• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 22:58
CEST 04:58
KST 11:58
  • 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
Code S Season 1 - RO8 Preview5[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 Star10
Community News
Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule !7Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple0RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event12Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results12026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers25
StarCraft 2
General
Code S Season 1 - RO8 Preview Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! GSL Code S Season 1 (2026) RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players
External Content
Mutation # 524 Death and Taxes The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 523 Firewall Mutation # 522 Flip My Base
Brood War
General
Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ? Why there arent any 256x256 pro maps? BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site Tulbo's ASL S21 Ro8 Post-Review
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro8 Day 4 [ASL21] Ro8 Day 3 Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
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 Nintendo Switch Thread Daigo vs Menard Best of 10 Path of Exile OutLive 25 (RTS Game)
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
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
US Politics Mega-thread The Letting Off Steam Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread UK Politics Mega-thread 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 McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How EEG Data Can Predict Gam…
TrAiDoS
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1217 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 States43979 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
Replay Cast
00:00
2026 GSL S1: Ro8 Group B
CranKy Ducklings144
EnkiAlexander 83
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SpeCial 111
RuFF_SC2 96
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 4418
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm163
LuMiX0
League of Legends
Doublelift4333
JimRising 658
Other Games
summit1g10220
tarik_tv6692
monkeys_forever519
WinterStarcraft177
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2765
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 11 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 75
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Upcoming Events
Sparkling Tuna Cup
7h 2m
RSL Revival
7h 2m
Cure vs Zoun
Clem vs Lambo
WardiTV Invitational
9h 2m
ByuN vs Rogue
Solar vs Ryung
Zoun vs Percival
Cure vs SHIN
BSL
16h 2m
Dewalt vs DragOn
Aether vs Jimin
GSL
1d 5h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 7h
Soma vs Leta
Wardi Open
1d 9h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 13h
OSC
1d 21h
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
[ Show More ]
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
Light vs Flash
Replay Cast
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
The PondCast
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Korean StarCraft League
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
BSL
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S2: W6
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
KK 2v2 League Season 1
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
SCTL 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
PGL Astana 2026
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

Upcoming

YSL S3
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
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026: Closed Qualifier
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 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.