The Return to Gold!

Its nice when practice pays off and I felt my game has come leaps and bounds in the last week or so.  Really I have Rootminigun and Incontrol to thank.  They are nice enough to steam some of their coaching session(thats right, people pay to get better at Starcraft, in other news people are also paid way more to throw a ball), which I have been watching.  Watching how to play and what they worry pretty much changed the way I thought about the game.  I had this basic idea that I wanted to keep ahead of my opponent, but I kept trying to do it actively.  This meant I would lose fights I didn't need to get into, or would hold off taking a new base when I was totally clear to do so.

It also has shortened my games.  Neat trick, if you have more bases, you get to 200/200 faster.  Against Terran, this is a huge boost.  One macro Terran game can take the steam right out of me and I have no desire to ladder any more.  The last game in this set is an example of that.  

Game 1 - PvZ - Win: This player 8 pooled(?) me for some reason, which I held off with style.  It was then a straight macro game from there.  I would like to thank Artosis of the GSL for the idea that expanding toward the zerg is a good idea.  My opponent seemed to have the right idea, but went from roach into broodlords.  I dont think he understood that same units that are good against roaches also kill broodlords.  Pros: Macro!, Got the Right Stuff, Flaws: Trust Fund, Micro!, Many Cannons.

Game 2 - PvT - Win:  This game was against a terran who seems happy to be on two bases for a very long time.  It looked like he was going banshee, but aborted the plan when I got phoenixes.  I see this a lot with Terran players lately, who seem to be waiting for me to rush their 2 base wall of tanks.  Pros : Macro!, Fork-lifting, No third base for you, Flaws: Micro!, Attack Move into a planetary fortress, Hey thats a missile turret, oh my poor plane...

Game 3 - PvT - Loss:  Yeah so about that tank wall.  I don't really hate this game and I lost because I didn't tech switch.  I also kinda whined at the end, but it was late.  Really that was the reason I lost.  I was tired and wasn't at the top of my game.  Thats not an excuse, but more of a fact.  The early parts of the game I did very well, holding off a thor rush and stim push with style.  But my opponent gets a planetary fortress in the center of the map, and like an idiot, I focus on it.  I was up in bases and should have had no problem pulling ahead.  Pros: Micro!, Solid Forcefields, Flaws: Attack move into tanks, Macro, speed upgrade for observer, Don't play while sleepy.