Medusa
From Liquipedia StarCraft Brood War Wiki
This article refers to the map made in 2008. For the map with the same name made by Blizzard, see Medusa (Blizzard Map)
Medusa
Map Information
Creator:
Tileset:
Twilight
Size:
128x128
Spawn Positions:
3 at 11,3,7
Versions:
Competition Span:
Aug 2008 – Currently in Use
Leagues Featured:
*KSL3
Description[edit]
Medusa debuted during the fall 2008 season, and was put to immediate use in the 2008 Incruit OSL, the 2008 Club Day Online MSL, the 2008 Shinhan Bank Proleague, and the 2008/09 GOMTV Averatec-Intel Classic Season 2. The map offers many possibilities for Dropship play, and in this regard is positionally imbalanced. More importantly, each main has a back door blocked by stacked destructible neutral building. This feature is an interesting twist and has led to some very creative plays on Medusa.
The original map was very difficult for Terran against Protoss; though the statistics do not appear terribly imbalanced at first glance (39-18 in favor of Protoss), they become much more damning once you realize that Flash went 7-1 against Protoss on the map, without which the statistics reduce to a dismal 38-11.
Some call this map "Taekdusa", because of Bisu's impressive performance[1] on it. He lost both games to Flash on this map though thus Flash having a better statistic.[2]
Notable Features[edit]
- Neutral buildings - The ramp between each mineral-only and the center of the map is blocked off by ten neutral buildings (Protoss Temples) that are stacked. The ten-deep stack forces players to tech to units that do splash damage to break through in a reasonable amount of time.
- Easily reached mineral only - There is an easily reachable mineral only expansion immediately behind the main minerals at each starting location.
- Rampless choke - The main is on the same level as the natural, and the choke is larger than a ramp would be. This can make early game harassment more effective.
- Stacked Mineral Blocks - The stacked mineral patches (0 minerals each) at the base of each neutral building stack allow for glitching of units up the ramps - whether for scouting or harass. For example, players may sneak a probe through to cannon the main mineral line or glitch units like vultures through to harass workers in the main.
Map Version Changes[edit]
- Unbuildable Center - The center was unbuildable in the original version, but was changed to buildable on Neo Medusa to address the maps P>T imbalance. This was also changed again, covering the center in unbuildable pockmark crags to prevent the building of off-Hatcheries, while still allowing the construction of Missile Turrets.
- 7 o'clock Gas Geyser - This geyser was moved away from the backdoor cliff and towards the ramp. This corrected the minor positional imbalance that allowed Terran players to destroy the gas building with tanks from the cliff above.
Strong Build Orders[edit]
Protoss vs. Protoss[edit]
Protoss vs. Terran[edit]
- 10/15 Dragoon Rush - Due to the un-wallable main's in this map, using Dragoons with Range are very powerful. If executed properly it can win the game, or at the least make a strong contain, while allowing you to expand. No hard counters exist, only soft ones (like Fake Double, Siege Expand, and possibly 2 Fac, which makes this build a very safe opening on Medusa if you have sufficient Dragoon micro and expand properly.
- 12 Nexus - The mineral only expansion behind your main is impossible for the Terran to rush because of the high ground leading to it and due to the distance between bases. Considering that the safest build for the Terran is a Siege Expand, because of the possibility of a 10/15 Dragoon Rush this makes the 12 Nexus a very dangerous build on this map. Countered by early rushes such as (but not limited to) Bunker Rushes or BBS.
Terran vs. Protoss[edit]
- Siege Expand - The mineral only expansion behind your main allows for your to easily get 3 bases off with as little as 1 Factory producing units. One of the most common builds on this map, and one of the strongest TvP builds for this map. Countered by early Dark Templar aggression.
- 2 Factory Vulture/Mine Combo - Due to the current way the game is played trend of 10/15 Dragoon Rushing, and 12 Nexus on this map, 2 Factory play becomes very strong. The early mines can stop Dragoons if they are not mine dragging quite easily, and can also be used as an early rush if the Protoss decides to 12 Nexus as they will not have enough defenses to counter the Vulture harass that 2 Factory play offers. Countered by 1 Gateway Reaver or a 10/15 Dragoon Rush that uses the Dragoons for defense instead of offense (very uncommon).
Trivia[edit]
- Electric Circuit which debuted during Proleague 2011 is a 4 player version of Medusa, having copied all of its distinguishing features.
Protoss FE Wall-Ins[edit]
Terran Wall-Ins[edit]
Main[edit]
Natural[edit]
Natural - ling-tight[edit]
Map Version Images[edit]
Medusa 1.0
Neo Medusa 2.2
Buildable Area[edit]
Medusa 1.0
Neo Medusa 2.1
Neo Medusa 2.2
Notable Games[edit]
| |
  Much |
2008 Incruit OnGameNet Starleague | |
 July | |||
| Date: 2008-09-24 | |||
| Medusa | Patch: 1.15.3 | VOD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| |
DaezanG |
2008-2009 Shinhan Bank Proleague Round 4 A notable match in Really's career. |
|
 Really | |||
| Date: 2009-05-03 | |||
| Medusa | Patch: 1.16.1 | VOD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| |
FlaSh |
2008-2009 Shinhan Bank Proleague Round 5 |
|
| Leta | |||
| Date: 2009-06-06 | |||
| Medusa | Patch: 1.16.1 | VOD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| |
Mini |
Korea StarCraft League Season 3 Ro16 Group C Elimination Match One of the most insane BW games. |
|
| fOrGG | |||
| Date: 2019-05-09 | |||
| Medusa | Patch: 1.22.4 | VOD | |
|---|---|---|---|
Recent Games[edit]
This automatically generated table shows the 10 most recent games with VODs and can be modified here.
| Date | Time | Tournament | Opponent | Vs. Opponent | VOD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-06-19 | 10:00 UTC | Ajae League Season 2 | Stork | Jangbi |  |
| 2017-06-14 | 10:00 UTC | Ajae League Season 2 | Ginyuda | Nal_rA | |
| 2017-06-12 | 10:00 UTC | Ajae League Season 2 | Stork | Rock | |
| 2017-05-25 | 10:00 UTC | SSL Classic Season 1 | free | Soulkey | |
| 2017-05-20 | 11:30 UTC | Thrill Starleague Season 2 | Mind | Last | |
| 2017-05-20 | 11:30 UTC | Thrill Starleague Season 2 | Mind | Last | |
| 2017-05-04 | 10:00 UTC | SSL Classic Season 1 | free | Rain | |
| 2017-04-27 | 10:00 UTC | SSL Classic Season 1 | Rain | Soulkey | |
| 2017-04-27 | 10:00 UTC | SSL Classic Season 1 | Light | Mind | |
| 2017-04-20 | 10:00 UTC | SSL Classic Season 1 | sSak | EffOrt | |
Statistics[edit]
| vs. | vs. | vs. | Mirrors | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Map | # | Σ | | | % | Σ | | | % | Σ | | | % | | | |
| Medusa | 703 | 155 | 77 | 78 | 49.7% | 178 | 97 | 81 | 54.5% | 164 | 92 | 72 | 56.1% | 89 | 52 | 65 |