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Day 4 brought with it some interesting matches as well as one not so interesting. If you would like to know more, read onward and/or watch the video links included. If not, you can safely skip the reviews and look at the preview for Day 5.



Anytime started in the 5 o`clock position while Reach started in the 11 o`clock. Both opened with a single gateway into tech. Later, both moved their growing forces out of their main and expanded to their natural expansions. As the two players continued to tech and expand their economies without any confrontations, both also produced a Dark Templar for scouting purposes. Finally, after the game being inactive for almost ten minutes, Reach moved out with his main force which was accompanied by High Templar. However, Anytime used this chance to drop a High Templar behind Reach` natural and the ensuing Psi Storm managed to kill a few probes. Both of them expanded again, Reach at the 10 o`clock and Anytime at the 4 o`clock respectively.

Finally, after a random encounter, the two engaged in battle near Reach` new expansion. Thanks to the massive amounts of Storms in possession of both players, heavy casualties ensued. Although Reach eventually won the battle due to the shorter resupply route, he could not press in on the initiative since his own numbers were so low. As such, the action ended in a return to status quo. Both players were quick to produce another group of units. However, Anytime felt a desire to do some harassement as he sent out a lone shuttle. Although Reach spotted this with an Observer, he had no Dragoons to intercept at that time and pulled the majority of his probes away as Anytime`s shuttle approached the 10 o`clock. Anytime changed his mind and preserved the High Templar in his shuttle for future plans.

Feeling a lack of minerals, Anytime decided to expand to the 7 o`clock mineral only. He made another attempt at harassement with the same shuttle as previously. However, Reach was prepared for him this time and killed both the Shuttle and the dropped High Templar who only managed to kill two Probes with his Psi Storm. since this meant Anytime would have less storms for a big encounter, this gave Reach a morale boost and he moved out with his forces. After another random encounter, a big battle ensued again, only this time at the bridges near the 9 o`clock (where Reach was expanding). Reach was initially ahead. Due to the fact Anytime had to stream his forces across the bridges, this gave the Shaman Protoss (Reach) a superior position. Realising this, Anytime decided to retreat back across the bridges. While Reach was pursuing him, Anytime reorganised his forces and attacked the forces of his foe as they were still crossing. Now their positions were reversed, with Anytime having a superior position. Although a lack of melee units caused him to suffer more casualties then needed, he
was still able to force Reach back across the bridges. Anytime wisely did not pursue, deciding to defend his upcoming 8 o`clock expansion instead, and thus the battle ended in a stalemate.

Noticing that Reach was out of position to defend his 9 o`clock expansion (he was most likely worried about his new expansion at the 2 o`clock), Anytime decided to attack it. Before the defenders could arrive to protect it, the Nexus fell and Anytime took a big lead in what was previously a fairly even fight. Worried that he would end up losing if he just sat on the disadvantage, Reach decided to pursue the attacker and launched a two-pronged counter-attack down the 9 o`clock ramp as well as the nearby bridge. However, after suffering significant losses, Anytime pulled back to the protection of the cannons at the 8 o`clock. Rather then waste units on a well-fortified position, Reach decided to pull back.

Feeling the need to press on the initiative while he still had it, Reach redirected his forces across the
bridges in the middle towards Anytime`s natural. Although he cought Anytime by suprise with a superior number of melee units, Anytime pulled back to his natural. Realising he did not have enough forces to push onward, Reach again retreated. He refused to quit and attacked Anytime barely when he moved out of his natural and Anytime was forced to pull back yet again. Both of them steadily increased their unit count and were getting ready for another big encounter. Using Reach`s temporary absence, Anytime attacked the 9 o`clock again. However, rather then try to defend it, Reach decided to hit the flank of the attacking units that were streaming towards the 9 o`clock. Although suffering heavy casualties, Anytime managed to eventually kill off the counter-attack and defend his 8 o`clock while at the same time proceeding to destroy the 10 o`clock after the 9 o`clock fell.

With his economy inferior to Anytime`s and practically no units to speak of, Reach`s fate was sealed. After Anytime attacked and overran the 2 o`clock expansion without any difficulty, the Shaman Protoss admitted defeat.



The first TvT of the event started with BoxeR at the 3 o`clock and TossGirl at the 11 o`clock position. While TOssGirl walled herself off, Boxer did not. This allowed Tossgirl to scout her opponent while preventing the opposite from occuring. Both of them established an early gas for some quick tech. Knowing that he was scouted, BoxeR built his Starport at a proxy 1 o`clock location as part of his one Factory one Starport build. However, BoxeR did not know that TossGirl herself was going for a two Starport Wraith rush. Not feeling comfortable simply building up his economy, BoxeR decided to apply pressure at TossGirl`s wall. With superior numbers, Boxer took control of TossGirl`s natural and was hammering at the buildings forming the wall. Feeling exposed, TossGirl was forced to reveal her Wraiths in order to defend herself.

Spotting this, BoxeR began researching Cloak for his own Wraiths. Since he had a Control Tower attached to his Startport earlier then TossGirl (she was producing Wraiths and thus unable to do so), his cloack began researching sooner. He also put down an Academy for Comsat Stations as well as an Engineering Bay for Turrets. However, now Tossgirl`s wraiths arrived and started attacking and kiling the SCV`s building the Engineering Bay. BoxeR`s Wraith came into play and, using Cloak, managed to hit one of TossGirl`s wraiths enough that they essentially ended up trading Wraiths when TossGirl used her scan. Another Wraith came to help, but Boxer also produced another Wraith and the earlier Cloak and no energy for scans allowed it to kill both of the opponent`s Wraiths.

Feeling safe for the time being, BoxeR began building a Command Center for his expansion as well as further tech against Wraiths. Having chosen an agressive build, TossGirl was preety much commited to it and she produced three Wraiths and Cloak for another attack. This time, she aimed for BoxeR`s own Three Wraiths in hopes of keeping a numerical advantage. However, her scanning was off and a counter-attack from the Emperor`s Wraiths costed her two additional Wraiths. With BoxeR`s expansion now up, the economic advantage was increasingly with BoxeR. To further his advantage, BoxeR used his cloaked Wraiths to sneak into TossGirl`s base and destroy her new Wraiths. By the end of the fight, both players had only one Wratih remaining, which favoured BoxeR.

TossGirl established her own natural, but it was too late. Boxer then decided to psuh into TossGirl with his superior number of ground forces. After another suprise attack, BoceR`s Wraiths managed to clear the skyy. Combined, they destroyed the remaining defenders. and began pounding away at TossGirl`s natursl. After reinforcements arrived, the Dark Prince cleared TossGirl`s reinforcements and started killing her SCV`s. Knowing she could not defend it, TossGirl offered her surrender.



Savior started in the 5 o`clock position while Nal_rA started in the 11 o`clock. Savior opened with a 9 pool, while Nal_rA proceeded with a standard Forge Fast Expand. In spite of scouting it, Nal_rA only built one cannon to defend his expansion. Although this might have been enough, Savior was able to find a blind spot in his defence and attack the Nexus unopposed. This forced the Protoss player to place one more cannon as well as send Probes to help defend. By the time he retreated, the Nexus had suffered significant damage. By delaying the mining at the natural, Savior felt comfortable transitioning into a 3 hatchery build and upgrading to Lair tech.

Savior sent Zerglings for some more harassement and discovered another blind spot in the defence, this time the Assimilator not being protected. Nal_rA sent one Zealot to defend, but he was unable to prevent the Assimilator from falling. Since the Dreamer Protoss was going fast tech for a Corsair/Dark Templar build, the loss of his second gas hurt his build immensely. For this reason, Savior already had Den and Spire tech by the time the first Corsair showed up. Although trying to kill an Overlord, the Corsair was eventually forced back by a pair of Scourge. Dark Templar appeared on the field, but Savior was ready for them with Overlords at strategic locations and a good building placement. Thanks to this, he was able to take his 7 o`clock unchallenged.

With his economy booming, Savior assembled a large force of Zerglings and Hydralisks. He moved them to Nal_rA`s natural, where they continued to patrol until they were forced away by Psi Storms. This allowed the Dreamer to establish his expansion at the 2 o`clock. However, Savior had no plans of going easy. Using a moment of negligence from Nal_rA, he was able to kill several High Templar in Nal_rA`s natural before he retreated. This put him in an increasingly excellent position as he brough Lurkers, Mutalisks and more Zerglings into the mix. Finally, he was ready for a big assault and the Maestro of Zerg attacked the 2 o`clock while he sniped High Templar with his Mutalisks.

The initial attack failed and Savior was forced to retreat. However, he further reinforced his attack force with masses of Hydralisks. Wanting to deliver a finishing blow, Savior gathered all his forces and attacked the 2 o`clock again. As he was heavily outnumbered and without Storm support, Nal_rA`s defences melted in a matter of seconds. As the 2 o`clock fell, the Dreamer realised his horrible nightmare and decided to end it by admitting defeat.



Group A Wins/Losses

BoxeR 3/0
YellOw 2/1
TossGirl 1/2
Anytime 1/2
Reach 1/3

Group B Wins/Losses

Nada 2/0
Savior 2/0
Nal_rA 1/2
Kingdom 0/3

With Day 4 over, it has become clear who will advance or at least who is most likely to advance to the semi-finals. Due to their respective losses to Anytime and sAviOr, both Reach and Nal_rA have confirmed their early departure from the event. This makes them the second and third Protoss to do so. Combined with Anytime`s precarious position and it seems very likely that none of the old guards of Aiur will get to go forward in the event.

However, at least as far as Group A is concerned, the second place position is still in the air. Although
Yellow currently occupies the spot quite comfortably, that could change if he losses to his old arch-nemesis BoxeR. In such a case, that would put him at even score with the winner of the Anytime vs. TossGirl match, forcing a tiebreaker match. So even though things seem quite set, we could still see a last minute upset in the Group A rankings.

However, the last remaining match of Group B, Savior vs. Nada, is not without interest as well. With both of them overrunning Nal_rA and Kingdom in a clean fashion, they both share the even score of 2-0. Not only will the last game determine who takes the first place in the group, it will also determine who they will be paired against for the semi-finals.



Out of all the players involved in the event, Boxer and Yellow have a long history between one another. Although they started off as teammates on the progaming team Ideal Space, the path of the two diverged and the two have been rivals in what became known as the Lim Jin War. Infact, at least in a symbolic manner, it was their rivalry that marked their future paths. While Boxer proceeded to claim 2 OSL and 1 MSL title and become the most well-known and cherrished Starcraft progamer in history, Yellow became it`s most tragic figure by never winning a single major title (although he did win some minor events). The Day 5 of the Heritage League also brings with it one of their last matches in that history. Although the war has already been won (20-12 win ratio for Boxer), it is still unclear who will prevail in this battle. After almost 1500 days, the two meet again in what could very well be their last televised match before the curtain of Brood War falls.

However, Yellow enters the match against his arch-nemesis at a clear disadvantage. While BoxeR is determined to defeat Yellow in spite of the fact he has nothing to lose at this point, Yellow`s presence in the league will greatly depend whether or not he manages to defeat the Terran Emperor. The fact that Nostalgia has a slight disadvantage towards Zerg (TvZ: 54%) is another thing that does not bode well for the Storm Zerg.



Although the two have only met once a long time ago (although the TLPD has no information on it), their match will be an important point of the group stages. If Yellow loses his match, the winner of this match will end up in a tiebreaker and thus have a second chance to progress while the loser will go home. As such, both of them will be determined to take this game as their absolutely final resort. Since both showed a solid PvT/TvP performance, a well-played match is almost guaruanteed.

However, TossGirl still has a slight advantage. Not only did she actually win her TvP match, she also did it on Python. The slightly Terran imbalanced map also serves as the battleground in this match, forcing Anytime to struggle a bit harder.



With both of these players being Bonjwas during their prime, it comes as no wonder that they have encountered each other several times and have even taken titles off one another. Although the relationship between them was never really a rivalry, they still contested for various titles as historical champions. Even though both players are currently in a very bad shape, they are still the biggest favourites to win the Heritage League. With both of them currently being 2-0, it is understandable why.

However, there are two more factors to consider. On one hand, Neo Medusa is favourable towards Terrans (TvZ: 60,9%). However, on the other, Savior`s play against Kingdom and Nal_rA was far more dominant then NaDa`s where the matches were a lot more even. As such, noone really knows what to expect as we enter the mini-finals of Group B.

Stay tuned as we continue our coverage of the StarCraft Heritage League.

Source: TeamLiquid Progaming Database
The Storm Zerg by pubbanana
Liquipedia

Another fine job Tom Phoenix. You once again you have done a fine job summing up the matches. Looking forward to the Boxer Yellow match. GO BOXER

Awesome stuff
Boxer FTW