Add
Private Notes
A TvZ Daily with great insight on Overlord/Lurker placement in a very tight game against a TvZ expert. Day[9] examines utilizing fast tech switches for both players as well as harass and timing pushes for Zerg.
You must play in a 4v4 w/ your team where each member selects only ONE unit and may only build that for the duration of the game! More importantly, you units must be publicly announced for all to see!~ Mwarharharharhar :D
Everyone knows that "Build Orders" are essential, but often they can be intimidating and confusing. How can I follow this build order if I don't when when I'm being attacked? If I don't know what his opening is going to be? What if I mess up!? In today's daily, we simplify the notion of build orders by creating simple groups. As our skill level rises, we break down these groups more and more and more until we have a crisp and refined build on par with the best of the best!
Last week, we discussed the notion of simplifying general build orders! As expected, the masses of Zerg buddies leapt to concern! "What about our precious race," they cried! Have no fear, for today we're going to talk about all things build order wise for zerg. That pesky drone/larvae mechanic will be NOTHING to fear in the future! By the end, you should have a comfortable idea of how to steal or create your own build!
A ZvZ cast is FAR overdue, and this replay is FAR to good to overlook anyways. Traditionally, ZvZ is viewed as a fairly boring matchup. However, recent developments have showed some VERY clever long-term and dynamic choices to really open the game up: fast infestors, faster 3rd bases, mutalisk based play, nydus worms etc! All of it helps make the gameplay staggeringly awesome :D. Stephano vs Sheth is a great example of a modern, nutty ZvZ with an emphasis on late game and macro :D.
Dealing with absolute crazy zerg play!
LastShadow is an undersung foreign player with an enormous wealth of talent. Today we examine his very well executed TvP style: from the 6rax opening to the midgame follows ups, and finally how he manages the end game! :D
A TvZ Daily with great insight on Overlord/Lurker placement in a very tight game against a TvZ expert. Day[9] examines utilizing fast tech switches for both players as well as harass and timing pushes for Zerg.
Day[9] examines a dominant mech play using Spider Mines to control the map and push the Protoss into making errors. Jangbi attempts small harass and counters to no avail.
Day[9] showcases another mech-based PvT game on a map that is imbalanced towards Protoss. Mid-game aggression, as well as containment. There is also a threat of a recall but the map coverage and aggression is too great from FirebatHero.
Day[9] examines a TvZ game, which is easily controlled in the middle with Vultures or Lurkers. The game is very back and forth with the Terran being starved due to the sheer amount of Hatcheries. Counterattacks by both are present and the Nydus play is very creative for such a big map.
Day[9] looks at a very mech-based mirror match-up in which a defensive Terran is pitted against a very aggressive Terran. He examines early game harass and dropships to prevent further expansions, as well as the use of Vultures to add more harass and the mass use of Spider Mines in the mid-game.
Day[9] analyzes a game exhibiting unorthodox style: a bio-army of Marine/Medics with additional tanks pitted against Protoss. Upgrades play a significant role in this game. Both players use drops to distract before hitting with their main armies.
Day[9] examines an early Bunker push to prevent an expansion turned into map control with Spider Mines. The game includes counterattacks and harass plus a huge surprise turning point.
Day[9] takes a look at a viewer-submitted replays to analyze some of what the player does and what a low level player can do to improve their game play in Brood War. He emphasizes the need for a game plan, making decisions for a specific reason, and not just doing for the sake of doing.
Day[9] takes a look at a viewer-submitted replay to analyze some of what the player does, and what a low level player can do to improve their gameplay in Brood War. He emphasizes the need for a game plan, and for making sure that when making decisions they are for a specific reason, and not just doing for the sake of doing.
Day[9] takes a look at a game where he played against gosi[Terran] in the 2009 WCG USA qualifiers. He explains how important it is to have a well-organized, clear plan.
Day[9] takes a look at a PvP between Movie and Best where each decides to employ a different tech. Day [9] focuses on a fast expansion and tech to Templar up against Dragoon/Reavers.
Day[9] does an analysis on another player's analysis. He explains the right and wrong way to learn.
Day[9] relaxes playing a custom map, Big Game Hunter, with his friends. We get to learn Day[9]'s strategies for this map, though the emphasis is more on entertainment than learning.
Day[9] focuses on really new tactics that allow him to build up a good strategy. We get to see Medics put to use that allow him to have the upper hand.
Day[9] analyzes a game from the brand new StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty Alpha, using his StarCraft: Brood War knowledge to discuss strategy, new units and buildings, and unit movement and placements.
Day[9] goes over a few games between Hogil and Stork. He looks at interesting scenarios that occur, how they effect the way the game plays out, as well as general ZvP strategy on the two maps.
Day[9] does an analysis of Starcraft 2's Battle Report #3. He applies his knowledge of Starcraft Brood War, to look at the new Wings of Liberty game.
Day[9] analyzes PuMa's defensive TvZ style, which utilizes mechanical units.
In this Battle Report, Day[9] examines an SC2 alpha game. He spends time analyzing the features of the map to see how it effects gameplay, along with a large showcase of the actual units themselves.
Day[9] and his friend, Tristan, get copies of the SC2 beta. Day[9] explains his thoughts on how Protoss operates.
Day[9] analyzes SC2 PvT by playing many games with his friend Tristan. He focuses on how to solve the immortal problem in PvT and tries to find the standard play in the matchup.
Day[9] goes over some Zerg openings in all matchups. He takes a look at when it is a good time to power Drone with the use of Queen power inject.
Day[9] takes a look at how to squeeze extra uses out of your units and how to make your units work overtime.
Day[9] looks at a few TvP games from the very early days of SC2. He streams two games where both Protoss go for a Mothership-based playstyle with the first player winning immediately and the second game, involving sky Protoss, going to late game.
Day[9] goes over some strats on PvP, mainly involving fast gates, both in the player's base and proxied, and pressuring with Zealots and Stalkers.
Day[9] goes over a PvT on meta that deals with the air heavy Terran vs a standard Protoss. He says that Banshees with cloak are very useful vs Protoss. He also mentions resource management and that always spending may not be the best.
Day[9] discusses the pros and cons of doing a 2 Gateway rush versus Zerg. He goes over how he felt the strategy could, and should, work and what paths it forces upon both players.
Day[9] goes over SC2 beta concepts that are new to the Starcraft community. He focuses mainly on the Terran point-of-view and points out small details that make large differences in gameplay, using a matches from CowGoMoo.
Day[9] looks at more games from Oversky showing us some of the early Zerg play in SC2, including Roach-based play and Hydra-based play and some Mutalisk-based play.
Day[9] focuses on the TvZ matchup during the SC2 beta. He meticulously goes over early game build orders for Zerg and gives a good idea on how a player can adjust and tighten his own builds, what specific small details to look for and so on. An amusing series of games when Hydralisks and Ultralisks were much more frequently used.
Day[9] pays close attention to the ZvP matchup in the SC2 beta from the Zerg's point of view, focusing heavily on timings, such as the timing of a Stargate off one base or the amount of Larvae that should have accumulated at a given time.
Day[9] goes over a PvT from the SC2 beta that involves an early aggressive build from Protoss followed by quick expansions. Protoss eventually goes to a Colossus ball along with harass by Warp Prism. Terran then executes a bio-based build with Vikings and Ravens eventually transitioning to Battlecruisers while Protoss transitions from an Immortal-heavy build to Void Rays. The viewer has the opportunity to see almost every Terran unit used in this game.
Day[9] examines a long PvT he had during the beta on Kulas Ravine that has many small engagements all around the map which we examine in great detail.
Day[9] looks at a TvT that focuses on early gasless expands then transitions to a bio vs bio playstyle. Both players focus heavily on Marines as they continue to expand. SCVs are pulled. It is interesting to note how late Medivacs are used in this game. A great deal of aggressive play. Day[9] shows how important it is to gain small advantages.
Day[9] discusses AI abuse, and how to manipulate the AI to the player's benefit. He talks about having a plan and not going out of your way to counter plays. He discusses heavy Factory play against a Dragoon-heavy army, drop harassing as well as Vulture harass around the map.
Day[9] examines a game in which a great deal of harass is being done by mass Reapers, Hellions, and Banshees allowing Terran to abuse Zerg while still being able to expand. The game contains significant use of Reaper building damage harass. Zerg holds on and manages to win with one large Hydra push.
Day[9] goes over a few games that involve expanding behind a very aggressive Zealot push in order to delay Zerg economy and force units. Day[9] demonstrates that the player is able to safely expand because he makes a Forge to create Cannons to defend against any Roach bust. This move is followed by an immortal Sentry Stalker Zealot push which wins the game due to a stalling Zerg economy.
Day[9] goes over an interesting game in which Protoss opens with a Prism and a Colossus and harasses with Colossi drops. This is eventually followed by a Zealot-heavy army with Colossus Prism and Templar for support against a Marauder-heavy composition.
Day[9] looks at a ZvP game with Zerg going for an early expand while Protoss attempts a mid-game attack with Immortals and Sentries. The attack fails and Day[9] examines how the Zerg quickly expand behind a Roach-heavy army with a few Mutalisks, limiting the Protoss on bases and allowing for the maximum constant Zerg army.
Day[9] presents a game in which Terran opens with Reapers for fast harass and expansion. Protoss opens with a Robotics Facility. The game then transitions into a standard game with Protoss attempting a Colossus-based death ball while Terran goes for a Marauder Viking composition
Day[9] analyzes a mech TvZ. This Daily covers the weaknesses and strengths of mech as Day[9] sees it at this point in the SC2 launch. He also also goes over some basics such as managing the number of bases that the player has.
Day[9] focuses on games that involve rapidly getting Immortals in order to clear rocks so the player achieves a quick gold base. The player can than harass with these Immortals as he transitions to a Warp Prism and more Gateways.
Day[9] takes a look at two games that focus on having long-term play after recovering from early aggression.
Day[9] analyzes a game with a very heavy Marauder style vs an Immortal-heavy and then Colossus-heavy deathball. This is followed by Banshee and Air transitions from Terran with an air response from Protoss with Phoenix. It goes very late game and includes Nukes.
Day[9] goes over a game during the early SC2 beta between CellaWerra and an unknown player named "Protoss." He analyzes the decisions that are made in the game and points out flaws and brilliant decisions made by the players, theory-crafting all the while.
Day[9] looks at a TvT with one player opening as sky Terran and one player opening mech. This eventually transitions into a Marauder-based style vs the Thor-heavy army of Jinro.
Day[9] explains his life inside and outside of Starcraft. Required viewing.
Day[9] explores an early expanding build to help hold off early Warp Gate pressure. He examines three games played by the same 2 players (KawaiiRice and Azz), and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of this build against multiple variations of early Protoss pressure. He also offers great general gaming advice at around the 30 minute mark.
Day[9] suffers major lag/stream issues when trying to cast games from the Razor Domination Tournament. To make up for it, he does analysis of these tournament games between DeMusliM and HasuObs. Day[9] looks at some early game tactics and build orders for Terran players, along with some coverage of the follow up.
Day[9] presents completely unbiased coverage of the College Starcraft League playoffs between USC and OSU.
Day[9] takes a look at a replay pack from Diehilde. He then analyzes Diehilde's build for a Roach early game, transitioning into a Mutalisk-focused mid-game.
Day[9] continues his analysis of Diehilde's ZvZ build and how an early defensive Roach play can help transition into a Mutalisk-focused mid-game.
Day[9] looks at a game between Pure and Fantasy, analyzing the players' builds and decision making. He suggests the player focus on the big picture in order to win. Pure makes the mistake of having slow Zealots, which Day[9] uses as an example of a timing that the player might want to change.
Day[9] focuses on the map, Polaris Rhapsody, and does a map analysis during this Daily.
Day[9] does a build analysis on Nony's early Phoenix build and harass style of play.
Day[9] analyzes Nony's aggressive, Phoenix-based, PvT opening. This is a follow-up to Day[9] Daily #108, which focuses on Nony's PvP Phoenix openings.
Day[9] addresses the effects of losing and how best to reflect upon and respond to a loss as exemplified by a game he lost to his brother Tasteless.
Day[9] focuses on a Terran opening that begins with Reapers to induce problems in the Zerg base, forcing Units and killing Drones. He then transitions to a Marauder Helion-centric army, mixing in Thors and Medivacs to allow for continued harass.
Day[9] focuses on an epic game between Hiya and Free. Day[9] also notes that these players are playing on a weird map and looks at how that's going to ultimately end up affecting gameplay.
Oh no! Day[9] loses a game against Moonglade, and he doesn't really know why! Instead of brooding about it, he broadcasts his loss all over the internets to try to figure out why it happened.
Day[9] examine's Jinro's use of Ghosts in TvZ.
Day[9] shows a 2v2 game between his roommates and gives examples of the advice he offered his friends during this match-up.
Day[9] analyzes a replay of himself playing ZvT. He tries to win during the mid-game with a Roach/Mutalisk force, but ends up losing to a fully upgraded bio army with some tanks. The Daily focuses on how to re-watch your own replays to learn from your mistakes.
Day[9] looks at a style of Terran from MorroW which involves introducing Marine tanks and then Vikings for vision. This approach allows for aggressive play and then transitions into bio play or Banshees. This provides good synergy between the long range of the Siege Tank and the vision that the Vikings allow the Tanks to gain so that they can shoot at max range.
Day[9] explores a play style from TheLittleOne in the TvZ matchup that focuses on harassment. TheLittleOne opens with Marines and Helions which provide some defense while at the same time allowing penetration into the Zerg base to force units and kill Dones. TheLittleOne follows up by expanding while continuing to harass with drops and Banshees. Meanwhile, he techs to a late game army composition.
Day[9] looks at a crazy game which opens with a 9pool against a double Starport Banshee. The game then evolves into a Raven tank bio ball against a Roach Hydra bling ball with multiple engagements across the map, as well as Zergling run-bys. Day[9] discusses how effective Banelings were before Terrans learned how to split their bio.
Day[9] analyzes a game in which we see the early workings of the 1-1-1 all-in where Terran creates one of each production facility. However, in these games, the Terran goes mainly bio and Banshee with a few Hellions and then goes for an expand against the Stargate response of the Protoss.
Day[9] focuses on fixing common issues that occur for players at the silver and gold level. He talks about timings and simple changes in mechanics that can greatly enhance a player's ability to take the lead in a SC2 game-
Day[9] presents an old, crazy game between KawaiiRice and TT1 with a long base race on Incineration Zone. He looks at the importance of the early game for PvT and then examines the decisions both players made during the base-trade scenario.
Day[9] devotes this episode to IdrA's ZvP opening in particular and Zerg macro mechanics in general. He pays additional attention to adjusting the build order, analysis of engagements, and general game analysis
Day[9] takes a look at White-Ra's PvZ style in an early game of SC2.
Day[9] tackles an analysis of Sen's 14 gas 14 pool opening vs DeMuslim. He breaks down the concept of not overreacting or over-preparing for attacks. He explores basic map control and macro-mechanics.
Day[9] focuses on the early game, how to make an opening, and then how to fine tune it using a special training map created by qxc. It involves doing the build over and over again until the player has improved both his timings and build orders as well as deployment of hotkeys and setup. This permits the player to create a streamlined build which helps him achieve his goal faster and makes the build more useful.
Day[9] examines a game with the 1-1-1 against the Stargate first style of Protoss. We see that with the harass, we can keep Terran in their bases for a short time. The game eventually transitions to a Templar-focused army instead of the traditional Colossus death ball.
Day[9] casts and analyzes a short series of his own games. He focuses on a gateway-based army for Protoss, favoring mobility over higher damage.
Day[9] examines a series of games he played against Jinro, who experimented with mech versus Protoss in the beta. Day[9] meticulously goes over the early-game, mid- and late- game, and what to do or not do when playing versus mech.
Day[9] invites special guest TheLittleOne to be on the show, because the beta has just been shut down. Day[9] and the TheLittleOne discuss ways to deal with mech and how to think like Zerg.
Day[9] talks about having a basic plan and being able to remember what to do effectively. He suggests the player ensure everything is in the process of being built and that the player have a mental checklist that includes making works, making units, chronoboosting, making buildings, etc. Day[9] also discusses why keeping money low and preventing supply blocks are critical to a clean build order. Day[9] also addresses how to spend any extra money that might be left over after the player has completed the mental checklist. This Daily is all about building good habits.
Day[9] focuses on having a good strategy with a solid beginning and end. He also goes over crisis management and the flexibility of earlier Marines.
Day[9] discusses a replay that deploys a mass Queen strategy, complimented by Roaches with upgrades. The replay pack featured in this Daily is focused on the ZvZ match up, as executed by Zelniq and Dimaga.
Day[9] examines a strategy which uses a ghost Marine-centered army instead of the typical Maraurder blob that was common at this stage of the game post release. The Marines and Ghost's emp allows for a lot of very quick dps as well as instant damage from the EMP which allows for a very deadly army that can easily kill a Protoss as well allowing for options for teching or expanding.
Day[9] focuses on TvZ game with a 1-1-1 build from Terran that eventually transitions to a heavy bio Medvac playstyle while Zerg attempts a Mutalisk Baneling sling. The viewer learns how to engage a Baneling by splitting bio balls and leaving Marauders in front.
Day[9] looks at a game which opens with a 1-1-1 build in order to establish production facilities. The player is then able to get a Banshee allowing him to gain a small income advantage in the mirror match-up. This enables the player to transition into a Marauder-focused ball with Thors, Tanks, and Vikings for support.
Day[9] invites special guest QXC to join him on the show and solicit his insights into a few of his games. This gives the viewer an insider's look at a pro-level Terran player's approach to decision making.
Day[9] focuses on the ZvZ mass Queen style, examining one his own ZvZ games against Zelniq. He explores the advantages, disadvantages, mistakes, and transitions in the gameplay.
Day[9] focuses on recovering from early game pushes as Zerg. He explores early game strategy, mechanics and transitions, unit mix, upgrades, and positioning, as well as Artosis-style Zerg gameplay.
Day[9] continues to highlight Artosis-style Zerg gameplay which implements Overlord drops. He examines a TvZ matchup and focuses on Zerg mechanics, decision making, and overall metagame.
Part 3 of Day[9]'s analysis of Artosis' playstyle, including an insane ZvZ game. Day[9] expands on the concepts of crisis management, under-reacting and over-reacting as well as on overall mechanics and strategy.
Day[9] analyzes a game between himself and his brother Tasteless. He opens with a 2gate build and then transitions into a Phoenix mid-game with a Zealot and Templar late-game composition.
Day[9] shows a match-up between QXC and KiWiKaKi, going from an HT Zealot mix to a 4 robotic Colossus transition in the late game.
Day[9] celebrates his birthday by watching 2v2 matches and commenting on fans playing.
Day[9] analyzes a gold 2v2 play with discussing a strategy that relies on surprising an opponent as well as map awareness. In this game, he encourages players to execute early timing attacks rather than the typical gold 2v2 turtling/macro strategy.
Day[9] looks at a match in which White-Ra deploys an early Void Ray to force his opponent into using certain units so that he can gain a unit counter advantage. Additionally, Day[9] looks at how White-Ra handles early pressure.
Day[9] reviews White-Ra's blink Stalker play; he examines how to acquire these Units and how to stay alive while using them. He additionally demonstrates how to harass with them and how to transition out of them.
Day[9] introduces a game in which White-Ra opens up with a 2gate aggression, and his opponent is forced to respond with Roaches. From here, White-Ra exploits his opponent's limited options with transitions like DT.
Day[9] discusses his SC2 Countdown Party, as well as who and what will be there. Then, he turns to a game in which HuK decides to get late gateways, and his first Zealot while his Cybernetics Core is building. To delay Moo from attacking him, HuK utilizes Immortal drops to keep Moo distracted.
Day[9] looks at HuK's play versus his Zerg opponent, Habit, in which he immediately transitions into a Stargate after getting 2 gateways. HuK then begins one base pushes, and Day[9] discusses the outcome and strategy of his pushes in detail.
Day[9] reviews Jinro's early Starport/Viking play with a transition into mech. In addition, Day[9] talks about the importance of creep and Zerg mobility, especially when the Terran player transitions into mech.
Day[9] focuses the reasons for obtaining add-ons, and discourages the viewer from getting them simply because he can. He also discusses avoiding the common Protoss approach of getting one of each tech building. In addition, Day[9] talks about the different responses to these, forcing counters, and why these counters don't necessarily exist.
Day[9] talks about the beta 0.20 patch updates. Then, he looks at some PvT games played between TheLittleOne and White-Ra in which he specifically examines Protoss Gateway timings. Day[9] focuses on “chunking” in this episode: what the player should be doing in the mid-game to build for a strong late game as Protoss.
Day[9] goes in-depth on map control in TvT battles that are tank-based with some bio mixed in. He examines what signs to look for and what timings to expect when an opponent is doing basically the same thing as the player and how to gain an edge in this dynamic mirror match-up.
Day[9] focuses on going mech against Zerg, the hitches that come with this style and certain things that Zerg can do to react to this kind of play. He describes and analyzes certain decisions made by both players while theorizing what he thinks will be the best play in these situations.
Day[9] highlights the first draw (a ZvT game) in the professional scene. Day[9] focuses on engagements, positioning, strategic decisions, and transitions.
Day[9] looks at a game which displays a good early aggressive strategy from the Terran, involving building a bunker in the enemy’s main base, thereby limiting him to only one. He also looks at a very slow tank push that is extremely effective against the Colossi and Stalkers, with the bio cleaning up any remaining units – a very patient build.
Day[9] analyzes a game on a new map to the ladder pool, exploring how to expand and how to both defend those expansions, as well as attack the enemy expansions.
Day[9] tells stories about the ups and downs of the Starcraft 2 Countdown Launch Party. He also shows pictures and videos!
Day[9] looks at a ZvP game where the Zerg takes a ninja base and then puts lots of pressure on the Protoss, killing multiple bases and lots of Probes while transitioning to Mutalisk play. The game eventually evolves into an amazing game which includes Void Rays, Phoenixes, and even Carriers.
For this daily, Day[9] takes a close look at an epic TvZ struggle between BratOK and TheLittleOne. We'll take a look at some of the decisions the players make, and we'll even talk about timing pushes, and the capabilities of certain units!
Day[9] invites the viewers to take a very close look at their play and encourages them to fix their timings. He suggests viewers work on playing smoothly, rather than quickly. He explores using probe/SCV production as a benchmark for when other items should be built.
Day[9] takes a step back and looks at SC2 decision making from a new player perspective. He lists the basics on which a new player should focus in order to be successful in SC2.
Day[9] focuses on variations in openings involving Zerglings and Banelings from one or both of the players. He also analyzes transitions from the early game Zergling-Baneling opening.
Day[9] examines a PvP game that does not involve a 4gate at all. Instead, both players go for a Robotic Facility. One player upgrades to Phoenix with Probe harass and then transitions to a Voidray Colossus ball, which eventually wins the game. This strategy illustrates the power of adding Void Rays to your composition when facing Colossi.
Day[9] highlights "Brood War logic" such as creating the opportunity to expand. In this case, MorroW uses constant aggression against IdrA to set up his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th expansion on Blistering Sands.
After forgetting to pay rent again, Day[9] explores 1 gas Protoss Warpgate play based upon the playstyle of Adel (now AdelScott). By using our friend Notepad and comparing 2 different build orders, Day[9] shows the strength of macro.
Day[9] demonstrates variations on the typical 4 Warp Gateway build.
Day[9] goes through the process of refining a straightforward mech build by playing against the computer and noting bumps in his play. Day[9] reattempts his simple mech build, making adjustments based on his noted errors.
Day[9] opens with a riddle and compares the thought process to Gretorp's unique TvT opening and his subsequent transitions into late game struggles against Fenix's tank placement/map control. He also discusses the effects of ditching assumptions in one's play.
Day[9] focuses on the interesting decisions by both Stalife with his Reaper opening and Bubba's 14 hatch. Later, Day[9] discusses the importance of aggressive play to cover expansions.
Day[9] looks at two unorthodox ZvP's. In the first, Check and HongUn demonstrate the importance of understanding how to play to the map rather than using the same strategy regardless of the map. Day[9] then uses his extra time to look at a ridiculous game between ChiTa and Mystic to show the importance of avoiding a one-of-everything type build.
Day[9] looks at a TvZ game with an aggressive Terran opening by Maka, then examines how Check uses Zerg's mobility to take advantage and turn Maka into a turtley Terran. Check proceeds to further use that mobility to slowly break down a strong Terran army using the map to support frequent counter attacks.
Day[9] looks at the benefits of not falling into the assumption that the player needs early double gas in Protoss play, and more importantly, how the player can reap the benefits of winning as a result of early game decisions without trying to match the enemy's style. (i.e. winning with macro when the opponent has decided to tech)
Day[9] looks at a one-sided TvT to show the viewer how to stay safe while in the lead, and what risks to try to take when behind.
Day[9] teaches the viewer two basic concepts with today's replays. First, if the viewer attempts a strategy, one of the best counters is to not over-think the game; the player should simply go kill his opponent. Second, the viewer should macro very well, with many expansions. Day[9] then screens 2 PvZ games where each of these ideas are implemented to allow for an easy win.
Day[9] examines an interesting PvT game in which Protoss goes Stargate using Void Rays and Phoenixes to pick off Unit structures and SCVs. The game transitions into Templar but still remains interesting as there is a heavy focus on air Units for Protoss instead of the standard Collosus ball Units.
After a long losing streak, Day[9] decides to learn TvZ by watching the replays of FruitSellers (aka cool). He focuses on early game harassment as well as Mid-game strategies. Additionally, he explains how to cope with losing streaks.
Day[9] continues to learn TvZ, this time studying DIMAGA's replays.
Day[9] discusses a tactic used by HuK involving a fast observer so that the player can see what his opponent is doing and adjust his game play. HuK opens with a 2 gate and a Robotics Facility which allows him to create some defenses while he obtains information. Day[9] also shows us a game where HuK gets rushed with Units and is unable to get the Observer.
Day[9] examines a PvP where one player goes for two quick Gates and manages to get a small Probe lead, following up with an expand while the other player goes for 4 gate Colossus before expanding. Generally good RTS skills, expanding behind an attack.
Day[9] introduces the first Funday Monday. The constraint is that the Zerg player is forbidden to make any Queens.
This is the first in the series of Tuesday episodes dedicated to players below the Diamond level. Day[9] examines the common mistakes of Bronze through Platinum level players, shows what to focus on and what not to really worry about until they become a top Diamond player. This particular episode is a PvT, although the concepts apply to all races.
Day[9] looks at a Gretorp TvT game with a fast Banshee opening. Both players use different strategies throughout the early, mid, and late game with Gretorp following up his early Banshees with mass Marauders and rapid expansions. There are some great examples of how little harassment can keep you in the game. Also, Battlecruisers.
Day[9] talks about the importance of making workers and holding off early pressure.
Day[9] examines 3 TvP games with differing maps and builds including a replay from Jimpo with a fast Ghost style which is powerful both offensively and defensively.
Day[9] does a Daily about Carrier rushes, which includes a bonus episode of HuK playing Funday Monday.
Day[9] analyzes the hiccups that many players experience when faced with early pressure from their opponents. He covers how to counter strategies such as marine SCV rushes, fast 4gates, early Void rays, Hellion harass and general early game aggression. He then takes questions from his viewers.
Day[9] looks at a ZvT matchup in Starcraft 2 with Drewbie and Darkforce. He does a standard analysis of the game including a discussion of openings vs build orders, and proper use of Overlords for creep and scouting.
Day[9] examines the push distances, ramp sizes, and tactics specific to certain maps. He then takes some questions from his viewers.
Day[9] looks at an interesting PvT between two top players.
Funday Monday! The constraint this week is to play with no Marines, Marauders, or Tanks. Funday Monday participants therefore primarily rely upon Nukes, Vikings, and Planetary Fortresses to win their matches.
Day[9] discusses Drone timing and how to recognize whether the player should build Units or Drones. Examples of producing too many, as well as too few, Frones are analyzed followed up by an example of what to do featuring FruitSeller & OST.
For this Friendday Wednesday show, Gretorp joins Day[9] and talks about one of his PvT games, and gives us some insight on what he does and why.
Day[9] does a replay analysis of a game between Naama (T) and Madfrog (Z).
Viewers join together in 3v3s and 4v4s for some monobattling fun!
Day[9] analyzes Banshee play, harass, and micro from the viewpoint of both harasser and defender.
Day[9] and HuK analyize a replay HuK played on Metalopolis, showing both good points and issues that need to be worked on.
Funday Monday! The constraint: An Alphabetical Free for All, where the player must kill his opponents in alphabetical order. In addition to spectacular games, this Daily is host to one of Day[9]'s most memorable quotes.
Day[9] explains the pitfalls many beginners make when trying to incorporate drops into their play and how to avoid them.
In this Friendday Wednesday, Day[9] invites guest qxc to analyze his drop play.
Day[9] analyzes two BlizzCon 2010 matches. Both matches feature DIMAGA and Fenix.
Day[9] examines multiple strategies in 3v3 Monobattles.
In this Newbie Tuesday, Day[9] enlightens his audience on how to deal with the mighty, three-legged, laser-shooting Colossus.
In today's Daily, Day[9] takes a look at JP's games and focuses on what JP can improve on.
Day[9] analyzes a PvZ matchup between Artosis and RenieHour. **SPOILER ALERT** Day[9]'s computer crashes 10 minutes into the broadcast!
DjWheat plays a game live, and then Day[9] analyzes his play and gives him coaching immediately afterwards. Then, djWheat plays another live game and applies what he has learned.
Funday Monday: Halfsies! The Constraint: Players must pick the same race and may not make the same Units all game long! Episode also contains epic music commentary.
In this Newbie Tuesday, Day[9] focuses on 2v2 play. He explains that 2v2 strategy and decision-making is different from 1v1 strategy and decision-making. He explores basic principles of 2v2: how to attack and join armies together, how to defend, and why there is no cheese in 2v2. =)
Day[9] analyzes every aspect of a TvZ match up between Haypro and STX, a grandmaster player. He focuses on all aspects of the game, and explains the mechanics and the thought process behind the players' decisions, and why they work or don't work.
Day[9] analyzes a game from MLG Dallas 2010 between Socke (P) and Sen (Z). He emphasizes how important it is to make a build that satisfies your goals, and how important it is not to lose focus after gaining a big lead, and why it is important never to forget to expand, even if you are in the lead. He also explains ways to deal with Mutalisks as Protoss and discusses the pros and cons of mass low tech Units vs. fewer high tech Units in late game.
We're going to do something cool! Watch the same game twice from two different points of view. Lets see if learning ensues
Day[9] offers an analysis of a TvZ game between Madfrog and Tarson on Blistering Sands. The game starts with a 2 port Banshee opening, and lasts until the late game. At the end, he focuses on tips for the 200 food battles that ensue.
Day[9] looks at the tendency of players to rely heavily on the Colossus. The problem is that these players RUSH the Colossus and die because they have no supporting army. Day[9] shows a game in which Inka sacrifices huge amounts of Units and DTs in order to buy time for his Colossus. The main focus of this Daily is the process of getting the Colossus and the value of buying time.
This Daily serves as an example of why the traditional notion of counters does not always apply. In it, Day[9] looks at a build by qxc in which qxc focuses on building mass Reapers and Barracks early in the game. The main tactical focus is the pin and how Reapers are so fast they can force a player to stay in his base.
Funday Monday! The constraint: the player must expand every 4 to 5 minutes. This results in hilarious games such as Planetary Fortress Rushes as well as very, very powerful macro games.
Day[9] invites the audience to watch a blink vs robo PvP game between Nony and OpTiKzErO. Then Day[9] goes back and spends 40 minutes looking in detail at mistakes made by both players that might go unnoticed.
Day[9] and TheLittleOne analyze a game where TLO puts on early pressure with Roaches and Banelings and then takes it to the late game. They particularly focus on TLOs in-game decision-making and his thoughts during the game. This is a great Daily to learn a lot of the basics in Zerg decision-making, even if it's in an older version of SC2 WoL!
Day[9] takes a look at two great players: Jinro and Moon. He talks about the importance of seeing value in every Unit, and on focusing on getting core buildings built during the mid-game.
Day[9] points out that on the Korean servers, Zerg seem to be winning more in ZvP match ups while on the other servers, Protoss seem to be winning more. This leads him to examine the professional ZvP match up in greater detail, focusing on some of the novel strategies of LoveTT.
Day[9] looks at a ZvP game between Sen and iNcontrol in which Sen executes a brilliant series of re-maxing and transitions into Brood Lords smoothly and successfully.
Funday Monday! Players are given the following constraint: The player must attack your opponent(s) every 5 minutes and whenever you attack, you must emit a battle cry! Yeeeeeaaaaarrrrrrrggggg!!!!
During this Newbie Tuesday, Day[9] demonstrates how to combat a fast-expanding Protoss as Terran, and how to think about a fast-expanding player.
Day[9] analyzes a TvZ game between qxc and DIMAGA. He examines the map Xel'Naga Caverns and focuses on qxc's play.
Day[9] looks at early game issues for Zerg, and discusses better decision-making from the perspective of both players in a ZvP game.
Funday Monday! Players are given the following constraint: Build a Battlecruiser before expanding. As might be expected, lots of amazing awesomeness ensues from this! Get ready for another epic Daily!
In this Newbie Tuesday, Day[9] explores how to deal with Mid-game Banelings playing as Terran.
Day[9] looks at an insane game in which a Baneling bust puts both players in an awkward spot where neither really knows who is in the lead. He shows some techniques to deal with this, and what players' strong and weak points are.
Day[9] takes a look at an incredible game between HuK and Junwai. The lesson: never give up!
Day[9] looks at a one-sided ZvP where MC crushes Ret.
Day[9] briefly talks about how to look for replays and analyze a series of replays. Then we look at another ZvP between Ret and MC in which Ret almost overruns MC.
Day[9] suggests that while it is good to focus on the fundamentals of StarCraft, it is sometimes fun to sit back and watch a zany crazy game! In this Daily, he looks at a base for decision-making when everything else has gone wild.
Day[9] explores Stephano's Roach Infestor play. Instead of Baneling, Zergling, Mutalisk, Day[9] reveals an interesting mid-game unit mix from Stephano - one that combats Strelok's play very well! The brilliance of Stephano's play is not so much in the composition but rather in the timing when he gets there. This timing is so good because it is slow enough to have a decent ground army but fast enough for the Terran to be unprepared.
In this shorter Daily, Day[9] runs through a ZvZ build two times--each time using a slight variation to see how it affects the rest of the game.
Day[9] shows how KiWiKaKi creatively solves problems by thinking ahead in this a ZvP tournament match from the SCReddit Invitational.
For this Funday Monday, viewers submitted replays in which they only attacked through the use of Nydus Worms and had at least two worms at some point during the game.
Day[9] turns his attention to TvT and explains the possible uses of a cloak Banshee in order to control an opponent's Units and force them to the back of the main. He also addresses how patience is key when trying to kill Siege tanks and how to scan appropriately.
Day[9] uses a live voting system to create a 'choose your own adventure' for the live audience. As a result, he analyzes a ZvP late game between HuK and NesTea involving lots of Mutalisk harass and shows the Protoss' counterattack to mid-game harass.
Day[9] analyzes game one from the scReddit Invitational Grand Finals: MorroW vs White-Ra. He demonstrates how Zerg should deal with early timings, such as the 5 gate. Day[9] also demonstrates what to after holding such a push.
Funday Monday! The constraint: Players can only attack using Warp Prism harassment until they have at least 3 bases.
Day[9] looks at a fast Lair-based strategy for ZvZ games, which focuses on building placement, unit placement and timing. This Daily teaches early game survival and transition into the mid-game.
Day[9] takes a look at a few PvP games between NaNiwa and White-Ra with the intention of finding the time and reason that a player starts to take a discernible lead.
Day[9] offers a "Choose Your Own Adventure" Daily, in which he guides the audience through a ZvP match between Sen and Nony on the map Xel'Naga Caverns. Day[9] examines the decisions of both players and identifies small leaks in their play.
After he saw a brilliant TvT during a GSL game, Day[9] takes a look at 3 games on the same map, Xel'Naga Caverns. He suggests us to improve our game play by watching many games on the same map by the same player. However, even though the games are on the same map, in this daily, we get to take a look at 3 different games from different players, to study various possible game plays.
Funday Monday! The constraint: Players may expand anywhere BUT they cannot take their natural expansion. Ever. In this most unnatural of Dailies, much hilarity ensues.
Day[9] examines a mech build by Jinro, and explains how to effectively move into mid- to late game mech play. He also emphasizes the importance of transitions, attempting to make the most of Units and not trying to simply brute force one's way into the late game.
Day[9] takes a look at White-Ra (duckload) and his Protoss style that has been winning him a lot of games recently. He examines the reasons behind this high win rate and demonstrates ways that players of any level can mimic White-Ra's playstyle.
This Daily was inspired by KiWiKaKi, who was talking to Day[9] and said, "Do you want a cool game, dude?" Day[9] offers some general analysis of that game, some wonderful tidbits of wisdom, and demonstrates how a standard game can turn into a crazy game!
Day[9] focuses on early ZvZ timings and openings. He emphasizes connecting early and discusses Mid-game play and reminds the viewer to keep an overarching goal in mind when starting out.
Funday Monday! The constraint: Day[9] mod Marky imposes different casting constraints on Day[9] while he casts random games of all leagues.
Day[9] analyzes the basic elements of game mechanics including proper usage of the mouse, minimap, and micro from the perspective of Terran and Zerg. Required viewing.
Day[9] explains the importance of exercising patience in problem-solving when faced with unorthodox play from an opponent as exemplified by MaNa in this ZvP.
In this "Choose Your Own Adventure" Daily, Day[9] analyzes the Muta/Ling/Bane metagame in the current TvZ match-up.
Day[9] examines a game between Mondragon (Z) and EmpireKas (T). Since his webcam is broken for this episode, Day[9] offers some creative alternatives. The audience sees Kas do a crisp, 3 rax timing against Mondragon where Mondragon almost loses the game but is spared by a single lucky Baneling!
Funday Monday! The constraint: Players are asked to build Queens constantly throughout the game! In addition, Peruvian pro-gamer CatZ offers his own Funday Monday submission which shows him completing this task at the highest level.
Day[9] reviews three replays in which players attempt to use hotkey and mechanics concepts explained in Daily #252
In this Friendday Wednesday episode, Day[9] invites iEchoic to join him on the show and they talk about his new TvT playstyle. This style uses a 2 Factory, 2 Starport build that relies on Hellions and air Units - that's right, no tanks!
Day[9] answers questions from the viewers about himself and his life.
Valentine's day? No, it's Funday Monday. Today was all about contamination as Zerg mixed with lots of faux angry stories about the disappointments of love.
Day[9] reviews basic mechanics in StarCraft play, including how to sit in your chair, how to hold your mouse, whether or not to cross your legs. Day[9] also takes a look at user-submitted VODs and analyzes basic mechanics in the game, like hotkeys, mouse movement, and more!
Day[9] casts and does some deep analysis on a PvT game featuring HuK and qxc. He focuses on the builds that each player brings to the field, but more specifically analyzes the Protoss build and how the 3 Gate Robotic Facility build was the most effective option for HuK when facing qxc in this situation.
Day[9] analyzes some games from IdrA, and displays the incredible timings that this professional player is known for. IdrA plays a very clean game, while keeping his minerals and gas at very low levels. The subtle focus on the economy is an example of IdrA's genius.
Day[9] takes a look at a cool PvT game and does some general analysis. He deals with the concept of variety versus size. In this PvT, the Terran ends up building almost all marines, and Day[9] explores the consequences of that.
Day[9] is actually in Germany during this episode, casting at the Intel Extreme Masters! Because of that, the Daily consists of a typical TvT match between Jinro and SelecT, where Day[9] demonstrates all that goodness with marine drops and tank positioning!
Day[9] looks at the PvT match up, but in a broader sense, also looks at the idea of pinning an opponent. Pinning works by seeing what your opponent has, making conclusions about what he may be doing (i.e. if you see no gas, you can pin your opponent to be early expanding or going for some heavy mineral aggression). To explore this idea, Day[9] looks at some examples from a game between Minigun and Forever.
In this episode, we watch a game between EG's Axlav and ROOT's destiny in a PvZ matchup. We see some interesting forcing from the Zerg in the early game through a gas steal, and examine how to handle a crisis in the mid-game.
Funday Monday! No player constraint this week! Instead, the Day[9] Admins battle it out for our entertainment! It turns into all around amazingness!!
In this excellent introduction to StarCraft 2, Day[9] covers the mental attitude, the social aspect of eSports, and suggests playing regimens that may be useful for new players to really get into the game. He focuses on having fun and making Starcraft 2 a part of your life, with some play schedules offered for players in the lower leagues.
Day[9] examines how Grubby uses a highly mobile army to survive and recover from major damage.
Day[9] shows a game between Alive and HuK and discusses key decisions which determine the match outcome. He also shows some steps in a build order, and emphasizes that players should not just follow the supply count, as a supply count build order can be thrown out of whack with an attack.
Day[9] analyzes the 4 warp gate push that seems to dominate the majority of the pro PvP matchups. He also discusses the basic tools that are needed to analyze and break down any build.
Funday Monday! The constraint: Team Monobattles - each player must announce a single Unit at the start of the game and must ONLY build that Unit for the rest of the game.
Day[9] explores the use of speed Reapers with replays from the viewers. Topics include how to survive while getting Reapers, how to use them to harass and scout, how they affect your gas/mineral balance, and how to plug them into the mid and late game strategy.
Day[9] analyzes a PvP best of 3 between Mana and White-Ra. First he looks at Mana's defense of a 4gate and analyzes important timings, strengths, and weaknesses of the PvP build. In the second game, he analyzes 3 gate robotic builds from the same players.
Day[9] breaks down Cruncher's unusual ZvP style that he recently used to beat Idra. The build starts with Phoenix and Void Ray pressure and transitions into a two base Colossus ball with Void Ray support.
Funday Monday! The constraint: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish NUKEFISH! Build a nuke before expanding, nuke at least 3 times in a game, and talk like Dr. Seuss before launching a nuke.
In this guide to incorporating Infestors into Zerg play, Day[9] covers staying alive, adjusting player strategy for a gas-heavy Unit, and developing a cohesive early and Mid-game strategy.
Day[9] looks at playing standard, focusing on a HasuObs PvT. He looks at most standard builds from early game, through the transitions, and ending in late game with max army.
Funday Monday! Protoss players are constrained to build no more than 2 Warp Gates.
In this first part of a 3 part analysis of the PvT match-up, Day[9] looks at very specific timings of the Protoss player and what the Terran player can do to take advantage of them. By looking at the army of the Protoss, you can estimate what is in their base and where their money is going.
PvT Matchups, Part Two of Three. Day[9] focuses on the Terran point of view, and suggests that if the Unit composition is more Sentry-based, the player can expect either tech or an expansion. If the army is composed primarily of Stalkers then the player can conclude that Protoss is not building new structures because he simply cannot afford it.
PvT Matchups, Part Three of Three. Day[9] takes a stab at his PvT opening against the AI. He experiments with various openings with a general goal of getting up an expansion and many Barracks. After tinkering around with his build order, he asks his friend to 3 Gate pressure him, and gets destroyed.
At the beginning of your game, you must name three Units. For the rest of the game, you may only make those three Units (and workers/buildings, of course). In the encore, Drewbie and Minigun take on the challenge!
All about how to steal a build order.
Day[9] has a guest on this episode: Spanishiwa! Day[9] covers Spanishiwa's Zerg build, which he believes allows a Zerg player to rely on mechanics, and not as much on micro, which gives the player an advantage at dealing with early pressure. This is a no gas forever style, which makes it a very unique way to play!
This Daily is all about Slag Pits map. This is pure map analysis from Protoss and Zerg point of view. We'll see things which we'll should expect from our opponent, explanation of different builds, and possibilities of natural, third and more expansions.
No Roaches, no Hydras, no Mutas, no Banelings - only 12 Zerglings all game! Fun Zerg play focused on late game tech & Units ensues.
Day[9] takes a look at the proper way to take a build from a professional and use that build in your own play style. We take a look at replays from Day[9] viewers to examine how they implemented the professional build they "stole".
Day[9] has a guest on the show: Sheth! They take a look at a game he played and analyses his decision making. Sheth and Day[9] give out general advice on how to improve on the ladder and then start to talk about some basic ZvZ strategies.
Day[9] shows off Sheth's Zerg play style, and emphasizes some of the key things that Sheth focuses on when he is playing. First, Sheth worries less about his timings, and more about just making sure that he never has any Larva just hanging out. Second, he focuses on getting Roaches out as early as possible to be aggressive, and third, that it is good to have Units spread out and checking expansions to avoid letting Terran have map control.
This Daily is all about 2v2 basics. It pointed out few very important things like basic combos, transitions to later combos, and annoying things which we can expect from each races. He also explains the idea of joining together and splitting the opponents.
Day[9] takes a look at replays featuring horrible 2v2 partners. Today's Funday Monday is all about having some of the worst allies in 2v2. It's amazing what some players are willing to do to win.
Day[9] takes a look at 2v2 battles, and how map control can have such a huge impact on these types of battles. He also shows how not having a Zerg player on your team can really affect your ability to be successful in a large map game.
In this daily we can see typical 2v2 analysis, which explains every aspect of co-working, how players cooperate with each other, and how the transition of each of them affecting the team composition.
In this daily we can watch a few games in which Day[9] play with Tristan. Money dumping is they main tactic in these games, and he explains every pro and con related with it.
Funday Monday! Day[9] has Terran players operate one Barracks/Starport working at the same time.
Here Day[9] showcases the Ghost by showing games where several players take a crack at using the Unit. The focus of this Daily was on making sure to have a strong economy and to make sure we appropriately get upgrades and tech labs when we can afford it. The last part of this daily shows some uses of the Ghost on the battlefield, and Day[9] gets you to ask yourself if using that spell was worth it.
Today Day[9] looks at a rather unknown player, Happy, and some of his brilliant tactics in game such as how he rearranges his buildings to optimize his add-ons or the guaranteed nature of his Banshee damage and the importance of their retention.
Day[9] finds inspiration from analyzing Sheth's Roach/Hydra style versus Protoss.
Day[9] analyzes a very long macro game between Happy and Socke, where a heavy Gateway Unit composition is employed against an early cloak Banshee opening that transitions into a mass bio end game.
In this Funday Monday, players are challenged to create and name a hero unit. Day[9] humorously follows the adventures of these brave heroes as they try to rack up as many kills as possible before being slain.
Day[9] focuses on how to gain intelligence without scouting by discussing how to use non-triggers and explaining how to account for all possibilities while maintaining a primary game goal. LaLuSh also demonstrates great Zerg timings!
Day[9] presents the idea of "convergence points," a phenomenon wherein Terran players often arrive at the same set of structures with different builds. He explains the importance of using convergence points to get back on track if you lose focus in a game. Day[9] graduated from University of Southern California with a Masters of Fine Arts in Interactive Media! He's been promoted to the real life master's league!
Day[9] analyzes HasuObs' approach to the PvT matchup. In doing so, he underscores the importance of having a simple plan that includes attack timings and winning strategies. He goes on to explain how to stick to that plan regardless of how crazy the game gets.
Day[9] delves in to a game between immensely popular White-Ra and IdrA, providing overall analysis that progresses in to an in-depth look at the game from the Zerg perspective.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] casts an exciting game from an FFA tournament hosted by iinet.
Day[9] explains the common mistake where players examine their play and end up making incorrect adjustments that make their play worse. He goes on to warn against this danger and provides explicit examples of correct and incorrect play adjustments.
Day[9] explains how to determine what units, buildings, and tech possibilities an opponent has based upon limited information.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] showcases games in which players are challenged to play using only their mouse.
In this Newbie Tuesday, Day[9] explains how to learn from your games to improve your play. To demonstrate this, he analyzes a series of games from a person trying to improve and comments about the proper adjustments to make.
Day[9] discusses the fundamentals of Larvae mechanics for Zerg, including when to make Drones, when to make Units, and what kinds of Units to make based on the circumstances. To demonstrate, Day[9] analyzes Slush's way of managing his Larvae so as to not lose economy, even when facing intense aggression.
Day[9] analyzes the amazing Hwangsin, a player who came out of nowhere to decimate everyone at the Team Liquid Open. He takes a look at Hwangsin's games and discusses how a very simple read on an opponent can allow you to cut certain elements out of a build or recognize an opening and kill your opponent. It's the pi Daily!
Day[9] examines HuK's carefully designed blink play in ZvP and provides insight into the minor reactive adjustments he makes to the build. In doing so, Day[9] reveals the benefits of delaying things ever so slightly rather than following the urge to always get things faster.
Day[9] takes a look at three games in which a player sees something and reactively makes on-the-fly decisions to respond to it. In these games between Ganzi and Genius, Day[9] points out very broad examples of in-game decision making that can be practically applied! Plus, Day[9] shares a story about his birthday experience!
In this episode, Day[9] teaches how to analyze a loss as a Terran player and how to make improvements based on what is seen in a replay.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] casts replays of viewers playing the StarCraft Broodwar custom game in StarCraft 2.
Many are attracted to the luster of a quirky, new, or unusual play style, but in this episode, Day[9] reveals how a very standard build can be just as effective in the TvZ matchup! Also, Day[9] announces the conception of the After Hours Gaming League!
Day[9] does an extensive Q&A with the chat regarding a TvT between Sjow and Rain, where both players go for a mech-based style of play.
Day[9] shows a few variations on a build focused around a 3rax, Reactor Starport drop harass opening intended to be used against Protoss.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] challenges players to not build any pylons in their main base. Instead, players must use warp prisms, proxies, and pylons all around the map. Day[9] also sheds special insight into the eating habits of select Terran units.
Day[9] examines a Protoss air style and shows how such play can be leveraged to provide much better map control than traditional ground styles. In addition, Day[9] demonstrates how this air style can actually cause a Zerg opponent to react in a certain ways, allowing a player to not only control the map, but the flow of the game as well.
Day[9] takes a look at a long game of PvT in which the Protoss player uses a unique strategy which enables him to eventually come out on top. This episode focuses on the concept of having a lean Unit compositions. In addition, Day[9] provides general advice on how to react to harassment.
Day[9] tackles the basic problem of mirror matchups, especially PvP, where there is a large difficulty in locating and capitalizing on an edge. He examines the unseen galaxy of choices within builds like the 4-Gate, and points out different variations that can be used to gain an advantage. He goes on to explain how to make the best of the advantages these small variations produce.
Day[9] discusses Destiny's ZvP style in this Friendday Wednesday. They focus primarily on a burrowed Infestor timing to punish a Forge fast expansion build. By using Infested Terrans, Destiny creates a cost efficient Zerg army on par with that of the Protoss.
Day[9] examines Sen's ZvZ play in order to discover the secret of winning in the matchup. He looks at Sen's decisions, searches for his triggers, and analyzes the thought process behind them.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] challenges viewers to only attack on Creep. In this episode, Danny "ViBE" Scherlong makes a guest appearance!
Day[9] focuses on standard Zerg play, discussing important elements such as economy management, strategic analysis, and dealing with drops. He demonstrates how to keep your focus in the ZvT matchup.
In this Choose Your Own Adventure episode, Day[9] ultimately ends up casting a game between Socke and Sheth. In the cast, he focuses on the ZvP matchup in a general sense.
Day[9] analyzes DDE's Terran builds used against MorroW in the semifinals of the Shoutcraft Invitational. This daily covers three games featuring Reaper harass, a bunker push, and drops to construct a tactical advantage.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] shows off a few games where a brave few struggle to successfully and hilariously implement Planetary Fortress Rushes!
Day[9] discusses the importance of learning from both players' points of view when analyzing a game. He takes turns looking at both players' points of view and points out important but easily overlooked nuances.
In this half and half, Day[9] analyses a game of the NASL Season 1 Finals between Puma and MC. In the first part, he rapidly goes through the replay, searching for questions. The second and third parts focus on the point of view of each player respectively.
In this half and half, Day[9] analyzes a game between Sen and MC. He takes turns analyzing the game from each player's perspective to increase understanding.
Day[9] looks into Ret's TvZ style, where he skimps on early game defenses in order to get a very quick Spire for Muta harassment. He reveals that by constantly stretching the Terran army across every corner of his base, Ret has plenty of time to build a large enough force to win the game.
In this Funday Monday (one of Day[9]'s personal favorites), players are challenged to lift off their command center at the start of the game and to land it in another base. Only after the Command Center has been moved are players then allowed to continue the game as normal.
Day[9] investigates Ret's amazing playstyle and reveals that, while Ret's strategy and builds are fairly standard, his mechanics and subtle decision-making really pushes him ahead.
In this Funday Monday, players were challenged to play a 2v2 where both one ally can only build ground Units and the other ally can only build air Units (including detectors)! Very entertaining games result!
In this episode, Day[9] focuses on the major issue of Gold league play: multitasking. He teaches how to prioritize tasks and how to seek out problems to make a top priority for improvement. While the focus is on Gold players, Day[9] explains that the same strategy is helpful at the Platinum level as well.
An extension of the previous Daily, Day[9] goes through several fan-submitted replays and uses them to illustrate how to prioritize various problems in play. He additionally describes how prioritization should affect your gameplay and discusses the "curse of winning."
In this comedic episode, Day[9] focuses on getting to know Sean "Day[9]" Plott not only as Day[9] but also as the person he is "behind the scenes." This Daily is organized in an "Ask Me Anything" style, where questions are taken from viewers in the chat about his life, starcraft and anything else!
Day[9] focuses on a single game between White-Ra and Catz where specific, less talked about aspects of the game are discussed. Day[9] touches on subjects like proxy hatching a forge fast expanding Protoss and looking at when and why a player should cannon rush. He then goes on to focus on Protoss taking fast thirds and the difficulties therein.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] casts hilarious Zerg games where the players are challenged to make do with only queens, spines, spores, Overlords, Overseers, Drones, and no other units. Accordingly, Zerg players are forced to utilize every trick in the book from mass Drone drops to proxy hatching.
Day[9] discusses the importance of meticulously working on and fixing one aspect of gameplay at a time while learning. Specifically, Day[9] focuses on Queen inject timing, tackling the problems one might encounter when learning in this fashion and suggesting ways to fix them.
Day[9] investigates the PvT matchup by looking at several high level games between WhiteRa and DDE. This daily includes overall commentary as well as separate analysis from both the Protoss and Terran perspectives.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] showcases user-submitted games in which players are not allowed to make Stalkers. This unique rule leads to some very strange Unit compositions and interesting games.
Day[9] investigates the Terran versus Zerg matchup by analyzing a fantastic game between ThorZaiN and DongRaeGu. Day[9] discusses the decision making of both players as the match progresses.
In this daily, Day[9] analyzes HerO’s heavy harassment based Protoss versus Zerg style by looking into his general decision making processes.
This episode features an incredible game between HuK and Rain. Day[9] returns to basics by providing general insight into both players’ builds, Unit mixes, and Unit positioning.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] challenges viewers to expand three times before doing anything else substantial in their games. Day[9] also features a special submission from CatZ.
Day[9] explains how to effectively plan a build that is designed to execute a timing attack at the 10-12 minute mark while at the same time preparing for the later stages of the game once the attack is underway.
In this daily, Day[9] showcases the changes in the PvP match-up that arise as a result of patch 1.4. One of the key changes showcased is the fact that Gateway Units can no longer warp onto ramps.
Today is Team Monobattles Funday Monday! Every member of your team must publicly announce one Unit, that they will be attacking with for the rest of the game!
Day[9] analyzes a Zerg versus Zerg match between IdrA and Revival. Day[9] highlights possible ways to get an edge in a match-up where both players are using the exact same build while at the same focusing on thinking long-term.
In this Daily, Day[9] discusses the concept of gameflow wherein one player’s play forces his opponent down a certain lane of decision making that ultimately provides a benefit to the original player. To explore this concept, Day[9] showcases a game between IdrA and Elfi where Elfi is able to control his opponent’s flow.
Day[9] analyzes an extremely long yet very close match between IdrA and Puma in order to highlight how both players were able to stay standard for an unusual amount of time. Day[9] also focuses on ways to rebuild an army after an even trade as well as figuring out what errors made for such a long game-
In this episode, Day[9] examines a ZvP game between two high level players who lack a clear vision for what builds they wish to execute. Day[9] clears up some confusion in the decision making process that can emerge and focuses on learning to eliminate strategic redundancies.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] showcases audience 2v2 games where, after the five minute mark, one player may only build Units and one player may only expand.
In this Newbie Tuesday, Day[9] focuses on one of the most important concepts for a player: his or her mental checklist of tasks that must be repeatedly completed throughout a game. To provide an example, Day[9] demonstrates exercises throughout the episode that can be used to help improve play.
In this daily, Day[9] explores the concept that placing constraints on a player in a game will inspire creativity. Day[9] analyzes a game between Stephano and KiwiKaki and evaluates how simple constraints that KiwiKaki imposes on himself result in innovative play.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] showcases audience games where players are required to cannon rush. This classic cheesy tactic leads to several interesting games that extend well beyond the expected first couple minutes.
Day[9] explores the mindset of Gatored at IEM New York by analyzing the benefits and consequences of heavy reliance on Gateway warp-ins during various stages of his games. Day[9] also discusses how, in higher level games, players cannot rely on their opponents attacking into their defenses.
This Funday Monday features audience games where players are not allowed to expand on their half of the map. Day[9] walks viewers through several games and explores the creative way players cope with the long distances involved.
Day[9] focuses on MVP’s incredibly effective non-committal aggression with a Marine-Tank composition. He notes that by being efficient with your units, you are able to conserve and ideally never need to rebuild your army.
In this Daily, Day[9] focuses on Naniwa’s well-rounded 4-gate robo opening that allows him to take a safe third base against Zerg behind early aggression. Day[9] also highlights viewer attempts to imitate MVP’s play discussed in the previous episode.
Day[9] discusses NesTea’s economy-focused combination of heavy droning and careful map awareness in combination with early Zerglings. Day[9] emphasizes NesTea’s goal of taking no damage rather than attempting to deal damage to his opponent.
In this Halloween edition of Funday Monday, Day[9] showcases audience games where players compete in 1v1 games with a 50% unit health handicap.
In this Daily, Day[9] analyzes a brilliant Terran vs. Terran match between SeleCT and MVP. Day[9] discusses both players’ strategies and shows how SeleCT’s constant aggression crushes his opponent. This episode also features several viewer attempts to play like NesTea as shown in the previous episode.
There’s been quite the buzz about the player Aria. He seems to play a very aggressive style with extremely crisp mechanics. His reaction time is absurd and his general use of compositions is somewhat unusual. With so much excitement in the community, why not do some analysis of his play? That’s what today is… as you might have guessed xD.
PvT is widely considered to be the hardest matchup in the game. While Terran has a fairly straightforward time building a Marine, Marauder, Medivac, Ghost, viking mix, Protosses often struggle with clear goals or methods of applying pressure. Sase solves many problems in the matchup with cleverly timed warp prism drops, helping to push theTerran back into a defensive position while Protoss powers up.
Ever been annoyed at that temp ban? Ever thought you could moderate the channel better than my crew? Here’s your chance to find out WHO’S RIGHT. 4v4 where it’s chatters vs banners. Losers receive 10 minute timeouts, especially if they’re moderators.
Day[9] focuses on different variations of the 3 gate robo build the the Protoss versus Protoss match-up. Day[9] explains how to stay alive before your 3 Gateways and Robotics Facility are active, guides the audience through various executions of this build, and discusses transitions into the midgame.
In this daily, Day[9] discusses the Zerg versus Protoss match-up by analyzing Dimaga’s Mutalisk heavy style. He also showcases and critiques several audience submitted games featuring the 3 gate robo strategy discussed in the previous episode.
This Daily begins by continuing a previous episode in which Day[9] analyzes Dimaga’s mutalisk heavy play. This episode features a game between SeleCT and Dimage in which the Zerg player’s Mutalisks force the Terran player to remain passive until he has a large enough army to push forward.
Day[9] analyzes a unique strategy used by IdrA in a Zerg versus Protoss game against HuK. Day[9] analyzes IdrA’s anaconda-like approach as he contains and starves his opponent.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] showcases games from the audience where players were not allowed to expand until they had begun building a mothership. This unusual constraint leads to some very interesting and exciting gameplay.
In this daily, Day[9] takes a look at a Terran play style that focuses on mechanical Units rather than the standard biological composition. Day[9] illustrates how incredible such a strategy can be yet takes time to discuss some of the problems it faces.
This community-centric daily focuses on the audience choosing their own experience. Day[9] allows viewers to vote on which games to watch and what concepts are focused on in each game.
In this lighthearted Funday Monday, Day[9] showcases viewer-submitted 2v2 games where one player on a team is, either on purpose or naturally, quite possibly the worst partner of all time.
Day[9] takes viewers through a game involving HerO which demonstrates how to improve your play by creating a list of three things to work on. Day[9] emphasizing that while trial and error is key, having a simple list of ideas and strategies is the best place to start.
Day[9] takes a look at HerO's aggressive Protoss versus Terran style which focuses heavily on harassing his opponent. By doing this, Day[9] shows that HerO is able to keep his defense and army composition strong without making any compromises throughout the game.
We’ll be looking at three games today to try to find patterns in when “key moments” occur. That is, we’ll be trying to find when we gain or lose an advantage and then trying to figure out why! Get ready to participate! Yahoo :D .
In this episode, Day[9] looks at two games from Zenio in order to understand how he deals with different openings using the flexibility of Zerg while maintaining the same general style in both games.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] showcases audience-submitted 4v4 games where players are forced to declare one player on their team the ‘champion’. The champion can only have 20 supply of workers and the rest of the team can only have 20 supply of army. In order to win, the team must feed their resources to their champion.
Day[9] emphasizes the importance of setting your goal to get an advantage for the late game instead of trying to win immediately. Day[9] showcases Zenio’s ability to successfully defend attacks with Infestor usage where he prioritizes infested Terrans over fungal growth. Day[9] also highlights the power of counter attacks to come back from bad positions.
Day[9] analyzes Stephano’s use of aggression to combat coin-flip scenarios wherein Stephano is able to both defend against all possible attacks and create windows to Drone safely. Day[9] explains his build which focuses on transitioning from an aggressive mineral-focuses style into a powerful gas-focused style.
Day[9] analyzes a Protoss versus Zerg game between Wulong and Zenio in which Wulong opens with a brilliant style to buy time for him to reach a powerful late-game composition. Day[9] discusses the importance of being aggressive with a Roach/Hydra composition to counter this.
The submission was simple: give me the closest game of all time. There were many games from many levels of skill. Though there were some high level games, we of course chose the most entertaining. CELEBRATE 2011 EVERYONE!!
In today’s Daily, we’re going to explore the concept of asking yourself questions and answering them. By watching a ton of MLG/NASL/Dreamhack/GSL games, you may get used to having a ton of information: what both players are doing, where they are scouting etc. However, when you hop into a game, you suddenly have almost no information! That jump can feel difficult and SCARY! We’re going to explore the idea of studying someone from a first person point of view to help answer some of those ugly questions that we don’t have answers to!
In this daily, Day[9] explains how Protoss players can rapidly make strategic reads based on what they see. Day[9] shows what decision should be made (attack, expand, or tech) based on what information is seen.
In celebration of the new year, Day[9] examines six viewer-submitted games from various leagues. By critiquing these games and offering advice, he brainstorms a list of SC2 ‘New Years Resolutions’ for players of all levels.
In this Terran versus Terran Daily, Day[9] analyzes ThorZaiN’s build and miraculous ability to simply have more Units than his opponent at every point in the mid-game. This Daily emphasizes the important of hitting an opponent continually where he is weak while having more expansions behind your Tank line than your opponent.
In this daily, Day[9] investigates a very potent Terran versus Zerg build that includes a fast third base in conjunction with very quick upgrades. Day[9] points out that the key is a devastating timing push as soon as you reach critical mass but also explains some of the build’s weaknesses.
Day[9] evaluates the effectiveness of mech play in the Terran versus Protoss match-up by analyzing key components in opening build orders how to engage efficiently. Day[9] also notes the potential weaknesses of this style and how to best utilize its strong suits.
This Daily shows us some ZvP extremely quick, aggressive tactics, instead of older Protoss style which based on muscle. In part 3 we can see this same strategies from Zerg perspective, and we're looking for counter to deal with these.
In this Daily we'll see KAS PvT two games which is based on really fast third Command Center and mass tech. His strategy is as simple and standard as possible this can be.
Day[9] introduces his views on the correct attitude toward life and philosophically discusses how to deal with problems in both StarCraft and reality.
In this Funday Monday, players are challenged to play a 1v1 ladder match. In the match, however, players must ask their opponent to choose two Units (that don't start with the same letter and aren't workers) that the player will be prohibited from using.
Day[9] analyzes in-depth the brilliant in-game decisions making in a very long game between Stephano and ThorZaIN. This analysis helps to reveal the thought process behind Terran opening pressures, the expanding patterns and tech choices of the Zerg player, and late-game transition decisions from both players.
Day[9] analyzes Grubby's Phoenix opening in PvP. He shows having a very mobile army in the early stage of the game allows for early harassment and abundant scouting. Finally, Day[9] explores how to transition into the mid-game from this opening.
Day[9] speaks out against the dangers of bills such as SOPA and PIPA, warning about the dismal future of video game streaming if passed.
In this Funday Monday, players are challenged to play a "kamikaze" style of StarCraft, where they must bring every single worker except for 10 to each engagement.
Day[9] explains the late-game mindset and teaches about end-game transitions. He discusses the basic three ideas of the late game: 1st - bringing the right tools to the late game 2nd - whether you are ready with a good late game composition 3rd - Unit movements, expanding, and how they relate.
Day[9] focuses on how Protoss can deal with Zerg players making three fast hatcheries as a response to Forge FE. He does this by looking at harass timings and investigating early/midgame expanding patterns overall.
Day[9] studies Grubby's PvT play, which involves opening with 3GateRobo and then focusing on getting a lot of very fast upgrades
Day[9] discusses how TvZ can be played without relying on fancy strategies by having extremely aggressive play with early drops and transitions into standard play.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] challenges players to use spine crawlers in every attack.
Day[9] analyzes at the late game, which many players consider very scary. He discusses how to be prepared for the late game and teaches the proper moves to make once you are there.
Day[9] points out the weakness in the Ling/Muta base trade style and introduces a solution provided by Zenio, where he shows that Hydralisks can be used as a stepping stone, Zenio demonstrates a beautiful style that deals with a variety of Protoss openings and sets up a fantastic stage for Mutalisks to shine.
Day[9] looks at Feast's very aggressive, Gateway-heavy PvT opening that focuses on early Stalker pressure to stay safe in an otherwise scary early game.
In this fan-favorite Funday Monday, Day[9] challenged players to participate in a public FFA and kill their opponents in alphabetical order!
Day[9] analyzes how to react to a Zerg player who goes for a counter attack style. Most of the time, Protoss players do not understand how to position an army to stop Muta harass. He also focuses on helping Zerg players by explaining what Protoss players will be most likely do to deal with this style.
Day[9] focuses on MarineKing's super aggressive bio and Medivac timing push versus Protoss. With this style, Terran players solve the problems of scouting, transition, and dealing with Protoss greed at once. He explores how to transition out of this style into a comfortable mid to late game.
Day[9] explores TheLittleOne's crazy style while pointing out that even a crazy game is 90% the same as every other game. Day[9] then introduces 3 rules to live by in crazy game: 1) if an expansion is dying, treat it as dead 2) it's all about controlling expansions 3) wait as long as you possibly can to engage a scary army
In this Funday Monday, players are again challenged to lift off their command center at the start of the game and to land it in another base. Only after the command center has been moved are players then allowed to continue the game as normal.
Day[9] introduces the concept of adjusting your play one thing at a time to improve. He takes a look at five pro games and decides from each game one problem that should be fixed.
Day[9] presents Naniwa's sentry-heavy style of play which involves opening with a 1-gate fast expand while only making sentries. He points out that this style is beneficial because it allows the Protoss to expand quickly while retaining the option to put pressure back on the opponent while teching.
In this Friendday Wednesday, Day[9] welcomes Sheth. Together, they discuss a new defensive 2-base tech style in the ZvP matchup. As they play, Day[9] attempts to find leaks in Sheth's build and offers solutions to fix them. This back and forth discussion provides good insight into the formation of a build.
Day[9] analyzes a fairly basic Roach/Hydra/Corrupter ZvP, where Ret constantly trades to keep the Colossi number low. He opens the episode by introducing the concept of "relative timings" and continues to incorporate the idea throughout the show.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] challenges players to do as much damage as possible with burrowed Banelings. The excitement of burrowed Baneling hits and near misses makes this episode hilarious!
Day[9] focuses on just making one adjustment at a time to help improve your play.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] challenges players to not take their first expansion until they have built a mothership!
Day[9] discusses the concept of adjustments, where he explains how to tweak small parts of your play to improve over time. He demonstrates this by reviewing a player who played 10 games in a row, while making small adjustments each time, ultimately improving.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] challenges players win games by only counter attacking and defending.
Day[9] takes a look at MarineKingPrime's unique early aggression Marine style against Zerg.
Day[9] talks about the meta game of ZvP and the weakness in Zerg transitions. He analyzes Stephano's gameplay, which provides an excellent example of how to get to the ideal late-game Zerg composition.
Day[9] casts a game where LiquidZenio encounters an aggressive 2rax from SuperNova, but is able to gain an advantage by defending properly and following through with a baneling bust attack. Day[9] reveals the thought process behind the decisions and discusses ways to exploit workers.
Day[9] analyzes the TvT matchup by showing a few of the builds from the PuMA's vast and deadly arsenal.
In PvT, Protosses frequently have difficulty against mid-game bio aggression with Medivacs. Day[9] counters this problem by showing how MC's style allows one to defend against the different kinds of Terran harassment.
In today's Funday Monday, players were asked to submit games with the following constraint: all of their vital structures must be powered by one Pylon, and that Pylon must not be in your base! Get ready for ARTOSIS PYLOWNAGE!!! Also because there weren’t that many particularly good games….. We’re going to watch an amazing game from LiquidHero as a bonus! Also, the plural of bonus is bonii… …true story
In this Newbie Tuesday, Day[9] presents the idea of identifying problems and solving them simply. To illustrate, he looks at a few PvP games and puts this idea into action.
Day[9] focuses on preparing for the late-game by explaining the importance of always focusing on the next part of the game. He reminds the viewer to continue asking how the NOW affects the next stage in the game.
Day[9] goes over a build that allows Protoss to obtain a quick third while being able to harass the Zerg opponent. It involves a forge FE into +1 Sentrys followed by a Robo and 4 Gates, +2 blink Stalkers for harass and then a Colossus timing off 3 bases
You must play in a 4v4 w/ your team where each member selects only ONE unit and may only build that for the duration of the game! More importantly, you units must be publicly announced for all to see!~ Mwarharharharhar :D
Everyone knows that "Build Orders" are essential, but often they can be intimidating and confusing. How can I follow this build order if I don't when when I'm being attacked? If I don't know what his opening is going to be? What if I mess up!? In today's daily, we simplify the notion of build orders by creating simple groups. As our skill level rises, we break down these groups more and more and more until we have a crisp and refined build on par with the best of the best!
Day[9] analyzes HuK's 7-minute DT play in the PvP matchup. He discusses how to use DTs to help both give an edge and transition into a late-game, high-tech army. Ultimately, Day[9] shows that HuK's DTs are used more for defense than a surprise easy win.
I was sick for this daily, but NEVER GIVE UP NEVER SURRENDER! I'm still doing it! In this daily, we're going to do a spectator analysis of a game between two sick (badass) Koreans where we don't focus on one side specifically.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] challenges Zerg players to win using only spine crawlers to attack. This episode features Nydus Worms, Overlord creep highways, and other creative tactics!
Last week, we discussed the notion of simplifying general build orders! As expected, the masses of Zerg buddies leapt to concern! "What about our precious race," they cried! Have no fear, for today we're going to talk about all things build order wise for zerg. That pesky drone/larvae mechanic will be NOTHING to fear in the future! By the end, you should have a comfortable idea of how to steal or create your own build!
A ZvZ cast is FAR overdue, and this replay is FAR to good to overlook anyways. Traditionally, ZvZ is viewed as a fairly boring matchup. However, recent developments have showed some VERY clever long-term and dynamic choices to really open the game up: fast infestors, faster 3rd bases, mutalisk based play, nydus worms etc! All of it helps make the gameplay staggeringly awesome :D. Stephano vs Sheth is a great example of a modern, nutty ZvZ with an emphasis on late game and macro :D.
Day[9] introduces ways to deal with random opponents from ladder games and analyze where your advantage lies.
Day[9] explains LastShadow's TvP opening, which is based on a 6 Rax, early Marine push during the early stages of the game followed by a bio based midgame.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] challenges players to play 2v2 games where one player must only build Ghosts, Medivacs, and nukes while delivering a Dr. Seuss inspired rhyme for every nuke dropped on the opponent (or ally)!
Day[9] uses viewer-submitted games to help refine builds and perfect them. We see in each part how he progresses through his concept of groupings to perfect a unique build or simply mimic a player.
Day[9] analyzes the nutty TvZ games between MarineKing and DongRaeGu from the MLG Columbus Winter Championships. He specifically looks at how MarineKing transitions from crazy openings back into standard play.
Day[9] analyzes a non-standard ZvP game between Morrow and WBC and then reviews the games from the perspectives of each player. He gives very useful advice for both races about how to react when you find yourself in a weird position.
Day[9] looks at a number of Parting's PvT games, analyzing his fast expands and early pressure gateway attacks. Parting faces Alive, Rain, STC and MarineKing with emphasis on Probe production and Sentries.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] casts a number of fun games where planetary fortresses are used for mega-offensive attacks. This episode is filled with lots of fun stories!
In this daily, we're going to take a look at a famous match from the MLG Winter Arena between DeMusliM and NesTea and, more specifically, we're going to break down DeMusliM's mech TvZ style and show why it's so awesome! In this extremely famous game, DeMusliM not only plays an unusual style, but performs a brilliant comeback when he seems on the verge of losing! Since mech is fairly unusual, we’re going to study DeMusliM’s play from start to finish w/ maximum fun-ness! :D
Day[9] focuses on how a Zerg player can put pressure on a Terran opponent, both aggressively with Units and attacks, and economically with expansions.
Day[9] investigates slightly unorthodox PvZ play between Parting and Leenock. He begins giving an overview of the openings and timings of the attacks. He then goes on to highlight the very odd Zerg transitions and blink harassment which segways gameplay into a standard late-game.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] challenges players to win games by pushing with cannons as the backbone of their army. In this episode, hilarious solo and team games are shown.
In this daily we can see a couple TvZ matchups from LastShadow. His oppening is based on the reaper/bunker strenght. Then he transition to mech, which in initial phase is based mostly on cloaking banshees. Then after massive numbers of Thors and Tanks, in the final stages, we see power of Raven's Seeker Missiles.
In this Daily, Day[9] shows the Terran perspective in the Terran versus Protoss matchup as he examines the midgame. He analyzes the Protoss weaknesses and demonstrates how to use them to reach an advantageous position.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] features audience-submitted games in which players can only build air Units.
In this daily, Day[9] lets his audience choose which games are looked at. By viewer choice, he investigates two crazy games from a friendly best of 7 showmatch between White-Ra and TheLittleOne.
In this daily, Day[9] lets his audience choose which games are looked at. He focuses on a Zerg versus Terran with LastShadow. Day[9] places special emphasis on how LastShadow handles the new Queen range increase against a mech Terran.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] features viewer-submitted 2v2 games that have been deemed the closest 2v2 matches of all time.
Day[9] looks at the newly increased Queen range and all of the new possibilities such a change lends Zerg players in matches against Terran players who focus on mech play.
In today's daily, we look at a very DENSE game between SeleCT vs aLive. We see a proxy, which makes the game very crazy where both players aren't exactly sure whether or not they have an edge or not. In these situations, we see that there are many cases where making important decisions are crucial in playing out the game right.
In this episode, Day[9] features analysis of Illusion’s extremely aggressive style and discusses how to use it against standard Zerg players.
In this daily, Day[9] explores two styles or two players from the Red Bull Battlegrounds tournament. In the first game, he focuses on the counter-attack heavy style of Violet against frontal assault. In the second game, he focuses on GanZi’s great execution-based play.
Day[9] focuses on Protoss decision making by evaluating two games by SaSe and HuK. In the first game, Day[9] emphasizes SaSe’s timings, probe management, scouting, and transitions versus Terran. In the second game, Day[9] focuses on HuK’s decision to focus on quick blink aggression versus Virus.
Day[9] explores the possibilities in mid and late game Protoss versus Protoss match-ups by analyzing a Phoenix-based opening by ToD and an easy-to-duplicate fast expand 3-gate-robo from Parting. Both of these matches lead to very interesting mid and late games.
Day[9] evaluates Bomber’s macro-based strategy in the Terran versus Protoss matchup. Day[9] looks at Bomber’s old style, compares it to his new, economically optimized style, and identifies several potential problems that may arise with his new build.
Today, we look at a super crazy game between Bomber and Ostojiy form the Red Bull Battlegrounds: Austin. We see every Unit that Terran and Zerg have to offer, with the exception of the Hydralisk. It's 55 minutes of non-stop action, so it was literally screaming to be analyzed :D
Day[9] demonstrates a complete ‘how-to’ in regards to Stephano’s 11 minute Roach/Ling max. He continues by looking at proper execution in the early game, common issues, and how one might successfully transition into Infestor or Brood Lord tech in late game.
I've been gone for a long time, just taking some time off. But now I'm back, and we're going to get right down into it! Ever since the update with the Queen buff, a lot of the match ups with Zergs have changed quite a bit, especially in the early game with the range five Queen! In this daily, we take a look at the state of the TvZ match up through the lenses of a game between Nerchio and BratOK. Specifically, how the different updates (i.e. the range 5 Queen) have affected how Terrans and Zergs play the early game, how to position Units and control expansions in the Mid-game, and finally how the general strategy we worked with in the Mid-game can help beat our opponent in the late game!
In today’s wonderful PvP matchup, we get the chance to examine some neato Phoenix vs Blink Stalker play and talk about them big problems in the Mid-game! More specifically, I like to talk about what to focus on AFTER both players get up a natural. Sometimes that can be hard :D
In this daily, we're going look at something I talk about all the time: finding problems and asking questions! So, in this daily, we're going to be examining some questions Protoss buddies have in PvT, more specifically: 1. How do we defend against Terran's Mid-game push? 2. How do we get up all our Mid-game tech safely? In order to answer this, we're going to look at this amazingly simple and super easy build that does some amazing Warp Prism counter attacks just as the Terran player moves out! And the super mega badass that's going to show off this epic baller build is going to be none other than the epic hat man SaSe! Oh yeah, and happy 4th of July! Go blow shit up! :D
In this daily, Day[9] looks at Ret’s very well executed Mutalisk play in the Zerg versus Protoss matchup. Day[9] also discusses the general idea of transitions and why it can causes a lot of problems in standard gameplay.
In this Funday Monday, Day[9] showcases viewer-submitted replays where the player is required to mind control one of his opponent’s workers with an Infestor, build Units of his opponent’s race, and then kill his opponent with his own race’s Units.
In this daily, we analyze a game between Taeja and Tree. The Tank lines in TvT show what expansions are covered and where our reinforcement line is. We also see the effectiveness of drops and how they creates "islands" of the opponent army, which makes him weaker in general.
Time to watch some of the closest games ever! Some of them are the result of fantastic misplay! Others are the result of gosu skillplay! All will be entertaining regardless! :D
In today's daily, we watch your games from start to finish from your point of view and discuss the problems we see! Often, when watching a pro level player play, it makes sense why things are good, or what is good "to do." However, it's hard when you're actually playing to figure out "what not to do." By pointing out mistakes, we'll hopefully shed some light on how to improve! :D
Today we'll examine an inspiring style of play from Creator in the PvZ matchup! Typically we rely heavily on the colossus, but in these games we see Creator utilizing the mobility of blink stalkers and DTs to totally CRUSH THEM OPPONENTS! :D
Part 2 of the closest games of all time! Can you HANDLE IT? :D
In today's daily, we'll take replays of YOU (bronze to mastah players!) and watch your game from start to finish. Throughout each game, I'll note what I like and don't like about each game to help identify "leaks:" mistakes/problems in games that can crop up throughout laddering. Last week, we examined some of your Protoss and Terran replays to try to discover some basic leaks that can occur (especially at the ~gold/platinum level!). Since Zerg operates a little bit differently, we devote this week to it! :D
In today's ZvP daily, we explore DRG's style of ZvP that involves almost no roaches! Instead, he relies on mutalisks, banelings, and infestors in the midgame to lead into the usual broodlord infestor mixture :>. Moreover, we get the chance to watch a ZvP versus LiquidHero from the Zerg's point of view. Traditionally, Hero is known as an absolute beast in the PvZ matchup and generally plays an unorthodox style. So, we'll see how DRG maneuvers around Hero's nuttiness for an overall delightful game!
Often on the ladder, you'll play against something surprising or aggressive (ie 2port banshee, ghost rush etc) that totally catches you off guard. You're unsure whether to counter, expand, build drones, built units etc. This hellish situation is stressful to be in! Especially considering the number of players playing non-standardly! So, In today's ZvT daily, we examine the art of playing vs an extremely unpredictable Terran player who stretches his edge to the limit. We'll see MMA play like an absolute fruitcake and DRG respond in a smart, but flexible fashion to bash back!
In today's daily, we'll examine the freshly play TSL4 Ro32 Game 1 between HasuObs and ThorZaIN, a very long, very difficult PvT from both sides. HasuObs gets his "ideal" maxed 200/200 army, but ThorZaIN's viking+ghost heavy seems to be able to swat all Protoss threats aside. In a position like this, what's a player to do? When do you expand, harass, drop, reposition? How do you find an edge? Fortunately, we get all these lovely answers from these two tip top amazing euro heroes :D. This is one of my favorite games of 2012!
In today's Funday Monday, you may ONLY attack worker lines! Sure you can defend if you so desire, but you are absolutely disallowed from engaging the enemy army mid-map! KILL THEM WORKERS!
ZvZ has gone through a series of odd evolutions: originally the matchup was dominated by hatchery tech play and early allins. However, with the range 5 queen (and players getting better), the matchup has suddenly opened up to a number of huge possibilities: mutalisks, infestors, mass roach, ling focused play are all now possible. In this daily, we'll examine some neato play from DarkForce from TSL4 that showcases how to defend early game, how to pressure mid game with mutalisks, and how to follow up with some nice late game finishers! Neato ZvZs all around! :D
I'm happy to report that not all Terrans are struggling in the TvZ matchup. TaeJa seems to have found clear techniques, as he has an 80% winrate in the matchup! Though we'd like to be able to survey all his games, we'll stick to a small 1 or 2 that truly showcase how he's able to crush them Zergs. Topics include aggression without risking Units, how to use mobile armies to control Zergs, and how to avoid over extension in the mid and late game!
In today's daily, we'll take a look at how to MECH in TvZ! I know the last daily was a TvZ one, but this popular style from IEM GamesCom took the Terran world by storm, dominating many traditional Zerg routes! We'll look at how to do it cleanly, the concepts behind it, and what to do when things go wrong!
In today's Funday... Wednesday.... you may ONLY defend as terran! Your only tool to killing the opponent is building nukes! :D
With the TSL4 Finals around the corner, we have Creator going up against Life! So, we're going to be reviewing some of Creator's games leading up to the finals to see what's so special about his play and why he wins so damn much! :D
OMG I HAVE THE BETA YAYAYAYA!! Today, I'll be playing vs my good friend LiquidSheth in the PvZ matchup as we get the opportunity to explore how the new units change things like crazy! We'll be talking about the process of learning new units, and how I'm approaching the learning of new things :D. OMG AM SO EXCITE! :D
In today's daily I'll be exploring the notion of MECH ever since Blizzard added in those brand new two fancy units: the widow mine and the warhound! I'll be doing mech in 3 differing styles throughout the daily (pending time ;P)
In today's daily, we'll look at some replay funtimes of top zergy buddies utilizing the brand new swarm host! We'll look at some cool cheesy plays built around the swarm host in ZvP, as well as how the swarm host drastically changes the ZvZ matchup in the mid and late game! :D ZvT will be done at a later daily xD. Need enough time to be able to explore it all fully!! :D
The prompt is simple! Kill your opponent with the fewest number of units possible! People did an amazingly creative job! Bravo to you young nerds :>
Following on our most recent Swarm Host episode, we're going to be examining the swarm host in ZvT! We'll see how we can do space control, consistent slow pushes vs Terran in the midgame, and also issues of dealing w/ drops and counter attack :D
We'll be examining how to structure a build order around the use of a particular unit, namely the TEMPEST! I'll be doing live ladder matches while test-running my build order ideas and adjusting them along the way. You'll get to see how I take all the stuff I talk about on the daily and use it on myself! :D
OK I sincerely apologize because I had to do some work this morning and then got stuck in traffic so I didn't have time to appropriately prepare a daily! Thusly, I'm going to play some standard ladder games in HotS to try some fun stuff out :D.
OH MY GOD WE MADE IT TO 500 EPISODES!!! :D :D Today, ILL be the guinea pig! You wonderful folk will decide what IM doing for today's funday monday :D.
Ever since Blizzard removed the warhound, people have been saddened that the beloved mech concept seems all but lost! However, Morrow (known for primarily being a Zerg player), has been performing some AMAZING mech styles! With a tank, hellion, viking core, Morrow's mech has the classic look of the powerful, but immobile mix from Brood War. To provide a framework, we'll be looking at Morrow's early failed attempts to perform mech play and how he adjusted his play for the better over time! We'll be looking at 5 or 6 replays total! Should be good! :D
Tyler has always been an innovator with strategies, and Heart of the Swarm is providing him new outlets for his creativity! Today, we'll examine some games where Tyler does some delightful recall/mothership core rush timings to destroy his opponents. The mothership core is no longer a defensive unit in Tyler's hands! :D
It's rapidly becoming a theme that I ladder on Thursdays! I'm trying to rehone my abilities as a budling nerd, so you get to watch me break my own play down with the same techniques I use in the daily! :D
You may not take a gas geyser until you have taken your third base as Protoss or Terran, and fourth base as Zerg.
In this stupidly epic game, we're primarily going to focus on the idea of mid and late game compositions. As units die, its important that we replenish them in the right order. For instance, if your army dies, do you replenish marines+marauders first? Tanks first? Should you hold off on tanks until you have a certain amount of ground? When do you want to be building marines instead of vikings in the late game? When should we build thors instead of tanks? These are the types of composition questions we'll explore in this daily! From the Zerg side AND the Terran! :D
Time to play 3 HotS ladder games and try to LEVEL UP! :D
I'm going to be copying some of the build orders I've been watching MorroW do in Mech TvP and trying to give it a shot myself ON LADDER LIVE! :D
In today's Funday Monday, you may attack only via drops! Sure flying units are kosher, but they're not really why we're here. DROP DEM UNITS .
I'm very excited that, for the entire month of October, we'll be introducing the concept of how to optimize a build order! In this daily, we begin by asking "what do you mean by an optimized build?," presenting a framework for how to improve, and how to measure yourself being more awesome over time! We'll begin by introducing a very quick, easy, 1 time attack style build! :D
I'm back to battle on the HotS ladder! This time, I'll be trying to abuse the mothership core as much as possible :D. With its incredibly quick speed and new blasto cannon, I hope to make my opponents weep!
When units first pop up, people primarily think of TACTICS instead of STRATEGY! For instance: "Maybe I can drop some mines in his worker patch to kill all his workers!~ I'm going to try to mine drop rush!" Over time, sadly, tactics tend to be shut down by watchful, defensive players. The real hallmark of new units is new strategies, new transitions and ways to play, new doors opened! In this daily, we'll get to see QXC utilize mines for some unusual aggression, some cleaner transition, some nice space control, and generally large explosions :D. I'm super excited to see tournament level terran in HotS!
We continue the art of build optimization by looking at some zerg build optimizing! Don't worry Terrans and Tosses, we'll examine you pretty folk later in Optober
Based upon your requests over at my web site, I'll be doing some crazy mixups with all 3 races today! Pick whatever you think would be fun to see!
I continue to try to be better at SC2! GO ME!
We'll be examining the art of optimizing some Protoss builds! :D
TLO is well known for his creativity. See how he used this to much success at the ASUS ROG tournament! Perhaps most importantly of all, we're going to show TLO's secret "easy trick" to destroying the oh-so-common immortal+sentry+warp prism push!
Lets see if I can get into GrandMaster for the 3rd consecutive time in one month. Not out of skill, but out of beta resets.
Holy crap it's been 3 years! Today we're going to be watching some fun games from White-rA in Heart of the Swarm that truly showcase some outside the box thinking :D.
We're going to see some amazingly clean decision making regarding consistency of play and map control in today's show! :D
In an absolutely psychotic back and forth death struggle, we get to see the meaning of great transitioning by both players. BratOK does an unusual marine+tank push in TvP and follows it up w/ standard play. ToD does his best to defend at the start, but still struggles to defend expansions and apply pressure at the same time. Some sexy DT drop usage puts ToD back into the game, but CAN HE HOLD IT? Yes, this description is much more hype-y than my normal ones, but you sure have a better idea of what's going on! We'll examine WHAT the opening builds are and where their issues lie, and then we'll consider how to do aggressive tactics while still staying alive :D.
Today we're gonna look at LiquidSea do some mech in TvP because it's FUN dammit! :D. That's actually the end of the description.
PartinG stunned everyone at BWC by showcasing his seemingly invincible immortal sentry push! Because I'm a jerk, I'm going to help all Protosses learn how to do that! In Today's Newbie Tuesday, we'll learn to be BWC champions as well! :D
TitaN absolutely blew my mind with this game. In it, we see nonstop warpprism harass and tactical play slowly but surely batter down the Code S ZerG ST_Curious!
This game features a rather unusual extreme late game ZvZ. Sure we get the opportunity to see some of the normal mid-game stuffs (roach+infestor etc). But, it's the cool slips into a mass broodlord hydra play from BOTH players that make it fun! What do you do in an ultra late game situation when it feels like you're both doing the same thing? We find out HERE!
At the recent Lone Star Clash 2, BabyKnight managed to take out top Korean terrans including Polt and TheSTC! We're going to look at some of his games, particularly his creative use of ultra fast blink play!
Today we see a ridiculously awesome ZvZ between Nerchio and Scarlett! As of the writing of this description, I'm quite tired. Therefore, I will emphasize that this game is freaking amazing beyond all measure. I actually laughed when the GG was called originally, as both players had ~50 supply at the end of an hour long game. Let's join in SC2 appreciation together :D
Today we see the logic behind the outrageously confusing game 5 between MC and Grubby where each player built an army of 30 phoenixes! It seems completely ridiculously counter-intuitive, but phoenix vs phoenix logic can be tough to navigate in PvP :]. We'll explore all the entailments of opening in this fashion!
SO! How does one transition at the 20 minute mark? The 40 minute mark? The 60 minute mark? AND BEYOND? Well, in this game we're going to see MOST of the units get made at some point. A meching terran vs a hive tech zerg on Cloud Kingdom! We'll see things such as: when to change plans, how to position your army to defend when you have 6 bases, and upgrading things we're not building yet to prepare the transition!
Polt surprised many a people with his solid performance against virtually every zerg he played against at IPL5! So, we're going to take a look at what unique things he's doing and how to implement them! His heavy use of NOT upgrades and big ground units help to make him a very effective mid game attacker. Zerg hardly has the chance to stabilize! :D
Bomber has an incredibly incredibly easy TvZ style that we're going to look at today! AND it's a 3base macro strat :D. We'll go into all the details that you may need know!
Continuing the theme of showing people how to DESTROY ZERG this week, we'll be looking at STK1_Rain and his lovely PvZ style. In it, we see how he deflects mid-game pressure, and then kicks into high gear LONG before brood lords and infestors come into major strength! :D
The recent patch changes are so psycho crazy that I'm not sure WHAT we're going to find, but at the very least we're going to be studying the new units from the protoss point of view to see what's up :]
I'm super thrilled about the new reaper, so I'm going to shake off the rust built up from traveling on the road and I'm gonna BATTLE ON HEART OF THE SWARM! The newness is giggle inducingly exciting :>
And so is SKYTOSS. How about I try it out on the ladder? EH EH EH EH EH EH EH ?
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: 1. Explore the huge influence of mutalisk based openings in the modern ZvZ matchup and how it affects openings 2. How to deal with the mutalisk based midgame 3. How to transition OUT of mutalisking (or how do transition AGAINST it!)
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: 1. What tech paths to choose in midgame so that you're properly set up for late game. 2. How to defend against a variety of standard attacks with those tech paths. 3. 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 1. Only one of you may build untis 2. The others may money dump, build workers, and defensive structures 3. A few queens are ok! Other detectors like obs and overseers are fine too :]
'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 :)
Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful holiday! In today's daily, we're going to do a good old school standard daily: A deep analysis of a wonderful game played between AcerScarlett and AxRyung in the Acer Team Story cup :D.
Axiom successfully earned second place in the AcerTeamstory cup with some surprisingly solid wins from Axiom team captain Crank. Today, we'll look at some very easy builds by Crank to get some super solid wins! Including A blink stalker allin to kill Terrans! A lovely and easy 4base play to kill Zergs! A lovely micro-gentle 8gate to kill Zerg! LET'S GET THOSE WINS BABY! :D
In today's EXTREMELY EVIL and VERY WICKEDLY structured daily number 666, we are going to examine some beautiful meching play by Ryung on the rather complicated Yeonsu. We'll analyze The opening and why there are so many marines if we're meching! Ryung's clever choice to add reactors to factories before tech labs for a mass hellion attack! Ryung's follow up to the mid-game, where he's pushing and how Some of the huge positional woes that plague Ryung throughout the game How to be a better mecher I hope to see you then! :D
You must play in a 2v2 where you and your ally lift off at the start of the game and land somewhere else. Double terran as a team is already a difficult endeavor in a 2v2, so we may as well make it more difficult! :D
I am a jerk. Today, we're going to examine a style of mech that was showcased in the Proleague - you literally never attack and keep transitioning to higher firepower until there's not much the Zerg can do. We don't even need that many resources! In this episode, we'll talk about How embarrassed I am to cast this game and why (I am honor bound) How the Terran player stays alive in the opening stage and his important defensive considerations The keys to good placement and staying alive as you spread yourself thin Further transitions into the sky Terran Finishing moves that include mass orbitalz and battlecruisers! YAHOO! :D
Submit to me a game where you play a 2v2 in which you may ONLY build spellcasters. Spellcasters are units with purple energy! Workers are fine to build Overlords are fine too Warp prisms and observers are the only "ok" exception! :D
Tonight we'll examine the way that sOs takes traditional build orders we've seen on other maps and bends them for the newer, weirder ladder maps - Alterzim Stronghold and Daedalus Point. We'll see The standard 3base Colossus blink play that sOs performed on Frost We'll compare this to the 3base Colossus/blink opening that sOs executes on Alterzim. We'll note how elements of the build order shift thanks to our easily defendable 3 bases We'll see the tactics that change regarding our attacking decisions We'll appreciate the excellent late game attack structure of sOs - one that allows him to be aggressive and still build up a scary deathball! We'll look the problems on Daedalus Point for a Protoss player and how sOs overcomes them with a SUPER old school 3gate before expand opening! These games are all part of the GSL Code A Ro48 qualifiers :D
Meching in TvZ has become an extremely common occurrence in Korea in the last month. So, rather than analyze a specific strategy, we're going to do a game review of a long, intense game between BravO and Leenock on Yeonsu where both players play excellently. Highlights include Both players performing very odd openings Leenock rushing for spire on 2 base (delaying his 3rd considerably) BravO sprinting to viking production before any factory-ing Aggressive Muta/roach conterattack play by Leenock Carefully timed aggression and stunning defense from BravO Overall this game is action packed! Excited to talk about it :)
Submit to me a game whereby you and your team perform any type of Planetary Fortress attack before the 10 minute mark!
DRG has long been one of the favorite players of the foreign community. In delightful news, he's been playing better than ever, qualifying for a seat at the GSL Code S tournament! Yay! We'll look at his two winning games vs the prodigy Sora. In these games we'll discuss How to devise EARLY ZERG ATTACKS based upon the timings we know about Protoss How to follow up and avoid death at the hands of an aggressive blink/immortal/sentry counter attack How to rely on queen and spine heavy defenses vs unusually fast attacks When to perform tech switches based upon our reads! These are some fantastic games from DRG that showcase some delightful ZvP. Hope you enjoy them!
PvP is a matchup marked by the ability to IMMEDIATELY DIE AT ANY INSTANT. Despite the fact that there are many varied openings, it's sometimes hard to find some "good rules of thumb to follow." In today's replay, we're going to look at exactly that! We'll see Why fast blink is an extremely safe, reliable way to play How to transition into an immortal + expansion safely The virtues of being able to retreat at any point When, why and how to begin transitioning to colossus How to play out the incredibly tense late game safely These games are taken from the GSL Code A Ro48!
You must play in a teamgame where EACH player MUST expand every 5 minutes.
So the title to this show sounds CRAZY but hear me out. ZvZ is a matchup generally marked by Roach vs Roach battles. The ways to pull ahead involve subtle maneuvers to pick up slight bits of efficiency: an extra 5 roaches, 20s early upgrades, slightly earlier infestors etc. However, against StarTale_Life, Jaedong showcased an outrageously aggressive, ling and counterattack focused ZvZ style that relies on MASSIVE numbers of inefficient units to gain map control! We'll ask ourselves How does Jaedong open to set himself for mass expanding in the midgame? What choices does Jaedong make with and without knowledge of what his enemy is doing? How does Jaedong maneuver his low value units to maximize their damage potential? What way does Jaedong extend the shelf life of his aggressive units into the late game? When does Jaedong dial back the aggression? These games are gorgeous instances of how to elegantly manipulate an EXTREMELY efficient opponent.
Swarm hosts are an incredibly frustrating to deal with unit. Though Protoss has some sickening AoE in the form of storms and colossus, the endless stream of free locusts can prove nearly impossible to battle efficiently head on. In today's games, we're going to admire how CJ_herO is able to take down DRG in a best of 3 when DRG goes for Swarm hosts EVERY SINGLE GAME! We'll talk about How swarm host's biggest weakness is their mobility How to open with mobile, aggressive forces to begin combatting swarm hosts right away How herO carefully picks DRG apart with endless counterattacking and positional play These games are taken from GSL Code S Round of 32 group A games!
Submit me to me a 1v1 or team game in which most of your attacks involve Zerg defensive structures.
With the increasing popularity of mech and the seeming difficulty to produce a proper Zerg "counter army," many of our lovely Zerg buddies are struggling against factory based plays! All that experience vs biomine doesn't quite translate properly. Fortunately, we have LEENOCK to help teach us a thing or two of how to expand, macro, and attack that impregnable looking mech army. We'll discuss The "usual rules" that players tend to operate under - What composition beats his composition? We'll talk about how to violate everything you know about ZvT by acknowledging how immobile the Terran mech army is! We'll see counter attacks and muta/roach galore tear down Supernova despite Supernova being quite far ahead in the early game We'll admire how Leenock cleans up an only thor army with an only mutalisk army. These games are taken from GSL Code S Group B matches from last night. Fantastic games!
The TvP matchup has been marked by a tremendous decrease in variety and interesting plays. Most of the Terran side of things revolves around expanding and defending until MnMnM. At this point, Terrans usually go for a 3rd and round out the tech tree with an assortment of vikings and ghost. In today's daily, we'll get the chance to see Dream go absolutely DROP NUTS through the game. Whereas most players would be halting medivac production in favor of more bases and production, we see Dream almost NEVER STOP constructing those transporter fellows! His incredible micro and aggression allow him to slowly pull an enemy apart at the very early parts of the game. We'll see What the normal terran TvP is like in the mid-game We'll talk about Dream's drop heavy TvP and how it affects T's economy We'll examine the opening that Dream utilizes to step into this drop heavy gameplay. We'll do a jig These games are taken from the GSL Code S Wildcard matches.
Submit to me a game in which you win with "offensive turtle terran." You know the pieces to turtle terran: mass bunker + turret + tank + MAYBE some planetaries. The important thing is that you're gonna be slow and steady and ALL over the map! :D Use your best judgment xD.
Those pesky protosses can throw so much scary stuff at a Zerg lately! Especially with a Protoss as talented as sOs at the helm! That's why today we're going to look at how soO dismantled sOs with amazing transitions from a simple hydralisk based opener! We'll talk about What makes it such a pain in the ass to play ZvP - Air / blink / immortal allin openers galore! :< We'll look at the timing of soO's opening to see how he gets hydra/ling up in time to defend ANYTHANG! How soO transitions OUT of hydra/ling based upon what he's seeing! We'll see the transitions vs skytoss AND vs blink aggro play! Yahoo! These games are taken from GSL Code S Group C!
In today's show, we're going to take a look at some very clever aggressive Mech play on Heavy Rain by the only Terran in GSL Ro16 as of now, Bbyong!
So I totally messed up. I thought I had an event this evening, but I'm totally mistaken. I had the wrong date in my mind LOL. SO! We are going to do a mysterious half value daily. This is episode 683.5! :D In today's episode, we're going to look at a SwarmHost style from Vortix that does NOT revolve around excessive turtling. Instead, we're going to see brilliant and elegant play by VortiX that involves Early roach + tunneling claw counter attacks Swarm host pressure combined with continued counter attacks A swift transition to BroodLords to allow those Swarmhosts to step onto the offensive! We'll see a game that goes well and one that goes not so well to contrast the two! :D
We normally do Funday Monday. But, I missed the scheduled Monday show due to BIG SURPRISE EVENT. That said, the topic for today was to submit the Stupidest Game EVER. Though that's a vague prompt, I'm sure you've played some absolutely stupid games. I wanna see 'em.
In today's daily, we're going to watch some fantastic games 2v2 games from TotalBiscuit's SHOUTCraft Clan Wars tournament. 2v2 is a rather different beast than 1v1 in most regards. We'll look at some fairly simple concepts across two different games including The importance of joining armies together (and why fast aggressive builds are popular) Typical counterplay when you/your allies armies cannot be joined together (such as air!) Team resources vs two individual's resources - How, when and why to share effectively Why 2v2 is more about tactics than build orders Yahoo!
In today's FDMD, you must submit a game in which you float structures in to your opponent's base to win! The stupider the better 8-).
TLO impressed the hell out of everyone with his absolutely fantastic, clean ZvP in WCS EU. He managed to cinch a first place spot going 4-1 in ZvP. We'll take a look at the ways in which TLO shifts his builds around to respond to what he sees from Protoss, and that most of those answers involve TONS of early attacks! (yay!). We'll see The basic opening that TLO uses in many of his games The scouting techniques he uses to identify what his opponent is doing How every response exploits weaknesses n the Protoss composition around the 11 minute mark The tactics and positioning that allow TLO to assault and break most 3rd base plays! These games are taken from the WCS EU Group F Ro32 matches!
These games were so insane I can't help but cover it. I'm deeply blown away at how impressively Grubby held his stuff together against Kas's immense macro. We'll analyze at least 2 games from this incredible series!
I'm a BASTARD! Submit to me the most epic 1v1 or team game in which you and your buddies must open with a 6pool! :D
The TvP matchup has been a tough cookie to crack lately. There hasn't seemed to be a great deal of variety in strategy (bio+medivac into ghost+viking). However, the wonderful and cunning MARU is going to show us some new tricks -> Mines in the midgame! We'll talk about The struggles of midgame TvP - How it's difficult to apply pressure with only bio+medivac What the introduction of mid-game mines allows us to do! When, where, and why we wanna use them mines! How to transition into lategame norms -> vikings + ghosts These games are from Group B of GSL Code S Ro16!!
More details in the coming days! I haven't finalized the angle that I want to talk about, but it's def gonna be on sOs, probably his early game aggression instead of his long term builds!
While Snute was off winning the Seat Story Cup, TLO played a marvelous series with Jjakji in the 3rd/4th place match. Though the TvZ matchup is notorious for having little to no variety in the first 10 minutes (and arguably little variety in build variety beyond that too), but the tactical and strategic decisions to make with armies are extremely difficult, and rare to see performed well! Therefore, today's daily will have one express goal Showing the fantastic post-10 minute decision making, specifically with army positioning and decision making.
Maru and Life played what I'd call a rather violent series in the Ro8 of GSL. Rather than playing out long, elaborate games, each match was fairly swift and decisive. So, I figured we'd check those games out to steal a cute little play from each one :D There's no broad topic for today, just a swift ~10 minute analysis of each game :D.
OH HOLY SEXINESS Dayshi went for mass hellion into tank + viking + hellbat vs Grubby in WCS and it worked BRILLIANTLY! So, we're gonna break it down How Dayshi structures his opening to stay alive Why mass hellions is an excellent way to open and control the flow of the game How Dayshi transitions out of mass hellions and potential ways to have improved the transition The late game moves involving tanks, hellbats, and saucy drops n' expoes! These games are from the WCS Ro16 games played earlier todaY!
In today's Funday Monday, you must submit to me a team game in which you and your teammates ONLY build flying units Some queens are ok, but don't go overboard! anything 2v2 and up is totally excellent! No 1v1 games! Defensive structures are totally great!
If you've been struggling in PvP we're going to look at a number of VERY sexy openings and midgames including Ultra fast phoenix DT fast expand Standard blink play Tempest transitions! To do this, we'll be looking at the Ro4 games from the GSL Code S Semifinals between Rain and Zest, two of the hottest Protosses on the scene right now!
soO made a big impression by being the 3rd player ever to achieve back to back GSL finals. Moreover, soO did so by beating the master of ZvZ, Life, in a best of 7! We're going to be analyzing multiple games in the series to see how the tactics change over the course of the series! In particular we're going to see that, in virtually ever circumstance, soO emphasizes extremely aggressive, ling-speed heavy openings to control the flow of the game, even when he gets 6pooled! :D
In this weeks funday monday, you must play a game whereby you choose a HERO UNIT to achieve as many kills as humanly possible. You must publicly show off and name your hero. Should he die, you must rebuild another! Higher kill count = more likely to be picked! Harder to get high kill count = more likely to be picked! (Worker / reaper / phoenix etc)
The GSL finals were an absolutely stunning display of skills from both players. We'll analyze games 5-7 today! How strategies change in a best of 7 Who has momentum in each game and across the series Why unusual decisions are made And of course, each game will get a juicy highlight analysis :)
Lets tell some stories for fun <3
As we did in episode 699, we'll be doing a swift analysis of every single game played between MC and MMA in their delightful final matchup for WCS EU. The boss toss is BACK baby :).
We're closing out the 3 WCS Finals analysis with the story of Hyun's big win over Oz! We'll analyze each of these games at lightning speed :)
This best of 3 from the DreamHack Bucharest semifinal provides a wonderful educational example of how both Terran and Zerg adjust differently according to the read on their opponent! What we'll see in this episode is An example of a "typical, standard game." We'll talk in depth about the SLIGHT changes each player makes to the ultimate, by-the-book standard play A second game that shows Roach Hydra from Life and a response to go for tanks from Innovation! In particular, we'll see that Innovation is able to perform this maneuver as a "response" and not a pre-planned build order. A third game in which Life performs a cute all-in timing as a response to his opponent's timing!
In these DreamHack Bucharest Grand Final replays, we get the chance to see ST_Life do some amazingly sexy builds to crush Impact in a best of 5. We'll see An extremely aggressive opening on Habitation Station to rush for the gold base A mass queen opening to protect his wide open natural entrance on Merry go Round An aggressive fast 3base strategy on Frost with a narrow defense!
Bling and Snute played a gorgeous, beautiful game that demonstrates both how to go swarm host and great ways to defeat it! We'll largely look at things from BlinG's point of view and examine His basic opening and how he quickly responds to swarm hosts by rushing for a 4th base! How BlinG harasses and moves his army to keep snatching up expansions When and why BlinG goes for the mass air transition with tempests + carriers! Yahew! These games are taken from the WCS Ro32 Group B games!
You must play a game in which all your attacks are based on the warp prism - either via drops or warp ins!
Despite the general sentiment of "Terran being the weakest race," Maru defies all expectations by having some of the most aggressive and beautiful Terran play I've seen in a long while. We'll take a look at 3 (maybe even 4) of Maru's games from GSL! Two TvP games and at least one TvZ vs DRG! We'll discuss Maru's willingness to do the oft neglected no gas expo & fast drop play Maru's aggression in seemingly unwinnable engagements and how that opens up his potential for the end game! The admirable refinement he puts in to each of his builds
Parting wrecked everybody so quickly and convincingly we'll be able to watch all 4 of his GSL group games in a row. We'll see insane fast 3 bases that transition into tricky mass gateway allins as well as unusual 1 base plays vs Terran. The show will certainly be more entertainment than education, but appreciation for Parting's style is the main goal anyways :D.
You may only build the following attacking units Sentry, Phoenix, Immortal, Mothership Core Probe, Warp Prism, Observer In other words, all the core damage dealer units are OUT OF THE QUESTION. Buildings are fine :).
Today's daily will be a clinic on how to perform excellent, long term focused PvT from Harstem. He practiced hundreds of ONLY PvT games in preparation for his WCS Group, and boy do them results pay off. We'll look at The low-risk, low aggression opening Harstem uses to set himself up for the mid to late game The "danger period" that Harstem is battling to survive at around 12-15 minutes How Harstem maximizes the value of his counter attacks and proxy plays by being patient The "retreat focused" attacks that allow Harstem more opportunities to expand These are some of the purtiest PvTs I've ever seen :)
Even though he had a slightly more difficult journey through GSL, Innovation is BACK in the round of 16! Let's take a look at his ability to execute clean, low unit, high attack frequency stylin!
You may not build units that shoot air units. Queens are permissible ONLY IF THEY CHILL BY HATCHERIES! No offensive queen action!
I'm thoroughly enjoying these GSL Run episodes! In today's show, we'll look at Soulkey pull some very tough wins in two ZvP series vs Yonghwa and sOs! I'll add more details the day of the broadcast, but we'll be looking at how to win VERY DIFFICULT ZvP positions w/ style 8-).
In today's funday, y'all must play in a team game where one player can build ANYTHING he likes, but the other players may only build medivacs. Let's see how much support you need! :D
In TotalBiscuit's amazing SanDisk ShoutCraft Invitational, FlaSh put up an astounding performance across all matchups to reconfirm his god status in SC2. In today's daily, we'll take a look at FlaSh's sexy mech moves in TvT to take out Bbyong. We'll see How brave FlaSh is with an extremely tiny, thin defense by making strong reads on his enemy's moves How FlaSh carefully plods forward in the midgame to continue to avoid taking damage The decisive attacks that allow his beastly mech play to close out games :).
Despite FlaSh's best efforts, herO was able to take an excellent win vs FlaSh by defending multiple SCV pulls back to back to back. We'll examine how herO executes his defense so consistently by cutting geysers at his 3rd and emphasizing Colossus count, even in the face of many vikings!
I've officially moved to a new location! I now live in the Bay Area! Since I've been away for a while, I figured we'd just have a nice, fresh hangout time to do the happy time bonding <3
In tonight's funday monday, you were required to tell your opponent EVERYTHING THAT YOU WERE DOING. You are permitted one lie in every game, and in that lie you must use the word "sensational." Lets see how you bastards do! :D
Ok so Maru DIDN'T WIN this series, but he still played damn well. And, I believe that Terrans are struggling hard vs Protosses. It is therefore my duty to do some more dailies on this matchup. Terrans need to win dammit!
Just as I find Maru to be incredibly impressive in TvP, we're going to look at his TvZ in the post-hellbat-buff meta vs Soulkey.
In tonight's funday, you must win by never ever attacking your enemy, except ONCE. During that attack, you must notify it with a battlecry. Hopefully this will be enough damage to put you into the lead given that, otherwise, you can never apply pressure, hurt, or damage your opponent in any way. Tonight's daily features a game that will require 2 parts to analyze full mwahahah.
PigBaby blew everyone's mind by going for mass observer/zealot vs terran! We'll be analyzing this new school mixture by checking out Pigbaby's games vs TaeJa and Bomber! We'll see How Pigbaby's opening isn't all that different from the usual PvT opening That the double forge is the critical component to the strategy How the zealot usage differs DRASTICALLY from a typical PvT game, we're trying to conserve them! Not harass! How to properly harass in this style (w/ units like DTs!) Yahoo! These games are taken from WCS NA
In tonight's daily, we're going to take a look at as many Classic vs soO games from the GSL finals as humanly possible. Classic did a brilliant job of being extremely aggressive at WEIRD ass times, but not with weird ass unit mixes! Classic played, more or less, the standard PvZ timings and units that we always see, but he attacks at odd times while using the mothership core for safety! IT's BRILLIANT!
We'll be taking yet another look at soO's incredible ability to continually beat top Protosses in the GSL. He may have fallen short to Classic, but his fast lair techs are increasingly becoming a norm strategy. We'll examine his fast +1/+1 mass queen, ultra, infestor play. It's virtually indestructable against air focused protosses!
In todays funday monday, you must submit a game where you MUST start construction of a tempest BEFORE you begin your 3rd base.
I was originally planning on talking about Starbow today, but I'm deferring that until I get to TALK ABOUT THESE GAMES. Flash is one of my all time favorite players due to his persistence AND adaptability, two qualities we generally see NOT work well together! We'll talk about Persistence with a build - Willingness to do the same build again and again because it's so refined and well timed Adaptability with a build - Willingness to abandon the current build and respond to the enemy You can see why it's hard to do BOTH well, but Flash nails the shit out of it. We'll examine his series vs Zest to talk about how he's able to dominate so consistently (although it took him a while lol).
Starbow has built an incredibly robust and interesting competitive experience that's rather similar to BW/SC2. Therefore, I wanted to take the time to check the game out and use the same analysis tools we use in a normal daily, but on STARBOW instead! I've changed the matchup to PvZ since I have a particularly sexy game with a number of interesting turning points! Time to dust off the BW toolset and talk about some Starbow! :D
Another amazing series from IEM Toronto deserves some review. We'll see Fairly standard openings (with a few exceptions) with some interesting tweaks Great recovery and follow up by both players after devastating attacks Interesting mid and late game compositions from Flash that de-emphasize the mine A VERY cool swarm host mix from Snute that bolsters his muta/ling mixture (isn't that COOL?)
Cure impressed the hell out of me at Battlegrounds by slaying Trap 3-0 with some extremely convincing TvP play. We're going to be analyzing it in full depth, what Trap is doing cutely and why in this 3 part episode! Yahoo! We'll talk about The TvP logic of yore - establish the 3rd base, be wary of losing units midgame, get a big army! Cure's TvP logic - Attack endlessly and build more barracks! Delay the 3rd! The micro and positioning that makes it all possible. These games are taken from the Red Bull Battlegrounds: DC event.
These two superstars played yet ANOTHER Bo7 (they played last GSL final) in the most recent GSL semifinal! I wanted to give soO a little more air time given that he seems to keep getting 2nd and that stinkers. I'll be talking about how soO used some interesting and unusual strategies to get edges in the entire series!
INNOVATION WON A THING! And soO didn't again... which though tragic did help provide us with a fantastic Bo7 series to learn from. We'll take a look at how soO was able to take some games from the man himself in the post-widow-mine-buff world as well as see how Innovation structures his play to WIN yeah!
We're going to do a full review of the WCS EU Finals! Yahoo! Also, I didn't do a great job preparing this show! Who can guess if it'll turn out well or not? I certainly cannot, but the show must go on. Episode 732 here we come!
Tonight, we're going to look at every game from the very first series in the Ro16, Bomber vs Jaedong! Both players are known for playing their own style. Bomber uses extremely unorthodox openings and favors an almost pure bio force while Jaedong loves massive numbers of drones, larvae, and counter attacks. The result was a very unusual and interesting series that was both entertaining and educational! So let's break't'down yo!
Today we'll begin the first part of a FOUR part series following StarTale Life's road to the Grand Final at Blizzcon! I'll be covering every single series including this very special initial match vs Zest :).
This daily might be a bit short as Life PUMMELED San into the ground at WCS, but we'll include some extra for-fun matches because I love this shtuff so much :).
One of the best TvZ series of the entire year MUST be analyzed! Life went proxy hatch in 2 of the 5 games! Successfully! Whaaaat? Also, Taeja is an absolute monster at answering and responding under incredible pressure whaaat!
We conclude the 4 part series detailing Life's road to win Blizzcon with his final match against MMA! Though this series might be considered relatively "cheesy" and "banelingish," the match showcases how Life is one of the few Zergs to identify consistent timing windows against Terran and exploit them to the fullest.
TvT is one of my favorite matchups to watch due to the awesome mid and lategame judgment calls that players HAVE to make. You can't simply rely on "good timing attacks" to gain advantages. We'll be focusing on exactly how those mid and late game calls work and why MMA and Bomber can pull back into games they seem to have lost.
