Carriers and Cruisers
Hymirth vs GilTzOkO

This week’s show (found using the Sc2ReplayStats.com Replay Search feature to look for Grandmaster games with Carriers) is Hymirth vs GilTzOkO, a 35-minute TvP on Dusk Towers: https://sc2replaystats.com/replay/2953689

An Eye for an Eye

The game starts out fun, with our Terran player GilTzOkO proxying a Factory. But our Protoss player Hymirth is already one step ahead: Having sent out his scouting Probe just after starting his first Pylon, his Probe gets into the Terran before the wall is complete. Seeing gas first and a Marine out of the barracks rather than a Reaper prompts the Hymirth to send a Probe looking for that Proxy and finds it at the third-base location, shutting down the first Widow Mine.

The Factory lift’s to Hymirth’s natural and builds a second widow mine,  but he pulls Probes at the right times losing only two individually before an Observer is built to kill it. But like every aggressive Terran opener, GilTzOkO’s attack comes in waves and it’s not over yet.

Not only does Dusk Towers have good Liberator positions, but Hymirth chose to send his Stalkers across the map, leaving himself particularly vulnerable to Liberators, bringing his worker lost count up to 12. But opening a Dark Templar drop build himself, Mymirth is ready to strike back.

When the dust settles, both players have lost the exact same number of workers.

How does this turn into Carriers vs Cruisers?

Sometimes weird games we spotlight are weird the whole way through, but not so with this one. After the openings, players transition into relatively standard TvP compositions: Bio vs Storm and Chargelot/Adepts.

Not to mention fights like the one below, bringing the Terran player’s worker death count up to 50 and propelling the Protoss to a 30-worker lead, making it seem dubious at times that the match would even make it to the late-game.

Yet, with some Liberators and EMP’s with a Planetary Fortress to anchor the defense, it does.

The Cheeky Factory that Could

Meanwhile, the proxy Factory returns with a cheeky attempt at denying the fifth. . .

. . . And then again, a few minutes later, delaying  the seventh, escaping to pester the Protoss again another day.

Carrier has arrived. Battlecruiser Operational. 

After a short peace treaty, both players have powered up and set the game up for an interesting late-game: four Starports producing Raven Banshee and 4 Stargates producing Carriers. Banshees continually go on strike attacks, while on the Protoss side of things, Carriers dispense their Interceptors into production lines.

Tempests pick off a Planetary Fortress (left) —————————- (right) Banshees harass the fifth
Banshees harass the main (left) —————————- (right) Some sick storms deal terrible terrible damage

The Life and Death of a Cheeky Factory

This factory, man! From the moment it was proxied in the first few minutes of the game, it’s always been doing something annoying!

Sadly, after twenty-five minutes of flying, landing, and building, the time has come for this cheeky little factory to lay at rest forever.

A Banshee Problem

Speaking of persistent, annoying things, these Banshees just never stop!

Rumbling to a close

But despite the annoyances the Factory or Banshees provide, what counts most is the main engagements, and the Protoss player wins out here with some clever moves, using Mass Recall after Interceptors have died, retreating until they are rebuilt.

Eventually he takes a fight so good the Terran is forced to tap out — unfortunately not very gracefully, but it can be tough for anyone after losing a long game where you pulled off so many clever moves.

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- Sc2replaystats.com staff

 Post written by Justin “TheSkunk” Purdy