• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 09:22
CET 15:22
KST 23:22
  • 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
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!12[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
Dark completes military service, returns to SC28[BSL23] RO16 Group Stage19Weekly Cups (Nov 2-8): herO back on top?2Weekly Cups (Oct 26 - Nov 1): MaxPax, herO, Solar win0Weekly Cups (October 19-25): Clem triples first in 5.0.175
StarCraft 2
General
Greetings.. No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? Dark completes military service, returns to SC2 Serral's getting trashed by New Catsle's Mind Weekly Cups (Nov 2-8): herO back on top?
Tourneys
Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) Dark returns! GSL CK #7 4v4 Team Battle (Nov 19) soO & FanTaSy return! SC2 Kevin Scrim 4v4 (Nov 16) RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 Tasteless Time Warp: SC Evo Showmatch (May 25)
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps Starcraft 2 Advance [D] the control group Simple Questions/Answers
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 551 Robotic Revival Mutation # 550 Graveyard Shift Mutation # 549 Endless Sparkles
Brood War
General
List of top players active on ShieldBattery BW General Discussion Recommended BW Settings for Mouse and Video Starcraft:Brood War Discord Servers [BSL23] RO16 Group Stage
Tourneys
[$1250] International ShieldBattery League Bisu's Team vs Shuttle's Team 2026-11-14 2v2v2v2 Tournament Stage 1: Community Poll [BSL23] Ro16 Group C - Sunday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Pluto's TvP 5Marine 2Medic Push Simple Questions, Simple Answers Infested Terran strategies in 2026 Nuke strategy worked in K-League 2026-11-09
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Free Space RTS Game, optimised f. Phone/Tablet etc List of Game Threads The PlayStation 5
Dota 2
Can Game Data Analytics Help Players Improvements
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Artificial Intelligence Thread Trading/Investing Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
Fan Club Resource Thread Reynor Fan Club The Flash Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Football (Soccer) Thread MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
The time I organised my…
AssyrianKing
Why I built Repalyzer (1.1.…
BlueStar
Innovate or Game Over?
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 12813 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 States44453 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
Bulgaria2717 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
WardiTV Invitational
21:00
WardiTV Not-Summer Championshi
ByuN vs SHIN
MaxPax vs Solar
Clem vs TBD
herO vs TBD
Lambo vs TBD
Rogue vs TBD
WardiTV947
IntoTheiNu 897
ComeBackTV 860
TaKeTV 335
IndyStarCraft 203
Rex98
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
IndyStarCraft 203
Rex 98
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 67894
Calm 6742
Rain 1808
Jaedong 1612
BeSt 775
FanTaSy 588
EffOrt 576
Larva 404
Rush 334
Hyuk 192
[ Show more ]
Hyun 184
ZerO 170
actioN 105
Mind 102
Zeus 88
Yoon 86
Sharp 85
Last 84
Soulkey 70
Sea.KH 64
Pusan 59
JYJ 45
Mong 39
ToSsGirL 37
Bale 36
sSak 33
hero 29
Killer 27
sorry 24
Shine 22
Hm[arnc] 20
Movie 18
Terrorterran 18
Aegong 17
Sacsri 15
ajuk12(nOOB) 13
Dota 2
Dendi1674
XcaliburYe288
canceldota92
qojqva38
Counter-Strike
byalli785
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor254
Other Games
FrodaN2923
singsing2235
B2W.Neo485
Lowko407
KnowMe282
XaKoH 126
Beastyqt97
mouzStarbuck74
ViBE66
ZerO(Twitch)22
CosmosSc2 16
Railgan13
fpsfer 1
Organizations
Other Games
EGCTV551
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki21
• ChaeLyn 6
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV165
League of Legends
• Jankos2471
Upcoming Events
IPSL
2h 38m
TerrOr vs IJ_Terran
rasowy vs Hazorath
BSL
5h 38m
TerrOr vs OyAji
UltrA vs Gosudark
Sparkling Tuna Cup
19h 38m
WardiTV Invitational
21h 38m
IPSL
1d 2h
Art_Of_Turtle vs KameZerg
Radley vs George
BSL
1d 5h
Artosis vs Dewalt
Ret vs Tech
SOOP
1d 19h
soO vs FanTaSy
WardiTV Weekly
1d 21h
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
PiGosaur Cup
3 days
[ Show More ]
The PondCast
3 days
GSL
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
KCM Race Survival
5 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-11-12
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
International ShieldBattery League
Individual League
BSL Season 23
IPSL Winter 2026-27
Calamity Cup Div. A Season 8
Underdog Cup 2026 Div 2-3
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026

Upcoming

YSL S4
Sector 591
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
StarCraft2 Weekly Open Tournament 2026 Grand Finals
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
IEM Kraków 2027
PGL Bucharest 2027
BLAST Bounty Winter 2027
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
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.