A number of people have registered for the league that starts tomorrow. Why haven’t you?

It should be noted that Psyko is the current WCG Kenya Starcraft champion. Will the competition be able to match up to him? And what happened to last year’s champion? he has not even showed up…..

Looking forward to some good games over the weekend. See you there!

This is going to be the Starcraft map that will be used in at least the first round matches of the upcoming Starcraft tournament.

“Heartbreak Ridge was introduced in the fourth round of the 2008-09 ShinHan Bank Proleague season as one of four new maps for the round, and modified for the second round of the 2009-10 Shinhan Bank Proleague season. The third can be somewhat difficult to take as the walking distance is rather far, but the backdoor route into the third makes this a less drastic effect than it would otherwise be. Taking a fourth is a bigger problem, as the options for a fourth gas are directly above your opponent’s base, in the center, or along a direct line from your opponent’s natural. Map control is extremely important to securing resources on this map. Counters are relatively common, with a more mobile army counterattacking into the natural instead of directly engaging a less mobile army pushing along the other path.

Notable Features

• Neutral Buildings – There are 7 stacked neutral temples blocking off the cliff overlooking each natural.
• Blocking Minerals – Along with the neutral temples there is a stack of 20 minerals (worth 0) that can be mined out to allow access to the cliff overlooking your opponent’s natural or can be used to gain a back route into your own third expansion. It is important to mine these minerals out when you take your third so that your workers can flee into your main more safely. It is also important to keep an eye on them (often a pylon or supply depot on the “inside”) before you take your third to avoid surprise runbys.
• Ridges – The many ridges in the middle of the map (giving the map its name) give the advantage to the defender and allow them to pull back several times to each ridge in a delaying action if necessary. This means that Terran pushes and contains in TvT and TvP and Zerg pushes and contains in ZvT can be hard to fight back, due to the power of siege tanks and lurkers on these high grounds.
• High ground behind natural – There is a high ground behind the natural expansion. The main can also be shot from the high ground, so it’s something to keep in mind when creating buildings, especially when playing against Terran. This is also a common location for cannon rushes and ling runbys, though the latter requires mining out the minerals by the third.
• Pylon on the ridge – Near both start locations there are thin ridges (to the left of 4, to the right of 10) on which there is a 2×2 flat surface that allows building a Pylon. The Pylon’s Psi-Matrix radius allows building a Gateway inside the main base, shortening the notice-time of the Proxy significantly. While the right side only allows for one Gateway to be built, the left allows for a maximum of three.”

The above information is courtesy of Team Liquid. You can find more information about the map, including specific strategies, here.

Notable Games