6 Pool Champions - The Blight on the Ladder

Oh man it is the weekend. And with it comes to ladder heroes, the 6 pool warriors. These warriors of the internet charge the beaches of Battlenet with one mission. To end their game with me in under 5 minutes.

God I hate 6 pools. By the time you scout them, its to late. No amount of probe micro can save me. But such is playing on the ladder.

So I used to have I started blog called "The Quest for Diamond" back when there was only Diamond League and Reapers were the thing to do in TvZ. I was gold league, hated stim and the 1-1-1 was not the thing of glory it is now. But times have changed and so have I. I'm now brave enough to post my struggles on TL, which is not a place that is very noob friendly.

As my previous blog stated, I work full time at a law firm, which requires a lot of hours. I was there this Saturday, slogging through documents. If I am lucky, I get to player a 10-15 games a week and the first 5 of those is scrubbing the rust off. And with those limited number of game, it makes my hate toward those 6 pooling fools that much greater.

But my climb continues. I feel I have a solid handle on PvT, which is a huge leap for me. A lot of terrans in the platinum leagues have some really bad habits. Being over aggressive with marines and marauders, assuming that the I won't have enough units. That or the return of 2 port banshees. I don't know why that build came back, but I faced it twice today.

The other match ups are less so. PvP is so unstable now, I will be happy when there are some solid builds. And PvZ is still rough. The 12 minutes appears to be go time in that match up, one way or another. I feel so at least. I've given up on stargate after FFE. If the zerg isn't prepared for Voidrays, they are not ready for 5 zealots as their 3rd base. And zealots don't cost gas and help any zergling all-in that may becoming.

I'll post some replays soon, for those who care. Maybe some more games this week, until Providence.

The Return to the Quest for Diamond

Back for more introspection on learning Starcraft 2.

Its been 5 months since my last update.  For some reason I kept playing, but did not feel the need to write about it.  Truth be told, I write and analyse for a living, so it shouldn't be shocking that I lost my taste for chronicling my struggles against the masses of the internet.

The world shifted in the five months I was not writing.  Protoss became the weakest race.  Zerg gained the power of the infestor and learn a few zerglings before mass drones can scare off an opponent.  Terrans, well Terran regressed into one base all ins, knowing that it is almost impossible for them to be broken on one base.  They also discovered the Ghost, which they had all along.  Its power was untested and so we are feeling the pain of figuring out this unit.  I can tell you one thing, templar look more and more like the most unimpressive caster in the game.

As for me, I hover around high platinum most of my days.  I am faster and I'm getting better with my control groups.  The main issue is adding units once I warp them in.  For those of you who don't play, a control group is a bunch of units you have set to one key.  When you press it, you commend them.  The issue is that you need to add units to the group as you make them.  And make them you will.  For me, its every 38-45 seconds I try to add more units on to my army.  I warp them in, select them, tell them where to go and add them to the control group.  All in under 4 seconds.  Warp, commend, add, do something else, warp command, add.

Its rough but I am almost to the point where I barely think about it.  But not quite.  It is helping.  I spend less time arguing with my units, miss selecting them.  I also have more time to scout, build eextra buildings, transfer probes.  Getting one thing down leaves room for me to get faster at doing something else.

I also listen to different must.  House, techno, remixes.  Anything with a solid beat that moves.  This seems to help a lot more that I thought it would, but the steady beat seems to keep me steady as well.  I focus on building units, not worrying about what stupid shit my opponent might be doing and scouting.

But enough for today.  I've won many games and I am spent.  I'll be back though, for more scrubs and their one base ways.

Breaking even and the TSL

Terrans are back to being the bane of my game right now.  My promotion to Platinum has exposed me to a new level of timing pushes and all ins.  The delay on stim is a huge help, but it hasn't stop Terrans from building all the marines and marauders and smashing them into my face.  The worst part is watching the replays.  Against Protoss and Zerg players, I can win a game against a solid platinum level player more than 50% of the time.  Terrans, on the other hand, I lost to high level gold players or worse.  

I have switched my play in response.  I only do one build per match up now.  I am beyond the point where I can just do what feels right and hope it works.  I need efficiency to beat the people I'm up against and I need to refine.  The only way to do that is to pick a build and master it.  It seems boring, but when your builds become automated, it gives you a better ability to scout, react and handle all the little things the game requires.  The only way to do that is to practice.

So I also watch a ton of pro-starcraft, as I detailed in my last post.   This weekend, it will be the epic sage of the TeamLiquid Star League. Its an invitational tournament run by TeamLiquid.net, which is the go to place for all things Starcraft.  

A few of my favorites are playing this weekend, including LiquidTyler.  He is the angry looking man(though he is very "chill" in real life) in the promotional shot above and is a beast who loves safe, long term play.  Each player has their own style of play, some take risks and others like to wear their opponent down.  Sometimes a player will try to end a game quickly if they don't think they can take their opponent is a drawn out game.  The commentators even have buzz words to describe each players skills.  Great control, excellent decision making, game sense, macro, micro, crisis management, and more.

Somewhere in all of these games, I might find time to practice.

Upgrade complete! Japan, instant coffee and season 2.

Lets get this out of the way right now.  I was number 1 in my league in season one.  It has ended and that title is forever mine.  The small accomplishment of getting that done while working a full time-adult job and having a girlfriend.  It is the smallest of feats, not worth talking about beyond my group of friends who are aware of my battles with the internet.  Smaller still, if I only include the ones who care.  There is no trophy or medal to put on my wall.  Yet, when I look at that rank I have a small sense of pride.  That in my little section of Starcraft 2, I did  better everyone else.  Its something only I should care about, but personal pride is the only pride that matters.

But lets get on to the main event:

I have been upgraded.  The master computer at Blizzard unleashed me into a new league and ladder.  My excitement with this is through the roof.  Soon I will be beyond one basing Terrans and 6 pools.  Off to a land where players react, rather than just build units and attack move in.  I am over half way to the masters league and one rank below diamond.

GOM TV recently held the World Championship Team League to raise money to help those poor folks in Japan.  It is super fun and super free to watch.  From someone who has watched 5 seasons of the GSL, its great to see all the best players throw down hard.  And they bring their A-game.  Pro Starcraft is a small community and I have become invested in some of these players.  There is a grass roots charm to all Starcraft events that makes them a joy to watch.  The commentators are self aware enough to keep everything light and at times, a little silly.  But there still is drama and a true sense of competition.  When one player has to play four matches in a row, you can see the fatigue on his face and in his play.  What these players do is so far beyond what I could think of doing, its amazing.  They make it look easy, but let me assure you, it isn't.

But I am off for the night.  Next post will feature something of equal might and glory.  The Team Liquid Star League.

I am # 1(and sometimes to # 2)

I have been at the very top of my league for a few weeks now.  I am twenty games ahead now, so my options are binary.  Either I keep winning and get bumped up a league or the losses are soon to come.

Terrans continue to be the thorn in my side.  Their ability to do so much on one base really throws me off my game.  I am used to dealing with the extra scrubby one base bio push that every gold Terran knows.  But I haven't had a lot of experienced dealing with hellion drops, raven pushes and it really shows.  And I not really going to get much experienced until I go up a league, since that one base non-sense is still working for gold Terrans.  Why, because its easy and it works sometimes.  

I keep seeing people saying the phoenix is good against the one-base-stim-Im-really-bad-but-I-can-attack-move+stim.  I keep hearing theories that 5 of them is the perfect number and you can use them to keep the terran honest.  I don't know how people do this and manage to forcefield the ram.  Seriously, do they micro, macro and then jump back every 14 seconds to reapply that thing.  Those might be skills that are beyond my abilities.  Still, the idea of taking it to the terran from the safety of my base calls to me.  To often I have to sit around and wait one colossi.

But the question continues.  Once I get home, I will post some replays.  

Big battles, itty bitty screen

As you get better at Starcraft 2, you have to fight against what feels natural.  To resist urges that seem right at the time, but are not the way to secure victory.  Sacking workers to scout, expanding after winning a major battle, starving your opponent out.   While all of these are smart, they have to work against the tide if you emotions.  It like rowing up stream, with explosions.

                The newest one I have been attempting is trying to watch the minimap more than the main screen.   This make sense on paper, that tiny little map is packed with the most efficient pixels for my mind to consume.  But they are not the prettiest.  It hard not to look at your units or move your view around the map, since it is so nice to look at.  But that is not how to take in the whole game, to see what needs to be seen.   Friends of mine keep saying they don’t like to learn builds, be forced to play and rush.  I can see why.  I enjoy the art and magic of Starcraft 2.  But I enjoy winning more.

                I am up five games now, trying to clock in two a night.  Recently I have embraced the one base colossi response to Terrans.  It amazes me how lazy some players can be at my level,  knowing that stim makes most gateway units worthless without massive upgrades.  I am happy to take advantage of this and so are my zealot’s laser fists.

                Ok, so it’s back to the field with fresh coffee.  Enjoy the VOD put up.  Huk is still one of my favorites, even if he has Bieber hair.

In Envy of New Maps

                Life and the desire to see new things has slowed slow my practice of late.  No new videos of late, but I hope to change that soon.  With only a few games under my belt for the last week, they have been solid all around.  I have tried to kick my worst habit, highlighted in previous updates, over-thinking.   I am now trying more response oriented builds, even going so crazy as to use the one gate into robo build.  Making a choice and sticking with it, even if you suspect it was wrong, is a hard thing to do.  As my #1 girl said, “Have some confidence in your work, damn it.”  We may not have been talking about starcraft.

                The GSL team league has been a blast to watch, but two short to get invested.  Still, as a way to intro people in the starcraft, it is very good.  A self contained drama, without a need for set up or explanation.  It keeps things fresh and even the lead up to the next match is enjoyable.   Seeing what players the teams thrown against an opponent they just lost to is more exciting than expected.  Plus, the phrase “Reverse All-Kill” is delightful.

                But let’s talk about the best part of the GSL team league.  New maps.  The cries from all pro players are coming close to a deafening hurricane.  A demand for larger maps with more room to explore the deeper reaches of the tech tree.  To understand the clockwork like inter-workings of the mothership.  To probe the depths of the nydus worm can go to.  Larger maps are needed for this to happen, otherwise we will be stuck trying to crack how to expand to our natural under the threat of stim forever.

Also, the games are freaking awesome to watch.

                Blizzard has released the public test and I have sampled the new maps.  Not being amazing or a pro in any way, I leave the judgment to greater  souls than myself.  However, I personally enjoyed them, for  variety is a spice I have always loved.   Still, I wish there was a map in that set that broke out of the mold of the mold of difficult to take naturals.  Should Blizzard just accept we should all have the right to expand without fear, we may enter a new realm.  Where motherships are used to hold your fourth base and carriers are used to break siege lines.

  

                We can dream, can’t we.