I don't like it when they don't talk..

At the start of every game I throw out a good luck.  Just seems polite.  Usually I'll get a gl hf or something in response.  But sometimes I get nothing, no response at all.

It bothers me less when I roll the guy.

TvP.  We scouted each other in the first 6-7 minutes.  I scanned and saw he'd expanded without much in the way of units, so I pushed the front a bit while I threw down my own expansion.  I didn't pull out as soon as I should have, but I think I still came out a little ahead.

Then I did a drop, two full Medivacs on his main's Probe line.  His observer was sitting right where my Medivacs loaded and took off, but he must have not been watching his mini map because, watching the replay, he had no idea.

That was pretty much the end.  He was sitting on 3k minerals, but not spending them, and I finished him off.

+ 23 Points, Silver League Division Rank 12, Remaining Bonus Pool 0

http://drop.sc/258009

God I hate PvP

Tal'darim PvP.  So I went Forge first Expand.  That's what you're supposed to do, right?

No.  No he kicked my ass quickly.

Put a big ass army in the front of my base and had no trouble picking me off.  Somehow killed all my probes in the back with Zealots he got back there and I never saw any warnings or information about it.  No notice at all I was so busy trying to figure out how to use this stupid race against this stupid race.

Okay, just frustrated.  I can't get my head around anything to do in this matchup.  It feels like every decision I make is the wrong decision.

- 6 Points, Silver League Rank 18, Remaining Bonus Pool 8

http://drop.sc/257979

"gg, I'm new to terran"

I did "okay" but not great here.  I threw away my units a few times, got inpatient and tried to push in on him.

He did a good job of defending my Mutalisk harass.  I had him pinned back in his base while I expanded and teched, so that was good.  Just got inpatient, didn't upgrade or tech fast enough IMO and threw away my army making stupid mistakes a few times.

Still, got the win.  Despite his excuse at the GG =)

+ 28 Points, Silver League Division Rank 18, Remaining Bonus Pool 8

http://drop.sc/257938

"gg, gtg, wp"

TvT, we exchanged Marine armies a few times when I got too agressive, he came out ahead each time. Eventually he pushed me back to my base.  He finally tried to push in with his Siege Tanks, I defended and he gg'd out saying he had to go.

On watching the replay, I was in a lot better shape than I realized.  He slowed down on making SCVs a few times where I stayed reasonably steady.  He didn't really get upgrades where I had 1/1 and was working on 2/1.  I also had STIM and Combat Shields where, again, he had none.

And the places where he came out ahead (aka where I sacrificed my marines for no perceptible gain) he didn't really have much left over either.

+ 28 Points, Silver League Division Rank 20, Remaining Bonus Pool 15

http://drop.sc/257551

PvP =(

Random / Random.  Turned out it was PvP and I scouted the wrong direction.  He immediately took his second, walled it off with 4 warpgates and just expanded more aggressively.

I have a hard time justifying agressive expansion because I can keep my money low as Protoss so easily by just building from what I have.  I don't often recognize when it's time to build another base easily.

Also I'm terrible about not getting supply blocked as Protoss.  Played a few games against the computer yesterday as Protoss, constantly supply blocked all game long.  This one was no different.

- 7 Points, Silver League Division Rank 26, Remaining Bonus Pool 29

http://drop.sc/257538

PvP..Win?

We were both Random and both got Protoss, cross position on Tal'darim.

I did a good job of not getting supply blocked.  It happened a few times but they were all relatively brief.

Before I watched the replay, I thought I won because he just had less of an idea of what to do than I did in this scenario.  And certainly there was a bit of that.  But even more was that once he started building buildings and taking expansions...he stopped making probes.

At the 13 minute mark he was sending out some Warp Prisms with DTs, I was about to send out some Void Rays and we were both taking our Third bases.  I had 60 probes to his 40.

He also stopped producing anything when he was busy.  So I was attacking his main and he was counter attacking with DTs at my Second base.  I continued putting up buildings and producing units and he did almost nothing.

At the 20 minute point I was at 4 bases to 2 after that 1 Void Ray attack and his DT counter.  I had 75 probes to his 37 while he went Carrier / Phoenix to counter my Void Rays while I tech switched to Archons.

So looking at the mechanics that really helped me edge him out, I really feel like I earned that win.

+ 29 Points, Silver League Division Rank 17, Remaining Bonus Pool 0

http://drop.sc/256253

PvP Loss

No surprise.  I'm terrible at PvP.

I thought I did a good job of building, teching, etc, etc.  But he just 4 gated and pushed my ramp.  More units and better played broke down my front.

Bleh, whatever.

- 10 Points, Silver League Division Rank 29, Remaining Bonus Pool 13

http://drop.sc/256247

Hooray, a win! =)

TvT, I kept up some moderately agressive acts early in the game to put pressure on him and make him feel pinned back.  I got a little greedy and threw away the advantage that I had gained, but it wasn't a monumental loss.

Ultimately I won because I had better map control and used it well.  He kept trying to move around and drop but I was able to see it coming and get my Marines into position quick enough and he eventually just quit.

I got supply blocked...not a lot, but a good number of times.  Certainly more than I wanted to.  So I need to keep focusing on that.

+ 46 Points, Silver League Division Rank 26, Remaining Bonus Pool 13

http://drop.sc/256240

It's not enough

This is the problem with just focusing on not getting supply blocked, continuing to build, etc.

Sometimes it's just not enough.

I got rolled by a Zerg.  I pushed on him a few times but never fully committed.  Hoped I would have some success putting pressure on him and making him waste his larva on Zerglings and Banelings.

Instead it just gave him the 15 minutes he needed to get his Broodlords and Ultralisks up instead.

Whoops.

He *smashed* me.

- 9 Point, Silver League Division Rank 40, Remaining Bonus Pool 36

http://drop.sc/256238

P.S. What's up with all the Shakuras games recently?  Does everyone down vote most of the other maps?  It's Silver League....not sure it's worth down voting any maps...but maybe that's just me?

Cloaked Banshees

PvT.  I felt confident based on his opening play that he was going cloaked banshees.  But I failed to build Observers anyway.  Threw down a cannon in my back mineral field just to be "safe" and that was that.

I failed to predict that he was going *mass* cloaked banshee.  When I pushed his front, lost my army and saw his masses, I tried to fix the problem.  But again, I failed.

Loss.

- 9 Points, Silver League Division Rank 30, Remaining Bonus Pool 21

http://drop.sc/254607

Rinse, Repeat

Continuing with the goal from yesterday.  Keep producing, don't get supply blocked, keep my money low.

...

Loss.  I didn't expand.  I didn't built more hatcheries.  I didn't keep my income low once things started happening.  I didn't contain my opponent or harass hard enough.  I let him build up his mech and simply roll me while I kept getting supply blocked.

- 9 Points, Silver League Division Rank 29, Remaining Bonus Pool 21

http://drop.sc/254590

Much better game...

Much better this time around.  Built my units, kept my upgrades going, injected my larva and just produced a lot of units while keeping him pinned in his base.

Not much more to say really, quite a thorough win.  I couldn't force my way into his base, but I didn't have to.  Just kept expanding and kept him inside his base.

+ 30 Points, Silver League Division Rank 26, Remaining Bonus Pool 14

http://drop.sc/254253

PvP!

Protoss is my worst race to play, so it's never really surprised me that PvP is my worst matchup =)

I should have been more agressive early.  By the time I got in there he'd already gotten a pretty good army started.

More importantly, I didn't do great at constantly producing.  I was so distracted trying to think of what I needed to be doing and making decisions that I wasn't warping in and my money was getting high.

So all around a loss...but at least a manageable one.

- 8 Points, Silver League Division Rank 32, Remaining Bonus Pool 29

http://drop.sc/254224

New Goals

After some time to reflect on last night's losses I'm ready to try again tonight.  I'm just no longer trying to win =)

For tonight and for a while until I get comfortable again it's just back to basics.  Don't get supply blocked, keep my money low, keep producing from my structures.  If I can do that, it's considered a win even if I get rolled.

...

And that first win doesn't count.

He had a probe in my base early and bobbed around a bit.  Embarrassingly I let him kill an SCV who was building but he stuck around enough to get stuck in my base.  Eventually he ran off to the fog at the edge of my base as my first Marines were coming out and started summoning a Pylon.  I killed his Probe and he quit.

Apparently I ruined his plan at 4 minutes and 29 second by destroying the Pylon in my base?

+ 38 Points, Silver League Division Rank 28, Remaining Bonus Pool 28

http://drop.sc/254220

Second match...

Let's see if I can do better.

...

Nope.  ZvP and I got owned hard again.

He built a crap load more units than I did and kept me on the defense.  Zealots, Stalkers, Void Rays.  I couldn't build and upgrade fast enough to deal with his overwhelming units and eventually he just *rolled* over me.

It's so frustrating to feel so bad at the game now.

- 0 points, Silver League Division Rank 45, Remaining Bonus Pool 40

http://drop.sc/253882

First match of the new season

Let's see how I do.  Hoping to get reset in the ladder a little given my lack of recent practice.

...

I got rolled SERIOUSLY hard.  Zerg who just went to town on me.  I wasn't able to touch him, ever.  Couldn't put any pressure on him, couldn't get to his base much less in it.  I was outclassed and totally outplayed in every sense of the word.

Very frustrating game on top of that.  The whole game it felt like I couldn't do anything.  I had no way to win..everytime I tried to deploy anything it got shut down.  Anytime I tried to expand or move my troops out they got slaughtered.

Frustrating.

Placed in Silver League, so at least that's something I guess.  I need to play more.

- 0 points, Silver League Division Rank 26, Remaining Bonus Pool 40

http://drop.sc/253870