I have been watching alot of VODs but after reading Chill's Guide about the Self-Guided Road to Improvement I realized that I do not analysis them at all, I just watch them mindlessly. So I have decided to start analyzing VODs and I'm post them on my blog because this is just going to be my observations, and since I'm only a D/D+ level Protoss these definitely do not belong in the strategy forum. After reading these please feel free to post if you agree or disagree with my analysis, and any constructive criticism is appreciated.
So I decided to start with PvP because this is my middle of the road match up. I'm better at it then PvZ but its not as good as my PvT. Also, I will be using a type of point system that Chill described in his thread just so I can somehow keep track of who is ahead. So with that lets move on to the first VOD I decided to analyze.
JangBi vs Pure on Destination
VOD
This is the second televised match of PvP that was ever played on Destination (the first one being a proxy vs proxy match during the second season of the GomTV Classic). There is not really a reason why I chose this VOD, it was the first standard game ever played on Destination and I did not want to analyze a more recent VOD that I had already seen.
+ Show Spoiler [Match Recap] +
Pure starts out with the standard tech build in PvP which is gas on 12, zealot on 13, pylon on 16 and core on 17/18. JangBi's build however, decides to put a pylon on 12 instead of gas and he uses this as his anti-manner pylon. For what I understand, this does not put JangBi behind, he just wants to keep those three probes on minerals for a little bit longer and he does not need gas that early.
JangBi manner pylons Pure at the beginning with his scouting probe and gains a slight advantage because he cancels it right before it finishes so he has no economic loss. This gives +1 to Jangbi.
JangBi then sends his first zealot in order to try to get probe kills to put Pure even further behind. Due to Pure's probe micro the zealot gets no kills which is -1 to Jangbi, so I would say that it is an even game at this point since Jangbi just threw away 100 minerals and they are both still in the early game.
Pure opts to put down a fast expansion around 4 minutes and 20 seconds within the game. He is clearly trying to get the economic advantage with this move to secure a better mid game. Due to this though, Pure is not able to match JangBi's number of gateways (JangBi has two while Pure has one) and they both put up there robotics around the same time.
JangBi then starting warping in his natural about 1 minute and 20 second after Pure by then has just started mining out of his natural which is +1 to Pure. By this time as well Pure has matched JangBi's number of gateways (2) and his tech (observers).
Both players continue macroing and add two gates, however Pure opts to start getting his templar tech by warping in his Citadel while JangBi opts to get a robotics support bay for reavers. Both of them then try to make a move on the map, however when they both collide in the middle JangBi has a reaver, forcing Pure to retreat. Due to the angle of JangBi's attack Pure has to retreat away from his base. JangBi then goes to attack Pure's natural and Pure did not see that JangBi stopped chasing his army until his army was within his expansion.
Since Jangbi was able to divide Pure's army he is able to take out the four dragoons as Pure's natural, and then because of the bridges JangBi is able to defeat Pure's main army that rushes back to defend. JangBi does lose his reaver, however he get five probe kills and defeats all of Pure's army before he is pushed out because of a DT. This clearly gives JangBi the advantage so +1 to him.
Pure gets a few probe kills with his DT, however, JangBi's shuttle speed finishes and he gets about 10 to 15 probe kills and forces them to move off minerals which gives JangBi +1 again.
They both continue to macro but when JangBi attacks again he destroys all of Pure's army once again and he is about to get reaver dropped a third time. Due to so many dead probes and losing his entire army Pure punches out GG.
JangBi manner pylons Pure at the beginning with his scouting probe and gains a slight advantage because he cancels it right before it finishes so he has no economic loss. This gives +1 to Jangbi.
JangBi then sends his first zealot in order to try to get probe kills to put Pure even further behind. Due to Pure's probe micro the zealot gets no kills which is -1 to Jangbi, so I would say that it is an even game at this point since Jangbi just threw away 100 minerals and they are both still in the early game.
Pure opts to put down a fast expansion around 4 minutes and 20 seconds within the game. He is clearly trying to get the economic advantage with this move to secure a better mid game. Due to this though, Pure is not able to match JangBi's number of gateways (JangBi has two while Pure has one) and they both put up there robotics around the same time.
JangBi then starting warping in his natural about 1 minute and 20 second after Pure by then has just started mining out of his natural which is +1 to Pure. By this time as well Pure has matched JangBi's number of gateways (2) and his tech (observers).
Both players continue macroing and add two gates, however Pure opts to start getting his templar tech by warping in his Citadel while JangBi opts to get a robotics support bay for reavers. Both of them then try to make a move on the map, however when they both collide in the middle JangBi has a reaver, forcing Pure to retreat. Due to the angle of JangBi's attack Pure has to retreat away from his base. JangBi then goes to attack Pure's natural and Pure did not see that JangBi stopped chasing his army until his army was within his expansion.
Since Jangbi was able to divide Pure's army he is able to take out the four dragoons as Pure's natural, and then because of the bridges JangBi is able to defeat Pure's main army that rushes back to defend. JangBi does lose his reaver, however he get five probe kills and defeats all of Pure's army before he is pushed out because of a DT. This clearly gives JangBi the advantage so +1 to him.
Pure gets a few probe kills with his DT, however, JangBi's shuttle speed finishes and he gets about 10 to 15 probe kills and forces them to move off minerals which gives JangBi +1 again.
They both continue to macro but when JangBi attacks again he destroys all of Pure's army once again and he is about to get reaver dropped a third time. Due to so many dead probes and losing his entire army Pure punches out GG.
+ Show Spoiler [After Thoughts] +
So without even counting the points its obvious to see that JangBi started out at a disadvantage due to Pure faster then usual expansion but slowly gained the advantage by exploiting the fact that Pure opted to get his templar tech instead of reavers. If JangBi's reaver drops were not very successful and he gave Pure another one or two minutes to get templar with storm, Pure would have had the advantage because storm owns reavers.
What I learned from analyzing this VOD is that in PvP there is a time where if your opponent opts for templar tech instead of reavers they are vulnerable to an attack, especially if you have reavers. An army of goons and a reaver is greater then an army of just pure goons if the goon numbers are relatively similar.
Since positioning is everything in PvP, (you want all you goons to form a single file arch so they are all able to fire at enemy troops) if Pure was able to sandwich JangBi when he was crossing the bridge he may have had a better chance but once JangBi killed off his entire army and some probes it was all down hill from there.
What I learned from analyzing this VOD is that in PvP there is a time where if your opponent opts for templar tech instead of reavers they are vulnerable to an attack, especially if you have reavers. An army of goons and a reaver is greater then an army of just pure goons if the goon numbers are relatively similar.
Since positioning is everything in PvP, (you want all you goons to form a single file arch so they are all able to fire at enemy troops) if Pure was able to sandwich JangBi when he was crossing the bridge he may have had a better chance but once JangBi killed off his entire army and some probes it was all down hill from there.
Ok so lets move onto the second game.
Pusan vs Bisu on ColosseumII
VOD
+ Show Spoiler [Match Recap] +
Both players pretty much open with the same build in that they go for a fast expansion because of the easy natural on ColosseumII. They both continue to macro and do the same build until Bisu opts for reavers while Pusan starts to get his templar tech. With Bisu's reaver he is able to gain control of Pusan's ledge right outside his base, and contains him with his goon arch.
Bisu is able to get off two reaver drops after he gets shuttle speed and he kills about 10 to 15 probes. He loses one reaver but is paid for itself in probe kills.
Once Pusan gets four high templar with strom he tries to move out of his base and push Bisu back. Even after a couple good storms Bisu easily has the superior number of goon and there are no obvious parts where his goons are not firing. When moving out Pusan was also forced to move into the dragoon arch which is never a goon thing. Since he did minimal damage to Bisu's army and lost his own, he punches out GG.
Bisu is able to get off two reaver drops after he gets shuttle speed and he kills about 10 to 15 probes. He loses one reaver but is paid for itself in probe kills.
Once Pusan gets four high templar with strom he tries to move out of his base and push Bisu back. Even after a couple good storms Bisu easily has the superior number of goon and there are no obvious parts where his goons are not firing. When moving out Pusan was also forced to move into the dragoon arch which is never a goon thing. Since he did minimal damage to Bisu's army and lost his own, he punches out GG.
+ Show Spoiler [After Thoughts] +
Once again this is an example of how teching to templar tech without reavers gave the person that did tech to reavers a window of opportunity to do some damage. Even though Bisu was not able to finish his opponent off before Pusan got strom, he was able to contain him and had superior positioning when Pusan finally did get storm. If they were battling on an open part of the map there may have been a different result, but Bisu's superior position and reaver micro easily gained him another win.
So after analyzing these two games I actually used what I learned in a game on iCCup yesterday and that win felt awesome because I knew exactly what I had to do. My APM never dropped because I had a clear goal in mind, where as usually I just try to macro my best and move out whenever I feel like it.
Hope somebody enjoyed this, and any constructive criticism is appreciated.