Monday, May 30, 2011

Every Protoss win feels like a huge accomplishment

But I have to admit I feel bad when I defeat a player who just leaves the game feeling frustrated.  Cross positions on Tal'darim....I thought about opening Forge first then Nexus...but I haven't had any experience with that so I decided to just stay with my Gateways.  It ended up working out for me.

A lot of the Gold Level Terrans I face against seem to have this bully mentality.  They build around 30 SCVs for their one base, build a quick strong group of Marauders and Marines with early upgrades and hit you hard.

They understand that they need to expand to Macro into later in the game, should their push fail, so when their Combat Shield and Concussive Shell and Stim are done and they're moving out, they're also building an expansion Command Center.

But they never really build any more SCVs.  It boggles me.

Anyway, once you defend that first push you've got a good advantage.  Keep macro'ing up and defend the second push and you've pretty much won the game.  At least, that's been my experience.

+ 26 Points, Silver League Division Rank 6, Remaining Bonus Pool 172

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/3649

Sunday, May 29, 2011

You win some you lose some...I guess?

Had a hard time finding a win this morning.

First game was a TvT, we both were Random, close positions on Metalopolis.  I scouted him him out and he was going one Barracks Refinery so I figured Hellion or Banshee play.  I pushed a little with Marines and he had a few but not a huge number, I figured a second Barracks in the back.

Nope.  He'd cancelled his Refinery and gone 6 Rax.  I lost to a huge swell of Marines shortly thereafter.

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/3440

Second game PvT...ugg.  I had a decent force and stopped his first push but he turtled up at home pretty good.  I expanded and then tried to expand again.  I thought I was doing a good job of getting Tech and Units up quickly but apparently I wasn't because he pushed again and just *crushed* me.  I hate playing Protoss, I'm so awful at it.

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/3441

Third game was a TvZ, close positions on Shattered Temple.  He scouted me super quick with a drone so I knew without checking we were in close positions and just kept my SCVs on the line and walled off incase of a 6-pool.  I know from experience that putting early pressure on a Zerg can totally screw their game so I tried to just keep hitting him with my Marine / Marauder force.  He made a lot of lings, threw down Spine Crawlers and brought his Queens to the front which pretty much stopped his larva production and what larva he did have turned to Zerglings so despite his 15 pool, I was able to retain an econ advantage.

He GG'd out at 15 minutes.  I was just putting too much pressure on him, he couldn't keep his fragile Lings / Banelings alive, I wouldn't fight him on creep and he wasn't making drones.

+ 30 Points, Silver League Division Rank 8, Remaining Bonus Pool 182

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/3442

Thursday, May 26, 2011

It is nice when I get to win a ZvZ

So since my total ZvZ meltdown a few weeks ago I've been working on reworking my approach to the matchup.

I'm trying to get some scouting in early to see if he's going Pool or Hatch first.  If I can't scout in time, or if he's going Pool first, then I go 15 pool (or earlier, you know, if he 6 pools or something).  If he expands then obviously I have time to expand first or soon after my pool if I've already placed it.

Then I get Zergling Speed up right away and make 6-8 Speedlings to put the pressure on and see what he does.  As I can I get a second Queen up and a Baneling Nest plus Roach Warren.  It feels like overkill on the tech, but I like the idea of being able to switch my tech between Banelings and Roaches as I need to in those early stages.

Today he went fast Roaches, putting that Warren down as soon as he saw I was going early Speedlings. As soon as he had a few Roaches he attacked, but I defended pretty easily when the Spine Crawlers I put down when I saw it coming.

Little did I know at the time, but from that point on the game was mine.  Once he started making Roaches he kinda stopped doing anything else.  He got some upgrades, namely just +1, but he didn't seem to have much of a plan for winning the game besides 4 early Roaches off 1 base 1 gas.  Because he wasn't doing anything I went ahead and expanded, got my Lair up and went Mutalisks along with my upgraded Roaches.

Another odd thing was he kept trying to send in Overlords and eventually an Overseer into my base to scout.  I had Overlords everywhere though...he had to know since he couldn't get in my base without passing them all...so knowing they were coming I was able to position my Queens and pick them off one after another after another.  I supply capped him a few times this way.

Eventually I just wore him down.  He spotted the Mutalisks as they were getting up to a good number, so I took that as my cue to attack.  I shut down his first expand pretty quick and harassed his Overlords until I forced him to try to counter.  Once that was cleaned up I parked my army in his base until he GG'd out.

+ 26 Points, Silver League Division Rank 7, Remaining Bonus Pool 164

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/3067

Monday, May 23, 2011

Back in the top 8!

Woooo

TvZ on Metalopolis, cross positions.  He opened with some Zerg agression and then quickly built up a strong Roach army and transitioned into heavy Mutalisk harass.

And I still won.

I did a straight up heavy Barracks play.  I like my Barracks units.  1 Factory and 1 Starport to support, constant (or as constant as I can remember) upgrades from the Engineering Bay and Armory.  Concussive Shell first once I get a second Barracks up, and Combat Shield then Stim.  It takes so long now that I'd just rather have the extra HPs on the Marines first.

His supply was actually ahead of me for most of the game.  I tried pushing on his base a few times.  Got crushed every time so instead I just did what Terrans do best, turtled and built.

He took his third when he pushed out with his Mutalisks.  He also shut down my Second as I flubbed the defense against those mutas so it worked well for him.  I was certain that the game was over at that point.  Except he didn't micro them exceptionally well and I was eventually able to kill them all, destroy the whole force, which gave me time while he rebuilt that muta force to reexpand to my natural and rebuild my Marines with some extra Thor / Viking help.

He got greedy and took a fourth, but never really attacked.  He had a huge army of Roaches, 160 supply to 100 but he just was sitting on them, letting me turtle and upgrade.  He finally moved them out, but his timing sucked - he hit me just as the PF was finishing at my third and while I lost my whole army he pretty much lost his and was forced to retreat the rest of his Roaches.

He tried to attack again with his roaches, but he underestimated the strength of stimmed Marine Marauder Medivac with 2/3 upgrades so despite his 196 to 131 supply advantage, I crushed the attack and took the opportunity to secure my 4th (Gold) and 5th.  He took his Gold at the same point and started his tech to Broodlords, but I just parked Siege Tanks on the towers, destroyed his workers and forced his army to come to me.  When I won that fight, he GG'd out.

+ 26 Points, Silver League Division Rank 7, Remaining Bonus Pool 138

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/2586

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Sunday Mornings!

No easier than Saturdays.

TvP, got my ass handed to me.  He just rolled me good.

I'm not sure what I could have or should have done better.  I had left over Money so I know I wasn't macroing as well as I could have...I just....I couldn't do more.  Physically...I couldn't get more accomplished than I was it felt like.

I did some early harass with Marine / Marauder and widdled down his early Gateway force.  I followed that up with simultaneous drops on his supply lines...not realizing he had a third up and running.  Finally he just came in and killed me.  I downed the Collosus but there were so many Stalkers and Archons that my units got rolled.

I had over 2k/1k in the bank so clearly I macro'd piss poor.  I just felt like I was so busy getting my third up, producing, dropping, scouting, upgrading that I was maxed.  I guess that's a problem.

Lesson Learned - I can't do enough?  I don't know.  I'm having such a problem with any and every Protoss matchup.  PvT, PvZ and PvP - from both sides!

- 11 Points, Silver League Division Rank 13, Remaining Bonus Pool 197

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/2366

Saturday, May 21, 2011

"Early" on a Saturday morning

I'm always curious what kind of competition I'll find on the Ladder at 8 AM on a Saturday.  I got my ass handed to me.

ZvP on Xel'Naga...he went heavy Gateway early and I kinda went for a Roach / Hydra mix.  Unfortunately he brought along Observers so my Roaches had trouble getting to the couple of Collosus.  The second push he made went a lot better for him because he tripled his Collosus count and I didn't have my Corruptors out yet.  Then it was over, I just couldn't produce enough and his Collosus with a few Stalkers were basically unstoppable.

Lesson Learned - I seriously underestimate how many Collosus (last night it was Carriers and Void Rays) a Protoss can churn out on 2 Base.  Also if you see him going Collosus get those Corruptors out sooner.

- 9 Points, Silver League Division Rank 14, Remaining Bonus Pool 225

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/2210

Friday, May 20, 2011

Macro!

My 3 barracks TvT opening continues to treat me very well.

I opened and put some pressure on my opponent, pinning him back for a few.  He did a good job of pushing me out and back to my base, but built too many Marauders which just aren't that strong against Marines, so I defended easily and pushed him back, taking the Center towers.

I also used that time to get my second Command Center up so I expanded as soon as I defended his push.  I also kept making SCVs which he didn't, so by the time that second CC was landed at my Natural I had 6 more SCVs and by the time both our OCs were up at our expansions, 7 Barracks to his 4.

At that point it was a waiting game.  I expanded to my 3rd as he made his second push, but my position and composition (aka Marine to Marauder count) were both better.  So he turtled up at his Natural while I took my 4th and made Battlecruisers.  At the time he took his 3rd and I took my 4th I had 71 SCVs to his 40, my economy was dwarfing his and he just couldn't catch up in Supply or Tech.

+ 30 Points, Silver League Division Rank 12, Remaining Bonus Pool 232

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/2140

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Solo Hot Streak 5!

Gaah, finally.  I know that the Ladder's supposed to put you against even opponents so you're, in theory, looking at a 50% win rate.  But I've had plenty of losing streaks for 5+ games, I figured I was eventually due for a winning streak of 5 games.

After winning a TvT on Slag Pits (put early pressure on to keep him from expanding, then contained him to his base and natural while I took the rest of the map) I was ready to call it quits for the evening when I noticed I'd won my last 4 in a row.

Well clearly if I was on a hot streak I couldn't just quit now.

5th game was a ZvP on Metalopolis, cross positions.  I scouted close by air first for fear of early Void Ray / Phoenix harass but he wasn't there, so I opened 14 gas/pool to be safe until I scouted the cross positions, at which point I immediately threw down a second hatch and tried to macro for all my little silver league fingers could manage.

I had good warning for his first attack, he stopped to clear my Zerglings off both towers so I had a few Spine Crawlers and Roaches up and ready.  It wasn't too much, just some Stalkers and Zealots, his Sentries stayed home for Defense.

The second attack I had some warning of as well because I was pushing out and ran into it.  He tried to hit my natural from two angles but I held my D tight close to the Hatch and fended it off pretty easily.

After clearing his Pylons out from around the ramp he didn't move out.  I figured he was tech'ing and expanding (had already expanded to his natural, as it turned out) so I took my third and worked on getting my Hive up.

Turns out he wasn't tech'ing yet, just massing units so my third got quickly sacked but again, I held - meanwhile he took his 3rd (right under my overlord).  He was very agressive and hit me again, this time with a Colossus ball but my Hydras were up with Roaches to take the damage so I was able to deal with it, but 3rd was sacked again.

I felt like I had the game, I was winning every fight more efficiently which is huge for ZvP, I just needed to starve him out so I sent a wave of Zerglings to kill the probes at his 3rd.  When he moved to defend I sent everything else out, my Roaches and Hydras hit the army that was defending the 3rd and my Zerglings hit the Natural, destroying all his mining and he GG'd.

+ 30 Points, Silver League Division Rank 14, Remaining Bonus Pool 236

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/1870

ZvT Day

I played an almost 50 minute ZvT today.  I played...not great.  Well enough to win, but not great.  I went for Mutas and he blind countered with mass mass mass Vikings.  And for some reason I thought "okay...I'll just get more Mutas".

I tried to break his front with Baneling / Speedling but his tanks killed everything.  After 3 waves of it I finally made a dent but I threw away probably 120 supply doing it.  Anyway I eventually won that game and then got this one..which was apparently a chance for redemption.

I did a 14 hatch gas opening.  He pushed on me with his first 4 or 5 Marines and did a decent amount of damage before I cleaned it up.  He pushed again with Hellions which I stopped but at the cost of building a lot of Lings.  He then pushed again with a pretty strong Tank Marauder force.  All the agression off one base (he didn't have time to build all that and expand) told me he probably didn't have anything protecting his home so while I tried to slow him with my Speedlings, I sent my 5 Mutalisks into his mineral line, destroyed all his SCVs mining, his Command Center and the next wave of troops he was producing.  GG

I really liked his agression though.  I need to be better at that..constantly putting pressure on the opponent.  Maybe not as Zerg, though I can harass a lot with Zerg, but as a general rule I should be attacking / harassing more.  Lesson for the day - be more agressive.

+ 28 Points, Silver League Division Rank 20, Remaining Bonus Pool 265

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/1862

Monday, May 16, 2011

Speak of the Devil

There's a ZvZ.  I have a one-base Roach opening that I really like.  Unfortunately it leaves me 100% exposed to fast Mutas, and I haven't found a way to tweak it to account for that because 3 Queens are not enough to hold off the Muta pressure, in my experience.

So after my last post I rewatched those ZvZs from last night again (the second game he did not 6-pool, btw) and queued up - bang, ZvZ.  Okay...let's try something more traditional.  Metalopolis, close by air...so I go for a 14 hatch pool opening with delayed gas.

He Roach rushes me.  I've already got the spawning pool started when I see his Warren go down so I throw out a few lings and send them to his ramp.  I wait to see the Roaches to put up the Spine Crawlers though.

It's not enough time.  5 or 6 Roaches come running down at my base from his base (reasonably long distances) and the Spine Crawlers can't finish in time.  My Queens and unfinished Crawlers are destroyed and I lose.

GRRRR.  At least it only lasted 6 minutes, I guess.

- 9 Points, Silver League Division Rank 21, Remaining Bonus Pool 282

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/1541

For some reason it's not showing both players on this manual upload.  I'm sure the file's fine, but the display only shows the 1 player.  Odd...I know I typed both in.  And you can't edit SC2Replayed.com manual replays.  Oh well, I'll probably re-upload them all properly once the site is fixed.

Defend Defend Defend....Push

I sometimes feel bad for Zergs I beat in TvZs because I know just how it feels to build what seems like a strong army and watch it splash, helplessly, against the turtled Terran again and again and again and then to just lose when he pushes back with a moderately sized but dangerously strong force.

My Zerg opponent went for a quick Roach Warren so I anticipated a fast rush.  It never game, but I had my Marauders up with Concussive Shell anyway.  I kept building out of 3 Rax, got a Factory up with Siege Mode and put down a second OC and finally he attacked twice.  I defended both pretty handily (not sure if I lost anything in the attacks except a few supply depots) and then retaliated to win.

He kinda divided up his tech too much.  Banelings and Roaches by 8 minutes feels like more money spent on tech than on units.  Not strictly speaking true, but it just has that feel to me.

I played a few ZvZs last night, lost both pretty badly.  The first one I lost to a quick Muta rush and then I Rage queued into the ladder and immediately hit the second one.  I need to rethink how I approach that matchup.  The first if I'd thought more about what I was scouting I would have realized Mutas were coming and could have been prepared a *little* faster, which was all I needed.  For the second, he went 6-pool into ling / baneling which screams of a muta follow-up and I neither scouted nor predicted it.

Actually to be fair to myself I did expect the Mutas, just not in the number he had at the speed he had.  I need to rewatch that replay.

+ 30 Points, Silver League Division Rank 21, Remaining Bonus Pool 282

Hopefully SC2 gets their replay submission fixed soon...

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/1529

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Lost another PvP

I guess I'm not too broken up about it.  He 4-gated me pretty hard.  He was also Platinum Leagued so hooray for match making setting up that game.  Guess there aren't a lot of Silver Leaguers playing early Sunday evenings?

Anyway I won two other games, including my 25th Terran 1v1 and my 50th Zerg 1v1 so not a totally lost day.

The Zerg was interesting..I scouted his base with some lings and saw he was making a lot of gateway units, so he pushed hard with some Zealots and Sentries and lots of Stalkers.  So I just prepared myself to defend.  He destroyed a lot of my units and kept up the pressure, but I was on two bases to his one (maybe he expanded after pushing out?  I'll have to check the replay) and my production was just better.  Eventually he tried to come in through some of my backdoor rocks.  I burrowed my Roaches there guessing he didn't have an Observer and he ran right over them, so I destroyed his army and he GG'd.

+ 32 Points, Silver League Division Rank 26, Remaining Bonus Pool 313

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/1348

YouTube: http://youtu.be/dv3XixT2hLo

Saturday, May 14, 2011

PvT Frustrations

I don't know why, but when I play Protoss against a Terran I just don't feel like I can keep up.  I can't get my expansion up I'm too busy spending all my minerals producing out of my gateways and when I finally do...I just can't catch up.  I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Is it the assumption that I should be catching up?  If he's being agressive and expansion heavy...what am I supposed to do?  Build Phoenixes and harass?  DTs and hope he doesn't have detection?  He's got this huge army parked outside my base waiting for..something and I feel like engaging it is a mistake.  Finally I've got some good ugprades and I go for it and I just get smashed, proving it was a mistake.

There's something about Protoss I just don't get.  Still.  I don't know how to figure it out either.  Playing Protoss is just such a frustrating experience for me.

Anyway, Shattered Temple..close positions...he had a good Bio Ball faster than me with heavy Medic support and just sat grouped up and expanded and expanded.  I tried to catch up and I couldn't.  I took a risk to snipe his Command Center and failed and he won.

Lesson Learned - I don't know.  I know I should have waited for Charge to Finish.  I thought that the moment I Blinked my Stalkers in.  So that was a mistake.  I should probably build better units for handling Terran bio too.  I'm just not comfortable with Templars or Colossus..I want to believe there's a way to beat Terran without them.  I just don't know what yet.

Also probably that my early expansion is super important against Terran.  I need to get more production sooner which may mean taking a bigger risk early.  I think that's the only way to get more Gateway units than him faster.  Or at least, comparable.

- 8 Points, Silver League Division Rank 35, Remaining Bonus Pool 346

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-video/1159

Friday, May 13, 2011

Hooray for winning streaks

Went 3-0 yesterday and I'm up 1-0 so far today.

Today's was a ZvP on Delta Quadrant.  He harassed me some with a probe, but mostly just scouted heavily so when my Overlord saw his cyber core just getting up when I had my lings pop and speed start (14 extractor / pool opening) I ran my lings in to harass his probes a bit.  He didn't really have anything except lots of probes.  They held it off but I guess I'd put him on the Defense.

I parked my Speedlings at the Xel'Naga tower and just waited for him to push out.  Which he didn't..and didn't and didn't.  So I expanded like crazy and macro'd up.  Interestingly I thought I broke 100 workers, but I only actually made 92 - so I guess I need to get a better feel for that.  At any rate, it was enough.  I built Mutalisks and harassed his lines, keeping his Stalker / Collosus army pin'd into his base.

After a while I started throwing some away to thin out his stalkers and make supply room for Broodlords, but just as I started to push out with a few of those he made for my base.  I returned and defended, countered with Banelings to break the front of his base and then rebuilt to 200.  He pushed again with the few forces he had, got smashed and quit.

If the Zerg is willing / able to macro heavy, it doesn't seem to be to the Protoss' advantage to wait and just let the Protoss harass.  Certainly in a direct confrontation the Protoss army can win, but I had so many units and so many upgrades and so many larva maxed hatcheries ready to rebuild that even when he smashed my army I had another almost instantly.  Since their army is so much stronger head on, I'd think it'd be to the Protoss' advantage to keep forcing direct confrontations keeping me spending my larva on things I don't want to.

+ 32 Points, Silver League Division Rank 33, Remaining Bonus Pool 335

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/1025

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Draw...

Okay, so that was my first draw.  It was a TvT and it took 1 Hour and 16 Minutes.

It was Random Random start in cross positions on Tal'darim so I went with my 3 barracks into expand opening to get a somewhat Command Center with a good force of Marines.  Which ended up working out well because he hit me with a handful of Marines around the 6 minute mark.

I harassed the front of his base a bit while I got my unit producing structures up and started my tech.  He bunkered up pretty hard so I wasn't ever really able to get in.  I thought about dropping a few times..probably should have.

I tech'd to Battlecruisers but once I started getting them out he hit me, hard.  Banshees hit my third and Marines rushed down my front.  Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me at the time, he was also double expanding to his fourth and fifth.

I expanded to my fourth when his Marines hit me, with his own Battlecruisers.  Whoops.  I managed to keep fighting off his attacks, but he kept destroying my Command Centers and SCVs.  I kept expanding and re-expanded and he kept coming back in and killing it.  It was..frustrating.

Fortunately for me I had a better composition and kept my units alive better.  More marines, more Medivacs and more unit retention and no less unit producing capabilities (you know, until I eventually lost all my Command Centers).

Eventually he broke into my last few bases and I knew I wouldn't be able to hold.  I'd gone with OCs instead of PFs because...well because I needed to catch up and he'd mostly been hitting those with Cloaked Banshees anyway.  Anyway when it became clear I wasn't going to be able to hold those bases, I went for the base trade knowing my fully energy'd Medics would let my superior Marine army STIM all day and kill his buildings faster.

Before the base trade had even started, he'd hidden an Orbital Command off the map to the top...so me without any Vikings, I was doomed.  He was also smart enough to create a few Vikings so....damn.

I evacuated my buildings to every corner and tried to corral his and destroy them.  When I couldn't find everything, he'd hidden a few including the OC so he wasn't revealed, I just turtled up my forces in the center of the map and waited for him to come to me.  He couldn't destroy my buildings without encountering my forces.  Then I'd send a few Marines to each Mineral Patch and just waited...eventually he'd have to land and drop Mules.  His 3 Vikings and 1 SCV to my Marauder, 47 Kill Thor, 13 Medivacs and 55 Marines.

Anyway, it was a good game.  An Epic game for me and probably pretty Epic as far as the Silver League goes.

+ 0 Points, Silver League Division Rank 40, Remaining Bonus Pool 363

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/608

Something's up with SC2's upload.  They're not able to auto process replays post today's patch so I did a manual upload.  Hope it works right =)

Sunday, May 8, 2011

6-pool..err...7-pool?

I was 6-pooled here this evening.  It was on Scrap Station and it was..unexpected.  I guess I don't think of that as the best map for a 6-pool?  Or rather...let me restate.

Because of the distances, early on Zerglings are great so I can totally see a 6-pool, but not the quitting after it failed.  So he comes in with his extra drone to scout / harass / keep me busy and then rushes in with the early Zerglings.  I did a decent job (apparently good enough) of microing with my Marines and SCVs to put them down and he quits out.

It got me thinking a bit about the games I won and lost today.  The ZvP I won, the guy did some kind of interesting one-base 4 gateway Zealot rush..but then he just sat the Zealots on his ramp.  The TvT I won, the guy just didn't produce enough stuff fast enough and didn't tech up his Barracks units as much as I did.

The games I lost I think I was that guy.  The guy who just quit after his strategy didn't work, or had a strategy that just didn't make sense or just didn't..produce as well as he could have.  I found, even in the TvT I won, on replay that I wasn't making out of my Barracks as often as I could be / should be.  I'm considering grouping them up with my Command Centers just so that I'm forced to look at them more often to see that they are / are not producing.  I wonder if the time lost tabbing through the sub groups would be worth keeping more constant production out of the buildings?

Lesson for today: I need to firm up my "mechanic" game-play.  Practice producing constantly, do better at always spending all my money all the time.  Just need to smooth some things out..I think.  I feel like those games I lost were so extra frustrating not just because there were so many of them today, but because it felt like I was doing everything right.  I'm thinking, now, that maybe I just need to do everything right *better*.

+ 32 Points, Silver League Division Rank 40, Remaining Bonus Pool 338

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/174507-1v1-terran-zerg-scrap-station

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Ce69zYNGQ

Another win! (After another loss!)

Slag Pits....he one-based it.  I was totally shocked.  He kept..not trying to expand.  I honestly thought I missed it, I then put a lot of effort into scouting and creeping every other mineral base.  I parked Zerlgings outside his base and monitored his stuff.

He just...sat in his base and built and made cannons to defend against my growing deathball of Mutalisks.  At the end I got some Brood Lords built.  I got into his natural once he'd finally expanded (guessing he mined his main out?) and when I destroyed most of those probes he countered and ran into my Brood Lords and Roaches and then quit the game.

Interestingly I've lost like 5 times today and won 2.  All but 1 of those losses were to Silver League players. Both of the wins were to Gold league.  Probably just coincidence.

+ 34 Points, Silver League Division Rank 42 Remaining Bonus Pool 353

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/174441-1v1-protoss-zerg-slag-pits

Finally!

TvT on Typhon Peaks.  I went with my quick Marine build, but stopped at 3 Barracks when he spotted it.  I scouted his ramp with my Marines and saw he'd bunkered himself in tight so I parked the Marines at his natural and started to Tech and Expand.

Once my Tech started to get established, I pulled back the Marines but 1 and waited built up.  He sent in some kind of drop or Banshee that got picked off by my missile turrets and when I had a pretty good army established and was working on base #3, I pushed out to see what would happen if I poked him.

I ended up rolling him instead.

+ 34 Points, Silver League Division Rank 44, Remaining Bonus Pool 370

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/174423-1v1-terran-backwater-gulch

Apparently I lied

After sitting outside in the sun and reading for a while, I felt like playing again.  I really wanted a win today.  At least one.

This game wasn't it.  Terran versus Protoss.  I built as much as I could as fast as I could but damn if he didn't build more faster.  He had more workers, more units and a stronger army faster.

I don't understand what's going on.  Why am I losing every game so far?  I'm focused on trying to keep my money low, produce out of all my buildings constantly, not queue up.....I'm building as much as I can as fast as I know how to and am suddenly, today, getting blown out of the water.  In the Silver League.  Am I that bad?

 - 7 Points, Silver League Division Rank 46, Remaining Bonus Pool 386

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/174416-1v1-terran-protoss-xelnaga-caverns

Frustration!

Okay, well I'm done for the day.  All I do is lose.

ZvT.  I don't know how I lost.  Suddenly I just had no army and he was kicking my ass.  I honestly don't know what I did wrong.  I was macroing well.  I'd 200/200'd a good army and was getting decent upgrades and he comes rolling out with his tight little ball and I can't do jack shit about it.

I'm just terrible.  I can't make any right decisions today, so I'm done.  4 losses?  5?  I don't know.  Too many.  How long has Season 2 been going?  I've only scrapped together something like 9 wins and 15 losses?  I'm a fucking awful player apparently.  I have no idea how to play correctly, all I do is lose.  I swear to God it feels like the more I play and the more I try the worse I do.

- 7 Points, Silver League Division Rank 45, Remaining Bonus Pool 385

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/174346-1v1-terran-zerg-scrap-station

Zealot Rush

This guy just ROLLED me.  ZvP and I went for an early expand on Scrap Station and he just Zealot rushed me hard.  I scouted it and defended but it cost me some drones and he was *right* back in with more Zealots and *right* back in with even MORE zealots and stalkers and again with Immortals mixed in.  I never got my economy back off the ground, never got my units fully built..just never could properly recover, I kept spending all my larva on units instead of drones.

GRRR.  I don't know what the lesson is here.

- 6 Points, Silver League Division Rank 44, Remaining Bonus Pool 384

I am so so bad

It really felt like I had this guy.  I randomed Zerg so I went with my one-base Roach which he did as well.  I defended and countered well and had the advantage, I felt.  I was droning well, getting upgrades, working on my expansions, scouting....

And then I threw my whole army away trying to force the front of his base.  Dumb.

After that it was over.  He pushed and did significant damage to me before I stopped it, then rebuilt his roaches and did it again with his broodlords.  I'd gone Ultras and just kinda forgot to keep mining gas so my economy fell apart even though I was droning better.

Awful awful awful.

Lesson learned - Get moar gas!  Srsly.  Also don't throw you're whole *$#@()*#@ army away if you can avoid it.  That's a bad idea.

- 6 Points, Silver League Division Rank 44, Remaining Bonus Pool 384

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/174283-1v1-zerg-delta-quadrant

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Pressure, Contain, Harass

Another Zerg versus Terran game.  Both ZvTs today, interestingly enough, were versus Gold level players.

I early expanded and just kept a close eye on him.  He didn't move out with an early Marine harass at first so I droned up.  What he did do was some early Reaper harass which cost me a little mining time, but I had plenty of Queen action to deal with the Reapers and had some Zerglings out by then as well so after I fended them off, I just parked my 'lings outside his base.

When it became clear he just wanted to turtle and macro, I did the same.  Until I got my Mutalisks out.  I already had map control with the Zergling placement and the Mutalisks helped secure it.  He'd gotten some good scans in so he knew I had a spire and had built turrets, but it didn't prevent me from harassing..just reduced the effectiveness.

Eventually my macro and map control won out, he couldn't effectively move anywhere on the map and was being out mined / produced so he GG'd out.

+ 38 Points, Silver League Division Rank 45, Remaining Bonus Pool 348

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/173205-1v1-terran-zerg-shakuras-plateau

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBULQ--wmlg

I love banelings

I used to not like Banelings.  Spending money on units that kill themselves?  For real?  But they're so powerful and efficient how can you not like them?

My Terran opponent today made it clear he just wanted to keep trying a strong Marine push.  And he made a lot of Marines...so it wasn't like it wasn't strong.  He hit me early and it was only that my Overlord scouted it the first time and my Zerglings on the Xel'Naga towers that scouted it the second time that helped me to hold off those quick advances.

But once I'd held it a few times I was able to start countering and getting my tech up...and then it was all over.

+ 36 Points, Silver League Division Rank 53, Remaining Bonus Pool 385

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/173197-1v1-terran-zerg-taldarim-altar-le

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaoQHFlohB8

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Bleg, Protoss

I'm really terrible at playing Protoss.  I knew I wanted to do some early Stargate play but I didn't wall off my ramp so I had to add extra buildings to do that, then I was slow at getting them up and running, then I revealed my Phoenixes by stopping to fight some overlords then...then then.

I just feel, when playing Protoss, that every decision I make is the wrong decision.

Okay...well Protoss have meaty units.  Even if I don't go Colossus tech I can mass Gateway units and just be agressive and pushy and bully my opponents.  I need to just be more agressive.

 - 6 Points, Silver League Division Rank 53, Remaining Bonus Pool 389

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/172814-1v1-protoss-zerg-slag-pits

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Expand, Expand, Expand, Battlecruisers!

Got to try my new TvT with heavy early Marines again today.  It went well, but I'm not sure if that's because the build was good or because my opponent was...less than good?

I don't want to say less than good.  He did the typical Terran "turtle on one base until 200/200".  At least I'm assuming he was 200/200 when he pushed out?  I'll have to go back and watch.

Anyway, I tried to push in on him but he had a good turtle started already so I just pulled back and expanded.

I tried to push a little again and he had not only not expanded, but turtled more.  So I expanded...again.

I scanned him and saw he still hadn't expanded and was just massing up, so I expanded again.

At this point I was getting close to 3/3 upgrades for my Barracks and Stargate units and was producing Battlecruisers.  I pushed out, killed the expand he'd finally started, lost my barracks army to his big army, defended his big army push at my base, expanded 3 more times and pushed back out with my Battlecruisers.

Probably didn't have to take as long as it did, but it felt safe and strong and I enjoyed it.

+ 36 points, Silver League Division Rank 52, Remaining Bonus Pool 354

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/171676-1v1-terran-gutterhulk

50!

Took a bit of a break over the last week to play Portal 2.  I love those games....anywho..

ZvZ today.  I went for an early expand into Speedlings and Roaches.  It went...well.  My opponent scouted me out early and tried to cheese me with a quick spine crawler on my creep, but I scouted it with my drone transfer.  He cancelled and went for an extractor, then pulled back and tried to do the spine crawler again but I had my first round of 'lings up by then and stopped it.

I then sent them into his base where he'd built a hatch at his expansion, but hadn't populated it...so I took it down.  My 'lings got pulled into his base where I spotted a bunch of spine crawlers, and I pulled back out and started massing Roaches.

He had a surprising number of roaches for a quick counter but I held it off easily and pushed.  He never re-expanded and just went for Mutas, but my queens held it while my hydras got up and I just muscled my way into his base for the win.

Interestingly he's division ranked 10th for his Gold division.  I wonder if he normally wins his ZvZs with cheese like that, or if it's just a weak matchup for him...No, no I'm reading through his history.  He 6-pools most games.  That explains it.

Oh, I also got my 50th solo win as Random, so that was fun.  Trying to decide if I'm going to change from my Zergling portrait to the newly unlocked Overseer portrait.

+ 40 points, Silver League Division Rank 57, Remaining Bonus Pool 366

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/171379-1v1-zerg-backwater-gulch