• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 00:37
CEST 06:37
KST 13:37
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview8[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21
Community News
ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo16Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested0RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 202611Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28)10[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June4
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th Daily SC2 Player Grid - feedback wanted J188 – Nhà Cái Cá Cược Trực Tuyến Đẳng Cấp Châu Á Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview TL Poll: How do you feel about the 5.0.16 PTR balance changes?
Tourneys
GSL CK #4 20-21th June Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
Mutation # 530 One For All The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed Mutation # 528 Infection Detected
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Battle cruiser feet vs Carrier fleet Fact based Zerg Upgrade Tier List vespene.gg — BW replays in browser Data needed
Tourneys
CSLAN 4 is Coming! [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0 The Casual Games of the Week Thread
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Relatively freeroll strategies Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia {D-2} Late to making 20.06.2026 memorable [p]94718
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread [H]Internet/Gaming Cafe Tips and Tricks The Games Industry And ATVI UK Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How To Predict Tilt in Espor…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8228 users

Reaching that next level of skill

Blogs > omgCRAZY
Post a Reply
omgCRAZY
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
Canada551 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-02 12:30:21
May 02 2010 10:10 GMT
#1
I play Protoss and after consistently placing in Gold for the past few resets I still cannot break into the Platinum League while others seem to have no problem getting into Platinum every time.

Now I feel as though my standard play is quite good, I have pretty good macro and my timings are usually spot on. The issue I seem to have is dealing with cheese and all-ins. Some of this can be accounted for with bad scouting but usually I scout fairly early (send probe after building 9 pylon) and get the information I need.

I was just wondering if anyone else has troubles dealing with all-ins and cheese rather than standard play

Is being able to deal with cheese and less standard play show that you have reached the next level of skill required to move up?

What do you feel are key components to reaching Platinum?

-Macro (Good)
-Micro (Average)
-Variety of builds (Average)
-Dealing with cheese (Poor)
-Recognizing builds from scouting info (Average)
-Understanding unit relationships (Good)
-Multitasking (Poor)

Anything thing else I am missing? From what I have heard and seen, so many players less skilled than me have gotten into Platinum (most likely by cheesing) that do not deserve it. I am currently top 8 gold in my division and I play a lot of Platinum players and most of the time I can just walk over them unless they cheese (happens a lot).

EDIT: CharlieMurphy pointed out multitasking and Efficient APM. Now that I think about it I do tend to get tunnel vision in the sense that once I start using my army I begin to let my macro slip a little. This could also be the reason I have such a poor time dealing with cheese.

Maybe I just need to play more games, not sure. Just seems like I float around top 8 gold play some higher skilled Platinum players and barely lose then have to work my way from playing Gold players all over again.

Note: I am not really looking for people to break down my game specifically. Just want to start a discussion on skill sets that players should be looking for to reach the next plateau in skill.



*
THIS NEEDS FACE!
CharlieMurphy
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
United States22895 Posts
May 02 2010 10:16 GMT
#2
I'd say the next big step besides macro and scouting, is to try and see where you can squeeze out extra econ or tech when you know your opponent isn't going to attack.

you forgot 2 major factors, efficient apm and multitasking.
..and then I would, ya know, check em'. (Aka SpoR)
omgCRAZY
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
Canada551 Posts
May 02 2010 10:29 GMT
#3
Thanks that actually helps a lot. Multitasking actually seems to be one of the biggest issues I can see with moving onto the next step. APM seems to be an issue but I think that is something that will naturally come while working on your multitasking skills.
THIS NEEDS FACE!
iD.NicKy
Profile Blog Joined October 2003
France767 Posts
May 02 2010 10:43 GMT
#4
scout, macro and you'll be in platinium
Reuental
Profile Joined July 2009
United States457 Posts
May 02 2010 10:43 GMT
#5
In all seriousness, dealing with cheese will most likely take you to the next level. Mainly because it will help you stay cool in high pressure situations and not to freak out. It will also help you judge what you can get away with because when you hold off cheese your trying to hold it off and still have an advantage. I often found when I get cheesed I would screw up and my opponent will have the advantage even though I held off the cheese.
I'm a Crab made of men.
Abenson
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Canada4122 Posts
May 02 2010 11:41 GMT
#6
When you're microing, all you have to do is spam "sd" and the drones will start working because of automine. I think it is important to develope the habit of making stuff/army/drones regularily, and that's all you need to know, really.

btw Dealing with cheese is probably the thing holding you back in Gold

P.S.: replace the zerg vocabulary with Protoss ones
KwarK
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States44113 Posts
May 02 2010 12:22 GMT
#7
My apm has dropped down to about 80 for sc2 and I've never been below plat so I don't think that's a factor. I think they key is just general awareness. You need to scout, know what they're trying to do and know how to counter it. Right now the beta isn't very worked out so a lot of players try shit which simply doesn't work. Your job is to demonstrate why.
Watch some reps/vods, scout intensively and think about your game. All that extra macro micro stuff is less important with MBS and autosurround.
ModeratorThe angels have the phone box
JohannesH
Profile Joined September 2009
Finland1364 Posts
May 02 2010 12:26 GMT
#8
I wouldnt consider apm to be a factor of its own, since you already included micro/macro/multitasking. APM itself is nothing if it doesnt contribute towards those.
If you have to ask, you don't know.
ggrrg
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
Bulgaria2716 Posts
May 02 2010 12:54 GMT
#9
Right now in the beta stage all you need to do in order to reach plat is:
- cheese/rush your opponent every game
or
- decent macro (just spend you resources on units and a-move at some point)
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 6h 23m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RuFF_SC2 193
StarCraft: Brood War
Mind 201
NaDa 49
Noble 18
Icarus 6
Dota 2
LuMiX0
League of Legends
JimRising 677
Counter-Strike
summit1g11285
Other Games
WinterStarcraft713
ViBE169
Nina43
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Secondary Stream2969
Other Games
gamesdonequick1153
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH143
• practicex 15
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• RayReign 30
• Diggity3
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Lourlo1270
• Stunt355
Upcoming Events
WardiTV Spring Champion…
6h 23m
GSL
7h 23m
Maru vs Reynor
Lambo vs Solar
IPSL
11h 23m
Hawk vs Julia
Patches Events
12h 23m
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
14h 23m
Dewalt vs Messiah
Bonyth vs Mihu
TerrOr vs XuanXuan
eOnzErG vs Messiah
Jaystar vs Mihu
Dewalt vs XuanXuan
Bonyth vs TerrOr
Replay Cast
19h 23m
WardiTV Weekly
1d 6h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 11h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
The PondCast
3 days
[ Show More ]
Douyu Cup 2020
4 days
Oliveira vs Trap
Jieshi vs XY
soO vs FanTaSy
TY vs Coffee
Douyu Cup 2020
5 days
Neeb vs Impact
MacSed vs Cyan
Scarlett vs Kelazhur
INnoVation vs Dear
Douyu Cup 2020
6 days
Maestros of the Game
6 days
herO vs Classic
Maru vs Serral
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-06-19
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Heroes Pulsing #2

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSL Season 21: Qualifier 1
SCTL 2026 Spring
Maestros of the Game 2
WardiTV Spring 2026
Murky Cup 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026

Upcoming

CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Douyu Cup 2026
BCC 2026
Light HT
Heroes Pulsing #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.