IPLTAC3 First Round: Infinity Seven vs Evil Geniuses.

Tuesday, 5/22, Infinity Seven faced off against team Evil Geniuses in the first round of IPL Team Arena Challenge 3. Going in, it was clear that this would be a tough match for us, but we knew we had a winning chance.

Sanddbox started for us, and EG sent out IdrA. Both players began with with a Hatchery first build on Daybreak. Sanddbox opted to take his third first, but IdrA was ready with a large baneling attack.  Sanddbox traded decently only losing a few hundred more minerals than IdrA.  Both players were involved in small zergling skirmishes, but neither received significant damage. Before Sanddbox could get his infestors out, IdrA attacked with a  strong roach hydra timing push followed up by a zergling run by that sniped all of Sanddbox’s queens. IdrA took the first game, making the series 1-0 for EG.

In Game 2 we sent out iS.Insur.  The game started off with a standard FFE from Insur against a fast third from IdrA.  Insur chose to go for a stargate and started placing forward pylon.  From there, he attacked into IdrA’s third taking out some zerglings but losing his void ray. Transitioning into the late game, Insur got colossus, archons, and blink stalkers versus IdrA’s infestors, zerglings, and banelings. IdrA won a big battle in the middle, taking out the core of Insur’s army and gaining a supply lead of 40. With broodlords in IdrA’s army, Insur wasn’t in a good position. With good decision making though, Insur managed to survive long enough to max his own supply, even getting a mothership. He won several engagements and also killing a large numbers of IdrA’s broodlords; however, IdrA’s economy proved too strong, constantly remaxing, and Insur just had to gg. 2-0 for EG.

Up next was iS.Axslav on Tal’darim Altar. IdrA opened with a 6 pool, while Axslav started with a FFE. Axslav managed to hold the rush with minimal damage thanks to a cannon in his mineral line, only losing a single pylon and a forge.  Axslav decided to do a 3 gate all-in, while IdrA decided to expand. However, due to a slight misplacement of force fields, IdrA managed to fend off the all-in and win the game, making the series 3-0 for EG.

Game 4 was a ZvZ between iS.jEcho and EG.IdrA on Antiga Shipyard. This was iS’ real last shot to take out IdrA, as a reverse all-kill is near impossible vs. a team like EG.  Both players started out hatch first, just like in game 1.  Both players then sat back and got thirds at similar times.  However, jEcho got both his roach warren and his lair well before IdrA, giving him a significant tech advantage.  He then hit a timing with his ball of roaches killing IdrA before hydras came into play.  This put the series at 3-1, saving iS from a potential all-kill from IdrA.

Game 5 was on Sanshorn Mists with DeMusliM next up for EG. Both players quickly expanded, and then DeMusliM went for some cloak banshee play, killing 6 drones and jEcho’s third for free.  This gave DeMusliM a huge economic advantage, and he simply killed jEcho with a marine-tank push across the middle. 4-1, EG with a heavy lead.

Game 6 was match point for EG. It was a TvZ on Metropolis between EG.DeMusliM and iS.CrazyMoviNG.  Both players again went for quick expansions, and DeMusliM again went for cloak banshees, but this time with a bit of hellion harassment. The banshees killed over 20 workers and 2 queens, but both got killed by CrazyMoviNG’s muta’s while CrazyMoviNG’s third base completed. Good creep spread and burrowed banelings restricted DeMusliM’s advances which also denied his third base for a good amount of time. CrazyMoviNG was able to get his fourth by the same time DeMusliM got his third up. By this time, CrazyMoviNG had spread his creep to his opponent’s front door, giving him complete map control. CrazyMoviNG’s mid-game army composition was muta-ling and DeMusliM opted for the standard marine-tank composition. As the game entered the late game, CM transitioned into infestors as well as banelings to the mix. This allowed him to crush a large amount of DeMusliM’s marines and hold off a dangerous push. CrazyMoviNG finally added Broodlords to his army composition and counter-pushed, taking out a huge clump of marines with infestors and banelings. He then proceeded to just roll over DeMusliM with the broodlords, making the series 4-2 and saving iS from defeat yet again.

Game 7 was a ZvP on Ohana between CrazyMoviNG and EG.iNcontroL.  The game started off a standard FFE against a quick third hatchery. Following this up, iNcontroL went for a sentry drop into the main, trying to kill the base while blocking reinforcements, but immediately got spotted and blocked by a strong force of roaches and zerglings. Seeing this, iNcontroL transitioned into a dark shrine while CrazyMoviNG went for a strong roach-hydra force. When CrazyMoviNG pushed across the map, iNcontroL countered by sending DT’s into his expansions, killing around 20 drones while cleaning up the attack with a force that was heavily made of immortals. After this, both players stabilized and went back to teching.  While iNcontroL went colossi to try to counter CrazyMoviNG’s hydras, CM decided to switch into a muta-ling style, dealing huge damage with run-bys and muta harass shutting down every mining base. iNcontroL tried to base-trade, but CM just rolled over the army with over thirty mutas. Score is 4-3 in favor of EG.

Game 8 was another ZvP with CrazyMoviNG facing off against EG.JYP. JYP went for an early stargate after a FFE, harassing CrazyMoviNG with void rays. CrazyMoviNG went for a spire and decided to use his trademark army composition against Protoss. JYP managed to trap and kill many of CrazyMoviNG’s ling setting him behind considerable. JYP and CrazyMoviNG then traded a third for a fourth but costing many of CrazyMoviNG’s mutas. CrazyMoviNG continued to harass around the map, but JYP’s army just proved too strong. JYP finished off CrazyMoviNG’s army during an attempted base trade, finishing the series 5-3 in favor of EG.

Sanddbox < IdrA
Insur < IdrA
Axslav < IdrA
jEcho > IdrA
jEcho < DeMusliM
CrazyMoviNG > DeMusliM
CrazyMoviNG > iNcontroL
CrazyMoviNG < JYP

Infinity Seven 3-5 Evil Geniuses

The Next match will be against Alternative Type!