| The Global StarCraft II Team League (GSTL) May kicked off earlier this week with the top eight teams from the Global StarCraft II League pitted against one another in a clash to determine the strongest pro team playing today. Last night, the two surviving teams duked it out for the title of GSTL May champions. MVP vs. SlayerS Set 1 - Xel'Naga Caverns -- SlayerS_Ryung (terran) vs. MVPGenius (protoss): The first game of a team-series is very important. First picks are done blind, which means neither team knows which player their opponent will send. Both teams were unwilling to risk losing the first match by sending an undercard, so they sent players who can perform on a regular basis. Ryung landed in the upper right corner, and Genius warped in at the lower left. Genius was able to get some free intel with his probe after creating his first gateway, and once he scouted out Ryung's base, promptly moved his scout to the upper-left expansion to create a hidden proxy stargate. Ryung opened with a standard two-barracks Stim-timing to secure his expansion; predicting that Genius would go for early void ray play. Despite Ryung's inability to locate the Stargate, Genius's void rays were scouted when he left them with his army at the right-side Xel'Naga tower in the center of the map. Genius and Ryung both came to the realization that an early push wouldn't work, so they transitioned to a macro-oriented game. Genius made the first move to take his third expansion in the lower-right location, and changed his army composition from just zealot/sentry/void ray by adding in archons, high templar, and stalkers; a very strong combo to deal with Ryung's bio-based army. Ryung, not to be outclassed, expanded to the upper-left gold and began creating a ghost academy for the ever-useful EMP that ghosts can use to weaken a protoss opponent's shields. Things changed for Ryung when he tried to take down Genius's third base, however, as he was caught out of position and forced away after using his EMPs, unable to capitalize on the weakened protoss force. 
Ryung is on the run! Genius, sensing weakness, pushed out of his third expansion and harried Ryung -- now on a race for survival -- across the map. Ultimately it was a combination of factors, Genius's huge damage output and Concussive Shell-immune archons combined with the chasing power of Blink-researched stalkers and Guardian Shield (provided by sentries), that proved to be too much for Ryung to hold off. MVP 1 : SlayerS 0 Set 2 - Terminus_RE -- SlayerS_Min (zerg) vs. MVPGenius (protoss): Hungry for vengeance, SlayerS sent out Min to try his hand at taking down Genius. SlayerS is a team with a lot of experience on their roster, and they know very well how to handle a come-from-behind situation in a team game. In team battles, especially with a roster as varied and management as seasoned as that of SlayerS, players often prepare to abuse exactly what they think the opposing team will have in any given set. In this case, Min and his training partners had likely been preparing for this exact situation -- a match on Terminus_RE against protoss -- for several days. Min spawned in at the 12 o'clock position with Genius warping in at the 3 o'clock. The match began with Genius going straight for a forge expand -- a more conservative opening than the risky proxy stargate he employed in the first set. Min scouted this with his first batch of zerglings and immediately responded by double-expanding and securing a third base. Genius, surprisingly, moved into four-warpgate with a twilight council and researched Hallucinate and Blink. Without even scouting Genius's tech choice, Min started researching Missile Attacks, Tunneling Claws, and macroing a roach army. Just as Genius began securing his third base, Min knew it was time to make his push. Genius's choice to go straight into Blink tech instead of going for a robotics facility really ended up hurting him during this push. Whether or not having an observer would have actually prevented Min from decimating Genius with this overpowering army is up for discussion, but it certainly didn't help that he was unable to see the burrowed roach army as it closed in. It also helped that Min had roughly double Genius's supply when he dealt the killing blow. 
The swarm has arrived. In a classic case of losing the macro game, Genius was unable to hold off Min and was forced to tap out after losing his would-be third base, natural expansion, and entire army. MVP 1 : SlayerS 1 Will Min and team SlayerS be able to keep up their momentum after this overwhelming victory? Who will MVP send out to battle this unexpected threat after losing front-man Genius? Find out by watching the rest of the series HERE! To catch the rest of this explosive series you can watch the VOD in high-quality on www.GOMtv.net by signing up for their season ticket for the Global StarCraft II Team League May. By purchasing a season ticket, you get full access to all of the high-quality VODs from GSTL May. | 
