[D] Analyzing the GSL, Build Orders and Strategy

Protoss vs. Protoss

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Terran vs. Protoss

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Protoss vs. Zerg

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Terran vs. Terran

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Terran vs. Protoss

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Terran vs. Zerg

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Zerg vs. Protoss

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Zerg vs. Terran

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Zerg vs. Zerg

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NaNiwa v Genius Game One - Naniwa's blink build

For me, this was one of the rarest of pro games that show where extra time in offline practice can really pay off. After some mouse problems were resolved, Genius and Naniwa were back in their PvP on Antiga Shipyard. In my eyes, Antiga is a great map for learning PvP because builds from blink stalker to one base colossus can work out really well. In this game, Naniwa and Genius both decide to go blink stalker off of 3 gates. But what made this game special? Naniwa ended up with 7 more probes than Genius by the six minute mark. To start things off, both players opened standard, with a second gas when their core was about half way done.

The differences pop up once the first stalkers are out. After both player’s stalkers left the gateway, Genius began cutting probes and threw down a twilight council, executing the typical blink stalker rush. Meanwhile, Naniwa delayed his council until his second stalker came out, continuing probe production the entire time. Genius threw down two more gateways at 4:41, while Naniwa threw his down at 5:01. It’s also critical to note that Naniwa could afford these two gateways as well as the probe production due to getting a sentry out, foregoing a quick third stalker.

Genius' fastest possible twilight council couldn't even start researching blink for 20 seconds, allowing Naniwa’s to begin at almost the same time. Naniwa went on to easily hold Genius’ failed timing, expand, and win with his already large advantage. By the 7:30 mark, the game was essentially already over, with Naniwa having a 7 probe advantage, blink at the same time, and even a faster robo. After holding Genius' thin timing (despite missing two forcefields that could have delayed it even longer) Naniwa was so far ahead that it would have been difficult to lose.

The builds compared visualy:


As you can see above, there is a very thin timing in which Genius is actually ahead in units, but even without getting the forcefields that he desired, Naniwa was still able to hold with his in base warp in. If you manage to get the forcfefields off and warp in, than you are infinitely ahead, with a completed robo and a 7 probe advantage. Naniwa’s blink build seems unanimously better than Genius’

Virus v SuperNoVa Game 2 - Positioning

In this game, Supernova opened proxy cloak banshee, normally a strategy not worthy of much analysis; however, I found the battle of positioning that later occurred on this map very helpful. This game showed the value of three things: constant threatening of the third base, controlling the edges of the map, and having balls of steel.

1. Threatening the third

Virus ended up winning this game, and for good reason. He relentlessly aggressed on Supernova’s third, and it finally payed off in a final engagement. All game long Virus moved up the small hill just south of Supernova’s base and finally, after 15 minutes of meeting Supernova’s army, he got the perfect positioning that he wanted.

For me, and in all matchups, this demonstrates the importance of picking out areas on the map where you feel you have the advantage if the engagement occurs there. Once you have those few key areas, you must try as hard as you can to force the engagement there. Virus clearly wanted to engage by that third base, and after around 12 minutes of trying, he finally did and won the game because of it. Persistence is essential to engaging where you want to.

2. Controlling the Edges of the Map

Virus was able to use drops to pull Supernova out of position all game long, and his drops were only so successful due to his ability to control the sides of the map with a single marine. I believe that this tactic that is becoming so important in TvT can also be used in other matchups. Overlord spreading is important for Zerg, but perhaps even Protoss should begin using Zealots to watch for drops. Even ST_Legend, the GOM observer, was having trouble keeping up with all of the single marine battles going on, battling for control of the edges of the map that now are so essential for spotting drops.

3. Balls of Steel

So we established that Virus won because of his positioning, but he did so only with balls of steel. If you’re going to walk around so boldly fighting for the place on the map in which you want to engage, you absolutely have to be willing to force the engagement. The very second that Virus reached the position he had been fighting for, he stimmed in without scanning, sieged up, and attacked. It was this same boldness that allowed him to take the upperhand in the prior two engagements, sieging and stimming in the very second that he sees his opponent. Most players are much more timid than Virus, but I really loved how willing he was to capitalize on his advantage the very second that he saw it.


NaNiwa v Virus Game 2 - One Gate Expand Into Safe Pressure

Naniwa continued to impress me with his build orders in his opening against Virus. 1 gate/1 rax fe has become standard TvP these days, and Naniwa did a neat little follow up pressure before going robo, allowing him to pressure without going all in, and without the quick 3rd base that PartinG likes to do.

The Build:


This build seems really cool to me, you delay your robo and end up cutting a probe or two in exchange for a very powerful potential timing

One small addition - I find it extremely helpful to get a stargate when you’re sure you’re so far ahead as Naniwa was this game. Getting just a couple phoenixes can completely shut down drops – one of the few ways that terran can force a comeback.


Genius v SuperNoVa Game Two - Late Game TvP

Overtime, I’m finding Daybreak to be one of my absolute favorite maps. Supernova demonstrated a superb understanding of late game TvP in his game against Genius. Traditionally, once protoss and Terran near maxed armies, they begin butting heads into one another, doing little harassment and focusing almost entirely on army movement and macro. This is due to the assumption that once a cannon and high templar are at every base, there’s little that harassment can accomplish. Supernova showed the folly of this line of thought though, demolishing Genius through brilliant multitasking that seemed near impossible to keep up with.


Combined with drops, the nuke is essential to picking apart a late game protoss

At about the 18 minute mark, after a failed engagement, the fun really gets started. Supernova used constant threatening of Genius' main army to constantly hit Genius’ other expansions with drops and cloak ghosts for nukes. In TvP, once it gets late game, one battle usually decides everything. Supernova made sure he got the upper hand in the micro wars by constantly forcing multitasking with drops and nukes. Supernova’s tactics can be used in every matchup as well, with multitasking allowing for denying the spellcasters of every race. It was a blast to watch SuperNova peel Genius apart

SuperNoVa v Virus Game One - A Brief Opening

I just wanted to briefly mention Supernova’s build here, it should be an easy win if you’re confident of your multitasking over an opponent and willing to take a small risk. Supernova went gas first into a banshee expand, but got a reactored factory, 4 hellions and a medivac, and then switched the reactor onto a barracks. This allowed him to do some nice damage with a quick banshee, and then follow it up with a quick hellion drop. I just thought it was a neat TvT opening worth pointing out.

Mvp vs. July Game One - MVP's mech build

Going mech in TvZ is something that I've always a hard time doing. I tend to either not get enough thors, not get enough tanks, or too many hellions. I really liked Mvp’s mech build this game, so I went ahead and mapped it out. I think it works very well against people doing the new four queen opening who skip going roaches when rushing infestors. I should also mention that I would only feel truly safe doing this build against a zerg who opens with no gas, as Mvp seemed to be quite diligent about scouting that out before committing to the build. I like Mvp's opening because there is a lot of time to keep a gasless Zerg who skips roaches on the back foot while you harass and constantly threaten to demolish their mineral line. It's also nice that you're practically guaranteed a few overlords in process.



With that opening out of the way, the next big question is when Mvp adds on additional factories, switches to tanks from thors, and begins Viking production. This is the part of mech play that I usually have the most issues with. Mvp’s timings all line up very well, he floats his third base at about 18 minutes. As that base is floating, +2 is finishing, Vikings begin getting produced, and tanks start making their way out of the factory. This timing is extremely important, and is also when Mvp drops a big scan to check for hive. So in general:



Once you have a defensive planetary up, you can begin slow pushing your opponent for the eventual victory

Also: July proved why you absolutely cannot stay on ling bane muta against a good mech player. With a maxed out army, July killed only 16 food of Mvp’s mech army, too inefficient to really make a comeback.

IMmvp v July Game 3 – Mvp's Bio opening

Mvp did another TvZ opening here that I found unique and enjoyable to execute. While Marine hellion timings are nothing new, I felt that Mvp’s way of going about it was truly one of a kind. Most hellion marine timings leave me feeling incredibly vulnerable, but Mvp’s seemed a little stronger than most, so I decided to map it out.



This push seems pretty deadly, shutting down the third base of your opponent and then immediately pulling back, starting +1 and a third base. A lot of times as terran it can be hard trying to time your production, and I think that lining everything up with the factory attachments really makes that easier.

Another important timing that Mvp likes to hit is getting his second ebay and armory while he is floating his third base over. Another pro tip: keep a medivac in your base with your anti-muta marines, it makes them much more cost effective. From here, Mvp went on to play a standard TvZ using drops and a strong defense to take July out. I just really enjoyed the clever attachment usage in the opening.


HerO v Leenock Game 1 – Sick Stargate Sentry Drop

I absolutely loved this build. It’s one of those that can make you excited to press that "find match" button. The general idea behind it is to hit with a strong mix of gateway and stargate units, using forcefields to segment off queens and lings/roaches. I think that this build works because of how thin of a timing most zergs are working on with their three base into roach timings. Most Zergs are barely having queens, roaches, and spores pop in time to defend, so doing something off beat like this build really catches them off guard. Here’s the build:



Just something to note, Hero is an absolute master at splitting up his army, so you might have some frustrating losses until you get used to doing it. It’s important to add on more cannons at home and split your warp ins between your prism and your base. It’s in this way that Hero can make this push so powerful, only because he can’t be counter attacked in the process.
And that’s it for builds, I promise.

HerO v Leenock Games 2 + 3 - Hero's Aggressive Timings

Right now Protoss is having a tough time getting a third base up against Zerg. Most players are answering by either turtling for a little bit longer on two base or going for stargate openings into a quick third. I like Hero’s response though: taking a third before Zerg even gets their economy going.

Hero ends up losing game two, but I think that his thought process on the build was very interesting. Leenock was really only able to win thanks to fantastic use of burrow, but in an age where many zergs are delaying burrow in favor of roach/ling, I think that Hero’s gameplan was a solid one. First of all, Hero did the important stalker pressure when you scout that your opponent has delayed their gas. No ling speed means that you have a timing window in which you can pressure pretty freely with your first stalker. Hero also threw down two quick gateways, putting him up to three before going into a twilight council.

After the council and gateways are up, Hero goes into semi pressure that I don't believe is meant to do much real damage. While attempting to pressure, Hero throws down 2 more gases and a third base. After the third base was up, Hero threw down 5 more gates, putting him up to 8. Now in this game, Hero kind of fell apart because his pressure was scouted and very easily deflected without really intimidating Leenock. But in a world where this pressure fakes your opponent out to turtle a little bit, you’ll have 8 gates, a third base, and plus one attack, which is fantastic for holding the more standard stephano timing.



These aggressive expansion timings are what I’m loving about Hero’s PvZ, he’s answering the heavy pressure of Zerg players by expanding faster, rather than the gut reaction of turtling harder. In game three, Hero threw down a third base before even beginning his 4 gate pressure, a great move. Hero again followed up with blink, more gates, and more cannons. This aggression into turtling seems super effective at forcing zerg into an awkward position in which they made units to defend the pressure but also don't have enough to counter attack.

A few side notes:

1. Hero likes to delay his robo in favor of using cannons for detection while getting blink and +2 attack.
2. The trigger for taking his fourth base seems to be scouting the hive in construction.
3. Hero doesn’t really like colossus, he delays them for an extremely long time and only building 1-3 of them once he has the tech, he prefers using warp prisms to focus down tech. He also eats up his food with archons and stalkers rather than colossus and immortals.
4. Hero also slowly adds on cannons to his bases, he doesn’t spam them all down at once.

mvp v HerO Game One – Mind Games

These are the kind of builds that you should not copy unless you’re playing in a tournament or at a very high level on the ladder and here’s why: these builds are trading inefficiency in their ordering for a stronger mid game as a result of throwing your opponent off guard. In this game, Mvp grabs his gas and gets a bunker so that it looks to hero like a 1/1/1 is coming, but instead, Mvp throws down two command centers. The idea behind this is that Hero will go into a 1/1/1 defense - expand and cut probes in exchange for units – and by the time Hero scouts Mvp, Mvp will have such a better economy that the gas inefficiency from the early game won’t matter.



As for Hero’s build, I think that one base blink observer is an intriguing answer to a suspected 1/1/1. If terran ever moves out, you can force him to turn around with blink until you can macro out a bigger army. As soon as Mvp scouts the all in (and Hero himself scouts Mvp's 3 CC's), Hero made the smart choice to expand. What’s key about a desperate expand like this is rushing for a single colossus and then going back to macroing the same as before. The single colossus is absolutely key to staying safe.

A side note: Hero times his Templar with his third base, and uses storm to endlessly hold off Mvp. Storm really seems to be Hero’s secret to defending with so few units.

Leenock v July Games One and Two – Holding Cheese in ZvZ

Ya, July 10 pools Leenock twice, and Leenock has flawless decision making to hold the one base attacks of his opponent. Leenock has a few general trends in defending:

1. Drone immediately after holding the initial pressure. If your opponent is pulling back, it’s for a reason, they have stopped rallying reinforcements and are trying to drone themselves

2. Make a Baneling nest and more lings after your round or two of drones. It’s after your opponent’s initial pull back that you have to begin worrying again about a follow up timing.

3. Expand as your baneling nest finishes. This is the key to not being all in yourself and pulling ahead of you opponent. Once you can morph banelings, it becomes less important to make so many lings, so begin mixing in drones with your rounds of zerglings to slowly pull ahead. It’s likely that your opponent is either only droning or only making units, so feel free to –

4. Get aggressive. Having a baneling or two at home is all it takes to shut down a lot of ling timings, so feel free to get a little aggressive yourself. If your opponent took the greedy route, you can do some damage, and if they made units, banelings can make it home pretty safely, as having more zerglings does not mean your opponent is better off against your banelings. Just make sure you are safe at home before you do anything drastic.

IMmvp v Leenock Games 1,2 & 3 – Adaptive all inning

So all of these games were pretty good, and I suggest watching them. The games themselves were long and scrappy, so it’s hard to get a lot of concrete information out of them. Below are just a couple things I wanted to say.

1. About Leenock’s adaptive baneling all in game 1: something like this is very hard to do as a pro player, as the preference is almost always to adhere to the safest possible route.



Leenock was on two gas, killed a bunch of marines, killed some SCVs, and delayed his opponent’s natural. It’s at that point that Leenock realized he was far enough ahead that siege tanks wouldn’t be out and it was time to go for a baneling all in. Decisions like this are very hard to make, but I would suggest experimenting with going all in after pulling ahead, you’d be surprised what you can accomplish.

2. Mvp offers the pinnacle of standard TvZ, using drops, marines, tanks, thors, and quick infantry upgrades to demolish his opponent. I highly suggest studying games two and three yourself for Mvp’s intricacies and decision makings. Oh, and Artosis gets giddy for Leenock this entire series, so if you’re a zerg player, he has a lot of good stuff to say about Leenock's play.

PartinG vs. TheStC, Game One: Parting’s new PvT build

I’ve been a fan of Parting’s PvT opening for a long time now. I remember as I sat in disbelief watching as a protoss could go to three bases and then still threaten terran with the same strength as a two base all in. Since I’ve been a Parting fan for so long now, it’s been incredibly unique to watch his build develop overtime. In his game against TheStc, we got to see the latest version of it, which I mapped out below:



PartinG’s old build roughly went immediately up to 8 gateways after a third base in order to put pressure on the terran, essential for stopping any drops or push outs. Essentially, it was a big (potentially deadly) bluff to force a defensive terran. Parting has been able to standardize his build now that he has a better understanding of the timings, and I love the new version. The new version gets the greediest possible 1 gate expand, skips the second gateway before third base, and gets a robo to stop any cloak banshee nonsense. Sooner or later terrans are going to figure out a way to stop Parting’s greedy play (we even see players like Mvp doing it against naniwa), but for now, greed is good.

PartinG vs. TheStC, Game Two: Losing (and gaining) the Lead

This match ended up being pretty weird, and there were just a few things that I wanted to say about it. First, as soon as parting knew that he was ahead he went to pressure Stc. In Starcraft, it’s absolutely key to press your advantage when you have it, or else you allow your opponent to make up the difference by playing greedily. Parting knew that by denying stc’s funky hellion drop opener that he had to be ahead, so rather than immediately take a third like he usually does, he instead went to pressure the moment he had two immortals. It’s thanks to that pressure that he forced stc to build the great wall of bunkers:



Which is what actually put him ahead. Without this pressure, Parting would just be in a good position, not a great, nearly game winning one.

And then… stc pulled off just about the only thing he could’ve to come back, hitting a massive doom drop:


Not a single fuck was given

So ya, when you’re behind, don’t be afraid to take giant risks like this. If you don’t take them, you’re going to lose anyways, so what’s the harm?

And now for the really juicy stuff about this game. So Stc got himself a huge advantage, clawing himself back into the game with great harassment, but then, out of nowhere, he got rolled over by Parting. How does something like this happen? Well, it all comes down to the economy. Think of Stc’s style this game as the same that July Zerg employs, just with terran. Stc cut workers at 60, which is the optimal 3 base saturation for two bases with gas and one without gas. With gas at the third, optimal three base saturation becomes 66. This is why many professional players cut workers between 70 and 80, because at that point you can saturate about three and a half bases, and it’s very rare to ever control more than that (your main is usually mining out as you take your fourth).

With that preface out of the way, the Stc began cutting SCV’s at about 55-60, meanwhile Parting was at near perfect three base saturation with 70. Especially once Parting had his fourth up, his income was out of control, able to saturate that perfect three and a half base amount. Meanwhile, since Stc had cut workers in favor of constant aggression, his push ran out of steam the moment that Parting could get a good footing.

To be honest, because of how far behind he was at the beginning, I think that the Stc went for the best move that he could, trying to do a constant aggression style (basically a three base all in) to try and crack parting. Parting just proved his deftness at PvT in being able to hold on and eventually take the game. Just a few workers can make all the difference at the professional level.

MKP vs. TaeJa, Game Two: Everything!

I’m not going to say that this is my favorite TvT of all time, but it is without a doubt my favorite in recent memory. I was on the edge of my seat the entire game, and with good reason. To start things off, I really enjoyed how Taeja did a small poke with his initial marine. In the early game of TvT, high level terrans will often have their marines in base to deflect any reaper openings, so just poking with the first marine can be quite effective. Worst case scenario you pull it back after it takes a bit of damage, but Taeja got the best case one, scouting the command center and killing the Scv that was building it.

MKP is bringing back the quick tank pushes with a vengeance. This kind of two barracks siege tank play, in the past, was only used in one base all ins, often with a barracks proxied for sight of your opponents ramp. MKP has been able to take advantage of the new marine openings that most players are doing with his quick combat shield / siege mode timing. I really liked his build, so I mapped it out below.



What’s very important to note here is that MKP added on a third barracks and his starport during this push before taking his third base. If MKP skips this step and gets a third base right away, he is suddenly in danger of losing his army to a big SCV pull timing, it was a brilliant and safe decision to add on production before expanding.

Now, if this had been the end of the game, it would have been a mediocre experience; however, due to his risky fast third base, Taeja was able to claw his way back. Plus, MKP made the mistake of forgetting how cost effective siege tanks are.


Before


After

Suddenly, after an over 40 food plummet, the game was even, and we had an amazing positional TvT on our hands. I highly recommend this game both for understanding TvT positioning and for its raw entertainment value.

PartinG vs. MKP

Game One:

I just wanted to say that you shouldn’t do the build Parting did on this map unless you are extremely confident in every aspect of your play (micro, macro, and decision making). This four gate after expand can look very powerful when someone like Parting does it, but it is actually near impossible for lesser players to pull off cost effectively. Without top tier macro, the push hits seconds too late, and becomes incredibly wasteful. Without top tier micro, you don’t have enough sentries, or units in general, to pull anything off, you get your army crushed, and terran counters with stim and medivacs and you will instantly lose the game. And most importantly, without top tier decision making, you will commit to the attack for far too long, losing tech and economy in the process.

Game Three:

Just a quick note on this one, as both this game and Mvp vs. Naniwa demonstrate, two base timings are back in a big way to try and punish the Parting style quick third.

MC vs. Maru, Game One: Mind Games and Maru's Take on Standard TvP

Of all of his matches from that night, Maru showed the most dominance over MC. This is despite the fact that MC is, on paper, a higher caliber player than Squirtle or oZ. Maru's victory over MC was not a sign that MC has gotten worse; rather it was a sign of how well Maru played against MC's style rather then as if he was playing against any old Protoss. MC is such a potent player because of his tendencies to force the game into his court. He uses aggression to scout and punish you, and is always aware of the mental state of the game (not being afraid to cheese or rush to three bases depending on what mental state he thinks you’re in). Watching Maru play was the first time I’ve seen someone take this mental aspect of play over MC, Maru played him like no one else so far has been capable.

In game one Maru went for an inefficient 1 rax FE. He built the CC in base and even added a bunker to the top of his ramp. I talked about this idea in an earlier write up: at the pro level, it can be okay to trade inefficiencies for the strength of the mind game. With this inefficient opener from Maru, MC was forced into a robo build rather than a gateway timing (something that he loves to do). Maru’s unusual variation of the standard three rax follow up allowed his first push to hit with a little more punch. This variation of the opener is only so affective because of the recent trend to delay splash damage in the form of colossus and Templar from Protoss.

In an attempt to more clearly state what I loved about Maru’s play this game:

1. The opening is a huge mind game win over protoss, almost forcing them to make a robo
2. It allows for a nice timing to smash into protoss before any of their splash damage is out
3. It manages to allow for map control while still teching and expanding like crazy
4. Maru gets a fast third base, upgrades, medivacs, and ghosts. In other words, it's very effective against the new protoss delayed colossus style.



Quick notes on the build: it appears that Maru either got his third gas later than he wanted or his e-bay earlier than he wanted, as he quickly started +1 and then cancelled it when he realized he wouldn’t have enough for two medivacs as soon as the starport was done. Also, while at the beginning I stressed how good this opener is against MC, by building the CC and bunker on the low ground, it is also a very strong opener for terran in general.

One last thing: Maru is seriously gosu at killing observers. He should change his name to observer scanner or something, he’s amazing spotting the little things, it’d be nice if an interviewer could ask him about how on earth he spots them so easily.

Game Two: A Bad Build

Just a super quick note on game two: the three rax all in is really bad. I haven’t seen that work in forever. Seriously. People should stop doing it. It’s the build I have my terran friends do in order to get to platinum league wherein it stops working.

Squirtle vs. Oz Game One: PvP in a Nutshell

So this game started off in a way that is way too weird and non-standard for me to even begin figuring out who was ahead. oZ stole both of Squirtle’s gasses, and Squirtle built a pylon blocking two of oZ’s mineral patches in response. While this match makes analyzing openings difficult, it is useful for seeing the general trends of PvP. I guarantee you that neither player went into this game expecting what they got, so they were free ballin’ it from the two minute mark forward. When you get a situation that is so non-standard, it’s great to see what the player’s general gameplan was. So here are some general trends I’ve noticed in PvP, both in general and from this specific game.

1. If you expect that your opponent is being at all greedy, feel free to get aggressive. Your units move at the same speed, so as long as you can avoid force field traps and blink, you’re always be free to scout and pressure. Map control is HUGE in PvP, do your best to keep it, even if you lose a few games getting used to it.

2. Get some kind of map control to stop aggression, and then expand as soon as you can stop proxy pylons. Proxy pylons are the only real way to get aggressive in PvP's early game, so if you can stop them, you are pretty much free to expand.

3. After you expand, your end goal is 5 or 6 gates with a robo. This allows you the flexibility for charge/archon, colossus, a third base, or even quick upgrades.

4. If you’re afraid of counter pressure (like gateway timings or one base robo builds), you want to stay on immortals and go blink, but if you feel like you have some space, then you want to go colossus. PvP

Game Two: My Favorite PvP Build

I LOVE THIS BUILD!! As I’ve already established, I’m a big fan of Parting whom I originally saw the build that oZ executed. Sure Squirtle won this game, but it wasn’t because of the build; rather it was because of a bunch of mistakes that oZ made while doing an extremely tight opening. oZ allowed a proxy pylon to go up, his expansion was easily scouted, he built an observer before immortal, lost three stalkers for free, and didn’t cancel his expansion in time.

Here’s the build, and trust me, it’s good. Just don’t mess up as bad as oZ did.



Squirtle vs. Maru, Game One: Playing to the Map

I really liked the way that Squirtle played this match out, it was really playing to a map over blindly playing to a matchup. Squirtle really took advantage of the map architecture of Antiga. Antiga is a map that has three bases that are somewhat easy to take but a fourth that is quite difficult to take before you have a dominant position. Squirtle handled this fact by rushing to +3, colossus, and high Templar off of three base. The idea behind this is to get as perfect a composition as possible off of three bases so that you can take a fourth once in a dominant position with your high tech army. In order to tech more quickly, you can see that Squirtle sacrificed some economy (he had 57 vs. 70 workers), purposefully cutting probes to tech faster to that dominant army. Antiga is a map that rewards the player with a better army rather than the one with the better economy (at least in the midgame), and Squirtle really demonstrated his understanding of that concept.

MC vs. FXOz, Both Games: A Couple of Quick PvP Tips

This series was pretty weird, as playing PvP against MC usually is. I just wanted to note a couple of quick things about it.

1. Constantly keep track of your opponents stalker count. Too many times in Starcraft 2, since it's still relatively new, a bluff is all it takes to get away with things you can’t really do. The best example of this is when a protoss has some stalkers in their base and terrans feel like they can’t drop at all – despite the fact that landing a double drop in a different location in the base could kill off all of those stalkers for free (we see some players, like Maru, figuring out that it takes more than stalkers to deny drops completely). In PvP, a lot players will leave some stalkers in their main to deny blink ins, but if you’ve been macroing better than your opponent, do your best to try and count how many they have. If they end up with less than you, one aggressive blink could win you the game.



2. One base colossus PvP has really made a comeback, and I’m not sure why. That build has been pretty bad for a while, as a fast expand with immortals and gateway units (as oZ showed) easily holds it. Not sure why one base colossus is having a comeback, but it is, so be prepared for it I guess.

Maru vs. FXOz, Game One: Weird Doesn’t Mean Good

I guess that oZ’s build this game was weird enough that I sort of have to mention it. oZ went double twilight council to rush for a charge + blink timing. This timing seems super gimmicky to me, delaying everything just to get a 140 second upgrade seems just sort of…bad. I almost think it was an accident that oZ went with, but the timing was a little too good to be a coincidence. The awkwardness of the build really showed in that maru held despite being caught at a really bad time and not being able to scout that it was coming. I guess I just think that there are a lot of other follow ups to the three base build that are universally better.

A brief note: I love the way that Maru played against the quick three base style. I really don’t like the way that many Terrans are trying to punish three base timings with gimmicky timing pushes. Playing a greedy version of standard seems to be the way to go (for now), with a quicker extra base and upgrades. Standard terran can almost guarantee some damage against these mass gateway three base builds with good drop control. Until Terran figures out the optimal way to handle these greedy bases, I really think that standard is the way to go.