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So with having a bit more patience and extending my search for practice partners to involve teams and clans and calling in connections from the NZ SC2 community, I found some very good players to practice games against. However, every game, I got a new strategy hurdled at me, every single time, completely destroying me and making me looking like several leagues below them. But as I figured out the strategy the tables turned completely. But, in the times where I lost, I was still just as frustrated, nowhere near as much as cheese on ladder but still did not feel good to lose in a fashion of just not being familiar with the build. Anyone know a remedy? I was trying to focus on just being able to understand the build, the strengths, the weaknesses, the timings, the way to scouts and eventually got to way to play against the builds but the process was full of hair pulling and swearing. As soon as I knew the reaction, I was destroying my opponents, but as soon as another opening that I didn't know showed up, it began again. The questions I am posing are: Is it okay to get so angry at yourself in practice games as long as you don't hurt anyone/thing? Is it really worth just practicing verse builds you have never seen before on the ladder or in tournaments for the off chance they show up? Should I be playing with players so I out skill mechanically but end up losing due to just not knowing the strategies they use? Cheers for the help in advance, will continue to blog my experience.
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Why don't you find a partner who's willing to grind out the same build over and over again so you can figure out timings?
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When I'm practicing, the things to think to yourself after losing are always "how did I lose" and "what could I do better".
The saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me," applies rather well with StarCraft. Odd builds are nothing new, but rarely are they stable. You can classify large groups of them into categories, such as "mass banshee pushes" or "delayed one base allins". Maybe the build you're using has a significant weakness at a certain timing, and other builds happen to be hitting it, and then its time to change your style.
There is nothing wrong with getting angry at yourself if you can channel that energy into something productive, like figuring out the problem or spending more time on your mechanics.
If the players you are practicing with are roughly the same overall skill as yourself (similar winrates against equally skilled opponents), there is nothing wrong with playing against them, you'll find more insight for your play. But if your Masters and you're playing against Diamonds, the practice is less helpful, since there are more factors that might be effecting your games.
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sounds to me like you're simply too inexperienced, not knowing that many builds that you say you're getting destroyed several games over and over by always new strategies just shows a lack of experience. Rather take it as a learning experience, every new build you encounter widens your knowledge about different things. On top of that losing shows your mistakes better than winning, even losing against a cheese. When experienced enough you won't get mad at loses but instead will realise several mistakes you've made after the game ends and taking a quick thought back at it. This is when you've grown to be on the right path and take a step clother to a being a better player.
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On January 02 2013 23:13 mizU wrote: Why don't you find a partner who's willing to grind out the same build over and over again so you can figure out timings?
I have to vouch for this. I had a practice partner that was willing to run through 2 rax vs 15 hatch over and over again until both of us knew the correct counters and how to stop it from each side. If you want to get better you need to repeat the same build countless times until you are comfortable with it. Then move on to the next build.
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On January 02 2013 23:13 mizU wrote: Why don't you find a partner who's willing to grind out the same build over and over again so you can figure out timings?
I'm not too good with my non-fiction writing, I have been practicing against singular builds until I beat them.
The saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me," applies rather well with StarCraft. Odd builds are nothing new, but rarely are they stable.
You're right, just the problem is there are so many stupid, unstable builds that individuals use and no one else does, all with small tricks in learning how to deal with them. Is it really worth learning all the variations?
sounds to me like you're simply too inexperienced
Yes! You're right! I haven't played very many games but I got high in the leagues very quickly so I didn't get the wide range of build knowledge, my mechanics ended up winning all my games from my BW and WC2/3 experience.
I have to vouch for this. I had a practice partner that was willing to run through 2 rax vs 15 hatch over and over again until both of us knew the correct counters and how to stop it from each side.
You're right, grinding out builds is great, but 2 rax verse 15 hatch was a very stable and standard build order for a long time in TvZ. Whereas I've been training against builds I've never even seen/struggled with before playing my partners, so, ask them to do something else? Or first stomp their strategy they made and then stomp the standard play because I was more mechanically sound in the first place? What are your thoughts?
Thanks for the responses guys.
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