EPThttp://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=104545 ...
interesting to see the changes (I.E, I wasn't confident in my PvT then but now I'm feeling like a superstud)
So as people may or may not have noticed from my recent blogs - I've gotten pretty active over the last 1.5 months, usually during the summers I spend time trying to improve, but my activity came a little late this time. Anyways, so I"ve been pretty active of late and playing lots of ICCUP and whatnot.
I definitely had a breakthrough with PvT. Last summer I was a really strong PvT player (when I was very active)... I was able to take games off really strong terrans like AeriALs and SchiSm. But sometime in 2009, the Terran style changed and when I started playing again, I was terrible at PvT. My old builds weren't working anymore and I was losing to terrans at C- and such.
I can finally say though that I've made a nice breakthrough in PvT, I feel as if I have a really firm grasp on how Terrans play it now and my builds are pretty capable of beating B- players. Playing at the LAN last weekend was very nice, as well as being a few C+ terrans on ICCUP who had beaten me a few weeks before, revenge is sweet.
PvZ for some reason I have always felt very comfortable with. I have a good sense of timing, my builds are generally solid, although I do have a few glaring weaknesses in that matchup, it's mostly due to actual mechanics and execution rather than a lack of understanding of the matchup.
PvP is another story altogether, and I really feel as if the only thing keeping me away from B- right now is that I'm losing almost every PvP I play (check my ~35% winrate in PvP). While I feel as if I have a very good conceptual/theoretic knowledge of PvT and PvZ, I feel like a lost child when it comes to PvP.
I watch some of my PvP reps that I lose and I wonder "how the fuck did he get more units than me, etc". It's a really annoying position to be in. I'm able to beat C+ zergs and C+ terrans about 50-60% of the time, but I'm losing to almost every Protoss who's solid C rank.
Possible thoughts why:
- Again, my understanding of probe production really hurts me. I never know when I'm supposed to stop probes, etc. I think my gateway timing is bad, my expand timing sucks, and although I've stopped losing to DT's like a retard (as I used to do last month), I'm just getting overpowered lately (due to the problems I mentioned earlier).
- I also think my build orders may not be timed well, I studied this one build from a VOD of BeSt recently however it's only applicable in general situations, so I feel like I need to study a couple general builds and really work them through in single player or something.
- This leads me to a general theory of mirror matchups and why they're so hard (possibly you've heard me talk about it on my stream). I think that mirror matchups really test the skill of a player. They are incredibly precise, much moreso than in any other matchup. For example, cutting a few probes and having slightly better pylon timing can allow you to get 5-6 extra fighting units in the early/mid-game that will be crucial in a battle. Unit positioning on attacks is also much more important in mirror matchups (while they're important generally, I feel like there is a certain element of 1a2a3a in PvT for example, and in PvZ you really need to focus on just not losing temps / obs and the rest of your units you don't need to worry that much about)... in PvP however, your unit positioning is much more critical.
- Build orders are also much more important in mirror matchups... 14 core vs someone who goes a zealot or two puts you at a disadvantage. Going 14 core only to scout your opponent going 2 gate zeals is basically gg. In other matchups it's not that bad with a few exceptions (like hardcore 2fac rush vs 1 goon expand)... and build order losses are almost as annoying as losing to a lame cheese or allin.
Anyways, there's also a much bigger luck factor. It is POSSIBLE for someone to be "good" at a mirror matchup due to luck, however those who are consistently better at mirror matchups I believe are far superior than those who aren't. For example, I may be able to reach B- playing solely PvT and PvZ, but my PvP is only about C rank (I'd probably maintain C with like 50% winrate if I exclusively played PvP), so I can't really consider myself much higher than C rank skill.
Just in general, I think the actual skill of a player is most probably 1 rank below the rank you actually achieve. Reason being, I think if you play a LOT of games you'll get a fairly decent rank just due to the fact that trading wins/losses will eventually rank you up (up to ~B level or whatever). So the fact that I'm C+ right now indicates to me that I'm a solid C player. Once I get B- I'll feel comfortable calling myself C+, etc.
Anyway that's my mini PvP rant and some random Starcraft thoughts.
. and i agree with you about the mus and positions pvz its more important for zerg to surround a toss, toss just needs to stay in a ball. pvt is harder, timing for your units needs to be right or goons can block zealots ect ect and bam waisted army. 
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