-THE-WEIRD also now has better unit production with the additional Larvae the Hatchery produces. The Zerglings below [5th]Fire's plateau are finally repulsed by Zealots, a Dragoon, and two Templar. [5th]Fire is now free to expand to the resource node in the valley below his main base.

Hydralisks hatch from all three of LARRY-THE-WEIRD's hatcheries and begin to take station in the middle of the map. The center of the map is a crucial piece of terrain on the Lost Temple battlefield, and LARRY-THE-WEIRD has a significant advantage if he can keep a force there. Fearing the arrival of Zerg Mutalisks onto the battlefield, [5th]Fire warps in a Stargate and produces a single Corsair. The fast moving Corsair is sent to scout out LARRY-THE-WEIRD's bases, and the Protoss pilot reports no Spires to be found. LARRY-THE-WEIRD is instead concentrating on building a large ground force of Hydralisks. LARRY-THE-WEIRD makes several probing attacks against [5th]Fire's secondary, but with the help of a Dark Templar and several well placed Psionic Storms these attacks are all repulsed.

Unable to defeat [5th]Fire's defenses with a frontal assault, LARRY-THE-WEIRD transports a single Drone to the high ground just south of the Protoss expansion. The Drone begins to morph into a Hatchery, and LARRY-THE-WEIRD reinforces the fledgling Hatchery with a Lurker. A Lurker burrows at the edge of the high ground, and from this advantageous position begins to rip apart Protoss Probes with its Subterranean Spines. A nearby High Templar uses its Psionic Storm ability to destroy the Lurker, but the Templar cannot destroy the nearby Sunken Colony that has finished morphing. With the ridge firmly in the hands of LARRY-THE-WEIRD, [5th]Fire soon must abandon resource gathering at the expansion below.

LARRY-THE-WEIRD has taken this opportunity to further expand to the mineral only resource node just above his main base and the secondary expansion above the westernmost plateau. [5th]Fire also decides to expand once more, and chooses to do so at the secondary expansion near the northern plateau. [5th]Fire has amassed a large army of Zealots, Dragoons, and Templar, and he seizes the initiative by attacking the LARRY-THE-WEIRD's Zerg army in the middle of the map. The Protoss army breaks out, and marches southward towards LARRY-THE-WEIRD's southern mineral expansion. While initially lightly defended, reinforcements pour into the area from the other nearby Hatcheries and these new forces stop the Protoss offensive cold. The war now begins to rage back and forth across the battlefield.

A lone Zealot finds LARRY-THE-WEIRD's west expansion only guarded by three Sunken Colonies. Realizing the imminent danger, LARRY-THE-WEIRD immediately sends defensive reinforcements to the threatened base. The defenders arrive just before [5th]Fire's troops begin their attack, and the Protoss offensive is defeated. A small group of Zerglings finds [5th]Fire's new northern expansion, but the Zerglings are rapidly crushed by incoming Protoss reinforcements.

[5th]Fire is now in a precarious position, with only one set of resources to mine while LARRY-THE-WEIRD is actively gathering from three. [5th]Fire has a rather powerful and large ground army in the middle of the battlefield, but LARRY-THE-WEIRD's defenses are both strong and mobile. [5th]Fire decides to try to expand again, this time to the northern plateau. The Nexus is lightly defended, and LARRY-THE-WEIRD punishes this mistake by dropping a pair of Lurkers onto the plateau. One of the Lurkers begins to damage the completed Nexus, while the second attempts to attack the enemy Probes in mining in the valley to the east. A High Templar ends the life of the second Lurker, but the first proves more difficult to destroy. An Observer is brought onto the scene, and the now revealed Lurker is finally destroyed by Dragoons.

A strong Protoss army still maintains their threatening position in the center of the map, but LARRY-THE-WEIRD devises a plan to circumvent [5th]Fire's force. LARRY-THE-WEIRD loads 6 Overlords with Hydras and Lurkers near his west expansion. The Overlords then proceed to the northeast and drop their deadly cargo onto the plateau. The Hydralisks are well spread out, and it proves difficult for [5th]Fire's Templar to Psionic Storm the enemy marauders. [5th]Fire sends additional reinforcements to the scene, but amidst the chaos LARRY-THE-WEIRD launches a strong attack against the central Protoss army. With [5th]Fire's attention diverted by the attack to the North, LARRY-THE-WEIRD acts quickly and kills the High Templar in the central force. By the time [5th]Fire can react to this new attack his Templar are already dead, and his Dragoons and Zealots are being enveloped by Hydralisks and Zerglings with the Adrenal Glands Upgrade.

[5th]Fire has now been thrown completely on the defensive. He has defended his northern expansions and also further expanded to the mineral expansion between his main base and his northern expansion, but his armies are now severely depleted and thinly spread out. LARRY-THE-WEIRD begins mass production of Zerglings and Hydralisks from the six hatcheries in his southern stronghold. Wave after wave of Zerg units attack [5th]Fire's defenses, and the Zerg onslaught seems endless. The dangerous High Templar are singled out for destruction by attacking Zerglings and Hydralisks, and eventually a group of Zerglings breaks through and destroys the Nexus at [5th]Fire's mineral only expansion. The voracious Zerglings then move on to the expansion in the northern valley and in the blink of an eye they rip the two defending Photon Cannons to pieces and raze the nearby Nexus.

[5th]Fire is now reduced to only one Nexus with nearby resources, the newly rebuilt Nexus on the northern plateau. A new wave of LARRY-THE-WEIRD's Zerglings and Hydralisks destroys this crucial Nexus with little resistance, and when [5th]Fire sees a wing of Mutalisks fly over his remaining ground troops he knows the battle has been completely lost. Game one belongs to LARRY-THE-WEIRD.

Victor: LARRY-THE-WEIRD