• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 06:10
CEST 12:10
KST 19:10
  • 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
[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Progenitors8Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun13[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors16[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star10Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists22
Community News
Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple0RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event11Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results12026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers25Maestros of the Game 2 announced9
StarCraft 2
General
Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) 2026 GSL Season 2 Qualifiers $1,400 SEL Season 3 Ladder Invitational
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 524 Death and Taxes The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 523 Firewall Mutation # 522 Flip My Base
Brood War
General
AI Question Using AI to optimize marketing campaigns [ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Progenitors ASL21 General Discussion Why there arent any 256x256 pro maps?
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro8 Day 4 [ASL21] Ro8 Day 3 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro8 Day 2
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Fighting Spirit mining rates What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV OutLive 25 (RTS Game) Daigo vs Menard Best of 10 Nintendo Switch Thread
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread 3D technology/software discussion Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Movie Stars In Video Games: …
TrAiDoS
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1554 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 States43971 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
Afreeca Starleague
10:00
Ro8 Match 4
Snow vs Flash
Afreeca ASL 10241
StarCastTV_EN264
Liquipedia
Sparkling Tuna Cup
10:00
Weekly #130 (TLMC 22 Edition)
CranKy Ducklings40
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
OGKoka 299
Lowko79
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 5643
Sea 5081
Bisu 3417
Horang2 1195
BeSt 943
EffOrt 464
Light 306
Mind 226
actioN 193
Zeus 170
[ Show more ]
Hyun 151
Pusan 121
Aegong 108
ZerO 107
Killer 99
Leta 97
hero 94
Dewaltoss 87
PianO 68
Hm[arnc] 68
Backho 64
ToSsGirL 58
Sharp 42
Nal_rA 22
sSak 20
JulyZerg 16
ajuk12(nOOB) 16
Bale 15
NaDa 15
Noble 11
Sacsri 11
Sexy 8
SilentControl 7
Terrorterran 6
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm111
XcaliburYe62
ODPixel6
Counter-Strike
olofmeister2210
byalli869
allub276
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King191
Other Games
summit1g6479
singsing1248
ceh9709
Sick265
monkeys_forever172
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick593
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 143
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream43
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 10
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 40
• CranKy Ducklings SOOP8
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• TFBlade1119
• Stunt535
Other Games
• WagamamaTV150
Upcoming Events
WardiTV Invitational
50m
SHIN vs Nicoract
Solar vs Nice
PiGosaur Cup
13h 50m
GSL
23h 20m
Classic vs Cure
Maru vs Rogue
GSL
1d 23h
SHIN vs Zoun
ByuN vs herO
OSC
2 days
OSC
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Escore
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
WardiTV Invitational
3 days
Zoun vs Ryung
Lambo vs ShoWTimE
[ Show More ]
OSC
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
CranKy Ducklings
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
SHIN vs Bunny
ByuN vs Shameless
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
Krystianer vs TriGGeR
Cure vs Rogue
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
4 days
BSL
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
Cure vs Zoun
Clem vs Lambo
WardiTV Invitational
5 days
BSL
5 days
GSL
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-05-02
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
SCTL 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026

Upcoming

YSL S3
Escore Tournament S2: W6
KK 2v2 League Season 1
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
Escore Tournament S2: W7
Escore Tournament S2: W8
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 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.