Aqo Reigns Starcraft

ZvT D- (nah not really but I feel D- now lawl)

I'm so much raged right now, ugh. I bought a new keyboard that seemed pretty good but looks like the R.Ctrl key is too far on the right which makes it hard to hotkey 0/9/8/7, and the keys don't press quite as well as I first thought. As a result my play feels very sloppy and I can't control my stuff properly, so I returned to my old keyboard. Meh~

I wanted to give the new keyboard a try anyway and try to get used to it so I went to play some lowlevel iccup, but I lost a game to some skilless newbie Terran on C-. It pisses me off because I practically won the game all along but I wasn't able to capitalize on my advantage since my hands were so sloppy on the keyboard, my apm was like 140 according to bwchart D:

Anyway I figure I had some flaws in my game other than poor unit control (it is amazingly difficult to control Zerg units without being able to hotkey quickly omfg). Usually I go over replays and analyze my play but I'm too tired after a 37 minute game on an uncomfortable pad so if someone wants to be nice check out the game and point out strategic flaws.

Don't go "you controlled your units bad at point X and Y which is why you lost those battles and lost the game" or "you reached to X too late and got into a disadvantage due to that" since those are basically results of this highly uncomfortable keyboard :/

The game: 0060 BoSoMyT AqoZ.rep

Related to that, I'm pretty sure I read something by Nick Plott (maybe someone else?) talking about getting good equipment that you'll be comfortable with when playing, so, anyone has any recommendations for good SC keyboards? I know there already were threads about that, but technology keeps advancing and new stuff always comes out so I'd like to hear the latest opinions.

I've seen lots of people argue about what's cheese and what's not and I think there should be one dictionary-type definition that the SC community should agree on to settle this once and for all.

Here is my suggestion: Cheese Tactics are tactics that rely on luck to be effective, and if you're unlucky they would put you behind.

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[ Examples ]

If you go by this definition, 4/5/6pool is definitely cheese. You're basically hoping P FEs and doesn't scout you until it's too late to send probes to defend his warping cannons. If he went 2gate you're royally fucked, 5-6 probes + zealot can handle your lings well enough and your macro is horribly behind, not to mention he'll have 3 zea quickly.
Early pool in ZvT is retarded, you're basically hoping T doesn't wall, and if he does you already lost.
The only map where you'd want to 4/5/6 pool ZvT is Colosseum, for obvious reason. But even then, take note that 5pool lings come 20 seconds earlier than 9pool.

5pool in ZvZ loses to every single thing Z can do - 9pool, overpool, 12pool, even 12hat, are all a direct counter to 5pool, so if you earlypool in ZvZ shame on you, you won't be getting wins against any player ranked higher than D+ like that (or hell anyone that knows how to micro and how to ZvZ).

BBS is cheese because you're relying on countering a certain opening build, so that he can't respond. If his build was one that gives him the units to counter yours and he's not a complete noob, time to type gg.

5/6probe Proxy gates is cheese because, once again, you're basically relying on your opponent to have bad building placement to deal with the units from those gates and scouting them too late. If his simcity is good and/or he scouted them early, you just wasted a high amount of earlygame minerals and you have to play from a handicapped position.

Proxy robo is not cheese, it's clever play, when you do it you already scouted your opponent and you know his movement patterns so you know where to place it correctly. It's not any more cheese than Z's entire macro - where drone production relies entirely on anticipating the opponent's next move based on information you already have.

Hidden factory/rax float in TvZ isn't cheese because while it relies on not being scouted to truly be effective, it doesn't put you behind if it's scouted, it just won't give you an advantage.

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So what do you people think about this definition?

Cheese
- Relies on luck to be effective
- Puts you significantly behind if you were unlucky

Some people play to win, some people play for fun. I always want to consider myself as one of the latter, and I believe some playstyles are more fun than others.
What's fun? For me, trying to win is fun. The winning part itself isn't as important. If I tried my best to win and lost, I still had fun that game.

My favorite mu is ZvZ. I hosted a game on Bluestorm, and a player joins, instantly picks T. But then he switches to Z, and tells me he's Z. So he's a racepicker, and he prefers ZvZ over TvZ. Awesome, I like this guy already. <3

We played a 6 minute long ZvZ (5:50 or so) and I have to say that I had about 4x more fun this game as I would've had in a 30min long passive macroish ZvT mech. Obviously T can go bunker->vult->2port->bio->drops&BC and it's way more fun, but nevertheless, it's cool to see that some people play out different than others (how many ZvZ racepickers do you know? usually it's the other way around lol).

Yeah that's it. Shitty blog heh. Just wanted to rant about all the passive players I've been seeing lately who rely solely on mechanic ability to win games. If you beat me by doing drop play, abusing attack timings to maximum efficiency, nice micro control of your units, that's totally cool and I'd love to play you more.

But if you try to win just by macroing harder...
...why do you play this game?

I played two ZvPs with some guy, the first game was a one sided win for me and then I threw away the 2nd game even that I HAD A HUGE ADVANTAGE or so it seemed ;p

FFS.

It makes me RAGE SO MUCH. I shouldn't be losing like that, it's fucking retarded. Here's the replay: 0126 AqoZ MyStiQuEP.rep (2nd set)

Games like this make he hate the world and everything that lives on it. So much ANGER. FFFFFFFFFFffffff gonna stop iccuping for today -.-;

Like usually if I lose, I don't care, I'm totally cool with that, my opponent outplayed me, I learned new things, will improve in the future etc. But I was totally robbed off a ZvZ earlier today when I wasted EIGHT FUCKING LINGS after killing him a hatch (YES! OMG!).

Like, the game was in my pocket and then it FELL OUT. It kinda bumped my anger level up, but it was totally my fault for being retarded and greedy with my lings so I didn't care as much.

But now this ZvP is the straw that broke my back, RAGE MODE 100%, I hate this game ;_;

Just kidding I love Starcraft ;p gonna noob bash some D-/D players to relax. If any better players wanna point out what should've I done different in that game (to win) please do.

[edit] censored some rage :o
reading this post 5 minutes later is the funniest thing ever omg

Tales of the mighty road to beyond A+...

- BACKGROUND -

In the beginning of Season 9 I set myself a goal on TL to get Olympic Rings (because A+ is for skilless newbies).
So far, I didn't get to play much, due to being busy with all sorts of other things, but I did make some progress.

I used to be a steady D+ player. Right now I'm C, and holy shit, did iCCup become a hell lot easier or is this because I'm not playing on korean hours anymore? I rushed my way to C (from C-) with some -extreme- ZvZ gamesense (9pool -> speed -> muta yeeeaaahhh) and cheesing out several greedy P players on Colosseum (Nexus before forge? HA! allow me to introduce you to the 11pool SUNKEN).

- GAMEPLAN -

Right now, here are my build orders & counters:

- Game countdown starts: say "gl hf"
- If during the first minute of the game my opponent is saying something polite: say "glyo"
- Opponent asks me highest rank: Counter by saying "D-".
- Opponent asks from: Counter with "from iccup"
- Asks for re: respond: "k, same name"
- Say gg without leave: attack move with my ultra and scout for hidden expos

So yeah, this has been my trip so far. A puny 46% winrate (more like a lose rate amirite) on this account:
ICCup Profile: Aqo
(he has 6 games under 5 minutes! Hacker!)
Ahh how much I love opening 9pool.

- LOOKING FORWARD -

Now that I'm gonna be playing games in the C range, I'm hoping to meet opponents who can actually macro and know the meaning of timings (hell, I don't). What should I do different? Should I work on my muta micro in advance? I know that my muta vs scourge is pretty... subpar.
I'd like to hear advice from the better players, I'm gonna be increasing the rate of games I play and I want to have a blazing road to Olympic Rings.

- HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED -

Right now I'm struggling with:

1. In ZvP, I like to open with a quick 3-Lurker contain. If I do this, toss give me a lot of problems with sair/reaver, mainly because I lose overlords to sairs and can't produce units. How do I deal with this, assuming I still want to get fast lurkers? Do I have to cut some econ for earlier spire&scourge? Or is there a good pattern to hide overlords? (I'm scared of DT) I can't scout their base due to dragoons so I won't know if my lurker opening is solid or they're doing 2stargate sairs. Maybe I can find it out in other ways? spinless forge etc?

2. In ZvT, if T gets a high amount of barracks early on and moves out to attack/contain I have problems with securing my 3rd and then I can't have a proper lategame. What gives?

3. In ZvZ, playing against 3hat ling out of 9pool opening seems to be very flimsy. I need some crazy drone/sunken senses to win that. Is there some formula to make it easier?

If any players who have solid answers can throw some tips that would be awesome. <3

- REPLAYS -

No "I just played some games on iCCup" thread is complete without a replay pack right? So here you have it, replays! Aqoreplay 07-04-2009.rar

Don't expect anything special really, I wouldn't call myself anything beyond C- anyway. But maybe someone is interested anyway who knows! ;o gotta share the love

My amazing fantasy team is currently rocking with a sub-total of 78 points. However, one thing has to be said:

My anti-team did a poor job at sucking, and lost me 14 points. (that's right, potential 92 turned into 78. #1 is 89)

This is my first time going for fantasy PL and I did not realize you can't gain points for their losses - only lose points for their wins, so I picked players that actually play games. Now I'm filled with RAGE.

Had I picked a different anti-team, I could very well be at the top 10 right now. I should cry a river of tears, but I'm too busy playing Starcraft.

This is my sad experience that I wanted to share. In other news, the sky is blue, and I probably would not have hit #1 anyway.

...or maybe!?

I have seen some of those "my goals" threads and they were highly disappointing and demoralizing. What the hell people, seriously. Your goals suck.

Let me guide you through how to make goals for yourself.
This is how you do it, LEARN:

My goal, for Season 9, is to get Olympic Rings for 3 accounts - Z account, T account, and P one too.

THAT'S RIGHT. You heard it here first. A- is for nubs. A is shooting too low. A+? pff, ezcake.
All those people who are aiming to get a steady C+, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG.

This season, I'm going to use 100% of my free time to play Starcraft on iCCup. I'll wake up every day, do my daily duties, work, work out, eat, shower, etc. BUT, for the rest of the time, I will use every tiniest moment of "hey I can do whatever I want now" to /play Starcraft and become the best/.

If I ever catch myself trollingchatting on IRC, or watching Youtubesa movie, or trying to go out with friends, or anything stupid and useless like that, I'll instantly slap myself back to reality and go play some STARCRAFT, YEAH.

So people, is my plan good? y/n

I read this text: Read this if you still haven't
And it is absolutely true. Jaedong isn't the best Starcraft player because he was born with a mouse in his hand, he's the best Starcraft player because he practices a minimum of 10 hours a day. If you want to be good at Starcraft, you need only one thing - and that is DEDICATION. Watching VODs, reading threads, and all this stuff TLers do naturally is time lost on your way to A+. Goals are there to push you forward, well I'm planning to do that! I'll be posting my progress as I go, wish me luck ;p

Did I just say A+? A+ is for scrubs, skilless newbies. My aim is to top that. No compromise whatsoever.