CrunCher’s Fight: Sunday

by Alex “Yuenanimous” Yue

The first match on Sunday morning saw CrunCher take on the “Protoss Mad Scientist” ROOT KiWiKaKi. Obviously CrunCher had his work cut out for him seeing how KiWiKaKi recently placed second at both MLG Dallas 2011 and the IGN Pro League. Most gamers would crumble under the pressure of facing such a renound and established opponent, but not CrunCher.

Game one was on Shakuras Plateau and saw both players open with the typical 2 Gate Robo build. CrunCher opted to rush for his first Colossus where as KiWiKaKi got a quick Warp Prism out with the intent to harass. Lucky for CrunCher, he caught the Prism before any real damage could be done. With the extra Colossus out, CrunCher had no problem overwhelming KiWiKaKi’s ball for the win.

Game two was on Tal’Darim Alter. CruCher, confident with his lead and his micro, opened with the classic 4 Gate. KiWiKaKi anticipated the 4 Gate and countered with the 3 Stalker rush. While KiWiKaKi did not kill CrunCher’s scouting Probe, he did manage to out micro him and eventually hold off the push. While CrunCher was occupied with the fight in KiWiKaKi’s main, he missed a Probe sneaking into his main and dropping a Pylon. Once KiWiKaKi help the push he warped in a round of Zealots and went to work on CrunCher’s probes. With no economy or army CrunCher had no choice but to GG.

The third map was Xel’Naga Caverns. Again CrunCher went with the trusty 2 Gate Robo. KiWiKaKi, cautious of another 4 Gate, did the same 4 Stalker rush as in game 2. With more Warpgates and a bigger army, KiWiKaKi but a light contain on CrunCher. Once the Robo was up, CrunCher got an Immortal on the field and was able to break the contain. In a brilliant move, CrunCher started long distance mining gas from his natural. This move allowed him to get more Colossus out faster than KiWiKaKi. With a larger Colossus count, CrunCher had no problem cornering KiWiKaKi’s army. With nothing left to fight with, KiwiKaKi tapped out.

In round 4 of the losers end of the championship bracket CrunCher faced off against the Peruvian Terran Fnatic Fenix. Game one was on Xel’Naga Caverns. CrunCher opened up with a gas steal into a 3 Gate expo. Fenix went with a two Rax, one Reator and one Techlab, into an expansion. Realizing that there wouldn’t be any pressure for a while, CrunCher added more Gateways and a Robo. Despite the gas steal, Fenix still managed to get Banshees on the field, albeit slightly later than desired. CrunCher was caught off guard when a two Cloaked Banshees started to harras both his main and expansion. With no way to defend against the Banshee harass besides his main army CrunCher was contained to his base, allowing Fenix to take the gold. Once CrunCher got out a sizable Death Ball, he started to move out. While CrunCher was tearing down Fenix’s gold, Fenix dropped a Medivac full of Marines into his main and began gunning down Probes. CrunCher tried to fend off the drop by warping in units into his main, but Fenix was able to out micro him. With no choice but to press on, CrunCher’s Death Ball tore down Fenix’s natural and moved into his main. Fenix managed to hold off the attack at his main and CrunCher had to tap out.

Game two was on Tal’darim Alter and both players opened the same as the previous game. Unlike the first game, however, CrunCher had an extremely effective Stalker harass taking down several Marines and SCVs. When no damage could be done, CrunCher retreated and continued to macro up. This game Fenix skipped the Banshee harass and went right into heavy drop play. Despite having High Templar out, Zealot Leg Speed and Blink researched CrunCher just couldn’t hold off the constant drops and was forced to GG.

Despite a tough loss, CrunCher has absolutely nothing to be upset about. He had a stellar run on Friday going undefeated. Saturday he got knocked into the losers bracket early but came back strong later on in the evening, earning his way into the losers end of the championship bracket. After Sunday’s games, CrunCher ended up in 17th place over-all, something to be extremely pleased with. To give you an idea of how good this is, CrunCher made it father than the fan favorites TLO, iNcontroL and QXC. With more than a month to practice till MLG Anaheim, we at compLexity are expecting CrunCher to further establish himself as an American powerhouse Protoss.

Josh “AskJoshy” Sutherland discusses the consolation matches for Day 3 of MLG Columbus, June 2011.

Here’s some event footage from Day 3 of MLG Columbus in June 2011!

CrunCher’s Fight to the Champ’s Bracket: Saturday

by Alex “Yuenanimous” Yue

Day two of MLG Columbus started out pretty rough for CunCher considering he was undefeated the day before. The first match of the day saw CrunCher get knocked down to the losers bracket at the hands of EGAxslav with a score of 0-2.

Not one to be discouraged, CrunCher returned to his hotel to rest up for his first game in the losers bracket which was much later on in the day. Coming back in round 8 of the losers bracket, CrunCher faced off against one of the stars of the mini-documentary StarDreams, ONEwbc1 (aka WannaBeCool). After an easy 2-0 victory for CrunCher he then went on to the last round of the losers bracket where he took on eMgDarkCell. Again, CrunCher easily put the crunch on his opponent with a score of 2-0.

CrunCher had now made it to the big leagues, the losers end of the championship bracket. His first match was against Agh_Antec on Metalopolis. CrunCher anticipated a 4 Gate from Agh, so he opened with the 3 Stalker counter. Unfortunately for CrunCher Agh opened with a fast phoenix build, essentially containing CrunCher with the threat of worker harassment. Both players sat on one base powering up, CrunCher waiting to move out at the first sign of weakness, Agh posturing to get the best advantage whenever the engagement came. Eventually Agh took a risk going for an expansion at the gold base. CrunCher cleverly waiting for Agh to transfer his probes so that his strike would do maximum damage (both to Agh’s army and economy). Unfortunately for CrunCher, Agh had worked in several Immortals into his army, which made short work of CrunCher’s Stalker heavy ball. CrunCher had to tap out when his push backfired.

Game two was on Tal’Darim Altar and saw one of the most thrilling base races of the entire tournament. Both Agh and CrunCher opened with the infamous 4 Gate rush, CrunCher going on the offensive and Agh defending. CrunCher smartly placed his forward Pylon down by where Agh’s second expansion would go. By showing a weaker force at the ramp, CrunCher managed to bait Agh out into the open, allowing his warped-in units to sneak in behind and start hammering away on Agh’s Warpgates. Realizing he couldn’t take CrunCher’s forces head on, Agh crossed the map forcing a base race. Luckily for CrunCher the Probe that warped in the forward Pylon was never discovered, so he was able to get a second Nexus up with out Agh knowing. With no Nexus and a much weaker force Agh had no choice but to GG.

Game three was on Xel’Naga Caverns and saw Agh open with a proxy gateway inside CrunCher base. In an amazing micro battle that lasted for several minutes, CrunCher somehow managed fend off the rush while getting Warpgate tech out. Using his scouting probe to plat a proxy Pylon in Agh’s natural CrunCher had no problem marching up the ramp and ending the game.

With Agh out of the way CrunCher then had to go toe to toe with the NASL caster Gretorp. Game one was an epic match on Tal’Darim Alter which saw CrunCher utilize every building in the Protoss army to defeat his foe. Gretorp opened with a Reaper expand into a heavy defensive posture. CrunCher went with a fast expand eventually working up to Templar tech. Using a Warp Prysm to constantly harass and Dark Templar to control the map, CrunCher easily expanded all over. Eventually working off 14 Warpgate, 2 Robos and a StarGate, CrunCher fielded the ultimate death ball of Archons, Colossus and a Mothership. Despite some great Ghost play, Gretorp was unable to hold off the attack and had to GG.

Game two was on Shattered Temple and saw Gretorp open with the same Reaper expand into turtle. CrunCher went with the 3 Gate expo eventually getting Colossus on the field. Both players powered up on two based, CrunCher getting out the classic Stalker, Zealot, Sentry, Colossus death ball and Gretorp doing the standard MMM plus Ghosts. With a perfectly timed pushed CrunCher easily walked over Gretorp for the win.

Tomorrow CrunCher will take on ROOT Gaming’s KiWiKaKi in Round 3 of the losers Championship Bracket.

Here’s some footage from the match between our very own CrunCher against eMg’s DarkCell at MLG Columbus in June 2011!

Josh “AskJoshy” Sutherland gets some autographs from superstar Korean players such as the legendary July of StarTale, Incredible Miracle’s Zerg Code S’er LosirA, oGs’ two-time GSL Champion MC, SlayerS’ GSTL clutch ace and nicknamed “son of BoxeR” MMA and legendary former WC3 player, WeMadeFOX’s Moon at MLG Columbus in June 2011!

Audience view of stage for the match between EG’s Axslav and Sixjax Gaming’s Major at MLG Columbus, June 2011.

Interview with coL.rsvp at MLG Columbus, June 2011.

Interview with coL.Stalife at MLG Columbus, June 2011.

Footage of coL.Ryze plays fxo.QXC and coL.CrunCher playing EG.Axslav at MLG Columbus, June 2011.