Starcraft AI blog

I may not have updated Steamhammer in 2022, but I am still following SSCAIT. I’m watching a lot of the games, and especially all Steamhammer games.

Krasi0 is participating, after sitting out recent tournaments. It has been missed.

I expect the top to be fought between Krasi0, Stardust, and BananaBrain. Krasi0 is the favorite to win the round robin phase. Monster has slipped a little as a few opponents have learned how to deal with it. PurpleWave put on a clinic for how to beat Monster as protoss, and so did Krasi0 as terran. Both won with one-base timing attacks at an early point when Monster’s build was weak. Monster needed better understanding of the opponent’s build to adapt. (Monster’s ZvZ build and adaptation are different, so zerg can’t simply copy the timing.)

PurpleWave is following its pattern of excellent preparation against key opponents it will face in the elimination phase, along with stray losses to weaker opponents. Will it be good enough to win the elimination phase and be the overall winner?

So far Steamhammer has been holding a position at the bottom of the top 16, with only slight wobbles. But the tournament is young. I expect it to finish about the same as last year. Only its top opponents have improved much, and they are all ranked higher anyway! And Steamhammer’s learning tends to make it robust against moderate updates to its opponents, at least once it has had time to adjust. But then, I have been over-optimistic in the past.