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Say WHAT? Roach Hydra in ZvT? It sounds completely bonkernuts, and yet Stephano has taken down some of the top Terran players in the world doing this! We're going to take a look at WHAT the strategy is and WHY it works: how we open, how to deal with bio AND mech, and when to attack and defend :].
Happy new year!
When people hear "Standard," they often think of doing the exact same thing every single game, playing a "well tested" build order over and over until they can execute it perfectly. However, that's a bit of a misnomer. In fact, there's a huge opportunity for reading your opponent and making clever adjustments (though they might be hard to see sometimes!)
In today's TvP, we'll be looking at 3 games between GanZi and SaSe. In these games, we'll see GanZi perform a fairly standard opening but be up against three VERY different strategies: a 7 gate all-in, a fast 3 nexus mass upgrade style, and a quick colossus push. Though GanZi opens with the same "Standard play," we're going to see how he shifts his play around to account for all the craziness that's thrown at him!
White-Ra has been extremely active on the HotS ladder, experimenting with huge varieties of new strategies with the new units! We're going to be examining and analyzing his builds in the form of "What are these new units accomplishing? What am I spending my remaining resources on? What can the OPPONENT be doing?" We're starting off White-Ra week by looking at his PvZ.
White-Ra has been extremely active on the HotS ladder, experimenting with huge varieties of new strategies with the new units! We're going to be examining and analyzing his builds in the form of "What are these new units accomplishing? What am I spending my remaining resources on? What can the OPPONENT be doing?"
In today's PvT episode, we have a bit more to consider given that reapers and widow mines are big early problems. However, per usual, we have White-Ra to guide us to victory :}.
White-Ra has been extremely active on the HotS ladder, experimenting with huge varieties of new strategies with the new units! We're going to be examining and analyzing his builds in the form of "What are these new units accomplishing? What am I spending my remaining resources on? What can the OPPONENT be doing?"
PvP is known to be a very low-base-count matchup, with blink + timing attacks ruling the early game. Defensively, we now have the mothership core + photon overcharge to protect an early expansion. However, with blink + mothership core, fast oracle, and increased phoenix range, the matchup has oodles more craziness! We get tons of White-Ra vs BabyKnight games to examine! ^^;
For today's topic, please post replays of you trying out the new reaper IN THIS VERY THREAD! I'll download them and use them in the show!
For any who didn't know, the reaper has been completely changed in the January 9th patch: it doesn't require tech lab, it starts with nitro packs, it does slightly less damage, and it doesn't have combat awareness (to see on the high ground). So, I wanna see people STRATERGIZER with it :].
In this Funday Monday, you may only build
New Heart of the Swarm Units
Units that have been changed for Heart of the Swarm (ie Hydralisks because of Hydra speed, Medivacs due to the boost, Mutalisks because of the speed change etc)
One additional unit of your choosing (you have to announce it at the start of the game!)
Workers, Observers, Overseers, Queens, and Mules are all fine to build as many of as you like :]. Would be too hard without them!
This week, for 3 dailies in a row, we'll be focusing on the three Zerg matchups in Heart of the Swarm! To study this, we'll be snagging games from the wonderful ROOTCatZ!
We're going to be examining and analyzing his builds in the form of "What are these new units accomplishing? What am I spending my remaining resources on? What can the OPPONENT be doing?" Specifically, we'll look at how our desire to use the swarm host leads to some interesting situations, and also how the late game viper is making less used mid-game compositions viable!
This week, for 3 dailies in a row, we'll be focusing on the three Zerg matchups in Heart of the Swarm! To study this, we'll be snagging games from the wonderful ROOTCatZ! We're going to be examining and analyzing his builds in the form of "What are these new units accomplishing? What am I spending my remaining resources on? What can the OPPONENT be doing?"
The unique strategy we'll be looking at today is the fast Queen + Swarm Host + Nydus push that CatZ has been working on! It winds up being surprisingly effective and incredibly fun to do :}.
This week, for 3 dailies in a row, we'll be focusing on the three Zerg matchups in Heart of the Swarm! To study this, we'll be snagging games from the wonderful ROOTCatZ!
We're going to be examining and analyzing his builds in the form of "What are these new units accomplishing? What am I spending my remaining resources on? What can the OPPONENT be doing?"
Another Heart of the Swarm Funday Monday!
You may only have at most one barracks and one factory at any point in time! That means AS MANY STARPORTS AS YOU PLEASE! :D
A Daily from Paris!
Another Heart of the Swarm Funday Monday! You may only have at most one gateway and one robotics facility at any point in time! That means AS MANY STARGATES AS YOU PLEASE! :D
In today's daily, we get the chance to see widow mines employed at a very sophisticated level: BeastyQT incorporates mines into a traditional marine/marauder/medivac force to stay mobile and block retreat paths. We'll examine the specific build orders that BeastyQT utilizes, accounting for the new HotS threats Zerg can hurl at us while also talking about the new openings that mines create for us! Specifically, we'll be able to maintain much more aggression and expanding as long as our positioning and vision is good!
Today's daily is an extension of yesterdays: widow mine + bio as a standard composition! However, we looked at muta+ling compositions yesterday and we'll be looking at ling+infestor standard play today! We'll see how the ignite afterburners ability for medivacs become a key tool for taking control of games even when we might feel far behind!
In today's daily, we examine some of the craziness that has been introduced into the PvP matchup thanks to the mothership core's recent changes! We'll see how we have more defensive and offensive opportunities, and how newer transitions (like mid-game phoenix) are now possible !
When you attack, you may only attack using a Nydus Worm.
The best part of odd games is that it tests the limits of our understandings of strategy! So often we fall back on "standard plays" or "rules of thumb" to guide or decision making, and we forget the "why" behind our choices. In this daily, we get the chance to watch TLO play a fairly odd Heart of the Swarm game where he should lose, and yet he's able to pull off a miracle win by solid decision making, all of which we analyze! :D
Today we're going to do something a little bit unusual: we're going to watch a whole series of ZvP games from TLO and analyze them in extremely quick succession. We won't be able to dig too deep, but we'll be able to focus on the broad ideas of what is going right and wrong!
We're going to try rapidfire analysis for ZvZ games today! Hopefully trying to see the game from BOTH players point of views without stopping at all! This should give us a good sense of "key points:" when one player clearly gained the advantage or fell behind!
While playing as Terran in Heart of the Swarm only attack if you are dropping with medivacs (normal frontal attack while medivac dropping is allowed).
Submit to me your Heart of the Swarm games and we'll analyze them!
The GD Studio recently held a king of the hill showmatch with Grubby! Because grubby mollywhomped all of his opposition, we're going to look at and admire his gaming abilities in the PvT matchup :]
Time to analyze far and away the greatest ZvP I have seen yet in Heart of the Swarm. New map. New strats. Crazy outcome. We'll break it all down today!
Submit your best, most epic replays.
Struggling in Late Game HotS TvZ? Polt shows us some magnificent use of the new units to set himself up nicely for the late game! And no, he doesn't use hellbats either! In this episode I will talk about the consequences of mine-based openings, how to harass in the mid-game, and how it integrates with our late game plan!
This game features it all! Cool opening decisions, very difficult mid-decisions, very unusual midgame compositions (marine, marauder, medivac, mine versus ling/muta/ultra!), blunders and comeback moves, and a stunning photo finish. Due to the insane amount of juiciness in this game, we'll be looking at just this single match today!
Most importantly, we'll begin with a discussion of how to micro against hellbats to render them USELESS!
Today we'll look at a couple nifty games between HuK and Sting, particularly how to deal with widow mine drop openings (and a whole other slew of stuff that Terran can hurl at us!)
In this game, we see a back and forth ZvP on StarStation between the ground force of Grubby and Muta/ling force of KiLLeR. We'll see not only some of the considerations for HotS modern ZvP openings, but also what to do when nobody is mining anymore!!!
Submit to me your best widow mine games: best widow mine explosion, widow mine strats, or hilarious widow mine trolling.
Having trouble versus biomine? Reaper hellion? No problem! We'll be taking some of LiquidSnute's replays to see how Zerg is battling the new nuisances in HotS!
The primary goal of today's daily1. Identify weaknesses in mine-based openings and how to exploit them, both with aggression and expanding2. Ensure that we still have ample responses to more traditional Terran play
Much like yesterday's daily, Zerg have a whole slew of new issues to deal with early game! Fortunately, LiquidSnute is a huge badass so we're just going to steal what he does. The basic goals we'll see are
1) How do we stay alive in the early game versus all the new threats2) How do we user our better lair tech units to get a big SWARM STYLE lead in the midgame3) How do we utilize the late game power units (ultra/vipers) to pull ahead and close out the game!
Ok well FINE, we've done his ZvT and ZvP, so we may as well do his ZvZ! As an added bonus, LiquidRet has provided some fantastic replays for this evening as well! Goals for the show:
In today's Funday Monday you must submit a replay of you in a 2v2 where
One of you must aggressively cheese before expanding. (The Cheesing!)
The other one must double expanding before building units. (The Powering!)
We'll be looking at two neato PvP games between these strong foreign players!
Game one is a very unusual twist on the modern 4gate - long term play + no colossus! It might sound weird, but we see how Nightend strategically dominates as a result :].
Game two is a long game extending to colossus and archon tech. In this seeming "stalemate / draw" type position, we see how each player is able to pull massive edges using fantastic tactical positioning! Ever struggled when you fall behind in colossus? This game is for you!
Many Zergs are struggling with ultra late game ZvP. Protoss armies seem unstoppable with voidrays, archons, tempests, storm, colossi, and more. However, in ROOTCatZ's own words, late game ZvP greatly favors Zerg so long as the Zerg poises himself properly :]. In this daily we'll learn:
What tech paths to choose in midgame so that you're properly set up for late game.
How to defend against a variety of standard attacks with those tech paths.
How to crush the Protoss late game with viper swarm host :].
I'M EXCITED FOR THIS DAILY! :D
Today we look at two fantastic games between MMA and Sage from the Teamstory cup! In today's daily, we will do the following
See how Sage's opening structure allows him to defend against the psycho aggression that MMA throws out early
Explore how Sage transitions back into a stable, standard structure in the mid-game: colossus, upgrades, and 3rd base.
Identify why Sage is transitioning his composition in the late game (why zealot/archon vs stalker/colossus)
See why Sage attacks at certain times and defends in others!
Yahoo!
In today's Funday you must play in a 4v4 where
'm sure you've heard me say MANY a time how important it is to have a key underlying skeleton structure to your gameplay! But, it might seem difficult if you're under massive pressure: baneling busts, roach attacks, ling runbys at odd times etc! In today's games, TaeJa flexibly defends a variety of attacks with seemingly odd answers, but we'll reveal how none of these choices deviates too far from his underlying plan. The core concepts:
We'll state TaeJa's composition goal at the outset of the game
We'll note how Terran strategies fundamentally depend upon what BUILDINGS you are making, rather than the units.
We'll see how TaeJa defends against attacks without deviating from his goal in #1
We'll admire Taeja's late game maneuvering :].
In today's daily, we'll look at FOUR games that Kas and TLO played to do some rapidfire analysis on what went right and wrong in each game :].
Mech is generally considered to be a "too slow" alternative to standard bio + medivac play. However, in the recent EU WCS qualifiers, we saw a surge of a hellbat centered TvP style. With aggressive pushing, drops a plenty, and tons o' hellbats, I'm excited to explore why it works so well!
In today's Funday Monday, submit to me your most awesome Tempest based comebacks, wins, and fails!
Though this game is fairly short, it showcases a very difficult to defend, but brilliant build from Feast. We'll go through this game more than once to fully admire the cleverness that is Feast's opening! In particular
What is the goal of Feast's build? (ultra fast 3rd base w/ colossus and almost no gateway units)
How would Feast's build exploit a typical zerg play? (Such as a zerg that goes fast 3base w/ no gas)
How does Feast's build respond upon seeing Bly's play?
What are all the cool defensive techniques Feast sets up that we don't see used!?
I lurved dis game :>.
Ok so wtf. We're going to look at LiquidHero be an utter psychopath with crazy attack timings, transitions, and other assorted glory in the PvT matchup. Despite the insanity, we'll do our best to analyze why it's awesome!
We'll discuss the broad concept of "forcing" at the start of the daily because it's essential to understanding HerO's play!
We'll ch-ch-check out some nifty early attack timings that HerO uses to assault the enemy!
We'll reveal all the clever things HerO is doing back home in the midst of the attack to respond properly to his enemy!
Last, we'll see HerO win in seemingly unwinnable situations
Oh and I guess we'll wanna be LiquidHero too
In the fashion similar to yesterday, we'll look at HerO's attacking oriented PvZ style! :D
In today's Funday Monday, you MUST EXPAND EVERY 5 MINUTES! :D You can not do it faster or slower. It must be 5 minutes on the dot!
Today's daily is gonna be WEIRDLY STRUCTURED! :D In short, we're going to be looking at how to deal with and stop biomine based play! Here's the order of events:
We begin chattin about the early game: how we set ourselves up for success with nice defense!
We'll look at some different openings that Terran can do and how we'd adjust to it!
We'll then step into the mid-games of some of these games to examine how to effectively engage!
We may cry here and there as we see our poor zergy buddies lose many of their lives, but for the greater good
We'll see how the late-game hive tech is utilized to maximum efficiency
We'll even look at how different zerg openings can still flow into the same general mid-game idea!
The big basic idea: if he's going bio-mine, he doesn't have tanks! So, our ling-baneling is much stronger! Also, we can tech to hive much more easily!
In today's daily we're going to watch an HOUR LONG PvZ game from the recent ROOT-Gaming replay pack. In this game, Sage battles for an extended period of time versus mutas WHILE behind! We're going to see how he gathers his forces to attack, how he responds to them, and how he seems to win in a seemingly unwinnable position!
In today's daily, we're going to see a nice, clean little opening that many Terrans are trying on versus Protoss: a very fast +1 attack upgrade that allows for some swift timing pushes! In this daily we will see
What the opening is any why it works
How we can use our unit combination / our upgrades to do some nice tactics!
Follow ups to try on and what to avoid
A second, longer game where DeMusliM has to adapt to his opponent
Yay!
In today's Funday Monday, you may NOT mine any gas until you have 4 bases!! Figure out how expand quickly and stay alive before you go into HARDCORE MACRO MODE!
Today's topic is simple: Naniwa hit the finals of DreamHack Stockholm with some amazing 2base plays, some allins, some not. We're going to analyze some short games so that we can steal all his gosuness :].
Normally we see either mech OR bio in TvP. But, in today's daily, we'll explore GuMiho's unusual reliance on tanks AND marines in the TvP matchup! Specifically
How does GuMiho open to flow easily into marine/tank
What are some key plays and timings that we can use to kill/hurt the enemy
What are some unusual judgment calls we may have to make given the slightly unusual position!
Games taken from the DreamHack Stockholm 2013 replay pack!
Today we're going to do some swift analysis of of a series of QXC vs DeMusliM games I happen to have in mah back pocket! QXC has been using a variety of crazy builds, and DeMusliM has the tendency to play stable, straight up games. So, it'll be unorthodox vs defense in these games!
Please submit to me your most DEVIOUS CHEESE! I leave the specifics up to you, but give me something juicy: clever, cunning, jerkish, or outright brilliant.
Today we actually are NOT going to look at WCS games!! MWAHAHAHA! Instead, we're going to be looking at two games from State's PvP semifinal match from SHOUTCraft America. In these games, we'll see an extremely safe fast 1gate expand in PvP, both how to hold off an annoying rush AND go non colossus in the late game!
In today's daily, we look at TLO's stunning performance against Strelok's mech style TvZ. We'll learn how to
Stay alive against the usual mix of early threats
Transition out of our typical "vs bio" play to begin our "vs mech" play
Some sexy moves to crush the potent but immobile mech army
Yahoo!
So DIMAGA 2-0'd MVP in a shocking upset at WCS EU in the Ro32. Today we watch these excellent games start to finish. We'll focus on
The big edges DIMAGA is able to provide for himself early
The tough decisions DIMAGA faced in the mid-game and how he wiggled his way out
Late game tech switching and positioning versus a terran army!
We will NOT be doing too much analysis of usual timings / standard moves just due to the fact that I want to get through 2 games! This will effectively be a DIMAGA appreciation daily :D.
You must lift off your command center at the start of a game, float somewhere else, and THEN start the game up!
We'll be looking at the WCS Ro4 matches between LiquidHero and AxRyung! We've been seeing a rise of HELLBAT BASED COMPOSITIONS LATELY (lulz innovation), so we're going to take a cursory look at it today. We'll talk about
The underlying motivation for hellbat based play
The basic ways that players are incorporating hellbats
Some general Protoss techniques to combat the composition
Some general Protoss techniques that SUCK
Learning will occur!
The core concept of today's daily is ADJUSTMENT! We don't wanna change our play completely, we simply want to adjust it! To examine this, we watch every single game in the LucifroN vs ForGG from WCS EU Ro8. Although the hellbat is prevalent in TvT, we're not simply going to show a whole bunch of hellbat drops. Instead, we're going to
Show the basic TvT hellbat based opening and discuss how it shapes the early game
Demonstrate weaknesses in the opening
Reveal how both ForGG and LucifroN adjust to stay from game to game!
Should be fun :].
Welp. Today's daily marks an unusual departure from my usual enthusiasm. I love new strategies. Say... 99% of them... but this one hurts my very soul. It violates that which is Zerg. It is NOT THE SWARM.
In today's show, we're going to facepalm at EGStephano's slow, passive, mudlike, deeply anti-zerg, yet extremely strong ZvP style. We're going to learn
Why the swarm host, viper, corrupter composition is so strong
How to get to that fantastic late game without dying
How to embarrass the Zerg race by playing like a passive butthead
"Vous ne connaissez pas le fromage jusqu'à ce que vous avez vu ces jeux" -Ilyes "suckface" Satouri, 2013
Please submit to me your very best RIGGED GAME! Make an artfully gorgeous rigged game for us to oogle at <3.
In the recent WCS, Innovation blew everyone's mind with his remarkably strong Hellbat/Marauder composition in TvP. It's an exceptional way to overrun the Protoss player in the midgame, and we're going to see all the ways that innovation does so!
We'll look at the basic composition in action and talk about why it's so effective
We'll see the exact openings that Innovation does in two different games (and how we can steal it)
We'll look at early/mid game tactics to boost the strength of the composition
We'll explore how to transition OUT of marauder/hellbat to get to the endgame
Game 2 between MVP and iNnoVation on Akilon Wastes is one of the most impressive games in the history of TvT. iNnoVation played a brilliant opening, demolishing the defenses of MVP and gaining an enormous worker lead. iNnoVation continued this by transitioning into an aggressive MMM style and blasted MVP from game start to finish. However, MVP held on despite all odds and pulled an incredible miracle comeback. So, today, we'll break the discussion into
How iNnoVation was able to pull an early lead with his opening
The midgame goals of each player: MVP's defense and iNnoVation's aggression and tech switches
The finishing sequence of MVP to seize the victory.
In today's Funday Monday, get a buddy and play a PvP 1v1 where you do the following:
Each player may only build sentries, probes, warp prisms, and observers
Cannons are permitted
Mothership cores are NOT permitted
I HIT 600 EPISODES! AND I'M GONNA DO A DAILY ON FLASH! YIPEE!! :D :D
In particular, we're going to look at much more aggressive TvZ openings, ones that do not involve 3CC play at all! We'll talk about
Why the 3CC play is becoming less and less popular
How Zergs have shifted their midgame compositions and styles
What vulnerabilities and timing windows we can exploit
Why flash may be the WORLD'S BESTEST
Yay!
In today's daily, we'll look at a number of cute, quick PvZ games and plays in the matchup to see what and how we can exploit the weaknesses of our zergy buddies. Each one of these games will open with phoenixes. For the follow ups we'll see
A cute warp prism drop tactic
A nice 2base allin play
A hidden warpin tactic to kill 3rd bases
Lots of zealot archon action
The games that we'll see are from two top WCS Protosses: Trap and First !
Following up on our "Cute PvZ" builds daily, we'll be looking at StarDust's cool and unusual "zealot / immortal / sentry" opening and timings and how he transitions it into zealot archon. In particular we'll see
Why zealot archon is so effective in general
The problems of transitioning into zeal/archon for Protoss
StarDust's unusual opening timings that are heavily zealot focused
How the opening can transition into the powerful zeal/archon midgame composition
These games are from the wonderful and amazing DreamHack Summer event held in June! :D
In the recent WCS Ro16, First demolished Fantasy handily in two stunning PvT games. In both circumstances, Fantasy went for fast Hellbat drops and was crushed! In this daily, we will see
How First crushed Fantasy's openings
The general counter attack tactics that First uses in both games
Two completely different mid-game compositions First - zeal/immortal/storm and colossus/phoenix/stalker
First's mid-game unit movement and expanding patterns to crush and starve Fantasy
In this special edition Funday Monday, JP McDaniel and I will be doing mindgame build orders in 2v2 games. Expect awful losses and unlikely wins, combined with an assortment of nonstop laughter.
Since the introduction of the mothership core, Protoss now can freely perform a wide range of openings: fast DT, fast gateway push, phoenix play, voidray play, double forge upgrades, blink pushes and more, all while taking an early expansion! In addition to the opening scares, mass voidray has become an increasingly popular style, with Alicia and sOs pioneering crazy builds to exploit the Zerg's lack of strong anti-air.
Though it may seem hard to both stay alive and defend in the early game and THEN prepare for voidray craziness, Soulkey shows us the key! We'll see how to stay alive early and how to crush the Protoss late.
We'll define Protoss standards (opening Stargate) and how Zergs (typically) respond to them
We'll show how Soulkey's openings defend a huge range of Protoss early pressure
We'll demonstrate how "bold" mass expanding plays from Soulkey are actually quite safe
We'll see how Soulkey maintains control all game long once he's seized it
In today's daily, we're going to look at 3 games played between Naniwa and Lucifron in the WCS Ro32 EU!
PvT is generally played defensively for the Protoss: counter attacks w/ small zealot numbers or storm drops are how Protosses whittle away the Terran until a late game death ball is available. However, early attacks are both possible and effective! In this daily, we'll look at 3 fast aggro/cheese openings from Naniwa in PvT that manage to best Lucifron. To do this we'll
Look at some common Terran openings to identify weaknesses
Note some possible attacks to exploit these timings
See how Naniwa's attacks strike Terrans at these vulnerable times
Explore the specifics of each build order so we can steal'em!
In today's Funday Monday, we'll visit the topic of the SKY TERRAN! You must build a mainly air army! In particular
You may have no more than 1 barracks operating at any point (it can build stuff!)
You may have no more than 1 factory operation at any point (it can build stuff!)
You MAY BUILD EXTRA BARRACKS TO WALL OFF PROVIDED THEY DO NOT CONSTRUCT UNITS!
No cheatingz!
First has been impressing EVERYBODY with his stellar performance in WCS. His PvP is no different. PvP is typically a matchup marked by early aggression and mid to late passivity. However, First does the exact opposite! He plays a hyper defensive style designed to react to his opponent and throws out some nutty mid-game timings with almost no units. In these games we'll see
What the significant early PvP timings are
How the AGGRESSIVE but SUBTLE scouting of First helps him identify what is happening early on
The adjustments that First makes to stay alive early on
The extremely odd and unusual unit production choices that First makes -> virtually zealot and stalker free!
The incorporation of warp prism harass as a core maneuver throughout the game.
The hellbat has been NERFED! What to do? Most terran players have to readapt their existing play to go toe-to-toe with the powerful Protoss late game. In this series, we'll see some very unusual early aggression tactics from SuperNova to begin slowly pushing the Protoss into a strategic corner! At this point, SuperNova strikes with everything he's got for some massive and sexy wins! In particular we'll see
How simple aggression forces the Protoss to react in very specific ways
How SuperNova delays the usual medivac harass in favor of more infrastructure back home
When SuperNova decides to make massive mid-game attacks that catch the Protoss off guard!
With the nerf of the hellbat, we're seeing a resurgence of Bio based play! Hellbats and mech are still spectacular options in the matchup, but now players have the flexibility to turn into a bio force midgame! As a result, how does the mech player maneuver his slow, powerful force against the deadly, ninja fast bio army?
To answer these questions, we'll look at 3 games between Ryung and Major from WCS Ro32! We'll look at
Several openings to get off on the aggressive foot and try to keep our bio-ing player held back!
What midgame plays we can do as mech and how to deflect run arounds and run bys!
How to be positioning our endgame armies aggressively to starve out our opponent!
Can't wait! :D
You must submit to me a game where you may ONLY expand and MUST expand every 10 minutes! Figure out how to bash your opponent down until you are permitted to expand! :D
Traditionally, the Zerg player is the one defending at the very outset: expanding to two or three bases while avoiding death at the hands of annoying early Protoss attacks. However, given how many corners Protoss are cutting nowadays, Zergs have the opportunity to begin attacking with their first set of lings!
In today's daily, we'll analyze some aggressive Zergling openings from Scarlett in her matches vs LiquidHero from WCS NA Ro32. We'll see
The timings of early Protoss builds and how we can exploit them
How Protoss will respond to our early zergling pressure
What follow ups make sense as Zerg (more infestors and tech, less roaches!)
What errors we can make and fall to the mighty Protoss
ZvT is a matchup plagued by annoying early game pushes and mid-late game biomine. Typically, Zergs are playing one of two styles: allin or hyper defensive to try to win late game. In today's daily, we'll learn some cutesy timing attacks that won't rely on allin and will help us gain some footing in the late game without being a hyper defensive, hyper passive player! We'll look at
How to win with big macro, low tech tree style!
Some common early game terran timings
How to exploit said early timings with some cute ling pushes
How to solve all our early game problems with only queens, zerglings, and upgrades
How to perform huge mid-game timings with ling/baneling to catch a macro Terran off guard!
We'll be winning ZvT using almost exclusively ling baneling!
Maru won 4-0. How the hell. In this daily, we will look at how the hell he did it! We'll break down each of the 'cheese' timings that Maru utilizes to exploit Innovation's openings! :]
In today's daily, we'll be taking a look at Jaedong's stunning PvZ series against Oz in the Group A match that finished only a few hours ago! We'll be talking about
How both players use the shape of Akilon Wastes to perform some very unusual openings
How Jaedong responds to Oz's weird 3 stargate Phoenix play
The rarely correct play of "not spending money" ACTUALLY USED CORRECTLY by Jaedong!
The massive tech switches that allow Jaedong to get a 5th base
The finishing transitions to close out the game.
What a beautiful game!
In today's daily, we're going to check out Minigun's fancy PvT style involving Phoenix & Colossus! We'll look at three basic things
What is it and what are the related timings
When and how is it so strong (vs drops and pushes)
When and how it becomes weak!
Scarlett advances! Let's analyze how and why! :D.
In honor of LiquidSnute's baneling win at Red Bull Training Grounds #2, we're doing a baneling drop funday monday!
You must win the game with baneling drops!
Interpret this however you so desire :].
Send me games of your best nukes ever! Best nuke wins, nuke hits, nuke based games etc.
Today we're going to analyze and breakdown Polt's absolutely stunning ability to create 1-sided TvP games. In particular we'll talk about
The surprising lack of drops and medivacs in early game
The timing of his additional barracks to overwhelm his enemy in the midgame
The use of decisive late game drops to combo with his massive marauder army
The generally smaller number of vikings/ghosts in his attacks
emember that TvP we did a few days ago? Lets do the same for his TvZ! We'll look at how Polt was able to crush Jaedong in the WCS Grand Finals with stunning 4M play. We'll see
How important conservative Hellion and Mine usage is in the early game
How to prepare for the midgame attack
The lack of drops in the mid and late game, with the entire focus on drilling one point
When to throw down extra barracks and macro structures to have our massive army
In this daily, you must play in a 3v3 or 4v4 where ALL of you must choose a unit and ONLY make that unit for the whole game! (ie 4 players going mass Tempest).
Defensive structures are fine
One queen per hatchery for macro is fine (ie you can't build mass queens unless it's your chosen unit!)
Units that don't count for the restriction: workers/mules, overlords, overseers, observers, warp prisms and mothership core. That is, if your team is going mass Zealot, you can each get your mothership core, observers for detection, and use warp prisms for harass. If your team is going mass Zergling you can get overseers for detection etc.
GLHF!
Let's take a gander at how Naniwa eliminated Innovation from the WCS Season 2 Grand Finals! We'll look at
The standard expand/robo opening and how to defense it!
How Naniwa transitions differently vs fast tech OR fast rax play
Naniwa's chronoboost and gateway timings
When and now Naniwa attacks and engages his enemy!
In this daily, you must play in a 3v3 or 4v4 where ALL of you must choose a unit and ONLY make that unit for the whole game! (i.e. 4 players going mass Tempest).
Defensive structures are fine.
One queen per hatchery for macro is fine (i.e. you can't build mass queens unless it's your chosen unit!).
Units that don't count for the restriction: workers/mules, overlords, overseers, observers, warp prisms and mothership core. That is, if your team is going mass Zealot, you can each get your mothership core, observers for detection, and use warp prisms for harass. If your team is going mass Zergling you can get overseers for detection, etc.
GLHF!
Once upon a time, Jaedong was heralded as one of the worst ZvPs for a top player. However, at the WCS Season 2 finals, he blew everyone's expectations with absolutely incredible play, even 3-0'ing LGIMFirst in the SemiFinals! We'll explore
What the common openings are from a Protoss perspective: air+robo variations
What the Protosses expect from the Zerg and how it creates weaknesses
Jaedong's overall gameplan: fast ling upgrades and aggressive countering
How the overall gameplan exploits Protoss weaknesses
TaeJa and Innovation are known as two top TvT players who delightfully clashed for our entertainment in the WCS Ro16 Global Finals! In particular, we saw a wickedly amazing Mech vs Bio game on Newkirk Precinct that deserves some focused analysis. In this daily we'll see
An extended look at both players openings and how they avoid making large misplanning errors.
The critical pre-planned midgame timings that both players rely on to get into good positions
How Innovation turned the typically slow mech style into a terrorizing, aggressive, fast push style
How TaeJa adjusted his build order, composition, and tactics to answer the mech aggression.
What a kick ass game this was :D.
You and your allies must submit a game of you playing in a team game where
Your only units may be spellcasters (units that have mana)
Units with cooldown abilities don't count! (eg stalkers)
Workers, overlords, warp prisms, and observers MAY BE BUILT!
Scarlett consistently blows everyone's mind with how excellent her ZvT is. In today's daily, we're going to admire a sampling of her fantastic games from WCS Season 2 Finals. We'll examine
The classic TvZ setup from the Terran side of things: 3CC into biomine
The typical answers from Zerg and what issues Zergs face
How non-Scarlett Zergs lose and/or misplay in the mid/late game AKA Why Zergs Lose
How Scarlett controls her units and transitions to be able to win in the late game!
Every dang Terran player is doing the same dang build: triple CC + 2bay + hellion delay --> Biomine midgame. Except for Bomber! At WCS, Bomber showed us an uncanny variety of clever TvZ openings that left many Zergs pondering what to do! In this daily we'll take a look at
The standard TvZ play and why it's strong
What timings the Zerg have become used to
What new and interesting build orders Bomber uses
What attack times open up for us! :D
YEAH! :D
We're going to blast through a number of PvP games from WCS Season 2 finals because I feel like it! I love PvP :D. I'll probably write a more clear description of the show. But, for now, Bucharest jetlag is wrecking my brain :D
I'm genuinely punting. Lets play StarStrikers! :D
You must play in a team game where all of you MUST attack with your first 6 workers
You may mine with the 7th worker that gets constructed
You may pull the initial 6 workers back home after you have been "reasonably damn aggressive." I leave it to you to judge when it's fair :)
In today's daily, we're going to look at a rather unusual, but extremely effective build order by LGIMFirst to snatch up 3 command centers rather quickly vs Terran! We'll talk about
What Terran players typically do as an opening and how the fast 3 Nexus can support it
The temporary weaknesses of a 3 nexus play
How First plays off this position to provide himself an advantage
It's a beautiful and clean style that First used throughout the WCS S2 Grand Finals!
What an insane comeback!
Could be the best game of the year! Nukes, battlecruisers, mmmm goodness! :D
This week's Funday Monday is simple: submit the closest 2v2 game you've ever played!
Today we're going to take a look at some fantastic 2 base allin style plays from roxkisTITAN! The traditional allin relies on an acute set of timings designed to strike at a key moment. Titan, instead, relies on interesting and aggressive attacks early on to weaken his enemy, finishing the game with a powerful attack later!
We'll look at the openings from Titan and what our normal "Protoss Concerns" would be
We'll see what the attack timings of Titan do to disrupt Zerg's opening
We'll appreciate the allin finishing blow even moar! Yeah!
This game was a very weird one. As a result, we'll be marching through it in three different ways
First, we'll look at the opening from the Protoss perspective. We'll see exactly what BK does (fast 3 base blink play!) and how he transitions up to the usual protoss mixture: double forge, colossus, mass gateway tech
Second, we'll look at the Terran opening and the gross position MMA is in: He built ghosts when he should have been building Vikings. We'll see how MMA pulls ahead with an interesting SCV pull maneuver!
Third, we'll analyze the latter half of the game once everything is severely disrupted: how do both players get back on their feet and perform some battling action?
In the standard landscape of ZvT we see biomine in almost every game! Terrans are rarely exploring different options once they can produce the biomine force. In today's daily, we're going to look at Apocalypse transitioning out of the biomine force into an unusual thor+hellbat composition! We'll see when and why he stops biomining and what weaknesses in Zerg he's trying to exploit :D
In today's daily, submit to me the closest 3v3 game that you've ever played!
MMA has been blowing everyone's mind with his exceptional form. In the WCS EU Grand Final, MC threw a variety of aggressive "play to win" style strategies that MMA deflected with relative ease. In today's daily we'll see how to plan for the long term, but survive annoying deaths in the short term! We'll examine
MMA's opening build and long term plan: How he's setting himself up for a strong MMM mid and late game
What crazy builds MC throws at MMA, from blink allin to fast void ray
How MMA defends these early attacks with subtle, but critical adjustments, such as addon timing, bunker placement, and halting of worker production
Typically, we snatch WCS replays and analyze the world's best playing under immense pressure on the big stage. But, let us not forget that there are many innovators and innovative strategies under development by the quiet gosus in our community! HTOMario is one such player, forging a sexy TvZ mech style that creates drawn out, positional, and mine heavy games! Let's break down what his goals are so you can hop on the ladder and blast out some SERIOUS METAL!
In today's (somewhat impromptu) daily, we're going to be looking at StarDust vs Nerchio from the WCS Placement matches! Stardust is known for his exceptional and unusual PvZ play and Nerchio is known for his incredibly solid and standard Zerg style.
Therefore, in this daily, we're going to be watching things from StarDust's point of view to learn why he's such a baller PvZer :)
The topic says it all. Submit to me the most insane, nailbiting 4v4 games you've ever played!
Once upon a time, Jaedong had a notoriously difficult time winning ZvP. At WCS S2 Grand Finals, Jaedong showcased some of the best ZvP we've ever seen. However, in that very same season, Jaedong showed weakness in ZvT. Now, we get the chance to see how Jaedong has reworked his ZvT matchup to beat one of the world's best.
MacSed is one of the lesser known mega gosus coming out of China. He tends to use some unusual build orders of the likes of SaSe, so we can always count on him for interesting games!
In last night's Ro16, MacSed proved to be more than just "interesting" and wound up besting both Oz and Scarlett to advance to the Ro8! Let's see how he did it :D.
Hero is known for his unusual, attacking stylez in all matchups. His cunningness won him a spot in the next round of WCS, so lets find out how he uses those fancy moves to beat one of the better Terrans around!
In this week's Funday Monday, you must submit a game where you win with MASS CONTAMINATE!
Mass contaminate could include
Consistent or non-stop contaminate of several buildings throughout the game
Several "big goop runs" where you goop up his production structures
A rush play where you do a single, well executed contaminate to win the game
I trust that you'll give me good stuff :).
Holy crap. This game was amazing. We took a look at Polt's relentless attacking and positioning vs Jaedong in WCS S2, but this game is at a whole different level. We'll be analyzing the game from BOTH sides to look at
A brief analysis of their openings: 3CC + 3base ling/bane/muta
How the 4th base positioning and hive timing are critical for Zerg's strength in lategame
How to (unusually) halt all hive tech and go back to mass muta production!
How expansion and army positioning hold a tight relationship to safe play in the late game
Today we're going to admire the ways in which sOs demolished superhero level Zergs with incredibly aggressive, air focused gameplay! In particular we'll see
What the typical flow of a PvZ game looks like
How sOs deviates from said plays by performing a variety of early attacks (cannon, warpgate, stargate etc)
How sOs MUST follow up from his openings to prevent death! (such as getting moar gateways before tech!)
The backup plans he executes to win even when behind! :D
Congrats to sOs for being such a badass and reinventing the PvZ matchup!
sOs has traditionally struggled hard against the tip toppest of Terrans by using fairly fragile templar play early game. However, at the WCS Grand Finals, sOs blew everyone's mind with his crazy Stargate into templar play and emphasizing archons instead of storm! We're going to analyze how it's possible and what makes sOs so great! We'll see
What the "normal rules" of PvT are
The broad concepts that sOs utilizes in place of those rules (more aggression, less expanding, more teching)
The ways that sOs opens to flow into his templar based play (stargate oracle harass w/ hallucination? WHOAH!)
How sOs controls the flow of the gameplay to eventually pull back into the "normal" PvT we know and love
WHAT A BADASS AMIRITE?
sOs began his remarkable run in the WCS by besting LiquidHero in a PvP bo5! We're going to analyze his funky, innovative moves and snatch'em'up! More description of the show later on in the week! :D
Throughout WCS S2 and S3, Jaedong surprised everyone with his innovative, unusual style of high larvae, low unit ZvP. His basic technique is to maximize the effectiveness of a massive transition to mutalisks (and sometimes other units too!) by delaying in the midgame and stockpiling larvae/money. In this daily, we'll talk about
What the norms of ZvP play are
The details of Jaedong's big play - The Muta Switch! (all caps as it's a proper noun now ok?)
The techniques Jaedong does in the mid-game to help himself stay alive (and deal damage too!)
The adjustments Jaedong makes in his opening if he gets screwed/attacked
This should be highly edutational :P
Jaedong is really really good at ZvT. He is as good at ZvT as I am bad at descriptions today. Trust that he is both aggressive and expands oodles n' oodles :). Yahooz!
This game is friggin insane. The best game I've ever seen. Ever. By a considerable margin. And we're going to analyze it! In this game we're going to see
How openings and considerations change in ZvT with a gold expansion on the map.
Why Scarlett's speedling before expo build was a great choice for this map and how she recovered after it failed.
The positioning of Scarlett's units to continually delay Bomber's attacks.
How Scarlett reshaped her midgame after falling considerably behind.
Although Scarlett BARELY fell short at the BattleGrounds SemiFInal vs sOs, she brought to the table an innovative set of build orders that relies on NO ROACHES! Ling/Hydra becomes the mid-game composition of choice for Scarlett as she brutalizes virtually all compositions with the joys of transfuse and tech switches. In this daily we'll see
The typical ways that Zergies be playing ZvP and why (mainly roach/hydra defensive midgame OR aggro ling/muta play)
The thought process behind the usual Zerg opening (lings + roaches + spines for defense)
How Scarlett turns usual Zerg logic on its head by avoiding roaches!
When and how Scarlett decides to build dem queens
How the choice of ling/hydra heavy play reshapes Scarlett's mid-game decisions.
It be the year of TaeJa! Taeja has blown everyone's mind by winning 5 major StarCraft championships THIS YEAR! WHAT THE F***! So, we're going to break down how TaeJa is able to win the TvZ matchup now that the widow mine has been oh-so-slightly nerfed. We'll talk about
What the TvZ matchup used to be
Why the widow mine nerf changed Terran's midgame
What TaeJa is doing now to crunch through the terrifying Zergy buddies
Listen.
I glorify really excellent, long term, high level play. But who's high level anymore? Let's watch three games from Elfi where he plays to win FAZT. He even leaves the door open for follow up play!
Game 1 - A fast 2base gateway rush build in PVT vs TaeJa
Game 2 - A fast 2 base phoenix zealot push in PvZ vs TLO
Game 3 - An oracle/dt opening vs HerO
Take these to the ladder and get to masters GUYS! :D
As an homage to the amazing burrowed baneling usage by Acer.Scarlett, we're having a burrowed baneling Funday Monday!
Submit your best games where one or more of the following happens
Amazing baneling mine hits throughout the game
A single game-changing burrowed baneling hit that helped you win! (or lose)
Hilarious or crazy games that include baneling landmines
I've been oogling and wowing away at Jaedong's tech switch, read heavy ZvP, but I'm rather excited to showcase a counterpoint style that might even be easier to execute! We'll talk about
The early game concerns that a Zergy buddy has (and why it's so scary to delay the lair!)
How Life uses his early game defense into a mid-game offense!
How Life continues to ramp up said offense WHILE TECHING!
YES! I used a 2 in the title. In today's funday monday, you must submit to me a game where you open 2 stargate oracle!
Early expanding and then going 2 gate oracle is totally fine!
1base 2 gate oracle is totally fine!
You don't have to constantly build oracles, but it is encouraged xD.
Patience surprised everyone at Dreamhack by making an incredible run through incredible Terran players to achieve 3rd place. But, he still fell to the legend MMA in the winner's bracket round 1. How was MMA able to defeat Patience in an era when Patience and Protoss are both on fire? In today's daily, we'll examine
What makes Protoss so strong in PvT - Lategame and counter warpins
How Terran openings tend to be careful and passive - Bunkers and waiting galore!
How MMA cleverly cuts key buildings to accelerate his own aggression and surprise Protoss!
How MMA manages low econ games brilliantly
We got that chance to see Patience score a 3rd place win at DreamHack with some incredible and nonstandard PvT play! In tonight's daily, we're going to take a look at some of his openings, both long term and super aggro! Hopefully we can steal them to raise our already rather high winrate :)
