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.