[Stream] iAmiAnC - Page 2

This game begins with fairly similar openings, with each player moving towards a mirrored Marine + Siege Tank composition. After making a huge blunder with scan (I scanned an empty main!) things get even worse when a drop in my main does big damage whilst my army is out of position in the middle of the map. In order to recover I take a 9 minute 3rd base which I turn into a Planetary Fortress.

I once again get caught badly out of position whilst attempting to deny my opponent's 3rd base and find my own 3rd sieged up with the majority of my opponents army parked outside. Thanks to some patience and a 3 pronged flank attack I am able to steamroll my opponents army outside my 3rd and the game continues. Having cleaned up that army I take a large force and break the rocks into my opponent's 3rd. Stimming a marine up the ramp and seeing little resistance I stim my entire army into the 3rd area and instagib his expansion.

Overestimating my advantage an ill advised 2-2 vs 3-2 engagement takes place which I lose massively, finding myself on the back foot facing a contain at the central watch tower. Contained and almost certainly begining to fall behind economically all thats left to be done is to max out once more and look for a truely epic engagement to try and salvage the game...

Sticking with my gasless FE build I face an opponent who elects to go 1 step further and does a 4 Barracks build (with expansion). The early minutes of the game are quiet, with my opponent making pure Marine whilst I pump out a lesser number of Marines whilst teching to Medivacs and Siege Tanks. Having watch tower control I see a huge Marine army heading towards me around the 8 minute mark which could be dangerous. All that I can do is pre spread my Marine at the top of my natural ramp to gain a concave advantage and allow the maximum number of Marines to shoot at my opponents marines as they funnel up the ramp. My opponent decides not to go for the attack since I now had Medivacs and Stimpack completed.

I move out on the map with my Marine + Medivac force whilst taking myself a 3rd at the 10 minute mark. I try to stim 1 Marine into my opponent's 3rd to scout ahead of my army but I accidentally stim my ENTIRE army, This turns out to be fortuitous as there is already a 3rd expansion up at the 3rd base and I promoplty melt it with my Marine force. I get cornered inside the 3rd and I'm unable to escape with my Marines, I lose convincingly to superior Marine numbers but I'm able to fly all of my Medivacs over the rocks into the 3rd and save them all.

I have an extra base but an inferior army. What ensues is a 20 minute period of constant dropping and multi pronged aggression as my opponent tries to get back into the game via brute force...

I stick to the gasless FE build I have been working on and my opponent decides to cheese BIGTIME. Firstly I have to defend a Medivac+Marine+Hellion elevator all in build. This is quickly followed by a Cloak Banshee build, all done while one basing of course. I take heavy economic damage and my opponent takes the "standard" viable (sigh) 9 minute TvT expansion. My opponent elects for a strange unit composition, it is Marine + Siege Tank but it almost looks like mech, there are as many tanks are there are Marines...

I now have Medivacs and I know I need to go and inflict damage with a drop since I am a good 20 workers behind my opponent due to SCVs lost holding the first cheese and the follow up multiple Cloak Banshee harass. Unloading my first drop (32 Marines) into his main I notice the impact all his micro "intensive" harass has had. There is an endless sea of supply-dropped Depots as far as the eye can see. I immediately stim and clean them up before loading up and saving every marine.

Back at base I start a 3rd and I've added Marauders to my composition. My plan against mech is to go pure bio and I played that style here due to my opponents massive Siege Tank count. I load up 5 Medivacs worth of Marine + Marauder whilst positioning the rest of my units at a watch tower ready to ambush counter attack attempts. I spot a newly built turret ring around my opponents main, but I know his tanks are sieged far away outside his natural, this drop has to work...

I open with a very standard 1 Barracks gasless fast expand into a 3 Barracks build with a fast Bunker covering the entrance to my natural expansion. I scout that my Protoss opponent has also taken a fast expansion. I continue to macro up whilst completing a full wall off infront of my natural featuring several Bunkers and a couple of Supply Depots. One stupid Blink Stalker timing later and a 3 Bunker wall-off has proven to be inadequate. The wall has been broken and we traded armies with great expense to me in terms of destroyed depots, lost SCVs (Bunker repairers) and lost mining time.

My one saving grace is that during the carnage I had teched up to Reactor'd Medivacs in addtion to researching Stimpack, Combat Shield, Concussive Shells and +1 Infantry Weapons. Armed with Medivacs I venture out from my natural and spot the Protoss mass Stalker army afk'ing near my watch tower. I stim my entire army and stutter step forward directly on top of the Stalker force. My opponent is slow to react and takes heavy losses to his almost Zealot-less army.

Smelling blood I push onwards looking to win the game outright. I melt the Protoss 3rd base and win a big engagement between the 3rd and natural, whilst taking my own 3rd back at home. I pause briefly outside the Protoss natural as my Medivacs heal up my bio army. Before I get a chance to heal up fully my army is driven back by the magic of a warp in round of Chargelots. Suddenly I'm stutter stepping all the way back to my own natural expansion, losing Medivacs and bio along the way. What looked like a won game is now seemingly very dicey as waves of Zealot + Archon are crashing against my natural expansion. Ghosts are begining to pop out now and only some miraculous EMPs will be able to turn the tide in my favour once again...

Cross Position TvZ. I open with my "standard" 2 base Marauder Hellion stim timing and it does decently. I force a cancel on the Zerg 3rd expansion, kill all his natural Spine Crawlers + Queens and trade armies - whilst taking my own 3rd. The game progresses on fairly even footing and what unfolds is some classic Marine, Tank, Medivac vs Zergling, Baneling, Mutalisk.

I open with my Marauder Hellion timing which does decent damage, but possibly not enough. I am able to trade armies and destroy the Zerg natural, but crucially I was unable to kill many Drones (which would have sealed the deal). Heavy Mutalisk play and constant suicidal Baneling busts on my 3rd base leads to a semi base trade scenario (I lose my 3rd but hold my main+nat). Some decent bio control later and the Zerg army lies in a bloody heap.

I open with a middle of the road gasless FE build this game, featuring a fast 2nd Depot wall off where I partially construct the Depot then leave it, using the SCV to scout. I trap an enemy SCV in my main using this tactic whilst building my expansion outside the wall on the low ground, thus hiding it from view and scoring myself an SCV kill. While scouting I notice a 2nd SCV leaving my opponent's base and follow it to discover what proxy cheese he has in store for me. I spot a proxy Factory and I am able to force a cancel on it. With a solid lead I poke at my opponents natural and further increase my lead by sniping an SCV which was constructing a Bunker in the choke point. A scan of the main reveals the threat of Banshee and I return home, positioning my Marines ready to intercept incoming Banshees.

I take no harass damage and storm into the midgame with a 9 minute 3rd expansion and fast upgrades. I continue to macro up Marine, Tank, Medivac whilst holding onto my lead. I position the bulk of my army at my enemy's watch tower whilst having individual Marines at probable 3rd base locations for my opponent. I am waiting ready to pounce on his 3rd base as it floats in and instagib it. What follows is a lengthy Marine, Tank, Medivac mirror where I continually prevent my opponent from taking new bases, staying one step ahead throughout.

I was very pleased with my overall play this game and strive to play at this level and above in all my TvTs.

In this first game I open with my standard gasless FE into 3 Barracks build. Through scouting I identify the my opponent has done a CC first build and put on some flimsy pressure which achieves little. I continue to scout having spotted an SCV leaving the enemy base at a strange angle. This scouting allows me to find a hidden 3rd base on the opposite side of the map (6minutes). I am able to quickly force this base to float away and prevent it from landing and mining. Faced with this economy cheese I immediately expand to the gold bases in the center of the map and make it my focus to prevent my opponent from landing his 3rd CC (on his 3rd expansion spot).

What follows is classic Bio vs Mech with me enjoying a 3-4 base advantage and preventing the opponent from landing his 3rd CC next to minerals for a good 10 minutes plus. After maxing out with a Mech army on 2 bases and constructing a ridiculous Turret + Sensor Tower ring my opponent slowly pushes and secures his 3rd. He is only a stone's throw away from my gold bases now and things begin to look bleak after a terrible engagement outside his 3rd where I lose my entire army in an instant.

Thankfully due to my increased base count and incredible gas income I have an ace up my sleeve. I roll out my mass Viking + Battlecruiser army just in time to save my gold bases and immediately force a GG. I had also been secretly double upgrading Air Weapon + Armor which would only be noticed if my opponent had clicked a Medivac and seen the increased armor (not a common play).

In this second match my opponent plays almost identically except for some notible improvements in his play which cause more difficulty. He decides to dispense with the economy cheese and once again focuses on a fast 2-3 base max Mech army. By building a faster turret ring my drops are also shut down so I inflict no damage and fail to prevent the 3rd from being mined this time around.

I once again play Bio vs Mech and go for a massive base count with huge gas collection. I set up a flismy contain at the central watch tower which is easily crushed and much to my surprise my opponent marches forward, rolling his tanks to my natural looking to end the game. I ambush the army just outside my natural but my army is still pulverized. I have the Viking count to grab air control now, but the Battlecruisers aren't "operational" yet ^^. Some frantic Landed Viking vs Tank engagements buy me time untill my 1st 3 BCs pop out together, putting my opponent on full retreat. 3 BCs quickly become 10+ (I had 6 or 7 Starports) and with the help of my "surprise" air upgrades my BCs once again demolish any resistance, forcing a second GG.