EPTand updated in this blog
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=103947
with about 2 hours left in the season lol. The pressure was extremely high because i woke up really late today, having planned to get in a ton of games throughout the day, but i was reduced to only 5 hours of playing time to gain about 700points. Luckily i did not go on a losing streak, and managed to keep my confidence up and focus on the game and surpassed my own expectations :D Even more satisfying is the fact that my last games were against a b+ korean terran - PvT being my worst matchup by far, I rarely win against korean terrans of high rank.
A- here http://www.iccup.com/gamingprofile/nrg.dragon.html
transferred from this http://www.iccup.com/gamingprofile/12345asdf321.html smurf account
So, TY to every1 who supported me in my previous blogs, my encouraging friends, and my CPL students lol :D ( gogo team 3!!) I said i would update my strategical progress as well, so here goes:
Since my last blog, ive been playing a lot on the new maps fighting spirit and match point. I play ZvP/PvZ/PvT and during my experimentations on these new maps, as well as mixing in older maps occasionally, i reached the conclusion that the reason why my ZvP is so inconsistant is because of the maps. Zerg have to play a totally different style on alot of different maps, whereas protoss in PvZ just adapt to what the zerg is doing, they dont need to think ahead of time of a good game plan as much as zerg do. Time and time again, Ive been playing really good zvp on one map, but when i switch to a newer or older map all of a sudden i get crushed - I forget how to play the other map and it takes me a few games of practice or replay watching to remember what style is best on it. This doesnt happen at all in pvz, which is why pvz is my most consisantly good matchup. My memory is so bad that i actually created a wordpad document to remind myself how to play on certain maps lol.
That being said, the ZvP style that fits fighting spirit best for me is a turtling macro style where u take the far natural instead of a nearby third, and make a few lurkers/sunkens. Expanding to the closer 3rd bases sooner ive found to work poorly, because one of them will be really close to the protoss (and can die easily to zlot/archon rushes), and the other is awkwardly placed so that it is easy for the protoss to cut off your reinforcements to it. Also, the protoss will be able to take his close 3rd and 4th on those cliffs much more easily than you, because he will be relying on cannons + a templar to defend it instead of a mobile army, which you will need in that case. Lurker turtling does not work as well in those positions because you are defending 3 spots from attack instead of one, all based around the center, which does not allow for easy counterattacks on the protoss bases.
On Match point, the zvp style i used was very similar to how everyone plays on bluestorm - theres a strong resemblance between those two maps so taking your side of the map with lurkers placed along the high ridge works well.
Another frustrating strategical question for me that is only partially solved is how to properly deal with goon/reaver timing attacks. There are two distinct variations, both of which are popular on fighting spirit. The first variation involves getting a really fast robotics before dragoon range, and attacking with about 4 zlots/5 goons and a reaver+ shuttle. Originally I thought that going fast mutas would be a great counter to this, but unfortunately that hasnt worked out for me yet because the timing is too slow, and my natural is already dying by the time my mutalisks pop, leading to a few embarassing losses
So obviously that didnt work, maybe mass hydraling would crush it early on? I tried this and it worked very well a few times in a row, i was feeling very confident with it until i ran into the second variation of goon/reaver. This involves getting a slower robotics facility in favor of a much larger dragoon force. I massed hydralisks and zerglings as usual, knowing what was coming and expecting an easy rape. Unfortunately, i got an easy rape but i wasnt doing raping T__T my army got crushed somehow. Im not 100% that my approach was wrong, because during the longer wait i did build a spire and a couple more drones, resulting in a few idle larvea and less units. Perhaps if i went all out hydra/ling and didnt get any tech besides that, i still would have won, im not sure. But the loss prompted me to think a lot more about countering goon/reaver. Im pretty sure i need to tech to mutas eventually to beat it, I just dont know when. I have played games in the past where i won with muta/ling but those are lost in the vast expanses of my autoreplay folder, and I cant remember my or my opponents exact build orders Ill keep working on this though until i find what works. Anyway, im pretty fucking satisfied atm and looking forward to all the TSL matches :D
O ya if any1 is interested in a replay pack i might consider making one, depends how many people care O.o
We both got what we wanted... was just giving you a hard time.
![[image loading]](http://pix.motivatedphotos.com/2008/7/17/633518898025661363-approved---good-job---you-didnt-fail---motivational-anime-poster.jpg)
