Yesterday the ESPORTSM finals in StarCraft were played. Team Property’s Zanster faced off against SortOf in a zerg vs zerg best of five.

The first map was Echo LE. Zanster opened with a hatchery first into spawning pool, and SortOf did the opposite. It was an even opening, but SortOf managed to scout more than Zanster, giving him a small advantage quite early.
After some close roach battles, SortOf decided to switch up to hydralisks instead. Since he then had better tech than Zanster, who only had roaches and zerglings, SortOf managed to win a fight mid-map, push, and then win.

The second map was Coda LE. They did the reversed openings this map, so Zanster did a spawning pool into hatchery this time. Both then proceeded to get zergling speed and banelings, but SortOf then switched into roaches.
This was Zanster’s plan as well, but since he transitioned slower SortOf had the advantage. SortOf could then attack Zanster, and end the game. Zanster was now down 0-2, and had to win three games in a row to defend his title.

The third map was Vaani Research Station. From the beginning it was a very tense game, since Zanster was up against the ropes. Both opened with hatcheries first, and then gas into speedlings. SortOf scouted Zanster and saw that he was upgrading the speed, but Zanster then cancelled the upgrade to throw SortOf off.
Zanster then switched into roaches much earlier than SortOf, and got better ranged attack and carapace upgrades. Zanster also managed to scout out that SortOf was trying to switch into infestors, meaning that SortOf didn’t have many units out. Zanster took this opportunity to attack, winning him the game.

The fourth map was Expedition Lost LE. This time they did the same openers as well, starting with spawning pools. Both expanded at the same time, but Zanster took an earlier gas, which SortOf scouted. But Zanster was once more on top of the mindgame, and put drones back into the extractor, so SortOf didn’t know how early Zanster actually took his gas.
Zanster then sent his zerglings to attack. It wasn’t a super successful attack, as SortOf had made a wall-off, but Zanster managed to kill two queens, which are really important in the early game. They both then switched into roaches, but Zanster took a third base, and with a better economy he could make more roaches. SortOf then tried to attack both the second and the third bases, but Zanster defended easily and won the game.

The score was now 2-2. The fifth and last map was Cactus Valley LE. On this map, SortOf decided to try a very early zergling attack. Luckily, Zanster made a spawning pool before expanding, since he figured that if SortOf was going to try something weird it would be on this map.
After doing a great hold against SortOf’s early zerglings, Zanster started to properly get an army of his own, whilst also getting an economic lead. Then came an almost 15 minutes long battle between the zerglings and banelings of both players, displaying both players skill in microing their units. SortOf was the one attacking, and Zanster defending. Zanster did an amazing job, and also managed to switch into roaches, and could then win the final game.

So after a very close series, Zanster managed to protect his title, something which has never happened in ESPORTSM history!

Written by Linn Jutemark