A Beautiful Game: Scarlett vs Innovation Game 1

           Well for you Starcraft folks out there, or for those curious about this weird space thing, then a big tournament has just ended. Dream Hack’s Summer season has come to an end with the Master’s Cup, and the finals ended 4-3 in favor of Reynor, an Italian Zerg beating out Maru, the Korean Terran. But I don't really want to talk about that, mainly because as a final series that game will be talked to death, and also well, I think someone like Winter can cover it much better than I could. Instead I want to one, give a primer on Starcraft for those who don’t know much about Starcraft and also just talk about one of the most beautiful games of Starcraft I have seen, Game 1 of the Round of 8 series Scarlett v. Innovation. 

Let’s start by looking at this map, Blackburn. 

I want to start with some really basic map info. Skip this paragraph if you know about the basics of SC. So, the goal for each player here is to gather the two resources, minerals and gas, and build a force capable of murdering the crap out of your opponent. Each blue arch shows a resource location, called a base. The spawn bases, red for Scarlett and blue for Innovation, are called the mains. By custom, the main is on high ground and there is a base right next to that main base called a natural expansion or a natural. Further expansions are numbered. In addition, Scarlett as Zerg has creep to worry about, which can be spread by the Zerg and gives them both vision and faster movement, and when Zerg armies are meant to surround and swarm that is key. On the mini map this is purple. 

This map in particular is pretty Terran leaning, and this is because Zerg does incredibly well when they get a base lead over their opponent. Zerg hatcheries give them the larva they need for units, give them the queens that are just, so vital in early defense, and give them a general income advantage. Play in general is also about denying opponent expansions and getting an income lead on your side until you are able to outproduce and overwhelm your opponent, especially when that opponent is a Terran that can use siege tanks to really dig in. However the layout on Blackburn makes it much easier to hold a half of the map as Terran. Why? 

Well, there are chokepoints protecting high value minerals to the North of the map, and high ground guarding the other chokes in, giving the defenders an inherent advantage over some of the only paths through the map. The pass to the south, the only other pass, is another chokepoint, one that gives Zerg a disadvantage in fighting. With this in mind, a really good play from Innovation can let him lock the whole right side of the map and keep Scarlett on equal bases to him in the worst case scenario. In theory anyway.

The game begins and neither player really tries anything out of the ordinary, opting for standard macro builds. Scarlett gets onto 3 bases by 2:30, Innovation reaper scouts. The Terran reaper is a fast moving unit that can also scale cliffs, making it perfect for scouting and light harassment, and it has become a basic part of any non-cheese terran build. The reaper returns home and Innovation moves into a position to go for Hellion harassment. This is again, very standard. Using a Factory with a reactor addon you send a handful of Hellions to try to do economic damage to the Zerg, stalling their economy and keeping them from pulling away. In the best case you can kill around 8 workers and really set the opponent back at this professional level. 

This is when momentum begins to switch. Scarlett sees 2 Hellions and a Reaper moving across the map and sets up a surround, Queens on the front to tank the initial damage, and two groups of Zerglings to swoop in and finish the group off, one swinging around and another hiding in the middle of the map off screen. The lings cut off the retreat and, with no kills, the two Hellions are basically wasted. 

Scarlett’s next move is to swing those same lings into Innovation’s natural, killing a handful of workers before he is able to stop the attack, while at the same time Innovation is moving a Medivac transport loaded with Hellions into her main. The Hellions sacrifice themselves to kill 8 Drones but with 5 SCVs dead the kills are bittersweet. 

Scarlett at this point has the momentum. Her infamous creep spread is already coming into the middle of the map, and her economy is getting into gear. Innovation emerges into the midgame on the backfoot, but he is certainly far from out at this stage. He begins to setup a Terran bio build, grabbing 2 engineering bays for upgrades and stim for the marines, a powerful ability that trades health for speed and damage. Siege Tanks and Medivacs start coming out to support, and this army can do damage against Scarlett’s lings. Scarlett is moving into Roaches at this point, a tier 1 unit that also morphs into Ravagers, providing a backbone that can hit Marines and destroy Tanks with corrosive biles, but can also be vulnerable to a critical mass. Roach-Rav also does get weaker over time, so remaining or being stuck on it for too long can easily tear away whatever lead she built up. 

Innovation goes for a Marine drop into Scarlett’s main, killing a Queen but with 8 more in the back, the damage done is far from enough. The Marines retreat, cleaning up some creep but that is easily replaced. At this point the base count is 4 for Scarlett and 3 for Inno. 

 

In addition Scarlett takes her high value mineral base as a 4th. This base is the one to the top of Scarlett’s line, and is giving her a really nice boost to her economy. Innovation, by contrast, is on three bases, which is a really good position for a Terran to be in at this point, and the Zerg ideal is to keep the Terran on two. He is also flying over to take his own gold mineral base, and on a 4-4 position that can be said to benefit Terran.  

Innovation attempts a 1-1 timing attack. Essentially, he is sending out his forces to attack Scarlett as the bio attack +1 and bio armor +1 upgrades finish. Since Scarlett’s units have neither, this gives Innovation a window where his units have better upgrades and can attempt to get some damage done. Scarlett stops mining from the 4th, saving the Drones, and her Queens begin to push the army of Innovation up to the top left of the map. The Queens finish off the Medivacs and Innovation’s forces are left to make a last stand just as armor and attack for the Roaches finish. 

The Marines move to the end of the map, just trying to separate some Roaches but at this point Innovation is behind in units, as shown by the supplies, essentially a mechanic that creates a unit cap. A max supply force is at 200 supply, though you can only get there by building supply structures, Supply Depots for the Terran and Overlords for the Zerg. Scarlett emerges with 190/200 supply, and Innovation emerges with 125/200 supply. In addition, Scarlett is ahead on workers and has managed to keep her 4th base alive for now. 

Seeing that Innovation’s timing attack failed, Scarlett attempts a counter attack betting that Innovation is in a weaker position. She attacks the south end of the map as Innovation sets up a gold base of his own. The attack is ultimately driven off and no full bases go down, but Innovation’s win there was ultimately pyrrhic. He lost 19 SCVs to try keeping the tanks repaired, cementing Scarlett’s economic advantage. Scarlett is able to rebuild most of her army as the attack is ongoing anyway. 

Scarlett techs up to Lurkers (An okay late game ground killer) and Hive (tier 3). Innovation is working on 2-2 upgrades, rebuilding Bio/Tank forces, and, most importantly, getting his gold base up and running. He attempts a small drop in the north while launching a minor attack in the south. Scarlett repels the northern drop with ease and, thanks to creep, is able to dash south. Innovation tries to shift the army to the main with medivacs, but he runs into a wall of anti-air Spore Crawlers. They chip away at the health of the transports while the army repositions to catch it. 

Innovation then loads everything up into the Medivacs and tries flying north, but waiting for them is a gauntlet of Queens. After the Spores took them into low health they stood no chance. The loaded Medivacs die, taking the Terran task force with them, and all Innovation got out of this task force was a handful of Roach kills. 

While this is happening, Scarlett is putting pressure on Inno’s 4th, teching up to 3-3, and grabbing herself some Vipers, late game spellcasters that can yoink units to it, reduce enemy attack ranges, and deal decent damage to single units. 

 

Just over 11 minutes into the game Scarlett has control. Nothing Inno is doing is working, and Scarlett has begun putting the pressure onto him. Roaches are poking at his 3rd and 4th. Tech is on the way for Scarlett, about to give her an upgrade advantage. The SCVs mining at the 4th can literally see her creep. Scarlett is essentially in complete control of the whole situation here. 

Innovation uses some minor pushes to try to contain the creep spread, but Queens are able to immediately replant the Creep Tumors that spread it. Lurkers and Vipers are now arriving on the frontlines of Scarlett, and this is where her already wonderful control is truly beginning to shine. 

At the 4th, Vipers pull siege tanks right into the blinding clouds and lurkers. She then pulls Siege Tanks in their weaker, mobile position right into her army as they try to siege up. Marines are pushed back by the Lurkers without tank support, and the Lurkers deny mining at Innovation’s 4th. The Marines attempt another push that drives the army back, but the ranks of tanks have been thinned. 

Scarlett pushes the marines back from the center and has been able to stay maxed out at 200 supply. Innovation is down to about 160 supply. She is still able to deny the 4th of Innovation and then makes the final tech choice of the game, the tech up to Brood Lords, a late game flyer that spawns Broodlings as long as it survives. The Vipers are on point yanking tanks, and Scarlett still has a strong map control. Innovation is mining on around 2 bases, with Scarlett mining around 4 including her gold base. 

Innovation tries another push in the south to deny the bottom base, but Roach-Ravager repels the attack. At the same time an attack is hitting Inno’s 4th, killing 14 SCVs. More Lurker harassment kills another 13, only at the cost of 4 more Lurkers at the hands of Ghosts made to counter the Vipers. Siege tanks are constantly yanked and Marines are melting in this final game ending push from Scarlett. She pushes up the ramp to Inno’s natural and Inno drops the GG. Victory for the Queen of Blades.

This was some of the best control of a Zerg army I have personally seen. Every attempt of Innovation to wrestle some control was murdered before any real damage was done. Creep flooded into the center of the map and never looked back. Scarlett was able to deny Innovation from fully developing his half of the map, getting way more value from her gold base than Inno got from his. With beautiful Viper control solidifying the ending, Innovation was soundly beaten in this first game. While Scarlett ultimately lost the series against Inno 3-2, this was hands down close to Zerg perfection. It was honestly beautiful.