This huge, symmetric island map features corner starts with low-ground naturals, five small island expansions, two larger islands (top and bottom center), and an x-shaped pod of four, land-connected expansions in the center of the map. What you’ll probably notice the first time you play this map though is the size of the ocean.

Balance/Terrain:

The map plays fair. The start positions are uniformly large and rich (though lower left is a bit smaller than the others) and the distances between the bases are comparable. The lower left start does seem to be markedly closer to its natural expansion than any other the others, but considering the size of the map, it’s really not that big of a deal. The vastness of the ocean may make you forget that this map was created with the Ice tileset. The narrow patches of snow at the cliff edges, the wandering ursadons and the frozen sea around the center island are some of the only reminders.

Gameplay:

You start with ten rocks and a geyser at your main and another eight rocks and geyser at your natural so there’s no huge rush to expand. Most games will take awhile to finish up on this map whether you’re playing 1v1, 2v2 or FFA. Plan on playing for around 45 minutes if you choose this map for a 1v1. With a little static defense and a smattering of ground troops you should be able to make a full climb up the tech tree. The early game consists mostly of harassment and recon probes. The mid-game will see all manner of air units and transports flying about the map, working containments and searching for expansions. The late game is when the fleets come out in force.

Strats/Tips:

Two words: Early air. Get that geyser cooking before you start worrying about ‘lings, ‘rines or z’lots. You’re going to need vespene in large quantities throughout the game so start collecting it early. The size of the map gives you additional protection against early drops and rushes, and the size also means that zerg players shouldn’t scout with their first overlord. By the time it gets anywhere worthwhile, your opponent will have units that will kill it before you see anything.

This map is a good one if you enjoy massing capitol ships. Once you have your start and natural mining nicely, you should only need the resources at one more expansion before you have the capability of throwing together a fully upgraded fleet and maintaining it for a while.

Keep your air units hotkeyed. It’s going to take them awhile to get to where you want them, and you don’t want to be wasting time trying to remember where you left them.

2v2 games demand aggressive play. An early double is hard to counter effectively because by the time an allied relief force arrives, most of the defender’s base should be in total ruins.

Defending expansions means a lot of troop movement during the course of the game. Terran players are at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to this since they don’t have access to the instantaneous transfer of either arbiters or nydus canals. Against terrans try to use this to your advantage by hitting hard when you go in to take down an expansion. You may want to consider making your first island expansion aggressively. If you expand near your opponent and fortify the island, you may have an easier time containing him and you’ll also have a nice staging area when you do finally attack his main.

Esthethics/Originality:

The map is a bit boring visually. Even though Scott scattered icebergs around the ocean, there’s a whole lot of blue. If this map was 128x 128 I probably wouldn’t like it as much as I do. The shear size of the watery expanses makes this map a challenge to play well on. There are several instances of pretty harsh lines of terrain around the central X. You can tell that there was more concern for the shape of the landmass than in trying to make it look natural. The small island in the center of the map is very rich, but there’s only room for one player to mine there. Still, it serves as a nice lure.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

Well, you get your full tech climbs in most games, you don’t have to be overly concerned with a rush, and you have a lot of territory to play with. The games are interesting and are heavily dependent on air power and scouting. The map does have a lot of dead space, but that’s also what makes it interesting. Fleets can pass each other on their way to the attack and it becomes a race to see who can destroy the other player first.

-Dhavok