TSL3 Grand Finals Results and Recap
The TSL3 Grand Finals. An in-depth look at the amazing series between Johan 'NaNiwa' Lucchesi and Marcus 'ThorZaIN' Eklöf.
After months of anticipation and excitement, the moment is finally here. The Team Liquid StarLeague 3 Grand Finals have been played, and the results are in the history books. Here is the match recap of the long awaited StarCraft 2 Duel.
Game 1
The series started off with a bang as Thorzain proved that this wasn't going to be a pushover for Naniwa by taking the first game on Metalopolis in stunning fashion with an extremely impressive Banshee, Marine, Tank contain. While Naniwa eventually crushed this effort after making some of the most brilliant tactical decisions one could ever expect under pressure (even sacrificing his early expansion immediately knowing it would be a waste of resources to try to hold it) he could not quite muster up enough forces to crush
Thorzain after he retreated to an entrenched natural in the south. Thus allowing Thorzain the early win.
Game 2 - Thorzain 1:0
That's when Naniwa decided to dig in. Thorzain again attempted a contain strategy on Crevasse, but Naniwa would not be fooled this time, using the larger opening on the middle of the map to break the contain and go to quickly crush his opponent.
Game 3 and 4 - Tied 1:1
Games 3 and 4 saw Naniwa continue to break through Thorzain's attempts at crushing the Protoss deathball and with the mix of successful high templar storms and feedbacks, he was able to put Thorzain at the brink of defeat. So Thorzain stepped back a minute during the break to contemplate his next move. This was the first time he had ever been facing elimination in this tournament, and he would have to plan his next move carefully. He knew he had to get Naniwa to make a mistake somewhere so he could take advantage, but how would he do it? Xel'Naga Caverns and Game 5 showed us the psychological side of StarCraft 2's tournament scene and gave him just the trick.
Game 5 - Naniwa 3:1
Thorzain decided that he had to entice a 4-gate out of Naniwa and decided to open with a 2 barracks, Fast expansion, which Naniwa quickly scouted and then returned home, deciding that if Thorzain wanted to be greedy that now would be the time to bring out his patented 4-gate rush and punish him for his greed so he could close out the series and be crowned champion.
But no sooner had Naniwa been forced out of Thorzain's base that everything was canceled. There would be no fast expansion, instead there would be a wall of siege tanks awaiting the Protoss army and an entrenched Terran player just waiting for the opportunity to push out and strike the killing blow. Naniwa arrived with his 4-gate and was promptly crushed by Thorzain's siege line, and then the Swedish Terran pushed out and eventually overwhelmed his Protoss opponent with a superior army. Thorzain had stayed alive and forced a Game 6.
Game 6 - Naniwa 3:2
Enter Crossfire SE, a map that held many strategic options for both players. Naniwa opted for a phoenix opening, harassing Thorzain left and right, delaying structures, mules, and valuable mining time while he started to build up a very formidable army to lay down the law. It seemed that with the extensive phoenix harassment that Naniwa had found the Achilles heel of the formidable Thorzain and that his end would soon be met. But Thorzain dug in at his natural with 2 bunkers and a handful of units under his command as Naniwa prepared to lay down what many saw as the final killing blow. But this is Mouz.Thorzain, destroyer of legendary Protoss players everywhere, and he wasn't about to go down without a fight. As the world looked on Thorzain repaired and rebuilt bunkers on the fly, struggling to hold onto what he knew was his only hope against the Protoss army, and he fought to the last man. When the dust had settled at the natural in the south, the casters and viewers looked on in awe. He had somehow managed to come out the victor. Naniwa's seemingly insurmountable army had been repulsed, and Thorzain went on to crush Naniwa's base and force a GG, pushing us into a climactic game 7.
Game 7 - Tied 3:3
This was for all the marbles. Both players knew that if they lost here, there would no longer be anymore games and one of them would go home a champion, while the other would be remembered as the guy that just couldn't quite close out the series. Tal'Darim Altar was the setting for this epic final match, and Thorzain spawned in the bottom right corner while Naniwa spawned across from him in the bottom left. Players, commentators, and viewers knew this map well from seeing it so many times both in their own ladder matches and in other events, and it seemed only fitting that such a great map be the deciding factor. Both players opted for the obvious early expansion, Tal'Darim being a prime map to allow for it, and both started preparing themselves for a long game. So much was at stake, the title, the money, the top seed in TSL4, and 60,000 viewers all wanted to see who would be the new champion.
Naniwa opted to build sentries early so that he could rush towards Colossus, a unit that could easily harass Thorzain's natural from the low-ground and force mining to stop, giving him the advantage in unit production he needed to crush his opponent once and for all. Thorzain meanwhile entrenched in with his bioball and tanks. Both players went back and forth on engagements, both fighting for their tournament lives, and it came extremely close to the end on many an occasion. Naniwa used his powerful Colossi to great effect and shut down the expansion of Thorzain from afar until Thorzain had the Vikings in place to force them back. Thorzain eeked back and forth with his bioball army trying to find that crucial opening he needed to take out the Protoss deathball and claim his first major title.
It went on with both players for quite a while, until finally the mighty Thorzain, destroyer of Protoss legends, managed to force his way out of his natural, break the contain by Naniwa, and then proceed to eventually use his superior army to break the Swedish Protoss and force the GG.
Cheers went up from the Thorzain faithful, and tears from the legions of Naniwa fans. The TSL had its newest champion, and he had managed to pull it off against seemingly insurmountable odds, coming from a 3-1 deficit to claim the TSL3 title with a 4-3 victory.
As TSL4 is somewhere on the horizon we have only the dedicated players, staff, and fans to thank as we all look forward to seeing what our new champion will do with his title. Here's to TSL3 being the best tournament to date, with many more to come.
The latest
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22.05.2012
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